The Sartious Mage (The Rhythm of Rivalry)

by B. T. Narro

  “You don’t know my father.” Her tone was peremptory but sad as well. I could tell she was about to convince me it would be possible for me to marry Jessend, I just didn’t know how. I waited patiently, watching Lisanda use her toe to fiddle with a rock. “In this meeting with him, did he tell you he was going to make you the King’s Mage?”

  “Exo’s position? Why?”

  “A few reasons,” Lisanda said. “You were to marry Jessend, which meant you needed some status so it wouldn’t be an embarrassment to our family. Making you the King’s Mage was the best way to go about that. It was also a good reason to get rid of Exo that wasn’t likely to erupt in the same violence as would a straightforward disbandment of his service.

  “Now that I’ve seen your ability, I’m sure that had much to do with the decision as well. And there’s even more to it. Jessend has been desperate to marry before she turns seventeen.”

  Although I was curious about Jessend’s need to marry, Lisanda’s remark got me wondering about something else.

  “After everything I did to disobey your father, including taking you on your wedding day that he paid for—he even made a point to mention that it had cost him dearly—he couldn’t possibly still have plans to allow Jessend and me to marry?”

  “Like I said, you don’t know my father. When he finds out I wasn’t harmed, there’s just as good a chance he’ll still offer my sister to you as he would to throw you in prison.”

  “I find that hard to believe,” I said flippantly.

  Bastial hell, how I regretted that immediately after I’d said it—even before she turned and stared at me as if wishing a dagger would cut my throat. I should’ve held my tongue. On reflex, I stepped back and lowered my head.

  “I apologize. I don’t know him.”

  “No, you don’t.” Lisanda kicked the rock away.

  “You said Jessend is desperate to be married?” I asked.

  “Before our birthday, yes.”

  “Then why doesn’t she marry Varth Farro?”

  Lisanda twisted around to find another rock, elegantly sliding it between us with her toe. “Because then I’ll have to marry the man set up for her.”

  “He’s worse than Varth Farro?”

  “Bastial stars, yes. A thousand times yes.” She started to play with the rock in the same fashion as before. I waited for an explanation, but she seemed content to be silent.

  Finally I asked, “Are you going to tell me more?”

  “It’s a long story and doesn’t matter if you know it or not. It has nothing to do with you or this wager.”

  “I’m curious,” I admitted. But then I thought of Kalli waiting for us. “How about the short version?”

  Lisanda nodded with her head hovered over the rock. “Our father made an agreement with us when we were fourteen because both of us wanted to choose our own husbands. If we weren’t wed by seventeen to someone of status, then he would choose a man for each of us who would benefit the family. The one who’s waiting for Jessend makes Exo look like a mere misguided child.

  “But Father’s so stubborn, he doesn’t believe us. I didn’t believe Jessend at first either—she does tend to dramatize—but this young man is truly evil. He’s just skilled at hiding it.”

  A strong wind ran through us, pushing Lisanda’s hair around her face and neck. She quickly straightened it.

  “If he’s so bad, why wouldn’t you want me marrying Jessend instead? Could I really be that bad?” I was asking facetiously, but her stern expression humbled me and made me regret the way I’d worded the question.

  “My poor sister has already suffered through her betrothed dying before she could be wed…twice. She was wholeheartedly in love with the first, and I know it still hurts her. You’re not evil, Jek, but I can tell you have a bad habit of finding trouble. Jessend needs someone she can rely on…someone who can take care of her and himself. Who knows what will become of you in a year…in ten?”

  Lisanda fluttered her hand between us. “I apologize. This is coming out wrong.”

  I was thankful to hear her say that, as I was beginning to feel even worse about myself. I figured she was implying I was going to get myself killed, but that was too much of an assumption to conclude definitively. I decided to leave it alone. I wasn’t interested in Jessend anyway. If I wasn’t good for her, that was no problem for me.

  “It’s fine,” I said.

  “Good,” Lisanda said, finally looking up at me. “So when I successfully fill a water pouch in the river, you promise you’ll never marry my sister?”

  “Yes. I agree to never marry Jessend Takary if you win.”

  “And I agree to stay with you until you have the cure if you win…but you’re not going to. It’s just a stupid river.”

  “We’ll see about that.” I smiled, feeling like I was getting the better end of the deal by far. But there was something about the way Lisanda was looking at me that made me start to think otherwise. She had a clever smile, and relief seemed to be setting her face at ease.

  She enthusiastically offered her hand. The gesture took off a chunk of my confidence. But even if I lost, I didn’t mind. It was the cure I wanted, not Jessend. I was just thankful Lisanda hadn’t asked me to let her go.

  I extended my hand and we shook.

  She slipped her hand out of mine before I was ready to let go. “And the wager between Jek Trayden and Lisanda Takary is set.”

  “Why not use this formal method with our other agreement, about you cooperating for three days and my letting you go after that?”

  Lisanda took hold of my shoulder. “Silly, I wouldn’t mock the trust agreement by using it when there was no trust between us. That last agreement was based on threats.” She turned to the river. “Now, come watch me win this with ease.”

  Chapter 28: River

  “It’s getting a lot louder,” Lisanda said, staring with wide eyes at the river we were coming near.

  I was waiting for her to straighten her back, puff out her chest, brush the hair from her face, and claim that it didn’t matter, that it still would be easy. But she did none of those things.

  “It’s running really fast,” she said with the same tone, perhaps even a bit more tense than before. Her eyes finally peeled away to glance up at me. “It didn’t look this fast from farther back.” She laughed nervously.

  I would’ve enjoyed this moment more if I wasn’t so worried her pride was going to override logic. “Please tell me that means you’re changing your mind.”

  That’s when she straightened her back, puffed out her chest, brushed her hair over her ear, and said, “I will not change my mind. It’s just one water pouch that needs filling for me to win.”

  I would’ve sighed at her if my tight diaphragm had allowed me to take a deep breath. Instead, I shook my head, and we continued closer to the rapids crashing against the rocks on the edges of the river.

  When we reached it, I looked in every direction to check once more for Exo as I’d been doing on the way here, for I knew all my concentration would be focused on Lisanda as soon as she stepped out onto the rocks.

  He wasn’t there, but I found myself wishing he was. Not only was I confident I could beat him, it would be the perfect way out of this dangerous wager I now completely regretted.

  “Lisanda, this is crazy. I urge you to reconsider.” There was no safe way to crouch near the river. Grass and trees were lined along the edge, but the edge itself was heavily slanted, leaving smooth rocks embedded in the river as the only even surface to stand on.

  She walked back and forth along the slope, reaching her dainty, garish wedding shoe toward a section of wet grass to tap, tap, tap and then pull it back, repeating this process three times.

  I tried again. “Lisanda, you don’t have to do this. We can agree that the wager is off.”

  “Nonsense.” She switched the water pouch to her left hand and grabbed my hand with her right. “Come this way. I have an idea.”

  I felt somewhat re
laxed holding on to her, feeling her hand squeezing mine tightly. But after only a few paces to a nearby tree leaning over the water, she pulled her hand away and the worry returned.

  “You do know how to swim, right?” I finally thought to ask.

  “Of course…” Some thought struck her, and she finally took her attention away from the river to look at me. “Who wins if I fall in?”

  I looked closer at the river—at all the rocks her body inevitably would slam into the moment the current took her. I tried to imagine what I would be able to do at that point. Quickly, I realized the answer was absolutely nothing. The terror I felt must’ve come through on my face, for she grabbed my hand and showed me a smile.

  “I’m not going to fall in. That was just a joke.” She let my hand drop and turned back to the river. Keeping her voice low, she muttered, “I know I’m the only chance you have at the cure. The thought of that being lost would devastate you.”

  She wrapped her hand around the leaning tree and pulled on it as a test. It was clearly sturdy enough to hold her.

  “It’s not just that,” I corrected her.

  Crouching while holding on to the tree, Lisanda slowly turned her head over her shoulder to gaze at me with a questioning look.

  “I don’t want to see you hurt,” I said, feeling more exposed than I wanted to be. But if telling her that would stop her, then it would be well worth it. She held my eyes with hers for a few quick breaths.

  The sound of the rushing water seemed as loud as thunder in that moment, especially knowing how close Lisanda was to it.

  “Then come here and hold on to me,” she finally said.

  As much as I wanted to, there was something I wanted far more. “Or we can just call this off.”

  “I’m going to do this, and you can either help me or not.”

  Defeated, I approached her and waited for her instructions.

  “Hold on to my hand. I’m going to try to get closer.”

  I made a mental note never to make a dangerous wager with Lisanda again. Though, the moment I had her hand in mine, I did feel some relief. I knew I wouldn’t let her go no matter what.

  I used my other hand to hold onto the tree as she carefully tap, tap, tapped her foot on the sloping grass that led to the edge of the river. The slope was only about a yard long, but the grass was long and thick, hiding the ground beneath it.

  Lisanda edged her back foot forward so that both of her smooth wedding shoes were on the slope. Her grip on my hand tightened.

  “Don’t let me go,” Lisanda said, cautiously bending her knees to lower herself in an attempt to get to the ground.

  “I won’t,” I reassured her.

  Moving slower than a stubborn mule, Lisanda had gotten herself nearly into a squatting position. But in an instant, her foot slipped on the wet grass, and she fell on her bottom. She screamed as it happened, but luckily I was ready and kept her from sliding into the river by pulling back with all my weight. Soon, it was clear I had a good hold of her.

  She laughed nervously, and the startling realization came to me that this hadn’t made her want to give up.

  “That was close,” she said, now sitting on the grass with her legs out toward the water.

  After being in terror for this long, I was beginning to feel frustrated. “This is the stupidest thing you’ve ever done. I’m going to pull you back up.”

  “You will not!” Her princess voice came out.

  It turned out that’s all she needed to say. Although my frustration worsened, I knew trying to pull her up the slope while she resisted would be the worst thing I could do—I felt something against my shoe, at least I thought I did.

  I barely could see my feet in the tall grass, but there looked to be something near me. Perhaps a rock or a stick had rolled into me? No, it was moving. This was some sort of animal.

  “Wait,” I warned Lisanda. “There’s something in the grass.”

  “Right.”

  “I’m serious. It just brushed against my foot.”

  Lisanda fell into silence. I lowered my head to listen and look. But the river was too loud to hear anything, and the grass was too thick to see anything.

  “Stop trying to scare me.” Lisanda’s tone was calm, but I could hear some fear clinging onto her words.

  “I’m being serious,” I repeated. “It was moving toward you as well.”

  She laughed. “How convenient.”

  I used a foot to push away the grass between us for a better look. I caught a glimpse of something moving again, and I parted more grass around it. Immediately it became clear what I was looking at.

  “It’s a snake, and right next to you!” I kept my voice low but pushed as much urgency into it as I could.

  “You’re lying…” Lisanda spoke as if she was posing a question but with terror beneath it, ready to burst if needed.

  “Remember the crackers? This is happening all over again.”

  I thought she was still before, but by the way she froze then, I realized she’d been shifting her weight somewhat. The only thing moving were her eyes, darting between sections of grass wavering in the wind. Soon her head followed suit, jerking to each direction, looking for movement.

  “Where is it?” Lisanda asked quietly.

  I’d lost it in the grass. “I don’t know. Let me pull you up. River snakes can be aggressive.”

  Lisanda slowly curled her extended legs to position her feet on the slope and then used my hand to pull herself to her feet. With the water pouch in her other hand, she cautiously brushed aside the grass between us to make sure the ground was clear. She seemed to let out the beginning of a shriek before she managed to re-close her mouth. That’s when I saw it, too.

  The snake was between us, watching Lisanda’s water pouch while its tongue flickered. It wasn’t a long snake, maybe two feet. But I didn’t know much about snakes, and definitely not enough to tell whether it was venomous or not.

  “I changed my mind. I changed my mind,” Lisanda said frantically, though she kept still. “Get me out of here.” The snake continued to stare at her water pouch.

  My first thought was Bastial wind. But I couldn’t blow the snake away without the hot air hitting Lisanda and likely pushing her into the river. I thought about a small fireball to kill it, but the force of it could knock Lisanda back, too. Sartious Energy would be no good here, either, I quickly realized.

  “I’m going to try to throw it,” I said as plainly as I could, knowing the idea sounded just as bad as it was.

  Lisanda squeezed my hand tighter. “It’s going to bite me as soon as you touch it.” We were holding each other’s hands over the tail of the snake, though it didn’t seem to notice. It was more interested in Lisanda’s water pouch than anything else.

  “I don’t think it will.” More importantly, I didn’t have a better idea.

  “I do think it will!” Lisanda took a small step to her side, and the snake’s head followed her. She squeaked out a muffled whimper.

  “I’m going to do it,” I announced. “Make sure you don’t let go of my hand.”

  Lisanda nodded.

  Fear for my own safety only began the moment I bent down. The voice telling me not to touch the snake was still just a whisper, though, a tingle on the back of my neck. The rest of my fear was sitting in the pit of my stomach, and it was all for Lisanda. When my hand was in place, I counted to three and then grabbed its tail and flung it to the side as quickly as possible.

  The whole thing happened in a blink, but I still saw the snake coil back and try to bite me the moment I touched it. The snake flew only a few yards, as I’d tried to get rid of it as quickly as possible. Lisanda mistook me for being in a position where I could support her weight, so she pulled hard to help herself up the slope the moment after I hurled the snake. But I was nearly squatting and no longer holding onto the tree, so I fell onto my chest.

  For an instant, I didn’t feel her weight pulling on my hand anymore, and I heard her scream. But t
hen the force of her pulling on me came back twice as strong.

  Face down in the grass with half my body now on the slope, I couldn’t see what had happened to Lisanda, but I still had her hand in mine. I lifted my head to look and barely made out her light blue dress through the grass. It looked like she was lying down like me, but on her back.

  “Jek, don’t let me down another hair!” she screamed. “My feet are right over the water.”

  My body was angled downward too much for me to get the leverage I needed to pull her back.

  “I won’t!” I yelled back, determined to figure something out. I thought of the simplest solution I could—to pull and figure out the rest later.

  With all my strength, I pulled my outstretched arm that held her hand. I managed to drag her only about the length of my forearm, but that was enough to reach her with my other hand. When I locked it around her wrist and didn’t feel myself slipping down the grass, I tried another pull—cautiously at first to make sure I wouldn’t end up dragging myself toward her instead of dragging her toward me. I found that Lisanda moved and I didn’t.

  With great relief, I pulled her another arm’s length toward me. I felt her shifting, and then soon I no longer needed to support her weight.

  “I’m back on my feet,” she said.

  Now with enough slack, I pushed my chest from the ground and used my feet to slide myself back onto level ground, keeping a firm hold on Lisanda’s hand the whole time. Completely above the slope now, I was able to get to my knees and looked up to see Lisanda glancing back at me with fixed eyes over a troubled smile—a look of relief and embarrassment, I figured.

  I felt somewhat similar to her, but instead of embarrassment, my relief was mixed with anger that she’d nearly gotten herself killed over a stupid wager.

  I pulled her the rest of the way up and we ran, flying past a good ten trees before we finally stopped. I doubted the snake would come after us even if we’d stayed there, but it was better to be safe.