The Archmage Unbound (36 page)

I looked at Marc’s sister. She was a
wreck. Tears stained her cheeks and her eyes were swollen. I had given her
quite a fright. Still my heart was not capable of much compassion, not yet
anyway. Mechanically I embraced her, “I’m sorry for scaring you.” Then I
pushed her away and headed for the teleportation circles. I needed to see
Joe. “Tell your father I’ll pay the bill for the door,” I said absently as I
went.

At first she didn’t answer but as I
passed from her view I heard her mutter behind me, “Nobody cares about the damn
door, least of all Father. We just want you to stay sane Mordecai.” She
probably thought I hadn’t heard her, not that it mattered.

***

I found Joe pacing outside the building
housing the teleportation circles in Castle Cameron. His eyes lit on me
emerging from the double doors with obvious relief. “Thank the gods you came
back!”

I gave him a grim stare. “You know
better than to praise the gods in front of me Joe.”

His face registered shock at my tone,
“It’s just an expression of habit…”

“Well change it. Where’s the note she
sent you?” I said bluntly.

“Ya know I’ve spent most of every day
waiting out here for you to return and sure enough you show up when I’m in the
privies…” he said nervously. His slightly foreign accent became more
pronounced when he was anxious. Reaching into his jacket he withdrew a sealed
envelope.

I took it from him and began walking.
He fell in beside me. “I’ll take lunch in my rooms,” I told him.

“Pardon ser?”

“I’ll be in my rooms for a while, thinking.”
I held up the envelope and waved it at him. “I’m sure I’ll have a lot to think
about. Make sure I’m not disturbed, except for some food and wine.”

“Of course your Lordship,” he said and
when we entered the keep proper he headed in the direction of the kitchens to
relay my instructions to the cook. As he walked away I felt a twinge of guilt
for my abrupt behavior. Joe was a friend, and I had rarely treated him
roughly. Hopefully he would understand later.

Pushing that thought aside I mounted the
stairs leading up to the apartments I had until recently shared with my wife.
That thought made me clench my teeth anew.

Once I had closed the door behind me I
carefully opened the envelope Joe had given me. It was still sealed with the
bit of wax she had carefully pressed onto it. The impression in the wax showed
the delicate seal of a woman’s ring, small and bearing the Cameron arms. I
held my breath as I pulled it loose and looked at the contents.

My Love,

I know how frustrated and
angry you are, for I have seen the events that have led you to this moment.
What I do not know is how you will react to these words. My hope is that you
will take my advice and do what is best for everyone. The vision I saw was one
in which you did not receive this, and I did not like what I saw. You must not
let your anger blind you, if you do so, you will damn us all, starting with
yourself.

The man I know, the man I
love, is given to compassion. Do not let this break your spirit. I have seen
what will happen if you pay heed to your darker impulses. It is a bleak and
empty path, and you will no longer be the man I have loved. There is still
hope if you do not despair. I cannot say more than that.

I must apologize for the
deplorable lack of information here. I cannot tell you most of what I have
seen, lest it change things even further beyond what I have seen. You will
have to trust me yet again. I will say that I had no intimation of any of this
until you left us in Lancaster. That was probably for the best, for I doubt I
could have kept it a secret if I had known. You would have seen through my
acting and drawn the secret from me, possibly dooming everyone.

Here is the important part,
the part that might change the future for the better. Do not let your anger
rule you. The wizard in Lancaster’s dungeon is not your enemy. His surname is
Prathion, and if you will open your heart he may be your greatest ally. Ask
him who healed Miriam; his answer should help you understand.

Do not seek vengeance with
the king. That may come later. Your answers lie with the shiggreth for now.

That is it. I can say no
more, nor can I offer you any consolation. Do not let grief warp your heart
and soul. You are not the first, nor the last to suffer a tragedy, but your
actions from this day onward could do much to reduce the number of people that
lose their loved ones. Do not lose hope. Show the world the kind heart that I
have always loved.

Love,

Penelope

P.S. If you ignore my
advice I will make you regret it for the rest of this life and into the next
one, if there is such a thing, and I’m not joking.

The last line made me smile through my
tears. “Your handwriting is still simply awful my dear,” I said to myself with
a chuckle that turned into a choked sob. Taking hold of myself I drew a deep
breath and carefully refolded the sheet of paper and set it aside on my writing
table. I didn’t want it marred or damaged by a thoughtless accident or poor
judgment on my part. Once I had it safely tucked away I slowly collapsed on
the floor. I lay there for a long time and my sorrow threatened to drown my
reason, but I didn’t let it.
That’s not what she wanted,
I thought to
myself.

What she would want me to do
is think, and think carefully,
I mentally
reminded myself. “I cannot promise you I will retain my kindness and
compassion,” I said, speaking as if to her directly. “But I won’t let anger
control me, I will be cold and clever, like a viper, until I have gotten my
vengeance. Justice can be damned, I will make those responsible pay.” I
clenched my jaw as I said the words.

I lay there on the floor for some time,
until a servant knocked, delivering the meal I had asked for earlier. I opened
the door calm and composed, with little trace of the turmoil inside remaining
on my features. After I had eaten I spent the rest of the day thinking. My
next steps would be made carefully lest I give away my intentions to my
enemies.

That evening I took out the silver
stylus I had found and began working on an item I thought might prove useful.
It took several attempts before I got the rune structure properly balanced, but
luckily I was able to test my device upon myself to ensure it worked properly.
The final adjustments were trickier, since I had to be careful not to
accidentally trigger it and possibly injure myself. I did that part while
using the strongest shield I could create, but I still wasn’t certain it would
protect me at such a close range if I made a mistake.

By the time midnight had arrived I had
finished and I felt my plans were as complete as I could make them. I decided
to put myself to bed.
I had taken to approaching each step with methodical carefulness, as if it was
a ritual. I did the same with retiring. I washed up and removed my dirty
outerwear, taking care to neglect nothing. It almost felt as if I had a duty
to Penny to properly manage the mundane tasks of life. She would have wanted
me to take care of myself. Still, it took me a half-bottle of wine before
sleep would claim me, and my dreams were far from restful.

I returned to Lancaster bright and early
the next morning. I had taken particular care with my grooming and when I
appeared every hair was in place. My beard and mustache were carefully trimmed
and my clothing was immaculate. Again, I felt it was something Penny would
have wanted, though upon further consideration it might have been a symptom of
the effort I was taking to control the emotions within myself.

James met me soon after I had entered.
He appraised my appearance with one look and I saw a look of approval in his
eyes. “You look better today Mordecai.”

“Indeed your Grace, I am much improved.
I hope you can forgive my behavior yesterday, I was distraught,” I told him in
overly formal tones.

“No need to be so serious, we’re family
after all,” he told me. In point of fact his wife was my aunt, a fact I had
learned only two years previously.

“The formality is perhaps part of my way
of coping, sir. I hope you’ll understand, but I cannot afford to be too loose
with my emotions right now,” I replied.

“Are you referring to the ‘earthquake’
we had yesterday?”

William must have seen more than I had
thought and of course he had spoken with his master. Of course I couldn’t have
reasonably expected them not to connect the dots even without William’s
account. “I got a bit carried away. The worst is over now, please don’t
worry. I won’t let something like that happen again,” I reassured him.

James’ eyes crinkled into an expression
of sympathy. “There’s more to come lad, you know that from your father’s
passing. It never really goes away.”

“How has Lady Thornbear taken it?” I
asked suddenly. I felt a bit selfish for not having thought of her before; she
had lost her only son after all. I was not the only one suffering.

I could see the duke’s jaw clench, “She
has dealt with it admirably, like all those of her lineage. Still it has been
hard on her, having just lost Gram two years ago, and now her son as well. She
has kept to her quarters for the most part, though Genevieve and your mother
have visited her frequently.”

I nodded, for I didn’t know what to
say. We walked on toward the hall and James asked if I had eaten. I hadn’t
and so we took breakfast together that morning in his sunroom. Somehow he kept
everyone else away, though I’m sure they all wanted to see me. My mother in
particular certainly, but I wasn’t really ready to deal with her emotions. My
own were almost more than I could stand.

We didn’t talk too much as we ate, but
eventually I brought up my main reason for showing up so early that morning.
“I’m ready to talk to the wizard now,” I said without preamble.

James set his plate aside. “You nearly
frightened poor Ariadne to death yesterday.”

“I need to apologize for that, and to
thank her. If it hadn’t been for her I might have made a serious mistake,” I
replied. “I’d also like to pay for the damage to your door.”

He waved his hands in a dismissive
motion, “Don’t worry about it, we’ve been through too much to squabble over
doors. I’m curious as to what Ariadne might have said to you though, you’ve
calmed down considerably since yesterday.”

I looked down in embarrassment, “She
simply reminded me of things Penny had said before, and what she would think of
what I was planning to do.” I told him the truth, but it was in a roundabout
manner, neglecting entirely the fact that the information had come from one of
Penny’s visions.

We talked for perhaps another quarter of
an hour before I excused myself and went to find my mother. There wasn’t much
use delaying the inevitable. I found her sitting alone in the room Genevieve
had given her. I didn’t fail to notice it was located directly next to the
duke’s own suite, or that there were two guards posted outside it.

The guards stepped aside without a word
as I approached, both of them knew me. I knocked on the door. I already knew
Miriam was inside, and awake, but I didn’t want to startle her. “Yes?” came
her voice a moment later.

“It’s me Mother, may I come in?” I
asked.

“Of course,” she said drawing the bolt
and pulling the door back. “I wondered if you would show up today.”

I gave her a solemn look, “I am sorry
about yesterday. I was not myself.”

She nodded, “I think everyone knows that
already. As far as grief stricken reactions go I don’t think yours was too far
beyond what anyone might have done.” She stepped forward and slid her arms
around me after I had shut the door.

I held her silently for a moment. No
matter how old I might get I didn’t think that simple gesture would ever fail
to comfort me, though I couldn’t help but notice how small she was. Had she
always been so small? “In my stupidity yesterday I didn’t even stop to ask how
your recovery was coming. How badly were you wounded?”

She let go of me and returned to the
table where she had been working on some embroidery. She rarely let her hands
stay idle for long. “I don’t really know,” she answered. “I’ll show you the
scar if you’re not too embarrassed to look at your old mother’s bosom.”

A moment later she bared her chest and
midriff and what I saw there made me gasp. A long silver line traced its way
up from her belly, from just above her naval to her short ribs on the right
side. It had been an ugly wound, yet even more surprisingly; it appeared to be
fully healed. “Does it still hurt?” I asked immediately. She was already
pulling her under tunic down to cover herself again.

Miriam grimaced, “Yes it does. Some of
the tissues underneath are not fully healed as far as I can tell.”

“But how?”

“The last thing I remembered was that
woman’s nasty blade gutting me like a sow in a slaughterhouse. I was trying to
hold my insides in when I blacked out. When I woke up again I was back here,
in bed, and my wound was sealed,” she explained.