The Night Mage

by April Swanson

  “She sent you back to help me?” he asked dubiously.

  “I know it seems unlikely, but why else would she let me stay? And I did enter the castle all by myself. That has to count for something.”

  “Perhaps. But I know her better, Aideen. And I think she sent you here to torment me further.”

  “I’m not going to torment you, Faol. My life rests with you too, remember?”

  “Yes,” he said. “Exactly.”

  I couldn’t get another word out of him until we returned to the kitchen.

  “I should eat,” he said.

  “You should. You’re going to need your strength.”

  He slumped against the kitchen table. “How long are you going to pretend to be happy for my sake?”

  “As long as it takes to lift you from your melancholy.”

  “Be yourself, Aideen. Or I’ll feel even worse.”

  “Is that possible?” I asked him.

  “Oh yes,” he said darkly, even though I’d meant it as a joke.

  He really wasn’t helping matters. In times of pressure it was best to stay positive. My own tears had only just dried, and if I thought about my family and the choice I’d made, they would likely resume their flow.

  “So.” I clapped my hands together. “Lunch.”

  “Didn’t we just endure breakfast?”

  “Strength, remember?”

  “Hmph.”

  I ignored him, and rooted around in the cupboards for something edible (although I was still full from breakfast). There were shrivelled root vegetables, stale bread, bags of flour, sugar, coffee; some fruit that would not last the week. Did Moranda package all this up and send it by post?

  I cobbled enough together for a thin soup that tasted vaguely of carrots. Not all the salt and pepper in the world could have made it taste good. I slopped a bowl in front of Faol and said, “Eat.”

  He spooned it into his mouth and said, “Mm.”

  I burst out laughing.

  He looked up at me, a frown at first, then dissolving into laughter too.

  “This is worse than the pears,” he said.

  “It is quite disgusting!”

  “No one teach you to cook?”

  “No. Anyone teach you?”

  “I’ve been busy learning magic.”

  “Have you?” I asked, darting my eyes around the kitchen, indicating our imprisonment.

  His laughter halted, and for a second I thought I’d overstepped the mark. But then his mouth broke into a wide grin. He pushed the soup back and hopped off his chair. “So, Fresh Eyes, what should we do first to defeat the beast?”

  I kept smiling as he walked around the table, his hair flowing behind him.

  “I think,” I said, “we should find out what the Night Mage actually is. Did you know there are many?”

  Faol slowed, stopping right in front of me. “What?”

  “There are many Mages. According to Moranda. She said that all students must defeat the Night Mage. It takes many forms.”

  “I had no idea,” he said. “Why would she tell you? She’d know you’d tell me in turn.”

  “Well, she didn’t know I’d come back.”

  “Did she not?” he asked, and I flushed, and then he did too, perhaps embarrassed at his own boldness.

  “Or maybe she’s helping you, Faol. I really believe that.”

  “And I will never believe that,” he replied. “She wants me to know that all the other students defeated the Night Mage. That I do not have a more difficult task than others. That it is my own weakness stopping me, not my foe.”

  “A foe that’s been enhanced by my presence,” I reminded him. “So actually, you do face a tougher challenge.”

  “But I have you by my side.”

  “A tougher challenge,” I repeated.

  Slowly, his smile returned. “Come then, Aideen of the wood. Come and hinder my progress.”

  “Gladly, sir. Tell me: where are we going?”

  “To the heart of the castle,” he said. “It will be dangerous, Aideen. Are you afraid?”

  “No. Should I be?”

  “I don’t know you well enough to say. Now, take my hand.”

  I eyed his hand with suspicion. “Is it necessary?”

  “Absolutely. Assuming you wish to survive.”

  “I had hoped to.”

  “Then hold on tight, and don’t let go.”

  I took his hand.

  “I won’t,” I said.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  The heart of the castle was not at all what I’d expected. I’d predicted a grand room, perhaps filled with mirrors. Or something burning, a ball of magic fire.

  Instead Faol took me outside, to a tiny square opening in the centre of the castle. Ruined stone stairs crumbled towards a clear spring. Above, the sun filtered down, casting light on the ancient stonework and clinging vines of ivy and thorn.

  “Careful on the stairs,” said Faol. “They’re old.”

  His fingers were still linked in mine, and together we stepped across the cracks and moss and overgrown weeds. It was cold in the heart of the castle, and I shivered, wishing I had sumptuous robes like the masters of the Mage Court.

  He let go of my hand. “I need to enter the pool. I need to go back through all I know about the Night Mage, and I need you to keep watch.”

  “Keep watch?”

  “Yes. For anything dangerous.”

  “Can’t you give me more information?” I asked.

  “I’m afraid not. I’m about to delve deep into my self in the Otherworld. It’s not going to be easy. I don’t know what might happen. But I need your eyes, Aideen. Remember everything you see. It might shed light on the true nature of the Night Mage. Can you do what I ask?”

  “I hope so. I’ll certainly try my best.” Yet I worried my best would not be good enough.

  He unfastened his waistcoat and held it out for me to take. “The less I wear, the better.”

  The waistcoat was warm in my hands. “Can I wear it?” I asked. “I’m cold.”

  “Of course.”

  I slipped my arms in quickly, and the residual heat of his body pressed against mine. My shivering eased a little.

  He removed his boots and his socks, and rolled the sleeves of his black shirt up to the elbow. The crumbling stairs descended into the pool itself. Faol made those final steps, until the crystal-clear water was up to his thighs.

  “Remember Aideen: you are my eyes.”

  He tipped back into the water, coming to float on its surface. He spread out his arms and legs until he was in a narrow star-shape. I waited by the edge of the pool, the water licking the tip of my boots. I buried my hands in my armpits to stop my fingers from going numb. All of Faol’s warmth had left his waistcoat.

  Faol floated on the heart of the castle. Above his face, inches from his nose, a tiny ball of light appeared. My eyes strained from focusing so hard.

  You are my eyes.

  I couldn’t let him down.

  The light darkened. Its edges pushed and pulled, like something was trapped inside the ball and trying to get out: something with sharp arms and legs. It rose higher into the air, expanding.

  Was it from the Otherworld, the land of magic? Was Faol there now, or simply deep inside his own thoughts?

  The light – now it was more a dark shape than a light – extended until it was twice the size of Faol. It could barely fit between the walls of the castle.

  A woman screamed.

  The shape exploded in a burst of darkness, and then a shadow of the Night Mage floated in mid-air, snarling and snapping. I stepped back out of the water. The movement sent a ripple towards Faol’s floating body.

  “Let her go.”

  The voice came from the Night Mage, yet the Night Mage had not spoken.

  “Soon you will see.”

  The Night Mage thrashed its long tail. In its wake, I caught the faint outline of a woman with long hair. I couldn’t see her face.

  S
he disappeared.

  The Night Mage howled. Faol jerked in the water.

  Claws scraped on stone. This time, it had not come from the pool, but from the walls of the castle. The Night Mage was here… The real Night Mage, not just a vision. I glanced up through the tiny shaft. The clouds gathered in the sky, too quick to be natural. They turned from white to grey to black. Before I knew it, all was dark.

  “But it’s not night!” I cried.

  Faol’s eyes fluttered rapidly, like the wings of a butterfly. I didn’t think he could hear me, or the Mage.

  Claws scraped again, this time on wood. I cast back to the door we’d walked through. It was ajar. I couldn’t remember if we’d closed it behind us.

  “Faol? You have to stop!”

  The monster above him twisted and turned; it seemed to have grown even larger now the sun was blocked.

  The Mages howled together, in perfect synchrony.

  “I’m coming in, Faol!” I hurried into the water, wincing at the cold, and waded out into the centre where Faol lay. Above us, the Night Mage growled.

  Faol’s body was stiff as a board, and even when I tugged on his hand, he didn’t wake. I wrapped my arm around his and towed him to shore. The woman screamed once more, and her cry was so loud and shrill I would have thought she was standing right next to me.

  “Come on, Faol; wake up!”

  I got him to the edge of the pool and hauled him up the stone steps. He coughed up water – even though he’d not once submerged his face – and at last his eyes blinked open.

  The fake Mage screamed and vanished. All at once the clouds above disappeared, and sunlight returned to the castle’s heart.

  Faol crawled across the stone, breathing hard. I should have told him he was a fool for trying such dangerous magic, but I knew now was not the time. He didn’t take kindly to criticism.

  “Aideen—” He lay back on the stone, with one hand across his chest.

  “Here,” I said, and gently lifted his head onto my lap. “You can’t lie on that. You’ll hurt your head.”

  His damp hair quickly soaked my trousers, adding to the chill.

  “I can’t,” he began.

  “Shh. We’ll wait here then, until you’re strong enough.” I checked the skies. “We have a little time yet before nightfall. You sleep, and I’ll wake you.”

  By the time I’d finished speaking, his eyes were already closed, his breath slow and steady. I toyed with the ends of his hair, lightly wrapping the damp strands around my fingers and then letting them unravel. At his roots, there was a hint of fiery auburn, merging into the dark green. I couldn’t understand why he’d dye his hair when his natural colour was so interesting. Mine was boring; I should have been the one changing colour.

  This close, I noticed faint freckles on his cheeks. And a tiny scar along the top of his right eyebrow. His lips parted slightly while he slept. He had a bony skull, and it dug awkwardly into my thighs.

  “Psst.”

  I looked up to find Cal bouncing before me.

  “Not disturbing anything, am I?”

  I jerked my hand out of his hair. “He’s sleeping,” I said. “He did some magic that was probably too difficult for him and—”

  Cal rolled her eyes. “Same old, same old. You can’t hang out here for much longer. Night’s coming, along with You-Know-Who. We have to get back to the tower. Only place that’s safe at night.”

  “I think he’s too weak to make it right now. Can’t it wait a little longer?”

  “Nope. If he’s too weak, you’ll have to carry him.”

  I carried him. All the way through the castle, with Cal bouncing along, leading the way. Despite his lean frame, Faol was still heavier than anything I’d ever carried before, and my arms screamed, my back screamed, and when we had to climb the stairs to the top of the turret, my legs screamed too.

  I had to lean him against the wall in order to open the door to his room.

  “Close it,” Cal hissed, once we were inside. Scaly scuttled between my legs.

  “Where did you come from?”

  “Aideen, close the door!”

  “Alright, alright.” I stumbled across the floor and dumped Faol on the bed, then closed the door.

  “Lock it,” said Cal.

  “But, there’s no lock.”

  Cal glanced to Faol. “You’ll need to wake him. He has to protect us from the Night Mage.”

  I chewed on my lip. Faol was still out cold.

  “I don’t think that’s going to work, Cal. Can you show me what to do?”

  Cal bounced on the spot as she did her thinking. “Possibly.”

  “Possibly is better than nothing. What should I do?”

  “Pluck a hair from his head,” she said. “And then cast it in the fire. Oh, you’ll need to start the fire. Can you start a fire?”

  “Of course I can start a fire.”

  Once the room was flickering in orange light, I fished out a single strand of Faol’s hair, and pulled.

  “In the fire,” Cal repeated. “And say: fire of the Otherworld, please take this gift in return for protection against the Night Mage.”

  “You think that will work?”

  “Just do it!”

  I tossed Faol’s hair on the hearth, and the flames turned garish green. I repeated the words and waited, as the flames returned to their normal colour.

  “Try the door now,” said Cal.

  I turned the handle, and like the previous night, the door would not open.

  “It worked,” I reported. “But there’s the sky door too.”

  “No. Don’t need to worry about that. An anomaly from last night. Faol fixed it all. Okay I’m going to sleep now.”

  She bounced into a corner, flopped onto the floor, and immediately began to snore. Scaly padded towards her and rested on her round stomach.

  I returned to Faol, and pulled the far edge of the covers over him, until he was sandwiched. I stuffed a pillow under his head, and watched him sleep.

  The Night Mage howled.

  “You can sleep now,” I said to Faol, “but if I hear claws at the door, I’m waking you up.”

  I took my seat by the fireside and tried to ignore my rumbling stomach. My chair had its back to the door, but I needed to keep watch over Faol. If the Mage came, I’d hear it long before it crashed through.

  And I did hear it, all through the night. I heard its violent cries. And its claws on wood and stone. But I let Faol sleep.

  He would need his rest for the month ahead.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  I opened my eyes.

  Faol was sitting across from me, still in yesterday’s clothes, his hair dishevelled. His hands gripped the arms of the chair. Pale light sneaked in through the tiny window. The magic had held out all night.

  “What did you think you were doing?” he asked.

  I rubbed the sleep from my eyes. It was far too early for questioning. “What do you think?” I answered grumpily. “I couldn’t leave you outside.”

  “You should have woken me.”

  “I tried, but you were not for waking.”

  “I find that hard to believe. How did you stop the Mage?”

  “Cal told me what to do.” I looked to the corner of the room, but Cal and Scaly were gone.

  “You can’t do magic,” he said. “You risked us both.”

  “Well, you risked us both by trying that— Whatever it was in the water. The Mage came then. Two of them, actually. There’s no point showing off for me if it’s not going to help us escape.”

  His pale face managed to turn even paler. “I was not showing off.”

  “You put yourself at risk. And me. If it weren’t for Cal, I don’t know what we would have done. You need to know your limits. You’re not a mage yet.” He had turned to stone, so I carried on. “If you’re interested, I saw a woman in the pool yesterday. And I heard a scream, and… Now what was it? ‘Let her go’, and ‘Soon you will see’. That’s written on one of yo
ur mirrors, too. It must be relevant.” I settled back in the chair. “So? What now?”

  He watched the blackened hearth.

  “Faol? I was your eyes. I’ve told you all I saw. Now it’s over to you.”

  “I am not a mage,” he said. “As you are keen to remind me.”

  “Oh, really! Now’s not the time for one of your moods!”

  “What do you know of my moods? You barely know me.”

  He really could be the most impossible man – I knew that for certain. “I’m going to make coffee,” I said. While I was stuck in this castle, I would make the most of its few luxuries. “I’ll put out a spare cup if you can make it down the stairs.”

  Faol did not join me for coffee. I gnawed on a heel of stale bread for breakfast, and poured myself another cup.

  His feet flew down the stairs.

  “Aideen!”

  I jumped from my chair. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing’s wrong. Well, apart from our ongoing problem. But listen; I’ve had a rather brilliant idea.” He swung around the table until he stood before me. “I’m going to teach you magic!”

  “Pardon?”

  “You, Aideen. I’m going to teach you. After last night, I think there might be some talent in you. And perhaps Moranda is trying to help me by sending you. My magic may be weak and inferior—”

  “I never said that, Faol—”

  “But with you’re added power, perhaps we stand a chance. First: breakfast. I will make it.”

  “There’s no need… I’ve already eaten.”

  He eyed the crumbs on the table. “You’ll need more than a few mouthfuls of old dough. I’m making breakfast. You go downstairs and pick out a new outfit. Choose anything you like. It all belonged to my father. He had an eye for colour, don’t you think?”