The King stepped forward and turned to address the assembled leaders. “If you gentlemen are interested in negotiating weapons in exchange for the resources we need to protect our eastern borders, I think we can retire to the tactics room and open negotiation. The men nodded as one and they turned to walk back to the castle. The queen and the group of wives stood waiting until their husbands had gotten a respectable distance ahead so they could start walking back in the traditional ten pace behind position. It was then that Wylan grabbed the queen’s attention. “Your Majesty, I beg your pardon for this intrusion.”
A smile lit the queen’s handsome face. “I always have a moment for you my little Wyvern. What can I do for you?” Wylan’s cheeks colored at the mention of a nickname I had heard Prince Taye use from time to time. I wondered about it, but there would be no time to find out now that Wylan was putting the final nail in the coffin of our brief friendship.
“Once the festivities are complete and the troops have been sent to sea, my apprentice and I beg an audience. We wish to discuss a matter that is private and for your ears only.”
“Well there is no time like the present. Meet me in my chambers in fifteen minutes. I will simply get the ladies settled in with tea and I will meet with you briefly.” The queen walked away and I felt my heart sink.
Chapter Fifteen
My heart thudded in my chest as I followed Wylan into the castle. We stood in the entry hall, an arm’s length apart, waiting for the queen. We both kept our eyes fixed on the statues that flanked the entry. The queen breezed in, smiling. “I am so glad you pulled me aside. I have been meaning to talk to you both for some months now.” She turned and walked away, calling over her shoulder, “Let us retire to my private audience chamber for a brief talk.”
I had never been inside the queen’s private chamber and I was surprised. I had expected a bright place but the walls were dark blue with gold painted stars scattered across the ceiling. Although it was not what I was expecting, I could see immediately it was exactly fitting for her. There was no raised platform in the room, just comfortable cushioned chairs, one of which was slightly more ornate.
The queen took her place and gestured for us to take two other seats directly across from her. Wylan spoke immediately, “Your Majesty, we did not mean to pull you away from your guests. I did not intend to cause any undue concern with my request. It is a matter of some import but it is not so urgent as to cause an international incident by leaving the ladies unattended.”
The queen listened to him carefully. “I know those women of old, some of them since before you were born. They are all aware that a queen’s matters of state do not cease as her husband’s do when guests arrive. Besides, this conversation is a bit overdue. I am surprised you have not been to see me sooner.”
I took down my hood, something I seldom did when I was inside the castle walls, and looked at my queen. She returned my gaze for a few moments before she spoke. “I do not think I ever asked your true name.”
“Safara Zayn, Your Majesty.” The queen held out her hand to me and I stood, took it and bowed over it.
“I am pleased to make your acquaintance, Safara Zayn. I rarely meet women with power such as yours. It is a true pleasure to finally have the chance to speak with you.” I moved to pull my hand from hers and she squeezed my fingers momentarily. I felt the odd tingle that comes from magic but I was not the source of the magic. I frowned and saw the imperceptible shake of her head. I took my hand away then and stepped back to take my seat again. “Now, back to the matter that brings you here to me. I noted a certain chill has developed between you two and it makes me wonder what has changed.” She leveled a gaze at Wylan. “Have you gotten the girl in a family way? I have not sensed it.”
He looked astonished, almost scandalized. “Majesty! I would never. Until recently I thought I was protecting a child of fourteen!”
The queen snorted, “Where I come from, fourteen is hardly a child. I already had my first babe at that age.” She looked from him to me. “So you two have not yet declared your love for one another?”
Poor Wylan was flustered near to stuttering. “Love? No, Majesty, I mean of course I have warm regard for Safara, she is my apprentice and an excellent one at that, but I believed she was a young girl. I have only recently discovered that she is a woman, fully grown.”
Queen Kisi nodded sagely. “So that is what has changed. You lived in a home with her for eighteen moons and you had no idea that she was a fully blossomed woman?” She chuckled at Wylan who had turned as bright a shade of red as I had ever seen him. “I declare, young mage. Even as a boy, when my little Minta followed you about like a love sick pup, I said to the king that I had never seen a young man so utterly devoid of understanding when it comes to women.”
Wylan frowned, “Minta? But I did not-”
“It is okay, lad. Minta is married with children of her own now. The point is, sometimes your powers of observation are seriously lacking. Let us get back to the matter at hand. You have discovered that your apprentice is a beautiful young woman, what is it the two of you have planned to do about it?”
Finally my mentor felt himself back on solid ground. “It is obvious that we can no longer live together now that I know the truth. I have resolved to take my leave and let Safara inhabit the tower. We would like your assistance in formulating a plan to break it to the king that his favorite mage is actually a woman.”
The queen stared at him as if he had sprouted an extra head. “Let me see if I can understand this. You have been living with a woman for a year and a half and you would like to reveal her secret to the king and then run off?”
“No, not run off. I would request a transfer to the southern residence to help fortify those borders.”
She looked at him for a few moments more. “I am trying to decide if you are being deliberately cruel or if you really do not understand what you are saying.” His puzzled look gave her the answer.
“Can you tell me, young Wyvern, who are the only people in this city lower than the Invisibles?”
“The Fallen, women of loose moral character.” It took a few moments for his mind to catch up to his words. When it did, the color drained from his cheeks. “But Safara is innocent! She has not- We have not-”
“And what do you imagine the world will think of her innocence when they discover she has been living with you all this time? What do you imagine they will say of her when you walk off and leave her after living in sin? Even if the king could find a way around the law and retain a female mage, he certainly could not keep a scarlet woman. He would have no choice but to put her to death.”
“I have to leave,” I chimed in. “I have to be the one who goes. I have been happy in my short time here, but this has been your home for almost half your life. You must stay Wylan and I must go. It is the only way to save us both.”
He shook his head vehemently. “No, I cannot send an innocent young girl out of my house. Where would you go?” He turned to me, genuine fear in his eyes. “There are too many dangers on the road for a woman alone. You might be hurt or worse.”
The queen chuckled again. “I think you will find there is nothing more dangerous on the roads of this country than your little protege. She is the thing everyone fears in the night.”
“I will be fine, Wylan. This is the only way. I will wait until after the festival and I will leave as many enchantments as I am able.”
He looked as if he had been physically struck. “I did not want this for you. I do not know how to fix this.”
The queen stood and put her arms around his shoulders. “This cannot be fixed, my little Wyvern. It is the consequence of your deception. Even I can see what she means to you, what you mean to each other, and I am sorry it has to end like this. Safara is right, Wylan. You must stay and serve your king and she must go and seek her fortune elsewhere.” The queen nodded then. “Well, as you pointed out, I do have guests that I need to attend. I am sure you two can iron out the detail
s without my help. Wylan, do feel free to come and visit again sometime. We can reminisce about old times.”
We walked out of the queen’s chambers and back to the practice field where our cart still sat. Workmen were already clearing away the charred remains of our demonstration and I had a moment of panic, hoping that they had not played with the fire charmed weapons. Fortunately, they had not been touched. We cleared them away and got back into our cart to ride back to the tower.
Chapter Sixteen
I could hear the sounds of the grand festival from the open workshop windows. The revelry was loud and joyous. I gazed out of the window and sighed. The celebration had been going on all week, but Wylan and I had been working. We had a month to fill the armory with as many enchanted weapons as possible, so that the army on the march would have supplies to take to Zuunland. We also needed enough to fulfill our promise of arms to our neighbors for helping with the Zuunland campaign.
My part was relatively easy. With my limited ability, the only thing I was really good at was enchanting arrows. Because I could burn wood so easily, enchanting wood came naturally for me. I could enchant the shafts of arrows fifty at a time, as long as the fletchers made them straight and true and used the special branding iron to stamp on the runes. I just had to say the spells over them. Each batch took a few hours to prepare and though it was exhausting, I was able to finish about two hundred a day. Wylan’s work was much more challenging. He was working with metals and alloys, enchanting much larger pieces. He usually had about five weapons or pieces of armor charging at once, but I knew from experience how taxing that was. He was tired. Dark circles bruised his lower eyelids and he leaned heavily on his stick as he walked.
It did not help that we were arming a cause that neither of us truly believed to be just. Wylan had tried to state his case to the king. He’d shown his evidence only to be shot down and dismissed like a misbehaving child. We had been banned from the castle and threatened with treason charges if he continued to protest. So we did our jobs, nonstop, every day.
We had Grentu staying with us temporarily. We had so much work on that we did not have time for domestic chores. She was a marvel as always. She brought us food and kept us clean, she even took over my duty of lighting fires. She brought water and tea at regular intervals. It helped to prevent headaches and it was often a welcome break. She did not seem unhappy to be back in our employ, I was planning to ask her if she would want to make the position permanent so that Wylan would not be alone when I left. He had a tendency to overwork himself and sometimes neglect self care and she seemed to intuitively know what we needed and she made sure we had it. She would be good for him in my absence and I knew it.
“Sir!” Grentu came rushing into the workshop, panting as if she had run up all the stairs. She was holding a tray with our afternoon refreshment. “There is a visitor outside. She would not tell me her name. She just give me these and said I am supposed to give them to you. She said she would wait outside.”
I looked down at the plate on the tray and gasped. Even Wylan looked up from his work and strode over. We were still barely speaking since I announced my plans to leave, but I think curiosity had gotten the best of him. There on the tray was a neat pile of ginger cookies. There was only one person I knew who made ginger cookies like these. I set down the tray carefully so as not to spoil Grentu’s hard work or Wylan’s snack and ran out the door and down the stairs.
She stood staring out at Wylan’s garden, wearing that long, oversized yellow flower dress and that nearly threadbare woolen shawl. “Uma!” I nearly shouted as I ran to her and threw my arms around her.
“Easy, Safa girl! These old bones ain’t what they used to be!”
Grentu had walked up behind me and stood quietly regarding us both. “Uma, my name is Safi, remember?”
“Ain’t nothing wrong with my memory, child. If you worried about that one there,” She pointed at Grentu with her chin, “you ain’t got no cause. I ain’t said nothing that she do not already know. Ain’t that right, girl?” Color darkened the smooth part of Grentu’s face, but she did not respond. Uma shook a finger at me, “Why you ain’t tell me you had a witch here in the kingdom? That girl needs training!”
I looked back at Grentu, the eye on the burned side of her face was a pale milky greenish white that I had always assumed was the result of her injury. “No, Uma, she was burned.”
Uma rolled her eyes at me, then spoke to Grentu. “Burned your face ‘cause o’ that witchy eye, right, girl?” Grentu’s head was down as she nodded at Uma, silently. “Alright, well we will have to see about getting you squared away before I leave. In the meantime, get them bags, Safa girl! Your Uma has come a callin’ and she aims to stay and see her some of the big city!” I squeezed the old woman again. I could not help myself I was so happy to see a friendly face.
Wylan had made his way down the stairs and even he stood smiling at the old woman. “It is good to see you again, Ma’am.”
“Don’t you Ma’am me, boy. You helped my girl here so we family now. You call me Uma.”
He nodded and gazed at her. “What brings you here to visit us, Uma?”
She pointed towards the city. “Ain’t you seen the big festival going on out there? I came here ‘cause I wanted to check on you two and I want to get me a sugar mouse and some apple brandy at that there fest.” She looked at the pair of us as if she was seeing us for the first time. “Gods, you two look like ten miles of bad road.” She waved us back inside. “Get these bags up and back in the house with the both of you. We all need a good hot meal and a nap, then tonight we all goin’ down to that festival.”
I grabbed both of Uma’s bags, but Wylan silently took the larger one from me. A tingle passed through my arm when he touched me and it shot to the core of me. I watched color heat his cheeks and it made me wonder if he had felt it too. He gestured for the three of us to walk ahead of him and we all entered the tower.
Wylan offered Uma his room, but Uma would not hear of it. “Nonsense, I will be bedding down in my girl Safa’s quarters. I am too old to start sleeping in a man’s bed again. You keep your privacy, young man. Me and Safa will work this out. I settled her into my room and moved a few of my things up to the cot in the workshop with Grentu’s help.
Grentu had not made enough food for an extra guest and I knew it without even looking. She was a genius at producing just enough without leaving too much to waste. Uma, of course, had a solution. “I seen your garden out there in the yard. You got any plants out there worth eating? Or they all for murdering folk and such?”
“The garden has been sadly neglected these past few weeks, I am afraid, but I do have vegetables out there that need harvesting.”
Uma turned to Grentu and beckoned. “Come on here, gal. Best you start learning your plant and herb names now. You are already behind, but it ain’t hopeless.”
The moment the pair of them left the tower to go into the garden, Wylan looked at me for explanation. “Uma says Grentu is witch marked. It seems Grentu’s face was burned because of her witch eye.”
Wylan recoiled in horror. “She has said nothing to us of this. Did she say the monster’s name? I will have them hauled in and brought to justice. She is little more than a child, about as old as I thought you were-” He broke off there. This was the longest conversation we had had in a month.
“Uma also says Grentu has known my secret all along but she has kept quiet.”
“If she truly is a witch, I am not the least bit surprised that she would know the truth. We sense best when we use our elements, witches are especially attuned to the life force itself.
Uma and Grentu quickly returned, with an apron full of freshly washed root vegetables. “We need to get these snapped and in the pot, then we will take a few moments to catch up on the news while stew boils.”
I had not had news from home in ages. It was strange to call the place of my birth home since it no longer seemed so now, but I still wondered about my family. “Y
our sister got a new baby boy,” said Uma between sips of tea. “Fat little thing he is, and smart! Skin red-brown like clay and earth, eyes blue as a summer sky. He will start getting his book lessons soon as he is old enough, thanks to the coin you send every month. They love him and they will raise him right, even though he is marked.” She looked in Grentu’s direction. “A lot of young people ain’t so lucky.”
We all stared at the plate of cookies Uma had brought, but she would not let us eat them until after the meal. “Anyway, I am watchin the boy. I seen blue eyes afore. Usually ain’t no magic attached to them, but with your family history, ain’t no tellin.”
“Your Ma and Pa is doing right fine too. They are the envy of the village with their fine new privy bought with the money you sent. Your little brothers and sisters are growing like weeds, fat and happy. I will tell them I seen you and they will be glad to know you are faring well here in the city.”
After the meal, Wylan retired to his room and left me alone in the workshop and, to my surprise, I quickly fell into a deep sleep and I was not the only one. When I awoke, the house was stirring. I rose from my bed and descended the stairs in time to see Wylan coming from his own room. He had heavy lids so I knew he was just waking from a sleep himself. His hair was damp and neatly arranged and he had changed his robe for the first time in a week. I looked down at my rumpled appearance and realized that I needed to do the same. Uma came out of my room next, yawning. “You got a comfortable bed, Safa girl. I am going to sleep good on this tonight!” I ducked into the room and changed my own robe and arranged my own unruly hair, then I tied it with the pretty red ribbon Wylan had given me. I had not worn it in a month. I just saw it on the table and picked it up on impulse.
We rode into town on the cart that Wylan and I had used to transport the enchanted weapons. At Uma’s insistence, I sat in front with him and she and Grentu rode in the rear. We entered the castle gates as the sun was setting. There were so many people on the large grounds, that it was impossible to ride the cart across the bridge. We left it outside the castle walls and walked in on foot.
Through The Fire: The Alawansi Book One Page 14
