"Duke Roger isn't a careless man," Alanna said bitterly. "I have only what I've seen and what I think." She got up and poked the fire, her jaw tight with anger.
"You hate Roger, don't you?" Myles asked quietly. He poured them each a glass of wine.
Alanna paused, thinking. "If hate is wanting to crush someone because you know they're evil, then yes—I hate the Duke of Conte."
Myles grasped her by the shoulders. "Be careful. He's too powerful to anger. You could easily be the one to die, and no one would know he was to blame. He can do it. You know he can. And if you're out of the way, who will keep him away from Jonathan? He's afraid of you, or he wouldn't have risked exposure to make a friend out of you." Alanna grinned. Myles had just given her an idea. "I think I know someone else he might fear."
DON'T be such a ninny," Alex urged as Alanna struggled with the skates. "Surely you ice-skated at Trebond."
"Not since I was little," Alanna replied curtly, eying the frozen surface before her. Gary and Raoul were racing their squires while Jonathan helped Cythera of Elden to her feet. Another of the Queen's ladies, Gwynnen, was laughing merrily as she performed figure-eights under the January sun.
How had she let herself walk into a stupid bet with Alex? She hadn't ice-skated since the time she fell in when she was just five. But everyone had called her chicken, and Jonathan had looked at her with "Please?" in his eyes, and Alex had bet her ten gold nobles she couldn't get around the pond once without falling. Her noble's pride couldn't refuse such a challenge, even though she had been wary of Alex ever since the mock duel when he had nearly killed her.
Her friends applauded as she tottered out onto the ice, Faithful yowling encouragement from the land. He had insisted on coming, although—like any sane cat—he hated water, frozen or not. Alanna tried a few steps, relieved to find the ice was firm beneath her. Getting a little bolder, she skated several feet, stopping only to retie a skate lace.
Without warning Geoffrey and Sacherell swept up behind her and seized her by both arms, taking off with her down the pond's length. Alanna laughed and ordered them to let her go, knowing they wouldn't drop her. Raoul's squire was the best skater in the palace, and Geoffrey was quite good for someone born and reared in Persopolis. Grinning, they deposited her in front of Alex.
"Well?" The young knight grinned, pointing to the ice. "A bet's a bet!"
Alanna set off doggedly around the edge of the pond, her legs pumping steadily. Once she got into the rhythm of it, she had only to watch for bumps and rough spots in the ice. This is more fun than I remembered, she thought, reaching the far end of the pond, many yards away from her friends. Perhaps I should skate more!
At this end of the pond there were several clumps of reeds. She gave them a wide berth, remembering that ice was weaker in such areas. Only a third of the way remained to go when the ice gave way beneath her. She fell into bone-cold water like a stone, biting back a scream of fright. It had happened just this way when she was five, with the skates pulling her down. She fought to get them off her feet, holding her breath and cursing the fear of cold that made her wear so many clothes. There! The skates were off her feet, and she was plowing toward the surface again. Her lungs were bursting. Terror rose up, choking her. She forced herself to think, knowing that if she panicked now she would be dead. Surely the air was just above her....
Her hands contacted ice. She groped, trying to find the hole through which she had come; but it was useless. Shivering helplessly in the water, she felt for the ember-stone. She didn't even realize it was in her numb hand until its fire blazed out, and a hole melted in the ice above her head. She shot to the surface, inhaling a huge gasp of air, before her sodden clothes pulled her under.
Once more, she thought grimly, and she forced herself to the surface again. This time strong hands gripped both her arms, and Jon and Raoul pulled her out onto the ice. "Did someone go for help?" Jonathan asked tensely as he pulled off her jacket. "Get he—get his outer things off."
"The girls went," Gary replied, tugging off Alanna's mittens. "Mithros, Alan, you gave us a—Faithful, get away from there!"
Alanna tried to turn her head. "What's he doing?" she gasped.
Raoul frowned as he tugged off her remaining boot. "He's licking the ice. C'mon, Alan, let's get you onto dry land."
Alanna enjoyed the unique sensation of being carried by someone who handled her as if she were a kitten. "Licking the ice?" she asked sleepily.
"I'll be right there," Jonathan said. He and Alex skated over to the cat. "Come on, Faithful," he instructed sternly. "You'll worry Alan."
Alex was shaking his head. "I don't understand. This pond's been frozen solid for weeks. How—"
"Why do animals lick ice?" Jon asked, his voice odd. Carefully he knelt beside Faithful, keeping an eye on the wide hole in the ice where Alanna had gone through. He rubbed his ungloved hand near the hole and tasted. "Someone threw salt on this part of the ice," he announced slowly. "Look how it's pitted and marked right here."
"Murder," Alex whispered, looking more closely. "But which of us is a murderer's target? Could it be just a very bad idea of a joke?"
"I'm not laughing," Jonathan commented drily. "Are you?"
ONCE she had recovered from her icy dunking, Alanna decided to take action. She sent a verbal message, not daring to trust her thoughts to a letter, to Thom through George. She needed her brother's help. Only Roger could have been behind the mishap on the duckpond, and she knew she wanted no more such "mishaps" happening to her. She also found it interesting that Alex had been there.
Weeks went by without an answer and without the messenger's return. George finally sent out search parties, and in March Alanna had an answer—of sorts.
"My messenger was slain," George told her. "Five arrows in his back, all poisoned. Someone was takin' no chances."
Alanna frowned. "I'll have to go myself," she said worriedly. "Not now, the mountain passes are snowed in. And Jonathan needs me."
George forced her to look at him. "You're in love with Jon, aren't you?" he asked softly. "And me a blind fool not to have seen it before."
Alanna shook him off. "I don't know what love is," she said uncomfortably. "At least, not the kind you're talking about—the forever kind."
George laughed and shook his head. "Lass, when will you learn to see what's before your nose?"
Alanna reached up and tweaked George's own nose. "When I have something to see," she teased. "So stop trying to make me see something that isn't there."
George smiled. "You're a stubborn youngling," he told her. "It's one of your charms. And if you're plannin' any ride to the City of the Gods, I'm goin' with you." He silenced her protest by putting a large hand over her mouth. "Didn't you hear me before? Five poison-tipped arrows in my man, and it's as well for you he carried a message rather than a letter. He was searched, his things spread all over the snow. It's good we've had a cold winter—everything was frozen just as it was when they killed him. So, miss, like it or no, I go with you when you visit your brother."
Alanna made a face and kept quiet. When the time came, she would get away without George. She could take care of herself!
JONATHAN did not want her to go, but Alanna rode for the City of the Gods in early April, leaving Faithful with strict instructions to watch the Prince and to get Myles if anything happened. Saddling Moonlight before dawn, she slipped out of the palace. Few people—no rogues—were up and about in the city. She thought she had fooled George, since she had given no one more than half a day's warning of her departure. She was wrong. The thief was waiting for her at the gates, dressed for riding and mounted on a sturdy bay.
"Jonathan told you," Alanna accused her friend.
"No. Stefan keeps messenger-birds. I've got you under tight watch, youngling, and it's well for you that I do."
Since there was nothing she could do, Alanna laughed and fell in beside George. Would she ever be able to outwit him?
The ride north was a good
one. George was witty and entertaining; he had some wonderful stories to tell. They stopped at Trebond for a night. Coram was shocked to see the company Alanna kept and read her a strong lecture, but Alanna shrugged it off. Instead she spent time with the young man Coram was training as his replacement; he was a nice fellow, with a small family and some education. Alanna knew when she was done talking to him that he would serve her as faithfully as Coram did. Plans were made for Coram to come to the palace in November, in order to be there when Alanna underwent the Ordeal.
Alanna and George rode on to the City of the Gods. Alanna sighed wearily when they finally arrived before the City's great walls. Grey mountains bare of almost any greenery stretched for leagues around, making for a dull, tiring ride.
"How can Thom live in such a cursed ugly place?" she asked George. "I'd go mad if I had to look at this all the time."
"He probably doesn't notice," her friend replied. "Most scholars don't."
The warrior-priests who manned the gates showed them to the Mithran Cloisters. As they passed the Convent of the Mother of Mountains, Alanna shuddered. She had almost spent six years behind those walls. Now, more than ever, she appreciated her escape!
An orange-robed initiate admitted them to the Cloisters; novices took their horses. An ancient yellow man in the black-and-gold robes of a master tottered out to greet them. "We are honored to have you among us, Squire Alan, Free-man Cooper," he said. "I am Si-cham, Chief of the Masters here."
Alanna bowed very low; as a sorcerer, Si-cham would be nearly as powerful as Duke Roger. As a priest, he was the head of the Cult of Mithros for all the Eastern Lands. "We would be honored if you would join us for our evening meal," this friendly old man went on. "We get little news of the world."
"We'd be honored to come," George said.
"Excellent, excellent. Follow me, if you please. I do not believe Adept Thom is expecting you?"
Alanna smiled grimly. "I wanted to surprise him."
Si-cham looked sharply at her before knocking on one of the many doors lining a long hallway. "Do you think much surprises Adept Thom?"
Before Alanna could answer such an astonishing question, Thom opened the door. He was bearded, taller—older. He hugged Alanna with enthusiasm, crying, "Brother Dear!" Seeing Alanna's companion, Thom widened his violet eyes. "Not—George Cooper?" He grinned.
"The same," George replied, extending his hand. "I've heard a thing or two about you myself."
"Surely some of it was good," Thom quipped, shaking the offered hand. He looked at Master Si-cham as Alanna dazedly realized, He knew we were coming. He wasn't surprised at all.
"Their things have been taken to the guest's wing." The Master's voice, warm and friendly a moment ago, was suddenly chilly. "And they have accepted an invitation to take the evening meal with us."
Thom lifted a single coppery eyebrow. "Oh?" he asked, his voice too sweet. "Then I will have to join you—won't I?"
"It will be a change." The old man's voice was as dry as autumn leaves. "I will leave you to talk now." He hurried away down the long hall.
Alanna was confused. "I don't get it. He was very friendly a moment ago."
"They've been angry with me ever since I stopped playing the idiot and passed the written examinations for Mastery. Come in; sit down. Wine?" Thom rang a bell, and a servant in the white robe of a novice came in. He gave the boy orders, pretending not to notice that Alanna and George were staring at him. When the novice was gone, Alanna sat down hard. Most would-be Masters did not even try for that title until they were at least thirty.
"You passed the written examinations for Mastery?" Her voice emerged from her throat in a squeak.
"Two weeks ago. It was easier than you think." Thom shrugged, motioning George to take the chair beside Alanna while he sat in the third. "All that's left are the spoken examinations and the Ordeal of Sorcery."
"You call that all?" Alanna demanded weakly.
Thom laughed at her shock. "I was ready for this more than a year ago. And now they can't wait for me to finish and get out of here. I make them nervous."
The wine came. Alanna drank hers in one gulp and poured another glass while George told Thom about their ride to the City of the Gods. When Alanna was calmer, Thom turned back to her.
"Now. What brings you two to me the moment the passes are clear? Or rather, sister, what brings you? I believe I guess correctly when I say George came to protect you."
George smiled and sipped his wine. "Truth to tell, I came for the ride. Surely you know that Alanna can take care of herself."
Thom smiled cruelly. "You came to protect her from a certain smiling gentleman," he said. "Or did you think I had forgotten him? He hasn't forgotten me. There are two people watching me here."
"It's just as well you're getting your Mastery, then, isn't it?" Alanna shrugged. If Thom could be matter-of-fact about it, so could she. "I need you at the palace."
"Do you indeed?"
"Don't take that arch tone with me, brother," she said tartly. "I used to duck you in the fishpond. I'll try to do it again if you make me angry. This is too important."
Thom laughed. "So serious! All right, what's the problem?"
They talked until the bells called them to the evening meal, and then they talked again until very late. Alanna wanted Thom in the palace to watch over Jonathan when she left. Thom did not refuse; he wanted to live well at Court for a while. With the most important question settled, Alanna and George told Thom everything they knew or suspected about Duke Roger. Alanna had the only surprise for either man as she explained about the ember-stone. She finished telling her brother about the tests she had performed on the charm and sat back, yawning tiredly. She could remember the watch had called midnight, but that had been at least an hour ago.
George shook his head, smiling ruefully. "Have you any more surprises for me, then?" he asked gently.
"Don't be silly," she replied. "I would've told you before, but the time was never right. It's not something I think I should talk much about."
Thom stood and looked down at her. "One of the gods themselves," he remarked softly. "What I wouldn't give to have been there with you."
"I wish you had been with me," Alanna said frankly. "I was scared to death. Except maybe she wouldn't have talked to me if you'd been there."
Thom stretched out his hand. "Let me see it." Her eyes on her twin's, Alanna slowly pulled the chain over her head. The ember-stone swung in the air, its inner fire burning. Thom took it, holding it up before his eyes. "Does the glow give you away at night?" he asked absent-mindedly. Alanna could see his mind wasn't on her, but on the problems and questions posed by the Goddess's token. This was Thom's other face, his scholar's face, the one he wore when he was tracking down some ancient spell in rotting scrolls and half-burned books.
"No," she replied, feeling a little forlorn. This was a place her twin went where she couldn't follow. "It burns inside, but it doesn't burn, if you know what I mean."
George, seeing the loneliness on her face, stood behind her, rubbing her shoulders. She smiled up at him gratefully. Was there anything that George didn't understand about her?
"Fascinating," Thom whispered. Suddenly his face tightened. He threw the charm into the air and pointed at it, shouting a word neither Alanna nor George knew. There was a great, soundless explosion. The room rocked, and Alanna grabbed George to keep him from falling. All around the Cloisters lamps flared up and men shouted questions. Alanna glared at Thom. Shrugging, her brother handed back the ember-stone. The chain was gone; a small bead of molten gold clung to the stone's crystal exterior. "No damage," Thom reassured her.
Alanna got her wind back. "No damage!" she yelled furiously. "What did you do to it?"
"He used a word of Command," said a dry voice from the doorway. Si-cham, wearing a crumpled dressing gown over his sleeping robe, stood there. "Is the thing of immortal origin?"
Wordlessly Alanna handed the ember-stone over, mentally promising to get T
hom for putting her in this position. The yellow man examined the stone for a moment before handing it back. "He Commanded it to give up its secrets," the Master explained. "Only a thing made by the immortals could resist such a Command, as I see this has. You shouldn't give your brother such dangerous toys to play with, Squire Alan." Si-cham glanced at Thom. "I suppose you realize you've disrupted a number of very delicate spells some of the Masters have been working on. It will take many of them weeks to repair the damage."
Thom shrugged. "It was necessary," he said coolly. "I had to learn how powerful it was."
"I see." Si-cham's smile was small and grim. "Very well. To teach you the virtues of warning your fellow scholars when you are about to play with the basic forces of Nature, your Ordeal of Sorcery shall be to set to rights the work you destroyed tonight." The ancient Master nodded to Alanna. "Until tomorrow morning, Squire Alan."
Alanna turned to her brother when the door closed behind Si-cham. "Couldn't you make friends with them?" she wanted to know. "I like Master Si-cham. And the others—"
Thom shook his head. "They're afraid of me because I'm better than they are. They'd hate me even if I went out of my way to be good to them; and I'm certainly not going to do that."
Alanna frowned, worried. "You're going to be very lonely," she said frankly.
Thom laughed. "I have the Gift. That's enough for me."
"I wonder. It doesn't seem as if it would be enough." She remembered what the Goddess had said about learning to love. Thom would have a lonely life without love or friendship. She at least had friends. Was it possible she had learned to love, as well?
They spent another day in the Cloisters, talking to others while Thom studied and conferring further with Thom. When Alanna and George left at dawn the next day, Alanna knew that her powerful brother would soon come to help her protect Jonathan. That at least she looked forward to; it would take a great burden off her shoulders.
They rode for half a day in silence, Alanna thinking about Thom. George waited to break the silence until they halted for the noon meal.
Tortall 1 - Song Of The Lioness #2 - In The Hand of the Goddess Page 11
