The Wizard Book

by Radu Aldea

  “And when we finish that and find out none of them had anything to do with the assassination and we’ve given Cuttland time to gather their forces, what do we do then? Because we both know that sooner or later we have to put senators on the ground in Cuttland and not just trackers. If we act quickly we might catch them unprepared.”

  “Actually I’ve sent messages to most of the important Cuttland senators. Robert Castus answered and he was quite helpful. He’s looking for the soldiers just as we are.”

  “I’m sure he is most helpful looking for soldiers that are dead. He probably sent them anyway. So if they’ve not been killed already they will be now. What about the two senators?”

  “I haven’t said anything to him about that. I think it prudent to keep it secret for now?”

  It was good thinking. Let them assume you are looking for something while you are looking for something else. They weren’t going to find the two senators. Aleyna knew it and so did the two women. They just clung to it because there was nothing else they could think of doing. What was the connection between the two senators and the soldiers who attacked them? The archers had been a ragtag band. They were probably outlaws and likely to attack anyone for gold. Some of the senators did all they could to eliminate banditry and others didn’t care. There were virtually no brigands in Western Suttland, north of the provincial capital, thanks to the efforts of Kara’s family. The situation was about the same in the mountainous part of Eastern Suttland, where Julia and her family had done the same thing. In Cuttland it was the exact opposite. Senators didn’t care unless the brigands were troublesome to them in some way. The human lords, even if they wanted to do something about it, and most of the time they didn’t, didn’t have the power and the resources of the senators. If a senator managed to read the mind of a member of a band of outlaws, it was easy to find the others and eliminate them.

  What was the connection between the riders and the senators? Because the riders did really look like soldiers, disciplined and well equipped. What would motivate them to attack a senator they’ve never met and who didn’t do anything to them? It couldn’t be personal. Kara was one of the fairest senators around and she had never abused those less powerful. The only explanation was they hated all senators. So how were soldiers, who hated senators enough to kill any one of them indiscriminately, connected to two senators?

  There must’ve been a link. It was preposterous to think the attacks on Kara and Rufus were the work of two different groups that acted independently. The timing of the attacks made it clear enough there was a connection. Yet there were two different groups: one that hated senators and one which consisted of senators. They couldn’t be connected directly, but there must be something that linked them. The riders had been disciplined and organized. It stood to reason they must’ve had a chain of command. Maybe the senator group managed to influence one of their leaders. Yes, that was probably it.

  “We can’t attack Cuttland alone. We have to wait for Julia,” Aleyna heard Marcia say. Since they were on the same topic she couldn’t have been drifting in thoughts for that long. She looked at Marcia and she saw the female senator looking back at her intently, although she was still participating in the conversation. Senators could focus on many things at once.

  “Look for the riders!” Aleyna finally spoke. “They were organized and they hated senators enough to attack one of the most powerful. They were not under anyone’s control and they were a group. They weren’t just brought together from all over the place. Someone is going to miss a large number of soldiers. Maybe not all three hundred came from the same place, and maybe they were formed by smaller groups, but by the way they fought, some of them had at least trained together. You can find them! You could write to every senator you can think of because this is a group, it has a structure, it’s well funded, ready to attack senators and I am sure we haven’t seen the last of them. And if other senators are not worried about this development, they are idiots.”

  The four senators were all speechless. They just looked at her the way Marcia did before she started speaking. It was like they haven’t seen her before and they were all stunned. They shouldn’t have been. They all knew she had the same training as Kara.

  “Well, that’s a start! I can see why my niece has kept you with her all this time.”

  “We have to take her word that those soldiers who attacked her were free,” Sarah Levilla argued. “We should read her mind to make sure she is right.”

  “I don’t think so!” Aleyna replied. Kara didn’t trust her aunt and cousin and she wouldn’t either. There was something in Sarah’s voice that made her wary.

  “Well it’s not up to you, is it?” Sarah said with a smile on her face.

  “Maybe it isn’t. You know what I’m saying it’s the truth. You want to read my mind to learn everything I know about Kara. Maybe Marcia would allow you to do this, but if they are right and I am wrong and Kara is alive, when she returns you will pay the price for taking control of me against my will. So you will all have to make your choices.”

  “I say she is telling the truth! So you will just have to trust me,” Marcia said.

  “You have to forgive my daughter. She is just testing the waters.”

  “I apologize, Aleyna, I didn’t mean anything by it! I was just curious about my cousin. But if you are right I heard a rumor from Hilderfort about a priest of some Sun God who claims he was given immunity to senatorial control. Maybe we should check what that is about.”

  “Those soldiers were certainly not immune. At least they weren’t to Kara.”

  “Then we know what we have to do,” Marcia spoke. “Two groups, one of senators, and one who hates senators, but is somehow connected to the first. Find the second group and we find the first one. We should send messages to any friendly senator we know, and even to those who are indifferent, about what to look for. And we should investigate this priest in Hilderfort as well, until Julia sends word to us or comes in person.”

  Chapter eleven

  Julia Mettela woke up with a start. She had the same horrible dream as the night before and the night before that. She hadn’t had a restful sleep since she had received that damned mysterious message from Kara. And the message was from Kara because nobody else knew the expression and what it meant. The message was simple. Dove, the fences have crumbled! Dove was the nickname Kara had given her. People knew about it, not many, but enough to make her cautious. Yet nobody else knew what the fences have crumbled meant. Not Kara’s father, not her parents, not their clients and not even Aleyna. It was a way for them to communicate in case something happened. And if Kara sent that message something had happened. Some time ago they agreed on a plan of action in case they were attacked. The one who was attacked would send the message to the other one and both the families would militarize and strengthen the garrisons of the mountain fortresses and send enough supplies there to feed the army for a long time. You could resist in those mountains even against a much more powerful force.

  They were also perfect staging points for attacks on Essland on her side and Cuttland on Kara’s side. Sure, she could attack Cuttland and Kara Essland, but she would either have to move her soldiers through the mountains or go through Ornulf’s Gap. Her military training told her both options should be avoided. The Gap was the space between the Serelian and Aldurian Mountains and it connected Cuttland to Essland. But Ornulf’s Gap was riddled with fortresses, testimony to the many conflicts, and both provinces posted a lot of soldiers in there.

  Adrian, her human lover and consort, stirred. He was probably sensing her anxiety and she knew through the link he was going to wake up soon. There was nothing he could do to comfort her as long as she was dreaming her friend being butchered, and that had happened every night since she got that message. Maybe she dreamed it more than once every night. It would explain why she woke up covered in cold sweat, managed with difficulty to fall asleep, and then woke up again. She was tired, restless and she didn’t know what
happened.

  There wasn’t an attack, she was sure of that. If someone had invaded Western Suttland Julia would’ve heard about it by now. Large armies move slowly and starve and small armies are destroyed if they cross into Suttland. Yet, whatever had happened, it was serious enough to make Kara send that message. Right now she could only guess what that might be.

  And Julia didn’t like to guess. Sure, there were enough rumors floating around, and most of them contradicted each other. She had no idea how rumors traveled faster than news, but they did. The only certain thing was that Western Suttland was in an uproar and people were getting nervous. By people she meant senators. If senators were nervous, it won’t take long for everyone to be nervous. It was just the way things worked right now.

  Adrian opened his eyes and smiled at her. It was meant to be reassuring and it truly helped a little. What did he see when he looked at her? The petite, pretty young woman with short, spiky, blond hair and bright blue eyes who seemed almost fragile and vulnerable, or the powerful senator who ruled a large part of Suttland? She was both. While Kara emanated power from every pore and people recognized it just by looking at her, the same was not true about Julia. If she didn’t wear the senatorial insignia, people might ignore her. Some thought she was pretty or even beautiful in a way, but that was about it. Although Julia and Kara were equally matched in power, it was sometimes more useful to be like her and not draw too much attention. A benefit of being smaller, cuter and less threatening!

  “Are you still worried about Kara?” Adrian asked, and gently stroked her cheek.

  Sometimes it was good to be a senator with a human consort. You knew if he loved you and he wouldn’t betray you, mainly because he couldn’t. The problem was finding a human who accepted who you were and your control over him or her. That was a lot easier for male senators. She was lucky to have found Adrian, considering males of every kind found it difficult to accept a woman’s supremacy. Ironically, Suttland had been dominated by female senators for the last five years. It was also the only province where this happened, the others were all dominated by males, although they all prayed to the White Goddess. Yes, the goddess had a consort who was also worshiped, but the White Goddess was the dominant force.

  “Of course I’m still worried. Something happened there and nobody bothered to tell us about it. I am waiting for news and you know I am not good at waiting,” Julia answered.

  “Nothing happened to Kara! She is too powerful to be killed.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous, Adrian! Of course powerful senators can be killed. Our power doesn’t make us immune. It just makes the others search harder for ways to get rid of us.”

  “Kara had the time to send the message to you, so she was not dead or in dire danger.”

  Adrian was right. Kara had had the time to write the message, therefore she had the opportunity to act or react. She could come up with a plan, and that was indeed very good news, because Kara’s plans were almost always successful. It took a very skilled adversary, one who knew the redhead very well, to even obstruct one of her plans.

  “She had time for the message. That is good, isn’t it?” Adrian repeated when she said nothing. He knew she was thinking. Adrian had been with her long enough to recognize when she was immersed in thoughts.

  “Yes, that is good! The message from Marcia confounds me, though!”

  The message from Kara had arrived in the afternoon and Julia and her family acted immediately. Her father, David, had been a little reluctant to act on it when night was so close, but finally, he was persuaded. Ravens were sent to their clients, everybody militarized and troops and supplies were sent to the mountains.

  The next day, in the morning, another message came from Marcia. It didn’t clear anything. In fact, Julia thought that was the intention. Marcia Antonia just said they were looking for hundreds of soldiers that may have crossed the Creuis, the river that separated Western Suttland from Eastern Suttland. The vagueness of the message was infuriating. The worrisome part was the message came from Marcia and nothing else came from Kara. The fact that Marcia had sent the message meant she was in charge of the family right now.

  Julia decided to indulge the other senator. Her troops and those of her clients were searching everywhere. Unsurprisingly, they hadn’t found those soldiers. Julia didn’t think they would. The Creuis was wide and deep in some areas and fast in others, which made it very difficult to cross. The bridges were controlled by senators on both sides and they taxed everyone who wanted to travel between the two parts of the province. Once upon a time Western and Eastern Suttland were two kingdoms, but they united during the wizard wars.

  Anyway, senators were particular about their income and made sure nobody could cross the river without paying their tax. So Julia was very sure hundreds of soldiers didn’t cross the Creuis. If those soldiers existed, although Julia didn’t have a reason to doubt Marcia right now, and they wanted to leave Western Suttland quickly the only way was north. To the west the river Arais, which separated Suttland from Riffland, posed the same obstacles as the Creuis, and to the south was the sea. She supposed it was possible those soldiers headed south and looked for ships to get them out, but it was highly unlikely. If Marcia was looking for them there was nowhere to hide. Yet, Julia went searching herself for those soldiers, mainly because it gave her something to do while she was waiting for news from Kara.

  “I guess it was a strange message. Why do you think Marcia is looking for them?” Adrian asked, although he was not that interested in the fate of those men. If senators were looking for you it was never good news, he thought but didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to!

  “I wish I knew. I’m certain it has something to do with Kara’s message, but I don’t see what the connection is right now. Anyway, I have a feeling that when we meet, Marcia and I are going to have a serious conversation about that cryptic message.”

  “Do you think maybe they attacked Kara?”

  “It’s possible, but I think Rufus is the likelier target. We have a message from Kara that something happened, one from Marcia that is equally disturbing and nothing from Rufus. He is the head of the family and any requests should’ve come from him.”

  “Is it possible Marcia made a move against Rufus and Kara?” Adrian asked.

  “Highly unlikely! Kara can easily defeat Marcia and Christian, and they know it. It would take more senators, or more powerful ones, to bring Kara down. It would have to be a conspiracy. I know Marcia and I just don’t see her attacking Kara or Rufus.”

  “You know senators. They eat, drink and breathe power and they always want more.”

  “Senators are also rational beings and they don’t go after something if they are not sure they could get it and keep it.”

  That was one of the reasons clients didn’t kill their patrons more often. It had sometimes happened before the Great War, but it was a rare occurrence. Another reason was the equilibrium between the senatorial houses. Suttland could not attack Essland without Cuttland intervening or Cuttland without Essland joining the hostilities. Kara and Julia had made Suttland so powerful the other houses suspected they might want to dominate all the other families and dissolve the Council. All that was true. The only reason the senators of Essland and Cuttland didn’t forge an alliance and attack Suttland was because they suspected each other of the same hidden desires. That was probably true as well, especially for Cuttland. Essland senators didn’t have enough power to dominate the entire empire, although they deluded themselves sometimes. Wessland and Riffland were too weak to count and they were largely ignored. Riffland, which was situated between Cuttland and Suttland and was the weakest province, hoped its more powerful neighbors didn’t invade it.

  Kara’s death, or Julia’s for that matter, would disturb the balance. Suttland would have to retaliate and it would put it in a vulnerable position. Lucian could make an alliance with Cuttland and attack them. The opportunity was too good to pass. Kara and Julia guaranteed that even if th
ere was an alliance between Cuttland and Essland the cost of invading Suttland would be too high. If only one of them was alive, nobody knew what would happen. That’s why no sane Suttland senator would move against Kara or Julia.

  Julia’s mother, Amanda, entered the room. She was an older version of Julia. They looked and acted so much alike that someone might mistake them from a distance. Julia inherited her looks from Amanda, but the senatorial power was her father’s. Amanda was human, but unlike many women who were discarded after they gave birth to the child of a senator, she was a consort. Julia could not read her mother’s thoughts as Amanda was under her husband’s control. She didn’t have to. The moment Amanda walked in her daughter knew something was wrong. Amanda’s grim expression told her something terrible happened.

  “Sweetheart, something awful happened. Kara is dead!”

  At first Julia didn’t understand what her mother said. She heard the words, but she simply couldn’t connect them. Then, the meaning was clear, and she realized her mother was hugging her. Julia didn’t know when that happened, but it helped.

  “What happened?” Julia asked her mother when her mind started working again.

  “It is unclear,” her mother answered. “Men have arrived this morning, claiming Marcia sent them, and brought this news with them. I came to get you as soon as I heard.”

  “Are we sure Marcia sent them?” Julia was not in a trusting mood right now.

  “Your father recognized some of them. They are Marcia’s.”

  Well, isn’t that something? Julia’s thoughts mirrored her irritation. Marcia could’ve let her know what had happened in that message. The rational part of her, which was losing the battle, told her that Marcia probably wanted to keep Kara’s death a secret and a message could’ve been intercepted. Sending some of her soldiers with the news maintained the secrecy.

  Yet keeping Kara’s death secret was doomed to fail. A senator of her friend’s immense power could not just disappear. The world would know soon enough. Determined to get to the bottom of things Julia dressed quickly in a simple dress and went to greet her guests.