CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

I wasn't sure how to get into the manor at the top of the hill. I began walking toward it, hoping that I would bump into Winsor somewhere along the way despite his lead. As I passed a pair of Blythe guards on break buying snacks, I fantasized about beating them up and taking their armor. I flexed my skinny arms. Yeah, that definitely wasn't going to work. And anyway, it presented the same problem impersonating a BROS did.

I had made it back to the nice restaurant where I'd had dinner with Winsor without coming up with a plan. Time was running short. After buying a quick meal and stuffing it down my mouth, I hurried outside and surveyed the manor up the hill. Large vulnerable glass windows were everywhere. Any assault by others would be defended from the weather tower, I realized. With its view of the whole city and the sorcerer ability to manipulate the world, it would be easy to strike an enemy army with lightning.

Which meant, hopefully, that the windows would not be guarded.

I hurried along the streets, strolling casually even though my thoughts were devious. I'd spent enough time in full-on liar mode that it didn't cause any shift in my behavior to know I was planning a break in, even if I hated the idea of stealing. Tricking was different. Preying on other's gullibility. But to steal was wrong... so good thing this was a rescue!

I considered the dungeon for a moment, but remembered the secure layout it had. With guards at each entrance and such a small array of cells, there would be no way to get in undetected. I had to hope they were holding her somewhere in the manor.

I reached the fence along the outskirts. There weren't any guards. I walked around the perimeter, trying to appear inconspicuous and aloof. Behind the house, on the descending hill, there was ivy growing up the bricks. Hoping it wouldn't cause me to break out in itching. I snagged a handful into my fists and lifted myself up.

I fell onto my back. Some pebbles ground into me through my shirt, but more than pain, it was shock. I shook the now pulped leaves from my hand and scowled up at the wall. If Mallow had been here, I could have asked her for a lift...

My eyes skimmed the surroundings. I saw one flowering tree whose stray branches overhung the fence. Quite a security breach, but the fence was probably more for privacy than security. After all, who would be dumb enough to invade a sorcerer's home?

"That's me," I mumbled.

It had been a good twenty years since I'd last climbed a tree proper. I latched one hand onto the lowest branch and pulled. It had been easy in my boyhood. I assumed getting to the top of this tree would prove to be the easiest thing I'd done today.

I slipped and scraped my stomach on the bark. My hands crushed bugs, their innards slicked my palms. I closed my eyes as a bird fluttered around angrily before retreating. In the momentary quiet afterwards, I smelled the flowering of leaves...

I was back. I was back on that walkway up to the sorcerer's home, baby Mallow in my arms. They came back, distorted by memory and the blazing sunshine, their perfumed scents making my head spin. I opened my eyes. Was it the same kind of tree? The color was the same, the smell the same...

It was stress, probably. Or maybe all sorcerer's liked these sorts of trees. They were pretty enough. I banished the thoughts from my mind and finished scurrying up until I was in the base of the branches. Taking care not to twist my ankle, I moved over to where that large overhanging branch jutted out.

Balancing precariously, I thanked myself for my habit of climbing up on crates and stalls in cities. If I hadn't done that so often, I had no doubt I'd go spilling to the ground at any moment, losing balance and falling over. About halfway out on the branch, where the flowers thinned, a thought hit me.

How was I going to get back over the other side of the wall if I found her?

Maybe I should try to get help from one of the guards. Surely not all the guards could be in on the evil scheme to steal Mallow? Or maybe they'd be scared into cooperating by being informed they were an accessory to a major breach in the Centralized Magical Arcanacracy's sentient creature laws...

No. Mallow would help me, once I got her. She'd have no problem with these walls provided her hands were free. I shimmied out onto the branch. Being honest always had a way of punishing one, either in the present or in the future. Best to do this sneakily.

The branch snapped when I was right over the fence. I fell. It was a coin flip about whether or not I was going to fall into the fence or outside of it. I twisted my body. My side hit the top of the stone fence. I yelped, and landed inside of the fence. With the sound of a few dozen snapping flower stems. I groaned and rolled over. Soft, fertilized soil clung to my body as I tried to stand. My hip, which had glanced the fence, ached. I steadied myself by putting my hand on it.

I had landed in a flower bed. I gasped in horror as I saw of what kind. Tulips.

"Awwww," I groaned. Tulips were worth a fortune. I moved away from the scene of the crime. Thanking my luck for not landing in the rose bush, I noticed a small servant's door beneath a latticed overhang. Brushing the clots of dark soil from my body, I hurried over to it.

It opened easily, and I stepped inside, closing it behind me. A narrow hallway with wooden pegs draped with jackets on the walls was dimly lit by a mixture of orange candle glow and the clean white sunlight streaming in from the small rectangular window on the door.

Sneaking for the second time in as many hours, I avoided the rooms with lots of chatter. I realized, three hallways later, I had no idea what I was searching for. There weren't too many rooms, I estimated probably about a dozen. So I made quick work of pressing my ear against each one and listening patiently, before moving onto the next.

"You!" a voice shouted from behind me, making me jump. My head smacked into the doorframe. A clean shaven Assistant, about twice my age, in an off-white tunic with red stitching marched toward me. With tears in my eyes from the pain of the bump on my head, it took me a second to recognize him. I'd seen him before, at the circus and the dungeon.

"Uh," I replied. Despite the anger in his strides, his steps were not making a sound. Is that something the help learned? In order to not disturb the sorcerer's? Or were his boots enchanted like the BROS? I glanced down. They were black.

"Are you one of those temporary helpers? You're dressed more like an Assistant than a cleaner... ah, perhaps you lost your previous master to a Proving? We've had a few of those come to help, no doubt hoping the Divinis is hiring more Assistants. I am his primary Assistant, Wishid Kluth, by the way. Displease me and you will no longer have a place at the Divinis Wenrick's son's Age Day celebration." He glared at my dirty clothes. "Were you trying to steal something?"

"No," I said. It was half true.

"Good. Everything in here is cursed to melt your hands if you try to steal it. We've already lost four of you temps that way... Now come along, we need more help putting up the banners in the main hall." He gestured for me to follow him. He stepped through open double doors into a two story room. Windows allowed bright sunshine to illuminate all. Six or so servants skittered here and there. Some were standing on ladders, pinning wreaths of decorations along the walls. The others were polishing what must have been over forty stately wooden chairs, while one was wiping down the windows and beating dust from the curtains. Presents, dozens of them, sat wrapped in silk, cloth, and parchment in a towering display in the corner of the room.

"You, go ask the head maid Lucia what you can do to assist," he barked at me. I hurried off to the woman he had pointed at. Lucia was a skinny woman with a healthy glow to her skin; the impression of leanness was enhanced by her plain dress and apron being oversized. She must have lost weight recently. Her unremarkable face twisted in disapproval.

"You're all dirty."

"Helping in the garden?" I joked. I hoped they didn't check the garden.

"Hmm." She grabbed a feather duster from around her waist. She brushed me, and the dirt flew off and disappeared into a flurry of sparkles.

"Enchanted?" I asked.

"Yes. Cloud chicken feathers. Find a good way into your sorcerer master's heart, and you get all sorts of perks." She fluffed the feather duster. "I hear that the dust gets banished to whatever realm the excess fat of the Avalons goes."

"What?" I said.

"You don't think they stay hungry looking naturally with those fine foods, do you dearie?" She had warmed up incredibly since Wishid Kluth had left. The super tight bun and rigid frown was a front for his approval.

"You're probably here to earn coin. I can't imagine anyone would want to be within a mile of Kluth during a big event like this. He was already giving you an earful. Do me a favor, and bring in the curtain in the third room on the left down the hall?"

"It might take me a few chances to find it, but I'll do my best."

"It's massive, crushed red velvet. We're going to drape it over the presents."

I scampered off. Running into Wishid Kluth yet again, I explained I was on an errand for the head maid. He began to chase me, but then his attention was called by someone in the kitchen, and he broke off the pursuit to go lecture someone there. I preferred him quiet, as he was when he was with the Divinis, compared to this. I made my way, checking the remaining doors. I had my ear pressed against one when it opened. Something crashed into me, blinding my vision as I fell backward into the hall.

"Aaah!" a wispy voice uttered. Everything around me was black, and I panicked, thinking I had fainted once again. The black was moving, folding. I pushed with my hands. My fingers came into contact with something warm and wet outside the folds of clothes.

"Oh! My eye!" A cry, and then light flooded my vision as the blackness retreated.

Winsor was curled on the ground, one hand clasped over his face. Tears streamed down his cheeks, and his bottom lip was trembling.

"Owwww!" he crooned.

"Are... are you all right ?" I asked, climbing to my feet.

He glared at me with his good eye.

"Pain inside of my eye on which for sight I do rely, fade away so I am no longer in torment's sway," he chanted. He stopped clutching his eye and then swiped at his face with the backs of his hands, draped in those comically oversized dark sleeves.

I tried not to feel sorry for him, even though he was so pitiful. This was the jerk that kidnapped Mallow. I considered for a moment holding him hostage in exchange for Mallow. How did one hold a sorcerer hostage? Maybe using the technique of the Assistant in front of the circus. Could I wrap my sash around his mou-

"Unscrupulous knave, through the air you shall wave!" he said. My feet left the floor, and I was levitating in the air. "Twist and turn until your stomach churns," He continued, after sniffing away the last few tears that had coated his face.

"Hey!" I said.

He crossed his arms over his chest and sulked in the doorway, studying me. It was hard to read his expression as I spun in the air faster and faster. The wind in my ears made the next words difficult to hear.

"So you really ARE an unscrupulous knave. That's interesting."

"It was an accident! An accident!" I moaned.

He laughed.

"You can't do this to me. I'm a person!" I wailed.

"An ungifted person who poked me in the eye," he said, humor fading into hurt.

"You'll get in trouble with..." I clamped my lips together. I felt the bile beginning to bubble in my stomach. If I blew chunks on this kid, he'd be even more angry than he was already, but he was in prime spray zone if that happened. "Arcana Enforcement," I managed.

"Fool who is spinning like a top, come to a gentle stop."

The speed slowed until I stopped, though I was still hanging in the air. My stomach settled. Winsor laughed, his head falling forward and his hair masking his face. It sounded empty. By his legs, a small dog peeked its head between the billows of his robe and the door frame. Its soulful eyes blinked at me and its mouth opened in a greeting grin. Its tail thumped against the door.

"You know," Winsor said, recapturing my gaze through a part in the hair, "if you weren't really a fool, you would have kept spinning."

"Only you would know, Enchanted One," I conceded. Okay, this kid was definitely the one who kidnapped Mallow. He had no respect for other people.

"Winny, what are you doing?" A woman's voice came from down the hallway. Her gait was rounded by her full figure, like a sorceress should be. Her dark gray hair was tucked behind her ear, tied up in a gem studded ribbon. Her fine face crinkled with concern

"Uh..." Winsor said. He rubbed the back of his neck. "I was ..."

"You're teasing the help?" The woman's hands fell to her ample hips. "I expected that from Bernard, but Winny, you're better than that."

Winsor cleared his throat.

"Forgive me, ma'am." I bowed my head, swaying from lingering dizziness. "I was asking young master Reglar what if felt like to levitate as he often does, and he offered to show me. I simply could not handle the experience."

Winsor's mouth gaped in surprise. Thankfully, the lady's eyes were mostly on me. She then swooped over to Winsor and pulled him in close. Then, she broke away from the hug, as if she had accidentally grasped a hot pan. They were both studying me with intrigue.

"Winny, be careful with magic with ungifted, all right?" she said. "I am glad to hear that you are warming up to your subjects, but magic is quite startling for those of us who didn't grow up with it," She paused. "Remind me to tell you about my first week at the Avalon Academy and how I ended up making my hair too lively and it bit—"

"Mother, you've told me that story already." Winsor's eyes glanced upwards in warm exasperation. "About a dozen times."

"Have I?"

"Yes, mother," Winsor ran his fingers through his hair, fixing it. "Is... is there anything you'd like me to cast for you?" he asked, his voice faltering. She studied her son with a smile, before she peered off to the side, as if uncomfortable.

"Using your magic for others, that's so kind." The words were sweet. The tone was terse. "I'm fine for now." A smile with too many teeth broke out across her face. "My biggest wish today is that you find a way to enjoy the festival. Not everyone makes it to their Age Day." She tapped the tip of his nose with her finger playfully. He flinched with a smile.

"Yes, Mother."

She walked off toward the end of the hall.

Winsor gave me a baffled appraisal once she was out of earshot.

"That is my mother, Naobe. What I'm curious about is what was your motive to fabricate a condition to absolve me from wrongdoing in her eyes? I certainly had not been acting in a way that could be considered endearing to you."

My mind tried to sort out what I had seen. Winsor radiated with genuine happiness, but his mother...

"Your mother would have over reacted," I suggested. "It's not like you were actually hurting me or anything."

"No, I wasn't. And I could have, if I had so wished," he said, but as an afterthought. "Which I may still do, since you obviously aren't here on an errand for your imaginary sorcerer master."

"I was trying to earn some spare coin. They've hired extra help throughout the manor." I decided a cover story was better the more places it was used in. Best to stay consistent. "I had no intention of bothering you, Enchanted One."

A door across the hall opened. I recognized Shician Lars, though not the woman who had her hand tossed over his shoulder. They were laughing. Behind them, still lurking in the room, I spied Rorona waiting with half an army of other flowery Assistants. They were quiet in spite of Shician Lars bursting with laughter. The smell of wine radiated from the sorcerers. Winsor stiffened and took a step backward into the room.

"Winsor." Shician Lars bowed his head in deference, causing Winsor to halt his retreat. "Tell your father that he is throwing a most excellent celebration..." He threw up his hands in joy and wobbled with instability. Winsor smiled for a second, a forced reflex.

"He wants only that we all enjoy ourselves."

"And I am, although I was not..." Shician Lars was dour. "...invited to stay in the home like Charmster Toles, and it is so nicely maintained by that excellent Assistant Wishid too. Ah, if only I had a Wishid Assistant..."

"Winsor's going to get one someday soon, isn't he? A sorcerer to serve him. I have two Wishid, and I absolutely adore them; I've sent them out to gather some mushrooms that only grow in this area. Their location magic makes them more efficient than even a dozen ungifted," the woman said. Her clothes were rich but stiff, and a row of medals glinted on her lapel. Military? "Get yourself a lovely woman Wishid. At least until you get married..."

She grinned at Winsor. "Maybe Divinis Wenrick already hired you one for your Age Day, a nice present any hot-blooded young man would like to receive. Of course, there's a real risk of her becoming your wife if you get too frisky despite the weak magic, so pick one you'd like as more than some legs. Though..." Winsor's face had gotten red in the interim. "...maybe you're not a leg man. Butts? No wait, you're type is sensitive, so bre—"

"Ialreadyhavean Assistant," Winsor blurted. His hand curled around my arm so tightly it would have hurt if he hadn't been so weak. "And we're in the middle of a project, so if you'll excuse me Charmster." Winsor bowed his head, his already whispery voice getting increasingly feather-like.

"Working during your Age Day? And I thought your brother was the industrious one," Charmster Toles laughed. "Winsor, let me give you some advice—"

"The experiment truly is time sensitive, my apologies Charmster, please enjoy yourself. If I've any questions, I'll presume to knock at your door. It is only three down from mine. Good bye." Winsor yanked me into the room and closed the door. He pressed his back against it. I heard muffled laughter, and then many footsteps as the two sorcerers and Shician Lar's ridiculous entourage departed.