Читать книгу Legacy: The Mark of Merlin - Gerald Pruett - Страница 8
ОглавлениеAllyson had made a same-day appointment with Arthur Bennett, the funeral home director, so Ellen’s friends could only visit for a short time before Harris, Allyson and Ellen had to leave the house.
The fifty-year-old Arthur Bennett noticed as soon as Harris, Allyson and Ellen stepped into the funeral home. He had recognized Ellen from a few months before and from talking with Allyson on the phone, he knew why they were there. As he stepped up to them, he introduced himself.
After the introductions were done, Arthur turned towards Ellen while saying, “Ms. Anderson, I remember your mother’s services and I’m very sorry that you have to go through this again so soon.”
Ellen politely grinned before saying, “Yes, me too.”
“So may I get you three anything?” Arthur offered before taking his eyes off of Ellen and looking towards Harris and Allyson. “Soda? Coffee?”
“We’re good, Mr. Bennett,” Harris said.
“Let’s just get on with what we need to do,” Ellen quickly said. “I want to get this over with.”
Allyson put her arm around Ellen’s shoulders while saying, “Please excuse Ellen’s bluntness; however, she is correct on that we would like to get on with it.”
“I understand,” Arthur said. “Follow me and I’ll show you three to our casket display.”
“Of course,” Harris and Allyson said.
Ellen just casually trailed behind as Harris and Allyson followed Arthur.
During the passing minutes, Harris, Allyson and Ellen looked at a dozen caskets before deciding on one that was similar to the one that Ellen’s mother was buried in.
Everyone then moved into Arthur’s office to finalize the pending services, and once the arrangements had been made for the coming Friday, Ellen, Harris and Allyson left.
Once the three were in the rented SUV, Harris glanced at his watch before saying, “We still have over two hours before we need to meet my parents at the airport. So what do you think? Should we go eat dinner first?”
“There’s a chance that they’ll be hungry as well,” Allyson suggested.
“And if we wait to eat and they’re not hungry, they will be watching us eat,” Harris countered.
“Dilemmas-dilemmas-dilemmas,” Ellen said.
“You’re a big help,” Harris sarcastically told Ellen.
Ellen amusingly grinned before saying, “Okay, well, if you ask me how we should pass the time, I want to go to the hospital and visit Sonya.”
“You’re not hungry?” Allyson asked Ellen.
Ellen thought about it for a moment before shaking her head and saying, “Not really.”
“You had to think about your answer?” Harris asked.
Ellen shrugged before saying, “I haven’t had much of an appetite since I was told about Michael and Tanya. I wouldn’t have eaten lunch if it wasn’t for Jane insisting that I eat something. Even then I picked at my food.”
“We should wait for your parents,” Allyson suggested. “Perhaps Ellen will have more of an appetite by then.”
“I doubt it,” Ellen said, barely audible.
Harris looked back at Ellen before saying, “Okay, we’ll go to the hospital to see Sonya.” A grin came across Ellen’s face. “I doubt we’ll be able to visit very long.”
When Ellen nodded, Harris turned forward and started the SUV.
Once the three got to the hospital they were able to visit for slightly more than an hour before they had to leave for the airport.
After a twenty-minute wait at the airport, Harris, Allyson and Ellen greeted Harris’s parents with a hug for each of them.
Once the greetings were over, Harris asked, “So have you two eaten?”
“We had something during the London to New York flight, but I couldn’t tell you what it was though,” Avery, Harris’s dad, said.
“It was fish,” Shannon, Harris’s mother, informed.
“It was supposed to have been fish, but I have my doubts,” Avery said.
“Yes, anyway, the reason I asked is that Allyson, Ellen and I haven’t eaten since lunch,” Harris began. “And I was wondering if you two would like to get a bite to eat with us.”
“Sure, I’m a bit peckish,” Shannon said.
“Let us grab our luggage, son, and then we can go somewhere where I can identify what I’m eating,” Avery said.
“Okay,” Harris said before gesturing in a direction. “The luggage carousel is this way.”
Avery gestured for Harris to go first, and as everyone was following Harris, Allyson asked, “So, Shannon? Avery? How was your flight?”
“The waiting in New York was exhausting, but other than that, our travel was enjoyable,” Shannon said. “So, Ellen? What grade are you in?”
“Tenth,” Ellen simply replied.
When Ellen didn’t say anymore, Shannon asked, “How well are you doing… in the tenth grade?”
“A’s in math and science, and B’s in about everything else,” Ellen said. “Of course if it wasn’t for Tanya being an English teacher and helping me with my grammar, I wouldn’t do so hot in that subject. She helped me a lot.”
“Yes,” Shannon agreed. “Tanya was superior in grammar and spelling. She studied journalism at the university, you know.”
Ellen grinned while saying, “Tanya had told me that two-thirds of your relatives had studied journalism; including you, your sister and your mother.”
“That’s true, but Tanya was the one who had the real talent for it,” Shannon said. “She would get perfect marks on her tests each time.”
“Your big sis had helped you to pass a few tests on grammar, Harry,” Avery pointed out.
“That she did,” Harris agreed.
“Tanya could’ve been a great reporter if only she had the stomach for it,” Shannon added sullenly.
“Is that why she became a high school English teacher instead?” Ellen asked as they were approaching the luggage carousel.
“It was,” Shannon said before they searched through the luggage on the carousel.
Avery and Shannon had five good size bags and once they were gathered, Shannon saw the gleam in Ellen’s eyes and the pleasant grin that she wore as Ellen asked, “Which of these has the Legacy volumes?”
Shannon grinned before gesturing towards a group of two bags while saying, “They’re split up between those two bags.”
“Once we get to the SUV, can I get out one of the volumes?” Ellen asked eagerly.
“It’s ‘may I’,” Shannon corrected. Ellen grinned as Shannon continued with, “and if you are going to read them, you need to read them in chronological order and not pick one out at random.”
“Fine, point out volume one to me,” Ellen quickly said.
“Let’s wait until we get to the vehicle,” Shannon strongly suggested.
“Okay,” Ellen said before she strained to pick up one of the two bags that held the Legacy volumes. “Let’s go.”
Shannon and Avery stared surprisingly at Ellen for being able to pick up the heavy bag just as Harris warned, “Ellen, I like your enthusiasm, but you’re going to hurt yourself if you don’t slow down.”
“I’d carried heavier things than this before,” Ellen said.
“You being able to carry that heavy bag is only half at what I’m referring to,” Harris said.
“And what’s the other half?” Ellen quickly asked.
Harris grabbed his parents’ attention as he said loud enough for only his group to hear, “Learning witchcraft should be approached cautiously and with care, and I can tell that you’re ready to leap into it with both feet.”
“You want to learn witchcraft?” Shannon quickly demanded to know.
In a tone as if to take a stand, Ellen said, “I’m going to protect my niece from any threat that might come her way. I’ll give my life for hers if I have to.”
“Mmm, yes, well do me a favor, Ellen, before you open the books on incantations,” Shannon requested.
Ellen stared skeptically at Shannon before asking in a matching tone, “What?”
“There are twenty Legacy volumes in our family’s collection—there should actually be well over a hundred volumes, but the lost volumes are another matter entirely,” Shannon began. “Anyway, the first chronological three that we have aren’t complete—there are missing volumes between each of them, but they will give you the gist on what I want you to know and they were documented during the later half of the Wizard Wars. If you read the first chronological three volumes religiously, you can be done with them within three weeks… a month or longer if you’re a slow reader, and I want you to read those three volumes from beginning to end before you open the books on incantations.”
Ellen thought about Shannon’s request before nodding and saying, “Okay, and I think I’m a fast enough reader.”
“Yes, well, if you claim to be done with those three volumes within two weeks, I’ll insist that I quiz you on them before you can be allowed to start on the incantations,” Shannon assured her.
“Deal.” When Shannon nodded in agreement, Ellen continued with, “Now can we go to the SUV? This bag is getting heavier with each passing second.”
Harris held out his hand for the bag while saying, “Let me have that before you hurt yourself.”
“I’ve carried heavier things than this,” Ellen insisted.
“Have you carried anything that heavy the distance from the luggage carousel to the SUV?” Harris quickly asked.
“Well, no; not quite that far,” Ellen confessed.
“Hand over the bag,” Harris ordered.
Ellen slightly huffed before saying, “Fine.”
When Harris took the full weight of the heavy bag, he uttered, “Good Lord! This is even heavier than I thought! How much can you pick up?” When Ellen shrugged, he continued with, “Yeah, well, you’re a lot stronger than you look.”
“It’s probably from the gymnastic training that I used to do,” Ellen said.
“You used to do gymnastics?” Avery asked.
Ellen nodded before saying, “From the age of five to the age of twelve.”
“Why did you quit?” Allyson asked.
“The last vault I did, I landed wrong and I broke my left ankle,” Ellen said. “Once my ankle had healed and the doctor re-examined it to determine if I could return to gymnastics, he highly recommended against it. My ankle was okay enough though for Tanya to teach me karate.”
Avery pleasantly grinned before rhetorically asking, “Tanya was teaching you karate, was she?”
Ellen nodded before saying, “The first time I saw her practicing her karate moves in the backyard, I asked if she could teach me and she agreed.”
Avery held his grin as he said, “I’m the one who taught karate to Tanya and Harry.”
Ellen nodded with a grin before saying, “Tanya told me that you own a karate school in London.”
“Guys,” Harris uttered to grab everyone’s attention. “Ellen is right about this bag feeling heavier with each passing second.”
“Right,” Avery said as he went to pick up the bag with the other half of the Legacy volumes.
Ellen picked up a bag—which was light in comparison to the first bag that she picked up—as Allyson and Shannon picked up the remaining two bags. Once everything was gathered, the five headed for the exit.
Once the five bags were in the back of the SUV, Harris, Allyson and Avery climbed into the vehicle.
Shannon—with Ellen standing immediately to Shannon’s left—went into one of the bags that contained the Legacy volumes for the first chronological one that she had, and then handed it to Ellen.
The volume—front and back—was a thousand pages, and although it was a copy of a copy it appeared skillfully printed and was bound in a brown-leather-skin cover that was eight and a half inches by eleven inches.
When Ellen stared curiously at the volume, Shannon asked, “Is there something wrong?”
Ellen shook her head before saying, “I thought you were bringing Xerox copies.”
Shannon grinned, and as she went to close the hatch to the SUV she said, “When a copy is made, we try to make it look as much like the copy before it.”
“Twenty volumes were professionally reprinted!” Ellen uttered in a surprised manner that almost came out sounding like a question. “That must’ve cost a small fortune.”
“A printing company has never seen these, and it needs to stay that way,” Shannon told her.
“Then… then how were there copies made?” Ellen asked.
“Once you are finished reading all three volumes, you can find the answer to that question on page one-eighty-two of the first book on incantations.”
Ellen’s jaw slightly dropped before uttering in a shock tone, “These volumes were printed by using magic?!”
“Shshsh!” Shannon quickly demanded while looking around for anyone in hearing distance; however, no one else was in sight. “Strangers don’t need to hear about this.”
Ellen covered her mouth for a brief moment. Once she uncovered her mouth, she said, “Sorry.” She then whispered, “But magic was used to reprint these books?”
“Yes, Sweetie,” Shannon told her. “Sadie, Mary’s… my sister’s daughter was the one who created them.”
“Wow!” Ellen uttered delightfully. “That’s so cool!”
“Yes,” Shannon agreed with a grin. She then gestured towards the SUV door. “We need to go.”
Ellen nodded before walking towards the SUV door, opening it and climbing in. Once inside and comfortable with the SUV door shut, Ellen turned to the first page and read silently.
(Randolph’s handwriting)
I don’t know what day it is. I have lost track of the days since the Raven Coven had attacked and slaughtered my parents, my older brother Matthew and my older sister Gabrielle before my eyes. It was by the grace of God that I was able to sneak away with my younger sister Elizabeth without joining our family’s fate.
I’m still at a loss as to why they would attack us. We were no match against the Raven. Was the Raven going after the weak covens now? In any case, Elizabeth and I are safe for the moment. As long as I can maintain my influence over this wolf pack, we should be okay until we can reach the Clover Coven in the north. I haven’t slept for days though, so my influence over the beasts is faltering a little each day. The current moon is the day before the full moon, so the power of the moon is helping me to maintain order within the pack. Anyway it’s getting too dark to write, so I’ll write more tomorrow.
Harris was just driving away from his parking space when Ellen looked up and asked, “Shannon, does the moon do something to wizards and sorceresses?”
Shannon grinned before explaining, “The moon phases will influence the wizard’s… and even the witch’s powers. Their powers will be at their weakest during a new moon and at their strongest during a full moon. In fact, there are certain incantations that will only work during the three days of the full moon phase. One will be mention soon if you haven’t reached that point yet.”
“I haven’t,” Ellen said as she tilted her head down to read some more.
I was wrong about it being safe last night. The Raven had sent two wolf-likens to kill Elizabeth and me. I thought that incantation was lost years ago…
Ellen again looked up from the volume before asking, “Okay, what’s a wolf-liken?”
“Keep reading, Sweetie,” Shannon told her. “The answer is there.”
Ellen took a breath before turning her attention back to the Legacy volume.
I was wrong about it being safe last night. The Raven had sent two wolf-likens to kill Elizabeth and me. I thought that incantation was lost years ago, but I was wrong.
Before I go into details of what had happened last night I should explain things as I go. After all, Legacy volumes are meant to educate as well as to inform the generations to come, and since I had to abandon the previous volumes when Elizabeth and I fled from the Raven Coven, I’m going to designate this volume as being the first volume.
Oh, I am Randolph, and I am currently sixteen. Elizabeth is ten and our line is the power over the beasts and unfortunately the weakest of the three wizard lines. The members of the Clover Coven also have powers over the beasts.
The strongest of the three wizard lines is the power over Fire and Water. The second strongest line is the power over Earth and Air, which is what the members of the Raven Coven have powers over. Any wizard or sorceress of the three lines can influence the other two, but cannot control them though.
Also the wizard’s or the sorceress’s powers will be at their weakest point during a new moon and at their strongest point during a full moon, and certain incantations will only work beneath the moonlight of three moons (The night before the full moon, the night of the full moon and the night after the full moon).
The liken incantation is one of the incantations that will only work beneath those three moons, and the liken incantation changes human into beast.
Ellen looked up while guessing, “Oh, so wolf-likens are werewolves.”
“No, Sweetie,” Shannon replied. “But werewolves are byproducts of wolf-likens.”
“Explain,” Ellen quickly requested.
“Keep reading, Sweetie. I swear that the answers are in those pages.”
“Okay,” Ellen said before turning her attention back to the Legacy volume.
The liken incantation is one of the incantations that will only work beneath those three moons, and the liken incantation changes human into beast.
Several magical ingredients are required to cast the incantation to change someone into a beast. I don’t know the incantation, so I don’t know what ingredients are required. I do know though that blood of the selected animal is required.
To change someone into a wolf-liken, wolf’s blood is required. The more wolf’s blood within the mixture means that the wolf-liken’s intelligence will be savage like, more violent, and the individual won’t remember once he or she returns to his or her human form. Being more wolf-like is the desired trait when the wolf-likens are sent to viciously attack the enemy.
On the other hand, less blood within the mixture means that the wolf-liken will be highly intelligent and the individual will retain memories of his or her experience of being a wolf. Being more intelligent is the desired trait when the wolf-likens are on a reconnaissance mission.
As long as too much blood wasn’t used during the incantation, the liken spell is completely broken once the moon of the night after the full moon had set.
If too much blood was used though, the liken becomes venomous and a venomous liken will forever change into the selected animal beneath the moonlight of the three moons. (The night before the full moon, the night of the full moon and the night after the full moon.)
“Oh, so a venomous wolf-liken is a werewolf,” Ellen uttered as she looked towards Shannon.
Shannon grinned before saying, “Since that question isn’t directly answered in the volumes, I’ll answer it. Yes, venomous wolf-likens are werewolves, and before you ask, a person surviving a werewolf attack will also become a werewolf.”
“Will silver harm werewolves as it shows in the movies?” Ellen asked. “Or is that explained in the book?”
“It is explained, but not in that volume,” Shannon said.
“So silver will harm werewolves?”
Shannon thought of her answer before saying, “Okay, first of all, you need to know that there is an incantation known as the ‘Impervious incantation’. Impervious incantation will make wounds heal in a fraction of the time, and wounds that would normally be fatal—like gunshot wounds to the head—will no longer be fatal.”
“Okay,” Ellen said.
“Now if the impervious incantation was cast prior to the liken incantation then silver will be the only thing that can kill an impervious werewolf. Oh and anyone surviving an impervious werewolf attack will also become an impervious werewolf. However, if only the liken incantation was cast then the werewolf is not an impervious werewolf and anything that can kill a wolf can kill that type of a werewolf.”
“So silver affects the impervious incantation,” Ellen guessed.
Shannon grinned and shook her head before saying, “Tanya had warned me about your inquiring mind.”
Ellen amusingly grinned before saying, “Inquiring mind wants to know.”
“Mmm,” Shannon uttered with a nod. “And you’re right. And the reason why you’re right is that a precise amount of silver powder is one of the key ingredients to the impervious incantation. In fact, impervious incantation is one of the hardest spells to cast correctly. Not enough silver powder in the mix will cause the spell to fail completely, but too much silver powder will kill the person who the spell is being cast on.”
“So shooting an impervious werewolf with a silver bullet increases the silver amount, thus killing the impervious werewolf,” Ellen guessed.
“Exactly,” Shannon said.
“Okay, since wizards, witches and werewolves are real, what about vampires?”
“The answer to that is in the second chronological volume, and somehow, I don’t believe that your inquiring mind can wait that long for the answer.”
“It can’t,” Ellen said while vigorously shaking her head. “Inquiring mind wants to know now.”
“Yes, well, vampires are mentioned in the second chronological volume, but only as rumors to their existence.”
“Well that was insightful information,” Ellen said disappointingly.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t give you a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer, but you need to understand that there are wizards and witches out there who care very little for human life, and they will perform vampiric acts during certain incantations. However, during the 1300’s a large number of vampiric killings were reported in one of the Italian cities and according to the Legacy volumes there were no witches or wizards in that city during the time of those deaths.”
“Interesting,” Ellen said before thinking of another question that she wanted to know about. “So in which volume does it speak about the shadowing-truth spell that was cast that turned truth into rumors?”
Shannon grinned before saying, “In the third chronological volume. And since your inquiring mind will explode before you reach that volume, I’ll explain it now.” Ellen just grinned. “Merlin was the one who had shown King Arthur and the people that wizardry or witchcraft shouldn’t be feared. Throughout the generations after Merlin, the kings of England had even appointed a wizard or sorceress as a royal advisor.
“But as the Wizard Wars progressed into their later years, the Wizard Wars’ effects were spilling over into the non-magical population, and as a result the non-magical population was fleeing the land. King Henry the Fifth couldn’t have that so he ordered the three wizard lines to end the hostilities towards each other, or he will end those wars his way. And his way would’ve been creating a decree that would exterminate the entire magical community. King Henry the Fifth even had his soldiers patrolling to make sure that his warning didn’t go ignored.
“Anyway, on April 5, 1421 open hostilities ended between the wizard lines immediately; however, the wars actually continued in secret for eight more years. And in spite of King Henry the Fifth’s assurance to the non-magical population that the wars were over, the non-magical population continued to vacate the land.
“In the response to the leaving population, King Henry the Fifth called before him a representative of each of the three lines, and once the three were in front of him, he ordered them to correct the damages that they had caused, and he didn’t care how. He even had the three locked in the dungeon and heavily guarded until a solution was found.
“After quarrelling constantly for almost three days the representative of the Fire and Water line had suggested to combine the obscuring incantation with the shadowing incantation, which later became known as the shadowing-truth incantation…”
“So the shadowing-truth incantation is actually two spells?” Ellen interrupted with.
“It’s a tailored spell from two spells,” Shannon explained. “And tailored spells are also very difficult to create.”
“So what do the two spells do?” Ellen asked.
“The obscuring incantation is an incantation that causes selected memories within a person to be remembered as vague dreams that becomes vaguer over the passing days until the memories are forgotten completely,” Shannon began. “Normally the obscuring incantation is cast on an individual, so obviously it had to be tailored to affect a group or a population.
“The shadowing incantation gets its name because it is an incantation that casts an invisible blanket over a region of land to affect a large number of people at the same time and it is always combined with another incantation; however, there are very few incantations that will work with the shadowing incantation. The shadowing incantation’s effective range will be at its maximum during the full moon as well, and since our ancestors had wanted the greater number of the population affected, the shadowing-truth spell was cast during a full moon.”
“So what were the selected memories that were turned into vague dreams?” Ellen asked.
“Anything associated with wizards and witches were made to be remembered as dreams, and the storytellers of the time had thought that they had dreamt up the perfect storyline for their fictional tales. King Henry the Fifth and his soldier were even affected. In fact, the only ones who weren’t affected were the witches and wizards.”
“And so King Arthur and Merlin became known as legendary characters,” Ellen added.
“Exactly,” Shannon confirmed.
“So what are the other incantations that can be combined with the shadowing spell?” Ellen asked.
“The famous dragon’s breath incantat…” Shannon was only able to get out.
“Dragons!” Ellen interrupted with. Shannon gave Ellen a curious look. “Are dragons real?”
Shannon amusingly grinned before answering, “Again I can’t give you a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’ answer, but dragons are rumored to be true. Now to get back to your earlier question, the dragon’s breath incantation is one of the incantations that uses the shadowing spell… there are more, but that is the only one that comes to mind.”
“Does Harry know any?” Ellen asked Shannon.
Harris was listening to what was being said and replied, “I don’t.”
“That answers that,” Ellen retorted with a slight grin.
“So is there anything else that your inquiring mind would like to know now?” Shannon asked.
Ellen thought for a second before asking, “What exactly is the dragon’s breath incantation?”
“I can’t remember where it is within the volume, but the volume that you’re holding talks about it.” Ellen glanced at the volume as Shannon continued with, “It talks about how some people believe that the dragon’s breath incantation is a dragon summoning spell, while others believe that the incantation is a version of the liken incantation that changes a selected group of people into dragons. Even others believe that it does something else entirely.”
“So no one really knows what the dragon’s breath incantation really does?” Ellen questioned.
“No,” Shannon agreed. “However, whatever the incantation does, the volume mentions that Merlin and two other wizards prior to Merlin’s time were the only wizards who were able to make the dragon’s breath incantation work.”
“So how old is the dragon’s breath incantation?”
“It’s believed to be well over two thousand years old. It was then lost or destroyed at the very beginning of the Wizard Wars.”
“If no one knows what the dragon’s breath incantation does then how do you know that it uses the shadowing incantation?”
Shannon grinned before saying, “The shadowing incantation had derived from the dragon’s breath incantation.”
“Oh, so that’s why the dragon’s breath incantation was the first incantation that you thought of that was associated with the shadowing incantation,” Ellen accused.
Shannon grinned and nodded before asking, “Is there anything else you would like to know now?”
Ellen again thought for a second before saying, “I can’t think of any, but I’ll ask if I do.”
“Mmm, I’m sure you will,” Shannon retorted with an amused grin.
Ellen slightly raised the volume before saying, “Well, I’ll get back to my reading.”
When Shannon nodded, Ellen turned her attention back to the Legacy volume.
