by Lisa Cassidy
“Keep them safe, Tarrick.” Dashan clapped him on the back in a far more manly and acceptable manner, and then the ropes were being untied and the boat was moving out into the water.
As the boat slowly disappeared from sight, the sinking feeling from the day before returned, and not even Dashan’s steady presence at her side could dispel the worry that clawed at her chest, or the impotence she felt at them leaving without her and going into danger alone. She desperately hoped that she’d made the right decision in not telling Casovar about herself, and that by the time her friends returned she would have learned that he could be trusted.
Chapter 13
Alyx yawned, looking up from the spidery handwriting before her to glance out the window. Dusk was falling and that meant it was time to go home. She’d just finished compiling her completed work into a neat stack when Casovar entered the offices. Surprisingly, he had Astor with him.
“Good evening, sir,” she said. “I was just finishing up for today. Hello, Astor.”
“Alyx.” Astor smiled a greeting, but Casovar didn’t speak until he’d sat down opposite her. Astor took a seat between them.
“Please roll up your sleeves to your elbows,” Casovar instructed Alyx.
As usual, she pushed through her instinctive reluctance to do anything Casovar told her to and laid her bare forearms on the table. “Why?”
“I’m going to test your magic,” he said. “I thought Lord Astor’s presence might improve your ability to access it. He’s a familiar face and should help you relax and concentrate better.”
Alyx glanced at her godfather. Hiding her magic from Casovar was one thing, but Astor was one of the people who knew her best. Damn. She wasn’t sure she was going to be able to pull this off. Turning back to Casovar, she tried stalling. “Can I ask why you didn’t do this when you were testing the others?”
Casovar’s grey eyes flicked to hers. “I didn’t want them covering for you. Do as I ask, Apprentice. I don’t have all night to babysit you.”
She nodded and took a deep breath, summoning enough of her magic to illuminate her hands in a pearly-green glow. Keeping it under such tight control wasn’t easy, and if it hadn’t been for the hours of practice she’d put in that morning, it might have been impossible—she’d noticed that if she didn’t use her mage power for a length of time, it tended to burst out of her like a flooded dam over a levee wall.
“Now try and separate your magic from your hand into a ball of energy.”
Puzzlement flickered over Astor’s face, and Alyx cursed inwardly. She’d told him last year after first coming home from DarkSkull she had minor telepathic talent. Why hadn’t she remembered to tell Casovar the same story?
“Alyx!” Casovar snapped, sensing her distraction.
“Sorry, sir.” Alyx frowned as if she were concentrating hard. After a moment, she allowed her mage light to flicker.
“Try harder,” Casovar said. “Focus.”
She frowned harder, clenching her jaw and staring hard at her forearms. The mage light flickered again, more brightly this time, but then faded back to its usual colour.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I can’t do it.”
Casovar frowned and sat back in his chair. “You really are a lesser mage. Lord Astor?”
Alyx’s gaze shot to him, her breath catching. Would the act she’d just put on fool him as it had Casovar?
“I concur with your assessment, Lord-Mage.” The older man stroked his beard. “She doesn’t seem to be able to do much more than summon a mage light.”
She let out the breath, feeling as if she were walking on the ledge of a very high window. Maybe Astor had forgotten what she told him. Or maybe she could fudge with him later, pretend she’d been wrong about her mage talent.
Casovar turned back to her. “How is your skill with a staff?”
Alyx shrugged and tried to look sheepish. “Mediocre at best, sir.”
“I want to see. Come with me.”
Casovar stood abruptly and moved to the door. She followed, her stomach sinking—she’d passed her first hurdle, but had another coming. They walked the short distance down to an empty Bluecoat drill yard in silence, Astor trailing behind. Casovar had brought his own staff and gestured for Alyx to draw hers. She did so, eyeing him warily.
A glance at Astor wasn’t helpful. He’d assumed a blandly interested expression but was avoiding looking at her. Great. Either she revealed to Casovar her competency or take a beating. Briefly she considered telling him everything, but just as quickly discarded the idea. Not without talking to Tarrick first, not when Casovar continued to make her so uneasy it often set her teeth on edge.
Inwardly Alyx groaned. She thought she’d moved past being beaten in sparring practice.
The lord-mage moved quickly and efficiently with his staff. Alyx blocked and counter attacked as she had been taught at DarkSkull, but deliberately left her blocks a little too late, her attacks just off target. Casovar battered two of the fingers on her right hand, bruised her right shoulder and delivered a smart blow to her left ribs before giving up.
“You were right,” he said, stepping away from her. “Mediocre. You’ve learned the moves, but you can’t implement them properly.”
“I’m sorry, sir.”
Casovar shrugged. “I needed to be sure you wouldn’t be of any real use to me, particularly given who your mother was. I’ll see you in the morning, Apprentice Egalion.”
As soon as the gate to the yard closed behind him, Alyx let out a curse and tossed her staff angrily across the yard before cradling the fingers of her right hand to her chest. “Damn, that hurt!”
“Hmm, it certainly looked painful.” Astor wandered over. “You have some internal fortitude, young Alyx.”
“What does that mean?” she grumbled.
He arched a single eyebrow. “Please tell me you’re not taking me for a fool in my dotage?”
“You’re not in your dotage,” she scoffed.
An amused smile flickered across Astor’s face. “Arrogant bastard, isn’t he? Assuming you’re useless just because you told him so.”
So Astor had guessed some of it, at least. Alyx sighed. “You can be very superior at times, Astor.”
“I can,” he agreed. “I also love my goddaughter. I hope you know you can trust me with anything.”
Alyx went over to pick up her staff. “I’m just like my mother. And yes, I can use a staff well enough when I need to, much better than you saw.”
“Temari.” Sadness flashed on Astor’s face, followed by something she couldn’t name. “If you truly are like her, then Casovar is probably the best teacher you could have.”
“I don’t trust him yet.”
“I can see that,” Astor said dryly. “With you preferring to be beaten rather than telling him the truth.”
“It’s not so different to being at DarkSkull.” She chuckled.
“Come on inside. I’ll strap those fingers for you and get a poultice for your shoulder.”
“No, it’s okay. I’ll go down and see...” Alyx stopped as she realised that she’d been about to say Dashan’s name. But he wasn’t here, he was away from the city for a week on patrol. A shaft of disappointment shot through her, startling her with its strength.
“See who?” Astor inquired.
“Oh, nobody.” She shook her head. “This poultice better be good. My shoulder is killing me.”
“How have you been?” Astor asked as they sat in a corner of the mostly-empty palace kitchens, sharing hot tea by the great fire.
“Fine,” she said. “It’s difficult, acceding to Casovar’s high-handed orders every day, but Papa tells me it’s necessary, and I trust him.”
“You’re right to do so,” Astor said. “What about Cayr? You must be missing him. It’s a cruel blow to return from months away only to have him depart Alistriem almost immediately after.”
“I do miss him, but...” She sighed, toying with her mug. “We were always so close, you
know that. I wanted to marry him. He tells me he still wants the same thing.”
“And that doesn’t make you happy?” He smiled. “I’m astonished you’re not doing cartwheels right now.”
“I don’t want it,” she said quietly.
Silence filled the room, and when Alyx looked up Astor was staring at her with a contemplative expression on his face. She’d expected surprise, but there wasn’t a trace of that in his eyes. “You expected this to happen.”
He gave a little shrug. “Not specifically, but I’m the one person here that understands what DarkSkull Hall does to a person, Aly-girl. You’re not a child anymore, and I’m not surprised that you’re questioning what it is that you want, the things you feel.”
It was a relief, talking to an adult in her life who did understand. It also made her remember Dashan’s insistence that she discuss her nightmares with him. She put her tea down.
“Astor, can I ask your advice on something?”
“Anything,” he said earnestly.
“I’ve been having these nightmares.” Alyx explained them in detail. “I haven’t had one since the night after leaving DarkSkull, but I know it’s inevitable. I don’t know what to do about it. My master didn’t have any answers. Dashan thought you might have some ideas.”
“I have to admit I’ve never heard of another mage causing nightmares. It would have to be a telepath, and a powerful one. Powerful indeed if they can reach you both here and at DarkSkull.”
She shivered at that thought. “Whoever it is knows who I am, too.”
“They would have to know you to some degree, to be able to target you so specifically,” Astor said absently, face indicating he was deep in thought. “You can’t use telepathic magic at such a distance on a mind you’ve never met.”
That was chilling. She hadn’t even thought about it that way. “Why would they be targeting me? And who?”
“Key questions. You said the nightmares started in your first year at DarkSkull, so perhaps it’s someone you met there. Or someone in the mage world who learned of your existence when you arrived.”
Alyx tried to hold back the fear that trickled through her and forced herself to ask the question that had been niggling at her. “Do you think it could be whoever is behind the missing mages?”
“It’s as good a guess as any. But why torture you with nightmares? To scare you?”
“If that’s the motive, it’s succeeding,” she said dryly.
Astor’s eyes fixed on her, the blue in them intense. “I see.”
“I wish it would stop,” she admitted.
Astor rose with a smile. “I promise to do some research to see if I can help. After all, I have plenty of time on my hands now that I’m retired. In the meantime, I’m sure I can find marshmallows here somewhere. What say we roast them over the fire and make some hot chocolate?”
“Like we did when you minded me when I was little?” She smiled.
“Exactly.”
Alyx rose. “I’m in, but only if you promise to—”
“Put the whipped cream inside the hot chocolate instead of on top.” Astor laughed. “Yes, Aly-girl, I remember.”
The hot chocolate was sweet and rich on her tongue, and it momentarily warmed her body. But she couldn’t dispel the shiver that went down her back at the thought of her nightmares, and when she glanced up at Astor, seeking comfort, his gaze was distant, his mind a long way away from her and her problems.
Chapter 14
Alyx looked up, smiling in pleasure as her father came through the door of the mage offices.
“Have you come to take me to lunch?” she asked hopefully.
“Sorry, no.” His return smile lightened his too-serious face. “I’m here for Lord-Mage Casovar. The king wants to see him.”
“Oh. He just left to see the king.”
Garan chuckled. “We must have missed each other on the way.”
“Is it something important?”
“The Tregayan ambassador sent a message to Darien this morning indicating he had some important news to share. The king has asked the lord-mage and I to be there for the meeting.” Her father looked apologetic. “I’d offer to take you with me, but—”
“I’ll come,” she said with alacrity, eager for a chance to hear what the ambassador had to say.
“Really?” Surprise filled his voice. “You’ll be bored.”
“Not at all,” she said. “Especially if the ambassador’s news concerns the trade agreement that Tregaya and Zandia have been working on. If the negotiations have gone well, it would give us an easier time bringing in weapons from Zandia for the army.”
The astonishment on her father’s face deepened. “You know about that agreement?”
Alyx couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “For goodness’ sake, Papa, it wasn’t just magic I learned at DarkSkull. We had a test on the subject. Only Finn got better marks than me.”
“Is that so? All right then, it’s up to you.”
She piled together the papers she’d been working on and rose from her chair, wincing as a jolt of pain shot through the shoulder she’d dislocated in the fight against Fengel. Casovar’s ‘sparring’ the previous night had tweaked the old injury.
“Something wrong?” He narrowed his eyes in concern.
“An old sparring injury,” she said. “I’ll be fine.”
“I remember the time you hurt your other shoulder,” he said wryly as Alyx shrugged on her mage robe and they went out into the hallway.
“I was ten.” She chuckled. “And it was all Dash’s fault.”
“He dared you to climb the tree as high as he had, and you weren’t tall enough to do it.” Her father’s eyes twinkled down at her. “Cayr told you not to, but of course you never conceded defeat when Dashan was daring you.”
“I could hardly back down,” she told him. “I’m an Egalion.”
He gave her a look. “You fell, of course. Lucky that bush was there at the bottom or you would have hurt more than your shoulder.”
“Dash felt guilty though.” Alyx grinned. “I was able to play on that for a week before he realised I wasn’t really that badly hurt.”
“I was furious,” Garan observed.
She winced. “Yes, I remember that too.”
The conversation made her think seriously for the first time about how her father was going to react to news of her relationship with Dashan. Although she might never have to tell him—if things with Dashan didn’t work out, there’d be no need for him ever to know.
But they were working out. Oddly, against all logic and reason, being with him was making her happy. If she was honest with herself, the major factor in her ability to concede to Casovar on a constant basis was the happiness she was experiencing in the other parts of her life. Being home was one of those things, but Dashan was a bigger one.
“Alyx!”
Her head shot up as she was wrenched from her thoughts. Garan stood by the door of the audience room, one eyebrow raised. The Bluecoats on guard had already stepped away.
“Sorry, coming.”
The king was inside, along with Lord-Mage Casovar and Captain Dunnat. Sparky was nowhere to be seen. Casovar didn’t look pleased to see Alyx there, but said nothing, for now presumably not willing to gainsay her father in front of the king.
“Hello, Alyx, it’s nice to see you again.” Darien Llancarvan was in a good mood, and his anger at Cayr had either been forgotten or faded in the weeks that had passed since their arrest. She was tempted to ask when Cayr would return, but didn’t want to push it.
“Your Highness.” She bowed low instead, keeping her voice polite.
“Alyx has some knowledge of the new trade agreement from her studies at DarkSkull, Darien,” Garan spoke casually. “I hope you don’t mind her being here—she’s interested to learn of any developments.”
She looked at her father in surprise. He rarely addressed the king by his first name in the presence of others; it was a privilege he used only wh
en the two men were alone. Darien didn’t seem to notice, he merely waved Alyx to a chair, but Casovar stiffened perceptibly. She held back the smile that wanted to creep across her face—it seemed Garan was deliberately reminding Casovar of his close relationship with the king. Maybe she hadn’t been trusting her father for no reason after all.
Lord Rostan Dunkeld came through the door a moment later. A short, wiry middle-aged man, he’d been the Tregayan ambassador to Rionn for fifteen years, his tenure extended due to the genuine friendship that he’d developed with the king. Alyx had met him only on a couple of occasions growing up, but her father had always spoken well of him.
“Everyone is here.” The king waited until Rostan had seated himself. “What is your news, Lord Dunkeld?”
“Insurrection in Shivasa,” the man said succinctly.
Alyx sat up straighter in her chair. What?
The same surprise filled the king’s voice. “What do you mean?”
“Our southern militia bases have sent several reports over the past weeks. They’ve been brief and sketchy but there have been enough of them to give us a rough picture of what is happening,” Rostan said. “It seems to have started in a large town in southern Shivasa; by all accounts the district administrator was rather a nasty sort. The good townsfolk started protesting, then rioting. The man was forced to step down, but when the people saw that their protest had worked, the riots began spreading throughout southern Shivasa. As of right now, the whole region is seething with unrest.”
Garan frowned. “How violent is it?”
“Nothing beyond a spot of looting or burning for now. As far as we can tell, there isn’t yet any organised resistance, mostly just patches of rebellion throughout the south. Interestingly, some of our reports indicate parts of the population are going out in protest in support of the Shiven leader and his local representatives.”
“If it continues to spread, the unrest could result in a lessening of Shivasa’s forces along the northern border of the disputed area,” Garan mused. “They’ve been steadily building up troop numbers for months—in preparation to annex the area, we’ve judged. This could slow that down.”
