Spells of the Curtain: Court Mage

by Tim Niederriter

  Even before the seeds were fully melded another long draw was required to create the pattern for the ghosted roots that made the tree capable of movement. Edmath felt renewed envy at the Saale Emperor’s powers. Rumenha had been able to complete one of these plants when he was only fifteen or sixteen. The skill, the power reinforced his belief that Rumenha’s position was well deserved, altered by his mother or not.

  Edmath practiced for a few more days at drawing magic from tears around the courtyard until he was satisfied that he could judge the currents well enough to get all the power he needed for patterning the ghost roots. Everything else would be fairly simple when that was accomplished. The day he planned to do the task he went down to his lab, located a few halls away from his chambers. He brought the two seeds he needed out into the courtyard.

  He drew a striker, then tore three gashes to form a triangle around the spot where he planned to combine the seeds. He pocketed the striker and, holding the seeds in one hand, he made the merging sign with his other hand. Bringing the two of them together, he drew in all the magic he needed for the spell in a single rush of green and white light. He closed his eyes, picturing the Orpus Seed he would make.

  The seeds in his hand trembled, lurching toward each other. Edmath’s focus narrowed to the point where the two touched. He felt the ripple of each seed’s skin like jelly on his palm as the two combined. Still focused, eyes still closed, he pictured the living pattern of the ghost roots as more magic surged into him. His insides burned with the second draw and as he made the next symbol for the melding. Finally, he released it, breathing hard, and opened his eyes. The skin of the seed in his palm was white but swirled with red. It was perfect as far as he could tell, the perfect Orpus seed.

  Laughing, Edmath turned and walked back toward the lab gate. He had been worried, but the power had been there and he could handle it. The magic he had brought together in the seed could easily grow a tree the size of Orpus Strodusial, perhaps larger.

  Setting the seed inside a wooden box on his desk just inside the lab door, Edmath looked up, still chuckling, and saw Brosk standing by the door on the far side of the room.

  “Working hard today, Ed?”

  “Of course, Brosk, the Saale Emperor has given me a child of his own mind to study. Orpus trees are amazing, and I think I may finally have one of my own to grow.”

  “I suppose they are. I’ve heard something that may interest you.”

  Edmath closed the box on the seed and crossed the room in Brosk’s direction.

  “Go on. I wonder, though. Does this have anything to do with a lady we both know?” He grinned, folding his hands in front of him.

  “Sorry, but no, this is about the Roshi ambassador’s bodyguard.”

  “Oh. Well, that is still interesting.” But the news would be bad, Edmath guessed. He would have much rather had news of Chelka.

  “He has asked High Emperor Loi to allow him his own champion here at court.” Brosk glanced through the window looking into Edmath’s garden. He blinked and rubbed his eyes wearily. The rain had watered it well and the blue flowers on his bushes were still in bloom among the greenery.

  “Did he get what he wanted? I would not think he would. He is just a bodyguard, however noble his origins.” He frowned in thought. “Though, I suppose the Palatani have a whole battalion of guards in their quarters.”

  Brosk’s fingers tugged at the hair hanging by one ear.

  “I feel it would be best we looked into the matter of the villages before this new champion arrives, Ed. If you will go with me, I plan on using the coming rest days to visit a certain temple to the north of the city.”

  Edmath nodded, pacing back across the lab to the desk near the garden door. He knew what Brosk meant. The temple to the north was famous, built almost a millennium ago by the Cheshian people, and now tended by the monks of a Hesiatic Order. The temple also had one other amazing property. It contained in its tall tower the only known Sphere of Fire, a beacon for ships and creatures at sea for miles at night. The sphere could uncover truth in the mind as well as the physical world with its great augury.

  “I see, Brosk. Of course, I will help you with this. Are you hoping to uncover a truth at that temple? Perhaps one you would not dare to risk seeking nearer?”

  “Indeed. Thank you, Ed.”

  “It is no trouble.” Edmath flipped the lid of the box containing the seed open. He knew the Emperor would not be happy if he just let it languish over the rest days. It had to be planted. “Where shall we meet?”

  Brosk released the lock of his hair he’d been tugging on. “I have acquired a small cart with an elk to pull it. The journey should be faster with it. Meet me at the northern gate early tomorrow.”

  “I will.” Edmath picked up the seed. “If you will excuse me, I have a little more work to do before the journey.”

  “You and your plants.”

  “Yes, me and my plants.” Edmath walked through the door and out into the garden, hearing Brosk’s retreating footsteps behind him. He frowned as he considered Akalok’s champion. The summoning of this champion could only signify worse troubles brewing. Edmath decided to make the most of the time before this new threat arrived.

  Chelka

  Chelka Benisar spent her last few days in Sizali swimming in the pools inside the squid palace walls. They were not artificial as the reflecting pond at Lexine Park. Besides the sea gates on the wall-sides, they were rough stone, not shaped by human hands. The creatures that dwelt in the pool never bothered Chelka when she swam. In fact, she liked to swim there partially so she could swim with them, shoals of silver and green fish and squids both large and small.

  Changing into her squid tosh, she dove deeper, swimming toward the sea-gate as her eyes filmed over with a waterproof glaze. She wouldn’t go outside though. It wasn’t decent for a princess to be seen naked, even if she did look half-like a squid. With the stroke of a lengthened arm, she reached the sea gate. She pushed off the rust-proofed metallic bars with her feet and floated toward the surface on her back. She had ordered this part of the palace to be deserted so she could relax and have some quiet. Nothing had disturbed her for over an hour. She skimmed just below the place where water met air.

  She needed to relax. Work on the secret hybrid creature had not gone well the previous day. Neither she nor the other Saales involved with the project had figured out the last animal to merge to make the hybrid stable while maintaining magical power.

  Sunlight brightened her view as she moved out from the shadow of the wall. Gliding back toward the shore near the surface, Chelka passed under the branches of a tall tree stretched out over the water. A human shape sat in the tree where the branch met the trunk. A young woman with yellow hair peered down at her. Chelka did not recognize her but knew she wouldn’t be here if there wasn’t trouble. The guards should not have let her through. Breaking through the water face first, Chelka reverted from her squid tosh and looked up at the girl in the tree.

  “Who are you? What are you doing here?”

  “I am Keve Zasha, Saale to High Emperor Loi.”

  Chelka treaded water, staring at the girl in the tree. She held a short, black staff in her right hand and wore a black sash, not a rega. Keve Zasha looked far too young to be a full Saale, especially for the High Emperor himself.

  “You have come with a message no doubt,” Chelka said, resting her arms on the rocky edge of the pool. “What troubles his grace?”

  “Nothing bothers him more than your continued absence from court. At least, that is what he told me. If of all the new Imperial Saales in the land, the most talented is not present, the court appears somehow empty. He told me to summon you at once.”

  “He did? I am honored.”

  “I apologize for catching you bathing.” Keve giggled. “I will go now, so as not to drag out your embarrassment.”

  She tapped the black staff against the tree branch and struck the air with a ring encrust
ed hand. Chelka watched her sink into the current of the magic and vanish, leaving the tear behind her. Bright magic gushed from the material curtain, visible only to Saale sight.

  Climbing out of the pool, Chelka approached the tree. Her clothes were piled under it along with her striker pouch. As she dressed, she thought of the strange way the girl had laughed at her. She had heard from her contact in High Empress’s court that the High Emperor only had one Saale of his own. The girl was powerful, clearly. She could somehow vanish like it was rumored some Dawkun physical magicians of times past, like those of Roshi sometimes had the ability to do. However, even those she had heard of could only travel through the earth. Keve Zasha had vanished into the air.

  Fully dressed except for her rega, Chelka sat down on the edge of the water. Dark clouds moved in from the sea beyond the walls. It was no good putting things off any longer. She had not wanted to see her sisters and brother again so soon, but the High Emperor’s summons could not be ignored for any reason, least of all one so petty. At least Edmath would be there, but he would be the source of more trouble. Rising, she picked up her rega and fastened it on at her waist. She started walking toward the center of the palace grounds. The towers of the squid royal houses rose up before her, gleaming white against the blue sky.

  She would leave for Naren Peninsula tomorrow. Today the storm remained to be weathered.

  “You were raised by Hesiatic Monks,” Brosk said, as he led the elk cart to the crest of a hill. “I still have trouble with why they, of all Saales, have the ability to use personal augury without a sphere, even after years of being tested on it. Do you know, Ed?”

  Edmath looked back at him from his perch where he waited atop a stone beside the path. The elk made a happy noise that even he could not understand as language. Only after a moment of thought on Brosk’s question and more of the elk’s inarticulate snorting did the answer come to him.

  “Of course, it is not a skill, nor a Saale art. The ability to augury is a gift from the emperor. In fact, I imagine any Saale could perform the ritual properly. Theoretically, all they would require is the High Emperor’s permission. For now, we must make do with broader visions, you and I.”

  Brosk led the elk past Edmath, who dropped down from his stone and followed along to catch up with them.

  “If augury is another part of the High Emperor’s favor then his power is truly amazing for any human, Saale or not.”

  Edmath shrugged.

  “He is not so powerful. Anyone wielding the Sphere of Humanity might do the same. The Sphere of Zel may be subject to him, but he cannot do everything. He requires subjects like us to enforce his rule.”

  Brosk patted the elk’s back. “Oh Ed, getting cynical, are we?”

  Frowning, Edmath followed Brosk a little faster than before. “Of course the High Emperor is powerful,” he said. “I simply believe he relies on his nation as much as we rely on him.”

  “Perhaps,” Brosk said. “But it’s easy for you to say. You are not a royal, so you do not rely on him as much as, for example, I do. Anyone with a tosh relies on his will.”

  Edmath caught up with Brosk and glanced at him as he passed by on the slope.

  “Your tosh is natural, not a gift from the emperor.”

  Brosk’s eyes closed for a moment. He opened them and shook his head.

  “All toshes in this nation are subject to him. Many believe he controls our abilities to awaken our toshes. I try to be grateful that he trusted me.”

  Edmath wanted to say something about the High Emperor’s lack of omniscience, no matter how prescient the old man might seem. He simply walked a while in silence. Brosk’s point made sense. The royals who’d sworn allegiance to the sphere all those many generations ago had bound their people’s fates to it. The power and majesty there made Edmath reluctant to argue.

  In his own language, the elk said, “The emperor knows much. The emperor knows.”

  Not the brightest of animals, this one, Edmath thought.

  “His grace must augury often. To share that ability with others.”

  Brosk nodded.

  “Why the Hesiats I wonder?” He tugged on the elk’s rope as it came to stop for a moment. His hand slipped and the rope burned his palm. “Damn it.” He released the rope and looked at his palm.

  Edmath crossed the narrow trail in front of the elk.

  “Are you alright?”

  “Just a scrape. It’s nothing.” Brosk took hold of the rope with his other hand and pulled the elk into motion again. The temple came into clear view over another gentle incline.

  Its tallest and brightest tower, of course, caught Edmath’s attention first. The fire burning in the spherical crown-level made him blink like he’d looked into the sun. The Sphere of Fire inside that room never stopped burning. Brosk whistled as Edmath brought his gaze down from the pinnacle on which the flame sat and to the lower towers and tiled patios of the temple below it. The entire structure sat on a large slope leading up to a sheer cliff face overlooking a grassy plain that stretched all the way to the beaches at the sea’s edge.

  Edmath and Brosk reached the temple within the hour, though the last mile felt like a great distance to cover simply because of the size of the temple looming before them made it seem closer at first. When they reached the entrance they found a trio of monks with torite bundles in their hair and a long stream of pilgrims clogging the stone gateway. Giving Brosk a glance, Edmath walked up to the nearest monk, a tall, thin man, who judging by his complexion, was from the island of Tokalgo.

  “Greetings, sir,” Edmath said, stopping a few yards from the doorway where the monk stood. “Is it possible to receive some help here? My friend and I are Saales of the Imperial Court.” He had to speak up to be heard over the sound of the pilgrims as they moved through the entrance all around him.

  The monk folded his arms and looked down at Edmath with gray eyes framed by silvering hair.

  “Show me your rings, please. People try to swindle us too often here.”

  Edmath motioned for Brosk to come forward as he produced the imperial signet from his pocket. The monk nodded and turned to Brosk, who did the same.

  The monk waved his hand at the crowd and then led Edmath and Brosk through the crush of pilgrims. Edmath looked over his shoulder at the elk tethered to a post near the gate beside a carriage designed to be pulled by a greater serpent. Turning back to face front, he followed into the temple. Within the walls, the two-story monastery within was clearly visible. Fifty-foot-tall statues of the Six Ladies of Chesh stood, barely separated from the stone of the walls until they rose above them.

  The monk leading him and Brosk took them through the interweaving statues of the holy women and up a set of patterned steps to a patio that overlooked a garden in the center of the monastery. He bowed to the even older monk sitting cross-legged on the floor there and backed slowly back to the stairs. Edmath and Brosk bowed as well but waited for the old monk on the floor to respond.

  The monk unfolded his legs and stretched before looking up at them with pale, tired eyes. Edmath recognized the green sash he wore arranged beside his white rega. This man was not only the elder of the Temple of Fire but a graduate of Gomene Park where the Summer Saales were trained. The elder folded his hands, the end of his long braid falling into his lap.

  “Good morning, young Saales. I take it you have come to consult the sphere?”

  “Indeed we have,” Brosk said, looking up from his bow. “It would be an honor.”

  “You are right to understand this.” The elder climbed to his feet. “You are from the Imperial City, are you not? Whom do you serve?”

  “Hearth Emperor Zemoy Benisar.” Brosk raised his signet.

  “Saale Emperor Haddishal Rumenha.” Edmath remained with his head bowed.

  The elder blinked slowly.

  “I see. But it is a rest day.”

  “We have come on our own,” Edmath said. “We only need the use
of a fire augury, though the mystery we wish to bring to light is likely one that will concern many.”

  “Very well,” the elder said, limping past the two of them. “I will summon a guide to take you to the tower.”

  The upper floor of the sphere’s tower was so hot, Edmath started to sweat just standing in the doorway. Of course, he had expected that much. The Sphere of Fire burned in the room, casting his and Brosk’s shadows across the walls. He had to navigate by the shadows because the fire burned too bright to look at directly.

  The guide left them at the door with the explanation of the fire augury.

  He said, “Take your mystery into the chamber of the sphere and bow down. Let the flame burn away the darkness in your mind. It will uncover everything you want to know but beware. It is a hungry sphere, so keep a firm grip on who you truly are while in its presence.”

  Edmath understood the explanation well thanks to his studies into inanimate magic. He remembered enough about the sphere. IT entered his mind as he bowed low. Beside him, Brosk did the same, shadow flying against the wall. Edmath closed his eyes and imagined the village, Yot’s village on the Dreamwater. The shadows there were clear as his knowledge was sparse.

  No one had escaped. The thought appeared in his mind like a ray of starlight at first, before becoming the orange of burning flame. How was that possible, with a fortress just across the Dreamwater? Where did all the people disappear that night? Ruins swam into his mind. The white-wooden village was the home of an old royal family of the Worm Tribe and their allies in the Swan Tribe.