The Magic Council (The Herezoth Trilogy) (26 page)

Vane
grabbed Rexson’s arm, which stopped him from doing further harm. “We’re going,”
said the sorcerer. “You asked me to keep you in line, and we’re going, to draw
up papers for the sentence.” He released the sound barrier, the room’s
brightness diminished, and the nobles walked out. The guards who had escorted
Treel were waiting in the corridor outside. The king stormed past, ahead of
Vane, and the sorcerer whispered to the soldiers, pointing back to the open
metal door and the man beyond, “Make sure he sees a medic.”

For
the king’s own good—so he wouldn’t regret something he did on
impulse—Vane would have to keep Rexson away from any bargaining session
with the Fist. Luckily, the Fist’s officers were still in Yangerton, and Rexson
could not get to them without Vane’s magic, or Zacry’s. Zacry was already at
the Yangerton jail, undercover as one of the guards outside the kidnappers’
cells. If Rexson needed time to gain some self-control, then time he would
have.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Family Affairs

When
Kora took Kansten home from the beach and saw her mother, she learned about
Neslan and the snake. She wanted to transport straight to Zacry’s, but Ilana
told her the boy was fine, that Kora could do nothing more than Joslyn and
August to care for him, and that Joslyn would resent Kora barging over to take
charge in her own home. She told Kora to rest, because she looked as though she
had not slept in seventy-two hours. Kora had not, at least not well, and she
dozed until midway through the afternoon.

That
night, when the children were in bed, Kora stepped outside with Parker. They
took a walk down deserted and moonlit dirt roads not unlike the ones Kora
remembered near her childhood home outside Hogarane.

Kora
was not in the habit of keeping secrets from her husband, and she told him
everything: how she had been seen, how people said the king had fathered her
children, how the king had followed her to Triflag and what had passed between
them on the beach. She told him about Kansten’s lack of magic. As for herself,
she revealed a plan to transport to Traigland City if need be, to turn to
Parker’s best friend should she need to hide.

“You
and the children aren’t in danger. I’d never have gone back if my doing so
threatened you, never. If they do
come
for me, and that’s unlikely, no one could legally touch any one of you.”

“Don’t
you worry about our family. None of us is going anywhere. It looks like Vane
and Zac’ll be the ones leaving Triflag, to help out Rexson in his jam.”
          

“Parker,
the king’s feelings for me aside, because I, I’m not sure they’re not still
stronger than he’ll admit even to himself…. There’s nothing between him and me.
Nothing.”

Parker
slung an arm across her shoulders. “I know that, Kora.”

“You’re
the one thing that’s kept me from turning bitter, you know. From turning
horribly, nastily bitter. I can see that looking back on my time here. When we
first met in that general store, you knew who I had to be, but you didn’t gawk,
or run terrified, or worse, ask for some display of magic like so many have.
You just helped me lift that sack of rice that was too heavy for me, even when
that idiot yelled for me to move it with a blasted incantation, what else was
my magic for? You’ve put up with so much when you had no reason to: the
insults, the people who stopped coming to you for horseshoes at the
beginning.... And you’ve never once complained, implied that I owed you
something for it. You’ve made my life bearable here, much more than bearable.
My mother and Zac could never have done that. As much as I love them, they
could never have stripped the resentment from my soul. You did that. I don’t
deserve you, I don’t, and I know I never will.

“Parker,
I should be bursting inside at the thought of Zac going home. I should be hurt,
and angry, and jealous beyond belief, and maybe part of it is that I did go
back, if only for a day, but I can’t feel any of those things. All I feel when
I think of Zac leaving is how blessed I am that you’re
here, and as much as I despise Triflag some days, I know that if I
could live in Herezoth without you, I’d never. I’d never, I just couldn’t.”

Parker
kissed her on the cheek. “Life sure has its sense of humor, doesn’t it?”

“Where
are you taking this?”

“I’ve
always felt like I
never deserved you
.
It wasn’t just your homeland the
Crimson League fought for, you know. It was mine too. I may have been here all
that time, but….”

“You
might as well have been with us. God knows you know everything we went through.
Each nightmare that’s woken me through the years, each flashback, you’ve made
me confront them.”

“You
haven’t had one of those dreams in quite a while.”

“Six
or seven months. The last one was that conference with Zalski: handing him that
chain, admitting how I’d used it to stalk him.”

“That
was always one of the more frequent ones. I’ve been telling you for years it
would probably go away if you told Zac the whole story.”

“Yes,
well, Zac knows now, thanks to Lanokas. He’ll feel guilty and obliged for the
rest of his life because he knows I risked torture to get him amnesty.”

“Zac’s
no idiot, Kora. He’s got to know Zalski would have tortured and killed you if
he’d been able, necklace or no.”

“You’d
have to have met the man, Parker. It would have been worse for me after that
confession. I made things personal invading his mind, and he wanted his
vengeance, he…. I can’t even describe him. You’d have to have met him, and Zac
did. Zac will understand. Zac will understand now why Zalski didn’t kill me
straightaway in the courtyard when we attacked….”

“Honey,
is it so terrible he knows?”

“I
suppose not,” said Kora. “I guess it’s not, considering what could
have happened in the last three days
alone. Considering that even here one of the king’s sons…. Thank God my mother
healed him. Parker, what if she hadn’t been able? He’d be dead. The boy would
be dead.”

“That
boy is just fine, all right? Him running across that snake was a freak
accident. You could never have guessed that would happen. No one could, just
like this situation with Kansten. I’d have bet our house she was a sorceress. I
never considered she might not be, not after your stories, after what you told
me about your bloodline and Mayven way back when.”

Mayven
was an ancient sorceress, one of Herezoth’s best-known heroes. She was also
Kora’s ancestor, and specifically, the woman to remove the sorcerer’s mark from
her descendants.

Kora
asked, “So how do we handle this?”

“It
doesn’t matter to me whether Kansten or any of the kids can cast a spell. I
care that it’s upset her, that’s all. You said it has?”

“Very
much so.”

“So
we’ll keep an eye on her. I’ll take her to the river to fish. I’ve been meaning
to do that, you know, and she would love it. She’s never been. I want to take
the major role here, if that’s all right with you. I’m the only person in the
family Kansten has who, like her, can’t do magic. At least, I’m the only one we
know for sure. Her siblings, they probably can?”

“I
would think so. I wish I could say otherwise. I can test them tonight, so we
won’t have to wonder…. Yes, take Kansten fishing. That’s a wonderful idea.”

“Kora,
she’ll come to terms with her disappointment.”

“I
know she will. She never gives in to anything, fights tooth and nail to….”

“Gets
that from her mother. You may have been a good bit older, but you came to terms
with worse.”

“Thanks
to you,” said Kora. “Only thanks to you.” Parker smiled, and Kora stood on the
balls of her feet to gain an extra couple of inches, so she could throw her
arms around his neck and reach his height to kiss him. She always complained
about having to do that, but secretly, she would not have things any other way.
That was, perhaps, the one small thing she never would confess to him.

When
the two returned home, Kora went straight to Kansten’s room. She wanted to
start with Kansten, because she knew what results her spell would have and was
sure they would calm her rapid pulse. The girl lay on her side in bed, facing
the wall, covered with a single sheet due to the heat of summer.

Before
her return to Herezoth, Kora had heard of no incantation to test someone for
magic power. After Zacry had cast such a spell on the kidnappers, his sister
had asked him about it, and after Kansten’s adventure in her uncle’s library,
Kora had to know about her children; there could be no waiting. “
Aberigwa Podair
,” she whispered, and
Kansten shivered a bit. The girl stretched out an arm, but did not wake. As
expected, there were no sparks.

Then
Kora went to the boys’ room, careful not to step on the various objects that
covered the floor. Walten lay on his back on the top of two bunked beds, and
jerked as though he were dreaming when his mother cast her spell. She clenched
a fist in resignation as soundless sparks flashed above him and just as quickly
disappeared. The same occurred with Wilhem, and then it was on to the girls.
Laskenay, four years old, mumbling softly in her sleep, proved a sorceress, as
did Kora’s baby, her sweet Tressa only two years old, resting in her crib.

Parker
was waiting for his wife in the cluttered parlor. “All of them,” she whispered.
“All of them but Kansten.”

He
took her in his arms and said, “They won’t suffer what you have, Kora. Not for
their magic, not here.”

“Good
God, I hope not,” was all she could respond.

* * *

That
night, at the Crystal Palace, Vane had not yet undressed when a knock on his
door disturbed his attempts to read his mother’s journal. He could never get
through more than five or six pages at once: she had written very little about
the Crimson League, and much about her life before. She wrote of her husband,
and how she wished he could be with her, though a part of her recognized the
selfishness of that desire, as difficult as things were from day to day. She
gave voice through pen to her fears for her son, her terror that Zalski would
discover where he was and take him for his own.

The thought of that
child is the only motivation I have to keep on, and the only one I need. He
never chose to come into this world. I chose that for him when I conceived, and
I will ensure this world is a safe place for him, or I’ll die in the attempt to
make it so. It’s just that simple. When complications threaten to overwhelm me,
I must remember, it’s that’s simple. That girl we found today, that Kora.... It
matters not what legends she might or might not fulfill. It matters not what
skills she may have. I hope for her own sake she proves tougher than she seems,
but should she not, it changes nothing of what I do. I will restore Herezoth to
what it was, for my son, or not live through the attempt to accomplish that for
him. Simple. So simple that if I wonder if it’s too simple to....

Vane
had read that much when the knock came. He eased the journal closed and slipped
it beneath his mattress before he opened his door to Rexson. The king, fully
robed, has a resolute expression on his face, one that unsettled Vane.
“Invisible,” urged the king, and Vane cast the spell to make himself vanish.
“Follow me. I’ll explain as we go.”

Vane
followed Rexson down the corridor, in the direction of the staircase to his
office. Rexson spoke softly, almost in a whisper. As Vane stood behind, he had
to struggle to hear, but he comprehended Rexson’s words.

“Carson
Amison waits to speak with me. The Duke of Yangerton. If you’re even
considering joining court, you should listen to this discussion. Mark who he is
and how he deals with me. He will not be a friend to you when he learns you’re
accepting your title. He believes you dead, like most, and would wish you to
remain so, or at least in a such a place and station that he mustn’t suffer
you.”

Vane
nodded before he realized he was not only walking behind the king, but was
invisible. “I see,” he said. “Rexson....”

“Stay
silent. Don’t expose your presence. Just watch and listen, not only to imagine
how the man might react to you, but to learn. He’s as astute as any I’ve known
when it comes to politics. Like it or not, you’ll be drowning in political
affairs as a duke.”

They
walked without further discussion until they reached the king’s office. Rexson
left the door open as he entered, to allow Vane to shuffle in behind and stand
against the wall.

The
lighting was poor, but from what Vane could see, Amison was a tall and stately
man with a closely cropped beard. He dressed as finely as anyone Vane had even
seen, the king included. The Duke of Yangerton looked older than Rexson,
approaching fifty, and his tawny hair was beginning to gray, but not to thin.
His voice was deep and assertive when he spoke. He had not dared to sit without
the king’s bidding, in deference to what Vane assumed was court protocol, but
the boy did not imagine for a second the man feared Rexson or held him in much
regard. He seemed annoyed to have been kept waiting, and spoke before the king
could utter a word.

“Your
Majesty, I....”

“A
moment, Amison,” spoke the king, and poked his head into the corridor to call a
passing servant back: an excuse to explain not shutting the door behind him. He
ordered brandy to be brought for the two of them, and then secured their
privacy. He nodded Amison to seats at the circular table opposite his desk.

“Some
business involving my estate in the capital brought me to town, and I wished to
assure myself of your health. When Your Majesty couldn’t make it into Yangerton
last month for the annual dedication of crop and handiwork to the Giver, with
hardly an explanation, I feared the reason could only be related to....”

Amison’s
tone belied him. More likely he had hoped the king was ill. Rexson stopped him
right there and said, “I have never been in better health. I wrote you
directly, stating that a scare involving my daughter’s health and an unexpected
disagreement between the vintners and tavernkeepers must keep me in Podrar. Was
the message not received? I was told you read it in the presence of my courier.”