Salamander (25 page)

"Suppose he tells the Forsting Einvald all he knows about Magister Coelus's spell. First the Einvald has to decide to believe him. Then he has to decide to reward Iolen instead of cutting his throat to make sure he doesn't try to resell the information to someone else. And then, the Einvald has to decide what to do with the spell."

"Isn't it obvious?” Alayn said, sounding puzzled. “The spell would give them a huge advantage in any magical conflict. They've been getting up the nerve to attack us for the past two years. Wouldn't this settle the matter?"

The Prince shook his head. "The spell gives huge power to one mage. The Einvald of Forstmark isn't a mage, any more than my brother is. He seized power four or five years ago; half the reason for all the war talk is to deter a fresh challenger any time soon. Where can he find a mage he can trust not to seize power either for himself or to install a puppet? It isn’t as if the Mage’s Guild was under the Einvald’s control, or even solidly in his faction. If I were him and Lord Iolen showed up at my door, I would learn what I could from him, tell no-one, then have Iolen discreetly disposed of. Perhaps Iolen is counting for his protection on being of some use to them as a pretender to our throne, but … ."

"Surely Your Highness has considered that Iolen anticipates all this? If you were Iolen … ."

"If I were Iolen, I would consider presenting myself to the Einvald as a royal pretender to the throne of Esland while saying nothing about mage secrets. If the Forstings invade and install him as their puppet, he can surely find an opportunity to use the spell himself. If they continue to threaten without going to war, he might establish himself well enough to explore the spell on their side of the border. As a pretender, he is more useful to the Einvald alive than dead."

"Unfortunately we cannot get this wise advice to your Highness's nephew."

"That is one of the reasons why I would like to have the spell myself. Perhaps there is some compromise or some guarantee Magister Coelus would be willing to accept in exchange for its secret. But he is not here, and he is a stubborn man."

"If Your Highness wishes to communicate with Magister Coelus, I can think of at least two ways of trying."

The Prince looked at his guard commander curiously. "I did not realize that you too had become adept in new spells."

"Those I leave to Your Highness and the other mages; I was thinking of more mundane solutions. The simplest is to leave a message for him in the College; once we leave, he will probably return to his post, and his duties."

"And your other solution?"

"The Lady Mari. Give her a message to pass on to her friend, who can pass it on to her companion. The students will in due time return to the college, and Magister Coelus' incendiary lady is also a student."

* * *

Ellen surveyed her old room, hers again with the beginning of fall term. The bed was made; someone had put fresh ink in the desk's inkwell. Several codices were missing, most notably her private copy of Olver's treatise; presumably Iolen's people had taken them in their search for clues to the workings of the Cascade.

There was a knock on the door. She looked up.

"Come in."

Mari entered in traveling garb carrying a cloth wrapped package that she set down on the desk.

"His Highness wouldn't tell me anything, but he did give me this, and a message for you."

She handed Ellen a tightly rolled scroll. Ellen glanced at the seal, put it in a drawer of her desk, and looked back at her friend.

"And how was your summer?"

"Not as exciting as yours. I hope whatever you did to him hasn't permanently frightened Kieron off lady mages."

"Has it? You should be the first to know."

"Not that I can see. He and Father had to deal with problems up north and we traveled together, so we saw a good deal of each other. Two days after we got back Jon showed up with your message and Kieron took off for the College. He paid us a visit when he came back. He was in an odd mood, as if he wasn't sure if he should be disappointed or glad."

Ellen considered the virtues of silence, its cost, decided against. "His Highness tried to force me and Magister Coelus to do something we thought ought not to be done. He threatened me to persuade Coelus. We departed without his leave."

Mari looked concerned. “I see. That explains both his disappointment and his relief.”

Ellen nodded. "Yes. I do not think Kieron is a bad man, but he is too used to having his way."

"A fault, but perhaps not incurable. And how is Magister Coelus?"

"I took him home to Mother. Between teaching her theory and learning about weaving magic from her, I fear he got very little rest. He now plans to persuade his colleagues that since women students have talents neither the magisters nor the tutors are competent to train, they need to recruit women tutors."

"Witches as tutors? That will take some persuasion."

Ellen nodded. "Diplomacy is not among Coelus' talents. Since his arguments are correct, the rest must of course accept them."

Mari pointed at the package she had brought. "Aren't you going to open it?"

Ellen looked the package over carefully before unwrapping the cloth. It contained two bound codices, a thin stack of paper covered with neat writing, and a note which she read, smiling.

"Iolen made off with some things of mine. His Highness is returning them."

After Mari had left, Ellen took the scroll out of her desk, broke the seal, unrolled the paper, and watched with only mild surprise as the writing, once read, faded away. A few minutes later she was in Magister Coelus's office. "Mari is back, and she brought me a message from His Highness."

"One for me as well. What did yours say?"

"A qualified apology, a promise of good behavior in the future, and a brief description of his plans. He thinks Iolen hasn't told his hosts about the Cascade and will hold it in reserve against future opportunities. His Highness won’t use it now, does intend to be able to if necessary. Do you think he can manage it successfully?"

Coelus nodded. "Yes. He's got Hewry working for him now, one of my students from a few years back. Hew is competent enough, if a bit slow, and I expect he can produce a version of the schema that will work tolerably well. His Highness would still have to find someone he trusts enough to control the spell."

Ellen shook her head.

"If His Highness does the Cascade, I expect he'll be the focus. He can trust himself."

"And His Majesty?"

"His Majesty trusts Kieron absolutely. According to Mari, during the succession troubles King Thoma was willing to support Kieron instead of Josep. The King wanted anyone but his eldest son and Kieron was more popular with the lords. Kieron ignored his father's hints as long as he could, then left court. When the King finally moved against Petrus, Kieron hid his brother until their father finished dying, then helped him deal with Josep and his supporters.

"Kieron is the one mage His Majesty can trust. If the situation is bad enough to require the Cascade, it will be with Kieron at focus."

They were silent for a few minutes, thinking; at last Coelus spoke. "I doubt that anyone will do the Cascade in the immediate future. But eventually someone, Kieron or Iolen, will. That means we have to find a way of blocking it first.

"It comes down to two problems: how to protect someone against being pulled into the Cascade, well enough so that more magery will be needed to pull him in than can be pulled out of him, making the Cascade converge. I think we know how to do that. Then, how to spread that to enough people to keep the Cascade from working."

Ellen cut in: "Would it be enough to protect only the mages? Once other people are in the pool they contribute, but in the initial stage do they yield as much as it costs to pull them in?"

Coelus shook his head. "No. Good point. In my original design, surplus from the mages pulled other people in. Most would not get pulled in until after all the mages were in the pool. So we only have to protect the mages. But I still don't see how we are going to do it."

"Can we design the protective spell so that it spreads? Put a bubble around one mage, and gradually draw enough power from him to put another bubble around a second mage—the same principle as the Cascade?"

Coelus considered the idea briefly.

"The Cascade pours its power into the pool; the mage at focus uses that power to pull in more people. The bubbles we designed are pretty simple; what you are proposing is much more elaborate, a static spell that could cascade itself … . I don't see how to do it, and if I did I would worry about what else could be done with it."

Ellen got up. "It's late; we won't solve the problem tonight."

"No. But we have to solve it soon. The first half we can do, but we want to do it better. Somehow we need not only to make the Cascade converge but let the bubbles get thicker over time, using some of the power the Cascade is pulling out of protected mages, so that eventually the mages that were pulled into the Cascade drop out again. Otherwise, even if the Cascade converges …"

Ellen finished his thought. "Even if it converges, the mages in the pool gradually recover their magic. If they have enough time they can do another round, and another, and gradually spread the pool. I don't know what the limit is to how long one person can hold the focus, or whether once the pool is well established the first focus could pass it on to someone else. You're right. We need to design a better bubble. But not tonight."

* * *

The next day Ellen and Mari took lunch into the orchard, joined by Alys, who put her first question to Mari while sitting down. "What is the Prince like? Set a date for the wedding yet?"

Mari looked amused. "What wedding, Alys? Are you marrying someone?"

Alys, undeterred, shook her head. "Not me, you. Everyone says that Prince Kieron is going to marry you."

"Then everyone is better informed on the subject than I am."

"But you spent the whole summer with him, didn't you?"

"I spent the summer with my father. For the early part of it His Highness guested with us at Northpass Keep, where he and my father were inspecting its defenses."

Alys grinned. “I'm told that His Highness is very handsome. No doubt defenses were the sole topic discussed.” Over her shoulder Mari saw Jon and Edwin come into the orchard, headed in their direction. As they sat down, Alys tried again, this time with Ellen.

"You have to tell me all about it, the Prince and Lord Iolen and everything. Did Magister Coelus really get a spell wrong and go crazy? I saw he was back; are you sure it is safe to have him for your tutor?"

Ellen said nothing. Mari looked up at the curve of the containment dome, glowing with dispersed sunlight.

"Nice weather we are having, isn't it?"

Edwin sat down on the other side of Mari and Ellen from Alys. "I heard from one of the grooms on the coach that both the Prince and Lord Iolen were in the village this summer and there was a lot of commotion. There seem to be six or seven different stories about what was happening. I hoped somebody in the College could tell me which one was true. Were any of you here then?"

"You say Lord Iolen was here? In the College?"

The speaker was a stranger, a large young man, well dressed. Alys looked up at him, patted the grass at her side. "Come join us. Ellen and Mari usually know everything; I'm trying to get them to tell, and could use some help. Do you know Lord Iolen?"

"You are welcome to join us,” said Ellen. “We're all friends from last year; are you new here?"

"Not new. I was here year before last but took last year off. Now I'm back, most of my friends have graduated, and it feels like one of those dreams where you are walking through the courtyard into your own hall and all the faces have changed. My name is Anders."

The group introduced themselves. "You might want to fetch some food from the refectory if you’re hungry. As you can see, we have moved our lunch outside."

Anders sat down between Alys and Ellen. "Thank you. I had lunch early, but would be happy to join your conversation. Was Lord Iolen here?"

Ellen nodded. "He spent several days in the village this summer. Do you know him?"

"Not exactly know, but I've met him; Father holds from Earl Eirick, and Iolen is married to the Earl's eldest daughter. I know about him, that he ought to be on the throne if he had his rights."

That got Jon's attention. "Why do you think Lord Iolen's claim is better than His Majesty's?"

"Because the old king, Thoma, named Josep, Iolen's father, as his heir. Petrus ended up King only because he and the youngest prince murdered Josep and usurped his throne."

Jon looked puzzled. "But surely Petrus was the older. It's true that King Theodrick chose his heir, but none of his sons were ali
ve,
had to choose among the grandsons. The eldest son inherits, or so Gerrit says in his
History of the Kings.
Was just reading it yesterday in the library."

Anders shook his head. "I don't know what the books say, but in the North we have long memories. Ever since Esland broke free from the League and Theodrick reestablished the monarchy, custom has always been election by the great lords from among the royal household. It's true that the eldest son usually gets elected, but King Thoma summoned the Lords and they confirmed his choice of Josep."