The Dragons of Argent and Silver (Tales from the New Earth #6) (23 page)

“Her sister is a mage as well?”

“Enchantress actually,” the
mage told him.

He lowered his voice and looked up and
down the corridor before continuing.

“Sylvie was born with a birth
defect. When she Changed, it followed her to her new form. But at the
same time, she gained so much more that she isn't bitter about it.
However, I thought I should warn you before you meet them.”

“What sort of birth defect?”
Simon asked carefully.

“She's blind. Totally blind. But
her magical senses are so finely tuned that she can probably see
better than you or I can. In her own way.”

They stopped at a four-way
intersection.

“Apparently she was rather famous
as a sculptor back in the old days. She crafted her works by touch
alone and I'm told that they were extraordinary.”

He pointed down the corridor in front
of them.

“Straight ahead is our practice
room. That's where we experiment with new spells. It's heavily
shielded to protect the rest of the ship. Phoenix, Danny and I have
our quarters to the right.”

He turned left and motioned for Simon
to follow.

“The sisters live down this way.
I'm sure that they are waiting to meet you.”

“How would they even know that
I'm on board?”

“Veronique is very powerful. I
don't know how her powers measure up to a wizard's, but she is
certainly the strongest of the mages on board the Defiant. And Sylvie
has senses beyond my understanding. She probably felt you arrive when
you Gated here.”

“Amazing,” Simon said.

He felt a little nervous about meeting
these obviously formidable women but was also powerfully curious. He
didn't know much about mages and their magic. Granted, he was
friendly with Tamara and her brother, but they had never really
shared intimate details about their powers. All he did know was that
wizards were supposedly the most powerful of all spell-casters and
that he was probably the only one in existence.

At least so far, he said to himself.
That may not last.

The walls of the hallway that led to
the sisters' quarters were hung with numerous paintings, all of them
abstract. The style was powerful and mesmerizing.

“These are Sylvie's?” Simon
asked Barnaby and pointed at the paintings.

“Yes. Gorgeous, aren't they?”

They stopped for a moment to
contemplate the artwork.

“How does she choose her colors?”

The mage shrugged.

“No idea. Since she's been blind
from birth, how she can even have a preference is beyond me. But I'm
told that she is the one who picks the colors, decides the style of
the work, and all of that.”

Simon approached one of the paintings,
a large canvas at least six feet high and even wider than that.
Powerful waves of color were streaking in seeming random directions
across the flat surface and yet there seemed to be some sort of
underlying cohesion. It was tantalizing and he had to stop himself
from reaching out and stroking the canvas to feel its texture.

“It calls to you on some level,
doesn't it?”

The wizard looked over his shoulder at
Barnaby and smiled sheepishly.

“It does. But I have no idea why.
You feel it too?”

The mage nodded and stared at the
painting as he stroked his chin.

“All magic-users feel it but,
oddly enough, regular people don't. That's Sylvie's talent, I
suppose. Come along and meet her. It will help you to understand her
better.”

Simon tore himself away from the
fascinating picture as Barnaby continued leading him down the
corridor.

At the end of the hallway, a large door
made of a dark wood swung open as they approached. Barnaby stopped
and Simon looked at him curiously.

“Go ahead,” the mage told
him and gestured toward the door. “They will want to meet with
you alone. I'll wait for you out here.”

Simon looked dubiously at the open
door.

“Are you sure?” he asked.

“I am. Don't worry,”
Barnaby told him with a reassuring smile, “they don't bite.
It's just their way. I'll be here when you're done.”

The wizard nodded and took a deep
breath. He walked the final few steps to the door, hesitated a moment
and then stepped through into darkness.

“
Welcome, young
man,” a silky female voice said from somewhere ahead of him.

Simon had stepped into
what felt like a large space that was very dark. A mage light floated
just over his head, illuminating him but blinding him to everything
else.

“
Please come in,”
a second, more delicate voice told him.

The globe of magical light
moved forward and rose higher. It split into two lights and these
lights split again and again until the room was lit up as brightly as
a sunny day.

The area was as large as
the dining room up on the main deck. Every flat surface was covered
with color, lines of paint that flowed and swirled into each other.
It was a riot of shades that immediately delighted the senses and
Simon actually gasped out loud as he took it all in.

There was a scent in the
air, jasmine, and he inhaled deeply. It immediately seemed to help
him relax and his upset stomach settled down as well.

Ahead was a long
conference table. It had many chairs around it and on one side sat
two women. They were both staring directly at the wizard and he
couldn't tell which one was sightless and which wasn't.

“
Step forward, Simon
O'Toole and join us,” the woman on the right said graciously,
speaking with a noticeable Parisian accent.

She was pale and slim with
very dark eyes that met his easily. She was wearing a dark green robe
under a mantle of stiff verdant cloth. Her hair was short and black.

“
Yes, please join us
and have some refreshment,” the other woman said.

For some reason, Simon had
expected the sisters to look alike, maybe even be twins. Instead they
were almost direct opposites.

The second woman was just
as pale as her sister, but her hair was long and reddish blonde and
her eyes were sky blue. She wore a simple lavender-colored robe.

Simon walked forward and
took a seat at the table. Between him and the women was a tall
crystal decanter of pink liquid, some delicate wine glasses and a
bowl of fruit; apples and pears.

“
Allow me to
introduce us,” the dark-haired woman said as she poured him a
glass of wine. “My name is Veronique and this is my sister,
Sylvie.”

“
Thank you,”
Simon said as she handed him the glass. “It's a pleasure to
meet you both.”

Veronique smiled and
poured wine for both herself and her sister. She put a glass in front
of Sylvie, who picked it up as if she could actually see it.

“
You are too kind,”
Sylvie said with a gentle smile.

She sipped her wine and
Simon did the same. The liquor was slightly sweet but light and
delicious.

“
Ah, that's very
nice,” he told them.

“
Thank you. Help
yourself to fruit if you wish. We grow it down in our garden.”

“
I'm not hungry, but
thanks anyway.”

“
As you wish.”

Veronique tasted her wine
and gave Simon a direct look.

“
So, what do you
think of the Defiant?”

“
She's amazing,”
he replied with honest enthusiasm. “The ship is basically a
floating town. It's quite an accomplishment and I salute you both.”

The sisters smiled but
Sylvie shook her head, her long fine hair floating around her face.

“
We most certainly
cannot take much credit for the success of this place. When we found
the Defiant, she was drifting off of the coast of France. How she had
avoided being destroyed by wind, wave or dragon is a mystery, but she
did. Deborah, whom you have already met, was a friend of ours. After
the dragons returned, she had found a small boat and was living on
the water.”

She inclined her head
toward her sister, who smiled and took her hand.

“
Veronique and I
were looking for a place to settle down. When Paris fell to the
dragons' flames, and the drakes that followed, we journeyed to the
coast.”

She grimaced and closed
her eyes for a moment.

“
I won't bore you
with the details but that time was...difficult. We stumbled upon
Deborah quite by accident and she was the one who told us about
Defiant.”

“
She had seen it
floating aimlessly several times, but alone she couldn't do anything
with it,” Veronique said, taking up the story. “But we
saw an opportunity and managed to bring the ship into port. It took a
year to repair the damage and make her seaworthy again and many
others joined us in that time and helped to fix her. We used our
skills to help camouflage the ship from hostile monsters during that
year and fortunately weren't attacked. Although there were a few
close calls,” she added with a grimace.

“
Remarkable,”
Simon commented. “I can't imagine how magic could be used like
that. Then again, I'm still trying to figure out how your mages are
using magic to move the Defiant instead of engines.”

Both sisters laughed and
Sylvie made a dismissive gesture.

“
It isn't that hard,
my friend,” she said. “We've adapted the standard Shield
spell to repel water. You simply attach the spell to the ship below
the waterline and it pushes the Defiant along.”

“
Huh. I never would
have thought of such a thing.”

“
Oh, you might have
if it was necessary. Necessity is the mother of invention, so they
say. Certainly that was true in our case.”

Veronique patted her
sister's hand.

“
For example, Sylvie
came up with a way to separate the salt from sea water so that we
could have potable water. If it hadn't been for that invention, life
on board would be a lot harder than it has been.”

“
A fluke, nothing
more,” her sister said with a chuckle. “I made a mistake
when casting a spell and voila, fresh water. I can take little credit
for it.”

“
As you might be
able to tell, Sylvie is a rather modest person,” Veronique said
dryly.

Simon smiled at her and
saw her sister do the same.

“
But enough of that.
We wanted to thank you for saving us from that monster today,”
she continued. “Summoning that elemental was inspired. How on
Earth did she manage to turn away the turtle?”

“
She said that it
was some sort of illusion. Apparently the turtle thinks that it's
still chasing the Defiant. It will be a very long way away by the
time the spell fades. She's also speaking to the captain right now
about a way to, as she explained it, make the Defiant less attractive
to giant turtles. I have no idea what she's up to but let's hope
she's right.”

Veronique finished her
wine and offered Simon another glass. He declined politely.

“
Making the Defiant
less of a target would be a blessing,” Sylvie said soberly. “We
are in constant danger of attack, which is one of the reasons that
the ship is always on the move. We've tried anchoring off of the
coast but invariably some monster finds us. And if it isn't a sea
creature, it's a dragon.”

She sighed heavily and
rubbed her eyes.

“
It is draining
being on guard twenty-four hours a day, but we have little choice.”

Simon watched as Veronique
squeezed her sister's hand and tried to think of a way to help them.

“
Is the ship
warded?” he asked after drinking the last of his wine.

“
Warded?”

Both women looked
intrigued.

“
We don't quite
understand,” Sylvie told him. “What is warding?”

Simon looked at them in
amazement and Veronique giggled at his expression, sounding very
young.

“
You look quite
surprised, sir wizard,” she told him.

Sylvie picked up on her
sister's tone of voice and smiled as well.

“
Forgive us if this
warding is common knowledge, my friend,” she said, not quite
looking at Simon's face. “We are a bit isolated here.”

“
Yes, of course. I
meant no offense, ladies.”

“
None taken. So what
is it?”

“
Wards are
enchantments created by runes. I use them to protect my home and the
people in Nottinghill Castle do the same to guard themselves.
Essentially it raises a shield against attacks.”

Now it was the sisters'
turn to look surprised.

“
I have never heard
of such a thing,” Sylvie said with wonder. “It sounds
miraculous.”

Veronique nodded,
wide-eyed.

Simon smiled at them both.

“
As miraculous as
using a spell to power a ship?”

“
Touch
é
,”
Sylvie responded and laughed lightly. “We are learning from
each other today, are we not? Do you think that these wards would
work on a ship as well as they do on a land-based structure?”

“
I don't see why
not,” Simon answered. “Even if they only provided partial
protection, it would be an improvement, don't you think?”