Salamander (17 page)

The two fell silent, Mari watching Ellen. After a minute she spoke again: "Edwin isn't the only man in the college who is in love."

Ellen said nothing.

"Alys is right, you know; anyone with eyes can see it. When you and Coelus are in the same room, he is almost always looking at you. The tone of his voice when he speaks to you is different. It's as if, for him, the rest of us are only half real. One of these days, or months, or years, he is going to ask you if he can speak to your mother. If you don't want that to happen, you should be thinking now of what to do. If you do want it … . "

"And what about me?" Ellen's tone was light, almost careless, if the listener had not known her. "What can anyone with eyes see?"

"You have more practice hiding things than he does. Seeing you together it might be only a partnership of minds. But the tone of your voice when you mention him is different, just a little, from when you talk about anyone else."

Ellen looked down a moment, then back at Mari. "Suppose you had been living in a foreign country for a long time, doing your best to speak their language, dress the way they do, fit in, and then you met someone from your own country who spoke your language and understood you when you spoke it. That is what it is like. I am not sure if I'm in love with him—but I know that the College would feel cold and empty if he left."

Mari nodded her understanding, gave her friend a quick hug. It was some time before Ellen spoke again, this time in a deliberately casual tone.

"How are you getting home?"

"Riding, thanks be. Father wanted to send a coach, but since you weren't willing to accompany me to Northpass, I persuaded him to send two men and my favorite mare instead—they're at the inn waiting for me. It's beautiful weather, nice countryside, good roads. What about you?"

"I'm staying for another couple of weeks to finish a project with Magister Coelus. After that I plan to go home for a while. I have quite a lot to tell Mother and I hope she will have ideas that will help me with my work. Will you be at Northpass all summer?"

Mari shrugged. "I expect to be with the family all summer. Father thinks the Forstings on the other side of the pass are up to something. After he and Prince Kieron deal with it or prove Father wrong, I expect to be back at our townhouse in the capital. If you have time free later in the summer, you might visit. If I am still up north I can leave word to lend you a horse. You can ride up—it's only about four days travel, the last through pretty empty country, but I expect you can protect yourself well enough."

Ellen nodded. "Yes. And thank you for not saying so last time, when Alys was being silly about my riding home alone. I expect I am less at risk than anyone else in the College, but it doesn't do to say so."

The two
girls were quiet for a while, absorbed in their own thoughts, until a familiar voice interrupted.

"Did everyone get off all right? Would’ve said goodbye, but something came up." Jon stopped for a moment. Ellen, correctly reading his glowing face, put the question. "What sort of something? Did your plan to get a free ride work out?"

"Not yet.
N
ot sure if they needed an extra groom or not. Expect I will manage, one way or another, but not this week."

Mari interrupted him. "Because? You look like my younger brother, opening gifts on midwinter day. Tell us what happened."

"It's the library. Magister Jerik offered me room and board the next two weeks, exchange for helping with the manuscripts in the back room. There are all sorts of things there," he turned to Ellen, "including a draft of Olver's first treatise in his own handwriting! Thought you would find that interesting."

"Very. So will Coelus. It might clear up some of the things we were not sure about when we read through the treatise. Could you tell how close it was to the published text?"

Jon shook his head. "No. After the first few pages, I get lost. It’s for you and Magister Coelus, not me. But a lot of other interesting things there, and I get to read all of them! Need to go home eventually—mother and father and all the younger ones will want to see me. But I can wait till the coach people are willing t
o
trade a free ride for help with the horses, and the longer it takes … "

"… the more of the library you get to absorb. Mari is leaving, but I'll be here a bit longer, so if you want my help, just ask."

***

Fieras entered the room, a thick sheaf of papers in one hand, bowed to Lord Iolen.

"You have read it all?"

"I have. I am impressed. I am not sure I want to know how your Lordship managed it, but I am curious to know what the condition of the three mages is and how soon His Highness will discover that someone else has gotten at them."

Iolen responded with a cold smile:

"Sometimes a little thought does more than either force or magery. The three mages are in the same condition my man found them in. With reasonable luck, my uncle will never know."

Fieras said nothing, but his face spoke for him.

"How did I do it? My man, a mage skilled in the art of improving recollection, visited each of the three. He explained that, to implement the process for memory elimination, a complete account was required. He wrote it down. We now have a better description of the Cascade experiment than His Highness does."

Fieras looked down at the papers. "What each did, where he stood, what the symbols were, what the other mages did. All here. Have you further stratagems for possessing the Cascade, now that we know what we are looking for?"

"I have. I considered simply reporting to His Majesty his brother's plot against him. But that might only rouse his ire. His Majesty is unfortunately only too willing to trust His Highness.

"Better, perhaps, to seize possession of the spell ourselves. For His Majesty’s use in the defense of the kingdom, of course.” Lord Iolen nodded towards the papers in Fieras’s hands. “It seems that His Highness knows of the Cascade but does not yet possess the spell in a safely usable form. Performed only once, it killed the mage casting it. The mage who devised it, with further efforts, should be able to perfect it. I do not know why my uncle has not yet arranged for him to do so, but his failure is our opportunity."

Fieras paused, then spoke. "I believe that Magister Coelus was reluctant to cooperate; I am not sure why. Perhaps he no longer cared to see his creation put to use. There was also a girl, his leman, I presume; her role is uncertain. His Highness would no doubt have finished dealing with the matter, but the recent difficulties in the north … "

"Interrupted him, giving us our opportunity. I intend to take it.

"I have sent a message to Captain Geffron, commander of the nearest garrison to Southdale. He owes his present position to my patronage, and is a patriot. For a spell useful in the defense of the kingdom, he would not scruple to provide us any aid within his power.

"Reveal nothing of the precise nature of the spell to anyone. I have means of assuring the silence of the memory mage who obtained it for me. Consult with the learned Rikard about what resources we will require and which mages we will want to employ. I have instructed him to put a protective spell on the papers I have given you. You will take care to reveal nothing, to anyone."

Lord Iolen cast Fieras a stern look. The mage nodded. "I understand, your Lordship, and I will obey."

"See that you do. I am able to properly reward obedience. Also disobedience. I will send Rikard to your room in a little while; be there."

Once back in his room, Fieras considered his situation. It would be prudent, for the moment, to seem to be entirely obedient to his lord's commands. But something in the conversation … Once Iolen had the schema for the Cascade, there was one reliable way of ensuring the silence of others who knew of it. A pity he hadn’t the name of the memory mage.

Coelus looked up from the pile of
papers
on his desk, face alight, as Ellen came through the open door. "I've found her."

Ellen looked puzzled. "Found who? What are those?"

"Letters; your friend Jon found them, going through stacks of documents in the back room of the library. When I searched the library three years ago I was looking for records and treatises. I must have skipped right over these."

"What sort of letters?"

"Letters from a mage named Ascun, one of the magisters here, to another mage named Ger. Ger must have become a magister later; that would explain how the letters ended up here." He paused a moment. "They were written forty-eight years ago. "

There was an expectant silence.

"Just before the sphere was created?"

"Yes. Less than a year before if I have worked the dates out correctly."

"And what did you find in the letters?"

"A name. Melia."

Ellen gave him a surprised look, said nothing, waited.

"Melia was a weaving mage close to Durilil. Ascun calls her a witch, of course. A very accomplished weaving mage. Lovers or friends, nobody seems to know."

He paused, then looked at Ellen. "But everyone knew that they were working together. Weaving mages are not that common. Odds are a hundred to one that she's the other mage, the weaver who helped him build the sphere."

Ellen said nothing, so he went on. "Durilil was in his sixties, but she was younger. If she was thirty then, she could easily be still alive now. The schema for the sphere that we have is only the final step of their work; she must know a lot more. Someone must have heard of her around the College, or perhaps the Prince…
."

Ellen finally spoke. "You wish to find Melia and speak with her about her work on the sphere?"

Coelus gave her a puzzled look. "Yes. Of course. The problem is how to find her."

Ellen shook her head. "That won't be a problem."

For a moment Coelus was silent with surprise. "You know where she is? You have met her? You know her?”

Ellen nodded. "I've known her all my life. She's my mother."

* * *

"Is your end ready?"

Coelus looked up from the crowded work bench. "Almost."

Ellen leaned over his shoulder to see. The miniature star was complete—at one corner a lighted candle, at the next a goblet of water, then a saucer full of soil, and finally a tiny bladder blown tight and tied. Each token sat on a small square of paper, each paper had its glyph. Coelus finished the glyph on a final square, added his name, placed it carefully in the center, stood up. "Your turn."

Ellen moved back to the other end of the table, where a small lamp was burning, next to it an unlit candle. She reached into the flame. With quick movements and a few murmured words, she wove a tiny sphere of flame, a soap bubble some four inches across around the candle. A final gesture and the candle sprang alight. "Ready."

Coelus picked up from the bench a thin rod of polished wood, touched one of the two glyphs on the central square and then, one after another, the glyphs sitting under the elemental tokens. Ellen watched fascinated as the faint star of elemental lines appeared, so thin as to be barely visible even to her. Coelus looked down at his work, shook his head. "Is it there?"

"Yes. I can see it."

He stood back as far from the table as he could and stretched out the wand to touch his name on the central square and then the glyph next to it. He closed his eyes. From the center of the star, where the four lines joined, the shadow of a line leapt towards the bubble at the other end of the table. For a few seconds it wavered, as if looking for a way through to the candle. The two mages watched, fascinated. Then the shadow line vanished. Ellen looked up from the table. "The star is gone. I think it worked."

"That's at least some evidence. I don't see what else we can do to test the schema, short of building the thing to full scale and running a cascade outside it. Which …"

Ellen finished the sentence. "Does not seem like a good idea. I don't see what more we can do along this line either. But at least it works in miniature; there wasn't a trace of fire coming back from the candle to the pool, so the Cascade wasn't getting through. And I built the sphere using our most recent schema, so it wouldn't take enormous amounts of power to do the full sized version."

Coelus nodded agreement. "Yes. That line is done and tested, as far as we can test it. I think we both deserve a small celebration."

He opened the door of the cabinet next to the work bench. Inside was a tray, on it two glass goblets, a small pitcher. He took the tray out, set it on the empty middle of the workbench, poured wine into both goblets and handed one to Ellen.

The two sat for a few minutes after their silent toast. Coelus started to say something, stopped, finally spoke. "I think I understand your secret now. Your mother didn't want…"

"…Mother likes a quiet life. Where we live, people know her as a healer, respect her. Mari said something once about daydreams of being a famous mage. That isn't what mother wanted."

"And Durilil. Do you know?"

Ellen hesitated a moment. "She was twenty-two when they built the sphere. Like me she came early to power. Beyond that—it isn't the sort of question one asks a mother."