Magician's Mayhem

by R.S. Mollison-Read

CHAPTER 4

  Immediately after Darcie’s pronouncement, the room was silent. Suddenly it exploded with sound, as everyone talked over each other; gesticulating wildly, their faces animated with excitement.

  Ignoring the chaos surrounding him, Tobin sat quietly, trying to absorb everything that Darcie had just said. The implications were enormous of course, and Tobin felt suddenly overwhelmed, and flustered. He only understood a fraction of what was going on, and yet he had been unceremoniously dumped into the centre of what seemed to be an increasingly serious situation. He thought longingly of his quiet cottage, trying to wish away the tumult currently surrounding him.

  Across the table, Darcie sat, frowning, and looking at her hands. She was the only other person in the room not talking. She looked up and saw Tobin watching her across the table. For a moment she just stared at him, and then an idea seemed to blossom across her face. Gesturing for him to follow her, they went unnoticed out into the corridor.

  “Well, that went about as well as I expected,” Darcie said when they had reached the calm of the corridor. She leaned heavily against the wall. Her confidence from the meeting seemed to melt away, and she just sounded tired and stressed.

  Tobin nodded in sympathy. He couldn’t imagine the pressure Darcie was facing, first to find her grandmother, and now to deal with this transportation crisis.

  “It sounds like what you’re suggesting, is that whatever magical phenomenon caused Celeste to disappear, also caused the Travelling Mirror system to crash,” Tobin said tentatively.

  Standing up from the wall, Darcie smiled triumphantly at him. “That is exactly what I concluded. The residue of the signature from the surge in the Mirror Hall is identical to the one I found when my grandmother disappeared. And that’s not all; I was also able to pinpoint a source.”

  “Really?” Tobin replied, startled. That information had not been presented at the council meeting. “Where is it coming from?”

  “Well, there’s a problem. It’s too far away for me to triangulate it properly from this location. But from what I can tell, it’s directly north of the castle. I also didn’t get a chance to say this before everyone jumped in, but I received a message from the Magic Mole Mail Service Headquarters. They indicated they might have some information for us, about who originally sent the orb.”

  “So it appears that this wasn’t really a diversion from your search for your grandmother,” Tobin said musingly. “It’s just another clue along the way.”

  “Yes!” Darcie said grinning. “I’ll be leaving again, as soon as I can, to see what I can learn at the Magic Mole Mail Service Headquarters. Would you like to come?”

  Tobin stared at her in shock.

  “Surely, there must be someone more qualified to help you with something like this!” he protested.

  “You’re smart, calm, and you don’t make assumptions,” she replied simply. “I will take that over qualified any day. Besides, I spoke to Gustav this morning. Gustav is an old friend of mine, and his opinion is invaluable to me. He spoke very highly of you.”

  “Did he?” Tobin blurted out, quite astonished. He had assumed Gustav was only humouring him, when he had been pestering with all of his questions about magic.

  “Gustav says you ask the right questions. A valuable skill.” Darcie replied, confidently. “So, will you come with me?”

  “Can I have some to think about it?” Tobin asked.

  “You can have some time,” Darcie grinned. “But only a few hours. We’re leaving tomorrow morning, and we’ll need to calm everyone down first. The Council is not going to like this.”

  They did not like it at all. The magicians spent hours squabbling over Darcie’s decision to bring Tobin with her.

  “Preposterous!”

  “Unqualified!”

  “Wait, who’s Tobin?”

  “An obvious error in judgement...”

  “Well I never!”

  “Ludicrous!”

  “There must be some mistake...”

  But there was no mistake. Only one opinion really mattered

  “He’s going,” King Gerald said finally, in his deep resonant voice.

  And that was the end of the discussion.

  They left the following morning. Darcie carried her small leather case slung over her shoulder and resting on her hip, and a small rucksack on her back. Tobin had been given a rucksack as well, supplied with necessary equipment; a canteen, a change of clothes, and food provisions. With the Travelling Mirror system in disrepair, and with Magic Carpet usage at a premium, it would have taken Tobin several days to get home on foot. Darcie wanted to leave as soon as possible, so she had made arrangements for Tobin. He had also been given the opportunity to call home to Belvedon. The misty surface of the mirror had connected him with his mother, and Tobin had explained the entire scenario to her.

  “But you’re all right?” was her immediate response.

  “Yes, I’m fine, mother,” Tobin replied. “But I will be leaving shortly with Dr. Dannett, and I don’t know when I’ll be returning home. Could you keep an eye on my house for me?”

  She had assented quickly, promising to fix Tobin’s front garden, and repair his white picket fence during his absence.

  With this comforting thought, Tobin had felt quite free to leave on his mission with Darcie Dannett.

  Almost immediately upon the boundary of the castle grounds, they were back into the forest. There were several paths leading away from the castle, into the verdant green of the woods. Entering the forest, Darcie opened her small leather case, and took out a slim metallic, triangular instrument. It fit neatly into the palm of her hand. She consulted it for a second, and then chose the path leading north. Rounding the first curve in the path, the castle disappeared from view behind them.

  Tobin had very much enjoyed the time he’d spent in the castle, but it had been hard to truly appreciate the castle, because of the unusual experiences that had brought him there. As soon as the initial shock of the experience had faded, it had felt like all they were doing was waiting.

  And so Tobin was quite happy to be back on the road, headed towards a tangible goal. It felt good to be in the forest. He loved the cool, shade of the woods, and the thousands of unique sounds; birds singing, animals rustling through the undergrowth, small streams and the swaying of branches in the light breeze. It was a symphony. He enjoyed the sunlight slanting through the trees; illuminating a single strip of the forest, with its multitude of different hues; green and brown.

  Darcie unzipped her leather case to put the slim metallic instrument back.

  “What is that?” Tobin asked her, curious.

  “It’s a compass, of sorts,” she said, holding out the instrument for Tobin to inspect. “It helps me pinpoint the location of something magical. I have to calibrate it first, but once it’s been focused, it’s remarkably accurate. It’s called a Field Scope.”

  “This is so interesting!” Tobin said enthusiastically, as he turned the instrument over in his hand.

  “I have several different instruments, if you’d like to see them,” Darcie said, delving into her leather case.

  She did indeed have a myriad of different instruments in her little leather case.

  A slim compact that opened into a small screen, displayed information on all life forms within the area.

  Tobin pointed it at a squirrel and was delighted to see the squirrel displayed on the screen, along with helpful information about the species.

  “That’s called a Catalogue,” Darcie told him. “I’m terrible at Flora and Fauna, so I use it all the time.”

  A block made of a glittering, blue, powdery substance turned out to be a block of pure magic.

  “I don’t think we’ll actually need this, but it’s good to have in case of emergency,” Darcie told Tobin.

  There was a metallic purple instrument that sat in the palm of Tobin’s hand like a flattened disk. According to Darcie, it could measure the intensity of a spell or enchantment.
It was able to identify any magical signature stored in its database.

  “That’s how we’re tracking this signal,” Darcie explained. “After my grandmother disappeared, we measured the signature left behind, and filed it in the database. I calibrated my compass to follow that signature, and that signature alone.”

  “Well, I hope we can find her, with this new lead,” Tobin told Darcie earnestly.

  She smiled brightly at him. “Me too.”

  Tobin had been surprised to learn that the Magical Mole Mail Delivery Service Headquarters was only a two day walk from the castle. Darcie had explained that until they could have every single mirror replaced, the entire Travelling Mirror Network was down.

  “It’s such a nuisance; everyone is so accustomed to instantaneous transportation.”

  “Don’t you keep spare mirrors?” Tobin asked, surprised.

  “Of course,” Darcie replied, “But there are hardly enough to cover even a fraction of the mirrors that were broken. Besides, the spare mirrors are kept in case one mirror breaks. The entire network has been destroyed and we can’t initiate the system again until all of the mirrors have been replaced. It’s very inconvenient, but of course there are other ways of getting around quickly. Magic carpets, travelling spells –although those are quite expensive, and good old fashioned walking,” she smiled cheekily. “The Transportation Authority at the castle has already submitted an order to the Elven Mirror Guild in Alversa, but we need to replace hundreds of mirrors. It will take months for them all to be constructed, tested, and then shipped back to Elden.”

  By the second day of their journey, Darcie and Tobin had established a routine. They woke early in the morning with the sun, ate a quick breakfast, and started on their way. Midmorning was a stop for a quick snack, and then they resumed their journey until lunch.

  Darcie always made sure to find a nice, idyllic location to eat. After their meal they would continue, although often at a slower pace, since they were quite full, and they didn’t stop walking until dinner. Sleep always followed closely after, accommodating their tired feet. Tobin was very glad that the boots he had brought were well worn in, and comfortable. The distance they were covering in a day was impressive, and he was sure any other boots would have chaffed terribly.

  It seemed that the majority of what Darcie had packed for food was muffins. There were chocolate chip muffins, blueberry muffins, lemon raspberry muffins. Large muffins, small muffins; some of them were just the muffin tops. She appeared to like muffins quite a bit. Tobin had more practically packed a variety of bread, cheeses, and dried meats from the castle kitchens. They were able to collect vegetables, and herbs in the forest around them, and they never felt hungry.

  They arrived at the Magical Mail Mole Delivery Service Headquarters in the late afternoon of their second day of travelling. The golden honey light slanted through the trees, as Tobin looked around the dense forest for the entrance to the headquarters.

  “Where is it?” he finally asked Darcie, exasperated.

  Smiling, Darcie pointed directly behind Tobin where a rather small red door sat in the trunk of a massive tree. Tobin looked at it dubiously.

  “The headquarters are in a tree?”

  Darcie laughed. “No, they’re underground of course, but this is the visitor’s entrance!” She reached forward and turned the handle. Inside the tree trunk was a beautifully carved circular staircase leading down. Crouching down, Darcie entered, and after a brief pause in which he seriously considered waiting outside for her, Tobin followed.

  Once inside the red door, Tobin was able to straighten fully, surprising given his height. Down the stairs they went, Tobin marvelling at how much room there was in the tree trunk.

  On the walls were detailed maps of delivery routes, interspersed with portraits of past Magical Mole Mail Delivery Service Directors.

  “We have an appointment with Margery,” Darcie told the mole at the Service Desk, once they’d reached the main area. They were quickly ushered into a large office, and had seated themselves in two tall backed leather chairs, when Margery the mole entered. She introduced herself, as she took a seat behind the thick walnut desk, peering at them over glittering red spectacles.

  “Such a terrible incident,” she said, shaking her head. “A terrible embarrassment, of course. Our packages are always screened thoroughly, I want you to know that.”

  “Oh, no one is blaming the Magic Mole Mail Service, I assure you,” Darcie said soothingly. “The orb contained in the package that exploded had a very sophisticated nexus of magic surrounding it. I’m quite certain it was dormant when it went through your security system. I doubt if there is anyone who would have detected its presence.”

  Margery smiled broadly at Darcie. “Well, thank-you, dear. Still, we want to be as cooperative in this investigation as possible. As such, we have already pulled all of the information you requested.” Margery placed in front of them a map with the address circled.

  Tobin looked up at Margery, dumbfounded.

  “Do you mean to tell me, that whoever sent the package was foolish enough to actually leave a return address?” Darcie asked, leaning forward.

  “Well, it’s certainly possible that this is a fake address,” Margery supplied helpfully. “But I’ve circled it here on the map for you. Obviously, further investigation is required to ascertain the validity of this information. I believe that would be your department Dr. Dannett.”

  Darcie examined the map closely. Suddenly she smiled broadly, and looked across at Tobin.

  “Well, well, well. Do you see what I see, Tobin?”

  Mystified, Tobin shook his head.

  “This address is directly north of the castle,” she said, her smile getting even bigger.

  Tobin looked at Darcie wonderingly. “You don’t think the address is the same location that the magical signal originates?” he asked slowly.

  “Let’s go find out,” she replied.