Chapter 10
"How do you think that Megan will react to this?" Amy asked Barnabas, after explaining what Angelique had done.
"She might get cranky, specially if Angelique does not come back. But she will accept that Angelique had to do it. No one else could. I can take the blame for it."
"Why should it be your fault?'
"It has to be somebody's fault. Might as well be me. I started this whole mess, after all, when I first kidnapped Maggie, and then created Adam... Adam is not around to put the blame on... I think that Adam would prefer facing an angry Megan than whatever he is facing now."
"She can get quite angry. I take it."
"Not as much as I can. She is a very reasonable person. It is not her fault that she has to deal with blockheads like me."
"If Angelique does not come back..."
"She will come back. She's been in tough scrapes before. She is far from defenseless. As she said, she was the best qualified to go in there. At least her child is safe."
"Yes... She said that that would keep George happy..."
Barnabas nodded. He knew how much George wanted to have this child... It still amazed him that he had been able to father a child... that it had been done under duress, threatened with a whip if he did not do it, did not matter. It was his child and he treasured it.
"You know, Angelique is my wife. or at least used to be. She became a widow when I died, then I killed her and became a widower. I frankly don't know if our marriage is still valid or not. After all, we are still around, both of us. So it is somewhat amusing that my lover got my wife pregnant."
Amy smiled at that.
"I hope that Chris does not drop in unexpectedly and you have to explain how you got pregnant. 'I am holding it for a friend.'?"
"Chris isn't making much of a Big Brother act these days. He has children of his own to care for."
'You told me once you had a boyfriend."
"Yes, Peter. But it never got serious. I was not serious about him... It was just that Chris was getting tiresome."
"It did not have much of a future."
"No. I cast the cards for both of us. If I was going to break off with Peter I wanted to have a good reason. The cards told me what I suspected. Marrying Peter would be a dumb mistake. They told me that I was the descendant of gypsies and Quentin Collins, and that while Chris may have the soul of a C.P.A., I could never have. I am sorry about that. I love Chris, but at heart, he is very conventional."
Barnabas nodded. He had noticed that himself. Maybe it was Chris' defense against the weirdness that surrounded him...
"So the cards told you not to marry Peter?"
"Yes."
"Did they say who you were to marry?"
"Sometimes I think that it is David. But I wonder if that is what the cards mean, or what I want them to mean."
"You could have a chance with David, now that Hallie left him. You could be a good mother for Eliot... It would be a solution for both of them."
"Yes, it would. And it does sound attractive. And yet..."
"Yet?"
"The cards that I got that time. The card that symbolized me in the spread, was the High Priestess. No, the High Priestess can symbolize many things, all good. Self-knowledge, wisdom, power exerted with responsibility. But not romantic love. She sits alone, the Book of Knowledge on her knees, from which answers come to her queries. On her back, the Veil, which covers the Holy of Holies from profane eyes. She sits, barring the way, guarding it... and alone. Not lonely, not pitying herself. Strong, self-assured, full of good humor... It may well be that David is no more my fate than Peter was."
"It would be good for David and Eliot."
"I know. I wish I was as certain as you are."
The ants crawled through the corridors. They were tiny red ants, with tiny sharp mandibles and tiny red venom glands. And there were many of them. Too many for one single man.
They went blindly ahead, following the trail, which, invisible to human eyes, was a bright, distinctive line of scent. They had only to follow where it lead, and they would find food. A large, moving chunk of warm food for them to pick apart and take to their nest.
Angelique wondered if she was following the right path. There had been a couple of times when doors opened invitingly enough. She had not stepped in, and yet she wondered if she should have. It had felt wrong at the time, but it might not be so.
She wondered if she could get back to Collinsport again, if she would not get hopelessly lost, same as Adam.
Well, as Megan says, eventually your luck runs out, and this was as good a way as any.
But no, she did not think it would happen, yet.
The disciple looked at the crushed scorpions. So the spy had gotten away. But he could not get away from the ants.
The ants would surely catch him. No one could escape them.
If only there was a way to turn those tricks against the wizard himself...
Not that he'd be given a chance. The wizard knew magic for the dangerous thing it was, and treated it accordingly. A couple of times, when his carelessness could have caused disasters, it was the wizard's intervention which had saved him. Not that did not have to pay it later... But he had survived, healed and learned. And when the pain from his torture subsided, he knew more than he had known before...
For, wicked as the wizard was, cruel as he might be, he still could impart knowledge as no one else could. And there was power behind him, a power which he now craved.
He was going to be a wizard one day. Same as the old man. Greater.
He would never be a king, not like his father, now a statue by the sea... No, he would be someone to whom kings gave homage, to whom they owed their throne, and never were allowed to forget it...
He should avenge his father, he tried to remind himself. He should avenge himself.
Yes, he should. But not before the old man taught him all that there was to learn.
He hated the old man. And yet there was something in him that compelled respect He had power. He knew how to use it, and because of that, he had the right to do as he wished.
The only way to stop him was to be powerful himself. To become as the wizard was. To take what he wanted, to enjoy power at its fullest.
He suffered now because he was weak. If he were to become strong, then it would be a different story.
If the spy lived, if the enemy should attack again, then, maybe...
The enemy wizard might let him live. Might even award him the wizard's head. It would be easier for the other sorcerer or sorceress to have an untested disciple take over the wizard's territory instead of allowing a tougher enemy to take over...
They might try to annex it, and they would find no use for the disciple... but no, annexing that big a territory might frighten other sorcerers who might join forces against the too powerful wizard next to them...
The life of an untutored disciple, with only the severed head of his master to guide him was fraught with danger...But it was a chance...
Was it better to endure more pain from the wizard, hoping to learn more:? Or should she chance the life of the untutored disciple attempting to rule a wizard's territory.?
Adam heard the footsteps approaching. He looked around for a good place to hide, but it was silly. Here, in the corridors?
He could open one of the doors, hide in there...
He was hopelessly lost in a wholly alien world.
The footsteps approached.. He prepared himself to jump whoever it was coming towards hi8m.
But he did not need to.
"Angelique." he said with relief. "It is you."
"Yes, it is me. And you've really done it this time, Adam."