The Elemental Jewels (Book 1) (24 page)

“I think I can walk, if you’ll just go slowly with me,” he answered her prior question.

“Come along then,” Grace opened the door and stepped out.

Grange followed her, through the hallways at a slow pace, and even more slowly as they descended several flights of stairs.  She led him through the security at the gate in the palace wall – her reputation as an apprentice to the wizard was enough to provide easy passage. 

She seemed to change once they were in the palace grounds.  “Here, hold my hand now,” she instructed, reaching out to intertwine her fingers with his.  Her digits were small and delicate, making Grange more acutely aware of her femininity, and reminding him of Ariana, as the girl she had been during the many weeks they had lived together.

“Do you have a girl friend?” Grace asked him, seeming to sense something of what was on his mind.

“No, not exactly, not anymore,” Grange replied.

“Then do a favor for me,” she said.  She leaned over against him.  “Put your arm around my shoulder.  When we pass those two guards up ahead,” Grange noted the men wearing flamboyant palace uniforms, “give me a kiss.”

“What is this about?” he asked, perplexed.

“Just do it,” Grace hissed as they drew closer to the guards.

Grange released the hold on her hand, then uncertainly swung his arm up around her shoulders, wincing in pain from the movement of his own injured shoulder.  He turned his head and kissed the side of her cheek as they drew even with the guards.

“More,” she said softly, without moving her lips.  They were even with the guards, and Grange saw that the two men were observing them, particularly Grace, with extensive scrutiny.  Grange bent his head lower, then reached around with his free hand and tilted her face around towards his, directing their lips together, in a kiss that was firm, then changed, as the girl parted her lips slightly and let her tongue circle inside his mouth.

Grange was walking on, his eyes were closed, and the only thing he was aware of was the taste and the moistness of Grace’s soft lips.  He was astonished by the event, and when he felt her lips pull away from his, he opened his eyes to see that she had a look of dazed astonishment that exactly matched what he felt.

“There you are,” the voice of the wizard sounded distantly.  Grace opened her eyes, then they widened in shock as she looked at Grange.  She pushed his hand away from her cheek and looked up at a window in the closest wing of the palace, where she spotted Brieed.

“Take your arm off me,” she practically snarled the words.

Grange started to comply, but Grace immediately changed her mind.  “No keep it around my shoulder; I’ll tell him I’m supporting you.”  She added to the guise by wrapping her own arm around his waist, and they entered the building, then slowly climbed the stairs up to the third floor, while Grace did actually help him ascend.

“This is it,” Grace said softly as they left the stairs at the third floor landing.  A pair of tall bronze doors cordoned the staircase off from the hallway and rooms beyond.

“Where are the guards?” Grange asked.  The doors indicated that security was needed, and they appeared too heavy for a girl like Grace to open.

“We don’t need guards,” Grace said smugly.  She pulled a short wand from the bosom of her gown, then pointed it at the doors.  She stared intently at the doors, then began to softly chant a series of words that were foreign to Grange, though they held some faint element of familiarity

Ah,
he heard one of the jewels sigh softly.

The wand glowed, then a soft, diffuse aura of light broadcast out and struck the doors, and as it did, the doors swung open.

“You’re a wizard too?!” Grange exclaimed.

“I’m getting close,” Grace answered smugly as she placed the wand back in its place.  “I’m the second best apprentice.”

“How many apprentices are there?” Grange asked.

Grace frowned.  “Two.”

“Three, now,” another voice said.

“And you can take your hands off her,” a young man said, a man who appeared to be ten years older than Grange.  A man who had red eyes.

“You!  You’re the red jewel!” Grange accused the man.

“We are supposed to take you to the master, not listen to some crazy nonsense,” the man said.

“He’s got some obsession with the ‘red jewel’ talk.  He called me that too,” Grace said.  She disentangled herself from his grasp.

“Let’s go see the wizard,” she told Grange in a neutral tone.

“Aren’t you going to introduce us?” the man asked Grace.  “Since you’re not, I’m Eli, the number one apprentice,” the man boasted to Grange.

“You look pretty old to be an apprentice,” Grange expressed his opinion, dissatisfied by the swagger the man displayed.

“We’ll see how long you last, let alone how long you spend trying to learn anything,” Eli smirked.  “Then I’ll consider listening to your opinion about how old a wizard’s apprentice should be.”

“The wizard sent me to get him.  He means something to the little man,” Grace argued.  “And Brieed doesn’t pick people just for their good looks, so the boy must have some potential.”

“Haven’t we seen this before?  A new apprentice brought in, only to wash out and be dismissed in a matter of weeks?  This pale fellow’s nothing different from them,” Eli answered.  “Now, let’s go.”  He turned and started to walk away.  Grace followed him, and after a moment’s hesitation, Grange started to slowly trail after the pair.

They passed a number of open doors stretched along the lengthy hallway, and Grange glanced into the spaces, curious to see what the wizard used so much space for.  In one room he saw three scribes busy at desks, copying papers, while in another room he saw rows of beakers and pestles and mortars, lined on shelves and scattered on desks.

They walked halfway down the length of the hallway, then stopped at a door and knocked.

“Enter,” Brieed’s voice called out.  Eli opened the door and led the way into an astonishing chamber.  The room was very large, and filled with material in every possible spot.  The walls were lined with bookshelves and specimen display cases, while a series of work tables were covered with papers, bottles, animal pelts and stony minerals, and in one corner of the room, a glowing ball of light hung in the air.

“There’s my musician,” Brieed exclaimed happily.  “Thank you for fetching him, Grace.  You two are dismissed,” he waved at Eli and Grace.

“Do you want us to take him around the works, show him to a room, anything?” Eli asked.

“I’ll call you when I need you,” the wizard answered.  “Here, have a seat,” he turned his attention to focus on Grange, then pointed at an empty chair.

Grace and Eli looked at one another, then shuffled towards the door.

“Grace, thank you,” Grange said as he watched his guides depart.  She twitched her fingers at him as she looked at her master, then the two of them were out the door.

“Go on, have a seat.  Get off that leg.  I saw how much help you needed from the girl to walk over here.  Not to mention, I saw that gash in your leg when you fought at Selebe’s garden.

“Here,” the wizard spoke as Grange gratefully sat down and extended his leg to ease the tension in its injured muscles.  Brieed picked up the flute that Grange had carried with him, and handed it to the boy.

“Go on, play something.  I want to see you conjure forth those elementals,” the wizard urged.

“It doesn’t work like that,” Grange replied, holding the instrument.

“How does it work?  Call them forth; I’d like to speak with them,” Brieed said eagerly.

“I don’t call them forth,” Grange said.  “They only come when demons attack.”

“Is that something that happens often?” his host asked quizzically.  “You’re a magnet for demonic gatherings?”

“More often that you’d think,” Grange muttered.  “Four or five times since winter began.”

“Why would demons attack you?  Who are you? How did you find those jewels?” Brieed was full of questions.

Grange looked around the room.  It appeared to be a place of power; the wizard was someone who seemed to have found ways to use great energy himself.

“What happened to everyone at the concert at Selebe’s garden?  Why were they all asleep?” he asked.  “Did people recover?”

“As I’m sure you suspected, they were all given drinks that had powerful agents mixed in, and they all fell soundly asleep.  When they belatedly realized what happened, the servants from the house called the city guard, who came and took away the bodies of all the men you killed, since the battle was over by then.  We told them it was a robbery attempt, and that you had heroically fought the entire gang off.  By the time Selebe and his guests awoke, most of the cleanup was finished.

“And I had you taken to the hospital under my care,” he finished.  “So now tell me, since I’ve answered your question, answer mine, and tell me why demons would be on the hunt for you?  What have you done to stir their interest?”

Grange gave a sigh, and began to tell a short version of his story, beginning by describing himself as a worker in the canal tunnel, not mentioning his role as a prisoner or his past as a pickpocket.  He described the first battle with the demon that possessed Breeze, and the training under Ariana, the jewel posing as a human.  He did not reveal the jewels’ claim that a great invasion of demons was coming, but simply told the story of arriving in Palmland, and how he had settled into a routine in life except for the preliminary demon attacks prior to the attack at the performance at Selebe’s.

“Well, all that’s over with now, of course,” Brieed said in response.  “What a fascinating story.  And so you have a sight that allows you to see the demons, without any training or special preparations?  It took me fifty years to learn to spot them, you know,” the wizard said.

“It was just last year, about when my voice changed,” Grange acknowledged.  “I hadn’t seen anything like it up until then.”

“It’s just as well we’re moving you into the palace with us,” Brieed decided.

“I’m not sure I want to move in,” Grange replied slowly.  “I’ve got my apartment with Garrel and Deana, and my job playing with Guy’s band at the dances and festivals.

“I just don’t have Ariana any longer,” he added softly.

I am still here
, her quiet voice whispered. 
As you will come to know
.

“That’s out of the question.  With your knowledge and resources, you’re an obvious choice to be an apprentice wizard.  We’ll send for your things and have them delivered.  You’ll have a room right here in this hallway, where I can train you, and you’ll be right at hand when I need you,” Brieed dismissed his hesitation.  “Who knows what you’ll be able to do for us with those jewels to assist you?” he mused.

“Garrel and Deana need me,” Grange said stubbornly.  He wasn’t sure that he opposed the move; it would be a good, fresh start to leave the apartment room he had shared with Ariana, he realized.  But he didn’t like having his life dictated to him by this person who was completely unknown to him, whose motives were unknown.  “They can’t afford the rent on the apartment without my share.”

“I’ll send them a large payment,” Brieed dismissed the issue.

“I want to play music with Guy’s band,” Grange said insistently.  “I enjoy it, and I help the band.”

“So if I pay for your friends’ rent, and let you go out into the city to play music, you’ll agree to live here in the palace to study our arts?” Brieed asked, studying Grange closely.

“Will I be able to practice my sword work as much as I want?” Grange sensed that he had allowed the conversation to turn into a negotiating session, and he knew that he was already losing.

“There’s an armory on the palace grounds.  You can practice there,” Brieed agreed.  “That’ll throw the Guards for a surprise, an apprentice wizard showing them how to handle a weapon.”

“I don’t know that I can show them anything,” Grange replied, thinking about how easily Ariana had handled and toyed with him throughout their practices.  He doubted that he would prove to meet the standards of the professional soldiers.

“I saw you fight against the demons.  You’ll hold your own,” Brieed assured him with a friendly smile.  “So it’s agreed?”

“Can I go back to see my lord Selebe, to apologize?” Grange asked desperately, knowing that he was only going to be able to ask for one last thing in the bargaining session.  Seeing Selebe was the only thing he could think of to ask for, pointless as it really was.

“If you satisfy me with your practicing and work ethics for the next two weeks, then you’ll certainly be allowed to go see Lord Selebe,” Brieed said reasonably.  “So that’s that?”

“That’s a deal,” Grange agreed reluctantly.  “Shall I go to my apartment to get my things?” he asked.

“Tomorrow is soon enough,” Brieed answered.  “You go to your new room and rest your injuries,” he counseled.  He pointed a finger up at a small hole in the transom over the doorway, and screwed his face in momentary concentration, then fired a momentary flash of light that jumped from his fingertip to the hole, and disappeared.  As soon as it left his view, Grange heard a steady ringing of a bell that lasted for several seconds.

“What was that?” Grange asked.  A moment later there was a knock on the door.