The Making of a Mage King: White Star

by Anna L. Walls

  Cordan heaved a deep sigh, struggling hard not to let his relief show. “Where were you, anyway? You smell. And what happened to your face?”

  Sean chuckled and reached up to touch his bruised cheek; it had only just cleared up from when Laon had punched him. “I was in the dungeon for a couple days. Send someone in with a couple buckets of water and I’ll take a bath. I need one.” He headed for his tent, still shaken by what Cordan had said, what he had been prepared to allow.

  When he came out dressed all in black, Mattie handed him a plate of stew, then took it back. After handing it off to one of the girls behind her, she pushed Sean into a nearby chair. “What did you do? You have blood in your hair.”

  Her touch as well as her fingers probed the spot, but the wound had already been healed, so she waved over some warm water and busied herself with washing the blood out of his hair before she would allow him to eat. The fussing was soothing and comforting.

  Laon and the others arrived about an hour later, shortly after full dark, and Mattie put the stew pot back on the fire.

  When Guire came into the light of the fire and saw Sean, he nearly fainted. “It’s true, then,” he stammered out.

  Sean smiled and pushed the man into the chair he’d just vacated. “I told you so,” he said. “You refused to believe me.”

  Guire looked around; the cloudy night didn’t show him much beyond the glow of the fire, but that was enough.

  Elias came up to him after handing off his horse. He brushed Sean’s bruised cheek. “I don’t think I like seeing you all bruised up. Why did you let anyone touch you?”

  “It’s hard to explain, Dad, but it allowed me to find him.” He pointed at their new guest. “Did he tell you who he was?”

  “He told us his name,” said Elias.

  “He’s married into the Lorraine family,” said Sean, simply. Then he knelt down in front of the man who was still reeling from all of this. “I need you to tell me about the Lorraine family and I need you to take me to see them, if any of them are still around.” He spoke imploringly, but the words reminded him of something else. He rose to face Elias again. “I learned something else, too.” He took a deep breath and plunged ahead. “The Barleduc family…has…has been…wiped…out.” The words came out hard, as they also brought back the memory he could never have seen, but knew to be true. Abruptly, he left the gathering around the fire to go stand in the dark.

  Only Elias saw the look of devastation on Sean’s face, only he had been standing close enough. He watched the young man he had raised since the moment of his birth, as he strode off to grapple with still more death that was all too close to home this time.

  Larry also watched him stride off into the dark; he knew his friend well. Pulling Jenny with him, they went after him. Though he hadn’t been close enough to catch exactly why, he knew his friend was upset and he was intending to be the shoulder he thought his friend needed, but when they caught up with him, he saw that his shoulder wasn’t necessary, not yet. Sean had found another way to cope.

  With the giant sword of his ancestor gripped with both hands, one on the hilt and one on the blade well past the tangs, Sean danced. The moonlight streaked through the clouds to glint off the bared steel. This dance bore no resemblance to any of the other dances they had seen Sean do. This was not one of his routines that were so graceful and yet so deadly, nor was it the erotic dance of love and protection he had danced with the ghost of his wife that one night. No, this was different. This dance reeked of sorrow, and aside from the quiet shuffling of his feet, they could hear his sobs, and among his sobs, they could pick out what sounded like names, a very long list of names. Sean turned and swayed, sometimes the sword arced high, sometimes low; at times he swung it in a wide arch, its length flashing in the firelight behind them. Then the blade would be back in his left hand and he would turn through more steps.

  Mesmerized, they could only watch. To interrupt would have been a sin, a crime. Then, something hit Jenny in the face, something small and wet. She brushed at it with her finger trying to identify it in the dim light of the moon; it was blood. Alarmed, she looked at Sean. His left arm and side glittered wetly in the firelight. Then it occurred to her, Sean always kept his swords very sharp.

  The glow of the moons dimmed as thin clouds drifting across them, seeming to signal a halt to the dance. Sean seemed to run out of names, and with the end of names came the end of his dance. He stood there, still and silent, gazing at the moons, the great sword dangling from his right hand. Larry thought he knew what was dripping thickly from his left hand.

  Hand in hand, Larry and Jenny stepped forward cautiously. “Sean?” called Jenny, quietly so as not to startle him.

  Sean heaved a shuddering sigh and turned to face them. His face glittered with wet in the light of the fire.

  “Are you all right?” asked Jenny.

  “Jenny?” Sean sounded confused. Then he staggered almost imperceptibly as he turned. Becoming aware that he had a sword in his hand, he reached to put it in its sheath and saw by the firelight that it was covered with blood; he couldn’t sheath it bloody. Then he looked at his hand. He seemed not to realize that he had been bleeding. He gazed at his hand as if it belonged to someone else, then he looked up at Larry and Jenny as if to ask them what had happened. His question was never asked; his eyes rolled back in his head and he keeled over in a faint, Larry only just managing to control his fall so he didn’t land on his sword.

  Sean woke a few minutes later to find himself lying near the fire with Elias holding a small flame in his hand. Other people were standing around too, and Mattie was doing something with his hand, it stung. “Ow, what are you doing?” he asked, as he tried to snatch his hand away from her.

  “I’m trying to keep your fingers attached to the rest of your hand, you idiot,” she said bitterly, as she hung onto his wrist.

  Sean pushed himself up and looked at his hand, then he looked around at all the anxious faces. He remembered what had happened. He took her hand and sandwiched it between his two then healed his hand, letting her feel it. Then shaking the sting away he said, “I’m sorry if I scared you.”

  “Why do you do these things?” she asked in a small voice that implored him to stop.

  “I don’t know. I had… I had to tell my mother’s family goodbye. I never got the chance to know them, but I had to put them to rest. They all died because of me; I owed them…something.” The loss was still there, but it was no longer so crushing.

  “Well, you didn’t need to give them your hand, did you? Did you have to shed blood for them, too? I’m almost tempted to take all your sharp toys away, especially after dark,” said Mattie, in a lame attempt to lighten the situation and hide how scared she had been.

  Sean smiled and cupped her cheek, then he told them of the memory he had seen. Now it was filled with names, all of their names. He told them of a message that had been received, calling for a gathering of every member of the family to meet the king. The king they had expected to meet was Lardeain, Sean’s grandfather. He would have brought Deain, everyone liked him; he had married a daughter of the family. They were expected too. The family went all out, preparing a big celebration. When Ludwyn arrived, he herded everyone into the house and started to question them. At first, he used the smallest to encourage their parents to tell where Kassandra was; she was the only member of the family who was not there.

  “Ludwyn worked his way up from the youngest infant through the toddlers, through every member of the family, reveling in the pain and anguish he caused. He had others hold his victims while he did his destruction with magic at a safe distance; he wouldn’t want to get blood on his fine clothes.”

  “While Ludwyn worked in the house, the servants and the hired help met much the same fate, though perhaps somewhat quicker. The only person who was spared Ludwyn’s touch was the old grandfather, Morison. He died when his heart exploded from all the grief. His wife, Jillian, joined him, but not before Ludwyn had her hands
cut off so she couldn’t touch her beloved as she slowly bled to death. When everyone was dead, when no one could hand him Kassandra and her unborn child, Ludwyn was in a towering fury. Every breathing creature within a mile died in that moment and he burned the house down over the family of Barleduc. He burned the entire estate, every bush and tree, to the ground.

  “So, that explains why I was unable to find them,” finished Sean, drained by the telling. He looked down at his healed hand and fingered his blood-soaked shirt. “So yeah, Mattie, I had to bleed too. I couldn’t let them shed all of their blood for me, and do nothing for them.”

  Guire spoke up in the vacuum that followed the telling of that horrible tale of destruction and woe. Speaking softly he said, “Old man Lorraine protested that, but not before he managed to get his family away from the city. He knew some of what Ludwyn was, and he didn’t expect much more than to die, but he couldn’t just let it happen without saying something. I hear that his death wasn’t too pretty either, but at least his family was safe, most of them anyway. I’ll take you there tomorrow, if you like, but we should go the old-fashioned way, Lady Lorraine wouldn’t like you using magic to find her.”

  Sean nodded. “I’m tired.” He forged his way to his tent, looking forward to his bed. Charles; he wasn’t here. “Charles, where are you?” he asked the air around him, speaking softly so as not to startle the boy. He immediately got the impression of bonds and a gag, so he brought him directly to the tent.

  While Sean was untying him, Charles said, “The guild didn’t like a stranger poking around, asking questions about things.”

  “That’s the second time you’ve gotten yourself into trouble trying to gather information,” said Sean.

  Charles hung his head. “Ah, maybe I’m losing my touch. It’s different when you have to live it every day.”

  Sean ruffled his hair. “You might be good at what you do, but it isn’t really all that natural, you know. I hear that you’re learning about horses from Seth. Laon’s father used to trade in horseflesh; maybe you could learn something from him too. With what you know about people, you could turn into a mean horse trader one day. Why don’t you go rustle up some leftovers? I’m going to hit the sack.”

  Sean’s plans to depart in search of the Lorraine family with the dawn were interrupted by the waking of the ex-demons he had brought out of the citadel. Over breakfast, they learned the new circumstances of their lives, and after meeting Laon and Manuel, seven of them elected to go back to the city to retrieve their horses. The other two would be accompanying Sean and going home. One of them was the younger of the two sons, and the other had married another one of the five daughters.

  The destriers were stabled on the other side of the doors Sean had sealed with magic when he was collecting demons, so Sean dropped Gérard, the seven ex-demons and twenty-five carefully selected men there. He would have brought them back too, but they insisted on bringing the horses out the long way. The way they said it gave Sean the impression that they had other scores to settle. He didn’t question them; he didn’t want to know about it. A part of him envied their desire to just settle scores. I wish it were so simple for me.

  He then took Laon, Larry, and Jenny and followed Francis Guire, Sarré Gaffe, and Leto Lorraine to the family homestead. The ride was quiet; they all had worries and concerns of their own. Guire had been in prison for nearly a month, but his worries were nothing compared to Sarré and Leto’s; they had been gone for seven and four years respectively, and like the others, they had no memory of the time.

  Sean worried about how he was going to set this family back in power. They may not even want the power anymore. The one son who carried the name was nearing thirty and missing four years of his life, which left him shattered. A lot would depend on the rest of the family; the fact that Lady Lorraine was still addressed as ‘Lady’ was encouraging, but no guarantee. Then there was the problem of them being strong enough to remain in power after he left the area. He sighed. All I can do is wait…wait and see.

  Guire led them by a highly circuitous route to a small compound that looked only slightly better than a goatherd ranch. First impressions were, of course, only that. As soon as Guire was recognized, two men came out to meet them, sporting bared swords.

  “Louis,” said Guire, as they all dismounted. “We need to see the lady. Is she here? We’ve found Sarré and Leto, and this is the new king.”

  The man called Louis scrutinized them, but it didn’t take him long to recognize the men once their names had been mentioned. He clasped them each with an inarticulate cry, then pulled them into the main house. “Come, she just returned last night.”

  Though the house was rough looking on the outside, it was fine enough without being fancy on the inside. The inside reminded Sean of his uncle’s manor house, though this one had only two stories.

  Louis called out the news as soon as he was inside the door, and by the time Sean was inside, there were tearful welcomes and hugs all around. Sean basked in the glow of their family unity, wishing again that he hadn’t been an only child.

  Finally, the presence of strangers brought the family around to think of proper hospitality, and one of the women disappeared into the kitchen for refreshments. Guire introduced everyone and chairs were rounded up for them all to sit near the fireplace; Laon opted to remain standing at Sean’s shoulder. During the course of conversation, Sean learned that the wives of both Sarré and Leto had died. The young Mrs. Gaffe had died very shortly after her husband had been taken; the shock had caused a miscarriage and she had subsequently bled to death. Leto and his wife had been joined by the Dance, and as Leto had lost himself, his wife had wasted away; she had not been strong enough to endure.

  Upon hearing this, Sean feared for his Armelle. No one told him of this aspect of their connection, though in his heart, he knew he would wish for death if anything were to happen to her. That explains his grim silence.

  Of the three surviving daughters, the only one with a living husband was married to Guire. Two more sons-in-law still stayed here to help with the family business. All of them had an assortment of children ranging in age from a toddler just short of walking, to fourteen. The oldest two belonged to Sarré and they were hanging close by his side as if afraid they might lose him again.

  When all pertinent reacquaintances had been made, recent events came to the table and talk turned to Sean. Though not a recent event, the first thing that came up was the incident at the Barleduc estate seventeen years ago. That subject, however, was painful for everyone, so Sean quickly moved the conversation toward his desired end, by telling of his visits to the other districts and his exploits along the way.

  Lady Lorraine was the first to pick up on where Sean was trying to lead the conversation. “You want us to go back to the city, don’t you?” she asked.

  Sean looked at her. She was the decision maker in the family and he wanted her to be comfortable with her decision; he wanted the decision to be hers. For their protection and peace of mind, he would leave them here in this obscurity and go to the city himself. One other city had a ruling council; he could do that again.

  Lady Lorraine smiled. “You’re not going to ask, are you?”

  Sean smiled and shook his head. “I didn’t have to do much asking of any of the others, and there is a lot I don’t know yet. I’ll go into the city tomorrow and see how the wind blows.”

  “‘See how the wind blows’,” repeated Lady Lorraine. “That is an odd expression, but I suppose it’s apt. However, tomorrow we will hold a welcoming feast for you…”

  Sean held up his hand. “I must decline your offer. I am running ahead of winter snows and I have only just begun to penetrate the mountains. I must move on as quickly as I can.”

  “In that case, I think we should go with you. You may spend the night here at least. It will give us a small chance to greet you properly, though not as properly as I would like.”

  “My lady,” said Sean, “you are gracious and gene
rous, and under other circumstances, I would be delighted to accept your offers, but I really must return to my men.”

  “He’s got the other…demons bringing the destriers out of the city,” said Leto, speaking softly. The subject was difficult for him.

  “Oh good lord, why would you do such a thing? Those unfortunate creatures are crazed; they should be destroyed,” said Lady Lorraine.

  “That description applied to two members of your family a very short time ago,” said Sean, speaking softly but deliberately in order to remind them of the connection. Then he waved the connection aside as he leaned back in his chair and hooked an elbow over the back. “I may have to destroy a few of them. I’ve had to destroy one horse already. Three horses out of four isn’t too bad, I suppose. I didn’t count how many demons I sent to my uncle before I took the throne, but knowing what I know now, I regret every one.”

  The silence that followed Sean’s statement was complete, as he intended. He pushed himself to his feet and bowed low to Lady Lorraine. “I must go. If you still wish to enter the city with me, Guire knows where my camp is. I’ll meet your envoy somewhere between there and the city.”

  He, Larry, and Jenny shook hands all around then left, followed by Laon. Leto went with them out to their horses. “I’m not sure Mother wants to go back,” he said.