Chapter Four: Exuberant

“Where did you get this?” Siannon asked, admiring its glimmer in the small mirror on the wall.

“The Rabbi gave it to me,” Malcolm said.

“Really?”

“Yes, he was quite exuberant about it,” Malcolm said. “In fact, it was he who insisted I return home to give it to you.”

“So it’s from the Treasury?”

“I asked about its history, but he didn’t know where it came from. He bought it from a jewel vendor in the Alexandria marketplace.”

“The old boy still gets out and walks through the city?”

“More than ever,” Malcolm said. “Not bad for a man who’s more than 250 years old.”

The Rabbi was the leader of the Nine, a group of religious and spiritual leaders from around the world who served to protect the Treasury, a secret repository of magic, religion, and history. The power of the Holy Grail kept the Rabbi in the appearance of a man who was a spry 65 years old.

Since Dylan and Kane had discovered the Treasury and used its power to defeat Penwik, the dark magician who started the Norse War, magicians and scholars from Llanfyllin were invited to return to study their vast repositories of knowledge. Malcolm was one such scholar.

“Are you going to stay?” Siannon asked.

“My ship won’t return to pick me up for a month,” he said. “I hope I can impose on your hospitality until then.”

“My funny lad,” she said, hugging him. “This is your home. You are always welcome.”