Shadow Magic (21 page)

Grathwol snorted again. “From those sentries? All Glen Wilding, and Glen Hycroft and Glen Ravensrock besides!”

Herre looked thoughtfully at Maurin. “I think I see what you are getting at,” he said. “If we charge at the camp from the east, it will push the Lithmern back against Brandon forest, and the Wyrds can pick them off with their bows. We won’t get all of them, though; see, here. There will still be nearly a quarter of the Lithmern behind us, even if we succeed in cutting off the men on the other side of the river. I don’t like it.”

“Don’t forget about the troops in Brenn,” Har put in. “They won’t be sitting idle during all this!”

“I don’t know what the humans in the city are likely to do, and I am reluctant to count on their actions,” Herre said, even more thoughtfully than before. “But I shall speak to the Veldatha who accompanied us; perhaps one of them can bespeak the Lady Isme.”

Har looked at Herre blankly.

“The Lady Isme is a Shee,” Herre said, speaking patiently as though to a child. “We shall need wizards as well as warriors to win this battle. She can warn those inside the city to be ready for us.”

“What of the Lithmern sorcerers?” said another of the Shee.

“Rialla assures me that the Veldatha can block any attempts to summon the Shadow-born,” Herre said. “Unfortunately, they will have little energy to spare. We can look for no other help from them.”

“That is unfortunate, but I expected no more,”

Grathwol replied gravely. “I think we are agreed, then?”

The others nodded. The meeting ended, and the combined column of Wyrds and Shee was soon moving toward Brenn once more.

As the last Shee rode out of the city gates, Alethia sighed. She looked at Tamsin, and without speaking they turned their horses and began riding back toward the palace. Alethia still more than half wished she could have accompanied the army, but before her mood could turn to depression, she saw the guard called Ferrin come running toward them. “You’ll have to hurry,” the young guard called between pants as soon as he was close enough to be heard. “The Queen wants to see you right away.”

Alethia nodded, wondering what Iniscara could want of them now. She was even more curious when they reached the palace and found Illeana waiting in the room to which Ferrin lead them. The Shee woman looked disdainfully at Tamsin, but she made no overt objection to his presence. A moment later, the Queen herself appeared, accompanied by another Shee woman, pale and stern, whom Alethia did not recognize.

Iniscara smiled speculatively at Alethia. “I have a proposal to make to you, my dear,” she said as soon as the bowing and curtsying ended. “Would you like to learn magic?”

Tamsin’s jaw dropped. Alethia sat staring for a moment, then blinked. “Why should you wish to teach me?” she asked.

“It is the only way we know to determine the extent of your power,” replied the unfamiliar woman beside the Queen.

“This is the Lady Clasiena. She and Illeana will be your tutors if you accept our offer,” the Queen said into the silence that followed. Everyone began talking at once, except for Alethia, who sat silent. Iniscara looked at her sharply. “Well?”

“I have so many questions I don’t know where to begin!” Alethia said. “I think someone should start at the beginning and explain.”

Illeana raised an eyebrow. “You do not realize what an opportunity you have, girl,” she said. “Else you would not quibble.”

“I am not quibbling,” Alethia said indignantly. “But I’m certainly not going to say yes or no until I understand what is going on a little better.”

“It will be difficult for you to understand, for you do not have the background,” Illeana said condescendingly. “It has to do with Firivar’s prophecy, and the Shadow-born, and the ways of magic.”

“If it is going to be that difficult for me to understand why you wish to teach me, it is going to be impossible for me to learn anything,” Alethia said, trying to control her temper. “And if that is so, wouldn’t it be better to find out now?”

Clasiena gave Illeana a glance that said “I told you.” Illeana shrugged. Clasiena looked at the Queen, and Iniscara nodded.

“It is difficult to know where to begin,” Clasiena said, turning toward Alethia. “But I will try to explain. You have been told what the Shadow-born are?”

“Jordet said they were very powerful and evil spirits,” Alethia said. “I am not quite sure what that means.”

“It means mainly that we know they have no bodies and we know they are evil,” Clasiena replied. “It has been three thousand years since they were bound, and most of the knowledge of them has been lost. One other thing we can add: Over the years they have weakened to a fraction of their former strength, but even that is more than any one of us could face alone.”

“Illeana and Jordet won out over that one on the mountaintop, didn’t they?” Alethia said uneasily. Talk of the Shadow-born was still enough to unsettle her, though she was not sure why she reacted so strongly.

Before Clasiena could reply, Illeana shook her head. “We drove the creature out of Corrim, true,” she said. “But its grip was not strong. It was still weak from its long captivity, and it was in the Kathkari, where the Shadow-born find their magic difficult to work. Even so, it was a near thing.”

“They will gain strength rapidly now,” Clasiena went on. “We have a little time, perhaps, before they become so powerful that we cannot defeat them at all—but only a little time.”

“What does that have to do with teaching me magic?” Alethia asked.

“Do you remember the prophecy that was read at the Council this morning?” Clasiena asked. “‘The child of fire holds the source of power.’ In the Elder Tongue, the language of magic, your name means ‘fire-souled child.’ Somehow you are a key, and we must try to prepare you as best we can.”

“I don’t want to have anything more to do with those things!” Alethia said, suppressing a shiver. “They terrify me. I’m not sure why; I’m not usually bothered by dark creepy things. I am afraid I won’t be much help to you. I am sorry.”

“If need is there, you will find a way,” Iniscara said serenely. “We will do our best to keep you away from them, since they seem so interested in obtaining possession of your person, but, if only for your own protection, we must try to teach you some magic of your own.”

“I am willing to try to learn,” Alethia said hesitantly. “But I cannot promise anything more, and I will only stay until there is news of Brenn and a way for me to return.”

Illeana frowned, but Clasiena glanced at the Queen again, then replied, “Of course, if that is what you wish.”

“I do wish it,” Alethia said firmly, stifling her own doubts about the wisdom of this project. If the Shee thought it wise for her to learn magic, she could hardly object.

“Then it is settled,” Iniscara said, and rose. “I think you should begin as soon as possible. You may join her, bard, if you like,” the Queen added turning to Tamsin as she spoke.

“What!” A startled, angry exclamation broke from Illeana. “Excuse me, your Majesty, but that’s impossible!”

“There have been human sorcerers before,” Clasiena said, looking warily from Illeana to the Queen. “And he
is
a minstrel.”

“What does that matter?” Illeana said. “He’s a human! Do you think the Council will allow this?”

“The Lord Advisors and the Council will certainly object,” Clasiena said in a troubled voice.

“Their objections no longer matter,” Iniscara said calmly. “I am Queen; I have ordered this; and it will be done. This is a time of change for all the Shee; there is nothing we can do to delay it. Do you question me?”

Illeana stared at the Queen for a moment, then lowered her head and sank into a deep curtsy. “No, your Majesty.”

The Queen nodded. “See to it, then.”

I
N SPITE OF THE
Queen’s parting instructions, the lessons did not begin that afternoon. Instead Tamsin and Alethia spent several hours riding through Eveleth. Alethia, accustomed to the noisy crowds of Brenn, was at first surprised by the quiet of the city. Though it was mid-afternoon, the wide streets were nearly empty. She soon adjusted to the absence of other people; indeed, she forgot it entirely in her admiration of the city.

Eveleth was even more attractive by day than by night. The houses were airy structures of slender columns and graceful arches, painstakingly shaped in smooth, white stone. They were surrounded by carefully kept gardens and formal parks. Alethia came to one with a fountain, and stopped her horse in surprise; three jets of water rose high in the air then twined about each other in an intricate loosely woven knot before falling back into the still pool below.

“Tamsin,” said Alethia, “how do they do that?”

Tamsin looked in the direction of Alethia’s pointing finger and blinked. “I don’t know,” he said. “I wouldn’t be surprised, though, if that house belongs to one of the Shee wizards.”

“I thought all Shee were wizards.”

“Are all Alkyrans farmers, or all men of Col Sador smiths?” Tamsin said.

“Oh,” said Alethia thoughtfully. She looked at the fountain again, then urged her horse forward, and they continued on in silence. They passed several more of the inexplicable fountains, and once they came to a garden where a small breeze played a tune on a curtain of tiny silver bells. Tamsin would have stood there, listening, for the remainder of the day had Alethia not reminded him that they really ought to return to the palace before night fell.

Eveleth, thought Alethia as they rode back along the way they had come, was certainly a fitting setting for the Shee. Still, she could not help comparing this city with the living buildings of Glen Wilding, and she found that she preferred the home of the Wyrds. Glen Wilding was a friendlier place.

Immediately after breakfast the next morning, Alethia and Tamsin were escorted to a room on the far side of the palace. Clasiena was waiting, and as they entered she smiled. “Be seated,” she said. “We have much to talk on.” They followed her instructions and looked at her expectantly.

“Magic depends on power,” the Shee woman told them. “Therefore you must first learn to tap your own power and focus it. You will then be able to work small spells, but it is very draining, since you will be powering the spell with your own energy. Later we will teach you to reach out for other sources of power, and then you will really begin to work magic.”

“How do we start?” asked Alethia.

“Most people require an object to concentrate on, at least at first,” Clasiena said. “It is better if it is something small and easy to carry. Have you anything suitable? A ring perhaps?”

Alethia’s slim hands were bare of ornamentation. She felt in her pockets and pulled out a hairpin, a few coins, and a smooth round stone.

The Shee woman picked out the stone and examined it carefully. “This will do,” she said, and turned to Tamsin.

The minstrel pulled a heavy gold ring from his finger. “Will this do for me?”

The Shee woman nodded. “Hold it in front of you, like this,” she said, cupping her hands to demonstrate. “Now, concentrate. Shut out the sight of the room, the sound of my voice; see only the focus you hold.”

Clasiena’s voice became a drone. Alethia tried to follow her directions. At first, she found it difficult to concentrate on the pebble, but gradually Clasiena’s hypnotic murmur took effect. Alethia began to feel detached, as if observing the scene from far away. From somewhere outside herself a voice was insisting, “Focus! Reach into yourself and gather your ability together!” Obediently, but with dreamlike slowness, Alethia turned her attention inward.

At first it seemed as if she were once again floating in the gray fog that had surrounded her and Tamsin in the Wyrwood. The voice was urging her on, and gradually things seemed to grow lighter. A part of her mind told her that what she saw was unreal, a mental picture in familiar terms of things too strange to grasp directly. Most of her attention, though, was concentrated on the scene that was gradually growing clearer in her mind.

There were pools of light and thick ropes of shadowy emerald strung between impossible ferny trees of bloodred. Alethia floated among them, insubstantial and wandering. The prodding voice was gone, but something was still directing her gently and firmly toward the liquid light below.

Alethia drifted slowly nearer, strangely reluctant but unresisting. Finally she touched it. There was a soundless explosion of intolerable whiteness, and Alethia lost consciousness.

She came to herself lying on a couch in the study room. Clasiena, Illeana, and Tamsin were standing over her with worried expressions. Without speaking, Clasiena held out a glass of water, and Alethia took it. A moment later she looked up.

The room was the same, yet it was not. Everything seemed to be sharply defined; the chair took up
this
space, no more, and ended precisely at
that
point. Even the air seemed more emphatic, like looking through sunlit crystal. “What has happened?” Alethia asked.

Illeana started to speak, but Clasiena waved her to silence. “You were doing well with the concentration exercise, so I told you to take the next step, to turn inward and focus your abilities on something outside yourself.”

Alethia nodded. “I remember hearing that,” she said.

Clasiena shrugged. “I cannot tell you much more. You collapsed just before Illeana arrived; we were on the point of sending for a Healer. Tell me what it seemed like to you.”

When Alethia finished her explanation, Clasiena nodded absently. “You have reached more deeply than I would have believed,” she said. “The effort was perhaps too much for you. We must proceed more cautiously hereafter; I think that this will be enough for today.”

Though she protested that she felt perfectly well, Alethia was overruled by the two Shee. “Put your focus away; we will try again tomorrow,” Clasiena told her. Alethia realized in some surprise that her right hand was still clenched tight around the stone, and she opened her fingers to replace it in her pocket. With an exclamation she bent over it.

The stone was split in two, revealing its interior, and embedded in one fragment was a smaller stone of a deep blue, almost black. It was very smooth, almost polished; when Alethia rubbed it gently it came free and she had to close her fingers quickly to keep from dropping it. She sat down once more and carefully picked out the strange stone, putting the other fragments on the table.