Runecarver Volume One

Epilogue

The Brothers Pendragon

The evening of the day Annabelle became Exalted, Desmond Pendragon the Third, Duke of Westmark and all its holdings, met with his older brother Edmund. Desmond dismissed the servants from the study, and the two sat alone on either side of the desk.

"How was her lesson?" Desmond asked. "She said she'd cast The Great Conflagration. Were you able to estimate how much mana she has?"

"Far more than you, that much is certain," Edmund replied. He leaned back in his chair and looking up at the ceiling as he reminisced on the awesome power he had witnessed only hours ago. "It was unbelievable. She demonstrated The Great Conflagration to me like it was nothing — using my wand for the first time, no less. She didn't look the least bit tired, even after I went over some other mana-intensive spells with her. I was coming close to depletion myself by the end of the lesson, but she didn't once complain."

For the second time today, Desmond was shocked. Nevermind the skill it took to cast such magic at her young age, the fact that she had the mana for so many spells meant that she was beyond special. Whereas before she had been the weakest of the Pendragons, she was now the strongest. Perhaps the members of the Hexagram would have more mana than her, but it was unlikely there was another mortal wizard on the Continent who did. He laughed at the absurdity of it all. "And she doesn't understand, does she? She still thinks she's at a level where she can be compared to wizards like you or me. I almost feel guilty."

"Should we tell her?" Edmund asked. He put forth the idea partly out of pride in his pupil, partly out of a fear of how she would react to any apparent deception. For the politics of the Duchy — nay, the entire Kingdom — Annabelle had gone from being an afterthought to the only thought. And for House Pendragon, already the greatest power besides the Royal Family itself, her existence could do little to improve their position, and much to harm it.

"I don't think she would believe us if we did," Desmond said. "You know how it is with her. She refuses to believe in herself. She secured an engagement with a damned prince with ease and got that Princess on her side, but she still bemoans how hopeless she is in court politics. Whether it's best for House Pendragon for her to know of her own strength or not, it's not something we have any say over. She must learn for herself how powerful she is. For now, our best course is to continue treating her as we have been. Teach her everything she wants to know about magic, and I'll help her find out what she wants to do with herself."

"There is no much left for me to teach her," Edmund replied. "She soaks it up like a sponge, and she's only gotten better thanks to those skills of hers. She cast every spell I showed her today on her first attempt, even Supreme Stormbolt. At this rate, it'll only be a month until she knows everything that's worth teaching her."

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. For now, it's best to wait and see. She's different now, and not just because of her power. I never could have imagined her breaking her engagement of her own volition. Time will tell how else she's changed."

They met again following Anabelle's request to study Practical Runecraft for the Human Body. They were alone in the office, bereft of servants once more. They sat in silence at first, feeling the weight of their actions. Desmond broached the topic first. "I'm worried we're creating a monster."

"I should be the one saying that," Edmund replied with a mirthless laugh. "She's learned everything worth teaching now. She can even fly through wandcraft. It took me ten years to learn that from father, and you didn't even bother since you thought it wasn't worth the trouble."

"It stopped being surprising at some point," Desmond replied, shaking his head and looking out at the moonlit town sprawling beyond the castle walls. "I wonder if this is how Arianwen's father felt teaching her magic. If there was a moment he understood that his daughter's abilities were hopelessly beyond his reach." His face took on a sudden severity as he fixed Edmund with a stern gaze. "Did I tell you what the final rune formula in the book is?"