Royal Institute of Magic: The Shadowseeker (Book 2) (16 page)

“Oh wow,” Natalie breathed.

They had entered a large circular room that resembled something out of a gentleman's club. It was lit by a decorative chandelier that hung from the high ceiling, creating a warm glow through magical means. Squishy leather chairs were placed in twos and threes on a thick, gleaming golden carpet. Painted on the walls were incredible murals of what Ben assumed were famous Institute members. At one end was a long cabinet, which held all sorts of bottled drinks, but it was the centre of the room that caught their attention. There was a magnificent long table, surrounded by high-backed chairs. Behind the table was a small replica version of the statue of Queen Elizabeth wearing a full suit of armour, holding her sword aloft. Strangely, Ben noticed she was missing her boots. Next to her was a large globe, much like the one in the library, which floated in the air and spun gently on its axis.

“Ben, look!” Charlie said. He was pointing to a grand fireplace at the end of the room. Charlie hurried over, bent down, and started touching the kindling. “I knew it. Come here, quick!”

Ben exchanged puzzled looks with Natalie. He hurried over and saw Charlie digging his hands into the ash.

“Feel this,” Charlie said.

Ben knelt down and touched the ash gently.

It was warm.

“Not more than two or three hours old, I'd say,” Charlie said.

Ben felt his whole body tense. “My parents,” he whispered, staring into the fireplace, and then at a stunned Natalie and a grinning Charlie.

“Are you absolutely sure, Charlie?” Natalie said. “How did you know the fireplace was warm from across the room?”

Charlie tapped his nose. “I've got a strong sense of smell.”

“On par with a bloodhound,” Ben said.

Ben got up and surveyed the room, hands on hips. It was clear this was some sort of common room for the Guardians, or anyone else able to get in.

“I wonder what they were doing here,” Natalie said.

“Hiding, probably,” Charlie said.

Ben nodded. It made sense. “Let's take a look around.”

They found nothing further of interest until they approached the table. The boots that were missing from the statue were placed on the table, on top of a whole pile of books and documents.

Charlie scrambled up onto one of the chairs to get a better look. He started picking up documents and books, and scanning them with computer-like speed. “This is fascinating. These are all about the same thing.”

To Ben's frustration, Charlie was so immersed in reading a long yellow parchment that he failed to elaborate. Ben turned his attention to the books; the moment he read a few of the titles, he knew what Charlie meant.
A History of the Forreck. Forrecks and Where to Find Them. Forrecks: Should They Be Terminated? Crystal Dragon vs. Forreck: The Ultimate Battle.
Ben saw a section highlighted in yellow by someone in the book
How to Survive a Forreck.

“While almost immune to magic, forrecks show some vulnerability to the very strongest fire and air spells. There have also been rumours that their powers of regeneration do not extend to severed limbs, though a documented case has yet to be proven.”

Ben turned his attention to another open book, titled
A History of the Forreck.
There were just two lines highlighted in different places.
“It is of interest to note that, though forrecks tolerate sunlight, they do not enjoy it. The forreck is, by nature, an underground animal.”
The other piece simply said,
“Never attempt to look a forreck in the eye.”

The more Ben read, the more obvious it became: his parents were searching for ways to overcome a forreck.

“But why?” Natalie asked, when Ben voiced his conclusion.

“Listen to this!” Charlie said. He was now sitting on the table, with two or three different books balanced on his lap.

“In the early days, forrecks were used as protectors for royalty or for artefacts of the most extreme value. Contrary to belief, they can be trained by a highly skilled beastmaster, though there are known to be fewer than a dozen of such men and women capable of such a feat. When successfully trained, a forreck can protect a designated area or even an item for the duration of its life. As forrecks are second only to dragons in longevity, that is often several hundred years.”

Charlie stopped reading and looked up. “What if there was a forreck protecting a piece of Elizabeth's Armour?”

A stunned silence ensued as the three of them absorbed Charlie's revelation.

“Which piece?” Natalie asked.

All eyes went to the item on the table.

“The boots would be my guess,” Charlie said.

Ben and Charlie were grinning from ear to ear at the discovery, but Natalie wore a worried frown.

“I don't want to alarm you, Ben, but if your parents are trying to overcome a forreck, they could be in real danger.”

“What have you heard about them?” Ben asked.

“They are famous for being the only creature to be able to take on a fully grown dragon.”

Charlie whistled. “That's impressive.”

“Impressive but also very scary,” Natalie said. “Especially if your parents, Ben, are trying to find a way past one. I'm not sure it's even possible.”

Ben's elation subsided.

Charlie, however, shook his head. “That may not be entirely true.”

“What do you mean?”

Charlie pointed to a paragraph in a book he was reading. Not only had the section been highlighted, it had also been circled heavily in black.

“Listen to this. It's from a book called
Forrecks: The Truth Behind the Myths
by a bloke called Lornor Taren. It says,
'Among the many myths and legends about forrecks is that, short of a crystal dragon on your side, they are invulnerable. That, I have discovered, is not entirely true. They may have a weakness, but I am still gathering further evidence before I am willing to publish such an important revelation.'
”

Charlie closed the book and looked up. “That's all he says.”

Ben swore. “If this guy is right, that could be exactly what my parents need to get past the forreck and retrieve the boots.”

“Perhaps he revealed his revelation in some later book?” Natalie said.

Charlie nodded. He was already grabbing several others. “I'll keep looking.”

Charlie was such a frenzy of activity on the table that Ben and Natalie realised they would just be getting in his way if they tried to help, so they decided to wander round the room to see what else they could find.

Despite the urgency of the situation, Ben felt in no rush; quite the opposite, in fact. This was where his parents hung out. The thought made his insides warm and tingly, and it felt relaxing just to be in this special place, unwatched and unknown by the Institute and even the Shadowseeker. He almost didn't want Charlie to find something so they could stay in here as long as possible. Ben inspected each book on the shelf with interest, wondering if his parents had read any of them. There was a coat rack, and Ben's heart jumped when he recognised one of his mum's jackets. His eyes drifted to a glass display cabinet, with strange and wonderful items that seemed too precious for even Ben's curious hands to touch.

Until he saw the pouch.

It was a deep red, embossed with the letters G.G. in an elegant gold font. It sat there quite innocently, sitting in between a peculiar leather boot and a glass orb. It was filled with spell pellets. Ben's hands suddenly felt sweaty. He glanced around and saw Charlie still busy dissecting the books on the table, and Natalie busy looking at some diagram on the wall. Ben turned back to the cabinet and eased open the glass door. He poked his head in, until his nose was almost touching the pouch. It looked really valuable, a far cry from the ones they had bought a few weeks ago. What sort of spells would be in there? Powerful ones, no doubt. Ben reached in and picked it up. It was soft, but sturdy, and heavier than he expected. Ben stared at the pouch until his eyes started to water. He started to put it back, but hesitated, and gave Charlie and Natalie another look. Both were still busy. With a sudden unexplainable impulse, Ben slipped the pouch into his pocket. Quickly he shut the cabinet and stepped away before either of them might notice.

Ben found he was breathing heavily, and knew without inspecting that his face was flushed. He took several deep breaths and with some effort put on an air of nonchalance, resuming his inspection of the room as if nothing had happened.

“Ben!”

Natalie's voice echoed around the room and made Ben jump. He turned, his face guilty, but to his relief saw Natalie still staring at the same diagram.

“Check this out!” she said, waving vigorously to him, her eyes never leaving the diagram.

Ben checked his pocket to make sure the pouch wasn't creating an obvious bulge before joining her.

The diagram Natalie was looking at turned out to be a family tree. Names were scrawled on the paper, with lines branching out to other names that had similar surnames. Beside each name was a date. Ben spotted the name at the top of the family tree and promptly forgot all about the pouch he'd taken.

Charlotte Rowe.

“It looks like your parents are looking for Charlotte Rowe's ancestor,” Natalie said. “Look how far they got.”

The family tree extended down to the 19th century before the names ran out, with the last name being “Craypole”, still two hundred years short of present time.

“Each original director got a piece of the Armour, right?” Natalie said. She sounded breathless and Ben was surprised to see how excited she looked, until he remembered her admiration for Charlotte Rowe. “I bet Charlotte Rowe was entrusted with the boots!”

It made sense, Ben admitted. If they were searching for the boots, which seemed likely, given their position on the table, then this family tree made it a good bet they were entrusted to Charlotte.

“Looks like they had a ways to go,” Ben said, inspecting the chart once more.

“I bet I could continue it,” Natalie said. She was already walking over to the table to grab a piece of paper and a pen. “Finding this person could be just as important as searching for the boots. They might know a way past the forreck – they might even still have the boots themselves!”

“Well, that sounds more promising than anything I've found since that initial blitz,” Charlie said. He jumped down from the table and sank into one of the squishy leather chairs, which nearly engulfed him. “I found a few more books by Lornor Taren, who seems to be the leading authority on forrecks, but I couldn't find anything to help us.”

Ben joined Charlie, taking a chair opposite him, and Natalie did the same.

“Why don't we start with what we know,” Ben said. “My parents are…” He trailed off because Charlie was shaking his head. “What?”

“We don't know for sure that it's your parents,” Charlie said.

“Who else would it be?”

“I don't know. But it's only an assumption until we have concrete evidence that it is your parents.”

“It seems quite likely, though, you have to admit, Charlie,” Natalie said. “After all, we know they are looking for Elizabeth's Armour and the passageway was linked directly to Ben's dad's locker.”

Charlie nodded. “I agree. It is extremely likely – I'm just saying we don't know for sure.”

“Fine,” Ben said, suppressing a slight irritation at Charlie's pedantic mind. “Someone,
possibly
my parents, is looking for a way to defeat this crazy powerful creature called a forreck, because we
think
it could be guarding a piece of Elizabeth's Armour, most likely to be her boots, which have probably been handed down to a descendant of Charlotte Rowe's. How does that sound?”

“You nailed it,” Charlie said.

“So where does that leave us?” Natalie asked, idly twiddling her hair.

“We need to track down this Lornor Taren bloke,” Ben said. “He's the one who wrote that forrecks might have a weakness. Let's go and find him.”

“It's not that simple, Ben,” Natalie said. “We don't know who he is, where he is, or if he's even still alive.”

“Not entirely true, actually,” Charlie said, standing up suddenly, his eyes regaining some of their former energy. He hurried over to the table and started sifting through the books.

“Ah! Here it is.” He grabbed a large, hardback book and hurried back over. It was called
The Hundred Most Influential Beastmasters of the 21st Century.

Charlie started thumbing through the pages, stopping finally with another exclamation.

“Listen to this,” Charlie said, and he started reading.

“The elf Lornor Taren is perhaps the oldest and certainly most controversial beastmaster still living (as of publication date, 2012). Born in the 17th century, Mr. Taren spent his first hundred years working on the great farms of Unn, before gaining employment at SpellWorks Inc., where his passion for beasts flourished. He rose swiftly through the ranks and became head of Animal Enchantments, where he lasted for several centuries, before being controversially removed for his outspoken opinion against the Royal Institute of Magic's mission to cull the forrecks for the protection of the Unseen Kingdoms. At the time of writing, he still works at SpellWorks Inc., but his position is not clear, and SpellWorks refused to comment when approached.”

“Well, he's still alive,” Ben said. “We just need to find out where this SpellWorks Inc. place is.”

Natalie gave Ben a surprised look. “Oh my. I completely forgot you weren't brought up here. Everyone knows about SpellWorks Inc. – they're famous. Think Google but for all things magic. They are the biggest manufacturer of spell pellets, artefacts and other magical items.”

Ben and Charlie exchanged gleeful looks.

“How do we get in?” Charlie asked.

“That's the tricky part. It is strictly off limits to non-employees, unless you have a special guest pass, which are like gold dust these days.”

“So what's the plan?” Ben asked.

Natalie smiled. “We sneak in.”

“I like it,” Ben said. Charlie looked less than thrilled with the idea.

“One thing doesn't make sense,” Natalie said, her attention going back to the book Charlie had just read from. “It says the forrecks were culled. I thought they were supposed to be invincible?”