Tyrant Trouble (Mudflat Magic)

by Phoebe Matthews

  When he was inside and the gate closed again, I went back to the center of the courtyard and held out my hands to the warmth of the dying fire.

  “What is it now?” I said.

  “I know who you are. Beyond what you told my father today, beyond being from the land of the Daughter.”

  “Not a templekeeper and not a god.” I looked him in the eyes. His face reflected the firelight, and it turned his yellow hair to red.

  “More than that. I thought about the story you told me that did not have an ending.”

  “Umm, did you?”

  “Stargazer, you really are from outside.”

  I nodded.

  “So were they, but they were gods.”

  “And your question is?”

  “People, not gods, live here. Gods live outside, and when we die our souls go outside and join them.”

  He thought anything beyond the boundaries of their land was heaven?

  “Are you saying no one has ever gone away and then come back?”

  “How could they? Only the dead can leave.”

  I mulled that one over. “Can you go up in the mountains?”

  “Of course. But we don't because that's elf land and it's better to leave them alone.”

  Elves in the mountains? Pointy-eared, pointy-toed ballet type folk in flowing gowns and straight out of the Tolkien films? Or maybe they were really little bitties, like fairies. And was my brain imploding? Skip that thought and get back to important stuff. I didn't want to go mountain-climbing, I don't even like those climbing rock things in the sporting goods stores.

  “Have you ever tried to walk out of here?”

  “Yes, everyone does that, goes exploring. And then we reach a place where we are turned around and return.”

  Like what happened to me when I tried to follow the deer. “Why is that?” I asked, not expecting any answer.

  But he surprised me. “Because the gods protect us. They surround us with magic that keeps us in and keeps death out.”

  And somehow makes you invisible to the rest of the world, I thought. “So when you saw me, you didn't know where I came from but you decided to let me live. Did you think I came from the gods?”

  “Not that,” he said softly. “I saw you were unarmed and you looked so very fragile and it seemed to me it would be a terrible thing to harm you.”

  The day had been long and stressful. I had faced the intense questioning of Kovat the Slayer, not to mention the hysteria of my roommate and the scrutiny of one too many strangers. Now I was faced with this silly boy who was as bored and lonely as was his cousin. They both regarded me as entertainment.

  “If you thought that,” I said, holding out my hands and ticking off points on my fingers, “when you first ordered me to turn around, then took my knife, than tossed me on a horse, then paraded me in front of your soldiers as your newest capture, why did you also think the manners of a perfect host included requiring me to sleep with a sword blade across my throat?”

  It was a long speech and his eyes grew steadily wider. Now it was me who couldn't seem to shut up. I needed to find a way to even the score between us, and at the same time, I didn't know what game we were playing.

  “Don't be angry, Stargazer. That's what I am trying to tell you. I want to help you. I want to protect you.”

  “Protect me? You threatened to make me a slave.”

  Was I supposed to tell him how wonderful he was, that I forgave him for capturing me and he had no reason to feel guilty? I would do that when he took me back to the edge of the woods and helped me find the way out. And why did I think that would not happen soon?

  I said, “So, I know who you are and you know who I am and neither of us really knows anything at all about the other. It isn't as though we are friends. And I am sure you trust me as little as I trust you.”

  He stood staring at me, his mouth open, the tip of his tongue touching his upper lip. He stood there so long, I worried I would never get any sleep that night.

  Then he did that exit thing that left me sputtering speechless. He said, “It isn't as though we are enemies.” He walked to the gate, opened it, and just before he pulled it closed he added, “And I do trust you.”

  Good thing one of us trusted me. The more I worked on my charts, the more I doubted Kovat would be impressed.

  CHAPTER 7

  Could have used a wrist watch, but I’d forgotten that right along with a compass. So I was stuck keeping time by the position of the sun.

  When the sun rose halfway towards the midpoint Kovat the Slayer began his treacherous game, pitting my astrology against the tricks of the magician.

  His fur-draped chair on its platform was now placed at the center of the dusty castle courtyard. Tarvik stood slightly behind the chair. The castle dog lounged to one side, still looking as sleepy and disinterested as it had the previous night. If it was a watch dog, I had yet to see it actually watch anything. It glanced briefly at us when we entered, then settled back into a motionless heap of rather patchy fur and closed eyes.

  Nance and I faced Kovat. In the morning shadow by the wall I saw the magician of Thunder, a sinewy old man in a ragged cloak, with white hair straggling down across his chin. Nance had told me the eyes of the magicians contained evil powers believed to cast spells on one's mind. Did these magicians practice hypnosis? I kept my gaze on Kovat, on his son, on the ground, anywhere else at all.

  When the magician and I stood in front of Kovat, he said, “I will ask questions of you both, questions to which none but I know the answer. Prepare whatever it is you do.”

  With a smug smile twisting his mouth, Kovat relaxed back into his chair. He wore a sleeveless leather tunic held together with dark brown laces that crisscrossed the deep scars on his chest. His boots were fur. His arms were covered with gold bands and over his shoulder draped a fur cape.

  Through half-closed eyes he watched us as though he expected us to put on a fancy performance.

  Unfortunately for me, I had no such tricks to offer. However, when Nance told me we would be outside to allow the magician to build a fire, I knew charcoal wouldn't work. Besides, getting down to draw on the floor was a disadvantage, I mean, how impressive would I look on my hands and knees, my butt in the air?

  With a long pointed stick that I'd brought with me, I remained standing and drew in the bare earth the chart for the time of Kovat's birth, with the sun and Aries at the midheaven and the slower planets in their locations for that day twenty days past the Equinox thirty-nine years ago come next spring. Saturn was in Kovat's House of Destiny with a negative aspect to Neptune in the House of Death. Uranus was in the House of Love, unaffected by aspects.

  Jupiter ruled Kovat's wealth in Tarvik's constellation. I didn't know the exact degree but it was clear that Kovat valued his son above all else. Okay, I didn't have to worry about Tarvik at his father's hands. Unfortunately, there was no such assurance for Nance or myself. Beyond that, Kovat's was the horoscope of a man who chose his own fate rather than fate choosing him.

  While I worked silently, the magician muttered and coughed and fumbled with a pile of twigs, building a small, smoky fire a short space away from my circle.

  Ignoring him, I reached into my pocket and the pebbles that I had painted with Nance's make-up, each a color to match a planet, yellow for Mercury, white for Venus, red for Mars, blue for Jupiter, green for Saturn, speckled for Uranus and lavender for Neptune. I had also dug out a penny and a dime from the bottom of my backpack. Why not a penny sun? Without proper writing implements, it worked for me. Maybe believers wouldn't think it appropriate that the lowest value coin represented their Sun god, but they weren't going to be told the value of a penny.

  I had to crouch down to arrange the stones and coins outside of Kovat's chart, where they represented the placement of the planets in the sky at the exact time on this day. I managed to crouch without falling over, and the long robe kind of added class. Then I straightened and looked up at the man.

 
Okay, I was missing Merc, Venus, Mars and the moon inside the circle of his horoscope, but I knew where they were today.

  When I stepped back from the chart, Kovat growled, “What is that you have drawn?”

  “Your horoscope.”

  “My what?”

  Right. “Your magic circle. The inner circle shows the placement of the stars at the hour of your birth. The pebbles outside the circle show the placement of the stars now.”

  I didn't bother with the word planets. To him they were all stars, and I was trying to convince him that one, he was wise, and two, I was knowledgeable.

  He leaned forward in his chair and peered first at my circle and then at the magician's fire.

  “Well enough. Tell me this, magician, if you can. How did I get this scar below my knee?”

  Questions about battles and conquests had all occurred to me, because I've gone to way too many swashbuckler films, but I gotta confess, I never once considered the possibility of a question about Kovat's knee. I hoped he would not expect us to identify every scar, as his arms and legs were covered with them and as for his face, couldn't guess how it had started out. If the chill that stiffened my spine also touched the magician, he did not let it cause his voice to falter.

  “Tell us, oh god of Thunder,” he chanted, while reaching into the folds of his long tunic, “of the injury to the knee of mighty Kovat.” From between his fingers he dropped yellow dust that hissed at the fire's edge and sent up a sudden, evil-smelling yellow cloud. Peering into the cloud as though it were a scroll to be read, he muttered, “The knee of mighty Kovat, ruler of rulers, overlord of all the lands, I see there the scar and a sword and a great battle, oh Kovat.”

  The corners of Kovat's mouth remained curled. “And you, Stargazer?”

  Was the old man right? Any fool would guess a scar on Kovat was the result of battle. Was that why he asked, to lead us into a trap?

  I said, “The stars move in patterns across the sky. They show our fates. Their meaning is different for each person. To even begin to guess at the cause of your injury, I need to know the day on which it occurred.”

  His laugh was uglier than his smile. “Very cleverly said, Stargazer. I think I will not waste a childhood scar from a broken toy on you. Tell me this, you who play with words and stars. In my seventeenth year, when I was younger than my son is now, was an event of some importance to me. Do your circles and pebbles show it?”

  His seventeenth year. I bent over the circle and seeing nothing there, I used a trick that sometimes works. I moved the sun of his birth time forward a degree in his horoscope for each of the seventeen years. Oh. Even without knowing where Venus was, I could see well enough that in Kovat’s seventeenth year the planet Uranus had opposed his heart, which was represented by the sun. Its message looked clear enough to me. Yeah, I was betting my life I was right.

  “You met a woman then and I think she became your mate.” I paused, unsure if I should continue.

  Tarvik would have been born three years later, so was it Tarvik's mother? Except, oh, she left him. Different woman.

  I rather thought he would tell me to cease, but instead Kovat stiffened, leaned forward, demanded, “Go on.”

  So toss me off a cliff now, because I couldn't think up a story that fast. That stuck me with what I saw and did he want me telling everyone?

  “When she left you, it changed the direction of your life,” I said.

  The sneer faded. From the folds of lines and scars on his face he stared out at me, his pale blue eyes dulled with memories he had not thought anyone could guess.

  All he said was, “Tell me of her, magician. I will waste no more than this second question on you.”

  Waving his hands at the fire, the magician caused the flames to shoot skyward, and a fountain of red sparks arched overhead. Although I didn't envy the old man, who obviously was no great whiz at fortune telling, I wished I knew the secret of his ability to control flames. I'd been stuck in a few situations where such a trick would have been useful. Like in the back alley behind the dumpster.

  “Oh mighty leader, Thunder blesses your armies and sends strength to your great heart and success to all your ventures through the constant prayers of myself. And though my god may not always hand me, a faithful servant, the answer to every question -”

  Kovat rose to his feet and roared, “Answer me, you tottering fool, or I shall return you at once to your god!”

  The shaking magician peered into his flames. “She was beautiful, my ruler. I see her face in the flames, a face of perfection and a heart to match, a kind and gentle woman, young, comely, graceful -”

  “What other type of woman would I choose?” Kovat growled.

  “She was fair, yes, fair, small, graceful hands, the god of Thunder admires her purity of heart, my lord -”

  “Cease.” One word. I knew and the magician knew. If that word did no more than toss him into a dungeon for all eternity, he was probably lucky. “You tell me, Stargazer.”

  “I can't tell the color of her hair,” I said. “That would depend on the coloring of her people, not on her stars.”

  I looked again at his signature. The current placement of Venus aspected his progressed sun in his seventeenth year. And then I saw a pattern that isn’t in any astrology guidebook. That little glimmer of Mudflat magic, inherited from my grandmother, kicked in.

  I said slowly, “I don't have her chart, but if I must guess at it from yours, it seems likely her moon or sun and a powerful star shone through, uh, here, tell me what this is.”

  I drew the pattern of the stars of Taurus on the ground for him.

  “The Silver Horns,” he said.

  Yes, indeed, the symbol for the bull was its horns.

  I said, “I think she was perhaps stubborn and although she was slow to anger, once angered she was slower to forgive.”

  His eyes closed. He leaned back in his chair. That his scarred face, hardened by a lifetime of battles, could register such pain amazed me. Whoever she was, she must have stomped all over his heart.

  Slowly he said, “Enough, Stargazer. I am satisfied with your magic to see my past. Are you as able to see my future?”

  “That is what I expected you to ask, not questions about your knee.” The words slipped out before I could stop them.

  His eyes popped open. Would he laugh or run his sword through me? Behind him, Tarvik's eyes widened and his face went so pale, the line of freckles across his nose stood out.

  Kovat leaned forward in his chair and said, “Very well, woman, tell me this. My recent journey to scout new routes leads me to think I have found a way to conquer the followers of Thunder. What can your stars tell me of my success?”

  Walking slowly around the chart, I compared the planets of his birth with their current positions. For a battle forecast I needed the placement of Mars in his birth horoscope, but I didn't have it. Still, I knew where Mars was today, favoring his sun but casting unfortunate aspects on his future. A victory was possible if he reached the battleground before the next full moon. I could see victory for his army, but I could not see the exact fate of Kovat. I told him so.

  “Where my armies conquer, I rule,” he said.

  “I do not see your rule extended into other lands.”

  “But you do see my armies victorious?”

  “Yes. And I see a lot of blood, pain and death.”

  “With my army or with my enemies?”

  So much death answered his question in the positions of the pebbles, I felt sick. “Does that matter? Why bring death to so many when you could remain here in peace?”

  Behind me I heard Nance whisper, “Take care.”

  Tarvik's rigid posture echoed her fear.

  Easy for them, they only heard the danger for themselves. For me it wasn't that simple. Occasionally, when a chart displays extremes of emotion, I glimpse a scene. A small scrap of genetic magic that I didn't want or need. But that's what I got, and my gut ached, because for a few seconds it was like
looking at the wide screen version, bright color, masses of writhing bodies on a battlefield. Worse than a battlefield.

  There were warriors everywhere, pushing their way between village huts, slashing paths clear, broadswords swinging. None seemed to notice what they struck and they were hitting children, old people, and parents trying to wrap themselves around babies to protect them with their own bodies. God, those swords were evil, hacking through anything, blood flying, unarmed people falling, villagers, I supposed, and all that saved me from passing out was that I could only see the scene, not hear the screams from all those dying faces.

  And then I was back in the courtyard, listening to the devil himself.

  “I respect this star magic that gives you so many answers, although I do not understand it. But you, Stargazer, are of no importance to me and I do not want your opinions, do you hear me?”

  So even in La-La Land, tyranny ruled.

  The scruffy dog lifted its head and studied me through narrowed eyes as though it knew I talked too much. Ah, it must be a tone in Kovat's voice, I thought, something the dog recognizes as a danger signal. Clever dog. Stupid me.

  I shut up. No knowledge from my charts or mind would please a madman.

  “Is this all you can say, that my victory depends on a battle fought before the full moon?”

  I did not look again at the horoscope on the ground. If any further guidance lay there for this warrior who gloried in destruction, I wasn't going to search for it. Years of reading horoscopes had taught me when to quit. With great effort, I kept my voice steady. “I have told you all I have seen.”

  “Well enough, Stargazer. When I return victorious, I will bring with me a crown of a warlord of Thunder and you shall have it as your prize. If you wish, I will also bring his severed head.” That sounded like a line from some sick fairy tale. He leaned toward me, whipped out his sword and jammed its point into the earth inches from the end of my toes. Guess it was lucky I was still so numb from the vision I didn't flinch. He liked that. His smile bared jagged teeth. “But if my armies suffer great loss and I cannot capture a crown, it will not matter to you. You will have no head on which to wear it.”