The Sartious Mage (The Rhythm of Rivalry) (44 page)

I tried to do it, but it was like trying to hold my breath and fall asleep. I figured even if I somehow managed to keep the energy out and fall asleep, my body would start absorbing the energy again once I was asleep. It would grow to a potency my body considered poisonous, and then it would be expelled with a nightmare.

But I couldn’t even sleep while focusing on keeping the energy out anyway. It took too much focus, causing me to stay awake.

One thing that got me excited was that she found great success in having another Sartious mage help her. She had someone else come into her room while she was sleeping and suck up all the SE he could. He did this four times throughout the night, expelling the energy about fifty yards from her room each time, and she had no nightmares. A week later, they tried it again but spaced it out to three times throughout the night. It worked again. However, when they tried only two, the nightmare returned.

The possibilities it created got my mind rolling. If there was something—some plant or animal—that sucked up SE, that could be all I needed. I didn’t know of one, but I was hardly an expert on the great variety of plants and animals in the world. It gave me hope.

Besides the journal, the rest of my time was spent helping Sannil and Kalli get ready to move. We had a lot to buy from The Nest, even more to sell, and we had a lot of preparation to do on the farm before it was ready for a buyer.

Sannil had a cousin in Facian, about ten miles southwest of The Nest, who had a small house for sale that he’d been holding for our family. I could tell Sannil and Kalli were eager to move, but they were being polite by hiding it as best they could, for they knew I was waiting for a messenger.

They suggested I deliver a message to the palace with our new address, and the King’s men would find me there when it was time for my training. I knew that was true, but honestly it was Lisanda I was thinking about when I told them I wanted to wait a few more days.

Even without me mentioning Lisanda’s name, they must’ve known.

“She can find you at our new home in Facian,” Kalli told me with a sweet tone.

I shook my head. “Her father might not give her the new address.”

My father and sister shared a nervous glance I pretended not to see. I’d heard them speaking about me with low voices when they thought I wasn’t close enough to hear. They didn’t believe Lisanda would be allowed to see me, and they worried I would never come to terms with it. While they didn’t say this to me directly, I could see it in their sad eyes every time we talked.

On the third day, I got Sannil’s permission to borrow his new horse for a ride to the palace in an attempt to see her.

The guards stopped me at the gate, and I could see they recognized me.

“Jek Trayden?” one of them asked.

“Yes, I would like to see Lisanda Takary.”

They both shook their heads. “We have orders not to allow you in the palace yet. The King isn’t ready.”

“Could you tell Lisanda I’m outside?”

They each pressed their lips into their teeth as they shared a glance. One of them took a slow breath and said, “Let me check with our superior.”

I made polite conversation with the other guard, though my mind couldn’t stop picturing Lisanda gracefully descending the stairs past the gate. I stared at the tall wooden doors in anticipation.

Ten minutes it took before the doors opened again and the guard came through. Unfortunately, Micah Vail was with him instead of Lisanda.

He shook my hand, though his face was grim, ready to deliver news I didn’t want to hear.

“She’s not here, Jek.”

“Where is she?” I readied myself to travel wherever I needed to go, but then I remembered I was supposed to be back before sunset. Sannil needed the horse tomorrow. “Please tell me it’s not far,” I added.

“Lisanda went to the docks this morning with Jessend, who’s sailing across the Starving Ocean to Kyrro.”

Leaving? The docks were one hundred and fifty miles from here. Terror seemed to take control of my body, turning my horse east and getting ready to kick before I even had a moment to consider what I was doing.

Micah grabbed the reins. “Lisanda’s not leaving with Jessend, she just went to see her sister off. She’ll be back sometime tomorrow.”

I remembered to breathe again. I’d misunderstood. “What’s Jessend going to do in Kyrro?”

“Danvell Takary needed someone to go who he could trust and Jessend volunteered. It took hours of arguing before he finally decided to let her go. I was there throughout all of it.” He sighed. “She’s a stubborn one.”

There was a shadow of a smile along his mouth as he shook his head. It was as if he knew it should be comical but it had happened too recently to be funny yet.

“We haven’t heard from the Takarys in Kyrro in many years because it’s a dangerous trip over the Starving Ocean. In addition to checking on them, it looks like we’re going to need any men and women they can spare. Jessend will be our liaison. Her retinue and Takary name should protect her once she’s there; it’s the five days each way over water that makes us nervous.”

This was just creating more questions that didn’t have to do with Lisanda. I didn’t know there were Takarys overseas, and I didn’t care at that moment. “I wish her luck,” I said politely. “I’ll come back tomorrow when Lisanda is here.”

“Well…” Micah Vail led my horse away from the guards who were listening. “It would just be a waste of time. Oleya says the antidote to the poison Lisanda consumed might not completely clean it from her body, meaning her mind can still be affected long after.”

“I don’t understand. If she’s healthy enough to go with Jessend to the docks—”

“Sorry, let me explain better. When Lisanda woke, she was not herself. She was manic…crying and laughing, confused and incoherent. It was a painful sight to watch, taking half the day before we could even understand her.”

I felt claws digging into my stomach and twisting at the thought of her like that. “But she’s better now?”

“Yes, she seems back to her old self.”

I took a breath of relief. “But then why can’t I see her?”

Micah rubbed his forehead as his eyes sank. “You were the first subject she brought up that we could understand, Jek. And she wouldn’t stop talking about you.”

I would’ve thought this was good news, but his face said otherwise. “What did she say?” I asked, my chest tightening with dread. Did she tell them I’d hurt her? Maybe that I’d seduced her?

“She was raving about how you were innocent and how she needed to see you, even claiming she loved you. She yelled it over and over again like a mad woman.”

I was hit with too many emotions at once to comprehend what I was feeling. Tears started surfacing but I kept myself from letting them out. My whole body was flushed with a burning feeling that clouded my thoughts.

“So, she sounded insane…” I answered for him. I was flattered she’d said these things about me, but they couldn’t have come at a worse time.

“Yes, absolutely insane. Even though she’s much better now, her father and sister believe the poison has produced false feelings for you because her mind was twisted when you saved her. Lisanda’s made it very clear she wants to see you, but her father is reluctant. He thinks the sight of you could trigger a relapse in insanity, which Oleya says is possible.”

“Her feelings toward me are sincere,” I said as factually as I could, though I could feel anger ready to erupt if I was doubted.

Micah tilted his head. A smile slowly grew along his mouth, starting from one side to the other. “Bastial hell, you’re telling the truth.” He shook his head and laughed. “One of these days you’ll have to tell me everything that happened after you left the palace. It’s unlike Lisanda to fall for someone so soon after meeting them—she’s not like Jessend. And you took her against her will, dragging her through the dirty southern streets! I can’t imagine her being pleased with that.” He laughed again.

I felt my lips curl into a smile. “I promise to tell you the whole story whenever you wish to hear it. Will you set up a meeting?”

“I’ll try to talk to the King now that I know her feelings are genuine. There’s no reason to come back here until you’re summoned, though, whether it be to see Lisanda or begin your training. Wait for someone to visit your farm.” He lowered his head to encourage my confirmation.

Knowing the only way I would see Lisanda was within the palace, there was no reason to stay at the farm any longer. So I told Micah we were moving and gave him our new address.

He wasn’t surprised, knowing Sannil had wanted a new home.

“I’ll await the summons there,” I said. “Any estimation of how long I must wait?”

“The King and his staff should be ready to begin your training in a few days. I can’t give you an answer about being able to see Lisanda, though.”

“I understand.” I was reminded of another worry. “Was Danvell Takary upset with you when you told him about the dressing room?”

Micah’s eyes went wide as if reliving a painful experience. “Ah, that.” He ran his hand down the horse’s mane. “Yes, he was very upset, but he understood my reasoning. However, it will be the
last
time I do something like
that
.”

His voice was choppy, wavering with unusual inflection. I figured he was reciting exactly what the King had told him.

We spent the rest of our time discussing the journal. He loved my idea about a plant or animal sucking up the SE, but he didn’t know of one, either. He told me he would have people look into it, and I thanked him three times before I felt my gratitude for everything he’d done was adequately expressed.

My family began moving the next morning.

By sunset we were in our new home, but I knew I wouldn’t be there for long. The King’s Mage was to take residence within the palace, and I was to be the King’s Mage.

I tried to tell myself I would see Lisanda again, whether or not the King permitted it. If we were going to be in the same palace, it would happen—I really wanted to believe so. But another part of me knew the palace was big enough for two people to live there for years before serendipitously being in the same place at the same time.

The biggest issue, though, was that I knew she would marry someone soon—the King had mentioned setting her up with the man previously intended for Jessend. But Lisanda had described him as more evil than Exo.

I couldn’t let that happen. Some way or another I would stop it. It may cost me my new job, but that would be a small price to pay…even if I wasn’t the one she ended up with instead.

It wasn’t that I didn’t appreciate the King’s gratitude or that I held a grudge. I was free, even offered a prestigious position among his staff. I’d always wanted to use my magic for good and spend my life learning from other mages. I just couldn’t wrap my mind around the idea of Lisanda being stuck with a man of pure evil.

Three days later, I was still trying to get used to thinking of Facian as home, but my body just didn’t want to acclimate. I’d awoken the first two mornings expecting to find the farm out my window, and the crowded streets of The Nest on the third, always forgetting I was in neither of those places anymore. The houses in Facian were small—cozy, I should say.

Most people had a yard roughly the size of their house, and a few animals to go with it, a goat, a cow, some pigs, but chickens were the most popular. They always reminded me of Lisanda leaning against my chest to move away from them after she woke in the caged wagon I’d stolen.

In the afternoon, there was a knock at the door, and a green-robed Sartious mage of the King greeted me with a scroll and a pen. Over her shoulder, I could see all our new neighbors looking while pretending to be busy. Sannil and Kalli took their place behind me, Sannil resting his hand on my shoulder.

“It looks like it’s time,” he said.

I opened the scroll and held it up so he and Kalli could see.

I pledge my service to the King of Goldram, Danvell Takary, as the King’s Mage. My tasks will require a mastery of magic that will range from training and instructing other mages to fighting in the name of Goldram. I vow to follow any order from my superior and keep my own orders to my subordinates in the interests of the King.

Signature:

“My subordinates?” I asked the woman in front of me. I’d never imagined I would have subordinates. It didn’t feel right. There was no doubt they would be older than me…and probably bitter to be commanded by me.

“Don’t worry, your training will cover that,” she answered with a smile. “Please sign and we can be on our way.”

“Are you absolutely sure I can’t convince you not to do this?” Sannil shook my shoulder with a rough but affectionate massage. He and Kalli both knew I wanted this and couldn’t disagree I was probably the perfect person for the job, but they’d still tried to talk me out of it every day. It was the idea of fighting for Goldram that worried them, especially with war coming.

“I’m certain,” I said, signing my name. I had my books and clothes ready to go, gave one last hug to my family, and told them I would visit often. They knew it was the truth.

The carriage waiting for me was roofed. It was draped with a fine cloth showing the blue soaring wings of the Takary family. I laughed to myself. It was too much, and I preferred to be able to see out of the carriage during the trip. But I didn’t complain.