The Mage Chronicles- The Complete Series

by Lisa Cassidy

  “If I stay, if I condone what they’re doing…” she trailed off.

  “Rionn is still in danger from the Shiven. If you stay, then it’s because you need to learn your magic so that you can help your father and the king,” he told her. “Not because you agree with murder.”

  She looked at him a long moment. “Okay.”

  “Just like that?” He gave her a crooked half-smile.

  “I’ll stay and learn what I need to learn, and then I leave. I won’t ever go back to them, Dash. I won’t.”

  “Fair enough.”

  “Thanks for listening.” She shifted away, then froze completely as his words sank in. “Oh no... my father!”

  “What about him?”

  “I have to go, I have to get to him. He’s in danger.”

  “Alyx, stop!” He grabbed her by the arms before she could run headlong out of the alley. “What is it?”

  “My father,” she whispered. “I told you what he is.”

  Dashan’s face turned hard as stone as he realised the same thing she had. “Don’t assume the worst. He’s been here over a week and nothing has happened.”

  “That doesn’t mean it won’t.” She panicked. “And now Romas knows that I know. He practically told me himself, and I don’t know why. Why would he do it?”

  “I’ll go to your father right now,” Dashan said, stopping her frantic rambling. “I’ll take Casta and Tijer and the whole unit and nothing will stop us getting to him. Okay?”

  “I’m coming with you.”

  “No.” Dashan raised a hand to stop her objections. “You said it yourself, Romas knows you know. You don’t know what his motivations are, or if he’s told the other councillors. If they see you running off to your father, they’ll know why. They don’t know me, and my boys and I know how to be discreet. We’re trained for it.”

  “Dash, I can’t lose him.” The idea was devastating, utterly heartbreaking. Tears welled again.

  “I know,” he said steadily. “Trust me with your father, Alyx.”

  And it was as simple as that. She did.

  “Okay.” She nodded. “Be careful, and hurry, please.”

  He leaned forward, dropped a kiss on her head. “I’m already gone.”

  Back inside Town Hall, Alyx’s stomach sank as she turned a corner into the corridor outside their rooms to find Tarrick, Cario and the twins gathering outside Finn’s door, wishing each other good night. Jayn and Mika were nowhere to be seen.

  “Alyx?” Tarrick frowned. “Where have you been?”

  “I went for a walk,” she said. “I wanted to clear my head.”

  “Is something wrong?” Dawn asked in concern.

  “Tarrick said you weren’t feeling great,” Finn added. “Can I help?”

  “No, I’m fine,” she said. “The walk helped.”

  “Is that all you were doing?” Tarrick asked pointedly.

  “Yes! I wanted some fresh air. Is that okay with you?” she snapped, the confusion and misery surging back.

  He looked surprised by her outburst, and raised his hands in the air. “Whoa, Alyx, I wasn’t accusing you of anything.”

  “Sorry. I’m just not as good at pretending as some people are.”

  His face tightened but he said nothing.

  “Something’s happened,” Dawn said suddenly. “What is it?”

  “Nothing,” Tarrick said quickly.

  “No, Dawn is most definitely right,” Cario drawled, his eyes focused entirely on Alyx’s face. “Where were you two after the councillors cleared the room for their confidential session?”

  “Cario—”

  Alyx cut Tarrick off. “Romas asked us to take up a watch position in the balcony above the council table. He told us to be discreet.”

  Cario’s eyes remained steady on hers. “What did you hear?”

  Tarrick broke in. “What we heard was council business, and it was confidential. It would be wrong of Alyx and me to talk about it.”

  “It would be wrong of us?” Alyx swung towards him. “What about what they’re doing?”

  “Listen,” Tarrick began. “I know it was hard to hear, what they talked about today, but…”

  “Hard to hear?” Alyx stared at him, anger unfurling inside of her. She hadn’t expected this level of denial from Tarrick. “Are you kidding me?”

  “It’s not our business,” Tarrick said. “The council is conducting their affairs the way they see fit.”

  “They are killing innocent people,” she said disgustedly. “How is that not our business? How does that not upset you?”

  “I would suggest you keep your voices down!” Cario’s voice was a thread of iron forcing instant silence in the hallway.

  “It did upset me, all right!” Tarrick hissed. “I deplore the very idea of murdering innocent people. But I’m a mage, and we were on duty. What we heard was not for our ears or our discussion.”

  “Hold on!” Finn cut off Alyx’s angry reply. “Is that what you overheard? The council murdered people?”

  Alyx turned to Finn. “Is murdering people.”

  “Who?”

  “Alyx—”

  “Taliath potentials,” she spoke over Tarrick but kept her voice low, seeing the sense in Cario’s warning.

  Silence momentarily descended over the hall. The twins’ expressions showed they were as stunned as Alyx had been, unsure they’d heard right.

  “That’s awful,” Dawn paled.

  “It’s worse. They’re tracking down and killing children,” Alyx said. “What they’re doing amounts to no more than cold blooded murder of innocents.”

  “There’s more context to it than that, though,” Finn said. “You know what could happen.”

  Alyx’s heart sank as she stared at him for a long moment. Not Finn too. Her voice had an almost pleading quality to it when she responded to him. “So you think the council should kill Ladan, or my father?”

  “No, of course not,” Finn said.

  “How is that different from killing other Taliath?”

  “Alyx…”

  “Of course it’s wrong.” Tarrick spoke, voice full of hopelessness. “But what are the council’s other options? Allow another Shakar to be created?”

  “Following that reasoning, we should just start killing mages of the higher order, too. Why stop at killing the Taliath? If the Mage Council kills all the mages of the higher order, then another Shakar wouldn’t be possible.”

  “Alyx, you’re being dramatic.”

  “No she’s not.” Dawn’s eyes flashed angrily. “There are far fewer mages of the higher order than Taliath—only three to be exact. That’s a lot less murdering. But the council isn’t going to kill their own, are they?”

  Silence fell. Alyx realised they’d all clustered close together in the middle of the hall, holding their argument in angry whispers. Cario remained distant, leaning against the wall and watching silently.

  “I’m sorry,” Finn murmured eventually. “I don’t mean to sound like I approve of what the council is doing, but you all know how much I read. I’ve read all about how things were when Shakar was alive. It was brutal, and thousands died. The mages were lucky to stop him, and there’s no guarantee they could stop another Shakar if one was created. The council is just doing what they can to prevent that.”

  “That doesn’t make it right, Finn,” Dawn said stubbornly.

  It didn’t. Alyx had never imagined that Finn’s love of learning could lead to him thinking this was even close to acceptable.

  “The point is, it doesn’t matter what any of us think,” Tarrick said. “We were on guard duty. Council matters are not our business, neither are council decisions. The day may come when one of us has a seat on the council and can influence what they do, but until then, our duty is to follow orders.”

  “It’s not as simple as that.” Finn shook his head. “It wasn’t just guard duty. You only overheard what you did because Romas engineered it, and clearly he didn’t want the other co
uncillors to know you were there.”

  “We can’t be sure of that, not of anything where he’s concerned,” Dawn pointed out.

  Alyx gaze fell on Cario, who still leaned casually against the wall nearby. There was no trace of surprise or anger on his face.

  “You knew, didn’t you?” she asked him.

  “One of the perks of being the grandson of a council member,” Cario replied. “You hear about all sorts of interesting things.”

  “And I suppose you agree with your royal mage family?”

  He gave a slight shrug. “I don’t much care about mage matters. I believe I’ve mentioned that before.”

  She stiffened. “I’m going to bed.”

  Dawn followed Alyx into their shared room. “I don’t think Finn or Tarrick meant to be cruel.”

  “I know, but we clearly see things very differently on this issue.” Alyx undressed quickly. “If you don’t mind, Dawn, I want to go to sleep.”

  But despite curling up under the warm blankets, Alyx found sleep almost impossible to come by. She was terrified for her father. Hours passed before she was able to fall into a fitful, restless sleep.

  Chapter 31

  Alyx spent the following morning desperately trying to come up with a way to see her father and Cayr, the king too if possible. In the end, the problem was solved for her. During a break in the morning council session, a Bluecoat from King Llancarvan’s personal guard appeared with a message from Prince Cayr.

  She was invited to join him and the king for dinner that evening.

  Everyone knew of Alyx’s connection to the Rionnan royal family, so none thought it odd for her to receive the invitation. Tarrick ordered that she take the Bluecoat escort that was offered, but didn’t try to insist on coming with her. Things were icy between them and even if she hadn’t been distracted by fear for her father, she didn’t know how to fix it.

  King Mastaran’s palace wasn’t far outside the city, a half-hour carriage ride along a private road leading up a forested hillside. Apart from a ceremonial wall surrounding the property, it didn’t look particularly defensible, but she supposed in a time of war the king and his family would be moved into the Hub.

  A richly dressed steward wearing King Mastaran’s green and brown waited to greet Alyx as she stepped out of the carriage. “Good evening, Lady Egalion. If you’ll please follow me?”

  He led her in silence through a warren of hallways—the royal family’s taste apparently ran to rich wood and colourful tapestries—before stopping outside a door guarded by two heavily armed Bluecoats. The anxiousness that had been building up inside her chest all day relaxed fractionally at the sight of their familiar faces.

  “Tijer, Nario,” she greeted them. “You’re a sight for sore eyes.”

  “Lady Egalion.” Tijer’s narrow face lightened in a smile as he moved aside to open the door. “They’re waiting for you inside.”

  Stepping through, her eyes landed immediately on her father standing by the fireplace. Her shoulders sagged in relief. “You’re okay.”

  He came over and wrapped his arms tightly around her. “I’m fine, Aly-girl.”

  She nodded, the anxiousness draining out of her at his familiar scent and steady heartbeat. Despite the tension between them over the summer, the events of the past day had driven home to her how much she adored her father, and how devastating the idea of losing him was.

  “I hope my invitation didn’t raise too many eyebrows.” Cayr appeared at her side when she and her father parted. “After the news Dashan brought us last night, we wanted to find a way to see you without raising any suspicion.”

  She smiled in thanks. “Nobody was suspicious. It worked perfectly.”

  “Good.” He gave her an encouraging smile, but it didn’t bolster her like it once would have. She was too worried.

  A moment later King Darien Llancarvan entered from an adjoining room. She bowed low as he greeted her. “It’s good to see you, Alyx.”

  “You too, your highness.”

  His handsome face was drawn, but then it was getting late and he’d no doubt had a long day. Cayr took her hand and led her to a couch. “We have a lot to discuss.”

  “First let me assure you that only those in this room are aware of what you told Lieutenant Caverlock last night,” the king said as he sat opposite. “None of us will breathe a word outside the circle, I promise you. Our understanding is that you might be in some danger if it was known you knew.”

  Alyx’s gaze flickered to Cayr, assuming he was the one who’d told his father. He gave her a slight nod. “I was outraged by what Dashan told me, Alyx. I felt the issue was serious enough to bring to my father’s attention.”

  She wondered whether Cayr had thought through what Darien might do. He was no friend of the mage council, and she hoped this wouldn’t unnecessarily escalate a fragile situation.

  “The council hunting Taliath potentials does make a certain amount of horrible sense. I was reluctant to follow Casovar’s recommendation that Rionn become involved with the mage order again, and now I see my instinct was correct.” Darien looked over at Alyx’s father. “You know that I will continue to keep you safe, Garan.”

  “I do.”

  “My priority is to get you out of Carhall and back to Alistriem as quickly and discreetly as possible. You’ve been safe there all these years and I have to assume that will continue.”

  “It’s why I came to you in the first place, Darien. Even the council will think twice about assassinating the most senior lord of a king inside his own city.”

  “Good. I’ll remain here in Carhall for the remainder of our scheduled visit to avoid rousing suspicion. If anyone asks about you, I’ll say you ate a particularly bad piece of fish and are suffering horribly.”

  “Thanks,” Garan said dryly, and the two men shared a smile. In it, Alyx saw echoes of what Cayr and Dashan were to each other.

  Cayr looked at Alyx’s father. “What do you recommend, Lord Egalion?”

  “I’ll leave after midnight tomorrow, which will give me the day to make arrangements. I’ll use the early hours of the morning to get clear of the city. From there I’ll ride straight to Tennan and catch a ship south to Rionn. After that it will just be a matter of travelling overland to Alistriem.”

  “I’ll send three units of Bluecoats with you, just in case.”

  “No.” Garan disagreed with the king. “The safest thing is for me to slip out of Carhall without anyone noticing. I can’t do that with sixty Bluecoats surrounding me. Besides, people will notice if such a significant portion of your protective detail suddenly vanishes.”

  “Take Dashan’s unit,” Alyx spoke up. “Papa, they’re trained for this and they’ve done it before. They got me safely through the disputed area. More than that, I trust them.”

  “Alyx is right,” Cayr added, ignoring his father’s disgruntled look. “Trust is the most important thing right now, and there is nobody we can trust more than Dash.”

  Garan frowned. “Won’t your masters notice if Dashan’s unit disappears?”

  “Not if they get back to Carhall before we leave,” Alyx said. “They can escort you to Tennan, make sure you get safely on a ship and be back here inside a week. It will be tight, but they can do it.”

  Garan looked at her a long moment, his expression unreadable, but eventually he nodded.

  “And I’ll help you get out of the city tomorrow night,” she added.

  “Aly-girl—”

  Alyx raised a hand. “No offence, Papa, but if the council comes for you, it will be mages. Twenty Bluecoats can’t stop a force of trained warrior mages. My friends—Dawn in particular—can make sure you get out without being noticed.”

  “Your daughter makes sense.” Darien stood from the couch with a sigh. “Your safety is my priority, and so I’m agreeing with her. Take the half-Shiven’s Bluecoats and let Alyx escort you out of the city.”

  “Your highness.” Garan bowed his head in capitulation.

&
nbsp; “You can be sure he will be well protected in Alistriem, Alyx.” Darien settled a considering look on Garan. “And I will need to think very carefully about how to manage the Mage Council going forward. Their behaviour is unacceptable, and if I find Rionnan citizens have been part of this Taliath-purge...”

  His voice trailed off, but none in the room were left unclear that such a revelation would prompt retaliatory action. Alyx winced inwardly. The last thing she wanted was to be responsible for conflict between Rionn and the mage order—something she would be stuck right in the middle of. Her anxiety ratcheted up another notch. Fear for her father had led her to rush rather than think about what she was doing in sending Dashan to warn him.

  “We can discuss that on your return to Alistriem, Your Highness,” Garan promised smoothly. Alyx hoped desperately he’d be able to keep the king from doing anything rash.

  “We will. Now, I’m tired and my bed is calling. Good night.”

  They all bowed low as the king departed, then Garan turned to his daughter. “Thank you, Aly-girl.”

  “I won’t let them hurt you.”

  “I’m supposed to be saying that to you,” he grumbled, pulling her close. “The king and I will contrive to stay late at the Hub tomorrow night. I’ll meet you at the entrance to the storerooms off the kitchens at midnight. You’ll be able to find it?”

  “I will.”

  “Be safe, my girl.”

  “You too.”

  Once her father had left, Cayr walked Alyx back to the main entrance of the palace.

  “Dashan will be waiting outside to escort you back,” he said as they paused in the foyer.

  “I don’t need—”

  “Someone needs to tell him what you just signed him up for. Besides, your father isn’t the only one in danger, Alyx.” His eyes darkened. “I’m worried about you.”

  “I’ll be fine.” She managed a smile. “Thank you for all of this.”

  “You know that no thanks are necessary.” He turned serious. “We haven’t had a chance to talk properly, about us I mean, but...”