Voice of Dominion (The Spoken Mage Book 3)

by Melanie Cellier

  “Messy indeed,” said Lorcan. “But I can’t imagine we need to trouble the Ellingtons with such a disconcerting idea. Now that I know the importance you place on our visit, I am more than willing to bring it forward.”

  “I thought you might feel that way,” said the general with grim humor in his voice. “That’s why I wanted to come have a little chat with you myself. So we’ll see you at the front in…a week, shall we say?”

  “A week?” I could almost hear Lorcan’s raised eyebrows. “I wouldn’t look for us before two at the earliest. Surely the Head of the Armed Forces understands the complexities of logistics.”

  There was a pause.

  “Very well, then. Two it is.”

  My frozen limbs twitched, and I almost tripped over myself as I hurried back out into the corridor, desperate to get out of sight before the general emerged. I flung open the closest door I could find and huddled inside the empty workroom on the other side.

  But when the general had safely passed, my heart rate refused to slow down. I continued to stand there, unmoving. Coralie and all my year mates would be in danger even sooner than we had thought. And it was all because of me.

  Chapter 10

  The rumor had been that both third and fourth years were to visit the front, but only the third years stood huddled together on a chilly morning a week and a half later. The official word was that the third years would visit first and the fourth years take their turn after the third years returned. Unofficially it only confirmed what I had overheard outside Lorcan’s office. This wasn’t really about the trainees at all. I wondered if the fourth years would ever even make it to the front.

  In some ways the scene felt reminiscent of when we left for Abalene to observe the green fever epidemic. And the appearance of the purple-robed Beatrice and Reese only confirmed the impression. I pushed through the throng to greet them both as soon as they appeared.

  “Don’t tell me you’re to accompany us,” I said with a smile.

  Reese narrowed his eyes at me. “Unfortunately, yes. I begin to ask myself if I will ever be free of you.”

  I just grinned back at him. Reese was not exactly my favorite person, but you didn’t save countless lives together without developing something of a fellow feeling. And after seeing his dedication to the task, his barbs no longer did anything but amuse me.

  Beatrice, on the other hand, was as kind and gracious as she had ever been. And I was pleased to see she looked more rested than I had ever seen her as well.

  “Elena, what a delight.” She pulled me into an affectionate hug. “I’ve been hearing some wild stories about you. Some of which make me think I’m not going crazy with the things I half-remember you doing in Abalene.” She gave me a knowing look.

  “I admit nothing.” I chuckled. “Not with Reese around anyway.”

  Reese sighed loudly and turned away to direct the storage of their baggage. When we had worked together in Abalene, both of them had been too absorbed in their tasks to notice me deviating from their instructions as I used it as an opportunity to hone my abilities. Well, almost too absorbed, as it turned out.

  “I thought they didn’t want you at the front lines,” I said, forgetting for a moment that Beatrice was both an extremely senior healer and a Stantorn, albeit the only kind one I had ever met.

  Reese wheeled around to glare at me.

  “Hey! You were the one always saying she should be resting,” I said, and he stomped off.

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude,” I said to Beatrice. “I’m just surprised to see you.”

  “It has been well over a year since I returned to Corrin, and my strength has been sufficiently restored.” She glanced to one side, and I followed her gaze before looking quickly away again when I saw the object of her study.

  “One of the royal family traveling to the front gave me just the opportunity I needed,” she said. “It was a simple matter to convince the king that the prince would do best with a skilled and experienced healer at his side.”

  Her eyes twinkled mischievously, and I smiled back at her. She had been sent away because she cared too much—expended too much of herself—and I was willing to bet not just toward the mages. The need at the front was too great, and she ran the risk of bleeding herself dry. And yet, here she was taking the first opportunity to get back.

  Even the nicest and most caring mage I had ever met played the game, as Lucas called it, but at least she played it in order to help others. So perhaps it wasn’t such a terrible thing to learn to play myself.

  Two major differences separated the scene from the one the year before, however. Jasper did not come striding through the gate to accompany us, something I could only be thankful for. The thought of my brother near Kallorway was almost as unsettling as the idea of Clemmy at the front lines.

  The other difference was that it seemed the entire Academy had come out to see us off. Lorcan was to accompany us, a fact that had brought me considerable relief since no one else could stand up to the general. And apparently the departure of the Academy Head in such circumstances warranted a great deal of interest and farewell.

  Thornton had decreed he would also travel with us, and no one had attempted to gainsay him. He seemed outraged that trainees of his would be sent out into the world before his training was complete, and so our combat training was to continue despite our change in location. And not one of the trainees had grumbled about it. Not with the war staring us in the face so much sooner than expected.

  I caught a glimpse of Acacia, come to wave us off, but she hung back near the Academy entrance and responded to my calls of farewell with only a small smile. When I saw her eyes dwelling on Beatrice and Reese, I didn’t push the matter.

  If strength were awarded on the basis of personality and virtue, it would be Acacia accompanying Beatrice in Reese’s place, as she so obviously longed to do. She had wanted to be of use at the front lines for as long as I had known her. Reese on the other hand was almost certainly going merely because he always stuck to Beatrice like a shadow. The healers had used their connection as cousins to assign him as a sort of minder over her. At least that was how they both talked of it, and he certainly made efforts, mostly futile, to curtail her expenditure of strength.

  But seeing them work together more than once now, I suspected it was as much an apprenticeship of sorts. Reese had strength for all his poor temper, and his older cousin had great skill and experience. It was unfortunate her empathy and kindness didn’t seem to be transferring to him along with her knowledge. If Reese was intended as her replacement, it would be a sad day for Ardann when Beatrice retired.

  Most of the other trainees milled around giving extravagant farewells to younger or older siblings, cousins, or friends. Even Coralie had abandoned me for her younger brother. Anyone would think we were being sent to fight and not just observe.

  But an instant shaft of guilt made me repent of the ungenerous thought. We were going to a war, and anything could happen. Perhaps I was just jealous that I had no one to farewell.

  “It seems a sad day for the Academy,” said a voice behind me, “to see ourselves thus divided for a chunk of the year.”

  I turned around and nodded at Walden. The library head had come out of his book-filled retreat, no doubt forced to do so since Lorcan had decreed the Ellington in temporary charge of the Academy. From his look of ill ease, the responsibility didn’t sit entirely well, but I could understand why Lorcan would find him a more desirable person for the role than Redmond. Although Redmond’s foul mood since the news had been announced suggested he didn’t see things the same way.

  “We can only hope we’ll be back before long,” I said. I certainly hoped so at least.

  “Yes, indeed.” He hesitated, opening his mouth to speak, closing it, and then opening it again. “I do hope you’ll be careful, Elena,” he said at last.

  “I certainly intend to be,” I said.

  He nodded, something clearly still bothering him.

/>   “Yes, I imagine you will be, of course. And Lorcan will no doubt keep you under careful watch. All of you, naturally,” he hastened to add.

  He glanced around, and then lowered his voice, although no one stood near us. “Not everyone thinks as he does, sadly. The general, in particular—” He cut himself off, quickly smiling and even forcing out a small chuckle. “A good thing, at times, no doubt. Each of the great families have their own strengths. Only…some of us are stronger than others.”

  He gave me a significant look, reminding me that while Callinos currently held the most seats on the Mage Council, traditionally Devoras and Stantorn had been the strongest of the families. He didn’t continue the thought, however, his voice instead returning to normal volume as he gestured expansively around.

  “But here I am blathering on when an adventure lies before you all. If nothing else, this trip will expand all of your knowledge, and since that is the task to which I have dedicated my life, I can hardly object too loudly. Even if I could wish every place you might travel was as safe as my library.”

  He gave me a final smile before moving through the groups of trainees, wishing the rest of my year mates farewell as he encountered them. I watched him go, unsettled.

  For all his cryptic manner, it didn’t take much to interpret his words—a warning to take care, that I approached a place of danger. And a reminder that the strongest of the great families might not have my best interests at heart.

  Hardly news to me, any of it. But it unsettled me that Walden had felt the need to issue a warning. And he had slipped with a direct reference to the general. What had he heard, buried in his library, to give him such concern?

  My main suspicions had centered on the Stantorns ever since I saw my attacker in their company. But by all accounts, the Stantorn and Devoras families had always been close allies. Was it possible my attacker had been placed with the Stantorns by one of their friends—a Devoras, perhaps?

  My eyes roved over the busy courtyard without seeing, until they caught unintentionally on someone looking back toward me. Even at the distance, I could see the calculating gleam in the green depths of Lucas’s eyes as he looked between me and the retreating librarian. What would he have made of Walden’s warning?

  In a different world, I might have asked him. But I didn’t live in a different world. So I would have to puzzle through its significance on my own.

  Perhaps it was for the best anyway. Lucas hadn’t taken kindly to my previous efforts to point out attempts by the Devoras and Stantorn families to have me murdered. Even the evidence of my own eyes when I saw my attacker with the Stantorns had been discounted.

  The memory of Lucas’s words then made me shiver. He had reminded me that I accused relatives of his—important members of the Mage Council—of treason. He had seemed to think such a thing impossible.

  And yet somehow Kallorway had mounted a major surprise offensive. And now the reports suggested they were eluding us at every turn. Was it really so impossible to imagine we had traitors in our midst?

  Walden’s warnings took on a whole new light. I would certainly do well not to overlook Devoras—especially when one of their number controlled the Armed Forces. The insistence of General Griffith that I attend the front as soon as possible became even more sinister. I was walking into a situation I didn’t understand, and it seemed increasingly clear that the results could be deadly. I only wished I knew for who.

  It took a long time for our cavalcade to make it out of the city. As well as the carriages which carried us trainees and our instructors, we had a number of wagons bearing additional supplies for the front lines, and a squad of royal guard rode in formation around Lucas’s carriage, although I noted they were all commonborn with no gold-robed officers among them.

  Progress down South Road was necessarily slow as all other traffic had to make way for us. The sight of the red and gold uniforms of the royal guard sent most people scurrying, but some moved more slowly than others.

  Our group grew even larger when we made it as far as the central training barracks. I had spent a brief day inside its walls during second year, so when we stopped outside it, my friends directed their questions at me. But I had been there for too short a time to have much insight into its internal workings.

  Peering out the carriage window, I noted an older woman in crisp silver robes that matched her silver hair. She delivered a series of orders to a younger man beside her, also wearing a silver robe, and he turned to bark them to the squads of soldiers pouring out of the building.

  Someone brought forward a chestnut horse with elegant lines despite his enormous size, and the woman swung herself into the saddle. From her new height, she observed the soldiers forming themselves into columns.

  Some of the youngest looking among them fumbled their way into position, casting nervous glances up at the woman’s no-nonsense face. But even so, the chaos around our collection of vehicles gradually gave way to two ordered platoons—one ahead of us and one behind.

  The woman guided her mount to the front of the procession, and I exchanged a loaded glance with Finnian who sat across from me, peering out the same window.

  “I count two full platoons,” said Clarence, in a manner that suggested he was attempting to take an academic approach to a situation that made him uncomfortable. “Eighty soldiers. Plus Lucas’s squad of royal guard. That’s a full nine squads. They’re taking our safety seriously, at least.”

  “That’s old Jennica riding out the front there,” said Finnian. “That’s what tells us they’re taking this seriously.” He shook his head. “I can’t remember the last time she left the training barracks for the front lines, although she was a star officer there when we were young.”

  “I think they’re using the opportunity to ship across some new recruits,” I said.

  Saffron nodded. “No member of the royal family is permitted to travel west without at least a full squad of royal guard and a full platoon of experienced soldiers. So they would have had to bring a platoon back from the front to collect us. It looks like they’ve taken that platoon and mixed its veterans with the recruits to form two new ones.”

  That explained the disparate appearance of some of the soldiers. A clever strategy and much more effective than sending out a platoon made entirely of inexperienced youngsters. Colonel Jennica might be a Stantorn, and the training for new recruits might be insufficient, but she clearly understood something of both command and war.

  Our numbers had grown significantly, and we now had to move no faster than a sustained marching pace, but our progress didn’t noticeably slow. We had attained enough bulk that other traffic no longer bothered us now. Perhaps the citizens of Corrin had grown accustomed to clearing the streets for marching platoons of soldiers.

  Once we had collected our entourage, we veered off South Road, taking West Road through the western gate. I had only seen this side of the city once before. But since I had been bouncing along upside down over someone’s shoulder, still groggy after being knocked unconscious, I didn’t have many clear recollections of it.

  We had hardly escaped the confines of the city before we hit the Overon River where it curved around the western side of the city on its passage south. Our pace had to slow once again to file across the narrow but sturdy bridge. No more than a single vehicle could fit across at a time, but at least all the traffic heading east toward Corrin stood aside, deferring to our train.

  “My father told me this bridge used to be as broad as the one where South Road crosses the Overon,” said Araminta, regarding the swiftly flowing waters of the river when our turn came to cross. “But they replaced it with this one before we were born.”

  “Easier to defend.” Clarence kept his eyes focused out of the window as well. “And easier to destroy, if it ever comes to that.”

  I shivered. Such a necessity would indicate a very bleak day indeed, given the capital’s presence a mere stone’s throw away.

  “The whole thing is laced wi
th power,” said Finnian cheerfully, craning his neck to look at the bridge itself rather than the river. “They say only the two generals and the king himself have the composition keys to set it off.”

  He sounded fascinated and a little delighted, but my stomach immediately began to churn and didn’t stop until we were back on solid ground and a safe distance away.

  Chapter 11

  In the open ground we moved a little faster, but not by much. I had been comparing this journey to the longer trip to Abalene, but I hadn’t accounted for the difference in pace. With so many of our number on foot, and inexperienced marchers at that, we seemed to inch along. None of us complained, however. That would have suggested an eagerness to reach our destination.

  We traveled through farmlands, field after field lying fallow, with the occasional hardy winter crop starting to sprout. The sun had risen high, burning the frost from the fields, but it remained cold enough to require cloaks.

  Rumors of the legendary northern fields of the Sekali Empire—where the temperature remained warm enough all year for a full rotation of summer and winter crops—had always existed. And Lucas’s delegation three years ago had reported traveling through such winter fields on their way out of the Empire. Unfortunately that sort of warmer climate existed only in the northernmost parts of Ardann—where forests covered the land—and in the small northeastern pocket between the southern forests and the Grayback Mountains where Abalene sat beside the Overon delta.

  We broke our journey over two days, the group from the Academy and the mage officers spending the night spread across two inns in a western village. I didn’t notice the colonel at the inn I had been assigned to and assumed she was at the other one, until I heard someone mention that she always slept with her troops. Reluctantly, my respect for the Stantorn officer increased.

  Fields continued to line the road on our second day of travel, but the further we got from the capital, the fewer farmhouses and hamlets could be seen from the road. After three decades of war, only the hardiest chose to live this close to the hub of the conflict.