With a slight nod of acknowledgement to Mel the prince said, “What have you got?”
“Nothing that would interest your highness,” Mel said, running a hand through his disheveled hair and combing to one side.
“Come now Senor Muldoon,” he said with a slight chuckle. “It must have been quite important if, judging by your looks, you decided to forego any sleep recently.” The prince looked over at Laura, not missing the fact that the wizard had been looking in her direction when he had walked up to the group.
“It is a quirk of mine, your highness,” Mel said, recovering from his shock at the prince’s presence and giving another smile. “Whenever there is a puzzle, mystery, or problem to solve, I tend to ignore everything and focus on the solution. Essentially, I do not rest and tend to miss a lot of meals.”
“His highness has commanded you to tell him what you have discovered,” Sergio said, narrowing his eyes slightly at what he perceived was a man being insolent.
“I mean no disrespect,” he said, raising his hands a little in a show of surrender. “But like I said, his highness would find the discussion boring.”
“I would find it boring, but not your family,” the prince asked. “Or your guest?”
“What guest,” Mel responded with a slight pause. “Oh! You mean the Lieutenant! My family are used to me and my boringly bland explanations of the things that I have discovered or something that I read in a book somewhere. My cousins, for example, their eyes instantly glaze over whenever I start talking.”
“Speaking as someone who has learned from the greatest scholars and teachers,” the prince said, clenching his right hand in impatience and determined to find out what the wizard had wanted to tell Laura. “I assure you that I will not be so bored as your family and will even understand what you are saying. The benefits of a good education and a superior mind.”
The insult to everyone in the room had been in poor taste and not thought through but, like everyone else, Laura had to smile as the prince had said it.
“As you command your highness,” Mel said, bowing once more. As he was preparing to offer an explanation, Sebastian entered and declared that dinner was ready to be served. With a look of disgust at the interruption, the prince and his companions followed Ignazio over to the long table.
“Tell me immediately after dinner,” Laura quickly whispered as she walked past Mel to the table. She hoped that the wizard would be able to concoct a convincing story. She did not want the prince to find out what was going on. At least, not anytime soon.
Approaching the long table, the servants seated the prince and his entourage. Laura made her way to the end of the table since she was only a Lieutenant in the military. Which suited her, the father she was from the prince, the better she would be. As for Diego and Jose, they had been ushered off to another room, much to her relief. The prince had been seated at the head of the table and had insisted that Mel sit next to him on the right hand side which annoyed the two young lords.
Ignazio saw that Laura was heading towards the end of the table and said, “Lieutenant, as our guest, I would ask that you sit on the left hand next to the prince at the head of the table.”
“She is where she belongs,” the prince said before she could respond. “Though I am surprised that you would even know your place.”
Both Sergio and Jacobo laughed while Laura ignored the obvious jab as a roasted quail was the first item served. Marinated and glazed with teriyaki and stuffed with rice with a side of roasted carrots, it was delicious. The food was helping her to control her temper, giving her an excuse to stall any immediate reactions she might have by simply taking a bite of food.
“Senor Muldoon,” Prince Ferdinand said, as everyone started to eat. “Please share with us your discovery.”
Laura held her breath. A forkful of rice halfway to her mouth, suspended there as she waited to hear how the wizard would respond.
“It has to do with the Crystorbis,” Mel said, his speech somewhat staggered and timid. “You all know what a Crtystorbis is, right? Those globes made of crystal that allows a person to communicate with another person from any distance? So long as both the sender and recipient each has one?”
Everyone nodded their heads. The Crystorbis was a rare artifact from long ago. Attempts to recreate them had failed and there hadn’t been a single wizard or witch who had discovered how to make them. They were highly prized and sought after by every ruler and magic user on the continent of Fistfall.
“I have been trying to figure out how they work,” Mel said. As he kept talking, the wizard’s voice became confident once more as he was in his element, though Laura thought it odd how he had reacted when first seeing the prince. “More specifically, how are they able to project a person’s image and voice simultaneously? After all, sound travels at a slower speed than light. A fact that everyone knows.”
It was not something Laura knew and, by the looks of everyone else, even the prince, they didn’t know that either. However, the prince just shook his head up and down, pretending that he had known that fact all along. It would have been more convincing if he didn’t have a blank look on his face.
“Light appears to travel almost instantaneously and doesn’t really have a limit. But sound. It is far slower and is limited in range proportionate to how loud it initially is. But somehow, a wizard or witch from long ago was able to figure out how to make an artifact that could project an image and sound at the same time. At the same speed!”
“So what does that mean,” Jacobo said, tapping a finger on the table impatiently.
“I think I know how the ancient wizards did it,” Mel said, a smug smile on his face.
Does that mean you can create one,” the prince asked, suddenly attentive and staring hard at the wizard.
“Oh no,” Mel said, the grin still on his face. “Not at all! I just think I know how they were able to transmit the image and sound together. You see…”
“Another time Senor Muldoon,” his highness replied, no longer interested. “Tell me, how did you meet Lieutenant Forsythe?”
“As he asked Mel the question, the prince stared at Laura, looking for a reaction of some sort. Inside, Laura’s heart skipped a beat as she took another bite of food. This time it was the whiting that had been purchased earlier at the marketplace. It had been sautéed with a lemon-brown butter sauce poured over it. But she couldn’t taste the food as she waited for the wizard to answer.
“Just a coincidence,” Mel said as he devoured his plate of whiting while trying to stifle a yawn. “I was travelling home after acquiring some books from an innkeeper I know and she happened to be passing by me, saw that I was reading, and asked me about the book. I then told her I had a book written by the famous Panasion General Liang Tzu that she could have. She said yes and came with me to Burgos. That is all there is to the story.”
Mel yawned again.
The prince didn’t look entirely convinced and said, “Which inn was that?”
“The Inn of the Rising Sun. I know the innkeeper there, good man.”
“I know the inn of which you speak,” Sergio said. “Though I find it hard to believe that Forsythe here would want to read anything. First she thinks she is a man. Now she thinks she can read?” Come now!”
He laughed as he said this while the prince and his younger brother laughed shortly after. The members of the Fernandez family smiled politely as their guests laughed. Laura couldn’t blame them, the prince was a customer of theirs and they couldn’t afford to anger him.
“Perhaps Sergio, I should bea….” she said, slamming a hand on the table, her anger getting the better of her. She had cut herself off before she could finish the sentence, but she had not stopped herself soon enough.
“Sergio slowly turned his head towards her, a large grin on his face. The prince quickly spoke up, as if he had been waiting for LAura to lose her temper. “You forget yourself Lieutenant!”
“My apologies your highness,” Laura said, standing up and bowing in the prince’s direction.
“Don’t apologize to me. Apologize to Sergio.”
“No,” she said. Laura knew that she should not have said that. But she would not apologize to the arrogant swine.
“Careful Forsythe,” the prince said. “This isn’t eight years ago.”
“The outcome will be the same, no matter who it is, your highness.”
The prince’s face turned red in outrage, but before he could say anything further Sebastian the manservant announced, “The Lady Asta!”
Like a force of nature, in swept Asta wearing a dress that was on the cusp of being scandalous. Not only were her shoulders bared in the red dress she wore, but an almost inappropriate amount of cleavage was showing. Especially as she was panting a little, her cheeks flushed, as if she had walked over quickly from her house.
Ignazio stood up and said, “Welcome to our home Asta. May I introduce you to his highness Prince Ferdinand along with the Duke of the Yellow Sea Region’s sons Sergio and Jacobo. Their wives Hui and Valentina. Ladies and gentlemen, the Lady Asta.”
As Asta bowed, Ignazio indicated that she should take his place on the left hand side next to the prince. He gently squeezed his wife’s shoulder as he passed her to sit next to Laura. Asta’s beauty was not lost on the prince as he kept staring at her from the moment she had arrived. He started to have a whispered conversation with the young woman. Suddenly forgetting the recent outburst from Laura.
“Are you alright,” Ignazio said as he sat next to her, placing one of his large, hairy hands over hers.
“I’m fine,” Laura said. “Never thought I would be glad to see Asta right now. She just interrupted what was turning into quite the fiasco.”
The rest of the dinner went without any further problems. The prince and Asta continued to talk exclusively with each other, the prince saying something in the young woman’s ear and she would blush. Mel looked as if he wanted nothing more than to go to sleep while Sergio, his brother, and their wives talked about the current politics of the land with the Fernandez’s. Laura had stayed silent for the rest of the dinner, restless and impatient for it to end so she could hear what Mel had discovered.
As the dinner continued, Laura kept catching Sergio looking in her direction with a hateful gaze that seemed to promise retribution.
After another hour, the dinner had ended with the prince and his retinue leaving, along with Asta who was being escorted home by his royal highness. They all made a point to ignore Laura as they thanked Mel and the Fernandez family for the dinner.
As the door closed, Laura knew that she could have cost this family several wealthy patrons and said, “I apologize for my outburst at dinner everyone.”
“It is alright my dear,” Kathleen said, looking at her husband.
“If we didn’t know the history between you and them, then I would have been very angry,” Ignazio said, his brow furrowed. “It could have us almost everything.” Suddenly the blacksmith’s face brightened and he guffawed, “Thankfully Asta showed up and was a nice distraction for his royal highness. She came for the bookworm and instead got herself a prince.”
As he said that, he clapped Mel on the back who stumbled and said with a tired smile on his face, “Indeed. I guess this means I won’t have to keep dodging her as much as possible.”
“The poor child,” Kathleen said.
Kimiko nodded and added, “She is in over her head. The poor girl didn’t know what to do in the presence of the prince and how to rebuff any advances he was making. She kept throwing quick glances at Mel as if seeking help from being drowned.”
“Me,” Mel said, a puzzled look on his face. “She is not my problem. She has been trying to get me involved with her for a while now. Obviously, Asta knew what she was getting into.”
“There is a difference between trying her charms on a man like you who has no clue about women,” Ignazio said, laughing out loud. “And a man who has plenty of experience flirting and sleeping with women.”
Mel directed a dour look in his uncle’s direction and said, “I know about women, uncle. More than I care too.” The young wizard said this last part softly, his tone full of pain and bitterness.
Laura heard the tone in his voice and wondered what kind of pain he had experienced that would result in such raw emotion.
“It is time we retired for the night,” Ignazio said. “We have to be up early tomorrow to work.”
Everyone, with the exception of Mel and Laura said good night and went to their rooms.
“Come with me Lieutenant,” Mel said as the last of the Fernandez family had gone upstairs. He led her to the library and over to one of the tables which was littered with books, sheets of paper with notes, and a map.
“I believe I have devised a potion that should be able to wake your father up from his sleep,” he said. “Most of the ingredients should be easy to acquire from the market here in Burgos. However, the main ingredient, or catalyst as it were, for this spell will not be found here.”
“What is it and where can we find it,” Laura said, the question quickly issuing from her mouth. Excitement and a hint of hope was felt as she heard the wizard say that he had found a way to wake her father up and that he had discovered it so quickly.
“We need a Sleepless Swift which is a protected species by order of the Wizarding Council,” Mel said, grimacing. “It is a small bird that continuously flies in the air. It even sleeps while flying. Unlike the Alpine Swift, the Sleepless Swift is not a migratory bird and tends to live in Blackwood Forest. It also has magical properties which is why it is protected.”
The Blackwood Forest was a densely wooded area that covered a large swath of the northern part of the Yellow Sea Region. On their way to Burgos, they had travelled along the outskirts of the forest. For centuries, few dared to live within the forest itself, let alone close to it. Feral, magical creatures inhabited the forest and there were many stories of people and even an entire army having been swallowed up by the forest never to be heard from again. Rumors of ancient villages were abundant where there was hidden treasure protected by evil beings. Only wizards had been able to venture into the forest and return with tales of what they had seen.
“So we need to find a bird that never lands and resides in Blackwood Forest,” Laura said, “But in doing so, risk breaking the law.”
“It is for the Goblin Slayer,” Mel said. “If anything, I am sure that the wizarding council would waive any infraction in order to save him.”
“If it were his Majesty of General Rodriguez, then yes. It would most likely be approved. But ever since my father started to use magic, the wizarding council has not looked favorably on him. They don’t like it when there is a magic user that is not accredited or under their control.”
“I know that feeling,” Mel grumbled.
“Still, I don’t have a choice,” Laura said, a determined look on her face. “We need to wake my father up and find a cure for him. The messenger should have reached the general and the Wizard’s Council by now. But we already have a solution thanks to you.”
“I am just glad that I found a solution to the problem,” Mel said, trying to stifle a yawn.
Realizing that he must be exhausted, Laura said, “Get some sleep and we can figure out where we need to go and what supplies we will need in the morning.”
“That sounds good to me,” Mel said, another yawn taking control as he started to walk to the door.
“Mel?”
“Yes,” he said, stopping with his hand on the door.
“Thank you,” she said with gratitude. She could feel her eyes slightly tearing up as he nodded to her and left. Her fist pounded the table with a solid think. She had not realized how hopeless she had felt ever since her father had been struck down. But now there was a solution. At least a solution to one of their problems. She just had to make sure she wouldn’t fail on this mission.
