Ascendant

by Craig Alanson

  Paedris could not allow the enemy’s eye to be turned on Koren.

  “It’s not fair.” Koren grumbled. “I know, life isn’t fair. Loyalty runs uphill," he said with a wink, "and the smelly stuff gets dumped on my head. Oh, what the hell, now I can stop looking for the stupid thing. Paedris, why could I see the Cornerstone, and the guard could not?”

  “Er, oh, I, um, well,” the wizard stumbled over his own tongue, “you see, Koren, I think that living here, being around powerful magic all the time, you have become, well, rather sensitive to it. Nothing to worry about. Say, I hear the kitchen is baking cream cakes this morning,” Paedris hurried to change the subject, “why don’t you bring us a plate of them, and we’ll have our own celebration?”

  Koren was not the only person in the castle unhappy that he was not given credit for finding the Cornerstone. Every time well-meaning people praised her for finding the Cornerstone, Ariana felt like a complete fraud. Her mother had declared a feast to celebrate the discovery of the fabled Cornerstone, fortunately for Ariana the feast was not to be for another six weeks, to allow time for the Dukes and Duchesses to travel to the castle. Perhaps by then her face would not burn with shame when people gushed over how clever she was.

  Ariana wanted to tell Koren that she didn’t like stealing the credit for finding the Cornerstone, but the very next morning after the unveiling of the Cornerstone, having stuffed themselves with cream cakes, Paedris and Koren had ridden their horses out of the castle, and they weren’t supposed to return for five whole days! Ariana was miserable, expecting that Koren might think it was her idea to steal the credit from him.

  Being out of the castle, riding about the countryside with Paedris and two of the royal guards, almost made Koren forget his disappointment over not being able to tell people that he had found the Cornerstone. Almost. The purpose of riding out of the castle had been to give Koren’s anger time to cool off; gathering rare roots for potions had only been an excuse. It was difficult to find roots in the winter, even if a week of warmer weather had caused much of the snow to melt; Koren knew Paedris didn't need roots badly enough to roam around the countryside in winter, so he enjoyed simply being out of the castle, seeing something different than the gray stone walls. During the day, they rode along country lanes, Paedris mostly letting Koren decide where he wanted to go. In the late afternoons, they stopped at inns, where Paedris was given the finest room available, and the kitchen staff scurried around frantically to make a dinner good enough for the court wizard. What surprised and amused Koren was how the innkeepers and workers bowed and scraped to Koren, asking what his favorite foods were, helping him care for the horses, putting away the baggage, making sure he saw them taking special care setting up his own room. It was the first time in his life that people, especially adults, deferred to him. In the castle, Koren was just another servant. Out in the countryside, Koren was the person closest to the powerful master wizard Lord Paedris Don Salva de la Murta, and because people were afraid to speak to the wizard, they spoke to Koren. A few people even offered him money, if Koren would ask the wizard for a favor. Koren always refused the money, of course, and also refused to ask favors from the wizard, whether paid or not. He didn't have to; when people heard a wizard was in the village, they flocked around the inn. Most people wanted merely to see the wizard, and the soldiers had to shoo people away to keep them from following the wizard all day, or he would get no peace at all. Some people wanted the wizard to bless them, or their fields, or their animals; Paedris gently explained that blessings were the province of priests, not wizards. And there was always a family in each village who wanted the wizard to heal a sick person. Sometimes Paedris could help, and sadly sometimes he could not, and sometimes he declared the sick person only had a bad cold, and needed to rest, to be kept warm, and to drink a hearty chicken broth with vegetables.

  One morning, in a very small village up in the hills east of Linden, where the tiny inn had only two rooms and Koren had to share a room with the two snoring soldiers, a man was waiting when they stepped outside after a surprisingly good breakfast. The man was wearing what must have been his best clothes, but he was clearly a poor farmer, with his clothes much patched, collar and cuffs frayed. When he saw the wizard, the man snatched his cap off and knelt on one knee. "Please, my lord Salva, my wife, she's with child, and she's sick, very sick. Could you please look at her, kind sir?"

  Paedris, who had slept well, having suffered no snoring companions in his room, and feeling good after a delicious breakfast served in front of a fire in the inn's cozy common room, took pity on the man, asking him questions about his wife. The man led the way, riding an old plow horse, several miles deeper into the hills, to a small but well-kept farmhouse at the end of the road. As they came around the bend in the road, Koren admired the man's property; a barn well banked against winter winds with stacks of hay on the north side, healthy-looking animals grazing in the fenced paddock, rolling fields separated by lines of trees as windbreaks. The neat stacks of firewood, even now that winter was waning, were impressive, enough surely for another year. Right then, Koren knew his fondest dream was to have a farm just like this one.

  As they approached the house, the man called out, and two children ran out, a blonde-haired girl a few years younger than Koren, and a boy Koren guessed to be six years old. "Papa! Papa! Come quickly, mama is burning up with fever!" The girl cried out, tears streaming down her face.

  "Melissa! This here's the master wizard of all Tarador, show your respect." Her father admonished his children. The girl curtsied and the boy bowed, avoiding looking the great and powerful wizard in the eye.

  Paedris feared he was too late, or could not help, when he entered the farmhouse and saw the woman. She was laying on top of the bedcovers, and sweating although the fire in the stove was low, and inside the house was cold enough the wizard could almost see his breath. She was also shivering, and when he felt her forehead, she was indeed burning up. First, Paedris told her husband to stoke the fire, to warm up the house. While her skin was hot, her insides were cold, Paedris explained, hence the shivering.

  The wizard covered the woman with a blanket, knelt beside the bed, and made her drink water. He laid his hands on her, closed his eyes, and summoned his senses.

  "Sir?' Koren asked quietly. "What do you see, or, or feel?"

  "A wizard can sense-" Paedris had been about to explain how a wizard could sense sickness inside a person, or animal, sense something wrong, and isolate it, and act upon it, and then strengthen the surrounding tissues. He had been about to explain, as a wizard to an apprentice, when he caught himself and remembered Koren was not yet an apprentice. That if he explained how to sense corruption inside a person's body, and how to send healing force flowing from wizard to patient, Koren may realize he, too, could sense that. And that might get Koren to thinking he, too, had wizardly power. Get Koren to realize his ability to calm frantic animals, like Thunderbolt, was in fact part of his power as a wizard. And for Koren to realize the truth, now, too soon, would be a disaster. So instead of explaining, Paedris snapped "Koren, stop bothering me when I'm working. Go boil some water, and get me clean cloths."

  "Yes, sir, sorry, sir." Koren mumbled, and hastened away to help the father bringing in firewood. When the fire was roaring in the stove, and a pot of water was on to boil, Koren brought a bag of clean cloths, and the wizard's satchel of potions, then went out to help the two children with farm chores. Chores around a farm waited for no one, they did not care whether someone in the house was sick, or even dying. He helped the girl get the family's two cows into the barn, and milked one cow while she milked the other, and her little brother fed the goats and pigs. Then Koren tended the plow horse, bringing the animal into the barn, brushing its old coat, and bringing in a bale of hay.

  "Sir? Is momma going to be all right?" The girl asked, and Koren momentarily turned around to look for the wizard, for no one had ever called him 'sir' before. He was not much older than the girl, which
certainly didn't merit him being called 'sir'. But he was a companion of the great and powerful wizard, and he now wore fine clothes, and he lived in a castle. To the girl, he must seem like a grand figure.

  "You don't have to call me sir, miss. I lived on a farm like this, before I came to serve the wizard."

  "Really?" The girl asked, wide-eyed.

  "Really. I'm no one special, just a servant. I chop wood, and fetch food, and clean up after my master. As far as your mother, I don't know whether she will be well, but I do know that Lord Salva is the most powerful wizard in all the land, more powerful than you can know, more powerful than I could have imagined," Koren said with a shudder as he thought of the staircase that didn't exist, and disappearing teapots, "so if anyone can help your mother, he can. And if he can, he will. Lord Salva is a good man, which is why our enemy fears him so. Now, let's bring this milk to your father, and see if the wizard needs anything."

  When they got back into the house, Koren at first feared the worst, for the mother was laying in bed, with the blanket pulled up to her chin, and she appeared not to be moving. The wizard's face was drained of color, he and the father were huddled by the stove, heads nearly touching, talking quietly. The girl, seeing this, flung her arms around Koren and sobbed on his shoulder, while her little brother clung to his waist. "No, don't cry, little ones," the father called out softly, "your mother is going to be fine, and the baby too. Lord Salva has worked a miracle on her-"

  "No miracle," the wizard protested, "merely a good dose of the right potion, and some help from a touch of magic." From the wizard's tired eyes, the woman had needed more than just 'some' help from magic, healing her had been a strain on even his great powers. In his hand was a thick slice of bread, slathered with butter and jam, for the use of magic had made him hungry again, as it always did. Koren noted the wizard's hand shook slightly. "Her fever has broken. Keep your wife warm, and let her rest, she needs rest, and quiet, and fruit juice if you have it, and a broth, chicken broth is best, I find."

  "Yes, my lord," the man replied, looking at the wizard worshipfully, which would have annoyed Paedris. "Apple cider I have, and we've a pot of chicken soup frozen in the shed, I'll heat it and give her spoonfuls, as you instructed."

  A bit later, outside, the man tearfully offered to give Paedris sacks of grain, or a goat, or even his prize cow, but the wizard refused. "I don't know how else to thank you, Lord Salva." The man said, choking back tears.

  "You don't owe me anything," the wizard insisted. "You pay your taxes? Your taxes help pay for my keep. And for the royal army that keeps the enemy from all of our doors. My servant says you have an admirable farm, that you work hard and are a good steward of the land. Live a good life, and take care of your family, that is all I ask." In the end, Paedris accepted a small jar of maple syrup, mostly because he thought the man would feel better about having given something back to the wizard. "Now, Koren, we need to get on our way. I believe I saw a ruined castle on our way up this road, and I've never been in these hills before. I feel like exploring this morning."

  "Oh, yes, sir, please, sir. I'd love to do that." Koren said with genuine enthusiasm. He loved poking around old tumbled down castles, cities and even just the foundations of long-ago farmsteads. It was now mid-morning, a sunny day warming up nicely, although the wizard warned cold and snow were on the way. Best to enjoy the good weather while it lasted, and be thankful that he would rest his head that night under the roof of an inn, with a full belly. After they had ridden out onto the road, Koren asked "Do you feel up to a ride today, sir? We could go back to that inn, for a meal."

  "Yes, yes, I'm fine now, Koren. That was a good thing we did this morning, Koren." Paedris declared, and he did indeed look much better, with color returning to his face, and his eyelids no longer drooping. Wizards did recover faster than ordinary people, perhaps that was magic also. "Although lunch does sound good, I think the innkeeper mentioned he would have chops on the grill and potatoes later today. And I believe his wife was cutting up apples to bake a pie, so certainly we can't let that good woman's efforts go to waste, eh?" The wizard said with a chuckle. "We must go back down this road anyway, so we'll stop by that ruined keep." The wizard looked up at the cloudless sky. "This nice stretch of weather won't last past midday tomorrow, I fear. Best we start making our way back to Linden."

  The wizard was right, the weather did turn foul, with clouds and cold, and a drizzle, with sleet falling at night. The day they returned to the castle, a wet snow fell, covering the roads and making the horses slip in the mud.

  Paedris hurried from the stable up to his tower, telling Koren his old bones needed to get out of the cold. It took Koren two hours to get the horses groomed and fed and settled in their stalls, and the saddles cleaned and stored away. With the work done, Koren headed up to the royal kitchens with a gang of boys to see what they could find to eat. The boys were in a playful mood because of the unexpected early Spring snowfall, laughing and joking, running around the weary Koren. When they came through the gate in the castle wall, a boy in front saw some of his friends on the other side of the courtyard, and with a shout, threw a snowball. The packed ball of wet snow arced high through the air toward the surprised boy, but it was Koren’s friends who were most surprised, for while the snowball was in the air, Ariana came around the corner, and the intended target ducked out of the way. The snowball hit Ariana square in the chest, splattering her all over, and soaking her dress. The crown princess sputtered, melting chunks of snow dripping down her face.

  There was a tense moment as the pair of royal guards in Ariana’s party reached for their weapons, and Koren and his friends froze in horror. Assaulting royalty could get a person, even a young boy, thrown into the dungeon.

  Ariana held up one hand to stay her guards, while her other hand wiped the melting snow off her face. Without a word, she bent down to scoop snow from the courtyard and packed it into a ball. “Charge!” She shouted, and the fight was on.

  Snowballs flew back and forth, and the fight raged, with the royal guards stepping aside and letting the children have fun. Soon everyone had been thoroughly smacked with snow. The ruckus attracted the attention of Carlana, who was walking down a corridor where windows overlooked the courtyard. “Oh, dear, what a shame.” One of the Regent’s maids exclaimed. “That is no way for a young lady to-“

  “Oh, hush, Matilda.” Carlana said with a wistful smile. “She is young, and growing up too fast. Let her be a girl for a while longer.”

  Down in the courtyard, the two sides had moved closer, each side barely having time to pack the snow into balls before throwing. Koren took shelter behind a wagon, as he stood up to throw, he caught two well-aimed snowballs right in his face. He fell backwards onto the cobblestones.

  Ariana put her hands to her mouth in fear for Koren. Forgetting about the fight, she raced around the back of the wagon to see if Koren was injured, slipped in the snow, and fell right on top of him.

  “Ooof!” Koren tried to catch his breath, with Ariana’s knee digging into his stomach. “You’re heavy!”

  “Oh no, did I hurt you?!” Ariana cried in distress. When she had seen Koren across the courtyard, her only thought had been to run over to him, and tell him it was terribly unfair that he was not getting proper credit for finding the Cornerstone, and that it hadn’t been her idea, and that someday she would be queen, and then she could see that he was recognized as a hero for saving her, and she was so sorry-

  And Koren’s face was only inches from hers, and he looked so cute, with his mop of dark curly hair falling across his eyes, and his face wet with melting snow, and his eyes sparkling-

  In the corridor above, Carlana’s saw that her daughter, the future queen, was laying on top of a commoner boy, and going to kiss him, right in the courtyard of the castle! Her maids also saw what was going to happen, and gasped in shock. Carlana’s hands flew to the window, fingers fumbling with the handle to fling the window open.

  Ariana had never
kissed a boy before, but it seemed so natural. She closed her eyes, and-

  And shrieked in shock as Koren stuffed a handful of snow down the back of her dress. They both jumped to their feet, Koren laughing and grinning, Ariana hopping around, tugging on her dress as the cold slush dripped down her back. “Oh, you are the most rotten-“

  “Ha! I got you!” Koren laughed, dancing away as Ariana tried to tackle him.

  Up in the window, Carlana pressed a hand to her heart in relief. Matilda the maid observed knowingly “Girls at her age are interested in boys, before the boys are ready.”

  “Yes. Still, I think you were right the first time, it is time that I treat my daughter as a young lady, instead of a girl.” The Regent sighed. “I wish she never had to grow up.”

  “Every mother wishes so, your Highness.”

  Ariana gave up trying to catch Koren, and rubbed her back up against the wagon to soothe her wet, frozen skin. Around them the snowball fight had died down, with the combatants trying to wipe the snow off their own sodden clothes. “Sorry about the snow.” Koren said, regretting that he’d stuffed snow in her clothes. It had been an impulsive act, that now seemed immature and stupid. “Can I help?”

  “No, I got it.” Ariana laughed. “Koren, I’m sorry, about-” She looked around her, people were too close for her to speak freely. “About, you know.”

  Koren frowned, then shrugged, his mouth dry with nervousness at being so close to her, his stomach dancing with butterflies. “Paedris explained it to me. You’re the crown princess, I’m a servant. Besides, it was your idea for us to look for, you know.”

  “Still, it’s not fair.”

  “Life isn’t fair.” Koren said with a wink.