Holtsclaw, page 9
part #3 of The Master Mage Chronicles Series
Moriah’s face went noticeably pale.
“So how do you know about it?” asked Corinne.
“My grandfather was Lord High-mage to the King of Iber. He told me many things from history, thinking someday I might succeed him.”
Moriah: So, when were you planning on explaining this to me?
Marcus: Right after our meal? Where should we go for some privacy?
Moriah: We could always walk around the Academy grounds. It’s going to be a rather nice evening, now that we are well into the second turning.
Corinne noticed Marcus and Moriah sitting closer together than usual. “Ah, it might not be any of my business. But is there something going on between the two of you? Me, Wilhelm, sure. Everyone knows that. But you two? This is something new.”
Moriah responded. “Well, he did take me on a date last seventh-day. That’s got to mean something, right?”
“Date? What’s this about a date? ‘Rin, you didn’t mention anything about them going on a date.” Wilhelm turned to Marcus and Moriah. “Okay, out with it. Where did you go. What did you do. We want all the details.’
Marcus: All the details? Hardly.
Moriah mentally laughed with him. For sure. “Well, this gentleman sitting beside me took me to the Silver Slipper Inn. And I made sure to order the most expensive item on the menu.”
“And I am here to confirm that’s exactly what she did. We had a nice conversation, after an expensive dessert. Turns out we may be a bit more compatible than suspected. I guess we’ll have to wait and see how it goes.”
Corinne sighed. “Oh, the Silver Slipper. That’s so romantic.” She looked at Wilhelm. “I wish…”
Wilhelm held up two fingers pinched together, a symbol of poverty.
Corinne sighed again. “Oh, never mind. We’ll just leave such things to the rich folks.”
After the meal, both couples took a stroll around Holtsclaw, separated sufficiently for private conversation. It didn’t matter much for Marcus and Moriah, as they resorted to mind-speak.
Moriah: It seems odd to talk this way. But I’m slowly getting used to it.
Marcus: I agree. Did you know you have a second endowment? Most people do, actually. They are just not aware of it and subsequently let it lapse.
Moriah: I do? What is it? And how do you know?
Marcus: How I know? Well, that’s another long story. Maybe for another time He paused. Another date perhaps?
Moriah: Date? Certainly! But again, what is my second endowment?
Marcus. You are a mind-mage. Actually, it’s a very good compliment to your battle-mage.
Moriah: Maybe that explains why I’m not so popular! How about you? I don’t even know for sure what your primary endowment is, let alone any second you might possess.
Marcus: I suppose I’m primarily an earth-mage.
Moriah: And your second?
Marcus: Well, it could be health-mage, or mind-mage, or battle-mage like you. Or merchant-mage, or scholar-mage. Take your pick.
Moriah, mentally laughing: Be serious, Marcus. No one can be everything.
Marcus, seriously: Yes, Moriah, he can. But only if he is a master mage.
Moriah stopped walking and stood in stunned silence. Marcus declined to use mind-touch to discern her thoughts. Suddenly, she burst into tears. “Why did you ask me to live, if it merely tied me to a dead man? It would have been much simpler for both us just to let me go! No! I do not want a life tied to you, to a master mage. I am a princess, a royal, not some criminal’s wife sneaking about in the shadows. This is all your fault. I hate you. Do you hear me? I hate you.” She turned and began running back to the Academy entrance, leaving Marcus stunned and standing alone.
The shouting caught the attention of Corinne and Wilhelm, who were walking a short distance ahead. Fortunately, they had not been close enough to understand what had been spoken.
“Don’t know what you said to her, but my guess it wasn’t the right thing,” said Wilhelm, dryly.
“I’ve never seen her so mad. She’s always been so… composed. Just what did you say to her? We heard that last part about hating you. If she hates you, maybe we should too.”
“Sorry, it’s personal. She’ll get over it when she has had time to think about it.” I hope.
The next morning they taught blade-craft in silence, both verbal and mental.
----- o0o -----
The class after mid-day was a surprise. There was a different instructor, none other than Mage Brian. “I will only be temporarily teaching until we can find a more qualified instructor. Before you ask, Mage Charlotte has been reassigned to the fourth-turn interns. We have had a sudden resignation within the staff.” He flashed a quick, knowing glance at Marcus. “Now, who can tell me where you were with Mage Charlotte…’
The last-meal was eaten without speaking, the conflict between Marcus and Moriah casting a pallor of discomfort upon them all. It was Corinne who finally broke the silence. “All right, you two, enough of this! I don’t know what happened. But stop it! If you can fix it, fix it! If you can’t, then accept it and move on! No more of this silent war. We’re friends, forever friends. And here for each other. So, how can Wilhelm and I help?”
Moriah sighed. “’Rin, dear, it just isn’t that simple. Move on, you say? I don’t know how we can. Yet at the same time, it’s all we can do.” She looked at Marcus and a tear slid down her cheek. “I know what has happened with us is not your fault, Marcus. But I don’t know where this takes us.”
Wilhelm and Corinne gave each other a puzzled look. Corinne spoke: “Uh, I think we are missing a few facts here. Just what has happened between you two? What is taking you where? Share! We’re not just friends, Moriah. We’re closer than most sisters.”
Marcus left the explanation to Moriah. “We have entered into a commitment to each other, one that is binding. Not everything we have discovered about each other has been… pleasant.”
The other two gave Marcus a suspicious look.
“A binding? A commitment?” asked Corinne. “And you say he’s not a good person? He isn’t some kind of pervert, is he?”
“Hey, I’m sitting right here. No! I’m not some kind of pervert!”
“No, ‘Rin, Wilhelm. He is a good man, for all I know. It’s a complication involving our individual endowments. There may be a conflict that will be difficult to overcome. Please. It’s something strictly between us. We would not be comfortable discussing it more, except with each other.” She sidled up to Marcus and took his hand. There was still a slight imbalance and she felt a buzz of gift flow. “Is anyone up for another walk around the Abbey?”
Moriah: I’m sorry, Marcus. This is all too much. What does it mean for us, if indeed you are a master mage? And how did that happen, anyway? I thought it was over a full hand-fist turns ago the last one arose.
Marcus: A hand-fist two turns ago, four-hand one generations, to be exact. He was named Marcus Aurelius. I would be his three-hand eight great grandson. He was not an evil mage, just feared. When he fought, he did so only to preserve his life and the survival of his King and their people. They were the predecessor to what we now know as Iber. Every fifth-generation mage bears his name lest he be forgotten. I am, technically, Marcus Aurelius the Ninth. As to how I became a master mage, all I can assume is that the potential to become one is part of my heritage, my family line. It took a dark-birth, a time of maximum gift-flow, to bring the endowment forth.
Moriah: And how many know of this burden you bear? Are there armies at the gate seeking your death? And now, mine?
Marcus: Well, that is the good news. If there be any thing good in this situation. My grandfather knew, of course, but he has passed. There was a woman in Atoile with the particular power to see the endowments of others. She, too, has passed. By the way, she pushed her gift to me as she lay dying. That’s why I know your secondary endowment. The third is Bartholomew, Lord High-mage of Caldonia. He has vowed to keep it secret. Before you ask, no, I was not responsible for the death of the first two. My grandfather fell to a dark mage. The second to a thief. He audibly sighed. Their deaths have been avenged by my own hand. I will share the details with you another time. But please, not today.
Moriah: So you have taken lives? How do you live with such a thing?
Marcus: Too easily, I sometimes think. And there have been others. I was attacked by thieves multiple times on my journey here, and I took lives in the defense of my own. For what it’s worth, those I slew were murderers all, and would not have hesitated to end my life for whatever coin I carried. It might be hard for you to understand the struggle for life and death, having lived the protected life of a royal. I have not been so fortunate. I hope you will not think less of me for what I have had to do. I have told no one of these things, only you. Over time, there will be nothing hidden between us.
Moriah: You are so different from the others here. It’s like you are so far beyond us, not just in gift, but in life and experience. By telling me this, I have a feeling of safety, knowing that if necessary, you will do whatever it might take to keep me, us, safe. A lesser man, a lesser mage, would surely not survive. We will survive, right?
Marcus: All we can do is try. I asked this of my grandfather, immediately after he discussed what being a master mage was all about. He explained his oath-bound obligation to take my life. But he couldn’t because of his love for me, his grandson and heir. My choices, which are now your choices as well, were few. I could simply give up. I could flee. But he warned me, my endowment would follow. I could live in obscurity, hoping never to be discovered. Or finally, I could rise above it, to become so powerful as to be safe, and so good as to be trusted. He believed the last to be impossible. But I now think that the two of us, together, might achieve that end. It is the only one that appeals to me.
They had completed their circuit of the Abbey.
Moriah: Good night, Marcus. You have given me much to consider.
----- o0o -----
The next day they ended their class by performing a blade dance, much to the delight of all the first turns. They now practiced with four blades rather than two, faster and faster, the blades but a blur. Her forms were imperfect, but greatly improved. Marcus slowed time to match her moves and avoid her occasional errant stroke. They finished to the applause of all, including Master Aaronson.
Moriah: I still say you cheat, even if you are a battle-mage.
Marcus: Of course I do, I’ve never denied it. It comes with being a time-mage. I simply slow the flow of time to keep up with you. And by the way, if I didn’t cheat you would have taken off my arm a time or two!
Moriah: Slow time? Be serious. That’s impossible.
Marcus: For a master mage? You will find, over time, there are many things a master mage can do that others deem impossible. Take my hand. She did. He invoked tiemp. Time stopped for both of them.
Moriah: What just happened? Why is everyone standing still?
Marcus: Because I suspended time. Actually, stopping time is impossible, as you said. But I can stop its effect on us. It is rather like stepping outside a room, except it’s time, not a place. The frightening part of it, for others, is that if we move to another place, it will appear to them that we suddenly disappeared and reappeared elsewhere. We must be careful, less we make a spectacle of ourselves. He released time and everything moved in a normal way.
Moriah: And are there any more surprises like this? I’m rather at a loss how to absorb it all.
Marcus: There are others, of course. The one most useful is the ability to port from place to place. It’s unfortunate that it’s forbidden here at the Academy. It is indeed a dangerous use of gift. For a true port-mage, though, there is no risk at all. Well, that’s not quite true. Even a port-mage must be careful lest he port to the unknown. In which case he never gets there, and therefore, never returns.
Moriah: And I suppose you are a port-mage along with everything else?
Marcus: Well, isn’t that what being a master mage is all about?
They had arrived. By all outward appearances, they had silently walked together from the training arena to the dining hall. Corinne and Wilhelm, as usual, had arrived earlier and were holding chairs next to theirs.
“Are you two getting along any better? You just walk, without saying a word, like you’re lost in your own thoughts. Wilhelm and I were starting to worry.”
Moriah responded. “No, ‘Rin, we’re good. I’m still shaking from the blade dancing. That was pretty intense for me.”
“And for me, too,” added Marcus.
“And for us as well. I don’t know how you keep up with each other. It looks impossible to stay coordinated at that speed.”
“It’s not so impossible. I’m a battle-mage. He cheats.”
“Cheats, who cheats?” asked Marcus.
“You do! You just told me so!”
“Shhhhsh. Secrets, remember, secrets!” Marcus said with a laugh.
CHAPTER
FIVE
T he end-of-term exams were composed of two parts. There was an oral exam on history and ethics. It was followed by a practical exam involving a demonstration of basic gift ability. There was no endowment-specific requirements. That was slated from second through fourth turns.
For Marcus and Moriah, the exams were not a pressing issue. It might not be considered totally honest, but they agreed if a question were asked that one could not answer, the other would be allowed to provide a mental clue or two. As to the second, Moriah now held so much gift it was a matter of hiding rather than demonstrating her power.
The bigger issue was ‘what next’. Marcus had paid tuition for the full turn and had no reason to leave. Moriah, of course, wanted to return home to the royal residences in the Tumano capital of Cardston. And of course, she desired for him to meet her parents and family. How would they explain their pairing? Or should they not reveal their pairing at all? It was endlessly discussed.
They would soon be a hand-six, mature in every way except by law. As it had been written in the few references to pairing, the binding of life-force brought a mental intimacy far deeper than any other relationship could match. Would this inevitably lead to marriage? If so, how would this be settled with her parents, the king and queen? It was they who arranged royal marriages, for the benefit of the kingdom. And such were not always in the interest of the child. Could she even marry someone else, having a life-bond with Marcus? Eventually, it was decided that Marcus would go with her to meet the family, and just let things happen as they might. Marcus told her a military maxim. The first casualties in war are the plans made before conflict. It wouldn’t necessarily be war in the castle. But they agreed the same principle applied.
They passed with perfect scores in ethics and history. Neither, on their own, knew all the answers. But between them they did. Mage Brian continued to teach to the end of the term. He was surprisingly thorough, and thankfully, much less severe than his predecessor, Mage Charlotte. Her final exam would have been harder, especially for Marcus, for whom she had maintained an intense dislike. Marcus had wondered about that. Using mind-touch he had discovered she was afraid of him. Particularly that he might reveal how little gift, if any, she truly possessed. He concluded that fear arose more often from within a person than from outside threats. And it was from fear that hatred was born. Brave people were confident people, there being no fear within them. And having no fear, they were perpetually at peace with themselves and with others.
The practical testing was a worry for many of the first turns. But not for the foursome. Marcus had privately taught the other three the more correct, and therefore more powerful, incantations for accessing gift.
----- o0o -----
Holtsclaw was within the kingdom of Tumano. Its capital, the great city of Cardston, lay to the east and north. The highway Marcus had taken to the Abbey had diverged from the king’s highway well before the capital. Moriah had sent word by messenger that she and Corinne would be finished with exams and ready to travel home on the fifth day of the third turning. A royal carriage had been dispatched for that purpose. It traveled much faster than a mule, so Marcus left a two-day earlier. Max, Wee and Rex were overjoyed to be free from their three-turning confinement.
It was a six-day travel for Marcus, a four-day for Moriah and Corinne. Their paths crossed a mere five leagues before entering Cardston. Moriah had called a halt to the carriage and they had coordinated plans, agreeing on an inn near the castle as a place for Marcus to rest and prepare for the royal introduction. Moriah was to organize the meeting. As for the animals, Marcus was reassured by the carriage drivers that an excellent stable lie near the chosen inn.
The stable was more than adequate. The inn was the nicest Marcus had ever experienced. Once settled, his first order of business was to find appropriate clothing. The inn-master directed him to a tailor two streets to the west, parallel to the massive castle walls. Marcus was tall and broad-shouldered, but not extraordinarily so. He found many finished garments that fit him well. He explained his need and was ably assisted by the master tailor himself. It was important he dress well, as this would be his first contact with the King and Queen of Tumano... who just happened to be the parents of the woman to whom he was life-bound.
On the second day, shortly after first-meal, a messenger arrived with a note from Moriah. He was to meet her for mid-day meal at the castle. After which he would be formally presented to the royal family, a family consisting of her parents, two older brothers, and a younger sister. She had spoken often of her family, and their names were now familiar to him. As a family, they were close. Her older brother, she assured him, was a fun sort and always pleasant company. She was keen to hear Marcus’ impressions of her parents, the royal couple.
