Ellenessia's Curse Book 1: The Shadow's Seer

by Fran Jacobs

  "And that's where you come in," my father said. "Their princess, Clyniss, is unmarried and at seventeen that's rather late for an Idryan. They've been trying to find her an ideal match for years but have been unsuccessful. We hope that offering you will allow us to get this matter sorted, once and for all, but in our favour. Take advantage of their desperation, as it were, to make sure that they will sign the treaty that will grant us what we want."

  "B-but you said it was a ruse ..."

  "Yes," Sorron said. "It is. We have no intention of marrying you off. We would never do that to you, Candale. At the moment we're merely suggesting it, hoping that their desperation will lead them to sign the treaty in the hope that it will sweeten us to the point where we will make it more official. If that doesn't work, we're prepared to take it a little further, even to have a betrothal ceremony, but we will find a way to cancel it before you have to marry her. Probably in the most obvious way, with doubts being raised about your virginity, based on rumours about you and a well-chosen lady, or two. That will make sure that you're no longer fitting to marry their bride and I'm sure they will then be the ones to cancel the betrothal. I imagine that they'll then be annoyed by your behaviour, but they're already fully aware that we don't put the same value on chastity that they do, so hopefully our alliance, and the treaty we hope to sign, will remain intact."

  "Ah." I nodded, feeling an overwhelming sense of relief at this, that my grandfather and father had not been planning to betray me after all, that I wouldn't have to marry, and then bed, some Idryan princess with whom I had nothing in common and who I didn't even know.

  "So, do you approve?" my father asked me, teasing. "Of how we're using you?"

  "Yes," I said. "I do. Silver would have gone to Kyerania, Hazel still will. I would hate for something to happen to her on the way there, or that she might fear to come back in case something happened on the return ... So, all right, use me. I will let you. And I will try and act as though I'm all right with this situation."

  "No need," Sorron said, "after that little display, but try not to act too displeased. A little chastened, as though your father and I had hard words with you. Perhaps a little sulky?" He smiled at me. "I know that you can manage that."

  "Yes," I said, smiling nervously. "All right."

  "But you have to promise not to tell anyone about this," my father said. "We don't want to run the risk of it getting back to the diplomats. Your mother and sister will know the truth, of course. And Kal, too, but no one else. That includes the bard, do you understand?"

  "Yes," I said uncomfortably. "Can I leave now?"

  "In a moment. I have a couple of favours that I must still ask of you," Sorron said.

  I didn't like the sound of that, but I nodded, reluctantly. I did still owe him a favour in return for allowing Mayrila back to Court, after all.

  "Clyniss is going to need a portrait of you," Sorron said. "So I would like you to pose for the Court Painter."

  "Oh," I said, uncomfortably. I hated posing, loathed it. I didn't have the patience to sit still for so long and had actually scared off the last Court Painter with my endless talking, shifting and general wriggling around. I didn't like the idea of this, but I knew that Clyniss would need a picture of me, for illusion's sake, at least. "All right."

  "And I want you to take the diplomats hunting."

  "Hunting?" Now I did stare at him. "Why?"

  "They've heard the rumours about you, Candale. That you have fits, that you're a little eccentric, they've certainly heard about your incident with Trellany." I flushed and shifted my weight from foot to foot, while my face flamed red hot. "I want you to spend time with them so that they can see that you're normal, and hunting will be a good chance for you to show them that and that, despite your fits, you're still capable and not weak. I know that it will be awkward, because Silver will have to come with you," I sensed the mage stiffen as Sorron said that, "but this is necessary."

  "But --"

  "You do owe me," Sorron pointed out, needlessly.

  "And it has already been arranged for tomorrow," my father added, with a flash of his teeth in an amused grin. He had always found my discomfort entertaining. "After the council meeting you will take the diplomats hunting and the day after that you will start posing for the picture for Clyniss. I think your mother would like a new one of you as well, seeing as the last one we had painted was when you were fifteen, just about the time that the last Court Painter left ..." I flushed and shrugged my shoulders, feigning innocence. It didn't fool my father, I could tell. "Well," he said, "be on your best behaviour with the new painter, Alew, and when you take the diplomats hunting, try and bring back something more impressive than one shrunken sparrow."

  "Two shrunken sparrows?" I suggested wryly.

  "Yes," my father said, still grinning at me. "Two will do."

  "I'll do my best. May I leave now?"

  "Yes," Sorron said. "All right." I turned to go. "I'm hurt that you thought so little of me that you thought I would really marry you off."

  "Perhaps you should have trusted me enough to tell me your plan from the start," I said.

  "Yes," Sorron said, nodding thoughtfully. "Perhaps we should have."

  ***

  It didn't take long for the rumours to start circulating. When I came down for supper everyone was talking about it and I was soon surrounded by a group of excited courtiers, who were all convinced that I must be delighted and excited with it all. They asked me all sorts of questions, which I couldn't answer, and then Stevn made a joke, that at least I would be glad to know she had big assets. He then felt the need to explain that was really a euphemism for her breasts, as though I really were that naive. The jokes went no further than that, though, when he saw Trellany's face. When she'd been their tutor, teaching us all sword work, they had all been in awe of her and had respected her completely. Now that she was my bodyguard they seemed to be under the impression that, although she still warranted respect, she was now somehow one of us, someone who they could tell dirty jokes to, or tease each other around, in a way that they would never have dared to before. I knew for a fact that Trellany didn't like that at all and the look on her face made her feelings all too clear.

  Then I caught sight of Teveriel entering the hall. "Tev," I called out, and left my little group of admiring and congratulatory fans to make my way over to him, but he turned on his heel and left the hall just as quickly as he had started to enter. Trellany caught my arm, firmly, before I could hurry after him.

  "You can't leave the hall," she told me.

  "He saw me, didn't he? Why did he walk out like that?"

  "I'm not sure," Trellany said, but her eyes clearly said otherwise.

  "Do you think he heard the rumours?" I asked.

  I saw Silver and Trellany exchange glances before he shrugged and she answered. "Yes."

  I chewed on the inside of my mouth, considering. "I'll have to find him after supper, explain that it's not true."

  "You were told not to tell anyone," Trellany said. "Especially Teveriel."

  "I know," I said. "But I have to." Trellany and Silver looked at each other again and my brow creased. There was something I was missing here, there nearly always was these days, it seemed, but I knew that they would only deny it if I was to ask. "Why didn't you tell me that field training also involved going to Kyerania to help them with their brigands?" I asked Silver instead.

  "There didn't seem much point," Silver said. "I wasn't able to go, so why did it matter where the others went? And no, it wasn't because I'd agreed to help you that meant I couldn't go, it was more that I couldn't learn to control my distaste for the Idryan belief about mages. Tival feared that I would get myself into serious trouble so he had planned to send me to a nearby farm instead. I never liked the look of farm work when I lived at home as a child, and my feelings haven't improved much with age. So I'm much happier being here with you, Idryan diplomats aside."

  "And the Lady Keyla is certainly prettie
r than any cow," Trellany said.

  A faint blush came to Silver's cheeks. "Yes," he said, "she most definitely is."

  As soon as supper was over I took myself, Silver and Trellany off to Teveriel's suite, but the bard wasn't there when we arrived and the door was locked. I leaned against the wall, planning to stay there as long as I had to, to wait for Teveriel's return, but Trellany refused to let me. "We don't have time to wait for the bard to come back," she said sharply. "Mayrila is waiting."

  "I have to explain to Tev that the rumours aren't true," I told her.

  "Why? Why does it matter what he thinks? Why should it matter to him that you might be getting married?"

  "I don't know," I said, with a shrug, sinking down against the wall. "But apparently it does."

  "He may have left the hall for all sorts of reasons."

  "No," I said, shaking my head. "He saw me, he heard me, and that's why he left. He didn't want to talk to me and I can only guess it is because he heard the rumours and he's angry that I hadn't told him what was going on, that he had to hear it from a stranger."

  "You don't know that, Candale."

  "Yes," I said. "I do and I have to explain the situation to him. He's my best friend. I can't have him thinking that I kept something this important from him."

  "I'm fully aware of what the bard means to you, Candale, and I'm not trying to destroy your friendship with him, but I don't want to stand out here in this cold corridor all night waiting for him, so that you can disobey your father's direct instructions. Besides Mayrila is also important to you, isn't she? And you're keeping her waiting!"

  I rolled my eyes, but she was right about that so I straightened up, reluctantly, drew my cloak around me and we set off to Mayrila's rooms, leaving Teveriel and his infuriatingly locked door behind us.

  "I thought that it was time we tried something a bit different," Mayrila said, once we were all settled. "Rather than letting the herbal candles work alone, I will try and talk you into a trance state."

  "Is that possible?" Silver asked.

  "I don't see why not," Mayrila replied. "The boy has gifts, he's more than just an ordinary mortal, like our fiery haired bodyguard here. It may very well work on him and, if it doesn't, then we can cross it off the list and try something else."

  "All right," Silver said. "I'll put out the lanterns for you."

  I watched him work, a little panicked, as I had no idea what a trance state was. He saw my expression and smiled. "You need to relax, Dale," he told me. "You look very tense."

  "I think you would be, too, if you didn't know what in Drakan's name people were saying they were going to do to you!"

  Silver laughed. "It's like being hypnotised, but with full control, that's all," he told me.

  That didn't make me feel any better. I'd seen a hypnotised man at a summer fair one year. The hypnotist had made him act like a donkey and carry people around on his back and munch at hay. I knew Trellany would never let Mayrila do that to me, but I was still nervous.

  "It's a simple technique," Mayrila said. "A way to try and force your subconscious to do what your conscious is fighting so hard to avoid. It's one of the first things someone with a gift learns. It helps them to reach their magical ability and can be useful for many things, sensing the weather, scrying, even healing, to some extent." She rose to her feet, smoothing down her skirts, as she always did, and headed towards her worktable which was covered in candles, crushed herbs, weird little jars and bottles of brightly coloured liquid. "I need you to trust me though, Candale. Do you think that you can? Or would you rather Silver helped to talk you through this?"

  I glanced at Silver. "Can you?"

  "I don't see why not," he said slowly. "It's fairly simple."

  "Then I would prefer Silver," I said. "If you don't mind, Mayrila?"

  "Of course not." She spoke without looking at me and all I could do was stare at her back as she busied herself on her table. "Do you write down your prophecies and visions?"

  "No," I said.

  "Then perhaps you should start, before you forget them. And I would like to see them, if I may?"

  "Yes," I said, uncomfortably. "All right."

  "Good." Mayrila turned, holding a small vial, which she handed to Silver. "Amyris again," she explained. "If we can get you into a trance, then perhaps this scent will help to trigger a vision."

  I just nodded.

  Silver turned towards me, holding a candle in one hand, the open vial in the other. I could smell the woody scent of the amyris wafting from it. Silver's face was dark behind the candle his eyes serious, a way I hadn't seen them for a long time, not since he had told me that he would be warding my rooms for me. This was Silver the mage. Silver who took his job seriously, not Silver my friend and it made me a little nervous as I didn't know what to expect. I sat back in my chair and tried to relax, but my fingers gripped the wooden arm so tightly that my knuckles soon hurt. "Relax, Dale," Silver scolded, holding the candle level with my face. "And concentrate on the flame, just stare into it and let your body grow heavy."

  "All right," I said, fixing my gaze on the candle flame. I felt a little foolish, sitting here like this, with all eyes upon me, but the dancing flame was hypnotic and it became easy to let my mind slip away, drifting off, almost as though I was going to sleep. I felt a little light-headed, and completely relaxed, and then Silver started speaking. "There's no one else around you, Candale. There's just you, and the flame."

  "And you," I said softly.

  "Candale," Silver sighed. "If you aren't going to relax and get beyond the fact that I, Mayrila and Trellany are here, you won't ever do this!"

  "Belyisia never needed a candle to scry for the weather," I said.

  "No," he agreed. "But she, and I, and the others at White Oaks did start out this way. We just moved beyond it. Trust me, Candale."

  I nodded reluctantly, focusing on the flickering flame again, stilling my breathing until it was slow and steady. I felt my body go limp and heavy, and everything became still and quiet and dark around me once more. "Focus on the centre of the candle's flame," Silver said gently. "There's just you and it. You're part of it, and it's a part of you. Just let everything else go. Forget you have a body. Forget everything about you, your past, your present and your future, and concentrate on the flame. You are the flame; there is nothing but the flame ..."

  The flame danced and flickered, warm and golden light licking the air. My body was gone, there was only the flame, dancing in front of me, engulfing me and drawing me down into it. It wrapped itself around me until there was nothing left, just warmth and light and peace.

  A scent of earth filled my senses, and out of the bright light came a lion. He had soft brown eyes, but a red coat with a wild red mane, almost the colour of blood. He didn't appear to see me, just went on about his business, moving slowly, calmly, without a care in the world, towards a lake that took shape before him. I watched him, as he lowered his head to drink, and slowly the waters turned red with blood. The lion didn't seem to be aware of this, or if he was, he didn't care. He just went on lapping up the water with loud, contented slurping sounds, his tongue a small flash of pink amongst the dark red of the blood lake.

  Behind him, on the left, I could now see flames and the acrid stench of burning filled my nostrils, laced with the unmistakable, stomach-turning stench of burning flesh and hair. The flames danced high, reaching up towards the cloudless grey sky, a fierce wall of fire, reflected in the dark red surface of the now still lake.

  Behind the lion, but to the right, the ground stretched on, bare and empty. A barren land, with rocks and grey soil, like charred ashes. Nothing could grow there. Grass stuck out in shrivelled, brown wilting tufts from amongst the charred ground and hard rocks, trees were brown, lifeless, dead, just blowing in the breeze.

  The lion was the dividing line between those two images, a border between two sides of the same coin, death of human life on one side, and the slow decay of nature on the other.

/>   And words spoke clearly in my mind: the red lion brings death, is death.

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  * * *

  Chapter Thirty-One

  HUNTING

  I blinked, hard. The room was suddenly very close and very real around me. My body felt heavy, solid, a leaden weight, and my eyes were sore and my throat stung.

  "The red lion brings death?" Mayrila said softly.

  "Pardon me?" I rubbed my eyes with the back of my hand hard enough to make stars dance.

  "It's what you said," Trellany told me. "Your voice was flat, toneless, almost monotone and you said that the red lion brings death, that it was death."

  "Oh."

  "Don't you remember?"

  "I remember hearing a voice say that and I remember seeing a lion, I just don't remember being the one who had said it." I grinned at her, stifling a yawn. "Well, I guess that was my first prophecy."

  "I guess so," Trellany replied, with a faint smile.

  "And how do you feel?" Mayrila asked me.

  "Fine," I said. "A little tired, but fine."