Page 24 of Unexpected Magic

He was quite correct. There was no harm in the little lindwurm, but she had a large helping of mischief mixed with an adventurous spirit. “Once she was up there, she became stuck. The wardrobe is next to the door, you see, so there was no convenient surface for her to lower herself down on to. I had to climb up on a chair and coax her into turning back the way shehad come.” Delia sighed. “I expect she is too young to learn from the experience, so Polly and I have moved all the furniture so she cannot reach from one tall piece to another.”

Mr. Thornton smiled. “It is a good idea, I think.”

“But you cannot possibly be interested in Mary’s explorations, Mr. Thornton.”

“I am fascinated,” the dear man insisted. “Miss Nettleford, I must apologize if I seem a little distracted. I have some difficulties to work out, but these meetings with you are the highlight of my day. How is Sapphire? Does he still follow you everywhere and insist on sleeping close enough to touch you?”

“What is troubling you, sir?” Delia asked. “Is it something I can help with?” A silly question, for Delia was stuck here in seclusion with the nuns, so what help could she give? “If nothing else, Mr. Thornton, I could be a listening ear.”

“You should be aware of my problems in case they become your own,” Mr. Thornton said, in a tone that suggested he was considering the matter rather than stating a conclusion. “Yes.” That was far more definite. “I should tell you. Miss Nettleford, I have kept this to myself for I did not wish to worry you, but I would have you armed against those who wish you harm.”

What an alarming start to his intended disclosure! “The Welsh mage, do you mean?”

“He may be involved,” said Mr. Thornton, “but my main concern is right here in the castle.”

Delia leapt to a conclusion. “You have found the traitor who set the hex?”

However, he shook his head. “I have not found evidence,” he said, regret toning his voice. “I think I know who it is, but I cannot prove it. I almost cannot believe it. Except I do not see who else it could be. Also, what evidence there is points in that direction, Captain Harewood agrees with my conclusions, and my instincts tell me I am right.” He heaved a great sigh. “It has tobe my Uncle Percy. Or, I suppose, someone close to him, but he had the best chance.”

“Lord Percival? The castellan?” Not that Delia was questioning Mr. Thornton’s conclusions. She had only met the castellan twice, but he had made her uncomfortable both times, praising her in an unctuous manner that appeared flattering on the surface but seemed patronizing when she thought about it afterward.

“I know,” said Mr. Thornton. “It seems unlikely, does it not? But…”

“It does not seem as unlikely as I think it should be, if that makes sense,” Delia said.

“There is something about him, isn’t there?” Mr. Thornton sounded satisfied with her response. “But I think I need to tell this from the beginning.”

He told her about a barrier to magical translocation, and how he and the captain of the guard had experimented to find out its nature, its extent, and what it was for. “It is a barrier on me, Miss Nettleford. If I give Captain Harewood something I have spelled and that he can trigger with his own gift, it works as long as Captain Harewood is at least five hundred yards away from me. The barrier goes in a dome around me, and possibly in a bubble, because we’ve tried burrowing.”

“They are afraid of your power,” Delia suggested.

He shrugged. “Perhaps. We discovered the barrier when I tried to translocate messages to London. That was our first experiment, by the way. Captain Harewood took the messages outside and sent them with no difficulty. The reply came only today. They couldn’t reach me from their end, and they didn’t know where a reply would be safe, so they had to send their letter to someone they trusted in Manchester, and he came here in person to meet with Captain Harewood.”

He grimaced. “So, London is aware of the hex on the water, of the birth of the sphinx, and of the barrier. And the Duke of Findlater says that the mage-trace on the hexed object is that of the Welsh mage. He is certain that Emrys of Dolgellau, the Welsh mage, made the hex. But there is another, fainter, mage trace, and he believes it to be the trace of the mage who placed the hexed object and triggered it. He recognized the Welsh mage trace from previous battles, but the other he knows well. The object has been handled by his brother, our Lord Percy.” He looked down at his feet, as if ashamed. Or disappointed? It was hard to tell, but hewasthe man’s nephew, after all.

“Did Lord Percival not have a look at it when you found it?” It was not so much that Delia could not believe Lord Percival to be a villain, as that she wanted to close all loopholes.

“He did, but His Grace says that such a strong mage trace cannot have been left with just a passing touch.”

Delia had another objection. “I thought Lord Percival’s gift was very weak. Would he have enough magic to get it into the well room? And to trigger it?”

“As to triggering it, yes. Even the weakest of gifts can start a spell if it has been keyed to that person. His Grace also had a suggestion for how Uncle Percy made his way into the well room without being seen by the guards. Remember that he wouldn’t set off the defenses because he is castellan of the castle, so the only issue to be explained is that the well is guarded at all times, and none of the guards saw him.”

With a nod, Delia acknowledged that she realized both those points.

Mr. Thornton shared the information that was the key to the mystery. “The Duke of Findlater says that his brother has one strong gift. He can make himself invisible. His Grace is sending a contingent of guard with a senior mage from the King’s Councilto arrest his brother, and he warns us to be very wary until he gets here.”

Before he had even finished his sentence, the alarm trumpet sounded, warning that the castle was under an external attack. Bangs indicated that magical blows were being aimed at the castle.

Leaping to his feet, Mr. Thornton said, “Keep the babies inside, Miss Nettleford. Stay away from the windows. I shall return as soon as I can to let you know what this was all about.”

He was heading for the door even before he finished speaking, and in a moment, he was gone.

Sister Agatha had put her rosary away and was waiting for Delia. “I shall see you back to the babies, dear,” she said, “and then find out what I can do to help the defense.” Sister Agatha was one of the most powerful of the convent battle mages, despite being deaf in one ear. Indeed, the deafness was from a combat injury.

While Delia was once again relegated to being protected. She did her best to keep her sigh hidden. If all she could do was stay in one place and leave the warriors to do their job, she could at least do that without complaint.

The babies were all aware of the battle. Polly, too, admitted that she could sense the magic energies being released. “It is like a scratching at the back of the mind, or a shriek that I cannot quite hear,” she said. “It makes the hair stand up on my neck.”