She returned a minute later carrying a ring and an ornate letter opener. Using the letter opener she bent the soft gold setting as she tried to prize the stone free.
“What ring is that?” I asked in alarm and I felt suddenly foolish for having thought she might actually have loose gemstones in the house. Obviously she would be removing the stone from something else.
She turned her head my way and I noticed she had her tongue sticking from the side of her mouth in a particularly unladylike expression as she concentrated. I had to stifle a laugh. A few seconds later the stone came free and she caught it before it fell to the floor. Placing it in my hand she spoke again, “Will that do?”
I held in my hand what appeared to be a sizable square cut ruby. I didn’t know much about stones but I would have guessed it to be at least three or four carats in size. “It should work perfectly. Are you sure?”
Her eyes met mine. “Yes, now finish your work, your work that you have steadfastly refused to explain thus far.”
“Your wish is my command,” I replied in an overly formal tone. Resuming my seat I held the gem in the palm of my hand and focused my attention firmly upon it, listening until I could hear its voice. Once I had it firmly fixed in my mind I spoke to it and a moment later it split cleanly in two. The division was so perfect it looked as though a master jeweler had cut and polished two separate stones. The two parts were identical and each had a flat side, the side that had been where they were joined.
I placed one on to top of each box, in the middle of the lid and listening more closely to the wood I caused them to sink in a bit, until they were firmly affixed. Sometimes being an archmage had its advantages. Using normal wizardry I would still have needed a separate spell or even mundane glue to join the gems to the boxes. Doing it this way they were joined so perfectly it almost seemed that the gems had grown directly from the wood.
From that point it only took me another half an hour to finish my enchantment. Finally I looked up at Rose, “Do you have a small piece of paper I can use?” As I asked the question I noticed she was no longer watching me. She had been staring at the ring and its empty setting.
“Certainly,” she said and moved to open the drawer next to me. I was sitting at a writing desk after all. I immediately felt foolish.
“Where did you get that ring?” I asked her.
She put her hand up to brush her hair back, a gesture I wasn’t used to seeing from Rose. She was normally far too poised to fuss with her hair like that. “It was in my jewelry box.”
“No, I mean before that. How did it come to you originally?” I clarified though I already knew she was avoiding the question.
“My grandmother gave it to me,” she replied smoothly, “as a present when I turned sixteen.”
The look on her face gave away more than she intended. “And where did she get it?” I asked.
“My grandfather gave it to her as an anniversary present one year, or so she told me. She’s dead now so I can’t ask her how long ago it was,” she answered. “Is that what you wanted to know?”
I felt terrible for destroying her grandmother’s ring. “Rose why?! I could have used something else!”
Before I could continue she put her hand over my mouth. “Don’t Mordecai. If there’s one thing you need to learn it’s that other people have a right to make sacrifices too. My grandmother would have been proud to see her ring used so, and I am more than ready to give it, if it will bring Dorian and Penny back.”
I stood carefully and studied the woman in front of me. I had always known Rose was beautiful, but the past few days had shown me the depths of her spirit more clearly than ever before. She was more than simply lovely, she was a creature of compassion and possessed of a nobility of spirit that was seldom seen, in anyone, man or woman. “I can’t be certain any of this will work Rose, and if it fails there won’t be any second chances.”
She never faltered, “I am not a child Mordecai. I know there are no certainties. I know what will happen should things go badly tomorrow.” She stared upward at me and for a moment our faces were so close I could feel her breath on my face. A long moment passed before she looked away and I let out a sigh of relief… and to my eternal shame, some regret. “What will you use the paper for?” she asked suddenly, breaking the tension in the air.
“Let me show you,” I said and folding the sheet into a small square I opened one box and put it inside. The ruby set in the lid of the other box began to glow with a soft red light.
“What does that mean?”
I pushed the box with the glowing gem toward her. “Open it.”
Lifting the lid she looked inside and gasped softly when she saw what was inside. Reaching in, she pulled out the small folded piece of paper. “That’s very clever!” she announced. “Does it work both ways?”
I nodded and she placed the paper back in the box she was holding. As soon as she closed the lid the light on its gem went out and the gem on the first box lit up. She opened it and removed the same piece of paper. “So using this you can send messages between the boxes,” she observed.
“Yes… and whoever has one of the boxes can tell by the ruby on top whether a new note has been placed inside,” I added.
Rose’s face grew thoughtful. “What happens if both boxes are opened at the same time? Can you see between them?”
I shook my head negatively. “Only one can be opened at a time. If I had done things differently I could have made something like what you described, which is essentially a portal between places, but it’s more difficult. Instead I used a simpler teleportation enchantment. If both boxes were to be opened at the same time it would break this enchantment entirely, so I added another that will lock one lid in place when the other is open.” In fact I was rather proud of myself for finding a novel use for the ‘self-locking door’ schemata I had read about.
“You plan to use them for passing messages I suppose,” Rose surmised sharply and before I could reply I heard a sharp intake of breath. Looking up I saw her mouth had formed a round ‘o’ and her features were lit with a realization. “That’s why you said three in the morning. You can’t be in both places at once, so you intend to send them after Dorian and Penny tonight.”
I struggled to keep my features calm, which wasn’t easy considering the accuracy of Rose’s guesses. “You’re right,” I told her. “I’ll send them after Penny and Dorian tonight, so they should reach them before any alarm can be raised. Even if the priests or the King realize what we’re about they should be hours ahead of any pursuit or counter-measure.”
“You keep saying, ‘they’,” Rose observed. “Obviously you don’t intend to go with them. Do you mean to go to this meeting with the King? Why? Penny and Dorian would be better served if you are there to make sure they are rescued.”
“My role is secondary,” I answered. “Once I receive the message that they are safe I will visit the King, whether it is time for our meeting or not. Afterward he will no longer be king.”
“And if they don’t find them? When the King learns of the attack on the Doronite compound he will assume it was you. Do you know what he will do?” she said with an alarmed look on her face.
I winced, “I can’t be sure.”
Rose glared at me. “He will punish you, through them. Have you considered all the various ways they could be mutilated?” she said in a harsh tone.
“Yes,” I replied, “as a matter of fact I have given it a lot of thought. That is the second reason I will be remaining here to meet with the King. If I receive word that Penny and Dorian haven’t been found I will make sure he can give no orders of retribution. They may die by some precontrived plan, but they won’t be tortured.”