In Between Dragons

By

Ithinkadrianne

Disclaimer: Patricia C. Wrede owns it all.

Chapter warnings: Alcohol! Ha!

Chapter Two: In Which Willin Makes a Horrifying Discovery

Telemain and Morwen stared silently down at Willin while he waited for a reaction. The doorman had lost interest now that the elf was off his hands. Telemain looked to Morwen as she slowly formed the simple words, "w-which sword?"

Willin gritted his teeth and whispered, "which…do…you…think?"

Before anyone could panic, Telemain looked to the doorman and asked, "is there a room where the three of us could speak in private?"

The doorman motioned to the room behind him. Obviously words aren't much of his forte, Telemain thought to himself in annoyance. He pulled Willin and Morwen in and shut the door behind them. The room was dim, but lit well enough to have a conversation. He looked around and realized that they must have been in a storage room. The walls were lined with liquor and wine and only a table and an odd number of chairs occupied the remaining space. Telemain motioned for Willin and Morwen to sit and he turned to the rack of bottles behind him. Pulling one from the shelf, he read over the label and grabbed three glasses. "Dragon whiskey," he whispered to himself. "Appropriate." He poured out a measure for everyone, then passed the glasses.

Willin took his and drank, but afterwards, he coughed out, "it burns a bit."

The magician took his in one swallow, answering, "yes, but in five minutes, you're not going to care."

Morwen didn't touch hers.

"Now how did you discover that Mendanbar's sword is missing?"

Willin took a deep breath and made an effort to compose himself. After a moment, he began, "when his majesty went missing and Queen Cimorene went into hiding with the young prince, she took the sword and hid it safely in the Enchanted Forest. If I'm not mistaken, you assisted her with this."

He looked to Morwen and she nodded. "After we were satisfied with the place and sure it was secure, Cimorene told me that two other people were to know the sword's location. She revealed this to Kazul, King of the Dragons, and Telemain. And as far as we've known, it's still in it's place and we are the only three who know of it's local."

"Obviously, we're mistaken," Telemain added without heat.

Willin nodded, seriousness in his voice. "A mere hour before she went into exile, the queen summoned me. She explained to me what had been done and whom was aware of it. However, she wanted to tell me as well…and she did. Her fear was that in order to get to the sword, the Society of Wizards would not just attempt to hunt her, but you as well."

"So she chose someone secretly who was more under the radar," Morwen concluded. "The definitely sounds like Cimorene's tact."

"And she charged me to check on it once a year and make sure it was still safe and undisturbed. She told me to only go to someone if there was an emergency."

"Which brings us to here," Telemain decided. "Very well. When did you discover the sword was missing?"

"Earlier this afternoon," Willin continued wringing his hands. "I was returning from visiting distant family and upon entering the forest, I was passing close to the sword's location. Since it had nearly been eleven months since I had checked, I figured today would be good as any. And when I got there, it was gone. There was nothing left. The sword was just…vanished."

Telemain narrowed his eyes and stared Willin down. Before Morwen could ask what he was thinking, he asked, "where exactly is the sword hidden Willin?"

"Excuse me?"

Morwen gave Telemain an incredulous look, but he went on, "I've seen disguises before. Very good ones. Some on wizards. So excuse me if I sound suspicious, but I have to enquire. If you really are Willin and if you really know the location of the sword, tell us now. You've been leading us on so far just assuming that we know that you know."

Morwen thought this was rather blunt and rude, not to mention just slightly confusing, but she couldn't see passed that what Telemain said was right. "Willin, he's just trying to be safe."

"Quite understandable, I assure you. I wouldn't want to be the one responsible for an even worse conundrum," Willin said quietly. He checked around himself, to make sure no one who wasn't privy was listening. When he was sure that the only thing around them were walls, he leaned in and whispered, "it's at the edge of the south east end of the deep woods. In a hollowed out red wood. Just south of a rather babbling brook."

"What's in front of the entrance?" Telemain asked with his arms crossed.

"A large lilac bush. Her majesty was always fond of lilac."

Satisfied, Telemain finally took a seat next to Morwen. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. The night was clearly not ending in the way he had intended. "So what did you do when you discovered the sword was gone?"

Willin rubbed a hand over his face and said, "I went to your tower actually. And when I found you weren't home, I went to Morwen's house. When I found nothing but cats, I nearly gave up. I went home and while I was trying to sort out my thoughts, I went through my mail. Lucky for me the first piece I opened was an invitation for a surprise party."

"And that brings you here," Telemain concluded lowly.

"And that brings me here, yes."

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Telemain turned to Morwen and asked, "you'd know better than we would. Do you think it was Antorell?"

"No," she replied instantly. "If it was, he would've made a show out of it right away. He's an idiot to say the least."

"A fair assessment." Telemain hated to admit it, but he rose from his seat and declared, "we have some investigating to do, don't we?"

Morwen followed. "Agreed. We're starting in the deep woods I take it?"

Willin got up and quickly followed them out of the room. As they passed down the hallway, the doorman reappeared and yelled after them, "oi! He didn't pay the cover!"

"Don't worry!" Telemain shouted back, not breaking stride. "He's not staying and neither are we!"

The doorman didn't follow and the magician lead them back out onto the patio where the evening had started. The music and dancing was still going on a jovial ruckus, but none of them noticed. Jack, Amory, and Brandel all sat in a glaring silence and their mood didn't pick up when they saw Telemain's face come through the door. Morwen entered the same way.

Amory looked back and forth between them and asked darkly, "what's wrong?"

"Willin! You made it!" Jack exclaimed seeing the elf appear in the doorway. "How about a drink?"

But before he could go any further, Telemain stated bluntly, "we have a problem." Everyone looked up at attention and he lowered his voice, leaning over the table. Looking all of them in the eye individually, he whispered, "according to Willin, the sword has gone missing."

A sense of panic circled them all in a wave. After a moment of icy silence, Brandel asked, "Cimorene wouldn't have given it to Daystar already, would she?"

"She said she wouldn't until he was ready," Morwen said taking back her original seat of the evening. "She's smart enough to stick to her decision and she's not foolish enough to give a weapon of that magnitude to a six year old. There's a different force behind this." She sat down, removed her glasses, and rubbed a hand over her eyes.

"You don't think it's the Society, do you?" Brandel asked.

"I don't know."

Amory shook her head. "So what do we do?"

"We clearly need to investigate," Telemain said taking charge. "Morwen, we're going back with Willin to see if there's anything he missed. Evidence. Clues. Anything."

"Should we wait until morning? Or are you not concerned about nightshades?"

"No. Immediately." Telemain looked up to Amory, Jack, and Brandel. "Can we trust you to take care of everything here and meet up with us in an hour?"

"Just tell us where," Jack replied standing.

Telemain considered. "Morwen's. Maybe the cats could have sensed something while we were gone."

"That's fine," Morwen said rising herself.

"And we'll take care of the gifts and get them home for you too."

"The gifts!" Telemain exclaimed. He grabbed at the table and quickly found the box holding the ping catcher. "This might become useful right away," he told Morwen as he handed it to her.

"Good idea." She nodded and stored it in her sleeve of her blouse.

"See you in an hour then," Jack said.

Telemain stepped back from the table and looked to Willin. "Have you even been part of a transportation spell?"

"No," the elf replied with some misgiving.

"Hang on then."

Without another word, a large crack thundered through the air, and the three of them had disappeared from sight. There was no sign that they had been where they had been standing moments before.

"Well boys," Amory said rising from her seat and dusting off her hands. "Let's get this show on the road. We've got work to do." Within two minutes, they had gathered all of the loose ends of the party and headed out the door. Amory and Jack made it out, both of the them clearly worried about what was happening and discussing the broken up party.

Brandel fell behind, making an effort to grab the flowers he had brought for Morwen. But as he went to catch up, a hand caught him by the shoulder. "Excuse me sir!" He turned to find Alyson, the hostess, with a rather pinched expression upon her face. "There is still the matter of the bill."

Jack and Amory were no where in sight and had already left the Atlantis Pub. Brandel shut his eyes in frustration and swore a large price on Telemain's head.

…to be continued. Reviews and comments are welcome…