Tara Duncan and the Spellbinders (30 page)

“I'll be delighted to give him the reasons for your punishment, Miss Brandaud. You put the imperial court of Omois in danger. What do you think he'll say when he learns that little detail?”

Angelica bit her lip so hard, it bled. She knew what her father would say. That she should've chosen another moment and especially not gotten caught! And with those truth-telling spells, there was no way to hide what had happened. Angelica's tense body relaxed, and her shoulders slumped in defeat.

“Good,” said the wizard, satisfied by her surrender. “I am now going to cast a spell on all six of you and—”

“No!” Tara's shout interrupted him. “No spells!”

Chem blinked in surprise, but then remembered how angry Tara had been when her grandmother cast a forgetting spell on her. He smiled at her kindly.

“Don't worry, Tara, I'm not going to tamper with your memory. I just want to cast a light spell on all of you to keep you from discussing this regrettable incident with any third party. You will be able to talk among yourselves about what Angelica did, but if someone overhears you—whether by magic or just by being present—the spell will prevent you from talking about it. Is that okay with you?”

“Yes,” said a relieved Tara. “It seems important that we not forget what happened. Thank you.”

“You're welcome.”

He quickly recited the spell before she changed her mind: “By Informatus, the secret we share. May no one else know of this affair!”

A greenish cloud rose from the old wizard's hands, settled on them, and the spell was activated.

“Now Tara, I want you to tell me what happened when you tried to close the hole. And what in Demiderus' name possessed you to rush toward the Portal. I really thought my two old dragon's hearts were going to stop!”

“Well, I knew what needed to be done,” said Tara with a smile. (Dragons have two hearts? Who knew? A lot of knights must have gotten a big surprise!) “The tornado shoved me into the boy who was reciting spells. I told him what we had to do and we tried it together, but a kind of negative force opposed us. That was enough for Angelica's familiar to be sucked into the vortex along with the boy. I almost was too.”

“Yes, I felt it as well,” confirmed the old dragon. “There were more than a hundred high wizards in the hall. We should have been able to control the Portal right away. You're right, it was extremely powerful.”

“I knew it!” said Cal, who was still hung up on his dislike for the vampyr. “Master Dragosh kept shooting lightning bolts. I'm sure he was preventing the Portal from closing, so Tara would be sucked into it.”

“Balderdash and tommyrot!” snapped the dragon wizard angrily. “Dragosh's magical skills are different, that's all. The lightning bolts don't mean anything. Did you notice anything else, Tara?”

“Well, I was trying to save my life, so aside from that, not much.”

“Yes, I can understand that. I really thought the vortex wasn't ever going to close. What about the rest of you, children?”

Cal opened his mouth to speak, but a sharp look from the wizard stopped him. All right, got it: no more talking about Master Dragosh. But Cal was still convinced that the vampyr had done something against Tara, and he would eventually find proof, just as he had with Angelica.

“We're no further along than we were,” said the wizard with a sigh. “I know you want to help me find whoever has been kidnapping our apprentices, but I don't want you to be mixed up in this. It could be extremely dangerous. And something about what happened today is escaping me . . . ”

The six young people waited, but he gave them no further explanations.

Once Angelica and Carole had gone back to their rooms, Tara suggested that everybody meet at her place.

“Sparrow, you were incredibly brave!” she said gratefully. “You saved my life, hanging on to me like that.”

“You know, considering how much I weighed at that point, a little howling tornado wasn't gonna scare me!”

“I want to thank you too,” continued Tara, looking at Cal and Robin. “You risked your lives trying to help me!”

“We really didn't have much time to think,” said Cal with a laugh. “Otherwise we would've taken off and would probably still be running.”

Tara smiled, then continued more thoughtfully.

“Master Chem is right when he says that something is escaping us. There's one thing I don't understand either.”

“What's that?” asked Sparrow.

Tara looked at the three of them seriously and said, “Whoever was trying to kidnap me has changed his mind. Now he wants to kill me.”

T
ara's three friends couldn't think of anything to say to that. They, too, suspected that the rules of the game had changed.

“Do you really think so?” asked a horrified Sparrow. “Maybe you aren't the one they're gunning for, but the boy who died.”

“I don't know,” answered Tara wearily. “But if you hadn't shapeshifted, I would be dead. And nobody knew you could do a thing like that.”

“I didn't know it myself,” said Sparrow. “I'm gonna have to have a little chat with my mom.”

Tara smiled at her. “Welcome to the club. My grandmother likes to keep her little secrets too. What am I saying? She's raised secrecy to an art form! I'm sure she hasn't told me more than a quarter of the truth.”

Cal said, “Speaking of truth, you sure hid the fact that you're the Princess of Lancovit.”

“Not
the
princess, just one of the princesses,” Sparrow replied. “My mother is the queen's sister, and we're a collateral branch. My dad is an engineer wizard who specializes in precious and magical minerals. We haven't lived in Lancovit much, mainly in Hymlia, the land of dwarves, and Gandis, the land of giants. My parents figured it would be better for me to be an ordinary apprentice, like everyone else. That's why the issue of my title never came up. And I had no idea that I could shape-shift. That was a major surprise.”

“It must have surprised the Bloodgrave who was trying to kill me too,” said Tara.

“Yeah, but we still don't know who wants to hurt you,” said Cal. “And we especially don't know why.”

“You're in someone's way,” concluded Robin. “So much so that they tried to kill you right in front of the Empress of Omois.”

The three friends looked at Tara with new respect. Cal, as their spokesman, said, “So what have you done to attract a reaction like that? My mom often says she's going to kill me because I exasperate her, and I know a few high wizards who'd be happy to lend her a hand. But you—wow! Someone out there
really
doesn't like you!”

“That's enough!” snapped Sparrow, who could see that though Tara was holding her head high, her hands were trembling. “We aren't sure of anything. Maybe it was just an accident, maybe not. I suggest that we do our best to protect Tara. In fact, I don't think we should leave her alone. I'll sleep with her at night. The bed's big enough.”

“I'll be glad to sleep with her too,” said a grinning Cal, just before Robin's pillow caught him full in the face.

When the majestic lunch gong rang, the friends had to interrupt the energetic pillow fight they had launched. A purple ifrit led them to the dining room, where everybody was talking about the recent events.

Lady Auxia, who had traded her usual brightly colored robe for one so black it seemed to actually absorb light—and given that she was a wizard, maybe it did—rose to speak: “In memory of your unfortunate fellow apprentice, we are going to observe a minute of silence.”

Everyone bowed their head, and Tara reflected that if Sparrow hadn't rescued her, it would be
two
minutes of silence.

Auxia continued: “Because of the ongoing investigation, we initially canceled the visit to Tingapore. But since the Lancovit apprentices aren't yet familiar with our magnificent capital, the empress specifically requested that the visit take place. So please come to the Palace entrance at two o'clock. Our flying carpets will take you to Tingapore and pick you up at five.”

A buzz of excitement greeted her announcement.

“Lunch is served. In spite of these tragic events, I hope you enjoy your meal.”

Cal noticed that the seat next to Damien was empty. Angelica had stayed in her room. He was still angry at her and secretly hoped she wouldn't find out about the trip into town. It was petty and he knew it, but all's fair in love and war.

Sparrow, on the other hand, was all smiles.

“Tingapore, neat!” she exclaimed. “You'll see, it's terrific!”

Tara was chewing on her white strand and observing the high wizards— Dragosh, Boudiou, Deria, Patin, and Sardoin—and merely nodded, without answering. She was willing to bet her bottom immuta-cred that the guided trip into Tingapore was part of some scheme of Master Chem's, but to what end? Robin didn't seem overly delighted by the news either, and looked worried.

Chem gave them their spending money in case they wanted to buy something and very seriously delivered some final safety instructions.

“Be careful not to bump into anybody,” he said, “especially not giants. They're very touchy and have the unfortunate habit of tossing aside anybody they dislike or who gets in their way.

“Don't cast spells on dwarves, on pain of instant death. Dwarves despise all forms of magic, and they punish offenders in particularly horrible ways that usually involve hammers, pincers, and very hot fires.

“Don't touch any animals. Some of them look like cuddly plush toys until they open their mouths, which are often full of sharp teeth. Any number of heedless visitors to OtherWorld have died saying, ‘Oh, look how cute this little—'

“Don't eat anything you can't identify. The living seaweed of Peridor, for example, grows in the stomachs of people who eat it and comes out through their brains. Dwarves can eat sacat larvae with impunity, but anyone else could find a swarm of them in their belly. Sacat larvae hatch into poisonous and very aggressive red and yellow flying bugs as long as your finger. Taval nuts drive humans insane. The toxins they contain are reserved exclusively for trolls who, as we all know, don't have any brains.” Master Chem smiled to show that he was joking, but Tara had already sworn not to eat or touch
anything
in this crazy world.

“It's best to stay with the high wizards and not wander off by yourselves,” he continued. “Slavery still exists in some parts of OtherWorld, and the Salterens are always looking for workers for their salt mines.

“Don't go into holy areas. You could be stupidly mistaken for the sacrifice of the day.

“Bow politely to merchants if you want to buy anything. Bargain if you like, but always patiently, and don't offer more than thirty percent below the asking price.” Cal complained that he didn't like having to do math just to know how and what to buy. “Immediately alert the high wizards in case of even the slightest incident. If the problem is more serious, call a police wizard. They are easy to recognize in their red and gold robes.”

The group was preparing to leave when Angelica appeared, looking defiantly at Master Chem. He couldn't very well order her back to her room, because the others wouldn't understand. But with Cal, Robin, and the old wizard all glaring at her, she cautiously kept a low profile. Angelica's friends gathered around out of sympathy for the loss of her familiar—except for Carole, who had started keeping her distance since the Portal incident.

When lunch was over, Master Chen gave the signal to leave and they finally stepped outside.

“Gee, the Palace is right downtown!” exclaimed Tara, seeing that the walls around its manicured lawns overlooked a busy highway.

“That's right,” said Robin. “A spell keeps the noise from bothering the empress and the emperor. That's why we can't hear anything. But just wait until we leave the Palace grounds.”

Half a dozen beautiful flying carpets equipped with comfortable chairs (and seat belts!) were hovering by the Palace entrance. Their drivers lowered them to the ground and the passengers stepped aboard. Then one by one, the carpets flew out through the Imperial Palace main gates.

“
Switchil mum trav ungeran
?” asked Cal.

“Beg pardon?” asked a dismayed Tara.

“
Glentar ‘Interpretus' unglar glinucli! Baclar vindus sabul a chahiclli
,” gurgled Sparrow.

“
A valux . . .
how old fashioned these carpets are,” continued Cal, suddenly intelligible again.

“Okay, I can understand you now,” said Tara with surprise, “but for a moment I couldn't understand anything.”

“That's normal,” explained Sparrow. “The Interpretus translation spell only works within the Palace, so I cast another Interpretus so we can understand each other.”

Tara was about to speak when a deafening roar made her look around. The carpets had just entered Tingapore, and the sounds of the city hit them like a living wave.

There wasn't one level of traffic, but eight of them! Stacked on top of each other, carpets, spellbinders, armchairs, stools, cushions, sofas, and beds (for the really lazy) were flying and crisscrossing in every direction. All this traffic was coordinated by ifrits. They looked like the ones in the Palace except they were smaller and their luminous bodies changed colors.

Tara's heart almost stopped when their carpet sped up when the ifrit turned red. Apparently, Imperial red here corresponded to a green light on Earth; gold was yellow, and blue was red. Traffic surged ahead the instant an ifrit changed color. Tara also saw many pegasi zooming among the armchairs, beds, chairs, canopy beds, wagons, wheelbarrows—even a bathtub!

When drivers ran a blue light, they usually didn't get far. A redand-gold ifrit from the Imperial guard would materialize to write them tickets. Pile-ups weren't too serious, because anti-collision spells kept people from getting hurt. Besides, it was hard to dent the radiator grille of a flying carpet.