“Stop!” he shouted. Then, gathering more energy than he had ever dreamed possible, Marcus sent it all in a single, powerful burst across the room. The mass of energy was so dense that it warped the very colors and light of the area around it. It struck Prost with such force that it ripped Lael from his arms and flung her across the room. She came to rest unconscious, but alive, near Jayson.
Prost was thrown backward through the gaping, jagged void where the stained-glass window had been. He managed to grasp the sharp edge of the pane, and though it cut into his hands, he hung there, three stories above the ground.
Marcus began to cross the room to the window. If he had to pound Prost’s fists with his own bare hands, he would do it to rid Dokur of the chancellor once and for all. But before he reached Prost, a loud, cracking sound echoed from the hall outside, followed by a tremendous roar.
A guard came running in. “The prison door has exploded off its hinges! Something’s down there!”
The floor beneath their feet rumbled with the steps of something massive and heavy. A moment later, the wall separating the throne room from the rest of the Fortress collapsed in a cloud of dust and rubble. The guards shouted and scattered in every direction. In the settling cloud of dust, Marcus saw an enormous dragon. Its black scales glistened in the sunlight as it threw its head back and roared. It lumbered across the marble floor as though obeying a silent command and lowered its head through the window. Prost released the pane and grasped the beast’s neck with his bloody hands. With great difficulty, he hoisted his battered body onto the back of the dragon. A moment later, the dragon spread its wings and took flight through the broken window.
Kelvin helped Jayson to his feet, and the two of them joined Marcus near the window. Together they watched the dragon turn toward the sea. Minutes later, it and Prost were gone from sight.
Seventy-eight
Marcus stayed by Lael’s bedside for two days, waiting for her to regain consciousness. The Fortress healers who looked after her assured him she would recover soon, but he still worried. Kaië, whose injuries had been minor, stayed nearby, as well, helping where she could. Jayson, of course, refused to be waited on and insisted on keeping his room in the tavern. He and Brommel spent many hours there studying Ivanore’s documents late into the night. They provided some clues as to where Ivanore might be, though nothing was certain.
The second night, hours before the sun would rise, Jayson joined Marcus in his vigil. Marcus noted the dark circles under his father’s eyes and guessed he had not slept well, if at all.
Jayson pulled up a stool to sit beside his son. “How is she?” he asked.
“Better,” said Marcus.
“Good. Brommel is waiting in the hall. When she awakes, you’ll let him know, won’t you?”
“Of course I will. So have Ivanore’s papers yielded anymore secrets?”
“They have.” Jayson rested his hands on the edge of Lael’s bed, his fingers woven in a relaxed grip. “Marcus, there are many things your grandfather and I should have told you.” His fingers tightened, knuckles going white. “You asked why I didn’t tell you about your mother, and what I said was the truth. I wish I had known—I should have known she was alive.”
“It’s not your fault,” said Marcus.
Jayson pressed his lips together and closed his eyes. A look of remorse crossed his face. “After Fredric sent me into exile, Ivanore came after me. You read that much in her letter. If I had known, I could have protected her. But instead, the Vatéz took her captive.”
“Vatéz,” said Marcus. “They’re mentioned in Ivanore’s documents. I don’t know anything about them except that they are our enemy.”
“The Vatéz are a secret association whose sole objective is to control every other civilized society. They are very powerful, but they lack the one thing that could give them what they most desire.”
“Ivanore’s crystal seals?”
“If the Vatéz find them, they will force Ivanore to use the seals to locate and destroy the Guilde.”
“Do you have any idea where they are holding her?”
“Only that she is likely in Hestoria. The map may have some clues, but we don’t understand the language.”
Jayson grew silent. Marcus thought of his mother’s letter. She had left him and Kelvin to search for Jayson. Though he understood why she had done it, the feeling that he had been forsaken was like a stone in his stomach.
As if reading Marcus’s thoughts, Jayson suddenly continued. “You must understand,” he said firmly, “she fully expected to return to Imaness. She did not abandon you. She loves you, Marcus. That’s why we are going after her.”
Jayson explained the plans he and Brommel had made. Kelvin had agreed to give them a ship and supplies, and they would sail for Hestoria that afternoon. The mission would be dangerous. Prost had escaped and could be counted on to tell their enemies every scrap of information he knew—including the existence of the second Celestine seal. Therefore, Marcus had to protect the seals at all costs.
Seventy-nine
When Lael finally awoke later that morning, Marcus the first thing she saw was Marcus’s face. He smiled at her and reached for her hand, still bruised and weak. She tried to return his smile, but a fit of coughing stopped her.
“Shhh,” said Marcus. “Lie still and rest.”
Lael nodded, but the look in her eyes spoke what her heart wanted to say aloud.
“Everyone’s all right,” continued Marcus.
“Bryn?”
“Even Bryn.”
Lael looked relieved, though she winced in pain when she tried to move.
Marcus adjusted the pillow beneath her head so that she would be more comfortable. “The doctor says you’ll be strong enough to go home in a few days. In the meantime, you’re to take it easy.”
“But I don’t want to go home,” said Lael, her voice weak but determined.
Marcus shook his head. “I know, Lael. You don’t have to go back to Quendel. You have a new home here in Dokur.”
Lael looked confused.
“There’s someone here to see you,” he told her, “someone who can explain it better than I can.”
Marcus stood and opened the door, inviting whoever waited outside to come in. A moment later, Brommel and Rylan entered. Rylan held a bunch of orange blossoms in his hand. Lael accepted them gratefully, allowing Rylan to set them beside her on the bed stand.
Brommel nodded approvingly at the girl lying in the bed. “My son tells me you were quite the hero in Voltana, young lady. He says you have the heart of a warrior. Tell me, Lael, have you had any success in finding your mother? That is why you went to Voltana, isn’t it? To continue your quest?”
“No, I haven’t found her,” whispered Lael. “I’m afraid I never will.”
“Never?” repeated Brommel. “I’m surprised someone with such spirit as you have would give up so easily. And what if you were to find her? What then? Are you ready to meet her?”
Lael anxiously tugged at the edge of her blanket. Marcus noticed tears coming down her cheeks.
Brommel stepped closer and spoke with the tenderness of a father. “Rylan told me of your sacrifice.”
Sacrifice, wondered Marcus. What sacrifice is he talking about?
Two drops fell from Lael’s eyes, dampening the blanket in her hands. “It was the right thing to do,” she said softly, forcing a smile. “It doesn’t matter now, anyway. It was a child’s dream, finding my mother after so many years.”
“Now, I wouldn’t say that,” answered Brommel. “You know, I nearly forgot. I brought you something. If you wait a moment, I’ll go fetch it for you.”
Brommel momentarily stepped out of the room. Marcus wanted to ask Lael what Brommel had meant, what sacrifice had she made. She had, of course, helped him many times along the journey to Voltana and back, but somehow he sensed Brommel referred to something more important. But before he could ask her about it, Brommel returned. With him was the pendant s
eller from town, the one who had sold Marcus the gryphon amulet and who had been with Brommel and Jayson in the Seafarer Tavern after Marcus was attacked.
“Do you know this woman, Lael?”
Lael looked at the woman and then back at Brommel. “We’ve spoken on a few occasions,” Lael said, “but otherwise we’re strangers.”
“Are you really so certain, child? Her name is Arla.”
Lael turned her eyes to the woman again, with more interest this time. “My mother’s name was Arla. . . .”
Marcus watched the recognition dawn slowly in Lael’s eyes. Brommel had explained the woman’s identity to him earlier, of course, and he had wondered how Lael would react to the news.
Lael tentatively reached out to touch Arla’s face. Bursting into tears, Arla grasped Lael’s hand in hers and held it against her cheek. As she enfolded Lael in her arms, Lael smiled. “I smell lilacs,” she said. Then she held her mother close and cried.
Eighty
Why didn’t you tell me who you were before?” asked Lael.
“I would have if I had known,” answered Arla, “but I hadn’t seen you since you were a small girl. And I never expected to see you again. I didn’t recognize you.”
“But you knew Marcus.”
Arla glanced at Marcus who, until now, had remained a silent witness to this reunion between mother and daughter.
“I felt his power,” said Arla, “and when I saw Zyll, it only confirmed what I had suspected. He’s Ivanore’s son and the new seer.”
Brommel interrupted. “There’s a very important reason why your mother’s been gone so long.”
“She sold herself into slavery to pay our debts,” said Lael.
“That’s partly true,” said Brommel. “I went to Quendel that day to collect your father. But he refused to honor his contract and sent your mother in his place.”
“Couldn’t you have stopped him?” asked Lael. “Why didn’t you force him to go instead?”
Arla stroked Lael’s cheek. “I went willingly. I thought I’d pay the debt and return to you in a year or two. But when I did return, I learned that your father had told the village elders I had abandoned you, and they believed him. They wouldn’t even let me see you.”
Marcus saw the pain in Arla’s face and knew she told the truth. He imagined Lael must hate her father for everything he had done, and he couldn’t blame her. But something else nagged at him at this moment. Though he hated to interrupt, Marcus could no longer keep back the question burning in his mind.
“Arla,” he said, “did you know my mother well?”
Arla nodded. “During Ivanore’s short time in Quendel, several years before I left, we became friends. She often confided in me about her visions and her desire to find her husband, but she went missing shortly after that. Years later, Brommel and I both became Guardians in the hopes that we could help locate her. But when the Guilde came under attack, the few Guardians who survived went into hiding.”
Arla held up the jade pendant she wore around her neck. It was the same one she had shown Lael and Marcus when they first met in Dokur’s marketplace, the one with the gryphon carved into it.
“We have all waited a long time for the new Seer to come of age,” she said. “And now it’s time for the Guilde to unite once again.”
“All right, now you know,” said Brommel. Despite his brusque tone, Marcus sensed he was moved by what Arla had said. “We have pressing matters to attend to, namely finding Ivanore and destroying the Vatéz once and for all.”
“I’m ready to go,” said Arla, kissing her daughter’s cheek.
“Not this time, Arla,” said Brommel. “It will take weeks for Lael to fully recuperate, and she’ll be needing assistance. No, for this journey you’ll be staying here.”
“Then who will go with you?”
Marcus looked at Lael. The happiness in her face at having been reunited with her mother made his heart swell. Things were as they should be. Kelvin would rule Dokur with a just hand. The Agorans would soon inhabit the lands they had been forced to abandon long ago. Clovis was safely home in Quendel preparing for winter. But for him? There was nothing for him here. No reason to stay.
“I’ll go,” he said.
Marcus stood and squared his shoulders. Touching the shape of Ivanore’s second seal still in his pocket, he felt he could do anything. He knew that somehow he had been chosen as its protector—and that only he could save his mother.
Eighty-one
May I come in?”
Marcus peered through the already open door to Kelvin’s council chambers. Kelvin sat at his desk, reading through a stack of papers. He greeted his brother with a smile and invited him in.
“You look busy,” said Marcus, sitting in a chair opposite the desk.
“Not at all. Just some reports on the ships’ progress. Seems everything will be ready by spring. Unfortunately, that provides our enemy time to prepare for war, too. But no matter. Tell me, how is Lael?”
“Recovering. Thank you for providing for her care.”
“It’s the least I can do. Father tells me you are going to Hestoria to search for our mother,” Kelvin added, pointing to the knapsack slung on Marcus’s shoulder. “I wish I could go with you.”
“You have other responsibilities,” said Marcus. “And you’ve given us everything we need to make our journey a successful one.”
“Not everything,” said Kelvin, rising from his chair. He came around the desk, removing Ivanore’s seal from his neck. He held it out to Marcus. “Please, take this.”
Marcus looked at the medallion in Kelvin’s outstretched palm. “No, Kelvin. It belongs to you.”
“Somehow it never felt right that I keep it,” replied Kelvin. “I know now that it was meant for you.”
Marcus reached into his pocket and removed the second medallion. “I found it in Voltana with her letter.”
“So there are two of them,” said Kelvin.
Marcus looked at both medallions. As he had thought, they were identical in every way. He moved his closer to his brother’s to compare them. As he did, they both began to glow.
Marcus drew it back, and the discs returned to normal. The two boys looked at each other, searching for some explanation. Marcus again moved his medallion near to Kelvin’s, and again the discs glowed, the light becoming brighter the closer they got.
Marcus turned his over in his palm. “Look at that,” he said, pointing to the center of his disc where the shape of a triangle had appeared. Kelvin turned his over and found a triangle there, as well.
“I never noticed that before,” said Kelvin.
“The light makes the shapes visible,” answered Marcus. “It’s as if they sense each other’s presence.”
“Take it,” Kelvin insisted. “Maybe when you find Ivanore, you can return them to her. And you can tell her for me—”
Marcus hesitantly took Kelvin’s stone, but the very moment he touched it, a powerful burst of light exploded from both discs, filling the room with such brilliance that everything in it was swallowed up in light.
Marcus shaded his eyes with his arm. He blinked as his eyes adjusted to the brightness. Kelvin was gone. The desk and chairs and the room itself were gone. Marcus alone stood in a perfect whiteness. Sound, too, had vanished, except for the sound of his own breathing. He realized he should be afraid, but what he felt instead was peace.
“Hello, Marcus.”
He turned and saw her standing beside him as if she had always been there. She smiled at him, and her smile warmed him to his very soul.
“Hello, Mother,” he replied softly.
“I have been calling for you.”
“Yes, I know. I’m sorry I couldn’t answer you—until now.”
Ivanore glanced down at the discs of Celestine in Marcus’s hands. She looked up again and gazed into his eyes.
“Things are finally as they should be,” she said. “I am no longer needed. You are the Seer now, Marcus.”
&nbs
p; Ivanore turned as if to go, but Marcus called after her.
“Mother, for all these years, Kelvin and I believed you were dead. Why weren’t we told the truth?”
“You found my chest?” asked Ivanore in reply. “My letter and the other documents inside?”
“Yes. You wrote that Zyll kept our identities secret to protect us, but protect us from whom? Your father? Chancellor Prost?”
“If you’ve read those documents, you know of the Vatéz and their hunger for power. If they had found you, they would have used you to blackmail me into giving them the stones.”
“Why are the stones so important?” asked Marcus.
“They are the tools of the Seer. They focus, even enhance, my gifts.”
“And in the hands of an enchanter?”
“No honorable enchanter would dare use them. But the Vatéz are not honorable. They use their magic for selfish purposes. They have already killed too many innocent people. If they were to possess the stones, they would destroy us all.”
“Zyll told me that you’re alive. Others believe the Vatéz are holding you captive somewhere in Hestoria.”
“I came to Hestoria to find Jayson,” said Ivanore. “Instead, the Vatéz found me.”
“And you never told my father about me?”
The sorrow that crossed Ivanore’s face tore at Marcus’s heart, bringing him to tears.
“There are many things I regret, my son, things I cannot explain to you now. Perhaps someday, should we ever find each other.”
“But we will find each other,” said Marcus. “I’m coming for you!”
The vision began to fade, Ivanore’s figure evaporating like a quickly forgotten dream. Ivanore managed a melancholy smile. “Yes, my son. Come for me. I am waiting for you where stone meets sea and shadow.”
Just before her image completely vanished from sight, Ivanore reached her hand out toward Marcus, stretching, grasping, her face filled with a horrible longing.
The Last Enchanter Page 21
