Fire of the Soul

by Speer, Flora

  Laisren’s next words told Calia that the queen also could recognize and seize an opportunity. “In repayment,” she said to Calia, “I expect you to carry the Emerald to my father.”

  “My lady, if you save Fenella and her sons, if you help them to escape Mallory, I will do whatever you ask of me.” Calia was reluctant to make that promise, but she could see no other way to protect three helpless people and Lady Elgida, too.

  “Please, Queen Laisren,” Fenella whispered, her hands fluttering around her battered face, “don’t let my boys see me like this. Use your Power if you must, but help me, I beg you.”

  “I am bound by promises I agreed to in my marriage contract, promises that place restrictions upon the full use of my Power. Still.” Laisren set her mouth into a stern line. “Sundaria, kindly take Fenella to your chamber. Help her to wash and apply a bit of paint to her face to hide the bruises. Then find Belai and Kinen and bring them here. Be as quick and as secretive as you can. All of you must leave the palace before Mallory can reach King Dyfrig and exert his corrupt influence. If the king issues a direct order for you and your sons to remain here, I can do nothing for you.”

  When they were alone Calia faced the queen with some trepidation, knowing what she must say and dreading Laisren’s reaction. Still, she was duty-bound to speak the entire truth.

  “My lady,” she began, “you mentioned a direct order from King Dyfrig. Well, Garit and Durand are under a direct order from King Henryk of Sapaudia. They have been commanded to find the Emerald and hand it over to him, so he can send it back to Domini Gundiac. Apparently, King Henryk believes that act will assure peace between Sapaudia and the Dominion.”

  “No person, king or commoner, who has followed the career of Gundiac can possibly believe any gift will pacify his ambitions,” Laisren responded. “No, Calia, after much thought I have decided that the Emerald must be returned to the Great Mage Ultan, who will know how to make the best use of its Power.”

  “You will have to convince Garit and Durand, because I doubt they will agree with you, and I am not strong enough to overcome their objections,” Calia said.

  “You are stronger than you think. Use your Power, if you must.”

  “Use -? My lady, I have spent my life learning to control and conceal my Power,” Calia cried. “My father’s Power was corrupt, and so is Mallory’s. How can I be certain that what I am trying to control won’t prove to be as corrupt and wicked as their Power?”

  “If you were capable of corruption, my father would not have sent you to me.”

  Laisren extended her right hand. The same finger that had opened and then resealed the stone box traced a spiral design on Calia’s forehead without actually touching the skin. Calia felt warmth and a slight prickling sensation and she knew that Laisren was learning her thoughts, as only a mage of great Power could do. Then the finger, and the prickling, were gone.

  “My father told you not to fear your Power,” Laisren said.

  “How can I not fear what’s locked inside my mind, when I have such terrible examples before me in my nearest blood kin?” Calia asked. “If not for the training that Lady Elgida’s daughter provided me at Talier Beguinage, who knows what I would have become?”

  “Your mother is not corrupt,” Laisren said.

  “My mother is dead. She died almost twenty years ago.”

  “Who told you so?”

  “My father. And Mallory.” Calia gasped at the implication in Laisren’s voice. “Are you saying they lied?”

  “Evidently. But, as you say, that was twenty years ago. Now, before Fenella returns, take this. She must not know you have it, in case Mallory is able to use his influence on her.” Laisren handed over the little silver casket and a piece of green velvet. “The casket is sealed in the same way the stone box was sealed. Only my father can open it. Wrap it in the velvet and hide it well. Ah, here is Sundaria, returned with Belai and Kinen.”

  When the queen turned from her to greet the newcomers, Calia used the moment to slide the casket into her pocket.

  As Sundaria introduced the boys to Calia, she could see she’d have difficulty telling them apart. Though Belai was almost two years older than Kinen, they were the same height and they were remarkably similar to their mother in appearance. Both had reddish hair and fair skin, with freckles across their noses, just like Fenella. Their eyes were bright blue, and Calia imagined she could detect mischief lurking beneath their polite manners.

  “Listen to me well and obey me,” Laisren said to them in a tone that warned Calia the boys had disobeyed her in the recent past. “This is Calia, who will take you to meet your grandmother, Lady Elgida. You are to do everything that Calia or Lady Elgida may tell you to do. Do you understand me?”

  “Yes, my lady.” First one and then the other boy muttered the polite, required answer. The looks in their eyes when they regarded Calia hinted of rebellion and she knew they intended to do just as they pleased.

  “You must understand,” she said to them, “that your lives and the lives of others may well depend on your prompt obedience to orders. Do you hope to become knights?”

  “I shall be a great lord when I grow up,” said the lad whom Calia guessed was Belai.

  “If you want to live that long,” she told him, “you and your brother will follow orders.”

  “I want my quilt!” said the other boy. His face puckered and he began to cry. “Awww!”

  “Hush,” Calia said, feeling as if she had just been plunged into a vat of icy water. What did she know about children? The only young boy she’d ever had dealings with was the stable lad at Catherstone, who had volunteered to help her prove Mallory’s guilt and who had died as a result. She could not allow Mallory to kill Belai and Kinen, too. Then she had an inspiration. The stableboy at Catherstone had enjoyed hearing stories about knights performing feats of daring; perhaps these boys would, too. “We are setting out upon a great adventure, which will also be dangerous. Your companions will depend on you. One of those companions is your older brother, Lord Garit.”

  “Who is he?” Belai demanded. “We have never met him.”

  “Is he a knight?” Kinen asked. To Calia’s relief, he had stopped wailing.

  “Garit is a famous knight, and he is waiting to give you your instructions,” Calia informed them. “I am assigned to take you to him.”

  “Will he hit us, the way Mallory does?” Kinen asked, his cheeks wet and his lower lip still trembling.

  “I am certain Garit will never strike you,” Calia promised.

  At that moment Fenella returned. She looked somewhat better with the tears washed from her face and powder covering the worst of her bruises. To Calia’s surprise, Fenella greeted her sons rather coolly, and the boys were very formal with her.

  “You must all leave at once,” Queen Laisren told them. “Sundaria, take the documents on the table. You will need them.”

  Lady Elgida veered from dismay at Fenella’s condition to tearful joy at her first sight of Belai and Kinen. She sent Mairne to find Garit and bring him to the cottage. Durand came, too, and before long a noisy game of knights and villains erupted in the garden.

  “Sundaria,” Lady Elgida said, “thank you for bringing the boys to me. How long may they stay?”

  “Indefinitely,” Sundaria answered. “I am to remain here, also. We are to await instructions from the queen.”

  They didn’t have long to wait before Euric and Ilona appeared. Calia promptly returned the key of the garden door to Ilona. Sundaria handed over to Euric the documents the queen had given her.

  “Lady Elgida,” Euric said, his gaze on the documents, “you and your party are commanded to leave Kerun City by nightfall.”

  “I cannot leave now,” Lady Elgida declared. “I have only just met my grandsons.”

  “They are to depart with you,” Euric told her, still reading. “The queen has transferred guardianship of Belai and Kinen to you. The manner of your leaving is not specified, only that you are t
o go.”

  “Leave?” Lady Elgida thought for a moment. “What about Fenella? A mother ought to be with her children.”

  “My instructions say nothing about Lady Fenella,” Euric responded. “So far as I know, she is free to accompany you. Allow me to tell you, Lady Elgida, that I am entirely too well acquainted with Sir Mallory. He will be angry when he learns that the boys have been removed from his guardianship. If Lady Fenella remains behind, she will likely become the object of his wrath.”

  “Fenella, you may come with us,” Lady Elgida said at once.

  “I’m not sure. What will happen to me if I go with you?” Fenella was plainly wavering between wanting to escape and serious concern over her future.

  “Lord Euric is correct,” Calia told her. “If you don’t leave Kerun City, Mallory will almost certainly kill you.”

  “But, am I sentenced to permanent exile?” Fenella asked Euric. “I haven’t done anything wrong.”

  “According to the documents,” Euric responded, reading them again, “Belai and Kinen have the queen’s permission to leave her service to pursue their education elsewhere. I see no reason why you cannot go with them and return later, when you will be safe.” He carefully did not mention a detail Calia understood very clearly, that Fenella would be safe only when Mallory was dead or stripped of his Power.

  “What does that mean, ‘elsewhere?’“ Fenella asked, looking bewildered. “Where are my sons to go?”

  “Queen Laisren discussed the boys with me,” Sundaria spoke up. “She would like them to accompany their grandmother to Sapaudia and then, when Lady Elgida deems the time is right, the queen wants them to train at Nozay Manor, under Lord Giles.”

  “That is a very good idea,” said Garit, who had entered the cottage while the others were talking. “Queen Laisren has no doubt heard of Lord Giles from her father. In his youth, Lord Giles spent some years studying under Ultan.”

  “I should tell you,” Sundaria said, “that Lord Giles is my father. During the time when he lived in Tannaris, he married a Chandelari lady. She died when I was born. When Lord Giles returned to Sapaudia, Ultan asked that I be left behind, to be raised as a companion to Laisren. My father writes to me occasionally, so I know of his later second marriage, and of the births of his sons. Like you, Lord Garit, I have younger brothers I’ve never met.

  “Lady Elgida, if you will permit me, I would very much like to travel with you to Sapaudia, and later continue on to Nozay Manor with your grandsons. I have Laisren’s permission to visit my father.”

  “Of course, you are welcome,” Lady Elgida said at once, “though I do wonder where Captain Pyrsig will put all of his passengers.”

  “Cabin space won’t be a problem,” Calia said. “Lady Elgida, I won’t be sailing with you. Queen Laisren is sending me on a mission to her father in Tannaris. I am to travel overland.”

  “What?” Garit’s face was stark with anger. “I will not allow you to ride into danger—”

  “Stop, Garit.” Lord Euric’s hand came up in a commanding gesture. “Queen Laisren has included the necessary documents to see you safely past the sentry posts on the Northern Border. You and Durand are to escort Calia to Tannaris. I believe Durand knows the direction,” Euric added dryly, watching Durand and the two boys enter the cottage.

  “Indeed, I do.” Durand’s expression of grim resolve told Calia that he wasn’t happy at these arrangements. “I have traveled that road many times on King Henryk’s service.”

  “I will do what Queen Laisren has ordered me to do,” Calia said to the men with all the firmness she could muster. “I will deliver her package to Ultan. Then, the three of us will discuss with Ultan what to do next. We will trust to his wisdom about the situation between Sapaudia and the Dominion.”

  “I don’t understand a word of this,” Lady Elgida declared. “Lord Euric, do you know what she’s talking about? Ilona, do you? Sundaria, you must know what the queen expects of Calia.”

  “My mission is a private one,” Calia said. “I cannot discuss it with anyone but the Great Mage Ultan.”

  “That’s very wise of you,” Garit said, surprising her. “You’ve reached the best solution to the problem we discussed the other night. We can deal more fully with the issue when we see Ultan. Now then, Grandmother, I think you ought to pack your belongings and hasten to the docks before Mallory comes looking for you.”

  Calia saw the approval in Garit’s glance at her and for the first time since she’d been summoned by the queen, she smiled. Her heart lightened considerably when Garit smiled back at her.

  Chapter 21

  “Your queen has betrayed you,” Mallory told Dyfrig. “She is working secretly with her father, in the interests of Chandelar. She cares nothing for Kantia, or for you.”

  “I cannot believe that,” Dyfrig protested. “I will not believe it.”

  “No? Then ask her yourself.” Mallory gestured toward the door that separated the queen’s private apartments from the king’s chambers. “Shall I knock for you?”

  Mallory didn’t wait for a reply, but pounded on the door. A serving maid promptly opened it. She looked so startled at seeing Mallory that he stepped inside before she could slam the door against his entrance. Dyfrig looked as if he wanted to protest Mallory’s rude intrusion, but after a moment he meekly followed.

  “King Dyfrig demands to see Queen Laisren,” Mallory announced to the maid.

  “Here I am, my lord king.” Ignoring Mallory as if he were the lowest servant in the palace, Laisren entered the room through an inner doorway. “What do you want of me?”

  Her curtsy to Dyfrig was deep and respectful. Even Mallory, who loathed the woman, could find nothing to object to in her manner.

  “My dear friend Mallory tells me that the Great Emerald of the East has come into your possession,” Dyfrig said in his fretful way. “You have neglected to inform me of this recent, momentous event.”

  “My lord, I do not have the Emerald,” Laisren responded with a sweet smile.

  “You are lying,” Mallory stated boldly. With his fists planted on his hips, he glared at her. If he’d looked at Fenella in the same way, his wife would have begun quivering and shaking where she stood. Laisren merely gazed back at him, a thoughtful expression replacing her smile.

  “My lord king,” Laisren said, “will you allow this person to insult me in your presence?”

  “Really, Mallory, you ought to speak to your queen with more respect,” Dyfrig gently admonished his friend. “If Laisren has the Emerald, I feel quite certain we can persuade her to confess it, and to tell us where it is.”

  “I have already said that I do not have it.” Laisren’s voice took on a challenging edge that Mallory did not like at all. His annoyance with her rose.

  “And I have already said that you are lying.” Mallory looked around. “Where is it?”

  “The Emerald is not here.” Laisren spoke with cutting crispness.

  “I haven’t seen this piece before today.” Mallory moved to a table where a box carved from pale stone rested. “Is it new?”

  “Don’t touch that!” Laisren cried. “It was a gift from my father. I treasure it.”

  “You mean, you treasure what’s inside it.” Mallory picked up the box and began to shake it.

  “The box is empty,” Laisren told him. Turning to the king, she asked, “Dyfrig, what is the meaning of this treatment? I am your wife, yet you allow this rude person to barge into my private chambers and speak to me as if I were a thief.”

  “Well, Laisren, he says you have the Emerald.” Dyfrig’s voice faltered a bit and he looked to Mallory as if for direction..

  “And I say I do not have it.” Laisren’s blue gaze glittered with outrage. Her lustrous hair shone with angry color, the tip of each strand changing from its natural shade of brown to gold, to orange, and then to a brilliant, glowing red. “Do you believe your wife, or this upstart creature who presumes to order you about as if you were his servant, instead of hi
s king?”

  “This box won’t open,” Mallory said to Dyfrig. “When I first touched it, the stone was cool. Now it is warming. Laisren is using her Power to hide what’s inside the box from me. And from you,” he added hastily, seeing a gleam of irritation in Dyfrig’s pale eyes.

  “Nothing is inside it,” Laisren cried. “Put it down at once.”

  By now the box was beginning to burn Mallory’s fingers. Unfortunately, he was still depleted of his Power after destroying Hulme and he did not want to squander what little Power remained to him. So he chose a simpler, more direct method of learning what he wanted to know. He smashed the box to the marble floor. The stone shattered with a loud, explosive sound that hurt his ears and convinced him that whatever was inside was magical. Or the box was. It had come from Ultan, after all.

  “I told you it was empty,” Laisren said, her mouth drawn tight with displeasure.

  “Liar!” Mallory grabbed her upper arms and began to shake her. “Where is the Emerald? What have you done with it?”

  Laisren’s eyes widened. Mallory was certain that no one had ever dared to touch her so roughly, and he took pleasure in seeing what he took to be fear in the usually self-possessed woman. He saw the evidence of her new emotion in the way the formerly vibrant colors of her hair faded to a drab shade of brown.

  “Mallory, please don’t hurt her,” Dyfrig cried.

  “Hurt her? I’ll kill her if she doesn’t confess.” Beside himself with frustration and with a seething, nearly ungovernable rage, Mallory shook Laisren again, harder this time.

  “She doesn’t have the Emerald.” Dyfrig sounded desperate. “She told us several times that she doesn’t have it. I believe her. Please, Mallory, let her go.”