The Archmage Unbound (19 page)

“Sorry I’m late, I lost track of time,”
I told them.

Penny rolled her eyes at me and I caught
a hint of a smirk on Rose’s face, but Dorian spoke first. “Well now that
you’re here we can get started.”

I took a seat. “I’m sure you all know
why we’re here. The recent incident with the intruder has raised certain
issues. Issues that we need to prepare for while I am in the capital.”

“Security,” Penny clarified for me.

“Right,” I agreed. “Dorian you said you
had a plan worked out, why don’t you explain?”

Dorian stood up. I don’t think he could
have addressed the room and remained seated. It just wasn’t in him. “The
first thing we need to discuss is who will be going to the capital and who will
remain here…”

“Wouldn’t it be simpler if everyone just
came with me?” I asked.

Dorian glared at me for interrupting him
so quickly. “Perhaps,” he answered, “but you will be busy and distracted in
the capital. There is also the possibility of intrigue while you are there. I
think it would be easier for you to focus on the matters at hand if you bring
only the bare minimum of people with you.”

“So primarily just Mort and myself?”
Penny asked.

Dorian shook his head in negation. “I’m
sorry Penny but no. I would like for Mort to go alone, except for his honor
guard.”

“Won’t I be more exposed here without
Mort close by?” she countered.

“You won’t,” he replied. “It would be
much more difficult for an enemy in the capital to coordinate any scheme at
such a distance.”

My wife wasn’t to be so easily defeated
however, “What about our mysterious channeler?”

“I have a solution for that as well.
The day Mort leaves you will be moved to Lancaster, along with Miriam and your
guards,” he said smugly. “No one outside of this room will know about your
trip until you are already gone. Without knowing what our enemy intends I can
only presume that a sudden relocation will seriously disrupt any plans they
might have, especially if they don’t know where you have been taken.”

I broke in, “Lancaster is a rather
obvious location though.”

“It is, but without certainty they will
have difficulty deciding on their response, if they are even able to cover the
distance quickly enough. If they do manage to follow they still will be on
unfamiliar ground. They won’t know what rooms your family is staying in, the
locations of the guards or how long you plan on being there.”

Harold spoke up suddenly, “Who will be
guarding the countess?” He spoke evenly, despite his obvious nervousness at
being in a room full of his superiors.

Dorian answered, “I will. You will be
assigned to the count while he is in the capital.”

“No disrespect Sir Dorian, but you would
be far more qualified to protect the count,” said young Harold.

I chuckled, “I think you’ve
misunderstood his priorities Harold. Dorian is sending you with me because
he’s guessing I’m much less likely to face a threat.”

“Oh,” said the young fighter. He hid his
embarrassment quickly.

“Don’t take it too hard Harold,” Dorian
said, trying to cheer him up. “After all you will still be leading the
contingent guarding our illustrious count. That’s no small feat for a man your
age.”

Rose spoke up then, “From what you said
before I gather you intend for me to remain with Penny and Miriam?”

For the first time since he had begun
Dorian looked directly at Rose. I hadn’t realized till then that he had been
avoiding direct eye contact with her, probably because it frequently left him
unable to speak clearly. “Errr… yes! That was exactly what I intended and
astute it was of you to… I mean it was very astute of you… I…,” Dorian ended on
an uncomfortable pause. At last he looked away and spoke again, “Yes. Sorry I
lost my train of thought.”

I could see Penny smiling at me from
across the table. Naturally she found all of this vastly amusing, while I
couldn’t help but be a bit embarrassed for my friend. Rose broke the silence,
“Ordinarily I wouldn’t mind, but in this case I think I need to go with
Mordecai,” she said.

Dorian was still recovering so I spoke
in his stead, “Why?”

“I’m not on the list of primary targets,
so I should be in little danger and I have several matters of business to
attend to in the city. Not the least of which is helping you to acquire a new
blacksmith,” she said.

I had forgotten that. I had asked her
advice on the matter the day before. “What other business do you have in the
city?” I asked.

She smiled, “Since you seem to be
redeemed in the eyes of the king it appears that my Dorian may not be an outlaw
forever. I thought I might talk to my father regarding some personal
matters.” The way she said ‘my Dorian’ left little doubt in anyone’s mind how
she felt about him. It was the first time I had ever heard her speak so openly
about her feelings for him.

Dorian seemed on the verge of apoplexy.
“Well that sounds fine,” he said in a remarkably clear voice. “Does anyone
else have objections or clarifications to bring up?” Though he spoke without a
stammer his face was a deep red.

I couldn’t help myself. I put up my
hand like a school boy and asked, “Yes, I was just wondering when you intend on
meeting with Lord Hight…oww!” Penny had just kicked me under the table, and
not delicately. I exclaimed more from surprise than pain though; as usual I
had a shield closely woven around myself.

“Anything else your Excellency?” Penny
asked with one eyebrow raised.

I gave her a hard look before answering,
“Actually yes, I do have something else… Harold!”

Poor Harold looked up as if I had
slapped him, “Yes your lordship?”

“Do you understand the position you are
in now?” I asked.

He gave me a blank stare. He reminded
me a lot of Dorian in some ways, though he was quite different in others. “I’m
sorry your Excellency, I’m not sure what you mean,” he said at last.

“There is a reason you’ve been invited
to this meeting. I have a real lack of men I can personally trust in my
employ. Dorian has said a number of good things about you of late and I have
done some checking around on my own. You seem to be a man of integrity as well
as skilled at arms,” I said.

I hadn’t asked any questions so Harold
was left wondering what to say. “Thank you, your Excellency,” he ventured at
last.

“To make a long story short I need your
service, and not just in your present capacity as a man at arms,” I told him.
I went on to describe the new order of knighthood I intended to create.

Harold stood up from his chair near the
end of my explanation. “Begging your pardon sir, you can’t be serious!”

I was nonplussed. Not understanding his
perspective I assumed he was criticizing the idea of a new order of knights.
Dorian put his hand on my arm before I could respond, “We are serious. Before
you discount yourself think about how you acquitted yourself during the recent
war against Gododdin. Lord Cameron did not make this decision lightly and you
might consider that before you question his reasons.” As Dorian spoke I
realized Harold had been objecting to his own selection, not the plan itself.

“Do you intend to decline this burden?”
I asked young Harold somberly, giving him my most gravid look.

Harold dropped to one knee as if he had
been poleaxed. “No my liege, I will accept whatever you place upon me, insofar
as I am able.”

I raised an eyebrow and glanced at
Dorian. I had not expected Harold to be so well spoken. “Very well, rise for
now. We will hold the accolade tomorrow so you will need to prepare your vigil
tonight.”

He rose and left with Dorian and Rose
while I exchanged a meaningful glance with Penny. Once everyone had left the
room I spoke, “Are you sure you’re alright with this plan?”

She stepped closer and I wrapped my arms
around her. Tipping her head back to look at me she gave me an appraising
look. “I’d rather be with you but I understand the need. Just don’t make me
spend too many nights alone or you’ll have a very cranky pregnant woman on your
hands when you return.”

She laid her head against my chest and I
leaned mine forward, resting my cheek against her soft brown hair. We stood
that way for a long minute before finally making our way to the door. Looking
back Penny studied the room for a moment and frowned. “This room is entirely
too dusty. I’ll have to remind Lisette to give it a thorough cleaning.”

I almost felt sorry for the castle staff…
having been a maid once herself, Penny held high standards for them. “Don’t be
too hard on her dear, it doesn’t look so bad to me,” I told her.

“You’re too nice,” she said. “Look in
those corners… the dust is so heavy there you can see footprints.”

I had to admit she was right. “Just try
to go easy on Lisette; she’s a young woman in love you know. She might have a
few things distracting her.” I led Penny from the room and with our backs to
the room I didn’t see the dust stirring behind us or the extra footprints that
appeared once our attention had moved away.

That evening I returned to work in the
smithy. I was close to finishing the armor I had been crafting for Harold. If
he was going to be my body guard in Albamarl I wanted him to look good, as well
as being properly equipped. Besides, I had a feeling Lisette would like seeing
her young man in his new finery, at least until it began to smell. I chuckled
to myself at the thought; even magical armor had a tendency to rankle the nose
after a while.

My best estimate saw me not finishing until
after Harold’s knighting. Hopefully I would complete it before we left for the
capital. He would simply have to be understanding. It was a surprise anyway,
he had no idea I planned to armor all of my knights in such gear.

While I worked I found myself in an
awkward position, needing an extra set of hands and having only my own two. I
considered calling in the guards that Dorian had positioned outside but I
really didn’t want to give away my secrets to anyone else yet. Then an idea
came to me. “Moira,” I called softly, wondering if asking for her help with
such a minor task would annoy her.

She rose up from the packed earth floor
with fluid grace. “No, it doesn’t annoy me,” she replied to my unspoken words,
“Though I never expected when I created this repository of knowledge that it
would someday be used as a smith’s apprentice.”

She held the hot metal with hands that
felt no heat and watched me as I worked. Her eyes today were made from two
pieces of glossy slag metal, giving them a strange grey cast, similar to polished
hematite. Neither of us spoke for a while as I was fully focused upon my task,
smoothing and stroking the burning steel into shape. Eventually I paused to
let the metal cool while I used a rule to measure it. This piece was to be
part of the greaves that protected the lower leg and it needed to match the
already finished piece for the other leg.

While I did that Moira examined the
already finished breastplate and pauldrons, running her hands over the metal
and studying the lines of the enchantments I had already laid upon them. I
could sense her astonishment as she examined them. “I suppose they must seem
rather crude compared to the enchantments created during your time,” I
observed.

She looked up at me, “Not at all. What
you have done here is novel, unlike anything created while I was alive, and the
sophistication of the enchantments is nothing to laugh at. Your talents would
have earned you praise as a mage-smith in my day. Where did you learn this?”

I wasn’t sure how to react to her
compliments. “I just worked with what I already knew, about wards and such. I
nearly blew myself up a few times,” I told her, thinking back to my first
attempts to create enchantments by storing heat energy.

“You have no idea how few men possessed
the talents to create things like this, even in my day. This alone would set
you apart, without even considering your strength as a wizard or your potential
as an archmage. Your ancestors would have been proud of you,” she said.

“So far I’ve only managed to kill a lot of
innocent people, I’m not sure how that fits with your assessment,” I said
bitterly. For some reason her praise had irritated me.

“I won’t debate the merits of your
actions with you. Your forebears were hardly innocent on that score,” she
replied. “The Illeniels were well known for the many mage-smiths and skilled
enchanters they produced throughout history. It is interesting to see that the
trait has bred true in you despite your lack of guidance or formal training.”

“That’s not entirely true,” I said
defensively.

“How so?”

“My father taught me from the time I was
old enough to work the bellows. I watched him working with iron for most of my
life and when I was old enough he showed me everything he could of his
knowledge of it.”

“And you think that explains this?” she
laughed, waving her hands at the armor lying on the table behind her. “Are you
even aware of the fact that you are using more than mere wizardry as you shape
the metal?”