Sebastian let out a humorless laugh. “Where? In the Empire, ruled by the Mad Empress? In Tenebrae, overrun by the Darklings? The High Kingdom used to be a haven for mages from across the globe, but since the High King banned magic, it’s not safe anywhere. Nowhere. Not anymore, and never again, unless we do something about it.”
“Do what exactly?” I hissed as I dug my fingers into his arm. “Commit treason against the High King? Go against his ruling?”
“Make him see magic isn’t as dangerous as he thinks it is,” Sebastian replied, undeterred by my panic.
“The High King believes what the Red Priests told him.” Reyna’s sudden interruption startled me. After Sebastian’s horrible revelation, I had forgotten anyone else was in the room. “That magic was sucking the life out of the earth, ruining our crops, destroying the harvest. In the middle of the Great Famine, they persuaded him that magic was the cause of it all.”
It was a story I had heard many times before, told by the town’s elders during nights spent around the campfire, or during our annual harvest fest, when they thanked the Gods for the crops growing and the bounty provided by the earth itself. Years ago, before I was born, a Great Famine had wrecked the High Kingdoms, eviscerating half of our population. People were starving, the soil was dying, everything people planted, withered away.
The Red Priests made a sacrifice to the Red God—it was always mentioned in uncertain terms what exactly this sacrifice was, but the Red God was only paid by blood—and the Red God told them magic was sucking the life out of the earth, which was why she could no longer provide us with food and prosperity.
As a result, magic was no longer tolerated. Neighbors frowned when mages performed magic, even though the magic-wielders tried everything they could to explain to others that magic wasn’t the source of this problem. The Red Priests convinced the High King, who outlawed magic and who allowed the Red Priests to use their markings on us, to lock our magic up inside, another gift provided by the Red God.
No matter how much I hated the Red Priests, as the town elders told it, their assumption had some merit to it. Once they started restricting magic, the crops started growing again, and the next harvest was so successful that it immediately ended the Great Famine. But those who lived through it, who saw their children starve to death, and who believed the Red Priests that magic was the cause of it, they would rather die than see magic restored, and I couldn’t blame them.
Which was why I never wanted to side with the rebels, not in a thousand years. Because, as a child when I still had access to my powers, if I had learned one thing about magic, it was this: it always came at a price.
And if used in a big enough quantity then, despite my magical brethren telling me otherwise, I was certainly willing to believe it could drain the earth and destroy everything in its wake.
“You think it’s not?” I raised an eyebrow at Reyna, challenging her.
“I believe we can’t jump to conclusions. To err on the side of caution, I have no qualms with the High King ordering mages to limit their use of magic, not at all, and definitely not until a Conclave of Mages further investigates the matter. But to ban all magic for a conclusion made by a bunch of Priests with not a grain of magic coursing through their veins? No. To lock up our magic so that we are destroyed from the inside out?” She shook her head, her curls bouncing as she moved. “No.”
It felt as if in a matter of seconds, my world was turned upside down, and a heavy weight was pushed onto my shoulders. I didn’t want to infiltrate in the Red Keep. I didn’t want to work for these rebels. But if I said no, and Sebastian went ahead with this plan… He stood no chance. He didn’t have his powers. They would discover his true intentions and kill him, and I could never forgive myself if that happened
I swallowed hard and looked my brother in the eye. Since our mother passed away, it had just been the two of us. He was one year older than me, but it had always felt as if he was the younger one, as if I had to take care of him.
Take care of each other, had been my mother’s last words, before all that escaped from her mouth were wordless screeches.
“I’ll do it,” I said, more to Reyna and her silent male companion than to my brother. “I will infiltrate in the Red Keep and get you the information you need, but that’s it. I don’t want to be involved in any other schemes. What you do with the information I provide is on you, and you alone. My brother and I will not be involved in anything.”
Sebastian opened his mouth to protest, but I squeezed his hand as hard as I could. “Those are my terms.”
A smile crossed Reyna’s features, and sent shivers down my spine. Even though I couldn’t read her intentions—it was always more difficult with fellow mages than with regular people—there was something sinister about her smile.
I had a sinking feeling that from now on, nothing would ever be the same again.
“Agreed.” Reyna extended a hand toward me, and I shook it, feeling cold to the bone, and wondering if I hadn’t just signed my own death warrant.
Chapter Four
Two weeks had passed since my encounter with Reyna. The first few days after, we didn’t hear anything from her, and I was beginning to hope she had found a more suitable candidate for her mission and had forgotten all about me. Then, her still nameless, male companion had showed up with an instruction letter, and I realized I had been a fool for ever agreeing to this plan.
Fiona and I still weren’t on talking terms, and I had let Sebastian know I was livid at him as well. We barely talked although, since we lived together, we were obligated to hold the occasional conversation, but I kept it limited to things like ‘please pass me the plate’ or ‘good night’. Sebastian had forced my hand, and he knew it. He knew—and now Reyna knew, too—that he was my weakness, my brother for whom I would gladly risk my own life, but preferably not because of a risky situation he had put himself in.
As per Reyna’s instructions, I had waited outside our cabin earlier this morning, armed with a small bag filled with clothes and other essentials, until a cart pulled by two horses had stopped on my doorstep, and a grey-haired, fat-bellied merchant had ordered me to get in.
I had refused to say goodbye to Sebastian. Reyna’s instructions were only for me, so Sebastian had no idea I was leaving today. I had left him a note on the kitchen table, but by the time he woke up, I would be long gone.
Now I was in the back of the cart, my legs pulled to my chest, and glancing over the merchandize taking up most of the space, as the two horses pulled the cart out of town.
The merchant waited until we were on the long, dwindling road just past the border of Bellhaven before he looked at me from over his shoulder. “I think it’s about time for introductions. I didn’t want to wake up half of Bellhaven, but here on the road, it’s quiet enough.” He leaned forward and offered me a hand. “Hugo Greyson. Merchant of trade.”
“Saleyna Loxley,” I introduced myself, shaking his hand. I pulled my hood closer over my head, more against the cold than to protect myself from spying eyes. “No trade, I’m afraid.”
“Saleyna. Has a nice ring to it.” The merchant gestured that I could sit back down, which I did, leaning against a wooden crate.
“Have you brought supplies to the Red Keep before?” I asked, unable to mask the worry in my voice.
“Sure.” Hugo shrugged. “I’ve travelled all across the High Kingdom, and I’ve stopped by the Red Keep on several occasions. Creepy place, if you ask me.”
“Have you…” I wasn’t sure how much this Hugo person knew, so I decided not to share too much about my real intentions. “Have you brought a lot of people there who wanted to join the Red Priests?”
“Once or twice. I often pick up stray travelers,” Hugo explained. “I feel it’s the nice thing to do, seeing I have a cart and all, and they could be walking for the Gods know how long. The Red Priests have had more and more people joining their ranks in the last few years.”
“Oh.” I licked my lip
s, nerves kicking in. Despite my powers, lying wasn’t exactly my forte, but if I wanted to survive this, then I would have to lie from the start to the end.
I already felt bad that I hadn’t said a proper goodbye to Sebastian. I thought it would be too hard, that if I saw him tear up, I wouldn’t be able to leave. Judging by the shivers that crossed my spine whenever I thought about Reyna, I was certain she wasn’t the kind of woman who would just let that go without some form of retaliation. Thanks to my idiot cousin and brother, she held the sword of Damocles above my head—she only had to rats me out to the Red Priests, and I was as good as buried.
I studied Hugo, trying to keep my mind from thinking about Sebastian.
The merchant was clearly overweight, his belly bulging over his trousers. He had grey hair with a splash of brown here and there, a beard and a pleasant enough face, but his forehead wasn’t marked like mine, meaning he had no magical powers.
“Do you… do you think a lot of their acolytes are like me?” I struggled to find the right words without giving away too much. Obviously, Hugo could see my mark as clearly as I could, and everyone in the High Kingdoms knew what that mark meant.
“You mean mages? Or ex-mages, I suppose.” Hugo urged the horses to go faster. “No, I don’t think so. Or well, maybe, yes. There was this Red Priest in the Eastern Kingdoms, a man, and he had a mark too.”
I let out a relieved sigh. Okay, if they had accepted one mage in their midst, then they would probably accept me as an acolyte, at least. Besides, the other person Reyna’s rebel group sent had also been a mage.
“I was worried they wouldn’t accept me because of it,” I explained to Hugo when I caught him staring at me.
“They accept everyone as an acolyte,” Hugo said. “At least, that’s what I heard, but not all acolytes make it to the priesthood.”
“Do you know what happens to those who don’t?” Somehow, I managed to keep my voice from shivering while I asked the question.
Hugo shot me a worried look. “It’s probably best not to think about that, Saleyna. You’ll be fine. You seem like the kind of person who can take care of herself.”
The more Hugo spoke, the more I got the impression he was a genuinely good individual, a rare breed these days in the Seven Kingdoms. I doubted he had any idea what Reyna had really enlisted him for; which was probably also why Reyna’s instructions mentioned I should be discreet—as if I would just shout it from the rooftops that I was actually working for her rebel group.
The Brotherhood of Whispers, that was how they liked to call themselves, according to what Sebastian had told me. A bit of a posh name, if you asked me. And Sebastian, stupid, foolish Sebastian, was just a small fish in a deep sea, who didn’t even know how many members this Brotherhood counted, where their headquarters were, or who was in charge—this Reyna woman, or someone else. All he knew was that they were fighting the same cause he wanted to fight for, and that was enough for him. He really was too good-natured for this world, too gullible, he and Fiona both. Mother had been like that, too, willing to see the best in everyone. I was quite the opposite; I looked for the bad parts first, and when I had picked out the bad parts, only then did I begin looking for the good parts.
“So, why do you want to join the Red Priests?” Hugo asked, interrupting my thoughts. “I mean… Did you have a calling?”
“I felt called to join their order, yes,” I replied, not knowing what else to say. It sounded fake, even to me.
“I see.” Hugo kept his eyes on the road. “Well, we’ve got a few more hours to go, so you can choose what topic we’ll talk about. I can tell you everything there is to know about fishing, if you’re interested. It’s one of my favorite hobbies, and my wife groans when I so much as mention it.”
I let him go on, and for the next few hours, as the cart hobbled along the meandering road, passing one familiar town after another, Hugo told me all about his life as a merchant, his wife and children, his beloved dog, and his greatest passion in life: fishing. By the time the cart rolled into Ginderstund, where Hugo said we would stop for a brief lunch while he let the horses rest for half an hour, I understood why his wife felt like pulling out her hair whenever Hugo mentioned fishing. The man certainly knew a lot about his hobby, and he liked to talk about every miniscule detail surrounding it.
Ginderstund was a slightly bigger town than Bellhaven. The town center was dominated by a church, a water well and a tavern. The streets all led to the center, like the legs of a star, dirt roads mixed with cobblestone roads depending on which street you used to enter town. Half of the people living in Ginderstund were half-breed dwarves—the town was close to the mountains, where the dwarves lived, except during the Beltane summer festival when they came down from the mountain to join the festivities and flirted with every female in town. I had heard of this tradition before, and the many children born from it, half-breeds who were barely the size of a twelve-year-old child by the time they were adults, but who had broad shoulders and large, impressive beards. I had to stop myself from staring after one of the half-breed dwarves as the cart drove past him.
“Good afternoon,” Hugo greeted the dwarf, who nodded by way of saying ‘hello.’
Hugo parked our cart in the town center, near the well and tavern. He fished a bucket of water from the well to feed to his horses. Meanwhile, I sat on the back of the cart, my legs dangling over the edge, taking in the busy town. People were walking back and forth, carrying bags, talking to each other, holding baskets, all of them busy with their daily lives.
“By when will we arrive at the Red Keep?” I asked Hugo when he sat down next to me. The Red Keep was technically still in our province, the Lowlands, but it was far enough that I wasn’t sure if we would make it there today, or if we would have to spend the night in a tavern.
“We should be there by nightfall,” Hugo said. “I always make the trip in one day, then I spend the night in the Red Keep—they have a quarter for guests. It’s much cheaper than having to book a night in a pub, and much safer too. By dawn, I will be heading back to Bellhaven. So, if you happen to change your mind…” He looked at me curiously, not finishing his sentence. Then, he shrugged, grabbed a sandwich from one of his bags and started eating.
While I took my own lunch from my bag, I realized he was giving me a way out. If I arrived and didn’t like the Red Keep, he was willing to take me back home.
I tended to avoid non-magic wielders, simply because I was never sure what they thought about me or my brethren. Some of them had to hate us, otherwise why would they allow us to be branded and even executed, like Aife was? On the other hand, perhaps they weren’t all bad. Perhaps they were just as scared of those Red Priests as we were.
I had never been this far out of town. Even if this adventure could cost me my life, at least it had brought me further out of Bellhaven than ever before.
“Do you remember the Great Famine?” I asked Hugo while I took a bite from my sandwich.
“Of course I do, girlie,” the old man said. “It’s a terrible topic to talk about, though.”
I knew, but I didn’t want to let it go. If I was doing this, if I was heading into the lion’s den, then I needed to know the full story; I needed to know what I was fighting for, and if this Great Famine ended when magic was banned or not. Because if the story was true, then I knew that no matter what I did, I couldn’t allow the Brotherhood of Whispers to reinstall the magic that wiped out half of the population of the Seven Kingdoms, no matter how terrible the brands were that those Red Priests marked us with.
“Was it really that bad?” I asked. “As bad as the stories say? No harvest for years?”
“Nothing grew.” Hugo’s smile had faltered, and he looked grim.
I felt bad for pushing him to remember those gruesome times.
“Not even flowers, trees. Livestock died. The soil was as dry as those desert lands in the south. The first year, we made do, we were hungry, people complained a lot, but we thought it was just a bad
year. It happens. That’s why the farmers keep some reserves, and the lords and ladies in their high castles also sent out parts of their reserves to us poor folk, so we made do.” The merchant shook his head, tears prickling in the corners of his eyes. “The next year, it was worse. Our reserves lessened, and everything refused to grow. The lords still sent over food, but they grew wary, worried that their own reserves would be empty too if the harvest failed for a third year in a row. The High King issued a decree forcing all his lords to donate part of their supplies to us. It was bad that year, but it got even worse the next year. Decree from the High King or not, the castles were running dry too, and they refused to donate what little they had to us poor folk.” The merchant shrugged. “Not that I blame them. I mean, when times grow desperate, everyone looks for their own first.”
I gulped, barely able to swallow the rest of the sandwich. “And then?”
“Then, people started dying,” Hugo stated simply. A deep hurt was etched into his voice, and I knew he too had suffered a terrible loss. “From starvation. A horrible death, if you ask me. The flesh practically falls off your bones. I saw skeletons in nearly every street I passed. Then, by the time we entered the fifth year of the Great Famine, things got even more horrible.” He shook his head. “I won’t talk about it.”
“Is it true that once the High King banned magic, the soil restored itself, and the next year’s harvest could feed the Seven Kingdoms twice over?” That was what I had heard from the elders in our town, but I wanted to check if this was in line with Hugo’s experience.
The merchant lifted his head at me and slowly nodded. “Yes. I don’t know if it’s coincidence or not, girlie, but that’s what happened. The Red Priests spread the news that all magic was banned, and at first, we thought it would be just another way to keep our hopes up, but then the crops started to grow, the fields were littered with flowers… Everything that had refused to grow for five years, was suddenly blooming. As if life had been restored to it.”
Magic Underground: The Complete Collection (Magic Underground Anthologies Book 4) Page 69