Enchantress Awakening: Part One of the Book of Water (The Elemental Cycle 1) (31 page)

“Such was my understanding.”

“Wow, it must be due to all the time I’ve spent with you.”

“Ha, ha. Then what about Penric? Why is he not with us?”

“He is a man. Maybe he is not sensitive enough to have gained the benefit?”

“And these three?” Caleigh said nodding towards the knights. “Are they sensitive?” Stepping into earshot of the knights in question they quelled their laughter.

“Caleigh, it is a pleasure at last to be able to serve at your side.” Said Leofric.

“Verily, we have longed for this chance overlong.” Baldir agreed. Caleigh blushed at the sudden attention and lustful thoughts that accompanied it. Tamric looked at the others with weary amusement, trying to show he was above such predictable flirtation.

“Come friends, now is not the time to tarry we have an early start on the morrow.” All three bowed to Caleigh and hurried away trying to keep their boisterousness in check as long as they were within sight. Caleigh let out a sigh at their escape and turned to Ellie sheepishly.

“I’m surprised you have not met them before.” Ellie remarked.

“Thus was the reason I steered clear of the barracks. The attention of lusty young knights is not what I need.” Ellie looked at her friend inscrutably. “That does not mean I do not like it.”

The group of sixteen all dressed in the sky blue of the Order of Secret Keepers made for an impressive sight marching to the standing stone west of Elevered. For some, such as Diarmund, Dana and Aethelbald, this was the first time Caleigh had ever seen them so adorned. The space around the stone was tight with everyone crammed close to fit within the limits of the spell. Despite this discomfiture the journey along the ley line was both the swiftest and smoothest yet. Only Abigail and Walter stumbled upon arrival and they were kept on their feet by the supportive arms of those around them.

The travelling group fanned out trying to take in where they were. The most immediate object in view was the large dark grey stone leaning back in the overgrown earth. Jumbled around it were a number of smaller stones crowning the hilltop on which they were standing. Rotating westward brought a vast ruins into eyesight and with it too came a sense of recognition. “Yes, Caleigh, here is the proper place to enter the ley line from Helmgard.” Tovrik supplied upon reading her expression. “Not that I would wish to take anything away from your marvellous escape.”

“Vaughn deserves the credit for that. In any case, I definitely prefer travelling the proper way; it was much less upsetting.”

“Ah ha, well, we had much power to draw from. I would ask you to draw your hood up for the moment. I do not wish to spoil that surprise for the Cruxiars.”

Led by Tovrik the party met no opposition until they were inside the broken outer walls. At the overgrown cobblestones of the inner courtyards a horn rang out and soon the sound of iron-shod boots on stone echoed throughout the ruins. Three Cruxiars appeared ahead of them at full charge, holding their greatswords aloft. With a wave of his staff Tovrik sent all three rolling and skidding backwards over the smooth surfaces as though they had been knocked down by an invisible tidal wave. Tovrik then calmly selected one of the four wands kept in place about his staff head and started to weave it in the air. In unison, Gideon, Vaughn, Mabon and Diarmund joined him drawing thick threads of magical power between all the gaps in the stonework around them.

Caleigh concentrated as hard as she could to deem the work in progress until the whole area seemed to be glimmering as with spider webs. More Cruxiars rushed into the courtyard and at once came to a stop where they entered caught of the threads they could not see. Tovrik replaced the silvery wand in his hand with a bright ash wand and with it made a whipping action bringing forth  a trail of flame that connected with the floor racing along like it was burning a line of oil. The flame turned on the ground and circled around the group then shot towards the walls where the Cruxiars were, becoming airborne and circling around the shattered archways in rings of falling orange sparks then at last rising in the shape of a phoenix before bursting into a flash of blue and white stars. No few of the party laughed in wonder, Caleigh included. Tovrik turned to her with a smile. “I think we have their attention.”

The Cruxiars, who had retreated back from the dancing flames now pushed again at the barriers holding them back becoming entangled with them and each other. Horns rang out again and those who were still mobile pulled back into formation. At the centre the Cruxiars parted and Sir Oswald came to the fore of their ranks.

“What mayhem is afoot here?” He demanded.

“Ah, Sir Oswald, I request an audience concerning matters between our Orders.”

“And this is how you request an audience?” Sir Oswald gestured to the flames and groups of trapped Cruxiars.

“Indeed.”

“Hmph! Release my men and thence we shall speak.” Tovrik stamped his gnarled staff on the cobblestone and in an instant all the Cruxiars suspended where they stood came tumbling to the ground. “Follow!” Oswald led off the corridor he had taken Vaughn and Caleigh down on their previous visit and stopped outside the same chamber he had dined with them in.

“Master Tovrik, that chamber is protected from magic.” Caleigh warned.

“Fear not, I will permit no ambush.” Oswald opened the door and after letting through eight Cruxiars gestured to Tovrik to follow.

“Only you, Tovrik.” More Cruxiars had followed so that the corridor was filled.

“I think not. You have proven untrustworthy therefore I shall afford no greater trust than you offer to me. If there are to be nine from yours we too shall be nine.” Without any discussion the group divided into two. Mabon and Diarmund stood facing down the corridor at the following Cruxiars and the three knights took position ahead of them so that the breadth of the corridor was covered. Walter and Abigail lingered uncertainly behind while the rest moved into the council chamber. The Cruxiars stood as a group at one end of the long table, beneath the robed statue, and the Librarians stood at the other end close to the door. “You sit where Albion once did. That is a bold presumption.”

“We honour what was once here; we do not compare ourselves to those who were.”

“I see that the statue is changed. The White Lady was not so shrouded in times past.”

“The prior monument was ruined beyond repair.”

“And so you remake in the image of your choosing and also for the end.” Tovrik pointed his staff head at the statue. There was a brief hum and then the quiet of an indefinable noise being silenced. Oswald’s cheek twitched in annoyance.

“So be it, Tovrik, you have made your displeasure felt speak on.”

“Far from it, Sir Oswald, you have seen naught close to my full displeasure so far. Yet you are right in thinking I take issue with you. When did it become your pleasure to imprison members of our Order?”

“They were not imprisoned; only delayed so that they might not interfere with our duties in Stonecairn. I truly regret that we failed in this and I can only begin to express my sympathy for your lost sister.”

“Stay your regret Sir Oswald.” Tovrik put his hand on Calieigh’s shoulder prompting her step forward and pull back her hood. Oswald stared in shock.

“They said that you burned!”

“I recovered.”

“I am most gladdened to hear that. You must know we never intended for you to face any harm.”

“I doubt it not, yet you did wish harm on Cedric.”

“He is not one of your Order.”

“Sir Oswald, is it for you to say who is and who is not part of our Order?” Tovrik asked.

“Perhaps not, yet you cannot expect me to extent the tolerance I show for your Order to all that use magic when they do not have your colours or follow your code.”

“Maybe not of a time I would not. Things have changed; henceforth this is precisely what I expect.”

“You mean for us to tolerate witches? To take no action against the like of those who murdered our King and his son.”

“If you mean by tolerate not to kill without pause, then yes. It is not so easy to tell witch from wizard as you may think. Therefore why not leave that distinction to us?”

“Why should I do as you wish? The Order of the Knights of the Cross number ten thousand while your Librarians are little more than one hundred. You cannot compel us this way or that.”

“I can think of three reasons. For one, be not so sure of our numbers we are growing and our friends number a great deal more than our members. For two, do you really believe that mere numbers tell the whole of the story? You have here a hundred men to our sixteen. If you are sure that gives you superiority then you should eject us immediately and hear no more.” Tovrik paused dramatically to emphasis Oswald’s lack of action. “And lastly and most importantly, because we shall be allies at the end so much for the better if we can be allies for the journey also.”

“Of what end do you speak?”

“Caleigh, I believe Sir Oswald would like to know what the White Lady truly portends.” Caleigh looked up at Tovrik and he nodded in confirmation. And so Caleigh told Sir Oswald of how the corruption of the world had led to the return of the Beast and of how the White Lady could no longer prevent this doom coming to pass. Sir Oswald sat without interruption though his face grew sour at the telling until by the end he sat shaking his head in disbelief.

“This is heresy.”

“No, Oswald, heresy is twisting a truth that is sacred. Rendering the truth plainly is merely that, the truth. Or would you prefer we spoke of how your Order has adapted the truth of Albion and the White Lady to serve your purposes?”

“How can it be that the corruption of the world is too great? We have fought corruption constantly.”

“You have not done so well enough, nor have I nor has anyone since the fall of the Kingdom.”

“And in times such as these you ask us to show tolerance towards the very corruption that has brought us to this pass?”

“Indeed not, I ask you to open your eyes to what corruption truly is rather than burn potential allies against evil. When the dark one comes our ranks may be thin, surely it is better to work in common purpose ere that day dawns?”

“I will think and pray on this. Mayhap you speak truly; there is much to be considered.”

“Then we shall leave you to your thoughts as soon as we are settled in our dispute.”

“What settlement do you seek?”

“Only the return of what is ours.” Oswald looked uncomprehendingly for a moment then turned to the nearest Cruxiars and whispered in his ear. The Cruxiar disappeared through a side door and reappeared carrying a bundle of cloth which he brought over to where Caleigh was sitting and deposited it in front of her. She opened up the cloth and saw two wands inside one hazel and one birch, which she recognised as her own. Vaughn promptly reclaimed the other. 

“Until next time.” Tovrik bowed and led the Librarians out of the council hall. The waiting Cruxiars in the corridor hesitated before giving way at the appearance of their chapter master behind the departing group. Thereafter they were left unharried all the way back to the outcrop of standing stones. Here Diarmund, Rhiannon and Dana held back and Caleigh with them.

“We have affairs to finish in Stonecairn.” Caleigh explained. Tovrik nodded and shepherded the remainder of the group around the standing stones. For a moment they blurred out of focus and then simply vanished from sight. After a momentary pause, Diarmund ushered the three women forward.

“Shall we?” They moved over to the standing stones and with a rush of air a moment of disorientation emerged in Stonecairn within sight of Cedric’s cottage. To her great surprise, while Dana hobbled and Rhiannon had to put her arms out for balance, Caleigh felt no more than a jolt as if she had jumped from a low wall. “You are becoming attuned to the ley lines.” Diarmund observed. “It is little wonder after all your adventures in the last two days.”

Cedric’s mother was much recovered from the last time Caleigh had seen her and though she was still bed-ridden she was sitting upright and making conversation and giving her full support to the idea of Cedric joining them in Elevered. Confident that all here was fine Caleigh turned her thoughts to other matters. Addressing Cedric and Rhiannon who were stood back from the sickbed she drew out a sack of coin, counted it out carefully and removed a small portion. “I have a present to buy; the rest I entrust to you to pay back some part of what you stole.” She handed Rhiannon the purse. “If there is aught left use it for your supplies.”

“You haven’t taken anything for your amulet.” Rhiannon stated.

“That can wait; Gideon’s birthday is tomorrow.”

29. A Full House

Things were different from the next day. With the arrival of Cedric there were now four student wizards, enough for classes. Vaughn was to teach them elemental spells, Mabon the methodology of magic, Diarmund druid lore and Gideon was given responsibility for training them in the art of defence. Furthermore, each student was assigned a tutor with whom they were to meet several times a week to improve on what they had learned in classes. Each student was paired with the teacher they knew best or whose knowledge was most relevant to their art.