Mageborn The Line of Illeniel by Michael Manning (top novels of all time TXT) 📗

James was concerned. “Where are you going? If you’re going to do something I’d rather know beforehand. We’re already in enough trouble.”

“I’m going to my father’s house. Trust me I’ll be back. In the meantime get your things together, we’ll be leaving tonight,” I said with a tone of authority. As an afterthought I added, “...your grace,” but James didn’t seem to notice.

***

Penny and I reached the house of Illeniel after a short walk. Entering was much simpler this time now that I understood how the door worked. I smiled inwardly at the memory of our last visit.

“I’m still not sure why we need to come here,” Penny commented. “You already said this isn’t necessary for your plan.”

“In case we need to come back. Once they figure out what we’ve done they’ll destroy my circle. This house is the one place in the city no one can get into. Plus I’m fairly sure they don’t realize that I’ll be able to return here at will. It may give us an advantage in the future, but only if I know the key to the circle here,” I answered her.

We went upstairs and I got out the writing materials I had brought. My studies of ‘A Definitive Guide on the Creation and Maintenance of Teleportation Waypoints’ had yielded good results. Teleportation circles were very specific in their construction; they all shared the same basic design. The most important part however, was the ‘key’, the part of the circle that identified it. Once that was known another circle could be created to match it. Every circle contained two keys, one identifying itself, and another that corresponded with the key of the destination circle.

Whatever circle had existed in Cameron Castle to match the one here was long gone, but if I knew what the key was I could create another. That would give me safe access to Albamarl, practically at will.

It took me several minutes to copy the keys found within the circle marked ‘Cameron’. When I finished I carefully blotted the sheet with sand and folded it away. It wouldn’t do to mistake one of the runes due to an unfortunate spot of ink. I tucked the paper into my pouch and Penny and I went back outside.

“Back to Lancaster’s house?” she asked.

“Yes, I need to do one more thing there, then we can go get Rose,” I replied.

When we got back to the Lancaster residence I didn’t bother finding James. I went around the house to find Joe. I found him in the stables, helping to groom the horses that had been pulling the wagons. “Did you find a good place?” I asked him.

He looked up startled, “Oh! Yes your lordship! The duke has a small storehouse here, it’s that building over there,” he pointed across the yard to a large stone building with double doors wide enough to drive a wagon through. “He said we could use it. Lady Rose had been storing her acquisitions there, before they were confiscated.”

“So it’s empty now?” I said to clarify the point.

He assured me it was so I went over and got started. The place was larger than I had realized, at least thirty feet wide and probably sixty feet long inside. The floor was smooth stone which reassured me. I had been afraid it might be simple dirt which would have made my task harder. Penny and I found brooms and began cleaning. She turned out to be much better at sweeping than I was but it still took us almost an hour to get the floor in the condition I wanted it. I decided not to compliment her sweeping skills... she might take it the wrong way given her prior occupation.

Another hour’s work and we were ready. I went back to the house to let James know what to expect. “Your grace?” I asked. He seemed to have fallen asleep in a chair.

“Mordecai... sorry I haven’t had much rest since yesterday,” he apologized. It struck me as strange to hear the man apologize to me. For most of my life he had been my ultimate authority figure, next to my own father.

“Are you ready to leave? I’m going to get Rose and we’ll have to move quickly when I return. I’m not sure if there will be any pursuit,” I told him.

“I have little to bring other than personal effects. I’ve already packed those up. Strange, I always took Benchley for granted. I never realized how much work packing could be,” he smiled ruefully.

“Did they take him when they arrested everyone?”

“No he’s with Genevieve back in Lancaster. I had a different valet here, Percy was his name. Still, I’m missing him already,” he laughed.

“Hopefully I’ll be able to return with him as well,” I said.

“I don’t understand what you’re planning Mordecai. This is bound to make things worse,” he said.

“If things go badly it won’t reflect on you. This is purely of my own devising. As far as the king will know you left on your own,” I replied.

“He’s not a fool. It will be quite obvious what happened and likely enough I’ll be declared an outlaw right along with you.”

A pang of guilt struck me. I had asked a lot of the Lancasters and now he risked losing everything for helping me. “You’re right. Maybe I should do this somewhere else, you’ve already risked too much...,” I started.

“In for a penny, in for a pound,” James replied. “Don’t think too hard about it. I’ve already made my choice and now we’ll have to live with it.”

I couldn’t afford to argue the point, I needed his help.

Penny and I headed for the gate to the street, Joe was waiting there. “You’re sure about doing this alone?” he asked us.

Penny raised an eyebrow, “Sounds like you think I won’t be enough?”

He grimaced, “No lass, it’s not like that. I just worry.” He had learned enough already to know that Penny had become