"Wait a minute," Gaff said, surprised enough that he paused in his sweeping. "Are you saying that they went to all that trouble of breaking in here and blackmailing you just so they could have you steal something from pretty much the same place as their own theft was from?" He shook his head. "That doesn't even make sense for an evil wizard and everybody knows they're crazy."
Gaff was a young elf who'd come with Lillet from the Magic Academy and was now a kind of general housekeeper and caretaker. Lillet sometimes wondered if it was a step up in the elven hierarchy to be the personal servant of a magician rather than being one of many on the staff at the Silver Star Tower, even though Professor Gammel was much more famous than Lillet--not unlike whether a baron's valet outranked a prince's footman. Whatever the case, she was glad to have him; he was good at his job and a loyal friend besides.
Lillet rolled over on her back and studied the beams of the ceiling. She and Amoretta had come back to their room to plan the details of what to do next. Taking Gaff into their confidence was only natural. Now she was sprawled out on the bed while Amoretta sat on the edge, her cat in her lap, while Gaff kept up with the housework (since as he put it, dust waits for no elf).
"I don't think that is their plan," Lillet decided.
"I'm glad you agree...um, why is it that you do?"
"It's just what you said, Gaff. If they just wanted the Amulet of the Hidden Eye, they'd just steal it. I think this is a test."
"A test of what?" Amoretta asked.
"Me. Will I go along with what they want, or try something? They think they control me, but what do murdering, blackmailing thieves know about what someone really will or won't do out of love? If you've invented a new Rune, you practice it first before you trust your life to it in battle. And maybe it's also just to test if I can do the job. A good reputation doesn't always mean a lot."
"So if you get this amulet, they won't return Amoretta's flask even then?"
"No, it's just the start of what they want. I'm sure of it. And...I've been thinking it over..."
"Thinking over what?"
She had to force herself to say it aloud. "I don't think they have any intention of giving Amoretta's flask back, even if I do everything they want."
"What? Wait a minute, now!" Gaff exclaimed. "What do you mean by that?"
"Lillet is right, Gaff," Amoretta said.
Lillet rolled over and propped herself up on her elbow so she could look Amoretta in the eye.
"Hold on. You knew that already?"
"It's the only thing that makes logical sense," she said. "If they return my flask, they have no hold over you, and they'd have to expect you'd want revenge. Even if you didn't, people like that would always think and expect the worst of others."
"In this case, they'd be right," Lillet said. "But why didn't you tell me that you'd figured it out, Amoretta? I only realized it myself after we learned that thief was dead."
"I knew you'd figure it out on your own soon enough, and until then I hoped you could have some time to be less worried."
"That's sweet, Amoretta, it really is, but you don't need to protect me like that."
"What else can I do, though? You've been put in this position because of me, because of how you feel about me. You've been so scared and worried for me, and now those villains are going to ask you to steal, and who knows what else. If I can do anything at all to lighten that burden for you, I have to do it."
"Oh, Amoretta." She sat up and put her arms around the other girl's shoulders, holding her close. "I love you so much it hurts sometimes."
"I love you too, Lillet." Amoretta leaned towards her, then hesitated, as if still unsure of herself. Lillet settled that problem quickly, capturing Amoretta's mouth with her own in a lingering, loving kiss.
"From now on, though," she said brightly when their lips parted, "if you think of something, tell me right away. I don't want to do something stupid because I wasn't thinking clearly at the time."
"I will."
"Good! Now, while I'd rather chase Gaff out and hold you for the rest of the day"--this sally brought the faintest hint of a blush to Amoretta's cheeks--"I have a theft to plan."
"You're definitely going through with it, then?" Gaff prompted, glad to get the topic away from love, kissing, and similar mushy matters.
Lillet nodded.
"I have to. It's the only way to keep Amoretta safe--and besides that, I have an idea about what to do after that. I think we might be able to turn this 'trial run' to our advantage, but I need to do what they want to make the idea work."
"Do you know where the Amulet is?" Amoretta asked.
"Uh huh. It'll be in the Artifact Room. It's not important or valuable enough to be in one of the sealed vaults, and besides both Master Tanqueray and Mistress Absinthe want it on hand to see if they can break down and study the spells in it." The two of them were specialists in the area of barriers and wards, thus their interest in the potent countercharm. "If I wanted, I could just go in and sign it out openly, only I'd have to answer too many questions about why I wanted it and after a day or two the Keeper would ask for it back. Then I'd be in the soup."
"The Artifact Room is basically a storage chamber," Gaff said. "They don't keep a guard on duty."
"At least not human guards, but there are wards and Runes in place, and maybe even familiars standing watch."
"Too bad you don't have the Amulet of the Hidden Eye. Then you could steal it without trouble!"
"Yeah, but I'll have to do it the hard way. But I've done this sort of thing before, when we were at the Magic Academy."
"That's true," Amoretta noted. "You had to overcome Ms. Opalneria's warding Runes to get to the Archmage's soul container, and the Archmage's own defenses to enter the chamber of the Philosopher's Stone."
"Right. The only real difference this time is that there are sure to be alarm spells. Amoretta, I'm going to need your help."
"Mine?"
"Uh-huh. I don't want to fight my way through the defenses while trying to counter the alarms and wards at the same time. I need you to raise a barrier around the room to keep the alarm spells from getting through. Can you do that?"
"I am a homunculus. I might not have the mental powers of the normal kind, but it's still my best area of magic."
"Great!" Lillet clapped her hands. "We ought to be able to pull this off. We'll do it tonight, around two in the morning when we're not likely to run into anyone in the halls or accidentally using the room." She thought for a second, then said to the cat, "You come along too, Grimalkin. If we meet up with anyone, you can put them to sleep before they see us. Master Tanqueray sometimes suffers from insomnia, so he might be up and about."
"He'd probably thank you for a good night's sleep," joked Gaff.
"'Tisn't likely," the cat noted. "Magical sleep 'tis often plagued by nightmares."
"You are way too serious."
"'Tis serious business, theft and blackmail. And for that which is not serious, I prefer to sleep." He snuggled back into Amoretta's arms, a position which Lillet found rather enviable.
The hours of waiting were uncomfortable ones; it was all but impossible to relax with the knowledge of the threat hanging over their heads. Lillet was grateful when the time came to start the preparations, since it gave her something to do.
They made their ways through the halls of the Royal House of Magic without encountering anyone on the way to the Artifact Room. The palace seemed as still and quiet as a grave, a thought which made Lillet shudder. She'd been confident lying on her bed, but the kind of protections her fellow Royal Magicians had on the storage chamber were not a game. The familiars that could be summoned could no doubt be lethal to an unlucky thief.
I'll just have to make my own luck, then.
"All right, Amoretta."
The homunculus nodded, then unstrapped her sword from her side. She did not draw it, though, but merely held it out before her, so that the dragonscale scabbard and red-enameled hilt and quillions made a scarlet cross. Amoretta bowed her head almost reverentially.
"By word and sign, bless this land in the sweetness of silence."
The barrier took shape almost at once; Lillet could sense it as it expanded before them, sealing the area into an enclosed space which magical communications could not enter or leave.
"That's wonderful! How long can you cold it?"
"I think for half an hour, and perhaps a few minutes more. Will that be enough?"
"If it isn't, I need to give back my diploma. Kiss for luck?"
Obediently, Amoretta leaned forward; Lillet cupped her face gently in one hand and kissed her gently and lovingly.
"Lillet, how does that increase your luck for the battle?"
Lillet grinned saucily.
"It doesn't. The lucky part is that I got one of your kisses!"
With that sally, she turned and opened the door to the Artifact Room. As a Royal Magician, she had a perfect right to be there, at two in the morning or any other time, and the defenses wouldn't stop her. She didn't want to do things that way, because it would immediately narrow the circle of suspects--and if there were any active familiars, they could identify her. By using force, she'd cover her tracks more effectively. Since she wouldn't trigger anything by simply entering, though, she took the time to coolly survey the defenses she'd be facing.
The glass-fronted storage cabinets were trapped with alarm spells, Lillet sensed, but Amoretta had taken care of those. Each had a second ward, though, one that would blast with lightning any familiar that tried to open one. Mistress Absinthe's work, I'd bet. Stone statues between the cabinets, two on each side wall and two more on the far end, weren't statues at all but gargoyles, creations of alchemy that while unable to move could breathe fire. There had to be more, though, and a second look revealed a summoning Rune on the ceiling, passive now but ready to spring to life if the wards were tripped. It was a Hades Gate, a rune of necromancy. Probably one of Artos Benedictine's, she judged.
Understanding what she'd likely face, Lillet set to work drawing her own Runes, sketching out the patterns on the corridor floor with her wand and watching them spring to life. Without Runes, the summoning and binding of familiars had taken hours, with complex chants and a wide variety of potions, reagents, and exotic paraphernalia, but Rune magic had streamlined the process so that a skilled wizard with access to enough mana could create an army in minutes. Lillet had chosen Glamour for this, the first of the fields of magic she'd learned. From her Fairy Ring she called on six fairies, insect-winged girls Gaff's size who wielded stinging bows in battle. From her Wicca Rune there was a unicorn, a sleek white steed the size of a pony with a sharp, spiraling horn. These were not particularly advanced summonings, though Lillet's Runes were powerful ones that enhanced the strength of the creatures they summoned in a way that a common hedge-magician's wouldn't. Her third rune, though, was one that marked a master in Glamour. Not even all her fellow Royal Magicians had studied the grimoire of Titania and could summon forth the shining essence of the Morning Star.
It was this spirit that Lillet sent in first, the ghostly form of a beautiful maiden cradling a flame of starlight. Its intrusion triggered the ward spells and woke the gargoyles. Their stony jaws spat out fire, but the blaze burned out harmlessly in the center of the room. Like many creations of alchemy, the gargoyles were unable to harm the Morning Star, which was a purely astral spirit without a physical body. That restriction did not, however, apply in reverse, for it hurled the burning starchild in her hands at the stony protectors, blasting them one by one to rubble.
At the death of the second gargoyle, the Rune on the ceiling came to life. Living flames spat from it: ghosts called from Purgatory to serve one purpose, to fling themselves into astral foes and burn them with the fires of the ghosts' necromantic existence.
Lillet had expected them, though, and that was what the fairies were for. They swept up, interposing their physical bodies between the ghosts and the star-spirit. The ghostly flame would have been devastating to another astral creature but was more annoying than injurious for the fairies. Once the ghosts had expended themselves, the fairies then used their own natural magic to switch to an astral body themselves, so the gargoyles couldn't hurt them, then joined the star-spirit in destroying first the gargoyles, then the Rune.
Which tripped the trap.
Someone had done something clever with the Hades Gate; it had been warded so that when the magic sustaining it was broken, a second spell was tripped, unleashing a previously summoned and sealed familiar into the room. This one was a Charon, not precisely a spirit but a magical reflection of the ferryman of Hades. Master necromancers summoned them to ferry other familiars across battlefields at great speed, and this one's ferry was carrying a small army, Lillet realized.
It wasn't a bad trap. Just as an intruder thought she'd gotten past the defenses, she was ambushed by a force as strong as what she'd initially fought through. Lillet, however, had the antidote. It hadn't been why she'd summoned it, but a spark flew from her unicorn's horn and paralyzed the Charon's spirit-form. The fairies and the Morning Star made short work of the helpless ferryman before it could return its passengers into the material world, saving Lillet the trouble of dealing with them at all.
"All right, let's finish up."
The unicorn bowed and stomped its hoof twice, and its body was surrounded by a golden aura. Lillet walked through the room, peering into the cabinets until she found the one she wanted.
"Here," she said, pointing. The glowing unicorn nodded obediently, trotted over, and snapped the lock off with its horn. Lightning exploded from the warded hasp, but the electrical cascade clawed futilely at the unicorn's barrier, barely able to get through and certainly unable to cause serious injury.
"You know, any one of us could have opened that," chirped a fairy.
"Yes, but you'd have gotten hurt, or worse," Lillet said. "The unicorn didn't."
"We know. That's why we like working for you. Lots of magicians don't care."
Lillet opened the cabinet and plucked the Amulet of the Hidden Eye from its shelf. It was such a simple-looking thing, a brass disk on a red leather cord. Just maybe, though, it could be the key to getting back Amoretta's flask.
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NOTES:
For the names of the three Royal Magicians mentioned, Benedictine is a liqueur originally made by the monastic order of the same name, Tanqueray is a brand of gin, and Absinthe is a mildly hallucinogenic drink especially popular in turn-of-the-century France (undoubtedly Mistress Absinthe is best with Glamour magic, since absinthe was called the "Green Fairy"...).
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