The wizard at home tst-2

by Rick Shelley

  He spoke those feelings aloud.

  "Don't try to hide from them," Silvas counseled. "Let them wash over you and flow through. To identify them is three parts of conquering them."

  The regular lines of the rainbow were obscured by the new show in the heavens. Where one color had blended cleanly into the next, there was now a torment of pulsing swirls. Ragged jets of color shot across the dome of sky to be slowly overridden by other swirls or jets. There seemed to be no order at all to the sky. The sun was hidden, but night did not come. The sky remained as bright as day.

  Two esperia of the guard came to the top of the keep. Braf had dispatched them because of the particularly keen eyesight of their kind. The porcine kindred of Bosc and Koshka made indifferent warriors, but they made the best sentries of the three races who lived in the Seven Towers and its village. These two went first to Bosc when they came off of the steps from below.

  "What is this?" one of them asked softly.

  Bosc could do no more than shake his head and confess that he had no idea. "They show no alarm yet," he added, gesturing at Silvas and Maria. "As long as they do not, neither will I."

  The new esperia climbed up into crenels on opposite sides of the keep, then up to the top of the wall, where they sat, looking out over the valley.

  "Have you no idea what's going on?" Felix asked after nearly an hour of observing the mesmerizing movements of the colors in the sky.

  "It may be no more than a demonstration," Silvas said. "The original creator of this veil may want to show us that our efforts to take over his handiwork were in vain."

  "Were those efforts in vain?" Felix pressed.

  "I think not," Maria said. She and Silvas had spent the time observing and investigating, probing far and near. That they had found no clear answer was both an encouragement and a worry. "If that were so, the clearest demonstration would have been to make the veil go away, then to replace it as it originally was-or with an entirely new artifact."

  "If it is not merely a demonstration?"

  "Then we shall see," Silvas said. "The danger, if there is specific danger in this, has not closed yet."

  "And the battle music?" Felix asked. "It seems to grow stronger."

  "Stronger and stranger," Silvas confirmed. "I have no idea what it means." He said the last as if his ignorance were of no particular concern to him, but it was. He had extended every sense and power he could conceive of in an effort to at least find the origin of the music and the turmoil in the sky, but every effort had come to naught so far.

  Clouds of brilliant color gathered in the turbulent sky, vast and seemingly alive in their movement and growth. Lightning flashed in bright streaks of primary and secondary hues, but did not assault the ground, or the towers of the Glade. It was as if the various clouds were jousting with each other, or perhaps only tickling one another. The thunder was muted, and seemed more a drumbeat to time the battle music that hovered above the valley.

  After a time, a new sort of cloud started to appear, widely spaced, rarely more than two or three of them visible at a time. These clouds appeared to be smooth sheets, always of the palest lavender color, and each bore a portrait. The faces that appeared were not readily identifiable, even to Silvas and Maria. There was a vague familiarity to some of them, but no clear idea of who they were.

  "I think these are some of the old gods," Maria said after several had appeared and faded. "Perhaps the ones who have died?"

  "No, there are too many," Silvas said after several more had come and gone. "These may be gods, including those we've met, but if so, they wear different guises, masking their identity."

  Braf came up to the battlements, fully armed. "I've taken what action I know to take, lord," he said when he presented himself to Silvas. "All of my men are at their stations. The drawbridge is up. The gates are barred. Is there more I should be doing?"

  Silvas shook his head idly. "Not at present. In fact, I think we may safely reduce those measures until some clearer picture emerges."

  "No enemy comes?"

  "If they are coming, they're not yet close," Silvas said. "We should husband our energy for now."

  "But leave more than normal sentries?"

  "Yes, perhaps one man in three, and relieve them regularly. Send a runner to the village, to tell them that we're on alert but that any danger does not seem to be close."

  "Aye, lord." Braf turned and ran back down the stairs.

  "We do not stand to battle?" Felix asked, sounding confused.

  "Not yet." Silvas tried to reassure his apprentice with a smile. "It seems that our opponent will try to weaken our resolve with this show."

  "Since we aren't standing to battle," Maria injected, "we might as well go downstairs and see about the evening meal. You two have spent too many hours deep in your labors to go without sustenance."

  Silvas nodded, more in response to the thought that Maria gave him than to her spoken words. Our people will need reassurance.

  "Yes," he said absently, still preoccupied with the show of light and sound. "Another thing, Felix. We'll have to find you something in the way of wardrobe. You came through with nothing but what you are wearing, and our ways are not the ways of the White Brotherhood."

  Felix looked down at his cassock and open sandals. "I do not project the image you did when first I saw you," he said.

  "I'll have Koshka see to your needs," Maria said. "As he saw to mine so recently. We also need to find you quarters, a room alone where you may study and meditate in peace."

  "If there is any peace to be had," Felix said. He took a deep breath and looked around once more. It was still too soon for him to really think of himself as Felix, wizard's apprentice. There was still too much of Brother Paul, the country vicar, within him.

  "We'll have peace eventually," Silvas said, leading the way to the stairs. "Peace of one sort or the other."

  "It is that other sort that worries my soul," Felix said.

  "You've faced danger before," Maria reminded him. "You stood up well at Mecq, and we were arrayed against more enemies then than now."

  "But then I didn't grasp how desperate the situation was. Now, perhaps, I have some idea."

  They were all generally quiet during the descent to the great hall. Bosc ran on ahead of the others, to make the trek out to the mews to tell Bay what had transpired. Most of the folk of the Seven Towers, save for those on duty, were gathered in the great hall. Supper was being served, but not eaten with any great relish. The diners were more interested in hearing what their master might have to say.

  Silvas did not immediately address them. He sat at the head table, with Maria at one side and the monk-that was the only way the common folk of the Glade had to think of him yet-on the other. They accepted platters and the beginnings of supper, food and wine, and ate with some show of animation. Their example had the calculated effect. If our master and mistress do not worry, then why should we? Though he concealed his interest, Silvas kept a close watch on the mood in the hall. He waited a full quarter hour before he finally stood and spoke.

  "You've all seen the sky, I warrant," Silvas said when he had everyone's attention. "It has been more than passing strange the last days, and today it has become strangest of all. I've passed on what information I've learned about the veil that covers our valley. This latest change is still somewhat unclear, but I have no sense of imminent peril. We have enemies, but they do not seem to be marshaled for the attack.

  "Maria and I will continue to watch over you, over all the folk of the valley. If danger does come, we stand here to defend the Seven Towers and its dependents. We have weathered other attacks, my friends. And Maria and I now possess much greater power.

  "Be watchful, but do not be overly afraid." Silvas paused and looked at his companions, Maria and Felix.

  "I have one introduction to make," Silvas said. "It matters not how you may know this man on my left from before. As of today his name is Felix. He is my apprentice in the way of the Trimagiste
r. He is one of us from this day forward. The name by which he was formerly known is not to be spoken."

  Eyes focused on Felix. Fewer than half of the people of the Seven Towers had seen him during his visit as Brother Paul, or had the opportunity to see him standing outside the church of Mecq.

  – |Night refused to come to the valley of the Seven Towers. It had been late when Silvas and his companions descended the stairs to their supper. Even after they had lingered longer than customary at table, the sky had not changed noticeably, except in detail. Silvas and Maria went out to the mews, with Felix following close behind. Bay had yet to be apprised formally of the new apprentice, the first that Silvas had ever taken, though Maria had carried the news to him earlier.

  Bay stood in the open doorway of his stall, watching the strange show in the heavens. When the three walkers came around the corner, trailed by Satin and Velvet, Bay turned his attention to Felix. He stared, as if attempting to ferret out the deepest secrets of the man. Bay felt no need to suppress his curiosity.

  "You have returned to the Seven Towers," he said when the group reached him.

  "By most extraordinary means," Felix said, knowing that the comment had been directed at him. "And with no lack of extraordinary experiences since. After the last night and day, a talking horse seems much more ordinary than it did in Mecq."

  Bay rewarded him with a laughing snort. "You may well regret your choices, but I hope you do not. That would likely bode poorly for the rest of us as well."

  "I share your hope most fervently," Felix said. "Though I'm not yet certain what I may be able to do to help achieve any better end."

  "You've been watching the sky," Silvas said, watching Bay.

  "I have," the horse admitted.

  "Have you been able to learn anything about the phenomenon?"

  "Such as who sent it or why? No. All I know of this sky is what I can see and hear, lights and martial music. It is an annoyance. I prefer it as an annoyance rather than as the accompaniment to active assault. But I would prefer even more to have the show end peaceably."

  "As would I," Silvas said. "If you happen upon an idea to insure that outcome, I would be happy to hear it."

  "With your new resources, you come to me?"

  "As I always have, Bay."

  "Yes. I've not yet heard the full tale of what happened to you last night when you so unceremoniously disappeared."

  "I think I'm not yet ready to speak of that," Silvas said. "Save only that the three of us confronted Satan in his lair."

  "And survived," Maria added unnecessarily.

  "As I can see," Bay said. "That is no minor feat even for gods."

  "The Devil's power is greater than that of any of the gods in the Shining City," Silvas said. "But now, other things. If we must speak of this, let it only be at great need-or perhaps in some distant future, under skies that are clear and free of any threat."

  "As you will. Have you decided how to meet this current threat?"

  "Other than by waiting, no. There seems little to do but watch and study. Unless some key appears…" Silvas shrugged.

  "How is Camiss faring?" Maria asked, looking toward the white mare in a stall somewhat down the row from Bay.

  "The sky frightens her, but she does not panic," Bay said, also looking at the new mare. "We will produce wondrous foals, if we have time for such pursuits."

  Maria looked startled. Silvas laughed.

  "So now we learn your true motive in seeking her out," he said.

  "Only a minor consideration," Bay said. "I sought truly for a fitting mount for Maria."

  Silvas, Maria, and Felix remained in the courtyard awhile longer, watching the sky and conversing only a little. Maria finally directed the others back into the keep.

  "We'll not accomplish anything out here. And Felix must be ready to drop for lack of sleep."

  Felix was stifling a yawn when she spoke. Her words made him close his mouth quickly, but not for long. The yawn would not be denied.

  "It's truth, my lady. I scarcely remember when I last slept," he said.

  "Then we'll see to your arrangements immediately," Maria said. "Unless enemies pour out of this sky, you'll sleep through until you've brought your sleep account up to date. Even your studies need to wait for that." She glanced sharply at Silvas, who nodded.

  "You've already absorbed as much of the way in one day as I did in my first year at Auroreus's knee," Silvas said. "You've accomplished much."

  They returned to the keep. While Maria saw to Felix's comfort, Silvas climbed to the library and stared at the collection held there. He found that he no longer needed to take a book or scroll in hand and actually open it. By casting his eyes on the proper volume, he could recall the contents instantly, laid out as plainly in his mind as on the paper. He scanned dozens of tracts, scores of them, but found nothing that seemed to hold any information for the current situation.

  Maria eventually joined him. "I put Felix in the northeast room on the floor above our apartments. Koshka will have new garb ready for him in the morning, or whatever passes for morning tomorrow. Your new apprentice was asleep almost before I could take my leave. He was very nearly asleep on his feet. He's only mortal, and not yet an adept of the Trimagister. He has limits, and came very close to them today."

  "I will remember," Silvas said.

  "I think it's time that we sleep as well," Maria said. "Perhaps we don't need that retreat in the same way as Felix, but it can do no harm, and may bring some good. We'll still know if there is danger."

  "I never asked. How did you know that I was in trouble last night? I couldn't touch your mind the way we can otherwise."

  "I don't know the how of it," Maria said, her voice sinking to an almost inaudible whisper. "I simply knew, and I knew what I had to do."

  "And did it promptly." Silvas kissed her on the forehead.

  "It would have been difficult not to act. Where the right hand goes, the left must follow."

  Silvas turned Maria toward the door and put his arm around her shoulders. "We'll sleep," he said, "but not at once."

  – |There was a sundial in the rear courtyard of the Seven Towers, on the far side from the mews. In the days before England was ripped from Europe and turned to its present orientation, that sundial had never been in shadow. Since that disruption, the sundial had not yet been moved to a location that would give it utility throughout the hours of sunlight. Under the madness of the current sky, a sundial would have been useless in any event. The sun might still be shining beyond the veil, but the colors and lights of the dome over the valley of the Seven Towers kept any hint of it from touching the sundial. But other means of timekeeping were also employed in the Glade. The sentries kept their watches by the turning of an hourglass, and by the burning of metered candles. The sand had to be turned on the hour. Each candle burned for two hours. The count of candles burned marked the days.

  Six candles burned from start to end in the time that Silvas and Maria slept. Night never came to the valley. For a time, the colors in the sky dimmed, but that merely made the sky seem more oppressive. There was still light. The hues were simply bolder, more intense.

  Somewhat before the normal time of dawn, a group of villagers came up the road to the castle. The drawbridge was up, but the narrow stone causeway leading to the postern was always available, and that smaller gate was open, though guarded by a full squad of warrior gurnetz. The sentries admitted the folk from the village, and sent to Braf for instructions.

  "We've come to ask Lord Silvas about this angry sky," one of the villagers said when Braf came to the postern. "There's been no night, and this is no proper morning."

  "It's strange," Braf agreed. "Yet Lord Silvas saw no peril. He and his lady retired for the night and have not yet risen. Is that not enough to show that there's no danger? I'll tell him of your concern when he wakes."

  "But what should we do?"

  Braf shrugged. "What you would do any other morning, no doubt."

&
nbsp; The villagers hesitated for some minutes more, asking the same questions in new, or more intense, forms, but Braf had no additional answers, and he would not wake Silvas to ask for confirmation. The villagers could do nothing but return to their cottages and waiting neighbors.

  "Are they truly sleeping?" one of the gate guards asked after the villagers had gone.

  "As far as I know." Braf growled heavily under the words. "See to your duties."

  Braf went back to the main guardroom, then into the keep. Breakfast was being prepared, but few had yet come for their morning meal. After a moment, Braf went up to where Koshka slept, in a small room on the same floor as Silvas and Maria. Braf opened the door to Koshka's room and looked in, but Koshka seemed deep in sleep.

  If he's asleep, then they must be asleep as well, Braf thought. He closed the door again, as silently as he could, and went back to his duties.

  – |The sun should have been nearly at the zenith by the time that Silvas and Maria emerged from their rooms and descended to the great hall. Felix was still sleeping, and Maria had counseled that Silvas not disturb his apprentice until he woke on his own.

  Braf was prowling around the great hall. He had spent most of the last three watches there, pacing, growling at anyone who came close.

  "Folks have been up from the village, lord," Braf said when he could finally report to his master. "Three different lots of them, all frightened of this sky and wanting you to tell them that there's naught to fear."

  "We'll go to the village before long, Braf," Silvas said. "Perhaps we should have gone there last night."

  "No," Maria said. "The hours of rest have done more good than harm. There is time for this yet."

  "So it seems," Silvas said. "Send a messenger to the reeve, that I will be there later, and that I detect no immediate menace in this sky."

  "We'll eat first, and see what there is to be seen, then we'll ride to the village," Maria said. Braf looked from her to Silvas, as if for confirmation.