by Lisa Cassidy
“Better?” Finn asked.
“A little.” She summoned a faint smile. “I don’t think I can walk, though.”
“Let’s get you to the healers,” Tarrick said, easily scooping her up into his arms as he stood. She whimpered as pain flared into bright hot agony in her side, and he gentled his hold.
Rothai stepped up to them as Tarrick approached the gate of the sparring yard. Alyx lifted her head slightly, wondering what to make of his characteristically severe expression. He’d stood by and watched her get badly beaten, and she didn’t think she’d ever be able to forgive him that.
“You’ve been practicing,” he said in clipped tones. “Perhaps you will be the mage of the higher order Master Howell thinks you can be.”
“Please stand aside, sir. Alyx really needs to get to the healers,” Tarrick said, unsuccessfully trying to hide the anger in his voice. He stood toe to toe with the warrior mage, refusing to back down.
“Of course.” Rothai moved aside. “I’ll notify Master Howell. You are excused from classes for the rest of the day.”
Alyx allowed her head to drop onto Tarrick’s chest, a sense of safety filling her. He wouldn’t let anyone hurt her now. She was vaguely aware of being carried inside and laid on a soft bed before the grogginess in her head sent her spiralling into blackness.
Chapter 19
Alyx was in the healing rooms for three days before she began to feel normal again. She’d sustained cracked ribs, a torn shoulder and severe bruising in several places. The blow to her head had caused the healers the most concern, resulting in two days of drifting in and out of consciousness.
Although the healer mages could speed the healing process, only rest could help her cracked ribs, and she would be wearing her left arm in a sling for at least a fortnight to allow her shoulder to fully heal. Their worry about her head injury faded after two days left her fully lucid aside from a faint headache.
On the third night, Alyx was awake and alert, the nagging pain in her ribs and shoulder keeping her from proper sleep. It was past curfew, so the twins and Tarrick had gone to their rooms and Alyx was bored without their company. Not that she really felt up to more eager questions from Finn about her sudden ability to access her magic at will.
She was rearranging her pillows for the hundredth time in an attempt to get comfortable when voices sounded in the hall outside the ward. The door swung open, and two healer mages carried in a stretcher. Her eyebrows shot upwards at recognising Fengel lying unconscious. His face was swollen with bruising and a deep gash split open one eyebrow.
They took him to the opposite end of the room. She tried to see what they were doing, but it was too hard to tell from where she lay. Curiosity burned in her, but sleepiness finally overtook her before she had the chance to ask one of the healers.
When the twins visited after breakfast the next morning, Finn was grinning from ear to ear. His grin widened when he and Dawn spotted Fengel down the other end of the room, either sleeping or unconscious still, Alyx wasn’t sure which.
“Do you know what happened?” she asked.
“He was out drinking last night in Weeping Stead with his friends,” Finn said. “Stupid fool stayed later than the others, and headed back here alone. He was attacked along the way and beaten pretty badly. I spoke to the healers just now and unfortunately, it looks as if he’s going to pull through.”
“He was beaten up?” Alyx clarified.
Dawn was trying and failing not to smile. “He was.”
Alyx rolled her eyes, allowing her head to drop back to the pillow. “Which one of you told Dashan what happened to me?”
The twins glanced innocently at each other, shrugging simultaneously.
“Seriously, come on.”
“It wasn’t us, I promise.” Dawn laughed. “We probably would have if it had occurred to us, but we’ve been so worried about you, we just didn’t think of it.”
“Then how…”
“Lieutenant Caverlock and I passed each other in Weeping Stead early yesterday evening. He quite rudely bailed me up, asking about some letter you’d apparently promised to give him the day before.”
All three heads turned in astonishment to see Cario leaning casually against the door, hands in his pockets. Alyx hadn’t seen him since the sparring match, and it was a surprise to see him there now.
“Oh, he did, did he?” She raised an eyebrow.
Cario nodded. “I might have mentioned you probably hadn’t passed on the letter because you were in the healer’s room.”
“And of course, because Dashan is such an upstanding guy, he would have asked you what it was that had put Alyx in the healing ward?” Finn chimed in.
“I couldn’t lie, of course.” Cario shrugged.
“Yes, you could!” Alyx groaned. “You should have said I had a fever. You don’t know what he’s like.”
“Oh, look at that, it’s time for us to go.” Cario straightened. “Languages class, I believe. Good to see you well, Alyx.”
Finn rose with a smile. “Yes, we wouldn’t want to be late for Master Prajana.”
Dawn lingered, her curious gaze following the young men out the door. “I still can’t figure Cario out.”
“What do you mean?”
“He was there two weeks ago when we decided not to go to Weeping Stead because of what Dashan would do if he saw the bruises on your neck. Cario knows perfectly well what Dashan is like.”
Alyx’s mouth fell open. “I hadn’t thought of that.” Maybe Cario wasn’t as uncaring about everything as he insisted he was. It was a novel thought, and it made a smile curl at her mouth.
“I’d better go. We’ll come by and visit as soon as classes are over.”
“Thanks.”
“I’m really glad you’re well.” Dawn hesitated. “It was one of the most awful things I’ve ever been through. We both know Fengel wanted to hurt you.”
“And he did,” Alyx said quietly.
“Are you all right?”
“Yeah, I think so.” Alyx smiled slightly. “I stood up to him, Dawn.”
“You did.” A wide smile spread across Dawn’s face. “I think you were amazing.”
Alyx turned pink. “Now you’re being silly. Go on off to class.”
“Yes, ma’am!” Dawn’s laughter filtered back to Alyx as she left.
The culprit himself swaggered into the room over an hour later. For once his uniform was neat, and he wore the Blue Guard’s distinctive blue hat at a jaunty angle over his recently trimmed, regulation-length hair.
“You finally cut your hair,” Alyx said sourly.
“Good morning to you too, kitten!” he said cheerfully.
“What are you doing here, Dash?”
“I’m certainly not here for your welcoming presence,” he said, dragging a chair over and sitting by her bed. “I have a meeting with Master Romas.”
“Ah. Only the head of DarkSkull Hall could inspire the proper wearing of uniform. What are you meeting with him about?”
Dashan shrugged and picked at an invisible piece of lint on his uniform pants. “I had an idea regarding the defence of this valley. I’ve been hearing about the attacks on DarkSkull ever since we got here.”
“You have?” Alyx asked.
“Sure. The local boys wish they could do more—the militia hate the idea of Shiven warriors brazenly conducting attacks on their territory,” Dashan said. “Anyway, the Weeping Stead unit commander liked my idea, and gave me permission to speak to Master Romas about it. I’m meeting him in a few minutes.”
“That’s great.” Alyx was pleasantly surprised at Dashan’s initiative.
“It was your fault really.” He leaned back in his chair. “With all your talk about me hiding and thinking myself worthless. You know how I like to prove you wrong.”
“Oh.” She wasn’t sure what to make of that. Since when had Dashan paid any attention to the things she said? Silence fell, throughout which Dashan regarded her, an amused smile slowl
y spreading across his face.
“You didn’t have to beat him up,” Alyx said finally.
Dashan’s features assumed an innocent expression. “I did nothing of the sort. The poor idiot stumbled over his untied bootlaces and fell down a steep incline.”
“I’m sure he did.” Alyx glanced pointedly at Dashan’s bruised knuckles.
“I’m in charge of your protection, Alyx,” he said, all lightness gone from his voice.
“You could get into a lot of trouble. When Fengel wakes up and tells them what you did—”
“You think a guy like that is going to admit to other mages he got beaten up by a mere human?” Dashan cut her off. “He won’t rat me out.”
“Speaking of, how did you manage to beat up a mage? Fengel is pretty handy with a fireball and he’s a skilled fighter.”
“He did manage to singe my other uniform pretty badly.” Dashan grinned. “This is the only one I’ve got now. Plus, the boys helped. He was close to drunk, which helped too.”
“The boys?”
“Casta and Tijer. Nario too. They like you; no idea why, but they do. In fact, the whole unit was pretty worked up over the whole thing. I think they wanted to ride in here and declare war on Fengel and that Galien jerk. I had to order them not to.”
“Really?” Alyx couldn’t help but smile at the thought.
“Absolutely.”
She nodded slowly. “I think I might be able to start protecting myself from now on.”
He looked up and smiled warmly. “Yeah, from what your friend Cario told me, I think you might.”
“I owe you thanks,” she said awkwardly. “It was your teaching that helped me beat Fengel. I know I wasn’t the most patient of students.”
“No, you weren’t, but you worked hard.” Dashan glanced up, and his eyes were full of light as he looked at her. “I’m proud of you, Egalion.”
She smiled, delight uncurling inside her at his genuine regard. “Thanks, Dash.”
He nodded and stood. “Well, I’d best go to this meeting with Romas. I wouldn’t want to be late and prove you right again.”
“Dash, wait,” she called after him as he walked to the door. He paused, one hand on the door frame, turning back to look at her.
“I’ve been awful to you since we left Rionn,” she said ruefully. “You rub me the wrong way, so I’ll probably keep being awful to you.”
“You’re warming my heart here.”
“What I didn’t say, that day in the snow?” Alyx looked at him. “I think there’s a good and clever man in there, under all that bluster and charm. That’s why I pity the drinking and the gambling.”
He made no reply. He simply looked at her for a long moment, lost in his own world, then strode off down the hall.
Left alone again for most of the afternoon, Alyx’s thoughts returned to her mother. Her quest to learn about what had happened to Temari Egalion had fallen by the wayside given the distraction of recent events. So when Tarrick appeared for a visit, she took advantage of his much greater knowledge of the mage world to ask some of the questions she had, starting with the Taliath.
“Will you tell me all you know about them?” she asked. “Assume I know nothing but what Howell has told us.”
“No offence, but you pretty much do know nothing apart from what Howell has taught us.” Tarrick scowled.
“Ha ha. Start talking.”
Tarrick leaned back in his chair, legs reaching out to rest on her bed. “Well, you’d have to ask Finn about the origins of the Taliath—from what I know it’s all a bit murky, just like how mage power came to exist. I do know the word Taliath is an old Shiven term.”
“What else?”
He lifted his hands. “Can you be more specific?”
“Howell says Shakar absorbed Taliath ability from his lover, and that’s what made him so dangerous—particularly the invulnerability aspect of his Taliath’s power. But why couldn’t another mage of the higher order just have absorbed his powers?”
He gave her a look. “Mages of the higher order can’t absorb from each other.”
“Really?” Alyx was surprised. “That’s interesting to know.”
“It’s one of the reasons Shakar was so unbeatable. He deliberately absorbed powers at a much greater rate than any other mage of the higher order, and none were able to absorb them from him to match him.” Tarrick explained. “When you add that to his Taliath invulnerability… it almost makes me glad that the Taliath have all but vanished.”
Apart from her father and brother. They were both thinking it, but neither spoke the words aloud.
“Why would you say that?” Shocked by the sentiment, Alyx’s voice came out sharper than she’d intended.
“Imagine Galien taking a Taliath lover.”
“You’re saying we should be happy that an entire group of people are gone, on the off chance someone like Galien might take one as a lover?” Even the thought of it made Alyx angry.
“No,” he said. “But think of Galien with Taliath invulnerability. Think of any mage of the higher order that was as powerful as Galien and practically invincible at the same time. We’d have another Shakar on our hands.”
“You don’t know that,” she objected. “And even if you did, that doesn’t mean the Taliath shouldn’t exist.”
“Over four hundred mages died in the battle against Shakar, not counting the hundreds of innocent civilians caught in the crossfire,” Tarrick said quietly. “Which is the greater evil?”
“It’s not the same thing. The Taliath have a right to live.”
He looked at her curiously. “Why are you so personally interested in the Taliath?” His voice dropped. “Your father has given up his sword. He’s not one of them anymore.”
“That doesn’t matter. Magical or not, they’re people just like us. It’s not their fault that their abilities can be absorbed.”
“I know,” he said soberly. “It’s fortunate they’ve all but disappeared, saving the council from a complicated problem to solve.”
Something in his words triggered a spark of uneasiness in her, but before she could catch hold of it, Tarrick was standing and saying his farewells.
“Finn will be in to see you tomorrow.” He smiled. “He even promised to bring you something to read.”
“Thanks. Make sure it’s something halfway interesting, will you?”
“I’ll do my best.”
After he’d gone, Alyx settled back against her pillows, thinking. Their conversation about the Taliath made her curious about her father and his story. She’d never once seen a sword in their home, or even seen her father touch one, not in seventeen years. But Howell had said Alyx’s mother hadn’t inherited her father’s Taliath ability, which only confused things further. Why Shakar and not Temari?
Her parents had both been scared, for themselves and their children, that much was clear. Her mother had been the most fearful, reasonably so given the disappearing mages and the fact she was a mage of the higher order. What had she been doing in the year after leaving her father, before going to Widow Falls? Logically, the pieces of information Alyx had pointed to her mother trying to work out who was killing the most powerful of mages. And no doubt the council was inextricably mixed up in all of it.
Her thoughts turned unexpectedly to Brynn. She wondered what he was doing, what the council was asking him to do. She wished he was here, at DarkSkull, and not out in the dark, a barely-trained mage doing who knew what for Romas and the council.
Ugh. She hoped Finn brought plenty of reading material. So much time alone with her thoughts wasn’t conducive to sleep or rest.
On the evening of the fourth day, Alyx was discharged from the healers’ ward, her left arm strapped tightly to her chest. Tarrick and the twins hovered anxiously outside, waiting to escort her to dinner. When she joined them, they all offered greetings, but none moved. Finn’s foot tapped on the ground and Tarrick cleared his throat.
“What?” she asked.
; Dawn spoke first. “There’s something you should know before we go.”
“All right, what is it?”
“They all know about you,” Finn said.
Alyx fought hard not to roll her eyes. “Know what about me?”
“That you’re a mage of the higher order,” Dawn filled in. “Some of the apprentices overheard Rothai mention it when Tarrick was carrying you out of the sparring yard. The news spread through this place like wildfire by nightfall.”
“It’s not as bad as you think,” Tarrick hurried to add. “All the apprentices are aware of the danger facing mages, especially ones like you, and the initiates that don’t will have it impressed upon them by every master here. They’ll be discreet.”
“I’m not sure why you’re all behaving like this will upset me.” Alyx frowned. “My worst enemy here already knew what I was. Besides, it was always going to be hard to hide once I learned how to use my magic.”
Dawn chuckled under her breath, casting a pointed glance at Tarrick.
“Yeah, okay, she’s fine,” he muttered. “I wanted to make sure.”
“Can we go to dinner now?” Finn asked plaintively.
It was freezing outside, the cold causing her shoulder to ache abominably, and Alyx was glad to jog up the steps and reach the relative warmth of the hall. They were amongst the last to arrive, so the hum of conversation from inside was already loud.
Tarrick in the lead, they paused inside the doorway to let a small group of initiates leave, and it took a few moments for Alyx to register that the chatter had slowly died. Once she realised, it took only a second to notice that almost the entire room was staring at her.
“What is going on?” she murmured under her breath.
“Let’s go and line up for food.” Tarrick started walking.
They were late enough that there was only a short line, and the silence persisted as they received bowls of stew and a single hunk of bread apiece. The back of Alyx’s neck itched and she tried her best to ignore it.
