Book Two - The Cauldron of Ceridwen - Chapter Two
Ring Retrieval
The store owner’s eyes enlarged to almost make him look Caucasian. Never had something of this worth crossed his counter. He let slip a smile full of greed. Quickly, he corrected his look to one of mild interest. Shows of enthusiasm were bad for bartering.
He cleared his throat and looked down his nose at the magnificent gem before him. “Quite a nice stone,” he commented slowly. “Where did you get it?”
The young man hemmed and hawed, a fine line of sweat appearing along his upper lip. “Why, it’s a family ring, passed down for generations. But as I am just starting my family, I was considering selling it to provide a better house for them. Is it valuable?”
“Maybe...somewhat...” the shopkeeper deadpanned.
“Well, what? What would you be prepared to give me for it?” quizzed the man, now wringing his hands.
The shopkeeper stroked his moth-eaten beard and took out a magnifying glass to have a closer look at the stone. His heart raced with anticipation of owning this exquisite piece, but experience in trading allowed him to keep his face calm and disinterested.
The negotiations began and right out of the gate, it was clear the young man was not stupid. He asked for payment in silver bars, not the common Chinese paper currency, which was rapidly losing its worth.
Thaddeus was done listening. “Persy, we’re just going to have to make a grab for the ring.”
Persy motioned her hand. “Fixatious!” The man and the shopkeeper were frozen in time.
“Quick, Thad.”
The four of them zipped into the shop and Thaddeus swiped the ring from the store owner’s hand. “Ok, we’re history.”
“Wait, Thaddeus,” said Persy raising her hand. “Erasum!” The mind erase spell. “They won’t remember any of this.”
They ran into the ally and back up to the main street. Thaddeus noticed the hand he was holding the ring in, starting to burn.
“Persy, I think it’s looking for you. Put it on and keep your hand closed until we get home,” he said. Persy took the ring, put it on her right ring finger and clenched her hand tightly.
Benson knew the next step would be Time-Linxing back home, so crawled into Persy’s shirt pocket. P-C jogged along behind, keeping up as best he could.
Thaddeus sighed. They had the Vanquesta spell on too long and were fading fast. They slowed down to a brisk walk, but it was still a struggle to keep going.
“Persy, we have to be visible for a bit. I’m feeling wasted.”
“You’re right,” Persy waved her hands, calling “Aperios.” and they immediately felt more like themselves.
Just before they reached the portal, two burly and very menacing guards came barreling down the road to their left, raising their massive swords as they ran toward Persy and Thaddeus.
“Uh-oh!” screeched Persy. “We’ve been noticed.”
Persy raised her right hand, careful to keep her fingers locked together and waved it in an arc in front of the guards. In her mind she pictured them dropping down in a dead faint, something she did to Necromina, Krak Ling’s flesh-eating, nine-headed bird. But, nothing. They didn’t even hesitate, much less collapse.
“Double uh-oh,” she muttered, running to catch up with Thaddeus and P-C.
In a nanosecond, P-C jumped in front of Persy and Thaddeus. His normally sweet, pale pink and green face became a thunderous dark red, his eyes a hellish, malignant yellow. He inhaled deeply and spewed a wide ribbon of fire across the path of the oncoming guards. They came to a grinding halt just before thrusting themselves to a certain incendiary death and ran in horror in the reverse direction.
Persy and Thaddeus, mouths gaping, stared at P-C. Benson poked his little nose out of Persy’s pocket, dumbfounded.
“P-C!” Thaddeus finally yelped. “When did you learn to do that?”
P-C recovered his normal demeanour and looked up at Thaddeus, slightly embarrassed. “I’m not sure,” he said “It just kinda blurted out when I thought those guards were about to turn you guys into mince meat.”
“Well, nice timing on your talent discovery. I drew a blank,” Thaddeus admitted.
“Yeah...and the ring didn’t work for me. This is exactly what Mom and Grandmother are worried about. Times like this. Thank goodness P-C pulled a rabbit out of the hat. Those guards were certainly aiming to do us some serious damage.” Persy turned and petted P-C on his head, smiling warmly. Benson, miffed at all the dragon worship that was going on, folded himself back into Persy’s pocket.
They hurriedly entered the portal and Time-Linxed back to Laurel’s Meadow. As soon as they hit the outdoors and sweet fragrant air, Benson launched out of Persy’s pocket and flitted rapturously from flower to flower.
“Well, someone’s happy this is over,” remarked Persy.
“Yeah,” said Thaddeus. “Not exactly your ‘Frequent Flyer’ type, is he?”
They chuckled together and walked back to Laurel’s manor. P-C decided to stay in the meadow with Benson and have a snooze in the sun.
One of the great aspects of Time-Linxing is that when you return from any destination, you arrive only seconds after you left, so you are never missed. Thaddeus and Persy knew that they wouldn’t be caught up by their absence, but there is no way to mask the ring’s vibration from the three talented witches who awaited them.
“What’s that?” chirped Laurel, even before they have a chance to get completely through the door.
“What’s what?” said Thaddeus, with a half smirk. Try as he could to play dumb, he couldn’t stop his chest from puffing out.
“That vibration,” said Angelica. “Have you two been to get the ring?”
“M-a-y-b-e-e-e,” said Persy quietly, shifting her eyes to the side.
“PERSEPHANE PENDRAKE!” Angelica hollered. “That’s far too dangerous a mission for you two without letting us know. If you’d been in a sticky situation, we wouldn’t know to be listening carefully to Silent Speak or Time-Linxed messages. Whatever were you thinking?” She turned and faced Thaddeus. “You...young man...I believe YOU were the driving force in this less-than-brilliant-scheme.”
“Mom, we just wanted to help. The ring was calling to me, so we went in the hopes of finding it. If Krak Ling had been there or it was obvious we couldn’t manage it; we would have come straight back.” explained Persy. “Right, Thaddeus?”
“Absolutely,” Thaddeus confirmed. “I’m not going to get us into a situation we can’t handle, and risk getting Persy, Benson or P-C hurt.”
“You took P-C?” asked Laurel.
“Yes...and Grandmother...you wouldn’t believe it,” said Persy twirling in Laurel’s direction, her eyes alight with excitement. “He was wonderful. At one point there were a couple of guards happening along our way,” she glanced quickly at Thaddeus, hoping he wouldn’t give them up, “and P-C’s face went this outrageous red, then he blew this incredible streak of fire out in front of them and they high-tailed it back the other way. We were astounded.”
“Ah, so it sounds like you are all maturing magically,” commented Laurel quietly.
Benson and P-C just come through the front door as Laurel was speaking.
“Maturing? Me?” said Benson. “If I was any more mature, they’d have to name a mountain after me.”
Laurel smirked, “Not you Benson, but the rest, abilities and personalities changing so rapidly is going to make this whole quest a roller coaster ride.”
Angelica glanced over at Persy and saw her covering her fisted right hand with her left. “Are you hiding Krak Ling’s ring there, Persy?” she asked her daughter.
Persy flicked a quick look at Thaddeus before answering. “Yes, but what I don’t understand is why didn’t it stop the guards when they started to chase us? I waved it over them and pictured them passing out…just like I did to Necromina, but nothing happened this time.” A worried expression elevated her eyebrows as she looked to Angelica to explain.
Vadoma gave Persy a slight smirk. “Chasing you? I thought they just ‘happened along your way’?”
“Well,” Persy stammered. “Um…they, uh...‘happened’ in kind of a ..um…quick-like manner.” She finished very quietly, hoping Angelica didn’t pick up on this exchange.
“Let me see the ring hon,” Angelica said, reaching over to Persy. Persy put it in her Mom’s hand and sat down.
Angelica walked over to the window to catch the light. She turned the ring around, studying all surfaces.
“Look here, Mother,” she said to Laurel. “There’s something inscribed on the back of the gold that holds the stone. Looks like runes of some kind to me. You’d have a better idea.” Laurel walked over to the window and took the ring from Angelica. She tilted the ring toward the window and saw this symbol:
[ Image: KrakLingSymbolBk2.png ]
Angelica peered over Laurel’s shoulder.
“What do you make of it?”
“It’s definitely a rune. The larger symbol is the rune ING which loosely can mean ‘male power’ or can be ‘creation…start of something’. Probably a reference Krak Ling makes to himself, but the other smaller letters, sort of an ‘S’ and a ‘X’…well I’m not sure what they mean or what effect they have on the original rune. I doubt this was part of the ring originally, but added by Krak Ling. I think I know where to check. We need to head to the Magical Tomes Collection, my dear, and now.”
“I can stay here with the kids, if you like,” said Vadoma.
“That would be great, thanks,” replied Angelica. She glared at both Persy and Thaddeus. “NO Time-Linx, you two. Stay right in or around the manor and NO excuses. Got it?”
“Ah, sure, Mom,” Persy answered, somewhat sheepishly. “Where would we go?”
“Cripes, who knows? Just don’t make me have to come and find you.”
Laurel and Angelica turned and rushed out the front door. Persy and Thaddeus in unison looked up at Vadoma and gave her their best cheesy grins.
Vadoma, who stood with her arms crossed over her chest and foot tapping scowled down at them in mock anger and said, “Don’t you two even think about it!”
A fulminating cloud of red and black smoke erupted in front of the Chinese pawn shop. Krak Ling emerged and stared into the window of the store. There inside was a young man seemingly entranced by an empty red silk square on the counter. The shopkeeper was ordering the man to leave.
“No!” Krak Ling hissed. “That cursed child and her sidekick wizard arrived before me. But I know where they’ll have to go next, and I’ll be waiting. Their end is near.”
Krak Ling stepped back into the still billowing smoke. With a small flash of red, he and the smoke were gone.
This is the last chapter of Book Two that will be posted here. But you can grab your copy of any of the books here:
Buy The Books:
One-The Cimaruta: https://persephanependrake.com/go/ppc1/
Two - The Cauldron of Ceridwen: https://persephanependrake.com/go/ppc2/
Three - Lapis Draconis: https://persephanependrake.com/go/ppc3/
Four - The Fallen Star: https://persephanependrake.com/go/ppc4/
