Tara Duncan and the Spellbinders (36 page)

Wisely, Fabrice decided not to ask any questions and ran off with Manitou. He came back a few moments later, grinning widely.

“I just spent ten seconds in front of a Bloodgrave without being able to say a word. He thought I was sick and wanted to send me to the infirmary. That trick of yours is great. But what's it for, exactly?”

While checking periodically that no one was listening to them, they told Fabrice the whole story, including the tragic episode caused by Angelica. Every so often while they were talking they found themselves unable to say the magic sentence, so they quickly changed the subject, but it wasn't easy. Tara was worried because Fafnir hadn't returned, and she had trouble concentrating.

The dwarf still hadn't reappeared when the lunch bell rang. Well, so be it, Tara thought. They had to prepare their escape, just in case.

In the dining hall she saw Fafnir sitting in the same place as at breakfast, devouring something big that Tara couldn't identify. She cautiously decided to sit down not next to her, but across from her. That way, if the hot-tempered dwarf went for her throat again, she'd have to get across the table first.

Fafnir turned her big doe eyes to Tara, spat out a bone, and muttered, “Information correct. Meeting outside at five o'clock.”

Tara nodded.

Lunch passed quickly, and the spellbinders had barely eaten the final piece of fruit when it was time to go to the Testing Hall, where initial evaluations were held. When they entered it, Cal, Robin, Tara, and Sparrow looked around in amazement.

Before them were trees, ropes, bridges, a river, and a lake, all arranged in a commando-style obstacle course. At the top of a very steep hill glinted a jewel on a pedestal.

A mirror-masked Bloodgrave with a clearly female voice came over. What she did next stunned everybody, especially Tara. The Bloodgrave bowed low in front of her and said, “Good afternoon, Your Imperial Highness. Our Fortress is deeply honored by your presence. My name is Lady Manticore. Welcome.”

Tara turned around to see who she was talking to, but there was nobody behind her. “Er, I'm sorry, but the Highness around here is Sparrow, not me.”

“I know, Your Imperial Highness.” She then bowed to Sparrow: “Your Royal Highness.”

What has this woman been smoking? wondered Fabrice in astonishment. The local herbs must be pretty potent!

“If you don't mind, Your Highnesses, we're going to test your capabilities. Brida!”

“Yes, my lady?” answered a girl Angelica had been chatting with.

“Show Their Highnesses how we work in this hall. You'll be timed from the moment you cross the starting line until the moment you grab the dream stone.”

“Very good, my lady.”

The girl gracefully stepped forward and silently traded her robe for a kind of gray leotard. Then she set out.

The group understood the goal of the exercise the moment the first trap was sprung.

Brida was running on a path toward the first rope when a large pit suddenly opened before her, filled with a writhing mass of monstrous white and red worms. She maintained her momentum and jumped, using magic to soar over the obstacle. In a bound she grabbed the rope and swung up to a branch, balanced there for a moment, then dove into the lake. The banks were too steep and slippery to climb out without help, so Brida swam over to some roots and tried to use them to haul herself out of the water.

Suddenly a black tentacle appeared, lazily coming up behind her. Startling the four newcomers, the spellbinders in attendance started to shout: “Brida, look out for the Kraken! Look out!”

Sensing the gigantic octopus was behind her, Brida desperately tried to get away from it, and her concentration wavered. Her foot slipped and a black tentacle dragged her underwater, to toss her coughing and spitting at Lady Manticore's feet

“Not bad, Brida. What mistake did you make?”

“I lost my focus and didn't get out of the water fast enough. I had to keep swimming to keep afloat so I couldn't help myself by making magic passes. That's why I failed.”

“Very good. Next!”

The two young spellbinders to go next had no better luck. One fell into the pit with the worms, which became angry at being trampled. The worms are harmless if you don't touch them, but they burn like fire at the slightest contact. The unfortunate boy emerged screaming in pain, his face and hands covered with red blotches. That was enough to motivate the second one, who gracefully jumped over the pit, but went down to watery defeat with the Kraken.

Then it was Robin's turn. The half-elf easily avoided the pit, practically flew up to the branch, did a perfect swan dive into the lake, and stayed well clear of the Kraken while climbing the slippery roots out of the water, to a burst of applause.

Lady Manticore's mask turned a thoughtful blue, and she jotted something in her notebook.

The boy hesitated for a moment and then, skipping the path, grabbed a vine and swung from tree to a tree, flying over the traps.

Lady Manticore nodded and wrote something else in her book. Tara was in despair, because Robin was overdoing it. But the half-elf was too caught up in the challenge and had forgotten where he was. With Tara silently cursing him, Robin continued to gracefully jump, leap, and tumble past the obstacles.

He landed at the foot of the hill without any trouble, to a round of enthusiastic applause. Without losing his focus, he carefully studied the hill and began to climb it. He deftly avoided first an avalanche that threatened to sweep him away, then a waterspout that came out of nowhere. If he hadn't, he would've been washed back down into the lake, right into the Kraken's arms.

Once at the top, Robin stopped briefly to examine the pedestal. Then he grabbed the dream stone, backed away, and ran downhill at top speed. Under his feet, the hill began to crack open in a deafening roar. He just had time to levitate onto solid ground before the hill collapsed into a kind of muddy magma.

The Bloodgrave was studying the obstacle course intently. At least Tara assumed she was studying it, because the course and its traps had disappeared.

Robin easily returned to the small group, proudly brandishing his trophy, a dazzling dream stone. He was beaming . . . until he caught Tara's eye and realized what he had done.

Lady Manticore didn't waste any time.

“Come here,”—she glanced at her notes—“Robin, is it?”

“Yes, my lady,” he answered reluctantly.

“Stay right there. I need to check on something.”

Suddenly Cal fell to the ground moaning.

“Oh, my stomach hurts! My lady, I'm in pain.”

The Bloodgrave, who was about to examine Robin, looked down at him. “All right, what's the matter with you?”

“I don't know,” Cal whimpered, “but everything hurts. I was transferred here this morning and—”

His attempt at a diversion didn't work at all. The Bloodgrave, who was probably used to panic attacks, cut him off. She leaned over, touched him, and in an icy voice said, “By Transmitus you can go to the infirmary, they'll cure you of this infirmity.”

When she turned back to Robin, she was giving off an air of menace so strong, it was almost palpable. He was trying to make himself look small, which, given his size, wasn't easy.

“Did I . . . did I do something wrong?” he stammered, as she came closer.

“No, not at all,” she said soothingly. “You did everything perfectly. You made your way past all the obstacles and you got the stone—”

“But then why am I—”

“—which is
impossible
for a normal spellbinder using only their physical capacities! I therefore conclude that you're not normal. And here in the Fortress we don't like things that we don't understand. So come over here.”

Robin didn't move an inch. In fact he backed away, as if he were very frightened. (He wasn't pretending; he really was frightened.) The other apprentices, who didn't understand what was happening, cautiously got out of Lady Manticore's way.

Suddenly she stepped on what she thought was a rope but turned out to be Sheeba's tail. The enraged panther furiously attacked and would have torn the Bloodgrave to ribbons except that she was able to paralyze her with a spell.

Ignoring the blood dripping from her lacerated arm, Lady Manticore growled, “Everybody, stay right where you are! By Pocus, not a one of you can move until this mystery I disprove.”

Tara had experienced paralyzing Pocus spells cast by Mangus and Master Dragosh, but this one was something else again. It glittered with turquoise fire, and its mesh was so tight she could hardly breathe. Gallant was struggling in vain, and Tara realized that she wasn't able to snap her own bonds either. The wizards in Omois had cured her fits of rage, but that also meant she wasn't furious enough to access the power she had when confronting Angelica in the magic shop.

Tara heard a slight noise next to her and realized that it was Fabrice's teeth chattering with fear. Sparrow yelled and tried to shape-shift, but it was too late. Lady Manticore had just touched Robin with her bloody hand. The moment their skin made contact, she screamed: “By the entrails of Isciarus, an elf! And a locator spell!
Alert! Alert!
”

Manticore's magically amplified voice echoed through the entire Fortress, and Bloodgraves immediately materialized all around her. Some were in their work clothes, others in pajamas (in the middle of the day?). One Bloodgrave, dripping with soap suds, held a brush in one hand and was desperately trying to hold up a towel with the other.

A hubbub of voices: “What? What? What's going on?”

Then Magister, with the distinctive red circle on his robe, appeared. From his attitude, you sensed he would pulverize anyone who had disturbed him.

“Who sounded the alarm?” he thundered.

“I did, Master,” Lady Manticore quickly explained. “This elf somehow managed to penetrate the Fortress, and I found a locator spell on him. We have to interrupt it right away, but I can't do that alone!”

“Take it easy,” said Magister. “Even the most powerful spell needs time to activate completely. The clever people hunting us may suspect which direction to look in, but they still don't know the exact place.”

He touched Robin's chest, and the boy flinched at the burning pain. Then Magister made a rough gesture as if he were erasing something, and Robin's face began to change.

His eyes lightened, his eyebrows slanted up to his temples, and his ears lengthened. His hair grew longer, with a few black streaks mixed with the characteristic white elf hair clearly showing his partial human makeup.

“Well, well, well,” said the Bloodgrave master sarcastically. “A nasty little elf! Or rather a half-elf. And a nice locator spell. I can see the hand of our good friend Chemnashaovirodaintrachivu in this. If I analyze the spell, I'll still have a few minutes before they find us. But I'm afraid the process will cost you your elf ears, my friend. I don't think I can cancel the spell that quickly without killing you.”

The four friends turned pale, and Angelica gave a cruel snicker.

“Nooooo!”

Tara's scream shook the Bloodgrave master, who rubbed his ringing ear.

Struggling like a madwoman to free herself from the Pocus, Tara felt power flowing through her veins. As in the magic shop, her eyes turned completely blue and the spell suddenly yielded with a sharp . She levitated, looking down on the scene as Angelica moaned with fear.

Magister was astonished when Tara spoke to him, her voice ringing like a gong: “Let him go! Let him go immediately!”

He didn't react, so she mentally repulsed the Bloodgraves crowded around Robin, scattering them like wisps of straw. Some wound up in the trees, others in the arms of the Kraken, which was quite startled to have so many people in its lake.

A furious Lady Manticore intervened, screaming, “Wizard fire!”

The Bloodgraves must have devised abbreviated incantations, because a fiery ray shot from her fingers, hitting the shield Tara had just enough time to raise. Tara in turn fired a devastating ray, forcing Manticore to take cover behind her own shield. So far, the score was even.

Tara was surprised that the other Bloodgraves weren't getting involved. After two more assaults, she realized that she would have trouble piercing her opponent's defenses. Using a surge of magic power, she went to hover above the lake. Furious that a girl was standing up to her in front of all the other Bloodgraves, Lady Manticore levitated in turn and pursued her.

At the risk of being captured by the Kraken, Tara swooped to within a few inches of the water's surface. Fortunately the giant octopus was busy with all the Bloodgraves bobbing around it.

Manticore fired a fiery ray, but Tara didn't try to counter, merely dodging it. The ray hit the lake like a missile, instantly creating a thick cloud of steam, which was exactly what Tara had hoped for. Hidden by the cloud and moving like lightning, she fired a petrifying ray at Lady Manticore. Hit in midair, the surprised Bloodgrave cursed, lost the power of flight, and fell into the lake with a great splash.

All right, that's one down, thought Tara. Now it was Magister's turn. She whirled to face him, ready for battle.

But Magister hadn't stirred. Legs firmly planted on the ground, he'd been watching the scene with great interest. He now cocked his mirrored head and exclaimed, “Ah, what power! I can feel your anger and your hatred. Go on! Let the anger fill you. Feel your magnificent power!”

For just an instant, Tara was at a loss. Great, now her enemy was doing a Darth Vader number on her, Repressing an inane urge to laugh, she got a grip on herself.

Her power didn't need incantations to act, but to neutralize an adversary like this one she would have to be creative. A direct attack probably wouldn't work. She stretched her hand toward the lawn and activated her magic. Magister, who was expecting a violent blow and was ready to counter it, was taken aback when steel-tough roots rose from the grass and wrapped themselves around him, enveloping him from head to foot. Tara raised her hand, and a surge of power sent the Bloodgrave into the air, slamming him against the ceiling with a terrible noise. Still trapped by the roots, he then crashed back to earth with a loud and lay still.