We ignored his objections and chased them both around the room, kissing and tickling them mercilessly once they were caught. Despite his insistence, Matthew was laughing and smiling the entire time. Not to be left out, Conall leapt to his brother’s defense, or rather he leapt onto my back. It really did nothing to help his older brother’s plight.
Squealing and laughing the five of us wrestled on the floor for several minutes before Irene started crying from her crib, either because the noise had frightened her, or perhaps because she was too small to join in the fun.
An hour later I bid them farewell at the front door of the house. Lord Hightower had been kind enough to send a carriage large enough to hold not only his daughter and son-in-law, with their two children, but my wife and children as well. I watched them board and Dorian looked back at me before stepping in behind them.
“Don’t take too long, I can use all the support I can get facing old Lord Hightower,” he told me with a smile.
“Don’t worry, I’ll hurry,” I replied. “Take care of them till I can catch up,” I added.
His eyes grew serious for a moment, “That will always go without saying.”
I watched until they had driven completely out of sight, before turning back to the door of the house. It gaped open, staring at me blackly, and I felt a feeling of dread wash over me. The feeling was helped not at all by the dissonant sound of death, which had been omnipresent since we had arrived in Albamarl. At home in Castle Cameron it tended to vary, growing louder more frequently at night, but here it had remained strongly present the entire time. While I was beginning to get used to it, much like the voice of the earth, I still had no clue why it sometimes seemed louder and closer than at other times.
It couldn’t possibly be anything good, I thought as I stepped through the doorway.
Chapter 40
We had only brought a couple of servants with us, and my first task after Penny and the others were gone, was to give them the day off, with instructions to return that evening.
With that done, I went to the bedroom and changed into what I called my ‘traveling’ garb. I had been wearing more formal clothes, the sort I’d be expected to have on if I were on my way to an audience with the king. My traveling clothes, by contrast were simple and functional, pretty much the same sort of thing I wore when busy in my workshop; trousers, boots, and a heavy wool overtunic. The main difference was the inclusion of my staff, my belt of pouches and a cloak. I didn’t bother with the cloak since I was indoors.
The important distinction was the fact that I was ready for trouble.
Standing at the head of the stairs leading down into the bedrock beneath the house, I was filled with trepidation. My fear had become so strong it seemed almost a physical thing, palpable and unrelenting. To distract myself, I mentally reviewed my preparations.
I had called the dragon early that morning, commanding him to remain hidden somewhere within a few minutes flight of the capital. The figurine had provided no mental feedback though, so I couldn’t be sure he had heard my instructions. Calling on Gareth Gaelyn for backup had seemed like overkill, but my fear made me excessively cautious.
I had my staff and pouches, which provided easy access to a wide variety of magical aids, devices, and weapons; everything from my iron bombs to the new flying device I had created. With those things and my own experience and abilities, I could confidently handle anything up to and including one of the shining gods. What could I possibly have to fear?
The house was empty, so come what may, I shouldn’t be endangering any innocent lives, unless whatever was down there was so terrible that it drove me into the streets. What will she think when she finds that two thousand years have passed? The thought passed through my mind almost unnoticed. Mentally I grabbed at it and once again found myself empty handed. She… could it be the woman from my dream?
“If that’s the case my greatest danger might be Penny,” I muttered to myself with a half-smile. Gathering my courage, I descended the stairs until they reached the level space at the bottom, and there I faced the stone door.
The air was taut with tension, and the dissonance I had come to associate with death grew to the point that I found it difficult to concentrate. Interestingly it seemed to be strongest behind me, rather than before me, where the door lay. It was as if the grim reaper himself was looking over my shoulder.
“I’ve probably defied Lady Luck and pissed off Mother Nature so many times, that they’ve sent their boyfriend Death to collect me,” I said aloud, though there was no one to laugh at my joke.
Ignoring the distractions, I focused my magesight on the door, seeking any hint of patterns or runes. The last time I had examined it I had had no knowledge of concealing enchantments, so I now had a better idea why I had sensed nothing beyond the door. As before, I sensed nothing, nothing but stone and more stone. It went on for at least forty feet in every direction, featureless and unchanging, before I noticed a difference. At some point beyond forty feet the stone became less homogenous, more varied and flawed, with frequent cracks and occasional changes in its composition.
The conclusion was obvious. The area behind the door was entirely cloaked in an enchantment, making it appear to be solid stone, when in fact it probably contained a room. Why put a door here then? That’s a dead giveaway that something lies beyond, I thought to myself, unless the purpose was merely to conceal the room from some powerful outside observer. I shook my head, I really had no way to know at this point, and further speculation was pointless.
“Open!” I said loudly, wondering if it might be something so simple. Nothing happened.
Focusing my perception closely on the door immediately in front of me, I tried to find the runes that created the concealing enchantment. Generally such inscriptions would be small, and by their very nature hard to perceive unless you were looking for them. If anyone could find them though, it would be me. My family invented enchanting, after all.
I found nothing.
I was beginning to consider trying force, but a random thought stopped me. Why had no other Illeniel wizard opened the door? I couldn’t be the first to wonder at what lay behind it. Unless they already knew, I thought. It might have been the sort of thing taught to each generation, something I might have known if I had received the same instruction every other wizard in my family had been given. My gut told me it was more than that, however. They couldn’t open the door.
“But you can,” said the voice of the earth, startling me. The words were a product of my own mind, but the meaning had come across clearly. While I heard the voice of the earth constantly, it was rare for it to direct anything resembling meaningful communication to me, unless I spoke to it first.
This door required an archmage to open. The conclusion was obvious, and I was surprised it had taken me so long to realize. Otherwise they would have taken her. Again I caught myself thinking strange thoughts, and I wished I could force the back of my mind to give me the knowledge I needed, but as soon as I focused upon it, my fear drove the secrets into darkness.
Ignoring my doubts and confusion, I opened my mind and began to listen, allowing myself to fall into a deeper rapport with the earth. What I discovered amazed me, for the stone behind and around the door seemed to have a separate identity. While it was still technically a part of the earth, it held a portion of itself apart, as if it had been given an ego or a ‘self’. Not only was it separate, but it was deceiving me, projecting an image of itself as solid and whole, obscuring the truth behind an illusion.