The Black Mage: Candidate

by Rachel E. Carter

  The knight tied her hair in a high knot and then looked past my shoulder. “I don’t hate you.”

  “W-what?” She had caught me off-guard.

  Paige cleared her throat. “What you said earlier. I may not enjoy your company, but I don’t hate you, my lady.”

  And that was as close to an apology as I would get. I handed the knight one of her boots, and she took it without complaint.

  Neither of us spoke another word as we trudged down the dank corridor and up the stairwell to the top floor of the keep. I was concentrating so hard on my own thoughts that I almost missed colliding with another in passing.

  “Ryiah?” The boy did a double take.

  Ian. I stopped and gave a nervous smile. “Surprise.”

  “What are you doing here? I heard…” He tried again. “I thought you would be at the palace.”

  I flushed. Our history and the awkward context of our present conversation were not lost on me. “No—I mean, yes, I will be, eventually, for the wedding, but…”

  “She’s here to make her mark,” Paige interrupted, “the same as the rest of you.”

  Ian noticed the other woman and frowned. “And you are?”

  “The knight charged with her safekeeping.”

  I smiled apologetically. “Paige is my personal guard. She was the only way I could serve outside the capital.”

  The two exchanged wary glances.

  “King’s Regiment?” Ian stared at the girl.

  She met his gaze head on. “By Crown orders. To protect the prince’s interests.”

  I changed the subject hastily. “You grew tired of Port Langli so quickly?”

  He hesitated. “I got a better offer.”

  “In Ferren’s Keep?”

  “Well, this is where I grew up.” Ian fiddled with a leather cord at his wrist. “Nyx and my parents are good friends. There has always been a position for me here. ”

  “Oh.” I had forgotten.

  “I suppose congratulations are in order.”

  I glanced up and saw Ian’s poignant expression. There was no mistaking his meaning. “T-thank you.”

  An awkward silence followed. I was searching my thoughts for the right thing to say, and I could see Ian struggling to do the same.

  Just then Ray appeared, sidling between us to grab me by the arm and spare the rest of the uncomfortable exchange. “Ry, are you ready for your first official day as a war mage?”

  “Only my whole life.”

  ****

  “So, you are the infamous Ryiah?”

  I stood silently, back erect, as the squad leader circled me slowly, taking in my narrow frame with a studious gleam. I was aware of every fault in my appearance—from the way his eyes lingered on the small tear at my sleeve to the slight pause as he caught my scarlet-red locks—still sticking up all over the place in my rush to make the morning’s meet.

  Sir Gavin took in my stubborn chin and the way I shifted nervously under the stare of all one hundred of our unit’s members. He pursed his thin lips and nodded approvingly.

  Apparently, I had passed inspection.

  “You have quite a reputation,” the knight admitted. His voice was rough and loud, but not unkind. “If I hadn’t been present during the prince’s and your heroics the year before I’m not sure I would believe it now.”

  Was that a compliment or an insult? I swallowed and hoped for the former. “Thank you, sir.”

  He nodded approvingly. “My squad is one of twenty in this keep. I understand the apprentices served with one of the inner patrols during field training but your experience will be quite different as a true member of the regiment. Commander Nyx has all recruits start with me, and all of my patrols are along the border. It’s a right of passage for newcomers to help acclimate everyone to the more dangerous aspects of our work. For that reason there is a promotion every time someone joins the keep. You will have several opportunities for advancement, so long as you follow orders.”

  I perked up instantly.

  “That said there are also too many deaths.” The knight’s expression was somber. “Everyone in the regiment understands that all lives are not equal. It is an unfortunate truth, but a mage’s capacity for magic outweighs a soldier’s life ten-to-one. During your apprenticeship this rule was undoubtedly brought up, but never is it so vital as the present. We have less than twelve mages per squad, and with your addition it comes to four Combat in this unit.”

  Only four? I counted mentally: Ray, Ian, me, and one other person—the lead mage. Four out of one hundred. Which meant there were less than two hundred mages total in the keep, and no more than eighty of them as Combat.

  “You are, of course, expected to engage during any attacks that take place, but you must exercise caution. When we go on patrols, soldiers and knights take the brunt of dangerous tasks, however you will still have more than your fair share of opportunities to partake.” The leader gripped the shoulder of a tall young man standing next to him. “This is Lief and he is the squad’s lead for Combat. You will defer to his call in all circumstances that require a mage’s judgment instead of my own.”

  Lief lifted his hand in silent greeting, choppy blond locks framing his square face as he did. He wasn’t much older than the others. Maybe early-thirties at most. And he seemed friendly too.

  A nice change from Master Byron.

  The squad leader continued. “Now, we have far too many men and women to handle introductions, but I trust you’ll come to know everyone in time. We have two more days at base, and then we will be setting out for another patrol. Five squads service the keep, and the rest regularly patrol specific sections of the border. We spend three weeks abroad followed by one week of respite and rotate with the rest of the units. Should we be called to action, respite will be delayed as long as necessary. Have you any questions?”

  I shook my head enthusiastically. “No, sir!”

  “Good, and have you and your guard already been to the seamstress and armory to be properly outfitted?”

  “Not yet…”

  “Well then I will have one of your factionmates take you. Ray, you were just there the day before, I trust you can show Ryiah and Paige the way?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “When you three are finished please meet us in the strategy hall. Commander Nyx will be reporting on the latest activity for the squads currently present.”

  The boy nodded and led Paige and me away from the crowd, back down the keep steps to the third floor. As we turned the corner of yet another winding passage he turned to me with a hint of old humor.

  “So, what do you think? Better than four years with Byron?”

  “Are you kidding?” I kept a straight face. “Those were the best days of my life.”

  Chapter Three

  “During the patrols our squad follows a very specific formation,” Lief began. “A handful of soldiers scout ahead, and the rest flank the very front and back of our pack. The knights are next and take center. Crammed in the very middle is us,” The lead mage cleared his throat. “Sounds simple, right? It is. But every time a new Combat mage joins the squad they inevitably try to play hero and break formation at the first sight of danger.”

  “Has a mage ever broken formation just to run for his life?” Ian inquired innocently.

  The lead mage rolled his eyes. “How I have missed your senseless humor.”

  Ian nudged his mare closer to Lief with a chuckle. “Admit it, you pined for me every night while I was away.”

  Ray and I exchanged smirks. The lead mage was also a Ferren’s Keep native, and so the two older boys had a whole slew of insults to throw at one another whenever Ian deemed Lief’s speeches too dry.

  In the past two years I had almost forgotten what it was like to be friends with the curly-haired mage. Hearing him get along with our new leader now was bittersweet. I was happy to see Ian smiling again, cracking jokes and lightening moods, but also sad. Because I knew no matter how much time we spent together o
ur friendship would never be like that again.

  When Darren had first turned me away I had been devastated. What I had done to Ian was no better.

  The difference was our motives. Darren’s actions had been justified. He’d been trying to do what was best for the kingdom. Mine? Wrong, selfish, and cruel. I had used one of my best friends to shield myself from feelings for another, and when those feelings had finally gotten to be too strong I had tossed him aside.

  Ian had forgiven me the day of his ascension, but that didn’t erase the past. Our friendship would never be the same. And I had only myself to blame.

  “We lost two Combat mages that day.” Lief’s story carried through my thoughts. “Sir Gavin doesn’t usually yell but you should have seen him. He lost his voice after three hours of shouting at the rest of us. It didn’t matter that the ones who had disobeyed his orders were dead—he held every one of us accountable. Told us if we ever saw one of the other mages try to march to the front of enemy lines we had better stop them unless we wished to be demoted and sent to some far away town with no action at all.”

  “That hardly seems fair,” I said.

  Lief raised a brow. “It’s not meant to be fair.”

  Ray coughed. “And what if someone—say Ryiah—decides to take off on her own and threatens me with a pain casting?”

  I guffawed and the boy winked at me.

  “How am I supposed to stop her from breaking formation to help one of our injured comrades? I don’t know about you or Ian, but the girl is second rank for a reason.“ Ray cast an apologetic glance at Paige. “My apologies but I don’t think you can stop her either. Not without magic.”

  My guard glared at Ray in reply.

  “Get help. Try to stop her however you can.” Lief turned his attention to me with a furrowed brow. “You aren’t planning to do something reckless, are you?”

  Ian chuckled somewhere behind me.

  “Of course not!” Even as I said it, I couldn’t help thinking how grateful I was that the rest of them didn’t know about my mission in Dastan Cove. Darren had blackmailed our leader Mira into leaving out my antics in our report to Commander Chen. Which was a good thing because if it had been public knowledge, then Ray would have realized his hypothetical scenario had actually happened.

  “I am very good at following orders.” Most of the time, anyway. “You don’t have to worry about me.”

  Lief studied me for a moment in contemplative silence, and then with a sigh went on to explain the squad’s routine. I listened attentively with my eyes combing the road ahead. It was our second day of duty. All around me were the remains of great pines, charred and needleless in the aftermath of the infamous Caltothian attack one year before. A quarter of the northern forest had gone up in flames.

  I could still taste the bitter ash. My lungs constricted just remembering the fire, the way I could barely breathe, the way the world had thundered—just for an instant—as Eve gave herself to save the prince and me.

  Some of the vegetation had returned, but for this patch the forest was just a field of black, towering trunks. In permanent mourning of those we had lost.

  We crossed several small streams before making camp in a clearing fifteen miles later. The setting sun had transformed into a deep magenta.

  Every man saw to his own horse, making sure it was brushed down, watered, and fed, but the soldiers saw to most of the camp’s upkeep: pitching tents, preparing the meal, taking inventory, and collecting wood. They also did a rotation for sentry duty.

  The rest of our party—the twenty-four knights and five mages—spent each evening discussing strategy with Lief and Sir Gavin. We learned the specifics of the territory patrols; the names of the bordering villages most destined for trouble; and reviewed general tactics.

  At the third day’s afternoon break, Sir Gavin addressed the question all the new recruits had been not-so-silently pondering.

  “I’ve heard many of you ask your comrades when we should expect to run into the Caltothians. The answer is simple: not now, and not on the road.” He cracked his neck as he spoke. “The enemy is far more likely to raid one of the small villages straddling the border than ambush an armed regiment. Even then, I expect their number to be few and ill-prepared at that.”

  “But what about the attack last year in Ferren?” The words spilled from my lips before I could stop them. “The Caltothians didn’t seem ill-prepared then.” Beside me I caught two of the new soldiers and Ray nodding in agreement.

  Sir Gavin was silent for a moment while several soldiers exchanged knowing looks. When the lead knight finally answered it was with a bitter truth. “I am in full accord, Ryiah, but what you must realize is by now the Caltothians will have heard the rumors that King Lucius is actively citing Caltoth’s most recent assault as a breach in the Great Compromise.”

  My confidence faltered. A break in the treaty was an open declaration of war. Everyone knew the participating rulers would automatically turn against the noncompliant country. It was what had kept peace between Jerar, Caltoth, the Borea Isles, and Pythus for almost a century.

  “Previously Emperor Liang and King Joren refused to consider the Crown’s complaints, but a direct assault on Ferren changed everything. The keep is too far south to be considered a territorial dispute.” Sir Gavin paused and his eyes locked on all of the recruits, me included. “Now King Lucius’s claims hold merit. Unless the king of Caltoth thinks himself a fool, he would be wise to hold off future attacks and focus his energies on disputing Jerar’s claims. Any action at this point would not be advisable on our part or the Caltothians.”

  A short silence followed. The rest returned to their lunch, but I was too restless to follow. I downed the remains of my skin and then headed to the creek to refill it. I was lost in thought. Sure, I knew war was coming…

  But what I hadn’t realized was how much Jerar was depending on the other countries’ blessings. I’d been so wrapped up in my apprenticeship that I had never paid much attention to politics, and what little I had heard had been limited to dowries. Sir Gavin’s words were alarming. It meant that we were at the mercy of Caltoth until the other nations decided in our favor.

  And even if Caltoth was smart enough to restrain from attacking Jerar while it was under observation, there was the added fear that King Horrace might somehow sway the other nations’ favor.

  Because even with Emperor Liang’s renewed alliance to Jerar, the Borea Isles would not support a breach of the Great Compromise without the backing of Pythus. They were too weak. And from the fit Blayne had thrown during this year’s ascension, it was clear even if the crown prince did obtain the hand of one of Joren’s daughters, the Pythian king was not pro-Jerar.

  And King Joren already had a sister married to one of King Horrace’s brothers.

  Which meant if we did not find a way to convince the others, we would end up at war with three countries instead of one. Something even a Pythian princess and my Borean dowry couldn’t fix.

  “The other rulers are cowards.” Next to me Paige prodded the shore with a stick. She had come along in a bitter mood herself. “They use their distance as a crutch, claiming they are too far away to see what Caltoth is doing. We all know the truth.”

  “They shouldn’t have signed the compromise unless they were willing to uphold it.” My stomach was rolling. What if they didn’t? “What if they leave us with no choice but to declare war on Caltoth without the protection of the treaty?” Are they planning on siding with the wealthiest country, or the country with the greatest army? Because Jerar was only the latter. And do we really have the greatest army if we are facing three armies combined? From all sides?

  I looked down at my hands to see them shaking. Try as I might to appear unaffected, I was far from it. I hadn’t a lot of free time to think about my mission in Dastan Cove, but I still dreamed of it. What it had felt like to kill. What it had felt like to almost lose Darren.

  Fighting was easy until there were consequences.
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  I hadn’t been close to Caine—or Eve—during the events of my second and fifth year as an apprentice, but that didn’t mean their deaths didn’t haunt me. Their memories were easy to ignore during the day, but they were always with me when I closed my eyes. I could still smell the singed flesh from the desert pyre. I could still remember the determined look in Eve’s eyes right before she gave up her life to save the prince and me. A mage’s “last stand”—a sacrifice she never should have had to make.

  “We cannot afford to go to war against Caltoth, the Borea Isles, and Pythus.”

  “No, we can’t.”

  I turned and found Paige watching me, her expression unwavering. “I do not believe you will let it come to that, my lady.”

  I frowned. If only it were up to me.

  If only there was a way.

  ****

  We picked up the bandits’ trail almost immediately.

  Unfortunately for us that was the only thing that came easily.

  We had received the request for aid on our second week of duty. Sir Gavin’s squad patrolled a hundred-mile grid in the northwestern territory of Jerar and three small townships fell into our route. Two of them reminded me of Demsh’aa, but the third, Pamir, was a sizeable city that was famous for its breeding grounds and the realm’s best thoroughbreds. We had only just reached the border when several envoys appeared with tales of a theft that had taken place only three days before.

  Apparently Pamir’s Lord Waldyn had already sent out half the town’s local regiment to hunt down the thieves, but they had returned empty-handed. Small town regiments were expected to stay close to home. They didn’t have the resources for a long hunt. After all, most were needed at home to stand guard and keep a watchful eye on the remaining livestock in case the bandits decided to strike twice.

  Since Pamir was a part of our patrols, it came down to Sir Gavin’s squad to seek out the offenders and return the stallions to the desperate merchants.