After lunch I asked Anna to take Rina back to the shop and open up. She could take an order down if a customer came in. Plus, I wanted them nowhere near this. Anna might have been okay, but I didn’t want Rina to see anything violent if I could help it. At least not for a few years. Rina wasn’t happy at first and tried to argue. I told her this was a master-apprentice thing and she needed to do it. We had that conversation before, and she knew not to argue any further.
I was surrounded by white mages as the first two cases had higher ranks than a lady involved, so I had to wait a while. I had one opening in my shield for just the truth spell and I felt it hit as they brought me before the king. I was tense, wondering when the attack would start. Wondering if I was crazy to think I could take on ten mages.
The king asked, “What are the charges.”
Maynard said, “Implicated in the disappearance of four mages.”
The king asked, “Did you take or kill the four mages.”
I answered no.
The king asked, “Do you know what happened to them?”
I told him I did.
Tristan raised an eyebrow and said, “What happened to them?”
I said, “They were thieves, they broke into my property with the intent to harm or steal.”
Tristan eyes wide said, “And where are they now.”
I replied, “I was not present at the property but my wards and spells were. They are dead, their bodies destroyed.”
I could see the decision in Maynard’s eyes. The king was about to release me as innocent of wrong doing. It was now or never. Maynard nodded and I felt three spells hit me, but before they could get through my protections, my enchantment kicked in and summoned four energy elementals, I added a fifth at the same time. Spells were coming my way, but were easily blocked by their combined power.
At the same time Maynard had attacked the royal family, but was shocked his power wasn’t getting through. I guess he didn’t even know about Maria’s ward. One of the five broke off and started killing the ten mages, one at a time but very quickly. Luckily, they were all in a complete panic about me and didn’t combine to take out the royal family.
After six died I commanded my elementals to subdue the rest. Four headed for the ones around me and the last contained Maynard.
I said, “Your majesty, I accuse the white mage council of treason and demand these here face those charges while under the truth spell.”
Maynard said loudly, “You can’t do that!”
I smiled at him and said, “You white mages may have run me out of Lethia two years ago, but I am still a noble lady of this court with rights of accusation under law... So… yes I can.”
The story came out under truth spell, they had planned a coup. I shivered at the thought, one kingdom being run by arrogant mages was enough for me. It turned out there were only four more mages on the council. All of them had been proven innocent, they weren’t aware of the plotting by the other ten, or eleven including Maynard.
Those eleven all died, sentenced on the spot.
The king looking concerned, asked me how we would keep things under control without a mage council to do it.
I said thoughtfully, “Your majesty. When I left here and moved to Sandoval, like you I wondered about not having a mage council. How could one court mage handle all the issues that would arise. The truth is, the mage council went bad because they didn’t have a job. All they had to do was sit around and make sure none of the other mages misbehaved. So they focused all that excess energy into gaining political power and playing games.
“But what I found there in Sandoval… The mages all had to get jobs. Become Merchants, healers, farmers. That keeps them… busy if not fulfilled. Give a master mage a chance to work at court and he will, because let’s face it, that’s a better job than making it on his own. If he won’t listen, or doesn’t do his duty, well there are a bunch of other people to hire, and you can do that without worrying about a bunch of power hungry mages playing games across the field from the palace.
“I know that sounds a little crazy, but for some reason it works. You’ll still get the power hungry type, but most are good people I think.”
When he raised his eyes at my speech I said defensively, “Truth spell, don’t want my thoughts don’t ask me no questions.” Then I grinned at him impudently.
All the rest of the cases were put aside for tomorrow and the king requested I come with him. When we got to the conference room in the royal suite he asked if I were serious.
I asked back, “How many mages were brought before the court last year?”
He shrugged and said, “Maybe two?”
I said, “Well, that means most are living life clean doesn’t it? I don’t think it’s necessary to have a fifteen mage council just to catch the one or two bad ones a year. If a court mage needed help they have apprentices, and could probably ask other mages for help occasionally in an emergency. You could pay those extras per service, then send them back to their jobs.”
I shrugged, “It may be a little harder at first, especially since you’ve got four out there that never had to work for money, just politic and play games. Apparently they may have worked twice last year if they were involved in those cases… you see my point though? Some might not appreciate right off having to work for their food.”
He nodded. “I’ll think about it, it may be a better idea than trying to rebuild a council. Thank you by the way for those protections. Maynard would have killed us if not for them.”
I sighed, “I’m just happy I figured out what was going on in time to make them. Anything else before I go? I bet Anna and Rina are worried.”
He said, “No, except for the forty gold for today’s portal.”
He handed me a bag that jingled and I told him I’d see him tomorrow, opened a portal, and left. I quickly stopped by the cave to put the coins in the safe and switch rings, leaving the one for today in a charging room. I opened a portal to the back room in the store and stepped through…
Chapter 18
I was kind of shocked. I had been expecting some type of trouble, hoping to at least come out with my secrets intact. Instead… no more white mages, and a failed coup attempt. Tristan had seemed nervous about things, but truthfully he was more in power than ever before, truly a king. When I walked out front I was ambushed by my apprentices.
Rina asked, “What happened?” at the same time Anna said, “Are you okay?”
I said, “You’ll never believe it,” and I explained what happened, leaving out the bloody parts for Rina’s sake. Rina took the news in stride but Anna was able to understand all the political fallout that may be coming. She was frozen in thought.
Anna said, “I can’t believe that. I know Maynard was an ass, but I never saw that coming. Do you think it was a long time in coming? Maybe that’s why they chased you out in the first place. Not the Zual thing, but because they knew you were loyal to the royal family.”
I hadn’t considered that… but I wasn’t sure. “Maybe, if so why wait two years? I guess it’s possible they ran me out because they didn’t have my loyalty.”
Anna asked quietly, “How did you beat ten mages?”
I looked at her and considered. I liked her, but she still had some growing to do, I wanted to be sure her character was strong and would last into adulthood, but I did sort of answer the question.
I said, “Two reasons. One, enchantments, even without my special knowledge for charging any mage could set up what I had, for the most part. The second, well, ask me again when you can cast five spells at once.”
Even thought the energy elemental was only four spells it had complicated intent to it, plus two extra intents, so close enough…
Anna said in a weak voice, “Five? And I thought three at once was difficult…”
I smiled and said teasingly, “Well, I don’t know any reason to cast up to six… yet.”
As the week passed and the last five arches were enchanted, the king di
d seem to be growing in confidence, and even seemed more relaxed. I was a lot more comfortable too without the white mages around to glare at me and watch over my shoulder.
Maria and I were talking at lunch on that last day and gone way over on time, the king and his brother had already left for the afternoon audience. Anna had taken Rina and was watching the shop. They were supposed to be reading too. But I was reluctant to leave. The job was done, and although I no longer had to worry about any fallout from just dropping by for a visit in the future, I didn’t know how often it would actually happen.
Maria twisted a hair around her finger nervously and said, “Silvia, there is something I want to ask you, but… Well, I will understand if you laugh and say no, it’s not like I wouldn’t deserve it.”
I couldn’t help giving her a confused look. We were very close, or at least, I thought so.
I asked, “What is it? I’ve never seen you this nervous before.”
Maria said softly, “Well, my uncle wanted me to ask you. He worries about the way you were treated by us when we wouldn’t back you up two years ago, or even invite you back for a visit. We didn’t act very well after everything you had done for us, and now, you protected us again when you didn’t have to without asking for anything in return.”
I started to wonder if she would ever get to the point.
She continued, “So, we need a new court mage, and it needs to be someone we trust and know won’t take advantage. Someone we respect, care about and even like would be more of a bonus.”
Taking a deep breath she said, “The only master mage we know that fits that description is you. So, will you come back and be our court mage?”
I froze. I wasn’t sure anymore. I still felt somewhat unfulfilled as a merchant, felt there should be more I could do. I could do more as a court mage, especially with keeping Zual in check. But if I went back… I did help a lot of businesses and charities, plus, with my enchantments for normal people. Maybe if I hire a mage to do the enchantments? Then just stop by a few minutes a day to do the connection ritual on all the newly made items?
I laughed. Apparently I wanted to do both. It wasn’t about money, I stopped worrying about that a year ago. I would also miss both Elaine and Darnell, if I did come back. Unless I could do both?
When I saw Maria pale I realized she thought I had laughed at the offer.
I said guiltily, “No, wasn’t laughing at you, just my thought process. Sorry. You took me by surprise, give me a minute to think. As far as all that you were saying though, I forgave your uncle a long time ago. With the white mages forcing the issue there wasn’t much he could have done anyway.”
Maria looking relieved but still slightly ashamed said, “Thank you Silvia.”
I sighed, “I would love to actually, but I have demands…” my lips were slightly twitching.
Maria said, “Oh? What kind of demands?”
I said faux seriously, but actually meant it, “I get to wear any color robes I want!”
She nodded, “That sounds reasonable, what else?”
I said, “This one is a little more serious, not that I didn’t mean the robe thing, I’ll never wear white again. Both my apprentices come of course, and Zand needs to go. I don’t think he is bad, but he doesn’t respect me and I don’t like him, I can’t apprentice him.”
She smiled, “That’s reasonable too, any more of these demands for me?”
I sighed. “I will need time to hire mages for my business. I think I can cut it back to an hour a day at most when I am finished, but in the beginning I may need more than that. I am worried you will think me selfish, but at this point, my business closing will harm the economy of multiple kingdoms. Not to mention all the support I give to local charities and the like.”
I frowned wondering if I was asking for too much, “Is that acceptable?”
She pondered. “We hadn’t considered that at all. I expected the first two actually if you accepted, but not you wanting to do two jobs. I think that would work, but I need to make sure. It will help me sell it if you place priority here? In other words if something is falling apart and you get a call from me, court mage takes precedence? Drop what you’re doing and come? We wouldn’t abuse it, but emergencies come up.”
I thought that sounded reasonable and said so.
She grinned and said, “I’ll work on my uncle after the afternoon audience, you should get home before your apprentices burn down your shop…”
Wiseass, that’s the Maria I was used to. I laughed and said, “Not a chance, although wet and messy from wind is more than possible.”
We hugged and I opened a portal. I hoped the king would understand, if he didn’t, I would have to choose what I wanted more. I said goodbye and stepped through to deliver the ring in the charging room, then went to the back of my shop.
There was a third option of course, give up my charging secret. It wouldn’t take long for the mages of the world to fill up the vacuum of closing my store. But, I didn’t want to do that. Perhaps I was greedy after all, my energy elemental was really the most dangerous out of the two. Still, an evil mage could do a lot of damage with a slave army and unlimited enchantments for them.
I walked into the front room, both of my apprentices were reading which made me smile.
I asked, “Anna, how would you like your old room back?”
She looked at me askance and said, “Seriously?”
I replied, “Maybe, I made some demands. If the king is okay with granting them you will be an apprentice court mage again.”
She asked, “Your business?”
I nodded, “That was my big demand. I figure I can get someone to cover the store, and probably a mage to do most of the enchanting. Someone else to do the books. I could cut my time back to just the specialty knowledge enchant and be here less than an hour a day at most. So I am hoping he goes for it.”
Anna volunteered, “I could help with some of the enchanting.”
I thought about it and said, “You could, and I would pay you for it, but it would slow down your studies a lot, especially since you would lose the audience time as well. I was always scrambling for enough time to both practice and read all the books in the library as an apprentice.”
Anna replied, “Yeah, let me think about that.”
I was relieved an hour later when Maria contacted me via her bracelet to let me know the king agreed with our discussed caveat. I wasn’t worried about that, I would have prioritized a kingdom emergency as number one anyway. My business was important, or at least I thought so, but not time critical.
I sat down with Rina and explained what was going on and that she would live in the palace we had been visiting now. She was worried about Elaine and her friends at the orphanage until I explained we could visit, although not as much as she was used to. As I pictured her running around the palace causing havoc I wondered if she would be the youngest apprentice court mage ever.
After locking up the store we took a portal to the palace mage suite and helped Rina pick a room. I explained to them that the master suite was off limits and never to enter it as Hollis had done with me. We did not see Zand and his room looked empty, so that was one chore I didn’t have to deal with. I imagine he took off when he found out I was the replacement.
For the first time I entered the master mage suite. It was about three times bigger than the other bedrooms. The first thing I did was go over the private library and I was delighted. There were many books that I had not read, including some more private journals by Hollis. I looked at Maynard’s private journals and decided to look at them dead last. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know how he thought.
The bed and the desk were much bigger in here. Other than that it was just a bedroom. It had two wardrobes and a large dresser of drawers. I would definitely change a few things, the room needed some color. It was easy to tell the last two occupants had been male.
The first week was absolute hell. I wondered what the hell I was thinking each night as
I went to sleep, staring at books I hadn’t had time to even open yet. Between my business and the audiences most of my day was taken. Also, the swords had been building up with no one to charge them for a week, and instead of taking the easy way out I started up my enchantment charging plan that had been interrupted two years ago. Then, I still made time for my apprentices, I would not allow that to slide.
The only thing to really suffer was my personal time and being able to enjoy the library, somehow I kept up with everything else even sacrificing sleep at times.
The second week was a bit worse. Helen had helped me find an older orphan that was responsible and was good at numbers and was also familiar to me from my visits. So instead of doing it all myself, I spent even more time training Timothy how to keep the books. I also had to give him a crash course in what I was able to do so he wouldn’t sell something unrealistic.
Darnell helped with employee number two. Anna had decided to focus on her magic development to reach master as soon as she could so I hired middle aged mage by the name of Darian that Darnell had recommended. I spent some time with him teaching the advanced techniques using elementals to make enchanting easier. I also had to watch and make sure he was competent enough, and he was, it just took time. I decided to pay him by percentage of the cost of the enchantments rather than hourly.
I figured it made more sense that way, so if it was a portal he could actually make fifteen gold. Of course, for an enchantment we sold for a silver he would only get a few copper. So it worked.
Week three, things slowed down considerably. The swords were caught up for one, and the day I would be done with them altogether was coming. When I headed to the store in the evening Timothy had the books open to the day’s work which took a few minutes to inspect. Darian had the day’s enchantments on the work table and it took me fifteen minutes to connect them all to their charging plates and put them in the cave, along with moving the excess money in the small safe to the safe room in my hideaway. It didn’t take me more than a half hour all told.
The Formerly Dark Mage Page 16