by Guy Antibes
“He’s just enamored with my power.”
“It’s much more than that. It’s your attitude towards that power. He’d like to join you on your way towards the Master Mage’s Tower. Let him accompany you.” She popped a few more vegetables into her mouth.
Norra looked down at her plate and didn’t realize she had cleaned it. “Let me think about it.”
“Take your time. You are in no danger here and you can stay or leave whenever you wish. Good night.” Pilla closed the door behind her, carrying the tray.
She lay back on her bed totally confused. Who could she believe? Was the woman really Merran’s mother? She seemed so nice and yet, when she told the woman that Merran was enamored with her power, she said that it was more than that. So her power did make a difference or was she being played for a fool?
She got up, paced the room, poured water into a goblet and drank. No matter what, Norra of Bordon Forest was a fool. She reviewed all the events of her journey and found time after time that her life had been in peril, just as Pilla said and yet what could she have done otherwise? She shook her head and before she could reflect on it much more, sleep overtook her and she still hadn’t driven away her confusion.
~
At the bottom of a long set of stairs Norra alighted on a beach of tiny pebbles with tiny waves lapping along the shore of the Crystal Sea. Gristan appeared at her side. The wind whipped at her leather coat and pants as low clouds scudded underneath a leaden sky, yet the ghost’s clothes remained unruffled.
“So what do you propose doing? Merran’s mother sued for peace between you two and yet you say that you are unwilling to bend?” Gristan said.
“It’s not that I’m unwilling. I’m afraid to bend because I’m unsure if I’ll bend or if I’ll break. I don’t know. I feel so alone. Lily has Namen and I…”
“You have me,” Gristan laughed, “but it’s not the same, is it?”
She stopped and looked at the ghost floating in front of her and put up her hand to his cheek. “You know how I feel, Gristan. You’ve been like a father and my mentor ever since we met. Without you, I might have gone insane or made even more awful decisions than I’ve already made.” She took her hand down and turned away. “No. It’s not the same. If he were just Cloud or Herran, it would be different. I feel that in Taxia I really trusted him with my life and yet he didn’t tell me the truth. When he needed to use magic, he said he had a little talent.”
“Cloud did too. I can recall all that they said… he said. Never did Cloud or Merran tell you a falsehood. Oh, they were very careful with their words, but lie? Never. Mislead or give you the wrong directions? Well, perhaps.”
“I don’t know.” Norra stamped her foot on the pebbles and sent some flying. “Why do I feel this way?”
“It’s not something that I can say I’ve ever felt. My counsel is to let Merran participate in our journey to the Master Mage’s Tower. It is the only place where you even have a chance of stripping yourself of the power, my dear.”
She looked out at the wind-whipped sea. A few sails dotted its surface and in the early morning light, the far side showed pink. “What do I have to lose? As they always say, two and a half mages are better than one,” she said, grimly laughing, and Gristan looked relieved.
~
Lily
The evening ended too fast and the morning started too fast. Lily stretched in her bed. Her rooms looked like a mirror image of Norra’s and she had never stayed in such a place, even the hotel at Port Torell didn’t match this. Her leg ached a bit and she thought she would ask for a hot water bath to soak it, like the healer had advised.
She went to pull the cord for service and passed a full-length mirror. Her hair had flattened during the night and she remembered what Norra had to say. Her face was a smudge of what it had been at dinner and she frowned at the sight. She pulled the cord and sat at the dressing table.
She wiped her face with a towel and applied something labeled cleansing cream to her face. It felt wonderful to rub it in. She applied it to her entire face and neck and let it sit. Her former life had prevented her from doing such things. Her swordsman uncle had no wife and the women she came in contact with, who had more feminine skills, looked upon her as competition and wouldn’t think to teach her how to dress and act.
A servant knocked and then entered. Lily turned around and felt for her sword. She tensed and then relaxed as she realized where she was.
“I need hot water for a bath.”
“Certainly, my lady. Should I also bring in breakfast? All of your friends have done likewise.”
Breakfast brought to her room. “Yes, thank you.” That would be how Norra would handle it. Lily felt at a loss in these surroundings, yet Norra knew what to do and so did Namen. The way he complimented her last night. She looked back at the mirror and rubbed the cream off of her face. Her skin looked fresh and clear. She ran her fingers over her cheeks and forehead. Is this what it felt like to be a lady?
But then she knew that appearance was only a part of it. How to behave? How to know what clothes were appropriate? As she traveled with Norra, it was quite easy to make up your own rules, but in a place like this? The people would only tolerate a churl like herself for so long.
Would Namen tolerate her now that they were in Magia and he no longer had to travel, living off the land and sleeping out under the broad expanse of stars? He looked so much younger, once he had cleaned off the soil of travel himself. She didn’t know how she could possibly deserve his attentions.
The water came and once she sat in the hot tub, the servant sprinkled in scented oil. Scented oil, she thought in amazement.
~
Norra
Mage Merran summoned Norra for the midday meal. A servant led her to a private room on the other side of the palace. These must be Merran’s personal quarters, the decorations screamed masculinity like her father’s study had.
“You look beautiful in that dress, Norra.” Merran stood when the servant ushered her into the room.
She could only demur. No one ever called her beautiful before. Why would he pay such a compliment to her? The confusion from the night before still ruled her heart, but the talk with Gristan in the morning ruled her head. She would let the mage come with them regardless of what syrupy comments he might make to convince her to let him follow along.
“The view is one to adore, Mage Merran,” she said as she looked out at the Crystal Sea.
“My name isn’t Cloud or Herran or even Mage Merran. To you, it’s simply Merran, Norra.”
“Merran.” She nodded to him as he helped her sit at the table. “You’ve brought me here to convince me to let you come with us. Your mother nearly said as much last night.”
“My mother? She talked to you?” He looked genuinely astonished.
“She told me about Cloud, that you can’t produce that illusion anymore, and your great-uncle’s lack of magic.”
Merran looked at the plate of food that was placed in front of him. “I didn’t put her up to it. She can be as independent as you.” He presented her with a crooked smile. “I apologize for her… directness.”
His words only served to confuse her further. She thought her feelings for this man and his activities were easily categorized as always having a purpose. That made the visit of his mother understandable, and now this.
“You are going to ask to rejoin our party?”
He nodded. “I can transport myself back to here in the evenings and take care of whatever my uncle cannot. I wish I could take others with me, but that’s not how the spell works. I always hoped I could get the Master Mage to teach me more, but he rarely worked with the Mages unless he had to put down the abominable behavior of one of the Nine.”
“I was given to understand from Namen that the path through his lands are treacherous and that no one has found a way to the tower.”
Merran pursed his lips. “I have flown over the entire forest looking for a tower that should pierce the ve
ry sky and found nothing. So I hope that your power can do what mine cannot.”
“So you are interested in me only for my power?” There. She said it right to his face. Her stomach couldn’t handle the food in front of her and she didn’t attempt even a bit, save for a sip of wine.
“Where did you get that idea?”
“You knew about the power transfer when it happened.”
He ground his teeth and muttered. Merran stood and walked to the window and turned around. “I did and I tracked your journey through Polda. I couldn’t get a good read on where you were until you turned into Nastalia. It might have been when your friend Fenning died. That spell might have awakened more of the power within you.”
“Were you planning on helping us, so you could lure me away to Magia?”
“If you will recall, you were already on your way to Magia when we met. When I first saw you, I realized that the Master Mage transferred his power into a young girl, or more appropriately, a young woman. You couldn’t believe my surprise. I thought I’d have to deal with a full mage and a man. You were so obviously unprepared for your journey that I had to help. Your power intrigued me, yes, but more than that, I had to lend a hand even though in Cloud form I could only do so much. I had little power, but I was able to help you escape the band of wizards at the inn and help you defend yourself from Namen at the fishing village.”
“So you weren’t trying to steal my power?”
Merran laughed. “How can I steal power when I don’t know how to transfer it? Of what threat were you to me if you can’t use it by yourself? A threat? I only have one desire in regard to your power.” His demeanor turned deadly serious. “The Nine—not including myself—are preparing to invade Polda for total control. The Master Mage could keep them in line, but they have realized that he’s dead and that their powers are no longer bound.”
Again, the words of Namen were confirmed. A grave threat gathered to turn all Polda into Bistomer, where women and men were turned into slaves.
“You can’t convince them to rule Polda like your lands?”
Merran gave Norra a look of pity. “It takes all of my power to keep the other mages at bay and that is because I live in a remote corner of Magia. If their slaves knew what kind of lives my people live here there might be civil wars. The only way the Nine know how to put down revolution is to destroy. Neither of us wants that, do we?”
Norra shook her head. She had to trust this man, after all. Not only was Magia in peril, but so were her parents, the people on her father’s estate, and all of the people of Polda. She couldn’t imagine Miss Podingoode surviving slavery. “No. Come with us and help us do what we can.” She could sense the resignation in her own voice.
She had a hard time eating her food this time, but she worried about something completely different.
~
Lily
Lily stood, sword in hand, on the balcony of her rooms taking in the sun. She shook her leg, feeling no pain. The healer had worked on her every day and in the last three, she had been able to run up and down the stairs to the pebble shingle below the palace.
She lifted the blade and examined the edge. She took a deep breath and went back to practicing her sword dance, because they would be leaving soon. Tomorrow she would practice with Merran’s sword master and with Norra. The weapon felt natural in her grip and, for the first time since Taxia, she felt more like her old self.
And yet… What did her future hold? In a sense, Norra left her without an occupation and without a real purpose once their quest ended. Namen still spoke of danger as they sought out the Master Mage’s Tower. Mages and wizards from all the domains risked the many traps in the Master Mages’ lands seeking ways into the tower. The way in would depend on them outsmarting and outfighting all who wandered in the forest.
Lily couldn’t come up with an answer, as much as she tried to picture life with Namen or returning to her old ways. She swished the blade and plunged it into the webbing of a balcony chair. She couldn’t wait to get started and welcomed any action to get her mind off of these infernal questions.
~
Gristan
Floating through a wall, Gristan entered the unused tower. He examined every room and found them clean, but obviously unoccupied. This was his kind of house. He imagined himself a mage and taking out all of the stairs and sealing all the doors. In such a tower no one but a ghost could enjoy the place.
He smiled and poked out of the top of the roof. He slithered up and sat far above the tower town and, as every human did, couldn’t take his eyes from the view. Lily practiced with her sword far below in the courtyard with Norra. He could see that Lily still gave Norra chances, but she didn’t hold back from the tower’s sword master and defeated him in less than a minute.
Brightness had returned into the woman’s eyes as the light dulled in Norra’s. Her conversations with Merran had turned into grim affairs. Gristan remembered when he could nearly see her heart beat out of her chest when the old Herran came into view. No longer. The weight of the world now burdened his girl. For that is how he thought of her.
~
Namen
Namen slid the curtain covering a hallway window and viewed Lily fencing with Norra at the same time. He felt fear, not the instant fear of danger of bolts shooting from wizards on all sides, but a long aching torturous fear. No woman had ever so taken his heart. His past wasn’t much different from the Bistomer wizards who desired to enslave Norra and Lily when they first entered Magia.
He would never feel that way again, not after Yulga’s Pass and the help he had to give the two young women and the help they gave to him. He’d never had to cooperate with others. He now regretted the way he treated his brother. Bloggo showed himself as totally devoted, but it had never mattered what his brother felt, what mattered was how Namen had felt and now shame filled him. How did he become so hard? He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
Another glance at the two, practicing their sword routines, gave him the answer. Why Lily and not Norra? Why roughness versus the promise of something so smooth? His walk with Norra up the mound helped him sort his feelings out, even though he had looked upon Norra more like a precious child on the way up and as a formidable woman on the way down. He knew the answer and it felt right. Lily had an elemental spark to her that Norra lacked, the same elemental spark that prompted him to leave Magia after he attained his mage level to fight the wizards. His time in Polda was an escape from this cursed land.
And now? Perhaps the biggest challenge of his life. The Master Mage’s tower lay like a shadow on them all. Was it salvation? Or death? He didn’t know, but he felt unsettled, their lives in stasis until Norra did whatever she was supposed to do.
~
Norra
“That’s enough, Lily. You can’t have anymore energy.” Norra sat in the shade of the palace wall. Her muscles tingled from the workout. She must be getting better because she could now tell where Lily held back.
She leaned into the rough surface of the wall and closed her eyes. Tomorrow would be their last day in Merran’s palace. Tomorrow, she would start to take the final steps towards what destiny the fates thought would be appropriate for a squire’s daughter in a tiny out-of-the-way estate.
Could the fate of Polda really rest on her shoulders? Her surface thoughts still discounted the notion, but she knew down deep that awful decisions were still in store. And Merran. What would she do with Merran? His continued attentions to her just couldn’t be an affectation. No, he felt for her and she couldn’t deny that he still attracted her as much as ever, even though she couldn’t bring herself to quite trust him. Perhaps she never would and that hurt.
She moved her wrist and watched the blade move wherever she wanted it to. What would her mother say? A smile. She knew her father would be proud.
~
Merran
Jorell gave Merran a short bow as he gathered the mess of signed documents from the mage’s desk. “Thank you, Me
rran. These should be enough to keep the domain working and I’ll remember to send a wizard guard with two mages to meet the supply wagons on the other side of the Pass. Try to get back them back here as soon as they can. Once the other Nine learn of my efforts, who knows what might happen. I wouldn’t put it past Bistomer to attack here.” Merran’s uncle tried so hard to please him.
Jorell nodded as he tried to straighten the papers. “We are strong enough even without the guard.”
Merran rose from his seat and put his hand on his uncle’s shoulder. “I’ll try to be here every night.” That might be a hard promise to keep, going into the Master Mage’s lands. He knew the risk of leaving, but his uncle had always been a strong hand, especially after his father had died.
The risk was so great and he thought that Norra had to have some kind of talisman in her possession that would lead her to the tower. How many times was he tempted to search through her things? It wouldn’t be anything in her mind. Women couldn’t remember incantations and were thus unsuitable for wizardry even if they held power and Norra held more power than any woman in history. He pursed his lips, realizing that her forgetfulness became, in a perverse way, her protection. Norra had to do this by herself—and he would be there to help her when necessary.
In a larger sense, Merran worried about what would become of Magia. He knew that Norra didn’t trust him and, to be honest, he didn’t quite trust himself if he captured the power of the Master Mage. The incredibly heavy burden of trying to rule a single domain in a proper way took so much out of him. What compromises would he have to make to ensure their welfare? What sacrifices in the future?
Could he somehow get her to soften her view of him? She was one sacrifice and a great one. He couldn’t have been more impressed by her nascent grace from his first encounter with her at the Nastalia Inn. It was if she was a flower bud and he watched her blossom right in front of him as they sailed on the ship and as she talked and fought with him at the map shop.