Natalya: Wizards of White Haven Read online

  NATALYA

  Wizards of White Haven

  Book Three

  Frances Howitt

  Copyright © Frances Howitt 2014

  All rights reserved

  The moral right of the author has been asserted.

  All characters and events in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  Acknowledgements

  With grateful thanks to my editor Patrick

  and to my husband for all your help

  patience and support.

  Index

  Prologue

  1. Aftermath

  2. Lost And Found

  3. Rescue

  4. White Haven

  5. On Alert

  6. The Owl

  7. Surprise Visit

  8. A New Place

  9. Battle Of Wills

  10. Revelations

  11. Wayward Children

  12. Good Ideas

  13. Close Ties

  14. An Offer

  15. Decisions

  16. A Change Of Plan

  17. Magical Testing

  18. Returned

  19. A Whopping Secret

  20. Portal

  21. Hopes

  22. Derek

  23. Family

  24. An Important Meeting

  25. Making Contact

  26. Lord Aubrey’s Visit

  27. Camouflage

  28. Féarmathuin Castle

  29. Nathaniel

  30. Life Does Go On

  Prologue

  The White Haven academy for magic is run-down and failing. This is due to its political stance on accepting ALL gifted youngsters including training shifters, whose magic is deemed tainted and the people themselves unworthy of mingling with wizards. Approached by the aged acting head master for help, wizard Jim agrees and eventually decides to stay, taking on the role of headmaster despite his youth. He works to set years of decay to rights and make the school strong once more. Both he and his partner Amelie see it as a way to continue their own education and furthermore make it their home. This interference in the school’s future attracts much attention however, both from supporters and detractors.

  After thwarting an unexpected and unwelcome approach from the renegade warrior Clan Green Bear, Jim negotiates with them and an alliance is born. He soon becomes fast friends with their leader Commander Drako. He also meets and gains support from Lord Aubrey, in whose territory the school resides.

  The local Wizard’s Guild is not so welcoming however, fearing a wizard of Jim’s growing strength operating outside of their control. As a wizard with the rare ability to leach the power and innate ability from other wizard’s, Jim is a resource many would like to control or harness.

  Wizard Jared, leader of the Eastern Guild’s military arm, knows Jim’s leach ability is fed every time he merges with another strong wizard. Parting him from Amelie is one way of attempting to limit his growth. Additionally, with her in their custody, they hope to have a way of blackmailing him into obedience. Jared disguises himself and his team’s magical signature as that of a dragon knowing that lure will bring her out alone. Unfortunately for him, Jim is able to foil the kidnap attempt and overpowers the team’s subsequent attack, in a terrifying display of raw magical strength that surprises and shocks everyone.

  However, having bested a battle squad of twenty wizards, Jim finds himself overwhelmed by power he has no idea of how to handle or indeed offload. He only now realises that taking on excessive power comes at a cost he might not be able to pay.

  1. Aftermath

  Amelie passed through the main-gates and heard them thud closed behind them, the locking bars rasping decisively into place. She let out a small sigh of relief; now they were safe from further attack. She glanced up at the peepholes in the towers above but suddenly it was too much effort to even search for the identities of those operating the gates. She shivered in the night’s chill breeze and drew her baby closer.

  She eyed the massive lion Jim had become. It was not entirely surprising that no one had come down off the walls to join them. His lion was scary enough normally, but this new stature was terrifying. She had seen smaller plough-horses! Most worrying however was the barely contained magical energy shimmering around him.

  In marked contrast, she felt bruised, battered and weary. She was tempted to ask if he would carry her. The lion’s broad furry back looked invitingly comfortable. Then she considered him again and realised he was not remotely in control of himself. The vast power his leach ability had siphoned off, was still coursing through his body and almost overwhelming him. He clearly needed time to figure out how to handle it or offload it. The last thing that either of them needed was for him to accidentally leach further magic from her, or Daisy, through a simple touch. She knew he had to fight that temptation every day, and he was unlikely to have the self-control right now to prevent it. It would not be fair to make him touch either of them. Daisy gurgled at her, not remotely upset with the evening’s events. She reached out towards her father and the lion made a soft chuffing sound in response but did not come within reach. Amelie met Jim’s golden eyes, amused that Daisy accepted his altered form with no concern. She stroked the softly rounded cheek and slowly resumed walking. It was only a half-mile back up to the school and the sanctuary of their quarters, but her feet dragged. She was relieved Jim did not try to hasten her or show any sign of impatience. He silently matched her pace, his manner protective, concerned and also introspective.

  Jim absently wondered what time it was; sometime in the small hours of the morning, certainly. The tree-lined avenue blocked much of the moonlight, making it particularly dark, but his lion form had no difficulty seeing. The branches creaked in the wind, causing the inky shadows to leap and shift. He still could not calm himself and knew he trod a fine line to remain in control. The excess magic was bubbling up out of him, rattling as if a pot left too long on the stove. He had no clue what destruction might ensue if such a quantity of magic escaped in a careless thought or gesture. Although he had successfully foiled Jared’s attempt to kidnap Amelie, the fight had definitely left its mark on him. Amelie had returned to human form to carry their baby and her pace was weary and slow. He knew the battle she’d fought before he arrived had sapped her strength. He ground his teeth trying to keep a lid on his anger. She was a new mother; her strength was already limited. Reaching their apartment, he watched over them as they settled down to catch what remained of the night in sleep.

  Jim eyed their sleeping forms enviously, but felt far too energised to be able to relax. He knew if he remained in the room, he would only disturb their rest. Still edgy, and with his family now safely home and sleeping, he left their quarters.

  Something glowing in the darkness of the unlit corridor he traversed caught his eye. Stopping, he stared in shock at the image in the mirror. He hadn’t realised he’d remained in his lion form or that he was now three times his usual size. The other disturbing thing he noticed, was the very visible blue-white shimmer of energy leaking off his body. He’d robbed the magical power from twenty mature wizards. Then, if that hadn’t been enough, the energy stored in the perimeter wall had been attracted sufficiently to spark, sending more power to him, even though he hadn’t touched it, or sought it. Already wrestling with unaccustomed power, he tried to send it back, but then discovered it was difficult to return without shattering the wall! He supposed he had been trying to offload more power than it had originally stored. In hindsight, he knew the transfer would have worked better if he had had time to send it in a controlled and steady flow. He shrugged; there hadn’t been time to spare to craft a suitable
spell. The wall spell would need checking sometime, because something had changed for it to seem self-aware and seek him out.

  What had been most astonishing about the battle was the way that he had managed to leach the magic from the spells thrown at him, somehow disarming and converting them back to raw power. He’d never heard of any of these things being possible before. The long and the short of it was however, that he really needed to expel this ridiculous strength before he caused accidents. He was almost out of control and everyone would feel it. He turned to get a better look at the changes the battle had wrought in him, shaking his head in rueful astonishment. He had grown enormously; he had to duck his head and breathe-in to pass through a standard door! He truly hoped this was not a permanent change to his alternate form. A lion the size of a plough-horse was going to terrify everyone.

  Aware the cooks would soon be surfacing to begin making the day’s bread, he hurried past the kitchen door and out into the huge glasshouse. When he first arrived at the school this had been wilderness and the glass smashed open to the elements. He was satisfied to note order had now been restored. Many of the neat raised beds bore the shoots of thriving plants that would yield a variety of food crops in the weeks and months to come. He jumped as a metal watering can rocked as he passed. He hadn’t touched it yet it was clearly reacting to him. He tentatively lifted a paw towards a trowel and a small electric shock zapped out of him to it. This was not good! Amongst so much glass, metal and delicate life, he dared not linger. Reaching the double doors, he hesitated; they were metal and so was the handle. Grinding his teeth, he magically opened the door, struggling to control and tamp down the strength of the spell and not rip the door off its hinges. As it was, the whole glasshouse structure creaked ominously.

  He hurried outside and away from the house. Only then did he breathe more easily having managed to avoid creating any disasters so far. What could he do to sort this out? He turned up the path leading to the training ground, aware it would be safely deserted at this pre-dawn hour. Bordering the track on one side was a large expanse of thick woodland, which felt quiet and restful. Lost in thought, recalling the astonishing ease with which he’d felled so many wizards earlier, he was surprised to find he’d wandered off the track deep into the woods. Belatedly looking around, he realised his paws were following a barely discernible path and that something seemed to be drawing him on. Curious as to what might be out here; he expanded his senses. Looking with more than ordinary vision, he noticed some weird lights twinkling faintly through the trees ahead of him. Stepping into a small clearing, he discovered the glittering came from a pile of jumbled stone and rubble half hidden by tall weeds. Magic imbued this stone! Some of the stone remained intact as precisely worked blocks, but much had been pulverised. He curiously noted some of the stone showed signs of ornate carving and ancient lettering. Unfortunately, it was impossible to guess what had been here. Someone had made a thorough job of dismantling or smashing the structure and the subsequent growth of tall weeds and mossy overgrowth completed the disguise.

  ‘I wonder what kind of building stood here?’ he murmured to himself. The cleared space was small and there did not seem to be enough stone, for it to have been anything but a tiny structure. Having said that, he had no idea how long this ruin had been here. For all he knew, trees could have encroached on the original clearing and grown up since the building had fallen. He had not found any references to a building in this location when he had been looking for the architectural plans for the stables. However, he was well aware there were no formal plans on record for every building on site. He had always wondered why there was such a large gap between the school and training ground buildings. Buried deep in thick woodland, this was a very secluded spot and well away from the student thoroughfares. What was this? Had something been built for an illegal or clandestine purpose? Why had it been so thoroughly demolished?

  Whilst the power coursing through his body made him feel invincible, he knew there was considerable danger in casting a spell to rebuild something when he had no clue as to its original scale. Out here however, he was far from anyone, so it was moderately safe to experiment. He certainly had to do something to drain off the excess power surging around him so dangerously. When he used his magic on building projects, it usually drained his power quite quickly; he hoped this would be enough to at least let him regain control if not return him to normal.

  He began with a spell to reinstate the foundations of the building. To his surprise, very little stone moved. The only noticeable thing that happened was that the weeds vanished and a smooth stone plinth, only a step above the forest floor, replaced some badly broken and uneven stone slabs. Now he could see that the structure was definitely small, in fact only twelve feet square. Slowly and warily, he called the scattered rubble and stone to resume its original shape and position in the building. Despite his caution, and just when he was about to cancel the spell thinking he had finished, there was a sudden and heavy drain on his power, completely out of proportion to the size of the building. As the dust settled, he found he had rebuilt a graceful double door-sized open archway. Beautiful carving adorned its upper edge. He looked through to thick forest beyond, with no hint of a path or cleared space leading onwards. Puzzled, he looked about him carefully wondering what it was and why it was here. Was it all that remained of the door to a larger building? Were there other ruined structures nearby? He was also puzzled to note that the archway’s stone no longer glittered. The magic originally incorporated into it was no longer bleeding out, but properly and silently contained. He suspected his magic had now restored whatever spell had originally been on this structure.

  A bird flew through the trees above his head, squawking shrill warning of a predator’s presence and he looked up. Watching as many birds took flight from his vicinity, he noticed that something was now glittering faintly about twenty feet in the air directly above the archway. What the hell was that? No answers forthcoming he moved closer to the arch to examine it in the dim dawn light. Noticing that the right-hand pillar of the arch was carved he warily moved closer to look at the writing. Moss clung to the stone, particularly in the indentations of the lettering. Whatever it said, probably related to the twinkling circular display above his head. The style of the arch reminded him of something he had seen before but exactly what escaped him. He stepped off the plinth to get a better angle to see the phenomenon up in the air but as he did so, it winked out.

  He gaped in shock as recognition surged through him. Was this a portal? Had he accidentally rebuilt the activator for an air portal? He knew proximity to a person with magic activated them. The one in the prison had been disguised by being inset into a wall, but the size and shape was just the same as this. Unfortunately, his lion did not have wings; this would be of limited use to him. However, this was such an important find; he did need to confirm his guess was correct. Where did this one lead? It probably said on this engraved panel. He started brushing off the moss with his paw so he could see what it said. Unfortunately, whilst his paw was excellent for clearing large areas in one go, since he still hadn’t shrunk to his usual lion size, it was clumsy and none too precise.

  He just had time to curse as a flash almost blinded him. What symbol or activator had he caught? The light came from above him. He gaped, where the pale twinkling outline had been was now a great swirling vortex, flashing blue-white lights. Recovering his scattered wits, he tried to leap back out of the way, but his paw now seemed glued to the pillar. He suddenly realised he was pinned immobile, but of most concern was that his strength was being drawn out of him hard and relentlessly. His power was being stolen for some purpose, and he had no control or say over its use. Would he have enough power to fulfil whatever the spell needed, because if not, this could kill him? What was happening? He gazed up; this was not just unnerving but terrifying. The violently swirling vortex descended towards him like a whirlpool, its maw looming closer and closer as though it wanted to swallow him. There was
a weird and unnerving moment of suction, his body feeling light but fortunately not quite floating off the ground. It was like standing on a high mountain precipice feeling you were about to be blown off. He was sure that his paw, glued to the arch, was all that was anchoring him to ground! He shrank down, closing his eyes and waited helplessly for it to devour him. Unexpectedly, there was a small boom, the earth quivered and then everything stilled.

  Opening his eyes tentatively he realised the vortex had gone. The archway however was no longer empty. Contained within the archway was a strange dark shadow. The suction vanished from his paw and he collapsed, panting hard and gaping in shock. This was definitely a portal. Had he just inadvertently found the sequence to anchor it to the ground? Were they all air portals unless anchored by these be-spelled arches? He recalled Amelie mentioning, that where they had fallen out of the prison portal onto this continent, there had also been ancient ruins. That portal too, probably just needed to be rebuilt, and then anchored to be useable from the ground this end. Rather a long trek to go back, even though he knew the destination was intact. It would probably be quicker and safer to travel by sea if he ever wanted to return to his home continent. Exiting through a prison would be problematic, to put it mildly. There had been other Portals, but if they had all been smashed, a great deal of power would be required to rebuild. Of course, unless records existed somewhere, it would only become clear where each one went after they had been rebuilt. Locating them would be a challenge in itself too.

  He suddenly realised he felt weak and spent; clearly, this anchoring took a huge amount of magical power. He doubted he could do this spell alone again.

  Where did this portal come out though? He didn’t recognise the Erien name inscribed on the column. The most worrying aspect was that the portal was dark. He clearly remembered seeing sunshine at his destination when he’d come through from the prison portal. It had swung his decision on whether to risk it. This one however was dark. Many portals had been locked away. Was its destination inside a dungeon or vault? What if it came out in a guardhouse and he had to fight his way free? The other issue was the question of whether this one had been bricked up at the other end. Would he step through, only to be slammed against a wall, trapped from returning? He simply didn’t know enough about the portals; what was and was not possible. He needed to do some research. Once he knew where this one came out, he could hazard a guess as to what he might find at the other end. He stepped off the plinth and the glittering ceased. He could now see through the archway to the forest beyond; the portal had closed as his magic retreated. Now there wasn’t such a tempting open door, he could stand back and think a little more rationally. Amelie would be furious if he went off exploring without saying a word, especially when this could, in all likelihood, be extremely risky.