Tara Duncan and the Spellbinders

by Princess Sophie Audouin-Mamikonian

  “Very well. I’ll see you soon.”

  “Did you hear?” she asked the two boys with a sigh. “I have to finish breakfast and then go put on some sort of fancy robe to be presented to the king and queen. But I don’t want to be presented to anybody.”

  “Hey, it’s supposed to be a great honor; you should be flattered,” said Cal, amused by his friend’s discomfiture. “And don’t mess up. High wizards hate it when people are late, and I won’t even mention Grand Chamberlain Skali. He’s a real terror.”

  With that kind of motivation, it took Tara mere minutes to finish breakfast, slip on the blue and silver robe she found on her bed, and race down to the Throne Room.

  There, she was able to marvel at the finest example of Lancovit architecture. Because of the sometimes imposing anatomy of the kingdom’s subjects, a gently sloping ramp led from the main court-yard to the Throne Room instead of a stairway. The room’s white and gold walls rose to a silver-trimmed blue ceiling with such airiness that it was hard to believe they were supporting tons and tons of stone. The Living Castle was discreet here, letting the room’s fantastically carved walls dazzle its visitors, without adding illusory landscapes.

  The dwarf artisans and architects had outdone themselves, and shimmering banners representing the peoples ruled by Lancovit further enhanced the magnificence of the setting.

  The Count of Peridor’s kingfisher, the Duke of Drator’s wolf, and the Count of Sylvain’s crow faced the golden lions of Prince Marc Steel-Hand, the noble descendant of Ronveau Iron-Hand (who had grafted on a replacement for the hand he lost in the Starlings War), the Count of T’al’s squirrel, and Lancovit’s moon and unicorn emblem.

  Long independent, the six human regions were united four hundred years earlier by Mérié Muréglise, the current king’s ancestor, during the war against the trolls and the Edrakins.

  Animated, enchanted tapestries recounted the exploits of Lancovit’s heroes and the king’s forebears. Randalf the Valiant’s quest; the theft of the Great Worm’s treasure and the worm’s terrible revenge; the four bewitched rings of Brigandoon; the magic horn that Ronveau Iron-Hand used to call the elves for help and thereby win the Great War; the saga of beautiful, flame-haired Mariander; and Mérié’s battle and the defeat of the evil Edrakin leader.

  Tara was startled to see that one of the tapestries showed a story she knew well, that of Beauty and the Beast. Did that mean it had really happened? That one of the Lancovit kings had lived under such a curse?

  Near the entrance to the room, Master Chem was deep in conversation with a human man whose gorgeous physique made the women of the court swoon. Next to him, the wizard looked, well, wizened.

  Another high wizard, who resembled an enormous pat of butter, was clearly waiting for his apprentice; he kept turning bulging red eyes to the hallway. A third wizard, who was talking to the tall, finefeatured boy that Lady Kalibris had introduced to the assembly the day before, startled Tara when he turned around: he had glittering eyes, long white hair, and pointed ears. If that’s not an elf, she said to herself, I’m a vampire bat.

  When Angelica walked in with her master, Tara was surprised again. The tall girl’s master was a vampire! He was tall and thin, and had glowing red eyes and long, black hair pulled back. His curled lips revealed two white fang-like canines in a rictus that gave Tara the shivers.

  Cal leaned close to her, and whispered, “Those are the high wizards of Lancovit. That one is Master Dragosh, a vampyr, spelled v-a-m-p-y-r; his apprentice is our beloved Angelica Brandaud. Next to him is Master Den’maril, an elf; his apprentice is Robin M’angil. Facing you is Master Sardoin, my master; as you see, he’s human.” Sardoin was looking at the vampyr the way a rabbit might look at a snake, afraid he would be its next meal. “Lady Kalibris, whom you’ve met, is a tatris; I don’t know who her apprentice is. There’s also Master Patin, a cahmboum, c-a-h-m-b-o-u-m. The new one over there is Lady Deria, a weather specialist. The muscle-bound human is Master Chanfrein, Fabrice’s master. He’s also our head trainer, and he took the aerial polo team to the championship twice in a row. Master Night Bird is a human and our shaman.” Like some Native Americans, the medicine man wore his black hair in braids and dressed in buckskin. “His apprentice is Monica Gottverdam.” (Pretty blue-eyed blonde, with only eyes for her master.) “There’s Lady Boudiou, a human.” (Gray hair, pleasingly plump, but she looked sad and gazed steadily at Tara.) “Her apprentice is Carole Genty.” (The redhead Angelica was whispering to when Tara arrived.) “Over there you can see Lady Sirella; she’s a mermaid.” Floating in a water bubble, Sirella had blue hair and green skin, and was so beautiful it took Tara’s breath away. “Her apprentice is Skyler Eterna.” Good-looking and well aware of it, Skyler was eying the girls in a lordly way. “And of course you know our famous Chemnashaovirodaintrachivu, who doesn’t have an apprentice right now.”

  Just then, the dragon wizard rose to speak.

  “Today we will be presenting our guest, young Tara’tylanhnem Duncan, Isabella Duncan’s granddaughter,” he said. A murmur ran through the assembled high wizards, and their attention increased. Tara gathered that her grandmother was well known on OtherWorld. “She is spending a few days’ vacation with us, but must obey Lancovit Castle and OtherWorld’s laws, like all its inhabitants.”

  Tara frowned. From what she’d read in the etiquette book, Lancovit laws didn’t seem very complicated. The planet did have one big advantage over Earth, though. If you committed a crime here, you were turned over to the scary telepaths known as Truth Tellers. They had the power to read a suspect’s mind, and it was impossible to hide anything from them. If the Tellers convicted you, you were taken to their icebound planet to serve out your sentence surrounded by beings who constantly monitored your thoughts. For that reason, very few crimes were committed in the kingdom, or in the rest of OtherWorld.

  A sudden trumpet fanfare announced that the king and queen were approaching the Throne Room.

  “I need your attention for just one last matter,” said Lady Kalibris, who was letting one of her heads do all the talking, to save time. “We know you love your familiars, but housekeeping has complained about having to clean hair and feathers from the canopy beds. Also, Shaman Night Bird tells me he’s treated a number of cases of asthma this year. So from now on your familiars will no longer be allowed to sleep in your beds.”

  A murmur of protest arose at this, and Kalibris made an appeasing gesture.

  “However, so that you can keep them nearby, we have set up perches, kennels, nests, and all sorts of sleeping furniture in a corner of the dormitories. That way, your familiars will never be far away.”

  Just then, a magnificent gray panther padded into the room. The little monkey perched on Skyler Eterna’s shoulder went into hysterics and the boy had a hard time calming it down.

  The panther merely yawned, indifferent to the excitement it was causing. Fabrice overheard Angelica saying that the master of such a handsome familiar must be a very interesting boy.

  Imagine their surprise when a slim girl with curly brown hair entered instead. She was red with embarrassment, and clearly dying to be anywhere but there. Also, she stuttered.

  “I-I-’m sorry I-I-I’m late,” she mumbled.

  Lady Boudiou, who was the nearest, reassured her.

  “Don’t worry, the presentation hasn’t started yet. You’re Lady Kalibris’s apprentice, aren’t you? What’s your name?”

  “G-g-Gloria D-d-Daavil, but I p-prefer my n-n-nickname, Sparrow.”

  Tara thought the nickname suited her perfectly. Angelica glared at the girl, who practically wilted, but Tara flashed her a smile—to be contrary, and also because she pitied her.

  For Tara, the rest of the ceremony unfolded in a kind of fog as she struggled not to stumble, stutter, and especially not to gape at King Bear and Queen Titania.

  The sovereigns were of medium height, with brown hair, and looked to be in their fifties. They were dressed in beautiful dark blue and
silver spellbinder robes that fell to their feet. Their smiles were friendly.

  Catching sight of Tara, the queen was startled. She’d already seen those distinctive deep blue eyes, that sheaf of golden hair with the strange white strand, and the bright smile before—but where? Feeling curious, she asked her a few questions.

  “Are your parents happy that you’re here on OtherWorld as Master Chem’s guest? It’s a great honor, you know!”

  “My parents are dead, Your Majesty,” Tara said quietly.

  “Oh, I’m so sorry,” said the queen, pained. “I didn’t know. Do have any family? Siblings?”

  “Just my grandmother, Your Majesty.” (Also my great-grandfather, thought Tara, but there was no way to explain a dog to the queen!)

  “You’ll see, we’re like a big family here,” said the queen with a gentle smile. “I know you’re not spending much time with us, but you’ll soon start thinking of the other apprentices as your brothers and sisters.” (Angelica, my sister? Not likely! Tara thought.) “Please consider the King and me as substitute parents. The happiness of our apprentices matters a great deal to us. If you need anything at all, don’t hesitate to come find us. We will always be available.”

  “Thank you, Your Majesty,” said Tara, moved by the queen’s sincerity. She took a deep breath to drive away the tears that rose to her eyes.

  Seated on a pillow next to the thrones was Their Majesties’ First Counselor Salatar, the monstrous chimera. He abruptly jumped down to stand in front of Tara, and delicately sniffed her ceremonial robe.

  “I sense power . . . and . . . danger. Is it wise to provoke the forces of evil so close to their Royal Highnesses?”

  Tara was so terrified, she didn’t move an inch—especially since she’d noticed tiny flames coming from the chimera’s mouth. When he spoke, Salatar spat fire!

  Master Chem, who was observing the presentation, quickly trotted toward the thrones. The courtiers murmured in surprise, and the queen’s delighted young ladies-in-waiting whispered that this was the most interesting official presentation in years.

  “Your Highnesses!” cried the old wizard, slightly out of breath. “As I said last night, our young friend here is the granddaughter of our powerful ally High Wizard Isabella Duncan, a mainstay of our earthly monitoring program. Tara Duncan is spending a few days of her vacation with us and will soon return to Earth. Your first counselor has displayed his usual subtlety in detecting the power of Tara’s gift, but she represents no danger to the throne.”

  “Come on, Salatar, stop terrorizing the girl,” ordered the king, frowning at him. “We have offered Tara our hospitality and we are not about to take it back.”

  The chimera hesitated, then, with a powerful leap, returned to his cushion.

  “So be it,” he grumbled. “I yield to Your Majesty’s demand, but I would like my disagreement be noted in the daily record.”

  The queen rolled her eyes and smiled kindly at Tara, who was still in shock and was having trouble even opening her mouth.

  When the presentations were over and Tara could rejoin the others, Angelica shot her a nasty look. The queen had also spoken to the tall girl, but not with such warm affection. How had this little twit managed to attract powerful figures’ favor so quickly? Angelica wondered.

  “That chimera is more paranoid than the worst secret agent on Earth,” said Master Chem with annoyance. “But if Salatar thinks you might be dangerous, I don’t want you wandering around the Castle with nothing to do. I’d rather you stay with me for the time being. Do you mind?”

  Tara simply nodded. She didn’t mind at all. Anything was better than finding herself nose to nose with the chimera.

  “Fine,” said the old wizard with satisfaction. “Let’s go to the daily meeting in the conference room.”

  The topic of the day was the Castle forest. The high wizards managed the trees, and they needed a fertilizer to restore soil depleted by the trees’ incredibly rapid growth. Master Den’maril, the elf, created a mushroom that, when it rotted, would yield a fertilizer rich enough to satisfy the Growers, the spellbinders charged with the growth of the forest. (Loggers cut trees. Growers grow them.)

  What most surprised Tara was the length and complexity of the creation process. The elf wizard apparently had to take into account all sorts of factors before he dared release his mushroom into nature. And here she thought magic could solve everything in the blink of an eye!

  While he was working, Den’maril knocked a test tube off the table, but caught the falling glass tube long before it could hit the floor. The elf smiled to see Tara’s astonishment at his incredible quickness.

  Master Chem had been turning the pockets of his robe inside out for a few minutes, as if he had lost something. The old wizard asked Tara if she would mind serving as his temporary assistant, assuring her that the job wouldn’t involve performing any magic.

  “With pleasure, Master Chem,” she answered politely.

  She soon realized that she had made a terrible mistake.

  The problem was that the old dragon forgot everything. Chem’s memory was so crowded with his centuries of existence that he focused only on important things. From that fateful moment on, Tara spent all her time racing to the four corners of the Castle, looking for whatever the wizard had forgotten. And good grief, how big the place was!

  Delighted that the high wizard had found a new victim, the pages, grooms, and other servants grinned mockingly to see Tara sprinting along the hallways. (This tickled and annoyed the Castle, and the hallways began to quiver and undulate under the girl’s feet.)

  As a result, Tara had very little free time to spend in the library. And to her great disappointment, the librarian, a cahmboum, didn’t know of any Gray Fortress. She did check out a few books on the Bloodgraves so as to read up about her enemies.

  Fortunately, she was free after lunch, as the wizards were meeting about the war that had broken out between two factions of dwarves in the Hymlia mountains. So Master Chem turned Tara over to Cal, who invited her to tour the Castle along with Sparrow and Fabrice.

  “It’s huge,” he said, pointing at the Castle’s imposing entrance. (Tara nodded vigorously. Huge it certainly was! They should install people movers in the hallways.) “But there are lots of secret or forgotten passages that let you go from one place to another. C’mon, I’ll show you the Training Hall. We’re supposed to work out there for at least an hour a day, so you may as well know where it is.”

  Having spent the whole morning running around, Tara didn’t see the point of further exercise, but her friends were enthusiastic, so she went along. Once out of the great Council Room, they took some hallways that couldn’t have been used very often. In spite of the cleaning spells, they were full of dust and spider webs, which Tara and Sparrow didn’t much like.

  They were about to emerge opposite the Training Hall when Cal suddenly gestured to them to quickly hide.

  They could hear two voices whispering.

  “And there were four more last year!”

  “That was quite a haul.”

  “It certainly gave the high wizard trouble! The parents held him responsible.”

  “Well, he was! Him and that stupid policy of his.”

  “We’re counting on you!”

  “Don’t worry, I know what I have to do.”

  “All right. See you later.”

  The three young spellbinders barely had time to sink back into the shadows and hold their breath before Master Dragosh passed by. Deep in thought, the vampyr didn’t see them.

  They looked at each other. They had just overheard a very strange conversation. Cal was wide-eyed and seemed very agitated.

  “Come along,” he hissed. “Let’s go in.”

  The Training Hall consisted of a huge arena divided into sections and surrounded by bleachers for the spectators. A few courtiers were fencing, and Master Chanfrein was giving a lesson in what Tara guessed was a kind of martial art.

  “Did you hear what
he said?” asked Cal.

  “I did,” answered Fabrice. “He said, ‘Dragon glides and tiger bites.’”

  “No! I mean Master Dragosh, not Chanfrein!”

  “Oh, sorry,” said Fabrice. “He seemed very pleased about something. Do you know what he was talking about?”

  “A few months ago, at the end of the year, four apprentices disappeared from the Castle. Nobody knows what happened. One evening they were there and the next morning, no one.”

  “Really?” whispered Fabrice, fascinated. “So what then?”

  “The high wizards cast all sorts of spells around the Castle to protect the apprentices. The secret services are apparently on high alert, but they haven’t found any clues so far.”

  “You think they were talking about the disappearances?” asked Tara. “Why did they say it was quite a haul?

  “I have no idea, but I’m going to keep an eye on Dragosh to find out what he’s hatching. And I’ll let you know.”

  Fabrice was about to protest that he wanted to be involved as well. Before he could speak, however, he felt a presence behind him. Turning, he found Angelica looking at them thoughtfully.

  The tall girl had apparently come to work out. She was wearing tights and a leotard and spent some time sparring. They noticed that when she beat her opponents, Angelica seemed to enjoy inflicting as much pain as possible. Tara decided never to confront her without a complete suit of armor, a bulletproof jacket, a sword, and maybe a few hand grenades.

  They were within Angelica’s hearing, so they changed the subject. Tara was interested in Sparrow.

  “Why did you come in so late?” asked Cal. “You almost missed Tara’s presentation.”

  “Yes, I know. M-m-my father is s-s-sick. He has abracadarthritis. I was d-d-dropping off s-s-some tests at the infirmary, and I didn’t notice the t-t-time.”

  “One of my uncles got it, and he was out of commission for three weeks,” he said sympathetically. “Is your father going to be okay?”

  “Yes. We hired a specialist who t-t-treated him in t-t-time, though he c-c-cost us a fortune.”