Seven lavish chairs were aligned in an arc at the far end of the hallway, and in each seat, except Janning’s, was a mage whose eyes glittered with knowledge, even from across the room. Along the wide table sat a large host of mages, all members of the Underground, gathered here for the discussion of Urrith’s plight. He didn’t care to have such an audience.
Janning guided Urrith toward the Seven and a slight breeze wafted pointedly through the chamber. At first Urrith was irked by it, for it was persistent, then he grew accustomed to the constant fluttering of the wind and he was able to ignore it. Its purpose became clear when Janning announced their presence, for the mage’s voice echoed on the breeze and carried to all the others present in the hall.
“To the Seven, I present young Urrith, traveler of the lands who has come here seeking asylum within our domain.” Janning bowed his head and then took his seat among his peers, facing Urrith as judge.
“I did not come here intentionally,” Urrith started. “You make it seem like I knocked on your door but I didn’t.”
Janning’s voice took on a sharp edge. “Without our help, you would have perished at the hands of Ordren.”
“Twice,” Urrith agreed, his annoyance at the mages poking through. He had told himself numerous times to remain calm and to behave himself, but too much had happened to him and he was impatient to be on his way. “You saved me when I was first hunted by Ordren, and then again when you threw me out into the world as bait.”
The Seven muttered amongst themselves in disapproval. Frethia leaned forward and gave a gesture of caution with her hand. “We could have left you there or tossed you out without our protections. In addition, you have not been treated unfairly here.”
“Except that I haven’t been allowed to leave,” he argued despite himself. “I’ve been a prisoner and a tool this whole time.”
“Silence your complaints,” Janning warned, but another of the Seven intervened.
“No, let him share his feelings,” said a middle-aged woman near the end of the arc of chairs. Her curly brown hair had random streaks of gray throughout, making her appear to have been caught in a snowstorm on her way in. Her dark eyes held what Urrith thought was a bit of insanity. “I remember my boy at his age; if he doesn’t talk about how he feels, then he will surely explode.”
“It isn’t necessary to make fun of me,” Urrith claimed.
“Isn’t it though?” the woman taunted. “Children like you think you’re older than you are and yet beg the protection of their elders as if they are newly out of the crib. Which are you? Older or younger? Do you need us to coddle you or be direct?”
Urrith gritted his teeth and decided to channel as much aplomb as he could. “Fine,” he said. “I am here before you to learn what you’re going to do with me. Am I free to go?”
“Well, listen to him!” the mage quipped.
Janning groaned. “Enough, Sharice, let us get to this.”
“Where do you intend to go, young Urrith?” asked Frethia once things were quiet.
“I would return to Gabrion and his comrades. They’re currently in Hathreneir and I wasn’t meant to be separated from them for so long.”
“Gabrion?” Sharice asked. “I recognize that name.”
“You know him?” Urrith wondered.
“I met him briefly,” she said. “He was traveling with others.”
Urrith nodded. “Yes, though I haven’t met them myself. He told me a little about them. Dariak, Kitalla, Randler, Lica, Frast, Quereth, Ervinor, and a bunch more.”
“And what is it they are doing in Hathreneir?”
“This isn’t relevant, Sharice,” interrupted the haggard mage to her left.
“I beg to differ, Connello. Shouldn’t we know this boy’s purpose in returning to these adventurers?”
Another of the Seven, Beyana, cleared her throat with a watery grumble. “I believe you know their quest better than the rest of us, don’t you dear?”
Sharice shrugged. “I know what they told me.”
The mages bantered back and forth and Urrith waited until the conversation returned to him. He tackled the posed question as succinctly as he could. “Gabrion is hoping to bring peace to the land by having people learn to work together. He managed to get the western outpost to accept Hathrens and Kallisorians and they worked and lived together for a time. If the Hathren king hadn’t sent troops to end the truce, then we’d all still be there now.”
“Idyllic as ever,” Sharice accused, “though it sounds as if he has truly adopted the heart of Dariak’s quest. But I wonder, little one, how many mages were among you?”
“Just the healers, really,” he answered honestly. “I suppose a few joined when Ruhk and his team ventured into the outpost, but they kept their powers to themselves for all I could tell.”
“Some ‘peace’ Dariak is creating,” muttered one of the other Seven.
Urrith heard the remark and was affronted by it. “Hold your tongue,” he demanded angrily. “The mages were welcomed just like everyone else and no one pressured them to keep quiet; they did it on their own.”
“Temper, temper,” Sharice admonished.
“No, you listen to me for a minute,” Urrith returned. “I grew up in Wraethen, which is probably as far from mage-friendly Hathreneir as you can get. I had no experience with magic for my whole life. Not really. I saw some things here and there, but I stayed away from it because it frightened me. I became a soldier and joined the king’s side to protect the land.”
“We don’t need your life history,” Sharice said.
“That’s enough, Sharice,” Frethia warned. To Urrith she added, “Please continue.”
“I fought for the army and I trained under Ordren for a while. I should have realized he was solely dedicated to the crown. I didn’t see through him when he followed Gabrion and the others out of Pindington. I went because it was where he went. But then I met Gabrion. He was different than Ordren. I learned about Gabrion’s heart and what he yearned for. It was in working together in the outpost that I saw Gabrion for who he was.”
“An aloof, brainless swordsman?” Sharice inserted.
“He was a true hero, rising up against the injustices and the prejudices—something you clearly can’t do, making all your snide remarks from your comfy chair.” Urrith grimaced but didn’t let himself get too sidetracked. “No, he told us to put aside our hatred long enough to see what the other side was like and so we did. And we found out that, sure, we have our own traditions and habits, but deep down we all want the same basic things out of life.”
“Kittens and puppies?”
Janning shouted, “Sharice, that is enough out of you!”
“I don’t care,” Urrith said. “She is probably scared she might learn something.”
Sharice gasped. “You do have fight in you, little one,” her tone mocking. “Please, do go on.”
Urrith tried not to roll his eyes, but failed. “Anyway, we discovered that we could work together and the reasons we hated each other seemed artificial. It wasn’t easy and there were complications, and if Gabrion wasn’t such a talented swordsman, he never would have been able to make his point.”
Frethia’s brows furrowed. “How so?”
“Basically, anyone who violated the peace had to face him in challenge, and he couldn’t be bested by anyone. Once they saw him in combat, they all obeyed the decree and did their best to make it work.” He looked around at the Seven. “I don’t know enough about you to really know, but I would guess it’s like how you’re all sitting up there. You were probably chosen to represent the rest of the mages or,” and he looked at Sharice, “you earned the seat through other means.”
“You’re not suggesting I did anything… untoward?” she asked.
“No,” he said truthfully, “but I would bet you bullied your way in.” She opened her mouth to object but he quickly added, “And you probably have so much skill with magic that no one could get you off this council, and they pr
obably wouldn’t want to.”
Sharice’s mouth closed and she tilted her head to the side. “Well, congratulations. I don’t know what to say to that.”
Janning barked a laugh, “The kid’s got you pegged, at least.”
Sharice shot him a glance. “You’re lucky we’re not allowed to hurl spells at each other here.”
“See that?” Urrith jumped at the opportunity. “You made an agreement to work together and to not raise your skills against each other. That’s all Gabrion did at the outpost. And once we had those rules in place, things started to work. Mostly.”
“Some trouble is to be expected when you’re dealing with a lifetime of prejudice and learned personality traits,” Frethia said.
“Yes,” Urrith agreed. “Then the Hathren king sent more fighters to take over the outpost because he had heard of the defection of Ruhk and his soldiers. Ordren also tried to pull away from the new collective. In the end, Gabrion had me escort Ordren through Kallisor while he went to stop the oncoming soldiers. That’s how we were separated.”
“Then I found you at Ordren’s mercy and brought you here,” Janning concluded. “You have since proven the truth of your adversarial relationship with Ordren and it is now time for us to decide what to do with you.”
“Not yet,” Urrith said, surprising everyone, including himself.
“Oh?” asked Connello from his perch. “I thought you wanted out of here?”
“I do, but you have to understand something first. I told you already that I was never around magic much when I was younger. Yet since being here, I’ve been inundated with it. You mages do everything here with magic. It’s overwhelming for someone like me.”
“There, there,” Sharice crooned sarcastically.
“But you have all watched me, or had me watched at any rate. How have I reacted to this?”
The Seven were quiet and it was Janning who spoke first. “You have shown your discomfort on numerous occasions, but you have ultimately made an effort to learn more and to accept the way of things here.”
“I’ve even allowed you to practice your spells on me. I don’t even care right now that you were just setting me up to test my loyalty. What I’m saying is that I believe in what Gabrion showed me. And even though you all made me uneasy, I’ve tried my best to accept you and all of this.” He glanced at each of them in turn. “I may just be a kid to you, but I want the world to be more peaceful. I don’t want anyone to feel like they’re less than normal because they’re different. I can accept mages living up in the world with everyone else. I can accept Hathrens in my hometown. As long as everyone tries to make an honest go of it and try to get the peace to last, then I’m all for it.”
Frethia drew Urrith’s gaze and held it. “It is true we were dishonest and unfair with you, lad, and you have my apology for that. It is clear that we have underestimated you. I can see where our dealings with you could have as easily turned you away from us and away from mages, and you would be certainly justified shunning us.”
“We don’t know if he means all of this or is just saying it for our benefit,” Connello said.
“No,” Sharice refuted. “He reminds me too much of my son in this. His words are true for him, just as Randler always spoke from his heart.”
Urrith’s eyes opened wide. “Randler is your son?”
“Yes,” she answered. “He and I do not see eye to eye on things, either,” she added with a grin. “He turned from magic early on and it could just as well be because I am such a—how did you put it?—a bully. Yet even though we bullied you, you’re looking past that and seeing us as a group of people who, in the end, want to be at peace and not persecuted for our skills.”
The other members of the Seven stared at Sharice with incredulous expressions on their faces. She noted the perplexed stares and rolled her eyes in response. “All right, that’s enough, all of you. I’ve had a lot to reflect on since Randler’s visit.”
Connello couldn’t resist. “You mean since his partner defeated you and claimed that jade you were hoarding.”
Sharice kept her temper in check, though the exertion of doing so showed on her face. “Nonetheless, it seems that times are ripe for a change.”
Puerrsa, who had remained silent thus far squirmed in her seat. “You must realize the implications of what you’re saying. Our domain here has been essentially untouched by the king for decades because we have kept our hands clean and eyes averted. If we decide at this time to make a stand, we risk losing everything we have gained while earning the scorn of all the people and being hunted down as in the olden days.”
“A worthy objection,” Frethia said. “It is true. We must consider the balance of things to come versus those to be lost.” She turned to Sharice. “Do you think this Dariak has the ability to truly complete his quest with the jades?”
She considered for a moment. “He is resourceful, certainly, and had an affinity to the jades that I have not seen in anyone else. Will he succeed? It’s impossible to say, for the jades themselves are strange artifacts and they may object to his quest and prevent it from completion. However…”
“Get on with it,” Connello implored.
Sharice cleared her throat. “My tenure among the Seven has been productive for us all, yet I still have some hunger left in me for greater things. I know not how the rest of you feel, but as wonderfully decorated as this hall is today, I think I might prefer the chance the convene under the stars and meet without fear of persecution.” She hesitated then growled and banged her fist in her hand.
“What is it?” Frethia asked.
“That dratted Dariak and his little speeches. He teased me with such ramblings and I denied him out of spite. Yet he was right in the end. I do want to be free, not tucked away under the stone or locked in a mage tower in Hathreneir.” She looked around at her peers. “I believe it is time for the Seven to vote on whether we lend our support to Dariak’s quest or remain here for another generation.”
Urrith couldn’t help himself. “What about me?”
Frethia raised a wrinkled eyebrow and shot a glance at the youth. “Clearly you have inspired us, little one. Surely you would like to witness at least some of the fruits of your labors?”
Dejected, Urrith frowned. “Then you’re not letting me leave.”
Janning cleared his throat. “If you wish to depart, you may do so and I will escort you myself at once to the surface with a mage or two to support your journey to the nearest town. Or, give us a little more time to decide our fate first. We may decide not to intervene at this time. We may throw our lot in completely. Or, more likely, we will be torn on the matter and need to work through a contingency.” He glanced around at the entire assembly. “It seems a number of us are curious about the possibilities of a newer future, but curiosity will not necessarily translate into action. We will need some time to deliberate. You don’t need to remain here if you don’t wish to. So I will leave your present fate up to you, young Urrith.”
He considered for a moment and then nodded his head resolutely. “I wish to return to Gabrion as swiftly as possible.”
“Very well then,” Janning accepted, rising up in his seat to begin at once.
Urrith grinned and cut him off. “Swiftly,” he repeated. “So don’t take too long deliberating amongst yourselves before we go.”
Sharice laughed and shot him an approving smile before the Seven adjourned.
Chapter 31
The Gathering
Verna and Ruhk had their hands full keeping everyone in line at Castle Hathreneir, but several recent events made their days less difficult. The dead zone for magic was dissipating and mages were able to ply their craft more and more each day. This helped the new chancellors in many ways, for they were able to give the mages greater duties that better fit their stations, which quelled their fears that they would be marginalized in the new ideology. Earth mages helped with the reconstruction of the castle. Nature mages assisted with the food supply, and h
ealers worked almost nonstop patching up various wounds. Mages with other alignments were also gainfully employed throughout the castle and town, and soon everyone felt useful again.
What made Verna even happier was the return of Carrus and Kitalla, though she had wished their arrival had been under better circumstances. Kitalla was irate with Carrus for abandoning their quest on the front lines, even if it would have meant losing her foot to the damage she had received in the impromptu skirmish, but he stood by his decision and had no qualms about telling her so. Healers went to work on Kitalla’s wounds and within a few days she was able to walk around with only a mild limp and an accompanying wince of pain, which the healers insisted would eventually go away.
Matters improved even more when Randler and Dariak arrived some days later from their research. The only members of their crew they were missing were Lica, Gabrion, and Urrith. The debate the team engaged in now was whether to wait for them or to venture forth soon.
Prethos and Ieran sat with the group as they contemplated the next course of action. “You have ventured through the lands to acquire the jades,” the king started, “and now you have them, as well as your father’s words on combining them. It seems that this is the time to make your mission known to all.”
Dariak stared intently. “You mean for me to go into Kallisor and confront the king.”
“I cannot say what your best course of action would be, young Dariak. I believe this task is of your design.”
“But you should go soon,” Ieran chimed in. Everyone looked at him suspiciously; he whimpered and cast his gaze fervently around, scrambling for a reason. “The longer you wait, the more people will die at the front lines. Not all of the battalions were stopped by your comrades. Wouldn’t it be better to act quickly?”
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