The Familiars: Secrets of the Crown. Adam Epstein

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СКАЧАТЬ whisper something into Dalton’s ear. Then he watched as the fourteen-year-old boy slowly began to nod. Dalton stood up and cleared his voice. A familiar could communicate with their loyal and any master wizard, one who had the many years of training needed to become adept at comprehending animal tongue. But common man and lesser wizards were unable to understand the words that animals spoke.

      “My familiar can do it,” Dalton told everyone. “Skylar has become versed in more schools of magic than the one her kind is born with. She has studied necromancy. She believes she can speak to the non-living.”

      Aldwyn knew his fellow familiar had experimented with dangerous magic. He had watched her try to bring a beetle back from the dead, with hair-raising results. He also suspected there was more to the mysterious bejewelled anklet she wore than she had yet revealed. But as every single head in the hall turned towards Skylar, he wondered whether the blue jay would really be able to do what she had just claimed she could.

      “She is a blue jay,” said Feynam. “Her talent is illusions. No animal has ever been known to commune with the dead. Why should she be different?”

      “She strives for more,” said Dalton, defending his familiar.

      “Such conjuring is forbidden for non-humans,” said another member of the council. “Look what happened to Paksahara!”

      “Things are changing,” said Queen Loranella. “And with our own magic gone, we have to put faith in our animal friends.”

      The queen left her spot behind the table and walked down the aisle towards Skylar, who remained perched on Dalton’s shoulder.

      “You familiars are just full of surprises, aren’t you?” she said, a note of hope coming through in her words. “Perhaps this is the next step in your journey to fulfil the prophecy.”

      By mid-morning the next day, the queen’s royal carriage was rolling south, across the Brannfalk Pass and towards the rolling hills that hugged the east bank of the Enaj. Without the aid of Loranella’s swift-step spell, the horses pulling the coach could only travel as fast as their own hooves could gallop. The queen had decided to leave at dawn, concerned they wouldn’t be able to find what they were looking for by moonlight alone.

      From inside the gold-trimmed carriage, Aldwyn stared out at the lush green slopes and flocks of sheep, whose wool had taken on the same emerald hue as the grass they ate. He sat on Jack’s lap; his loyal looked eagerly out of the window as well, for as little of this land as Aldwyn had seen, Jack had glimpsed even less. Dalton and Marianne were seated beside them, along with Skylar and Gilbert. Marianne had dozed off, her head slumped on Dalton’s shoulder. Skylar studied a pocket scroll on necromancy, reading the words silently to herself as she prepared for the task ahead.

      “Even muttering Wyvern and Skull’s chants in your head comes at a price,” warned Feynam. He stretched his arms out from beneath his black robe, revealing dark, twisted veins on his hairless arms. “I’ve read from those scrolls too often.”

      The elder was sitting on the bench opposite the young wizards, next to Queen Loranella, Sorceress Edna and Stolix, who had dozed off round Edna’s neck. Feynam had been invited along to lead them to the location where the Shifting Fortress had been originally built – the same spot from which it was believed Agorus could be summoned from the Tomorrowlife. Aldwyn hoped Feynam’s expertise in necromancy would be useful, but right now the elder was just giving him the creeps.

      Gilbert had his attention fixed on the charcoal-coloured snake curled up on the floor across from him. This was Feynam’s familiar, Ramoth, whose scaly body was capable of turning to flames at will.

      “I don’t like the way he’s looking at me,” Gilbert whispered to Aldwyn. “I know that look. He’s picturing me between two slices of bread.”

      Normally, Aldwyn paid little attention to Gilbert’s paranoia, but there was something about the way the reptilian familiar was licking its lips that made him think that perhaps frog wouldn’t be the only thing on the snake’s menu if it got hungry.

      “It’s just over this next rise,” Feynam called out to the coachman who held the reins of the four horses.

      The carriage pulled to a stop, and Dalton nudged Marianne awake. She looked at him with a shy smile, then spotted some drool left behind on his shoulder and quickly wiped it away.

      “I don’t normally drool in my sleep,” said Marianne, blushing.

      “It must be a side effect of Paksahara’s spell,” said Dalton.

      Aldwyn had seen these two playfully tease each other before, and he was coming to learn that this was how young boys and girls showed affection.

      Sorceress Edna pushed her way out of the carriage first, which was no surprise, since she had complained most of the way about feeling cartsick from the bumpy ride. The others followed, Gilbert making very sure to keep his distance from Feynam’s serpent as he hopped down to the ground.

      They all walked from the road to the top of a small hill, where a large grey stone jutted out from the green. It was polished smooth and stamped with a circle with eight lines jutting out from it. Embedded in the ground beyond it was the sunken imprint of what looked like a long-disappeared castle. The massive indentation had four long sides and burrowed several feet deep into the earth. The architectural fossil had now been filled in with the same grass that covered the hillsides.

      “This is the cornerstone of the elusive Shifting Fortress,” said Feynam, gesturing to the grey obelisk with his bony hand. “It was left behind as a monument to remind all where the grand tower first stood.”

      “And you believe the spirit of Agorus resides here?” asked Loranella.

      “Every departed soul has a gateway to the Tomorrowlife,” explained Feynam, “a place of profound importance to them. I am confident this is that place for the mighty architect of the impossible.”

      Skylar fluttered from Dalton’s shoulder to the base of the stone. She unrolled the scroll at her feet, then grasped a talonful of silver powder from her satchel.

      “Silver dust is a weak substitute for obsidian,” said Feynam. “You’ll be lucky to hold this spell long enough to get any answers at all.”

      Skylar seemed undaunted and ignored the elder’s words. She closed her eyes, concentrated, and then started her incantation.

      “Agorus, hear my call and speak once more,” she chanted to the sky. She tossed the powder into the air and intoned: “Mortis communicatum!”

      Nothing happened for so long that Aldwyn thought Skylar’s spell must have been unsuccessful. But then a bluish mist began to form in the air and curl round the stone. It grew more and more solid, and Aldwyn saw a faintly glowing figure emerge from it. As the spirit became more concrete, Aldwyn was taken aback: what had taken shape in front of him was not a man, but – a beaver!

      “I knew it,” said Feynam. “There is no way a bird could cast such a powerful spell!”

      “I’m sorry,” said Skylar to the four-legged creature. “I was trying to commune with someone else.”

      The beaver looked at her, exasperated.

      “You mean to tell me you’ve woken me for nothing?” he said. “I was in the middle of the most peaceful sleep.”

      “Perhaps СКАЧАТЬ