The Hidden Mask (Wizard's Helper Book 6) Read online

  “And you ranked high?”

  Jack nodded. “It comes from the training I received.”

  “I will bestow a rank upon you, to smooth your entry into Antibeaux. You shall be a knight errant. I don’t think I have any at present. Do you know what a knight errant is?”

  Jack hadn’t learned about that title when he went to extended school in Raker Falls. “I do not.”

  “It is a person who is sent on errands for the king.” King Jordan peered at Fasher, who gave the king a nod of his head. “I think you deserve the title better than any in Corand, and indeed, you have proved yourself in all your travels.”

  “I only did as I was asked,” Jack said. “Does that make me a peer?”

  The king laughed. “A certain kind of peer. Ask Lady Kanlinn. She is an expert in such things among your company. It will also help you in your travels through Antibeaux. Willet has travel documents that attest to your ranking. Like your Masukaian rank cards,” The king said. “The titles are not temporary if you thought they were provisional while you pursue your object of power. They come with a modest stipend from the crown.”

  Jack was about to raise his hand to protest, but Fasher put his hand on Jack’s arm. He leaned over and said, “Be gracious and accept it. You’ve earned that title a few times over.”

  “I don’t know what to say except thank you, Your Majesty,” Jack said.

  “That is sufficient. I think it is time to hear Penny’s story while we eat. I am finished with my part of the evening.” The king took a forkful of meat, and the rest began to eat and after he swallowed. “It is time for your story, Lady Penny. I can call you Penny?”

  “Anything you wish to call me is acceptable,” Penny said, just a little flustered.

  Jack smiled. Penny noticed his expression and took a deep breath.

  “I was kidnapped because of Jack Winder,” she began.

  Chapter Six

  ~

  T he king and Henry Usherbill left the diners two hours later. Penny’s story took up most of the time. The king declared, from Penny’s description, the title Jack received was confirmed. Jack had had to jump in from time to time to tone down his participation.

  Lin joined Jack and Penny. “Two peers of Corand. How do you both feel?”

  “Full,” Jack said truthfully. “That was some royal dinner.”

  Lin smiled. “And you, Penny? Do you feel justified after years living as a commoner in Dorkansee?”

  “I never worried about that when I grew up. My sister will be thrilled,” Penny said. “I am a trained healer. That means more to me than being called Lady Penneta.”

  “You shouldn’t say that to other nobles, my dear. You should say you are as thrilled as your sister. When we are in Antibeaux, you must act equal to your title.”

  “Will I be traveling as a knight errant?” Jack asked.

  “Actually, I’d be surprised if Fasher and Willet would permit that particular title to be on your travel documents. You will likely be a lord of Corand, but a minor one,” Lin said.

  Jack nodded. “Like your friend, Lord Dumpling?” Jack said to Penny.

  She laughed. “He went by Lord Holding for obvious reasons,” Penny said. “And I would concur, except you earned your title, and he didn’t.”

  “How do I stack up against Lorton Reedbrook?” Jack asked Lin softly.

  “You are taller, for one thing, and younger,” Lin said. “He comes from a long line of nobles, and you are a first-generation peer. He outranks you, but for some reason, I don’t think it matters in your case.

  “In my case?” Jack asked.

  “You are a helper, a very special helper. Lorton knows that.”

  Jack didn’t know if that was an advantage or a disadvantage. “What about Sera?”

  “Sera is now the maid of Lady Penneta and me, and I am sure she will perform her job much better unfettered by a title. You, on the other hand, are a wastrel lord brought along on the trip to serve in your own way just as Sera will serve us in hers. Lord Usherbill made that clear when he had his little talk with Lorton and I. Lorton won’t use his title, but he won’t hide it if challenged, and he is more than happy to do that since he doesn’t admit to being a noble among his fellow policemen.”

  The dinner didn’t last long after the king departed. Fasher said he’d rather walk back to the house, while he patted his stomach. Jack felt the same way. His “full” comment wasn’t entirely flippant.

  Penny took Jack’s arm as they walked a few paces behind Corina, who went on about meeting the king of Corand.

  “So, were you jealous of me when I was announced as a noble?” Penny asked.

  Jack turned to look at her in the dark. “Truthfully, I was thinking more about Henry Usherbill strategizing with Lorton Reedbrook and Lin more than your title, but I did catch the fact he called you Lady Ephram.”

  “Are you fine with it?”

  Jack shrugged. “I’m Lord Winder, I suppose. I don’t feel like Lord Winder, and I don’t act like Lord Winder, but there it is. I’ve had to deal with worse. If you are Lady Penny, I’d rather be Lord Jack.”

  “For a moment, I was worried about you not wanting to…” Penny put her hand to her mouth and looked away for a moment.

  “Wanting to be with you?” Jack said. He caught her meaning since that was exactly where his thoughts had led to. “You don’t have to worry about that. I have been liked by two noblewomen. You know about Princess Aralinn—"

  “The high priestess?”

  Jack nodded. “We were good friends on our journey, but that ended in an instant,” he said. “Namori was a friend, but she thought her feelings were reciprocated. They were, but not to the same degree. Luckily, the circumstances were different. I was disappointed that you would have a title and feared something happening that made things difficult between us because of your title.”

  Penny nodded as they fell farther behind Fasher and Corina. She squeezed his arm. “You don’t have to worry about that now, my knight errant.”

  Jack laughed until she stopped and kissed his cheek while on her tiptoes. “You were my knight errant before the king gave you the title, you know.”

  “I do,” Jack said seriously. “I don’t mind that you feel that way. I don’t mind at all.”

  They walked more quickly as Penny held his arm tighter.

  “Your money or your life,” a voice said from the blackness of an alley.

  Jack produced a bright wizard light highlighting three thugs holding swords and knives. Another person was deeper into the alleyway.

  “You don’t know who you are robbing,” Jack said.

  “Penny Ephram,” one of them said. “We know where you are going and where you’ve just come from.”

  “So, this isn’t happenstance?” Penny said.

  The robber grinned. “Not at all. We noticed you were unarmed. Actually, we didn’t come to take your money, we came to take your life.” The thugs raised their blades and began to take a step.

  Jack took Penny’s hand and teleported a few paces away.

  “You brought something?” Jack asked.

  “I did,” Penny said, touching the void and retrieving her two knives. She quickly buried them into two of the thugs.

  Jack pulled out the energy rod from his boot and finished off the third of the three. He teleported to confront the fourth robber lurking in the shadows. He cast another wizard light and looked into the eyes of Peer Major.

  Jack sighed as Peer lifted a wand from his coat. Jack wasn’t about to let the betrayer spoil his evening by being taken to the healing institute, so he repaid Peer Major for his murderous treatment of Penny.

  He felt a little guilty as Peer slid to the ground. Jack picked up the wand that clanged when it hit the ground. He dragged the body to the sidewalk and lined up the four criminals. Peer had just crossed that threshold, if not before.

  A bystander had already summoned the police as a small crowd gathered.

  Fasher and Corina re
turned. “We wondered what delayed you,” Corina said. “Well, we thought we knew, but obviously we didn’t.”

  “A matter of unfinished business,” Penny said. “The blond one sold me to Lazigar Porres. We had a confrontation in front of the Wizards Guild not long after we arrived from Lajia. I suppose he didn’t want me to make a formal accusation.” She shook her head. “I had no intention of doing so.”

  Fasher knelt over the bodies. “You put your training to practice, Penny,” Fasher said. “I could have never done this.” Jack could almost sense regret in Fasher’s voice. “As grisly as it sounds, it gives me more comfort sending you two away.”

  Jack noticed he didn’t say where. People were listening.

  “They shouldn’t have attacked wizards,” Jack said.

  The police showed up. Fasher took them aside, and the bodies were carried away, replaced by a team of street cleaners. One of them told Jack who stared at them. “Are you new to the First Ring? We do what we can to keep the district clean.”

  That was more than Jack needed to know, and he guessed it was the same for the rest as they continued their walk back to the house.

  Penny gave Jack a hug before he went into his room.

  He undressed and went to bed. Not long after, Penny’s voice spoke in his head.

  You lived up to your title, yet again, my hero, she said. I only had two knives. If I were accosted by myself, I would have perished.

  Why? You could have used your last knife like a wand and punctured them just as I did.

  You are my hero because I didn’t think of doing such a thing, and you would have.

  Jack sensed amusement from Penny.

  Being able to do something doesn’t mean you remember to do it. It is remembering that is the better skill. Sometimes your remembering is better than mine. Sometimes. Good night, my knight.

  Penny broadcast her feelings through her last comment to Jack. He felt the burden of their growing relationship fall on him. He wondered if he was up to mirroring her feelings. He was certain the quest for the Hidden Mask would test their feelings for each other, one way or another.

  ~

  Penny and Jack stood, waiting for Fasher and Corina to exit the house to begin their trip back to Raker falls.

  “We leave tomorrow, but the house will seem empty,” Penny said as Fasher and Corina walked out carrying a few of their bags. The rest was already loaded.

  “Take care of Penny,” Corina said to Jack.

  “He got a head start last night,” Penny replied.

  “Both of you can communicate with me now, but don’t overload me with news. I think I’d rather get most of the communication with Jack.” Fasher winced as Corina pinched him on the upper arm. “Either of you will work,” Fasher said. He raised his eyebrows at Corina, who nodded at the wizard.

  “Travel safely,” Jack said, handing the sheaf of papers for his father.

  And with Corina and Fasher hugging Penny and bows to Jack, the pair left Penny and Jack standing by themselves.

  Penny sighed. “We leave tomorrow, Sir Jack.”

  “I’m mostly packed, Lady Penneta. What shall we do today? Willet said Lin would be by with horses and a carriage midmorning tomorrow,” Jack said.

  “You don’t have to remind me. I’d like to walk through the institute and the hospital today.”

  Jack cleared his throat. “I don’t think that would be a good idea. I killed the son of the hospital’s best surgeons last night. I’d rather not risk a confrontation.”

  “Are you showing a hint of cowardice?”

  “No. I believe they call it good sense,” Jack said. “Let’s go somewhere else.”

  “We may not have a choice,” Penny said, looking past Jack.

  Jack turned to see a squad of police officers approach them.

  “They must have waited for Fasher to leave,” Penny said as she stepped by his side.

  “Jack Winder?” the leader of the group said as they stopped in front of him.

  “I am. Would you like to come in and talk?”

  The officer stretched his collar with a finger. “It wouldn’t be appropriate.”

  “Are you going to arrest me?” Jack asked.

  “There has been some pressure to do so,” the officer said. “I have come to retain you for questioning.”

  “Am I to be charged with defending myself from attackers in the night?”

  “Please come with us.”

  Penny stepped forward. “We will go to police headquarters with you.” She grabbed Jack’s sleeve and marched through the policemen and led them to the headquarters building, where she took a slight detour and down to Willet Barton’s domain.

  “This isn’t where you should go,” the officer said.

  “Yes, it is,” Penny said. She led them to Willet Barton’s office. The door was closed, but Penny knocked on the door.

  One of Willet’s men opened the door. Willet rose from his desk and walked around to meet them.

  “These men want to arrest Jack for what happened last night,” Penny said.

  Jack was somewhat amused by it all, so he kept quiet unless he needed to intervene. It was evident that the wizard-surgeon father of Peer Major had insisted on Jack’s arrest, but the police didn’t have a reason for taking him in other than for questioning, which wouldn’t yield anything more than the statements they made the previous evening.

  “What happened last night?” Willet said.

  Penny looked evenly at the officer. “Listen to me. This is your chance to question us. I will tell you exactly what happened,” Penny said.

  Jack thought Penny looked rather pretty with a little more color in her face. He listened to the story and nodded at the appropriate spots.

  “And what do you have to say for yourself? Why did you kill Peer Major?”

  “I killed him because he had drawn a wand. He sold Penny to a Lajian who abducted her to Lajia to be killed while luring me there from Masukai—"

  “Masukai?” the officer said.

  Jack smiled at Willet and then at the officer and nodded. “Penny returned, and Peer obviously thought she would accuse him of his very foul deed even though we had run into him on the main square. He chose to hire some thugs to kill us, thereby saving himself the worry in case we changed our minds. We both protected each other and came out of it unscathed. I am an experienced warrior, you see, something that Peer Major hadn’t understood.”

  “You were able to kill all four?” the officer asked.

  Penny put fists to her hips. “If you read the report of the incident, I tossed the knives, and Jack used a wand to defend us from wizard bolts.”

  “You fought as well?” the officer said with a good measure of disbelief.

  “Ask Gary Green about my ability to throw knives,” Penny said.

  “Gary Green, our weapon master?”

  “That Gary Green,” Willet finally said. “Penny has worked for me on occasion, and in exchange for her services, my department trained her in the use of arms. She is headed north on a royally sanctioned mission tomorrow morning. I can vouch for both of these people. If they said they were attacked and defended themselves, they are to be believed, no matter what someone’s immature child has done to cover his misdeeds.”

  “Royally sanctioned?” the officer said, looking more uncomfortable.

  “Do you wish to see their papers? This is Lady Penneta Ephram and Lord Jack Winder, the only knight errant in Corand, standing before you.”

  “Nobles?”

  Willet nodded.

  “I’d like a glance at their papers first before I apologize and leave you.”

  Willet smiled, but it was the smug kind of smile someone has when they have the upper hand. He walked back into his office and returned with a leather portfolio and produced Jack and Penny’s travel documents.

  The officer’s eyes goggled. “These are signed by King Jordan!”

  “I said royally-sanctioned, didn’t I?”

  “I am sor
ry,” the officer said, bowing to Penny and then to Jack. “I was sent by my superior, who obviously hadn’t done sufficient investigation into the matter. Your version, Lady Penneta, will be in my report as will the verification of these documents and Lord Barton’s recommendation.” He showed the documents to two of his officers and left.

  “I’m sorry we had to involve you in this,” Penny said. “I lost my temper, a bit, but,” she took a deep breath. “I am fine now.”

  “You did the right thing, even though I was in the middle of a serious matter. Are you both ready to leave tomorrow?” Willet said.

  Jack nodded. “We are. We hadn’t intended to barge in, but thanks for helping us out.”

  “I am helping the mission out.” Willet laughed. “I loved seeing that man lose the color in his face when he spotted the king’s signature.” His face turned serious. “I wasn’t told about last night. You could have been killed.”

  “It wasn’t the first time for me,” Jack said. “This time, Penny did her part. She had two throwing knives on her.”

  Willet’s eyes grew. “Even at the king’s dinner?”

  “One has to be prepared,” Penny said. “I could bring a small wand or a thick hairpin and toss wizard bolts all over the place, but I like my knives.”

  Jack and Willet laughed.

  “You have a point. I will make sure the officer makes the proper report. You should have told me about Peer Major, so you wouldn’t have had to expose yourself.”

  “He’s a noble?” Jack asked.

  Penny nodded.

  “Then he would have tried to silence you one way or another. Nobles don’t get restrained for long.”

  Willet clapped Jack on the shoulder. “You are a noble now, Lord Winder.”

  Jack snorted. “And Penny dragged me to you, the only noble in Dorkansee who would give me a second glance.”

  “Other than the king, of course,” Penny said.

  “Of course.” Jack grinned. “That would have been very awkward. We will see you tomorrow, then.”

  “I have other duties. I might as well say goodbye and good luck right now,” Willet said.