by Lisa Cassidy
“You said goodbye?” Alyx raised an eyebrow.
“Oh, yes, I forgot about your selective memory. Wherever you go, I go, remember?”
“Okay, good, then you can tell Romas that he’s losing another apprentice mage,” Alyx told him.
“Didn’t Dash already square things away with Romas?” Tarrick asked.
“Not for you he didn’t.” She smiled. “Come on.”
“Cario just left too?” Alyx asked as they walked towards the main hall, surprised and a little hurt he hadn’t lingered. She’d thought he’d at least say goodbye face-to-face.
“He doesn’t care, remember?” Tarrick said dryly. “He gave that typical shrug of his and walked off.”
“I expected more from him,” she said, more to herself than anything, but Tarrick heard her.
“You did? I don’t know why. He’s always made it clear he didn’t much care about us one way or the other.”
“That’s what he said. His actions tell a different story.”
“How?”
She turned, stopping him mid-stride. “Don’t tell me you don’t realise that he basically won that exhibition match for us? The man who hates fighting more than anything?”
“Yeah, okay.” Tarrick sighed. “I think you’re under-selling your own actions in the match, but I see your point.”
They kept walking, Alyx welcoming the cool of the interior as they headed up the stairs to Romas’s offices. When they reached the top, the sound of voices filtered towards them. She stopped, holding out on arm to keep Tarrick from rounding the corner when she recognised both Cario and Romas’s voices.
“What’s going on, Romas?”
It was a shock to hear Cario address the head of DarkSkull without his title, but Romas didn’t seem perturbed by it.
“I don’t know. The orders didn’t come from me.”
“Are you sure?” Cario’s voice lowered, and his voice lost its usual lazy drawl. “You and the council have your tentacles all over that Egalion girl, and it was you who put me in that group to keep watch on her.”
Alyx sucked in a breath, and beside her Tarrick stiffened. The sharp sting of betrayal rushed through her, and she closed her eyes briefly, forcing back the tears that welled. Tarrick shifted as if to step forward, and Alyx had to tighten her grip on his arm to stop him from walking out and confronting them.
“I’m aware,” Romas said, sounding impatient now. “But I haven’t had contact with Master Casovar since he left the council’s service.”
“How am I supposed to report to the council on her activities if she’s not here?”
Romas sighed. “Alyx will be back here next year to continue her training, and that’s all the council cares about. As you can imagine, they have other ways of keeping an eye on her while she’s away.”
“I don’t believe you.” Cario’s voice took on a mocking edge. “You and I both know that Alistriem is one of the few places the council hasn’t fully penetrated.”
“Master Casovar is the Lord-Mage of Rionn.”
“Oh well, I’m glad the council has such faith and trust in Casovar. I think you’re making a mistake.”
“And you think I care about your thoughts on the matter, Apprentice?”
Alyx heard Cario chuckle softly, then footsteps as he walked away in the opposite direction. A moment later, they heard Romas’s door closing as the master returned to his office.
“Leave it,” Alyx said to Tarrick, whose face had turned hard. She was telling herself as much as Tarrick when she continued. “I’m upset too, but I don’t want to think about it now. We’re leaving. Let’s deal with Cario next year.”
“I can’t just—”
“It’s better for us if they don’t know we know.” Alyx cut him off. “Think about it, Tarrick. Let’s go in there and pretend everything is fine. Make sure your mental shield is tight.”
He saw the sense in her words quickly, and his eyes closed as he took a calming breath. “Let’s do it.”
The master stood from behind his desk at their entry. Rothai was there also, his face impassive. Alyx wondered what either of them would say if they knew she’d overheard Romas’s conversation with Cario.
“Lieutenant Caverlock has already informed me of your summons,” Romas spoke as Tarrick opened his mouth. “And I had expected that you would travel with them, Apprentice Tylender.”
“We have no choice but to go,” Alyx explained. “The summons comes directly from our king.”
“Through Master Casovar?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I’m sure it goes without saying, but I would prefer that you stay. Your training is not finished.”
“We understand,” Tarrick said. “But it’s only a matter of weeks until the end of the school year anyway. We’ll be back for the beginning of next year.”
Romas acknowledged that with a nod. “You’ve all performed well this year, and so I’ll waive your required exams and advise the council that you’ve passed your second year.”
“Thank you, sir.” Alyx was surprised at his generosity.
“What I’ve said to you before remains true even when you’re not at DarkSkull, Alyx.” Romas stood now. “Remain in contact, if you need to.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And please pass my gratitude, and that of Commander Helson of Weeping Stead, to Lieutenant Caverlock. I know the militia will be very sad to see him go. He’s an excellent officer.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Very well. Dismissed.”
“Apprentice Tylender?” Rothai’s voice stopped them at the door.
“Yes, sir.”
“When you return next year, you’ll be DarkSkull’s First fighting patrol,” he said with no change in his cool voice. “Ensure you return prepared.”
“Yes, sir.” Tarrick nodded, and they left the room.
Howell waited for them outside, and Alyx felt a stab of sadness to be leaving her master. After everything, she would really miss him.
“I’ve heard the news.” He waved off Tarrick’s explanations. “I obviously have no choice in the matter, and in truth, the four of you don’t really need to be here for the remaining weeks of the year. You’ve more than met the academic and magical requirements for second-year apprentices.”
“Thank you, sir.” Alyx smiled. “We will be coming back.”
“Good.” Howell beamed. “And you’ll all be missed in the meantime.”
“Thank you for everything this year, sir.” Tarrick offered his hand, shaking Howell’s warmly.
“You all stick together,” Howell said, turning serious. “Alyx, I hope I’ve managed to make you aware of the dangers you face. Be careful.”
“I will,” she promised.
“I’ll make sure of it,” Tarrick said firmly. “I’ll get her back here safe and sound, sir, you can count on it.”
Howell nodded. “Very well. Off with you then.”
Alyx and Tarrick both smiled. “Yes, sir.”
They paused at the main gates to DarkSkull Hall, peering back at the long sweeping grounds and large stone buildings. The Bluecoats had ridden on ahead, giving them a moment.
“Say goodbye to Third fighting patrol,” Finn said mournfully, looking back at the imposing great hall.
“We’ll be back soon,” Alyx said with a confidence she didn’t feel.
“I hope so,” Dashan said, his dark brown eyes fixed on her. “I really do.”
“Come on.” Dawn smiled at them all. “Surely you can see the irony in this; when did we ever think we’d be sad to leave DarkSkull?”
Alyx chuckled. “True enough.”
After they’d made camp that night, and it was just the five of them sitting around a fire, three Bluecoat sentries pacing the shadows some distance away, Tarrick told the others about what he and Alyx had overheard.
“Surely not?” Dawn frowned in confusion. “Cario wouldn’t…”
“We heard him say it himself,” Alyx said quietly. “He said he�
�d been placed in our group so that he could watch me and write reports back to the council on what I was doing.”
“But why? Surely Romas could write reports on you back to the council—it’s not like much goes on at DarkSkull that he isn’t aware of.”
“Dawn, think how much more Cario knows about us than Romas,” Finn said heavily. “It makes a certain horrible sense, given who Cario is. I don’t know why we didn’t think of it.”
“What are we going to do?” Dawn looked as upset as Alyx felt. “How could he do something like that? Pretend to be our friend, and then betray us.”
“He wasn’t your friend,” Dashan said coldly. “Or he wouldn’t have done it. Excuse me, I need to check on the sentries.”
None of them said anything as he rose abruptly and strode off into the darkness. Alyx sympathised with his anger, but was more hurt than anything else. She had truly regarded Cario as her friend, and to learn he’d been pretending the whole time…
“Alyx was right, though,” Tarrick started speaking again. “We should forget about him for now. We can deal with it when we return to DarkSkull—for a start we’ll be able to use this knowledge to our advantage.”
“I suppose,” Dawn said sadly.
Finn wrapped an arm around his sister’s shoulders and drew her against him. “We’ve still got each other.”
Alyx nodded at them. “Yes, we do. And that’s no small thing.”
The magical hooks slid into her mind, the sensation akin to a red-hot poker being driven under her skin. She started into awareness, already knowing it was hopeless to struggle, but doing it anyway. He was prepared for her surge of power this time, smothering it with horrifying ease.
“What do you want?’ she screamed into the void.
A faint whisper of laughter. Alyx grabbed onto that sound, using it to anchor her.
“Who are you?”
The mind of her tormentor stayed well out of reach. He had no interest in telling her who he was or what he wanted. His contempt for her seethed through the nightmare. It was no use to struggle, so she stayed still and quiet, waiting for whatever it was he had planned for her.
Instead of dragging her down the dark tunnel like before, he drowned her in a slew of images. People she knew. Dawn slumped over the fallen body of an unknown mage. Finn in a shadowed room, a hand reaching out to clamp down over his face and drag him away. Tarrick lying dead in a field of bodies.
“The future.” As whisper-soft as the laughter, but there was no amusement there. Only certainty.
“I don’t believe you.” She refused to give him the reaction he wanted, grimly clinging to the knowledge he was trying to torment her. That’s all it was.
“You don’t need to believe me for it to happen.”
“I’ll stop it.”
“No, you won’t. You’re already sowing the seeds of your own destruction.”
An image of Dashan flashed then, only instead of his Bluecoat uniform he wore all white, and he carried the Taliath sword from the domed room. His dream form took two steps forward to engage a faceless enemy, the grace and skill of his movements unmistakable.
Her tormentor’s laugh reverberated in agonizing echoes through her mind as he felt her realization of what he was telling her. Alyx whimpered, her remaining strength crumbling rapidly in the terror and despair his revelation caused. Instinct made her lash out with magic, desperate to escape, to get out.
“Not yet,” he crooned. “Best you not take that knowledge with you. I’d much prefer to watch you fall, utterly unknowing, into disaster.”
The pain was unbearable, blades slicing through her brain. Alyx woke screaming, thrashing around under a blanket that suddenly felt as if it were trying to trap her.
“See you soon, Alyx Egalion....”
“Alyx!”
Dashan got to her first, but she shoved hard at his chest as he reached out. Kicking frantically at the blanket, she turned and vomited, her stomach heaving even after there was nothing left to bring up. Sweat slicked her skin, trickling down her spine, and her heart thundered uncontrollably.
The next touch was Finn, his magic calming her body’s violent reaction to the nightmare. She remained on her hands and knees, sagging in exhaustion, gasping for air.
“Are you all right?” Tarrick sounded frantic, but she couldn’t speak, needing several moments of sucking in deep lungfuls of the cold night air.
“It was another nightmare, wasn’t it?” Dashan’s voice, and then Dawn’s, answering with a soft, “I think so.”
“I’m all right,” Alyx managed weakly, sinking back to her blankets.
“No, you’re not.”
This time she didn’t stop Dashan as he settled beside her and drew her gently against his chest.
“Can I do anything more?” Finn knelt before her. Tarrick and Dawn were on either side of him, wearing identically worried expressions. A short distance away, Josha hovered, hand on the hilt of his sword. At a gesture from Dashan, he nodded and returned to sentry duty.
“Alyx?”
“Sorry.” She took another breath. “I’m not sick, Finn, but thanks. I just need a few minutes.”
“Can you tell us what happened?” Dashan murmured.
Alyx nodded, relating in halting words what she could remember. “After he told me I didn’t need to believe him... there was something else, I think, but I can’t... I can’t...”
“It’s all right.” Finn reached out, soothing her again with his magic.
“What are we going to do?” Tarrick’s voice broke the silence that fell. “I mean, if this is more than just some twisted mage out there taunting Alyx for no particular reason, then we have bigger problems than missing mages and a newly-belligerent Shivasa.”
“What if it’s all connected?” Finn asked.
A beat of silence, then, “I don’t even want to think about that,” Tarrick said.
“Even if it is some twisted mage out there doing this to Alyx, it needs to be stopped.” Dashan’s voice in her ear, his fury unmistakable even though he’d kept his voice low.
“Maybe Lord-Mage Casovar can help once we’re back in Alistriem?” Dawn suggested.
“Or Astor,” Dashan added. “He’s her godfather, after all.”
Their conversation faded away as a sleepy lassitude fell over Alyx. Her eyes slid shut, the soft stroking of Dashan’s fingers through her hair helping her to relax entirely.
Taliath. Taliath. Taliath.
That single word had been beating through her brain since she’d woken.
But why?
To be continued in The Mage Chronicles Book 3 - Darkmage
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National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry
Creator: Cassidy, Lisa, author.
Title: Darkmage / Lisa Cassidy.
ISBN: 978-0-9953589-4-2 (paperback)
Series: Cassidy, Lisa. Mage Chronicles; 3.
Target Audience: For young adults.
Subjects: Fantasy fiction.
Copyright © Lisa Cassidy 2018
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
All rights reserved
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted by any person or entity, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, scanning or by an information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.
First published 2018 by Tate House
This book is dedicated to the two other members of the Tate House team—Kathy and Sarah—without whom I would never have gotten to a third book! Amazing supporters and the most generous of friends. Thank you.
Chapter 1
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br /> A bird swooped low overhead, screeching loudly, but Alyx barely noticed, her attention firmly focused on trying to convince a stubborn Bluecoat to do things her way. She hadn’t missed the glances the twins were shooting each other though—if their amusement became any more blatant, she was going to give serious thought to beating them about the head with her staff.
“Lord-Mage Casovar booked us ship passage for a reason. It’s safer.” Irritation leaked from Dashan’s voice, and he wore that stubborn look on his face she hated.
“I’m aware of that,” Alyx said, keeping admirable hold of her temper. “But I think it’s important that we go overland instead.”
“So you can see your brother.” It wasn’t a question, and the cocky assurance in his voice almost tipped her over the edge. Damn his need to be right about her all the time.
“You don’t think it’s important we talk with him?” she asked. “If we go overland, we can head east and cross Shivasa to the north of Widow Falls. You yourself said it only takes a day or two to cross there because it’s so narrow. We’d be in Rionn inside a week.”
His eyebrows shot upwards, voice rising an octave to match. “You want to cross Shiven territory with a unit of Bluecoats? Why don’t you declare war on them while we’re at it?”
Alyx caught another look shared between the twins—more amusement—and gritted her teeth. Her patience was wearing dangerously thin, and she blessed Tarrick’s silent presence at her side. If it wasn’t for his characteristic steadiness, this would have become a shouting match much sooner.
“You’re being dramatic.” She tried for calm and mostly managed it.
“I’m not,” Dashan said flatly, crossing his arms and staring her down. “I’m responsible for your protection, and the safest way to get back to Alistriem is via ship.”
“You’re responsible for my protection, but that’s it,” she snapped, his high-handedness finally shattering her hard-won patience. “You’re forgetting who’s actually in charge here.”