‘When you report what you have seen and heard here to your uncle and the Emperor, please be sure to remind them that the sheltya’s enquiry agent was in Ferl, asking after Baron Halferan at the same time as you. You should assume that your interest in this strife between Hadrumal and Solura’s wizards is known to the sheltya along with whatever motives you might fondly imagine were only known to you.
‘The Mountain adepts will now be well aware of the Tormalin Empire’s interest in renewing its knowledge and use of Artifice. If your own adepts are tempted to aspire to the aetheric enchantments which you have seen here today, remember the risks of attracting sheltya displeasure. May I recommend the same humility and circumspection in such studies as the mentors of Col and Vanam have always shown?’
She smiled amiably. ‘Not least because the continued cooperation of Suthyfer’s mages as Tormalin ships cross the ocean will depend on Suthyfer’s adepts’ agreement. We look forward to seeing Tormalin Artifice abide by the unselfish principles which we advocate.’
Yadres Den Dalderin slowly rose to his feet and bowed low, first to Guinalle, then to Sister Alebis, to Gaveren Raso and finally to Corrain. ‘You may rest assured that I will make certain that Tormalin’s Emperor understands what I have learned here today.’ He sat down heavily.
Corrain was impressed. He didn’t think he could have shown such composure at the lad’s age, not after witnessing such revelations.
‘Good.’ Gaveren Raso looked sternly at the five Soluran mages. ‘Now, go and tell your Orders how grateful they should be not to pay the penalties which your offences warrant.’
He smiled as the chastened renegades vanished in many-hued magelight and then disappeared himself.
Corrain looked uncertainly at Sister Alebis. ‘May I ask how you intend to get home?’
‘By way of Col by ship and then north to Selerima and the Great West Road.’ Her smile revealed an unexpected dimple in one soft cheek. ‘Your young friend Hosh has been telling me of his friends among the university’s mentors. I believe I can offer them some useful lore to improve their healing Artifice.’
‘I have business in Lescar,’ Guinalle told him. ‘Then I’ll travel to Bremilayne and take ship back to Suthyfer.’ She glanced at Den Dalderin. ‘I may call on Emperor Tadriol if there are any matters which he wishes to discuss.’
‘He will be honoured to receive you,’ the young nobleman assured her.
The Soluran swordswoman stirred at the back of the dais.
‘Yes?’ Corrain invited her to speak. He wanted to be certain that the day truly saw an end to Halferan’s dealings with magic.
‘May I ask when lunch is to be served?’
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Trydek’s Tower, Hadrumal
27th of For-Spring
‘I BELIEVE THAT’S all we’ll usefully see today. Thank you for your scrying, Flood Mistress, and for your clairaudience, Cloud Master.’
Troanna waved a hand over the silver bowl and the vision of the manor’s great hall dissolved. ‘Can we trust what we have seen and heard?’
‘What would you suggest we do instead?’ Planir countered. ‘Shall we try trust, until we have reason not to?’
Rafrid looked across the sitting room table to Usara. ‘Your wife is a formidable woman. Should I offer congratulations or commiserations?’
Usara grinned. ‘I am very lucky.’
Jilseth was wondering what their son Darni might grow into, given such redoubtable parents.
Kalion cleared his throat. ‘I suggest that a mage of suitable rank visits the Tormalin Emperor for the Spring Equinox festival. He and Toremal’s great princes will have had time to reflect on Den Dalderin’s report by then.’
‘A good idea, Hearth Master.’ Planir nodded. ‘The sheltya said it was up to us to restore trust in wizardry across the mainland. We may as well start with the most influential people.’
Troanna snorted. ‘Meantime, I will continue restoring some order and habits of study in my hall and among those of my affinity.’
‘Quite so,’ Rafrid agreed with rare accord. ‘If you will excuse me, Archmage.’
He followed the Flood Mistress who was already halfway to the door.
Kalion lingered, looking sadly into the empty scrying bowl. ‘Let’s hope this is truly an end to such strife within wizardry.’
Jilseth wasn’t sure if he was talking to the Archmage, to her and Usara, or simply to himself. Before she could decide, Kalion heaved a sigh and departed without a further word.
Planir looked at Usara. ‘This whole business has him remembering Otrick.’
‘He’s not the only one.’ The Suthyfer mage paused, reflective, before a half smile lightened his solemn expression. ‘If you will permit me, Archmage, I will rejoin my wife.’
‘By all means.’ Planir urged him on with a gesture. ‘Offer her my thanks for enduring the discomforts of translocation to Halferan.’
‘Will you be travelling back to Suthyfer together?’ Jilseth couldn’t restrain her curiosity. ‘By road and sea?’
Usara grinned. ‘I have found such journeys offer unexpected pleasures. We can be too quick to use wizardry. We don’t realise what we might miss.’
Despite that, he vanished with the merest hint of golden magelight.
‘Is this really an end to it all?’
Jilseth looked at the Archmage. Planir smiled and the fine creases around his eyes deepened beguilingly.
‘You clearly have questions. Let’s see if I have answers.’
Jilseth followed him to the settles on either side of the fireplace. ‘I remembered, when we were linked through Usara’s spell, that you were born in Gidesta.’
‘Quite so,’ Planir agreed.
‘What did you know of the sheltya, before you came to Hadrumal?’ Jilseth had studied a map in Wellery’s Hall, contemplating the distances between the coal mining areas to the north and west of Inglis and that remote defiant peak. If she couldn’t recall what had happened to her, she knew precisely where she had recovered her mage senses.
Planir’s smile broadened. ‘Lowland mothers keep their children biddable with tales of the Eldritch Kin lurking in chimney corners. Upland mothers scare their offspring into obedience with stories of the Grey Watchers. When I met Aritane, I realised what lay behind such myths.’
‘Did you always intend involving them to curb these Solurans? Did you know how reluctant they would be? Is that why you allowed me to doubt you? Why you kept so many things from me, so they would think you were failing in your duties when they read my mind?’ Jilseth’s voice shook despite her efforts to remain calm.
Planir looked at her for a long moment before answering. ‘It’s said that knowledge is power. That’s a double-edged blade. Keeping someone in ignorance can be just as powerful. I have a responsibility as Archmage to use every weapon I can find, especially in such dire straits. I knew only the gravest threat would induce the sheltya to act. I’d learned that much from Aritane. I will ask your forgiveness if you want me to but you should know that I would do the same again, with Hadrumal’s fate hanging in the balance.’
Jilseth couldn’t decide if his frankness made her feel better or worse. ‘What would you have done, if they hadn’t intervened?’
Planir shrugged. ‘There was nothing I could have done. Hadrumal would have been lost.’
Jilseth stared at him. ‘Lost? You can say that so calmly?’
‘Never think that I take any loss lightly. I have lost more than you will ever know just as I have borne burdens beyond any Element Master or Mistress’s endurance.’
His grey eyes were steely and Jilseth was ashamed to recall Larissa’s funeral urn upstairs in Planir’s private chamber.
‘Suthyfer would have survived as a new haven for wizardry. My responsibilities as Archmage go far beyond this island and far beyond mindlessly defending or disciplining every wizard trained by these halls. I want to encourage those wizards to discipline themselves, long after I am dead—or gon
e.’
He paused, his face reflective in a way which Jilseth found profoundly unnerving. Before she could ask what he meant, the Archmage continued.
‘Hadrumal has long needed a stark lesson in humility. Now every mage can reflect on how powerless Mellitha and Velindre found themselves in Relshaz, for all their vaunted magecraft. Now apprentices and pupils won’t only hear tales of long-dead menaces like Azazir, driven mad by arrogance until obsession with their element claims them. They’ll hear first-hand accounts of Despin’s appalling fate.’
Planir leaned forward, intent. ‘Wizardry is growing ever more powerful as magecraft is studied and honed, here in Hadrumal, in Solura, now in Suthyfer. I can’t do anything to stop that and I don’t believe I should. But power so readily encourages arrogance.
‘I want every mage to stop and think if he or she should use such powerful spells, not merely if he or she could. I also want every wizard to know that there are those who can stop them abusing the most advanced magecraft, just as I wanted the sheltya to realise how powerful elemental magic has become. I only hope they that realise their responsibilities to Artifice go beyond remaining remote and aloof in their mountain fastnesses.’
‘As long as they don’t decide the swiftest solution to their problems is reducing us all to drooling mindlessness!’ Jilseth was alarmed.
Planir grinned, though his expression was no less intent. ‘Trust me; the sheltya will also learn a few lessons in humility if they choose to come down off their mountains. You should visit Suthyfer again and learn some of the ways Usara and Guinalle have devised for wizards to defend themselves against Artifice.’
‘So this isn’t over?’ Jilseth shrank from the prospect of whatever unknown struggles lay ahead.
‘When is anything ever over? When we lie dead upon a pyre or deep in the ground? Not even then, according to the priests and mystics.’ Planir leaned back and gazed at her over steepled fingers. ‘But I believe that we can hope for calm after these recent years’ upheavals. It will be in everyone’s interests, from the lowliest peasant to Tormalin’s Emperor, to let these ripples die away.
‘As to what the future will bring, I don’t believe that anyone can ever know that, whether they read the runes or the heavenly compass. What will be will be and we will deal with whatever arises with the means we find at hand.’
He sprang to his feet with an energy which surprised Jilseth and fetched a bottle of cordial and two glasses from a side table.
‘For the moment, let us drink to our present challenges being over.’
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
AS EVER, FAMILY and friends, long-standing and newly made, have sustained me as I wrote this book, and indeed, this trilogy, through what have proved testing times for this whole household, at school, college and work. My profound gratitude to you all.
Thanks to the wonders of modern communications, I have drawn invaluable inspiration and energy from the enthusiasm of those readers who have followed these adventures from that thief’s first gamble so long ago in an unremarkable Ensaimin tavern, as well as from those who have joined in along the way, in the Archipelago, in Lescar and now in Hadrumal and Caladhria. To all of you who have asked me unexpected questions via email or at conventions, who have reminded me of throwaway lines (or letters) and characters with unexplored potential, who have shared your appreciation of these stories through blogs, reviews or chance conversation, my sincerest thanks.
In this time of flux in publishing (though I wonder if publishing ever sees anything but constant change) I am indebted to my fellow writers for camaraderie, perspective and encouragement, along with so many sociable and amiable editors, agents, booksellers and others within the SF&Fantasy genre and in the wider world of books beyond.
My thanks to Jon, David, Ben and Mike at Solaris and Rebellion for editorial, administrative and marketing support. Over and above the usual acknowledgements, I am most grateful that they commissioned Clint Langley to paint the covers for these books. Having the complete triptych to hand as I wrote has both focused and stimulated my imagination in truly rewarding fashion as I’m sure you will agree, when you find out exactly what Archmage Planir is doing...
The Archmage rules the island of wizards and has banned the use of magecraft in warfare, but there are corsairs raiding the Caladhrian Coast, enslaving villagers and devastating trade. Barons and merchants beg for magical aid, but all help has been refused so far. Lady Zurenne's husband has been murdered by the corsairs. Now a man she doesn't even know stands as guardian over her and her daughters. Corrain, former captain and now slave, knows that the man is a rogue wizard, illegally selling his skills to the corsairs. If Corrain can escape, he'll see justice done. Unless the Archmage's magewoman, Jilseth, can catch the renegade first, before his disobedience is revealed and the scandal shatters the ruler's hold on power...
"Inventive magic, devious intrigue and appealing characters make for an exciting tale, well-told."
- Gail Z. Martin, author of 'The Sworn'
"If your appetite is for fantasy in the epic tradition, with compelling narratives, authentic combat and characters you care about, Juliet E. McKenna is definitely the author for you."
- Stan Nicholls, author of 'Orcs'
Available to buy from the Kindle Store
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www.solarisbooks.com
The Archmage rules the island of wizards and has banned the use of magecraft in warfare, but there are corsairs raiding the Caladhrian Coast, enslaving villagers and devastating trade. Barons and merchants beg for magical aid, but all help has been refused so far.
Lady Zurenne’s husband has been murdered by the corsairs. Now a man she doesn’t even know stands as guardian over her and her daughters. Corrain, former captain and now slave, knows that the man is a rogue wizard, illegally selling his skills to the corsairs. If Corrain can escape, he’ll see justice done. Unless the Archmage’s magewoman, Jilseth, can catch the renegade fi rst, before his disobedience is revealed and the scandal shatters the ruler’s hold on power...
“Inventive magic, devious intrigue and appealing characters make for an exciting tale, well-told.”
- Gail Z. Martin, author of The Sworn
Available to buy from the Kindle Store
Kindle Store USA
Kindle Store UK
Kindle-Shop DE
www.solarisbooks.com
Read the first novel in Chronicles of the Lescari Revolution, the bestselling fantasy series from Juliet E. McKenna and Solaris Books!
The country of Lescar was carved out of the collapse of the Old Tormalin Empire. Every generation has seen the land laid waste by rival dukes fighting for the High King's empty crown. Tathrin's parents sent him to the distant city of Vanam to escape the recurrent skirmishes. He meets Aremil, another Lescari, whose parents have their own reasons for sending him so far away.
These two young men cannot forget their homeland. Can they persuade other exiles with Lescari blood to help relieve their kinfolk's misery? If they can persuade Branca, the down-to-earth scholar, to share the ancient lore which she has studied, then this mismatched band of commoners, merchants and nobles can begin plotting a revolution.
Full of high adventure, this novel marks the beginning of a thrilling new fantasy series.
Available to buy from the Kindle Store
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Read the second novel in Chronicles of the Lescari Revolution, the bestselling fantasy series from Juliet E. McKenna and Solaris Books!
Those exiles and rebels determined to bring peace to Lescar discover the true cost of war. Courage and friendships are tested to breaking point. Who will pay such heartbreaking penalties for their boldness? Who will pay the ultimate price?
The dukes of Lescar aren’t about to give up their wealth and power without a fight. Nor wil
l they pass up some chance to advance their own interests, if one of their rivals suffers in all this upheaval. The duchesses have their own part to play, more subtle but no less deadly.
Available to buy from the Kindle Store
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Read the third novel in Chronicles of the Lescari Revolution, the bestselling fantasy series from Juliet E. McKenna and Solaris Books!
A few stones falling in the right place can set a landslide in motion. That's what Lescari exiles told themselves in Vanam as they plotted to overthrow the warring dukes. But who can predict the chaos that follows such a cataclysm? Some will survive against all the odds; friends and foes alike. Hope and alliances will be shattered beyond repair. Unforeseen consequences bring undeserved grief as well as unexpected rewards. Necessity forces uneasy compromise as well as perilous defiance. Wreaking havoc is swift and easy. Building a lasting peace may yet prove an insuperable challenge!
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Praise for Juliet E. McKenna
Defiant Peaks (The Hadrumal Crisis) Page 50
