Birds had been flying in and out of the aviary all afternoon. The news hadn’t reached the population here yet, but when it did their brief surge of hope would fade. The xenophobia that had come with the revelation of Seekers living among them would return. Only now it would be directed towards any young person who was a stranger. Then the cycle of violence towards children with magic would continue.
The ban on Seekers had been a mistake, but she still wasn’t sure what would’ve been a better solution. Queen Morganse had been backed into a corner but at least the national ban had forced all Seekers to bury their masks. It would keep them safe for the time being until a child with magic in their community started to manifest.
“Ma’am,” said Rummpoe, startling Tammy from her reverie. Her secretary was standing in her open doorway, looking at her with some concern.
“What is it?”
“I knocked twice,” she apologised. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. What’s happened?”
Rummpoe slowly came further into the room, still reluctant to spend more time in here than was absolutely necessary. “I’ve received a message about another attack on a town to the north.”
“How far away?” asked Tammy, plotting the positions of the previous attacks on a map in her mind.
“About a day’s ride.”
It was as she suspected. Some of them were gradually heading south. The wise thing to do would be to avoid the capital city and continue south. To stay in the countryside where it would take a day or two before soldiers could be sent to investigate. Tammy’s instincts told her they wouldn’t go around. They’d come here and hope to go unnoticed in a crowd.
She would need to call on Guardian Fray a lot more in the coming months. His magic allowed him to see other mages which would be critical in finding the rogues hiding in plain sight. Only a handful knew about his magic and it would be better to keep it that way for now. She’d have to come up with a plausible story to explain his absence from normal duties.
“Tell the Watch Captains to be on alert, and increase the number of patrols down at the docks.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
The sound of pounding feet alerted them both to danger before they saw a novice Guardian racing down the corridor shouting, “Sir! Sir!”
“Report.”
“There’s a fight. Mages in the city,” gasped the young woman between gulps of air. “It’s chaos. Buildings are collapsing.”
Tammy pulled on her jacket and belted on her sword. “Stay here,” she said to Rummpoe.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Show me where,” said Tammy to the novice. The young woman was out of breath, holding one hand to her right side, but she turned and began to jog back down the corridor with Tammy at her heels.
At this time of night the street should have been filled with noise from the many crowded bars and taverns. Instead as Tammy approached an eerie silence gripped the area. A small group of people had gathered at one end of the street but they were also oddly silent as they scanned the nearest buildings for danger. There were a few drinkers and one or two tavern owners, but mostly they were people who had been turfed from their beds, half-dressed or wearing only a blanket and boots. A few were anxiously staring at the figure lying in the middle of the street. They seemed to be waiting for the person to start moving, but she thought they were dead or unconscious.
The other peculiarity on the street was the shattered building halfway down on the right. Once it had been just another tavern but now it was a ruin. The front had been caved in, as if a huge force had struck it. Its roof had been torn open to the sky and shattered beams stuck out like the ribs of a huge beast. As Tammy watched another section of an outer wall tumbled inwards, raising a huge pile of dust.
When it had settled and the silence returned she found herself straining to hear any noise on the street or beyond. The whole city seemed to be holding its breath.
“Who is that?” she asked, gesturing at the body on the street.
“One of them evil mages,” whispered a short woman beside her. She was dressed in a pair of trousers and her shirt was inside out. Her feet were bare but she didn’t seem to care.
“Did you see what happened?” asked Tammy.
“Course I did,” said the woman with a snort. “One of them came right into my bedroom, straight through the wall. Almost pissed myself.”
“One of who?”
“He’s one of Garvey’s lot. Had to be. The young one in my room went back into the street to help his friend, but it was no good. The other one, the man in the hood, he threw them around and smashed one of them into the ground. We all heard his neck snap.” She gestured at the body lying in the middle of the road.
“Did you see where the others went?”
The woman looked at Tammy as if she were mad. “Don’t know and don’t care. As long as they’re not here.”
Tired of standing around, she walked towards the body in the street. It turned out to be a young man from Yerskania. He was probably in his late teens and was most definitely dead. His neck was bent at an unnatural angle and his eyes were wide open. Blood had trickled from one corner of his mouth onto the street but there wasn’t much, suggesting he’d died quickly. The stones around him on the road were cracked from the impact and he lay in a small depression. A huge force had slammed him into the road.
A flash of blue lit up the night sky and Tammy spun around to find the source. It was coming from a few streets away. She was already sprinting towards it when she heard a loud cracking sound. There was screaming and a crowd of people started running towards her, fleeing whatever was happening. Tammy was forced to slow down as she dodged around people wide-eyed with panic. She grabbed one man by the shoulder, pulling him to a stop.
“Let me go!” he said, trying to shake her off but she tightened her grip.
“What’s happening?”
“Two mages are tearing up the street. They’ll kill anyone who gets near them.” Tammy let go and he sprinted away. She pressed on, going against the tide of people flowing in the opposite direction. As she approached a small market square a few stragglers ran for cover and then she was alone again in the heart of the city.
Elsewhere she could hear the march of heavy feet as squads of the Watch formed a perimeter around the area. She’d coordinated with the Watch Captains before coming into the dead zone. They couldn’t do much to stop the mages, and could make it worse if they tried to shoot them. For now their job was to stay out of the way and wait for her signal.
The square was empty of people but there were signs of a recent struggle. One of the stone water fountains had been shattered, the statue of an old King leaning towards the ground at a jaunty angle. Water trickled out of the broken basin, slowly creating a new stream as it wound its way between the stones. She spotted a few frightened faces peering into the square from first-floor windows. They were probably people caught in the middle of the fight who had been too slow or unwilling to flee their homes.
“Show yourself!” someone shouted boldly, walking into the square. Kneeling, Tammy removed the bundle from her back slowly and unwrapped her sword. It had been a gift from an old friend many years ago. It was one of a kind and priceless as well as being incredibly unusual, which was why she’d given it to an old friend for safekeeping. As Khevassar she couldn’t afford to stand out in any way and the sword was remarkable. Tammy drew Maligne from its scabbard, noting how even in weak moonlight the surface of the blade shimmered blue, purple and green.
In the square the young man from Zecorria was now standing beside the water fountain, his eyes moving from window to window.
“Are you afraid to face me?” he shouted, taunting his unseen opponent. If Tammy had believed in the gods she would have muttered a prayer to one of them to protect her. She would only get one chance at this and it was a slim one if he saw her coming. Just as she was getting herself ready to charge the air shimmered like a heat haze, and a hooded man material
ised out of thin air. Tammy would have been amazed if she hadn’t seen him do it before. The young rogue mage spun around in surprise, gawping as Balfruss lowered his hood.
“You cannot win. Stop this before you hurt someone, or force me to stop you, like your friend,” said the Sorcerer.
The former student sneered at his teacher. “You’re a slave. You bow and scrape to them, when we should be ruling! My power makes me a god.”
Balfruss shook his head wearily. “No, it doesn’t. This is your last chance.”
The young mage didn’t hesitate. Tammy saw something red streak through the air towards Balfruss from his outstretched hand. A second later a ball of fire seemed to engulf her friend from head to toe. She heard the crackle of the flames and thought it was over, but almost immediately the fire began to dwindle. Balfruss was standing in exactly the same spot. A white cocoon enveloped him and the remnants of the fire burned away. He remained untouched and his expression was one of disappointment rather than anger.
“Is that it? After four years of study. Did you learn nothing?” he asked.
With a snarl of rage the student began hurling what looked like balls of light at Balfruss but he shrugged them off. With a casual flick of one hand he redirected one of the missiles so that it looped around the square and flew back towards the student. With a startled cry he threw himself to the ground, narrowly missing it. The ball of light struck the statue behind him, blowing it into dozens of pieces which rained down across the square.
Trying a different tactic, the young mage lifted several large chunks of stone from the broken fountain into the air. Tammy could see the strain on his face as he sent them hurtling towards Balfruss. The Sorcerer continued to walk calmly towards the student, ignoring the stones which shattered as they came into contact with his shield. He simply sidestepped the largest stone which was the size of a grown man. With a wave of his hand he gently set it down before it struck the building behind him and caused more damage.
“Garvey lied and manipulated you. Even so, your magic doesn’t give you the right to do whatever you want.”
Balfruss’s calmness seemed only to anger the student. “We trusted you. We believed your lies. You said we were going to help people.” The student’s mocking laughter echoed around the empty square and she thought it was aimed at himself. “They hate us, because we’re better than them, because we’re special and they’re not.”
Balfruss was still moving towards the student whose thoughts seemed to have turned inwards. “You need to stop,” he said, but the young man didn’t seem to hear.
“They’re jealous. We can create wonders while they toil away in the dirt. We dream but they can only destroy.”
“It’s time to rest,” said Balfruss, moving closer. “This isn’t the way.”
Tammy entered the square behind the student. If he turned his head even slightly he would see her creeping up behind. Doing her best to avoid the rubble, she slowly moved towards him as Balfruss approached from the front.
The student looked up suddenly and Tammy froze, willing him not to turn around. “What will we become?” he asked, suddenly alert. “Now that the Red Tower is gone, who will teach the children?”
“I don’t know,” admitted Balfruss.
“They can’t kill us all, can they?” There was a hint of desperation in his voice, as if he thought it might be possible.
“No, they can’t,” said Balfruss, finally reaching the student’s side. He laid a hand on the boy’s shoulder, connecting him to the present. “They tried in the past, but it never works. They’re scared because they don’t understand. Garvey was right about that.”
That caught the student’s attention, and Tammy’s. Focusing more on where she was placing her feet Tammy started to tiptoe forward again. She didn’t know if Balfruss was aware of her presence but it didn’t really matter. Stopping the rogue mage from destroying more of her city, by whatever means necessary, was her first priority.
“He was?” asked the boy.
Balfruss’s smile was sad. “We’ve held ourselves apart for too long. To us the Red Tower was just a school, but to everyone else it was a dangerous mystery.”
“We just wanted to learn,” said the boy. Tammy could see his shoulders were shaking as he wiped at his face. “We didn’t ask to be born this way.”
Tammy was almost within arm’s reach of the mage when he finally noticed her coming up behind. He spun about and at the sight of her sword and uniform energy began to gather in the palms of his hands. It dwindled and then vanished as Balfruss clubbed him across the back of the head. The Sorcerer lowered his axe and gently eased the boy to the ground.
They stared at one another in silence noting the changes until Balfruss gestured towards her sword. “I’ve not seen that in a while.” He lowered his axe and raised an eyebrow. Taking the hint, she sheathed her sword, looking around at the damage. Apart from the fountain it was minimal. The building on the other street seemed to have sustained the worst damage.
“There was just the two of them,” said Balfruss. “Unfortunately, I had to kill one. Now that we have this one, I’m not really sure what to do with him,” he said, gesturing at the unconscious figure at their feet.
“We need to talk in private,” said Tammy, noting the faces watching them from the surrounding buildings. “And I have an idea about that.”
Balfruss stared at the walls of the eight-sided cell with a mix of wonder and surprise. She’d brought him to the secret cells beneath Unity Hall. It was where she’d previously brought Fray to summon the spirit of Guardian Brook.
“These are ancient,” he muttered, tracing a hidden symbol with his fingers. To her it was just a blank wall, like every other part of the cell, but to those with magic it was a rich tapestry.
They put the rogue mage inside and she locked the door. Balfruss was still staring.
“What is it?” he finally asked. “And why is it here, beneath Unity Hall?”
“I have a theory, but there’s no one alive to confirm it.” Tammy gestured for him to follow her back to her office. She would see that the prisoner’s basic needs were met until they worked out what to do with him. Unfortunately, it would mean trusting someone else with the secret of the special cells. Tammy considered who she could trust as they retraced their path through the building.
“I must be brief. I have to speak to the Watch Captains and then report to the Queen about what’s happened,” she told him, gesturing at one of the seats in front of her desk. Normally she would have moved to sit behind it, but instead she sat down beside him. It was a small thing but Balfruss noted the difference and smiled at the gesture.
“It was you, wasn’t it?” she asked. “You defeated Garvey.”
Balfruss’s smile faded. “Yes, and now I must hunt down those who followed him. They’re too dangerous to be allowed to roam free.”
“Will the cell hold him?” asked Tammy. Fray had tried to use his magic while inside but he wasn’t as powerful as others.
“It will, but he cannot live in there for ever. I have an idea for something long term—”
“They’ll need to stand trial first,” she said.
“Would Queen Morganse really order their deaths?”
Tammy shook her head. The idea of sentencing any children to death was one more decision that she didn’t envy the Queen having to make. “I don’t know. Perhaps, given their crimes. But he’s not going anywhere for a while.”
“Then I’ll trust he’ll be safe in your care until I return,” said Balfruss, moving to stand up. He stopped when she touched him on the hand. “What is it?”
“What happened with Garvey?” she asked.
“He was my friend,” said Balfruss, his voice thick with emotion. “And I crippled him.”
“He had to be stopped,” said Tammy.
“He did, but, like the boy said, what happens now?” asked Balfruss. “What will those with magic become in the years ahead?”
Tammy had no answer
s but like Balfruss she was worried about the future. The tide continued to move only in one direction. Even this latest incident would be used as another example of the dangers posed by magic. How everyone was better off without it and that they should kill or shun those born with it. Nothing would be said of how the rogue mages had been stopped or who was responsible.
Time weighed heavily on them both and the future for mages and children with magic seemed bleak.
CHAPTER 34
Tianne stared at her new uniform in the mirror. What had once made her feel so proud no longer filled her with the same joy. A second blue star had been added to her uniform, denoting her as first among the Regent’s cadre of mages.
There had been a small ceremony in the palace with the Regent, two of his wives, plus all of the mages in attendance. The room had also been lined with Royal Guards, their multi-coloured uniforms creating a strangely bright background to what was an otherwise sombre event. It should have been a wonderful day. One that she would remember with great joy. Tianne didn’t expect a parade or weeping crowds chanting her name, but she had come back to Zecorria based on a promise. That if she served the Regent faithfully then by working together they could change the country and change how people viewed mages.
So far little had changed.
The Regent had explained that it wasn’t safe to give her the accolade in public, which spoke volumes about the progress that had been made. This was in spite of their efforts to rid the city, and now beyond into the surrounding areas, of charlatans who exploited desperate people.
She had been the first to take the risk of coming home and her reception had been the worst. A cynical part of her wondered if that was why the Regent had given her this honour. Out of a sense of guilt about what had happened. Kalina had briefly been put in a cell, but the others who came after had not suffered at all. They’d been treated as honoured guests. Moved directly into comfortable quarters and had received fitted uniforms. They’d been put to work after only a few days. And now there were ten mages in the cadre.
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