Cave Beneath the Sea

by Edward Willett

  “Wally,” Ariane said, her voice low and dangerous. “Give me the shard.”

  He frowned, and almost rebelled, but then his eyes widened as he realized what was happening. “Crap,” he muttered, and jerked the shard out of his pocket and held it out. “Here, take it.”

  Ariane snatched it from his hand, and immediately his irritation eased. I’ve read The Lord of the Rings, he thought. You’d think I’d know better. Excalibur might not be the “One Ring to rule them all,” but clearly it shared certain characteristics.

  “The shards of Excalibur,” he said, “are getting pushy.”

  Ariane shoved the shard into her backpack, alongside the tensor bandage that normally held it against her side. “I know,” she said. “You felt it, too?”

  He nodded. “It doesn’t like your mom.”

  “She refused the power of the Lady,” Ariane said. “The sword – or the Lady’s power it contains – appears to take that personally.” She glanced back into the Tea Lobby. “I can’t convince her to run anymore,” she said. “She thinks she’s safe here. She thinks Rex Major’s men can’t trace her to the Empress.”

  Wally shook his head. “I wouldn’t bet on it.”

  “I wouldn’t either,” Ariane said, sounding almost angry. “But I couldn’t change her mind. And it’s not like we can take her away by force...” Her voice trailed off. Her eyes widened. She was looking past Wally at someone else. Someone who must be coming toward them.

  Crap, he thought. Crap, crap, crap, crap!

  “Don’t turn around,” Ariane murmured. “And keep your head down.”

  “It’s Dad, isn’t it?” he whispered, looking at his feet.

  “Yes,” Ariane said. “I recognize him from the pictures in your house.”

  “Is he alone?”

  “He’s with another man.”

  “Which side will they pass us on?”

  “Neither. They’re stopping.”

  And now he could hear his father’s voice. “Listen, Pete, I know what Sharma said, but the numbers don’t add up. I think we need to...” His dad’s voice faltered.

  “He’s looking this way,” Ariane whispered. “He’s not sure it’s you, but he’s puzzled. He’s going to come over. He’s going to say something –”

  “He can’t know I’m here,” Wally said in an agonizing whisper. “If he finds out, Rex Major will know. And if he knows we were here –”

  “Mom,” Ariane said. “He’ll know we were here because of Mom.” He didn’t dare raise his eyes, but he could tell she had shifted position. “Hang on,” she said.

  “Why? What –”

  He got no farther, because at that moment every fire sprinkler in the hallway suddenly let go.

  As water poured down, and people started screaming and yelling, his father’s swearing booming out over everyone else’s, Ariane grabbed Wally’s hand and ran for the stairs at the corner of the Tea Lobby, past the startled pianist, who was standing up and peering into the hallway to see what was going on. They dashed down the stairs to the lower level and along a long corridor until they found public washrooms. Ariane banged open the door to the women’s, called, “Anyone in there?”, and when she got no answer, pulled Wally inside.

  Five seconds later she’d turned on a tap, stuck her hand into the running water, and spirited them both away.

  Wally didn’t even know where they were going. He wasn’t sure she knew, either. But as it turned out, the journey was very short. They popped up in the same lake in Beacon Hill Park where they’d materialized once before. Since it was now pouring rain, there seemed little reason to climb out on the shore: even standing chest-deep in the lake they were dryer under the bridge – or at least the top parts of them were.

  “Where do we go, Wally?” Ariane said. “I can’t take us to this Kakki...Cabbi...”

  “Cacibajagua,” he said helpfully.

  “Whatever Island without knowing where it is. I need a map.”

  “Which means I need a computer,” Wally said. He sighed. “Again.”

  “I don’t think going back to the Empress is a good idea,” Ariane said.

  “Then let’s go back to Horseshoe Bay,” Wally said. “Even if we’re seen by Rex Major’s men there it won’t tell him anything – he already knows your mom was there, and isn’t there now.”

  “Okay,” Ariane said. She took a deep breath. “I wish I’d had a crumpet or something at the Tea Lobby. I’m starving.”

  “Me, too.”

  “I can get us to Horseshoe Bay, but there’s no way we get to the Caribbean without something to eat.”

  “Fish and chips at Troll’s,” Wally said. “It’s a Canadian tradition.”

  Ariane licked her lips. “That sounds wonderful,” she said fervently. “But first things first.” She unlimbered her backpack, and rummaged in it, pulling out the shard and the tensor bandage. “Hold this,” she said, handing the pack to Wally. Then she pulled her shirt up. Just as her belly button came into view her stomach rumbled, and she made a face.

  “Told you I’m starving.” She wrapped the bandage around herself again, tucking the blade against her side, then tucked in her shirt once more and shouldered her backpack again. “It’s around 1 p.m. here, isn’t it?” she said.

  Wally nodded.

  “Three hours later in Toronto.”

  He nodded again. “And the same time on Cacibajagua Island.”

  “By the time we get there, it could be dark.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Where will we sleep?”

  Wally shook his head. “I don’t have a clue,” he said. “The place is a resort, but we won’t exactly have reservations.”

  “Guess we’ll play it by ear,” Ariane said. She gave him a crooked smile. “Seems like that’s the only way we ever play it.”

  “I know,” Wally said.

  Ariane took his hands, but both of them this time, not just one. Then, before he realized what she intended, she pulled him closer and kissed him, not on the cheek, this time, but on the lips, a soft, lingering kiss that was the sweetest thing he’d ever tasted.

  Lips don’t really taste sweet, a part of his brain told him. How could they? They’re just skin. A little salty, maybe, or...

  Shut up, another part of his brain suggested. Just this once, shut up.

  He decided to stop thinking for the duration.

  The kiss only lasted a few seconds, but it certainly seemed longer. Much longer. He swallowed and opened his eyes, which had closed of their own accord. “Um?” he said – not the wittiest repartee of his life, but it seemed all he could manage. “Um,” he repeated for emphasis.

  “Thank you, Wally,” Ariane whispered. “For helping me find Mom.”

  “Um!” He cleared his throat. “I mean, thanks. I mean, you’re welcome.”

  Ariane grinned at him, a new kind of a grin, with a hint of shyness in it. He liked it. A lot. “Let’s get out of here.”

  And just like that, Victoria vanished.

  <•>

  Rex Major made it a point to call Wally’s and Felicia’s parents every day, to reinforce the Commands that kept them from interfering with his plans for their children. He’d already told them of his intention to take Felicia to the Caribbean, but the night before he left he called them again, just to be sure they didn’t...worry.

  Although, to be honest, Wally and Felicia’s mother, at least, hardly seemed to need any reinforcement of the Command not to worry. She was preparing to fly to New Zealand to film a fantasy movie on which she was an assistant director. Major wondered if they’d be shooting near Lake Putahi, where Ariane and Wally had stolen the third shard of Excalibur out from under his nose. “I’m sure Felicia will have a wonderful time,” Mrs. Knight said, and that was that.

  Mr. Knight didn’t even answer his cell phone the first two times Major tried to call him. He got ready for bed, then gave the number one last try. This time Felicia’s father answered on the first ring. “Jim Knight here,” he said.


  “Hi, Jim. It’s Rex Major.”

  “Rex! Wonderful to hear from you.” There was no trace of dissembling in Knight’s voice. He really was thrilled to hear from the one who Commanded him. He had no choice. He would do anything Rex Major asked, without regard for his own dignity, career – or safety.

  Major savored the power he held over the other man. He would not abuse that power – but he would use it, if and when it became necessary.

  “Just wanted to remind you I’m taking Felicia on a Caribbean weekend adventure tomorrow,” he said casually. “You’re all right with that.” That last phrase was in the Voice of Command, as effective over the telephone as it had once been in person when, as Merlin, he had manipulated all the court of Camelot, excepting Arthur himself.

  “I’m all right with that,” Knight confirmed cheerfully.

  Major resisted the temptation to add, “These are not the droids you’re looking for.” That particular pop-culture reference had amused him no end once he’d finally seen the scene it referred to: sure, that had been some twenty years after Star Wars had first come out – most pop culture didn’t interest him, unless you counted opera as pop culture – but better late than never.

  “I have wonderful news,” Mr. Knight said, unsolicited, much to Merlin’s surprise. Mr. Knight rarely initiated a topic of conversation with Major, especially after receiving a Command. “Wally phoned me last night! He’s not dead at all. He’s back in Canada.”

  Major, who had been leaning casually back in the chair in his home office, sat up sharply. “He is? Did he say where he was?”

  “No,” Mr. Knight said. “But he sounded healthy and said he was fine.”

  “Repeat the conversation to me exactly,” Major Commanded, and then listened silently as Knight did so. Wally really had been careful; hadn’t given a hint as to where he was calling from. You’d be surprised how much I move around, the boy had told his father. Major knew well enough what that meant: thanks to Ariane’s power, he could have been calling from anywhere in Canada – anywhere in the world, come to that.

  But while the conversation didn’t give him any clues as to where Wally and Ariane could be found right now, it did tell him where they were likely to be very soon.

  Wally Knight’s father had told Wally that Rex Major and Felicia were heading to the Caribbean. Almost certainly, Wally and Ariane would magic their way down there in the hope of beating him to the shard once more.

  But it won’t do them any good, Rex Major thought. The Caribbean is a big place, with hundreds of islands. And I’m taking my private jet to a private island. There’s no way they can know which island. And with the shard under salt water, as I believe it to be, Ariane will no more be able to sense its location from down there than she can from up here, at least not until I retrieve it – at which point it will be too late.

  Then he frowned, because he would have wagered that Wally could not possibly have figured out where he was going in New Zealand, either, yet somehow the boy had. He’d assumed that was because Wally had had access to his private emails at the time, not to mention his banking information. Clearly the boy had siphoned several thousand dollars out of an account he paid little attention to, which was why it had taken him so long to notice. The little brat did have a way of surprising him. And Ariane too, thanks to the power poured into her by Merlin’s once-beloved sister, the Lady of the Lake, kept surprising him in unpleasant ways.

  Just because he couldn’t see any way for them to trace him to Cacibajagua Island didn’t mean they couldn’t. He’d have to be ready for that eventuality.

  “Anything else interesting happen?” he said, more by rote than because he expected a useful response; but once again Mr. Knight surprised him.

  “Something very strange in the hotel this morning,” Knight said. “I was talking to Peter Farmington from the local office outside the Empress Dining Room, and all of a sudden all of the water sprinklers in that hallway let go at once. We were soaked to the skin. They shut them off pretty quick, but it caused quite a lot of damage, as you can imagine.”

  Major snapped alert again. “Describe exactly what you saw, starting just before that happened,” he Commanded, and Knight obliged – which was how Rex Major found out that a young boy with red hair and an older girl with black hair had been in the hallway just before the sprinkler let go; how the boy had reminded Mr. Knight of his son; how, during the confusion, the two had vanished.

  Major thanked Knight and wished him good night without really hearing his own voice. His mind was in overdrive, putting two and two together and getting a very pleasing four.

  Wally Knight and Ariane Forsythe had been at the Fairmont Empress, at the very moment his men were on the ferry from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo, following the trail of Emily Forsythe, the one person whom, after Wally and Ariane themselves, Major most wanted to find.

  Could they have been there because Wally wanted to contact his father? Major discounted that possibility immediately – as soon as Jim Knight had seen his son, Ariane had created a diversion and they had disappeared. Their presence at the Empress could have been a coincidence – but it seemed an awfully big one.

  Wally was very good with computers – Major knew that well enough – and if his own computer people had been able to identify Emily Forsythe in photos taken at Horseshoe Bay, quite likely Wally had been, too. He and Ariane could be following the same trail as Major’s men, but they might well have information he lacked. Rather than go to Nanaimo, where Ariane’s mother had gone on the ferry just a couple of weeks ago, perhaps they had gone straight to her ultimate destination: Victoria. Not only Victoria, but the Fairmont Empress.

  It was extremely doubtful Emily Forsythe had the funds to stay at the grand old hotel. Which meant she was most likely working there, or had been.

  Had Wally and Ariane found her? He couldn’t be certain of that, but they’d clearly thought that was the place to look. Which meant that was where his men should be looking, not in Nanaimo.

  He opened his laptop and sent a quick email. Then he used the thread of magic that ran through the Web to find Jim Knight’s cell phone account. He checked the incoming-calls log and saw that the man had received two calls the previous evening. He used the service provider’s reverse-look-up function. One of the calls was from a real estate development company in Victoria: probably some client working late and needing a piece of information from the management consultant.

  The second caller had hidden his or her number from Call Display. But that didn’t matter to Major: the phone number had still been sent, and it displayed for him. The call had come from the Medicine Hat Lodge, from a room rented by someone called Emma Macphail. A quick Google search revealed a retired Saskatchewan schoolteacher by that name, currently residing in Estevan.

  There was no obvious connection to Wally or Ariane. Perhaps they had somehow gained access to her room to use the phone? But he checked one more suspicion and found that, yes, indeed, the Medicine Hat Lodge had a swimming pool: the perfect place for Ariane to begin and end one of her trips.

  He thought for a moment, then created another watching function for his magical outreach into the Internet: any record anywhere of Wally Knight or Ariane Forsythe in Medicine Hat would send him an immediate email alert. After a moment he made an addition – from now on he’d also keep an eye on this Emma Macphail.

  Satisfied, he closed the computer, got up, and got ready for bed.

  Tomorrow promised to be an interesting day in very many ways.

  Chapter Ten

  Caribbean Night

  Ariane sat with Wally in Troll’s Restaurant in Horseshoe Bay. Plates that had been piled with battered fish and french fries now bore nothing but a few smears of catsup and tartar sauce. They’d already materialized in Whyte Lake as before, then made their way down to the Horseshoe Bay Motel and used the computer; the desk clerk, remembering Wally from earlier in the day, had just waved at them as they passed. They had printed out a map showing
the location of Cacibajagua Island and Wally had looked up the weather they could expect. Though there was no forecast for Cacibajagua itself, he’d easily found one for the relatively nearby Turks and Caicos. “Weird,” he said to Ariane, turning toward her. “There’s a storm forming, even though hurricane season is over. Usually they only get a few evening thunderstorms in December. But this is a big one – the sky is already overcast over hundreds of square kilometres, and they’re expecting heavy rain and wind within thirty-six hours. High of 82 Fahrenheit for tomorrow.”

  “What is that in Celsius?”

  Wally grinned. “Around 28.”

  She smiled back. “Well, at least we won’t be materializing in freezing water for once. And overcast skies – that’s good, isn’t it?”

  “I guess. But if it storms...” Wally bent back over the computer. While he studied the satellite images on the screen, she studied him. She’d only known him for two months. He still looked young for his age, but along with the few centimetres he’d gained since they’d met had come quite a few more muscles, too.

  And she’d kissed him.

  She still couldn’t believe she’d done that. It had just kind of...happened. It had seemed like the right thing to do. And it had been...nice.

  More than nice. Quite wonderful, actually.

  He’d looked up at her suddenly, and she’d glanced away, hoping he hadn’t seen her blushing – or maybe hoping he had.

  That wasn’t the only wonderful thing that had happened today. The connection she had felt with her mother, the connection built on the Lady’s blood they both shared, hadn’t vanished when they’d returned to Horseshoe Bay. She could still feel it – and that meant she’d never lose her mother again. It had given an added glow to the past few hours and an added relish to the food, which she’d devoured. She’d been using a lot of power and not replenishing it, so the fish and chips and a generous helping of apple crisp with ice cream had vanished in remarkably short order – short enough order that even Wally, the human vacuum cleaner, had remarked on it.

  Now, as darkness gathered on the water across the street and park from where they sat, they had to plan their next move.