The Mages of Bennamore

by Pauline M. Ross

  Zand and Zenish found me, the pair of them grinning like wassonfish.

  “This is so exciting!” Zenish chortled, but Zand was more interested in identifying the ships and discussing strategy with the High Commander.

  Gradually the roof filled up with delegates and high ranking Defenders, and there was much back-slapping and congratulating for those whose ships were now lining up against the blockaders. Naturally, everyone was focused on watching the impending battle, but I was surprised how many people came over to me and bowed and told me without a hint of a blue flare how pleased they were that I was to be Speaker, and what a splendid idea it was. “Much better than having a king or queen,” one woman said, with a sideways glance at Ish. Such widespread approval was gratifying and rather humbling, even if I were to turn down the role in the end.

  “You see?” Zand hissed in my ear. “Everyone agrees, you will be perfect in the role.”

  Actually, I could see that myself. I had the right background, I understood the detail of the treaties – I even enjoyed reading them, disentangling the words and the intentions of the lawyers. I was comfortable dealing with people at this high political level, and I had enough distance from the everyday concerns of the Holders to act as an honest go-between with Bennamore.

  On top of that, I had magic now. I might not always have the jade belt, but I suspected I could train the glass ball to spot lies in the same way. How useful that would be when dealing with complex negotiations. And – a new thought – as Speaker, I could live anywhere along the coast, anywhere readily accessible to Bennamore. It didn’t have to be Shannamar. I could live at Dristomar!

  I glanced at Ish, standing, pale and trembling slightly, near the parapet, his eyes fixed on the harbour. Poor Ish! Perhaps no one else noticed his distress, for he smiled and answered readily when anyone spoke to him, but I knew him too well to be deceived.

  In the end, it wasn’t much of a battle, nothing for the poets to write sagas about. Eight sword ships against more than forty could do nothing except try to run, and four of them did just that. Two of them got their oars tangled, and were caught, but the other two headed west, with five or six sword ships in pursuit. The rest were badly placed and had no opportunity to escape. After a token resistance, they surrendered, but not before sustaining some damage. Only one was sunk, and another burned, and after that it was just the rescue boats rowing between burning chunks of wreckage to haul bedraggled sailors to safety. A great cheer rose from the crowd watching from a safe distance when the victory flags were raised on top of the harbour-master’s office.

  Hellamon watched it all intently, having commandeered a seeing tube from somewhere. Zand stood at his shoulder, explaining what was happening, and filling in any pauses in the action with lurid tales of more spectacular sea battles from history. I was pleasantly surprised by the depth of his knowledge and understanding.

  Eventually, everyone drifted away, the delegates back to Convocation, and Hellamon and I back to the accounts. Food was brought to us on a tray, as we worked on through the afternoon. Well, it was Hellamon and his Commander who worked, if the truth be told. I didn’t feel it was proper for me to trawl through the financial details of the Hold, so I sat quietly by the fire, nursing a glass of wine.

  Late in the day, Hellamon gathered his people together in the yard, and received their reports. Nothing untoward had been found.

  “And no sign of this Kestimar anywhere,” he murmured to me. “Does that surprise you?”

  “A little, but he could be keeping out of sight deliberately.” I’d rather hoped that Kestimar would make a fuss, so that Hellamon could deal with him properly, since Ish would not. It was disappointing that he was nowhere to be found. “What about the treasury?”

  “All in order.” But the Coin Master looked relieved, and I wondered why.

  There was one more play to make in the game, and it was the one I felt most uncomfortable about. Still, it was the point of the exercise, so it could hardly be avoided.

  Most of the Bennamorians were sent back to their camp, but Hellamon and I went with Ish to his private office to discuss the results of the inspection. Ish was quite relaxed now, no doubt assuming the worst was over. Hellamon recited his Commanders’ findings, while Ish nodded sagely, his elbows resting on the desk, fingers lightly linked.

  “This is satisfactory as far as it goes,” Hellamon said. A flicker of alarm shaded Ish’s eyes. “However, my interest is not with accounts and barrels of oil. My brief here relates solely to the wellbeing of nationals of Bennamore, and there are matters of concern in that regard that have not been adequately addressed. Lady Mage Hestaria was imprisoned here in very poor conditions. Lady Mage Gret died on these premises. Lord Mage Losh, Lord Mage Temerren and Lord Mage Kael were attacked and their lives imperilled within these walls. They were then confined to their own property. The Most Powerful is seriously alarmed by these reports. He wishes to be assured that no such incident will occur in the future.”

  Ish smiled, and only very close scrutiny would detect the tremor of fear beneath the smooth exterior. Ish was as well-trained as I was in dealing with awkward diplomatic incidents. “I entirely understand, Excellence. We have had some difficulties, it is true. Mage Hestaria – that was a misunderstanding, most unfortunate. And Mage Gret’s death was a tragic accident. A full investigation was held, which the other mages attended. Nothing was concealed. As for the rest – not all my Commanders fully appreciated the importance of the Bennamore mages to Dristomar initially. You may be sure that they are fully aware of it now.”

  Oh, Ish. Walking wide-eyed into the trap.

  “I am relieved to hear it, Holder. You will not have any objection, then, if I ascertain this for myself?”

  “None at all.” No blue flare, so that was true. “I shall summon my senior Commanders…”

  “I believe Commander Kestimar has been most particularly involved?”

  A wary look in Ish’s eyes, belatedly realising the danger. “Kestimar?” His glance flicked to me, and away again. Then a soft laugh. “Commander Kestimar is a foreigner. He does not understand our ways yet. I have tried to be tolerant—”

  “Would you send for him, Holder?”

  A long, nervous pause. “He is not here at the moment, Excellence. He has gone on a mission…” A blue flare. “He may not return tonight.” But that was true. Interesting. How useful the jade belt was in these discussions.

  Hellamon stood. “Holder, I have to inform you that I am not satisfied with the provisions for the safety of Bennamorian nationals in Dristomar. Unless you can produce Commander Kestimar for me to interview, and unless that interview is acceptable to me, then as representative of the Most Powerful I shall be obliged to invoke section… erm…” He looked helplessly at me.

  “Section seventeen, sub-section four part three of the Treaty of Settlement between the Glorious Sun-Blessed Realm of Bennamore and the United Independent Port Holdings of the year two hundred and fourteen after investment.”

  “What in the…?” Ish’s expression was a picture of bewilderment. He hadn’t seen it coming at all. I could see his mind furiously running through the terms of the treaty, trying to remember the relevant one. And then he did, and shock washed over his face. “No!” he whispered.

  “I shall be obliged to invoke the said section,” Hellamon intoned relentlessly, “and take over control of the Holding of Dristomar myself, under the rule of the Most Powerful.”

  Ish turned furiously on me. “This is your doing! He would never have thought of it, he has no idea what the treaty is about. This is all you, Fen! When did you become my enemy?”

  “About the time your wife hit me over the head, I suppose, and Kestimar threw me in the dungeons. Or it might have been the time he turned up with twenty armed thugs, and tried to skewer me.”

  “Yet here you are, quite unharmed. You were never in any danger, Fen.”

  He was beginning to regain his composure again, but that took my breath away. N
ever in any danger? Yet maybe that was what Kestimar had told him, and he believed it. Foolish Ish. He never used to be so gullible.

  “This is beside the point,” Hellamon said. “Unless you can—”

  “Yes, yes!” Ish said wearily, one hand raised in submission. “Let us have Kestimar here. I have nothing to hide.” Blue flare. We all have a few secrets we want to keep, I suppose. I understood that better than anyone.

  He summoned a secretary and gave the order for Kestimar to be found. “Turn the Hold upside down, if need be, but bring him here. And my wife, too. He is her personal guard, after all.”

  When the secretary had scuttled out, he sighed. “I have not seen Kestimar all day. I do not know what he is about, since he should have been at Convocation with me. But he will be found and you shall have your interview. Then you may determine what action is appropriate, Excellence. The man is a savage, it is true. I always hoped he would adapt to our ways in time, but you are right, something must be done. And then you will withdraw this ridiculous idea of taking control? Convocation will not stand for it, you know. We are guaranteed full autonomy.”

  Hellamon said nothing, his face giving nothing away.

  We waited. Ish paced up and down, his hands tapping restlessly together behind his back. Hellamon and I sat quietly. Darkness descended, and a girl came in to light more lamps and build up the fire. Still we waited, and I began to wonder if we would be there all night, and when it would be proper to ask for something to eat.

  At last the High Steward came in. “Honourable…” He was distressed. This was bad news.

  “Yes, yes. Out with it. Where is Commander Kestimar?”

  “Gone, Honourable.”

  “What do you mean, gone? Gone where?”

  “No one knows. He left at dawn this morning, with all his men, on the fastest horses in the stables. Their rooms have been emptied, Honourable. I believe they have gone for good.”

  Oh. That was good news, surely? Ish thought so too. His face lifted a little, and he heaved a sigh, nodding.

  “Well, that is the end of the matter, I suppose. He is gone. There is nothing to be done about it now.”

  But the High Steward twisted his hands together, shaking violently. There was worse.

  “Honourable…”

  “What else?”

  “Honourable ab Dristomar, Honourable…”

  The wife! Oh, Goddess.

  Ish froze. He knew, in that moment, what was coming. “Tell me,” he croaked.

  “Honourable ab Dristomar left with Commander Kestimar, Honourable. There was a letter for you – in her room.”

  He fished it out of a pocket, a single sheet of paper roughly folded. Ish snatched it from his hand, unfolding it in trembling haste, his eyes flicking across the words.

  He closed his eyes, as if he could shut out his wife’s message. The paper, unregarded, crumpled in his hand. He sank to his knees and howled in anguish, over and over, a sound of terrible finality.

  44: Packing

  Fast riders were sent after them, but they were long gone. They had taken a little-used road to the northwest, then turned aside for the hills. A check of the stores revealed missing camp equipment. When the treasury was checked more closely, a large quantity of valuable gemstones, part of the payment from Bennamore for the sword ships, was missing too. They had taken my golden dragon, amongst other treasures. Ish’s glass ball was also gone, and for a few days I knew where they were. Then they passed beyond the range of my awareness.

  There was one blessing; Ish’s wife, never the most affectionate of mothers, had left her daughter behind with both her nursemaids.

  Ish went to pieces. He had barely been holding himself together as it was, but now he collapsed altogether. High Commander Hellamon was forced to take control after all. We’d only intended to ensnare Kestimar, the root of the evil in Dristomar, but it was clear that Ish was incapable of ruling. Fortunately, Hellamon’s rule was very short-lived; he addressed Convocation the next day, proposing that Tarn be appointed Holder again, to which Convocation graciously agreed. It was a relief to all parties.

  Tarn asked me to go and see Ish. “It might help him, dear.” A sideways glance. “And it might help you, too.”

  I wasn’t sure about that. I kept hoping that one day he would arrive outside the Rillett House, Defenders in attendance, entirely his normal self again. But Tarn was right. It was time I faced up to Ish.

  He was in the family’s room, sitting cross-legged on the floor with his daughter. She was playing with dolls, beautifully carved and dressed in strange flowing clothes, and chattering away, sometimes to the dolls, sometimes to Ish. He said little, but he followed her instructions. “Pass me Most High Mia,” she would say and obediently he reached for the red-haired doll. Nearby, the two nursemaids hovered anxiously.

  “It is the only thing that helps him,” Tarn said sadly. “Otherwise, he just sits in his chair gazing into space. It is difficult even to get him properly dressed and shaved each day. Of course, he was always – obsessive about his wife. She has that effect on men.” A wry twist of the eyebrows. She, like me, was of the type that would never have men obsessing about them. “As for her – she never cared much for him. She always preferred Kestimar.”

  “Really?”

  “Oh yes. He is a barbarian through and through, but she likes that better than a more civilised man.”

  I looked at Ish, civilised to the core – erudite, articulate, an intellectual – and struggled to understand why anyone would prefer the rough to the smooth. Then I recalled Mal, not a barbarian but a plain, uneducated men, who yet had qualities that set him above most men. Above Ish. Civilisation was not the only measure of a man’s worth.

  I crossed the room and sat down beside Ish. The daughter looked at me curiously and then, deciding I was friendly, rewarded me with a wide, gap-toothed smile. Ish was unmoving. I rested a hand on his shoulder, and he turned to me then.

  “Hello Fen.” No smile, his voice flat. Then his attention moved back to his daughter.

  I left. Tarn found me out on the landing, weeping. “He may improve, in time.” But she didn’t sound optimistic.

  Partly I wept for Ish, but mostly, I think, I wept for myself, for the dreams I’d clung to for twenty years. I could see now that the Ish I’d fallen in love with, the Ish I’d waited for and desired and believed in – that Ish was an illusion, like the trick of the light on water that convinces sailors they’ve seen sea sprites frolicking in the waves behind their ship. That man had never existed. Perhaps he might have done, if our lives had been happier, if we’d been blessed with children and grown together over the years. But we’d gone our different ways, and I’d become bitter and angry and secretive, and he’d grown restless and weak and fallen into the orbit of an amoral woman.

  I pitied him, of course, but I didn’t love him, not this empty husk of a creature. I’d been so sure of myself, and so confident he loved me in return, but can there be anything more ridiculous than a self-deluded middle-aged woman? How stupid I’d been, wilfully deceiving myself, blind to any other possibilities. But that was gone, washed away by the tide like a child’s tower on the beach: for a long time, it stands tall even while the first waves lap around the base, but imperceptibly the foundations are eaten away until one wave, no more violent than its fellows, taps it and the whole edifice comes crashing down.

  Now it was gone, that love I’d nursed, and I was hollow, scoured by the cleansing waters but not yet whole. Perhaps I would never be whole again.

  ~~~~~

  Drin and Hestaria were very full of themselves when they returned after the skirmish – already being talked of as the Battle of Dristomar Harbour. They interrupted each other and tripped over their words in their excitement to tell us of their cleverness.

  “Naturally your father would never send just a flag ship to collect you,” Drin said. “We had four sword ships tucked away at the nearest island, and a small landing party camped just a day or so sout
h of here with boats. We got ourselves out to the island, rounded up all the other sword ships lurking there and – bam!”

  “That was so much fun!” Hestaria screeched, hanging onto his arm and braying with laughter. They weren’t exactly holding hands, but I didn’t think Mal needed to worry about Hestaria pursuing him any longer. There was even talk of her moving to Shannamar when Drin went back there.

  She wasn’t the only one. Dern had decided to return to Shannamar too. Having had so much trouble with his connection as a young man, he was determined to help Zand with his very similar ability. And where Dern went, Kael insisted on going too. Losh sighed and fretted over it, but Kael was so much more settled with Dern that he couldn’t object.

  I was the only one not going.

  “Our own ship will be months in the repair yard,” Arin said, “so we will be here for a while yet. But you could go with Zand.”

  “No. I have a contract with the mages. I will see it out. And after that – who knows.”

  “You will not go back to Carrinshar, though, surely?”

  Carrinshar seemed impossibly distant now. So much had happened in the last few moons, and maybe pregnancy was changing me, but I couldn’t see myself returning there. I’d finally had a letter from Master Tylk, an embarrassed single page telling me that he had married an aunt of the Holder, and had therefore given up his work at the employment office and moved into the Hold. Tylk seemed to think I would be upset by his defection, but I laughed in delight at the prospect of Tylk dressed in the finest velvets and lace, towering over the slender Holder. He would love life at the Hold. But it settled matters: with Jast and Tylk both gone, and my list of other friends there humiliatingly small, there was nothing for me at Carrinshar.

  Whatever I did later, I was determined to stay at Dristomar for now.

  “Well, as you wish,” Arin said, smiling. “I am sure you have very good reasons.” And he winked.