Chapter 15: Hiding in Plain Sight (part a)

(Is this your first time to the site? To start reading from the beginning- click HERE.)


A couple hours later, when Marne had wrapped himself in his sun-cloak and dozed off in the shade of a battered palm tree, Teine had time to sit down under another tree and crack open his journals and sketchbooks.  It'd been an eventful morning, he reflected, as he ground his bare toes into the powdery soft, sparkling white sand.  This was the nicest beach he could remember ever being on.  This beach, directly below the Tower, was protected by a cove with craggy stones jutting out like sharp teeth to impale any unwary or overly large sailing vessels.  There were no sounds other than the rhythmic pounding of the surf and the occasional call of a songbird with gaudy plumage.  There weren't any sharp rocks in the sand, plenty of colorful seashells for the hunting, and small silvery fish you could see clearly in the shallows.  

A pile of selected interesting stones and seashells, a half-built sand castle, and the seagull-picked remnants of their snacks stood mute testimony to the fun they'd had, before Marne had grown weary.  The two boys hadn't spoken much but the nervous, knife-edged pressure had forged a bond between them.  When they'd noticed figures on the dining balcony watching them Marne waved cheerfully as if he hadn't a care in the world.  Teine suppressed a nervous giggle at the impulsive gesture, which made Marne laugh outright.  And though the situation seemed dire, the laughter itself was fun and lifted some of the tension.   Teine was surprised at how comfortable the silence had been, and how similar Marne was to many of the other intelligent boys he'd known.  He'd expected Aoife to be different, somehow.  But then again, Marne wasn't exactly an Aoife.

What was he? Teine had been pondering that question all morning, but was practical enough to admit to himself that if Marne hadn't managed to answer that question after 100 years, it was unlikely that Teine would have an answer for him any time soon.

Allowing his thoughts to drift pleasantly, Teine pulled out his sketch book and made quick field drawings of a couple types of birds he'd never seen before.  He took careful notes, detailing the shape of their bills, and what colors went where on their feathery bodies.  He was so absorbed in his work, he didn't hear the footsteps approaching.

"Hey, you!" Hamoni shouted.  She'd taken off her sandals and was approaching him on tip-toe, with the hem of her skirt hoisted enough to show her petticoats and dainty ankles. The wind whipped her mane of hair into a frenzy, exposing the graceful curve of her neck and the delicate points of her ears.  Even if she was an Aoife, Teine was beginning to think she was the most lovely girl he'd ever seen. The beach suited her.

"The inspectors cleared off  half an hour ago, so it's safe to come back."  As Marne stirred at the sound of her voice, Hamoni wrinkled her nose at Teine.  "You probably should have left your shirt on.  You look like a lobster in a pot."

If Teine hadn't been so sunburned, she might have noticed his self-conscious blush.  "It was a new shirt, and I didn't want to get it dirty," he explained, as he assessed the damage.  Sometimes, it just didn't pay to be a redhead.  He suspected he'd be really uncomfortable later.

"Did Father leave, too?" Marne asked, stretching and yawning cavernously.  Alarmed, Teine blinked twice.  He hadn't noticed before, but Marne's teeth were different, too.  Like most Aoife, he had larger canines than Humans did, but it seemed this trait was exaggerated in the boy.  It made his sleepy yawn look positively threatening, especially if one wasn't expecting it.

"No, he's still here.  I suspect he and Madric will still be verbally fencing, when we return," Hamoni answered.

Marne sighed.  "Ah, the manly art of small talk and sibling rivalry."  He glanced at Teine, with a knowing expression on his young-looking face.  "They pretend to like each other, for my sake."  After rising to his feet, Marne shook out his sun-cloak and draped it over Teine's reddened shoulders.  "I think you're well-done."

Suppressing a chuckle, Hamoni nodded. "Agreed."

Marne, however, looked far better for his time in the sun.  Most of the time he'd been out, he'd been sitting on his sun-cloak, not wearing it.  The child had already begun to tan, and the faint golden brown looked far healthier than his earlier pallor.  He seemed well-rested and chipper.  Teine suspected whatever his ailment had been, he was over it.

Together Hamoni and the two boys made their way up the steep stone stairway, back to the Tower.  Although they were heavily shaded from the early afternoon sun by trees and undergrowth, going back up was far more exhausting than their dizzy, frantic trip down to the beach.  After only a minute, Teine looked back over his shoulder to see how Hamoni and Marne were doing and realized he was leaving them both behind.  Having never gotten a chance to compare his long strides to the smaller, more dainty steps of Aoife, Teine was appalled at how rudely he outpaced them.  Immediately he retraced his steps, scooping Marne up to carry him piggyback. Although his tender skin screamed in protest, it was fitting penance for his earlier thoughtlessness.  With the extra burden it was easy for him to slow his pace to walk next to Hamoni.

"What happens now?" Teine found himself asking.  It felt odd to come from a highly regimented life, where he had a schedule and a calendar he was expected to keep, to a life where his schedule was dictated by the whims of others.  It wasn't unpleasant, and it did seem he'd end up having more leisure time than he'd expected, and possibly even more quality entertainments available to him during that leisure time.  But he did like to know what to expect.

"Madric wants to see the both of you in his workroom," Hamoni told them.  "Kenneth and the boys got the mess mostly cleaned up and have gone into town for new glass.  It's a pleasant day, so we thought we'd finish Teine's evaluation."

"What about my bracelet?" Marne asked, resting his pointy chin on Teine's shoulder.  "I feel rather naked without it."  Teine could feel how cool the boy's skin was against his, and he was beginning to fear for his poor sunburned hide.

Hamoni frowned.  "We think we've figured out the problem.  We think," she emphasized.

It was Marne's turn to frown, and he did, biting his lip as if he were nervous.  "What happens if it doesn't work?"

"It'll work. You worry too much."

"It's my face,"  Marne reminded her.  "That means I'm allowed to worry."  The boy sounded very grave, indeed.

**

Half an hour later, Teine was back on the stool in Madric's workroom.  The room itself was much the same as it had been first time he'd seen it, except that most of the windows in the entire room had been broken out completely and had not yet been replaced.  A cool breeze that smelled of the ocean teased their hair, and Teine could smell the lush sub-tropical flowers growing in the courtyard.  Hamoni sat at her desk, with Marne's bracelet holding open a book she was writing in.  Marne was sitting on the floor with the bucket that contained the water elemental between his knees, trying to coax the watery being into activity by offering it a small model boat.

Lord Solmurrian had gone along with Kenneth and his boys into town to buy replacement glass for the shattered windows.  Although Teine was privately appalled by the Aoife man's continued indifference to his son, he decided that he wouldn't let it bother him as long as Marne seemed fine.  He was beginning to wonder how much of the gossip he'd heard about this neglect was true and how much was exaggerated, when Madric stepped over and peered at him sternly. Apparently the examination was beginning where it left off.

The magician stared intently at Teine, his piercing blue eyes serious.  Teine could feel the heavy weight of judgement in the Aoife's gaze.  The moment had arrived where Teine would find out if he had magical abilities, or not.  After the excitement of the last day, and Madric's descriptions, Teine wasn't sure what he wanted the verdict to be.

"I can't remember for the life of me," Madric finally admitted. "What we were speaking of when we were interrupted." Teine let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding.  "All I remember is that it seemed very significant at the time, and now it completely escapes me."

Teine tried not to roll his eyes as he wracked his brain, replaying the events he remembered.  The excitement of the storm, the breaking glass, and everything else seemed to have trumped any memory he'd had on the details of their conversation. "Me neither.  Sorry."

"So, did Teine have any magic?" Marne asked.  He glanced up at them, and as he looked back, the elemental splattered him in the face with stray droplets.  "I suppose I deserved that," the boy sighed, wiping his face with his sleeve.

"All the usual tests were negative," Madric confirmed, "But because of his bloodline and what he said that I can't remember, we'll retest him again next year.  Besides, by then the test procedure for mind magics should be completed at the University."

"That'd be more useful than the standard tests, for him," Hamoni piped up.

Marne nodded his agreement, then rose to look out the window.

Suddenly, Madric clapped his hands together with glee. "I remember!" he crowed.  "Premonitions!  You knew your Amagorra was going to be ill!"

Although he was unwilling to contradict Madric, Teine couldn't help but wrinkle his nose at the thought.  "That could just have been coincidence, don't you think?"

The Aoife magician didn't seem to mind at all.  In fact, he fairly beamed.  "Possible latent talents, a good head in a crisis, and a skeptical, scientific mind!  You're quite a find, lad.  Marne did very well in choosing you."

Teine suspected he was blushing under the burden of such effusive, unexpected praise, but with his sunburn he was sure no one could tell.  "Thank you," he replied, in what he hoped was a gracious, not conceited, tone.  "But what about my bloodline?  Do we have magicians?"

Madric continued to stare at him thoughtfully.  "Yes and no.  It would depend on how you define 'magicians'.  Some don't consider mind magics to be magic at all, but a gift directly from the Gods."

"Can he borrow a book, Uncle?"  asked Marne, looking back over his shoulder at them.  "There are some good examples in that Greeves Academy text, and the writing isn't too far over the top.  He can read up, then you can answer any more specific questions he has, once he has a good basic foundation of knowledge on the subject."

"I have that one in my room," Hamoni volunteered.  "I'll get it for him later."

Madric nodded his consent to the girl, then beckoned to Marne.  "All right then, Nephew of mine. It's your turn."  He gestured for Teine to vacate his seat, and when Marne came to them, Madric lifted him up and placed him on the examination stool.  "So, tell me how it went this time."

"It lasted longer, I think," Marne began, rubbing his wrist unconsciously where the bracelet would normally sit.  "And I didn't have a single person comment on it, so perhaps the shielding worked better this time and no one saw it."

Teine had drifted over to take Marne's spot at the window to enjoy the view, but was listening intently to the conversation.  It was all so fascinating.  This window into the world of secret and forbidden magics was so unexpected and so... well, words escaped him.  He supposed it must have been commonplace for the people who dealt with it every day, but for the vast majority of people out there it was unheard of.  He felt very privileged to be a party to such radical conversation.

Madric scribbled a few notes in a book, taking down Marne's response.  "Did you see anyone looking at it, as if they could see it?"

Suddenly, Teine put the pieces together and realized they were talking about the bracelet that Marne wore.  "I remember seeing it," he volunteered- then immediately wished he hadn't, as all three of them turned to look at him sharply.

"What did you see?" Madric asked him, point blank.

Teine swallowed, hoping he hadn't gotten himself in trouble.  "That chunky gold bracelet, with the engraved pattern on it.  It caught my eye because it looks too big for him."

Madric and Hamoni exchanged a look that Teine couldn't read, before Madric spoke again.  "We'll definitely have to test him again sometime." Marne simply sat on the stool, swinging his feet and looking interested.

"Does everyone magic have hidden jewelry?" Teine found himself blurting out questions and unable to stop.  "Or is it only for special occasions?  Is all of Marne's jewelry supposed to be hidden?" he asked, giving Marne some serious scrutiny, in case there was something he'd missed earlier.  "Because I see his necklace and ring, too."

"No, no," Madric assured him.  "Marne's bracelet is a special case. We crafted the masking spell into it, because the bracelet is so crucial to hiding Marne's features, and inhibiting some of his-"

"Wait a second," Hamoni interrupted.  "What ring?"


To read the next installment of "Chapter 15- Hiding in Plain Sight (part b)" click --- HERE!


 If you like the story, please spread the word! Subscribe to our feed, "like" us on Facebook, "follow" us in Blogger or just tell people!

The Gilded Shackle is the first book in The Evermancer Saga, a series of online serial novels. Go go right to the most recent chapter, go to www.evermancer.com.

To read the whole story, starting at the beginning, click HERE!