The Queen of Mages (44 page)

“You haven’t spent much time with him. He
longs to see the world. Certainly he loves it here, his friends and
family and all, but he knows it is a small village in a big
realm.”

“You’re right,” Dardan said, letting a
little heat seep into his voice. “You’ve spent quite a lot more
time with him than I have.”

Amira caught his meaning, and blushed a
little. “Nothing untoward has happened. I promise. We are simply…
two apprentices with no master.”

“I believe you,” Dardan said, “but I will
have to ensure that
he
does not have the wrong idea.”

———

They found Garen out in the square,
surrounded by townsfolk, answering the same questions over and
over: Hadn’t he been frightened? What did the soldiers want? Why
didn’t he just blow them up?

The crowd parted when Dardan walked up with
Amira at his side. “Garen,” he said.

“Uh—m’lord,” he said, going uncertainly to
one knee. “M’lady.”

“No!” Amira said. “Never that. Not you. Do
you understand?”

He rose again. “Yes. Amira.” He eyed Dardan.
“M’lord,” he repeated tentatively.

Damn the girl, what was she thinking? She
was a noble, and Garen was a commoner. Whatever power they shared
was no reason to suddenly dispense with their stations. Could she
not go five minutes without some impulsive act?

“I think you know that you cannot stay
here,” Dardan said to Garen. “Warden Penrose knows who you are, and
will likely return with an entire regiment. Even you would have
trouble fighting them all off.”

“I—I understand. I think. My family…”

“There is little to be done. I know that
your work for Master Orville helps provide for them, and they will
lose that income. I can donate some of our gold to help make up for
it.” Dardan put a hand on the boy’s shoulder. It was silly; Garen
was not even a year younger than him. But like all Garovans, he’d
been born and bred to respect—and obey—the nobility. He could not
let Amira forget that, either. “You ought to come with us. Best
pack your things and be ready to go at once.”

Garen took several long breaths, then
straightened himself up and nodded. “I will. M’lord.” He turned and
ran off toward the Walkers’ house.

“What about the soldiers?” Amira asked.

Dardan had already given it some thought.
The enlisted men could simply be set free, to make their way to the
nearest garrison, and let the king’s army deal with them. He didn’t
think they’d be likely to make trouble, or turn to banditry; they’d
done nothing wrong and their superiors would gladly welcome back
trained men who had been briefly detained.

But the Warden was an entirely different
story. “Excuse us,” Dardan said to the crowd of townsfolk that
surrounded them, and led Amira over toward the magistrate’s office.
When they had privacy again, he stopped and faced her. “I saw you
staring at Warden Iris earlier.”

She glared at him. “Must you suspect me of
being faithless with every man I come across?”

“Actually, I’d thought no such thing,” he
said evenly. “But now that you mention it…”

Now she looked mortified and furious, and he
had to laugh. “I apologize, it was only a jest. What I meant was,
is there something you had in mind for the Warden? From what was
described of the battle, he seems to have avoided killing anyone,
and tried to put a stop to it.”

Amira looked away for a moment, still
annoyed at him, but her response was calm. “He expressed regret for
Penrose’s behavior,” she said. “What he said earlier, about making
things right…”

Dardan didn’t quite understand. The Warden
would no doubt have useful information; they should at try least
interrogate him. He shrugged and led his wife to the magistrate’s
office.

The office was one long chamber, with a pair
of desks up in the front, pushed up against opposing wooden walls.
In the back was an iron-barred cage, firmly bolted to the walls,
containing Warden Iris and the other soldiers. Some of them sat on
a hard wooden bench, but Iris stood straight, watching Dardan and
Amira.

Magistrate Baxter was there, and a few
townsmen who were serving as temporary deputies. Constable Adams
was missing, and Dardan did not mind one bit.

“Count Tarian,” Baxter said, rising from his
desk and bowing hurriedly when he saw them.

“Magistrate. As I am not the count of
Elsingham, by rights I have no authority over those soldiers.
However, a wise and just man would have them escorted to the
Seawatch road, and then let them make their own way. The nearest
garrison is just outside the walls of Seawatch, and they will no
doubt find a warm welcome there.”

“That is… reasonable, m’lord.” In short
order, the soldiers had been released from the cage and sent off
with a party of townsfolk—twenty men, eager to volunteer, and
including Baxter, to make sure that the soldiers met with no
accident along the way. Some of the townsmen had lost friends or
family today, and it would not do for them to seek revenge.

Dardan asked Warden Iris to stay, and he
obliged, waiting patiently until Baxter and the other men were
gone. Dardan invited Iris to sit in the front of the office. Amira
stood behind Dardan, her hand resting lightly on his shoulder. She
had not moved out of arm’s reach since their first embrace, he’d
noticed, not even during their argument at the inn. It felt good
having her near.

“Warden Iris,” Dardan began. The other man
had not donned his armor yet, and wore only a simple gray linen
shirt and trousers. His silvered plate and his sword with its
pommel capped in mother of pearl lay in a pile back by the cell.
“If you will, I would like you to tell me everything you can about
the mission King Edon sent you on.”

Iris was no man to be cowed by nobles, as
the magistrate had been. Wardens were taught to respect the
nobility, but the unthinking obedience was hammered out of them in
their training. Dardan figured that politeness would gain the man’s
cooperation more easily than threats or demands.

Iris pursed his lips for a moment before he
began. If he held any reluctance to provide information to them, he
did not show it. “It was after our return from Vasland. His majesty
dispatched us on a mission to find and gather mages to him, such as
m’lady here.” His eyes darted to Amira for an instant, but then
they locked onto Dardan once more. Dardan was surprised that Iris
did not stare at his wife.
Every
man stared at Amira at one
time or another. It had made him jealous at first, but Dardan was
learning what a valuable tool it was to have a distractingly
beautiful woman at his side.

The Warden went on. “His majesty gave us
special instructions to seek the pair of you, by name and title. We
departed east from Thorncross, and by investigation tracked you
through Tyndam Town and east along the Seawatch road. We did not
know you were here in this village until we arrived this morning.
Constable Adams recounted the events since your arrival, including
the various demonstrations of m’lady’s power.”

“You passed through Tyndam Town?” Amira
asked. Her voice was tight, Dardan could hear, and he wanted badly
to turn and look at her, but he kept his eyes on the Warden.

“Yes, m’lady. And…” Here he paused for a
long while. He was clearly struggling with something. “I fear that
I may seem a man who tries to avoid responsibility for events I am
involved in, what with all my denials about the perfidies committed
by Warden Penrose. So in that vein, please forgive me for what I am
about to tell you. We went to Tyndam Town, and by our investigation
learned that you two had been there and met with Count Barnard
Kirth. Count Kirth said that he had treated you as guests befitting
your station, and claimed to have no knowledge of your power. But
then Penrose questioned Count Kirth’s
valo
separately, and
broke the man. He revealed all. Count Kirth knew of your power,
knew that Edon hunted you, and not only let you leave, but threw
you a wedding feast.” He hesitated another moment; Dardan saw him
gulp. “Warden Penrose charged Count Kirth with treason and executed
him.”

Amira emitted a strangled cry, and her hand
clamped hard on Dardan’s shoulder. His own spirit roiled with shock
and outrage. “And I suppose you had nothing to do with it!”

Warden Iris shrugged. “I advised him against
it, but he was my commander. It is not so easy to break my oaths
merely because my conscience comes calling.”

“What happened next?” Amira said. Now Dardan
looked up at her. Fury was written on her face, and he squeezed her
hand until she met his gaze. He needed to make sure she didn’t do
something drastic like kill the Warden in a rage. She seemed to
sense this from him, and nodded slightly.

“The town was in an uproar. Penrose
threatened them all with treason if they tried to do anything. He
told them to manage the succession and get on with their lives.
Still, we departed the town with haste, before any kind of revenge
could be organized. I suspect that I will not ever again be welcome
in Tyndam County.”

“At the very least,” Dardan said. “What
then?”

“We went south to the Seawatch road, and
east in this direction. We found a few inns along the way where you
had stopped, and the innkeepers remembered you. You specifically,
m’lady,” he said, glancing up at Amira again. “Your beauty was oft
mentioned.” And here Dardan noticed that Mason’s eyes finally
lingered on Amira, if just for a moment. He looked at Dardan again
and continued. “As to our other purpose, we found no other mages,
which suited Penrose just as well, for he wanted to find you above
all, sensing that it was the most important part of our task. I
must apologize, for it was my suggestion to turn down the road
leading here, while Penrose wanted to go straight on to Seawatch. I
was surprised when he agreed, for he did not much care for my
counsel.” This last came out with some bitterness. Dardan wondered
what was behind it.

“And thus today’s events. Well. What are we
to do with you?”

Iris looked pointedly at him. “My oaths
require me to insist that you surrender yourselves to me at once,
and accompany me back to Callaston.”

“An option that we will clearly not
allow.”

“Clearly.”

“I have a better idea,” Amira said. “Come
with us.”

Iris leaned back, as if struck. “What?”

“What?” Dardan echoed. He rose to his feet
and glared at her. “Amira, what in the black spirits are you
talking about?”

She stepped over to Warden Iris. Now he
stared at her as she came to a halt just before him. “We are
departing Stony Vale. Forever. The other mage, Garen, is coming
with us, as he clearly cannot stay here either. But I think you no
longer want to serve the king. I think you are caught in a struggle
between your oath and honor, and what you know in your heart to be
right.” She paused, and tilted her head a little. “What did you see
in Vasland?”

Iris licked his lips before speaking.
“Essentially, his majesty invaded Vasland, killed thousands of
them, and lost only a handful of men. The fortresses in the high
passes were nothing before his power. The Vaslanders in the
lowlands beyond were scattered like leaves on the wind. We were
there perhaps a week before he decided that his message had been
gotten across.”

“And what did you personally do there?”

Iris was silent for a long time. He looked
away from Amira several times, but always came back to meet her
gaze. “I mourned the dead.”

An even longer silence stretched, as
Dardan’s wife and this strange, affectless Warden stared at one
another. She was the one to break it. “So Edon wants to gather
mages? Then so shall we. To fight him, perhaps. Maybe only to
discourage him from trying to find us. Maybe just to defend
ourselves. A Warden at our side would be a great asset in such a
search.”

“I will not forswear my oaths, m’lady.”

“And yet you cannot fulfill them. I would
kill you, or myself, before letting you bring me to that monster. I
daresay Edon wants me alive, does he not?”

Iris’s silence gave the answer to that. His
mask of equanimity was beginning to slip, Dardan thought.

“Then consider it an extension of your
mission. You cannot bring me to Callaston. You cannot simply
abandon me and go back a failure. So accompany us, and maybe some
opportunity will present itself to you.”

“While you gather mages to oppose the lawful
king.”

Amira shrugged. “Your choice lies before
you.”

Dardan’s mouth hung open. Amira wanted to
create a mage army of her own? And bring this hostile Warden along?
But there was a spell here, between her and the Warden, and
something prevented Dardan from saying anything that might break
it.

The Warden’s eyes glinted. After a long,
tense moment, he nodded. “Then I will accompany you. But make no
mistake: I am not your creature. I serve the king, and my
Order.”

“I would have it no other way.” She held out
a hand. Iris hesitated, but took it, and rose. “There is one other
thing I must insist upon. While you accompany me, you must swear
that you will do nothing to harm myself, my husband, or any other
companion of mine.”

Iris jerked to a halt. “What?”

“I cannot have you with us if there is any
risk of you bringing us harm. Swear that you will do as I asked. I
will trust that you will hold true to your oaths.”

Dardan stared in amazement. Did she really
think this Warden could be trusted so easily?

While Warden Iris mulled over this latest
demand, Amira continued on. “I’m afraid that if you refuse, I will
insist that Magistrate Baxter keep you locked up here for, oh, a
few weeks. Long enough for you to lose our trail.”

Perhaps Iris simply couldn’t believe her
hubris, but after staring for nearly a minute, he nodded again. “I
swear I will not do anything to harm you or your companions. So
long as I accompany you on this journey of yours,” he added. “Do
not think I will refrain forever.”