The Wizard Book

by Radu Aldea

  Did she compare him to a fly? That was too good. She had meant amoeba or one of those gelatinous organisms with amorphous shape. Yes, he was exactly like that.

  “I think there must be some misunderstanding.” Again, it was Yvonne who answered. “Alexandra didn’t compare our beloved emperor to a fly, but to a tiger.”

  Tamzin suppressed a smile. She definitely didn’t believe Yvonne, in fact, she couldn’t imagine anyone who would. Only Sem’Dhar could be that gullible. “Really?”

  “That’s the way I understood it.” Yvonne was continuing the charade and Alexandra was not sure why. The emperor was content and the empress amused.

  “You also had an altercation with a soldier of the imperial guard,” Tamzin continued.

  They had been followed or someone in that tavern was an informant of some kind. Alexandra hoped they wouldn’t be connected to those men. She should’ve known better. There were too many people in the tavern, too many who informed on others for little gain. Tamzin’s network of informants seemed extensive, which begged the question why was she surprised when she was told about the mood in the city.

  “There was an argument that ended the moment he realized we were sorceresses. He left the tavern with his friends. You are well informed so I’m sure you already know this.”

  “That soldier and his friends disappeared and someone used our power a little later, close to the tavern.” The empress was relentless and obviously knew she killed those men.

  Damn it! She only used a small amount of power and hoped it would go unnoticed. A sister, maybe the empress, evidently did notice it. She must’ve been close to sense it.

  “A coincidence. Sisters use power all the time. It wasn’t us. We came directly to the palace.” Alexandra found it wise to lie. Yvonne was doing it and she must’ve had a reason. Nobody should’ve cared she had killed a degenerate, even if he was in the imperial guard, or dared to accuse her of it. Apparently, Tamzin was looking for another way to get rid of her, as if the suicide mission wasn’t enough. Alexandra realized she didn’t know the empress well enough or understand the game the sister was playing. It was something complex and she had no idea what was going on.

  “All right! Go get ready, we’re leaving at first light,” Tamzin ended the discussion.

  “Just the two of us?”

  “You said it is enough and I have the prestige to convince the senators. I agree! Yvonne, withdraw the sisters to the inner city!”

  It was a lie. Tamzin being the empress meant nothing. The fact they were sorceresses would make the lesser senators talk, but the powerful ones wouldn’t give them the time of day. She knew Tamzin and her sister was not stupid. What was she doing?

  She didn’t have time to ask the question because the meeting suddenly ended and they were dismissed. The moment Yvonne knew they were alone she started talking fast.

  “What the hell is going on? Nothing makes any sense. At first I thought Tamzin wanted your head and then she agreed to this insane journey. It was so brilliant of you to suggest you needed her. I almost died laughing. I didn’t think she would agree in a hundred years.”

  “Neither did I. I wanted to go alone and now I can’t. I was going to talk to a senator. I am not sure he will agree to it if I bring someone with me. Now I have no choice.”

  “You could kill her. I’m sure she wants to do the same to you.”

  “I’m not sure. She knew we were lying, but she didn’t press. It was as if she didn’t know what to do, she hesitated. Why just leave when mummy sent help to take over the sisters in Veneguard. And why are we searching for this young, female senator?”

  Yvonne shook her head. Just like Alexandra, she had no idea. Tamzin and Sem’Dhar didn’t say anything about it and she was sure they wouldn’t have even if asked.

  “So what are you going to do?” Yvonne asked.

  “I am going to talk to my contact and see what is going on with the senators. Then I will go south, but not to Suttland. Essland is south, isn’t it?”

  “You are not going to sleep. You’ll have to keep an eye open in case she tries to kill you.”

  “She is not going to sleep either.”

  “Try to find out why we are searching for that girl. I have a bad feeling about it.”

  “Go to the sisters and make preparations for departure. Keeping to the inner city is only a temporary solution. Tell them what’s going on and keep an eye on the sisters who just arrived. And if the emperor is giving you any more trouble, incinerate the madman.”

  Yvonne laughed. “I might do exactly that. Do you really think he ordered the death of those two senators?”

  “I don’t know. I almost hope he did without using a sorceress. Then we would just hand him over to the senators and get it over with.”

  They split up. Alexandra went to her quarters to pack and Yvonne to talk to the sisters. For now, she still had command and Alexandra was giving serious thought to killing Tamzin.

  Chapter eighteen

  The soldiers looked ominous through the small telescope. They were scouts, she recognized immediately, about fifty of them, from Suttland. Kara was surprised they reached this far north without being stopped. Sooner or later, someone was going to stop them.

  “Are they yours?” Michael asked.

  What did he mean, were they hers? She gave him the telescope to see for himself. He didn’t need it. In fact, it was Michael who warned her they were near and it was she who decided to take the risk and get a good look at them. Kara knew she had to stop the reckless behavior sometime, just not right now. It may’ve been self-destructive, but it worked for her.

  “No, they’re not mine. They are Julia’s.” Kara figured he asked if those soldiers were sent north by her family. It was too far east for them to be sent by her house. Besides, their armor clearly identified them as soldiers from Eastern Suttland.

  “Are you sure? You can just send soldiers in another province and nobody stops you?”

  It wasn’t that simple. Every senatorial family had a territory and they couldn’t just send soldiers in the lands of another family. There were lands that didn’t belong to senators but to human lords. Any senator could send soldiers there. These, however, were senatorial lands and the soldiers should’ve been stopped. Cuttland senators must’ve been really afraid. There wasn’t much they could do about Julia and they knew it. She explained.

  “So they aren’t doing anything because they are afraid of Julia, who is a member of the Circle of Five.” There it was, the question Michael had been meaning to ask since he met her and didn’t. Now that they were sleeping together he was more confident he would get an answer. Kara felt the sex gave her a respite – not that it was why she did it, she really liked Michael and this was just another reason among many – but it was time to tell him.

  “If they attack her soldiers, well, they’re not really hers, they are under the control of one of her clients, she would use the incident as an excuse to crush them.”

  “In a senatorial war, could Suttland really defeat Cuttland?”

  There was an easy answer to his question. “Yes! We always could, I guess. That was never the problem. Since Julia and I have matured any conflict would’ve been one-sided. Cuttland alone would’ve been crushed and Suttland would dominate the empire. So, in case of war, Essland would side with Cuttland to stop us. Essland could arguably defeat Cuttland, but it would leave them severely weakened and again, Suttland in control of the empire. Riffland and Wessland don’t matter much. It is a stand-off, the side that makes the first move loses, and so that’s why everyone is waiting. We planned this war two years ago. A quick strike against Essland to kill Lucian, which would leave the province in disarray, and then move on Cuttland.”

  “Would it have worked?”

  “I guess, if the strike was fast enough and we had the element of surprise.”

  “What happened?”

  “My father and Julia’s father did not agree. They didn’t think we had the element of surp
rise. They thought the emperor would choose a side and it wouldn’t be ours.”

  Two years ago Kara and Julia wanted blood. When their fathers, who also happened to be the heads of the families, disagreed they weren’t exactly pleased, but they obeyed. Then, they didn’t think the emperor would intervene. Now, she was pretty sure he would’ve helped their enemies. The aid of a wizard with foresight was invaluable. He could see where the battles would take place, how they would unfold, what would be the best strategy. Foresight would not guarantee success and was not infallible, but it would certainly tip the scales.

  “So are you going to tell me why you travel without guards and you are not worried another senator would take over me, and Cuttland is so afraid of you and Julia?”

  “I am worried. I am always running every imaginable scenario in my mind and I am afraid I am missing something. Senators can’t get close to you, not while we’re together.”

  “All right! So why is Cuttland so afraid of you and Julia?”

  “Senators are the same as everybody else in a way. Some are more powerful than others. It is the same with wizards and sorceresses. This is the base of our hierarchy. You may ask yourself, why does this matter? Well, it matters because if there is a significant difference in power, the more powerful senators can take humans away from the weaker ones. The plebs, who can’t control more than twenty humans at once although they vastly outnumber the rest of us, are practically useless in any senatorial war as any senator over a hundred can take the humans from them. They are more of a liability than any help they might provide. In fact, anyone under a hundred is. The Circle of Five is made from senators who breached the three hundred barrier. You probably guessed that. You may wonder, why does it matter if a senator controls three hundred and five and not two hundred ninety-five? It’s not much of a difference, is it? Only it is. We can take over the humans of any senator who is not in the Circle.”

  She let Michael process the information. He must’ve suspected something like this, only he hadn’t bee sure. “So you, Julia, Lucian and two other senators make everyone into a liability.”

  “Yes! Any senatorial war will be fought between less than ten percent of the Order. We are too few to make all the other senators irrelevant, but we will decide the outcome.”

  “And Suttland has two of you, which is more than any other province.”

  “Not exactly! Essland has two and the last one is in Wessland.”

  “There are none in Cuttland? Isn’t that strange?”

  It was and it wasn’t. Cuttland had more senators than any other province, but they were less powerful on average than those in Suttland or Essland. So if you added the number of people the powerful senators of Suttland could control and those of Cuttland, Suttland would win. So it was unusual Cuttland didn’t have a Circle member because they were so many and it wasn’t surprising because they were less powerful. But Kara had her suspicions.

  “The five told everyone about their powers. That doesn’t mean others didn’t keep it secret. I’m sure some thought it a good idea. I think Cuttland has one of the Circle.”

  “Can’t they have more than one?”

  “I guess, but it’s unlikely. We do keep watch on the likely candidates and only Lena Casta really stands out.” She had talked about this at length with Julia and with Aleyna. All of them agreed the daughter of Roger Castus and the niece of Robert was someone they should be wary of. And they were in the territory of the Casti now.

  “So they prepared a nasty little surprise for you in case you attacked them. Now that they think you are dead, Cuttland may harbor the illusion it could defeat Suttland.”

  “They can’t. Lena Casta is still too young and Julia is a brilliant strategist. Suttland would still win. But if I’m dead, Lucian might not intervene in the hope the two colossi would destroy each other. That would be his opportunity to get control of the Order.”

  She was never, ever going to allow that. Lucian was the worst person to be in charge of the Order. He was charismatic, ambitious, attractive and powerful and had all the other qualities that would allow him to take over the Senatorial Order. Kara was one of the few people who had seen his darker side. He was controlling, paranoid and wouldn’t allow anyone more powerful than him to live. The first two dark qualities would bring about the destruction of the senators and the last one made sure there will be no collaboration between them. The Senatorial Council was finished even though most senators didn’t realize it.

  “Why didn’t you keep your powers secret?” Michael asked her.

  “It is difficult to do so when everyone suspects you have them. When Lucian and Aaron trumpeted their unprecedented powers in an attempt to dominate the Council everybody found it strange they were both from Essland. It was enough for the skeptics to claim they were lying. Those who believed them started to look for others and I was the most obvious, the daughter of two powerful senators. Just like Lucian was the son.”

  It was very unusual for two powerful senators to be a couple, let alone have children. It was more common with weaker ones, but the top senators usually had children with humans. Kara guessed it was nature’s way of balancing the world. Senators were not that fertile to begin with and the more powerful the less fertile they became. So the odds of two high-ranking senators conceiving a child were infinitesimal. She didn’t know what motivated her parents to take the risk – having an heir was really important to senators – but they did and it paid off.

  Kara had been thirteen when she blasted through her father’s blocks to take over humans under his control. Lucian hadn’t come out yet and her father and Marcia were in awe. They were the only senators who knew. They had repeated the test with Marcia, just to make sure it wasn’t a fluke. It wasn’t and they didn’t speak of that to anyone. When, months later, the Metteli visited them her father and Marcia had their own suspicions. Kara and Julia had been friends since birth – their families were allies after all – and possessed similar skills. David Mettelus brought it up and they all quickly agreed the girls’ powers should remain secret. Years later, when they became adults, Lucian more domineering and Cuttland senators more extravagant, they revealed their true abilities in an attempt to prevent the coming war.

  “Julia was a surprise to everyone other than our families,” Kara continued. “We may look different but we are alike in every way that counts. We played, learned and practiced together. We surpassed our teachers before we were fifteen and the only one who could pose a challenge to one of us was the other. This still remains true today. We are not only more powerful but superior in tactics and strategy to everyone else. Nobody has managed to defeat either one of us in a war game since we became adults.”

  “You play war games?”

  “I am a battle-senator, Michael. How else are we supposed to learn?”

  “Aren’t all senators battle-senators?”

  “No, they are not. Only the elite of the Order are battle-senators. Those over one hundred are, almost without exception. The others, and they form the majority of the Senatorial Order, have different interests. There are senators who are historians, engineers, architects, administrators or merchants. If there is a job to be filled, we are there.”

  “I don’t remember seeing senators cleaning streets or collecting garbage.”

  Kara laughed. “We fill jobs that bring a high income or we are passionate about. We are the best engineers or architects. This was true even when the wizards ruled.”

  “Yes, you are, but only because you took over humans who had the knowledge you wanted. It is easy to be a brilliant architect when you control twenty human architects.”

  It was true and in a way it wasn’t. There was an inherent danger hidden in it. If senators took over every capable, smart, educated human, which they pretty much did, and if humans gained nothing by being educated or innovative they would stop being educated and innovative. This was exactly what happened in Cuttland, where senators rarely thought to pay the humans they controlled. Cutt
land’s economic power had plummeted in the last twenty years, although the province had the largest territory and population. The agriculture was still there, and most of the wealth in the empire was landed wealth, but manufacturing and commerce dropped. The beneficiaries were Suttland, which rivaled Cuttland’s economic power now, and surprisingly the Land between the Rivers, which was controlled by sorceresses and forbidden to senators. Suttland senators paid their humans fairly, but that meant only the richest senators could afford to control many competent humans. And since there was a hierarchy, the richest were also the most powerful senators. Kara’s own wealth was vast and she had many sources of income, but she only rarely bothered with that. She had people for it.

  “It’s more complicated than that. In Suttland we pay our humans fairly.”

  “Surely you must have other interests than waging war?”

  “Are you asking me what my hobbies are, Michael? Is this the right moment for it?” When he nodded she continued. “My training it’s not about waging war, it’s about ruling. I control a large piece of territory and I try to do my best for the people who live in it. Waging war is part of that, but so is diplomacy, economics, justice and many other things. I do have other interests, but unlike the weaker senators who have the freedom to pursue them I have a duty. I would be lying if I said I don’t have time for hobbies. My training ended years ago and I am as busy as I choose to be. And I usually choose to be pretty busy. I take my duty seriously, as I did my training. Being the best takes a lot of work.”

  “It’s nice to see you are being modest,” Michael laughed.

  Why should she be modest? She was the best. She beat even Julia three out of five times at war games. Agreed, the older senators had actual battle experience and that couldn’t be compared to a game. She had actual battle experience now, too. The thought disquieted her. The first time she had been battle tested she had failed. She won’t fail again.