A.L. Jambor (7 page)

I took Ceil off my breast and we all walked to the pool. Geezer took off his robe. He had an amazing body for a thousand year old wizard.

Ceil is an excellent swimmer. I was afraid to let her go at first, but Geezer said he would keep her from going under so I released her. Once she got the hang of it, she swam like a fish! Now, I just let her go.

I watched Geezer holding her small hands and pulling her across the pool.

“Have you ever been in love before?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said.

I was shocked. I didn’t think he had.

“When?” I asked.

“Many years ago.”

“Well, tell me.”

He smiled.

“There was a woman. I was still with the man who taught me magic, Lucanus. She was…quite beautiful. He loved her, too. When I saw that he loved her, I left.”

He nodded. “He was my friend. He loved her. I made a choice.”

“How did you meet Lucanus?”

He put Ceil in his arms and she began to play with his beard.

“I was the son of a merchant in Jerusalem. My father opposed the Romans, and I was taken away as a slave to the home of a Roman noble. One night, Lucanus came to the house and smuggled me out. He took me to the hills where he taught me.”

“Why did he choose you?”

“He had seen me earlier that day in the market. I was carrying a basket and following the kitchen girl. He said he saw an aura surrounding me. He followed us back to the house and waited until it was dark.”

“Weren’t you afraid?”

“After being a slave, no, I wasn’t afraid.”

“When did you leave Lucanus?”

“Five hundred years ago.”

“You were with him for five hundred years and you just left him? Have you ever seen him again?”

He shook his head.

“And where did you go?”

“I came here. I saw the portal shining in the night and I landed here. It was an empty field then. There was no town. The fortress hadn’t been built. I built the tower and lived here.”

“And you really never saw them again?”

“No.”

He was done talking about it. I watched Ceil laughing as he rubbed his nose against her belly. I’m so…happy.

December 23, 923

Dear Journal, I have abandoned you for six years. I was sitting at Geezer’s desk when I saw you tucked away in one of his cubbies. I’m a mess. I need to write.

I stopped writing when Ceil was a baby. She’s now a wild little girl with long dark hair. She loves to run through the garden and squeal. I love watching her.

She’s also too smart for us and this is why I’m in such a state.

Geezer has kept the veil over the tower. The soldiers don’t come by very often anymore. Mace was staying in London and his soldiers were keeping order in Esher. Geezer said the soldiers thought their king was mad for asking them to search for an invisible tower.

Geezer still forbids us to leave the garden. He said when Ceil is older, she can go outside. But she has a mind of her own. She decided she was old enough
now
.

One day when Geezer left the veil, she followed him. She saw the opening and waited until she saw him fly away. Then she walked through it herself.

She walked to the woods. She walked to the river. She was seen by soldiers.

We didn’t know this then. She came back and never said a word to me. She smiled and acted like she always does. We swam in the pool and laughed. I brushed her hair and sang her a lullaby before tucking her in.

The soldiers must have dispatched a rider to London.

Geezer brought me flour and sugar from Earth. The portal would be closing soon. It closed during the winter solstice at sundown. The beginning of the solstice was on December 22 this year. It had been Geezer’s last trip to Earth until the spring solstice in March.

I’d been baking. He said it was hard to find sugar and flour because there is a war on. He said the men fight from trenches dug in the ground.

“What year is it there?” I asked.

“1915.”

The first World War. Pryll and Sunge had them, too. It would be followed by an epidemic of Spanish flu.

Last January, Mace turned thirty.

Sometime later, I’m not sure when, I saw him standing outside the veil. My heart stopped. I’d forgotten that I hated him. My heart remembered the thunderbolt.

He didn’t see me. He was pacing back and forth. He knows we’re here. t must frustrate the hell out of him.

He also knew what I didn’t .̶ that Ceil had been in the woods. I thought it was strange to see him there alone. He must have thought she would come out again, that if he was alone, he wouldn’t frighten her. She would talk to him. He could lure her away.

That night, I told Geezer I had seen him. We were eating cookies and drinking tea. Ceil was in bed.

“Why do you think he came alone?” I asked.

“A king can do what he wants,” Geezer said. He sounded calm, but his eyes looked strange.

“Will you visit him?” I asked.

“Perhaps. He may summon me.”

“What will you tell him about us?”

“I can tell him you left me and went to Earth.”

“Would he believe that?”

“I don’t know.”

He was troubled. Mace hadn’t been to Esher in years. His sudden appearance meant something had changed. Since Geezer wasn’t part of Mace’s inner circle anymore, he felt vulnerable. Not that Mace could hurt him, but that Mace could find
us
.

That night he walked outside and I saw him lift his arms. He was strengthening the veil. I didn’t see how it could be any stronger. Maybe it just made him feel better.

Every day after that I saw Mace standing by the veil. It was beginning to annoy me. I wanted to walk outside and confront him, but I didn’t know there was a way out.

But Ceil knew. She would see him standing there, too. She stood next to me with a basket of catnip and watched him.

“Who is he?” she asked.

“The king,” I said.

“Why is he standing there?” she said.

“Because he knows we’re here, but he can’t see us.”

“Silly man,” she said.

If only you knew.

We took our herbs inside and I began to wash and hang them to dry. She had left me alone but I didn’t notice. When I did, it was too late. He already had her.

I began calling her when I saw she had gone. I thought she might have gone to the pool. She was forbidden to swim alone, but she often disobeyed. She loved to swim. I didn’t find her in the pool. I didn’t find her in her room. Then I began to panic. She’d never disappeared before.

The veil had summoned him and Geezer suddenly appeared in the front yard.

“I can’t find Ceil,” I said.

He wrapped his arms around me and squeezed.

“I’ll find her,” he said.

I believed him. Geezer never lied.

He walked to the back of the tower. I followed. I saw him go through the veil, and I got mad. He’d kept it from me. He lied. He didn’t trust me. Ceil must have seen it. I knew what had happened and I cursed him. Why hadn’t he told me? I’d have been more careful. I thought she couldn’t leave.

I went through the opening and followed him. The cold hit me like a fist and I shivered. He sensed me and turned around. A cloak fell on my shoulders.

“Go back,” he said.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I had to keep you safe.”

“Are you crazy? You know how she is. She always disobeys.”

“I was very careful.”

“You were outdone by a child.”

I stopped. He looked so guilty.

“Let’s find her,” I said.

“No, you stay. He’ll keep you, too.”

“I don’t care. I’m going to get my child.”

I walked past him. He was now following me.

“Let me talk to him,” he said.

“Why? Do you think I’m going to mess things up?”

I was so mad.

“No, I just think I might be able to reason with him.”

Reason with Mace!

“He has what he wants. He won’t be
reasonable
.”

“We don’t even know he has her.”

“He was there this morning. She saw him. She asked who he was.”

“What did you say?”

“I said he was the king.” I stopped walking and looked at him. “I didn’t tell her he was her father.”

He looked hurt.

“But I’m sure he will,” he said.

“She loves you,” I said.

“She’s a mind of her own.”

“
And she loves you.
”

We walked through town. It had been so long since I’d been there. The houses were now made of stone. The people looked well fed. They would love their king. They wouldn’t help us.

The sun was behind us. I hadn’t given much thought to the solstice. The portal would close in an hour at sundown.

The guards at the fortress stopped us from entering. They sent someone to talk to Mace. I couldn’t stand still. Geezer put his arm around my shoulders.

“He will see you,” the guard said when the man returned.

The fortress was cold. The windows in the hall weren’t covered in glass. I wrapped my cloak around me and held it.

We were taken to a large room. Mace was sitting on a throne. It wasn’t a very big throne. This wasn’t London.

He looked at us. I thought he looked triumphant. I wanted to smack his face.

“Greetings,” he said. He didn’t sound happy to see us.

“Did you take her?” Geezer said. He doesn’t waste words.

“Geezer, old man, sit down. You, too,
Margaret
.”

He said my name like a curse.

“Please just tell us if you have her,” Geezer said.

“Oh, damn you, Mace,” I said. “Did you take her?”

He got up and walked toward us. He came close to me and I could see his eyes. They were cold.

“We could have been a family,” he said. He still smelled of cinnamon. He’d been drinking mead.

“I
have
a family,” I said. “I want her back.”

“I can’t give her back,” he said.

“She’s not
yours
,” I said. “She’s ours. Mine and Geezer’s. She’s always been
ours
. You have no right.”

He seemed to grow larger.

“NO RIGHT!” he cried. “How dare you speak of rights. You lied to me. You kept her from me.”

“You abandoned me.”

“I never knew!”

“He’s right,” Geezer said.

I turned to look at him. I wanted to hurt him.

“How can you take his side?”

“I’m not taking his side. I just…it’s the truth.”

“But you were there. You saw what he did!”

“What did he do, Margaret?”

“I can’t believe this,” I said. I looked at Geezer. “You saw him say he would come to me. You saw us together. You knew how I felt about him. He led me on. He knew he was marrying Neela and he slept with me.”

Mace was enjoying the scene. He kept silent as we argued.

“But that doesn’t change the fact that you could have written him. You could have told him.”

I smacked him. “You said
you
didn’t want him to know. You told me he would take her.”

“Perhaps I was wrong. It wasn’t…fair.”

“Damn you and your fairness!”

I backed away. I felt betrayed. I’d blamed Mace for abandoning me. But they were right – I could have written. I could have told him. I didn’t want to. I didn’t want him to know. I wanted to hurt him. That was the truth. But it was easier to blame Mace.

“You can still come here, Margaret,” Mace said. “I still love you.”

He didn’t look like he loved me. He looked like a snake about to devour its prey. I looked at Geezer. He was a victim of his objectivity. He could always see both sides, and it almost drove him crazy. But now he looked like he regretted taking Mace’s side.

“Where’s my daughter?” I said.

“She’s here,” Mace said. “She’s in her room.”

“Oh, she has a room here?” I said.

“She’s always had a room here. As have you.”

“I want to see her.”

Mace looked at Geezer then back at me. He was weighing his options. He knew the wizard could take Ceil and disappear. But would he take me, too? Would I fight? Would Geezer
kill
Mace?

I looked at Geezer. He was waiting for Mace to answer, too. I felt the sting of tears in my eyes and I tightened my face. I wouldn’t start crying now.

“Come,” Mace said.

He led us down a hallway. I thought it might be a trap. He could kill me. Geezer and I never talked about Geezer’s mortality. I didn’t know if he could die. Lucanus had given him eternal life, but he was still flesh and blood. If he was caught off-guard, would a sword end his life?

We passed several doors. The fortress was long but not wide. It was shaped like a very thick circular wall with rooms in the center. We came to a door with a guard. He opened the door.

Ceil squealed when she saw me. She ran to my arms. I held her close to my chest.

“You found me! Mace said you would. We were playing a game he called hide and seek. And Mama, he’s not silly at all. He’s very smart.”

She was so happy. Mace had worked his charms on her.

“She’s a bright girl,” Mace said. Geezer was standing at the doorway.

“She’s like her mother,” Geezer said.

Mace knelt down. He was next to me. Ceil stepped back and looked at us. She smiled.

“I like it here, Mama. Can I visit Mace again?”

I didn’t want to say no. She’d never understand. If Mace had told her he was her father, she would have said so. She would have been curious. What if she did visit? Would he let us keep her if we promised to let her visit?

“She must come home now,” Geezer said. “It’s getting late.”

Mace leaned against me.

“She’s welcome to stay the night,” he said. “Margaret, too.”

“I think it’s best they come home,” Geezer said.

“What do you think, Margaret?” Mace said.

I didn’t want to look at him. I was afraid I’d forget who he really was. Ceil liked him. I was so confused.

“I think we should go home,” I said.

Mace stood. I saw Ceil walk toward him and I looked up. He had his arms out. She jumped into them and he held her. She looked down at me.

“Please, Mama.”

She looked like him. I hadn’t seen it before. I just thought it was her eyes.