The Obsidian Palace (Through the Fire Book 3)

by Benjamin Medrano

  “A pity they don’t like her. I wonder what she’d be like if she converted to the faith?” Jethel murmured, so quietly even the horse would have a hard time hearing her.

  After a moment, she set the idea aside. Live or die, the girl was no longer her problem. All Jethel had to do was pass the word along.

  Chapter 15

  Essryl blew the dust off the statue and examined it with a critical eye once more. The new statue of Ruethwyn had been slightly harder to get correct, or it would have been if she hadn’t created an illusion of the young woman for Resvarygrath and his new guests. Even so, getting the dress of petals right had been harder than Essryl had expected. The tiny details had taxed her skill, which was something she hadn’t felt in quite some time. That was rather pleasant, since Essryl did enjoy polishing her skills.

  Nodding, Essryl stretched, enjoying the near-privacy of her sculpting room, then looked toward the corner and tilted her head, asking mildly, “Is there a particular reason why you’re spying on me, Sinera?”

  For a moment, there wasn’t a response, then the air rippled. Sinera’s figure faded into existence, and the dark-haired elf looked at Essryl curiously. She was wearing an elaborate black gown with gold embroidery, one that Essryl thought would be a disaster to fight in. One shouldn’t be in danger of tripping with every step.

  “How long did you know I was there for?” Sinera asked, reaching up to tap her lips. “I didn’t see you react at any point, you seemed absorbed in your work.”

  “As soon as you arrived, of course. Despite what you might think, this wing is my personal domain, Lady Kor, and has been for over a century,” Essryl said, standing and carefully picking up the statue of Ruethwyn, which depicted the young woman with her lips slightly parted as she looked at someone in surprise. “I’ve woven intricate wards over the wing, and I’m quite aware of intrusions.”

  That wasn’t entirely true, Essryl knew. She played up her wards somewhat, but in truth she felt that it was only fair to give attackers some way of potentially rescuing some of the women she was in charge of. No one had succeeded, but that didn’t mean that she hadn’t left openings to exploit. No, she mostly had noticed Sinera because the woman was valued by Resvarygrath, and as such, she wanted to keep an eye on her and Minerva. Essryl had created several spells in the wing that were specifically watching for the magical signatures of Resvarygrath or either women, and it would take an immense amount of work to avoid them.

  “Ah, that would explain it. I’d noticed at least some of your wards, but apparently not all. I wouldn’t have intruded for long, but I found what you were working on to be fascinating,” Sinera said, the confusion on her face clearing. “That’s supposed to be Ruethwyn, is it not?”

  “Correct,” Essryl confirmed, stepping over to the shelf at the back of the room and setting the statue down next to the older version that depicted Ruethwyn before she was reborn.

  “May I ask why you have these statues? And why you made one of Ruethwyn?” Sinera asked, taking a step closer.

  “I like making statues so that I remember the girls as they are or were. Ruethwyn has impressed me, so I chose to make one of her. After her rebirth, I needed to make a new one,” Essryl explained calmly, still wondering why the woman had intruded. Gesturing at the old one, she added, “This is her from before her visit to Valisair.”

  “Ah, so that’s how badly hurt she was. I’d hoped that I was faster to begin with, but obviously I was a touch too slow,” Sinera said, examining the statue closely, even going so far as to lean over to get a better look. After a moment she sighed and shook her head. “I didn’t have a chance to teach her as much as I should have. I expected to have a half-century to train her, so I was taking things slow, and look where it got her. Perhaps I should’ve moved more quickly to teach her as much as I could.”

  “I’m not certain about that,” Essryl said, shrugging easily as she stepped away. “While she may have been injured, I think the experience has been good for Ruethwyn. She’s grown immensely in the past year, and while you might have been able to improve her skill somewhat, that doesn’t mean it would’ve changed things.”

  “Perhaps not,” Sinera admitted, then turned to face Essryl again. The coldness in the back of her eyes was well-hidden, Essryl noticed, but didn’t say anything as the woman continued. “So, I must ask. What is your reason for watching my prodigal student?”

  “Your student? She hasn’t been your student for more than a year now. You may have taught her originally, but she’s no longer merely your student,” Essryl corrected bluntly, and she saw anger flicker in the woman’s eyes, but she continued implacably. “She attended Tyrness Academy for a year, and she learned from two teachers that I noticed. While they might not be up to my standards, they were skilled for your lands, and they did help her grow. She also passed the additional tests I inflicted on her, which you saw yourself.”

  “That doesn’t—” Sinera began.

  Essryl didn’t give the elven woman a chance to continue as she spoke more loudly and firmly. “And finally, she passed the test of Valisair. Or, to be more accurate, she passed the test of Imris, which completely rebalances the scales, does it not?”

  Sinera froze for a long moment, a hint of shock on her face as she looked at Essryl. She took a moment to catch her breath, then spoke hesitantly. “Are you… insane? Didn’t you take an oath?”

  Essryl blinked, then slowly smiled as she laughed, shaking her head. It took a few moments, then she continued. “Oh, you think I petitioned her? Hardly that. You misunderstand entirely, Lady Kor. The Shadowfire clan has resided in the nearby branch of the Thorned Wood for longer than Selwyn has existed, but even we are younger than Valisair. No, we’ve known of Valisair’s patron for centuries, and we respect their strength. Perhaps not many of their inhabitants are of interest, but their leaders are powerful enough to be worthy of respect. I’m not certain how far Ruethwyn got in her trek through their tests, but she’s a strong young woman. Do not make the mistake of thinking that you’re the only one who helped her grow.”

  It took Sinera a moment to collect herself, then the woman straightened slightly, scowling for a moment as she replied. “Perhaps not, but that doesn’t matter. You’re avoiding the question I posed to you, asking why you are interested in Ruethwyn.”

  “No I’m not. I was ignoring it,” Essryl said, grinning at Sinera now. “However, I suppose I can give a few hints. I think Ruethwyn has potential. She’s strong-willed and skilled, and that drew my attention to begin with. Now I just want to see how far she can go.”

  “Ah, I see,” Sinera replied, seeming to be relaxing slightly again. “I can understand that.”

  “Whether you can or not, it isn’t my concern. The only person who needs to understand is me,” Essryl said, shrugging. “Now, I believe I need to put the girls through another dancing lesson, so I’ll take my leave.”

  “Just a moment, please. I have another question for you,” Sinera spoke just as Essryl was reaching the door.

  “Oh, what might that be?” Essryl asked, looking back at the woman.

  “Minerva’s told me that you seem to be avoiding her and putting her off when she tries to arrange for time with you. May I ask why?” Sinera asked, tapping her upper lip. “You don’t usually seem like you’re that busy.”

  “Ah, but I am where her attentions are concerned. While your sister may be interested in bedding me, Lady Kor, I’m not interested in her,” Essryl replied calmly, looking the elf in the eyes steadily. “She may be beautiful, and have potential for power, but she doesn’t utilize it. I am interested not just in the powerful, but those who are willing to work and strive to improve themselves. She doesn’t meet my standards. Now, as I said, I have things to do.”

  With that, Essryl walked out, ignoring the look of surprise on Sinera’s face.

  Essryl watched the girls in her dance studio, while Leticia played the piano in the corner. She never corrected them while they were dancing, instead wai
ting until they were done, but this time there was virtually no need for that. The only person who wasn’t as polished and quick to move correctly was Lissa, and she didn’t need to be perfect, unlike all the other women.

  The elaborate choreography was something that Essryl had set up for training nearly fifty years before, so any flaws would’ve been obvious to her, yet the number of missteps were minimal, as each woman moved with grace. The best of them was Anara, but Essryl had expected that, especially after the martial arts training she’d been undergoing.

  Anara moved with fluid grace, her body having grown even more flexible after Essryl’s careful adjustments, while her strength had improved. The young woman likely hadn’t noticed herself, not as gradually as the changes had occurred, but Essryl was pleased to see that her work hadn’t been for nothing. While increasing the potential of a mortal body was relatively easy for her, everything still depended on the effort that the person put in. Anara obviously hadn’t been slacking, which was why she was so pleased.

  The routine came to an end, and as it did, Essryl clapped her hands once and spoke loudly. “Good work, all of you. The only mistakes were made by Lissa and Vella, and they were quite minor on the whole. Lissa, you aren’t required to work on it, but you’re too stiff when trying to move from one position to the next, it interrupts the flow and causes you to lag slightly behind. Vella, your balance was somewhat off between the second and third sets, and that nearly led you to fall. Aside from that, the routine was almost perfect, for the first time since you came here.”

  Exchanging smiles of pleasure and relief, the girls relaxed somewhat at Essryl’s praise, obviously pleased that they hadn’t made major mistakes this time. While she didn’t want them to become complacent, Essryl also didn’t want to ruin their moods, so she didn’t say much else for the moment, instead watching as she saw Lissa frown and twist, obviously trying to decide what Essryl meant.

  “Mistress Essryl? If we’ve got this routine down, what does that mean for the future? I know we’ve been working on this one for a while, but I can’t imagine you’re going to only have us practice one set of dances,” Anara said, causing much of the soft conversation to die down.

  Essryl smiled and nodded, speaking gently. “That’s right, Anara. However, I think you may be misunderstanding slightly what this routine’s purpose was. The choreography of this routine is designed to teach a wide variety of maneuvers that are used in most dances and other performances that I will teach you in the future. In essence, now that you’ve learned this one, I can teach others that are much easier and more forgiving. That should allow you to learn a wide variety of dances, ones for almost any situation.”

  “Oh!” Cyra gasped, her eyes widening. “I was almost afraid of what we were going to learn next, since this one took us so long to get down.”

  “I wouldn’t grow complacent, girls. Just because this one is more difficult than most doesn’t mean that learning the others will be easy,” Essryl warned quickly, not wanting to let them slack off. “Practice makes perfect, just as Anara has told you when she’s been passing along my martial training.”

  That caused everyone to stiffen slightly, as they usually did when Essryl mentioned their private martial arts training, but Essryl ignored it. She didn’t mind their training, really. It was mostly a pity that none of them had asked earlier.

  “Um, Mistress Essryl? Do you know when I’m going to be released?” Lissa asked, her voice soft. The brown-haired young woman was hesitant, but more confident than she’d been when Essryl had first met her. “I haven’t been called for a summoning in some time, and I thought you said that I’d be released when the task was done, so…”

  “Ah, yes… unfortunately, My Lord has decided to be difficult,” Essryl said, her smile fading slightly. “I’m afraid that the situation has grown more complicated. To put it bluntly, he’s resurrected Ruethwyn’s former teacher from Mellesyn, Sinera, and altered her mind to be more favorable to him.”

  “What?” Anara’s yelp of shock was only one of a dozen as a soft furor ran through the villagers, but Essryl didn’t pay it any mind, as she’d expected that.

  “She appears to have been quite fond of Ruethwyn, and was rather upset that she was injured, as well as the fact she wasn’t here. As such, she wants her apprentice back,” Essryl continued bluntly, looking at Lissa directly. “Ruethwyn is coming here to attempt to rescue her fellow villagers, of course, but My Lord doesn’t want her to have any warning of Sinera’s resurrection or the experiments with summoning beforehand, so he’s commanded that you not be returned to Selwyn until after she makes her rescue attempt.”

  “Oh. That’s… that’s not good,” Lissa said, swallowing hard as she looked at the others.

  “No, it really isn’t. I’m afraid her chances of success have been somewhat curtailed, though they’re still at least feasible,” Essryl agreed. “Everything depends on how well she prepares and plans. If I were you, I’d be sure to prepare to leave swiftly if she arrives without raising the alarm. It wouldn’t do any good to delay your rescuer for long enough for myself and the other guards to react.”

  “R-right, that would be bad,” Lissa agreed, and she exchanged a look with Anara that Essryl ignored. Then she asked. “Um, do you know how close Ruethwyn is to making her rescue attempt?”

  “I’m afraid not. I’ve been deliberately avoiding scrying on her, and I made sure not to acquire any scrying foci when I met her in her reborn body,” Essryl replied, grinning slightly at the young woman. “I do expect her sometime this spring or summer, but beyond that? I have no clue where she is.”

  “Ah,” Lissa said, looking disappointed.

  “Alright, enough chatting. Let’s have lunch, then it’s time for music practice. After that is cooking, so hop to it,” Essryl said, clapping her hands and setting the women into motion.

  “Mistress Essryl?” Leticia asked softly, standing in the door of her room while wearing only a nightgown and the gold collar around her neck.

  It was much later in the evening, and Essryl had been making her final rounds for the night before going out hunting. Seeing her there, Essryl paused, somewhat surprised. Leticia was rarely up this late, as she always woke quite early to prepare for the day.

  “Is something wrong, Leticia? This is unusual,” Essryl said, turning to face the woman.

  “I just wanted to ask… why have you been giving the others advice on things? It’s almost like you want them to escape,” Leticia said, lowering her gaze slightly. “I know it’s impertinent of me to ask, but I haven’t been able to push it from my mind. I just… I don’t understand.”

  “Ah, I see. I hadn’t realized that I’d been worrying you, Leticia,” Essryl said, her confusion fading and turning to pity, though she kept that from her face or voice. Instead, she reached out and brushed a lock of crimson hair back behind Leticia’s ear. “Tell me, have you truly given up all hope of freedom?”

  “I…” Leticia hesitated for a long moment, then looked downward as she took a breath, then spoke, her voice tiny. “Yes. I occasionally dream of it, but every time I do, I have to stop and wonder what I’d do if I was freed. I can’t remember my time before I came to the palace clearly, Mistress Essryl. It’s like a… a haze of indistinct memories, and I don’t know what it was like, not really. The new girls… they talk about their village, but it’s like listening to stories of another world. I don’t understand them, and I don’t think they understand me. Lissa has tried, but I can tell that she’s mostly just listening to be polite.”

  “Oh dear. I’ve long suspected this, to be honest, but I wasn’t certain,” Essryl said, sighing as she stroked Leticia’s cheek and the elf pressed her hand into the touch slightly. “You’ve become… inured to your captivity, Leticia. It’s almost all you know, really, which is somewhat saddening to me. My task here has been to teach My Lord’s captives, because he loves taking you as trophies, but what he does to you… I don’t enjoy it. I’ve long felt that to see others st
rive to become stronger and better is ideal, and yet he wishes for me to crush that in you.”

  “Perhaps so. That’s why I’m so confused, Mistress Essryl,” Leticia replied, looking down again.

  “I suggest it because, while I’ll do everything I can to prevent all of you from escaping, I want to see you escape, Leticia. I want to see each of you grow to be better,” Essryl said patiently, letting out a soft sigh. “I didn’t realize fully what I was doing when you came here, not really, but time has changed that. It’s why I’m encouraging not just those of Mellesyn to escape with Ruethwyn if they have the chance, but you as well. I will try to stop you all, of course. That’s my duty.”

  “But… but I don’t want to leave,” Leticia suddenly protested, looking up. “You’ve been here for me this entire time! Not Lord Resvarygrath, not the people of the village who gave me to him to assuage his anger, not even the other girls. You’ve protected me and been kind to me. You’ve healed my wounds. I don’t want to follow them, I want to follow you.”

  Essryl blinked in surprise, then let out a soft sigh, her tail flicking behind her. Then, after a moment of thought, she leaned over and kissed the elf’s forehead gently, then whispered softly. “The choice is your own, Leticia. I will not give you any orders on this. What I wish for you, and what you wish for yourself… that is your choice, and I will not take it away from you.”

  With that, she turned and walked away, leaving Leticia standing in the near-silent hallway behind her.

  Chapter 16

  For some reason, Ruethwyn had expected the forests on the southern side of Selwyn to be significantly different in some way. She wasn’t certain how she’d expected them to be different, but every time she looked at them, she couldn’t help feeling perplexed that things looked so familiar.