The Captive Shifter (Magic of Claddare Book 1), page 2
“I know how the trial goes already,” Susana giggled. “I’ve been practicing with the crystals for months. Hasn’t everyone?”
Caitlyn tripped on a loose seam in the carpet, keeping herself from falling by grabbing at her companion. So much for relief, the next challenge appeared already. No one mentioned crystals to me. She licked her lips, swallowing hard. “Crystals?”
“Yes, you know, the crystals.” As if stirring the air, Susan waved her hand. “You manipulate the gems and depending on the patterns you throw, the Queen and her sisters decide what training you’re best suited for.” Eyes wide, Susana stopped dead. Caitlyn had to stutter step not to run into her. “You’ve never worked the crystals? Never?”
Caitlyn shook her head.
“How did the Searchers know to select you?”
The poor Searchers probably wondered themselves. There had been quite a few witches of Ordlathus sitting in the pub that night, bending the will of the visitors from the North to influence them to see Caitlyn as a wonderful choice for further training. Not something she was planning to explain to anyone. Genuine amusement curved her lips at the memory. “How do they know to select anyone?” she said. “The answer is the Searchers’ mystery.”
“Never mind, I’m sure it will all come right in the morning.” Susana started off toward the meeting room again and Caitlyn followed dutifully. “You’re here and that’s what counts. So many women hope to achieve this and so few are actually selected.”
Caitlyn decided to give in to the curiosity pricking at her. “Who was the guard to the far right of the throne?”
Smiling Susana said, “His name is Kyler. Handsome isn’t he? Why do you ask?”
“He was with your brother at the gate so I was surprised to see him in the throne room,” Caitlyn lied. “I was merely curious.” Her true questions remained unasked—is he a shifter and what role does he play at Court?
Shaking her head, the other girl said, “Don’t waste your time thinking about him.”
“Why not? He was staring at me.”
Susana stopped again, checked to see who might be near them, then spoke quietly in Caitlyn’s ear. “He’s not human. He’s a shapeshifter, under the Witch Queen’s spell. Some of the guards have an eye for the women of the Court, even for us, the applicants. It’s not forbidden to have a little discreet fun as long as consent is mutual.” Susana gave a trilling shriek of laughter and patted Caitlyn’s shoulder. “Don’t be shocked, you’re at Court now, not out in the southern hinterlands. I’m sure the customs are looser here than where you come from. But he’s completely off limits.” Barely whispering, she added, “The queen is jealous.”
You’ve no idea what our customs might be. “I doubt I’ll ever see him again, but thanks for the warning. I don’t want anything to do with any man, not right now. I came to Court for one thing and one thing alone.” Which is the truth for a change today.
“Good.” Susana patted Caitlyn’s arm as if she were the older, more seasoned woman. “Keep your focus on magic for now and you’ll do fine. And here we are.”
After greeting the stern, elderly woman who’d be in charge of her days as an applicant, Caitlyn found a seat at the rear of the room, while Susana joined a crowd of girls and younger women she apparently knew well. Gathering her energies to meet the next test in the morning, Caitlyn paid scant attention to anything said during the rest of the interminable evening. The morning’s trial would determine if she succeeded in her quest at the Court of the Witch Queen Margred. Success or failure hung on the results of the mysterious test and Caitlyn couldn’t spare a moment for reflection on anything else.
Eventually the lecture on house rules and decorum was over and she was finally free to find her dormitory room. Her baggage was waiting, as the Duke had promised. Gratefully, she changed out of her damp travel dress and into a warm nightgown before crawling into bed. Her dreams were restless, disturbed by visions of prowling wild animals and eagles soaring ominously overhead.
CHAPTER TWO
Dawn found Caitlyn as tired as she’d been the night before. Dressing in the plain gray skirt and tunic of a candidate, she pinned her badge to the shoulder and followed Susana to breakfast in the big common room. Confronted with platters of bacon, heaping piles of scrambled eggs, and baskets of fruit, she realized she wasn’t hungry. She was actually a bit nauseous, which sometimes happened to her when she was preparing for a big event. There’d be time enough to eat later. The other girls were quiet as well today. The Queen had welcomed them yesterday but each knew earning her spot at Court remained an open question.
There was some time to fill before the testing began. The good natured chatter of the other applicants in their stilted northern accents rubbed Caitlyn’s nerves raw, like sandpaper. She required peace and quiet to gather her powers for the upcoming test. Remembering a glimpse of a small garden outside the commons room, she took a buttered roll, slipped away from the others, and found an unlocked door leading into the manicured landscape.
Caitlyn followed the winding path to the end of the first set of well-manicured flowerbeds, slipped nimbly through a small break in the towering hedge and strolled to the far end of the next segment. Facing to the south, where Ordlathus lay, she raised her face to the sun, enjoying the warmth. Caitlyn stretched lifted her palms to the sky, and sang her morning devotions to the Lady Tiermalleia, patron goddess of her people. Keeping her voice low was challenging but she was afraid the sound might carry. As she sang, she absorbed strength, the power flowing along the sun’s rays, passing into the core of her being, where magic dwells. The song and the sun bolstered her will to succeed in this mission. After the final note, she lowered her hand, shut her eyes and prayed for a moment.
“A beautiful song,” said a deep voice behind her.
Startled, annoyed, Caitlyn spun on her heel to see the shapeshifter standing a few feet away. Closer inspection confirmed her impressions from the day before—he was just as handsome, well-muscled and imposing as he’d seemed on the dais, in the throne room.
He bowed respectfully. “Apologies, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop or intrude. Your voice drew me.”
“Drew you?” Dismay sat in her gut like a stone. She didn’t need extra attention from anyone, least of all from the bespelled guard who was the queen’s alone.
“I use this garden as a shortcut sometimes. I prefer it to the crowded halls,” he said. “I heard the singing and detoured to see who had so much pure joy this early in the day. In Azrimar music tends to be associated with the working of spells, never shared for sheer pleasure.” Head slightly tilted, he studied her for a moment, green eyes catlike. “Forgive me if I’ve distressed you. I didn’t understand the words, if that’s any comfort. ”
“I wanted to be alone.” Caitlyn realized she sounded petulant and ungracious.
“To prepare for the test. I know. I’ll leave you.” He wheeled, paused, turned back, scarlet cloak swirling in a flash of color. “Do you really desire a place at this Court?” he asked curiously. “Are you sure this claustrophobic, ancient City built of stone is the right home for one who sings eloquently to the air and the earth?”
“My future is none of your concern,” Caitlyn said. “I thought you didn’t understand the words.”
He shook his head, long, shining sandy brown hair swinging loose to his shoulders. “The words, no. The soul of the song, yes. You won’t be happy here, mistress, I assure you. You have my pity.” He left her alone, striding across the dew tipped grass with undeniable feline grace, even in his human form.
Forcing herself to look away, Caitlyn took a shaky breath and went the other direction, retracing her path to the building.
She found the headmistress standing in the common room, presiding over the drawing of lots for the order of testing. Despite arriving late, Caitlyn drew a low number and was in the first group of fifteen women taken to the spell chamber to endure the trial of power. They waited outside in the hall as one candidate at a time was called. Of the first five tested, four emerged from the room smiling and happy, each wearing a second badge, set with an amethyst, showing they’d been accepted into training. The fifth girl burst from the doors in tears and stumbled past them. A guard intercepted her and led her away.
“Not enough power.” Gretha, Caitlyn’s other roommate sniffed. “The team of Searchers who found her will get no bonus. Princess Bradana hates to have her time wasted.”
The headmistress checked her list. “Caitlyn of Ordlathus, you’re next.”
Taking a deep, cleansing breath, Caitlyn walked past the thick, studded door the guards held open for her. There was no sign of the Witch Queen herself today. Should I be relieved or disappointed at her absence? Ylain and Bradana waited, along with a small gathering of older adepts. The guards standing behind Bradana’s gilded chair included the arrogant captain from the episode at the gate yesterday. Caitlyn clenched her fists, fighting a surge of dismay. She couldn’t permit anything to shake her confidence or her focus. The captain wasn’t likely to play a part in the testing. Maybe he wouldn’t even recognize her.
The chamber was huge. Giant tapestries depicting larger than life-size vignettes from the city’s history covered the walls. A large, circular spell altar dominated the room, glittering golden sand swept flat and bare this morning.
“Over here, Caitlyn,” said Ylain, gesturing to her. “You should stand next to the table to begin the test.”
She obeyed Ylain’s instructions, grateful for any direction about what to do next. The table in question was waist high, eight feet of highly polished black wood, supported by legs carved into the shapes of griffins, ending in clawed golden talons. Glittering gemstone crystals lay heaped several feet high in the center.
A queen’s ransom.
“Has this test been explained to you?” asked an elderly adept.
Caitlyn pointed at the table. “Something about the crystals?”
Bradana closed her eyes for a moment, brow furrowed as if she had a headache. Opening her eyes to glare at Caitlyn, the princess said, “We’re wasting our time here. Apparently we fielded a team of Searchers who must have been drunk or addled.” She took a goblet from one of the pages and sipped the ruby beverage delicately, keeping her eyes on Caitlyn.
Ylain frowned, the expression ill suiting her sweet, placid face. “She’s here, she deserves her chance to show us what she can do.”
“Thank you, your highness,” Caitlyn said.
Nodding, the younger princess leaned forward on her chair. “You must use your power to levitate the crystals and cast them on the altar sands, making a picture for us. Any picture will do. We discern from how the crystals respond to your will and what you do with them where your talents manifest. Then we know how best to train you for our mutual benefit.”
“Searchers should have explained all this to her,” Bradana said, rubbing her forehead before draining the wine from her goblet and slamming the cup down. “We waste time, sister. There’s an entire room full of more likely applicants waiting.”
Ylain kept talking, as if she was accustomed to ignoring complaints from Bradana. “Your power must fit into the harmonious composition the Witch Queen uses to cast her spells or it isn’t worth our time to work with you.”
Pleased to see her hands weren’t trembling, Caitlyn rested her fingertips lightly on the table’s rim. “Thank you for the explanation, your highness. I’ll do my best.” The unexpected test was going to be a problem no one foresaw at home when the plans were laid. Caitlyn’s power spoke to and worked through the energies of living things. Suppressing a shudder, she ran one hand through the closest haphazard stack of faceted gemstones. Cold, dead, no spark of life. They might as well be pebbles in the road for all the use they were to her. The sparkling stones were primarily in red and purple hues although she noticed some flashes of green and yellow. Those maybe she could influence.
“We don’t have all day to await your pleasure, bumpkin.” Bradana’s voice was icy and several of her ladies in waiting tittered behind their fans.
Closing her eyes, Caitlyn visualized a flower garden, with purple iris and red roses, lush green grass underfoot and golden sunlight illuminating the entire scene. The best I can do with this material. Holding the picture of the garden in the center of her mind’s eye, she opened her physical eyes and stared at the pile of gems. As if there’d been a mild earthquake, vibrations ran through the gleaming heap. The stones slipped apart from each other, rising to float an inch or two above the table. She held them suspended with her power and attempted to move them as a group from the table to the waiting altar sand a few feet away. The mass of gems flowed sluggishly through the air, stones dropping out here and there, crashing on the floor as she failed to maintain her hold on all of them. Caitlyn’s whole body felt rigid, stress thrumming in her nerves and pounding behind her temples as she battled self-doubt and fear of failure. Never before had the use of magic been an ordeal.
The door creaked open and then crashed shut behind her, the unexpected noise making her flinch. All the stones fell to the ground in a rainbow shower accompanied by discordant musical notes.
To keep herself from falling, Caitlyn locked her knees and slumped against the table, nausea rising in her gut. Have she failed so early in her quest? What thrice damned servant of the Shadow interrupted me?
The new arrival was the Witch Queen herself, walking to the empty throne, flanked by ladies in waiting and guards, trailed by the shapeshifter. “I’ve come to watch your trial, woman from Ordlathus,” she said.
“Too late, sister, she failed most spectacularly. As might have been foretold.” Bradana’s face bore a look of satisfaction like a cat who’d devoured a succulent songbird.
The triumph on the princess’s face spurred Caitlyn to protest. “I—I was distracted by the slamming of the door, your majesty.”
Scowling, Bradana shook a finger at her. “A true adept, even untrained, would never be taken off task by noise. You failed.” She handed the empty goblet to the smirking captain, who refilled it to the brim from a nearby carafe.
“I wasn’t finished.” Caitlyn dug her nails into the varnished wood under her hands. Her mission couldn’t end in this dismal fashion – there was too much at stake for Ordlathus. She opened her mouth to beg for a second chance but Princess Ylain was already speaking for her.
“She was in the middle of moving the crystals after all. I propose we let her complete the effort and then we’ll know beyond a doubt.” Nibbling at a frosted pink pastry, the royal brushed crumbs from her lap.
“Fair enough.” Apparently the Witch Queen was pleased to agree. She sat on the throne, her guards and ladies arranging themselves in a grouping according to rank. Caitlyn couldn’t help but notice the shapeshifter stayed aloof from the group, leaning against the wall, a bit removed from where the Queen sat. He crossed his arms as if bored.
Queen Margred inclined her head regally. “You may take a moment to gather yourself, before you start again.”
“Thank you, your majesty.” Caitlyn half curtseyed and then shut her eyes, trying to calm her mind and body before calling the energies she’d been harnessing. Magic doesn’t flow without both in harmony. If only so much didn’t depend on this one ridiculous task. Staring at the jumbled crystals all over the floor place was depressing, threatening to bring tears to her eyes. The gems were on the table, in the sand, on the bare floor. She visualized a straw broom sweeping them together and the crystals obligingly moved into a heap, all on the floor. Encouraged, she commanded the stones to rise into the air, which they did, in twos and threes, until all had united and become a swirling kaleidoscope. Caitlyn tried to hold them while focusing on the garden picture she’d attempted to create. The next step was to separate and rearrange the different colors. Closing her eyes to diagram the picture she was creating, she heard stones falling to the floor again. Forcing herself to draw a deep, calming breath, she took comfort in the fact she only had to do a good enough job to pass. Commanding the stones to create her picture, she willed them to go and imitate her favorite flowers from Ordlathus. Needing to see the pattern, she opened her eyes, only to be confronted by a misshapen mess, colors in the wrong places.
At least the crystals were still moving. She clung to a tiny flicker of hope. Caitlyn was at the edge of losing the spell, the picture was nowhere near complete, when suddenly she was jolted by a wild, nearly uncontrollable energy adding itself to hers. The surge lasted for a heartbeat. She hung onto the new magic, channeled the unruly power, wove it firmly into her own pattern. The extra boost was enough to shake the picture into a recognizable, fairly well done portrait of a spring garden.
The final stone, an iridescent green, slipped with a clinking sound into its spot as the tip of an iris leaf.
Caitlyn gripped the edge of the table hard to keep from falling. Her legs trembled and her head swam from the sustained effort required to manipulate materials so alien to her gifts. Numbly she waited for the verdict.
Bradana and Ylain walked along the edge of the spell altar.
“Flowers? You use the magic crystals to create flowers? When others have spent the day drawing intricate symbols of power, awesome creatures of magic – you’re not fit to be here,” Bradana said, contempt tingeing her voice. “You’re done, Caitlyn of Ordlathus.”
“Now wait.” Apparently always cast in the role of the reasonable one, searching for the positive, Ylain raised her hand. “These are beautiful flowers. I wish we could preserve the design for a stained glass window. What magic have you done in your own home?”
Thinking fast, Caitlyn settled on an answer crafted to win favor from the younger princess, who was a renowned healer. “I do spells with herbs and plants, your highness. Small potions. Minor healing. I was hoping I could learn to do more impressive magic here. The higher order spells your highness can manipulate.” I’ll fawn all over you, if it helps me win my place.
