Talon was in his room, studying over some spells as usual. There was a knock on his door. “Come in Susan,” said Talon, who already guessed who it must be.
The door opened. “Hello,” Susan said.
“Yes, yes, come in. Have a seat. Have you come to visit me again?”
“Do you have any more of that special tea? Or the snacks?”
“Yes, yes, I thought that’s probably what you were after. You’re so predictable Susan. No ‘How are you’. No ‘Nice to see you again Talon’. Just after the tea and sweets. Where is Conor today?” Talon began putting the tea kettle on the fire as he talked.
“I don’t know.”
“No Conor. Well, that’s just as well. It gives us a chance to talk.”
“Talon, how come your tea and snacks are so delicious.”
“It’s magic, my dear.”
“But you told me that magic can’t make something out of nothing.”
“So I did. You’ve got a very good memory. But magic can change things around. I can use magic to take the sweetest part of the forest fruits, and condense it, and make it into a fine powder that I use to make my sweets with. The humans haven’t figured out how to do that yet, but I can do it.”
“And your tea?”
“With a wave of my wand, I have all the finest spices from the forest brought to my windows. Sometimes, some of the other sorcerers even send me exotic spices from faraway lands.”
“I never knew your food was so delicious,” said Susan smacking her lips.
“Well, this will be just our little secret then.”
“But why? Why don’t you cook for everyone? You should be the chef of the castle.”
“I am the sorcerer of the castle. I have far more important things to do than to cook for everyone. Besides, I don’t want to waste all my exotic herbs and spices on everyone in the dining hall. They’re my little treat. They’re our little treat now--just for you and me Susan.”
Susan smiled. “I like visiting,” she said.
“And I like having you. Sit down, sit down. Put your feet up. Your tea’s almost ready. Tell me, Susan, what has your dad been up to lately?”
“What do you mean?”
“Has he been doing anything different?”
“No. He just does everything the same as usual.” Susan thought for a moment. “Only he’s been meeting with Grandfather a lot more,” she said.
“Just the two of them?”
“No, Grandfather, father, and Uncle Rufus.”
“Of course. The three of them. As usual. What do you think they talk about all the time?”
“Oh, they don’t tell me,” said Susan.
“Well, how do they seem? Do they seem worried? Relaxed? Happy?”
“Worried, mostly, I think. Dad tries to hide it, but I can tell.”
“More worried than usual? Here, your tea’s ready. Careful now, it’s hot. Sip it slowly. And here are some of those sweet snacks you like. More worried than usual, would you say?”
“I think so, yes. He’s more worried than he was before.”
“Well, I suppose it’s understandable. Everyone’s worried about those monsters getting out.”
“I guess.”
“Or is it anything else, do you think?”
“Like what?”
“Oh, I don’t know. I’m just wondering.”
“I don’t know. But if I hear anything, I’ll let you know.”
“Oh, thank you Susan, but there’s no need for that. I was just curious, that’s all.”
“What have you been up to Talon? Are you still trying to communicate with the other sorcerers?”
“Yes, I am. I’ve also been working on some special spells, just for defense. Just in case.”
“From the monsters?”
“Well, from anything really.”
“People say you turned the dragons into rabbits.”
“I did, yes.”
“But why have you never done anything like that before? We've had lots of bad creatures attack this castle before, but you never used your magic before.”
“Well, no one ever needed me to before,” said Talon. “But I’ve got lots of magic spells, if I need them. I can turn people into frogs. I can shrink them down to the size of the thumb. Why, I’m even working on a spell right now that could stop a man’s heart.”
“But that would kill someone!” said Susan, alarmed.
“Oh, don’t worry. I would never use it unless I needed to. It’s a very powerful spell. Why, this one, I wouldn’t even need to be in the same room as someone in order to use it. I could stop his heart from 3 rooms down. I might even be able to stop his heart from outside the castle.”
Susan looked at Talon quizzically. “Who is he?”
“Pardon?”
“You keep saying stop his heart. Who is he?”
“Oh, it’s just an expression. You know, someone. I don’t have anyone in mind right now, but…” Talon shrugged his shoulders, “...I might need to use it someday. You never know. Things are getting more and more dangerous all the time around here.”
“You mean with the monsters.”
“With the monsters, yes, but there are also all kinds of strange people in our kingdom now. All those soldiers who came from the land of Mora, for example. Why even right here in this castle, we have a lot of people that I don’t hardly know.”
“You mean Robert and his friends.”
“Well, yes. And that General. I can’t be too careful, you know. Oh, I see your tea is gone. Would you like some more?”
“No, that’s okay.”
“Well, okay, thanks for dropping by. Be sure to tell your dad you saw me.”
“Why?”
“Oh, you know, he’s probably curious about me. I sit alone all day here in this room, he must be just as curious as you as to what I’m doing. You’ll tell him we talked, won’t you?”
“Yeah, sure.”
“Okay, see you later Susan. Drop by tomorrow, and I’ll give you some more sweets and snacks.”
******************************************************************
“He knows,” said George. “He knows about our plan to get information about him.”
“I thought he didn’t suspect anything,” said Rufus.
“I thought so too. It seemed to be going so well at first. But somehow he figured out that we were intentionally sending Susan over to him.”
“How do you know?” asked King Carlyle.
“Susan was over visiting him yesterday, and he dropped all sorts of hints that he knew she was reporting to us. He wants us to know that he knows. He also dropped all kinds of hints about spells he has that he can use against us.”
“What’s he playing at?” asked Rufus.
“Probably some mind games,” King Carlyle said. “He doesn’t actually want to kill us. If he did, we’d be dead already.”
“True,” said George.
“He probably just wants to make sure his place in the castle is safe,” said King Carlyle. “Old and ancient as he is, this is the only sorcerer post that he has ever had. If we were to turn him out, he would have nowhere to go.”
“So he makes sure that we know he can kill us at any time,” said Rufus. “Just in case we ever get tempted to get rid of him.”
“What do we do now?” asked George.
“Well, if the ruse with Susan is up, then I suppose it’s high time I talk with him directly,” said King Carlyle. “If there’s anything he wants to say to me, he can say it to my face.”
“But what will we do about him?” asked George.
“There’s nothing to do,” said King Carlyle. “We need him. We’ve always needed him to protect us against the spirits in this forest. But we need him more than ever now to help us contain the monsters. We can’t get rid of him even if we wanted to. We’ll just have to try to keep a close eye on him.”
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