Royal Institute of Magic: Elizabeth's Legacy (17 page)

After repeating the statement
half a dozen times, the colour in her face started returning.

“I hope you won’t get
in trouble,” Ben said.

“What? No, Aryan is far too
arrogant to relay such a humiliating experience to his superiors.”

“So what’s the
problem?”

Natalie shook her head. “You
don’t get it, but how could you? This is all new to you. One of
the first things parents teach their children about the Unseen
Kingdoms are the rules of conduct towards a dark elf: never talk to
them; never make them angry; and never fight them.”

“That seems a bit
cowardly,” Charlie said.

“It’s for protection.
If we leave them alone, they leave us alone. The Institute cannot
afford another war. We have been fighting them on and off for over
five hundred years.”

“So we broke a few rules.
Is that all you’re worried about?” Ben asked, feeling
slightly miffed.

“Yes – I mean, no.”
It was the first time Ben had seen Natalie lost for words. She was
looking at him with a peculiar glint in her eye. “How did you
deflect that spell?”

“I have no idea. Do you
think it could have been the spell the wood elves put on me?”

“I’m not sure,”
Natalie said, curling a lock of hair round her finger, looking
bemused.

“You both seem to be
forgetting something.”

Ben turned towards Charlie. He
was practically bouncing off the walls with an energy that could only
be attributed to the detective work going on inside his head.

“Two words,” Charlie
said, sticking a couple of chubby fingers out. “Elizabeth’s
legacy.”

Charlie was right. Ben clearly
recalled those words uttered by Aryan in response to his deflected
spell.

“How does Elizabeth’s
legacy relate to the way I blocked that elf’s magic? Is there
another spell on me completely different to the wood elf one?”

Charlie tapped his chin
thoughtfully. “There must be. I don’t see how the wood
elf spell could have anything to do with Elizabeth’s legacy.
The problem is we haven’t the faintest clue what Elizabeth’s
legacy is.”

“Let’s go see Wren,”
Natalie said. “I’m sure she will have answers.”

She didn’t sound quite as
certain as yesterday.

Conversation was muted as they made their way back to the Institute. Travis had
reserved their room for another night and Ben realised the hotel was
to be his home for the foreseeable future. He would have been
delighted if the dark elves weren’t staying there.

Natalie’s green eyes were
troubled and she curled a lock of hair around her finger, lost in
thought. Charlie was staring at the ground, also deep in thought. Ben
considered the questions he wanted to ask Wren. Did she know anything
about Elizabeth’s legacy? He still recalled the shock on the
dark elf’s face the moment the spell was deflected. Most
important of all, what did she know about his parents?

Ben was so wrapped up in his own
thoughts he barely noticed they were passing the wall surrounding the
Institute and the manicured gardens within. It was only when Natalie
opened the great oak doors did Ben realise they were back.

Though it was Saturday, the place
was still a hive of activity, with people scuttling across the lobby
or up and down the stairs. Ben marvelled again at the small coloured
diamonds hovering above their shoulders; Natalie’s had appeared
the moment they had crossed the threshold.

“I really think they should
consider installing an escalator,” Charlie groaned, as they
headed for the familiar grand staircase.

They set a good pace and even
Ben’s legs were aching when they reached the Department of
Spellswords. Natalie led them round the corridor to the office. She
turned the handle, but to her dismay it didn’t move.

“Locked. Which means she’s
out or busy,” she said.

Natalie produced her ID card and
pressed it just below the handle where a lock would have been. There
was a click; she tried the handle again and this time the door
opened.

The office looked just as they
had left it and there was no sign of Wren. Natalie disappeared into
the little side room and returned with several notes in her hand and
a worried look on her face. She handed one of the notes to Ben and
another to a surprised Charlie.

With a funny feeling in his
stomach, Ben opened the letter.

“Dear Ben,

“I’m
sorry I am unable to meet you this morning. Something unexpected has
come up. You have questions that deserve answers, not least the
insinuations from my colleagues last night about your parents’
past. I would prefer to talk to you about this personally because
most (though not all) in the Institute do not know the full story.
Indeed, I do not know everything, but having worked with your parents
for many years, I know of their honesty and integrity.

“I
hope to meet you this evening when I can enlighten you properly.

“Best
wishes,

“Wren”

Ben looked up and saw Natalie and
Charlie watching him.

“What did yours say?”
Charlie asked.

Ben handed him the note, which
Charlie read and then passed to Natalie.

“Intriguing, yet cryptic,”
Charlie said with a glint in his eye.

“Do you know where Wren
is?” Ben asked, his voice betraying his impatience.

Natalie tapped her own note.
“Dragon raid on Riardor, a country not far from here. She had
to lead a group of Spellswords to repel them.”

“And she’ll be back
for dinner?” Charlie asked doubtfully.

“If she says she will be,
she will.”

Ben took his note back and
scrunched it up. His frustration was starting to boil over. He knew
how important Wren was and what demands there must be on her time,
but it still seemed unfair to ask him to wait for her. He wanted
answers now.

“So what do we do?”
Charlie asked.

“Whatever you want,”
Natalie said. She tapped her letter again. “Wren has instructed
me to look after you until she returns.”

Ben’s mouth twitched at her
babysitting reference, but he tried to ignore it. “I would like
to find out where the wood elves live.”

Perhaps he could have been
subtler, but Natalie’s bright smile indicated she was still
clueless regarding his plan to find the elves. She might be pretty
and friendly, but Ben was starting to doubt her intelligence.

“We should be able to find
that at the library, in the Department of Scholars,” Natalie
said. “I know it sounds boring, but I think you’ll like
it.”

As they went back down the
staircase, Ben’s mind drifted back to Wren’s note. There
was an ominous undertone. What had his parents done in the past?

“Please don’t worry
about it,” Natalie said. So she wasn’t completely
unobservant; Ben hadn’t realised he looked so concerned. “Wren
will explain everything as soon as she returns.”

Ben ruffled his hair and turned
to Charlie. “What do you think?”

“It’s just my
opinion,” Charlie said, “but it seems like your parents
have been in trouble before.”

“That’s just
Charlie’s opinion,” Natalie said, giving Charlie a
meaningful look.

“Charlie’s opinions
are normally pretty accurate.”

Ben had been thinking the same
thing. Could they have done something wrong in the past?

“Here we are,”
Natalie said. “The Department of Scholars.”

They passed through the double
doors and the statue beyond and headed round a distinctly musty
corridor. It smelled of old books. Shelves lined the corridor,
sometimes on both sides, making walking a bit of a squeeze.

Natalie led them to a door marked
“Library”. Ben noticed Charlie rubbing his hands
together. He found it hard to share Charlie’s excitement, but
his eyes lit up the moment he entered.

It was much more than a library.
There were the obligatory book shelves creating a maze of corridors,
but Ben’s attention went straight to something far more
interesting. It was a big open room that reminded him of the Science
Museum in London, only cooler. There was a huge globe floating in the
centre of the room, circling slowly. Like the map in Wren’s
office, the globe included the Unseen Kingdoms. Running along the
walls were colourful illustrations detailing a timeline of the
Institute’s history. Then there were dozens of exhibition
stands showing things like the evolution of Spellshooters, various
animals and foods found in the Unseen Kingdoms, and charts showing
every type of spell with its composition of elements.

“Uh, Ben, wrong way.”

Ben had drifted away from Natalie
and Charlie into the centre of the museum room. He was tempted to
tell them to go find the books on wood elves by themselves.

“We can come back here
later,” Natalie said, dragging him back into the labyrinth of
book shelves.

Thankfully, it wasn’t as
boring as Ben had imagined. The shelves were clearly marked and the
subjects ranged from spells and enchantments to the climate and
cultures of the Unseen Kingdoms. Ben wasn’t a big reader, but
even he felt like taking out a handful of books. Occasionally they
stopped and Natalie, aided by Charlie, pored over a certain book. Ben
passed the time by browsing nearby titles for the most outlandish
subject. He had just spotted a book called
Ten Great Recipes for a Dwarf Vegetarian
when Natalie gave a little shout of joy.

“Well done, Charlie –
this is the one!” she said.

They were both on the floor,
poring over a small, open book called
An Elf Census 2012
.

“Borgen has a large
population,” Charlie said. “Over two thousand, it says.”

“Wow, there are less than
ten thousand wood elves left,” Natalie said. “Half the
amount of five years ago.”

Ben could see the chart they were
reading, but it was useless to him because he didn’t know
anything about the countries listed. He needed to know which one
would be best to visit, but how could he ask Natalie without arousing
suspicion? Any moment they would shut the book and move on. He was
going to have to risk it and hope Natalie’s record of
delightful ignorance remained untarnished.

Several familiar voices
interrupted his scheming.

They all perked their heads up
like deer sensing danger. The voices were near, perhaps two or three
shelves away, but they were moving. For a brief moment, Ben could
make them out.

“…the Commander
leaves today on another of his ridiculous journeys and Wren’s
not here, so that’s two thorns out the way.” Draven’s
voice.

“Regardless, protocol must
be carefully followed,” Colin said. He sounded anxious, his
normally perfectly enunciated words slightly off.

“Do what you must,” a
softer, more compelling voice said. It was Elessar, the first dark
elf he had seen, Ben realised, with a ripple of fear. “But it
must be done tonight. My king grows impatient and I can appease him
only so long.”

The voices faded as they moved
out of earshot.

There was a moment of silence as
Ben, Charlie and Natalie stared at each other in shock.

Ben moved first. He picked up the
book and made to put it back on the shelf, but with a sleight of hand
slipped it under his top. Neither Natalie nor Charlie noticed
anything.

“Where are you going?”
Charlie asked, as Ben set off.

“To follow them. Come on.”

This time it was Ben’s turn
to lead, toward the general direction the voices had originated,
through the small alleys created by the shelves. Occasionally they
passed small, open spaces with a table and chairs where people could
read. Ben was just starting to fear he had lost them when he heard
the unmistakable voice of Draven.

They were now in an older section
of the library. Many of the books looked ready to crumble and the
light struggled through the dust that powdered the shelves and
permeated the air.

The voices led them to a small
reading room, empty except for a couple of chairs and a table piled
with books. At the back was an open doorway, but it was guarded by
someone.

“Oh no, it’s Josh,”
Natalie whispered. They had stopped in the small room unable to
proceed further.

“So you
are
still here,” Josh said, showing a set of sparkling white teeth
as he smiled at Natalie. “We thought you’d been released
or buckled under the strain of the apprenticeship and left.”

Josh looked a year or two older
than Ben and perhaps a head taller. He had expensively styled hair,
tanned skin and a self-satisfied smile. His yellow polo shirt and
Bermuda shorts looked like they’d left the Ralph Lauren shop
five minutes ago. Strapped to his shorts was a holstered
Spellshooter.

The voices they were chasing were
already getting fainter and Ben was desperate to keep moving. He was
tempted to barge his way past, but that could cause problems,
especially as Josh was armed.

“I’m still here,”
Natalie said. She smiled, but Ben thought it lacked a touch of its
usual warmth.

“Indeed,” Josh said.
“Well, I should let you know you’re falling behind. I’d
be slightly concerned if I were you. Even Graham, with his IQ of a
dormouse, has overtaken you. He just finished the Level 1 diplomacy
course. Personally I think he cheated. How can someone who can barely
speak the English language display even the smallest crumb of
diplomatic tact?”

“Well I’m happy for
him,” Natalie said.

“Oh, so am I,” Josh
said, not looking the least bit jovial.

Just as Ben was suspecting that
he and Charlie must be invisible, Josh turned to them.

“Aren’t you going to
introduce us?” Josh said, flashing his white, toothy smile at
them.

“Sorry,” Natalie
said. “Josh, this is Ben and Charlie. They are guests here and
I’ve been looking after them.”