by D. W.
Not seeing a polite way out of the request, or even a reason to decline, Thad offered his arm to the duchess. “It would be my pleasure to escort such a rare beauty.”
“If you continue to flatter me, my niece will have to pry you away from me.” Alysia said laughing lightly behind her hand.
The walk to the gardens was not far though he was surprised to see so much green with the cold weather. “How do you keep such a lovely garden with weather such as this?”
“Oh luckily I have some of the best gardeners in the Queendom. These are year round flowers. There aren’t as many varieties of them, and some of them are very hard to cultivate, but I do so enjoy my evening strolls.”
The duchess led him to a long stone bench. “Now that were away from the crowd, tell me what you think of my niece.”
“She is a little base at times, but over all she is enjoyable to be around.”
Alysia let out a garish laugh. “You have a way with words, ‘a little base,’ is the understatement of a lifetime. I love the girl to death and she is smart as they come, but she refuses to act like a lady. I swear she would have been happier being born a male even if it meant a lower position in the world.” She said wiping a tear from her eye. “But that isn’t what I was talking about. I think you two would make a good pair, and you’re of age.”
She left the rest of her statement left unsaid, but Thad understood her meaning. He was fifteen and of age to marry even though the system was seldom used it still existed in the upper societal levels.
“I……..” Thad tried to get the words past his throat, but it was like trying to force a flower to talk.
“Oh my! You are the innocent one aren’t you? I don’t want to pressure you child, I just wanted you to think about the offer.” Alysia said in a calming voice. “I think it would be a smart match. Maybe you could get her to settle down a bit.”
“Well, I think that we have had quite a long enough of a walk. Shall we head back?” Alysia said standing up from the hard bench.
The walk back was eerily quiet, though the duchess kept giving him looks and giggling slightly. He wasn’t sure what it was about, but it made him feel more than slightly uncomfortable. As soon as they entered the manor, he was whisked away, by the older gentleman who had greeted them when they arrived, to the room he would be staying in.
In his room, he found a large stack of battle harnesses and weapons laid out in front of his bed. It was still only slightly after midday so he had plenty of time, and Eloen had said they had planned to stay for a few days, so a little work wouldn’t be too bad. As he picked up one of the battle harnesses he remembered Alden’s request for a magical bag.
It took him awhile to find where the seamstress lived. He was surprised that the duchess kept a seamstress around full time, but as much as the peerage enjoyed changing their clothes, he shouldn’t have been.
The seamstress was much younger than he would have imagined, she couldn’t have been past her early twenties. She had deep-set brown eyes that were like twin acorns. Her luxurious, straight, obsidian hair hung down her back like a flowing stream. She had a graceful build and her skin was ruddy. Though for a seamstress, she wore a plain gray dress accented with little flowers around the midsection.
“Hello miss, I was wondering if you could make something for me?” Thad said nervously.
“And here I thought you were here to ravish me.” She said her tone dry and lifeless. “I don’t have all day. What do you want?”
Thad explained what he wanted done. The seamstress asked a lot of questions. He tried to get her to understand what he was going to try, but in the end he just had to beg her to make the item. After an hour or so she finally agreed to have it to ready for him by morning.
Back in his room he grabbed up a handful of cat eye gems and placed them next to him on the bed. Pulling the first battle harness into his lap, he began to work. He wasn’t sure how long he had sat there, but after the fourth one Eloen knocked on his door then entered his room before he had a chance to get off his bed. She was stunning, wearing her hair done up behind her and wearing a dark blue dress that seemed to glimmer as she moved.
“Instead of locking yourself in your room all night, why don’t you come down and join us for dinner. Auntie is getting quite vexed with you. She has sent poor Edward up these stairs four times to make sure you would be joining us.”
“Sorry, I tend to lose track of time when I’m working. Give me a minute and I’ll be right down.” Thad said getting off the bed and stretching his stiff muscles.
“After taking the trouble of coming all the way up here to get you, I’m not leaving until you come down with me.”
“But I need to change.” Seeing no reacting from his words, he moved over to the closet where someone had placed a garment for him to wear. It was completely black with a low v-cut. It showed off more of his chest than he was comfortable with. Thad changed quickly, trying his best to keep himself covered from Eloen’s prying eyes.
Eloen must have found the whole thing funny because she continued to laugh as he struggled to get into the tight clothes. After a fierce battle, he was finally ready and offered his arm to Eloen who still laughing, bowed extravagantly and accepted his offered arm.
Thad had expected to see the other soldiers at the table, but was slightly disappointed when they walked into the dining room. The duchess sat at the head of the table and open seats had been saved on either side of her. He presumed for him and Eloen. There were also five other women who were all noticeably related, though Thad just wasn’t sure exactly how.
The duchess stood and held her arm outstretched to the chair on her left. “I am glad my niece was able to convince you to join us Master Mage.”
Thad bowed low. “It is my pleasure Your Grace.”
As he moved to take the seat the duchess had indicated, a woman who looked like a younger duchess, but with quite a few more pounds sneered at him. “Sister, you would let a male sit at your left hand ahead of your own flesh and blood.”
“Mother!” Eloen said embarrassed.
“Eloen don’t tell me you think this man has the right to eat in the same room with us, let alone at the same table.” One of the younger girls said in disgust.
Eloen turned to Thad, her face flush with anger. “Thad I apologize for my family. Would it be possible to turn them into frogs or at least take away their ability to talk.”
Alysia held her hand over her face, trying to muffle the laugh that escaped her lips. The other four ladies looked in shock and Eloen’s mother looked livid.
Having been treated with contempt and open disdain many times in his life over his gender, Thad wasn’t really upset, but he thought a little fun wouldn’t be taken amiss by the duchess. Raising his hands over his head, Thad began to chant and the looks of the women at the table turned to that of sheer fear. Sparks of energy arched through his fingers and a gust of wind blew through the room.
“Nope doesn’t look like I can turn them into frogs. I believe the best I could do is possibly cook them with a little mage fire, but that seems a little harsh, doesn’t it?” Thad said lowering his hands and taking his seat next to the duchess.
Eloen doubled over laughing so hard that tears streamed freely down her face. Alysia join in her nieces laugh though in a much more dignified manner. The other ladies at the table sat nervously, their eyes squarely pinned on him. He wasn’t sure if it was in fear or anger, but it didn’t really matter to him.
The meal was eaten in relaxed silence. The youngest of the group looking slightly younger than the princess, sat next to him. She had Eloen’s chestnut hair, but her eyes were a pale blue and she continued to stare at him. Unlike the other ladies, hers showed no contempt. It was odd how she sometimes missed her mouth, as if she were unable to tear her eyes away from him.
Finally her curiosity must have gotten the better of her fear. Setting down her fork, she turned to him and tugged hard on the sleeve of his jerkin. “Make something for me.�
� While her eyes were pleading, her voice held a child’s commanding tone.
Everyone’s eyes centered on him, even the duchess and Eloen’s as if unsure what he would do. He knew the meal had started off ruff and didn’t want to leave the youngster with any more reason to hate men. He looked around for something to work with.
Emptying the last bit of food off of one of the silver trays, he held it up. “Do you mind?”
The duchess shook her head in silence and continued to watch eagerly, to see what he would do. Focusing his mind he sent his power into the silver, forcing it to bend and mold at his will. The metal started to flow around his hand like a waterfall of silver. He was forcing the silver to mend and mold much faster than normal, causing beads of sweat to gather on his forehead. When he was finished he handed a perfectly formed silver rose to the little girl, who in turn, squealed in delight.
After the meal was finished, Eloen was nice enough to help him escape from the table by asking him to escort her on a walk. Willing to take any excuse to leave, he gladly offered his arm to her. She quickly dragged him away, once again causing Alysia to laugh.
Once outside the dining room, she continued to drag him up the stairs to the east wing of the manor. Pulling him through the door, to what he assumed was her room, she jumped up with her arms around his neck forcing him to spin in a few dizzying circles.
“Thad, that was perfect. Did you see the look on my mother’s face? I think she might have wet herself when your fingers started sparking. Then to top it off, you were nice to little Sophia, making her that rose. You should have been a thespian with those skills.” She continued to rattle on, laughing so hard at time tears ran down her face.
“I wasn’t really mad, but it seemed wrong not to do or say anything back, and the little girl’s eyes stayed on me the whole meal. I was just hoping to give her something new to stare at for a while.” Thad said blushing.
They sat and talked late into the night and for the first time it was a real talk. She didn’t mention fighting, or barb him about the princess once during the night. He learned that while she wasn’t the oldest of her sisters, Alysia had chosen her to be the designated heir, which caused much irritation to her sisters.
Eloen asked him many questions. She seemed overly eager to hear about his time in the slave academy. He told her of the rigorous training and scoring system. How they were pitted against each other for the best positions in their classes.
“You had friends right?” she asked after he told her about the day he was sold to the queen.
Thad shook his head silently. “No. While it wasn’t forbidden, it was frowned upon to spend any amount of time with an individual or group. The competition for the admiration of the mothers is the main driving force behind the students. In a real sense, they were all we really had to rely on.
He wasn’t sure why, but Eloen pulled him close hugging him to her bosom. He didn’t feel sad, but a single tear rolled down his face.
CHAPTER VIII
The seamstress kept her word. Shortly after breakfast, the pack along with two sets of wool underclothes was delivered to his room by a young page. The pack was made exactly how he wanted. It had fifteen different sections on the top each sewn to each other and clipped together with metal snaps. At the bottom of each section was a metal section about the size of a dagger blade.
While the sections were only deep enough for him to stick his arm up to the elbow, they would each hold the same amount as a normal pack while taking up much less room and weighing far less.
He still had a lot of other enchantments to do on the others gear, but if he understood what Eloen was saying, he had two more days before the troops from the Duchess would be ready. He had been a little worried about reaching Southpass before the battle started, but she had assured him the snow that blocked the pass wouldn’t melt overnight.
Sitting on his bed with the pack in front of him, he pulled out one of his gems and set it in the bottom of the first section, forcing the metal to flow around it to hold it in place. Concentrating, he built a flexible sub-dimensional lining around the interior of the bag. The bag itself was only about two food long, and a foot wide. However, if his enchantments worked, it would be able to hold three times as much as a bag its size should.
It took him hours to figure out how to make the bag and lining link. After a few trial and errors, he found that if he made a seam of metal running up the side of each section, it worked to hold the sub-dimensional lining in place. After the first section was done, he wanted to test it to be sure that when the section was closed, the weight would disappear. Picking up the unfinished battle harnesses, he filled the bag to the brim, making it bulge at the sides. When he finally forced the clasp to close, the sides of the bag returned to their normal size and he could pick up the pack as if it was empty. Opening the bag again, everything returned. Smiling happily at his success, he unloaded the battle harnesses and began to work on the next sections.
His midday meal was brought up to him by Eloen. She bugged him, wanting him to explain his new project. Not wanting to give away the surprise, he acted as if he had been working on the battle harnesses and weapons all morning. He could tell she didn’t completely buy his ruse, but she didn’t continue pestering him about it either.
Each section he worked on seemed easier and easier to form, but his head also had started to pound around the ninth one. Knowing he needed a break and dinner was not far off, he sat his project aside and headed down to the servants baths to relax.
Eloen had warned him about using the main baths, as they were used by the females. While the duchess wouldn’t mind, there was a large chance that someone might walk in on him. Not wanting to cause himself any undue embarrassment, he decided to take her advice and stick to the servant’s baths. While there were still female servants and slaves, they were few and far between. They had their own quarters, so the chance of injury to his pride was much less.
The bath was empty and the water cold enough to store produce, but he still enjoyed a relaxing soak. Fresh and clean, with a slight bounce in his step, he went back to his room where he was greeted by Eloen. “Come to escort me to dinner again?” He asked jovially.
“I think you have that backwards. I’ve come to get you to escort me to dinner. Shall we go?” She said bowing and waving her hand dramatically at the door.
The dinner and seating arrangements seemed to be the same, but the looks on the women’s faces seemed to have drastically changed. There were no barbs or harsh looks thrown his way. As he sat down, he noticed Sophia the young girl from the day before still carried the silver rose he had made for her.
“She hasn’t let go of the thing since you handed it to her.” Eloen’s mother said. Her voice wasn’t kind, but it didn’t hold the same bite it had the day before.
The food hadn’t been brought in yet, so it was expected to carry on polite conversation, but he couldn’t think of anything to say. The young girl’s eyes were still fixed on him, as if anticipating him to do something wondrous. Even though his head hurt, he figured it wouldn’t kill him to give her a small show. He admitted to himself, it wasn’t merely for her benefit. He thoroughly enjoyed the attention he got when he performed magic. No one saw him as a mere male when he did magic, they didn’t always show it, but he could see it in their eyes.
Holding his hand out to Sophia she gasped in surprise as a miniature horse galloped around his open palm. He laid his hand on the table, and the little horse jumped on its flat surface skidding a little. After whipping its small head around, the little horse galloped at full speed up and down the table. The show was rewarded by applause from everyone at the table.
Sophie clapped loudly as the horse cantered around her plate. “Can I please hold it Sir Mage?”
“Sure Sophie, just put your hand on the table palm up.”
As Sophie put her hand down, Thad concentrated harder to give the horse a physical weight and made it soft to the touch. In essence, it was still an illu
sion, but the magic creating it was forced into a more solid state.
Sophie laughed as the horse nuzzled her thumb as she held it up for everyone to see. She laughed for a long while, petting the horse and trying to get it to jump over her finger. Her face fell suddenly when the tiny horse disappeared with a slight pop.
“Where did it go?” Sophie cried turning to Thad who had slumped in his chair, face drenched in sweat.
“Thad!” Eloen yelled rushing over to his side.
Thad opened his eyes and straightened himself in his chair. Though the horse had been small, he had held it for almost a quarter of an hour and made it feel solid which increased the burden dramatically. Normally that wouldn’t have been a problem, but he had already exhausted his magical reservoir working on the magical pack.
“I’m ok. I just overworked myself a little today.” Thad said weakly.
Thad felt a little tug on his arm. Looking down, he saw the worried expression of Sophie staring up at him. “Do you need anything?”
It was heartwarming to see the little girl hold such compassion in her eyes. “I just need a little water and rest, and I’ll be as good as new.”
Without another word the little girl jumped up from her seat and dashed out of the room. Eloen continued to fret over him, but Alysia found enough humor in the situation to let out a soft giggle.
Sophie returned shortly, carrying a cup of water as if she was afraid it was filled with acid. She gently handed him the cup her face full of apprehension as he took a deep drink.
“Thank you Sophie I feel much better now.” His voice was still weak, but Sophie’s face beamed happily as she sat back down in her seat holding the rose tightly to her chest.
When the food came, Thad ate slowly even though he was ravenous. It wasn’t to be polite, he was afraid that in his current state his stomach would not be able to hold down the food if he ate too quickly. Every now and then, Eloen would give him a worried glace but other than that, no one paid much attention to him.
