William Calhoun and the Black Feather. Book I

When William opened his eyes and looked around the room, he couldn’t recall where he was and what had happened to him. The only fact clear to him was the back of his head, which hurt so much as if somebody had kicked it with all their might. The fog before his eyes didn’t allow him to make out objects around him, like the first snow on windows doesn’t allow to see through them. Feeling helpless from his inability to clearly understand what was going on, he shut his eyes in exhaustion, and when he opened them again he was glad to see that the fog had dispersed a bit, allowing him to see things, even if still unclearly.

He was lying in bed in a room flooded with sunrays. There were so many rays in here that the room seemed to be thickly populated with them. To the left of him he could see the sun through a misted window, and the rays of that sun were falling onto his face, making him squint. He turned his head and saw another window by the far wall. Unlike the first one, it was now partially covered with someone’s tall figure, who was standing with his back to him and looking through the window.

“I’m glad you’ve woken up, William!” the man standing by the window said without turning his head.

William was vaguely aware that the voice was familiar to him, but he couldn’t recall where he’d heard it before. The wizard by the window suddenly turned to face him and started walking towards his bed slowly. With each step, William recognized Ferzibald Fafner more clearly in this stately grey-haired old man, whom he had heard so much about and whom he had already had the honour to see at Alpurg. After seeing him again, he seriously thought he was dreaming.

“You, sir?” was the only thing he managed to utter.

“Surprised?” Fafner gave him a soft smile.

“Yes, sir…” he admitted, realizing that he was for some reason glad to see nobody else but Fafner right now.

“You’re probably wondering how you came to be here after the events in the Bleak Street?” he sat down on the chair by William’s bed.

“You…” William stared at him in disbelief. “You’ve been there?”

“I have and I’ve even taken some part in the events!” Fafner told him with a mischievous smile.

William liked him more and more, especially his way of smiling so carefree.

“So you know everything?”

“Well, nobody knows everything! However, at my age it is easy and quite forgivable to know more than others do! Isn’t it?” His boyish tone and light irony projected the feeling of trust and safety. “And I believe that I’ll be able to find answers to some of your questions!” The smile appeared on his carefree face again to disappear just as quickly.

William suddenly decided to use this suitable moment to ask Fafner about his age, but he quickly discarded that thought, considering it to be utterly tactless. He looked around again and suddenly remembered that he had no idea where he was right now, so he asked:

“Where are we, sir?”

“At Gibbses’ house! They were extremely worried about you, so they decided to look after you for some time.”

William immediately remembered about El.

“What happened to El?” he gave Fafner a worried look. “He… Is he alright?”

“Baretooth bite is very harmful, but, luckily, not necessarily fatal!” Fafner said. “Mister Gibbs is safe!”

“But El was bitten by a Paleleaf, not a Baretooth,” William corrected him.

“Paleleaves are completely harmless, despite their long thorns, but the same cannot be said about their sinister twins, Bareteeth. Differences appear only two weeks after the negotiations begin. And when the next stage comes, they react differently to the same spells. In case with the Baretooth it’s producing deadly poison. Mister Gibbs was bitten by a Baretooth. And that bite was meant not for him, but for you, William.”

“So that was why he gave it to me,” William started to understand, “and asked about my health at the next lesson! And in the end, the plant went to El! What a fool I am!” he blamed himself aloud. “To put my own friend in danger!”

“You had no idea about the true nature of the plant, so you have nothing to blame yourself for. And Mister Gibbs got away with a light poisoning and a couple of bumps. He’s had stomach lavage and has been brought back on his feet. But despite the fact that there were no serious consequences or injuries, I’ve advised him to stay in bed for a couple of months, to recover completely. I highly recommend you to do the same, by the way. You’ve been through a lot and it’ll be better if the Gibbses take care of you for some time.”

“But sir! What about the family where I live? And what about studies? El and I missed one lesson, but if we miss more…”

“Then I’m sure that Professor Fulvius, who has been sent to replace the late Professor Rinian by the Templedoor initiative, will be lenient towards two brave young men, who have reminded all of us what real friendship is!”

“But we wanted to get the highest grades to enter Templedoor, sir. We have the highest grades in Featherology and Wizard History Refutation and we…”

“And Mister Gibbs and you have successfully entered the place you were going to enter!” Fafner interrupted him.

“Is that a joke?!” William blurted out involuntarily, but then he added quickly: “Sorry, sir!”

“You shouldn’t apologize for showing emotions, William,” Fafner gave him a dismissive smile. “As for jokes, well, being the rector of Templedoor, I don’t think I’ve got a right to joke about matters concerning my students!”

William couldn’t believe his luck! To enter Templedoor that easily! And who was telling him that – Ferzibald Fafner himself, the rector of Templedoor! He started to think that he was either dead or dreaming.

“And you won’t have any problems with the Hoggarts about staying at the Gibbses’ house!” Fafner continued and William thought then, that he had time to visit absolutely all places and find out information about everything that had been troubling William. “They’ve been really lucky, they accidentally,” Fafner winked conspiratorially, “won a large sum of money with a lottery ticket they were accidentally offered as change. And they are currently having great time in South America, bathing in the sea and having completely forgotten that they have someone named William Calhoun living with them. By August, they’ll get back to London and, when they see you in the house, they will completely forget about having gone anywhere!”

William laughed, seeing Fafner, being an old man, acting like El from time to time. But almost immediately, as he thought about the Hoggarts, he felt ashamed for a moment because Fafner knew who they were. He remembered Welbeck’s words well about the way feathermages were treated by other wizards.

“So, it means you know who the Hoggarts are…”

“Feathermages in the fourth generation!” Fafner replied briskly and, as if reading William’s thoughts, added: “Which doesn’t stop them from loving you and caring about you as if you were their own child! I believe you should never, under no circumstances, forget that fact, William,” he connected the tips of his fingers. “We aren’t responsible for the actions of our ancestors.”

“And what am I going to tell them when I go to Templedoor, professor?”

“Time will come and we will surely think of something!” Fafner said in such a carefree voice, that even then, at that very moment, William had no doubts that it would be that way.

A bit later, after thinking over the events of last night, he asked:

“Sir, that wizard called himself Duke Baelzidar… are he and Henry Lauderdale one person?”

“Last night, in the number 4, Bleak Street, there was indeed Henry Lauderdale, who is also Baelzidar!” Fafner was looking at him with a certain degree of surprise, or even awe, as he answered the question.

“Why did he want to kill me?”

“Baelzidar didn’t need your life, William,” Fafner was mysteriously fingering for something in his own beard and his green eyes were staring through the window by William’s bed. “He needed your magic feather. After seizing it, he would have become much more powerful than now,” he looked at William again. “Have you ever asked yourself why you’ve had your magic feather with you since birth?”

“I have!” he admitted. “But I’ve always thought that it is a gift from my parents.”

“It really is a gift, William. But not from your parents, no! They have simply handed it over to you,” he took William’s feather from the bedside table. “It’s a gift from your much older ancestor, Deverell Calhoun, who was such a powerful wizard that he managed to defeat Baelzidar in a battle. It’s thanks to him that your kin is so famous and carries the name of ‘Proud Kin’. After Deverell’s death, his magic feather became the heritage of all the following offspring of the Calhoun kin until it, finally, was passed on to you.”

“But if my ancestor Deverell killed him, how did Baelzidar manage to come back again?”

Fafner hesitated with an answer for a moment, then spoke, looking at William’s magic feather.

“Evil doesn’t wait for a reason to come true, William…” after a while he added. “The ways dark magic leads a dark wizard along are sometimes completely inscrutable. Baelzidar had a lot of followers and, quite possibly, one of them managed to find his grave and let the dark wizard out of it.”

“So, you knew my ancestor, sir?”

“I did! Deverell was a very skilled wizard and being friends with him did honour to anyone.”

“Did you know my parents as well?”

“I had an honour to!” Fafner suddenly took William’s hand and squeezed it. “Be brave, my boy! Your family died in an accident.”

“How did it happen?” William gulped involuntarily.

“Both of your parents were wizhunters. During one of their duty rounds, they picked up a trail of a whole gang of Counts, but as the result they got themselves into an ambush cunningly arranged by one of the Counts.”

“What was that Count’s name?” William asked, unexpectedly cold-bloodedly even for himself.

“His name was Oliver Scrooge!”

“Scrooge…” he repeated automatically, promising to himself never to forget that name. “What happened to him after that?”

“Nobody has seen him since that day! They say that he was killed by one of the wizhunters. But nobody got any exact data about him. You’ve lost your family, but you’ve found friends who won’t leave you in a dangerous situation. Because only those who aren’t alone can withstand an enemy and win.”

After everything that had happened to him, William suddenly saw his life in a different light. First, now he knew, even if a bit vague, what was the reason of him growing without family. Before, he had always felt resentment deep inside because his parents had left him at the mercy of fate. But now, when it had become clear why he had been growing without them, William was relieved to find that he had stopped blaming them for that. And so he asked:

“And why was my feather with me when Mrs. Oliver picked me up?”

“I don’t know how to answer that question, William,” Fafner suddenly looked thoughtful, “but probably after the death of your parents somebody took you out of the house, afraid that the Counts would come after you as well. And you were a baby back then and completely defenceless. In the end, you came to be where you were, in Green Wiz.”

“Sir,” William asked, having no doubts that Fafner knew that fact as well, “and the fact that I decided to go to the ‘Well-Fed Wizard’ tavern in the beginning of September…. Was that an accident?”

“You see, William, the connection of a wizard with his mailmage has always been unbreakable. Mailmage and his master can sense each other even at a distance. Probably, that was why you found yourself at the ‘Well-Fed Wizard’ tavern that day. You can call it fate, if you like. It is also possible that you meeting your mailmage was planned by fate even earlier, when Nymus started working in that tavern, not any other.”

Suddenly remembering that he had lost his mailmage and feeling desperate, William decided to speak to Fafner, though he didn’t know how to begin. He froze for a moment in hesitation, which didn’t go unnoticed for the Wizard, because he asked immediately in a friendly way:

“Do you want to ask me about something else, William? If you do, then go ahead! I’m at your service!”

“Sir…” William began unsurely. “My mailmage, Nymus! He’s in trouble because of me. And it turns out that he has been severely punished because of me.”

“What happened to him?” Fafner asked vividly.

William told him in great detail what had happened, with the exception of those parts where the connection of Neuville and the murder of von Bulberg was mentioned.

“Stealing letters from the Magic Post Office Archive is a serious offence, William.”

Hearing strict notes in Fafner’s voice, William’s spirits fell. But Fafner continued:

“However, considering the circumstances…” Fafner looked at him and gave him a barely visible wink. “And, of course, his zealous service to his wizard… all of that cannot evade incentive attention from the Magic Post Office!”

“You can really get him back, sir?” William asked hopefully.

“I’ll see what I can do!” Fafner smiled.

William once again recalled the events before the last night and he started thinking about them.

“Sir, why didn’t Baelzidar try to get hold of my feather before, when he also had the chance?”

“That’s the point. He simply couldn’t”, Fafner kept bringing his finger to William’s feather and the feather playfully moved its hairs away, which resembled playing with a puppy. “After classes you peregrined home and they didn’t know where you lived. Professor Pickwick is an old friend of mine and I often visit him. And they couldn’t have killed Professor Welbeck and replace him with an impostor even if they wished to. Besides, the Counts are afraid of being caught by wizhunters, so, as you can see, they had no opportunity to get to you! That is why they had to act more patiently that they would have liked to.”

Indeed, William thought, he was simply unreachable for them. Even back then, in Alpurg, he was near the rectors. He considered his only luck at that point that Neuville hadn’t noticed two enrolees hiding behind a portrait.

“What happened to Neuville?” he asked after remembering him.

“Oh, I can see you’ve updated your knowledge of dark wizards’ names!” Fafner remarked with a smile, then continued in a more serious tone: “He, like the rest of the Counts, presents almost no threat without their Duke, and the Counts understand that. Without him, they are like a magic feather without a wizard. The only difference in this case is that the wizard can do perfectly without the magic feather. Taking that into account, we can assume that their further plans will consist of them trying to find new ways of getting their Duke back.”

So he did get away, William thought, as his sore head reminded of itself a hundredth time. Remembering the reason if his pain, he asked vividly:

“And Baelzidar…” the mere mention of his name brought his fear back. “Has he been killed?”

“Unfortunately, even after having been killed he has been troubling us for many centuries, so his death is the beginning of dark deeds of his followers.”

“So, is he gone forever now?

“Nothing goes away forever, William. Nothing at all. As for Baelzidar, I think, he’ll be back. But even if it’s so, it won’t be today or tomorrow.”

“And how did you know about the Empty Village?” William suddenly remembered with surprise.

“I thought you’d ask me that question first of all!” Fafner confessed. “You see, William, the Empty Village is located at the Templedoor territory. And long time ago, I personally cast the invisibility spell on that place and closed access to it. Since old times, that place presented a great interest to dark wizards.”

“For example, the Cold Court?” William specified.

Fafner seemed to be slightly embarrassed with that question, but then he replied calmly:

“That’s right, William. And, as you can understand, being the rector of Templedoor, I couldn’t allow dark wizards holding their meetings anywhere near my students. Baelzidar made a mistake by leaving it in a hurry with Mister Gibbs’s feather in his hands.”

“Then why did he do it?”

“Like I said before, the Baretooth, the sample of which was given to you by Augustus Neuville, was supposed to bite you, not Mister Gibbs. They didn’t know you had exchanged the flower pots. And when Mister Gibbs, wishing to peregrine to class, touched his feathermap with the poisoned feather, it sent him directly to number 4 in the Empty Village under the influence of black magic. Finding that he had appeared there instead of you, Baelzidar understood right away what was going on and told Neuville to leave Professor Rinian’s house, because it was pointless and too dangerous to keep staying there. Mister Gibbs’s father, as you know, is a wizhunter and it was too risky to keep his son. He could find him any minute with the help of your feathermap. That was why it was decided to bury Mister Gibbs Junior’s magic feather as soon as possible, thus cutting him off from the world. Feathermaps can only show featherdata of those wizards whose magic feathers are unharmed. And when he peregrined from the Empty Village with Mister Gibbs’s feather to the Magic Feather Graveyard, the Keeper of which you have the honour to be, he had triggered a movement alarm on the territory of the Empty Village, which had been flashing in my study for a while before I came in and learned about it. After which I hurried over there, where I found you, Mister Gibbs, and Baelzidar.

“Do you mean that the alarm wasn’t triggered before, because Baelzidar and Lauderdale didn’t leave the Empty Village?” William said.

“That’s right! Baelzidar had possessed Lauderdale in a rather unusual way. By using Lauderdale, he also possessed his feather. And after taking hold of his feather, he killed the bird essence in his feather, planting dark magic in it and killing creation. It was the same thing as if he had buried Lauderdale’s feather. That was why the alarm couldn’t detect him, because it is triggered, first of all, when a magic feather gets there.”

“So when he had possessed Lauderdale, he killed his feather and Lauderdale died automatically after that?”

Fafner hesitated for a bit, thinking about that, then replied evasively:

“Partially so!”

“But how could Baelzidar act without a feather?”

“Baelzidar is a powerful enough wizard to use magic well without a feather. Only a few are capable of that.”

“But it doesn’t explain why he wrote to Neuville instead of calling him and telling everything in person. And when he needed it, he could have also called Neuville so that he could bury El’s feather. Then his master wouldn’t have to risk being detected by the alarm with El’s feather in his hands.”

“Baelzidar had no idea about the alarm. He thought that there were only protective spells cast on that place. But the reason for his not leaving the Empty Village earlier lies in a different fact. Lauderdale was wanted by wizhunters for a murder.”

“The murder of the literarium…” William remembered.

“Exactly!”

“As for Augustus Neuville,” Fafner continued, “he couldn’t have reached the Empty Village even if he wanted to, because it’s impossible to peregrine there. His task was to enchant the Baretooth and to slip it to you. And when you had it, they didn’t have to do anything but to wait for you to get into the trap prepared for you on your own.”

“But, sir, if it’s impossible to peregrine there, how was I able to do it?”

“A fair question!” Fafner replied and hurried to explain. “When Mister Gibbs touched his feathermap with the poisoned feather, he poisoned the feathermap itself without knowing it. And when you had dug out his magic feather and his featherdata appeared on your feathermap again, your feathermap also fell under the influence of dark magic to some degree.”

“You said it was impossible to get there because of your protective spell and that only Baelzidar managed to do it.”

“That’s right,” Fafner confirmed.

“But how did Baelzidar manage to send a letter to Neuville from the Empty Village? Wasn’t it sent through a mailmage?”

“It was!” he confirmed again. “But mailmages are very curious beings. They can get almost anywhere while remaining undetected. Their magic is probably older than ours. Like I said, the spells cast by me were a protection from wizards. And a wizard is, first of all, a magic feather, which is carried around. And a magic feather is, in its turn, the alarm that makes itself known when somebody enters the Empty Village with a magic feather.”

“So, that mailmage wasn’t detected by your spells because they don’t use magic feathers?”

“Yes, that is correct!” Fafner nodded.

Well, William thought, at least, Baelzidar has been killed already. After a while he asked:

“What will become of the Empty Village now?”

“Nothing,” Fafner replied casually, “it will remain as it is. But I’ll strengthen the protective enchantment, adding a couple more spells to it!” Fafner smiled slyly, then added: “Mister Gibbs should be proud of a friend like you, William. Because as you already know, if a magic feather is stolen and buried without the wizard knowing about it, the wizard will die soon after it. So Mister Gibbs is really lucky that you were vigilant at the right moment and saved him!”

“But sir…” William mused. “Does it mean that it is always possible to dig out a magic feather and return its owner back to life?”

“You have a legal right to hear the answer to that question, being the Keeper of the Magic Feather Graveyard!” Fafner joked then said: “The problem is - it’s not. You see, William, only one wizard can dig out and revive a buried magic feather.”

“Its owner?” William supposed.

“Yes, the owner. But not of the magic feather, but of the Magic Feather Graveyard. Baelzidar had no idea that the Magic Feather Graveyard had come into your possession”

“But how did Baelzidar manage to dig out a feather from the Magic Feather Graveyard if only the Keeper can do it?”

Fafner seemed to be thinking over that question himself and, as William thought for a moment, that wouldn’t be for the first time.

“Baelzidar’s powers have been puzzling us since he had first appeared, William.“ Then Fafner brushed some haunting thoughts off his face and summed up: “He must have found some way of bypassing ancient magic to dig the feather out.”

William was most of all scared by the fact that even Fafner didn’t have all the answers about the powers of Baelzidar and about the limits of his abilities. William thought for a bit, then asked:

“Does he know where I live?”

“I don’t think so. In any case, you have nothing to worry about. You will stay here, with the Gibbses.”

“Do you think I should change the magic feather?” William said.

“There’s no need for that. Your magic feather is unique and, I believe, it will make you famous all over the world. There is great power hidden in it, William. The power of Baelzidar and the power of your ancestor, so it’s rightfully yours and you should use it. Being a wizard, William, is a certain gift. Not without certain responsibility, of course, but, on the other hand, it always exists! And to refuse the right you were rightfully given to you from the moment of birth is very reckless. In the end, by refusing the magic feather, you will be playing into the hands of Baelzidar, bringing his failed plan to life.”

“Yes, I really shouldn’t do it!” William agreed after giving it a bit of thinking, then asked: “What will happen to El? His magic feather is poisoned now!”

“I’ve talked to Marvin. According to him, it will be good for Mister Gibbs to avoid using any magic all summer! And by autumn, they will get a new magic feather for him in the Feather Nest. So he’s going to be alright.”

“And my feathermap? Wasn’t it poisoned as well?”

“I’ve examined it and it’s fine! Mister Gibbs’s feather doesn’t present a threat any longer and your feathermap cannot be controlled by Baelzidar. In any case, you won’t need it in Templedoor. Feathermaps don’t work on the territory of the Academy. You will use it only outside Templedoor.”

William’s eye fell on his feather, the hairs of which were still happily playing with Fafner’s index finger.

“Sir, during Featherology, a spell flew out of my magic feather… a very serious one…”

“The Shield Spell! Yes, I’m aware of that. Like I said, Harold and I meet quite often and he told me about that case. And, to be more specific, Professor Pickwick didn’t just make the feather produce its last spell, but the last spell of its last owner. Thus, the feather revealed the last spell of Deverell Calhoun. Because you were the first one to use the feather after Deverell’s death. Before that, it had been kept in the Calhoun family and passed from generation to generation. And back then, at Featherology, your feather didn’t recognize you as its true owner yet. Yes, it obeyed you completely, but for a feather to recognize a wizard as its true owner, they need to spend at least several years together or to experience some shocking events. I’m sure that the events in the Empty Village were a shock enough for your magic feather, so you can be completely sure that you are now its only and rightful owner.”

“According to Professor Pickwick, that is a very serious magic to protect from enemies! So, the Shield Spell was his last spell and he died after that?”

“Deverell died fighting and you have all the rights to be proud of such a courageous ancestor. The Shield Spell was probably cast as an attempt to deal with several Counts at once. There were few who would dare to attack him alone or even in a pair. Deverell was a really powerful wizard and the Counts knew that well. The Shield is cast only when you’re about to get hit by a hail of deadly hexes.” He returned William his feather.

William took it and with curiosity and awe watched it moving its hairs so innocently and carefree after such a dangerous experience. After learning that its former owner was Deverell Calhoun, William realized that he knew that himself. Back then, when he saw his portrait in the Portrait Hall, he automatically noticed the similarity between his feather and the feather in the featherture. The same black dots on it, the same colour, and he probably would have paid special attention to that if it hadn’t been for the events that followed after. It made him recall the events of that night.

“And why was Quincy von Bulberg killed?” he suddenly asked.

“I hope you won’t judge me too harsh, William, but this fact concerns only the International Federation of Wizards and you don’t need to know it.” Fafner stood up and was ready to leave. “If you don’t have any more questions, I’ll leave you to rest. You need it.”

“No, no more questions!” William lied, understanding that he had already overused Fafner’s patience and sympathy today. “Thank you for answering the ones I had.”

“Oh, well, you’ll get even more of them in time, and when that time comes, don’t be afraid to ask me!”

“Alright, sir!” William replied with a smile.

“So,” Fafner summed up. “We’ll part now and…” he stood up and walked to the door. “See you at Templedoor, William!”

When he had almost reached the door, he suddenly stopped, turned to William and said casually:

“There’s one more thing, William… Next time you and Mister Gibbs hide behind portraits, make sure the portrait isn’t leaned to the window. Because windows have a curious ability to turn into dull mirrors at night…” Fafner smiled and disappeared without a pop and noise, like it usually happened during peregrining.

This way he let William know that he wasn’t angry at him and that he treated him leniently and with care. And William understood that. So, he remained lying there in bed, either blushing or smiling…