They brought us out some finger food and drinks, lunch wasn’t ready yet. It took the edge off though.
Anna said softly, “Can I talk to you later some time, answer a question for old times’ sake?”
I shrugged and said, “How about now, after lunch I need to open my shop and I won’t be back until tomorrow morning.” Turning to Maria I said, “Do you mind? We’ll be back in a couple of minutes?”
Anna agreed saying, “It won’t take long at all.”
Maria nodded. I told Rina I’d be right back and to mind Maria.
I followed Anna to a side room, she warded the door after closing it.
Turning to me she said, “Truth spell me.”
Curious, I did what she asked then nodded.
“I was not supposed to avoid you, I was just told to say that to produce sympathy. You see, Maynard wants me to trick the secrets out of you for how you keep enchantments going.”
My eyes narrowed, but I didn’t interrupt.
She continued, “I agreed, but only to get an opportunity to speak to you in private. Zand is an ass, and Maynard is arrogant but doesn’t teach me much, mostly his idea of a lesson is to tell me what book to read next. The practice techniques you taught me in two weeks have helped me tremendously over the last two years. You know, just last week I was able to cast three spells at once. Nine separate thoughts, all thanks to what you showed me.
“Maynard doesn’t even know I can double cast much less triple. Worse, they treat me like a servant instead of an apprentice. Not exactly cruelly, just… indifferent. I really liked having you as a master, even if it was temporary. I know when you left you were… hurt? So I held my tongue and didn’t ask. I know I took the long way around, but I guess what I am asking is, will you take me with you? I’d like to be your apprentice.
“I swear this has nothing to do with your secrets, it’s about me having a good master, and someone I am comfortable with that sees me as a person.”
I was impressed, she was still young for such clarity to triple cast. I almost laughed because I had just been thinking about asking her, but I held it back, I knew she would misinterpret it as a rejection. She had a look of hope on her face. I wondered how Maria would feel about me pinching the only nice mage in the palace, because surely, I was about to find out shortly.
I said, “You will have to watch out for Rina, she plays a mean game of whirlwind keep away. If it matters to you, I missed you the last two years despite our short stint of master and apprentice. But you were right, I wasn’t in a good place at all when I left, it wasn’t the right time.”
I watched her work out that what I said was yes, and her face lit up.
She said, “Let me go pack. I’ll be back in there before lunch starts.”
Two apprentices, this should be fun. I returned to the table and we chatted for a while waiting for Tristan and Emory to finish up the audience. I felt a hand on my shoulder and almost jumped. When I looked up I saw one of the four white mages from the courtyard. He took his hand away, so I decided not to push a confrontation.
Maria frowned, she knew how I hated to be touched by strangers, especially men.
He said, “I’m James, just wanted to say watching you work was a pleasure. I learned a lot just watching you work, makes me wonder why some make such a big deal about you.”
I said with my back rigid, “And what exactly did you learn?”
He laughed and said, “Not what we were there to learn of course, some clue on how you charge enchantments. But still, having an elemental do the actual carving and set up work so the enchanting part is just as fast as a normal cast? Very clever and informative. And obvious in hindsight. I won’t disturb you any further, just wanted to introduce myself. Enjoy your lunch.”
I said thank you and watched as he walked away. He was kind of nice, or at least, acted that way. Did he expect me to lower my guard? What exactly was he up to?
Maria frowned at me and said, “Are you stealing Anna?”
I looked at her guiltily, she doesn’t miss much. Luckily I knew she was just giving me a hard time.
“Maybe…” I attempted to look innocent.
Rina looked at me and said, “Oooh, someone else I can beat at whirlwind.”
I frowned down at my young charge and stuck out my tongue, which drew a choked laugh from Varian. I said, “Yes, but I bet I could take you if she helps me.”
Rina scrunched up her face and looked at me doubtfully. I’d be worried if I thought she was serious about it all.
I was happy to see the next two people come over and sit down, it was the third that bothered me.
We went through all of the hello and how are you stuff that happens when seeing someone again after a long time. They both still looked mostly the same, healthy. I could see Maynard’s annoyance at how happy they were to catch up with me, which of course, made me enjoy it all the more. Things got a little tense when Anna sat at the table, dropping a large backpack next to her chair.
Maynard asked sharply, “What is this?” gesturing at the pack on the ground with his hand.
Anna said softly, “I am leaving your service master, I hope to do so without enmity but my decision has been made.”
Emory looked at me and said, “Not even two hours and you’re already stealing the cutest lady in the court?”
I grinned and said facetiously, “I work fast…”
I was thankful to Emory that he distracted Maynard from the tirade he looked to about unleash. Service was voluntary; I could only hope he stopped because of better sense. After all, only Zual masters kept apprentice slaves, right?
After lunch Maria handed me a bag of forty gold. Anna, Rina and I stepped into a side room and opened a portal back to my store. I took a few minutes to give her the tour before popping to my mountain hideaway on my own. I dropped the ring off in a recharge room on a shelf made to hold objects that weren’t the normal plates I embedded in the walls. Then I opened a portal to the back of the shop and put on the ring for tomorrow before opening up the shop.
I talked to Anna while I had Rina reading. I assessed her progress and decided she was ready for the multiple spell books. I wondered if I hadn’t been stuck in Zual, but instead taught and encouraged, would I have been that good at sixteen? I also instructed her to build her own portal enchantment that she could use for any location. She was more than capable of it, it would just take time. She looked extremely happy when I left her to study with the promise that she could ask questions whenever she wanted.
I sold five communicators to a merchant and healed a young boy with a broken leg. Two hours into the afternoon I stood up sharply and cursed. My cave alarms went off. I opened a portal and stepped through. Frowning, I saw four smoking bodies on the ground, one of them was James, the mage from lunch. They hadn’t even gotten close to one of the rooms. Shit. I was so freaked out by him touching me I hadn’t thought past it very well…
I searched my robes and found it, a small pin stuck through the folds of the robes on my shoulder, the one he touched. It had a tracker spell on it. A quickly fading one, since the caster was dead. I destroyed it with a thought, then destroyed the bodies on the ground. If I was very lucky, those four were greedy and didn’t tell anyone where the cave was hoping to gain an advantage. If I wasn’t lucky, things would get extremely ugly here soon.
What amazes me is these four were dumb enough to think they could just walk in here. Maybe they didn’t know how paranoid I was, but the defenses in this place made my bracelet look like a candle to a bonfire. If they were smarter they would have come in one at a time. Probably too greedy, and excited they had outsmarted me.
The enchantment wards automatically reset. I stayed for a few more minutes but no one else came. I imagine that two hour delay was for them to cast the travel portal ritual. It confused me. Now that they knew rituals could be enchanted why weren’t all the mages popping around, was it really so hard to leave three glyphs off, or think of doing that?
I
decided if more came I didn’t have to be here, I would know it if I was here or not, so I went back to the store. For the first time I could remember I found myself wishing others had been greedy and kept it to themselves… If for no other reason, so no more would have to die.
Chapter 17
Thinking about those four deaths I questioned myself. Was I greedy keeping my discoveries to myself? I decided not. I would share them one day with both Anna and Rina, if their character proved out when they were adults. It was the white mages who were untrustworthy. There was a lot of power involved in my discoveries. Plus, those four were thieves, invading my place to take my secrets and possibly destroy me through sabotage. It was hard, but that justified their deaths in my mind.
The chaos that would erupt if the thousands of devices I had sold suddenly failed was horrific to contemplate.
After the work day we went home. My house had four bedrooms and I had built out extensive basement rooms. There was a mage library, but my two most important secrets, the four elemental cast, and the object connection ritual was only in the cave library. Although, the secret to object connection was still in the mage library in Lethia in the battered and old leather text as well. That was fairly amusing to me, them having the answer right under their noses.
There was also an empty practice room warded as well as I could make them. There was an enchantment room as well. I don’t use them really, with the cave, but I knew my apprentices would need them. I gave Anna a tour and let her pick out which of the two remaining bedrooms she wanted. Rina had developed a fascination for Anna and followed her around as she toured the house.
I asked Anna, “Will you be coming with us tomorrow? I understand if you’d rather not, I imagine it might be awkward for you. They certainly won’t be treating you any better.”
She snorted and said, “I wouldn’t miss it, seeing me happy will annoy them.”
I laughed. “We are quite a trio, tweaking noses that are stuck in the air is a favorite of mine too.”
I frowned as I thought of James and the other three, “Just so you know though, it could get dangerous,” I explained what James did with the tracker and how they ended up, “They may just decide to trump up some charges of murder or something, then again, they might not even bring it up.”
She didn’t change her mind, and was ready to go in the morning.
When we went through the portal, the only one there was the knight commander.
When I asked where everyone was Dane said, “The prince and princess should be here soon, I don’t know where the mages are,” he shrugged.
It occurred to me they might not even know those four were missing. Which really, was good news. That means they didn’t know what was found and my hideaway was safe. I could just move it of course and rather quickly, but I’d rather not.
I walked up to the second arch that was slated for the mountain pass and patted it while both enchanting the hidden magic and connecting the ring. I wanted to do it different each time so no one caught on. “This one right?” I asked.
The commander nodded so I sat close by and started enchanting. I heard people arriving but didn’t bother to look. I could tell it was Maria without doing so. I didn’t take a break this time and a little past an hour and a half I was finished. This time it was commander Dane that tried it. He sent through some soldiers right away and some came back. I guess they had everyone ready for it to start working.
The rest of the day went well, we didn’t run into any white mages except for Maynard. Whatever he truly thought of me, at least he was keeping it to himself. I was paid another forty gold which was good, I would rather stay current then kill myself for a week and have the mages pull something to renege. After lunch I did the ring switch again after searching for another tracker first. Then I played with Rina a bit. Usually morning is for play and training by actually casting, then I had her read while I worked the store. With these large enchantments and our mornings taken up I had to adjust a bit.
Anna had a great time. Having an eight year old apprentice was a great excuse to enjoy something we were supposed to have outgrown by now. I was making it more challenging for her by making Anna use two elements and the hidden magic for a triple spell. She could do a triple, but not quite second nature yet. I did notice her protections were like mine now, using the doubles I gave her. I felt sad for a second, remembering how Hollis had given them to me, how exciting it was. It was only a twinge of pain now, a pale shadow of the grief from two years ago, but I still missed him. When Rina started trouncing me, I got my concentration back in the game.
The next morning Anna surprised me. I guess she had learned from me by watching me use elementals to get all the drudge work such as carving done. I was expecting it to take her a couple of weeks like it had me the first time, but nope…
Anna asked excitedly, “Can I open the portal?”
I just nodded, I was so surprised… and proud.
I watched the portal open, and through it I saw eight white mages looking grim. Before I could suggest I go alone, both Anna and Rina walked through. I had a bad feeling in my stomach when I walked through. I saw Maria and Varian on the side and raised an eyebrow in question.
As Maria said, “The four mages from the first day have gone missing, they want to question you,” Maynard stepped forward.
Maynard practically demanded, “Will you submit to a truth spell in this manner?”
I asked, “Are you accusing me? Do you have cause to believe I did something to them?”
He glared. “We just want to clear you.”
I replied, “But that isn’t how it works. If you are accusing me we do it before the king, so you can pay a fine later. If you are not accusing me I owe you nothing and will do my job and leave.”
He looked supremely frustrated, expecting me to cave to his show of force with eight mages. He must have forgotten I was a court mage apprentice then a master court mage after that for over a year and a half. I surely knew the law. The question was, would he break it? Ironically he had the authority to question me as a possible witness, but only without the truth spell.
That he didn’t was telling, he wouldn’t believe me. Ironically I thought he would believe me, since I would have told the truth. The law is clear on responding to trespassers and thieves.
Maynard finally responded, “Very well, complete your work. We will decide before you finish if we will take you before the king.”
I nodded and headed over to the arch for the town furthest away. No one objected at my choice so I started the enchantment. When I was finished I reached out and touched the stone, both linking the ring and turning it on. Of course, everyone else saw me merely testing my work by opening the portal, or I hoped so anyway.
When I turned I saw there were now ten mages. Anna, Maria and Varian looked extremely uncomfortable. Rina wasn’t oblivious, but she didn’t get what the tension was about.
Maynard said in smug anger, “You will be brought before the king to determine your guilt or innocence in regard to the four missing mages.”
I looked at him in confusion, then shrugged. “So lunch first right?”
Turning to Maria I asked, “So, what, they don’t question people anymore first without the truth spell, have the laws been changed while I was gone?”
Maria shook her head no.
I couldn’t figure out why they weren’t taking me into custody. I was loathe to allow that though so I was almost glad they didn’t. It’s like they wanted a magical confrontation in the throne room. Except, it didn’t make any kind of sense. Unless… This wasn’t only about getting my secret. The mages contempt for the king has been getting worse, what if they were trying to kill two birds with one stone? The mage council could rule in Lethia, and history could be rewritten, me the killer of King Leland. I wouldn’t put it past them to use dark magic to plumb my mind for its secrets either.
But that was paranoid, crazy… Right?
Still, I could think of no other re
ason for them to allow me to walk unfettered into that room.
I whispered to Maria, “Do you trust me?”
Maria nodded and I continued, “Get two daggers with the royal crest, during lunch. If you feel anything going on around them ignore it. When I nod to you get them to the king and your father before the audience. Make them wear it. I hope I am crazy but nothing else makes sense about me not going their magically hobbled.”
I still had my two settings left on my sapphire and diamond bracelet. I couldn’t bring myself to use them even though I never thought I would be using them as intended, to protect the king and his brother, not after being tossed from the country.
Maybe I wasn’t too paranoid because Maria’s face went white and she stepped away quickly toward the royal suite. My best protection spell came in a two and a half times my personal power, if I was right, they would only assign one, maybe two white robes that had the temerity to slaughter the royal family. If I was right, my protection spells would be enough. If I wasn’t, I hoped the protection held long enough for the run away rule to kick in.
We were eating lunch when Maria came back. There were ten mages in the room watching me and I smiled at the challenge. Opening a four by eight inch portal under the table I grabbed two plates that were already scribed with the glyphs. I did the enchantments, then summoned an earth elemental with hidden magic. It made its way over to Maria silently carrying the two plates, then scribed in both daggers the protections and other glyphs to make it like hers.
While eating and carrying on a conversation with Anna I enchanted all the glyphs from across the table. Then one at a time I had the elemental hold the plate against a dagger as I connected them. I saw Maria’s eyes go wide as she glanced down at the movement but she recovered quickly. Either no one noticed, or they didn’t think it important to check out.
I opened one more very small portal, to a charging room. The elemental dropped the plates through the portal, then I dismissed it as the portal disappeared. I nodded while still talking to Anna and Maria picked up on it and left the room. I could only hope that no matter what crap the white mages told the king he would trust me enough to wear the dagger.
The Formerly Dark Mage Page 15