The Last Enchanter (30 page)

Arla stroked Lael's cheek. “I went willingly. I thought I'd pay the debt and return to you in a year or two. But when I did return, I learned that your father had told the village elders I had abandoned you, and they believed him. They wouldn't even let me see you.”

Marcus saw the pain in Arla's face and knew she told the truth. He imagined Lael must hate her father for everything he had done, and he couldn't blame her. But something else nagged at him at this moment. Though he hated to interrupt, Marcus could no longer keep back the question burning in his mind.

“Arla,” he said, “did you know my mother well?”

Arla nodded. “During Ivanore's short time in Quendel, several years before I left, we became friends. She often confided in me about her visions and her desire to find her husband, but she went missing shortly after that. Years later, Brommel and I both became Guardians in the hopes that we could help locate her. But when the Guilde came under attack, the few Guardians who survived went into hiding.”

Arla held up the jade pendant she wore around her neck. It was the same one she had shown Lael and Marcus when they first met in Dokur's marketplace, the one with the gryphon carved into it.

“We have all waited a long time for the new Seer to come of age,” she said. “And now it's time for the Guilde to unite once again.”

“All right, now you know,” said Brommel. Despite his brusque tone, Marcus sensed he was moved by what Arla had said. “We have pressing matters to attend to, namely finding Ivanore and destroying the Vatéz once and for all.”

“I'm ready to go,” said Arla, kissing her daughter's cheek.

“Not this time, Arla,” said Brommel. “It will take weeks for Lael to fully recuperate, and she'll be needing assistance. No, for this journey you'll be staying here.”

“Then who will go with you?”

Marcus looked at Lael. The happiness in her face at having been reunited with her mother made his heart swell. Things were as they should be. Kelvin would rule Dokur with a just hand. The Agorans would soon inhabit the lands they had been forced to abandon long ago. Clovis was safely home in Quendel preparing for winter. But for him? There was nothing for him here. No reason to stay.

“I'll go,” he said.

Marcus stood and squared his shoulders. Touching the shape of Ivanore's second seal still in his pocket, he felt he could do anything. He knew that somehow he had been chosen as its protector—and that only he could save his mother.

Eighty-one

M
ay I come in?”

Marcus peered through the already open door to Kelvin's council chambers. Kelvin sat at his desk, reading through a stack of papers. He greeted his brother with a smile and invited him in.

“You look busy,” said Marcus, sitting in a chair opposite the desk.

“Not at all. Just some reports on the ships' progress. Seems everything will be ready by spring. Unfortunately, that provides our enemy time to prepare for war, too. But no matter. Tell me, how is Lael?”

“Recovering. Thank you for providing for her care.”

“It's the least I can do. Father tells me you are going to Hestoria to search for our mother,” Kelvin added, pointing to the knapsack slung on Marcus's shoulder. “I wish I could go with you.”

“You have other responsibilities,” said Marcus. “And you've given us everything we need to make our journey a successful one.”

“Not everything,” said Kelvin, rising from his chair. He came around the desk, removing Ivanore's seal from his neck. He held it out to Marcus. “Please, take this.”

Marcus looked at the medallion in Kelvin's outstretched palm. “No, Kelvin. It belongs to you.”

“Somehow it never felt right that I keep it,” replied Kelvin. “I know now that it was meant for you.”

Marcus reached into his pocket and removed the second medallion. “I found it in Voltana with her letter.”

“So there
are
two of them,” said Kelvin.

Marcus looked at both medallions. As he had thought, they were identical in every way. He moved his closer to his brother's to compare them. As he did, they both began to glow.

Marcus drew it back, and the discs returned to normal. The two boys looked at each other, searching for some explanation. Marcus again moved his medallion near to Kelvin's, and again the discs glowed, the light becoming brighter the closer they got.

Marcus turned his over in his palm. “Look at that,” he said, pointing to the center of his disc where the shape of a triangle had appeared. Kelvin turned his over and found
a triangle there, as well.

“I never noticed that before,” said Kelvin.

“The light makes the shapes visible,” answered Marcus. “It's as if they sense each other's presence.”

“Take it,” Kelvin insisted. “Maybe when you find Ivanore, you can return them to her. And you can tell her for me—”

Marcus hesitantly took Kelvin's stone, but the very moment he touched it, a powerful burst of light exploded from both discs, filling the room with such brilliance that everything in it was swallowed up in light.

Marcus shaded his eyes with his arm. He blinked as his eyes adjusted to the brightness. Kelvin was gone. The desk and chairs and the room itself were gone. Marcus alone stood in a perfect whiteness. Sound, too, had vanished, except for the sound of his own breathing. He realized he should be afraid, but what he felt instead was peace.

“Hello, Marcus.”

He turned and saw her standing beside him as if she had always been there. She smiled at him, and her smile warmed him to his very soul.

“Hello, Mother,”
he replied softly.

“I have been calling for you.”

“Yes, I know. I'm sorry I couldn't answer you—until now.”

Ivanore glanced down at the discs of Celestine in Marcus's hands. She looked up again and gazed into his eyes.

“Things are finally as they should be,”
she said.
“I am no longer needed. You are the Seer now, Marcus.”

Ivanore turned as if to go, but Marcus called after her.

“Mother, for all these years, Kelvin and I believed you were dead. Why weren't we told the truth?”

“You found my chest?”
asked Ivanore in reply.
“My letter and the other documents inside?”

“Yes. You wrote that Zyll kept our identities secret to protect us, but protect us from whom? Your father? Chancellor Prost?”

“If you've read those documents, you know of the Vatéz and their hunger for power. If they had found you, they would have used you to blackmail me into giving them the stones.”

“Why are the stones so important?”
asked Marcus.

“They are the tools of the Seer. They focus, even enhance, my gifts.”

“And in the hands of an enchanter?”

“No honorable enchanter would dare use them. But the Vatéz are not honorable. They use their magic for selfish purposes. They have already killed too many innocent people. If they were to possess the stones, they would destroy us all.”

“Zyll told me that you're alive. Others believe the Vatéz are holding you captive somewhere in Hestoria.”

“I came to Hestoria to find Jayson,”
said Ivanore.
“Instead, the Vatéz found me.”

“And you never told my father about me?”

The sorrow that crossed Ivanore's face tore at Marcus's heart, bringing him to tears.

“There are many things I regret, my son, things I cannot explain to you now. Perhaps someday, should we ever find each other.”

“But we will find each other,”
said Marcus.
“I'm coming for you!”

The vision began to fade, Ivanore's figure evaporating like a quickly forgotten dream. Ivanore managed a melancholy smile.
“Yes, my son. Come for me. I am waiting for you where stone meets sea and shadow.”

Just before her image completely vanished from sight, Ivanore reached her hand out toward Marcus, stretching, grasping, her face filled with a horrible longing.

“Marcus,”
she whispered. The last parts of her to disappear were the tears on her cheeks.

“I'll find you, Mother!”
Marcus yelled through his own wrenching cries.
“I swear I'll find you!”

The light contracted, leaving a dark void in its place. But then, as suddenly as everything had disappeared, it returned—the room, the windows, tapestries, desk, and chairs all where they were before, and Kelvin was speaking as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

“Tell her that I want to meet her,” Kelvin was saying, “and that I love her.”

Marcus held a medallion in each hand, the etched triangles still visible in their glow. Feeling a bit confused by the entire experience, he slipped both discs into his knapsack. As soon as he was able, he would wrap them separately in cloth and find some place safe to keep them.

Kelvin was speaking again, asking if he was all right.

“What? Yes, I'm fine,” answered Marcus, standing to leave. “I should be going. Our ship sails at sunrise.”

Kelvin accompanied Marcus to the door and held it
open for him. Marcus reached out his hand, but instead of taking it, Kelvin wrapped his arms around his younger sibling and held him tight. “Be safe, my brother,” he said. Then Kelvin released him and went back to his desk, drying his eyes with his hands.

Marcus stood at the door for a moment. “I love you, too,” he whispered, then turned and walked away.

Eighty-two

T
he ship stood in port, its ropes taut, pulling at the pier like an anxious child. It was fully stocked for their journey across the sea, and the crew busily prepared the sails for departure. Marcus gazed at it, awed by its massive size. It made him feel powerful, as though with this mighty ship he could conquer the enemy single-handedly.

Xerxes shuffled up to him along the wooden pier. He hopped up to Marcus's arm and climbed to his shoulder. His glossy black feathers were damp with sea mist, and he took a brief moment to preen them.

“It's a good day to sail,” said Marcus, breathing deeply.

Xerxes ruffled his feathers. “I suppose it is as good a day as any, though frankly I'd much prefer to stay on land.”

“What difference does it make, Xerxes, when you can just fly over water?”

“What difference does it make?” Xerxes crowed. “Land doesn't
move
when you stand on it! I prefer something solid beneath my talons.”

“You don't have talons, Xerxes. You have feet, bird feet.”

Xerxes made a disgusted sound before flying off toward the ship and alighting on the topmost mast. At the same time, the gryphon soared in and landed on the deck below. She folded her wings and opened her beak in a mighty yawn. Above her, Xerxes rolled his eyes in annoyance.

Marcus laughed at his animal companions and then lifted his pack to his shoulder. Jayson and Rylan each carried a crate of fresh fruit up the gangway and set them on the bow. The crew would store them below deck. As Rylan returned for another, Marcus stopped him.

“Rylan, I have to ask you a question that has been bothering me. Your father said something to Lael about a sacrifice. What did he mean?”

“I promised not to say anything,” Rylan began, “but I think you should be told the truth. Didn't you ever wonder why the Pey Weys let you go?”

“You made arrangements with the administrator?”

“Actually, I bribed the administrator.”

“Bribed him? With what?” Marcus paused as the truth dawned on him. “Lael traded her gold for my freedom?”

“And Bryn's.”

“But she'd been saving that money for years to find her mother. Why would she do that?”

“If you have to ask, then you are a fool. Anyone with eyes can see how she cares for you. Now grab that crate over there and let's get going.”

Rylan carried the crate up the gangplank. Jayson leaned over the rail and called to Marcus. “It's time we set sail, son! Come aboard!”

Marcus gazed at the Fortress looming above them on the hillside. Coming toward him were three figures, one leaning on the other two for support. It was Lael, Kaië, and Arla. When Bryn saw them, he called out and ran to them. Marcus followed close behind.

“Lael! Oh, Lael!” Bryn cried, throwing his arms around her waist. “That nasty doctor wouldn't let me see you. He said children weren't allowed!”

“Well, I'm doing a little better now, Bryn, and I'll be getting stronger each day.”

“I'm so glad! Marcus, do you think maybe Lael might need someone to look after her while you're gone? Someone to make sure she gets enough rest and such?”

“She does have her mother,” said Marcus.