by Lisa Cassidy
She sighed. It wasn’t easy, being so thoroughly shown up by the person who irritated her most in the world. At least he was making an honest effort to teach her, she thought. He could be making a lot more fun of her than he was.
Another half hour passed.
Wood cracked as Alyx swung towards Dashan’s head, and he raised his staff to block. Recovering, he came at her with a blindingly fast blow. She moved to deflect as she’d practiced earlier, was too slow, and therefore almost lost her staff again. Frustrated, she struck out at him, but she was on the back foot and her blow lacked strength.
“Could you forget you’re a dainty high-born noble lady for just one second, and do what I tell you?” Dashan snapped in frustration. “When you attack mean it!”
Tired and frustrated, she had another go, but it was half-hearted. He blocked her attack, shoved her arm aside and then smacked her in the ribs. Her bruised side flared painfully, and with that Alyx completely and utterly lost her temper.
She launched herself at him furiously, forgetting everything he’d been trying to teach her in an attempt to wipe the cocky look from his face. She struck at him over and over, trying to get through his guard but failing in the face of his far greater skill. Her temper fuelled her strength and their staffs clacked loudly across the field as they slammed together.
Dashan soon became bored of simply fending her off and went on the attack. He cut through her guard with insulting ease, tapping her on her left side before withdrawing and rapping her painfully over the knuckles. After blocking another blow of hers, he came in again and smacked her on her already bruised right side. The pain made her eyes smart with tears.
“Dammit, Dash, leave me alone!” she bellowed, at the same time tearing his staff from his hands with her mage power and sending it flying across the field and out of sight.
Dashan stood frozen mid-lunge, brown eyes wide with surprise. Alyx swallowed the lump in her throat as her anger faded to misery. Of course her magic had suddenly worked, dictated entirely by her emotion. Almost two months back at DarkSkull and she’d learned nothing. Turning, she stalked off, dropping into the slushy grass a good distance away. Melting snow soaked through her robe, but she ignored it. A few minutes later Dashan sat cross-legged onto the ground next to her.
“I don’t even know why I’m here.” She scrubbed at her eyes.
He was quiet a moment, then, “I’m good at listening.”
She sniffed, looked away. “Before I came here last year, home was this wonderful place. Alistriem was bright and colourful, and everybody was happy. I was happy, I loved my life. When I was there, it was this warm feeling inside of me, something I carried with me all the time, no matter how hard things got.”
“Go on,” he encouraged when she fell silent.
“When I finally went home, it was all as wonderful as I had remembered for a while. But then I found out my father had lied to me my whole life, my mother hadn’t been anything close to what I thought she was... and worse, Cayr had betrayed me with Jenna. The attack on the palace happened and I realised I’d been living in a bubble that wasn’t reality. What was worse was that the bubble had broken, and home didn’t feel like home anymore.”
“I know that feeling.” Dashan’s voice took on a sad quality. “My bubble broke when I was six, after my mother died. It’s like I’ve been searching ever since, trying to get back to that warm place.”
“And you never have?”
He shook his head. “I’ve decided that’s what growing up means. It’s part of life.”
“I just want to go home, Dash, but I don’t know where that is anymore,” she whispered, horrified to be saying all this to him but unable to keep her emotions repressed any longer.
An arm settled around her shoulders and Dashan pulled her lightly against his side. “Come here, Egalion. You’ll find it one day, I promise you.”
She accepted his embrace for a moment, then sniffed and sat up straight, wiping away any trace of tears. “Of all the people to see me like this, it had to be you.”
He grinned and rose, holding out a hand to help her to her feet. “Don’t think I’ll ever forget it either. Lady Alyx Egalion, crying like a baby.”
“You even think about telling anybody, and I’ll tell Cayr that you were the one who broke his toy sailboat.”
“Oh, come on, he was nine years old.”
“Cayr loved that sailboat.” Alyx smiled in memory. “And I took the fall for you. I have no idea what possessed me. If I remember rightly, that happened during your ‘pulling my hair for fun’ phase.”
“You took the fall for me because my father had given me a particularly hideous beating that week,” Dashan said softly, all trace of humour gone. “And you didn’t want me to get into more trouble.”
Alyx studied his clenched jaw for a moment. “I remember. You told Cayr that you’d fallen off the roof.”
“I didn’t want him to feel sorry for me. I hated that he already did. You both did.”
“Dash…” Her voice trailed off as his shoulders stiffened.
“Just don’t,” he said. “I don’t want to talk about it. Not with you.”
An awkward silence fell and Alyx’s gaze wandered. Her eyes fell on his rolled-up sleeves and for the first time she saw the long scar on the inside of his right forearm.
“What happened?” she asked without thinking.
“Shiven sword,” he replied bluntly.
“Oh.”
Dashan shook his head, and his usual easy grin flashed. “Same time next week for your lesson? I promise to go easier on you. It might not have seemed like it but you did make some progress today.”
She blinked, taken-aback by how quickly his good mood had returned. But it couldn’t have, not so quickly. The grin was a mask, a way to divert attention away from his pain. How had she not realised that before?
“What?” Exasperation coloured his tone.
“Nothing.” She collected herself. “Next week sounds good, if only so I can learn enough to reach the day when I beat the stuffing out of you.”
Dashan chuckled and bent to pick up her staff, handing it to her. “You’re dreaming, mage-girl, but at least you’re thinking optimistically.”
“I never felt sorry for you, Dash.” She said, going back to their earlier topic. “I felt for you, but I didn’t pity you.”
“I said I didn’t want to talk about it.”
“Fine.”
“See you next week, kitten.” He sketched a wave and headed towards his horse.
Alyx fought with herself for a moment before letting out a sigh. “Wait!”
He turned, eyebrows raised.
“I’m going to meet Tarrick and the twins by the pools. We thought we’d have a picnic lunch. Do you want to come?”
“It’s not the best weather for a picnic.”
“There are some things I need to tell them and I wanted privacy.”
Dashan shrugged. “I’m not on duty until tonight, so I’ve got some time.”
She scowled. “Don’t put yourself out or anything.”
He laughed.
Tarrick and the twins were already at the pools when Dashan and Alyx rode up. They’d spread out a thick blanket on one of the largest flat rocks and were in the process of unpacking food from Finn’s saddlebag.
Tarrick glanced up at their arrival, a corner of his mouth curving into a surprised smile. “Hi, Dash.”
“I can contribute the drinks.” Dashan rummaged around in his saddlebags, drawing out a silver flask before tossing it at Tarrick.
“Have a seat.” Finn gestured them both over. “We’ve prepared quite a feast.”
For a while there were no sounds apart from their chewing and the birds in the trees around them. Once Alyx had eaten her fill, she related to them everything that Romas had told her. She wasn’t sure whether she was allowed to share the information, and even if she was, she hadn’t wanted to do it with potential listening ears on DarkSkull grounds.
&
nbsp; “Damn,” Dashan muttered quietly. “Rionn is in bigger trouble than we realised.”
“I know,” she said. “I had a feeling my father was protecting me from how serious the situation is.”
“We can assume it’s Shivasa training mages outside council purview, then,” Finn mused. “There were both mages and soldiers amongst the attacking parties last year.”
“You can also assume more attacks are inevitable,” Dashan added.
“I think this means they could be behind the missing mages, too,” Tarrick spoke into the ensuing silence.
Dawn frowned. “For what purpose?”
“I don’t know.”
“I have a feeling my mother knew something about the missing mages,” Alyx said, causing them to look at her in surprise. “After all, she would have been one of the prime candidates to go missing, and it’s one of the main reasons she separated from my father. She left Ladan for a reason and whatever it was, it got her killed. I think she might have learned something about who was behind the disappearances.”
“You have to talk to Romas.”
Alyx scowled at Tarrick. “We’ve been through this. I can’t trust anything he tells me, even if I could get him to agree to answer my questions.”
“Even so, you might learn something,” he said stubbornly. “If your mother found information about the mage disappearances before she died, it could help us now.”
“You mean it could help the council,” Dawn pointed out.
“And we don’t know for certain that she knew anything,” Finn added.
Alyx disagreed. “She knew something. Think about it. She left my father and me and went somewhere for a year. But then she showed up at her old friend’s home, the one place she knew she’d be safe. Something prompted her to leave where she was and go there.”
“You think something happened to convince her she was still under threat?” Dashan caught on. “It’s possible. Or maybe she just had nowhere else to go.”
“It’s all speculation,” Tarrick said. “We need information, and Romas might have it.”
“Are you sure you want to know, Alyx?” Dawn touched her arm. “Sometimes it’s easier not knowing exactly what happened.”
Alyx shook her head. “When I found out my mother had left my father, I thought it was because she didn’t love him, that she fell in love with Ladan’s stepfather. I think my father partially believes that too, despite his insistence they separated for our safety. And maybe that’s true, but I don’t think so. I think the only reason she left my father and me was to keep us safe. Either way, someone killed her, and I want to know who that was and why. Especially if those answers could prevent the people I care about getting hurt.” She paused, before continuing quietly. “I’m not the only powerful mage here. All three of you fall in that category.”
The twins shared a worried glance, while Tarrick merely looked uncomfortable at her declaration. Dashan stayed quiet, thankfully not needling her for once.
“If we can’t ask Romas directly, we need to get the information another way,” Finn said eventually.
“How?” Tarrick raised his eyebrows.
“I don’t know.”
“That’s a great help.” Tarrick rose to his feet. “I’m getting cold, and we have a test to study for tomorrow. Let’s go back.”
Alyx groaned inwardly at the idea of spending her afternoon back in the library, but it was necessary. The work she’d been putting in was finally starting to show and she didn’t want to fall behind again.
“I’ll let you know at once if Ladan sends me a response to your letter,” Dashan promised as she walked him to his horse.
“I appreciate it.”
“It’s me that should be thanking you,” he said quietly.
She looked at him in surprise. “For what?”
“For trusting me enough to let me hear all of that just now.”
The genuine gratitude in his voice caught her off guard, and she nudged him playfully, trying to lighten the mood. “Like it or not, you’re one of us, stuck here just like we are.”
He chuckled. “I’ll see you at our next lesson.”
Chapter 13
Whether it was because of his talk with Romas or because he was simply busy with classes, Galien and his friends left Alyx alone for the rest of the week. She appreciated the distance, but still ensured she never went anywhere alone. Tarrick continued to hover over her like a shadow.
During sparring class, Fengel made enough of an effort to teach her to avoid Rothai’s ire, but also took every opportunity he could to inflict bruising blows. Alyx hadn’t noticed any marked improvement in her skill after her first lesson with Dashan. Nevertheless, she faced Fengel each morning with her feet in the awkward stance Dashan had insisted on.
On her first attempt, when Fengel came at her, she moved to deflect the blow as she’d practiced. She was so astonished by the fact it worked that she didn’t react quickly enough to his next blow and was rapped across the knuckles for her slowness.
Seeing how she’d blocked him, Fengel changed his style of attack and came at her in ways that her block wasn’t effective in countering. By the end of the lesson, she was bruised and limping.
“No change?” Dawn asked her in sympathy.
“I blocked his first attack successfully,” Alyx said with a smile. “It’s a step in the right direction.”
“I wish Rothai had partnered me with Fengel,” Tarrick muttered, casting a dark glance at the Zandian across the yard.
“Come on,” Finn called out. “Stop dawdling. We’ll be late for languages.”
Alyx sighed as she and Dawn followed him across the fields. She was still struggling with her classes—it didn’t help that apart from their lessons in mapping and strategy, none of them interested her much, and she had to force herself to pay attention.
“Ready for the test?” Dawn gave a matching sigh.
Mistress Prajana liked to keep her students sharp by conducting weekly tests on any topic that she’d covered since the beginning of the year. Alyx had failed the previous week’s test, and had been up late every night since with Finn in an effort not to fail the next one.
“Ready as I’ll ever be,” she said morosely.
They filed into the room and took their assigned seats. Cario came in last and went straight to his seat at the back. As usual, he looked completely unruffled despite the previous hour of physical exercise. Tarrick had confided in them earlier that Cario spent as little time sparring as he could get away with, and Rothai went much easier on him than the others.
“Is he that bad?” Finn had asked.
“No, as far as I can tell, he’s competent. It bores him, is all.”
Prajana’s sharp voice startled Alyx from her thoughts and she looked up, catching the encouraging smile Finn was giving her as Prajana handed out the tests.
Alyx took her test and bent over it immediately, processing the crisp instructions.
The sound of rustling parchment and scratching pens filled the room for the next hour as the students completed their tests. Prajana had provided them with a list of short sentences in Shiven. Their instruction was to combine six or more of the sentences into a coherent paragraph describing the Zandian desert.
After working to translate the simple sentences, Alyx tossed an envious glance at Finn, who was already finished. Both Tarrick and Dawn wore looks of fierce concentration as they hunched over their tests, but Cario was leaning back in his chair, idly twirling a pencil in his fingers. Turning back to her page, Alyx began putting together a simple paragraph using the sentences she’d most clearly understood.
When the time was up, she had barely finished the final sentence of her paragraph. Prajana came around to collect their sheets before releasing them from the class. She picked up Alyx’s test and glanced over it briefly before tucking it away in the pile.
“Well done, Apprentice Egalion. It seems you’ve finally grasped the basics of Shiven grammar and sentence structure.”
Alyx stared at her as she walked off to continue collecting papers, then found herself being punched in the arm by a jubilant Finn.
“I told you! Once you grasp the basics, it’s much easier. Now you’ve got both Zandian and Shiven under your belt. Well done!”
“Thanks,” she said, pleased. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”
“Probably not,” he said slyly, his smile widening. “Now we can move on to Shiven verbs. That’s even harder than Zandian.”
She groaned, her head dropping forward onto the desk.
“Galien might be quiet right now, but they won’t stop coming after you,” Finn murmured. They were in Howell’s class, but their master was concentrating on teaching something to Dawn, and the rest of them were getting restless.
“Thank you, master of the obvious,” Alyx said dryly.
Tarrick cast a sidelong glance at Cario. “Maybe if one of his friends asked him to leave you alone…?”
Cario smiled and leaned back, arms crossed over his chest. “If you think I’m tangling with that psychopathic monster on your behalf, you’ve got another thing coming.”
“It’s good to know where your loyalties lie.”
“Is that supposed to make me feel guilty?” Cario’s smiled widened. “I’m in your training group, I’m not your best friend. I don’t care about your dispute with Galien.”
“I’ve yet to find something that Cario actually does care about,” Alyx said. “It’s quite the mystery.”
“As is why you’re all chattering away while Dawn needs to concentrate,” Howell interrupted. “Now, Alyx is a mage of the higher order, she’ll be fine. Tarrick, let’s work on your control again, shall we? Try not to incinerate the rock this time.”
Alyx and Dawn shared an amused glance as Tarrick replaced Dawn at the front of the class.
“Why were we worried? It’s all under control,” Dawn murmured. “You’re a mage of the higher order.”
“Of course.” Alyx grinned. “I shall crush all who stand in my way.”