Free Jake's Quest - Wizards V by John Booth

again.
    “Can I come in?”
    I stepped back. As we entered the hall a gallon of water rained down on us from above.
    There were screams of laughter from the twins, who had been lying in wait for us to step back inside.
    Bronwyn took off her hat and it was instantly dry, as was the rest of her. She handed it to me along with her coat,
    “I have something to take care of. Back in a minute.”
    She sprinted up the stairs like a professional athlete. The twins shrieked from their perches on the upper landing and ran.
    It was tempting to leave the twins to Bronwyn, but it was just technically possible she might kill them. I used magic to strip the water from me and dried the carpet while I was at it. Then I walked slowly up the stairs in pursuit. I could have run, but I wouldn’t be too bothered if she half-killed them before I arrived.
    It was suspiciously quiet on the top floor and for a moment I wondered if I’d taken too long to get up there. Then I heard a muffled sob coming from the attic bedroom.
    Bronwyn was sitting ladylike on a chair. Brad and Britney stood in front of her, fingers twitching against their sides. Their faces were tear streaked.
    “Ah, Jake, just in time.” Bronwyn looked at the twins expectantly. They jumped as if she’d bitten them.
    “We’re very sorry, Uncle Jake.”
    “And what will happen if you annoy your Uncle Jake again?”
    The twins swayed, saying nothing, but moving from one leg to the other as if they needed the toilet. They shook their heads denying there would be another time
    “Then, I think we are clear.” Bronwyn turned to me. “Shall we join the party? The twins are going to stay up here for a while and be very quiet, aren’t you?”
    Brad and Britney nodded violently.
     
    As we walked back down the stairs I felt compelled to ask.
    “You didn’t hurt them did you? I mean I won’t have to explain bruises or anything.”
    Bronwyn took my arm in hers as we reached the ground floor.
    “Not a mark on them, I swear. But you will find them a lot better behaved in the future.”
    I leaned forward a little and kissed her on the cheek. She squeezed my arm and we went to join the party.

13.                Gone
     
    I hopped into the Bat Cave the next morning before Jenny woke. Merlin had been fast asleep in his cot so it seemed like a good time to visit my dragon and see if the Dragon Elders had come to any conclusions about the Aleph and the Krake.
    The cave echoed like a church. It felt empty and a quick search confirmed that Fluffy was gone, probably out hunting sheep. I wondered vaguely if I was going to have to placate the hill farmers again. Last year I donated a sizeable sum of money to their hardship fund, losses of sheep through the year had been very bad.
    I sat on the singed sofa and thought about Diabli swords. To create a sword required the deaths of wizards from at least six universes. Or to be more precise, it needed their blood. The swords were easy to make assuming you knew the runes to etch into each layer of folded steel. However, the activation of each layer required soaking the blade in the blood of a wizard. Magic from the wizard’s blood was absorbed by the runes.
    The sword blade was heated after each dousing in blood, beaten and folded into one piece again on a wooden anvil and new runes were etched into its surface. Do that six times with wizards from different universes and you had a Diabli sword.
    Simple if you were a mass murderer without a conscience. The method implied that magic was somehow different in each universe. It must be subtle because I’d never seen any.
    Galator had included how the Dragons constructed the virtual sword for the Conference. Being dragons, just sending me a sword that looked like a Diabli one wouldn’t do. They had to be faithful to the original construction, it was their way. The Conference existed in many dimensions, though I think that would be ‘objects’, or maybe ‘levels’ in software terms. So