The Queen of Mages (57 page)

“You were saying something about
destiny?”

“Yes. We hear that you have founded
something of a school here, which is most commendable, but I’m
afraid his majesty cannot have such a thing out of his
control.”

“A reasonable demand, if Edon were a
reasonable man,” Amira said. “But he has poisoned the well, so to
speak. What he has done is unforgivable.”

“And yet must be forgiven, for he is the
king, and there will be no other for many years to come. I do not
think either of us want a war for the throne.”

Amira hesitated. No sane person wanted war,
but how could she live with Edon on the throne? No matter what he
did or said, she would never trust him, and she could never
surrender herself to his control. The feeling reinforced itself
with every beat of her heart. “I have no reason to trust Edon, but
he has no reason to distrust me. All I have done was in
self-defense against his actions, which even you must admit were
unjust in the extreme. So therefore I propose that we be left alone
to manage our affairs as mages as we see fit. Edon can do what he
likes with mages who have decided to support him.”

“But you are still Edon’s subjects. The
realm cannot run if counts may ignore lawful orders issued by their
king. There is too much at stake. And do you know for certain that
Garovans are the only people to have developed this power? What if
there are Vaslander mages, or Parilian, or Liahni? It does not take
much imagination to guess that foreign nations might be emboldened
by this new weapon, and attempt attacks or invasions that they
might not otherwise.” Chyros’s smile had vanished by now, and he
leaned forward urgently. “Garova would never let its army of
regular soldiers split into factions and defend the realm as they
see fit. Neither will it let its new army do so.”

“We are no army,” Razh scoffed. “We are
merely trying to find our place in the world.”

“Then you are a naïve fool,” Chyros snapped.
Was this new anger just a ploy, or had he really expected Amira to
fold so easily, and become agitated by her refusal? “His majesty’s
forces, both mundane and magical, outnumber yours, and he has the
whole realm at his disposal. He would rather not destroy valuable
resources such as yourselves, but he will if he has to.” He locked
eyes with Razh. “You were a loyal subject of the king’s, as was
your father, and his father before him. What do you think will
happen to the people of this county if you countenance a war
here?”

Razh stiffened. “Do not threaten my people.
If there is war here, it will be your doing, not ours.”

“The commoners will not see it that way.”
Chyros stood up abruptly. He had begun to turn red. “I will tell
King Edon of your refusal. The black spirits take you all.”

The other mages all gasped, and even the
normally amiable Razh glowered at the malediction. Amira shot to
her feet and summoned her bead. “Your discourtesy marks you as
Edon’s creature through and through,” she spat. “Get out.”

Chyros inclined his head only an insulting
fraction and strode for the door. Amira and the other mages
followed him out and watched him carefully until he had reclaimed
his sword, mounted his horse, and led his
valo
back out
through the gate.

Amira looked around at all those who had
gathered to her. Her husband, their
valai
, Count Razh, who
had given them so much. The other mages, all so young. Cold fear
slithered through her. “We must prepare for battle,” she said,
looking at the city gate. She could see silver sparks glint through
it from time to time. Never before had that sight made her feel
dread.

———

They spent the rest of the day preparing for
a siege. Razh had the ships at the docks warned that a mage battle
might be coming, and that they’d be safer if they put a few hundred
yards of water between them and the city. As soon as Edon’s army
began to spread out, to encircle the city, the other gates were
shut. Not that the attackers had to come in through the gates; Edon
and his mages could just as easily blast through the walls.

Razh had a map of the city brought to them.
They would all have been more comfortable at the castle, but Razh
and Amira were two of the strongest mages in the city; their power
could not be hidden far from where it might be needed. So they
commandeered the counting-house again as their base of operations.
A desk was cleared and Razh laid out the map before them. Amira
peered at the little markings indicating the walls, gates, and
important buildings within the city.

The school’s mages, all except one, agreed
to help defend the city. The only one who refused was a wisp of a
girl named Siobhan, who said she was too terrified. In any case she
was among the newest and weakest mages, so Razh instead drafted her
as a messenger, to ride about the city and carry news from one
defensive position to another.

The other mages were arrayed along the city
walls. By watching for the silver light, they were able to
determine that Edon had spread the bulk of his mages along the
north and west of the city. The soldiers to the south had only one
or two mages with them, presumably to prevent that direction from
being an easy escape. Edon’s men did not go around to the docks at
all; perhaps they’d assumed that with the ships all out to sea,
there was no way Amira would try to escape in that direction.

Not that she had any intention of fleeing.
Battle was coming, and it was because of her, wasn’t it? Just like
at Foxhill Keep. The memory of that dark night chilled her. She
shook it off and peered at the map, wishing there were some way to
stop Edon, some way that would not mean the deaths of hundreds or
thousands of men, the deaths of her mages, her friends… maybe her
vala
or her husband. Dardan had been gruff all day, and she
could not blame him. Perhaps he was having the same worries. She
longed to embrace him and rest her head against his shoulder.

“Is there any chance we could attack him
first?” Garen asked when she went up to the wall to gaze out at
Edon’s forces in the afternoon sun. She’d come to walk a circuit of
the city and check on her mages, while Dardan and Razh led the
efforts down below to arrange the mundane guards and plan for
if—when—Edon’s forces breached the walls.

Amira shrugged. “I asked the same thing of
Count Razh. He and Dardan both said we’d be slaughtered. At least
here we have some measure of defense.”

Garen leaned against the merlon, as if eager
to run out himself and wreak havoc. Amira had been amazed by his
growth in the time since they’d left Stony Vale. He’d always had a
good head on his shoulders, even back in that little town, and he
had adjusted easily to the wider world. When they’d begun the
school, he’d volunteered to teach everything he knew. The other
students looked to him for guidance when Amira wasn’t around. “Then
I intend to make him pay for every bloody inch he takes,” Garen
declared.

There was a time when she’d have smiled at
that, but now she felt that cold shiver again. She could not share
his confidence. But she didn’t want to undermine it, either. She
nodded and moved on to check on the other mages.

At the northwest corner of the city wall
Amira stopped again to look out at Edon’s army. Cora was stationed
there with another of the young mages, Irion. Cora was tall and
plump, with a hawk nose and steel eyes. She had an ungainly way of
moving and some of the other students had made fun of her at first,
but she worked hard and had come to almost rival Francine in her
deftness and agility with the power. Amira had once watched Cora
hold off three other mages throwing beads at her; none of them
could get past her defense to hit a target behind her.

She only nodded to the girl, though. Cora
did not do well with small talk, and preferred silence. Just as
well; Amira wanted a little solitude for the moment.

Not that she got it. Katin had cleaved
quietly to her side all day, and no sooner had Amira stopped to
look out over the wall again than her
vala
spoke. “We’re
doomed,” she said quietly.

Amira eyed her. “I’d been planning to wait
until later to surrender unconditionally.”

Katin met her gaze. Amira expected Katin’s
usual brusqueness, but now she saw only sadness. “I’m
pregnant.”

Amira’s jaw dropped open. “Katin!
Why—how—how long have you known?”

“My moon blood hasn’t come twice now. It’s
no coincidence.”

Amira felt a sudden glee for her friend and
embraced her, but Katin did not share it. “I shouldn’t have told
you,” the
vala
muttered. “You have too much to worry about.
And we’re likely all going to die here. You know that.”

“I know nothing,” Amira said. “I know
nothing except that we will win because while Edon fights for glory
and pride, we fight for our lives. We will be the fiercer today,
for we have more to protect. But you must go and hide. Down near
the docks. The fighting may not reach there even if Edon comes into
the city.”

“No—m’lady, my place is with you—”

“I will not hear of it! I mean nothing by
it, but you will be useless in a battle. You have someone else to
protect now.” She touched Katin’s belly and, for a brief moment,
thought she sensed the life within. “Go. You must.”

Katin stared at her for too long, then
nodded slightly and turned away. Amira was happy for her, but
couldn’t help feeling vexed.
Another life that we might
lose.

That night she dreamt of flying over Garova,
swift as a bird. She
was
a bird. She flew past Seawatch,
over the Black Mountains, and landed before the Skysilver Spire.
Then she was herself again. She touched the Spire, and it opened,
and took her to another world, one where everything made sense and
no one was trying to kill her.

———

The attack came at dawn. It was traditional,
Razh had warned her the previous night. This way, the whole day was
free for battle. Edon had been impatient at Foxhill Keep, attacking
in the night. Battle was chaotic enough without doing it in
darkness.

With mages, the attacking army had no need
for traditional siege machinery. Elland had a goodly number of
bowmen and a modest supply of arrows. Even small bows had a greater
range than mages did. With luck, they’d thin out Edon’s soldiers
and maybe even pick off a few mages.

But when the first flocks of arrows rose
into the morning sky, both sides discovered just how useless the
bowmen were. Edon had enough mages that their beads rose like
lightning into the sky to meet the falling arrows, and dozens of
shafts were blasted to bits or burned to ash as they fell. Only a
few arrows even reached the ground, and Amira saw only one that
actually hit a man.

When Edon’s mages got closer, they began
flinging their beads toward the walls. Amira didn’t see Edon in his
golden armor, and wondered if perhaps he had disguised himself so
as to be less of a target, or if perhaps Lord Chyros had lied and
Edon was not even with the army at all.
No. He’s out there.
Edon would oversee this battle himself, she was certain.

She and the other mages ran back and forth
along the wall, to where Edon’s mages had gathered in clusters,
trying to break through. She watched for their deadly silver beads,
and sent her own beads rushing to intercept and dissipate them. The
buzzing in her head was near-constant.

Edon’s mages certainly had the numerical
advantage; there were two or three of them for every one on the
walls of Elland. But defending was easier than attacking, and so
for a while there was a stalemate. Amira suffered more from the
fatigue of her body than of her mind; she could barely stop for a
drink of water, though city guardsmen kept her and her mages
well-supplied.

After more than an hour without any
progress, Edon’s men pulled back at a series of shouts from someone
further back. She thought perhaps it was Lord Chyros, orchestrating
their efforts. Amira went and found Garen and Francine, their heads
together as they discussed what they’d seen so far.

“They’re slow, m’lady,” Francine said to
her. The girl wore the same cotton dress she’d worn the day they’d
found her at her farm, a dress she washed and ironed and neatly
folded each night.

“You’re freakishly fast,” Garen said to her,
and Francine blushed, smiling. Amira had seen the two of them
walking together in the castle’s yard from time to time, holding
hands. Good for them, if they’d found companionship.

Francine pulled nervously on her braid. “I
mean they’re slow even for normal mages. I don’t know if they’ve
been drilling and training like us. If they timed it right, they
could slip a bead past… well, past me, even. But they just throw
the beads like sh—um, like throwing mud at a wall, and hoping
something sticks.”

Garen nodded. “Even still, we’re spending
all our time blocking their beads. I doubt we’ll ever get a bead
through to use against them.” He glanced around, and added quietly,
“I don’t see how we’re going to stop them forever.”

“We’ll think of something,” Amira assured
him, glad that she sounded more confident than she felt.

After an hour’s respite, Edon’s mages came
again. This time they were organized into two large groups, a few
hundred yards apart, facing south toward the city. Amira sent word
for her own mages to match them in similar, if smaller,
clusters.

The beads came again, and again her mages
held them off, but it seemed as if the beads of Edon’s mages were
getting closer to the wall before being dispelled. She could
clearly see the faces of the men and women down outside the walls.
More men than women, it seemed, by a margin of perhaps three to
one, but all of them grim with concentration. The women could do
little to breach the walls, but if they could hit any of Amira’s
mages, and reduce their numbers, then the men’s beads would burrow
into the walls and bring them down that much sooner.