The Archmage Unbound (10 page)

“No need to be mean about it,” she
complained. “Consider my point of view, if we lost you now what would that
mean for me and your child?”

I winced, it always came back to that,
and in truth she was right. Still we had discussed it already; I didn’t see a
better alternative for securing the future for our family… and our people.
“I’m sorry love. You know I’d choose a safer path if I thought there was one,”
I replied.

“So you admit there might be a better
way,” she said. She was quick to catch on.

“I’d be lying if I pretended to have all
the answers. What is true is that I don’t know of a better way,” I said
honestly.

She ran her hand across my chest,
feeling the fabric of my tunic. “I’d feel better if you at least wore mail.
Any fool with a dagger could put a hole in your back.”

“That would make my task more
difficult. I’m actually trying to be sneaky, besides I don’t need armor to
keep me safe,” as I spoke I made my shield flash with light for just a moment.
My skill with mundane uses of magic had gotten much greater.

“That didn’t do you much good when the
shiggreth grabbed you,” she noted. It was not only a reminder of my
vulnerability but also a reminder of the fact that she had been the one to save
my bacon that night.

I grimaced. “There shouldn’t be any
shiggreth to worry about during this little adventure and if there are… I’ve
prepared a new strategy.”

She was cynical, “such as?”

“I can’t show you here. It might damage
the room,” I said evading the question as best I could.

The look on her face was wistful and a
bit sad at the same time. “One of these days you’re going to find out you’re
not as smart as you thought and I’m going to have to pay the price.”

I laughed, “Did you have another
vision?”

Penny frowned, “No, and that’s why I’m
not objecting too much. I feel certain that something as important as your
impending doom would trigger my foresight. Since my ‘intuition’ has remained
silent thus far I’m willing to let you take more risk than is probably wise.”

I decided not to argue that point, her
‘intuition’ and I had already butted heads once before in the past. The result
had been her near death. Still I doubted I would back down if I were forced
into a corner like that again. I can be notoriously stubborn when I choose to
be. Rather than remind her of my penchant for mule-headedness I agreed with
her, “I’m glad of that. If things go well I should be back late tonight, or
tomorrow at the latest. I may stay and have dinner at the house with Marc. I
haven’t had many opportunities to explore the library lately.”

I finished my good-byes and an hour
later I was standing in the hallway of my house in Albamarl. Teleportation was
one of the nicer things about being a wizard, although I had very few places I
could use it to reach. It required a pre-made circle at both the point of
origination and the destination, and the two had to match.

Currently the only places I had
available were my home in Cameron Castle, Castle Lancaster, and my house in
Albamarl. I intended to expand on that number a bit during my stay in the
capital though. Once I had reminded the king of my traveling abilities he
might decide to try and cut down on my options by having my house watched.

I glanced down the hallway and let my
senses expand until I had located Marc. True to his word he was sitting at one
of the reading tables in the library. My first impulse was to walk in and say
hello but after a moment’s thought I decided to test out my plan for
infiltrating the palace. I had several spells in mind but I hadn’t actually
tried them out in a practical situation. I spoke a few words and ran my hand
over my boots, which should silence any sound my footsteps might make, while
leaving me free to speak as need be.

I walked silently until I stood near the
door to the library. Marc had thoughtfully closed it after he entered, which
made entering the room unseen and unheard more difficult. Perfect. Watching
him mentally I made sure he wasn’t facing the door, and then I quietly
whispered a few words. They were similar to the ones I had used to silence my
boots, and their effect on the door was the same. Putting my hand on the
handle I opened the door and stepped inside.

So far I remained unnoticed, Marc was
still reading intently but I knew he might look in my direction at any moment
and I was far from invisible. I needed to cast another spell but realized that
standing in the same room there was a strong chance he would hear me, even if I
spoke very softly. I needed a distraction. Glancing toward the opposite end
of the room I chanced a whispered word and focused my will. The sound of a
book falling to the floor and claws skittering across wooden boards came from
that end of the room immediately; drawing Marc’s startled attention in that
direction. I spoke quietly again and settled what I thought would be the
perfect disguise across myself. This last spell was something new entirely, a
way of creating a false appearance. I had chosen the likeness of his sister
Ariadne in advance.

I had discovered the art of illusion in
one of my father’s books only a few weeks before and I had been experimenting
with them in odd moments ever since. This was my first time attempting to fool
another person with a complete disguise however, so I had no idea how well it
might work. Walking forward I stood by the table and waited for Marc to turn
back around. At the moment he was still tensely watching the corner, wondering
at the noise I had created. When at last he turned back around his expression
was priceless.

“What?!” he exclaimed, scrambling
backward. Or at least he tried to scramble backward, still being seated in the
chair he wound up half standing before falling on his ass. It took all my
self-control to stifle a laugh, instead I feigned concern.

“Marcus are you alright? I didn’t mean
to startle you!” I said quickly. If my spell was working properly he should be
seeing his sister leaning over him wearing a lovely blue dress that I had once
seen her in. Call me a pervert if you will but I always remembered her wearing
that dress when I thought of his sister.

“Ariadne?” he said tentatively, a
suspicious stare on his features. “Is that you? How did you get here?” He
rose from the floor and dusted himself off; although the floor was spotless.

I hadn’t considered the conversation
beyond surprising him. Now that it was clear my disguise was working I thought
I might keep it up a bit longer. My mind raced as I considered my words.
“Mordecai sent me. I went to Cameron looking for you and he said you had come
to study here. How have you been? Rose told me you have been acting odd
lately.”
That should keep his suspicions at bay,
I thought to myself
with a self-indulgent chuckle. I refrained from hugging him, my illusion
lacked any substance and my distinctly masculine frame would be a dead
giveaway.

Marc looked around, “Is Mort with you?”
he asked suddenly.

“No he said he would return to take me
home in an hour or so,” I temporized.

“Clever girl,” he said with a sly grin.
“We haven’t had any time to ourselves in ages have we?”

The look he gave me was faintly
unsettling. I really had no idea what his conversations with his siblings were
like when they were alone but something about his tone was odd. “No, we
haven’t,” I agreed. “I’ve been worried about you.”

He took a step closer and I
instinctively stepped back to avoid contact. “Do you still love your brother?”
he asked in a wistful tone, “Even after my disgrace?”

I was becoming increasingly
uncomfortable with the turn of the conversation but I didn’t want to spoil my
joke just yet. “Of course Marcus, you’ve always been my favorite.”

His eyes had a dangerous glint in them,
“Your favorite?” he asked. “Don’t you mean your
only
? Or have you
found someone else?” His voice had developed a distinctly husky sound.

Things had gotten out of hand. “What?!”
I shouted in surprise, but before I could say more he leapt forward and kissed
me. Shock and outrage were my sudden companions as I tried to throw him off.
He clung to me instead and we wound up wrestling on the floor while I attempted
to disentangle myself from the sister-loving monster my friend had become.

“Ariadne, I don’t remember you being so
hairy but I like it!” he growled. I had finally gotten control of our struggle
and I was working to get him into an arm lock. He was laughing now and puckering
his lips at me as I twisted his arm. At last I realized I had been had. In
disgust I let go of him and with a shove stepped back.

Marc was laughing so hard now he could
hardly stand and he collapsed onto the floor again. “Mort you should have seen
your face!” he guffawed at me.

His humor was infectious and I found
myself chuckling a bit in spite of my indignation. “You’re a sick bastard, I
hope you realize that! How did you figure it out?” I asked.

Marc’s laughter slowed and finally he
was able to answer more soberly, “Do you really think my sister’s voice sounds
like that? That was the worst falsetto I’ve ever heard!”

Of course, I should have known. I did
have a better solution for the voice problem but I couldn’t use it without
having direct contact with the person I was imitating first. That was academic
though, I had thought my generic ‘female’ voice would be enough. Clearly I was
wrong. I frowned.

“And that dress, what was that about?
She’s only worn that dress to formal balls. Why would she wear that here?” he
snickered, but then his eyes went wide. “Oh damn! You have a thing for my
sister! Why else would you remember her at her loveliest? Oh that’s low
Mort! Wait till I tell Penny!”

“I do not! You sick sister-lover! Wait
till I tell your sister you tried to kiss her!” I shot back.

“I knew it was you all along! Who else
could get into this place?” he retorted.

I grinned, “She doesn’t know that.”

“Fine,” he said standing up again.
“Truce?” he asked, but he was still chuckling as he held out his hand.

I gave his hand a mock-suspicious glare,
“I’m not sure that thing is safe to touch,” I said, but then I broke into a
grin. I hugged him instead and then we sat down to talk. “How have you been
doing?” I asked.

“Good,” he replied, “When there isn’t
anyone sneaking up on me and pretending to be my sister.”

“I just wanted to test out the new
spell,” I told him.

He snorted, “It’s impressive I’ll admit,
though the voice needs a lot of work. I’ve never seen you do anything like
that before though.”

“I started experimenting with illusions
a few weeks ago. So far they seem fairly simple, as long as it is something I
can imagine easily,” I said.

“And my sister is someone you imagine
regularly I take it?” he said with a wry smile.

“No damnitt! Anyone I’ve known for a
long time is fairly easy. I picked your sister because she seemed the most
reasonable person to visit you, besides myself of course. If I try to do a
stranger I’d almost have to be looking at them when I cast the spell in order
to create a decent resemblance.”

Marc sat up straight for a moment.
“Mordecai!” he exclaimed, “Have you shown anyone else your illusions yet?”

“No why?”

“Think about it, the possibilities are
endless. You could imitate anyone, the king, the head of the bank… or someone
you wanted to frame for a crime!” he announced. As he spoke I could see the
gears in his head turning. Marc was extremely intelligent, almost as smart as
myself in our academic studies as children and infinitely more devious. If
anyone could think of useful ways to use deception, it would be him.

“I’m just planning to sneak into the
palace, I don’t need to commit crimes or blame innocents at this point in my
career,” I told him.

“Just don’t tell anyone you can do
this. So long as you are the only one that knows you have a tool with few
limits. Once people know what you can do it will be the opposite… any crime
could be laid at your feet,” he explained.

I hadn’t thought of it in quite those
terms but I could see he was right. What at first had seemed like a simple
spell was fraught with all sorts of major social implications. If I could
impersonate someone I could do anything… and if people knew I could impersonate
anyone I could be implicated for anything that happened out of the ordinary.
Rumor and scandal could easily become the rule of my life. It almost wasn’t
worth using the spell at all. I shook my head, “Let’s just finish this
experiment. I need to test another spell, one that should provide a better
imitation of someone’s voice.”

“Anything would be better than that
awful falsetto you used,” he jibed again. “Do you need me to do anything?”

“Not much, just hold still,” I said and
then I reached out and touched his throat while vocalizing my new spell. Then
I opened my mouth and repeated what he had just said, “Anything would be better
than that awful falsetto you used.” The words emerged in an exact replica of
Marc’s voice… at least as far as I could tell.