The Dark Amulet Collection

Chapter 16

BANG!

Jayhan went flying backwards and landed in an untidy heap on the ground. On the bench in Sheldrake’s workshop, a beaker of murky grey fluid issued an innocent wisp of smoke but, above it, a thick grey haze wafted near the ceiling.

“Jayhan! What on earth do you think you’re doing? You will get us all killed!” roared Sheldrake.

“Jayhan! Are you all right?” cried Sasha, as he ran to kneel beside him.

Jayhan turned a sooty face to Sasha and grinned. “Whoops!”

Sasha heaved a sigh, partly of relief and partly of exasperation. “You i***t! I told you to wait a minute to give it time to work, after you said the incantation. When you said it again, it doubled the force.” Once Jayhan had sat up, Sasha helped him get to his feet. “All right?”

“Yes, just grazed my elbow, I think.” Jayhan tried to manoeuvre his arm so that he could inspect the damage. He pulled at the tattered hole in the sleeve of his jacket, but frowned in frustration when he couldn’t see his elbow. He dabbed at it with his fingers, which came away red and wet. “Yep,” he said with some satisfaction. “It’s bleeding.”

Sheldrake glanced over from where he was concentrating on constructing a knife that could elongate to become a sword. “So, despite the excessive dramatics, did your potion work?”

Jayhan gave a little grimace. He would have liked some sympathy from his father but knew the best he could hope for was to avoid a lecture. Soldier on until the job is done, was his father’s mantra. He reluctantly lowered his arm, giving his sleeve a shake to put it back in place and wiped his fingers on his trouser leg.

Soldier on until the job is done,Shrugging off the whole incident, Jayhan turned his attention to the beaker and carefully decanted the grey liquid and a residue of crushed quartz into another beaker, leaving a small rounded oval object in the bottom. He placed a piece of white cloth on the bench then tipped the grey object onto it. Jayhan and Sasha peered closely at it.

“Hmm. Isn’t it supposed to be white?” asked Jayhan dubiously.

Sasha used another cloth to wipe it, revealing white beneath the grey. He wet the cloth and tried harder. A stone of iridescent white, with sparkles of red, green and blue shone up at them. A jagged line of black, like a lightning strike, ran down the middle of it.

“Oh look!” breathed Sasha. “It worked. It’s turned to opal. It’s beautiful.”

Jayhan grunted. “Huh. A beautiful marred opal. I wrecked it, didn’t I?”

“Well, it’s not pure, but I think the black streak looks great.”

“Show me,” said Sheldrake, not looking up. “Bring it over here.”

Jayhan duly presented it on a piece of white cloth to his father and held his breath. Sheldrake finished inserting a tiny piece of metal into his construction and straightened, arching his back against stiffness. Only then did he look at the opal.

He picked it up and held it up to the light, angling it this way and that, so that the colours sparkled. He returned the stone to its place on the white cloth and smiled.

“Well done! Not perfect, but well done.”

Jayhan let his breath out in a rush. “Thanks.”

Sheldrake’s smile broadened. “Son, you could kill yourself, holding your breath like that.”

Jayhan grinned. “I didn’t realise I was.”

Sheldrake looked across at Sasha, who had remained standing at the bench. “Well done to both of you. You are right that the black streak is effective but I want you to be able to create one without. Then you can move onto creating a black opal.” He patted Jayhan on the back. “That’s enough for today. You can try again tomorrow. Besides, you need to get some antiseptic and a bandage onto that serious wound of yours. Tidy up, then go and see Beth.” He gave his son’s shoulders a squeeze before sending him off.

Jayhan and Sasha arrived at the stables just as Beth dismounted from a solid brown mare, whose flanks were dark with sweat. Sasha bounded up, took the reins from Beth and stroked the mare along her neck.

“Hello Maud. You look like you need a drink and good rub down.” Sasha laughed as Maud tossed her head. “Go on. You know you’d love it. Let’s start with a drink and see how you feel then.”

Jayhan glanced at Sasha then raised a hand in greeting to the horse. “Hi Mum,” he said awkwardly, far less at ease with his mother in other shapes than Sasha was.

As Sasha led Maud to the trough, Jayhan presented his elbow to Beth, who inspected it with due gravity. “I think that definitely needs a bandage. Let’s go to my office.”

Once he was settled on a chair, Beth dabbed his grazed elbow with a lotion infused with cinnamon bark and thyme.

“There,” she said when she’d finished. “Now, you’ll have to take your shirt off if you want a bandage.”

“Do I need one?”

Beth considered. “Not if you wear that same shirt with the hole in the elbow for a day or two. But if you have to put on a new shirt, your graze may stick to it.” She shrugged. “Up to you.”

“Hmph. Up to Mum, you mean. If it were up to me, I’d just wear the same shirt.”

Beth thought for a moment. “Yep. Better put a bandage on it. Off with your shirt. Anyway,” she added, “this will stop it sticking to the table if you lean on it.”

Jayhan, secretly delighted to warrant a bandage, took his shirt off with alacrity. While Beth was bandaging his arm, he let his eyes wander around the room, checking out the tack and rosettes, the cobwebs in the corner and the piles of paperwork. Noticing a small stack of books in the corner, he frowned. “Aren’t they my old readers? What are they doing here?”

“I borrowed them from Eloquin,” said Beth. “I hope you don’t mind. I gathered you had finished with them.”

“Oh, I don’t mind. They’re as dull as ditch. Can’t think why you’d want to read them, that’s all.”

Beth finished tying his bandage and patted his arm. “There you are. You’ll have to keep your arm out of the bath or get a new bandage if you get it wet. Promise?”

Jayhan nodded abstractedly, still thinking about the books. Suddenly he asked, “Are you teaching Sasha to read?”

Beth grimaced. “Yes, in the evenings after dinner. It’s supposed to be a secret.”

“Why?”

“Well, partly because Sasha is embarrassed that he can’t read.”

Jayhan snorted. “I don’t know why. I can’t read very well myself, not hard books anyway. If he’s already up to those books, he’s not far behind me. He could do his lessons with me. I’ll talk to Mum about it.”

“No, Jayhan, don’t. That is the other reason he has kept it secret. He is already sharing your tutoring time for magic. He doesn’t want to seem as though he is angling to share your academic time as well. After all, he does have to pay his way. He is not, like you, the son of the house.”

Jayhan looked troubled. “But that’s not fair,” he protested.

Beth smiled warmly at him. “No Jayhan, perhaps not. But life is not fair. Sasha would not feel good about having no time to pay his way. He already frets that he is not doing enough in the stables with the time he spends with you and Sheldrake in the afternoons.”

“But Dad wants him to do that so he can help in the future. It is like he is a magic apprentice as well as a stable apprentice… and I hadn’t thought about it before, but he’ll need to be able to read when we start using spell books.”

“He will be ready… in his own way and on his own time.”

Jayhan brooded for a minute or two. “He works awfully hard, doesn’t he? Can I help? What can I do to help?”

“You are a dear boy. You have already helped him by being his friend and accepting him. Don’t worry. He is happier now than he ever has been.”

Jayhan was not appeased. He would think about it.