Gryphon (Rise of the Mages Book 2)

by Brian W. Foster

  “Really?” Tasia said. “Every time I’ve brought up the subject, you’ve acted like I’ve suggested you clean your own chamber pot.”

  “Tasia!” Ashley said. “Do you have to be so … so … common?”

  Infuriatingly, Tasia just grinned.

  “The instruction to teach me was not a request.”

  “Yes, my lady,” Lainey said.

  Ashley graciously ignored Tasia’s eye roll.

  “How do we do that, anyway?” Tasia said. “She doesn’t even know what kind of mage she is.”

  Lainey shrugged. “The technique for sensing isn’t specific to mage type, so I’m not sure it matters. She’s surged, so she should be able to do it. Period.”

  “Are you going to keep jabbering all day,” Ashley said, “or are you going to get on with it?”

  Tasia smirked. “Jabbering. We’ll definitely keep jabbering.”

  Lainey shot her a look, and Tasia rolled her eyes again. Ashley was getting quite tired of being gracious.

  “First, my lady,” Lainey said, “fix your connection to the source in your mind.”

  “And how do I do that?”

  “Well, my lady, when you use magic … Oops …”

  “Exactly,” Tasia said. “She has to have some idea what she’s doing before she can sense it. Which leads us back to teaching her how to use abilities, meaning we have to know what type.”

  A lady won her battles with her mind and her will. Nudging a man here. Wielding influence there. She didn’t pick up a sword. Fight with her fists. Get her hands dirty.

  And she didn’t use magic.

  “Never mind,” Ashley said. “It’s not that important.”

  * * *

  Ashley surreptitiously rubbed her behind.

  She couldn’t believe her father not only ordered her on a mission like a common soldier but didn’t allow her to bring a carriage, fearing it would delay them too much. How was she supposed to be at her best for the queen when forced to ride into town covered in dust from the road and aching in places no gentle lady should ever feel pain?

  At least the indignities were over. Before them lay the capital city of Escon, jewel of the mountains. The castle, its white towers gleaming in the afternoon sun, stood above the outer walls.

  Once Ashley’s biggest dream had been to live there. To ascend the throne. The situation with Dastanar and Xan being a wizard had stirred chaos, however, and chaos created opportunity. A single throne loomed small compared to the possibility of ruling the entire three kingdoms.

  First, though, she must escape the hangman’s noose surely waiting ahead of her.

  “What’s the plan?” Tasia said.

  “Present ourselves at the gate,” Ashley said.

  “And if we’re arrested?”

  “I’m the niskma of Vierna. Even Queen Anna wouldn’t dare!”

  “And if she does dare ...”

  Ashley set her jaw. “As Xan would say, we’ll just have to burn that bridge when we come to it.”

  She wasn’t nearly as confident as she made out. The queen was likely quite upset with Vierna. Upset enough to send armies. No matter how close their two houses were, a ruler of a kingdom simply could not tolerate a powerful noble usurping authority. And when someone as high up as Archduke Asher appeared to operate in outright rebellion of law, a minor incident could blow up into a full-scale revolt as fast as a flash fire rolled down a hill in the summer.

  Ashley frowned. Presenting themselves at the gate was likely to result in arrest, but to save Asherton, and to have any hope of achieving her dreams, she needed more forces than she and her father could manage alone. She needed the whole of Bermau behind them, which meant getting Queen Anna behind them.

  There had to be a way to convince her.

  Ashley led her entourage through Escon’s open gate, though the city’s streets, to the castle gate, where a line of people waited for admittance. She ignored angry shouts and rode to the front. “I’m here to see Queen Anna.”

  The captain took in her attire and plastered on the obedient look of one used to dealing with his betters. “Yes my lady, who should we tell the queen is calling?”

  “Lady Ashley Asher, niskma of Vierna.”

  The captain’s face transformed into a soldier’s visage, all business. He gestured, and soldiers surrounded her.

  Ashley held still. If she could just plead the case that her father’s actions were justified. But to do that, she needed an audience with the queen.

  One of the guards grabbed the reins of Ashley’s horse. Another pulled her from her horse. Others did the same for the rest of her party.

  “Where are you taking us?” Ashley said.

  “To the dungeon.”

  “I demand to see the queen. Immediately!”

  “Ashley Asher,” the captain said, “You are—”

  “I demand—”

  “—under arrest for sedition, having conspired against the crown, and for violation of the Prohibition Against Magic Decree, having harbored mages.”

  “But—”

  “Do you understand the severity of the charges you face?” he said. “You are to be executed with all due haste.”

  Ashley gritted her teeth. “Are you an utter simpleton? I demand to see my good friend, Queen Anna. Take me to her, or I swear you will be the one hanged.”

  The captain didn’t deign even to respond. “Take them to the tower.”

  Ashley had to get to the queen’s chamber. There had to be something she could do. She batted her eyelids and turned on her charm. “Release me at once.”

  The captain’s eyes went wide, and he stepped back. The soldier holding her dropped his hands.

  “And the rest of my party as well,” Ashley said.

  The captain swallowed hard. “You. Are. Under. Arrest.” He personally grabbed her arms and pulled them behind her.

  Roughly.

  Huh? Her looks had never failed her before.

  The soldiers escorted her, Tasia, and Lainey to a cell.

  35.

  Ashley paced back and forth.

  A mere three steps took her from one of the cell’s cold stone walls to the other. Her chest tightened. She couldn’t get out. There was no space to move. The room closed in.

  For more than a month, she’d been held captive by Morav. Confined. Watched. She would not tolerate it again.

  “This is not acceptable.”

  Tasia, sitting on the floor next to Lainey at the far end of the narrow cell, didn’t even bother to look up. “What are we going to do? Escape? Not exactly the best way to get in the queen’s good graces, especially since we’d have to use magic to do it.”

  Ashley grimaced. Unfortunately, that was a good point. But she would not—could not—stay locked up. “Better than waiting to be executed!”

  “If that’s what the queen has decided,” Tasia said, “isn’t that what we, as her loyal subjects, should do?”

  Ashley rolled her eyes. There wasn’t another person in the three kingdoms who would take such an absurd view. “As her loyal subject, my duty is to act in her best interests, and killing me is definitely not in her best interest.”

  “You don’t think, just maybe, the queen should judge what’s best for her?”

  “Not in this case!”

  Lainey rose and placed herself between the two of them. “Does arguing with each other do us, or Xan, any good?”

  Ashley crossed her arms over her chest and scowled. How dare a commoner criticize her!

  The interruption, though, had been directed at Tasia.

  “As much as I understand loyalty to one’s liege,” Lainey said in a tone that indicated she clearly didn’t, “I’m not ready to die for no good reason.”

  “You really think we should try to escape?” Tasia said.

  “If I had waited for the authorities to do whatever they wanted, Xan would have been hung by Justav.”

  “Fine,” Tasia said. “Do you have a plan, at least?”


  “Start with some kind of distraction?” Lainey said. “I could set the bed on fire. Attract the guard. We could steal his keys somehow.”

  “And then what?” Tasia said. “How would we get past the rest of the guards? Or make it all the way through the castle to the queen’s chambers?”

  Lainey shrugged. “Lady Ashley could use her power to disguise herself.”

  “I can do what?”

  “Apologies, my lady, but I watched you at the gate. You magically changed your appearance. That makes you a glamour.”

  Glamour, huh? There were worse things to be called, but using magic like a commoner?

  “Are you sure?” Tasia said.

  “You didn’t see the pink glow that enveloped her?”

  “The men surrounding us with swords drawn kind of captured my attention.”

  “Well …” Lainey rose. “Maybe you could demonstrate, my lady? If we’re to escape, we’ll need your abilities.”

  That was the rub, wasn’t it? Oh well, one does what one must. Besides, being able to take on another’s appearance presented some useful possibilities.

  “How?” Ashley said.

  “Just repeat what you did at the gate, my lady.”

  For as long as Ashley could remember, she’d been able to pour on the charm to dazzle men. Hard to believe that she’d been using magic without realizing it.

  She pretended a rich, handsome noble had entered the cell, and seducing him was her sole means of escape.

  Tasia’s eyes went wide. “How have I never noticed you doing that?”

  Fortunately, as a lady, Ashley hadn’t been treated as if she were a criminal. The captain had left her with basic supplies, including her travel mirror. She looked at her reflection. “That’s … odd. My face is … smoother.” Not that it was wrinkled or anything, but she’d used concealer to cover pimples. “And my eyes bigger and brighter. My nose … cuter, more rounded. It’s like the best possible version of me.”

  “You can do much more than that, my lady.”

  “Like what?”

  “Please understand, my lady. I only know anything because I talked with Xan as we traveled, and his source of information was bits and pieces of historical records.”

  “Noted,” Ashley said. “Carry on.”

  “Well,” Lainey said, “mages add and subtract energy of a particular type. For a glamour, that’s light. If you add magic to, say, a ray of sunshine, it turns into a powerful weapon called a ‘beam.’ Or you can remove light from an area, plunging it into total darkness.”

  Ashley nodded. Either of those could be useful indeed. If she needed to kill, the beam would be a powerful offensive weapon, or she could blind a group of attackers. Interesting and, in a way, elegant. “And I can disguise myself as someone else?”

  “Not your voice, I suppose, my lady, but yes. Height, face, physical aspects. By subtly adding and subtracting light where needed, you can create whatever illusion you wish,” Lainey said. “Remember, though, using magic requires effort from you. The more you use, the more effort, and drawing too much is potentially fatal.”

  “Meaning?”

  “Meaning you need to be careful, my lady. Sure, you could make yourself look like a ten-foot tall bear …”

  Ashley snorted at the thought.

  “But if you have to maintain it long, my lady, it’s better to keep the changes as small as possible. For example, since you and Tasia are a similar size and share a family resemblance, you could probably keep yourself looking like her for hours.”

  Ashley grinned. Impersonating her cousin at will, huh? That could be fun.

  “Don’t even think about it,” Tasia said.

  “Think about what? This?” Ashley wished for herself to look like Tasia.

  Nothing happened.

  Ashley wished again. Harder.

  Still nothing.

  She glared at Lainey. “Teach me.”

  “Let’s not,” Tasia said.

  Lainey shot her an apologetic look. “If it pleases you, my lady, start by enhancing your appearance just like you’ve been doing.”

  Ashley did.

  “Fantastic, my lady. Now …”

  After a good half hour, Lainey coaxed Ashley into finding the spot in her mind where the magic entered.

  “Hold onto that feeling, my lady. Then you have to kind of split your mind. Part of you has to continue looking at that spot where the magic comes in. The other part has to concentrate on what you want the magic to do.”

  “How would I do that?”

  “You’ve been doing it ever since you learned the trick with your face, my lady, so your mind knows what to do.”

  “Okay …”

  Feeling quite ridiculous, Ashley did as instructed. Her face … changed. Instantly. She stared at a replica of her cousin in the mirror.

  Tasia shook her head. “I swear, if you ever pretend to be me and …”

  Ashley chuckled. Her ability would definitely be fun. “Let’s try this.”

  Her face transformed again, and she became Lainey. Taller. Black hair. Clothes. An exact match.

  “And this …” Ashley said.

  Her face changed again, and both her companions gasped. The face of Queen Anna stared back at her.

  * * *

  Tasia groaned.

  She loved her cousin dearly, but an Ashley who was destined to rule a duchy was already, at times, insufferable. An Ashley who had the power to become anyone she wanted, fire deadly beams, and confound her enemies by plunging them into complete darkness, though …

  Ugh!

  Ashley had experimented with her power for the last hour, and she wasn’t done. She made Tasia look like a boy. And not a handsome boy, either. Instead, the reflection that stared back at her was a homely visage marred by literal boils and wearing the garb of a pig farmer, one who had apparently just finished wrestling his charges.

  The effect didn’t follow when she moved but still … Imagine what Ashley could do when they found Xan.

  Best not to even think about him. He was Ashley’s fiancé. Or was. Or would be.

  Tasia’s heart sank, and she had to hide her face.

  Conversation turned to how they could escape, and Lainey, having assisted in breaking Xan out of jail, took the lead. After arguing back and forth and throwing out several unworkable ideas, Ashley bullied them into finally agreeing on a plan.

  The cell occupied only part of the room, stretching the entire length but leaving a gap of about four feet between the iron bars and the inner wall. A wood chair sat in the corner, but none of the soldiers were inside. Voices heard through an open doorway, however, indicated several men in an antechamber.

  “How many guards?” Lainey said.

  Tasia reached out with her life sense. “Five.”

  “Okay,” Lainey said. “Ready, my lady?”

  “Proceed.”

  Flames burst from the chair like someone had placed it in the middle of a bonfire.

  “Guard! Guard! Fire! Fire! Please help!” Ashley yelled.

  If not for the seriousness of their situation, Tasia would have grinned. No one could fake damsel-in-distress like Ashley.

  Two of the men rushed inside. Their eyes went wide at the roaring fire, and they tore off their tunics and beat the chair with them, doing little to smother the flames. The other three crowded in the doorway, watching.

  Tasia drained life simultaneously from the three at the door, and about fifteen seconds later, they collapsed with thuds on the hard stone. She winced. Hopefully, they’d not been badly injured by the fall, but she had no time to check.

  Luckily, the first two were consumed with trying to put out the fire and hadn’t noticed the fate of their fellow soldiers. Tasia drained their lifeforce until they, too, fell unconscious.

  As soon as they hit the ground, Lainey extinguished the flames, and Tasia checked the men’s health. Four were fine, but the fifth had a nasty concussion.

  Her face must have shown her concern because
Lainey asked what was wrong.

  “That one is hurt,” Tasia said, pointing. “If I don’t heal him, he may have permanent damage, but if I do, he’ll wake. He could strike out at us before I can make him pass out again.”

  “He’ll just have to fend for himself,” Ashley said. “We need to get out of here before more guards show up.”

  “But—”

  “But nothing. You will heed my command!” Ashley said. “Both of you stand back from the lock.”

  Light from the late afternoon sun streamed through a barred window. Before Tasia could respond, a beam the width of her arm erupted from the middle of the cell and streaked to the door.

  Boom!

  The lock disintegrated in an explosion of light.

  Ashley stepped out of the cell, and Tasia and Lainey followed her into the antechamber. The door to the corridor was closed. After Ashley transformed herself to look like the queen, she gestured for Lainey to open it.

  The hinges creaked as it slowly swung wide.

  Tasia held her breath. If they were lucky, there’d be no more guards, and they’d be able to stroll out with no more problems.

  They weren’t lucky.

  Twenty guards faced them with swords drawn and grim faces. One lunged at Ashley, and she barely dodged in time. Had the blade connected, it would have skewered her.

  There would be no treatment of them as gentle ladies. No quarter given.

  Lainey shoved the man back, and the corridor went completely dark, blocking them from sight. Light streaming through slits set high on the outer wall simply vanished.

  Ashley.

  Curses and clanging sounded from the darkness as the soldiers stumbled about.

  “Quit gaping and attack!” she yelled.

  Tasia started. Oh, yeah. That meant her.

  She drained life from five men near her. Another man burst from the void and ran toward Lainey. His clothes burst into flame, and he halted his sprint as he frantically beat at the fire with his shield. He screamed in pain and dropped to his knees.

  Tasia tensed. If they killed any of the guards, the chances of their getting the queen on their side would go from tiny to absolute zero.

  After a few seconds, though, the flames disappeared. Angry red burns covered his chest and stomach. Not life-threatening, but painful. He’d not be able to rejoin the fight.