The Archmage Unbound (17 page)

“That sums it up, except for the
imagining part. There was someone there and he was using magic of some sort,”
I replied. “What do you think we should do?”

Dorian gave me a look that spoke volumes…
his mouth gaped and his eyes were wide. “A rogue wizard is loose in the castle
and you’re asking me? If you can’t find him I don’t have a clue what to…” His
eyes got wider for a moment. “Go find Penny! Stay with her till I find you.”

“Wait,” I said in confusion. “Why
Penny?”

“Just make sure she’s safe! I’ll take
care of the rest!” Dorian shouted back. He was already heading toward the
training field and before I got to the stairs I could hear him yelling
instructions to the men at arms there. I ran in the opposite direction and
cursed myself for not thinking of Penny. It was a sign of my own growing
vanity. I had assumed that whatever risk the intruder posed must be directed
at me. As I ran I found her with my mind… she was never too far from my
thoughts so I located her easily.

Inside the keep I took the stairs two at
a time and as I reached the floor we lived on I started yelling her name. She
was in the nursery, probably decorating again, or ‘nesting’ as she called it.
She was alone as far as I could tell, and in fact the only other person was a
maid cleaning rooms at the opposite end of the hall. She looked curiously out
of the room as I ran past but I paid no heed to her questioning.

I burst through the door to our rooms
without slowing down and nearly knocked Penny to the floor, she had been
running the other way. “What the hell?” she exclaimed, in her hand she held a
sheathed sword.

“Damn, you almost skewered me with that
thing!” I said, ignoring the fact that my shield would probably have protected
me.
Then again, I did enchant her blade… it might well cut through my
shield,
I thought, remembering my fight with Devon Tremont.

She arched an eyebrow at me. “That’s
why I don’t take it out of the scabbard until I see someone worth cutting,
genius,” she replied tartly, waving it in front of me.

I couldn’t help but smile inwardly.
My
girl definitely has a mouth on her. Can’t help but love her,
I thought to
myself. I took her hand and with a word and a thought I built a shield around
both of us. My breath was still coming heavily after my sprint up the stairs.

“Are you planning to share the details
with me?” she asked.

Drawing another deep breath I replied,
“I found someone in the castle, watching me. Dorian suggested I find you
first.” I was still panting and even I will admit it wasn’t the most complete
answer I have ever given.

“So you need me to protect you from your
secret admirer?” she asked.

Laughing made it harder to catch my
breath but I was almost fully recovered by then anyway. “Maybe,” I said with a
grin. “The intruder was using magic of some sort, and he was able to hide
himself from me. I think Dorian thought you might be a target so he suggested
I find you first.”

Penny patted her softly rounded stomach,
“I’m definitely a good target and getting easier to hit by the day.”

I should have known she’d bring that
up. Women never seemed to miss an opportunity to bring attention to their
growing waistlines, even though they complained about it. “You aren’t that big
yet,” I said, another half-truth on my part, but all part of a husband’s duty.
“You do bring up a good point though, should you really be picking up steel and
fighting unknown foes in your condition?”

“Would you rather I lay down and wait to
die if someone attacked me?”

Alright, I had to admit… looking at it
from that perspective she made a lot of sense. “Point taken,” I said.

“No… no point taken… that’s the point,”
she replied.

I groaned, “How long are you planning to
keep this up? It really isn’t that funny.”

“Fine, but if you keep acting like a wet
blanket this princess isn’t going on any more adventures with you,” she
answered with mock seriousness.

Obviously Penny was in an interesting
mood, something that had become rather common since her pregnancy started. I
stared at her, wondering at her sanity. “You aren’t a princess, and even if I
went
on adventures I wouldn’t take you, you’re pregnant!”

She stared at me intently for a moment
before I noticed how still she had become. Her eyes had gotten wider and were
beginning to well with tears. A chill went up my spine as I realized her mood
had just flipped. “Have I gotten that fat already?” she asked. There was a
tremor in her lip.

Oh bloody hell!
I thought. “No, no, that’s not what I meant!” Thankfully one of
the guards arrived and knocked on the door. I opened it quickly, hoping for a
distraction.

“My lord,” he said quickly, “Where would
you like me to take up my post?”

My mind was blank for a moment till I
realized Dorian must have sent him to guard our rooms. I concentrated for a
second until I recalled his name. “Barnabas, right?” I said, snapping my
fingers.

“Yes your lordship,” he answered
hesitantly.

“Come inside. You may take your post
there by the door,” I told him. Ordinarily I’d have set him outside the door,
but if the intruder was using magic it would just make the guard an easy
target. Plus if he were inside it might help stabilize Penny’s mood.

After that we moved into the antechamber
adjoining our bedroom and sat down. We held hands while we sat and I cast my
senses outward, trying to follow the movements of our guards through the
castle. Dorian seemed to be conducting a room to room search of the entire
place.

“Do you think it was another wizard?”
Penny asked, breaking the silence.

“There aren’t supposed to be any others,”
I said, except that there had been. The late Devon Tremont came immediately to
mind. “But we’ve already seen that that may not be true I guess. It’s more
likely to be a channeler though.”

“And if it is a channeler?”

“Then he isn’t friendly. The dark gods
are definitely our enemies and the shining gods seem to want me dead now too,”
I said. Another knock at the door interrupted our conversation. “You can let
them in,” I told the guard. “It’s just my mother and more guardsmen.”

Barnabas opened the door and five more
guardsmen entered, escorting my mother. She seemed none too pleased about
having been suddenly uprooted from her house and forced to quick march into the
castle. “What’s going on Mordecai?” she asked me.

“I found an intruder in the castle, but
he escaped. Dorian sent the guards to make sure you were safe, and he must
have felt you’d be safest if you were with us as well.” I agreed with him on
that point. I also appreciated the fact that he had sent no less than five
guards to make sure Miriam was safely escorted. “Are you still wearing the
necklace I gave you?” I added.

My mother huffed, “I’ve never taken it
off.” It might be worth mentioning that as an only son, and an adopted one at
that, my mother had always been quite attached to me.

I ignored her irritability and began
explaining the situation. Dorian and Rose joined us as I finished. It was
worth noting that he had escorted her personally. “We didn’t find anyone,” he
announced.

I hadn’t really expected him to, but it
bothered me.
Whoever it was, is far better at sneaking around than I am,
I
thought. That wasn’t very comforting. I was used to thinking of channelers as
inept, except when it came to healing. In general their gods didn’t spend a
lot of time letting them practice ‘borrowing’ their power to learn practical
skills. “I didn’t think you would, but I’m glad you searched,” I replied.
“Did you really think Penny or my mother might be in danger?”

“I couldn’t afford to think anything
else,” he replied.

That didn’t really add up in my mind and
I wasn’t used to Dorian reaching conclusions before I did. I made my doubt
plain, “I still don’t understand your reasoning.”

Dorian gave me a look that indicated I
might have been born naturally slow. Then he explained, “You have to remember
Mort, the Thornbears have been protecting the Lancaster family for several
generations now, not just Lancaster Castle. I learned quite a bit from my
father. What do you think the easiest way to hurt you would be?”

I could see the direction his thoughts
had taken but I still wasn’t sure I agreed. “That might be true, but anyone
that hurt my family would only earn themselves painful retribution.”

Dorian snorted, “I doubt the dark gods
are that frightened of you, but that is beside the point. Anyone that wants to
control you has to be giving serious thought to kidnapping your family.”

His words struck me like a thunderbolt
as I realized how clueless I had been. Rose patted me on the shoulder and
added, “That’s what I love about Dorian, he’s often a lot smarter than his
simple exterior would lead one to believe.”

I almost felt bad for him. Dorian’s
moment in the spotlight went from calm and in control to red and embarrassed
almost instantly. His mouth formed a perfect ‘o’ as he stared at Rose.
Eventually he looked back at me, shaking his head before he spoke again,
“Anyway, I think your mother should move into one of the rooms adjacent to
yours and we need to post extra guards on both doors and the stairs leading to
this floor.”

“Will it matter if our intruder can move
about without fear of detection?” I asked. I didn’t really think guards would
be very useful if magic was involved.

“He may be able to sneak about in safety
but I doubt he can take someone out of here by force without a struggle. With
you nearby that would be the most foolish thing anyone could attempt,” Dorian
replied, his face was gradually returning to its normal color.

I was flattered by Dorian’s confidence
in me and I had to admit he had a good point, “Alright, I agree with you. What
else do you think we should do?”

My mother had other ideas however. “Now
wait a minute!” she interrupted. “Are you telling me that I have to move into
the castle?” I knew already she wouldn’t be happy about leaving the small
house she had shared with my father. Dorian and I exchanged helpless glances,
neither of us wanted to be the one to force this on her.

Luckily Rose intervened, “Miriam, I’m
sorry but Dorian may be right. Would you want someone to use you as a tool to
coerce your son?” I started to say something to support her but Penny gave me
a look cautioning me to silence.

“Well of course not,” replied my mother
after a brief pause. “I just don’t think it is right to have me barging in on
them. They’ve only been married a few months and now Penelope has to put up
with her mother-in-law living right on top of her?”

Penny spoke up then, “No Miriam, that’s
not a problem! I’d love to have you closer to us.”

I watched the two of them carefully. I
had never suspected that might be the reason my mother had refused to leave her
house before. Now that the veil had been drawn I found myself watching Penny
as well. Perhaps it would bother her, even though she denied it now. The more
I learned of the world of women the less I understood.

In the end my mother agreed to move into
the adjoining rooms, though she swore up and down we’d never know she was
there. The entire process involved quite a bit of hugging and even a few tears
as the ladies (all three of them) shared their love for one another. Meanwhile
Dorian and I quietly worked out the other arrangements which primarily involved
having guards following my wife and mother everywhere.

There really wasn’t a practical way to
stop the movements of a channeler that could hide his presence from anyone, so
we decided the best thing we could do was make sure it would be nearly
impossible to kidnap either of them.

Later that evening, as I lay in bed
listening to Penny snoring, I couldn’t help but wonder at the turns my life had
taken. A year or two ago I would never have imagined that power could make me
so vulnerable. I resolved to look in my father’s library and see if I could
find ideas on how to protect my family better. Some sort of ward to alert me
to intrusions while sleeping would be good. As it was I could hardly sleep.
Paranoia seemed destined to become my new bed companion.

The cool linens were soothing against
Cyhan’s skin. The large man slept with little more than a sheet despite the
crisp night air. His body had always seemed to produce far more heat than he
needed.

Glancing upward he couldn’t help but be
glad to be home again, if his room in the palace could truly be called home.
Residence would probably be a better word. Even so, two months in a dungeon
had given him a new appreciation for a proper bed and fresh sheets. Not that
he would have ever admitted such a thing where anyone could hear it.

“I must be getting old,” he mused
aloud. Truthfully the cell he had occupied in Lancaster hadn’t been bad… as
far as prison cells went anyway. The good duke had made sure he was properly
fed and given fresh water daily, but it had not been a comfortable existence.