Chapter Three: Places (Delrand’s PoV)

            I felt so much relief once I was out of that dreadful place; the images that those ghosts had shown me in my mind were terrible. Some I could tell they had tried to bring to the front of Mordred’s mind when he had tried to make them join him. Ghosts were a type of formidable opponent when it came to magic; they were neither of this world nor the world of the dead, trapped in between and able to manipulate anything to try and satisfy their lust to be at peace. It was one subject which I had never really wanted to know once I already did. Ghosts and the paranormal were some of the things I feared in this world as they were unpredictable; you could never trust whose side they were truly on and even then if they were on a side at all.

            There were many creatures in this world and mostly hidden away from the sight of man that they could only be found in myth and legend. Some were easy to kill or fend off but others were much trickier to deal with due to their nature and essence. And even amongst them, you would always find one or two that kept to themselves and were no harm to anyone. Their only reason to be alive was to be content and happy and not be bothered by the curious minds of humans.

            ‘I’m afraid, Lancelot, that we are transporting sooner than I expected. I know it’s not pleasant to you but you will soon get used to it,’ I said, turning to the knight who rode beside me.

            He turned to me as we rode away from the castle. ‘I think I will get used to it sooner than you think. As long as we get closer to finding Elara then it is a displeasure I can settle to dealing with.’

            I sighed and looked over my right shoulder. ‘Unfortunately, the next part of our journey is one you cannot join us for. I understand that you feel obliged to stay with us but you cannot enter the place we are going next. It is only because you do not possess magic that you cannot join us, but you have my word that you can rejoin us when we have finished there. Yet I do not know how long it will take. Do you trust me?’ I asked carefully, turning back to face him.

            He had furrowed his eyebrows but held my gaze for a few tense seconds. ‘I believe that you mean your word,’ he conveyed. ‘I will join Arthur and the other knights while you continue. It would be a good idea to tell him of what has happened so far on our half of this journey.’

            I gestured his agreement. ‘Very well. Oscar will take you to them, but the distance might make the experience slightly more unpleasant than the other times you have been magicked with us. I hope to join you soon.’ And I trotted off ahead of him, sinking back into my own thoughts.

            With just my three friends with me, I could concentrate more without the tension of having Lancelot around. I needed him, as I had explained to him yet having him nearby was just more of a reminder of why I was doing this. He reminded that there were deeper reasons for finding Elara than just her importance as a person to this realm and the magical world; I loved her and I needed her back more than anything in this world.

            She had brightened up my life in a way that I had never imagined; she made me smile and laugh, things I had never done before, even with my friends. And yet, knowing as much as I did about her, she still remained a mystery to me whenever she achieved something extraordinary or impossible. My only hope right now, based on the fact that I knew she would still be unharmed (and I prayed that that was both mentally and physically) was that she was at least safe in her own mind. I wished I was with her now, so I was able to help her with her magic and bravery. But if there was anyone who could change their self-belief then it was Elara, her mind was so strong that I was surprised that she even let me enter it when we were together.

            ‘...Delrand!’ Justin shouted.

            I came out of my mind and turned in my saddle to face him. ‘Sorry; you were saying?’

            ‘Why are we still riding?’

            I looked around, the scene had not changed. ‘Oh, my fault. Erm, yes. Well, we need to do some reading. I know it will waste a lot of time but we need to make a list of magical places that will start us off in the right direction.’

            ‘And why have you only just thought of this now? What happened back there?’ he asked, pointing over to the Black Castle behind us.

            I went on to tell them all of what had happened between Lancelot and I up within the hallway and what I had learnt. The looks on their faces became pale and greyed as though they had now just seen a ghost themselves.

            We then faced each other, and with a nod of our heads we used our magic and left that place in peace.

*****

            Sitting down in one of the high backed chairs of the library, I leant over the desk in front of me and began to scan through the pages of a book I had managed to search out of the ranks behind me. Similarly, the other three had gone in search of other works that they had heard of or knew about that may help us.

            Beside me, I had set out a sheet of parchment and a quill and inkpot so I could write down any significant information or places that I might pick out of the many scrawled words written within the book. It was tedious and very time consuming; it wasn’t very often that I came across a paragraph or two which mentioned a certain area or building which had once been in the use of a powerful sorcerer or sorceress or even a historical monarch (many of which had been cruel and malicious).

            As I scanned and wrote, I began to realise how much this country (or realm) had changed since the dark days centuries ago. Although there were still a few monarchs that reigned certain territories in Albion, it appeared that there was so much more peace and tranquillity compared to the past. There were hardly as many wars or conflicts between the different realms and only then it seemed that, when there was a war, it was for a very valuable reason rather than just for power or hatred or land. Although, I couldn’t help but wonder if that was due to the presence of Arthur and his well constructed ruling (or so it appeared). He had always, as far as I knew, treated his people with such respect and protection that no one ever feared him within his own kingdom. And due to his caring nature for his people, if there was any threat from outside the boarders or within them then he would swiftly calculate how to deal with it in the most effective manner.

            And then, I began to realise even more why Elara had always found her life to be difficult yet she seemed like she, nonetheless, continued on to prove that it was not a burden she could not deal with. To have such a father as Arthur only made it more of a challenge to fulfil the expectations that she would be as just a ruler as her predecessor. Though I hoped that she would succeed him, I knew that it would be a hard decision since she would not be able to remain with me if she did. There wasn’t a strong chance that she could become queen and then still be able to keep up with her sorcery alongside it; either option would be a distraction to the other and I would not be the one to make Albion less of a country than it is now.

            ‘...I hope you don’t mind me saying, Delrand, but you seem unusually calm given the situation. Elara is missing and in Mordred’s capture yet you sit there as though you are just studying rather than frantically on the search for her.’ Oscar was trying to understand why everything seemed to be going rather slowly at the moment. I knew he was rather fond of Elara, as a friend, since she had made me so happy and he was the closest to a brother I could ever have asked for.

            I looked around, casually taking in the scene. ‘It isn’t that I am in no rush to find her. Believe me, there is no one who is missing her more than I am right now; it’s just I will be no help to her if I am running about all over the place and missing out important details. I have tried to convince myself that the more I concentrate on each step as we go then I am more likely to find her much sooner than if I was on a raging search.’

            He thought about it for a minute. ‘I see, but I think we have done enough searching here. It’s about time we got back on our horses and scanning the country. We have enough information to know where to look although, if you ask me, we should really get Merlin to help us,’ he suggested.

            To any other magician, what he said was right; to ask Merlin for help was something that would make this mission that little bit easier. Yet, as it stood, this was not a part of Merlin’s destiny; I had been chosen to be Elara’s tutor and it was my job and responsibility to get her back. There was more than just being her tutor that made this my job and not Merlin’s to find her; being lovers, we shared our world together and everything in it and without her in mine right now was making me squirm wretchedly inside. There hadn’t been a day so far that I didn’t feel physically sick or hadn’t, at some point, experienced a banging headache; it was from all the subconscious worrying thoughts that I had been thinking on top of not being able to sleep.

            I shook my head, remembering I was with Oscar. ‘No, we cannot ask Merlin. He would help, and I believe he is right now in his own way, yet we cannot just run to him for answers; not like we used to. We are older and wiser now to find our own solutions and fix our problems.’

            He retaliated, as I knew he would. ‘But this is not just your problem, or even ours for that matter. This is a concern for the whole of Albion, or Camelot and everyone who can, should be helping.’

            ‘Oscar, I will not run to Merlin asking him for help. I let this happen and I’ll be the one to sort it out.’ In my desperateness, I had said the wrong thing. Sinking down heavily into the chair, I dropped my forehead onto the desk and wrapped my arms over my head. ‘Forgive me, I did not mean it to sound like I do not need help,’ was all I could muster to say to him.

            Placing his hand on my shoulder, he once again spoke to me as calmly as I had been handling my internal torrent. ‘I understand. This is harder on you more than any one of us; but you are forgetting that Arthur and his knights have more of a duty to find her than you do. She is their princess and next in line to the throne, they each made oaths to protect that line and those who carry that blood. And she is Arthur’s only heir; there is a lot which rides on her staying alive and sane that that in itself might make her anxious and frightened. She knows as well as everyone else why she cannot die or let Mordred consume her. I’m sure she is capable of defending herself; more now that she had you as a teacher to show her how her powers work.’

            With his speech over, I slipped my hands from off my head and sat myself up with a straight back. ‘You’re right. We need Arthur. And the knights, we cannot do this on two fronts. We need to work together.’

            He smiled. ‘That is what I hoped you would say.’

            We both stood up together and went to find Harrod and Justin. We walked along the many aisles of this massive library until we found them where they had been half an hour ago. Justin was shuffling through the pages of another book while Harrod seemed to be searching for more.

            ‘Justin, Harrod, I think we have done all we can for now, here. It’s best we join up with Arthur and search for Elara as a whole unit. We’ll leave tomorrow at dawn.’

            They didn’t say anything; they just stood there and watched as I spoke. There was something in their eyes that told me they might have been thinking that, along with Oscar, for a couple of days now (we had spent at least four days here already). Taking a deep breath, I looked down at the floor to my right before heading out of the library and to my familiar room.

            It wasn’t all that comfortable to be back in my bedroom here; I had many memories of this place but being in here somehow made them all collect together within my mind and make me shake all over. At an attempt to calm myself, I laid on my bed and, resting my hands on my chest, closed my eyes and slowly went through my memories of her with me here as I gradually fell asleep.

            The best and strongest memory I had was of that day when I finally let her understand how to shift from one form to another. Shifting to the shape of a wolf had really suited Elara’s temperament back then due to the way she held herself and just the way she was as a person and a princess. The only thing I had not counted on was that my emotions would run wild as soon as I changed. They were the only reason why I had decided to see how she could adapt to her new body, senses and flexibility and I had only made the whole situation awkward by letting my emotions control the better side of me. That night had also been when she first met my friends and although things had been tense during the first few months between them all, I knew it would eventually tone down to a more subtle relationship amongst them.

            My memorial dreams suddenly shadowed over and painted a black canvas on my mind. Out of the gloominess, a light faintly appeared and grew until all my mental vision was now glowing in the hue. The light then settled and revealed to me a large rectangular room, a voice then seemed to echo out of the distance.

            ‘I’d rather have you alive than to kill you due to this.’ The words seemed so harsh and bent and there was only one person I knew who would use such words and have that voice. Mordred.

            I was unsure as to whether this was a dream or a vision. More speaking followed his voice and I knew they weren’t words that I would dream of, or so I believed.

            ‘I am never giving in, Mordred! Not if it means I can escape you,’ came the reply of his captive, who could only be Elara.

            As the talking, or shouting, continued, I began to realise that it was indeed a vision that I was seeing; or rather, it was a scry that I had been wanting to do for some time. I had desperately wanted to know that she was safe, and more importantly still alive; I concluded that thinking of her in such a relaxed and focused state had led to me subconsciously scrying Elara and her current whereabouts.

            The vision cleared even more and I could finally see their faces and postures within the light. There was also a subtle tint of deep purple to the emerald rays. Elara was stood side on to Mordred, a posture I had come to know as a defensive one that the knights used. Her hands were balling into and out of fists by her sides and her eyes were narrowed, focusing hard on her target. Mordred on the other hand, was facing her full on; his arms were held slightly outwards away from his body. His sneering smile dominating his features and his eyes similarly narrowed as Elara’s.

            I tried harder to focus on the room itself and to see if I could figure out what type of building or even whereabouts Elara was being held captive. The walls consisted of dark reddish bricks of stone held together by a grey mortar. The floor was paved in dark grey slabs of a different stone or rock type. There were no distinguishing markings that I could see; the only decoration in the room was the cast iron brackets that held the lit torches in the background. Subconsciously moving myself around the room, I shuffled (though it made no difference) my way across to one far side and came across a table which was adorned with meat and fruit. Seeing that some had been eaten, I could tell that Mordred had attempted a sort of friendly approach at making Elara become his servant.

            Turning back around, having found no evidence to suggest where this place was, I paced over to be by Elara’s side. I knew that she could neither see nor hear me, so I remained quiet and just stood there taking in the fact that she was perfectly unharmed; her hair was a bit rustled but that was too be expected given the raged look she held on her face. It was shocking to see such malice portrayed by such a self-controlled woman like Elara that I was almost feeling a slight fear creep up in the back of my neck.

            Suddenly, without any warning, Mordred shouted some ancient words that I had not heard before; yet knowing that language myself, I knew what he had said. Screaming, I stepped in front of Elara to protect her and raised my hands up instinctively to ward off the stream of magic that now shot its way towards us.

            ‘No!’ I shouted as I jolted upright on my bed. My hands were raised as they had been in my vision and a charcoal line was now smeared in a huge circle on the walls, ceiling and floor; it was as though I had summoned up a fiery shield to ward off Mordred’s spell. My head was tingling and aching and I held it in my hands until it had disappeared. I had no idea what had just happened, but I knew one person who could help with the whereabouts of that building. Merlin, I need your help.

            ‘I am here,’ came his voice beside me as though he had known I would soon ask for his help. ‘What is it?’ he asked calmly.

            I explained my vision to him, in the manner as though I was still his apprentice. When I had finished he requested that he see this vision for himself; and so, drawing up the courage and the memory of it, I let him enter my mind and look for himself at what I had seen.

            ‘It does seem very familiar to me, but I cannot think,’ he pondered. ‘Other than the windows, I would say that that was a building with no doors or exits to the outside.’

            ‘I didn’t think anywhere like that existed,’ I commented.

            He nodded slowly. ‘Oh yes, they are very rarely mentioned in text but they exist; dotted about in plain sight, here and there.’

            I lifted my head and thought if he knew of any nearby. ‘Could you take me to any?’ I still couldn’t believe how much of a student I still sounded when talking to Merlin; I guess after the long years of being his apprentice meant that it would take awhile for me to get used to being a fellow rather than a pupil.

            ‘I could, but where would be the fun in your journey?’

            ‘Merlin, you do realise who we are looking for?’ I asked, feeling slightly enraged by his casualness.

            ‘Of course I do, but you never knew Elara the way I did before she found magic; she is tougher than she appears and I can tell you without a doubt that she will be perfectly fine until we get there.’

            I stood up and stomped to my door. ‘Yes! And I would rather that be sooner than later.’ I was about to walk out into the hallway when suddenly I found myself tensed and turned around to face my old master again.

            I knew he was going to speak again, but whether it would be anger or sympathy I did not know; but then I began to relax as he released me. ‘I understand how you’re feeling but you have got to stop it getting to your head and making you lose focus,’ he said, tapping the side of my head. ‘Now, if you would just use your sorcery then you could find her sooner than reading or searching ever would.’

            That did not help, yet I should have guessed he might use riddles. ‘What and how do you mean? Mordred would easily have put up a barrier around her.’

            He gestured for us to walk while we spoke; I stepped out into the corridor and we walked side by side as he tried to explain. ‘Delrand, you and Elara are connected in more ways than one, both in magic and in love; and you know as well as I that Mordred does not know every corner of sorcery. Neither do you but I am pretty sure that you and she can manipulate it far better than he ever could; hence why he needs her.’ That point did not make me feel any more comfortable. ‘There is hardly a day that goes by that I don’t know where you are, that is if I decided to do that; but I don’t as you probably could feel it anyway.’

            As he finished, I tried to think on what he had just said as I could feel in the back of my mind that some part of his babbling could help with this journey. Thanking him, I went on my way to go outside and try to let my thoughts open up in the outside air.