He shook his head, “No, they’re safe, your majesty. Have you ever moved a torch so fast it appeared to leave a line of light behind? Same concept. The flat two and a half foot diameter portal appeared above their heads, and moved down so fast to take them to their destination that it only appeared to be a cylinder, when in fact it was a flat disc that moved so quickly it couldn’t be tracked correctly by human vision.”
The queen nodded thoughtfully, took a deep breath, and then squared her shoulders.
“Very well, let’s see an end to this.”
A royal guard argued, “I don’t like this idea, your majesty.”
She smiled, “It’s just a matter of time, better to go on my own terms. Maybe he’ll be shocked enough to listen, since I plan to rub in the fact he failed, and that he was outmaneuvered by two teenage mages. Why, their paint hasn’t even dried yet.”
Carolynn snorted a laugh, then looked at the queen in shocked apology. Not for laughing at the joke, but for laughing at all given the queen was marching toward her own death. At least, that’s how he’d feel about it.
The queen laughed, “Exactly, let’s go.”
He knew the humor and confidence was in large part bravado on the queen’s part, chances were this wouldn’t go very well at all. The fire mages they ran into first might not even hesitate to just kill her, even before the queen could get a single spoken word out. His feelings for the royal family were mixed, but he couldn’t fault her bravery in the face of that fear, or in her sacrifice to ensure her children’s well-being.
He just wished he hadn’t had to be integral to that sacrifice, or that he could have saved all three of them, but they wouldn’t have had enough magic to teleport three. Technically, even two was too many, but the princess wasn’t all that big, and her twelve-year-old brother added made one man-sized person as far as body mass went.
He had his own sacrifice as well. His secret seemed safe enough for the moment, thanks to Lia’s misdirect mostly, but there would be pointed questions later, and the truth would come out, sooner or later. Of course, he might not be facing death, he was just facing the unknown and possible death from those that would fear him.
He also figured the stress was part of it, but when things slowed down, the other eight mages down there with them would start to question events in their minds more closely. He’d just showed a shocking amount of mastery just then, for a wet behind the ears eighteen-year-old mage that had been promoted six months early.
In short, he’d lose his anonymity, and be very visible, while still incredibly weak, relatively. At least to the strength he’d grow into overtime. He could only hope his fears proved baseless, but he doubted it.
Ironically, one of the main threats that way was the woman and young man he’d just saved by outing himself, because he did have honor and took his oaths seriously. Given her mother was about to die, he suspected that saving her wouldn’t be a plus either, she’d resent him for saving her and dooming her mother. Unless he was underestimating her, which was possible. Life truly was strange, at times.
Chapter Eight
They marched up the long steep stairs the same way they came down. He wasn’t sure when the mages felt them, but it was more than obvious they had, when they were waiting for them to come out in the princess’s quarters.
He suppressed a sigh of relief, when the two master fire mages didn’t immediately open fire. Perhaps they simply had enough forethought not to kill the queen before determining the princess’s location.
Vida was the true threat after all, Delphine was just temporarily in charge, a queen by virtue of marrying the king, but in authority she was the regent, not the queen. Vida was the true queen, though she had yet to be crowned.
He wasn’t sure what their names were, though he recognized their faces from competitions of the past. Neither did they introduce themselves. Before they could speak at all, the queen’s voice rang with authority.
“Take me to the usurper, now.”
They scowled, but to his surprise they didn’t argue. Although they did give the ten of them a withering look in warning, no magic from them would be tolerated. He got the impression they weren’t very happy with how Tanner’s plans hadn’t gone very well at all, starting with him running off with the princess before the spell could be completed.
Really, it was all his fault, or to his credit. Without that, the guards never would have gone to the queen with a warning, and she wouldn’t have cleared her son out. It all would’ve been very different, as the air mages put everyone in the courtyard to sleep to stop word from spreading, killed the princess, and the queen would’ve been taken unawares right in the throne room.
He felt a certain pride in all that, as well as the spell he’d created, and thought worthless at the time, that would hopefully put the death spike in Tanner’s plans. At the same time, he felt like an abject failure as he followed a proud queen to face a tower mage none of them could possibly face in battle and win.
So far, Tanner’s attempted coup had been death free, he imagined that was about to change, and he had no solutions for it all.
One of the mages asked, “Where is the prince and princess?”
The queen smirked, “Gone. Out of your reach, and Tanner’s. I only want to explain it once, so let’s wait until we reach Tanner, shall we?”
The other fire master growled, “Master Tanner.”
The queen shook her head, “Not anymore. I’m afraid he’s guilty of treason and sedition, when this is done, he won’t be ruling his tower any longer, much less my kingdom.”
The fire mages could snuff out her life with a bare effort, but they still looked rather nervous after that strong proclamation, and the rest of their trip to the back of the castle and courtyard was made in silence.
As he’d guessed, the council’s magic was recovering quickly, but they were all in a spelled sleep so they wouldn’t be able to fight back for the duration of the coup. He did his best not to draw attention to himself, while his mind worked furiously for a solution, but he knew this time it was out of his hands. He even had orders from the queen to stay out of it, but that didn’t stop his mind from spinning in circles, and he suspected the others felt similarly.
He needn’t have bothered on that effort though, since Tanner only had eyes for the queen, and her next words were guaranteed to draw any lightning.
Delphine said, “You’ve failed, Tanner. The heir is safe, as is my son. Out of your reach. I declare you guilty of treason and sedition, and I relieve you of all your authority. I’ll give you one chance Tanner, and banish you from our kingdom, if you don’t take it, and leave immediately, I may not see you executed personally but I swear that my daughter will.”
Tanner laughed, “I don’t think so,” he looked at his own mages, “Report.”
He sighed, so much for Tanner cutting his losses and running. Of course, the former tower mage didn’t have all the information yet.
“When we went to check on the bolt-hole that we found out about during questioning, we felt them coming up the stairs, so waited for them. The prince and princess were not present.”
Tanner scowled, “Did you check?”
The fire mage shook his head, “No. The queen said they were gone. I know not how, but I also knew she told the truth, just as you should now. Our spells would’ve detected falsehood.”
Tanner scowled, “My magic still isn’t fully recovered. I held back while casting the portal, but not completely, and I’m holding back on wasting it on trifles in case what’s left is needed for battle.”
The fire mage nodded in understanding, “Of course, master. I didn’t mean to…”
Tanner waved that away, “Forget it. Find out what the queen knows, and where her children were sent and how. Oh, and disarm these two, and lock them up in the dungeon. I don’t want them harmed, but I want them out of the way for now.”
He was confused by that last, the not wanting them harmed part. Especially given how much he knew Tanne
r hated him, but he didn’t fight as they took his bracers and sword. They were quite thorough as they searched him, and took all his rods as well, even the blanks from his pockets. For the first time since he cast his first spell, he felt totally naked, and couldn’t do a lick of magic. Even if he hadn’t already been drained dry by that spell.
Which was ridiculous, he’d had no magic the first eighteen years of his life, he was hardly helpless without it, was he?
They were just as thorough searching Lia’s body, which he didn’t like at all. Only their professional looks and the lack of any obvious groping made him able to keep his mouth shut about it. Still, he was shocked at the level of jealousy another man’s hands on his Lia engendered, and it took control and an act of will to not object strenuously.
He got even angrier, when the fire mage turned the pile of metal on the ground into slag. It would take him days to make all his stuff from scratch.
Lia didn’t look much happier at the loss of her stuff.
The weakness of a rune mage had finally bitten him in the ass.
The mage asked, “The others?”
Tanner scowled, “You eight can’t be so easily disarmed. Must I tie you up?”
The queen said, “They’ve been ordered by me not to fight you, or to try and save my life should you foolishly choose to take it and remove any chance of clemency for your actions, in being banished instead of beheaded for your crimes.”
Tanner looked at his fire mages, who nodded gravely to indicate the queen had spoken the truth.
He was curious about that spell, they didn’t have an equivalent fire rune spell for detecting lies in the tower library, it was obviously one of those spells the rune mystics had decided wasn’t necessary to duplicate. He smirked, as it occurred to him that they might not have wanted any of their mages to judge the truth of their mystic words.
Tanner said, “Don’t leave this courtyard or my sight, but stay out of the way.”
Levi scowled, but nodded tightly. The others didn’t look pleased either. Only Carolynn and Karina gave them both worried glances, as he and Lia were led away.
He wondered why they were being sent to the dungeons, when the others weren’t. Unless Tanner had told the truth, and he wasn’t as concerned with preserving the lives of the other mages on the protection team. There could be other reasons as well, but none occurred to him.
The dungeon in the royal castle wasn’t exactly nice, but it wasn’t as bad as he’d feared either. He’d slept in worse conditions on the road. The cell they were in had four small cots with clean blankets, and there was a clean chamber pot in the corner. No privacy, but he’d turn his back and screen Lia from view with his body if it came up before they were released.
“Any thoughts on why we’re in here, or why he cares about preserving someone he hates, me?”
She sighed, “Remember his initial speech? About not ending any of the mage lines or disciplines. There are eight rune mages left, and the next generation will be up to us, as well as Sam and Karen. I suspect he’d keep us in here and force us to breed in captivity if he fails to win over Cassandra, once the royal family is dead. Of course, that plan is no longer possible, with the heirs safe for now, but it’s all I can think of. He may hate you, but he won’t risk losing the rune guild or mages permanently to a mage civil war, if it happens.”
A moment later, she added, “Perhaps… he also doesn’t want us to do anything stupid, if he winds up making the decision to kill our mistress. The queen ordered us not to defend her, but we’d both do something stupid if he decided to kill Cassandra.”
That sort of made sense, in a disturbing way. It also explained why Tanner wasn’t all that fussed about the rest of the team, there were over a hundred water and earth mages each, in their respective towers. Tanner may not have wanted to kill any mages today, but if a few of those died it wouldn’t impact or endanger the discipline all that much.
That was a cold thought process, somewhere his mind normally wouldn’t have gone, but given the circumstances it was impossible not to see it, from Tanner’s point of view.
He sighed, “I wish we could see what was going on. He’s not going to be happy at all when he finds out what we did, and that it won’t be easy at all to counter.”
She nodded, “I know the queen didn’t want us calling in help, but my mother and father already know that something is very wrong. They’ll be focused on their mission of course, defending the pass, but at some point they’ll send what masters they can spare to investigate. I imagine after my brief contact and terse questions, plus by now they’d have noticed they’re missing twenty-five masters on site. Eventually, she’ll contact me again, and make a move on their end, and Tanner knows it. Things are going to get very ugly, if he doesn’t back down.”
She changed the subject then, “Amazing spell by the way.”
He shrugged, “I thought it was rather worthless.”
She snorted, “For you maybe. In ten years, I’ll be able to pop all over the kingdom on my own, that’s got to be useful in some circumstances, where communication spells just won’t cut it. Even you might be able to cast it alone, in your dotage.”
He snickered, “My dotage?”
She nodded, “Older is more powerful, even average mages have a whole lot of power toward the end of their lives, even if I’ll eclipse you even more by then.”
He laughed, “Good to know.”
She asked, “Why did you do it? I kind of misdirected them with their own assumptions, without lying, but when this all cools down everyone will find out the truth about you.”
He shrugged, “I might not be put down, or assassinated. The main point is I swore to defend the royal family with my life, and it was the only way to save the future queen. We’d already exhausted all the other options. Trust me, it was my last option. Regardless, the danger of people knowing what I am is just not a typical way that scenario would normally play out, but it still applies. I’m not resigned though, I still plan to spend the rest of my life with you, and hopefully that will be a long time.”
She smirked, “It better be.”
It wasn’t long, maybe fifteen minutes later that the air mages showed up and questioned them. He really didn’t like being forced to answer with the truth, but they only asked one question, where the heirs were. They didn’t know, and once Lia confirmed she’d removed the information from her own mind as they’d discovered from questioning the queen, the master air mages left.
He felt a little relief, then guilt for feeling relief, that the air mages hadn’t asked about the spell. Still, it was just a little more clemency during a turbulent day in the middle of a coup. Things would calm eventually, and the tower masters wouldn’t rest until they had a complete picture of the day’s events. At least, that was his firm belief, obviously so to his thinking.
Assuming of course, they won, and Tanner lost, something he had to hope for despite what it’d mean for him. He felt incredibly selfish worrying about that, when the queen and even Cassandra’s life hung on the faintest of threads.
He almost told Lia he loved her, but he swallowed the words. It would’ve sounded like he was giving up and saying goodbye. Perhaps the risk wasn’t as great as he feared. But then, if it wasn’t, why would Cassandra have assiduously avoided the subject the last eight months?
He asked, “Do you know why Cassandra never asked me about it?”
Lia didn’t have to ask what he meant.
“Fear of an idea is always more visceral than fear of a person who is proven evil, and is more likely to engender extremes and make people ignore facts. The former is tied up with fear of the unknown. It’s an emotional reaction, not one based in fact. If I’d found out the truth before I knew you as a person, I’d have been very nervous around you given our history. I’d have avoided you, which would’ve been a crime, because you’re the best man I know.
“I suspect she did so for two reasons. One, so when it did come out, because eventually every secret doe
s, you wouldn’t be a helpless apprentice and relatively easy to take out, despite how dangerous you are with a sword. In short, she has faith in you, and doesn’t care how you were born. The second is by then you’d have a long record with the council, of your actions, beliefs, mission accounts, and they’d know you. You’d be a known quantity to fear, instead of an nebulous evil thing come to life from our past. That might temper any of the harsher reactionary measures that might occur to them.
“I suspect at best they’ll censure you for creating a new spell which is against the rules, and they’ll demand you never do so again. At worst, we might wind up having to run for it.”
He smirked, “You’d run away with me?”
She grinned playfully, “Scandalous, I know. My reputation would be shattered. But I’m not letting you out of my sight.”
“Love you too. What do you think will happen out there, you’ve known Tanner longer than I have, and I fear my anger for his attitude toward me might be coloring my thoughts.”
She sighed, and looked reluctant to say, but did so anyway.
“He’s a spiteful bastard. He’ll fight, and he’ll lose that graciousness he’s been showing as his position grows less and less tenable. The only real question is if Sun and Kaitlyn will stand at his side. I suspect they’re the reason Tanner came up with the bloodless coup in the first place, to persuade them it was worth doing for their freedom from the crown’s control. If he kills Cassandra, and he doesn’t back down to the other four towers when my mother sends a response, he could lose that support.
“I really don’t think Sun or Kaitlyn would go along with a mage civil war of split towers, the cost would be too high. Our numbers are already rather low.
“If he loses their support, it will be the fire tower against six other towers. At that point, his people would start to jump ship, if he gave orders that insane. Still, I feel some will die before it reaches that point, and our mistress will likely be among them. She’s the most vocal and stubborn in opposing Tanner’s schemes in the past.
Rune Mage: The Rune Mystic: Book Two Page 7
