Devan Chronicles Series: Books 1-3 (31 page)

“Yes lady, I’m sure that can be arranged,” Mathius said loudly.

“Of course!” Purcell boomed with false cheer.

“Famoush... I’m going to win the... win the ‘ympics for me mum,” she said or thought she did.

“Not a word of this to anyone. Not even the lord or I’ll—I’ll do something to you!”

“Be nice Mathius and don’t threaten me,” Moriz said. “The Lady has nothing to fear while we are near.”

“Cursed right!” Halbert put in

“Moriz my friend,” Julia said trying to go to him. “Halbert too... where are yooo,” she giggled and found herself hoisted into the air. “
Whoa!
I’m flying,” she giggled and couldn’t seem to stop.

“Go back in m’lord, you too Mathius if you would. We will see to The Lady.”

Purcell rumbled something but Julia couldn’t understand what he said. Then suddenly she was in bed and wondering how she came to be there, but she was so tired it didn’t seem important. Julia sighed and went to sleep dreaming of patterns and blazing crystals made of magic.

The next morning Julia was invited to attend a meeting with Keverin and his friends to discuss the situation with the invaders in the pass below Athione. Keverin had requested Julia’s presence through his mother, because Julia wasn’t talking to him of course, but so far Julia hadn’t added anything to the conversation. As far as she could see she was wasting time better spent in the library… not that she had found what she was looking for in the books. Jessica said that Keverin valued her as a mage, which meant he wanted her to sit quiet and look pretty, which is exactly what she was doing—sitting quiet that is. She shook her head slightly in exasperation, and Keverin noticed. She stared blandly back at him as if she’d done no such thing. He frowned in puzzlement and turned back to the argument. She would like to do more than make him frown, she would like to box his ears for him! It was because of him that Moriz and Halbert were standing outside waiting to dog her steps when she left—just as they had done for the last tenday.

Tenday! She was starting to think in Devan now!

A month after her arrival at Athione, she was starting to think that she would never find the answer. She had read perhaps a third of the titles the library contained and only understood one in ten of them. No matter, she didn’t have to understand the theories the books contained to realise they had nothing to do with building gates. If the Gap hadn’t prevented her, she might well have visited the sorcerers to ask for their help. No, she couldn’t do that. Keverin wouldn’t like it.

Screw Keverin, I want to go home!

Ever since her visit to East Town and their big argument upon her return, Julia had made a point of ignoring Keverin when they met in the halls. Where before he would say a few inconsequential words before hastily taking his leave of her, now it was she leaving him standing there. Julia smiled secretly to herself. By giving him the cold shoulder she had achieved what she had once wanted—Keverin’s notice, but her aims had changed since then. She no longer had anything to say to the man. He was an arrogant, sexist, conceited, high and mighty, stuck up...
man!

“...and run them off by the God!”

“Agreed, but the fact remains that the Gap prevents us.”

“For the God’s sake Gy!” Purcell said in exasperation. “You’ve said that ten times already. Can you not say something new?”

Julia heartily agreed.

She had been a little shy with Purcell at their first meeting. She had heard the stories told of him—that he went berserk in a fight, that he was as strong as ten men and drank more than all of them together. She thought that he would be an unintelligent bully. She couldn’t have been more wrong. Although Purcell’s size at seven feet was imposing, she had found him good natured and insightful. Gylaren on the other hand, came across as an intelligent man right off the mark, but he tended to belabour the obvious. She had known a boy at school like that once. He was a genius academically, but socially he tended to lecture people. What Gylaren needed was someone to point that out to him. Like the boy at her school, he might suddenly become more popular.

“I was only saying—”

“We know what you were saying my lord!” Julia snapped. “Forgive me if I seem rude, but you were not here. I was desperate. I’m not sorry the Gap is there because without it we would be
dead!
”

“Lady Julia, you misunderstand me,” Gylaren said stiffly.

“I don’t believe I do. You want the Gap to un-happen so that you can go thundering down the road and kill another four thousand people—all because God is on your side. Well let me tell you something! God is on
everyone’s
side! You might find the enemy stronger and instead of killing them you will kill all of us!”

“That is quite enough Julia,” Keverin said coldly.

Julia turned her annoyance on her real target. “Do you think so? Let me tell you something, I... will... not... allow... my friends to die because you can’t see sense!”

“You will not allow?” Keverin said with his head cocked to one side as if tasting a strange flavour. “You dare dictate to me in my own fortress!” He roared.

Julia jumped in surprise at his roar, but he couldn’t scare her that easily. Why couldn’t the fool see? The Hasians couldn’t get in, so why go out to die? Keverin glanced awkwardly at the other lords. They were busy pretending not to have heard him shouting at a woman.

“Your friends they may be Lady, but they are my
people
. They look to me for protection and just governance, and I can do nothing for them. They look to
me
, and I...” he looked away and sighed. “I look to you.”

Gylaren eyed each other and shifted uncomfortably. They were not happy with such plain speaking and wished to be elsewhere. To see any lord brought so low was a thing they wished not to see. Much worse to see a Lord Protector in such straights.

The creak of Keverin’s chair broke the silence. “I know you think me addled for trying to hold this pile of stone, but that’s because you are a woman—No! Let me finish.”

Julia closed her mouth, and nodded.

“Thank you,” Keverin said dryly. “If we evacuate Athione, the sorcerers would be across the Gap as quick as that,” he said clicking his fingers. “I don’t know how these things are done on your world Lady, but here a rope bridge would be strung across. General Navarien and his men would take Athione in mere candlemarks.”

Keverin stood and poured wine for each of them. Julia drank hers in one breath so she might have another. Keverin blinked in surprise and refilled her glass. Julia took her time with it and ignored Keverin’s frown. He shrugged slightly in annoyance at his preoccupation and replaced the decanter in the cabinet.

“Athione is a tool,” Keverin mused. “I might love this place and its people, but I still know that. It has but one purpose—defend Deva from enemies in the west. If I evacuate, Athione would be occupied and the invasion proper would be launched. Athione would make a strong base for the Hasians to continue their campaign.”

The other two lords nodded in agreement.

“I cannot leave, and I cannot sit and wait. The sorcerers are still out there,” Keverin finished waving a hand vaguely toward the pass.

Julia was confused. If they didn’t want her to bridge the Gap as she had assumed, what then did they want? Gylaren was complaining about not being able to reach the Hasians, and now Keverin seemed to be agreeing with him.

“Then... why am I here?” Julia said in confusion.

“I wanted to ask you whether it would be possible for you to...
remove
the sorcerers.”

I flaming well knew it!

“Remove?” Julia said coldly. “You mean
kill
don’t you?”

“Yes. I do mean kill,” Keverin said.

Gritting her teeth to stop herself from saying what she thought of him, Julia took a deep breath to calm herself. Her hand was clenched so tight on her glass that she feared she might break it. She finished the wine and carefully placed it on Keverin’s desk.

“Remember what I said at the east gate, Lord Keverin? I
meant
that! I’m not your little assassin. You can’t take me out of a box when someone needs killing. No, not again. I can’t—I won’t!”

“I see,” Keverin said as he sat back behind his desk. “Then we have nothing further to discuss. Athione will fall and Deva will follow.”

“That’s not fair!” Julia cried in outrage. “You can’t put this on me!”

Keverin slammed his hand down on the desk. “Fair? What is fair? Was it fair that Darius died to bring you here? Was it fair that a third of my guardsmen lie
dead?
Nothing about this is fair! Wake up and look around woman! We are
desperate!
What, did you think that because I don’t go wailing through the corridors and beating my chest in woe that we have nothing to fear?”

“Forgive me,” Julia said in a small voice. “You must think me very stupid. You are right, I did think of you as calm and that the worst was over because of that.”

“It’s bad for morale if the men see me looking worried. After a while it becomes second nature not to show it.”

Gylaren spoke quietly, and to Julia’s ears in a patronising voice. “No one thinks you stupid, Lady. Young and inexperienced perhaps, but not stupid. You do not know our world, or have the experience of war a man would have. These stupid attempts to cross the Gap only cost the Hasians lives. They might as well go home while we stay behind these walls, but that is precisely what we
cannot
do. The sorcerers haven’t resumed their attack yet, and although it makes no sense to us, I can assure you that it does to them.

“They
will
attack us Lady, of that I have no doubt. Before that happens we need to kill the sorcerers. If we don’t do that, if we simply rely upon the Gap to stop their men, a mage,
you
, will have to defend us against their magic. With us unable to respond, you will have to keep the Hasians at bay for years, or until they leave.”

Julia could see it all too well. The Protectorate was bigger than Deva. It had much greater resources. Deva on the other hand was a kingdom without a government fracturing into smaller…
duchies
she supposed they were. Each lord would rule his lands as if he were a king. That was no way to resist an invasion; even she could see it, but to kill even more people… where would it end?

“I can’t,” Julia said quietly. “I’ll help with something else.
Anything
else, but I can’t kill more people. Please...
please
understand.”

“I understand that this meeting is over,” Keverin said and slammed out of the room.

Julia watched the door rebound against the wall and slowly swing shut in stricken silence. What could she say that she hadn’t already said, what could she do that would not see her bathe in even more blood?

“It’s not you Julia,” Purcell said quietly.

Gylaren nodded grimly. “Keverin sees much—too much. Deva rides on his shoulders while his people die and his home is destroyed. It’s enough to send a lesser man over the edge into madness.

Kev was stronger than that. Julia knew he was—she felt he was. “I’ll protect myself and others if I’m near, but I’ll not murder more people, Purcell. How many deaths will you have me carry before you will let me be?”

Gylaren stood nearby shaking his head. Purcell took her hand and squeezed it gently. “I don’t know, but I fear we will find out.”

* * *

10 ~ Burnout

Navarien looked sadly at what remained of his men. His fine strong legion was a shadow of what it had been. He had lost half his forces due to the girl’s intervention in the assault, but since then he had lost almost another five hundred to Athione’s bowmen. He used to think of Belgard as an intelligent man—weaker than other sorcerers perhaps, but approachable. Now he didn’t know what to think. It was insane trying to bridge the crevasse under the conditions they were faced with. The men were becoming rebellious, and if the truth be known, he didn’t blame them. Navarien watched Lucius pace the perimeter of the camp and raged at Belgard. The fool would finish what the bitch sorceress had started! Did he want the legion destroyed?

Lucius had started taking long walks a few days after he was relieved of his position—to ease the tedium one supposed. Belgard had allowed it. No chains were needed, not with so many sorcerers on hand ready to blast Lucius the instant he made a wrong move. Belgard seemed hopeful that Lucius would try to run, but that was unlikely. Lucius seemed resigned to his fate.

Navarien glanced back at Belgard’s tent, but there was no activity. The sorcerer spent his days watching the girl in the mirror while more and more legionnaires died, and for what? To string a bridge that would avail them nothing even if the Devans allowed its completion!

Does the bastard even want us to succeed?

Navarien watched Lucius as he wandered by the sorcerer’s tents. None of his brethren would talk to him. It was as if they thought him contagious. Lucius was technically under arrest, and would be escorted back to the Black Isle after the fortress was taken. The way things were going they wouldn’t have any men left alive to send as escort. Navarien had been afraid of Lucius more than once, but he had never feared for his legion. Now he did, but it was Belgard that caused the fear and not Lucius. Deciding to take a chance, he went to head off the mage and talk.

“General,” Lucius said in greeting. “I was wondering how long it would take you.”

Navarien hated to be obvious, but he had to ask. “My Lord sorcerer—”

“No longer that I’m afraid.”

“Lucius then,” Navarien said joining the sorcerer in his sudden and intense scrutiny of the camp. He wondered what they were looking for.

“Aren’t you afraid of catching my affliction?” Lucius said. “You should be you know. Belgard will not like you fraternising with the enemy.”

“You are hardly the enemy.”

“Humph! Well, why not walk with me awhile?”

They wandered slowly around the perimeter. As Navarien neared the sentries they snapped to attention and saluted fist to heart. He acknowledged the salutes only absently. He was busy studying Lucius. The sorcerer seemed different than he had. He was remarkably at ease for a man with a death sentence hanging over him.