Royal Institute of Magic: Elizabeth's Legacy (21 page)

“I don't think I was
followed,” she said. “At least, I didn't notice anyone,
but I wasn't paying that much attention.”

“I think we're okay for
now,” Ben said.

Natalie joined them at the table.
“I can't believe the Commander was out and about; he's normally
so reclusive. I've only seen him half a dozen times and always inside
the Institute.”

“Have you heard of the book
shop 'Irvine Rainwater'?” Charlie asked.

"I've never been to the
shop, but I recognise the name."

Ben leant forward. “Who is
he?”

“He used to be the Scholar
Director at the Institute. When he got too old, they demoted him to a
less stressful job teaching apprentices the history of the Institute.
He's a history fanatic. He retired from the Institute last year. I
didn't know he had set up his own book shop, but it makes sense. He
was a super bookworm.”

Ben tapped his fingers on the
table. “I wonder why the Commander went to see Irvine
Rainwater. It must have been important to go during the day if he's
normally so reclusive.”

“I really don't know,”
Natalie said. She didn't seem that interested either.

Charlie, however, was nodding and
tapping his chin thoughtfully. “I bet it had something to do
with the Institute's history.”

“Not necessarily,”
Natalie said with a perfectly straight face. “Irvine Rainwater
was also famous for making a superb cup of tea. Maybe the Commander
was just craving a good cuppa.”

Ben and Charlie opened their
mouths, but no words came out.

“That was a joke,”
Natalie said. “Clearly not a very good one, though.”

Charlie cleared his throat.
“Actually it wasn't bad.”

Natalie smiled and held out the
jackets. “These are for you.”

It was obvious Natalie's opinion
of the Commander wasn't going to change. Ben was still convinced the
Commander was a mystery worth solving, but since he was unlikely to
get another chance at meeting him, it hardly mattered right now.

“Green isn't really my
colour,” Charlie said, looking at his jacket doubtfully.

Ben filed the conundrum away and
looked over his own jacket. “Will they be warm enough? You said
it was cold in Borgen and these look more like spring jackets.”

Natalie smiled. “They have
an all-weather enchantment.”

“What does that mean?”

“Put them on and see.”

Ben was already a little hot and
the thought of wearing a jacket was distinctly unappealing. But the
moment he slipped it on his entire upper body cooled down and he let
out a sigh of relief.

“Pretty cool,” Ben
said, leaving his jacket on.

Natalie stood up. “There
are a few other things we need to get, but those we have to buy.
First, we need to draw out some money. Follow me.”

Ben gave Charlie an apprehensive
look at the mention of money, but Charlie was too busy staring at
everything they passed to notice. So concerned was Ben, he didn’t
spot the familiar red sign until they were on the building’s
doorstep.

A flame came out of a white oval
on a red background. The red signage was fit snugly above the door.

It was a Santander bank.

“I know I shouldn’t
be saying this after everything we’ve been through – but
this cannot be possible,” Charlie declared.

Ben silently agreed, but Natalie
just smiled and pulled a Santander card from her pocket. It looked
identical to the ones at home.

“You have to register the
card with the bank to have it work here,” she said, as if that
explained everything.

Natalie approached something
resembling a cash machine next to the bank’s door. It had no
keypad or buttons of any sort and instead of a display area, there
was an empty black hole and an over-sized card slot, which Natalie
placed her card into. A small hairy hand reached out from inside the
machine and grabbed it.

“What was that?”
Charlie asked in alarm.

“The cashier –
watch.”

A small figure materialised from
the blackness of the display. He was chubby, with a well-kept ginger
beard and ruddy cheeks. He sat on a stool wearing a crisp, black suit
and red tie.

The cashier studied Natalie’s
card for a minute. When he found what he was looking for, he gave a
little sigh and a curt nod.

“Good morning, Ms. Dyer,”
he said in a bored voice. “How can I help you?”

“Good morning. Could you
tell me how much I have in my current account?”

“You have five hundred and
twenty-eight pounds, forty-four pence,” the cashier droned.

Natalie drummed her hand on the
cash machine. “I would like to take out five hundred pounds
please.”

Ben could have sworn the cashier
winced. His hands went into the blackness and drew out a small wad of
cash, which he counted exactly into Natalie’s hands.

“Anything else I can help
you with?” the cashier asked, clearly hoping there wasn’t.

“No, thank you.”

“Would you be interested in
joining our Super Saver?” Though the cashier spoke with
civility, Ben could almost visualise him staring at his nails. “To
qualify you need to deposit five hundred pounds a month.”

Natalie declined and the cashier
bid them goodbye, descending slowly back into the blackness.

“The richer you are, the
nicer they act,” Natalie said. “They treat Wren like a
goddess when she draws out money. They are supposed to treat everyone
equally, but it’s difficult. Dwarves love money.”

“Why don’t they hire
someone else?”

“Because dwarves are
geniuses when it comes to arithmetic.”

Ben couldn’t help staring
at the big wad of cash Natalie had drawn out. Five hundred pounds was
way beyond anything he could get his hands on.

“Are we really going to
spend all that money?”

“Yes, but don’t
worry,” Natalie said, seeing Ben’s concern. “I plan
on getting it back from the Institute once this is all over.”

“Does everyone use the
English pound here?”

Natalie nodded. “Elizabeth
introduced it in the sixteenth century when her armies first
discovered the Unseen Kingdoms. Since then it has become the accepted
currency.”

“So, what are we buying?”
Charlie asked, looking around eagerly.

“You'll see,” Natalie
said. “Follow me.”

Ben didn’t share Charlie’s
excitement for shopping because he was usually broke. Natalie led
them past several familiar shops meshed in between others that were
unique to Taecia.

“How do all these shops
exist here?” Charlie asked. “It looks like half the
retail industry knows about the Unseen Kingdoms.”

“Not quite,” Natalie
replied. “The Department of Trade at the Institute is
responsible for establishing relationships with high street shops.
Only a handful of top executives from the shops will know about the
Unseen Kingdoms.”

Ben attempted to walk with his
head turned so he could stare at the passing shop windows, trying to
dodge the throngs using peripheral vision. It worked until he came
upon a store that made both him and Charlie stop, causing a near
pile-up.

Westminster Armoury was clearly a
popular shop, attracting a great deal of attention from passers-by.
It reminded Ben of a Ferrari store he once passed in London that cast
a hypnotic spell upon every passing male. Ben and Charlie plastered
their faces against the window while Natalie continued on her way,
oblivious to the fact that she was now alone.

Nearly everyone was staring at
the same thing – a shining silver breastplate, embossed with
Queen Elizabeth’s royal coat of arms. Below it was a sign that
said, “Official replica approved by the Royal Institute of
Magic:
£9,999.
”

Ben stared in astonishment at the
price tag, but that was apparently not much of a deterrent.

“…sold out in three
hours I heard,” an excited onlooker said, whose face was also
plastered to the window.

“I’ve got an uncle
whose sister’s husband has a contact and apparently he’s
top of the waiting list.”

“Does it make you
invincible like the original?”

“Of course not. Anyway, the
original didn’t make Elizabeth invincible, that’s just
made up.”

“Still, look at those
enchantments it comes with. I’d feel invincible wearing that.”

“For that money I’d
rather buy a second-hand car or even a griffin.”

Elizabeth’s replica
breastplate wasn’t the only item on display; there were swords,
shields, spears, crossbows and other weapons he’d never seen
before.

“Ben, Charlie!”

Natalie picked her way through
the crowd and dragged them both away. “I should have known
you’d get hypnotised by that shop.”

Ben was so busy trying to get a
last look at the armoury he didn’t see Natalie stop and bumped
into her.

“Here we are,”
Natalie said after Ben had apologised.

Ben hadn’t expected
anything to top the armoury shop, but he was wrong – very
wrong.

The shop signage extending from
the wall was a wizard’s hat, cast in silver with the letter “W”
imprinted on it. There was no shop name Ben could see, but that
wasn’t affecting custom; there was a queue to get in.

“They pride themselves on
service so they don’t like it crowded inside,” Natalie
said. “Do you still have the Institute ID cards you used to get
to Taecia?”

When they nodded she led them to
the head of the queue to a man whom Ben strongly suspected was a
half-giant guarding the entrance door. Natalie presented her
Institute ID card, which the giant man peered at, then nodded and
beckoned her enter. Ben and Charlie did likewise and they entered the
shop, ignoring the envious stares of the waiting crowd.

“Perks of the job,”
Natalie said with a smile.

Ben didn’t know where to
look first. There were three rows of varnished oak tables that ran
the length of the store. On top of the tables, mounted on small
stands, were Spellshooters of every conceivable design. There were
other items too – orbs, staffs, shimmering cloaks and many more
objects Ben couldn’t even identify.

“Who makes all this stuff?”
Charlie asked, staring at the tables.

“They are manufactured by
the Unseens, especially the elves. They package their magic and sell
it to humans.”

Ben noticed the majority of
customers were men and women. “Sounds like good business for
the Unseens.”

Natalie nodded. “Even
before Queen Elizabeth and her Institute arrived, the Unseens made
good money dealing with humans within the Kingdoms. When Elizabeth
arrived, business exploded.”

“If you can buy magic,
aren’t the richest people the most powerful?” Charlie
asked.

“Not necessarily. The best
spells can only be cast by those with extraordinary willpower and
concentration.”

Ben was so glued to the items
that it took him a moment to realise someone had walked up to them.

“Can I help you today?”
a friendly voice asked.

The enquirer had pointed ears and
shoulder-length, brown hair. He wore a tunic and breeches, with
leather boots and a cloak. Everything was coloured in earthy greens
and browns except for the small silver badge on his tunic, which read
“Wizard”.

There were dozens of such elves
scattered around the store, assisting people, instructing them on an
item or just standing there looking helpful.

“We’re looking for
spells,” Natalie said.

“Second floor,” the
elf wizard said. “My colleagues upstairs will be happy to help
you with any questions you have.”

Natalie had to use physical force
to pry Ben and Charlie away from the tables and up a spiral staircase
located in the centre of the room.

The second floor consisted of
rows of shelves so tall they touched the ceiling. Ladders were placed
everywhere to help customers reach the upper levels. Each shelf was
filled with glass containers and in them were spell pellets of every
size and colour, creating a rainbow glow that permeated the room.
Hanging from the ceiling above each shelf were signs like “Fire”
and “Water/Earth”, which Ben assumed indicated the
elements of the spell.

“First, we need pouches,”
Natalie said.

“Pouches?” Ben said,
exchanging a confused look with Charlie.

Natalie led them to a shelf
filled with hundreds of different pouches of varying colours. She
picked out a red one and started inspecting the stitch.

“What are these for?”
Ben asked.

“To carry the spells,”
she said. “We are going to buy you and Charlie a few basic
spells so you can protect yourselves.”

Ben stared at the pouch. They
looked a bit feminine for his taste. “We can cast spells with
this?”

“Very basic ones. The
spells are no way near as powerful as those fired from a
Spellshooter, to say nothing of the range, since you are throwing
instead of shooting. But they are still useful and it’s very
easy to learn.”

Natalie picked up another pouch,
this one green. “The trouble is there are so many pouches to
choose from. Each one has different properties; some make spell
casting easy but sacrifice the spell’s power; others retain the
full force of the spell but are difficult to use.”

Natalie picked up another pouch;
this one had a chequered pattern. As far as Ben could see, each of
the pouches she had chosen cost about twenty pounds.

“These are the three
contenders,” Natalie said. She juggled the three in her hands
and with a completely serious face said, “All of them come with
the standard vanishing spell, so they disappear if anyone searches
you. The problem is, I can’t decide which fabric to go with.
The red one has a nice feel, but I don’t like the style,
whereas this chequered one, while ugly, has a much nicer stitch. What
do you think?”

Ben was about to tell her he
couldn’t care less, but thankfully Charlie stepped in.