“You were very kind to me before, miss. You thanked me. I have never before heard those words here.”
“That’s because your masters are evil and they don’t care about you. But I do. I want to free you, Victus. And all others like you. I hope you can see that.”
As before, his lips began to tremble. A moment passed as innumerable emotions seemed to flit across his sightless features.
He said in a hoarse voice, “The person you require is not down below.”
“Where, then?” I asked.
“He is in the Great Hall with our one true master.”
My spirits collapsed. “What, the bloke in the big chair?”
Victus nodded.
“What’s he doing in there?”
“I do not know. But I saw him there.”
“Is he in chains?
Victus shook his head.
“Is he restrained in some way?”
Victus shook his head again.
“Thank you, Victus. You’ve been very helpful.”
He bowed his head. At any other time the gesture might have appeared comical. But there was nothing funny about this place.
“I wish you luck, miss.” He paused and then added, “Was I really magical?”
“You all were. And if I have anything to say about it, you’ll be magical again.”
I let go of him, turned and rushed toward the Great Hall with Harry Two right next to me.
We finally reached the grand doorway leading into the even grander room, even if it had, at its epicenter, such a foul thing.
The one true master?
The one true pillock!
I gingerly put a foot over the threshold, and my dog followed with two of his.
We slowly followed with the rest of ourselves.
I looked up and saw that the glass ceiling I had smashed through previously had been repaired.
The room was vast and empty.
Well, nearly so.
Up at the front I saw something. Something quite odd.
There was the throne. Seated it in was the awful creature I had seen before. I now knew it was the ancient Necro.
In his hand was a wand. It was the blackest thing I had ever seen. It reminded me of the darkness I associated with Orco, of the world of the dead.
The wand was pointed at someone.
As I drew closer, I could see that it was the pitiful person from the Tower Room.
I was taking another step forward when I saw that something was emanating from the wand and piercing the body of the other.
It was a light. But not a bright one, which was why I had not seen it until I drew closer.
It was as black as the wand and mostly hidden in the shadows of the room.
I pointed my wand at the leader of the Maladons and thought about what spell I would cast.
Should I kill him?
Could I summon the emotion necessary?
Should I merely knock him out?
What if it didn’t work?
What if he turned upon me? Enslaved me? Put my magic in a bottle?
My mind was so jargoled that what I did was nothing.
Until I saw the poor faceless creature topple off the stool and fall to the floor when the other pointed his wand down and the black beam vanished.
Necro stood, flicked his wand once and vanished.
I rushed forward and reached the spot where the creature lay.
When I touched the skin it was cold and clammy.
The creature still had no face. I told myself that this had to be my grandfather, but how could I be sure? I heard sounds echoing all over the castle. I couldn’t just stay here and ponder things. I had to make a decision.
Harry Two brushed past me and sniffed at the creature. Then he pushed his nuzzle against the cold hand, and I saw one finger twitch.
Harry Two stepped back and looked up at me as if to say, There you go, mate, it’s him.
“Thanks, Harry Two,” I murmured.
I had Destin around me, which meant my strength was greatly multiplied.
I lifted him up, and at my touch he became invisible.
“Grandfather,” I whispered into his ear. “Are you okay? What did he do to you?”
I got no answer to my questions.
I rushed from the room with Harry Two at my heels.
The corridor outside was empty.
In my mind I assembled the floor plan for the castle and my method of escape.
We hurried along the long corridors until we reached the main gate.
Two Maladons were stationed there, obviously guarding the exit.
I slipped past them, ran farther on and then lifted into the air.
When I looked back down, the castle was as dark and silent as death.
Where had they all gone?
I had a sudden terrible thought. When I got back to Empyrean, would I find it destroyed? Delph, Petra, Pillsbury and Mrs. Jolly and all the others dead? Was that where the Maladons had gone?
I tapped my wand, incanted my spell, and the next moment I was standing in front of my ancestral home, which looked perfectly fine, I observed with a rush of relief.
Carrying my grandfather, I went inside with Harry Two right behind me.
I put my grandfather down and took out my wand, still ready for an attack if the Maladons actually were here. However, all was calm. I turned my ring back around and we became visible once more.
Pillsbury appeared in front of me, looking quite normal and unsurprised that a wretched, faceless creature was lying on his polished floor.
“Mistress Vega, can I be of assistance?” His visor pointed down at the creature.
“You can fetch Delph and Petra for me.”
“Of course.”
He vanished.
A few moments later I heard two pairs of feet hurtling down the stairs.
The next instant Delph and Petra, still in their night things, were standing in front of me.
“Where have you —” Delph stopped when he saw the creature on the floor.
Petra nearly screamed. “You … you went back and got him?”
I slowly nodded, perhaps realizing for the first time that that was actually what I had done.
“How did you manage it?” sputtered Delph.
I did not want to spend time answering questions. I had something else that needed doing.
I pointed my wand and said, “Rejoinda bottle of Virgil Alfadir Jane.” I curled my hand toward me. This was now all so automatic that I really didn’t have to think about it.
Next instant the large bottle came hurtling into the room, and I neatly caught it in my free hand. I had decided against taking it with me in case I was captured or killed.
I looked at Delph. “I have no idea how to get his magic back to him, but we need to figure it out. And fast. Necro did something to him. Maybe that book with the spell on how to take the magic has something about reversing it?”
He had turned to rush off and get the book when Harry Two did the most extraordinary thing. He leapt up, knocked the bottle out of my hand, and we all watched it fall right toward the crumpled figure on the floor.
We were frozen to the spot. I made no effort to even reach out and grab for it.
Right before it would have hit the creature, the stopper came off the bottle and the dust cascaded out, covering the body underneath it.
As we watched, goggle-eyed, the dust didn’t simply land on the body and stay there. It was absorbed into the skin. It was as though sweat was reversing itself, and the thirsty body was greedily sucking up every last drop of it.
We all waited for what seemed like forever, but could have been only mere moments. Then a blinding flash of golden light seared across the room.
I shut my eyes and was sure the others had too.
When I opened them, there was no huddled mass on the floor.
Standing in front of me, nearly as tall as Delph, and robust in every way, was a man I had not seen since I was six years old.
My grandfather, Virgil Alfadir Jane, stood before us. And he seemed not to have aged a jot since I had last seen him.
My spirits soared. I wanted to leap into his arms.
“Grandfather, it’s me, Vega!”
He looked at me. And in those eyes I saw many things: love and sadness chief among them. I could understand the former but not the latter. Not now. Not when we had been reunited at last. Not after all that had happened in between.
As I peered more closely, I could see that his image was wispy as well.
But that didn’t matter to me. He was here. My grandfather and I had been reunited. All was right with my world once more.
He reached out his hand and took my fingers in his. They were not warm, but cold. Yet the look in his eyes was full of warmth.
And love.
He smiled at me.
“Oh, Vega, my very, very dear grandchild.”
His words were like a wisp of smoke, when I remembered his voice to be a deeply powerful baritone with considerable range.
But I was trembling so badly when I heard his words that I didn’t care how they sounded, only that they were being spoken. To me!
A single tear emerged from his right eye, fell out onto his cheek and slid like a waterfall in miniature down his long face.
“How I have longed to see you, Vega, over these many sessions.”
His hand went to my chin and stroked it. I gripped his hand with both of mine, the tears spilling onto my face, and I made no effort to wipe them away.
This man had been gone from my life for so long. Yet looking up at him, feeling his hand upon my skin, it was as though we had just recently parted.
“I … I missed you so much,” I stammered. “I’ve been trying to find you for so long. And now … now you’re here. We’re together.”
Petra and Delph had taken a respectful step back when Virgil had risen. Their gazes toggled between the pair of us and the floor. I’m sure they were somewhat embarrassed witnessing such an intimate scene. But I wanted them to be here, to see this, to see that Virgil was with us. On our side. That he would now lead us to victory, even though that thought was secondary to me right now.
I hugged him tightly, pushing my face into his chest, breathing him in, squeezing him so hard that he couldn’t possibly ever leave me again.
I felt him embrace me back with those strong arms that I remembered enveloping me when I was a child. When I was scared, he would comfort me. When I was joyful, he would rejoice with me. Every such memory came flooding back to me.
Then his grip suddenly weakened, and I felt him tremble.
“Grandfather?” I said, alarmed.
I felt his gentle embrace on my shoulders and he guided me away from him, so we could look at each other. “I always knew you were special, from the very light you were born,” he said quietly. “You above all others. I knew it and felt it and I have not been disappointed in those beliefs.” His face crinkled into a smile.
I felt my skin tingle as I smiled up at him. “Together, Grandfather, together we can manage this. We can defeat them. I know that we can do this. You’re an Excalibur. And I’m, well, I can fight too. I think that —”
He held up a hand to quiet me.
What he said next made me forget everything else.
“But our time together will be very short, I’m afraid, my dear, dear Vega.”
I froze. “What? No! I just found you. You can’t leave me. You … can’t!”
He paused for what seemed like an eternity as I stared up at him.
“I must. For you see, Vega, I am, unfortunately, already dead.”
THERE ARE TIMES in everyone’s life when loss strikes.
When one’s heart breaks.
And there are times when you truly feel as though you have no heart left, so shattered is it.
This was such a time for me.
I stared at my grandfather.
“You’re … you’re …” I could not say it. I could not say that word.
He stared at me, sadness now triumphing over the love. “He has killed me, Vega,” my grandfather said simply.
“Necro,” I said, my eyes brimming with fresh tears.
I glanced at Delph and Petra. They appeared to be cast in stone.
“He is a very powerful sorcerer,” said my grandfather. “Who knows things that we never will. But we cannot dwell on that. We have things to discuss. And you must have questions. Even as a young you had more questions than every other Wug. So please, ask away, Vega.”
Still unable to process that he was already dead, I said haltingly, “What … happened … after you left Wormwood?”
“I left to lead an uprising against those who had destroyed our ancestors.”
Now I said what I had to say. “You … you left me behind in Wormwood.”
I knew if he was dead that I should not say these things to him, but how could I not?
When he reached out his hand for me, I did something I never dreamed I would do, especially after all this time.
I stepped back from him.
“Vega!” said Delph in an admonishing tone.
My grandfather slowly withdrew his hand and sat down on the floor.
I looked around and noticed that Pillsbury and Mrs. Jolly had entered the hall and were staring at us.
I turned back to my grandfather. He was looking around the place.
Pillsbury took a step forward. “May I get you some refreshment, sir?”
Virgil glanced at me, and his eyes carried a twinkle. He turned to Pillsbury. “I have quite enough refreshment being with my granddaughter, thank you, upset though she may with me right now.”
“Your granddaughter? Then you are a Jane, sir?”
“Virgil Jane. I wish we could have met under better circumstances, but there you are.” He glanced around the room once more and said, “What is this place?”
“It’s our ancestral home, Empyrean,” I said. “But surely you know of it. You’re an Excalibur. You know all.”
“I know a great many things. But I do not know all, Vega. And I never knew about this place.”
He looked at my pocket, where the end of my wand was sticking out. He pointed to it. “Is that how you came to know of it?”
“Yes; it sort of pointed the way for me.”
“And how came you by your wand?”
“Alice Jane Adronis, the last Jane to live here. It was the Elemental and then it became my wand. Astrea Prine trained me up in the Quag. Do you know her?”
“Alas, I do not, having not gone through the Quag myself.” He eyed my finger. “I see that my ring made its way to you.”
“It was at Quentin Herms’s cottage. Thansius gave it to me before I fled Wormwood. Quentin also left me a map and a book.”
“I know that he did. Before I left, I asked him to do so, when you were of a proper age.”
I gaped. “You … you asked him?”
“Yes. Herms was my trusted friend. And quite magical as well. He ventured into the Quag as far as possible and mapped it and took notes of all he saw. At least I assumed he did. Those were my instructions.”
“And my parents? I know you summoned them. I was there when it happened. I could have gone with them,” I added, with a trace of bitterness.
“But I did not summon them, Vega.”
I gaped again. “What! But if you didn’t, how did they leave Wormwood?”
“I do not know. I had no idea they had left Wormwood. And I have not seen them here. I hope with all my heart that they are safe.”
I took out the picture. “I think they’re out fighting the Maladons too,” I said proudly.
His face crinkled into a smile. “I am so pleased.”
“How were you captured?” I said quickly.
“I have spent the sessions since I left Wormwood collecting information, making contacts where I can, and causing as much strife for the Maladons as possible. Because of my efforts I believe they have given the insurrection a
name.” He pointed to the wording on the picture.
“The Campions?” I said.
He nodded. “Of which your parents are apparently now members in good standing. I only wish I had been able to join them.” He paused for a moment, as though gathering his thoughts. “Well, my efforts came with more and more risk. Finally, I found myself surrounded by fifty Maladons. And while I am, or rather was, extraordinarily powerful, the odds were a bit against me. I managed to kill a dozen of them before I was beaten.”
“Was Endemen there?”
“Yes. Him and his hatted men. They are the most elite fighters of the Maladons. They and I have spent much time together since I was captured. They lavished considerable attention on me,” he added drily. “I am sorry I will not be able to return the favor. They wanted information. Information necessary to get what they really wanted. Information that I would not give them.”
“What information?” I asked.
“They wanted a way through the Quag. So they could finish the job.”
This came from Delph.
Virgil glanced at him. “It’s Daniel, isn’t it? You’re Duff Delphia’s son?”
“Yes, sir.”
Virgil pondered Delph for a bit before saying, “You’re quite perceptive, Daniel. I remember you being the same way as a young.”
Delph gulped and said, “Thanks.”
Virgil next turned his attention to Petra.
“And I don’t believe we have met.”
Under his gaze, Petra looked like she had been hit by a lightning spear.
“I’m … I’m P-Petra , M-Mr. Jane. I l-lived in the —”
“In the Quag,” Virgil finished for her. “Yes, I have heard of that being the case. The process was messy at the end. People were trapped between worlds, as it were. I’m very happy that you’ve survived and have joined this lot.”
“Are my parents Excaliburs, like you?” I asked.
“No. But they are magical. And they know of things. Things that I shared with them.”
“Which is why Morrigone cursed them into the Care,” I said spitefully.
“I know not of that.”
He studied me closely. “If I had the power to summon Wugs from afar, Vega, I never would have left you behind. Do not believe for one sliver that I would have.” He paused. “You were only six sessions old when I left. You needed to discover things on your own. As I did. I knew you were special, Vega, but it was the only way to see if you had the heart as well.”
The Width of the World Page 21
