Aquamancer (mancer series Book 2) (36 page)

“I...I really hadn’t thought of it that way,” admitted the Seacaptain. “I thought I might have made a perfect ass of myself.”

“Well,” chuckled Myrn, “nobody’s perfect.”

“The Witch? The Coven?” asked Pargeot, blushing red at her teasing.

“Emaldar’s dead, burned in the fires of Blueye, I’m afraid,” said Douglas. “We tried to save her, but—”

“Douglas
tried to save her. I arrived after she was gone, but just in time to save
him,”
Myrn insisted, and the whole story had to be told right then and there, with as many Pfantasians listening as could crowd into the inn’s common room or lean in at its open windows.

“This day we’ve seen mindless and inhuman power beyond our wildest imaginings,” said Wong, nodding to the crowd and especially to Douglas and Myrn, “and also goodness and courage so completely unreserved that it fills me with wonder to remember it.”

The onlookers shouted their agreement and applauded while the young Wizards blushed deeper and deeper crimson.

A new-old voice spoke from the door to the common room.

“The Witch is destroyed, and her Witchery annulled by two of Wizardry’s finest,” said Flarman Flowerstalk.

Chapter Twenty-One

Pfantas Reborn

“Magister!” Myrn and Douglas shouted together. They pulled the Pyromancer into the center of the room and Augurian after him. “How wonderful to see you here!”

“Welcome to Pfantas, Wizardly sirs!” said Featherstone, bowing and shaking their hands by turns. “We are greatly honored!”

“Here is Wong Tscha San,” said Caspar to the elder Wizards. “I’m sure you know him or know of him.”

“So we do!” cried Flarman, beaming at the Choinese Magician. “By reputation, at least. My very great pleasure, sir!”

“No less than mine, estimable Pyromancer!” said Wong, bowing deeply. “I was able to follow your recent adventures in the matter of the Ice King. I regret deeply that I was unable to render you any assistance at the time.”

“Think nothing of it! We understand perfectly,” Flarman reassured him. “Hello! You must be Marbleheart, the famous Sea Otter. Well met!”

Marbleheart offered his right front paw and explained his origins in a large, subarctic bay called the Briney.

“Well, Apprentice,” said Augurian quietly to Myrn. “You were more than just moral support to Journeyman Douglas, were you?”

“I was of some assistance, I think,” said Myrn. “You’ll have to ask Douglas. I confess, Magister, that I would have come, at any rate, just to share this adventure with him.”

“No one will blame you for that,” said Augurian, flashing one of his rare smiles.

“Now, my friends,” Flarman was saying, having shaken hands with the entire town council and a quarter of the population of Pfantas, it seemed, “we have come, not just to meet new friends and greet old ones, but also to assess the damages done by the Witches of Coven, and to see them set right as much as magic and goodwill can do.”

“Let’s begin at once,” suggested Augurian.

The three elder Wizards and the Journeyman Pyromancer sat down at the large library table in the center of the common room and the whole story was begun, all over again, from the very first.

The proceedings began with Cribblon, who was the first to call the Coven to the Wizards’ attention. Douglas then described his Journeying and Myrn spoke of Finesgold’s gift and her flight to Westongue and to Old Kingdom with Pargeot.

Marbleheart was asked a number of questions about what he had done and seen, especially the episode of the barrows on the edge of Last Battlefield.

The Choinese Magician told them of his discovery of Coven and how he had enlisted the assistance of Caspar Marl in to rescue Douglas when he thought he had been made captive by the Witch Queen.

“We were not needed, after all, but it was worth the trip to meet my fellows in Wizardry,” Wong ended with another bow.

When all had finished reporting to the hushed crowd and the deeply interested Wizards, Augurian turned to the Journeyman by his side.

“You realize, I am sure, that with Emaldar’s destruction beyond recall, all her spells and enchantments are rendered null and void. We’ll have no trouble with them, as we do with Frigeon’s enchantments
.”

“I should have been aware of it,” murmured Douglas. “It was not a consideration when I went into the mountain to help her. I simply thought she deserved better than to die in those terrible fires. But she would not be saved. I must admit I have no regrets about the outcome. At the same time it doesn’t give me any pleasure.”

Marbleheart had mentioned the four-leafed clover and Featherstone said that almost everyone in Pfantas now wore one or carried one in a pocket.

“It was the clover that saved your life,” Flarman said to Douglas. “As so often happens, the good you did for others provided you your own salvation, when things got too hot.”

Douglas shook his head. “I just happened to have the clover up my sleeve, is all.”

“Thanks to the Barrow Wights business,” put in Marble-heart. “A Man, or an Otter, makes his own luck, as my mama once said to me when I was a kit.”

“And all Emaldar’s spells were reversed, then?” asked Featherstone. “The enslaved are now free of her spells? And the Witchservers no longer have power?”

“You understand it perfectly. Nor can much evil befall you hereafter, while you have the quadruple clover close to hand. Very quick thinking on your part, young Douglas, I must say,” said Wong, nodding his approval.

“Well... I used the clover for its powers against all kinds of evil. I admit, I forgot it was great for curing burns and wounds, also, until I needed it sorely.”

“So great problems are many times solved,” said Augurian.

“Nevertheless,” interrupted an older citizen in the crowd, “without a trial and conviction, it will be difficult to settle many of Pfantas’s financial and business problems. Where two people claim a single business, because Emaldar enslaved the father, for example, and the son took over...”

“That is for the state to determine, I would say,” said Flarman.

“I hasten to point out,” said Wong, “that there has existed no state in Kingdom for over two hundred years.”

“Yes, that’s very true,” agreed the Pyromancer. “Augurian, what say you?”

“If the people of Pfantas were to form a government, including courts of law, who could say they didn’t have jurisdiction to find in such matters. It was similar in the case of the Ice King, you recall.”

“Not quite,” objected Douglas. “When Frigeon was tried it was before the regularly constituted court of a sovereign state, Waterand Island. Both state and court pre-existed long before Frigeon became a criminal.”

“You argue, then,” said Wong, leaning forward, “that a crime committed where there is no state nor a state court, is not a crime?”

Douglas rubbed his chin worriedly, glancing sideways at his Master. Flarman sat back and reached for his pipe.

“You got yourself into this, son,” he chuckled, “and you’ll have to argue yourself out of it.”

“We want to be fair to those Emaldar harmed—many very painfully, even to death,” said the Journeyman Wizard. “But...”

“But,” finished Augurian, “we Wizards have no brief to do more than examine her deeds from a professional standpoint and make our recommendations to the court, whatever it is, and no matter how recently formed. I should think Pfantas’s new government, especially as it is based on a previous, wrongfully overthrown government, would suit quite well.”

There followed a lengthy and extremely wordy discussion until Flarman threw up his hands and said, “We Wizards have determined the facts of the matter and will make recommendations to the Pfantas Town Council, which in fact pre-existed Emaldar’s misdeeds by many centuries, for their future safety and consideration of claims and adjustments.”

“You would place the burden on us, then, Sir Wizard,” said Feathers tone.

“My good, young man,” said Flarman, blowing three smoke rings in the manner of Bryarmote the Dwarf, each within the one previous, “that is exactly where it belongs! If you wish to govern yourselves, you must take the responsibilities of governing—and justice is a major responsibility.”

“Will you at least recommend how we should proceed?” asked another Pfantasian.

“To a
certain small degree.
We’ll certainly
tell you
what
can
be done; never what
must
be done. You’ve already made a good beginning, I see. Emaldar is gone for good and her enchantments are nullified, as far as is historically possible. What remains is your task, citizens. You are, after all, the ones who suffered.”

Featherstone and the newly reconstituted town council went into session even though it was very late, in the inn’s taproom and didn’t reappear until several hours after dawn the next morning.

****

“Now, I have some professional questions,” said Douglas, raising his hand. The Wizards and their party gathered about the fire. Nobody yet thought of bed.

“The floor is yours,” said Augurian, leaning back to listen.

Said Douglas, “Myrn tells me that she saw six Black Witches fleeing Coventown just before the eruption. They were, she surmises, the other members of the Coven, deserting Emaldar. Where do you think they went?”

“As for why they left,” Myrn stated, “I think they sensed the coming explosion of the volcano. Also, perhaps they recognized that Emaldar was about to lose to the combined Wizardry against her. They spoke to that effect as they fled.”

“They knew in advance of our success?” asked Marbleheart in surprise. “They foresaw the future?”

“No, not exactly,” said the Apprentice Aquamancer. “They suspected that Emaldar had overextended her powers. Am I not right, Magister?”

“Witches are never comfortable sharing their powers, and thus are never willing to accept risk,” Augurian affirmed. “When things went smoothly, the Six Sisters allowed Emaldar to use them. When opposition rose, however, they fled. It’s as simple as that.”

“Captain Pargeot has told us of his one interview with the Witch Queen in the presence of the Six Sisters. They believed they saw uncertainty and confusion on Emaldar’s part toward a prisoner who normally would have been slain out of hand,” added the Pyromancer. “Emaldar never before had suffered anyone to deceive her as Pargeot and Cribblon had. It foreshadowed the end of their alliance.”

Augurian nodded. “Witches are solitary creatures, which is why Covens are so rare. They agreed to lend Emaldar their power, so when she appeared about to lose her own, they merely took theirs back and left at once. I can hardly blame them, speaking from a purely professional standpoint.”

“And where do you think they’ll go?” repeated Douglas.

“Scatter all over World, most likely. As I say, Witches are lone creatures and prefer to live by themselves, using their magicks for their own benefit, in selfish pleasure and creature comfort. When Men threaten them, often hoping to gain some of their imagined wealth or powers for themselves, any Witch can be dangerous. If everyone left every Witch strictly to herself, each in her hidden place, there would be much less Witch trouble.”

“I suggest, however,” Douglas pressed on, “that we have these Six Sisters watched. They’ve seen the multiplication of powers through organization. One or more of them might be tempted to try it again.”

“Your suggestion is noted. If all agree, I’ll make certain arrangements,” said Flarman, making a note on a pad of yellow paper he took from his left sleeve. All agreed at once to Douglas’s satisfaction.

“May I address my concerns to you?” asked Pargeot.

“Speak, of course, Captain Pargeot,” said Augurian.

“I am the unfortunate man saved from death only by Witch Emaldar’s confusion. I have been a total nincompoop throughout this adventure. I beg your pardon, and especially that of the Lady Myrn. She was most kind to me when I was most foolish and, yes, most selfish.”

“You are truly forgiven,” said Myrn, earnestly. “Despite all, you’ve been a faithful friend and a useful companion, Pargeot. You have nothing of which to be ashamed.”

Pargeot smiled his gratitude and relief.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Ending and Beginning

THE Pfantas council returned from the taproom in mid-morning.

“Speaking for Pfantas,” said Featherstone, “we know the freed slaves of Coven wait in a cold camp on the edge of the new desolation. A few are strangers to us, but most are friends and families. They all must be helped, housed and fed, restored to their loved ones and to healthy minds and hearts.”

“Beyond that,” another councilor said, “we have to get to work at once to reestablish trade and business connections with each other and with the rest of Kingdom, in order to put food on our tables.”

“And won’t the poor ex-slaves need care or medicine?” a woman asked.

“Probably,” answered Willow, who had led the slaves out of danger and now spoke for them, young as he was. “Some are quite weak from lack of decent food, but they say a few good meals will bring them back to strength. A few are very ill and they’ll need medicines and nursing, I fear, but they’re not many.”

“In other words,” said a housewife who served on the new council, “it’s time we stop talking and get to work!”

Pfantas wildly applauded her blunt words.

Said Flarman, late the following afternoon, “The Witchservers were self-enslaved. I suspect they’re scattering, like the Six Sisters, to avoid being punished for their petty and some major crimes.”

“As they have no powers of their own, they are relatively harmless,” Douglas pointed out. “On their own, they’re merely bad eggs. Can we protect all World from all bad characters?”

“Still, they’re wretched beings, even without evil magic to incite them,” disagreed Augurian. “If the town council will prepare a list of their names and crimes, I’ll undertake to publish it to any interested governments.”