When she finished, one by one, Caley, Karina, and Carolynn gave their own testimony to his character and answered a few questions about their time together. He was both embarrassed and proud at how the three ladies thought so highly of him, and at the same time they thought he was naïve and inexperienced. Well, the latter two on that last part, more than Caley, who was his own age.
Point being, it wasn’t all positive, but the positive far outweighed his perceived faults on their part, and even then those faults weren’t damning and still spoke to his character.
Elisha tilted her head, “Have any of you considered this may not be a problem at all, that having a mystic with us could be a solution for our other problem?”
Talia blanched, “No. Absolutely not, we can’t put that on him.”
Elisha shrugged, “Why not? He’s a full mage, and he’s given his oaths. He’s also clearly a young man with integrity. He is not a child that needs to be protected.”
Talia said stubbornly, “It’s our responsibility.”
Jace shook his head, “He could save lives, if it came to war, but the attendant risk to taking that path is too great. I’m going to have to side with Talia on this one, if for different reasons. It is also too much responsibility for one so young, if technically a full mage. Even that’s suspect, given it was done at Tanner’s insistence to aid his coup.”
At that point, he was extremely confused. Lia, Karina, Carolynn, and Caley looked equally baffled. Clearly the council had secrets they didn’t share with anyone, and they were big secrets.
Aubrey said, “We’ve gotten off point, which is moot because I’m siding with Talia and Jace on this tangent Elisha leaded us off in, for both their reasons. It’s too risky, and it may bring him to harm, we won’t be using any of our people as a weapon. This moment is about the disposition of this young man for his actions, and as disgusting as the thought is, for what he was born as. We could throw the book at him for breaking the rules, but I don’t believe he’s truly done anything wrong. To do so would be a thin excuse as best, to get rid of a mystic problem. As for those other considerations, perhaps he should be banned from ever being on this council.”
Jace frowned, “You think we should make an exception? Any other mage caught experimenting would be burned out, perhaps even killed if they endangered the lives of others with such cavalier behavior.”
Talia smirked, and said pointedly, “Any other mage doesn’t have his inborn talents. He literally can’t make a mistake, unless he ventures into realms not covered by magical theory, which he swore he wouldn’t do, even in an attempt to save a life. He agrees that taking such a risk on totally new magic would be too high, and as such would follow the rules against experimentation. Modifying current spells is child’s play for a mystic, and I don’t believe we can even characterize such an effort as experimentation. He doesn’t experiment, he just does it. He knows it will work.”
Aubrey nodded slowly in thought, “Not so much an exception to the rule, but his making of a new spell doesn’t comprise experimentation, so technically he hasn’t broken a rule.”
He felt a little hope, he also wondered why he was there. So far, not one of them had asked him a direct question, though they had asked questions of his character witnesses and each other. On the other hand, maybe that was a good thing.
Talia and even Elisha seemed firmly on his side, the latter, so much so that she wanted to use him and his ability, somehow, against Tanner and the others, in a way that the others all rejected. Aubrey seemed almost neutral, and a bit ashamed at the fact he was on trial for what he was born as, a mystic. Even his largest detractor, Jace, had admitted he had good qualities.
All in all, it could’ve been going a lot worse. It seemed Lia had been correct in her observation in Cassandra’s office. Without Tanner there to stir the pot, and Sun and Kaitlyn to back his play, he might just walk out of there none the worse.
Jace snorted, “Sophistry. But I can see I’m clearly outvoted here, but clearly it is an exception,” he shifted the argument, “Aubrey mentioned just banning him from ever being on this council, I will settle for just that if I must, but I also want him watched. Perhaps he is a good man now, one we can trust implicitly, but men change, and he is very young.”
Talia nodded, “Easily done, since we watch all our mages, and I only have six to watch, seven including myself.”
Aubrey sighed, “Very well, I reluctantly agree to that, in compromise. Banned from council service, and he’s permitted to create spells if in the service of saving a life. He’ll be watched for any evidence of shifting loyalties or unbecoming ambitions. Is that our decision, no actual punishment or even censure, correct?”
Elisha sighed, “I can live with that too, but I believe you’re selling the young man short.”
Talia glared at Elisha, and the latter held up her hands in surrender.
Aubrey asked, “Any other concerns related to this, or can we vote on it and move on?”
Talia said, “There is one more thing. It goes back to my last comment. Olin believes he has a rune that can detect inactive mages. We’ve long believed our rune tower is so empty because the triggering event for a rune mage is far more complicated, but there’s other advantages in it. The mages from the other disciplines can sometimes die, or even kill others on accident with raw magic expulsion, during their first accidental channeling.
“Such a spell would assuage that risk. Granted, most of the other mage children are here already, but it might be worth looking into.”
Jace grimaced and looked at Olin, “Just how many spells have you created young man. Not cast, created.”
He frowned, “A lot, actually, Master Jace. I’ve only cast or used two of them. It would be an impossibility not to think of new runes. I do it almost all the time, less so now than in the beginning. The best I can do is not to cast them, try them, or even talk about them. Which I don’t. It’s part of my very being, all I have to do is really want to do something, and the rune takes shape in my mind. It’s what I am. It would be like you not noticing a tree, or a sunset, it’s just not possible to avoid.”
Elisha asked, “Less so, now?”
He replied, “Knowledge. In the beginning, when I first got here, I knew no runes at all. Over the last eight months I’ve learned every rune spell in our library. That covers a lot, if not everything that might come up in a day to day situation, which means it’s much rarer for me to have a random desire toward doing something that isn’t already covered by what I now know. Plus, all the other runes I now know that I came up with, covers most of my random thoughts during the day.”
Elisha nodded, “That makes sense, and it doesn’t change my vote. If anything, it backs up my thoughts, that he’s a man of integrity.”
Jace goggled, “How so?”
Elisha said, “He doesn’t need us, and he doesn’t need our rules. He could disappear with one of his new clever spells, and we’d never see him again. He doesn’t need us to teach him anything. Yet, here he sits, and following the rules. He even outed himself, and put himself in danger, to save the princess by his oath.”
Jace sighed, “Alright, I can see that, but he also hid it for a long time, for his own self-interest.”
It was Talia’s turn to snort.
“Everyone has a right to self-defense and self-interest. That he betrayed himself to save another is the important part.”
Aubrey said, “I suggest we vote, and we can talk about the detect mage spell another day, and hopefully solve that empty tower problem the rune mages have on that day as well. I suggest all such spells that aren’t done in the moment to save a life, if he believes them truly useful in such a large way, should be put to a vote first.
“Let’s not get bogged down in this third issue, we have enough to be worried about right now.”
Talia said, “I call for a vote, so we can move on to that other problem and avert civil war. The judgement as Aubrey outlined earlier. No censure or punishment, but keep a
close eye on him, and he’ll banned from council service in the future.”
He wondered at that latter, and he could only assume that if he served on the council that he’d become privy to those secrets they clearly feared him knowing. Well, except for Elisha, she seemed to want to not only tell him about it, but also set him loose on their behalf with whatever it was.
The vote was unanimous, but he could tell Jace was very nervous about it. It made him doubly glad the other three mage guild heads weren’t around for it, or Jace may very well have voted with those three, and they’d have condemned him to who knows what. He suspected the man had just seen what direction the wind was blowing, and that Jace hadn’t wanted to completely alienate himself from Olin, since he’d have lost the vote anyway.
Jace clearly wasn’t a bad man, he was just worried that Olin would do… something, if he discovered… something. That was frustrating, not knowing, but he didn’t imagine that would change anytime soon.
He also felt horribly guilty, and a little disgusted, at being even a little grateful for the other events. At feeling relieved that the three other guild leaders were officially outlaws, which was terrible. It was entirely possible, those outlaws would become usurpers in truth, and rule in Reton. Only two heartbeats stood in their way.
Of course, if they weren’t outlaws, none of the last few days would’ve happened, and his secret would still be safe.
They were kept in the council room long enough for Aubrey to contact the princess through magic, she’d guarded the young princess when she was just a girl, and she’d spent enough time around her since then for it to work.
Once the princess agreed to come, the council sent them off, and not long after that the council meeting ended and they rounded up some more masters. Enough to open a normal portal to bring Vida to the towers, without draining any of the mages fully. Somehow, he didn’t think they were invited to watch the negotiations, but he’d know soon enough if the princess rejected them out of hand.
If that happened, they’d go to war. He wondered if they did, if there’d be a castle left standing at the end of it.
There was very little incentive for the princess to give up control, except for the fact a war between mages would lessen her kingdom’s security, simply from all the deaths. They couldn’t afford the losses, not with the enemy empire knocking on their door. Mage society would suffer with that many losses, there wouldn’t be enough to protect the kingdom, much less for all the other duties and missions the crown sent them on.
Talia noticed that their curiosity had them loitering nearby, and she sent them back to the tower, so he could only presume the princess would arrive safely and speak to the council.
He also, selfishly, wondered if they’d tell the princess about him, or if they’d keep it a mage secret. It wasn’t lost on him, that if Princess Vida ordered his death, the councils tacit vote of approval in his favor would be meaningless at that point. Not that he truly believed Vida would do such a thing, but it was still a thing.
Chapter Fourteen
Lia said, “Curious? I’m dying to know what they aren’t telling us.”
He laughed, “Me too, but I can live with it if I get to spend a whole lifetime with you.”
Lia blushed.
The two of them were in the living room, basically waiting for orders. Without being on a mission any longer, he could go back to the old way of practicing his channeling, but he decided to keep up with the new way instead. It seemed prudent to do so. After a week of it, it was a firmly established habit, and it would be better not to ever weaken himself fully, even at night.
Who knew when an emergency might come up? He was a mage now, not an apprentice, and that meant more responsibility and being on the duty roster. Especially in the current situation, when Tanner could launch a surprise attack at any time even while the council worked to avoid that scenario.
For the rest of the morning they just enjoyed each other’s presence, and the easy conversation they shared. Being let loose by the council was a hell of a relief, despite all the other stuff hanging over his head.
Lia practically tackled her mother as she walked into the tower two hours later, for lunch. Verbally, at least.
“What’s going on?”
Talia laughed, “Council business,” but there was a teasing edge to her voice.
“Mom!”
Talia giggled, so much like Lia did when teasing, it was almost disturbing.
“We’ve just gotten done laying things out. We’ll discuss it after the princess has time to consider things after lunch.”
Lia looked skeptical, “That took two hours?”
She nodded, “We had to lay out all the thoughts and reasons. Just saying, can we please have our independence from the crown, and make service voluntarily, wouldn’t have gone anywhere. We needed to advise her on the dismal future for the kingdom and throne if we did have a full-scale mage civil war. We also had to convince her that most mages would choose to serve a greater cause than simply earning coin to fill our bellies, and most would choose the security of the kingdom as that cause.
“I think we even convinced her that it would be better, and it would ultimately serve the kingdom to let any mages that didn’t want to serve go, because they’re work would be subpar. No one does a good job after all, if they’re forced to do it and they don’t like it.
“Then there were her non-negotiable points, which she had to lay out to us, and she even told us the reasons behind them and why she couldn’t budge. Fortunately, those weren’t truly bad for us, or even unreasonable. It’s a good sign that she’s willing to negotiate at all, when she really doesn’t have to. It shows she cares more about lives and the future of the kingdom than she does about herself or her need to avenge her mother’s murder.
“Delphine and Daniel did a very good job raising that young lady.”
Lia smirked, “Revenge could be part of it too. I imagine it would be satisfying to see Tanner lose his mind as all his mages defect, or most of them. It would completely destroy him before we took his life.”
Talia peered at her daughter, “That’s disturbing. Revenge isn’t a good thing daughter, we work for the best outcome out of love and duty toward the living, not out of spite or revenge for the dead.”
Lia blushed, “Sorry, I was very angry about Cassandra dying, I want Tanner to suffer before the end, to understand what he’s done, and how badly he’s failed.”
Talia shook her head, “And if he does, you won’t feel any better, nor will it bring Cassandra back. Always strike with mercy, and kill cleanly, or you’ll become what you hate.”
Lia took a deep breath, and changed the subject, “What concessions?”
Talia said, “Any that serve on the council, must be willing to give permanent lifelong oaths to the ruler of Reton. It’s a lifetime position of power, otherwise the mage guilds would slowly but surely completely separate from the crown. It’s a way to bind us, and part of the price for power. Much like she can’t do whatever she wants. She must always think of the kingdom first, much as I think of you, and Aubrey puts her life mages first. Other mages within the guilds will have a choice, though we don’t have a full agreement on what that will look like. No doubt she’ll have a counter for our first offer, and we’ll counter that. If we do it right, no one will be completely happy, but we’ll be free enough.
“May I eat now, daughter?”
Lia blushed furiously at that calmly but pointedly put question, and she led the three of them into the dining room where lunch was already set up by the servants.
“Any other demands?” Lia asked as they sat down.
Talia said, “Yes, but in all seriousness that is council business only, and won’t affect the mages or our freedoms.”
Lia smirked, “So, it’s about that secret you all alluded to in council, and mystics, the one no one wants us to know.”
Talia mock glared, and her non-answer was answer enough. It seemed the crown knew that secret as w
ell. Not the secret itself, but Lia had managed to put another chip in the wall.
Talia said, “You both did well in council today.”
Lia shook her head, “I didn’t say anything.”
Talia smirked beatifically, “Exactly, my daughter, exactly.”
Lia gasped, clearly offended for a moment, but then broke down in giggles.
“I’m not that bad, am I?”
Talia shook her head, “I was in my mid-twenties before I learned that level of discretion, I’m proud of you. We can be… emotional at times. Quick to defend what we love and care about, what we believe in. It’s not a bad trait to have, that stubbornness will see you through life and its various challenges, but it doesn’t have a place in the council chamber where discretion serves best.”
Lia grimaced, “To be fair, none of them said anything all that bad about Olin.”
Olin snickered.
Lia grinned, “So, you learned the secrets last night?”
Talia sighed, “Yes, can we move on? I can’t tell you, and though a threat exists in the knowledge and Olin, it’s in truth much bigger than that.”
His mind made another leap, at the last part of her sentence, but he kept his mouth shut.
Lia nodded, “Alright, I’ll drop it. But you’re killing me.”
Talia smirked, “You’ll survive. And you’ll know all about it as soon as you make master, since I plan to retire as soon as that happens. Call it… incentive.”
The only prerequisite to being a tower master, was being recognized as a master mage by the other master mages. Usually through a test or trial, but he wasn’t sure what that entailed yet. In his and Lia’s case, that meant Talia, Garen, Tannen, and Elissa. Her and Sam’s parents were all master rune mages at their age.
Rune Mage: The Rune Mystic: Book Two Page 11