“We always knew this was a possibility,” he spoke to Aedith—not to me. “Two summers ago, Ito saw portents that something out of the ordinary—even for us—was in our future. When Taryn came into our midst and Master Noland was implicated…”
“Ito had a vision about me?” My voice was barely a whisper. I couldn’t help but wring my hands together as fear gripped me. People who received visions had a hard-enough time. People who starred in visions tended to have it even rougher.
“Not about you, exactly. I saw a phoenix, molting. A couple of times in the past few years. Mountains, and fire. That sort of thing. There was always the possibility that it was a real phoenix molt that I was seeing, but—” from the corner of my eyes I saw Ito shrug, “And maybe it still is. There’s a reason I didn’t make a career out of future scrying.”
Kaleb squeezed my ankle, making me look up at him. He was always so quick to smile, and he did so now, gently. “We hoped your adoption into Twelfth Company was all the disruption that Ito’s vision meant. Even now, we do not know that Lady Famai has any connection to Master Noland. She’s new to this country. I would even hazard that it is unlikely.”
“Kaleb is right,” Belinda said firmly. “It’s like you said, since Lady Famai can see magic, it’s probable that she knows something is different about how your magic looks. Unless she has seen Master Noland at work, she won’t know that it is connected to him. It’s even less likely that she would be aware of a common boy from the mountains.”
“I’d say her implication that she is part of some set that trains commoner mages belies that theory,” Dai said mildly.
“About that… there’s more I left out,” I said, gesturing to Dai to indicate he had touched on something. I had purposefully left out the vision that Lady Famai had played a role in. It was all a lot to digest, and I’d thought the best way to tell everything would be in small, manageable pieces. I explained the vision now, as succinctly as possible, letting them know the connections I made in how similar the feeling of looking out through someone else’s eyes had been. There was also the offer she had made to help me and how they seemed to mirror the dream woman’s words.
Aedith cleared her throat. “In the pursuit of full disclosure,” all eyes turned to her, “the wording with which we were ordered to take our next job comes to mind.”
Understanding dawned on Dai’s face. “They said that it was in the best interests of foreign diplomacy if the southern lands were cleared of the particular scourge that was The King’s Snakes. They said someone with powerful connections would feel safer if those three were brought to justice.”
The commander nodded. “It wasn’t divulged who that was referring to—”
“But it could have been Lady Famai,” her daughter interrupted. “She could have complained about her safety being in danger with them around, and if she’s important enough…”
“The timing was right,” I murmured. “It was after I met her and after I saw her mages in the market that you were called in to accept the job. I had hoped that it was just heat exhaustion, but I think they were testing me somehow…”
Realizing that neither the adults nor Luke were privy to my bouts of dizziness, I explained those quickly as well.
“You have been withholding a great deal,” Aedith said mildly. “Did you not think these were things I would want to know?”
I flushed. “I thought maybe I wasn’t handling things well. That I was cracking under the pressure of this new life or something.”
“It’s not as though we were exactly forthcoming with the information that would have helped her understand what was happening,” Aella said, her tone a match for her mother’s in dry reproach.
Aedith raised an eyebrow. “True enough,” she said.
“If Lady Famai and The King’s Snakes are connected with Master Noland in any way, and it seems more and more likely that they are, it is possible the lady confirmed your magic and its connection to him and wished to place you in the way of more of his servants,” Ito mused, his mind clearly still on Lady Famai’s motives and not my secrecy. “I don’t know Master Noland’s habits, but certainly, it is the type of test that Gabriel or Anya would perform if they were faced with a new sort of magic. They would have had occasion to become involved with Master Noland.”
“I thought you didn’t know them,” I said. “You all said you didn’t know each other.”
“What you heard the other day, the four of us saying we didn’t know each other in school… that wasn’t exactly true. At least on the part of Belinda and myself. I can’t speak for Anya or Gabriel. We weren’t acquainted in school.” Ito stared off into the distance, remembering. “But we heard about them. Gabriel and Anya were several years ahead of the two of us. They were at the top of their class. Powerful. They knew it too.”
Ito trailed off, and Belinda covered his hand with her own. “They were bullies. The academy didn’t officially acknowledge social class, but you could get away with things if you had money to throw around. They did. They’re both from nobility—low-standing and not due to inherit much of anything, but more powerful than any of us common born. They hung one boy out a window once, just to see if they could keep him levitated that long.”
I gaped at them, outraged. “They didn’t get in trouble?”
“Master Fletcher was away—this was when King Theron’s health was failing him. Master Fletcher was often called to attend to him and to court matters in those days. In his stead, Master Claribelle was in charge. They were pets of hers, and she gave them a slap on the wrist.” Belinda sighed. “She’s still teaches, as far as I’m aware. She’s an intelligent woman, but I think she values ambition over empathy when it comes to her students.”
“When Gabriel and Anya graduated, they took their studies south. They could have gone to Oswell. It’s not uncommon for graduates to continue their studies under masters, especially if they want to continue on to become masters themselves. There’s no telling what they learned there or how they ended up in the lady’s service.”
“So,” I said, trying to sum up what we had learned, “what we know is that two mages who may have studied under Master Noland now work for Lady Famai. Lady Famai seems like she might also work for Master Noland.”
“But we don’t know what exactly any of them are working toward,” Luke said.
“Right,” I agreed, “except that it probably has to do with young common born mages. Or, in Michael’s case and mine, finding a way to give magic to people born without it.”
“Lady Famai also may have nudged our company toward more budding commoner mages who are causing trouble. But those same mages also fit the profile for commoner mages involved with Master Noland, and also probably her ladyship,” Aella pointed out. “So, we don’t know why she would do that, except maybe as a test, like Ito said.”
“Oh, and also, your brother is likely alive, and Lady Famai might be hiding him as well as your old pal Benjamin. You don’t do disasters in halves, do you Taryn?” Luke laughed sarcastically, but I didn’t think he was mad at me, just marveling at the mess before us
“On the note of Michael,” this was Aedith, and all eyes swiveled to look at her. She stood ramrod straight, with her hands linked loosely behind her back. Her gaze rested squarely on me. “If he is alive—and I’ll remind you that visions, especially incomplete ones, can be misleading—he is a criminal, and he’s dangerous. I trust you will not be so foolish as to seek him out.”
My mouth was dry, and I shook my head vigorously, causing the world to spin for a moment. “No, Commander. Even if Michael is alive, I have no intention of seeking him out any more than I do Master Noland himself. I know it seems like Lady Famai wants to get to know me, but I want to stay as far away from them as I can for as a long as I can. I don’t know exactly what will happen if Michael and I meet again, but I doubt it’ll stop at strong words.”
A few of them chuckled. Aedith was not one of them. Perhaps she understood, that there was nothing fu
nny about what I had said. The last time I had seen my brother he had tried to kill me, and I left him in the hands of a mob who intended to kill him. I had mountains of warm memories for the brother I’d grown up with, but the Michael I met next would not be that boy.
“Good,” Aedith said seriously. “As for the lady, I doubt she will, but if she does look to fish any deeper for the remainder of our stay in Dabsqin, she won’t catch anything from our waters. I don’t give a single turn beneath the earth what she wants. We don’t need nobles poking in our business for any reason, benign or otherwise.”
I glanced at Aella and saw she was smirking at her mother. The others were nodding with their own grim smiles. With a blink, I saw her comment for what it was, a reminder that as someone under her command I was under her protection.
“Thanks, boss,” I said. It was nice to have the company at my back. “But we do still have to go after The King’s Snakes, right?”
Aedith nodded. “There’s no helping it. As I’ve said, their majesties have ordered it. Still, now at least we won’t be chasing after these mages with only half the information. If I thought the Earl of Dabsqin had any idea what he was helping to involve us in… But I don’t give him that much credit. He is as bound to blindly obey Somerlarth’s lieges as anyone else.”
Talk went on for many more hours, until lamps had to be lit in the small room and maids sent for refreshments more than once. So much of the talk was theorizing and guesswork. Luke joked about interrogating people once or twice, but it wasn’t as though we could do that.
My headache slowly increased, and mine wasn’t the only energy flagging by the end of the discussion. Yawns were coming more frequently from everyone more than they weren’t.
“Taryn needs rest now,” Belinda said at last through her own shuddering yawn. “I’m sorry we kept you up this much at all.”
I smiled sheepishly. “I don’t mind. It’s nice to know what’s going on for once.”
Aedith, who had joined us on the bed sometime in the third hour, rose now. “Well, you needn’t worry. We’ll handle this from here on out. I’ll be letting Hamash know this is a little more complicated than we thought at the start.”
I nodded. “And the visions? If that is what they are?”
“That will be part of your mage training now. Ito gets visions, but he’s a novice at best in that area—sorry, you are.” Belinda grinned at Ito. “But, you might recall that Hamash’s company has three mages, Pan, Sarah, and Illana. Illana is a seer. She’ll be able to help, I think. Seeing someone else’s memories isn’t exactly the same as seeing the future, but I’m willing to bet there are similar elements to controlling it.”
“Until then, keep that charm on,” Ito reminded me. “I can’t guarantee that it will stop the visions if those are connected to Michael, but it will keep your actual magic from becoming out of control.”
“I will,” I said, though the thought of keeping the metal charm on made me deeply uncomfortable in a way I couldn’t explain. Perhaps it was because, despite having been under my shirt, resting against my skin for hours now, it had yet to get warm or even adjust to my body temperature. It remained cold and too heavy. Also, though I appreciated the lack of buzzing, there was a sense of loss for the strength the magic had apparently been lending me without my realizing it. I forced a smile anyway. “Wouldn’t want to bring Timon’s inn down around our ears. Not after he has been such a wonderful host.”
“No, indeed.” Ito smiled thinly back at me.
“All right!” Belinda clapped her hands firmly together, standing as she did so. “Time for rest! Everybody out.” She glanced at the commander. “By your leave.”
Aedith actually smiled. “No, you’re right. It’s late. Taryn needs more rest, and we all have much to think on.” She groaned as she stood, arching her back and making it pop. “I am not meant for sitting like that for so long, anyway. It makes my bones ache.”
“I have a tea for achy joints,” Kaleb said, leading the way toward the door. “I’ll get it for you. Good night Taryn, Aella.”
We bid the group good night as they filed out the door. I felt exhausted, but also relieved. Growing up, I had told Michael every problem I’d had, because sharing it had seemed to lessen the burden. With both of our minds bent toward a problem, it was almost never unsolvable. I had abandoned that mindset, in a way, after I had lost him. Especially after Dai had expressed displeasure at my preoccupation with Master Noland. But Dai could only speak for himself, and the mercenaries weren’t Michael. Aedith had wanted to know, and she understood and wanted to help, so did Ito, Belinda, Kaleb, and Aella. I only wished I had told them sooner.
For all the excitement and uncovered plots, the next few days were surprisingly mundane. My body was still recovering and shockingly weak, especially without being able to draw on my magical reserves.
One of the few moments of excitement came when the bandage on my arm needed to be changed. I waited with a held breath as Belinda slowly unwound layer after layer of thin gauze until the arm was bare. It was… a mess, to put it nicely. From the crown of my shoulder to about midway down my bicep, the flesh was sensitive, pitted, and vibrantly pink, scarlet, and mauve in turns.
“It will heal more as time goes on. I’m putting a little magic in you each time I change your bandage to encourage the mending,” Belinda assured me, lathering a clear balm in her hands before applying it to my skin. She used her palms, not her fingertips, to apply it, and even through the charm hanging around my neck, I felt the coolness of her magic sinking into the stiff flesh.
I thanked her and did my best to seem positive, but mentally I shuddered, and when she had gone, I let a few tears fall over the state of me. I knew that what I was looking at was a vast improvement to the state I’d been in when I’d first been brought back to my room, and I thanked the gods I had been unconscious throughout that ordeal. It was still a massive scar though, and it felt ugly.
Beyond the time I spent with Belinda, much of my time in bed was delegated to my whittling kit. I’d had little time to use it since Aella had given it to me in Forklahke, and I was woefully out of practice. Even so, by the fourth day I had a lumpy shape about the length of my hand, which anyone could tell was a drake.
My bed, in deference to my hard work, was a mess of thin, curling bits of wood and sawdust. Occasionally, Aella, who spent much of the days with me playing games or just talking, would get up to shake the whole mess out onto the floor for me. I was sure our maid must have despised us, but I couldn’t bring myself to be bothered by that.
The quiet was a nice change of pace. Even without all the dangers that Lady Famai and the hunt had provided, it had been months since I had really felt comfortable slowing down. Not when slowing down had meant that the buzzing—my magic—would make my head go all fuzzy. Now that the charm was keeping it under control, I could take a moment to breathe. It was not a fix, Belinda was careful to remind me several times a day, just a patch. That didn’t make it any less of a relief.
I had been worried, at first, that Lady Famai or one of her people would come up to my room in the night to finish me off, but Ito had waved the idea aside.
“From what we can glean from the information our contacts within the city have given us, it seems likely that she is the one responsible for the sudden push for The King’s Snakes to be done away with. However, we don’t know why. It could be that she is merely concerned for her safety, as was stated. Whether she and her servants are working under Master Noland’s orders or not, we have yet to ascertain. It won’t do any good to jump at every shadow until then.”
“But she knows I have magic,” I said.
“Yes, but while we can surmise that they see something strange in your power, they haven’t made an outright attempt to harm you yet, have they?”
“No,” I said, thinking back over the past week, before stubbornly adding, “not as far as we know.”
“I believe that their reasoning for wanting us to deal with The K
ing’s Snakes could be two-fold.”
Aella, who was beside me, perked up, “You don’t think they’re just a trap? You think the lady really does want them dealt with?”
“No, I believe they’re a trap all right. I believe the lady wishes to see what Taryn can do. However, I also think we might be a test for them. So, you see? They’re not about to kill you now when they’ve already set up a test for later.”
He had sounded to confident that I’d had no choice but to believe him, but it was not the most comforting thought. I didn’t like the idea that someone was testing me. Especially not on a skill that I hadn’t even known I’d had a week ago.
If his theory was right, they didn’t seem to care if I survived the tests they were setting either. They weren’t simple ones, like Ito’s candle in the desert. How could they expect me to do anything but lose when matched up against mages with actual training?
Since my magic was the result of a failure on Michael’s part, what if Ito was right, and they weren’t a test for me? What if I was a test for them? What if I was something expendable that they could try their strength on?
Ito’s theory also brought still more uncomfortable ideas into my head. If Lady Famai was testing me, and testing me hard, was it possible that she had done it already? The drake warren—the unexpected one on our first venture into the sewers—could that have been a test as well?
I talked about it a little with Aella when I was tired of whittling, or when my right arm became too achy to permit the hand to function properly.
“Someone as powerful as she is might have had the ability to move a nest of drakes into the sewers without anyone being the wiser. But why bother?” she asked me. “Surely she could have come up with an easier test.”
It was hard to argue with that. When it had first occurred to me, the idea had seemed like a great deal of work. However, the more I thought about it, the less outlandish it seemed.
“If a company of mercenaries can shuttle gryphons all the way to Oshkana, then a high-blooded noble could probably pay someone to dump drakes into a sewer just as easily,” I pointed out. “Maybe even easier. They could have drugged the drakes and taken them straight down the maintenance hole they were laired under. No troubles.”
Of Dragon Warrens and Other Traps Page 32