“Maybe I don’t need them, but they’re helpful to me. Enough of my life is a battle, Jasper. I don’t always have to take the hard way.”
He sighed. “No, of course not. I just hate the way he…” He let his words trail off.
I put a hand on his arm. “Just remember he’s here because his father pulled strings for him. You’re here because you earned your place as one of the only commonborn palace officials.”
Beatrice walked past, and I gave his arm a quick squeeze before stepping away from him.
“Sorry, I just need to catch—” I hurried off after the healer without finishing my sentence. “Beatrice!” I called, and she stopped for me.
“Good morning, Elena. How are you feeling today?” She watched me with a quizzical look, her eyes flashing back and forth to Jasper, who stood where I had left him.
“I’m fine, it’s the Sekalis I’m wondering about.”
She frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Are they healthy? Can you sense anything…strange about them? An illness perhaps?”
I had lain awake half the night wondering about it, and in the dark hours had begun to worry that it might be some sort of contagion unknown in the south. If so, we were all in danger, surrounded by it now as we were.
Beatrice blinked and then looked around at the various Sekalis on foot or horseback.
“I…I don’t know. I haven’t noticed anything unusual. None of them look particularly unhealthy.” She looked back at me. “Naturally I haven’t done any diagnosis workings.”
“No.” I deflated a little. “No, of course not.”
She took one of my hands in both of hers. “Are you sure you’re all right, Elena?”
Lucas walked past us, his eyes catching on our strange posture as he moved toward the front carriage. Beatrice gave my hand an extra squeeze, and I flushed.
“I’m fine, truly I’m fine. I don’t feel tired at all today. I just…” I took a frustrated breath. “I just feel something strange about them. The ones in the green robes. And the soldiers. Have you noticed anything different about those ones?”
“You feel?” Beatrice let my hand drop, her expression confused. “You mean you think there’s something strange about the way they’re acting?”
I shook my head. “No, they seem perfectly normal.”
A strange look crossed her face, and I realized I must sound insane.
“Never mind,” I said quickly. “I must have imagined it.”
“Did you?” She sounded thoughtful.
I mumbled a farewell and hurried toward my carriage, Jasper joining me.
“What was that all about?” he asked.
“Later,” I said as I climbed into the carriage and took one of the corners.
“Good morning,” Julian drawled, but no one answered.
“A cheery group today,” he said after a moment, and leaned his head back into the corner of the carriage and began to nap. Or to pretend to.
I was glad to be spared the need to talk. I had acted without thinking, and now who knew what Beatrice was thinking? I would need to be particularly careful around her from here on.
We passed more villages as we drew closer to the capital, and in each one I examined the villagers who I could spot from the window. All of them had the same shadow over their energy, although in one I glimpsed two groups of mages, only a couple of them bearing the shadow, and in another a young mother walking with her children drew my attention.
A young boy leaped about, chattering at the woman, and I could feel the shadow over his small core of energy, as it lay over hers. She had a young girl in her arms, however, not yet old enough to walk although she sat up straight, gazing at the world around her with wide eyes. She felt just like the young children I had encountered in Ardann. Was it something that set in with age then? A weakness or an illness that took time and exposure to catch?
The other three watched the villages we passed with almost equal interest, even Julian rousing himself whenever one came into view. The buildings all looked sturdy and well built, and the people well-fed and prosperous. Some of the villages even approached the level of towns. And with each one we passed, the anticipation for our arrival at the Sekali capital of Yanshin built.
In the mid-afternoon we reached another river. I knew from maps that it was the same River Abneris that marked the border between Ardann and Kallorway further south, but it was hard to think of it as such.
Here the water broadened for a short stretch, becoming shallow enough that we could ford it without a bridge. It took a while for all the carriages and horses to cross, however, and I took the chance to take a look at the road ahead. In the distance, I could see high walls and what looked like red tiles.
“I think I can see Yanshin,” I said.
“That sounds right,” Jocasta said. “It isn’t far past the Abneris.”
Not long later, we rolled through vast gates of solid timber which stood open ready for our arrival. I had expected our progress to slow to a crawl once we entered the city, as it always did in Corrin, but we continued at a steady pace. The surface beneath the wheels changed to smooth stones, but other than that, I wouldn’t have guessed we were inside a large city.
Peering out the window, I saw people stationary on the sides of the road and in some of the windows, but we didn’t appear to be competing with any traffic.
“They cleared the roads for us,” Jasper said quietly, peering out the window on the other side of the carriage. “As a mark of respect?”
Julian leaned forward to look at a large building on our side of the road, and I also stared at it, but it flashed past too quickly for me to take in its purpose.
“Either that, or they don’t want to give us time to examine their city,” Julian said, his mouth grim. “The last delegation were kept cloistered in the palace, were they not?”
“What do they have to hide?” Jasper asked.
Julian looked across at him, and a shiver ran through me at the oddness of seeing identical expressions of wary concern on their faces. There wasn’t much that united my commonborn and mageborn brothers.
“That is the question, isn’t it?” said Julian.
No one answered.
Even moving at pace, it took us a while to make it to the center of the city where a vast palace housed the Sekali Emperor and his court. Unlike Corrin, I had noticed no specific distinction between zones of the city as we moved deeper in. It seemed the poorer parts inhabited by the commonborn must be located away from the main road, perhaps around the outer walls. The buildings were built from smooth gray stone, with many archways and flat roofs of red tile, elevated only by a steep peak running along the center of each roof.
When the carriages at last rolled through a second set of gates, I discovered that the imperial palace was not a single building, as I had been imagining, but a vast complex. Pitched roofs spread in many directions, often stacked up several stories high.
“It’s like a city within a city,” Jasper breathed.
“Some university graduate should write a book about it when we get back,” Julian said casually. “Our libraries could do with some information about the Sekalis.”
I glared across at him, but I could hardly call him out for the jab when Jasper had shown himself to be equally disparaging of Julian. Sighing, I turned my attention back to the palace. They would have to sort it out between them, I had other things on my mind.
Yet more Sekali officials had gathered at what looked like the primary entrance, once again with a rainbow of robes on display. As we climbed out of the carriage, I craned my neck, trying to get a glimpse of the fabled emperor, only to be informed that we would meet him at a grand banquet that night.
I examined each of the officials, my brow creasing as I did so. I expanded my attention outward to the whole courtyard. The Sekali delegation who had been with us thus far, returning home from Ardann, had melted away, but the space teemed with people.
“My Lady?” I blink
ed and realized someone addressed me.
In fact, an individual servant had appeared for every member of the Ardannian delegation. With a deep bow, the older woman in front of me indicated that she was to show me to a guest suite.
“She stays with me,” Jocasta said.
The servant glanced between us, traces of dismay on her face.
“But, My Lady, we have prepared a suite to honor each of our guests. The Spoken Mage has been assigned one of the largest.”
“Excellent,” Jocasta said calmly. “We’ll take that one then. But we stay together.”
The woman rubbed her hands together and then bowed again.
“Very well, My Lady. As you wish it.”
Even more servants appeared to take possession of our belongings, so we strolled along behind her unburdened.
“So am I too important to be left unguarded, or too young and naive to be left unsupervised?” I asked Jocasta in a low voice.
She chuckled. “Both?”
I rolled my eyes but couldn’t resist smiling back.
The servant led us through a maze of passages, passing through several internal courtyards, open to the air. They all held bubbling fountains that flowed into intricately designed ponds and elaborate gardens.
“It’s beautiful,” I told her.
She smiled and bowed. “Thank you, My Lady. The imperial palace has a team of a thousand gardeners. The gardens are the finest in the Empire.”
“A thousand gardeners?” I stared at her wide-eyed.
“His Imperial Majesty loves his gardens,” the woman said.
I glanced at Jocasta who had raised both brows. No wonder Ardann needed this alliance. The Sekali Empire must be vast and populous indeed.
At last we reached our suite. The large, airy rooms were decorated in yellow and red, and the servant promised that a second bed would be fetched and placed in the enormous dressing room.
“I can’t imagine what they thought I would do with all this space on my own,” I whispered to Jocasta when the Sekali crossed over to the outer door.
“Be impressed, I imagine,” she said.
The woman stopped at the door and gave another deep bow.
“I have been assigned to your care for the duration of your stay. If you should need anything, anything at all, do not hesitate to ask me.”
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Mei, My Lady.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Mei.” I bowed. I was getting enough practice that the movement might soon come naturally.
“I am most honored,” she said. “And I will be back shortly with ladies to assist you in dressing for this evening.”
As soon as she had backed from the room, I turned to Jocasta.
“I don’t like that they’ve separated us all and spread us out.”
“I don’t think we’re too spread out, actually,” she said. “I was following our path here, and it was circuitous. And just before we entered the suite, I saw Lucas being shown into the one next door.”
“Next door?” Some of my unease lifted.
Jocasta shrugged. “I think that was a tour of sorts, designed to impress and overwhelm us. We all probably got led here via different routes.”
I sank onto the bed. “Well, it worked.”
“You’d better gird yourself,” she said. “I imagine it’s only beginning. This grand fete tonight will probably be eye-opening.”
Mei reappeared much more quickly than I had been expecting, four young servants in tow. Each greeted us with deep bows and beaming smiles, and I resigned myself to losing the remaining afternoon hours to preparation for the evening.
I had hoped I might have the chance to talk to Jasper, or even Lucas, alone, but clearly that wasn’t going to happen. Certainty in my early observations had grown throughout the day, confirmed by what I sensed in the palace courtyard.
The mages wearing green robes—either forest green or pale green—all had the shadow over their energy. The mages wearing the other colored robes felt exactly like all the Ardannians. And all commonborn bore it, except for that young girl I had seen, and a couple of babies I had spied on the streets of Yanshin.
I watched the women surreptitiously as they helped to unpack and lay out our gowns along with the various tools they would use to style our hair. Nothing about them seemed remarkable in any way, and they certainly didn’t act weakened or ill.
I was eager to have the opportunity to share the realization with someone because the longer I mused over it, the less it made sense. The divisions seemed to disprove the infectious disease theory. Unless the locals were aware of the issue and had segregated their roles accordingly? But that made no sense. Why would all of the commonborns and only a small segment of the mageborn be affected?
As Mei guided us to the evening’s festivities, I continued to check each person we passed. I found no one who didn’t match the pattern.
Elaborate paper lanterns, small balls of power at their center, no doubt fueling both their glow and their ability to float in the air, led the way into the center of the palace. As we approached the audience chamber where the banquet was to be held, we joined with the rest of the delegation.
I found myself beside Lucas and managed to whisper to him.
“If we can possibly get a chance, there’s something I need to tell you.”
He looked at me in swift alarm.
“What’s wrong? Are you unwell?”
“What? No, no. I’m fine. Do I look unwell?”
He relaxed, his eyes gleaming appreciatively as they swept over my elegant gown.
“Not at all. I just saw you talking to Beatrice earlier, and she looked concerned.”
I grimaced. “I think she might suspect I’m going mad. I wasn’t as discreet as I should have been. But that’s what I need to talk to you about. There’s something strange going on here.”
The earlier alarm sprang back into his eyes, but Phineas beckoned for his attention, eyeing me disapprovingly, and we had to let the conversation drop. The head of the delegation that had just returned from Ardann, Chen, appeared in front of the chamber doors. The green-robed, younger man from the delegation stood beside him. I had never caught his name or position, but my few encounters with the Sekalis had confirmed the general’s opinion that the others in his delegation treated him with respect, despite his age.
“His Imperial Majesty waits with eagerness to welcome you,” Chen said. “Please remember that it is not permitted to turn your back on His Imperial Majesty, nor to address him without first being spoken to. And we do not speak his name. To speak the name of so great a personage would show dishonor.”
“Thank you for your wisdom,” Phineas said with a respectful bow. “We are eager to meet him also.”
The doors creaked, pulling slowly open, although I couldn’t see who moved them. An enormous chamber was revealed, lined with immense red columns and filled with glowing, floating paper lanterns. A large crowd of robed Sekalis filled the space, glasses in their hands provided by servants who moved through the guests with trays.
Small creeks of pure, golden light wove around and through the guests, carrying large water lilies which floated on the light as if on water. Large, colorful butterflies, unlike any I had ever seen, fluttered throughout the crowd.
An involuntary sound of astonishment and admiration swept through the Ardannians, and the Sekali in the green robe smiled before gesturing for us to advance up the center of the room toward the distant throne.
Lucas strode beside Phineas at the front of our group, while I remained toward the rear. My nerves had started to make themselves known, but they couldn’t entirely distract me from the spectacle of the room.
“Are they real?” I asked, as a butterfly almost as big as my hand fluttered past my face.
I had been speaking mainly to myself, but a Sekali accompanying our group replied.
“Mages developed the strain many years ago, and mages continue to be required to maintain the exac
ting environment they require to hatch. But, yes. They are real.”
“They’re beautiful.” I shook my head. Mages in Ardann used power for decoration and adornment, but not to this extent.
My eyes strayed toward our destination. An enormous gilt throne stood on a platform at the head of the room, a smaller seat beside it. The chairs dwarfed their occupants, a man and woman several decades my senior. Just behind them, three young women stood on the platform, their hands folded in front of them, their eyes downward. They were arranged in height order, the youngest still a child. The three imperial princesses. Which of the older two was Lucas’s future bride?
The whole family, even the youngest princess, wore elaborate robes in the Sekali style, the silver and gold thread of their embroidery glittering, the jewels sprinkled through the designs winking in the light of the lanterns. Their robes were yellow, the first yellow robes I had ever seen, and given the color of the guards’ flags, I assumed it must be the imperial color. Their energy glowed inside them, strong and healthy.
We all stopped and bowed en masse. Lucas gave only a shallow bow, as befitted royalty, but the rest of us bent so low that I feared I might tip over. I straightened just in time.
“Welcome mages of Ardann,” the emperor said in a strong voice, giving us a stately nod. “I hope you will enjoy your stay in our great empire.”
“Thank you, Your Imperial Highness,” said Phineas. “We look forward to a fruitful visit.” He began to introduce each member of our delegation, each person bowing again after their name was announced.
The emperor sat unmoving for most of the process, a slight twitch in his eyebrows at my commonborn brother’s introduction indicating more interest than he had shown for any of our senior mages. Only for Lucas did he actually speak, bidding him an individual welcome.
Whether by accident or design, Phineas introduced me last.
“And finally, Elena of Devoras, more widely known as the Spoken Mage. I understand you would be interested to see a demonstration of her abilities during our stay.”
The emperor leaned forward, examining me from top to toe.
“The Spoken Mage,” he said. “We are honored indeed by your presence in our court. Tonight we have a demonstration of our own for all of you. But tomorrow I hope you will indulge my curiosity.”
Voice of Life (The Spoken Mage Book 4) Page 16
