The Last Whisper of the Gods (22 page)

“All do honor to His Majesty, King Azarak of Vantok.” From somewhere beyond the double doors, trumpets blared a brassy salute. Dressed in the robes of state with the crown upon his brow, Azarak entered the hall and approached the throne. The bows were deeper and more heartfelt than those for Ferguson.

“Please be seated, my friends,” said Azarak after arranging himself on the throne.

Sorial watched the king with curiosity, having never seen the man up close. He was surprised how young Azarak was - only about ten years Sorial’s senior. For some reason, he had believed the king to be a greybeard. With his regal bearing and cultured features, Azarak was everything Sorial expected from a monarch. He looked the part of the wise and powerful ruler entering the prime of his life and reign. Sorial tried not to imagine him with Alicia.

“We are gathered today to honor the Maturity of Lady Alicia, the only daughter of my friend and advisor, Duke Carannan. Please accept my felicitations on this auspicious day, My Lady,” said Azarak.

Alicia rose and executed a curtsey. When she spoke, her voice was devoid of emotion. “I thank you, Your Majesty.” On this happiest of days, she was anything but happy.

Ferguson stepped forward. “Lady Alicia, as you and the witnesses in this hall are aware, today is far more than merely your day of Maturity. It is also your day of betrothal.”

“I acknowledge that, Your Eminence.”

Feeling as if he was being watched, Sorial turned to find Lamanar’s eyes trained on him. His father wasn’t looking at Alicia, the prelate, or the king.
Why is he here?

“King Azarak, will you do the honor?” asked Ferguson.

Azarak approached Alicia, took her left hand in his, and slid a simple silver ring onto her smallest finger. “My Lady Alicia, let this be a promise - a promise that no man can put aside and no human force can break. Today, your life is sealed. Your husband cannot stand here next to you so I act as his substitute.”

Toranim’s voice sounded. “The Lady Lavella enters.”

Heads swiveled to see the new arrival. A woman, dressed similarly to Alicia, entered the hall. Sorial blinked when he saw her; she was an older reflection of the girl standing beside the king. Despite the difference in age - the newcomer was close to Double Maturity - the resemblance was uncanny. There was no doubt in Sorial’s mind that this woman was a close relative.

Carannan greeted the woman with a warm hug. She smiled and blinked back tears in his embrace.

Lavella curtseyed before the king, then extended her left hand. He removed the silver ring, a twin to Alicia’s, from her small finger and motioned for her to sit in the first pew.

“Lady Lavella, today your duty to this city is ended. You may go forth and live your life as you see fit,” said Azarak. “I and all the citizenry of Vantok thank you for your service these past fifteen years. Although the ending was not the one for which you and our fair city might have hoped, we are in your debt. May you now find someone in whose company you can spend the rest of your days.”

The king returned to the throne, leaving Alicia standing alone. Ferguson once again stepped forward.

“My Lady Alicia,” began the prelate. “In accordance with a pact signed by your forefathers many years ago, you are now designated as the Bride of the Wizard. More than one thousand years ago, the family Darmania agreed to provide a daughter as the betrothed to any wizard who would bind himself to the city as its sworn protector. This tradition has persisted for ten centuries, even after magic disappeared from the world.

“Every generation, a new girl is chosen for this role. She who is first born after the betrothal of her predecessor becomes the next selection. Your birth two days after the investiture of Lady Lavella cast you in the role of Bride in Waiting. The next girl in your family to be born after this day will be your successor.

“For sixty generations, no wizard has come to Vantok to claim his bride. The position has become a ceremonial one, with a woman spending fifteen years of her prime living a simple existence in the temple - one of celibacy but not asceticism. As the Lady Lavella will attest, it isn’t an onerous life. Should wizardry return to the world, Vantok must have an enticement. What man could refuse the charm, dignity, and beauty that you represent? After coming to know you, who would not fall in love with you?”

Having spoken those words, the prelate scanned the audience as if searching. When he found Sorial, his eyes locked with the young man’s.

Ferguson’s gaze hadn’t fallen on him randomly; he knew that immediately. This was why he was here; this was why Lamanar was here. Realization rendered him mute. It all began making a horrible, twisted kind of sense: the many “random” encounters with Alicia, Carannan’s kindness, Warburm’s advice, his mother’s interest, the stranger’s warning, the secrecy surrounding his father...
The answers will come in their own time. When you need them, they’ll be there.

After a pause, Ferguson continued. “My Lady Alicia, do you understand what service the city requires of you? Are you prepared to do your duty?”

Alicia didn’t respond immediately. When she did, her voice quavered. “Your Eminence, does this mean that in fifteen years… When my time is over, am I free to marry as I choose?”

“If no wizard claims you, when your successor reaches her Maturity, you will be freed as Lady Lavella has been freed today. Three of your cousins are with child. If one gives birth to a girl, she will be your successor.”

Alicia straightened her back. “Then I am ready to do my duty.”

“Do you accept this betrothal to the future Wizard of Vantok?”

“I do.”

Ferguson nodded. “So be it. The Bride has acquiesced. The pact is fulfilled for another generation.

“Normally, that would conclude the ceremony, but I deem it propitious to add a few words - a codicil I have never before spoken. We live in active and dangerous times. In the past, with magic little more than a faint memory, it has been accepted that each Bride of the Wizard would serve her term then give way to the next, and so on. The betrothal ceremony has become a tradition, a formality, a quaint quirk of our city. Those chosen spend their prime years being pampered, deprived temporarily only of sex and marriage. Many regret the end of their time. Since becoming prelate, I have been acquainted with four Wizard’s Brides. You will be my fifth, Lady Alicia, but my intuition tells me you won’t have to wait fifteen unfulfilled years. I say this to you all: the unseasonable heat, the unrest, the dire rumors... these are harbingers of a momentous change. I believe the gift of magic has once again been bestowed upon this world. After a nine hundred years’ absence, the Wizard of Vantok will return. On this day, he will know this as surely as does his Bride.” The words, so remarkable, forthright, and unexpected, caused a stir. As he spoke the momentous pronouncement, Ferguson again looked in Sorial’s direction. No mistake. No ambivalence. The message was clear. Alicia’s betrothal; Sorial’s anagnorisis.

The Wizard of Vantok will return. On this day, he will know
. And now, after all the years of wondering and pondering frustratingly fragmentary clues, he did.

Azarak and Ferguson departed as soon as the ceremony was completed but the witnesses remained behind, talking excitedly about what they had observed and the prelate’s astounding pronouncement:
The Wizard of Vantok will return
. Neither Sorial nor Alicia joined in the conversation. The former remained seated, staring ahead, not really seeing anything. He had been stunned into silence and inaction.

Magic? Wizards? Words from crib tales apparently accepted by the coterie of important people comprising Warburm’s “secret society”. People were willing to lie for this folly, to kill for it. His own blood had been spilled because of
what
some people believed him to be. His mother, shackled by this secret, had feared what he would do with the knowledge. It would have seemed the height of absurdity if not for two things. It was all-too-easy to believe the heat wasn’t a natural phenomenon. And magic brought clarity to his encounters with the stranger. Now, he knew who she was beyond the living proof of the prelate’s catechism. She reeked of what
they
wanted him to become.

To be sure, he was angry. Like any dupe,  he was bitter about having been manipulated. This time, his ire wouldn’t be directed at Kara. More than ever, he understood her victimization. He wondered how deep the conspiracy ran and how many people were involved. They saw him not as a person with hopes and dreams and longings. To them, he wasn’t Sorial, the poor stableboy who had fallen in love with the daughter of a duke. No, he was The Great Hope, the Future Wizard. Alicia was to be his Bride, if and when he claimed his inheritance. Were he and she the only ones ignorant of the truth that had brought them here today? And what had she realized? Did she know about him? He doubted it. She wouldn’t have known where the prelate was looking or read the meaning behind his words.

“Father.” Alicia’s voice snapped Sorial out of his thoughts. “When everyone leaves, I’d like some time with Sorial. Is that possible?”

“Of course,” said Carannan. “You understand, of course, that you won’t be allowed to leave together. When you’re done, you’ll be escorted to your new apartments in the temple. Sorial is free to go wherever he chooses. My hope is that he’ll return to the barracks and continue serving in my militia. His future holds great promise.”

Sorial wondered how much the duke knew. Probably all of it, or at least everything of importance.

“So I’m to be a prisoner for the next fifteen years.”

“Nothing like that. Talk to Lavella if you doubt me, but you’ll be given the luxurious quarters of an honored guest and freedom to come and go as you like.”

“Within reason and with an escort.”

“Of course.”

“And will I be allowed visitors?”

“Yes, although some encounters will be chaperoned.”

“When my term is finished, will you support a marriage between Sorial and me?”

So she doesn’t know.

Carannan sighed. “Fifteen years is a long time…”

“Will you?” Sorial was familiar with the edge in her voice.

“If it comes to it, yes. But I’d be surprised if you have to wait as long as a year for your stay in the temple to end. Things are different now than they’ve been in a very long time.” Sorial couldn’t determine whether the duke’s circumspection was because he was unaware of the truth or because he didn’t feel it was his place to reveal it. “It would be a surprise to many of us if your bridegroom doesn’t claim you.” Having said that, the duke gathered Lavella and his wife and left the palace.

Once the last of the guests were gone, Sorial and Alicia were alone, but neither harbored illusions about their privacy. They were surely being watched. Still sitting on the front wooden bench, she turned to face him. Her eyes were bright with unshed tears. Sorial took a risk and gripped her hand. No one came rushing in to separate them.

“Well, it could have been worse,” she said. “You said to be patient. I don’t think either of us realized what that might mean. Fifteen years. Gods, I’ll be
old
. Double Maturity.”

“There’s a lot neither of us realized.” How to tell her? And what then? Did he even want to proceed with this “calling” and, if he did, how would he go about it? Was it even real? The more he thought about it, the more aggravated he became. Presumptions being made about the course of his life… Arrogant presumptions.

“Will you wait for me?” Perhaps realizing what she was asking, Alicia hurried on. “I know that’s unfair. I’m not asking that you remain celibate or faithful…”

“Alicia, I’ll be there for you. I ain’t going nowhere. It don’t matter if it’s fifteen weeks, fifteen seasons, fifteen years, or longer. But there’s something you ain’t figured out.”

Her initial relief turned to confusion.

“I’m not sure how to say it so I don’t sound like a madman. The reason they’ve let us be together - pushed us together, actually - is because... Well, they think...
I’m supposed to be the wizard
. All these people, they’ve maneuvered and manipulated me since before my birth. I was brung to Vantok by Warburm and Lamanar to make sure my childhood was bad enough that I’d want more. Then we was introduced with the hope that what happened would happen. Now, all I have to do is become a wizard, whatever that means, and we can be married. Your betrothal is to me if I do what they want me to do. You heard the prelate. You’re an ‘enticement’.”

Alicia looked at him incredulously, at a rare loss for words. Finally, she muttered, “You’ve lost your mind. There’s no way…” Her voice trailed off as she realized he might actually be right. “If that’s true…”

“It’s true. And I think near everyone at the ceremony knew it. We was set up. Ain’t no more choice for us. They made sure we’d fall in love and risk anything to be together. That was their trap and we fell into it.”

“But I
do
love you. That’s real. No one forced me to feel this way.”

“And I love you. But remember the number of times our paths crossed and how much freedom we was given with each other. This is what they wanted. This is what they needed, because it gives them control over me, over us.”

“But all the people involved…”

Sorial nodded. “Your father. My mother. Lamanar. Warburm. Vagrum. Maybe the king. The prelate. And probably a lot of others.”

“If... Do you think Annie was part of it?”

Sorial considered. “No. I doubt it.” But it raised uncomfortable questions about Annie’s death, which had always been difficult to explain. What if the conspirators had felt she was endangering their plan? Hadn’t Warburm warned him that a long-term relationship with Annie was inadvisable?

“And now?”

“Part of me wants to pack my few things and leave. Forget these people and the mockery they’ve made of my life. Let them stew in the rot of their plans.” That was what the stranger had advised: turn his back on Vantok and the people who had manipulated his life. But she had her own agenda. It served her purposes to oppose theirs. Sorial the stableboy or Sorial the guard or Sorial the wanderer could pose no threat to any plots she might be hatching. But Sorial the wizard… that was another matter.

“Do it. Leave. Make them pay.” Anger was beginning to overtake her. “We can still be together. Come back in fifteen years.” With a bitter laugh, she added, “You know I’ll still be here.”

His eyes met hers. In them, he saw the spark of defiance that had motivated her outburst, but there was also sadness and fear. “I can’t.” For him, it was that simple. “I can’t leave you. It ain’t fair but fifteen years is a long time… too long. We might both be dead by then. We know there’s something coming - something that scares them. That’s why they need a wizard. This ain’t some ragtag group of misfits. The king’s involved. And the prelate. Maybe the darkest rumors are true.

“I have to find out what I’m up against. I ain’t got no illusions that becoming a wizard is gonna be an easy thing. It may not be possible. I know enough history to remember that nine hundred years ago, everyone trying died. But the first thing is make them worry.” He knew what he had to do to retain a modicum of independence. He couldn’t simply capitulate. That’s what they expected. They believed that now he knew there was a path to Alicia, he would rush to take it. That road led to slavery. He wouldn't be their puppet. If he became a wizard, whatever that entailed, it would be on his terms.

“How?”

He lowered his voice to a whisper, conscious that their watchers might also be listeners. “It’s time for me to disappear. Not forever but for long enough to make them unsure. They need to know they ain’t in control no matter how much they think they are. After I go, I won’t be able to contact you for a while. They need to think I’ve run away from you as well and you’ll have to act as if everything ain’t right between us. Don't
say
anything but drop hints. Can you do that?”

Alicia nodded. “And I’ll learn everything I can about what it means to be a wizard. The temple has an excellent library and I’ll have an abundance of free time. But promise me you’ll be back, stableboy.”

“I promise. This ain’t forever. Meantime, I’ll send someone to you.”

Their parting was muted, with no overt signs of affection. No hugs, no kisses, no tears. They played to the watchers, conveying a chilly awkwardness. When Sorial turned his back on Alicia and walked away, it was the most painful thing he had done in a day of blows and shocks.

* * *

“I don’t fucking believe it,” said Rexall, at least the fourth time he had muttered that phrase since Sorial had accosted him in the stable where he toiled away his daytime hours.

“Believe it.” Sorial was grim.

“You… a wizard?”

“Not now, but that’s what they think I’ll become. Damn prelate stared right at me and said ‘The Wizard of Vantok will return.’ My mother talked about how she and my father was brung together for a reason and how I had a destiny I’d understand when I got older. Apparently, I’m older.”

“I don’t fucking believe it.”

“There ain’t been wizards for hundreds of years. Everyone who tried to become one died. What makes ’em think it’ll be different today?"

“Don’t really matter, does it?” asked Rexall, coming to grips with what his friend was telling him. “If you’re right, they’ve set you up to die. They don’t know whether you’ll survive this. They can’t. It’s a gamble but they’re playing with your life, and you’re a peasant, so what does it matter? If you live - great, they get what they want. If not - too bad, try again.”

“But why go to all this trouble? Why
now
?”

“Maybe it ain’t just now. Maybe this is some secret organization devoted to resurrecting magic. Maybe they’ve been doing this for 900 years. Maybe you’re just the next in a long line of poor dupes lured to their deaths because there’s a tiny chance of success. Does the ‘why’ really matter, Sor? Their reasons ain’t yours. Leave. Get the fuck outta here. Go as far from Vantok as you can.”

“But Alicia…”

“…ain’t going nowhere. You said that yourself. She’s betrothed to someone who don’t exist. You got fifteen years to figure out how to help her escape. Or you can just wait that long and she’ll be free to go with you. The safest move for you is to get the hell away from this city. Eventually, if you hang around here and don’t agree, they’ll find some way to force you to see things their way. But only if they can find you. Only if you stay where they got power and influence. These are ruthless men, Sorial. After all you’ve learned, do you think Annie’s death was an accident? What if they decide the best way to persuade you is to threaten Alicia? Wouldn’t you do anything to prevent her from being raped or tortured or killed?”

“They wouldn’t do that,” said Sorial, but his voice lacked conviction. “Duke Carannan would never allow it. She’s his daughter.”

“Maybe he wouldn’t have a choice. Maybe he wouldn’t even be consulted. If the king and the prelate are involved, how loud would the voice of one noble be?”

Rexall’s words discomfited Sorial. He had never considered the possibility that Alicia’s life could be in danger. But if the gentle persuasion of love failed, what might they try as a last resort? There were two people in this world Sorial cared about (three, counting Rexall) and both were within easy reach of those who wanted to put Sorial to the wizard’s test.

“Knock me on the head, give me a light cut with that pig-sticker of yours, and steal a horse. You can be halfway to Basingham before anyone figures you’re gone.”

“No,” said Sorial, with a sigh. “I got to understand the ‘why.’ This is my life. I need to know what’s so important they went to such extremes to set things up like this. Not that a part of me don’t want to just steal a horse and run.”

“But a bigger part wants to become a wizard and marry Alicia. If you can survive whatever you have to go through to get to that point. You’re a fool, my friend, and a predictable one. This is a fantasy, a delusion, a hope against logic. This is madness and the only way for you to escape their mass insanity is to run away.”

“I know an old innkeeper who’s got a few answers. I don’t know if Warburm’s the leader, but he’s an important member. Annie and I always wondered what he was up to. Now I know.”

“I’d be careful, Sorial. If he killed Annie...”