The Princess of Trelian (30 page)

They looked at each other, and Meg watched a series of emotions flash across Calen’s face: surprise, relief, anger . . . shame? She wondered what her own face looked like. The silence began to feel uncomfortable.

“I came to find out about the mages,” Meg said. “To ask you about them. My parents told me this morning that they were here.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“Was that — was that what you came to tell me about yesterday?”

“Oh, uh . . .” He hesitated, then went on, “Yeah. That’s all. It wasn’t really that important. I knew you’d hear about them before long anyway.”

They fell silent again. Meg hated how awkward this felt. She just wanted things to be back to normal.

“So . . . what’s going on?” she asked when it seemed clear he wasn’t going to say anything else without prompting. “Why are they here?”

She peered past Calen into the room beyond. There were at least five strangers that she could see, all mages with various degrees of marking across their faces. They appeared to be having a fairly heated discussion with Serek and Anders.

Calen glanced over his shoulder and then slipped out into the hallway, closing the door behind him. None of the men seemed to notice.

“They came two nights ago,” he said, leading her a little way down the hall so that the voices fell to muffled background noise behind them. “They’ve been arguing ever since.”

Meg couldn’t help it. She said, “Lots of that going around lately.”

Calen crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, looking at her. “Yeah,” he said finally. “I guess so.”

“Why —” Meg started after a moment, at the same time that Calen said, “I didn’t —”

They both stopped. Waited.

“Go ahead,” Meg said.

“I’m sorry I got so angry,” Calen said. “I didn’t mean to say those things to you. I just — I just want you to be careful. You’re not — you’re not always very careful, you know?”

Meg pursed her lips in annoyance, but he wasn’t really wrong, was he? “I suppose that’s fair,” she said. “But it really wasn’t what you thought, Calen. He took my hand, and for a second I was too startled to do anything, and that’s when you came in and saw . . . what you thought you saw.”

Calen looked like he was mulling over several responses. Finally he said, “But you can see, can’t you, that he’s trying to win back your trust? That he’s trying to — to get close to you again? Surely he could have told you he wanted to help us against Sen Eva without having to touch you.”

“Yes,” she said. “You’re right, of course.” She almost added that he was right about her not really hating Wilem anymore, too. But somehow that seemed like a bad idea, if she wanted them to get past this argument.

“I’ll be careful, Calen,” she said instead. “I promise.” He nodded, but he didn’t quite look at her. What did he want her to say? “I’m not — I’m not going to let him get close to me again.”

He looked up at that, but his eyes met hers for only a moment before sliding away. “Okay,” he said.

They stood there for a minute more, leaning against their opposite walls. The silence felt different this time, Meg thought. Less . . . hostile. But she still didn’t like it.

“So,” she said, trying to make her voice as normal as possible, “the mages?”

“Right,” Calen said, nodding and looking at her again. He took a breath. “Things have, um, apparently gone a little crazy at the Magistratum since we left.”

They went over to a little padded bench that sat tucked in a nook nearby. There was a tapestry across from it, showing some kind of battle scene. Meg looked at Calen instead.

He explained about the mages’ unexpected arrival and their alarming news. “The group that’s here now, they came here to join with Serek. They said others are on the way, too. They want him to organize a group of mages who are willing to go after Sen Eva and Mage Krelig right now.”

“But that’s wonderful!” Meg didn’t understand what the problem was. “Calen, I’m sure if enough mages went after her together, they would have no trouble overcoming her no matter how powerful she’s become. Gods, that’s exactly what we need! I thought the Magistratum would have gone after her right away, back when Serek first explained what was happening. I never understood why they weren’t doing anything.”

“It’s not that simple, Meg. If we do this, go after Sen Eva as a separate group, without the support of the council . . . it would be a very serious thing. The Magistratum was formed for a reason — to keep mages from running off and doing whatever they wanted all the time, from using their magic to achieve their own personal ends. If we break off from them . . . it could have very dangerous consequences. Maybe even worse than what’s happening now with Sen Eva.”

Meg was startled to realize that Calen actually looked a little frightened.

“It could be the end of the Magistratum, Meg. If mages start deciding to take matters into their own hands . . . we won’t be the only group to do so. If we start this, other groups will form, too. Groups with different ideas of what to do. Groups that might decide that we need to be stopped before we do the wrong thing.”

Meg stared at him. “Are you saying there could be a war among the mages?”

“Yes. Or at least, that seems to be what Serek is afraid of, and he knows a whole lot more about it than I do. If that happened . . . it would be terrible, Meg.” He got up, too agitated to sit still. “Do you know about the time from before the Magistratum was formed? It was like that all the time. Mages fighting each other, and everyone was afraid of them. . . . Whole kingdoms were destroyed! It would be really, really bad for that to start happening again.”

“What do you think Serek is going to do?” Meg asked.

“I don’t know. I think he’s going to try to wait, to petition the council to make a decision. If the council masters would just decide something, maybe all the infighting would just stop.”

“If he does end up leading this group, what do you think they’ll do?”

“I have no idea.” He sounded suddenly bitter.

“What do you mean?”

He scowled and dropped back onto the bench, pushing his fist into the soft cushion beneath them. “It’s because of those signs I told you about — the ones that say I’m going to be involved with Mage Krelig in some way. Serek has decided that the less I know about their plans to fight him, the better. He won’t tell me anything now.”

“But — but that’s crazy! Do they really think you would help him? He’s terrible! Worse than Sen Eva!”

“Exactly. But apparently I’m just too great a risk. So I’m supposed to sit around being useless.” He looked at her, and for a moment, it seemed as though he were about to say something else, but he only shook his head.

The sound of running feet in the hallway made them both look up. It was Nan Vera, looking harried.

“What’s wrong, Nan Vera?” Meg asked.

“It’s Maurel, of course,” the older woman replied wearily. “She was supposed to come meet me before lunchtime and never showed up. I’ve given up on
you
appearing regularly at meals,” she said with a withering, squinty-eyed glance, “but Maurel has always been good about mealtimes, even when she’s off causing gods-know-what mischief before and after.”

“I’m sure she just lost track of the time,” Meg said. Although . . . it was true that Maurel tended to time her misbehavior not to conflict with meals. “I can help you look for her, if you like.”

“I’ll help, too,” Calen said. “Serek’s not going to miss me while he’s still arguing with the other mages.”

“Thank you both,” Nan Vera said. “I’m sure you’re right, that she’s only forgotten the time, but . . . well, with everything that’s been happening lately, I’ll just feel better when we know where she is.”

“Of course,” Meg said. She stood up, and Calen did, too. “Did you check outside yet? We can start there. She may have gone back to visit Jakl.” But then Meg stopped, a terrible thought beginning to take shape.

Nan Vera was nodding. “Good. I’ll keep looking inside. I’ve been alerting all the guards I pass as well. They know to bring her directly to me if they find her.” She smiled a little grimly. “No matter what excuse she gives. You know how she is about talking her way out of getting in trouble.”

“Nan Vera,” Meg said. The older woman looked at her, and her smile faded at whatever she saw in Meg’s face. Meg swallowed and said, “I think she may have gone into the forest.”

Nan Vera stared at her. So did Calen. “Why would she do that?” he asked.

“She was talking . . . Yesterday, she was asking questions about Jakl, about whether there could be other dragons out there, waiting to be found. I thought — I thought she was just daydreaming — you know, pretending she was going to have a dragon, too, and that he and Jakl would be friends. . . .” She closed her eyes for a long moment. “I wasn’t really paying close attention. I didn’t . . . I should have remembered who I was dealing with. Oh, gods.”

“I’ll go tell your parents,” Nan Vera whispered. She turned and hurried away.

“Meg,” Calen said, “you don’t know that’s what happened. She could be anywhere. You know how Maurel likes to hide and play games.”

“I know,” Meg said. “But she never misses lunch, Calen. I know that sounds silly, but it’s true. Not ever. What if she went out there looking for dragons and something happened to her? What if —?”

She thought of Lourin’s soldiers, of wild animals, of wandering thieves and bandits.

She thought of Sen Eva. And she thought of the slaahr.

“Even if she did go outside the castle grounds,” Calen said, speaking slowly and calmly, “she probably just got lost in the woods or something. The guards will bring her back. She’ll hear them calling and come right back to us. You’ll see.”

But by evening, they still hadn’t found her.

T
HEY WERE ALL IN ONE OF
the king and queen’s fancy meeting rooms: Calen, Meg, the king and queen, Nan Vera, Serek, and Anders. Even Meg’s littlest sister Mattie was there, cradled carefully in the queen’s arms. Calen half wondered why Serek hadn’t invited those other mages to come, too, but he guessed this was private Trelian business, not really anything to do with the Magistratum. Maurel
could
still just be off exploring somewhere. She could be hiding to get attention, or she could have lost track of the time, or maybe she really did get lost somewhere off the castle grounds — which of course couldn’t be very fun for her, but surely they’d be able to find her and bring her back safely if that were the case.

Calen was more worried that something else had happened. Something less easily made right again.

He looked at Meg and knew she was thinking the same thing.

There was no real reason to think that Sen Eva had anything to do with Maurel’s disappearance. Except that whenever something bad happened lately, Sen Eva seemed to be behind it somehow.

“The guards are walking a search pattern around the castle grounds and the surrounding forest,” the king was saying, “but so far they haven’t found anything, not even a sign that she’s passed through a certain area. Nan Vera, I know you’ve checked all her usual hiding spots, and Meg and Calen have searched likely places as well. We’ve got the entire castle staff on alert, but somehow I doubt she’s still inside the castle. I am open to suggestions for other ways to look for her.”

Calen raised his hand tentatively. “Did anyone check — there’s that secret passage where they found that other queen that time. . . .”

“Yes,” King Tormon said. “We looked there, and I’ve got guards checking all the other secret passages we know about. It wouldn’t surprise me if Maurel knows about a few that we don’t, but I have to believe that she would not stay away this long by her own choice.”

“Do we think it could be Sen Eva?” Meg asked. She looked back and forth between her father and Mage Serek. “Now that she can’t get at us through the dreams, maybe she decided to try a different way?”

“I do think it’s a possibility,” Serek answered. “We know she is not a woman who gives up easily.”

The queen looked horrified. “Surely she can’t just enter the castle or the grounds without us knowing? I realize she is powerful, but have we no defenses at all against such a thing?”

“I wish I could reassure you, Your Majesty,” Serek said apologetically, “but I’m afraid she is capable of much that is beyond our own abilities. Perhaps she lured Maurel off the grounds somehow. Or perhaps she found a way inside. Now that we know she can change her appearance, who is to say she did not merely walk right past the guards at the gate in the guise of someone they knew?”

“Or just influenced them to let her in, the way she influenced King Gerald,” Calen added.

Everyone was starting to look a little sick as the implications began to sink in.

“I am ashamed to say we did not think to ward the entrances in some way,” Serek said. “We have done so now, of course, and will know if any mages, marked or not, attempt to enter the castle grounds. But obviously we are a little, ah, late on that front. I am deeply sorry. I never suspected Sen Eva would attempt to physically return here.”

“I still think Maurel went out on her own,” Meg said. “I told you: I think she went out to find her own dragon. Once she was outside, Sen Eva wouldn’t have had any trouble just — just grabbing her. . . .” She looked like she was going to cry.