The Dark Amulet Collection

Chapter 18

For another fortnight, Sasha and Jayhan slogged their way through the potions primer that Sheldrake has given them, finally reaching some interesting formulae near the end of the book. They had discovered a potion that changed the pitch of a voice and had smuggled some out to use with great effect on George, the cat in the kitchen, who subsequently sounded more like a mouse for twenty-four hours. Amid gales of laughter, the poor cat had retired in high dudgeon to its bolthole under the house and refused to come out, even to be fed, until his voice had returned to normal.

The following afternoon, as they were about to enter the workshop, Sheldrake appeared in the doorway. “Good afternoon boys. We are having our lesson today out in the back paddock.”

He led two intrigued boys past the back of the walled kitchen garden. As they passed the passionfruit vine that covered the red brick wall, Sasha pointed out a small nest.

“Look, Jayhan. A honeyeater’s nest.”

“How do you know?”

“I just know about birds’ nests,” said Sasha airily.

Jayhan’s eyes widened. “Really?”

Sasha grinned. “What do you think? I saw the honeyeater there this morning.”

“Oh.” He gave a wry smile. “Fine. So, do you reckon there are eggs in it?”

Sheldrake turned around. “Now boys, you are not to touch that nest. We don’t want to scare the parents off, now do we?” As the boys shook their heads, he continued, “Let us talk as we walk. Today I am going to teach you how to discover whether the person or animal you see before you is, in fact, that being’s true shape. Am I right in assuming, Sasha, that you can tell what a being’s original shape is? For instance, when you saw Maud as a bloodhound, did you know whether human or dog was her true shape… or did you simply know it was Maud? What if you had met her first as a bloodhound and only later as a person?”

Sasha thought about it. “I knew the essence of the bloodhound was Maud,” he replied finally, “and I had an image of her human self somewhere inside the bloodhound. But when she is human, I don’t see any essence of anything else.”

“So you can tell that her original form is human?”

Sasha smiled. “I suppose I can. I hadn’t thought about it before.”

“So, given that you don’t see any essence of anything else inside her, did you know Maud was a shapeshifter when you first met her?”

“No, sir… But I would now. I mean I would know another shapeshifter if I met one.” He frowned slightly and glanced at Jayhan standing beside him.

Sheldrake drew his attention back, “And how would you know?”

“She’s thicker,” said Sasha, then blushed furiously. “Whoops. That didn’t come out right. I didn’t mean to say that Maud’s fat. She’s not at all overweight, at least not very, only a little bit tubby. What I mean is that she’s…”

“Denser?” suggested Sheldrake, suppressing a smile.

Sasha breathed a sigh of relief. “Yes. Like thick cream instead of thin. Like there are a lot of layers underneath.”

“Fascinating.” Sheldrake stared at him, clearly entranced by this explanation. They had arrived at the top paddock and Sheldrake pulled himself together to unhitch the gate. Pushing it open, he gestured that they should go in. In front of them was a flock of sheep, idly grazing. A few of them eyed the intruders and moved further away, but most of the sheep ignored them.

“Now,” said Sheldrake, “whatever you were going to say, Sasha, and I can guess what it is, keep it to yourself for the moment please.”

“I wasn’t going to say anything,” Sasha protested. “If I gave away which one was Maud, Jayhan couldn’t practise, could he?”

Sheldrake gave him a pat on the back. “My apologies for underestimating you.” He turned to his son. “Now Jayhan, I want you to figure out which, if any, of these sheep is not in its true form. Here is how you do it.” He held his fingers straight out but with the middle finger crooked between them, “This is called, rather melodramatically, the claw of truth. Now you place your fingers, held like this, somewhere on their skin or fleece. If their image is a glamour, you will feel a tingling sensation. Do you understand?”

When his son nodded, Sheldrake suggested that Jayhan try it on Sasha first. Sasha obligingly pushed up his sleeve so that Jayhan could lay his three fingers on his arm.

Jayhan shook his head. “No, nothing.”

Sheldrake rubbed his hands together. “Good. So now we know our little friend here is not someone else in disguise.”

Sasha frowned. “Of course I’m not,” he said indignantly.

Sheldrake gave a slight smile that did not fully appease him. However, Sheldrake’s mind was on other things. The mage muttered a few obscure words under his breath and waved his hand to encompass the grazing sheep. “Now Jayhan, I have just placed a gentle spell on the sheep so that they won’t fear you, as long as you move slowly and are gentle. One of them, as you have gathered, is Maud. I want you to find out which one.”

Jayhan worked his way diligently through eight sheep with no results, but happily, before Sasha could die of boredom, Maud made sure she was next in line. As soon as Jayhan touched her, he sprang back, his eyes widening in shock. “Yikes. That almost stung, it was such a strong tingle.”

Maud tossed her head and Sheldrake said calmly, “Touch her again and see whether you can do it without betraying that you have noticed.”

Jayhan steeled himself and placed his hand, with its longest finger crooked, gingerly on Maud’s woolly shoulder. When he was ready for the sensation, he was quite able to withstand it and could remove his hand with more dignity and less haste.

“Hmm’” he said. “Well, that was interesting.” He turned to Sasha. “Are you going to have a try, even if you know anyway?”

Sasha shrugged. “Might as well, I suppose.” He placed his hand on Maud’s shoulder but nothing happened. He looked disappointed. “Hmph. Doesn’t work.”

“Never mind. You don’t need it anyway.” Sheldrake smiled at him. “You’re an interesting little character, aren’t you? Magical, but in a different way from us. I must see what I can find in the library about shaman magic… and I think we might visit Old Tom and see what he knows.”