The old man’s mood darkened; Hannah was sorry she had asked the question. ‘No. That trip, we were heading for Larion Isle, where we went to work new spells and to document those that were successful. And to protect the rest of Eldarn from those that… well, weren’t successful. No sense holding back now, eh? That trip was the beginning of the end. I know I said that there had been something dark about Nerak, but that was when we should have realised that the Larion Senate was doomed as long as Nerak had access to Lessek’s key.’
‘I thought the fight was over Pikan,’ Hannah said.
‘It was. The initial confrontation was two lovesick fools fighting over a woman. Can you believe it? And he could have killed me. I know he wanted to, but his love for her stopped him, I’m sure of it. Nerak knew she would have been crushed if he had killed me, so I came out of it with a nasty ankle injury and a sorely bruised sense of my own abilities as a sorcerer. It ruined the trip to Larion Isle. I’d always enjoyed those journeys, because Pikan and Nerak led the magicians and I went just as a researcher – and because it was a great boat trip.’ He finished the wine and started in on the water. ‘This tastes dreadful. Do you want some tecan?’
‘I’d love some, sure. Do we have enough money? I know it’s a bad time to ask now that we’ve eaten the most expensive meal in the place, but how are we holding up?’
‘I haven’t been out in nearly a thousand Twinmoons, Hannah.’ He gestured for the barman. ‘We have plenty.’
‘Good. Then, yes, please. It will help clear my head.’
‘So where was I? Oh, yes, the fight: I hurt my ankle and lied to everyone that I did it getting off the ship. He wasn’t telling anyone the truth, so I let it go as well, but he began to pick at me. First, he insisted on climbing the highest mountains on the island just to run the tests. Pikan always went along, because someone had to keep the records. That would have been my role, but I couldn’t get there. Then there were the walking sticks I cut. I must have cut myself five or six, and most of them were burned when it was his turn to set the campfire. He knew they were my crutches, but he cut them up and tossed them in the flames just to be irritating. Some mornings I would wake to find my sticks on the other side of my room, or out in the common room.’
‘That sounds awfully childish, Alen, especially for someone who took himself so seriously.’
‘Love makes fools of us all, Hannah. If you haven’t discovered that, yet, be patient; you will.’
Hannah thought back to her drive up the canyon from Denver to Idaho Springs to look for Steven. Part of her had gone to confront him; if he wanted their relationship to end, he needed to say so. She supposed a part of her had gone because she was genuinely worried something might have happened to him or to Mark, but Hannah knew in her heart that she had driven up the canyon, broken into the house and fallen victim to the ugly rug because she had been falling in love with Steven Taylor. And she had not wanted to be the only one – if her heart was going to break, Hannah wanted it to be on her terms, not at 4.30 a.m. along some freezing cold trail beneath Decatur Peak. ‘Perhaps I have already,’ she murmured.
She turned the conversation back to Larion Isle. ‘Was the trip a bust because you two were fighting, or did you get what you needed while you were out there?’
Alen’s brow furrowed. ‘I have been asking myself that question on and off for the past thousand Twinmoons, and I have to say honestly that I don’t know. We wrote the Windscrolls on that trip. Pikan called them that because it had been so rutting windy the entire time we were out there. How anything ever grew on that island was a mystery to me. Anyway, the Windscrolls: there were at least three, spells for protection, deception, destruction, culling minerals from the land, cleansing contaminated water, numbing the body during medical procedures – even killing viral and bacterial infections in people and livestock. The big spells were the first few on the First Windscrolclass="underline" common-phrase spells for deception, destruction, mining, farming, mass production of goods from raw materials, grand spells we hoped would have a sweeping impact on Eldarn.’
‘Destruction? Deception? And you wanted these to have a worldwide impact?’ Hannah was incredulous. Alen could read it in her face.
‘Clear cutting land for lumber or blasting through bedrock to get at rich veins of ore, that sort of destruction. I suppose you might say they were spells that helped us control the devastation inherent in powerful magic.’
‘And deception?’
‘Similar in a sense to destruction; magic has an enormous capacity to change the way we perceive things. Think about the dog in your parents’ home. You’re convinced that dog was real, but you know the dog was not there. You were deceived by magic. We wrote spells to control that deceptive ability; it helped us continue to work spells in the table without waking the next day believing we were all dancers or professional bellamir players.’ That was the best explanation he could give for the moment.
The tecan arrived and they paused to pour out and sip from the steaming mugs. Hannah inhaled deeply, then asked, ‘So what happened then?’
‘You know the rest. We brought the Windscrolls back to Sandcliff and left for England. There was a common-phrase spell for cleansing contaminated water that Pikan was particularly interested in, so she and I made the research trip to Durham, to study how they handled waste and waste-water. She carried Reia to term, and I did all the work. When we returned, everything was crumbling in Gorsk, and we swore we would get back to England, even if it meant confronting Nerak and perhaps losing one of us in the process.’
‘But you never had the chance?’
‘I had to go to Middle Fork. It was a short assignment. I ended up staying there for most of my life.’ He stared across the table at her, still suffering the anguish of a decision made almost a century and a half earlier.
‘Would you like some more?’ Hannah said, offering the tecan jug, hoping to stop the old man breaking apart. She changed the subject. ‘Do you suppose my friends are alive?’
‘Steven and-’
‘Mark. Mark Jenkins and Steven Taylor. I’m certain they came across the Fold together sometime during the day before I landed in Southport.’
Alen shook his head. ‘I cannot begin to say, Hannah. I’m sorry.’
Her efforts to distract him were failing. He was lost in England, reliving the worst decision of his life, without the help of any enchanted bark or the forest of ghosts.
She tried again. ‘Have you given any more thought to why Nerak might want so much of that bark?’ She tried to be as upbeat as she could.
‘You don’t need to do this, Hannah.’ Alen cut her short. ‘I have lived with this for a long time, long before you were born, and I will live with it for the time I have left. Ignoring or forgetting it would mitigate everything that my life has become. I want those memories clear when this all spins itself out.’
Hannah nodded.
‘When we get near Welstar Palace, I will try to contact Fantus. I hope it was he who opened the doors at Sandcliff.’
‘Yes, I remember,’ she said. ‘If it was him, we live. If it was Nerak, we die.’
‘You don’t cloud the air with a lot of unnecessary details; that’s an admirable trait. And yes, if Fantus is at Sandcliff, and if we are exceedingly lucky, he may know something of your friends.’
‘I appreciate you asking him, but why contact him in the first place?’ Hannah asked.
‘He has been out and about these past Twinmoons; I felt him working spells, before I lost much of my ability to feel anything at all. Perhaps he knows something of Welstar Palace.’ Alen rose to pay their bill. ‘Good night, Hannah.’
‘Good night,’ she said, worrying that he might succumb to his grief, his alcohol poisoning or his guilt and die before dawn. The wooden stairs were silent as he passed.