April 30, 2004
Dear Keish,
I completely enjoyed everything about Gretel’s ball. Phyfe did a very good job of making sure I didn’t have to dance with more than two strangers. I wish he had been less stiff and formal, though. I got the feeling he thought he was taking a test. He seemed so worried about what Uncle W., Imato, and you thought of everything.
The trip back to Rousha was very quiet. I got your letter when we got to the inn, just like you thought I would. Everyone was tired and I sat waiting nearly two hours for them to get up the next morning. I wouldn’t have minded, but I was anxious to get back to Odsreq.
We stopped for only an hour to check on Glory and Moonstone in Odsreq. Lord Westridge offered to let us stay the night, but Phyfe was anxious to get back to Rousha, something about business for his father. It was really disappointing. I would have loved to spend another evening and morning in the stables.
I’ve heard of magical links. Mother told me about them when she told me about wands. She wanted to make sure I never tried either. I was pretty young—I guess she wanted to stop me before the idea ever entered my head. Poor Uncle W…
Argentum is beautiful. You looked so fine riding him! I can’t wait until Moonstone is old enough to ride. We can go out riding together with Imato on Glory. Now we need a horse for Gretel. I think Imato will probably give Sprigs to Liop when Moonstone is weaned. I was just thinking that Imato has had an elite knight’s mount for over a year now and he’s rarely ever even ridden her. Sprigs is a fine mount for boys, but Imato is a man now. And when he finally got a man’s horse, he gave her to his little sister for the first year and a half. What a brother I have!
So we arrived back in Rousha late tonight, and I’m too tired to write much more. Tomorrow morning I must go visit Father. I wish we could have brought him with us.
May 1
Jace proposed!!! I just told Uncle Winthrop and Liop and Nysa. I wish I was there to congratulate you! They all send their congratulations! Uncle W. is surprised you didn’t elope. Apparently he’s been expecting it for months, ever since he saw you two together at Christmas. I’m glad you didn’t elope. I want to see you get married. I’m so excited I don’t know what else to say. Maybe I’ll go visit Taty. She sent me a note inviting me to tea tomorrow, but I don’t think I can wait that long, and I don’t think she knew about you and Jace yet when she sent it.
May 5
Coulter didn’t want to come with me today. I didn’t think he was feeling well so I mixed some chamomile and ginger into his water dish. Then I set out the breakfast trays with deviled eggs and muffins. I don’t ever cook breakfast anymore. I don’t have time. Kestrel followed me, or more correctly, led the way.
When I stepped out of the apartment building I found Phyfe waiting.
“Good morning,” he squinted slightly and looked rather less than awake, although very nicely dressed as usual. “Do you really get up this early every day? What time do you go to bed?”
“What are you doing here?” I asked. I was really surprised to see him.
“I thought I’d walk to the hospital,” said Phyfe, yawning, “I thought you might like the company.”
“Okay,” I smiled.
The streets of Rousha are almost empty at six o’clock in the morning. All the stores are still closed and the pavement is striped with black shadows and bright morning sunlight. Old Rousha is a mixture of ancient stone buildings with ornate pillars and new brick offices and store fronts. Phyfe talked about the architecture and how sad it was to see the old buildings torn down. I think some of them look like they’re falling down anyway, but the brick buildings do look very plain next to them. Phyfe told me more about Cletus and how much quieter it is there. It sounds beautiful.
Normally, I walk to the hospital in silence. I try to pretend that the tall buildings are a forest and small sparrows and pigeons are thrushes and quail. The streets are so empty that it’s easy to imagine that I’m far away from society. But we weren’t far away that morning, so we should have been paying attention.
As we were passing one of the side streets three men walked out. I didn’t really pay attention to them until they stopped right in front of us and pulled out knives.
“Back into the alley—NOW!” I never knew someone could shout without raising his voice. Phyfe’s arm on mine stiffened. He stepped backward, pulling me with him. He was taking us into the alley. I thought it made more sense to run, but I didn’t.
As soon as we were out of sight of the street, they brought the knives out more fully. Phyfe shifted so that he was more in front of me. He looked as pale as I felt. Kestrel backed into a corner, her back arched and hissing.
“Start with the shoes,” said the taller man.
I didn’t move. Phyfe dropped to his knees and pulled me down with him.
“Just cooperate, Arri,” he murmured, “It will be easier.”
“That’s right, baby, just move slow and easy.” The mugger’s voice was low, but it carried to every crevice of the alley. I could feel the men drawing nearer as I unlaced my high walking boots. My boots are new, hard, and just as difficult to remove as they are to put on. Phyfe had his shoes off in seconds. My nervous fingers tugged awkwardly at the laces. Suddenly, I felt fingers against the back of my neck. I jerked back and my bonnet was torn from my head.
“Back to the shoes,” the taller man stepped back and grinned at my fear, twirling the bonnet on his finger, “I was just helping you out a bit.”
“Don’t you touch her again,” Phyfe hissed tensely.
“No talking!” Again I heard the low shout, “Off with you coat now or we’ll get rough.”
Terrified, I glanced over at Phyfe. He removed his coat without looking at me. He was strong, but I knew he carried no weapon. We needed a weapon. I pulled at a lace and glanced behind us. All I could see was the brick wall we were up against. Bricks… heavy, hard, but sealed up in mortar. I tugged at my laces—Nysa always uses a spell to tie and untie her shoes. I could almost hear her chanting in my head. I wanted a brick so badly. I could feel one of the men getting too close again, but the only spell I could remember was the one for shoelaces.
“Spiderweb tried, Spiderweb undone.”
“Hurry up now, baby, or I’ll start helping again.” The man was right next to me.
“Spiderweb tried, Spiderweb undone.”
I know dozens of spells, but I’ve never quite gotten that one to work. I was thinking as much about the bricks as much as the shoes. Panic rose up inside me. I looked back at the wall.
“That does it,” said Phyfe.
Then a lot of things happened almost at the same time.
First, one of the men started reaching for me. Second, Phyfe lunged at him and missed. The other man plunged his knife down at Phyfe, but he rolled out of the way. And all the while I shouted the only spell I could remember at the bricks.
“Spiderweb tried, Spiderweb undone!”
A brick flew from the wall and hovered midair between me and the muggers. A second followed and then a third. It took a few seconds for everyone to realize what had happened. One of the men gave a small squeak and dropped his knife. All three turned around and fled. Kestrel chased them, hissing. Phyfe looked ready to run too, but I grabbed his hand. He froze and together we watched as bricks slid one by one out of the mortar in the wall to hover midair before us. The mortar remained perfectly intact, so that a kind of rectangular latticework was created. It was fascinating.
“What did you do?” asked Phyfe. He stood up and the bricks shifted with him, hovering just around his head.
“I’m not sure,” I admitted. I looked around to make sure the muggers were gone. The alley was empty. My hat was lying at the street entrance. A white flower had fallen off. Phyfe was shaking visibly, his eyes focused on the bricks. I think he was as much afraid of the magic as he was of the muggers. There were nearly a dozen bricks hovering now, almost all of them seemed to be orbiting Phyfe, like moths around a light bulb. Phyfe raised his hands to shield his face.
I looked at the growing hole in the wall, wondering if it would be able to stand very long, or if the mortar would crumble. I didn’t really want to find out.
“You can stop it and put the building back together, right?” asked Phyfe, “Why are they circling me?”
I didn’t answer, but I was thinking about what you told me happened in study with the magical residue from Liop‘s spell. Magic really seems to like Phyfe, much more than it does me. I’m not sure that’s a good thing.
We watched another brick slide neatly out of place.
“Arri…”
“I have to think,” I said finally, “it wasn’t really a good spell for controlling bricks. Do you think the bricks are acting like shoelaces coming out of the eyelets?”
Phyfe stared at me as if I were crazy.
“At least the muggers are gone,” I suggested softly.
“True, but how do you stop the spell? The building is coming apart! I think it‘s considering rebuilding on my head!”
“None of the bricks are actually touching you,” I pointed out. Phyfe didn’t look very reassured.
I stepped back and tried to think about the spell I had cast. Nysa doesn’t stop this spell. She lets it run until the shoelaces are completely unlaced. I had a sudden image of a building made entirely of gray latticework and Phyfe leading an entourage of floating bricks through the streets of Rousha. Suddenly it seemed like it would have been smarter to give the muggers my new shoes.
“Well, I can try a general stopping spell,” I said, “but should I focus on the wall or the floating bricks?”
Phyfe shook his head at me. I decided to start with the wall. I sliced at the air with my hand and gave the command. The floating bricks dropped to the ground in a series of sharp claps against the stone street. Fortunately, none of them hit Phyfe. We waited a minute. No more bricks came out of the wall. First try, I thought, feeling pleased.
But we couldn’t just leave the bricks and the hole in the wall. I stood up on tiptoe to look through the hole. It was a storeroom; no people to notice. That was a good thing.
“We can just put them back, can’t we?” I picked up a brick and tried to slide it into a hole. It didn’t quite fit.
“I think you’ll have to put each brick back in the hole it came from,” said Phyfe slowly.
“Oh,” I said, “I can’t reach the top holes.” I waited for Phyfe to offer to help, but he didn’t.
“Can you help me,” I asked.
“Are you sure the magic is gone?”
I studied the bricks and mortar. “Yes, I’m sure.”
Phyfe looked away. He took a deep breath. Then slowly he came forward and hesitantly picked up a brick. Together we put each one back in the wall. It was tricky work, not damaging the mortar. At the end of it, we stepped back.
“I’ll ask Nysa to come look at it later today,” I said, “to make sure the wall is sealed properly.”
Phyfe shook his head.
“If you came to Cletus, these kinds of things would still happen, wouldn’t they?” he asked.
“Yes, probably,” I admitted.
“Arri,” He bent and began replacing his shoes on his feet, “I like you, but I don’t think I can handle all this.” He kept his head down and gestured in the general direction of me or the wall, I couldn’t tell which. “My hair,” he muttered, and looked up.
“It’s back to normal now,” I said.
“I know, but will it last?” he asked.
“I told Liop I’d turn him into a tree if he ever tries that again. I don‘t think Keish‘s threat to change him into a newt is working. Newts can still run around and cause mischief. A tree can‘t.”
“I wasn’t talking about my hair,” he frowned at me.
“Oh,” I said.
He finished putting on his shoes and stood up.
“I’ll walk you home,” he murmured.
Kestrel joined us at the entrance to the alley. We walked back to the apartment in silence. He left me at the entrance. I walked up the three flights with Kestrel. She was trailing me this time, looking troubled.
The clock on the mantel said that everyone else would get up in fifteen minutes. I finished unlacing my boots and kicked them away. Suddenly, I didn’t want to see any of them. I went into Nysa and my bedroom and grabbed the fairy book, knocking my hand mirror to the floor in my hurry. Nsya didn’t wake up at the sound. I sat down quickly and said the spell to take me to the cave.
I didn’t linger in the “entrance” chamber where I first arrived. I went straight into the practice chamber and found the hollow glass ball. I wanted to practice changing the color of the air particles in it.
I stood with the ball in my outstretched hand and focused on its center. Within moments a pale blue cloud began to form. Since I hadn’t ever deliberately practiced, I was pleased. The blues shifted and swirled within the glass. It was soothing. Gradually, they began to take shape. I dropped the ball when the shape began to form a face. Nysa had been making me practice hand movements in front of a tall mirror lately and it was to this that I accidentally turned. My pale face stared back at me. I turned quickly away and ran. I was only wearing my house slippers and they soon fell off, but I didn’t care. The cool cave air felt good against my face and I concentrated on the soft sound my feet made against the stone floor. I made one turn after another randomly. No one came after me. I thought I would run into the Lioness any minute, but I didn’t. Yellow firelight flickered about me as torches flashed into life at my approach and extinguished themselves after I passed.
My heart was pounding, but I didn’t stop. I outraced the torches and ran into darkness. Then a bright, white light appeared at the end of the tunnel. I ran toward it, out into a field, and collapsed in the tall, green grass. I don’t know how long I lay there, gasping at the warm air and closing my eyes against the sunlight.
When my heart stopped pounding, I looked up. There were no mountains. Prairie grass stretched around me as far as I could see in every direction. The sky was bright and warm all around me. Rousha had been cloudy, threatening rain. Wherever I was, it was far away from Elcaro‘s capital. Strangely, the sentence about Tarleton’s wheat grass, read so long ago when I was recovering from the effects of defeating Gessair, came to my mind. I studied the plants around me, but I couldn’t decide if they were different from the grasses I knew. Grass species are too similar. But from geography, I knew that the prairie is south of Rousha—at least two weeks travel south. That was something to think about. I sat up, rubbing my face. I couldn’t see any sign of the cave.
At first I didn’t know what to do, or to think. I just sat there looking all around me and wondering how I could possibly have gotten so lost. I didn’t even have a griffon. I glanced down and discovered the fairy book lying next to me in the grass. Where did that come from? I was sure I hadn’t picked it up when I left. Again I looked around for Trena. Nothing.
Well, at least I could get back to the cave. I picked up the fairy book and flipped through it. One of the pictures was of Jezreel and Ellean riding the Lioness over a prairie. No landmark to tell me if I was in the same place, but somehow I thought it must be. That meant I could come back.
The sun was high in the sky and it occurred to me that back in Rousha, everyone must have noticed I was missing. I would have to go back.
I said the spell to take me back to the entrance chamber. It was empty. I walked out into the passage and looked around. No Lioness. I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to see her or not anyway. I returned to the chamber, opened the fairy book again and returned myself to my bedroom. Nysa was sitting on the bed, her arms folded in anger.
“Where have you been?” she demanded, “It’s after lunch and you never showed up at the hospital. You weren’t in the practice room of the cave either. Where have you been?”
I looked down at the fairy book.
“I had some trouble with some bricks…” I began, “and I did go to the cave to practice, just earlier then normal. Anyway, I need you to come downtown and look at the bricks.” I don’t know why, but I was beginning to feel angry. Nysa sounded like she was talking to Liop. I’m not a child.
“That’s not much of an explanation,” she said.
I didn’t say anything. I just looked down at the fairy book. Don’t ask me any more questions, I thought desperately.
“I think you need to explain where you were,” said Nysa.
“Ask the Lioness,” I snapped and walked out of the room. Why did I do that Keish? There was no reason for me to be angry at Nysa. And if she does ask Trena, what will she say? She must have been the one to give me the fairy book when I got lost in the prairie.
Nysa didn’t ask anymore questions. She went to the alley with me and showed me the spell to seal the bricks back in the wall. Feeling embarrassed, I offered up the fact that Phyfe and I were mugged. After that she didn’t seem so angry. We came back here and I sat down to write this letter. I will send it off, because I’m sure you’re waiting for it.
I did go and visit Taty on May 1st. Somehow it seems longer ago than just four days. She and her parents had just received word of your engagement from Jace. They were all so happy! Taty said she doesn’t care about being a bride’s maid any more than I do, because she knows she’ll get to be one when her cousin Laura gets married (apparently Laura has everything planned except whom she’s going to marry). Lady Pren is going to buy Taty a special dress to wear regardless. She says she can’t imagine you standing in a formal reception line anyway. She said the point is that you and Jace are getting married, which is exactly what she’s been hoping for years.
Everyone is so happy. I just hope I can concentrate on my studies a little bit longer so I can take the entrance exam in two weeks. Master Imkell says I need fewer distractions.
Love,
Arri
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