Wizard's Masquerade, page 11
Meanwhile, the offer letters continued to arrive. Some students had already received multiple offers, whilst others—like her—were still waiting. With her links to Rutherford Castle being common knowledge, it was unlikely that other employers would send her a letter at all, for fear of giving the impression that they were trying to poach her from the king. When she expressed this concern, the headmaster was quick to reassure her.
“I understand your concerns, Leyna, but you needn’t worry. Let’s give it some more time, eh? In the absence of a letter, the Guild will begin to solicit prospective employers on your behalf. In the meantime, why not enjoy the grounds with the others?”
Leyna had left the headmaster’s office hoping the delay wouldn’t cause her to miss out on a decent offer. Wizards may have been in high-demand, but they were expensive to retain, and the irony of the shortage of wizards was that long-term positions that paid well weren’t always easy to come by. Leyna hoped she would receive a decent offer. As hopeless as it was, a secret part of her still yearned to receive an offer to become a huskarl.
Graduation day may have been anticlimactic, but the days that followed brought her some of the happiest days of her life. Following Headmaster Emsworth’s suggestion, she joined the other students by the lake, sitting near the former seventh years, all of whom had graduated. They came to the lake every day to relax, swim, and picnic, and she loved every second of it. She was dangling her feet in the water, eyes closed against the warm sun on her skin, when the messenger arrived.
“Leyna Saunders?” asked the young man, whose tall riding boots indicated that he’d come by horse.
“What’s this?” she asked, watching intently as the messenger produced a crisp letter. The red wax seal was stamped with the Rutherford monogram, and her heart sped up as she took it.
“Is that an offer letter?” called Grace from the water, wading over to where Leyna was perched on the grassy bank.
“I don’t know,” she replied, frowning down at the letter.
“Well, go on, open it!” Grace urged. “See what it says!”
Carefully, Leyna broke the seal and unrolled the parchment, her eyes darting over the elegant words. With a deep breath, she looked up at Grace, hardly able to breathe.
Grace climbed onto the bank beside her, dripping water as she joined her. “Well? Is that what I think it is?”
“Yes,” said Leyna, rereading the words just to be sure. “It is.”
“Oh my gosh,” squealed Grace. “Did you get it? Did you really get it? Are you going to be in the Royal Guard?”
“Yes,” she said, a slow smile spreading across her face.
“Oh my goodness! Congratulations Leyna!”
Leyna could only laugh as Grace squeezed her in a tight hug. Grace finally released her and indicated the letter, asking: “May I?”
Leyna handed her the letter, and after reading it, Grace beckoned the nearby students closer and eagerly shared the good news, her obvious joy reflecting Leyna’s happiness better than she could have expressed it herself.
As well-wishers patted Leyna on the back, she was glad to have someone as kind-hearted as Grace in her life, and didn’t even care that the offer letter was growing damp in Grace’s wet hands as she read it out loud for all to hear.
Chapter eight
A Trio of Two
“Wait for me!” squealed Grace, her cheeks rosy as she hurried down the corridor to join Leyna. It wasn’t yet dawn, and the corridors were still lit by torches. Like her, Grace carried a travel bag full of her belongings. “I’m so excited. I can’t believe we’re all going to Rutherford Castle! Although, I suppose it’s just home for you, isn’t it?”
“The castle is still quite special,” said Leyna.
“Oh, I’m sure it’s very grand. I can’t wait to see it! Is it much larger than the Guild?”
Leyna tried to suppress a smile. Set upon a large estate in Pine Shire, the Wizarding Guild was a large multi-storey mansion made of stone. It had many rooms, including classrooms, offices, student dormitories, staff quarters, kitchens, a library, and so on. But it could not compare to Rutherford Castle, which featured over one thousand rooms, with hundreds of bedrooms and suites in the guest wing alone.
“Yes,” said Leyna. “The castle is bigger than the Guild. You’ll see for yourself in a few hours.”
Today was the day. Leyna, Grace, and Quinn had all accepted their offers to join the Royal Guard, and they would be sworn in before the king that afternoon. At long last, she would be a huskarl.
Grace continued to chatter as they moved along the corridor.
“I wasn’t sure how I’d do, especially coming thirteenth in the maze, although I suppose that’s still quite good. And I’m relieved we all passed the viva—nobody ever really knows if they did well on that, do they? And I certainly never expected to be offered a position so prestigious as a huskarl.”
“Well, you deserve it,” said Leyna sincerely. While combat wasn’t Grace’s strong suit, her magical abilities were undeniably exceptional. Leyna had witnessed the female wizard’s charms first-hand at the beginning of the Maze Exam, when they had teamed up with several other wizards to increase their odds of surviving the competition for longer. As the number of competitors fell, the students had turned on each other. Leyna had tried to protect Grace from the others, but she was too trusting and kind, and was one of the first to be betrayed.
“Oh, I don’t know…you did much better in the maze.” Grace blinked her doe eyes modestly, which were the same shade of brown as her thick hair.
“You do deserve it,” insisted Leyna. “Your charms were remarkable.”
She stole a glance at Grace as they walked down the polished timber stairs. Grace was beautiful, and she was beautiful in everything she did. Even now, she was smiling with excitement, and her round, pale face was flushed pink as she glided down the stairs like a swan. Leyna was not nearly so smooth and lingered a step behind. Her wounded leg made it tricky to navigate the curved staircase, and she did not want Grace to see her holding the bannister for support.
Leyna was not a swan. Even before her injury, she had preferred to move with purpose than to dillydally. Hopefully, with time, the limp would go away.
They reached the circular entrance hall, the walls of which were decorated with plaques, and continued past an ancient grandfather clock made of walnut that ticked their final seconds at the Guild away. Dim light filtered through the leadlight windows as they crossed the hall. Leyna adjusted her bag over her shoulder, prepared to push the front doors open.
This was it; she was finally leaving the Guild once and for all.
She quickened her pace. It felt surreal, and she was half convinced that an examiner would suddenly run down the stairs, calling after her that there had been a mistake—that she had failed one of the exams and would have to stay back for another year after all. Her grip tightened on the handle of her travel bag, just in case Professor Fry appeared to wrench it out of her hand.
The door creaked open and she tensed her shoulders…
But the hall and stairways remained deserted in the early-morning gloom, and no one tried to stop her as she stepped over the threshold. She let out a sigh, then breathed in deeply. The sun had hardly begun to peek over the crest of the pine woods, but the air was already warm and full of promise, the scent of flowers wafting on a gentle breeze.
“I’m just relieved our entire class graduated,” Grace was saying, keeping up a steady pace of conversation as they walked down the long set of stone steps. “I’m so excited to get to the castle!” She sighed wistfully as they set their bags down. “I’m going to miss this place.”
“Me too,” replied Leyna automatically, but glancing back at the Guild, she wasn’t so sure. Seven years of training to be a wizard had been a long commitment. Combined with homesickness, she had long been eager to leave the Guild and finally begin her life.
She took one last look at the building. A chink of soft dawn light grazed the straight walls of the Guild, suggesting that it could be a friendly place. The ivy-covered stone was still mostly in grey shadow, but the golden sunbeam played with the purple flowers that had bloomed on the vines. The first time she had glimpsed the wizarding school, it was like something from a fairy tale, enchanted and full of secrets. Was anyone watching them now from the colourful windows? Or would their departure go unnoticed?
She faced ahead. The pebbled driveway circled the yard and meandered into the distant hills, beyond which the city, the castle and her future awaited.
“Ready?” asked Grace.
“What about Quinn?” The yard was deserted. “He should have been here by now.”
“Er, Leyna…he’s already left.”
“What do you mean, ‘he’s already left?’” She rubbed her forehead. “Don’t tell me he’s charged ahead by himself? We were instructed to travel together.” It was just like Quinn to flout the rules. Would he be an asset or a liability to the Royal Guard?
“Actually,” said Grace gently, “he was summoned to the castle last night. He received orders to leave straightaway.”
“How come he told you and not me?”
Grace seemed momentarily at a loss for words. “I guess he didn’t want to wake you. The summons came quite late at night—only a few hours ago, in fact.”
Leyna swiped at the strands of blonde hair that had escaped her braids. “So, he’s already left?”
“Yes, a couple of hours ago. His orders summons sounded urgent. I think it came straight from the king.”
“Did he say why he was summoned?”
“No…Quinn just woke me to say that he was leaving.”
Leyna pursed her lips. Why had Quinn woken Grace, and not her? They were meant to be a team, soon-to-be colleagues.
“Leyna?” Grace was peering at her with concern. “You look put out.”
“No, not at all. I’m just waking up still. It’s early.”
It was a lie. In reality, she was fighting to quash her anxiety at the thought of Quinn arriving at the castle before her. What if he were presented to the king first? What if he made a good impression and gained the king’s favour before she’d even set foot in the castle? Given how court politics operated, she did not want her own presentation ceremony with the king to be a mere afterthought. It was important the three of them were presented together.
“Shall we go?” asked Grace tentatively.
“Yes. Let’s hurry—if we travel fast, we can be at the castle by noon.” And catch up to Quinn on the road, she thought to herself, summoning her mount. The spell took her less than a minute to cast, a dusty whirlwind gradually materialising into a pale-yellow mare.
“Budsworth,” she greeted, patting the horse, who whinnied and pawed the ground, reflecting Leyna’s own eagerness to set off.
Grace, who had politely waited for her to complete the summoning spell, now spoke urgently: “Leyna, what about the performers? I don’t think we’ll get to the castle by noon…”
She hesitated. “The what?”
“The performers. You know, our new orders?”
Leyna drew a blank. “What new orders?”
“You know, to escort Bernie’s travelling troupe of performers to the castle. Don’t you remember? You were with me when Master Emsworth assigned us the mission. Oh no—wait.” Grace clucked her tongue in annoyance. “I have it all wrong. That was Quinn who was with me—you weren’t there, were you? But—”
“But Quinn was going to tell me?” Leyna finished, laughing bitterly. “I guess he forgot.”
“Oops. I guess he did forget. Sorry.”
She sighed. “It’s fine. It is what it is. So…Bernie’s performers, is it? Caravans and all?”
“I believe so. They’re camped at the showgrounds, apparently.”
Leyna scratched her head. It seemed an unorthodox mission. Why would a travelling troupe of performers suddenly need two wizards to guard them? The king’s highway was well patrolled and cleared of trees on either side, all to deny cover to brigands who preyed on travellers.
Why the troupe should need security on the safest road in Rosaria was beyond her, but it was a mission she would take seriously. Her older sister had died at the hands of a highwayman many years ago, and while robberies were comparatively rare nowadays, it was still a valid threat. She brushed the painful memory of her sister aside and asked: “Are we to escort the troupe all the way to Royad? Because that’s going to slow us down.”
“Not just to Royad,” said Grace. “All the way to the castle.”
Home of the royal family, the Rutherfords, the castle sat perched high above the city of Royad. For two swift riders, it was not a long journey. But hindered by wagons…
“All the way to the castle,” repeated Leyna. “Are you sure? Perhaps the headmaster said to just take them to the city?”
“No, he was very specific,” said Grace, nodding resolutely. “He’s given me papers, hold on—”
After rummaging in her bag, Grace handed Leyna a thick wad of paper. There were dozens upon dozens of travel documents granting each of the performers safe passage into the castle.
Leyna shook her head as she finished securing her travel bag to Budsworth. “What’s so special about these performers?”
“Well, you know…it’s Bernie’s…they’re quite good, aren’t they? Rather fun. And I think there’s some big event on at the castle tonight. The headmaster said they’ll be performing.”
“What big event?”
“I don’t know, he didn’t say,” said Grace. “Sorry.”
“Don’t apologise,” said Leyna, climbing into the saddle. “So, to the showgrounds?”
A white light pooled in front of Grace as she summoned her own mount. A radiant white horse took form within seconds.
“Wow.” She nodded her approval. “I wish I could summon my horse that quickly.”
“I’ll have to teach you!” Grace smiled, looking almost angelic as she took her place upon the slender white mare.
Leyna fixed her eyes on the road ahead. Travelling with other people would be slow. She was suddenly weary, and the journey to Rutherford Castle seemed impossibly long, the road stretching infinite miles in her mind as she imagined the trundle of caravan wheels on the dirt road.
A small part of her clung to the hope that they would reach the castle before Quinn.
“Yah!” she yelled, urging Budsworth forward, and the energetic mare sprung forward eagerly.
Chapter nine
The Jester
When the dewy green fields of the showground came into view, Leyna groaned internally; the sprawling camp was completely unpacked. There was a mishmash of painted caravans, wagons, and carts, and the tents were pitched and erect with no signs that any effort had been made to dismantle them. Crates littered the scene, clotheslines swayed with pegged fabric, and horses stood unsaddled, grazing placidly. People in vibrant, colourful clothes were relaxing by the campfires, talking and laughing merrily. There was no sign they intended to move on.
“This looks cheerful,” said Grace. “I’ve never seen so many colours in one place!”
Although Leyna generally enjoyed watching entertainers perform, she did not share Grace’s enthusiasm. The performers hadn’t even begun to pack up. Her shoulders dropped as she grudgingly accepted that her goal of reaching the castle before Quinn was impossible.
“Let’s go say hello,” said Grace, and before Leyna could object, she had already dismounted and bounded over to the campfire where the entertainers were sitting.
Leyna remained mounted and walked her horse forward. The smell of bacon greeted her approach.
“Greetings, fair maidens!” said a man in checked clothes, leaping to his feet and bowing low. He was tall, lithe, and wore an elaborate masquerade mask over the top half of his face, which extended upwards into wavy triangles, the tips of which bore a bell that jingled when he moved. A jester. “Come, join our little celebration!”
The others smiled and nodded in greeting.
“What are you celebrating?” asked Grace, who, to Leyna’s chagrin, sat down to join the group.
The jester grinned. “Why, to life, of course!” He raised a cup in a toast.
“To life!” repeated the other entertainers, raising their cups before drinking.
The jester, however, did not drink from his cup, instead fixing Leyna and Grace with gleaming eyes. “So, you two must be the new magical talent at the castle. Perhaps you can show us a little magic trick while we breakfast?”
Leyna blinked, taken aback. “We are not here to amuse you with parlour tricks. Grace and I are huskarls of His Majesty’s Royal Guard.”
“Indeed?” asked the jester.
She hesitated before nodding. Technically, she had told a white lie. Officially, they wouldn’t be sworn in until that afternoon. But she was sure a jester wouldn’t know that.
“We’re here to escort you, quickly and safely, to Rutherford Castle, as per our orders.” She emphasised the word ‘quickly’. “How soon can you be packed and ready to leave?”
“Well, we haven’t had our breakfast yet,” replied the jester, settling back down. He made a show of stretching out lazily next to the fire, a movement which Leyna suspected was contrived to irk her.
“Eat quickly, then get packing,” she said, and her horse pawed the ground impatiently, reflecting her mood. “The king is waiting.”
“What’s the hurry? The king can wait,” said the jester matter-of-factly. “After all, he’s not going anywhere. But I’m hungry now. Care for some breakfast?” He loaded his plate with a second helping of bacon and eggs.
“No, thank you—”
“Ahh, is it because they’re scrambled? Do you prefer them sunny-side up?”
“I…I don’t care,” she said, annoyed at being side-tracked.
The jester tilted his head at her, looking oddly owl-like as he peered at her from behind the mask. “Don’t care for them scrambled, or don’t care for eggs?”
