A Dragon In the Palace

by William King

  She laughed. “You’ve done nothing except save the Duke’s daughter, and impress his courtiers, and his wizards.”

  “I still don’t understand.”

  “Do you think the Duke values me, boy?”

  “Yes, mistress, of course.”

  “And why do you think he does so?”

  I remembered the way she destroyed those monsters and saved the Duke’s daughter by the use of magic. I thought of all the other things she must have done and was capable of doing. “Because you are a wizard, mistress.”

  “Because I am a wizard.” She spoke slowly to emphasise her point. “That is why the Duke values me. If I was not capable of casting spells, I would be of very little value to the man. The same will prove true for you. Mark my words.”

  At first, I thought she was saying that I would prove to be of no value to the Duke but then understanding came. “You’re saying that he wants me to enter his service in the same way as you are.”

  “At this moment, you are in his service, in exactly the same way as I am. You’re both my servant and my apprentice. I am a vassal of the Duke and that makes you one too. No doubt an oath will be formally administered at some point in the not too distant future.”

  She left some questions hanging in the air. I was going to ask whether I could refuse and then I realised that that would be most unwise. I also could not think of any reason why I would want to. I was in the man’s palace. I was a friend of his daughter. There was no place else I wanted to be aside perhaps from back home with my family.

  “I can see understanding slowly percolating into your mind,” Mistress Iliana said. “You’re a wizard, boy. Wizards are a great resource to the mighty. On your own you might be worth a company of troops, perhaps a regiment. You are someone that men like the Duke will cultivate. As long as you possess power. Or as long as you look like you might possess power. In some ways that is even more valuable.”

  “I really do not understand you now, mistress.”

  “Right now, you have potential. Nobody knows how strong you will become. You might have it in you to become an Archmage. That being the case everyone will cultivate you. It does not matter that you’ve only cast one simple spell. It’s what you might be able to cast in the future that counts. And as yet nobody has any idea of what that might be, so all they can go on is their imaginations, and those always conjure up mighty pictures.”

  I began to see what she meant. That in the minds of those people down there I was a potential Archmage, not a simple apprentice. These were people who were used to looking at things in the long term. These were people who were used to cultivating alliances. I began to understand something about my future at the court of Duke Marco.

  At least, I thought I did.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Master Lucas’s tower overlooked a garden in the east wing of the palace. The next morning, I stood atop it and looked out over the battlements. It was impressively high and I had a fine view of the palace and all of the courtyards below.

  If I walked to the other side, I could look a long way out to sea. I remembered the stairs coming up. They passed through apartments full of books and alchemical equipment. The whole place was bright and sunny and not in the least like a fortress. That said, I sensed the power humming around me and knew that the tower was warded. It seemed that not even someone as well liked as the healer would take chances with his security.

  The old man kept caged birds on the roof. Master Lucas finished feeding them and walked over to stand beside me. He leaned forward, placing his veiny hands on top of the battlements. He was remarkably sprightly for a man his age. The stairs coming up had given him less trouble than they’d given me. I had not yet recovered my full strength after my illness.

  “I’m very pleased that you could join me this morning,” Master Lucas said. He sounded as if he meant it too. He smiled and said, “Shall we make a start?”

  He made it sound as if he was actually giving me a choice. Of course, I had as much choice about learning from him as I had from Mistress Iliana but he liked to give the illusion we were both in this together.

  “Of course, sir,” I said. “Please begin.”

  He gestured for me to walk over to a table. There were two seats there and a number of scrolls held in a rack. There was also a bowl of fruit and some bread and butter. “If you’re hungry, help yourself,” Master Lucas said.

  He sat down, cut himself a slice of bread, buttered it and put some honey on it. He put it on a plate and placed it in front of him but gave no sign of being ready to eat.

  There was something missing and it took me time to realise what it was. No flies were drawn to all this sweet stuff. No small insects of any sort. I wondered whether we were too high for them or was there some enchantment placed on the tower. Perhaps those wards had other uses than keeping people out. Red sniffed the food, found no meat, squeaked and went off exploring.

  “I want to show you something,” Master Lucas said. He picked one of the scrolls out of the rack and unrolled it. He placed two round polished stones at the top and bottom of the scroll as paperweights to hold it open. Inscribed on the page in beautiful calligraphy was a complex symbol.

  “What is it, sir,” I asked. “It looks familiar.”

  Master Lucas shot me sidelong look from under his bushy brows," it does, does it? How so?"

  I traced the outline with my eyes. The more I looked at the glyph the more I was convinced I had seen it before. “I don’t know, sir. It just is.”

  “Sometimes people have a sense of déjà vu when they see such glyphs. They are supposedly written in the primal language in which the universe was spoken. In some ways they are encoded in our consciousness.”

  “I don’t understand, sir.”

  “Some claim that the glyphs are a universal tongue and that on some level we all understand them. I don’t hold with it myself. But it’s a theory that was once popular among the Savants of Ar Talad.”

  “I only began to learn my letters a few weeks ago.”

  “Well, let us see what we shall see. This is a new glyph. Probably the first one that you’ve studied since you saw the rune of light. From what Mistress Iliana has told me you have yet to look at any others. Is that correct?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Red stalked to the bottom of the birdcage. He rattled it with his claws. The birds panicked. The smell of dragonling probably had them upset. Master Lucas stared at him and I gestured and snapped my fingers and Red slunk away, to hide in a corner.

  “Jolly good,” Master Lucas said. “The birds are very sensitive. Sometimes they die for no reason that I can find.”

  “I’m sorry, sir,” I said. “I’ll try and keep Red away from your pets.”

  “Thank you, young man,” Master Lucas said. “Your dragonling is very well trained. I take it has something to do with the link between you.”

  “I suppose so, sir,” I said. “He seems to know what I mean anyway.”

  I wondered if we were going to have a half-hour digression about the link. Master Lucas seemed fascinated by it. Under normal circumstances I would have been willing to listen but I was keen to get grips with new magic."

  “This is the glyph of healing,” Master Lucas said eventually. He paused and he tapped the centre of the rune impressively. “Or rather it is a glyph of healing. The simplest and most basic. It is the root of all the other healing spells that you will learn. You will see its patterns replicated endlessly in our discipline.”

  He paused and give that time to sink in. I liked the way he had said our discipline. It made us seem like co-conspirators.

  “Yes, sir, I think I understand.”

  “Good,” he said. “If there is anything that you do not comprehend, don’t hesitate to ask. There are no stupid questions when it comes to learning magic. It is best that you understand everything as well as possible before you proceed. Healing is not a discipline in which you can afford to make errors. People’s lives depend upon avo
iding them.”

  For all his jovial manner he was taking the time to impress this upon me. I’d already heard Mistress Iliana talk about the responsibilities of mages. In Master Lucas’s case though I could see that he took things particularly seriously. I suppose in his case lives really did depend on his actions. A moment’s reflection told me that if I learned these spells the same would someday be true for me. He saw understanding light my features.

  “Good, I can tell that you’re listening to what I have to say.”

  “Yes, master.” I nodded to emphasise the point.

  “If you study the spell you will see that it bears some resemblance to the outlines of the glyph of light. This is not an accident. It belongs to the same family of runes and draws its power from the same sources.”

  “Family, sir?”

  “Glyphs are classified into families depending on their purpose. Sometimes they belong to greater categories. Healing and light spells belong to the category that we call bright magic. Generally speaking, these are spells that help people or at least do them no harm. They are also the spells that bring with them the least chance of corruption.”

  I paused to think about that. I remembered what I had done with the light spell. I had turned it into a form of attack. I now felt more than a little guilty about that. “Less chance of corruption, sir?”

  “Of course, all spells carry some possibility of taint. Such is the nature of magic in this fallen world. These spells seem to carry some purifying element though. It is very rare for anyone to acquire taint from using them. In the case of the light spell, many believe it is because the power is drawn directly from the Holy Sun and therefore unlikely to do us any harm. In the case of a healing spell, the mage is using his own power to aid others. This selfless act is rarely punished.”

  It sounded as if he was repeating something by rote. For all his learning, I was not sure that Master Lucas understood why spells caused corruption any better than I did. He was simply repeating theories. I began to understand Mistress Iliana’s frustration with scholars. It seemed that a great deal was discussed by wizards but far less were understood.

  “In any case, this is a form of learning for the future. At the moment better to concentrate on something practical. You should study this glyph, follow the lines and see what it evokes in your mind.”

  “Yes, sir. Now?”

  “Unless you have any more questions,” Master Lucas said. “Now would be as good a time as any.”

  I paused to think of there was anything I wanted to ask him. I felt a sense of trepidation. This was the first new spell had attempted to learn. I had never seen this glyph before today although part of my mind still niggled away at this thought.

  I felt as if I was walking up to a cliff face and getting ready to climb it. Or, in some ways, as I had confronting the crowds in the Duke’s audience chamber. I was nervous. Sweat started to run down my back and my hands felt clammy. Something seethed in my stomach. Once again, Master Lucas sensed my mood.

  “There’s no need to be nervous, lad. No one here is judging you. Everyone understands how long it takes a wizard to learn to cast spells. And, not to make you any more nervous, it’s often the case that the second spell is the hardest.”

  Now he really was making me nervous. “The hardest? Why is that, sir?”

  “Nobody really knows but it’s not uncommon. Usually wizards are overconfident when they come to learning their second spell. They are flush with mastery of their first. The second spell is often marginally more complex and difficult to learn and of course you’re starting at the beginning again. But don’t let an old man’s ramblings distract you. Pray begin.”

  Once again, just for a moment, I thought I caught a glimpse of malevolence behind his amiable façade. I wondered if he was taking pleasure in frightening me, and building up the obstacles in my mind. I wondered if he would enjoy seeing me fail. I tried to push these thoughts aside but I could not.

  “Are you ready?” Master Lucas asked. I nodded. “Then begin.”

  He closed his eyes and seemed to be engaged in some form of meditation or breathing exercise. He stopped looking at me and just waited to see what happened. There was none of the tenseness I sometimes detected in Mistress Iliana. He really did not seem in the least concerned by anything that was happening here. Or if he was simply trying to give that impression, it was very convincing.

  I looked down at the glyph. Red returned from exploring the furthest corners of the tower top and perched on my shoulder. His long neck coiled right over the top of my head and his jaw rested just above my forehead. It was as if he had chosen to study the glyph at the same time. I did not let his weight distract me. I followed the lines with my eyes. There was definitely something familiar about them. I tried to recall where I had seen it before and I could not. This nagging sensation was a distraction preventing me from visualising the rune.

  Just as I was thinking that, Master Lucas said, “have you memorised the glyph?”

  “I think so, Sir,” I said. I had not realised that he was testing me. I did not want to disappoint him.

  “Very good, I would be surprised if you had said anything else,” he said. I felt the weight of his expectations pressing down on me.

  “Now, close your eyes, and try and visualise it.”

  I closed my eyes. I knew Red was doing the same.

  “Can you see it?” I nodded then I realised that he had his eyes closed too and could not see me so I said, “very well, sir.”

  I tried to visualise the glyph exactly as it appeared on the page. I could and that was part of the problem. I was visualising it exactly as I’d seen it on the parchment. It was pen and ink work, not the glowing lines of fire that I conjured up whenever I cast the light spell. Of course, that got me thinking about the spell I knew I could cast. It was another distraction.

  “Can you picture the glyph?” Master Lucas seemed determined to interrupt my concentration.

  “I can picture it as it is on the page,” I said.

  “You have a very impressive memory, lad,” Master Lucas said. From his tone I could not tell whether he was mocking me or not.

  “Now, superimpose lines of light upon the angles and vertexes of the glyph.”

  “I don’t know what a vertex is,” I said.

  “Just try and picture the rune exactly as it is. Only as you could see it when you are casting the light spell. The terminology I use is not important. The process that you used to cast the spell is.”

  Then why are you babbling on distracting me with strange words, you old fool, I thought. My annoyance was just a sign of my nerves. I took a deep breath, tried to ignore my surroundings and focused on the glyph of healing. At that point, something struck me. “May I ask you a question, sir?”

  “Of course! What did I tell you earlier?”

  “What will happen when I cast the spell?” Master Lucas laughed.

  “I don’t think that’s likely lad.”

  “At some point, sir, if all goes well, I’m going to cast the spell and it is a spell of healing. I’m not actually attempting to heal anyone. I know what happens when I cast the light spell. I have no idea what will happen if I cast this one.”

  Master Lucas chuckled. I sensed movement on the other side of the table. It seemed I had distracted him. “That’s a good question, lad. You’re thinking ahead.”

  I was doing nothing of the sort but teaching by flattery and misdirection seemed to be Master Lucas’s chosen style. “To answer it, nothing will happen. If you summon the energy, it will simply radiate away into the air. You need to touch a patient in need of healing for the power to have any effect. If you do that, it will stimulate a body’s own natural healing. It will accelerate that process perhaps a thousand fold. I understand that you’ve already had some experience of this, at the hands of Mistress Iliana.”

  He was referring to the time when my mistress had healed my broken nose. I wondered what it would be like to put someone else through it. S
omething else he said, my attention though. He was talking about the process of healing being accelerated. I never thought of it in that way before. “So you’re saying the spell simply does what our body does naturally only much faster.”

  “That, in essence, is the case. One of the basic principles of healing magic is that you try to work with the body, not against it. You amplify its natural tendency to heal itself. It is when we go against this that things go wrong.”

  I waited for him to say something more, but for once he did not.

  “Thank you, sir.” I gave my attention back to the glyph. I painted in lines of light over the lines I was visualising. It did not work and I did not get any response and part of me already knew that this was the wrong way to do things.

  I still felt as if I’d seen this pattern before but I did not know where. I just knew I wasn’t going about this the right way. In some ways the glyph resembled an elder sign, a five-pointed star, only there were lines running through it that interconnected in strange ways. Here and there were curves and squiggles that I suspected had meaning I just did not understand.

  I realised then that what I was seeing was only partially familiar. I’d seen it connected with light and something else. I took another deep breath and tried to put these distractions to one side. Something in me hinted that I should visualise the rune at the centre and follow the curves that radiated outward.

  I imagined the line growing at both ends at once so that it spread into different directions. As I did so, the lines connected with other lines at different angles and then flowed outwards. The whole complex pattern came into being at once in a way I would never have thought of doing if I’d left matters to conscious thought.

  Red gave a small squeak as it happened and I opened my eyes. A glow surrounded my hands. Master Lucas sat across the table bug eyed. His face had gone red and there was a wild gleam in his eyes. His mouth dropped open. I wondered if somehow my attempt to cast the spell had had some side effect on him. Then I heard him mutter, “astonishing.”