Sword of the MacLachlan - 7. Death of a Mage

The companions assembled in the courtyard where a would-be master assassin had been executed. Francis and Ben were there, as well. Abner and his son exchanged a few words privately, and then the man hugged the boy. Ben’s father, not quite sure of himself, awkwardly hugged his son. Abner took Ben’s father aside, companionably. “I’m glad that Ben is going to Arcadia with Francis. He will be a great source of strength for my son.”

Ben’s father smiled, pleased that the Commander of the City Guard would speak so kindly about his son, and a little more comfortable with the situation.

Abner shook hands with Patrick and with the others of his companions, and then went back to stand with Ben’s father as the parties mounted their horses. Goodbyes had been said, and both parties were quick to trot from the courtyard, Ben, Francis, and Theron turned toward the eastern gate where they would join the Royal Post traveling to Arcadia. Patrick and his companions turned to the north. It will be a long ride to Bowling Green, but spring was in the air, and the weather promised to be pleasant for at least a few days.

By noon on the third day, the stream that paralleled the Royal Road had turned into a rushing freshet filled with water from spring rains in the mountains. Around a bend in the road, the freshet entered a nearly circular lake, about a mile across. In the center of the lake sat a hut on stilts. The companions, save Darryn and Greyeyes, immediately recognized it from James and Kenneth’s description: it was the hut of Marcus Chamberlain.

“Kenneth,” James said, as the companions reined their horses to a halt. “Would you look at it?”

“Same red-gold glow…and the hut is at the locus of magic… something about lakes.”

Patrick, who had ridden up and heard Kenneth’s assessment, nodded. “Lakes often are temporary loci of strong magic. Mountains can be, too, although a mountain tends to remain a locus for a longer time than a lake. Occasionally a tree, usually an oak, and usually very old. Are you certain this is the home of the man and boy you met six months ago?”

As if in answer, the door of the hut, which was…well, closer than it had been a moment ago…opened and a clear tenor voice called out, “James, Kenneth…you’re back!”

“It’s Ivan, all right,” James said, “but he’s a lot older than just six months!”

“Hello, Ivan,” Kenneth called.

“Whoops!” Ivan answered as the hut began walking toward the shore.

The hut settled on the ground. As soon as it was still, Ivan, several inches taller than they remembered, and about 30 pounds heavier, rushed to greet James and Kenneth. “Who are your friends? Can you stay? Marcus said you’d be back. In fact, he said it this morning. I didn’t think he meant today. That’s the biggest horse I ever saw! May I ride him, please? Of course, you’d have to hold me...”

“Ivan, Ivan, calm down,” James said.

By this time, the rest of the party had dismounted. “Patrick, this is Ivan,” he said. “Patrick knows all about our visit, before,” James said to Ivan.

“The fellow with the big horse is Alan; beside him is Thom. No, not Tommy. These boys are Darryn and Greyeyes.”

Ivan bubbled as he greeted each new acquaintance, asking Alan if Dasher’s stockings were real, and Greyeyes why his eyes were green. He flitted from question to question, never waiting for an answer, until the companions were laughing so hard they gasped for breath.

“Ivan, take the horses to the stable,” a strong voice spoke from the door of the hut. Everyone turned to see an ancient human, the Wizard Marcus Chamberlain.

The companions look to Patrick, who nodded. This was not an invitation to be declined.

The stable was reached through a door in the back of the hut, and was much larger inside than the hut, itself. Besides the companions’ horses, there was one other: a pearl gray stallion, who Ivan greeted with enthusiasm. “His name is Almagest,” the boy said, “and he can run as fast as the wind.”

The boys found Marcus at his lectern, paging through a ponderous book, stopping occasionally to point to a page and say, “Ah ha!” They stood, waiting for his attention. It was Ivan who spoke first. “We’re here, Marcus…”

“Ah, ha!” Marcus said as he looked up. “James, Kenneth, welcome to you and to your companions. Patrick, you’ll want to look at this, I think. Later, though. Alan, you would have been uncomfortable on the lake, I think. The earth suits you, better. Darryn and Greyeyes. I expected you sooner…ah, Ghost stumbled…I hadn’t seen that prairie dog hole. Had it not been for that, you’d not have met your companions until today…and you might have died, instead. Such is fate. I’m rather glad you’re here.”

Darryn and Greyeyes looked at one another, wide-eyed.

Marcus glanced at the window. “Getting dark. Clean up for dinner, please.” As the startled companions looked through the window, they saw that it was indeed late afternoon, although they’d arrived at noon, scarcely an hour ago. Patrick started to speak, but Marcus had returned to his book. Shrugging, he gestured for the companions to follow Ivan through the door that had opened to a steaming bath where the stable should have been.

When the boys had stripped for the showers, it was obvious that Ivan, who had been a child only four months ago, was now a boy. “Ivan, you were a baby when we saw you four months ago…but you’re a boy, now. How can that be,” James asked.

“Oh, it’s been a lot longer than four months,” Ivan answered. “It’s been over fourteen years since I last saw you. I’ve been learning to ride, and how to use a sword, and how to bow and who to bow to, and history and…And I’m not really a boy, yet. Marcus says that my body is, but that I’ll have to be initiated and that James would come back to initiate me, and that’s why I was so excited to see you all.” The boy seemed oblivious to James’s startled look.

Supper was as James and Kenneth had remembered it, except that the table was now just the right size for nine. Rich soup, made with onions, barley, vegetables, and a dark roux; soft bread with a hard crust; butter and cheeses; and pudding with strawberries for dessert. Patrick was burning to ask questions, but Marcus gave him no chance.

After supper, Marcus asked, “Patrick, would you and James join me, please?”

The two followed Marcus through another of the multi-purpose doors into a comfortable room where two…no three chairs sat before a crackling fire. Gesturing the boys to sit, Marcus poured tea for James, coffee for Patrick, and then tea for himself. From the same pot, Patrick observed, and without any detectable use of magic.

“Kenneth and James saw Ivan a few months ago when he was a child. In the fourteen years that have passed for Ivan, he has grown into the body of a boy. I felt it necessary for him to grow up faster than time would allow, and we have been in another place where time flows differently. It’s still going a little faster in the hut than it is on the outside, which is why it seemed to grow dark so quickly. It will soon settle down.

“James, it is my wish that you initiate Ivan into boyhood. He has an academic understanding of what is involved, and has been masturbating for some months, now. He’s a smart boy; it shouldn’t be difficult.”

*****

James and Ivan were alone in the room that was Ivan’s. James took the boy’s hand and asked, formally, “Ivan, will you share boy magic with me?”

“Oh, please, James, that’s what we’re here for, isn’t it? You don’t have to ask—” Ivan started to reply.

“Oh, but I do,” James said. “Every time a boy shares his magic there must be an Asking and a Telling; it’s custom and it’s a good custom. Now, will you share boy magic with me?”

“Yes, I will. But what…” Ivan’s reply was silenced by James’ kiss.

“Whew…that was good,” Ivan said. “May we do it, again, please?”

“Sure,” James said, hugging the boy and kissing him a second time.

*****

“I will die today,” Marcus announced. Breakfast was over, and Marcus had invited Ivan and all the companions into his study. “Ivan was told some time ago, and has had several months to prepare himself. Still, there are things that must be done.

“Ivan will travel with you. Ivan, you must swear to obey Patrick…Patrick, you must swear to guide and protect Ivan until the time comes to give him into the care of someone else…you will know when that time comes.

“Patrick, when we are finished here, would you accompany me to my library? That bottomless bag of yours will come in handy, so please bring it. There are, of course, some books that you may not have…some that you must not have…but there are others that I want you to have.

“Alan, would you and Thom see to the horses? Ivan is really a good rider, despite what he said about your having to hold him on Dasher. Please check his weapons, as well. You will leave here at noon. There are bags of oats and dried apples in the stable; take those. There are also bags of food for you in the main room.

“Darryn, I would like you to ignite my pyre…which will be this hut. There’s a huge monadnock just south of here that has been soaking up the sun’s heat for a million years. You should find it perfect. You’ll all want to be at least two furlongs away from the hut so you’re not burned.

“James and Kenneth, I would appreciate an invocation of the Light when I burn. Would you do that?

“Greyeyes, I haven’t forgotten you. You have a gift of understanding…that’s what allowed you to talk as you did to that boy in Forrest Green, you know…I want you to have no duty but to hold Ivan’s hand. Even though he has had time to think about this, he will need your understanding.

“There, that about does it. Everyone to their tasks!”

*****

Ivan had sworn obedience to Patrick; Patrick and all the companions had sworn to guide and protect and cherish the boy. Patrick had thanked Marcus for the books: a collection of treatises on the theory of magic, a magnificent book of anatomy which he intended to share with James and Kenneth, a copy of The Book of Heroes, and a dictionary of magical terms. The horses were saddled; packs and saddlebags, as well as bags of people food and horse food were tied to the saddles. Ivan had taken a last look at his room and at the chest of toys in the great room, and had taken from the chest the puppets James and Kenneth and he had played with fourteen years or six months ago. James and Kenneth had donned clerical tabards over their travel clothes.

Marcus kissed Ivan good-by, and the companions plus one very sad boy walked their horses north on the road. When they reached the bend, they stopped and turned. Marcus’ hut was back in the middle of the lake. “Look at it, Kenneth, please,” James asked.

Kenneth focused. “It’s gone…Marcus’s life light is gone. He’s dead.”

Greyeyes hadn’t forgotten his role, and was holding Ivan’s hand as Kenneth made his announcement. He turned to the boy and said something that none of the others heard, but which made Ivan’s face light up.

“It’s okay,” the boy said. “It’s okay.”

“Should I…?” Darryn asked.

“Yes, please,” answered Ivan. Greyeyes and Patrick nodded. James and Kenneth raised their hands in a benediction.

Darryn reached for magic and focused a vortex of strong lines of force from the mountain to the hut. He opened the vortex to heat, and a surge of pure white plasma poured through it into the hut. The hut took on a bright glow, and vanished, completely vaporized by the mountain’s energy. Darryn closed the vortex, and the magic returned to the matrix. The lake was placid. The hut and Marcus were gone. The companions turned their horses and rode north.