And there were spells in her mind now that could turn Hanson, for all his magical talent, into her devoted lover...
The crowd pressed closer as they approached the gates. Elaine had only been to the Parade of the Endless once before, but in its own way it was as magical as the Great Library. No matter how many people crammed into it, it would always be large enough for more – and all of the spectators could see perfectly. The knowledge in Elaine’s head provided a precise description of the spells used by the city’s founders to warp space around the Parade of the Endless, hollowing out the interior to allow it to become bigger on the inside than on the outside. In some ways, it was rather like the mirrored alternate dimension that made up so much of the Great Library. Mirror magic was complicated and very unstable, at least under normal circumstances. The sheer level of talent that had gone into producing the Great Library stunned her. Even knowing how it had been done, she doubted that any of the magicians of her era could have duplicated the feat...
“But I’m telling you, this is my wife,” a man was saying. Elaine felt a shiver as she recognised the man he was trying to speak to as Inquisitor Dread. Who governed the Inquisitors when their only master was dead and his successor not yet selected? The Inquisitor looked tired, even behind the glamour hiding his face. “One of those bastards did
this
to her!”
He was holding onto a pig’s neck, despite its struggles. “You have to do something,” he insisted. “She can’t remain like this forever!”
The press of the crowd pushed Elaine and Daria away before she could hear Dread’s response. With so many sorcerers around, it was unlikely that the Inquisitor would be able to catch up with the culprit before he managed to escape into the crowd. The gods alone knew what the poor woman had done, if anything. Perhaps she’d been rude to the magician, or perhaps she’d refused a crude attempt at getting her into bed, or perhaps she’d just been a convenient victim. Dread could probably break the spell once the man had stopped begging for assistance and let the Inquisitor do his job.
Daria grabbed her arm as the magic caught at them, allowing the crowd to see the small party gathered at the bottom of the arena. “Look,” she hissed. “See anyone you recognise?”
Elaine sucked in her breath. Millicent was standing with some of the senior wizards, right next to a woman wearing a black garment that covered everything but her eyes. The woman was holding Millicent’s arm tightly, as if she didn’t quite trust the young sorceress to behave herself. Beside her, there were several wizards she recognised from the Peerless School, tutors in everything from potions to advanced spell-binding. She’d never liked the spell-binding teacher, she recalled, not least because of his thoroughly unpleasant branch of magic. He’d always given her the impression that he would have preferred to have
everyone
wearing one of his collars, with him in firm command of them all. The potions master beside him, by contrast, was fat and always friendly, even to a girl with strictly limited talents for producing potions to order. Elaine had some good memories of his patient tutoring and how he’d helped her get a passing grade.
“That’s Millicent,” she said, sourly. At least
something
had managed to distract her nemesis from her studies. “Who’s the woman who’s hiding her face?”
“Lady Light Spinner,” Hanson supplied. Elaine was surprised he’d lowered himself to answer her question. Perhaps he was just trying to impress Daria. “She is the Court Wizard to the Empress of the South.”
Elaine remembered what Millicent had said and shivered. If Millicent had been telling the truth, Lady Light Spinner intended to try to become the next Grand Sorcerer. A Court Wizard in such an important post would be incredibly powerful – and whatever else could be said about Millicent, she didn’t lack talent or power. If her relative became Grand Sorcerer – Grand Sorceress – Millicent would be even more unbearable.
“And maybe she
was
seduced by the Empress of the South,” Daria added, with a wink. “You think that she might be a man under that veil?”
Elaine started to giggle, only to force it down as silence rolled out from the centre of the arena. The Caretaker, the current head of the Regency Council in the absence of a Grand Sorcerer, stepped forward. He was an old man, a distant relative of Lord Howarth if Elaine recalled correctly, although there were few formal ties between their families. She wondered absently if the old man knew about his relative’s spending problem and what, if anything, he intended to do about it. Letting a noble family fall into wrack and ruin wouldn’t make him popular, but failing to force his relative to pay his debts could unleash unpleasant consequences. It hadn’t been
that
long ago since the wealthy merchants had successfully pressed for their own representation on the city’s council.
And without a Grand Sorcerer, whose decision would be unchallengeable, who knew who would still be standing when the dust settled?
She smiled as she caught sight of another man standing to one side with his fellow commoners. Councillor Travis was a dour-faced man, with a pleasant-looking wife and a pretty daughter. Still not a social equal to Lord Howarth and the rest of the aristocracy, he was probably richer than any of them – or maybe all of them put together. His family had been among the first to take advantage of the iron dragons built by the technicians to bring the Empire closer together and it had given them an unbeatable edge. Perhaps his daughter could marry Lord Howarth and bring her dowry to the aide of the Lord’s finances. But would she ever be accepted by High Society?
“Thirty-seven years ago,” the Caretaker said, his voice easily audible throughout the arena, “a sorcerer stood before the Regency Council and was elevated to the position of Grand Sorcerer. He ruled firmly, but fairly, striking a balance between the different poles of our society. It was our dearest wish that he would continue to rule for many years to come.”
And that, Elaine knew, was nothing less than the truth. It was humbling to realise that the Grand Sorcerer – the
late
Grand Sorcerer – had ruled for longer than Elaine had been alive, but the time between Grand Sorcerers was always uneasy for everyone. The knowledge in her mind whispered a single question; what was worse than a single all-powerful sorcerer ruling the world?
Two
all-powerful sorcerers, fighting.
“But the gods have chosen to take him from us to their realm,” the Caretaker continued. “It is fitting that we now consider the position he held – and the responsibilities he discharged so capably. The Grand Sorcerer serves as the ultimate bulwark of our society. To rule is also to serve – and he understood that better than many other rulers. We will miss him now that he is gone.”
He stepped forward to the black casket positioned in the exact centre of the arena. “I charge you all to remember what he did for us,” he said, softly. His voice was still easy to hear. “And to remember that power alone is nothing without responsibility. May his successor be so wise.”
“May his successor be so wise,” the crowd echoed.
Elaine caught sight of Millicent and saw her staring soberly at the casket where the Grand Sorcerer lay. Millicent was part of the established order in a way that Elaine could never be, but the established order had been badly shaken the moment the Grand Sorcerer passed away. She understood, better than Elaine would have done without the new knowledge in her head, just what it meant to lose the centre of their world. All of the old certainties had died with the Grand Sorcerer.
“The Grand Sorcerer was a great man,” Administrator Mentor said. The master of the Peerless School looked grim, despite his youthful looks. Elaine remembered a very unpleasant interview with him after Millicent had successfully framed her for theft and shivered inwardly. She had managed to prove her innocence eventually, but it had come at a cost she hadn’t been entirely willing to pay. “He knew what he could do – and what he should not do, even though it was within his power. We will not see his like again.”
Daria nudged her. “Wasn’t he the one who had you caned?”
“Yes,” Elaine said, shortly.
Millicent
wouldn’t have been punished like that. But Millicent had powerful relatives and Elaine had no relatives at all. “Do you think that he wants to become Grand Sorcerer himself?”
“He has the power and connections,” Daria muttered back. “And he has been master of the Peerless School long enough to grow bored. He might want to grasp the highest position in the world.”
Elaine shrugged and turned back to watch the funeral. Each of the tutors and councillors had a chance to speak. Councillor Travis spoke briefly, but fittingly, commending the Grand Sorcerer for his services to the city. Millicent’s aunt didn’t speak at all.
Finally, the Caretaker stepped forward again. “We shall not see his like again,” he said, softly. “And now we bid him farewell.”
The casket blazed with a brilliant white light, so bright that Elaine had to cover her eyes from the glare. A faint afterimage seemed to hang in the air for a long moment, and then it was gone, reducing the Grand Sorcerer’s body to dust. His soul was long gone. And yet there were spells in Elaine’s mind that would have allowed her to call him back to the world...
“Goodbye,” the Caretaker said.
Elaine saw the expression on the Administrator’s face and shivered. The senior wizards were sharing the same thought. Their master was dead...
...And the contest to select the next master was about to begin.
Chapter Seven
“Put a smile on your face,” Daria urged. “This is supposed to be a party.”
Elaine looked up at her. After the funeral, Hanson had invited Daria to a party in honour of the Grand Sorcerer – and Daria, ignoring Elaine’s protests, had insisted on dragging her along. Elaine felt terribly out of place; the singing, the dancing, the couples kissing in the rear of the vast hall...it all felt alien to her. How could
she
join the couples on the dance floor...even though part of her
wanted
to join them and dance the night away?
“I should go home,” she said, shaking her head. “I don’t belong here.”
“Oh yes you do,” Daria said. “You deserve a chance to have some fun, you know? Come and dance.”
“I can’t dance with you,” Elaine protested. “That’s...that’s not decent.”
“I think no one bothered to tell those two that it isn’t decent,” Daria said, nodding towards two boys who were dancing together. “Which one of them is the girl, do you think?”
Elaine flushed as Daria pulled her to her feet. “But I wasn’t going to dance with you,” Daria added. “You! Come over here.”
One of Hanson’s friends came over, staring blankly at Daria. “You two are going to dance,” Daria said, firmly. She leaned closer to the boy’s ear and whispered something in it that made him flush. “And if he lets you down, I’ll cut off his...”
The boy pulled Elaine’s stumbling form onto the dance floor before Daria had a chance to finish her threat. He clearly didn’t doubt that Daria’s wrath would be terrible if he messed up with Elaine. It felt harder to dance than Elaine had expected, even with a surprisingly patient tutor who didn’t seem to mind if she trod on his foot. The beat of the music was difficult to follow and she kept placing her feet wrongly, until she finally realised how to dance. And then the dance came to an end.
“You just need practice,” the boy said, as the dancers filed off the floor. “And now...”
Elaine watched him go and sighed inwardly. Of course he hadn’t wanted to dance with her. Daria had bribed or threatened him into cooperating and he was now off to collect his prize. The gods alone knew what Daria had offered him...but Elaine could guess. A dance, a kiss...or something more intimate. She didn’t really want to know.
“That’s enough of feeling sorry for yourself,” Daria said, firmly, as Elaine appeared next to her. “I saw you smiling on the dance floor. Get back out there and get another guy.”
Elaine flushed bright red at the very thought. “Come on,” Daria said, seriously. “This dance needs two couples.”
She waved to a pair of strange boys and invited them to join the two girls. Elaine had barely any time to think before the bandleader started calling out instructions, ordering the partners to take hands and start moving through the steps. This dance was more complicated than the last one...she looked up and saw her partner smiling nervously at her. He was just as worried as she was...oddly, that made her feel better about herself. The music started and they fell into the steps, moving slowly through the first two circles. And then the music started to speed up...
Elaine was laughing as the dance came to an end. Daria smiled at her, gave the boy she’d been dancing with a kiss on the cheek, and then winked at Elaine. Elaine’s partner didn’t look as if he expected a kiss, thankfully, but just as Elaine was about to head back to the tables he caught her arm and awkwardly pulled her back into position for the next dance. Elaine opened her mouth to object, saw Daria’s firm stare from the side of the room, and allowed him to lead her without further objection. The next dance went well, but the one after it was too complex for her to follow easily. It was a relief to note that several other dancers had had to leave at the same time.
“Want to join me for a drink?” The boy asked. He hesitated, and then flushed. “I’m sorry. I sound like an idiot.”
Elaine knew exactly how that felt. “I’d love to,” she said. “Just...juice, please. Nothing alcoholic.”
The boy nodded and headed over to the bar, where a pair of half-naked girls were serving drinks. Elaine watched him taking the drinks and heading back to the table, astonished at her own daring. There was a time when she would have fled rather than face a reasonably handsome guy. Maybe Daria had slipped her something to make her less inhibited, a simple charm or limited potion. Or maybe whatever had happened to her in the Great Library had given her more confidence than she had possessed beforehand.
“I...I don’t even know your name,” the boy confessed. “I’m Bee. Blame my mother; she always loved bees as a child.”