Wizard's Education (Book 2) (27 page)

Grandma'am looked Lorit over, carefully taking in his appearance from head to foot. "You're taking good care of my granddaughter?"

"As best I can, Ma'am."

She sat down with a sigh. "She's a handful. Not causing you too much trouble, is she?"

"No, Ma'am. She's no trouble at all. She's been a great help." Lorit looked closely at Chihon's Grandma'am. "I see a resemblance in the two of you. Not only your appearance, but your magic as well."

Grandma'am snorted. "Not much of either, I expect. I'm an old woman and haven't had much in the way of looks in more years than you've been alive. As to magic? I have just enough of that to get a sense of truth or lie in a person. Not much more. Otherwise I'd be living a life of luxury and ease, not slaving over a hot oven every morning to bake bread for the market."

Chihon patted her hand. "We can leave you some silvers to help you out. Can't we?" She glanced at Lorit, who nodded in agreement.

"How long will you be staying?" Grandma'am asked. "Do you have to run off right away?"

It was Lorit who answered her. "We have to leave in the morning. We're searching the Wizard Zhimosom and a missing prince. We don't have much time to spare. If it weren't for the storm, we wouldn't have even made it here. We were blown off course and now we have to take the long way around."

"Well, at least I get a chance to see my granddaughter for a little while before you run off."

"I'm glad we are here, even if it does mean a slight delay," Chihon said.

She missed her Grandma'am and her home more than she'd thought, now that she was back. When Lorit asked Chihon if she wanted to eat dinner, she politely refused. The lunch she had shared with her Grandma'am was enough to last her all day.

"What did you do today?" Lorit asked, sharpening his dagger in preparation for the meal.

"We had a big lunch," Chihon admitted.

"What else did you do?" Lorit placed the dagger on the table.

Chihon caught the serving girl's eye, and motioned her over. She hoped to avoid the question by distracting Lorit with his order.

"So?" Lorit said. "I felt something strange this afternoon. I'm not sure what it was, but it came from you."

"I sang for my lunch," she admitted with embarrassment.

"Was it a good lunch?"

"It was superb," Grandma'am said. She smiled and encouraged Chihon, who carefully described the events of the day.

"I would like to hear you sing. Are you any good?" Lorit asked.

"She's good enough to get a free lunch out of it. I haven't eaten so well since she left," Grandma'am said.

Lorit grinned at her. "If being a Sorceress doesn't work out for you, you still have a career as a minstrel to fall back on." He mimicked the motion of a minstrel strumming a lute.

Chihon hit him on the arm. "How dare you say that? I'm no minstrel. I'm a Sorceress, and a fine one at that."

Lorit laughed and rubbed his arm. "That, you are."

Chihon listened to Lorit describe their travels to her Grandma'am. From the way he told it, it was she who had won the day for them whenever they were in trouble. Lorit finished his meal, and begged his leave. He wanted to contact Rotiaqua and see if she had been able to discover anything more about Zhimosom.

Chihon relaxed with her Grandma'am, enjoying the feeling of being home. Somehow, she felt safe and comfortable here.

"He's quite smitten, isn't he?" Grandma'am interrupted her reverie.

"Who's smitten?"

Grandma'am reached out and gently thumped the back of her head as she used to do when Chihon was a little girl. "Pay attention, girl. I said he's smitten. Your Wizard. He's quite taken with you."

"Lorit? No, he's just my partner in magic. Sure, we get along fine and I know he likes me - but smitten?"

"Did I miss something? I just heard him tell a tale of how he crossed half the world looking for you. He braved a witch and defied a King just to find out where you were."

"He's just trying to make me look good in front of you. His only concern right now is finding the Wizard Zhimosom. He has no time for anything else."

"You just keep telling yourself that." Grandma'am patted the back of Chihon's hand. "It looks like you two are going to be spending a lot of time together. You might want to decide how you want that future to look."

Moriver Tye

The next morning Lorit and Chihon said their farewell to her Grandma'am and caught a ride on a barge headed down the river from Bebrook. The barge dropped them off a few days south along the Forest.

From there, they trudged through the Muistur Forest. Their travels had gone without event for almost a moon, but Lorit was becoming more and more worried about Zhimosom.

"I can feel Rotiaqua getting weaker," Lorit said one afternoon.

They picked up their pace and soon the wooded paths gave way to fields and gently rolling hills as Moriver Tye loomed ahead.

The Mighty Bard House was located near the center of town, but away from the Temple. Lorit thought it looked like a good place to stay. The dining room was larger than most inns, with a vacant platform at one end that rose above the floor.

Lorit found them seating near the back of the room and soon the serving girl arrived to take their order.

"My name is Kiall, and I will be serving you tonight." She was young, about fourteen summers, with long blond hair done up in a single braid that stretched halfway down her back. She spoke so softly that Lorit could barely make out what she said.

"What do you have that's good?" Lorit asked.

"We have a pork pie and roast fowl."

"We'll have the pork pie and watered ale, and we'll split a loaf of white bread with butter," Chihon said before Lorit had a chance to respond.

"Yes, Ma'am. I'll fetch it right out." Kiall rushed off to get their order.

"I know what you like to eat," Chihon said when Lorit looked at her questioningly. "Besides, I saw the fowl on the spit as we came in. It can't be very good. It looks like it's been there all day."

Kiall returned with their dinner and placed it on the table. As she turned to leave, one of the patrons grabbed at her. "Why you so shy, girl? Come here and sit by me for a while."

The girl twisted in his grip, freeing her arm. She started to back away, but the man stood up and grabbed for her again. She broke free of his grasp, but fell to the floor with a thud.

Lorit reacted almost without thinking. He reached his staff out and cracked the back of the man's hand. "She's not on the menu. Keep your hands to yourself."

The stranger turned towards Lorit. "Who are you to tell me what I shouldn't handle?"

"I'm just a traveler who respects a hard working young girl." Lorit stood leaning lightly on his staff. He waited for the man to lunge at him and shifted his weight. His staff swung in an arc, whistling in the air as it struck the man in the head, this time with enough force to daze him.

The man stepped back and reached over his shoulder. "Watch out," Chihon shouted. "He's got a knife."

The knife came hurtling through the air at Lorit. It hit his magical barrier and stopped dead in mid flight. It clattered noisily to the ground.

The man swore and ran for the door, slipping on spilled ale as he collided with a seated patron in his rush to get away from Lorit. He disappeared out of the door as the other patrons broke out in laughter.

Kiall picked herself off the floor and came over to Lorit. "You have my gratitude, Sire. I scarce can repay your kindness."

"No payment is necessary." Lorit took his seat once more.

"I cannot thank you enough. If there is anything I can do for you, just ask."

"We're looking for someone and we don't know the town very well," Lorit told her. "Where is the best place to get information? Is there a Wizard around here?"

"No Wizards, but there is a library down the street. When there was a Wizard here, he used to spend his time there. Maybe you can find something to help you there?" She waved to her left. "Just go to the left three blocks then turn right. It's the big building with the sign of a book out front. You'll know it when you see it."

"Thank you for your help."

The library was an unassuming building that would have blended in with the rest, had the sign not been where Kiall had said it would be. They entered the building to find an ancient woman seated behind a desk. Her arms were folded and her head was down. She snored loudly.

"Excuse me?" Lorit said. When the woman did not stir, he tried again.

Still no response. He reached out to shake her, but Chihon restrained him. She shook her head, indicating that he should just leave her sleep.

They roamed the aisles looking for maps or city reference books. A layer of dust had to be brushed off many of the tomes before their titles could be read.

"I don't see anything useful," Chihon said.

"Maybe around there." Lorit pointed to an area where a pair of globes stood on stands astride a doorway.

There was an inscription over the doorway. Lorit reached up and dusted it off so they could read it. "Habere scientiam et potentiam trans fores," Lorit muttered.

"Pass through these doors to obtain knowledge and power," Chihon translated.

Lorit reached out and tried the door. It was locked. He probed it with his power, feeling the intricacies of the mechanism. He could feel the tumblers and springs that prevented it from turning. He pushed selectively on the tiny components, trying to line them all up in order to turn the lock.

They didn't budge.

"Let me help." Chihon grasped his hand and raised her power, adding it to his. He could feel the parts start to shift little by little until the lock finally emitted a sharp click and the door sprang open.

Chihon held onto his hand as Lorit stepped into the room. It was dark and gloomy. All he could make out was a low table centered in the room, piled high with books. He felt around the room with his magic until he located the wall sconces with their unlit candles. He touched them with his magic and they sprang to life, illuminating the room.

Lorit blew the dust from book after book until the he found one of interest. It was a book of spells for finding people and things. "This one may have something."

He turned page after page as he and Chihon read the titles of the incantations. There were spells used to locate all sorts of lost things.

"Stop," Chihon said as he turned a page, not really paying attention to its contents. "This one is for locating hidden things."

Lorit looked the spell over. It was an old spell to find hidden or stolen items. The Wizard wasn't a stolen item, but he had surely been taken and was now hidden.

"I think we can do this one. It takes a diagram. Do you see anything we can write with?" Lorit asked.

Chihon shifted a few of the dusty tomes around on the desk until she came up with a slate board and a piece of chalk. It was so dusty that the chalk lines were not going to show against the grime, so she wet a cloth from her pack and washed the surface until it was black and glistened. "Here." Chihon handed it to Lorit.

He waved it away and held up the book. "You have a neater hand than I do. Here is the symbol we need." He traced it out for her, holding the book up so she could see it.

When the diagram was complete, Lorit sat next to Chihon and grasped her hand. Together they spoke the words of the spell, chanting the refrain over and over again until the figure Chihon had drawn on the slate came to life. It began to shimmer. It shone silver, pulsing as if with an internal fire. It started to lift off the slate until it was positioned in front of them in the air.

It tilted until it made a vertical gateway. Inside the center, a silver pool formed. It grew more and more solid until they were looking into a mirror. The mirror became transparent enough to reveal a figure.

Chihon let out a gasp. It was Prince Ghall.

Lorit peered at the scenery behind him, trying to get a look at the place where the Prince was being held. He was in a small room made of large stones piled carefully on top of each other. There was a window behind him that stood open to the sky.

Lorit willed the mirror backwards so he could see the entire room. It was furnished with a modest desk and chair. A tray of bread and cheese sat on the table, along with a pitcher of water or wine.

Lorit pulled back even further. The view slid through the wall until they were seeing the outside of the room. The door was made of heavy wood planks held fast with iron bands, but it bore no lock. Beside the door stood a man dressed in the familiar garb of the Temple Guard.

"The Temple!" Lorit said. "The Priests have him."

"We already suspected that," Chihon said. "But where are they holding him?"

Lorit pushed the mirror forward, rushing first through the door, then the exterior wall. He stopped just outside of the window and looked around. The room sat on the edge of a steep cliff that ran down to the crashing sea below. Shadows cast on the water showed the tower. He was on a cliff facing west, overlooking the sea.

"Quineshua," Lorit said. "He's in Quineshua!"

Chihon leaned in to peer into the mirror hexagram herself. She moved it around and examined the landscape. The grounds were covered in rich green grass that ran right up to the edge of the cliff that plunged straight down to the raging waves beneath.

"Why wasn't he in chains?" Chihon asked.

"I don't know. Can we travel there, now that we've seen it? Can we just go get him?"

"I don't think that's a good idea. We don't know what's going on with the Prince. Maybe they have set a trap for us just as they did for Zhimosom. If we go charging in there, we could be walking right into one."

"But we can't just leave him there," Lorit said. "They'll kill him just like they did with Ardser."

"They've left him alive all this time, they must have some reason. Maybe because he's royalty, they don't dare to kill him. We have to get Zhimosom's help. Prince Ghall may have already turned, as Chedel did. We have to be careful."

I'm worried about the Prince, but you're right. This may be a trap. We'd better find Zhimosom first."