Esrahaddon’s expression was one of sheer delight. “I knew it,” the wizard said.
“Knew what? What happened?” Hadrian asked.
“I just pushed.” Royce laughed at the absurdity.
“And?”
“What do you mean, and?” Royce asked, pointing at the solid wall.
“And what happened? Why are you smiling?” Hadrian studied the wall for something he missed, a tiny crack, a little latch, a keyhole, but he saw nothing. It was the same as it had always been.
“It opened,” Royce said.
Hadrian and the dwarf looked at Royce, puzzled. “What are you talking about?”
Royce looked back over his shoulder as if that would make everything clear. “Are you both blind? The door is standing wide open. You can see there’s a corridor that—”
“They can’t see it,” the wizard interrupted.
Royce looked from the wizard to Hadrian. “You can’t see that the door is standing open now? You can’t see this huge, three-story double door?”
Hadrian shook his head. “It looks just like it always has.”
Magnus nodded his agreement.
“They can’t see it because they can’t enter,” the wizard explained. Hadrian watched Royce look up, following the wizard’s glance, and Royce’s eyes widened.
“What?” Hadrian asked.
“Elven magic. Designed to prevent enemies from passing through these walls. All they see, and all they will encounter, is solid stone. The portal is closed to them.”
“You can see it?” Royce asked Esrahaddon.
“Oh yes, quite plainly.”
“So why is it we can see it and they can’t?”
“I already told you, it is magic to stop enemies from entering. As it happens, I was invited into this tower nine hundred years ago. It was abandoned immediately after my visit, so I am guessing there was no one to revoke that permission.” He looked back at what Hadrian still saw as solid stone. “I don’t think I could have opened it, though, even if I had hands. That’s why I needed you.”
“Me?” Royce said; then a sudden shocked realization filled his expression and he glared at the wizard before him. “So you knew?”
“I wouldn’t be much of a wizard if I didn’t, now would I?”
Royce looked self-consciously at his own feet, then slowly turned to look cautiously at Hadrian, who only smiled. “You knew too?”
Hadrian frowned. “Did you really think I could work with you all these years and not figure it out? It is a little obvious, you know.”
“You never said anything.”
“I figured you didn’t want to talk about it. You guard your past jealously, pal, and you have many doors on which I don’t knock. Honestly, there were times I wondered if you knew.”
“Knew what? What’s going on?” Magnus demanded.
“None of your business,” Hadrian told the dwarf, “but it does leave us with a parting of the ways, doesn’t it? We can’t come in, and I can tell you I am not fond of sitting here on the doorstep waiting for the flying lizard to come home.”
“You should go back,” Esrahaddon told them. “Royce and I can go on from here alone.”
“How long will this take?” Hadrian asked.
“Several hours, a day perhaps,” the wizard replied.
“I had hoped to be gone before it returned,” Royce said.
“Not possible. Besides, this shouldn’t be a problem for you, of all people. I am certain you have stolen from occupied homes before.”
“Not ones where the owner can swallow me in a single bite.”
“So we’ll have to be extra quiet now, won’t we?”
CHAPTER 10
LOST SWORDS