Keeper: Chapter 30

30.


Images swirled in Jamie’s head. Fairytale creatures danced in and out of his mind’s eye with Albe’s voice a steady presence, teaching him about the world of the crossroads. Stories of knickknacks would end with Albe introducing the person who had given it to him. Treasured memories of summertime adventures with his great uncle replayed in his head, but this time with slightly different tones. Lizards were replaced with goblins, fireflies with fairies, and the glowing coals of a campfire winked at him with salamander eyes.



“Do you think we gave him too much?” Jamie heard a voice that did not come from inside his head. “He looks like he is having a seizure.” Jamie struggled to place the voice. He came up with the scent of freshly baked bread and hearty stew. Del.



“Del,” he said the name aloud. His voice sounded croaky in his throat, like he hadn’t had water in a week. The voices faded and the kaleidoscope of images and memories slowed. Jamie opened his eyes to find Del leaning over him, a concerned expression creasing his face. He looked past Del and saw the ceiling of the family parlor above him. “What happened?” he asked. Jamie tried to clear his throat and it caught on the dryness.



“Here,” a second voice said. A glass of water was passed to Del. Jamie tried to turn his head to see who it was but ribbons of color danced in his eyes.



“Slowly, Del said. “You had a nasty crack to the head.” Carefully Del helped Jamie to sit up. They moved slowly, stopping every time rainbow bursts of color danced in Jamie’s vision. As he moved Jamie realized he had been laying on the fainting couch, the velvet nap felt soft and almost fur-like beneath his fingers. When he was upright, Del handed him the glass of water and Jamie drank deeply.



“Thanks,” he said, his voice not nearly as harsh. “What happened?” He repeated. Remembering the other person in the room Jamie looked up. It didn’t hurt nearly as much as it had a minute ago. He blinked and Burr the architect and the High Talbot came into view. Burr was dressed in work clothes and Jamie remembered that he had planned to work on House. He appeared to have been pacing. The High Talbot was seated in one of the room’s reading chairs and seemed perfectly pressed. The slight frown line on his forehead was the only crease Jamie could see. He had the feeling the frown was due to his rumpled state. Jamie’s eyes darted from Del, to Burr to the High Talbot waiting for someone to answer his question.



“What do you remember?” The High Talbot asked. Jamie sighed.



“I remember going out to the Lustan. We followed the map,” Jamie indicated the stack of map squares sitting on the table and the High Talbot nodded. “When we got there we found Albe,” Jamie’s voice tapered off first in sadness. The sadness was pushed away by anger. The anger was white hot and Jamie took a deep breath to try to control it. “Someone killed him.” Jamie’s voice was hard and hot with the tightly controlled rage. “Someone killed Albe,” he repeated. He looked down at his hands and realized Albe’s ring was now on his left ring finger. He looked back up at the High Talbot. “And then someone tried to kill me the same way. The last thing I remember was seeing the rock come at me.”



“That is what we have heard,” the High Talbot said. “We simply needed to hear it from you to confirm.”



“I see,” Jamie said, not really seeing at all. He turned to Del. In doing so he spotted the coin and vial he had packed in his bag before leaving. The vial was empty and the coin had gone from shimmering like a rainbow to a dull matt black. Jamie picked up the coin and looked up at Del.



“Those saved your life,” Del said. “The coin of the Gogran deflected the worst of the blow so you were merely knocked unconscious instead of having your head crushed and the vial contained the elixir of Talgarim. You’ll still be bruised but it helped heal any internal damage.” He paused and Jamie contemplated the empty vial. He knew the elixir of Talgarim was extremely rare. It required more than a year to make and it’s ingredients were kept a family secret by the House of Talgarim. Jamie blinked.



“How did I know that,” he thought. A light bulb went off in his head. The elixir would have healed any damage it found and might have taken the conditioning that was traditional for the training of the Keeper as damage that needed to be repaired. He suddenly realized everyone was still staring at him and no one was speaking.



“Sorry,” Jamie said. “What happened after the big rock?”



“They didn’t realize you weren’t alone and when they came down to make sure you were dead,” Del paused. “Well I sort of picked up my own rock.”



“It is good that you showed more restraint than your aggressors,” the High Talbot said. “Otherwise we would not have anyone to stand trial.”



“Yes we will have a trial. The prisoner is in custody.” Jamie thought of the ins and outs of the last few days.



“Who will be the judge?” he asked realizing that that part of his education had not been filled in.



“Why you will be of course,” the High Talbot told him.



“I see,” Jamie said slowly.



“Do you? Good.” The High Talbot stood. “In that case I will leave you to your rest and I will see you when the trial convenes at sundown tomorrow.”



“Of course,” Jamie said. “Until tomorrow.” He concluded remembering just in time not to add the words Thank you to the statement as they could be miss interpreted as a debt. Propper goodbyes were said and the HighTalbot departed. Burr excused himself to begin work on House. Less than a minute after he left the room Jamie could hear him issuing orders to his crew. Jamie turned to Del, who still wore a worried expression.



“I suppose I had better see if there is anything on court proceedings in the library,” Jamie said.



“Yes,” Del replied. “I have the feeling that will be very handy information to have.”