Wyatt was understandably quiet for the remainder of the trek back to the palace.
DG chalked it up to him disliking the fact that she'd almost been injured, or more correctly, killed and left him to his trademark stoicism. She was still thanking her lucky stars that he'd managed to spot that pit before it had been too late.
The second before the palace came into view she decided she had to say it…she caught his hand and waited for him to turn to her, his brows drawn in confusion as she jarred him from his thoughts.
"Listen Wyatt…I just wanted to say thank you…for saving me…again…" She said with a smile, her heart fluttering at how small her hand felt in the warmth of his large calloused grip…and the fact that he didn't take it away.
He laughed softly and shook his head. "You know you don't need to say that…but you're welcome." He said and smiled (actually smiled) when she grinned and hugged him tightly in appreciation.
Having his chin resting on top of her head as her face pressed against his chest was the closest thing to heaven DG could imagine. She swore she could get high off of his scent…leather and Wyatt mixed with the slightest hint of aftershave…it was like comfort and security in aromatherapy form. If she could figure out how to make candles with it she'd be a millionaire.
When they (yes, I said they) hesitantly ended the embrace and made their way to the palace they each had their own places to go and people to see.
Instead of the usual changing of the guard at her room they had intercepted Jeb out in the hallway and said their usual formal 'goodnight' before parting company.
Wyatt was gritting his teeth as he stalked off in search of answers. There was one person he knew would have them, no matter how difficult it would be to extract the information.
He knocked once and opened the door to Glitch's library/laboratory, stepping over stacks of paperwork as he entered the expansive room. It had started out as a normal library of ancient texts, the perimeter walls of the room in all directions were still covered in shelves of the millions of dusty volumes…but back when Ambrose had been appointed to his position of Royal Advisor it had been modified to meet the needs of his ever-inventive mind.
As always the place was a disaster area, machines whirring and clicking from every direction, row after row of tables cluttered with books and unfriendly looking liquids in a wide array of bottles and jars. Wyatt smirked wondering what 'Ambrose' would have thought of the way his office was run these days.
"Hey head-case, you in here?" He called and waited a moment.
"I'm up…Oh, Cain! So good to see you! Come on up!" Glitch called in that ever chipper voice.
Cain sighed seeing that he was on the upper level. Climbing up the stairs in here was a dangerous proposition. There was always some little mechanized creation or another making the trek at the same time. They were never polite if they ran into something, say for instance Wyatt, which impeded their progress.
"Ow! Son of a –" Cain said angrily as right on cue, half way up the stairs, a machine rammed into the back of his leg. He stepped to the side to allow it to pass and resisted the urge to shoot it, swearing that the damned things just waited for him before springing into motion.
Glitch gave him an apologetic look from where he stood wearing an odd variation of glasses as he worked on a small mechanized device.
"I'm just popular this evening, first Raw here stops by…" Glitch said and Cain's brows drew together in amusement seeing the Viewer have to lean past a stack of papers to waive. "And now you. So what brings you?" He asked, but Cain knew better than to try his luck just yet. After months of conversation he had learned to wait for the first misfire to pass before speaking.
"I'm just popular this evening, first Raw here stops by…" Raw waived again for Glitch's benefit. "And now you. So what brings you?" Glitch asked again and Cain leaned against the table, waiting for the usual unwanted analysis from fuzzy-lips.
"Cain worried…has questions…" Raw said and Cain rolled his eyes, giving the Viewer a 'thank you for stating the obvious' smirk.
"I need you to look at this and tell me what it is, where it came from and…just how much trouble I'm in." Cain said with a sigh.
Glitch turned to him quickly at his words, his eyes filled with concern as the Tin Man pulled the pendant out from behind his shirt. Glitch held out his hand expectantly, watching Cain reach up to take it off…
But with a brow arched defiantly Cain came to a horrible realization.
He couldn't make himself remove it.
I mean we're talking hands on the throng, willing the muscles to move to lift it over his head, trying his damnedest to get his arms to cooperate…but nothing.
The sudden shock in his eyes was enough for Glitch. He approached Cain with that serious expression on his face making it clear that he was having one of those totally lucid moments. He bit his lip, reaching toward the throng to remove it from the Tin Man…though he already gathered it wouldn't be so simple.
Cain instinctively held the pendant tightly, stepping away to prevent its removal and looked even more disturbed than before.
Great, now his body was deciding when it did and didn't want to move without his permission?
Glitch sighed and nodded, lowering a few of the dozens of lenses that were set on arms on the glasses as he leaned in for an inspection. "Hmm…this is interesting…" Glitch mused to himself and Cain rolled his eyes realizing that he'd now be forced to stand this close to the head-case for god knew how long.
"Really? What's that?" He asked, doing his best to lean as far away as possible.
"On the back here, there are these really…"Glitch said as he brought down another lens. "Really tiny characters…there's no way they were engraved…not this small…especially not with how many hundreds of annuals old this is. Hmmm…looks like some sort of incantation…where did you say you got this?" He asked as he looked up at Cain through a million magnified lenses.
Cain rolled his eyes and pleaded for patience. "I didn't say. But I got it from a friend." He said and motioned for Glitch to keep looking at the pendant.
"Hmm. Wonders never cease…" Glitch said under his breath as he returned to the inspection. "Our Tin Man finally has a friend…"
"I can hear you." Cain said in annoyance.
"I know you can." Glitch said with a smile. "Now this symbol here on the front…it's the language of the Ancients, it means…"
"Protector, yeah – I already got that part." Cain sighed.
"I think I might…" Glitch said as he took off the glasses and looked around the massive expanse of the library. "I think I remember…"
Cain sat back and waited, already knowing what was coming.
For the next twenty minutes Glitch was walking around the library trying to jog his memory of something he'd seen…the frightening thing was that he might be recalling something he'd seen ten annuals earlier and it would still only take a small bit of work to bring the memory back. The Ambrose part of Glitch truly was an amazingly gifted mind, if a little hard to get a hold of sometimes.
"Got it!" Glitch called and came racing back up the stairs with an impossibly heavy looking volume in his arms, hauling it up onto the table and flipping through the delicate looking pages with care. His fingers traced over the picture language as his mouth moved along with his mental translations, only occasionally voicing them. "Weaponry….no…that's not it…. Love…no….Cures….no…. not what we're looking for…ah hah! Here, Protection….okay okay…"
Cain leaned in to take a look at the page, thankful when Glitch pointed out the symbol of the pendant amid the thousands of unfamiliar characters.
"It says here that this charm was created for the purpose of aiding the Protector. It was cast of morytanium and contains a spell that will bind the Protector…that would be you…to the Charge…your…friend…" Glitch smiled and swayed back and forth happily at those words.
Cain cast an un-amused look at the side of the Glitch's face.
"The spell can only be triggered if the following criteria are met…ooh this is like a bestowal of some sort to acknowledge honor and valor. Cain, you lucky dog you…da da da da da…." Glitch said distractedly as he skimmed the words. "It says…wait a minute…huh." Glitch stopped and looked over at the Tin Man suspiciously. "Cain…did DG give you this?"
Cain arched a brow and bristled at the question. "Why?" He asked cautiously.
"It requires 'the power of the white light' to invoke the magic…and seeing how I don't think the Queen or Azkadellia gave it to you, that kind of narrows the field a bit." Glitch said and crossed his arms over his chest, a smirk crossing his lips that DG was this friend Cain hadn't wanted to name.
Cain cleared his throat, averting his eyes and muttering a quick "yeah it was her" before motioning for the head-case to get on with it.
Glitch was hard-pressed to contain his glow as he returned to reading. "Alright, alright…so…" But the instant he translated the next in the list of requirements his hand froze on the page and eyes widened as, despite his wishes to appear impassive, he turned and looked at Cain in complete shock.
"What? Is it bad?" Cain asked with concern straining his voice and stood up straight as if preparing to receive a mortal wound.
"Umm…uuhhh…" Glitch turned back to the book and closed his eyes, pleading his mind to hurry and come up with something. "No, it's not bad…"It was actually really good. "It's just saying that you…" Glitch frantically scanned for the next item on the list "have to be experienced in the hardships of battle…that you must be capable of providing the Protection promised…"
Cain eyed the head-case skeptically. "And that made you look at me all bug-eyed?" He asked suspiciously.
Glitch laughed nervously and waived off Cain's concern. "It simply gave an actual figure of how many separate victories you needed to have earned…sorry, it threw me off to see a number of fights…" Glitch said, knowing Cain wouldn't argue that point.
But that's most definitely not what it had said.
Glitch was beyond shocked here and knew Raw was picking up on what was really happening, he was thankful the Viewer decided not to speak up.
So DG…
And Cain…
"Alright, so we've obviously met the criteria if this thing is working. What else does it say?" Cain asked and Glitch cleared his throat, trying to put his surprise on the back-burner for now.
"It says that 'in the presence of impending danger the charm will begin to heighten the awareness of the Protector to Charge'…so I guess you'll become more in tune to her location, her emotion…it's like a link in case you aren't close enough to see where she is…" Glitch explained and Cain thought back on it.
So that was the surreal feeling…he'd been linked to DG's emotions…
So wait, that was the world as DG saw it in that moment? She was really that happy when they were together?
And that would mean the way he was seeing her…would be the way she was seeing…
His eyes widened in surprise.
"Ouch, it says that if the initial link is not enough to aid the Protector in preventing the danger from coming to pass it will let off a 'warning'…oh, that can't be pleasant…" Glitch said and turned to face Cain again. He smirked seeing the aggravation in the Tin Man's features at his words. "But I'm guessing you've already experienced said warning, haven't you?"
"And it feels like a god damned hot poker to the chest, so yeah, thanks for your concern." Cain said and rolled his eyes. "Alright, anything else in there I should be aware of?"
Glitch smiled and returned to the page, this time keeping his translations to himself.
The bestowal of this charm between beloveds…Glitch's heart flip flopped again for the two…is an eternal binding; in addition to the aforementioned requirements this spell is only valid if charm has been presented to Protector with the same level of devotion as it is received. If Charge has truly claimed Protector; Protector has truly claimed Charge; the magic of the charm bears witness to these vows irrevocably.
Glitch laughed. "Yeah I'd get used to wearing that if I were you, when they say 'eternal' and 'irrevocably' in magic they generally mean it."
Cain grunted in response as he looked down at the pendant.
"This is only a categorized book of items of magic with small descriptions of each…now that I know what I'm looking for I'll be able to research it more thoroughly." Glitch said as his eyes scanned the expanse of the library, already mapping out the location of books that would pertain to the pendant, the era in which it was created, etc.
Cain sighed. "Thanks, Glitch…and listen, I'd really appreciate if you didn't…"
"No worries, Cain. Not a word." Glitch said with a smile and held up his hands, looking over to where Raw was nodding his agreement to keep this quiet.
The pair watched him take his leave and the second the door was closed behind him on the level below they exchanged knowing smiles.
"Cain not know yet…he knows deep inside…here…" Raw said and pointed to his chest. "But not here…" He said as he pointed to his head.
"My god, who ever would have guessed it? The Tin Man really does have a heart after all." Glitch said with a smile.