Modern Magick

The Heart of Hyndorin: 16

'By the looks of it, Ashdown Castle is lying in wait,' said Jay.

'For us,' I groaned. 'This is what Alban meant, when he said Ancestria Magicka had some kind of a spy at Court. They knew we were headed out here.'

'And they hoped we would be coming out with something priceless.'

'Which we are.'

'We can't let them get hold of those plans,' said Jay.

'But that's why they're here. And they've got Alban and Emellana and Mir. They must do. And they're waiting for us to walk right into the trap, which we are presently in the process of doing.'

'Hostage situation?' said Jay.

'Right. They'll try to trade our friends for our loot. And ordinarily I wouldn't hesitate to go for a trade like that, but this is no ordinary loot.' I backed up until Ashdown Castle disappeared from sight, then dumped my bag on the floor and crouched over it, rummaging through the contents. 'Mauf, speak,' I said, locating my precious book at the bottom. 'Tell me you've got a grip on that scroll.'

'I have done my best, madam.'

That would have to be enough. 'The fate of the world rests in your hands,' I informed Mauf as I drew out the scroll.

'Regrettably, I have no hands,' Mauf pointed out.

'Your capable pages, then,' I said, but absently, for I was busy eyeballing the scroll. 'Or, maybe not entirely. Jay, got your phone handy?' I'd let mine fall into the depths of my jumbled bag of paraphernalia, and it could take way too long to find it.

Jay however whipped his out in seconds, and was already snapping pics the moment I had the scroll unrolled. 'But this isn't helpful,' he objected. 'Keeping our own copies is good. Giving Ancestria Magicka the original is unthinkable.'

'I know.' My hands trembled as I gripped the aged vellum of that priceless scroll, and I had to take a moment to get a grip on myself. What I was about to do went as badly against the grain as defacing library books, or torching Orlando's lab.

It took very little power, in the end. I watched sadly as the inked lines of Torvaston's elaborate drawings began to fade.

'Ves, no—' Jay began, but it was already too late. I held a blank sheet of parchment in my hands. The original plans for the Heart of Hyndorin were gone forever.

Quickly, I rolled the scroll back up and secured it, then placed it back into the bag with Mauf. 'Guard that phone with your life,' I told Jay, and without speaking he zipped it into an inside pocket in his jacket.

'Right,' I said, straightening up. 'It's time for an exciting game of chance. Are you ready?'

'You're going to bluff your way through a hostage exchange?' Jay said.

'Do you have a better idea?'

Jay looked at me like I'd grown a second head. Again. I felt a twinge of disappointment, for it had been a while since he'd looked at me with such naked horror. I'd thought I was making some progress in his esteem.

Well. I had just callously erased the contents of a priceless academic artefact. And if we didn't play our collective cards right, we'd either get our friends back but lose all trace of the plans, or we'd lose the lot. Including Alban, Em and Mir.

I tried not to think that way. Ancestria Magicka may be thoroughly unscrupulous, but they'd yet to show signs of murderous tendencies.

Still, the stakes were high. Dangerously high.