The Exile and the Sorcerer (14 page)

“Will tonight give you much to think about?”

“No. I guess it gets easier after a while. And tonight was simple—it was us or them.”

Tevi put down the empty mug and wrapped her arms around her knees. “I keep wondering what he was like, what his name was.”

“That’s a bad game to start playing,” Cade said softly.

“I keep thinking someone must have cared for him. Someone said goodbye to him as he went out tonight. They’ll never see him again. For the rest of their life, that person will hate me for what I did.” Tears were rolling down Tevi’s face. “He’ll have parents who fed him, washed him, watched him grow, dreamed of grandchildren, and now all that’s gone.”

“Then they shouldn’t have raised him to be a thief and a murderer. Believe me, you can’t tear yourself up like this. At least tonight makes some sort of sense. You were saving the lives of your friends. As a hired sword, I’ve been in some nasty brawls.” Cade’s voice grew bitter. “At the end, you don’t know what it was about or what was gained or where the right and wrong of it lay. You just wake up in the morning, spare a thought for those who can’t and thank whatever god watches over you.”

Tevi’s head sank onto her folded arms.

Cade slid over and put his arm around her shoulder. “Go on. Get some sleep. I’ll sit watch.”

“I can’t sleep.”

“You probably can. I put a spoonful of Marith’s best sleeping draught in your soup.”

Even as Cade spoke, the effects of the drug hit Tevi. The stars spun in a wave of drowsiness. Without another word, she slithered to the edge of the rock and accepted Cade’s hand to help her down. She stumbled over to her blanket and was asleep before her head touched the ground.

*

In the morning light, the wreckage of the fight littered the slope. Apart from blood and dropped weapons, four attackers lay dead on the ground. As well as the two Tevi had slain, there were a woman with a crossbow bolt in her throat and a man cut open by Alentris. Their silent presences unsettled the travellers. People moved quietly about their tasks, preparing to depart as soon as possible. Even Derry was subdued.

After breakfast, Tevi walked down to the young man she had killed. In daylight, he looked nothing like Sparrow. She stared at him for a long while until a call roused her.

“Hey, Tevi. We’re ready to go.”

“Aren’t we going to bury them or something?”

“Haven’t got the time or the inclination. If their friends are concerned, they can get them once we’ve gone,” Alentris shouted back.

“And if not?”

“Then they’ll make some little furry animals very happy.”

Tevi took a last long look around the scene, as if trying to impress it on her memory, then she turned and trotted up the hill to the wagons.

Serac was a busy port, with wide streets full of traffic. The town was obviously prosperous and well ordered, but nothing about it seemed noteworthy—although Tevi was not quite sure what she had been expecting from her first sight of the Protectorate. Most of her time was spent sitting on the harbour wall, watching boats bobbing on the water and smelling the heavy, salt-laden sea air.

The mercenaries were paid off. Alentris bid the group farewell, taking contract as a guard on an outgoing caravan. Cade, however, wanted to visit Lyremouth and would still travel with them, although no longer as an employee. At Serac, the traders also parted company with the horses.

Marith explained, “You can always find a buyer for wagons among the people who’ve just arrived by boat. You don’t make much profit, but we’ll earn a fortune from the spice in Lyremouth, and the sea is the quickest way there.”

“Couldn’t we take the horses with us?”

“It would be too expensive.”

Tevi was unhappy about saying goodbye to the animals. “Will they be all right?”

“Oh, yes,” Marith assured her. “They’re too valuable for anyone to abuse.”

The party boarded their ship a few days later. Like all islanders, Tevi was a born sailor and felt at home with the pitching deck beneath her feet. However, she had never been on a ship the size of the
Aspen Rover
. It dwarfed the boats of the Western Isles. Tevi realised her experience of fishing would not qualify her for a career as a Protectorate sailor, and the time to plan her future was getting close.

*

Nine days out of Serac, the northern shore hove into sight. In the warm afternoon, Tevi leant on the starboard rail, dividing her attention between the distant shoreline and the seagulls fighting over the pickings churned up in the boat’s wake. Kimal and Cade were beside her.

“I was born in Lyremouth. It’ll be nice to see the old place again, and it’s about time I called in on my parents. They worry about me.” Cade sniffed reflectively. “Can’t say I blame them.”

“What’s Lyremouth like?” Tevi asked.

“Big,” Kimal said quickly.

“Isn’t the Coven there? Do you see many sorcerers?”

“A few.”

“What do they do?”

“Walk around, looking important.” Kimal was dismissive.

“We don’t get sorcerers on the islands, just stories. I guess I’m hoping to see something spectacular.”

“Then you’ll be disappointed. Sorcerers don’t do shows for people’s amusement.” Cade laughed.

“So how can you tell them apart from anyone else?”

“The amulets on their wrists. Witches’ are various colours, depending on rank. They’re all engraved with an oak leaf pattern. Sorcerers have a black amulet, and the Guardian’s is white, but there’s little chance you’ll see it. She rarely leaves the Coven buildings except for festivals.”

“I’d still like to see some real magic.” Tevi’s voice was wistful.

Kimal whooped. “You walk around with the strength of five and complain you don’t see any magic!”

“I grew up with the potion on Storenseg, so it isn’t anything unusual for me.”

“Don’t you have any other magic?” Cade asked.

“No, and we only got the strength potion from a shipwrecked sorcerer ages ago.”

“How about dragons or werewolves?”

“No. A dead sea monster washed onto the beach when I was a child, but it was half eaten and not very impressive.”

“And no magic users at all?”

“None.”

Cade’s eyes travelled to the horizon. “It would be nice to be rid of them all.”

“Don’t you like sorcerers?” Tevi asked with surprise.

“I don’t like thunderstorms, but they’re unavoidable. It’s the same with sorcerers. You have to put up with them. But given the chance, I’d happily ditch the lot.”

“What’s wrong with them?”

“They’re not like us. They’re too bloody powerful, and they give me the creeps. Though don’t get me wrong—as things stand, I’d die supporting the Coven. It’s still a damn sight better than any of the alternatives.” Cade’s tone was resigned rather than bitter.

“You sound like Papa,” Kimal said. “He says folk complain about the Coven and the taxes, but if it disappeared, they’d soon change their tune.”

“The places we’ve seen get on okay without it,” Tevi pointed out.

“Only because we haven’t been too far from the Protectorate, and the Coven won’t tolerate trouble on its borders. The non-Coven sorcerers with evil plans move farther away so they’ll have a free hand to do whatever they want.”

“Evil plans?”

“Building empires. Enslaving people. Using them for experiments,” Cade spoke angrily. “Throughout history, they’ve destroyed millions of ordinary folk who wanted nothing more than to get on with their own lives in peace—farming or hunting or whatever.”

“Couldn’t people resist?”

“A sorcerer is so powerful compared to ungifted folk like us. The only person who can do anything to stop one is another sorcerer, and the gods alone know how many have died in wars between them. They make the nastiest brawl I’ve ever seen look like a lover’s tiff. And all for nothing. Once the sorcerers die, their empires collapse into anarchy.”

“Couldn’t their children take over?” Tevi asked.

“They don’t have the ability. Maybe one person in a hundred has limited magical gifts, but only one in a hundred thousand has enough to be a sorcerer. I don’t think anyone knows what makes a sorcerer, but it’s not inherited. A sorcerer’s children are no more likely to be gifted with magic than a labourer’s.”

“The empires all rise and fall in the space of a lifetime,” Kimal added.

“Verron told me the Protectorate has lasted for hundreds of years,” Tevi said.

“The Protectorate is different. It’s not dependent on any one sorcerer.” From his tone, Kimal was more sympathetic to the Coven than Cade. “The Coven also leaves us alone as long as we pay our taxes. They even do useful things, like training healers and weather witches. We don’t—”

Any thoughts about the other advantages to the Coven were lost as a bucketful of water landed on Kimal’s back, followed by a giggle. Tevi looked around in time to spot Derry disappearing into the hold. Kimal had also identified the culprit. He shouted and chased after his brother, but there was a smile on his face.

“They’re nice lads,” Tevi said, putting aside the conversation about sorcerers.

“True,” Cade agreed. “Will you be staying with the family for long?”

“Marith and Verron have invited me to spend the winter with them.”

“Any plans for what you’re going to do after?”

“Not really.”

“You should join a guild.”

Tevi shrugged. “I’m a bit old to start an apprenticeship.”

“You wouldn’t need to if you already had the skills for the trade.”

“I’m not sure I have any worthwhile skills.”

Cade chewed his lip for a while. “Would you be interested in joining the mercenaries?”

Tevi gave a humourless laugh. “My old weapons trainer would be dumbstruck to hear you ask that. Back home, I was considered to be the worst warrior of all time.”

Cade looked surprised. “There’s a gang of bandits outside Villenes who’d disagree.”

“I guess being three times as strong as anyone else here gives me an unfair advantage.”

“You don’t worry about fairness in battles. Use every advantage you’ve got. Anyway, I know the guild would be pleased to have you.”

“Can anyone just ask to join?”

“No. You need to be nominated by a guild member. Normally, it’s the warrior you’ve been apprenticed to, but it doesn’t have to be. And you weren’t born in the Protectorate, so you’d need two other citizens to vouch for you. But I can’t see Marith and Verron refusing you that.” Cade patted Tevi’s shoulder. “Think about it. If you like, I’ll nominate you. You did all right with the bandits—certainly saved my neck.”

He walked away, humming softly. Tevi looked out to sea, deep in thought.

*

The
Aspen Rover
reached Lyremouth harbour late the following evening. Sunset turned the rooftops of the city dull pink. Overhead, stars were starting to show. The ship dropped anchor out in the bay. It would not dock until high tide next morning. Tevi and Marith leant against the railing and watched dusk claim the city. Against the darkening sky was a forest of tall masts. Light from numerous torches shimmered off the still water. Farther inland, other lanterns speckled the hills rising behind the harbour.

Marith pointed out the major landmarks.

“Which is the Coven?” Tevi asked.

“Over there. It’s the group of buildings on the southeast of town.”

“The Guardian lives there?”

“Yes.”

“Have you ever met her?”

Marith snorted at the idea. “She doesn’t mix with the likes of us. I saw her predecessor once, but that was in the days before he was elected Guardian.”

“A man can be Guardian?”

“Of course. Why not?”

Tevi tried to explain her surprise. “Well...it’s just, coming from the islands, I don’t think of men being in positions of power.”

“The only thing that affects someone’s ability to wield power is whether or not they’re a sorcerer. It’s the most important difference between people, and the only one that really counts.”

“On the islands, we’d say the most important difference is between men and women,” Tevi said thoughtfully.

“That’s silly. There are a few minor physical differences, but none amount to anything significant. Slightly more women than men are witches, but then men are generally stronger, so there are more of them in the mercenaries. But either way, the odds aren’t good enough to gamble your life on—and if you insult a female mercenary assassin, muscles won’t save you.”

Tevi stared down at the dark waters lapping against the hull. She could think of one area where the differences were very significant but did not want to raise the subject. The traders had never commented on her lack of interest in the young men they had met, nor asked why she had left the islands, and Tevi was not about to risk their friendship by telling them.

“My people would say that men are naturally inferior to women,” Tevi said at last.