Jake's War, Book Two of Wizards (24 page)

I examined Wenna's trail again. It led to a human type world, though it was difficult to make out any of its details. Going in as slow as I could, I kept my shield raised and at the ready. The moment I arrived I was instantly thrown somewhere else.

The pressure on me was enormous and I threw a solid sphere of ice into hop-space so there would be room. I stayed a second before returning to hop-space. Instead of the human world, I'd been diverted to one of solid ice. Worse than that, I materialized miles below the surface. Even though I went in prepared I nearly didn't make it out. Even my magic couldn't protect me from the pressures on that world for more than a few seconds.

For the first time ever I needed to control my entry back into the real world with microscopic precision. As I approached Wenna's world for the third time my instincts tried to translate me to it, but I held back. At the very edge of transition I found what I was looking for. A strangely beautiful swirl of hop-space magic opened up a dozen exits to other worlds. Getting to the right one involved mental gymnastics similar to stepping over and crawling under light beams in a bank vault, touching any one of which would send me to my doom. Concentration was everything and I felt sweat dribble down my neck as I got closer to my goal.

I arrived face down onto sweet scented grasses and waited until the dizziness went away. It seemed I had finally made it.

Insects buzzed about me. I got to my feet and looked around. This was a beautiful tranquil place. The meadow I stood in was at the edge of woodland. The ground in front of me sloped down to a meandering stream which separated the forest from the grasslands. The meadow was alive with butterflies and bees feasting on the nectar of millions of small flowers. There was no sign of humanity. No fences or stepping stones, no smoke rising into the air from a cooking fire. This world had an unspoiled feel to it. There was so much oxygen in the air I wanted to jump up and down and shout at the top of my voice.

I walked down to the stream as it seemed the natural place to go. As I got closer I saw animals ahead of me. Two deer and several rabbits drank from the stream's crystal waters. They looked up curiously and looked me over before going back to drinking. Apparently they didn't think that man was dangerous. I stepped closer wondering when their survival instincts would kick in. The rabbits hopped along the bank to give me room, but the deer were happy for me to stroke their flanks.

Thoughts of rescuing Mam were hard to hold onto. There was a calming feeling I couldn't explain, removing all anxiety. I might have stayed to drink if I hadn't seen the footprints in the bed of the stream. Someone had crossed here and gone down the deer track that led into the forest. I stepped into the ice cold water being careful not to make the water muddy for the animals and followed the track.

I nearly missed the house, if you could call it that. It was only the residual buzz of magic that caught my attention. Four ancient trees standing close together had been magically distorted to create a dwelling in the space between them. Low lying branches were stretched and shaped like putty to form living walls. Leafy twigs sprang from the branches to create coverings for doors and windows. Pushing through them was easy, as though they touched to create a door, nothing from one side tangled with anything from the other.

It was gloomy inside and it took my eyes a few seconds to complete the transition. I saw a dark shape standing by a window obscured by leaf like curtains. I prepared to hurl a spell.

The shape turned.

“Hello Jake, Wenna said you'd get here eventually.”

“Where is she, Mam?” I stepped around the room carefully trying to keep my back to the walls, or branches, or whatever they were.

“She's gone. She said to tell you she didn't mean to hurt your Dad. Is he okay?”

“I came to rescue you. Urda will have sorted out Dad.”

Mam nodded. I could see her clearly now my eyes were fully adjusted. The room was unbelievable. Branches weaved in and out to form living tables and benches.

“Who built this place?”

“Wenna. She told me this was her dream world and once Bronwyn taught her to hop this was the first place she came too. She used her magic to make this house. Isn't it amazing?”

“You don't seem to be bothered about being kidnapped?”

Mam smiled dreamily. “How can things like that matter when you're here?”

I knew what she meant. There was a feeling of peace inside me that threatened to overwhelm my desire to catch Wenna or even go home.

“Is Wenna coming back?”

“Of course, Jake. How could anybody stay away? Wenna told me where to find fruit, nuts and vegetables, the forest is alive with them. She said she had an obligation to help Bronwyn and that was why she kidnapped me. She said that when they finished she would come and live here forever. She said I could stay if I wanted.”

Something thought this was the right place for Wenna. If they hadn't she could never have got through all their traps. The Valhallans said that wizards hopped to the places that suited who they were. What did that say about Wenna?

I took Mam by the hand and led her out of Wenna's living house. People like us couldn't live in a place like this; we'd spoil it with waterwheels, fires and roast venison. We would have lots of children who would build houses, villages and finally cities. It was who and what we were.

“We have to go, Mam.”

Mam looked incredibly disappointed.

“Do we
have
to?”

“Say goodbye, Mam. This world isn't meant for us.”

Mam blew a kiss into the forest and I hopped us back to Salice.

Chapter Thirty-Five: Decisions

Once Mam was out of the influence of Wenna's world she became worried about Dad and we hurried through the Palace to their bedroom. Urda had healed his head wound but he still felt woozy and had gone to bed. Mam shook him awake to make sure he was okay. He wasn't best pleased with her as he didn't even know she'd been kidnapped.

Urda returned to the Grand Hotel with Anna to look after the kids. All the commotion sobered up our guests and most were gone from the ballroom by the time we got back there. The three of us agreed to meet up this morning and try and figure out a plan of action.

I went with Jenny to Esmeralda's room for breakfast. Esmeralda insisted on Jenny and I standing in front of her while she enquired whether the two of us had been naughty during the night. Jenny started giggling and I couldn't keep a straight face. As it happened we were both far too tired from the events of the day to want to do anything, but Esmeralda didn't believe us. I'll be glad when we're married and this nonsense is over. That was the moment I realized this kind of thing might never be over. I had no idea how we were going to make a three cornered marriage work.

A servant arrived with a breakfast trolley and Jenny and I took the opportunity to get off parade and sit down. Esmeralda didn't look pleased. She sat facing the two of us and poured some of the awful muck the locals call tea. I started a list of all the things I planned to import from Earth to Salice. I'd start with tea bags and would progress to tea bushes the first chance I got. Where did chocolate come from? I'd have to find out and bring some plants over as well. Some things need to be spread over every world in the multiverse.

“I don't see Bronwyn's plan.” I said. “These attacks are more like diversions than anything planned to kill us.”

Esmeralda gave me a disbelieving look and tapped her spoon rhythmically against her saucer. This sent Jenny into another fit of giggles.

“What?”

“They are diversions, Jake. She's keeping you busy so you can't spend any time working out what she's up too.”

“Oh.” It was pretty obvious once explained. “Was the attack at the funeral a real attack then or just something to keep me busy?”

Esmeralda picked up a slice of toast and considered the question. “Perhaps a little of both. She might have hoped to hurt or kill some of the guests or even one of us, but I think she expected you to chase her to Barren and take the kids. That's why she and Wenna were gone before you arrived.”

“Those kids are time bombs set to go off in stages, just like Ida did.” As I'd already worked this out I thought I'd say it quickly before the girls said it was obvious. “I got Urda to defuse them by commanding them never to use magic.”

“But not until
after
Ida attacked you,” Jenny reminded me. “Maybe Bronwyn thought one attack would be enough?”

Esmeralda disagreed. “No, the attack on Jake's mother was an improvisation. They probably discovered the other children were harmless and needed to do something to keep Jake busy.”

“Why?” I couldn't imagine anything I might have done that needed them to kidnap Mam to stop me doing it. I learned something interesting about Wenna and Bronwyn and was going to tell the girls as soon as I got a chance. It changed everything.

A knock at the door stopped Esmeralda. Urda walked into the room and we stood up to greet her. Then we rearranged the breakfast plates to give her a place at the table. Esmeralda sent a servant to bring more food.

“I looked in on your father, Jake. He's fine,” Urda said.

Damn. I should have done that myself. Women seemed better geared to remembering things like injured parents.

“I was just about to tell my brides what I discovered yesterday.”

All three women looked at me expectantly. Okay, technically only two of them were pregnant, but you know what I mean.

“Wenna isn't a bad person.”

Urda's face turned hard. “She tried to kill Anna and she kidnapped your mother.”

“She's a child at heart. She had to do something to stop Anna talking and she lashed out with that spell. She didn't hurt Mam, she took her somewhere she felt safe and left her there.”

“What about attacking you and Retnor, not to mention the attack at the cathedral?” Jenny asked.

“They were with Bronwyn, who led her on. Bronwyn offered Wenna the chance of revenge against the men who hurt her.” I looked pointedly at Urda. “Even you can understand why she might want revenge.”

Urda nodded, but I could see that she was far from being convinced.

“The rest was just escalation from that. She was obliged to help Bronwyn as part of their deal and it's got out of hand.”

“Why are you so sure?” Esmeralda asked.

“The world she took Mam to is special. It took me three goes to get to it because it's protected by magic far cleverer than anything a human could do.”

“She took your mother to one of the protected worlds?” Esmeralda sounded astonished. I wasn't surprised Esmeralda knew about them. She knew a lot more about magic than she let on.

“What's a protected world?” Jenny asked.

“Paradise. An unspoiled natural paradise where wild animals aren't frightened of man. On top of that there's calming magic about the place that keeps it at peace. No one who can hop to a place like that is a bad person.”

Esmeralda pursed her lips. “You're right. The fact they let her in pretty much proves it. I'm amazed they let you in though.”

“I kicked the door down.”

“How does this change anything?” Urda scowled as she spoke.

“It made me think about Bronwyn. We all have moments of rage when someone punishes us. If you're a wizard at Bronwyn's age you can lash out and do terrible things. Then you feel you can't back down and have to do other terrible things. Isn't that exactly what happened to Bronwyn?”

“You didn't do things like that to your parents and you were a wizard from the age of eight,” Jenny said as she took my hand.

“I got lucky with my parents. Besides Bronwyn didn't kill me when she had me helpless in the magic circle, did she?”

Urda frowned. “Bronwyn couldn't kill you. The kids told me about it.”

“That's what I just said.” Didn't, couldn't, it was all the same wasn't it?

“She tried. When her magic didn't work she got an axe and tried to cut off your head. When that didn't work she tried setting fire to the house. Your magic put out the flames.”

I was too surprised to say anything. Esmeralda took advantage of the silence to get the meeting back on topic.

“I want you back home with us, Urda. Now that everybody knows Anna is alive there's no point in keeping her in Wales and we need you here.”

“What about Bronwyn's children?” Jenny asked.

Esmeralda waved an arm. “Bring them here as well. They're harmless according to Jake and we have quarters where they can stay.”

“I can only bring them over a few at a time,” Urda pointed out

I sighed. Even without magical interruptions I never got the time to think.

“I'll bring them over using the coach. It'll be less suspicious and we can do it all in one go.”

Jenny grinned. “You'd better make sure the Inspector and the Sergeant don't see you. They think you can't take them back.”

“I very much doubt the Inspector has recovered from his hangover yet. I'll go and find Mr. Griffith as he'll have to drive it.”

“There's a danger we are being manipulated by Bronwyn again,” Esmeralda told us solemnly.

I smiled. “If she's that much cleverer than us, we're probably doomed anyway.”

“Trust our husband-to-be to come up with that cheery thought,” Jenny said a little too brightly. Esmeralda put her hand on Jenny's and smiled comfortingly.

I got up, because a man knows when the time for talking is over. Besides which, I finished all the toast.

Chapter Thirty-Six: Magic

The coach arrived back at the Woodyard a good two feet above the tarmac and dropped to ground with an almighty bang as its springs broke and tires burst.

Mr. Griffith took a moment to recover and then looked anxiously at me.

“What happened, Jake? Are you all right?”

I shook my head as I tried to figure out what was going on. I felt dizzy, not tired as I'd felt when I fought the forest fire, but somehow empty. Mr. Griffith stood up shakily and put a hand on my shoulder.