A few months again, Elizabeth might have thought he was serious. Now she simply laughed.
“And how do you intend to stop me?”
He cast a quick glance at Mr. Bennet. “I suppose I could tickle you.” He gave a little demonstration. Elizabeth giggled.
“Now, now, children. Remember I am here.” Mr. Bennet wagged his finger at them, as though they were indeed children, but he regarded Darcy with a mix of amusement and surprise.
How very different Darcy was now from that statue she had encountered on her first day at Founder’s Hall! It delighted her to see that being together had made him more spontaneous and livelier, despite all the troubles they had encountered.
Taking a leaf from his book, Elizabeth began to tickle him back. He writhed and chortled, and Elizabeth found it a truly wonderful sight to behold.
They could not tickle each other all the way to the coast, however.
“Do we have a deck of cards?” she said, “or something else to amuse us?”
“I have something,” said Darcy, with a flash of humor in his eyes. He searched under the seat and promptly produced a copy ofThe Compendium of Spells.
Elizabeth groaned loudly. “From the frying pan into the fire! I wish I didn’t say anything!”
Mr. Bennet regarded the book with mock distaste. “Not that fusty old manual! Throw it out of the window, Lizzy!”
Darcy smiled ruefully. “I know, I know. But it would be a good idea to revise some of the spells.” He looked at Mr. Bennet. “Especially since by your own admission you have forgotten some of them.”
“I still think we should throw it out of the window,” Mr. Bennet declared.
Elizabeth gave Darcy a resigned look. “I suppose you will hound us until we do it,” she said. “Papa, we may as well give in with good grace. When it comes toThe Compendium, Darcy will never back down.”
Her words were proven true when it turned out that Darcy, in his usual methodical way, had already earmarked some of the spells that might be useful to Ward against Napoleon’s mages. There were Confinement spells, Restraining Spells and Repelling spells.
They covered them, prompting Mr. Bennet when he tried unsuccessfully to recall them. She had to admit it was a helpful exercise, and she resolved to practice the ones her father did not know with him. In the heat of battle, it might be crucial to know the same ones.
Then, to her astonishment, Darcy turned to the back of the book, where he had written in a new spell. As he read it out, she realized it was the spell Elizabeth had used to smother the fireball that had almost destroyed Founder’s Hall.
“How did you know it?” she said.
“You told me, when I asked.”
She did not recall doing so, but it flattered her to think he had gone to the trouble.
“It is your very own spell. You should give it a name.”
“Snuffing Spell,” said Elizabeth, readily.
“That evokes the image of someone snorting snuff,” said Mr. Bennet. “The effect would be to make someone sneeze.”
“Very well. Let us call it the Smothering Spell.”
This time it was Darcy who objected. “That suggests it can be used to smother an enemy.”
Elizabeth grinned. “Very well, then. How about a spell for Stifling Fire?”
The objections were even louder this time. After that, everyone tried to come up with a name, but none of them seemed to work. In the end, all three of them threw up their hands in surrender.
“I would never have imagined coming up with a name was so difficult,” said Elizabeth. “I wonder how the mages were able to come up with all the original names.”
“Many of them were monks in monasteries with plenty of time on their hands,” replied Mr. Bennet. “They probably contemplated for months before deciding on each name.”
They all laughed.
