Legend of the Sorcerer (29 page)

Cai stalked to the other end of the room. “I don’t know what the hell to believe anymore. For all I know, Alfred is wandering around Miami in some hallucinatory fog and I’m half a world away chasing shadows and demons that only exist in his disintegrating mind.”

“Then what do you want to do?”

“I said I don’t know, dammit!” He swung back around, then stopped abruptly. He lifted his hands, then let them fall helplessly to his side. “I’m supposed to take care of him, Jordy,” he said bleakly. “And I don’t know how to do that anymore.” His breath caught. “I’m afraid I’m not going to find him until it’s too late.”

She stopped fighting and went into his arms then. And held on. She just held on.

Jordy and Cai thanked Mrs. Evans for breakfast the following morning. They’d barely touched it, but had forced down enough so as not to insult their hostess.

They had argued on the next step to take, but hadn’t come to any conclusions. “I just wish we’d been able to find out more about Alfred’s past here,” she said.

They’d received a message from Eric about where Alfred had lived in Anglesey, but the house had been razed long ago for a row of shops.

“I can’t believe we can’t find anything more about his
younger years. What about his parents? Where did they live? You’d think there would be a paper trail.”

“We checked into all that. Nothing.”

“Maybe we should go to Paris,” Jordy said as they climbed the steps back to their room.

“Excuse me?”

She sat on the bed. “Just because the e-mails came from here, doesn’t mean she was here. If she hired some guy to watch us in the Keys, who’s to say she didn’t hire someone to send the e-mails? But we know where she is now. Maybe that’s where she’s holding the women. And if she collapsed, then they might be trapped somewhere. And nobody would know about their existence.”

He crossed his arms. “I’m no longer so certain Isolde Morgan has anything to do with this. I think it’s a fantasy Alfred concocted in his mind, maybe from their past history together or something, and has somehow managed to convince Dilys of the whole thing. She’s not exactly in the spring of her youth either.”

Jordy crossed her arms. “Okay. Then explain what you felt yesterday at those ruins?”

“I told you before. It could be explained a million different ways, Jordy.”

“I want to go back and check out that symbol again. I didn’t get it all down. It could be an important clue.”

“Absolutely not.”

She cocked an eyebrow. “If you don’t think she’s connected, what difference does it make? What’s the worst that could happen?”

I could lose you
. The words just came into his head, but once there, they wouldn’t be dismissed.

“I know how hard all this is on you, but if we really are relying on each other, we’re going to have to learn to trust each other. It’s important to me to check those ruins out
again. That’s all I want. After that we’ll do whatever you think we should do next.”

Cai felt the tension knot up in his neck, but he nodded. “I do rely on you, Jordy. More than you realize. And I do trust you. It’s just hard, when what’s in the balance is so critical, to let anyone else be part of the decision making process.”

“You’ve been making all the decisions on your own for a long time.”

“Not entirely. Alfred has been there.” A ghost of a smile curved his lips. “And Dilys’ commands have saved me from making numerous decisions.”

“I relied on Suzanne far too heavily for too many years. Once the trial started, I found out quickly it’s not much fun being the only one in charge. The key, I guess, is balance. I think you had that with Alfred. I’d like for us to find that, too.”

“So would I.” He took her face in his hands and kissed her deeply. “I want you to stay close to me, though. And don’t touch the symbols.” She gave him a look and he could only shrug. “So, I don’t want to take any chances. Promise me, Jordy.”

“I promise. And thank you, Cai.”

He wasn’t so sure she should be thanking him. He had a very bad feeling about this.

Cai turned slowly onto the rutted track. This was just a quick stop, he told himself as he stopped the car when the ruins came into sight once again. That unexplicable dread filled him once again, both frustrating and angering him. This was all nonsense! And he wished like hell he could believe that. He wasn’t suffering from jet lag now.

Jordy ran a finger along the crease beside his tightly
clamped lips. “Are you sure you want to walk up there with me?”

He wanted to back down the hill and get as far away from this place as he could. “Come on, let’s get this over with.”

They climbed the hill and stopped several feet away from the entrance.

Jordy saw it first.

“There’s something stuck in the wall remains, next to the entrance. See it?” She was already walking closer before Cai caught sight of the fluttering piece of white.

He reached out and pulled her back. “Wait here.”

She opened her mouth to argue, but shut it again and nodded. “Be careful.”

His lips quirked. “That would be the last thing you have to worry about. Fox Mulder I am not.”

Jordy smiled, but it wasn’t too reassuring. A shiver raced over his skin as he walked closer. There was no wavering shift of the air this time, just the steady chill breeze. The sky was metal gray, lending to the ominous feeling.

“It’s a piece of paper,” he called out. But it was no errant piece of trash. The paper wasn’t snagged in the rocks. It had been purposely pinned down.

Cai walked to the wall. He could read the neat black writing from where he stood.

Jordy watched as Cai turned back to her, face as pale as the piece of paper he’d been studying. “What?” She stumbled up the slope.

Her movement seemed to galvanize him into action. He took her elbow. “We have to get out of here. Right now.”

“What’s wrong? Tell me. What was on the paper?”

“A note.” He pinned her with a dark look. “From Margaron.” He said nothing, but went back to the car.

They were backing down the rutted path when she asked him what the note said.

“She said not to return empty-handed again.”

“How did she know? She’s in a hospital in Paris.”

Cai stopped at the bottom of the track. “Obviously Margaron is not Isolde. I don’t know who in the hell we’re dealing with.”

Jordy sat back, rubbing her arms, trying to take it all in. “How does she—whoever she is—know we’re here?”

“I have no idea. But she has to be connected to Isolde somehow. This is her property.”

“You think they are working together or something?”

“Your guess is as good as mine at this point.”

“She knows we’re here. So she’s close by.” The realization made her shudder.

“Which is exactly why I have to get you the hell out of here.”

He put the car into gear and didn’t speak until after they were back in their room.

Jordy sat on the bed. “You know, if Alfred sees on the news that Isolde is in a hospital in Paris, do you think he might go there?”

Cai paced. “He might. It’s been three days. I don’t know where he is, what kind of shape he’s in, what his plan is.” He raked his fingers through his hair.

Jordy rubbed her chin. “She wants the Pearl.”

Cai looked at her. “I don’t think I want to hear this.”

She took his hand and wove her fingers through his. “I think you should give her what she wants, Cai. Lure her out and end this part of it. We even have the perfect way to
communicate. You can leave her a note at the ruins. Tell her where to meet you. We’ll call the police here. Someone will know who we should contact on a case like this.”

Cai knew she was making sense. Far more rational sense than he was making. But the sense of danger was palpable. He had been warned not to go back there empty-handed and he was just spooked enough to not dare it. Not with Jordy here. And there was no way he was leaving her unattended while he went alone.

“She must have some way of spying on the ruins, and that’s how she found out we were here,” Jordy said. “But how did she know you didn’t have the Pearl? I mean, how big is this thing supposed to be? We need to know that if you’re going to pull this off.”

Cai wasn’t at all sure he liked this plan. He blew out a deep breath and looked at her. “Does Alfred describe it at all in his notes?”

“No. The notes aren’t really directly about the Dark Pearl anyway. They’re … I don’t know, lessons. Of a sort.”

“What kind of lessons?” he asked warily.

“Well, I guess you’d call them magic lessons. You know, casting spells and such. I couldn’t comprehend much of it, but he was amazingly thorough on various subjects.”

Cai felt his heart squeeze. Alfred had ranted and railed often during their lifetime together and many of his flights of fancy had revolved around his “contemporary” Merlin. But to make reams of notes on the subject? Was he so far gone he could sustain that sort of detailed fantasy? If not, what was the alternate explanation?

Just then Mrs. Evans called up the stairs. “I’ll go see what she wants,” Jordy said. She kissed him and held his gaze. “Don’t worry about the rest of this now, okay? One thing at a time.”

She disappeared down the stairs, leaving Cai alone with
thoughts he’d rather not be having. He found his gaze shifting to the Tupperware bowl. The goldfish swam crookedly, but upright.

Cai thought back to what Jordy had told him the day before Alfred and Dilys had disappeared. Dilys had fixed Fred as a sign to Jordy that she and Alfred were legit.

Cai watched the fish for several moments, then reached for the canvas bag. He slid one binder out and opened it to the first page. It was handwritten in elegant script. Something struck him as familiar, but he couldn’t place it. Of course, he’d seen Alfred’s handwriting many times, albeit not quite such a formal rendering of it.

He stilled as the connection hit him hard and all of a sudden. He knew where he’d seen this script before. He was surprised that Jordy, with her eye for detail, hadn’t seen it, too. The handwriting was the same as that in the book of incantations in which they’d found the symbol. A book that was far more ancient than Alfred’s eighty-some years.

He didn’t have time to think any more on it as Jordy burst into the room. “Cai, come quickly. Dilys is here. Alfred’s in trouble.”

D
ilys drove too quickly on the tight, windy roads. Cai held on to the door handles of the little Citroën while Jordy braced herself in the cramped back. Dilys had told them that Alfred had collapsed and they must come at once. When they asked her how she’d known where they were, she’d said only, “It wasn’t much of a challenge.”

Cai figured she’d gotten the message he’d left on the voice mail back on Crystal Key, explaining where they were in case she or Alfred had checked in.

“If you knew we were here, why didn’t you come for us sooner?” he asked.

“It wasn’t time. We weren’t done yet.”

Struggling with his patience, he said, “Where are we headed? Where have you been staying?”

“I must concentrate on my driving.”

Given the way the car careened around each bend, Cai wisely fell silent.

They headed south, past Tal Y Bont and Dolgarrog, where Dilys turned onto a narrow paved track. The road, such as it was, turned and twisted, until they could no longer see the valley below them.

Dilys took a tight corner, almost putting the car on two wheels, then came to a bone-jarring stop.

Once Cai could pry his hands from the dash and door, he looked ahead and his jaw dropped. A massive, two-story stone house stood just in front of them. It was obviously ancient, and yet amazingly well preserved. At one end was a large, round tower that jutted higher than the rest.

“Come now. We must hurry.” Dilys was out of the car and picking her way up the rock-strewn path before they could answer.

The ground was icy and the wind had a steady bite. Cai held on to Jordy’s hand as they made their way behind Dilys to the front door.

They stepped inside, closing the heavy wooden door behind them to block out the cold and the wind. It took Cai several moments for his eyes to adjust to the deep gloom. They were in a large foyer illuminated by gaslit wall sconces. He felt Jordy shiver beside him.

Two rooms opened off the foyer. There was a wide staircase in front of them, and a hallway to the side of it that disappeared into shadows. It was too dim to make out the wall-hangings.

“Where is he?” Cai demanded.

“This way, Master Malacai.” There were two lanterns on a small, ornate wooden table in the foyer. Dilys quickly lit one and handed it to Cai, then lit a second one for herself. “Watch the stairs, they’re not uniform.”

Cai noticed the stairs were stone, as had been the foyer floor. It was mostly covered by thick rugs, but the stairs were bare. He didn’t have time to study anything else as he followed Dilys’ quickly retreating figure.