by R. K. Thorne
It struck her as odd that a casual, spontaneous kiss would seem so meaningful, like such a pinnacle. But the others had been stolen, in limited supply, her last chance. Possibly her only chance.
This morning, in spite of the note, his lips promised many, many more, days and weeks and years of them, and for the first time in a long time, her heart was free to make that promise back.
4
FIRE
Every one of the candles in the war room had burned low before they were finally done. Or as close to done as they were going to get. Feet aching, eyes blurry, and just about asleep on his feet, Aven finally called the meeting to a close.
“Hungry?” he asked Miara as he rubbed a hand over his face.
She leaned an elbow on the map table as the last of the wardens filed out. “Most definitely.”
“C’mon,” he said, ushering her after him.
They fell in step, her hand taking his elbow. They walked arm in arm more easily than he’d have expected. Like they’d been walking like this together for years. Like his parents always seemed to. He slipped his hand over her cold fingers and frowned.
While Miara had been with her family, he’d been checking on his. While Samul showed no real change, his mother looked more fatigued every time he saw her. She insisted she wasn’t healing Samul or trying anything, but Aven didn’t believe that. There was no other reason he could think of for her to be getting paler every time he saw her.
As they neared the main, and much warmer, part of the fortress, he flagged down a servant and ordered food to be sent up to his rooms. A meal was a glad excuse for some time alone, or as alone as they could be, and he needed it right about now. Hours of quieting his instincts and acting the calm and collected leader had left him dog-tired.
Because his instincts said they were screwed. Of course, even if they were screwed, this was still the right thing to do. The war, freeing the mages, admitting his magic, all of it. But he was suddenly in need of a small reminder.
Instead of sharing any of that darkness, he asked, “Did your father have anything to say?”
“We talked about the status of Mage Hall, but you know most of that,” said Miara. “He thought maybe they were keeping the new mages drugged so they couldn’t escape, since they can’t brand them. But mostly I just answered his questions. They’re still finding this all a bit hard to believe.”
“Are you?” he said softly.
“Less and less.”
“But still a little.”
She shrugged, then shook her head at him. “If I think too hard about it, I dread waking up from the dream. If I think about all the work we have to do—and how uncertain victory is, and how many mages are still enslaved—I just want to get started.”
He squeezed her hand beneath his. “Let’s focus on all the things we need to do then, shall we?”
They walked for a while in silence, but she was frowning now. He waited to see if she’d say what she was thinking, but she didn’t, only frowned down at her feet. They made it all the way up the stairs and into his rooms in silence.
“What is it? What’s bothering you?” he said, flopping down on the couch and feeling more glad than he should that she immediately settled beside him. Of course, the food that was arriving alongside them might have helped. Telidar ran a speedy hold.
“I think there’s even more we need to do than what we talked about today. More we’re forgetting.” She continued to frown, into the hearth fire now. Along with the food, someone had built up the fire into a pleasant, crackling blaze.
“More? Like what?” He tried to sound enthusiastic, but his voice must have betrayed his exhaustion.
“We can talk about it later.” She met his eyes and forced a smile.
“No, you thought we needed to talk about it now. What is it?”
“Do you ever think about Galen?”
Whatever he’d thought she might say, he hadn’t expected that. He blinked, the image springing to mind very clearly. “The boy we saved? In Regin’s camp?”
She nodded.
“I hadn’t in a while, no.”
“Or Emie?”
He smiled. “Not since we got back to Estun. We’ve had so much going on. Why do you ask?”
“I see now why you were so eager to get away. It’s easy to get caught up and shut off. And out of touch. And not help people.”
He winced. “And not help anyone but yourself, even.” Wasn’t that what they’d been doing? He was completely focused on his father, his brother, his war. This war felt far more personal now than he’d ever thought a war could. In training exercises and lessons as a boy, he’d been through these situations in low stakes, in miniature. But those had felt like puzzles to solve. This felt much more like a wolf at the door.
A wolf he was going to fight to the death, if he had to.
“I didn’t mean it critically,” she said softly, bringing him back into the moment.
“I did.”
Her frown changed, incredulous now. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. It’s barely been two days. But you are king now. If you want to help people, you can do it.”
“As soon as we’ve settled this war and then—”
“No,” she said sharply. “With this war coming, I think now is exactly when we need to do it.”
He was frowning nearly as hard as she was now. “Go on. I know you have more you’re thinking.”
“Think about all we talked about today,” she said, the words coming out fast and urgent now. “It’s horrifying what this war could bring on. This could be worse than the Dark Days.”
“But we’ll be defending people this time.”
“Maybe. Maybe they were defending people in the Dark Days too. I think we’re going to lose in the long run if all Akarians see are mages wreaking death and destruction.”
“Even if it’s on their behalf?”
“Maybe? I don’t know. There’s only a handful of us. Who will they remember, us or them? Will they even be able to see a difference?”
He frowned. She was right. Since they would likely be outnumbered twenty-five to one, if not fifty to one, the chances the average Akarian would see and remember an attacking mage slave over a helpful freemage were pretty good. He ran a hand over his face, the feeling of defeat he’d fought off all day looming larger. “You’re probably right. But we have to figure out how we’re going to win before we can even worry about who they remember.”
She eyed him. “You’re thinking something. What is it? You weren’t telling Dyon everything, were you?”
“No.”
“Tell me what were you holding back.”
He regarded her carefully for a moment. But if there was anyone he wasn’t going to scare the pants off of, it was Miara. She was the one person he could tell the truth.
He sighed deeply. Then, as quietly as he could keep his voice over the fire crackling, “Honestly? I don’t think we can win.”
Perhaps he’d been wrong about telling her the truth, because her eyes went wide and her mouth fell open. “How can you say that?”
“Well, we have to try. We’ll do our damnedest. But they have too many mages. It’s not looking good, as is. Maybe if we figure out a way to recruit more mages, we’ll have more of a shot.” He kept his voice low.
“Why didn’t you tell that to Dyon?”
“He may be thinking the same thing. But I don’t want the lieutenants and wardens thinking things are hopeless, or they’ll make things hopeless.”
“What do you mean?”
“If our soldiers can find any hole, any weakness to exploit, we may find a way to win. We may get lucky. But that all requires hope and determination and showing up ready to fight. Having me tell them I think it’s a losing battle and we’re all dead this far in advance doesn’t exactly engender confidence. Which would be especially tragic if I’m wrong. Maybe when we’re facing down the enemy, but not yet.”
She frowned down at her lap. “Do you think you could be wrong? W
e can’t be beaten already. We can’t be. How can the Balance—” She cut off the words as her voice turned bitter.
“I certainly could be wrong. I’m trying to think it through, look for some weakness in their armor, some other weapon we can wield to neutralize so many mages.” All he could think of was the star map, and he didn’t really know if it’d say anything useful when Tharomar was done with it.
They sat in silence for a long moment.
She took a long, deep breath. “Gods, I hope you’re wrong.”
“I know. Me too.”
“Well, listen. I was thinking about something before the battle. When the battle is joined, all we can do is our best. Right?”
“Right.”
“The battle will come. People will see mages rain fire and hurl rock and wreak destruction. If that’s all they see, we’re going to have trouble getting people to accept us, or actually let mages live out in the open and free. Even if we win.”
“What other option do we have?”
“In battle, none. But before then, we can do something. We need to people to see mages helping people too.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Helping people?”
“I’m talking about showing people that mages can be something other than an evil nightmare from the Dark Days, deviant abominations who’ll corrupt all in their midst. We should do what you wanted to do all along: help people. Akarians need to see mages doing good work as well as bad.”
“But how, exactly?”
“Healing, for a start? Like Galen? Too bad it’s not summer, or we could do so much more in the fields.”
His mind was racing, trying to fit this piece into the overall plan. “If we shape the people’s opinion around mages, that may help us recruit mages, too.”
“You think?”
“Definitely. Mages won’t come forward if they think it means people will hate them. We need to give people reasons to not hate mages. That’s your point.”
“Yes. They need reasons to admire them, even. Other than that their handsome king is one of them.”
He snorted and then shook his head. He glanced at the darkness outside just as he caught Perik’s quiet yawn. “That’s a really good point. Have I told you how wise you are?”
She smiled widely. “Not enough.”
“You’re very wise. And I’m very exhausted. Let’s get started on that tomorrow, first thing.”
“Not right now?”
He grinned at her enthusiasm. “It’s midnight, you know. The whole city’s asleep.”
“Except fools like us.”
“Basically. People may not take kindly to you barging in, waking them up, and demanding to know if anyone is injured.”
She stifled a laugh. “All right, all right,” she said grudgingly. “But can’t we at least make a list? I’m full of ideas here.”
He rose to get a quill. “Anything for you, my love.”
DETRAX FORGOT about Thel for the rest of that day and into the next, presumably busy with Niat. She was not in the tent for most of the time that Thel was. The hours were long and dull and would have been frigidly cold without the blanket. He’d thought through just about every angle he could on how to escape. He’d listened to hours of guards talking about beer, their superior officers, their women back home, their women more recent than that. The chatter was just barely less tedious than staring blankly at the tent flap. When the sun reached its zenith, a bit more light filtered into the tent, and Thel would risk reading a bit of the tiny book, clutched so he could hide it at the first footstep or rustle.
He peppered them with requests to be moved to a different, more pleasant tent, but unsurprisingly, nothing came of it.
About midday of the third full day of his capture, someone remembered he existed and stumbled in via the tent flap. The soldier unlocked Thel’s manacles, led him out of the utterly desecrated tent, and clamped on a new set of chains.
A dozen or so people in plain clothes milled around a campfire in front of him. As they approached, the soldier shoved Thel’s shoulder down, forcing him to sitting on a log.
“Watch him,” the soldier snapped.
The nearest woman narrowed her eyes at him and didn’t acknowledge the order. The guard stalked away.
Thel glared after him, noting the short sword, the stripe of red on his shoulder. Kavanarians. Not that he was surprised, but it still stung a bit. Alikar had been suspected of working with Kavanar, but this was worse than Thel had expected. He would bet they were still inside Gilaren. This coup must have been underway long before anyone had suspected; the encampment was hardly new. The enemy troops must have crossed into Gilaren before the vote on Aven as heir had even happened.
The people fidgeting around Thel were not soldiers, but what were they then? The air was tight with tension—knees jumping, hands whittling or polishing or prying or mending, eyes darting at the horizon or the woods. The woman ordered to watch him stayed near his side. Upon closer inspection, she wore leathers like those Miara had shown up to Estun in. Several others did as well. Not something that made him feel at all optimistic.
Shouts behind him drew his attention. She eyed him as he turned. A tent had collapsed down in a heap. An accident? No, the encampment was packing up. He scanned his surroundings as casually as he could. The carriage, horses, and wagons were being packed and readied. The gathering point was just behind them on the other side of a low, wide-branching tree.
Everyone in the entire camp could see this central point from where they were packing. Ah, so they weren’t depending on only this woman watching him. More than a few suspicious glares came his way as his gaze slid by.
He shivered and bounced his knee, blowing breath into his hands. The campfire cast some heat in his direction but not nearly enough. It was far too late in the year to be sitting still outside without a cloak.
He groped for ideas to use his magic to get out of this, especially now that he could see the whole encampment and what he had to work with. But people swarmed the place—Kavanarians in particular. He could try to split the earth or lob a boulder. But how far could he get? If he could even find a boulder or rip it out of the ground, how many could he really take out? Surely as soon as it started, someone would be at him with a dagger to the throat or worse. At the very luckiest, Detrax would still figure it out. Maybe there was a way he could cause a distraction instead.
He eyed the chains. Even if he managed to kill or distract enough to free himself, he’d still have these unfortunate companions.
A crack rang out behind him. He glanced back sharply, spotting where an arrow had connected with a tent pole. Several dozen more arrows rained down suddenly on the first row of tents, then the second.
Thel ducked automatically, hitting his knees and shrinking down as best he could. Another volley of arrows fell, all aimed at the tents behind him. A distant rumbling caught his ears over the shouts and grunts of the encampment rising.
The odd folks around him didn’t hunker down as he had. Several perked up, others rising to their feet. His guard glared down at him.
The rumbling grew louder—the thundering of hooves against the earth.
“Incoming!” shouted a man to her right.
“A wall, Ridan,” the woman beside him barked. “We need defenses now.”
“You heard her. Form it up!” the man—Ridan?—responded.
Out of the trees raced a dozen riders screaming a war cry Thel knew all too well. Another volley of arrows accompanied them, one piercing a man a few feet in front of Thel this time. Others riddled tents with holes, hitting who knew what inside.
The noise rose around him—cries, shouts, groans, horses neighing, swords drawing from scabbards. Thel knelt and scanned the camp behind him. Two men down behind him, three tents collapsed, one with a roiling monster of bodies writhing inside. Detrax stepped out of his tent, dragging Niat with him.
Flame erupted from the ground just before the riders. Thel gasped. The blaze curved up and over the cam
pfire area.
Thel stared in horror, recoiling against the log as the flames thickened until he almost couldn’t see through them.
The riders. It was sweeping toward them fast. Barely enough time to change course.
Or none. The first rider and his mount plunged through the flames and into view. Screams of horse and man rang out, and Thel threw up a forearm to block his view of the horror.
The fiery barrier wasted no time, pushing outward to engulf more of the riders. Even those who struggled to turn couldn’t escape their fate. The barrier faltered at one spot, and one rider stormed through, his lowered sword catching a man in the throat before he, too, was engulfed in flames.
Mages, Thel realized. The people crowded around the campfire were mages. Killing Akarians.
Akarians here to save him? To capture Alikar?
It didn’t matter. They weren’t saving or capturing anyone.
“There—on the far hill under that oak!” shouted Ridan, who seemed to be their leader.
“I see them,” answered his companion. Her hands were braced in front of her as if she held off the Akarian onslaught with them directly. Her face and brow were creased with effort, and sweat beaded at her temples. Was there a touch of the same horror he felt in her voice? “Are those their leaders?”
“Commanders, I’d wager, a mage among them—take them out! We can hold the wall.”
She winced, before grunting, “Fine.” Her hands relaxed and then she raised them higher, fingers splayed out. She eyed a hill in the distance. Thel followed her gaze. Four horses stood in shadow on a slight slope three hundred yards back. They should have been hard to spot and out of arrow range.
