At last the latch stilled. But she barely caught a breath before the woman called, Frangare!
Frangare was a masons spell, used for cleaving boulders in two. The trunk must have been protected: it did not crack open, not even the smallest of fractures.
Frangare! the woman cried again. Frangare! Frangare! Frangare!
Iolanthes fingers were icy with fear. The trunk remained intact. But for how much longer? She tried to vaultand moved not an inch: no self-respecting mage dwellings allowed vaulting within its perimeters.
The woman set down the lantern and clutched the bodice of her dress, as if exhausted. I forgot, she said slowly. He made the trunk indestructible so I could not get rid of it.
So there was a man about. Could he help Iolanthe?
On his deathbed he asked me to swear a blood oath that I would protect you as I would my own child, from the moment I first saw you, the woman said softly. Then she laughed, a sound that chilled Iolanthes blood. He wanted much, did he not?
The woman lifted her head; her face was cold and blank, her eyes burning with fervor. For you he gave up his honor, she said. For you he destroyed us all.
Who was this madwoman? And why had anyone believed this house to be a secure location?
The woman raised her wand. The chains slammed back into place around the trunk. Her lips moved silently, as if she were praying.
Iolanthe held her breath. For a long minute, nothing seemed to happen. Then the ends of her hair fluttered. The trunk was shut, she herself was stillhow could air move? Yet it moved. In only one direction: out of the trunk.
The woman intended to suffocate Iolanthe right in the trunk.
And air was the only element over which Iolanthe had no control whatsoever.
Tituss pendant had warmed appreciably as he reached England. It had warmed further after he materialized in London.
Many Exiles from the Domain, accustomed to the urban life of Delamer, had chosen to settle in London, the closest thing Britain had to an equivalent. The girl had likely arrived at the home of an Exile.
The city was in the throes of one of its infamous fogs. He saw well enough with his fog glasses, but no one on the ground could spot him on his flying carpet.
Flying carpets were once the fastest, most comfortable, and most luxurious mode of travel. In this age of expedited channels, however, they had become antiques, much admired but little used. Tituss carpet, measuring four feet in length, two in width, and barely a quarter of an inch in thickness, was actually a toyand not meant for any child to ride on, but for dolls.
He flew over the town house of Rosemary Alhambra, the Exiles leader, but the pendant did not react further. Next he tried the house of the Heathmoors, considered the most powerful mages among the Exilesstill nothing. He was on his way to the home of Alhambras lieutenant when the pendant heated abruptly.
He had just passed Hyde Park Corner. The only mage family who lived nearby were the Wintervales. Surely not. No one in their right mind would entrust this girl to Lady Wintervale.
But as he circled above the Wintervale house, the pendant grew so hot he had to pull it outside his shirt so it would not scald his skin.
Wintervale House was one of the most tightly secured private dwellings Titus knew. Fortunatelymost fortunatelyLeander Wintervale, the son of the house, was Tituss schoolmate, and there was a way to access the house from the formers room at school.
Titus landed on a nearby roof, took off his fog glasses, and rolled the carpet into a tight bundle to carry under his arm. From there he vaulted to his resident house at school. Specifically, into Archer Fairfaxs perennially unoccupied room.
A glance out of Fairfaxs window showed Wintervale and Mohandas Kashkari, an Indian boy and Wintervales good friend, behind the house. The rain had reduced to a mist. Kashkari, the calmer of the two, stood in place; Wintervale paced around him, talking and gesticulating.
Excellentnow Titus did not need to devise a way to get Wintervale away from his room. He opened Fairfaxs door a fraction of an inch and peered out.
Many of the boys had returned. A cluster stood talking at the far end of the passage. But they decided to go to Atkins to buy some foodstuff and stomped down the stairs.
Once the corridor was empty, Titus dropped the flying carpet on the floor of his own roomafter much tinkering he had fortified it enough to carry his weight, but the combined weight of both himself and the girl would keep the carpet grounded. Next he slipped into Wintervales room four doors down, squeezed inside Wintervales narrow wardrobe, and closed the door.
Fidus et audax.
He opened the wardrobe again to step into Wintervales room at the familys London town house. The corridor outside was empty. He made for the stairs. Descending turned the pendant cooler. Ascending, hotter.
He sprinted up the steps.
There was still air in the trunk; it whished softly as it left. But breathing already felt like heaving a boulder with her lungs.