The panther figurine slowly rotates with green lines appearing on its surface as it is being scanned, and when the machine is done, a list pops up on the computer screen. Mostly made of obsidian with only a few anomalies, and no fracture lines! Which means that somehow this was made from a solid piece of obsidian, which just happens to have two areas of red colouration in just the right places for the panther's eyes…how convenient, He thinks sarcastically.
Artemis turns around and leans back in his favourite blue chair, a thoughtful, pondering look on his face. "Guenhwyvar… Guenhwyvar, Guenhwyvar, Guenhwyvar! What does it mean?" He speaks out loud in anger and frustration. There is no mention on Foalys databases of any Gnommish artists by that name! But the characters do look a little odd, almost Egyptian. That would fit with the Cleopatra story and the fact that it is a cat figurine, always a popular subject in Egyptian culture. Yet it is magical and in human hands, with no record of it in Foalys files. Quite the little paradox, everything suggests that humans made it but the magic disproves that theory… Or does it?
Its ironic that I must take advice from a fictional character, but as Sherlock Holmes said, 'Take away all that is not possible, and whatever is left, however improbable, is the solution.' Thus humans made this, somehow using magic.
"If only you could actually tell me your story…" Artemis sighs.
All further thoughts are cut off by a low, rumbling growl sound coming from behind him. Against his better instincts, he slowly spins the chair around. Curiosity is mixed with dread as his thoughts race ahead, identifying the sound and coming up with the only possible solution. As the chair comes to a rest, Artemis finds himself looking into the intelligent eyes of a living, breathing, VERY large panther. He freezes instinctively, not daring to move lest it set off the feline. Great, tomorrow's headline: Irish boy mauled by pet panther. And there is no chance of Butler arriving anytime soon, so I'm on my own. He thinks sourly.
"Goood kitty, please don't eat me…" Artemis says as slowly and calmly as he can, only realizing afterwards how pathetic and cliché that sentence was. Great, that was almost as bad as the whole lollipop incident. Well if it hasn't eaten me yet, perhaps there is a reason… He looks around trying to only move his eyes, and notices the statuette still sitting on the scanning table behind the cat. "So I'm guessing this means your name is Guenhwyvar…?" He mentions, half hoping for a reaction of some sort. What Artemis doesn't expect is for the great big panther to nod, and lay down curled up at his feet. After a thoughtful second, he tentatively reaches down and with a morbid fascination, starts to pet the cat. He jerks back when a softer rumbling emanates from the cat, but then realizes with a chuckle that it is just purring.
"So I take it that either you can't, or you won't harm me?" Artemis speaks softly, wondering just how smart the cat is. Another nod comes from the oversized kitten.
"Do you just generally protect me, or can you follow other orders too?" This time a nod combined with a lick that nearly takes the skin off of his hand. Artemis winces, and then a new thought occurs to him, "And how are you understanding me, I doubt English existed when you were last out…" This time a shrug of its muscled shoulders, which shows off its gleaming fur in the light of a row of computer screens.
At least I can find things out by playing the 'twenty questions' game. It will just take time and patience, both of which I have plenty of. But I doubt it will know very much about the magic that made it, pity. At least I've gained a surprising new bodyguard, although it also likely knows nothing of the modern world if the last person to use it was Cleopatra. An odd though occurs to him, I wonder if it has been lonely all these years?
"Gwen, let me introduce you to the rest of the family. I'm sure their reactions will be quite amusing." He says with a sardonic smile. "Also, many things have changed since you were last out so you will have to spend some time learning about the modern world." Artemis stands up carefully, only to be almost knocked down as the cat gets up and rubs its head against his leg. "Now lets go scare my parents." He says with a mischievous grin. As he enters the pass-code to get out of the room, Artemis can see the cat Gwen somehow managing to grin also.
They leave, Artemis pondering the implications of this new discovery, and Gwen just happy to be doing something. The metal doors swoosh shut, and the lights inside go dark, leaving the man in the painting to wait in the dark muttering in Mandarin under his breath. "Why must everyone always ignore me?"
After the initial reaction of panic, Artemis Sr. couldn't have been more relieved to find out that his son had obtained this magical panther guardian. He had been having some difficulty convincing his dear Angeline that everyone wasn't playing some horrible joke on her. Now that she had finished shrieking, she had no choice but to admit that magic was real.
So Artemis Sr. reassures Angeline yet again that her son is perfectly safe with the cat, and she finally leaves the room to go lay down and think things over.
Artemis Sr. sits down on a sofa, and settles down for a long stay. Only saying, "So what have you learned so far?"
(Half an hour later and one long discussion…)
"The only thing that I can conclude is that humans can use magic also." His son was explaining. "Therefore I would appreciate it if you would keep an ear out for any rumors that pertain to magic using humans, while I analyze the paintings that I also obtained. Then I plan to confront Foaly with the information to see if he knows anything else about it. Father, I'll be sure to continue to keep you up to date on any progress I make."
"Thank you son. Although I am loath to admit it, I know that you are being generous with keeping me informed, especially since you have long reached the point where I barely understand any of your more technical explanations." Chuckling, he adds, "But I'm sure you are on the right track since from what you have said about discovering the People, there were countless myths about them from around the world. And there are also many stories about wizards and witches, sorcerers and warlocks, so perhaps they once existed. Or even better, some may still be left, living in hiding as the People are."
"That would be desirable." Artemis agrees, nodding his head. "By taking fairy correspondence courses to get a degree in Warlockry I have been learning about the Peoples magic, how it works, and how to construct complicated spells. I have hope that a different perspective on magic which humans would have after centuries of use, will provide me with a alternate viewpoint with which I could vastly increase my understanding of the inner workings of magic."
Artemis Sr. feels so much pride because of what his son is accomplishing, and hopes that this will finally turn his thoughts from plots, plans, and various schemes. That's my boy. If he can pull this off, he'll be more famous than Einstein! Imagine, a theory of magic that even the People haven't come up with.
"Good job so far. Perhaps you will get lucky and the painting will be able to tell you all of its secrets." He says half jokingly. Then more seriously he adds, "I think that when you finally have all your information compiled, it would be the perfect time for me to meet Foaly. He will be off balance from finding out that I know about the People and can even speak Gnommish, and he will likely fold when you pressure him about human magic. I will of course afterwards reassure him that I have every intention to help the People, not harm."
Artemis gives his father a devious grin, "With the two of us working together, he doesn't stand a chance."
(One day later...)
As Artemis steps back into his lab room, the lights go on and he hears a loud voice yell at him in Mandarin, "About time you got here, I am getting bored out of my mind watching the ceiling! I am tired of waiting patiently! You had better place my pictures somewhere nice so I can see something interesting! I have been quiet in the store because otherwise I would have been burned in the fireplace, but now that you have finished playing with that dumb panther and apparently had a good nights rest, you WILL LISTEN TO ME!" The man in the painting seems out of breath from that last shout and Artemis takes the opportunity to get a word in edgewise. "I do apologize for my lack of attention. I will now place your paintings somewhere proper."
"Thank you lad, my name is Chao Tuzn." He says calming down visibly, "I will be glad to have someone to talk to after all these years, for it has been terribly boring. The only interesting thing I have done lately is learn to speak the new odd Mandarin that people are using these days. I apologize for yelling but it seemed the only way I would get your attention." Chao gives a deep bow and sits down, obviously waiting to be relocated.
As Artemis finds himself looking for somewhere to put the paintings, he sarcastically mutters in English, "Perhaps I am unlucky that the painting can talk father, because now an inanimate object has yelled at me. What a great way to start the day." He is careful to direct his dark looks away from the paintings though.
Juliet is on her way to bring Mrs. Fowl her breakfast when Artemis passes by her in the hallway clutching two paintings and glaring at everything. She can hear him muttering to himself and when she gives him a strange look, he gives her his most dark and evil glare. Geeze, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today. What's got him so grumpy? It can't be because the cat only comes out for a max of 6 hours a day, he didn't seem upset about it last night. And he's got nothing else to be mad about. She shrugs her shoulders. Maybe it's just his hormones again. He always gets upset when he starts to feel irrational.
Heh, at least now that he is over the worst of it he is likable for most of the time. Although it was always so funny when he would randomly notice a beautiful girl and get distracted from what he was thinking of. It is a pity I can't tease him about shaving since he got a treatment so that he would always be clean-shaven. Hee, hee, well there are lots of other things to tease him about.
Juliet calls after Artemis before he disappears around the corner, "Hey Arty, tone down the glare a little. Otherwise you might burn a hole right down to Haven."
Artemis spends the next few days talking with the painting. The tree scene had been set up in the kitchen and the pond was in his fathers study. It had taken a lot of talking and cajoling, but Chao had finally told Artemis everything.
Chao had once been a wizard himself, and had been serving his Emperor. He had been an educator, and greatly enjoyed having someone to teach once again.
But this was back when the muggle secrecy laws were still fairly new and even Chao himself admitted that his information was over 1000 years out of date.
Artemis learned about many different kids of magical animals that were hidden from muggles, some of the old laws and practices, and even how wands were made. How to use an owl, or fly a broom, swears and sayings too. Even the unbreakable wizards oath, wizards becoming ghosts, soul sucking dementors and the importance of pure blood was mentioned.
Complex rituals were described and so were spells that need more than one person, silent spells were included along with proper pronunciation of trickier incantations. The five elements and how they applied to magic was a very important topic. As was the history lessons dating back to when the first Wizards from around the world discovered each other and began sharing ideas and spells, fighting between themselves, and making a profit off of each other.
By the end of two weeks, after some independent research and after discussing everything with his dad, Artemis had decided that they finally knew enough to confront Foaly...
The computer screen changes from a picture of the night sky to reveal the image of a centaur munching on some carrots. "Heya MudBoy, thanks for these carrots! I suppose this is your way of hinting that I need to get you something for your upcoming birthday? Well I've been trying to think of something, but nothing has shouted out to me yet. Well, nothing I would be able to get past customs… But silly me, you are the one who called, so what do you want?"
Artemis politely clears his throat and says in a carefully neutral manner, "I have two very important things I wish to discuss with you. The first is regarding my parents, the second with some research I have recently been conducting. Now I have been asked to make this call to you on behalf of my father so that he may discuss some very important matters with you. I have had no choice but to teach him Gnommish, and he is now nearly as fluent as I am. Also he knows everything."
Artemis reaches out and turns the video feed slightly so that it now takes in the image of Artemis Sr. sitting next to his son, with a grin on his face. Foaly turns pale under his fur, and gulps audibly.
"Hello there. Don't worry about Arty, I found out about the People on my own. He merely filled in the blanks once he realized I would find out one way or another. I must say, after hearing so much about you, I am pleased to meet the genius Foaly my son talks so much about. Its very rare for him to respect anyone at all, so you must be something special.
I am very grateful for your People's help in saving my life, and amazed that my son is still alive after so much trouble. You have my assurances that the Fowl family will be staunch allies of the People. I respect and trust my son, and I am glad you and the others have made such a positive impact on him. Also, since I found out about your existence on my own you cannot mind-wipe me. I will testify under mesmer if you really need me to, but I'd hope that you trust my son enough to know that he wouldn't betray you."
Foaly only sits there, stunned to know that now even more humans knew about the People's existence. He does look a little relieved at the tone of Artemis Fowl Sr.'s words though. No threats, just thanks. Artemis II thinks to himself, It almost makes me feel bad about using this sort of tactic to get information, but he would never give it up otherwise.
Artemis II drags Foaly's attention back to him by speaking again, "Now that that is out of the way, I have a more important matter to speak to you about. You see, I have recently been doing some research into magic, and low and behold, I have discovered something very interesting." Now Foaly is beginning to look very uncomfortable, shifting around on his squishy chair and tapping his hooves on the floor nervously.
"Now why didn't anyone ever tell me that there were humans who could do magic?" He says in a disapproving tone. "I currently know enough to make myself a nuisance, so now it is up to you to tell me enough to not be dangerous. I know you will likely need the councils approval, but just remind them of what happened the last time I discovered a civilization that was trying to keep itself secret. I'm sure that will change their minds." A very identical sinister smile appears on both Artemis's faces after Artemis II finishes speaking, and Artemis Sr. turns off the video link. Artemis turns to his father and says, "Well that went rather well." And they both drop the practiced smiles in favour of some genuine laughter.
AN: Huzza! Father and Son bonding!
Just to clarify, I didn't want to spend hours going over the conversations between Artemis and the painting Chao. (So you get the fast version.) (EDIT: I've changed it a bit to make the info. revealed by the painting more Chinese in origin.)
You guys will have to wait a while to find out what Foaly does. But you should be seeing the two worlds colliding within the next three chapters. I promise!
Thanks for reading, and please leave a few reviews. I especially love constructive criticism because I want to be a better writer. (I know this chapter isn't as good as my last one since I was tired, but I'll make the next one better.)