Page 23 of Searching for the Prince
Hyax caught his breath as Robin and Gwil got dressed. He wanted to know what Robin had experienced, he had part of the story. “Tell me what happened.”
“He was on his own, somewhere by water, so I guess we were lucky. He didn’t recognise me, and he didn’t know his own name. But I think I was able to convince him that I wasn’t a danger, and that we were searching for him to bring him home.”
“I saw snippets, but I needed to concentrate on the magic,” Hyax said, wanting to know more.
“He said he was an inpatient at a hospital, and that he had a doctor called Ralph who had claimed to be his husband, although he wasn’t convinced.” Robin buttoned his shirt, agitated. “What did you get?”
“It was pretty clear he didn’t know who you were, but he didn’t run off so that suggests that the bond is still in there.”
He could feel the bond from Robin’s side, but he couldn’t confirm from this remote access how well anchored it was in Simon. If Simon hadn’t felt some compulsion to stay, he would have probably bolted.
“He doesn’t know where he is and I didn’t see anything apart from he looked to be sitting on a jetty, so perhaps where he is has a small lake. Somewhere like Crofton Hall?”
Gwil finished getting dressed. “Quite a lot of the big fancy houses have those, it wouldn’t narrow it down that much. You said he described the place like a hospital and that he was being treated by someone called Ralph.”
“Yes,”
Hyax cocked his head to one side, there was another reason why Gwil was involved, his resources weren’t magic but as efficient at times. “Are you going to ask your dirt devils?”
“No, I’m going to ask Copperpipe.” Gwil tutted and turned to Robin. “I have an interesting informant. I’m not completely sure what he is but he’s a sewer dweller who is surprisingly good at finding information.”
“Simon had also had his memory altered,” Robin said. “And continued to be repressed as he didn’t know his own name.”
“To be honest, I expected there had to be something to stop him returning beyond a physical imprisonment.” Hyax tapped a finger against his lips. “Did I see him wearing gold cuffs?”
“Yes, he had them on both arms. He didn’t have them when he was taken.”
Hyax suspected they were important and might be the way he was being controlled, otherwise why bother putting them on him? “I will need to research those, but I think they might be the items limiting his magic, they could also be siphoning it away because bottling up the magic of a fae of Simon’s power would manifest with obvious side effects.”
“So, what do we do now?” Robin asked.
Hyax thought they might have been able to find out more through the spell, but he was surprised at how successful they had been, and they did have other options.
“Gwil will talk to the sewer potatoes, and I’m sure Solivatus will want you to fill him in. I’ll be honest, it’s not a huge amount to go on.”
“Can’t we try the mirror spell again?” Robin asked, but he was grasping at straws.
“Maybe.” Hyax didn’t want to get Robin’s hopes up. “I’m not sure it will work a second time, but we could be lucky, and the bond is tethered a bit firmer than it was. We’d probably be better trying to narrow down the location and get in and extract him. By force if needs be.”
“I’ve no concerns over collateral damage,” Robin said. “As far as I’m concerned, anyone standing in my way has put themselves in the line of fire, and I’m in no mood to play nice.”
“But if we do find them, we need to be careful. This is not a fly-by-night operation, and it takes a strong and devious mind to execute this, they will have a backup plan.” Hyax pursed his lips. People who were capable of this level of operation were dangerous and not to be underestimated, and while they might not know exactly what they’d done with the mirroricom spell, they might have an inkling. “The level of power and magicneeded brings me to agree with the hypothesis that we’re dealing with a lich.”
“How do we kill an immortal remnant?”
“There must be something. I’ll work with the fae and the warlocks to see what we can come up with.”
“I want it to suffer,” Robin said, his voice a low growl.
“I can understand that, but we should first concentrate on getting Simon back and restoring his magic.” Robin wanted vengeance but he would need to wait.
“We should talk to Solivatus,” Robin said. “Hopefully he can help. While I’m grateful we were able to connect with Simon, I don’t think we’ve got much further.”
Hyax bristled but Robin summoned Karl with a click of his fingers, who then disappeared again with his orders. A few minutes later Solivatus strolled in. Gwil, who had only just finished getting dressed, seemed flustered again, and came to stand next to Hyax.
Solivatus listened as Robin explained what they’d learnt. “I know you think it’s not a lot, Robin. But we’ve some good intel. I’m sure Gwil will be back with more before you know it.”
Hyax slipped his hand into Gwil’s. “We should get going. We’ll be in touch.”
