The Archimage Wars: Wizard of Abal (43 page)

As we walked in the chamber, nearly
10,000 marble warriors all came to attention at one moment, the
sound was nearly deafening. Once they were at attention, they were
again as still as marble.

“
I have been busy,”
Finnabair stated. “On Earth, I once built an army for a Bakemono
Third, who asked for my help. At the time, I felt the balance of
power shifting, so I gave him his army. Unfortunately, things
changed so the army was never used, and was later buried where they
stood, but that is a story for another time.”

“
The power to build this
many marble golems would take a lot of sigils!” Hydan muttered, and
then whistled. “You couldn’t do it, not alone!”

“
No, I had help, but they
shall remain nameless for now, it is up to them to tell you their
part, if they choose.”

“
I don’t see any sigils
carved on them,” I noted, remembering the rock golems which Toji
had faced when we had first met.

Finnabair smiled, “They are there,
just hidden in places. Unlike the army I made on Earth, this golem
army is under my command, and I will use my Portal to take them
briefly to Earth and from there back to Abal, where we will come
out at some underwater ruins, where an old Saeran Portal is located
deep in Lake Graen. That portal is very near Ouroboros; I doubt
Morgain even knows it is there.

“
My golem army will then
approach the town underwater, coming up on the bottom of the river
Trent toward Ouroboros, and then emerge to surprise Morgain’s
generals when they are attacked by my golem army. I will coordinate
this so it takes place at the same time you try to enter Mystical
Island, as will my counteroffensive here at Ivory Castle. I believe
Medrod may even go to one of these two locations, and Morgain might
possibly go to the other lest they lose a large portion of their
mobile army to our offensive.”

“
And that’s when we sneak
onto Mystical Island!” I said with satisfaction.

She nodded. “But let’s talk about the
next goal of your mission and the plan for that!”

When all plans had been made, and we
were on the eve of departure, my mother took me to her sitting room
alone.

“
Nick,” she began, as if
not quite knowing how to broach a subject.

I just waited her out.

After a slight pause, she continued,
“I have to tell you something important.”

“
All right,
shoot.”

She took a breath, and then said,
“Your father… doesn’t know you are his son.”

My brow furrowed at this
revelation.

“
Now you tell me?” I
noted.

She sighed, “I’ve been trying to
figure out the best way of telling you, and well, you are going on
your mission tomorrow and I just ran out of time, so now I’m just
blurting it out.”

I thought about the
implications.

She just watched me, seeing my mind
working.

Finally, I said, “Correct me if I’m
wrong, but this happened a long time ago, so there has been plenty
of time for you to tell my father, which means you purposely didn’t
tell him, why?”

She closed her eyes, not really in
pain, more like she was trying to tie a bunch of things together in
her head. Then she said, “There isn’t just one reason, you see, at
first it was because, well, he was dealing with a very tense
situation. The Dragon had fled to Earth, and I didn’t want to
distract him from the search. I went to Earth after your father,
which is where you were born, but I just couldn’t find the right
moment. He was embroiled in the whole Dragon affair at the time,
with much on his mind. So I waited, and I waited too long because
you were taken.”

“
How did that happen?” I
asked.

She shook her head, “It is every
mother’s nightmare, but there are just moments when you must be
away from your child, even if those are short. All I did was put
you down while I tried to find the words to tell your father he had
a son, but then I heard something from the nursery. I ran there and
you were gone, but there was a Star on the floor. It was still
fresh enough, so I repowered it and jumped through, trying to find
you. I arrived in Rome, and there I lost the trail. I searched for
you for many, many years, never giving up hope, and always
wondering why you were taken; I still don’t know.”

“
And you never told this to
my father?”

She looked stricken, “How could I? I
had kept you hidden from him, when if he had known perhaps he could
have protected you. Then I lost his son. I swore to find you before
I ever told your father the truth.”

I nodded. “OK, so when I meet him I
will have to explain things.”

She tilted her head slightly and
winced as she said, “I wish you would hold off on that. If you
would indulge me, just a little. You see, I would like to be the
one who finally tells him the truth, I’ve held onto this secret for
so many years I feel I must be the one to tell him. It will lift a
shadow from my soul.”

“
All right, so what DO I
tell him?”

“
Only the truth… just not
all of it. You can tell him you are a loyal Sivaeral wizard, sent
by The White Enchantress to rescue the Archimage, which is all
true. Just leave out the fact that you know he’s your father, and
my name.”

That last part puzzled me, “Why hide
your name?”

“
No one, including your
father, knows who The White Enchantress really is, except for you
and your companions. If he doesn’t know you were sent by Finnabair,
he is less likely to ask you hard questions about who you really
are, he will be more concerned about who I am.”

“
And if he asks me who you
are?”

“
Tell him I am a sorceress
on his side, who wishes to remain anonymous, which is
true.”

I nodded, “And what if he asks me who
I am?”

She spoke very softly, “Tell him you
lost your memory and came to Sivaeral seeking to find your father
or mother. That is only a white lie, for it is true, it just
doesn’t tell him what you learned later. I will explain to him that
I asked you to keep your relationship from him so I could tell him
the truth.”

I thought about it and nodded. “I will
give you your chance to tell him the truth if I can.”

She smiled, “That is the best I can
ask for, Nick. You must also talk to your companions, and entreat
them to keep this secret as well. It is very important! In fact,
you should have them keep the fact about my being your mother a
secret, for now, just trust me on this! I will explain more about
this after you return from Mystical Island, you have my
promise.”

I nodded.

“
Now,” she continued, “I
have one last piece of advice for you, should you end up facing
Medrod and Caliburn in combat. Of course, if all goes to plan, that
won’t happen, but plans…”

“
Have a way of going to the
devil,” I said with a smile.

She answered, “Let’s hope THAT doesn’t
happen, but even an Albus plan can go awry. So, if you do find
yourself facing Medrod, and you cannot flee, then remember that
Caliburn holds reality to Medrod’s choice, and neither he nor you
can change that. This is the power and advantage of Caliburn and it
is also its disadvantage.”

“
What do you
mean?”

She shrugged, “I do not know the
circumstance where this might help you, every situation is fluid,
but remember what I said if you find yourself in that situation.
You have Albus blood in you, Nicholas, and we can turn any
disadvantage to an advantage. Figure out how to use Caliburn
against Medrod, even if he is the one wielding the
sword.”

Chapter
Sixteen

I've built
walls,

A fortress deep and
mighty,

That none may
penetrate.

I have no need of
friendship; friendship causes pain.

It's laughter and it's
loving I disdain.

I am a rock,

I am an island.

-Simon &
Garfunkel

Two weeks later we were in position
for ‘the plan’. We had all gone through the Portal in the center
tower of Ivory Castle and arrived on Earth at the Parthenon, in
Greece, which turned out to be a Sivaeral portal. We didn’t stay
long enough for the police to arrive. We'd caused quite a commotion
when we had suddenly appeared in front of a group of French
tourists. Three of the old women fainted, and the rest started
shouting something about ghosts of Greek warriors.

I didn’t have the time or patience to
calm them down, so I just yelled, “Run for the hills, the British
are coming!” and then headed for another place between the pillars
which was the portal back to Abal. This one would take us somewhat
near Mystical Island. Two American teenagers followed us, and were
watching as we entered the Portal, so just before I activated it
and disappeared, I turned and gave them a smile, and then said,
“Beam me up, Scotty!”

From where we arrived back on Abal, we
had to hike thirty some miles to the coast, but we were now at the
shoreline, though we were well south of the position where we had
previously had our adventure with the giant chickens.

Our plan to get past the wall was the
same as last time, with the added caveat of my remaining free, and
of us avoiding the necromage battle. This was accomplished by going
at night, and then being careful this time not to open the passage
into their hallway until we made sure it was empty.

Then it was easy enough to slip into
the water and start swimming for the Island. The next hurdle would
come upon reaching land, where Morgain’s forces and other watchdogs
would be waiting.

It was about this time when Finnabair
started her two offensives. She had contacted Oberon already, so he
knew she was coming, and he was ready to support her with an attack
from within the town, once the marble golems made their
assault.

Back at Ivory Castle, Finnabair’s
Gargoyles were taking wing, and starting their attack on the army
below.

We hoped Medrod’s and Morgain’s
attention would now be on those locations, and perhaps they would
even go to the battlefronts, but we couldn’t be sure.

I’d considered trying to bring some of
my mother’s marble golems with us but finally decided against it.
They would have been difficult to keep secret on the trek to the
coast, and hard to sneak past the wall to the water’s edge.
Besides, we couldn’t bring enough of them to make it a stand-up
fight, so all they would really do is increase the odds of us being
discovered early. No, this had to be a sneak attack, and four mages
were better at sneaking than a few two-ton marble
monsters.

My only other consideration before
this venture had been Fiona. I’d dithered on whether to contact Pox
and through him, add Fiona to our assault team. On the one hand,
another Second would vastly increase our chances in a skirmish with
the M&M duo, but in the end, I told myself I’d decided against
adding her in case making contact via a Summons should alert
Morgain, Medrod, or in the worst case of all, The Dragon. I mean,
all I needed was the evillest of all Archimages to join the party
to make this a complete Charlie Foxtrot. Besides, I rationalized,
this was not an assault, where I had to have enough firepower to
take on the enemy; this was a covert infiltration. If it worked, we
would have plenty of firepower on the way out, when we added the
First Wizard of Abal.

But deep down I knew all of this
reasoning was an excuse, the real truth was, I didn’t want Fiona
hurt, and she would be a big distraction to me if I was worrying
about her on this crazy mission. I figured if I survived, there was
time to sort out my feelings about Fiona, and sooth any ruffled
feathers she might have about being left out of the fun.

None of this mattered anymore, we were
closing in on the shore of Mystical Island, and we had what we had
in the way of mages: Hydan, Toji, Myrka, and me, against all of
Morgain’s defenses. No problem. I just wish we knew what they were
going to be.

We were swimming about thirty feet
beneath the surface, which allowed plenty of light from the Abal
sun to penetrate down. Beneath us, the rays of light faded down
into the dark blue of the ocean depths in rays of twisting light.
Dimly, I saw the ocean floor coming up, and then ahead a darker
area. It was a kelp forest, but as we got near I realized this was
a different kind of plant from the kelp of Earth. For one thing,
each stalk was larger around, with much bigger leaves. The stalks
went from the bottom all the way to the surface, where they laid
over in great matted carpets, effectively blocking out much of the
light. These kelp stalks were also more widely spaced than the
thinner kelp of Earth.

Hydan piped a burst of Abal underwater
speak to me, and said, “I don’t like the looks of this
forest.”

I spoke back, “Well, we have to get
through to reach the shore.”

He nodded, and we angled over to pass
through between two of the towering amber plants. These were plenty
wide apart to let us pass without touching them.