I walked over to her slowly, undoing the bandage as I went. “It’s not so bad.”
“Nonsense,” she said tartly. “And there is neither virtue nor heroism in suffering unnecessary pain, my lad.” She held my hand between her palms, flat above and below, crossways in an oddly formal gesture. Her eyes softened and she seemed to be staring right through me as she whispered a soft incantation under her breath. A chill ran down my back as I heard echoes of ancient rhythms in the arcane syllables.
My arm and hand grew warm, not painfully but with the unmistakable, unnatural thrill of magic. A tingling throbbed briefly deep within my arm, as if I had slept crooked on it, waking to blood reawakening protesting flesh. I waited with growing dread for whatever shock of enchantment all this heralded.
But all that happened was the slow evaporation of the aching tenderness that had been catching me unawares with sharp jibes of pain all morning. The tingling sensation faded to nothing and the heat in my knuckles subsided to no more than a healthy glow, as if I’d been working the hand sparring. I looked down as Avila released me with a satisfied nod. The bruising had faded to no more than a faint discoloration and all the swelling was gone. I picked at the redundant stitches with a curious fingernail. Anyone would have sworn the cut was ten days healed.
“The Sieur’s surgeon can take those out,” Avila instructed.
“Thank you,” I managed to say with a fair degree of composure.
“When we have leisure, we must discuss your own prejudices about aetheric magic, never mind those of the populace,” Avila said softly, her eyes searching mine.
“I had better go,” said Temar from the threshold. “I’ll come and find you when I get back.” Casuel hovered, unable to decide if he could go or stay.
“Is there something else?” Avila settled herself at the table. “If not, I will contact Guinalle.”
“Come on, Casuel.” I ushered the wizard out of the room and shut the door firmly behind us.
“We have perfectly effective healing magics in Hadrumal, you know,” he said with faint envy.
“I’m sure you do.” I realised I was rubbing the healed knuckles into my other palm and stopped. “But do you have anything to find the stolen artefacts?”
“What exactly did she do? What did you feel?” Casuel was still looking at my hand so I shoved both in my breeches pockets.
“She stopped it hurting, which is good enough for me. Hadn’t you better bespeak Planir? Find out what he suggests—and find out if Livak’s discovered anything useful on her travels.” I spared a moment for a fleeting regret that I hadn’t gone with her. A summer spent peaceably tramping through forests and mountains would surely have been preferable to all this confusion.
Casuel sniffed and stalked off down the corridor, back stiff with indignation. I watched him go then went off to make myself unpopular with the men I’d so recently been serving with. In some lights, this new rank was starting to look a rather tarnished prize.
The D’Olbriot Residence,
Summer Solstice Festival, Fourth Day, Morning
Casuel walked slowly up to his bedchamber, so absorbed he quite neglected to bow to an elegant Demoiselle hurrying down the stairs. Shocked at the realisation he turned full of obsequious apology, but all he saw was a retreating head bright with a jewelled net encasing coiled braids. The girl had taken no more notice of him than of the maid on the landing below, a mere servant with arms full of linen and head empty of anything.
Goaded by complex dissatisfaction, Casuel locked his door behind him and picked up the bedside candle. He snapped his fingers at the wick, feeling little of the usual thrill at bending inert substance to his bidding. As he set the flame in front of his small mirror, he forced the burnished metal to submit, to reflect the image he wanted rather than the room around him. What Prince of Toremal could do as much, he thought. What Emperor? Constraints of distance were nothing to those who could manipulate the very elements of the physical world. Hearth-Master Kalion was right; such power deserved due recognition. He deserved recognition, him, Casuel D’Evoir.
An image snapped across the surface of the mirror as answering magic bolstered Casuel’s own. “Yes?” Planir looked up from tending a crucible on a charcoal stove. “Oh, it’s you. Good morning.”
“These people have no notion of courtesy to a mage,” Casuel spoke without thinking. “How can they, when they don’t meet a true wizard from one year’s end to the next?”
“Is there some reason you’re disturbing me to tell me this?” The Archmage stirred the contents of his pot with a metal rod.
Casuel missed the warning note in Planir’s distant voice. “No one in Toremal thinks a mage is any more than these tricksters Velindre’s wasting her time with.”
Planir set down his rod with a rattle striking a faint echo from Casuel’s mirror. “You’ve something to say about Velindre?”
Casuel looked surprised. “No, not as such. Just that she’s doing herself no credit chasing round the city after every charlatan who claims the least sniff of an affinity.”
“Then perhaps you’ll wait until you do have something to tell me before you bespeak me again.” Planir’s displeasure came ringing through the shining metal.
“Oh, no, Archmage, I’ve plenty to tell you.” Casuel hesitated. “Well, quite a lot. Messire D’Olbriot faced an array of accusations before the Imperial Court yesterday. That’ll tie him up in argument until Equinox at least, the other senior Esquires of the House too, probably. Four other Names are claiming rights in Kellarin, there’s been argument to declare D’Alsennin’s House extinct, and someone or other has raised accusations of bad faith against D’Olbriot, using an advocate claiming to be a friend of the court.”
“Then find out who’s behind it and let me know,” Planir said in exasperation. “D’Olbriot defeated before the Imperial Court would have appalling consequences! It’s been hard enough convincing Guliel and Camarl we’re not all overbearing autocrats like Kalion, and they’re the most open-minded nobles we could find. We have to have Tormalin cooperation over Kellarin, Cas, never forget that.”
“It’s Kellarin I wanted to mention,” said Casuel reluctantly. “You know those artefacts, the ones D’Alsennin somehow managed to find—”
Planir raised a hand. “The ones Allin Mere helped him find? Which wouldn’t have been recovered without her quick thinking?”
“Yes.” Casuel’s lips narrowed. “Well, they’ve managed to lose them, D’Alsennin and Ryshad. Thieves took the lot last night.”
The ochre light of the spell flared for a moment, heat palpable on Casuel’s face. Planir’s words were lost, but when the disturbance cleared Casuel could see the crucible beside him had cracked to spill molten metal over the slate-topped table.
“What are you doing to find them?” Planir demanded. “We’ve pledged ourselves to support Kellarin. We may well need their Artifice against the Elietimm, don’t ever forget that!”
“Allin didn’t think to familiarise herself with the actual artefacts,” stammered Casuel. “They didn’t take the box, so she can’t scry for that—”
“Did you make any study of the items?” asked Planir sharply.
“I wasn’t able to,” said Casuel hurriedly. “Demoiselle Tor Arrial sees such things as her business and no one else’s.”
“Has she any aetheric means of finding the thieves?” Planir looked forbidding. “Is there any hint that the Elietimm are involved?”
“Demoiselle Tor Arrial says no one’s using Artifice in the city.” Casuel was relieved to have something definite to say. “She’s no way to trace the thieves herself but she’s contacting Demoiselle Guinalle. I was wondering if Usara had found any lore among the Forest Folk that might help, or something from the Mountain Men? The book that girl of Ryshad’s fussed over had ballads about following lost trails, didn’t it?” he added hopefully.
“The book you gave so little credence?” Planir smiled for an instant before his face turned grim. “No. T
here are some interesting leads for Mentor Tonin and his scholars to pursue, but nothing of any immediate use.”
“A shame,” said Casuel, trying to quell an inner satisfaction.
“Quite,” said Planir dryly. He looked at Casuel, and even as a small image reflected in magic his eyes were uncomfortably piercing.
“Doesn’t Master Tonin have some means of identifying Kellarin artefacts?” Casuel asked hastily.
The Archmage shook his head. “He can pick them out of an array of unenchanted objects, but only if they’re to hand.”
A tense silence fell. “Perhaps Guinalle will have some aetheric magic to find them,” Casuel repeated hopefully. If she did, he’d be the one giving the good news to Planir, wouldn’t he? He would be suitably gracious to Usara when he had occasion to mention how much more use he had been to the Archmage.
“Perhaps and perhaps not. What are you doing in the meantime?” Planir demanded.
“I’ve an idea who might be behind this,” said Casuel rapidly. “There’s a scion of Den Thasnet I’ve my eye on. I was going to send Ryshad to follow him but I’d better do it myself. Obviously, as a rule I wouldn’t dream of using magic to eavesdrop, but I think in these circumstances it’s permissable?” He looked hopefully at the Archmage.
“Your high-mindedness does you credit,” Planir remarked with a flatness that made Casuel wonder if his spell was faltering. “Be discreet.”
The mirror blinked to emptiness and Casuel looked blankly at it for a moment. He set his jaw, pleased to see the well-bred resolution in his reflection.
He poured water from the ewer into the basin on his washstand. This was an excellent opportunity to be of service both to D’Olbriot and to the Archmage, he realised with growing pleasure. D’Alsennin and Tor Arrial would be grateful as well when Casuel proved Den Thasnet was their enemy. Both Houses might have limited standing at present, but with the riches of Kellarin backing them the future was looking promising.
Casuel poured a little ink into the water and absently summoned emerald radiance to suffuse the bowl. A new notion warmed him. As and when D’Alsennin succeeded in reviving his long-extinct Name, Casuel would have an excellent precedent to argue before the Court of Prerogative when the time came for him to resurrect the House of D’Evoir.
But first he had more immediate matters in hand, he reminded himself hastily. He drew on his memory of Firon Den Thasnet, projecting his recollection of the uncouth stripling’s sneering face into the ensorcelled water. An image coalesced in the green-shaded obscurity, clearing to show the youth reclining on a daybed in a conservatory.
Casuel looked down on Firon. There’d be none of this contempt for wizardry when even Names like Den Thasnet had to acknowledge D’Evoir, seeing a mage of indisputable noble rank was an ally of the Archmage, a confidant of men such as Hearth-Master Kalion.
Casuel looked up from the bowl. Perhaps it was time to consider how best to phrase a direct approach to Kalion? The Hearth-Master made no secret of his conviction that the mundane powers of the mainland must be made to recognise the resources wizardry offered an astute ruler. Kalion would certainly see the advantages of having one of their own to liaise with the Tormalin Names, and who would be better placed than Casuel? Once a few Princes acknowledged Hadrumal’s influence, well-born girls would certainly consider joining him in renewing the Name of D’Evoir, wouldn’t they?
Casuel glanced down and was startled to see his scrying dimming to a mossy dullness. Chagrined, he summoned the magic anew and the image sharpened. Breathing with exquisite care, Casuel drew the picture out, expanding the magic until he saw the Esquire was in a hothouse pavilion at the rear of the Den Thasnet residence. He frowned. The Den Thasnet residence was halfway to the northern heights above the city. There was no way Casuel could be expected to walk that far, not in the full heat of a summer noon. Arriving somewhere all sweaty and dishevelled would undermine the dignity both of wizardry and of D’Olbriot for one thing. But taking a gig from the stables would hardly serve the Sieur or Planir’s insistence on discretion.
He lost his grip on the slippery scrying and the image floated into fragments on the water’s surface. No matter. Casuel shook a remnant of green light from his hands and congratulated himself on visiting so many Houses when they’d last opened their gates at Equinox. He wondered in passing how best to mention this forethought to Planir as he built Den Thasnet’s residence in his mind’s eye, picturing the wide central block, new stone clean and white in the sun, the sloping roof bright with the finest tiles coin could buy, the wings on either side linked by corridors framing courtyards where sparkling fountains reflected in costly expanses of window glass.
Casuel reached for the substance of the breeze that drifted lazily through his open window. He made himself one with the air, feeling its paths and currents and travelling them with the ease of instinct honed with practice. In an instant of brilliant light he crossed the city and found himself standing in the midst of an elegant chequerboard of low-hedged flowerbeds.
“Hey, you!” A gardener shouted, outraged, letting his laden barrow fall to the path with a thud. “Get off my summersilks!”
“I beg your pardon,” Casuel said hastily, trying to avoid doing any more damage as he struggled to the nearest path. He realised with dismay that his expensive boots were covered in some ominous-smelling mulch.
“Where did you spring from?” The gardener approached with growing perplexity. “I thought the gates were closed to visitors today.”
“Don’t concern yourself, my good man.” Casuel tried for a suitably noble tone as he walked off towards the residence. This was the kind of house he would build, Casuel thought, clean, Rational lines matching form and function in precise layout of grounds and building. No, his house would be even finer, given the way architects shared the same ridiculous prejudices against judicious wizardry as everyone else. After all, Casuel’s sympathy with the earth made him the obvious person to judge the best stone to keep a house warm in winter and cool in summer. Even Velindre would find it simple enough to chart the flow of air through a house, and who better to consult about siting a hearth than a mage with a fire affinity? But no, all anyone ever wanted a mage for was shifting quantities of earth, for all the world like that nursery tale of Ostrin and the enchanted shovel. It simply wasn’t fair that wizards were denied any genteel profession by Tormalin disdain for magic.
Conversation behind him interrupted Casuel’s musing and he glanced over his shoulder to see the gardener walking slowly after him. Curse the fellow, he was talking to a man in livery, halberd in hand. Casuel looked from side to side for some discreet corner but Den Thasnet’s desire to shape his gardens to the same height of fashion as his house meant there was precious little growing above knee height. A summerhouse offered the only sanctuary from the inconvenient underlings and Casuel hurried into it.
But what now? The little eight-sided shelter would barely hide an indiscreet kiss, and anyway the man had seen him come in here. Casuel looked out of the window to see the halberdier walking purposefully towards the gazebo. How was he to explain his presence if the House was closed to visitors?
Casuel drew a deep breath and summoned a shimmer of blue light between his hands. He hurriedly drew water from the earth beneath him and fire from the heat of the sun, wrapping himself inside a veil of magic to baffle prying eyes. He stood motionless, breathless as the puzzled man-at-arms looked into the summerhouse, the gardener behind him, brows raised in good-humoured curiosity. “Where’d he go then?”
“Cursed if I know.” The gardener brushed earth off his hands. “I’d have sworn he went in here.”
“Sure you’ve not been tending Esquire Firon’s thassin too closely? Pruning it without opening the windows in the conservatory?” The sworn man laughed.
The gardener smiled thinly. “But he went this way, some sour-faced chap all tricked out like a draper wanting to jump the counter and mix with his betters.”
“I’ll pass the word
,” the sworn man shrugged.
The two men walked away slowly, leaving Casuel all but throttled by indignation. What would some muddy day labourer know about fashion anyway? He was about to dissolve the blend of elements when a sudden thought stopped him.
The Archmage had told him to be discreet, so why not stay invisible? Casuel tightened his grip on the elements he was manipulating and added a complex lattice of air to baffle any sound he might make. Walking with agonised care, he went up stone steps to a broad paved terrace, searching for the pavilion where he’d seen Den Thasnet lounging.
There it was, an airy framework of white ironwork sheltering glossy citrus trees and a few unsightly pots of ragged ferns. Casuel peered through the windows to see Den Thasnet taking his ease, sipping from a glass in a silver holder. That was all the increasingly thirsty wizard had to see for what felt like half a season. Finally, as six chimes sounded from a distant timepiece, Firon slammed his drink down on a metal table, impatiently ringing a handbell. A lackey appeared, immediately sent away with brusque gestures and reappearing with a coat that Firon pulled on, tugging at his lacy cuffs with edgy hands. He shoved open a door to the terrace, slamming it back on hinges that squeaked in protest. Keeping firm hold on the sorcery sheltering him, Casuel followed as close as he dared as Firon ran lightly down the steps and through the gardens to the extensive stableyards. The mage’s heart sank as he realised Den Thasnet wore riding boots and was carrying a whip.
“Get me the sorrel gelding.” The Esquire snapped his fingers at a lad carrying a basket of grain. “At once, boy!”
The stable lad ducked away as if he feared a cuff round the ear. Casuel watched in an agony of indecision as the horse was brought out and saddled, Firon all the while tapping his switch impatiently on one boot.
“I’ll need you to bring him back.” Firon swung himself into the saddle and reached a hand down to the boy. “If you let him pick up a stone, I’ll flay your back for you, understand?”
The lad tried and failed to take a pillion seat on the restive horse, getting a smack from Firon’s whip across his shoulders for his pains.
The Warrior's Bond Page 36
