Every day Tesi considered using the Mother’s power to escape, and every day she rejected the idea. There were always far too many people in the tent for Mimi to hold them all frozen at once. The only sure way to get out would be to disable or kill the guards. And that Tesi would not do, although the temptation was nearly too strong to bear.
She folded her hands and bowed to the Matriarch. “Mimi and I are very tired, your majesty. We have already accelerated your child’s growth far beyond what is prudent, based on the instructions Master Elkan gave Kevessa.”
Verinna waved her hand. “Elkan is overly cautious. He still hasn’t moved to take power from Hanion, even though I’ve been getting reports for weeks that he’s been building support. My daughter is obviously fine.”
Tesi hesitated. Should she mention the vague sense of wrongness she had perceived during their last few sessions? It was still so faint she wasn’t certain it was real. When she focused on any particular scent or flavor or color among the multitude Mimi poured into her senses, she could identify nothing amiss. But the whole gave her a subtle sensation of disquiet. Imbalance. As if the qi of mother and child were slipping into conflict instead of maintaining their proper harmony.
Perhaps it was merely an indication that birth was imminent. Surely the qi must separate at some point. Her mentor had never taught her to use the Art on pregnant and birthing women. That was reserved for those who specialized in midwifery, while Tesi had preferred a broad focus. And she had never attempted to perceive qi using the Mother’s power. There was no point in trying now. Even if she saw something, she wouldn’t know what it meant.
No good would come of alarming Verinna without something specific to report. Still, Tesi felt she must attempt to warn her. “Your majesty, as your child matures I sense a great many things I do not understand. I have no training or experience in the complexities of pregnancy and birth. I might overlook warning signs which would be apparent to one more skilled. I beg you, seek the counsel of Master Elkan or another master wizard. Surely any of them would be willing to make a brief observation and identify anything I might have missed.”
Verinna’s eyes narrowed. “Why are you bringing this up now? Did you see something that bothered you?”
Tesi lowered her gaze. “Nothing specific, your majesty. Only a slight unease with no clear source.”
Verinna stiffened and fixed Tesi with an intent stare. For several minutes she was silent. Finally she settled back into her chair with a sigh. “Tell me immediately if what you sense becomes more defined. I’m confident of your ability to handle any difficulty that might arise. And if you can’t, there are plenty of wizards only a few blocks away. They could arrive long before any emergency became critical. Barring some dire need, however, I don’t want to involve them.”
“Yes, your majesty.” Tesi didn’t like her decision, but it seemed reasonable enough she decided not to protest.
“Now resume your work. Just a bit more, then we can retire for the evening.”
Tesi reached for Mimi and held out her hand. Golden light poured out and enveloped the older woman’s womb. Light and sound and scent and taste and texture poured into Tesi’s mind.
The wrongness was still there, but it grew no stronger. Do you feel it, too?
Yes, but I don’t know what’s causing it. Mimi’s mental voice sounded as frustrated as Tesi felt.
The child moved restlessly, straining against the tight confines that pinned her limbs close to her body. She seemed ready to be born as far as Tesi could tell.
The last dregs of strength drained from her muscles into the child. Finally Mimi let the light fade again. That’s it until I get a good meal and a night’s sleep.
Tesi dropped her hand gratefully. “We can do no more tonight, your majesty.”
Verinna nodded reluctantly. “Very well. You are dismissed.” She leaned forward, braced both hands on the arms of her chair and heaved her awkward bulk to her feet.
Mimi sprang to the floor. Tesi rose and turned toward the split in the curtains that shrouded Verinna’s private antechamber.
Tesi!
She spun around. Verinna was bent over, hands braced on her legs, sucking in great gulps of air. Her face was pasty gray, her lips bluish. Before Tesi could reach her side, her eyes lost focus and she pitched face forward onto the thick layer of rugs that covered the ground.
Mimi leapt into Tesi’s arms and golden light poured out. The baby was fine, but Verinna wasn’t. Blood moved sluggishly through her body, its force inadequate to push sufficient amounts to her brain and extremities.
Mimi used the Mother’s power to tighten Verinna’s vessels and strengthen the pulses of her heart, but Tesi feared it wouldn’t be enough. She dragged her attention back to her normal senses. The guards had rushed forward and were staring aghast at the Matriarch’s supine body.
“Summon a wizard from the Mother’s Hall,” Tesi snapped. When the guards dithered, she pointed at one. “You. Go!”
He ran from the chamber, calling for help. Tesi pointed at another guard. “You. Help me roll her onto her side.”
Together they maneuvered Verinna onto her left side. That helps a little, Mimi reported. She’s coming around, but I’m having trouble getting her blood pressure up without straining her heart or diverting too much from the baby.
Tesi plunged her awareness back into the flow of information Mimi was transmitting. Now they’d broadened their focus to include Verinna’s whole body and not just her womb, the wrongness was much stronger. All her tissues cried out in hunger. For the moment they were again receiving adequate sustenance from her blood, but only barely.
Verinna’s eyes opened and she focused on Tesi. “What happened?” she groaned.
“You fainted, your majesty. The pressure of your blood is dangerously low. Lay still and let us help you.”
She closed her eyes, then snapped them open again. “My daughter?”
“Your child is well. We will ensure she remains so. Rest, your majesty.”
This time Verinna kept her eyes closed. Her breathing evened out, although it was still deeper and faster than normal. Tesi sat back on her heels and watched Mimi work, feeling helpless. She didn’t understand most of what she was sensing, and she had no idea how to guide Mimi to more effective action. Her familiar had never dealt with a situation like this before, either. She had to rely solely on whatever instincts the honorable lady had given her when she transformed her with the touch of a finger.
Finally a commotion arose outside the room. A guard escorted in a tall man with long black hair. An enormous wildcat paced at his side. Tesi had only glimpsed Master Elkan briefly before, but Vigorre and the others had spoken of him at such length she felt she knew him. Her muscles went limp with relief. He would know how to set things right.
He came and dropped to his knees at her side, gesturing respectfully at Mimi and the golden light spilling from Tesi’s hand. “May we help you?”
“Please. We have done what we can, but she is still not fully well.”
Elkan laid a hand on his familiar’s back and extended the other. Gold light sprang out to join Tesi and Mimi’s. He closed his eyes and concentrated for several minutes.
Opening them, he focused on Tesi. “You’ve been accelerating her pregnancy? How much?”
“I am not certain, but at least double, I think.”
He winced. When she flinched, he shook his head. “I’m not upset with you. With no training, how could you know the dangers?” He turned to address the Matriarch. “I’m upset with you, Verinna, for risking yourself and your child this way. Couldn’t you have a little patience and let the baby develop at its natural pace?”
She struggled to sit up. The light of the Mother’s power shifted, assisting her. She cupped her hands around her belly and drew a few deep breaths before she answered. “She must be born before I return to Ramunna. I plan to lead the Armada myself. If I should perish, my heir must live on. Even if she grows up in exile, one day she c
ould reclaim the throne.”
“Then it was foolish to risk the child’s well-being by pushing a novice wizard to do more than either of you understood. Tesi, you’ve been concentrating on the baby, haven’t you? I expect you didn’t think to give equal attention to Verinna.”
Both defensive and puzzled, Tesi shook her head. “Should I have?”
“The mother’s whole body is involved in supporting a pregnancy. Look.” His eyes went unfocused. Tesi obediently shifted her awareness to Verinna’s body as she listened. “The immediate cause of her difficulty is the fact that she has too little blood. Normally her body would have produced more as the baby grew, but you didn’t accelerate that process, and the natural rate couldn’t keep up. We’ll show you how to speed up production until the proper volume is reached. It will take several days.”
Tesi refocused on Master Elkan as he sat back. “The underlying cause is the fact that you pushed the child’s growth too far, too fast. Verinna couldn’t consume enough nutrients to sustain it.”
“I’ve been stuffing myself constantly,” the Matriarch protested. “All the things you told me to eat.”
“But Tesi didn’t speed your digestion and metabolism, so your capacity lagged behind what the child’s accelerated development demanded. Your body gave what it had to the child, as the Mother designed it to do, leaving you badly depleted.”
He frowned and looked distant again. “Also, your womb is weaker than it should be. It hasn’t had time to undergo the many small contractions which strengthen the muscles. If you went into labor right now, which you easily could, you’d require assistance to push the baby out, and careful attention to prevent you from bleeding too much. We’re adjusting the balance of the substances involved to hopefully delay the birth for a few days so we can work on correcting that.”
Tesi plunged her attention back into the Mother’s power. Now that Elkan had described what to look for, she could perceive some of the problems he’d identified. Shame washed over her. “I beg your forgiveness, your majesty. My performance of the task you set me was gravely lacking.”
Verinna opened her mouth, but Elkan cut her off. “You did better than many apprentices would have. The fault was in the request, not your fulfillment of it.” His voice sharpened. “Verinna, this has got to stop. Tesi needs to come to the Hall so she can learn from a master. I can take over your care, or some other master wizard if you’d prefer.”
The Matriarch’s expression took on the guile Tesi was so familiar with. “What will you give me in exchange for releasing her?”
He sighed. “What do you want?”
“Wizards aboard every Armada ship bound for Ramunna.”
He shook his head, exasperation heavy in his tone. “You know I can’t give you that.”
“Hanion might. I’ve almost persuaded him. If you stop arguing against it, he’ll come around.”
Elkan removed his hand from his familiar. Their golden light winked out, leaving only that flowing from Tesi’s hand. He stood up. “I’m sorry, Tesi. Take care of the things I mentioned, and don’t accelerate the baby’s growth any more. That will probably be enough to let them both survive.” He turned and walked toward the exit.
Verinna let him nearly reach it before she said, “Wait.”
He turned back, unsurprised. “Do you have a serious proposal?”
She climbed laboriously to her feet, stopping several times to pant. Mimi kept the blood flowing to her brain, although she had to draw a great deal of energy from Tesi to do so. When Verinna was fully vertical, she stood for a moment, studying Elkan.
Finally she said, “I know what you’re doing.”
His voice remained bland. “Oh?”
“You’re quietly persuading the masters of the Wizards’ Guild to call for an election where they’ll throw Hanion out and install you as Guildmaster in his place. From what I’ve been able to learn, you have a good chance of succeeding. Around two-thirds of them have committed to your cause already, if I’m not mistaken.”
He shrugged. After a moment Verinna laughed. “I could alert Hanion to your scheme.”
“He knows. A few days ago I misjudged someone, and they went to him. It was bound to happen eventually.”
Verinna’s face and voice became serious. “I would prefer to work with Hanion, but I know how to deal with you as well. I’ll release Tesi to you now, on the condition that you do something for me if you become Guildmaster.”
“What?” Elkan looked at her, calmly expectant. Tesi held her breath.
“Allow Tenorran and my daughter to remain behind when I sail to reclaim Ramunna. I’m going to appoint him her guardian, and regent if necessary. He can raise her if I don’t return. Grant them a safe haven here, far from Marvannan assassins, until she comes of age.”
Elkan raised his eyebrows. After a moment he said, “What if your child is a boy?”
She rolled her eyes. “I know very well it’s a girl. You don’t have to say so; everything all of you do shouts so loud I couldn’t possibly miss it.”
He tilted his head, conceding the point. “The child will need your milk.”
“I’ll hire a wet nurse.”
“That’s seldom done in Tevenar, but I expect some arrangement can be made. Have you informed Tenorran of your plan, and is he willing to go along with it?”
“Not yet. But you know he’ll be far happier here than in Ramunna.”
Tesi wondered what she meant, but Elkan nodded. “All right. Those two Ramunnans, and no others, may remain here when isolation is restored. If you win back Ramunna, you may send a single ship to retrieve them. Otherwise they can live out their lives here. But they must do it as Tevenarans. Tenorran must join a guild, and your child must apprentice at thirteen. If either of them wish to leave after your child becomes a journeyman at twenty, I won’t stop them. But I won’t help them mount an expedition to reconquer Ramunna, either.”
“Fair enough. I trust my daughter to understand her duty and be strong and resourceful enough to carry it out.” Verinna breathed deeply for a few moments. “But she won’t have to, because Davon’s agreed to loan me the Dualist ships. With them I’ll drive the Marvannans out of Ramunna easily, even without wizards.”
“Very well.” Elkan extended his hand to Tesi. “I think Verinna’s stable enough to leave for now. I’ll send Master Thia over as soon as we get back to the Hall. She’s an expert in pregnancy and birth. Every midwife in Elathir brings her their most difficult cases.”
Tesi nodded, her heart pounding. Mimi, is he right?
I guess. She’s not going to faint again, as long as she’s slow and careful whenever she gets up. The cat let the flow of the Mother’s power cease.
Verinna focused inward, taking a deep, testing breath. She nodded. “We have an agreement. Tesi, you’re free to go.”
The thought of entering the Mother’s Hall terrified Tesi. She would face hundreds of wizards who would not understand that she did not share their devotion to the one who gave them their powers. But suddenly the hot confines of the Matriarch’s tent were so stifling that anything seemed preferable to remaining within. She accepted Elkan’s hand and let him lead her out.
He dropped it when they emerged into the twilight outside the tent. Tesi sucked in the cool air gratefully. She scooped up Mimi and cuddled the cat for comfort.
Elkan said, “Vigorre and the others have told us all about you. We’re glad to welcome our last stray wizard home.”
Vigorre. Her heart leapt at the thought of seeing him again. She wanted to run down the street, up the steps and through the doors of the enormous rectangular building that loomed ahead. But still she hesitated.
Master Elkan looked at her with keen perception. “He told us that you follow the Great Sage, and that the Mother accepted the ramifications of that when she chose you. We won’t require anything of you she doesn’t. Participation in Restday services and any other organized worship of the Mother is always voluntary.”
Tension dr
ained out of Tesi’s muscles, leaving her limp. Maybe this wouldn’t be as difficult as she’d feared. She tucked Mimi into the crook of her elbow and folded her hands in the position that signified respectful deference to a mentor. “Thank you.”
* * *
Vigorre picked at his food, watching the door of the dining hall and listening to the excited chatter of the apprentices around him. Most of it was speculation as to whether the long-awaited confrontation between Guildmaster Hanion and Master Elkan was finally going to happen. When a Ramunnan soldier had burst into the Hall, demanding a wizard to help the Matriarch, Elkan and Tobi had abandoned the patient they were healing, shoved past the wizard and familiar who were on call for emergencies, and bolted for her tent. Hanion had been furious when he’d emerged from his office and heard what had happened.
Vigorre couldn’t bring himself to care. He was going to return to Ramunna with the Matriarch, whoever was Guildmaster. If the Tevenaran wizards weren’t willing to help the Wizards’ Guild in Ramunna get established, the Ramunnan wizards would do it for themselves. Even though the vast amount he’d learned about the Mother’s power and human bodies during his weeks here had mostly served to impress on him how much he didn’t yet know.
Dear Mother, let Elkan bring back word of Tesi. Preferably the news that she was well and the Matriarch had treated her decently. He’d never expected their separation to last this long. Nirre steadfastly refused to breach the privacy of the Matriarch’s tent with a window. The messages he’d sent remained unanswered. He wasn’t even sure Tesi was in the tent and not still on the ship, except that the Matriarch had taken up residence there, and surely she would keep Tesi close by.
Kevessa poked his arm. “I said, what do you think Master Elkan will do if Master Hanion scolds him? Braon thinks he’ll call for an election right then.” She smiled at the boy on her other side. Their masters were good friends, and since she’d quarreled with Josiah she’d been sitting with Braon at meals. “But Avnal thinks he’s not ready yet, so he’ll defer to Hanion and keep building support.” She batted her eyes at the older apprentice sitting across from her. He’d shown clear interest in her, and Kevessa had flirted back just enough to keep him hopeful. Meanwhile she ignored Josiah, and he ignored her.
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