The huntsman nodded in agreement but I stopped them there, “No one else can read it. It’s in here,” I said tapping my skull.
Chad frowned, “If it’s in your head already… I don’t see the problem.”
“It’s there. I just can’t look at it. My mind’s eye refuses to gaze upon it. I just get glimpses from the corner of my eye whenever I least expect them,” I explained.
“Told you… wizard problems,” repeated Cyhan.
“And that attitude is why he never asks you for advice on ‘em!” said the huntsman, pointing a finger at the Knight of Stone.
“Just the way I like it,” said the warrior.
“Weren’t you the one advising him to talk to people instead of keepin’ it all to himself?” rebuked Chad.
Cyhan belched before replying, “I just said it was his problem… I wasn’t offering to fix it.”
The hunter burst into laughter and I was considering retiring for the evening when he fixed me with a serious stare. “You should think of this thing like it was your quarry,” he told me.
“And what’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.
“You know why deer stand still when they hear somethin’?” he said cryptically.
My brow furrowed, “I don’t think that really relates…”
“To keep from bein’ seen!” Chad said loudly, ignoring my comment. “The eyes are tricky and they get bored quick. Most hunters rely on movement to spot their quarry. When you hunt from a stand, you’re waiting on your prey to move… that’s when you see them. If you’re slip hunting, you hope to get close enough to flush them out, either way its movement you’re wanting.”
I decided to play his game, “Well this quarry won’t be moving on its own, and I don’t see how I’m supposed to ‘flush it out’.”
“You already know something, or you wouldn’t be trying to learn more,” replied the slender outdoorsman. “That’s what you use. You follow the signs and markings. Once I learn where the deer are feeding, where they travel in the morning, I make sure I’m close by to catch ‘em.”
The ‘when’ of it all was deep in the past, but his words made me think of the door beneath my house in Albamarl. I already knew it was related to my hidden knowledge, but I had never spent much time investigating it. In fact I hadn’t gone near the door in many years, possibly because of my subconscious dread. If it wasn’t possible to force my reluctant mind’s eye to look directly at the source of my anxiety, discovering what lay behind that door might force some of the knowledge out into the open.
“There’s probably a place like that…,” I ventured.
Chad looked at me intently, “But you haven’t been there, have you?”
“Briefly, before I knew anything about it. After that I was always too busy. Over the last few years I’ve learned some things that made me uneasy about it, but…,” I trailed off, leaving the sentence unfinished.
“But… you were too damned afraid to look it right in the face,” he finished for me. Then he leaned over and patted Cyhan on the face to wake him up, “Hey! Wizard problems my ass… he just didn’t want to face the truth. Pretty much like most everybody else in this place.” Chad pointed unsteadily at the other patrons in the room. “Are you listening?” he added, once he realized that Cyhan had closed his eyes again.
I stood up to leave. “I’ll take your advice if you make sure he manages to get home,” I told the huntsman.
Chad nodded. “Big bastard can’t hold his drink. That’s what all that clean livin’ gets him,” he noted disapprovingly.
Clapping him on the shoulder companionably I made my way to the door, but as I left I heard the woodsman mutter again under his breath, “The big bastard ain’t got no home neither… a bed, aye, he’s got that, and steady work. Wizards ain’t the only ones afraid to face their problems.”
I mulled that over as I left, and decided that perhaps his perceptiveness extended to more than just keen eyes and ears. When I found my bed later that night, I could hardly sleep for the disconcerting sound of death’s voice in my mind. Lately it had gotten increasingly loud, particularly during the quiet hours.
I was unable to test my newfound resolve for several weeks, for a seemingly endless array of duties appeared, preventing me from slipping away to the house in Albamarl. When a lull in my schedule did appear, Penny and Rose decided to take advantage of it with a trip to the capital, which suited me just fine.
The only fly in the ointment was the fact that I was hoping for an extended period of time alone. I could have had that easily enough, by confiding in my wife, but my reason for wanting it would have raised some alarms with her. In particular I wanted the house empty, just in case whatever I discovered turned out to be a more immediate and direct threat than a dusty memory or long forgotten misdeeds.
As chance would have it, the perfect opportunity presented itself on our second day there. Rose and Dorian were to visit her family, the Hightowers, that day and they had invited us along. It was a family occasion and naturally the children were invited as well. Lord Hightower wanted to see his newest granddaughter and he was probably also curious to meet our children too, since he had never seen them. It might have been a perfect day, but for my obligations.
“I can’t make it,” I repeated again. Penny often had hearing problems when she heard things that didn’t fit neatly within her plans.
“Why not?”
I held up my hands regretfully, “I promised our King that I’d check on the portals at the World Road today; some of them have developed an odd shimmer and a humming noise. He worries that something might have gone wrong with them.”
She waved her hands dismissively, “Tell James you’ll look into it tomorrow. He’ll understand.”
I frowned, “He would, but I worry that something might be damaged. There’s no telling what might happen if one of the portals discharged itself in an uncontrolled manner.” Of course that was a complete fabrication, not only were the portals still functioning perfectly, but I had designed the enchantment to safely channel the energies they contained back into storage, should one of them be damaged unexpectedly.
It was a lie that I knew would be discovered eventually, had I not already planned to reveal the truth that evening. I merely wanted to make sure the house was empty during my planned exploration. “If things are in order I should be able to join you at the Hightower’s home in the afternoon,” I said placatingly, before adding, “I have a surprise for you later, something I should have given you almost a year ago.”
She gave me a shrewd look, sensing something fishy in my manner and tone, but if she thought I was being deceptive, she withheld the accusation. Her intuition was still uncanny, but since she had taken the earth-bond over a year ago, she was no longer able to spot white lies as easily as she once had.
“I don’t care about presents… you promise you’ll join us as soon as you’re free?” she said at last.
“Of course,” I said, pulling her in close for a quick embrace. As always, the smell of her hair brought me a feeling of peace and security. It was the smell of home, for where she was… that was where I belonged. She allowed me a short kiss before pushing me away brusquely at the sound of Moira’s laughter.
Our daughter was giggling as she looked up at us, while her brother could hardly conceal his distaste. “Ewww,” he declared.
“I think they’re jealous,” I said, glancing at Penny mischievously.
The twins had heard that line before, and they reacted in entirely different ways. Moira smiled, nodding her head in agreement, while Matthew shook his head in denial. “No… no, we’re not jealous at all!” he protested.