The Wand & the Sea (6 page)

Everett knew that a coracle was meant to drift along a quiet stream or pond, helped along by a paddle, carrying
one
passenger and perhaps a fishing pole. The way Holly's cat friend was doing things they might've been in a speedboat. Everett's fingers ached from gripping the pine seat as the craft churned through the white water, threatening at every moment to hurl them all into the rushing stream, which had swollen into a narrow river.

He wasn't used to cats who spoke, whatever strange things he'd seen in this kingdom (and he had seen plenty). The last time they were in Anglielle, he and Ben had spent most of their time in the king's castle with a group of unfriendly knights. Everett had met one little fairy, a fire Elemental, but she hadn't been very nice in the end either. Holly, on the other hand, had met centaurs and talking cats and strange ladies who fashioned magic wands out of thin air, and what's more, everyone had considered Holly a hero—the last of the Adepts, which were a race of sorcerers. But Everett had been taken for a criminal. His own hold on magic had been all too brief, thanks to the fire Elemental.

He'd spent the last thirteen months getting past all that. He tried to come up with ways to help these Exiles that Holly talked about, the ones the king was so keen on hunting. Everett had once thought that perhaps they
ought
to be hunted, because the prince Avery had said so, and he seemed like such a regular bloke. But he had betrayed them, standing by as one of his knights tried to skewer the three of them. So while Everett told himself he wanted to be on the right side this time, he also thought that putting Avery in his place would be a pretty sweet side benefit.

The river narrowed again to a stream, and the coracle slowed. The trees grew closer here, nearly touching over the surface of the water. They were deep in the wilds of the wood now. Everett could see no discernible paths, only the tiny trails worn by chipmunks and badgers. But this was where the coracle stopped moving altogether, and at a few words from Jade, Holly let the boat drift to shore and lashed it to a tree.

It was noticeably darker outside than when they'd set out. Everett's watch was no use, for it still read ten in the morning. His stomach lurched as he stumbled onto the bank. “ 'Scuse me,” Ben said, and shoved by him. He was promptly sick at the foot of a birch tree.

Everett's head ached, but at least his stomach was returning to normal. He pulled the backpacks out of the boat and handed them around, then followed Holly, who followed the black cat, up the bank and through a stand of birch and oak. Yellow leaves drifted all around them.

“We're close, aren't we, Jade?” Holly sounded excited. Everett couldn't imagine anything much existing this deep in the forest, but in another few minutes they had rounded a bend and gone over another hill to find themselves in a quite civilized clearing. At the edge of it, two enormous trees grew very close together, or perhaps they were one tree with two trunks; and in between them was a low, arched wooden door that looked as if it had sprouted out of the ground.

“Almaric!” Holly cried. She ran ahead and around the giant tree to a small side window. “Almaric, it's me, Holly!”

The door opened, and Ben nudged up next to Everett. Neither of them had met the old magician before, and they weren't quite sure what to expect.

An old, plump woman was certainly not it.

She looked more like a fat brown mushroom than a person, almost as wide as she was tall, which wasn't very. Her blobby nose stretched across plump cheeks, and her bulbous gray eyes were set wide apart on a chinless face. She wore a formless, gray-green robe, the color of which matched her hair, hanging in a lanky, slimy mass around her shoulders. The smell wafting from her was like bad fish or rotten eggs. Or both.

“Almaric!” Holly called again.

“I wouldn't put much store by doin' that, dearie,” said the old woman in a burbly croak. She waddled into the glade and craned her nearly invisible neck toward the window.

Holly turned to her. “I . . . Where's Almaric? Who are you?”

The woman poked one of her stubby fingers into her ear. Having extracted a small slug, she held out her hand. “Nerys. Sea hag. Howdy do?”

When Holly didn't respond, Everett nudged Ben and stepped forward. “Hallo,” he said, trying to sound cheerful. “I'm Everett and this is Ben. That's—”

“The
Lady
Holly,” Jade cut in, glaring at Everett. “The Adept.”

“Ooo-hoo! That's right, he said you'd be comin' soon! Nerys. Sea hag,” she repeated, and showed off a very few jagged teeth.

“Yes, sorry, nice to, uh . . . meet you.” Holly looked as if she was trying not to breathe too close to the sea hag. “But where's Almaric? Doesn't he live here?”

“No, not so much, as I'd say.”

“What? Why not?”

“Why, 'cause he's dead, that's wot.”

The color drained from Holly's muddy face. She glanced at Jade, whose eyes grew round, and the two of them dashed into the cottage.

The old woman ignored them and grinned at Everett. “You lads fancy a glass o' kelp wine?”

Holly and Jade glanced wildly around the cottage's front room. The stone fireplace was cold, and the kettle hanging there hadn't been filled in an age. Even the chintz-covered furniture was dusty.

“The bedroom,” Holly said, and dashed to the back of the cottage.

There, on a bed shaped like a crescent moon to fit the round walls, lay the magician, his white hair and beard as bushy as Holly remembered. His bare feet poked out of the linen robe edged with embroidered leaves. The blue eyes were closed, the wrinkled hands folded on his chest.

“Oh, Jade . . .” Holly's eyes brimmed with tears as she approached the bed. “How did this happen? Was it that woman?” A hollow coldness filled her chest. Ranulf was gone, Almaric was . . . she could hardly even think the word. . . .

“Stand aside, Lady Holly.” Jade leaped onto the bed. He touched his nose to Almaric's, then sniffed around his eyes and cheeks.

“Jade, please don't.” It seemed disrespectful, and too much like something an ordinary cat would do. But Jade only spared her a disdainful look and placed a paw firmly over the magician's nose.

“What're you—” Holly started to say, but the old man suddenly flailed about, coughing and spluttering, and his eyes flew open.

“What in blazes!” he exclaimed, leaping to a half-sitting position.

Holly gaped at him. “Almaric? Are you . . . all right?”

“Lady Holly!” The magician sprang off the bed like a young man and put a hand to his hair, smoothing it down. “How wonderful to see you! Jade, did you—”

Whatever he'd been about to say was muffled in Holly's impromptu hug. She knew she would embarrass him—in fact, he blushed and scrambled about for his walking stick, which he located next to the bed. “Yes, well . . . good work, Jade, finding Her Ladyship. Awfully fine of you.”

“Ranulf's predictions were quite accurate,” Jade said coolly. He leaped onto the nearby dressing table and preened his whiskers.

“But wait,” Holly said, still confused. “Were you . . . You
weren't
, were you?”

“Dead, you mean? I do apologize,” Almaric said cheerily. “A small ruse. It's a magician's talent. I simply couldn't abide that woman any longer. The, ah . . . well, her personal . . .”

“Smell?” Holly provided.

“To put it bluntly.” He beamed at her, his blue eyes nearly disappearing into his cheeks. “But never mind! Now that you have returned to us, things can be put to rights.”

“The two lads have arrived with Her Ladyship, Almaric,” said Jade. “One is her kinsman; the other”—he paused to swipe a paw across his face—“is the traitor.”

“Oh no,” Holly said, shaking her head. “Everett was a prisoner, like Ben.”

“He worked with stolen magicks,” Jade said.

“Now, Jade,” Almaric broke in. “That is all in the past.”

“He did steal that key—the wand—from Mr. Gallaway. But he doesn't even have it anymore. Prince Avery took it.” Holly paused. However Everett had acted before, they were all a year older, weren't they? And everyone makes mistakes sometimes. “I think he's all right now.”

Jade sniffed and twitched his tail.

“They're waiting outside. We really ought to get them out of the cold.”

“My very thought,” Almaric said. “And if I may say so, with all due respect, Your Ladyship . . .” He hesitated.

“You could all do with a wash,” Jade finished.

What Holly really wanted to know was what had happened to Ranulf, and how long had she been away, and who was the sea hag, and a hundred other things. But Almaric would hear none of it until the three of them had taken turns in the bath, which was heated with a spell he was quite proud of. Their clothes were clean by the time they were finished. Even then Almaric refused to say another word until the kettle was on and a large potful of stew was simmering over the fire. The sun was going down as they settled into the soft chintz chairs opposite Almaric's low table and sipped the wild-scented tea he gave them.

“Now,” Holly said at once. “What's happened to Ranulf?”

“Raethius of the Source appeared to the Mounted not three months gone,” Almaric said. “He demanded their knowledge of the stars to predict your return. When they resisted, he captured Ranulf. He has been held in the king's dungeons ever since.”

“And this Raethius guy controls the king, right?” Ben asked.

“He controls all of Anglielle,” said Jade, “but he takes little interest in the mortal kingdom and is rarely at the castle. The subjugation of magic is his passion. When last you were in Anglielle, Raethius was on one of his journeys. He did not learn of your visit until long after you had gone. But when he did hear of it, his rage was so great that it destroyed one of the castle towers. So say the falcons.”

“I don't understand,” said Holly. “What does Raethius care about me?”

Jade held her gaze with his own steady green eyes. “You are the last Adept. He knows that much. You are a threat to the king's power, and a threat to the king is a threat to his puppeteer.”

The group fell silent. Even with Áedán on her shoulder, Holly felt a cold finger of dread dance down her spine.

“I . . . I can't worry about him,” she said. “We have to focus on Ranulf. How can we get him out of there?”

“It's suicide to storm the castle by force,” Almaric said. “But if we could bewitch the guards somehow, we may have a chance.”

“Maybe there's a spell I can learn,” Holly said. “Some kind of sleeping spell, or—”

“I know the very one!” crowed the sea hag. Everyone startled; Holly had almost forgotten she was there, for she had been sulking in a corner ever since the word
bath
had been mentioned. “It takes but one word, and the knights'll drown on dry land. Their lungs fill with seawater, they gurgle and gasp, then drop right in front o' yer eyes!”

“That sounds pretty good,” Ben said.

“No, it doesn't,” said Holly. “It sounds pretty awful. This isn't one of your video games, Ben. Those knights are real people—and remember, Loverian saved our lives. Do you really want me to drown them?”

“Most of them would kill us as soon as look at us,” Everett put in.

“So we're supposed to be as bad as they are?”

“ 'Tis a war, dearie, not a tea party,” said Nerys.

“There's got to be another way. Almaric?”

Holly knew he had limited knowledge of Adept magic, but some was better than nothing. With the Adepts themselves gone, Holly had to learn on her own.

Almaric eyed Jade, fidgeting. “Yes, Lady Holly. I may know of an alternative.”

“Absolutely not, Almaric,” said Jade, baring his teeth. “We agreed. We dare not invoke such a creature.”

“We didn't
quite
agree, Jade. She could solve both our problems, killing two birds with one powerful stone. She could help us rescue Ranulf first of all, and then—”

“Hang on,
who
could help us?” Everett asked.

“We be callin' up the sea witch!” Nerys said, clapping her pudgy hands. “This very night, the night of Samhain, when the veil 'twixt the worlds is thinnest, we'll call her and she'll have ter come, innit?”

“What's the night of sow-en?” asked Ben.

“Samhain. It's like the Celtic Halloween,” said Everett.

Almaric had risen from his chair and started serving the stew. Jade followed him. “You know this is folly,” he said.

“Ranulf and I discussed it months ago,” said the magician.