The Archimage Wars: Wizard of Abal (50 page)

She was walking slowly around the room
but staying some distance from me. She smiled, and said, “You know
you are being played, right?”

I shook my head, “Are you really going
to try to put doubts in my head about my mother? You, who are an
evil bitch who murders children?”

She smirked at me, “No, not about your
mother, though you should take care, she is an Albus, and there is
more to her plan than you understand. Why do you think she stopped
you from killing me? But right now I’m talking about your father,
the White Knight.”

“
What about my
father?”

She laughed, “He is not a Sivaeral
Wizard, Nicholas. The White Knight is from another House, though
your mother did not bother to inform you of the truth. However,
this is not the first time she has lied to you, is it?”

“
You’re just attempting to
sow mistrust in my mind.”

She smiled, “And it’s working, too.
But, I don’t have to make things up to trouble your mind, the truth
works even better. However, I trust you won’t take MY word for it,
will you?”

“
Never, but I will kill
you!”

She laughed, “You will try, but first
you will seek confirmation of what I have told you, and when you
find it, remember that I spoke the truth when your mother gave you
nothing but lies.”

“
Screw you, bitch! If I
messed up your precious plans, why don’t you just try to kill me
now?”

“
I have much better ways to
hurt you than just killing your body, and I have great plans for
you, Nicholas. However, now that I have had a chance to meet you I
am intrigued, you have so much anger! I could use a mate with your
ability to hate! What is it that drives you to hate me with such
delicious force?”

“
You murdered
Ziny.”

“
Does the death of one
small saeran sorceress matter to you so much? Why was she so
important? I have killed whole lines of mages and with them every
child in that line. What does it matter? In the end, all of you
will die.”

I shook my head sadly at her and said,
“The fact that you do not understand why one small sorceress
matters is the difference between us.”

The left corner of her lips lifted
slightly in an amused smirk, then she changed the subject, “Have
you ever wondered who really took your memory… and why, Nicholas? I
will tell you something which your Albus friends have hidden from
you; your memory can be restored. It was hidden from you, not
destroyed.”

I snarled at her, “Before I kill you,
would you like to tell me what you know of who took my memory, and
why?”

She smiled very slyly and replied;
“Now why would I want to help you? The only reason I am even
talking to you, instead of ending your line, is that you have a
part to play, and, as a side benefit, I wish to cause you pain and
anguish. You will become a thorn in your mother’s side, which is to
my advantage!”

I snorted, “And you tell me this,
expecting that with my knowing your plan, I will still take part in
it?”

Now she actually laughed outright, “Of
course! I am not an Albus; I do not hide my plans beneath so many
layers even I may not know my final end game. I am a simple
sorceress, I follow the orders of my Archimage, and we will be the
last House left alive before the end!”

“
So all of this, the entire
Civil War on Abal, the death of so many mages and other innocent
folk, is all because you have orders from your
Archimage?”

“
Of course,” she
replied.

“
And Medrod, your
‘husband’?”

“
He was just a tool, one
who has now served his purpose. I am leaving Abal, so I have no
need for a Sivaeral husband anymore. Your meddling has managed to
thwart our plans, and for that, you will soon become the focus of
my Archimage. I would tell you to go crawl under a rock, but that
won’t save you, Nicholas. Now, I’m sorry, but I have to keep to my
schedule, after all, I have a new World to destroy and your mother
and father to kill.”

Then she stepped out of the
doorway.

I ran toward where she had departed,
pulling my Bowie knife, but when I rounded the corner I found the
black outline of a Pentagram off in one of the alcoves near the
library entrance. She had obviously prepared her means of departure
ahead of time.

I called out and Hydan ran up, asking,
“What is the matter, Nick?”

I explained and he quickly repowered
the Star, then we both jumped in.

The Star didn’t take us far; we
arrived at my mother’s portal, in the tallest tower of Ivory
Castle. Hydan did a quick sensing of the portal and stated: “I
tracked where she went.”

Once he told me, I whistled, “Really,
that place is real?”

“
Of course, it is one of
the Ten Worlds,” Hydan replied.

I thought about it and then said,
“Well, I think I need to do a little research before we head there,
so we’re going back to Earth first.”

“
Is that the only reason
you are going to Earth?”

I sighed, “No, there is the matter of
Toji and Excalibur. I have to return that Actuality blade to the
Lady of the Lake; I gave her my word, and I also want to know why
Toji would take it from me!”

Hydan nodded, and then said, “Good,
there are a lot of Earth things I still need to experience! Is it
true there is a powerful drink with a snake at the bottom which you
consume?”

I thought about it for a moment, and
then said, “Oh, you mean Ta-kill-ya! But it’s not a snake, it’s a
worm.”

“
A worm? And, if you drink
this brew, and the worm with it, does it really attempt to kill
you?”

I chuckled, “No, that’s just a
nickname for Tequila, though sometimes the hangover makes you wish
the booze had actually killed you.”

Hydan laughed, “I will drink until I
reach this worm and see how it feels afterward!”

“
Go for it,” I said with a
smile, Hydan was irrepressible.

But I wasn’t sharing in his
exuberance, and he noticed my glum look.

Hydan tilted his head and said, “What
has you so troubled, my friend?”

At him calling me ‘my friend’, I gave
him a wan smile, Hydan was my first and best friend, I realized.
Then I answered, “This whole adventure on Abal, we didn’t solve
much. In the end, Morgain escaped.”

He tilted his head in surprise, and
then just laughed, “You have great expectations of yourself, don’t
you? You realize this planet was in a Civil War which had lasted
centuries, and largely through your aid, the war is all but won!
You have released the First Wizard of Abal from a magical prison,
exposed, and ended a plot by the Dokkalfar to take over one of the
Ten Worlds! You have found your mother, and at least know of your
father now, neither of which you knew when you arrived.”

I shrugged, “When you put it like
that, well, it seems like we accomplished a lot of things, but I
only see little Ziny’s head as my knife took it from her
shoulders.”

“
You slew a necromage, not
Ziny. It was Morgain who killed the little saeran girl.”

I nodded slowly, but then spoke sadly,
“I was supposed to protect her!”

“
You cannot protect
everyone, Nick.”

“
No, not even one little
girl it seems,” I said softly, and then my voice hardened, “I’m
going to hunt down that bitch, Morgain.”

Hydan looked uncharacteristically
worried, and said, “Be careful, Nick, though I understand the
reason for your desire to exact revenge, it isn’t a healthy thing
to live for, nor would Ziny want you to live for revenge. There are
other little girls out there, and little boys and all of them can
use your help. How many innocents will perish if you are focused on
this path of revenge while other evil takes place? Will you live
for revenge, or will you follow the example of the compassion for
others which made Ziny the person you loved?”

I thought about that, and I remembered
how Ziny had nearly killed herself to save a Tarvos sorceress who
had tried to kill her earlier. I could keep Ziny alive by following
her example; perhaps that was one way of protecting her memory,
even when she was gone. Then I nodded, “All right, Hydan, I will
try to have the compassion which Ziny showed us, and go save the
other children if I can. But know this; if I do run into Morgain,
I’m going to shorten her about one head’s worth! For now, let’s go
see what Toji is up to with Excalibur, and then try to locate my
mother and father.”

I had Hydan go get Myrka, so we could
depart, but while he was gone I spoke aloud.

“
Merlin Sivaeral, can you
hear me?”

A moment later the bridge was made,
and I heard Merlin’s voice. “Nicholas, it is good to hear your
voice! I only have a few minutes; the offensive to wipe the rest of
Morgain’s forces from Abal needs my almost constant
attention.”

“
How difficult do you think
it will be to free the rest of Abal?” I asked.

He answered, “Militarily? Simple
enough, without Morgain or Medrod, the remaining necromages are a
nuisance, but the outcome is not in question. What will be much
harder is to restore peace and replace fear with belief in the
mages of our world. The mundanes have been terrorized by Morgain’s
necromages, and it will take a lot to regain their trust for those
who practice magic.”

“
If anyone can do it, I’m
sure it’s you,” I said, and queried, “Merlin?”

“
Yes?”

“
I have a question for you,
who is The White Knight?”

There was silence for a moment, and
then he answered, “I don’t know who you are talking about
specifically; are you referring to someone from Earth?”

“
Possibly, I don’t know,” I
replied.

“
Well, on Earth there are
two references I know of that could be who you are talking about,
one from a story, which was based on a myth, though that myth was
derived from some actual truth. The author called the written
version of it, Through the Looking Glass. In his account, one of
the characters was called the White Knight, but later on, he also
referred to himself as The White Knight.”

“
So you are saying that
Lewis Carroll is, or was a wizard?”

“
Most definitely, though
his real name is Charles L. D. Friare. However, there is another
possibility for the identity of your White Knight, one in which I
had a lot more personal involvement. You know the legends of the
time I spent on Earth while dealing with The Dragon?”

“
Yes, there are many
versions, but no clear account of what really happened, but you
said you are Merlin from the legend of King Arthur.”

“
Yes, that is true. There
was a man I knew back then called The White Knight, but he went
more commonly by the name, Lancelot.”

“
Lancelot du Lac? And this
man was a Sivaeral Second?”

Merlin laughed, “Lancelot, a Sivaeral?
Most definitely not, though I understand where the myth of this
could arise from his middle name, du Lac, meaning something to do
with a ‘Lake’, but I think that had more to do with… never mind, I
digress.”

His answer floored me, it meant,
assuming Merlin was telling me the truth, and that Lancelot was the
man my mother told me was my father, then Morgain had been telling
me the truth! My mother had lied to me about my father,
again!

I had not told Merlin why I wanted to
know about the White Knight, and he hadn’t asked, so he really had
no reason to lie to me. I then realized my father was not a
Sivaeral Second!”

“
Lancelot is a Second?” I
asked.

Merlin answered, “Most definitely, I
knew him quite well; in fact he spent a lot of time on Earth with
Guinevere.”

Merlin suspected The White Enchantress
was Guinevere, but he didn’t know she had said the White Knight was
my father. Then again, my mother had told me not to trust Merlin,
so I had to take all this with a grain of salt.

“
I see, all right,” I said
absently, still thinking about my mother lying to me,
again.

At my wandering tone Merlin asked, “I
must be going, Nicholas, is there anything else?”

I almost cut the Spirit Bridge, but
then I said, “Yes, just one more thing.”

“
All right, what is your
question?” the First Wizard of Abal asked.

“
What House is
Lancelot?”

Merlin’s voice answered immediately,
“House Albus. You do know that, on Earth, in olden times, the word
‘Albus’ means ‘white’?”

I said, “The White Knight. Thank you,”
and then closed the bridge.

Hydan and Myrka walked into the room
at that point and saw the strange expression on my face.

“
What has happened,” Myrka
demanded, half raising her hands like she was about to blast
something.

“
I just learned that my
father, The White Knight, is a Second of House Albus.”

Hydan frowned, “But, that cannot be,
your mother is also a Second of that House, so that would make you
a Bastard Second of House Albus! Your Glyph clearly shows you
are…