The Shadow Dragons - James A. Owen [37]
“Maggot being dead wouldn’t break my heart,” said Charles with a touch of rancor.
“Whatever else Magwich was,” John reminded him, “he also had Caretaker training. Perhaps not much, but enough to be dangerous. We must find where he’s gone to.”
“But he couldn’t just leave the island, could he?” asked Jack. “Wouldn’t he turn into dust, or at least set off alarms with the Dragons?”
“Artus sent the Dragons away, remember?” John said. “When he set up his republic, and dissolved the monarchy. If they weren’t looking after the welfare of the king, they probably would have cared less about watching the goings-on of a third-rate knight on Avalon.”
As they discussed the Magwich issue, Rose, Archie, and Quixote rejoined them from the short walk they’d taken to the western side of the island. Rose used to spend time there fishing with her paternal grandfather—or at least, that was who John and Jack had assumed the old man was—and she wanted to see if he, at least, was still there.
The expression on her face gave them the answer. Rose was still visibly upset, but she seemed to have mostly regained control of her emotions, and she was back to her usual mode of absorbing the information around her.
Rose was unusual in many ways—this had always been evident. But John realized that today was the first time in a long time that they perceived her as what she really was: a child, trying to learn the lessons she needed to become an adult. And finding that some lessons are harder than others.
“Let’s go look around the cottages and the cave,” Jack suggested. “He’s going to be there, if anywhere.”
“He’s supposed to be here, among the temples,” Charles countered.
“That’s what I mean,” said Jack. “This is Magwich, after all. We’ve just wasted time looking for him where he’s supposed to be.”
“Good point,” said Charles.
The narrow path along the western edge was a bit difficult to traverse for Quixote, and the crosswinds were strong enough that Archimedes stayed well inland. But the companions made quick enough time that they arrived in the clearing where the Morgaine lived while the sun was still high above the horizon.
It was a scene of greater entropy than the temple had been. Where three cottages had once stood, there was only scattered rubble and straw. Nothing remained of the cooking pit, and even the old well had been all but destroyed.
Worse still, all the rare and dangerous artifacts that had also been left there for safekeeping were also missing.
“Pandora’s Kettle,” said Charles. “It’s gone!”
“And the shield of Perseus,” Jack added. “And the wands, and armor, and jewels . . . all of it.”
“Damn his eyes,” said Charles. “Magwich was supposed to guard everything on this island. When I find him . . .” He didn’t need to finish the sentence.
“When was the last time we actually saw him here?” John asked. “I can’t really recall.”
“Whenever it was,” said Charles, ”remember we’re missing seven years. A lot of things may have happened in that time alone.”
John nodded in agreement. “The Cartographer said as much. If so many things are going poorly in both worlds, it stands to reason that Avalon would be involved.”
“It’s the fact that the kettle is gone that worries me,” Jack noted, “as well as the only means of capping it—Perseus’s shield. Either Artus and Aven took it to Paralon for safekeeping, or else someone else came to get it—to use it. Only a handful of people ever knew what it could do.”
John’s eyes flicked over to Rose, who was looking down the well and not listening in on the discussion.
“And one in particular who did use it,” said John, his voice low, “but he’s dead.”
“His Shadow is still out there somewhere,” Charles reminded them, “and the Trolls and Goblins also knew how the kettle was used. The field of suspects is wide open.”
“Shall we check the cave?” Quixote asked, peering into the dark cavern. On entering the clearing, he had ignored the cottages altogether in favor of the cave, which seemed to have