Chapter 281: Right This Way, Madam
Black mist billowed out of the blood-red orb and gathered in mid-air, slowly forming the outline of a woman.
Besides Evans, Sothia watched with open curiosity. He had already told her about the Dark Wizard King, so the sight itself didn't shock her too badly.
Still, the thought that Evans carried another person around with him at all times sat oddly in her chest.
The discomfort rose and fell in a moment. Sothia's temperament meant very little; it truly troubled her.
With one exception—
The mist condensed quickly. Within a few seconds, the woman's figure stood complete on the ground.
She glanced first at Evans, who had summoned her, then at the girl beside him whose eyes shone with interest.
A spring nymph? She hadn't expected to see one here, of all places. A coincidence, perhaps—but an interesting one.
Even as the thought crossed her mind, a faint, hollow ache flickered in the Dark Wizard King's eyes.
The spring nymph she had once known was gone. Utterly.
She shook her head, burying the old sorrow, and turned her gaze to the young wizard holding the orb.
"You've found a lead on him?"
"I have, ma'am." Evans smiled faintly and pushed open the castle's main doors. Behind him, the air stirred; a few translucent feathers drifted down, the soft magic in them calming the air around them.
At the same moment, the wall of the castle not far ahead twisted. A smooth door faded into view.
The Sprite King had already tested this on his arrival: no matter where the mark was activated, that door would always manifest near the bearer.
"That is very much his style," the Dark Wizard King murmured, nodding slowly at the sight.
Evans stepped forward and pushed the new door open.
Beyond lay a shadowed corridor. It wasn't especially wide, but the three of them could walk abreast without trouble.
They had gone side by side for perhaps two minutes when complicated runes suddenly flared to life in the air ahead. A few moments later, a translucent crystal orb coalesced out of glowing lines. Inside it, dozens of fragmented images floated, rotating slowly. Beneath it, a line of small writing appeared.
[Enter the crystal sphere with your mind and complete at least one full image within ten minutes.]
Evans stared at the puzzle and couldn't shake a peculiar sense of déjà vu.
This was almost exactly like one of the seal puzzles he'd broken back in fourth year.
Yes. Harder, certainly, but the same type of question.
Understanding dawned, and he curled his lip, stepping forward.
With his current mental strength, this sort of thing wasn't a challenge. What he didn't understand was why Merlin was so obsessed with cramming these little brainteasers into everything he left behind.
The Dark Wizard King's pyramid had been so refreshingly simple by comparison. If you could beat it, you lived. If not, you died. Clear. Efficient.
What was this, a trial for a successor or remedial classes for toddlers?
He lifted his hand, ready to crack the thing the same way he had before, when a streak of black mist whipped past him and sank into the heart of the glowing formation.
The lattice of runes flickered twice, then started going out, one after another. On the surface, a line of text sputtered into view, flashing like a broken neon sign.
[—Congratulations—Success—]
A moment later, the letters vanished. The runes scattered like dust and were gone in seconds.
"All done. Let's go."
The Dark Wizard King withdrew the mist with a flick of her hand and walked on as if she had done nothing worth mentioning.
"That's it?" Evans stared at the empty air where the seal had been.
He could have solved the puzzle in under two minutes without breaking a sweat, but watching her simply pop the entire ward like a soap bubble was something else.
So she knew a bit about magical arrays as well, did she?
"It was only a little puzzle-ward he set up absent-mindedly," she said with a sidelong glance. "Not one of his main defences. Hardly difficult. That girl could have done the same."
"Me?" Sothia pointed at herself, startled.
She could do that? Why was she only hearing about it now?
Apparently, she was amazing.
"You did not know?" A shadow of real puzzlement crept into the Dark Wizard King's eyes. She looked Sothia straight in the face, confirmed she was not joking, then said, a touch incredulous:
"Using waterflows to break the basic structure of rune-wards is one of the core abilities of your kind. Most spring nymphs master it as children. Who were your elders? They taught you none of this?"
At that, Sothia lowered her head. It was a while before she spoke, voice soft.
"From as far back as I can remember, I've only ever had myself. I've never met any elders."
"And when I left the lake, I did ask around. In all the records I could find, spring nymphs… are already listed as extinct."
"Extinct?" For once, surprise showed plainly on the Dark Wizard King's otherwise impassive face. She said nothing for a long time, then added, more quietly:
"I know something of your people's inheritance."
"If you do not mind, I can tell you what I know."
"Truly?" Sothia's head shot up, pale-blue eyes lighting at once.
After entering the magical world, she had heard countless legends about spring nymphs. Aside from absolute control over water and a natural affinity with plants, though, she hadn't seen much resemblance between herself and those stories.
It had taken everything she and Evans had to bring down a two-hundred-year-old lake monster. That hardly sounded like the effortless might of legend.
If the Dark Wizard King was right, if she was weaker simply because she had never received the proper inheritance…
"Let's talk as we walk," the woman said. Her face smoothed back into its usual cold mask. She snapped another thread of black mist at a fresh puzzle illusion forming further down the corridor, shattering it as she spoke. "Merlin loves these tedious little puzzle-halls. We will likely be walking for some time. Plenty of chance to explain."
Twenty minutes later.
"Right this way, elder sister."
"Careful of your skirts, sister—let me hold that for you."
In the dim corridor of the ancient castle, Evans and Sothia walked to either side of the Dark Wizard King, faces full of fawning deference. They nodded, bowed, and fussed like the most attentive of attendants, ushering her along.
From Evans's point of view, the Dark Wizard King's ability to shred Merlin's traps was too useful to waste. Combined with her very specific talent for anything touched by Merlin's magic, she was the perfect problem-solver. Any time he ran into something linked to his own power in the future, he fully intended to see whether she would handle it for him.
From Sothia's point of view, this beautiful "big sister" had barely arrived before pouring out a stream of hard-won knowledge about her lineage and powers. In minutes, she had pointed out a dozen things Sothia could do which only her kind were ever meant to learn.
They glanced at each other over the Dark Wizard King's shoulders and came to the same silent conclusion.
This sister absolutely had to be kept happy.