“We’d just as soon wait, Lord Shenk,” Walden said.
“Yeah, if we come home without Jessa, Ma’ll give us an awful spanking.” Danen rubbed his rear end for emphasis.
Otto grinned. “Suit yourselves. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“Good luck, my lord.” Walden sketched a fair approximation of a formal bow.
“And watch out for ghosts,” Danen said.
Chapter 6
The air was cooler in the shade of the forest. Otto followed the trail even though there were no clear tracks. He assumed that a little girl in the woods would take the easiest path. This patch of woods had a pack of feral dogs, some boars, and its share of black bear, but no ghosts. That’s why they warned the people against having their children play in the area. Why the parents had chosen to warn them with a ghost story was beyond him. If anything, the idea of seeing a ghost would tempt kids, not keep them away.
He stepped over a dead and rotting cedar. Still no sign of tracks or Jessa. He had to have come at least a quarter mile. He’d thought to find the girl huddled behind a tree just out of sight of the field. Perhaps something had startled her into running and she got lost. Hopefully she wouldn’t run into anything too aggressive. Otto really didn’t want to have to carry her body back to her parents.
He frowned and shifted his perception. Maybe the girl had left some path through the ether. The currents were disturbed, but not in anything resembling a line. Instead of its usual smooth flow, the ether swirled around a central point deeper in the woods. The path he followed ran in the same general direction. Perhaps he could solve two mysteries in one go.
Three hundred yards further along, the first black apparition appeared. It startled him for a moment, but he knew there was no such thing as ghosts. There had to be a rational explanation for the thing. Otto blinked away the ether, but the translucent figure remained. It floated around and let out a low moan, but otherwise made no aggressive move. It would certainly do the job of convincing any of the more superstitious souls that saw it that the forest really was haunted.
He shifted his sight again and studied it closer. Four etheric threads entered the… whatever it was. The threads emanated from the same central point around which the currents swirled. He drew his dagger and slashed the ghost several times, meeting no resistance and feeling neither heat nor cold.
He nodded once. An illusion. He’d read about them in Master Enoch’s books, but had never seen one. Satisfied that the apparition posed no threat, Otto continued on his way. If Jessa had seen the “ghost” he might well find her fainted nearby.
Half an hour later a thick stand of jack pine blocked his way. Not more than twenty paces beyond them waited the center of the etheric vortex. He tried to peer between the trunks, but the branches grew too thick. It almost looked like they’d been woven together to form a screen. The deeper he went into the forest the less natural it became.
Damned if he’d let a patch of evergreen stop him. Otto circled left, hoping to find a gap. The weave remained tight and impenetrable. It took him a full five minutes to make a complete circle around the stand. There wasn’t even a half-inch gap between the needles. If he’d required further proof that something unnatural waited beyond those trees, he needed it no longer.
He grabbed one of the branches. If he couldn’t find an opening, he’d bloody well make one. Otto yanked with all his might, but the branches didn’t so much as flex. While he wasn’t the mightiest man on the planet, he refused to believe he lacked strength enough to flex a one-inch-diameter pine bough.
Enough of this!
He took a step back and searched the forest floor for a fallen branch. He snatched a foot-long stick the size of his pinky off a pile of yellow needles. His tap sent etheric energy through the twig and created a link between it and a branch. The moment the etheric tendril touched the pine branch the whole barrier opened up like a lily in the morning sunlight.
His jaw dropped along with the stick. Beyond the opening stood a simple twenty-foot-tall stone tower in perfect condition. An iron-banded door filled the arched entrance. Not a hint of rust showed on the metal.
Otto shook himself, closed his mouth, and stepped through the opening. He paused, coiled and ready to spring back should the branches show any sign of closing, but they didn’t so much as twitch. He chewed his lower lip for a moment then shrugged. He’d come this far, might as well have a look inside.
A step from the entrance the door opened all on its own, without a sound, as though on well-oiled hinges. His stomach did flips as he stepped through the doorway and into an empty chamber. He’d seen more magic in the last half hour than in his whole life previous.
There was nothing on the first floor beyond a set of stone stairs to the second. He started up them, his hand trailing on a wall completely free of dust or cobwebs. At the top waited another room nearly as empty as the first. The sole decoration consisted of an oval mirror, perfectly flat and smooth, like you might find in a wealthy lady’s dressing chamber.
He turned a slow circle just to be certain he hadn’t missed anything. Talk about disappointing. After all that buildup he’d expected to find a library filled with tomes and artifacts. Or maybe a treasury heaped to the ceiling with gold and gems.
He sighed. Best get back to hunting Jessa. Her brothers had to be frantic by now.
“Do not be so swift to leave.”
Otto spun back to face the mirror so quickly he stumbled and almost fell. The clear glass had filled with black mist. A woman’s face, her skin tinged green and translucent, appeared in the center of the mirror. A halo of ghostly hair floated around her.
“Who are you?” he asked.
“Do you not recognize me?”
He looked closer and racked his brain. “I’m sorry. Should I know you?”
“No, I suppose not. Six hundred years is a long time to you mortals after all. I am Karonin and at one time I ruled this continent.”
Otto gaped like a rube at his first fair. “Arcane Lord Karonin? But you’re dead.”
“Indeed. For long centuries I’ve waited for a wizard to approach my sanctuary. I expected one of my apprentices and long before now. What has happened and who are you?”
“I’m Otto Shenk, my father rules these lands. As for what’s happened, well, that’s a long story.”
Chapter 7
Otto recited the history of the last six centuries as he’d been taught it. He felt like a schoolboy standing in front of the teacher. When he arrived at the part about the wizard purges Karonin stopped him.
“All the wizards were killed?” Disbelief rang in her voice.
“Perhaps not all, but all the ones that were known to have served, well, you. The books make it sound like a great bloody mess. The wizards killed many soldiers, but in the end were badly outnumbered and eventually they grew so exhausted they couldn’t hurl spells anymore. Once that happened the war came to a swift end.”
“Surely new wizards were born. You’re here after all.”
“True. For many generations anyone showing signs of magic was killed at once. That’s still the law in the Kingdom of Straken to the north. In Garenland, the kings eventually realized wizards would be of use in the forges, helping create high-quality steel and more importantly, working mithril. The law still imposes many limits on what a wizard can do, but at least here we are no longer murdered out of hand.”