“How many Anath’Meridum are there?” I asked.
“None now, I would assume. There was only one for each wizard, and the Illenial family was the last of the recorded lines. You have to understand, I don’t know much about the traditions, only what Elena told us,” she seemed apologetic.
“So my name is Mordecai Ardeth’Illenial, or should I call myself di’Cameron?”
James spoke up, “Properly your name is Mordecai Illenial, although you could choose to carry your matrilineal name as well, Mordecai di’Cameron Illenial in that case. Ardeth is a term added for a wizard that has been bound.”
I had no idea if I would or could be bound as Tyndal had. It sounded extremely awkward. Of course I had no understanding of the true reasons for it at that time. We continued talking for a while, till the conversation turned to the future. A subject I was understandably nervous about.
James broke the topic, “Mordecai, you realize the Cameron estates are still in my hands don’t you?”
As a matter of fact I didn’t. I was so ignorant of the workings of the upper class I wasn’t even sure what he meant. “No sir,” I said uncertainly.
“After the fire, the murders, none of the Camerons were left, other than some distant third cousins. I might have passed the estate to one of them, but your mother’s note made me aware of your survival, so I have held them in trust,” he paused, “for you.”
He had to explain a bit more to me then, but it seemed that the lands of the Cameron family were held by the Lancasters, and through them by the King. In other words, the Count of Cameron had been his vassal and the Duke of Lancaster had the freedom of deciding to whom he would bestow the title and estate to, if he chose not to keep it for himself. In short, he was offering the lands to me.
“If you intended all along to pass the land to me, why did you wait till now?” I had done nothing but ask questions since I came in.
“Your mother, and I as well, felt you would not be safe,” he said simply.
“Wouldn’t I have had guards and a castle?”
“They were not enough for your parents. Almost everyone in Castle Cameron died that night. I had no way to prevent something similar from occurring again. Even now I worry that you might fall prey to a similar fate, but you cannot remain as you are anymore.” For a moment I wished that I could remain a simple blacksmith’s son, the world he described was too big, too dangerous. Mort Eldridge didn’t belong in a place like that.
“Why not?” I wished aloud.
James responded, “Your only protection until now, has been anonymity, and anonymity is no longer enough. You now have an enemy who will someday be one of the most powerful peers of the realm, rivaled only by myself and superseded only by the king. Your only protection now is that of rank and station.”
I had to admit the logic of his words, but something else occurred to me, “You said ‘almost’ everyone in the castle died. Who were the survivors?”
“The only ones that lived were those who were away or didn’t eat the meal that evening. Even those that didn’t partake were slaughtered when the assassins came. A handful of servants hiding in the cellars survived, as well as Father Tonnsdale; who was fasting and locked himself within the chapel,” he answered.
“Who was the poisoner?”
“We never found out. There was nothing left to discover. The fire gutted the castle and the few that survived didn’t work in the kitchens,” he said. The lack of evidence obviously bothered him as much as it did me.
“What about the assassins? Surely something must be known about them, or who sent them…” I asked.
“We believe they were the Children of Mal’goroth, a cult to one of the dark gods. They overran the Kingdom of Gododdin many years before you were born, we thought they had plans to repeat their actions here, but there has been little sign of them in Lothion since that night. The few we found were already dead,” he sighed. “We won’t uncover the secrets of sixteen years ago tonight, and we have other things to accomplish.”
“Such as your grace?” I was curious now.
“You reached your majority last year, I believe…,” he looked at his wife.
“Mordecai is sixteen and will turn seventeen in almost two weeks,” she answered. Genevieve was possessed of an excellent memory regarding birthdays apparently. The age of majority in Lothion was sixteen.
“Very good, Mordecai I will confer your title and land upon you tomorrow evening, followed immediately by your commendation ceremony.” He smiled at me.
“I am overwhelmed your grace.” I said, stunned. Who could have thought he would move so quickly?
“Please, call me James when we are in private. Now, you should go and get some rest. Marcus is planning a boar hunt in the morning and you’ll want all your wits about you for that.” He clapped me upon the back and led me to the door. He leaned out and shouted, “Benchley! Fetch the scribes. We’ll be working late tonight!”
“Thank you your gra… James,” I stumbled. He nodded at me and I found myself walking back to my rooms in a state of profound shock. I was barely aware of my surroundings and nearly walked into Penny as I rounded a corner. She was accompanied by Rose Hightower.
Penny let out a most unladylike yelp when she saw me. At first it seemed she didn’t even want to meet my eyes. I had never known her to be shy before, but she had been through a lot lately, so I figured it might be understandable. “Penny! Thank the gods! I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” I grabbed her hands with a sense of relief. “I need to talk to you.” I gave her my most serious look.
A slight cough caught my attention and I realized my mistake, “Forgive me Lady Rose, I forgot myself. I hope you are well this evening.”
“No need to apologize, I cannot blame a gentleman so taken with the sight of his lady-fair.” She gave me a knowing smile and I started to protest but she continued, “What is this?” She was looking at my surcoat. Penny took notice as well.
“Mort?” she made my name a question.
“It’s complicated, and one more reason I need to talk to you, but not the most important one,” I was having trouble getting her attention. She looked to Rose.
“Unless I am mistaken those are the arms of the family Cameron, long thought defunct. It would seem that Master Eldridge has a surprise in store for us. You just left the Duke did you not?” Fantastic, Lady Rose was an expert in heraldry as well. She would have made a fine detective.
“Lady please, I beg of you, keep this to yourself for now.” Surely she could see my desperation; I think she enjoyed tormenting men.
“Until the day of revelation I suppose?” She pursed her lips in a mock pout. The woman was entirely too perceptive.
“Indeed,” I replied. “If you will allow me a moment alone, I truly need to talk to Penny.” I tugged at Penelope’s hands and Lady Rose nodded her approval. We walked a short way down the hall. “Penny I’ve been trying to find you for two days, it’s about the other night…”
She flinched when I said that, “Whatever you heard is probably true Mort. I’d rather not be reminded.”
“No that’s not what I meant,” I was puzzled. “Did you get my note?”
“The one where you told me that you are a nobleman in hiding, biding his time to reclaim his ancestral home or the one where you told me that you’re a wizard with the powers of light and darkness at his command?” She had gone from curious to upset rather quickly.
“I tried to explain that to you the other day but you ran off before I could finish!” My own frustration was bubbling up.
“And how long have you known about your illustrious heritage?” she countered.
“I just found out this afternoon when I went to see my parents, that’s where I got this tabard.” I held the fabric out as if it would support my tale.
“And yet within just hours of finding out you manage to challenge one of the most powerful men in the realm to a chess match and clean him out.” She said in a tone that implied she was not as mad as I thought.