A Darkness Unleashed (Book 2) (18 page)

“Do what you must, Captain.” Maddi shaded her vision from the setting sun. “I am going home for the day. See that your men do, too.” She watched the Bluecloaks strolling through the site. “Except, perhaps, your security.”

Maddi pulled her hood and cloak tight against the evening chill before moving into the crowded streets of Gavanor. Slipping her way along back avenues and through thick crowds, she soon lost any followers.
Strange how the skills from my first life can help in what looks to be my second, but no one can know where Tanya lives.

Down a small path between brownstone townhouses, a small gate led Maddi into her long untended garden. The roseworts and chickory she had planted last spring lay chocked by creepers and winter-dried dandelions.
And I’ll have no time to care for it this spring either. Renna would be so disappointed.

She unlocked the back door to their unobtrusive home. Within moments, Tanya came bursting from the kitchen into the rear storeroom, her hands waving a large piece of embossed parchment.

“It’s for you, Maddi!” The girl pressed it into her hands. “Is it from Tallen? Ami doesn’t think so, but I do. He hasn’t written since he left. He always writes.”

Maddi pursed her lips. “He only wrote that once, and he’s busy with the army no doubt.” She felt a pang in her heart.
I hope.

The letter was printed on fine linen, by a hand she knew was not Tallen’s. The emerald wax stamped with the insignia of a stone wall gave quick clue as from whence it had come. She broke the seal it with a heavy sigh.

Lady Maddrena Conaleon,

Your presence is requested at the Citadel of Gavanor on the third High Day of Winterwane to join House Varlan in welcoming His Majesty, King Arathan VII, and the grand army of the East. All of Gavanor shall be overjoyed.

His Lordship Doran Varlan

Tightness in her chest weakened her knees, forcing her to lean against a water barrel.
I thought I’d escaped this kind of flaming thing!

She looked up to see Ami, her sympathetic face framed by snow-white tresses.

“I know you didn’t seek all of this,” Ami said, “but many of us have unexpected forces change our lives. I never wanted my Talent, and see where it led me?” She shook her head. “Living up to the unexpected…that’s what being an adult means.”

“But what about…” Maddi looked at Tanya. “I worry I’m not here enough.”

Ami shook her head. “I am. And I’m happy to do it. I love her as much as you do.” She shrugged her shoulders. “If you don’t do the big things to protect us from the greater threats in life, none of the little things will matter anyway.”

Suddenly aware of Tanya listening to every word, Maddi calmly folded the letter and placed it in the satchel she carried. “Very well. If I have to play their game, then that’s what I’ll do. The king is arriving in two days—”

“The king!” Tanya covered her mouth in excitement.

“Yes.” Ami eyed the girl. “So you’d better behave. I hear he takes misbehaved children and puts them in his dungeon.”

Tanya’s voice quivered with uncertainty. “He doesn’t.”

“I’ve heard the same thing,” Maddi added. “I’d be a little nervous if I were you. You probably should never leave the house without Ami or me to watch over you.” She gave that a moment to sink in while Tanya screwed up her forehead in concerned thought. “Now, I need to clean up. Then we will have supper.”

Leaving Tanya to argue with Ami over what they would eat, Maddi slipped into her private room. She tossed her satchel on the bed and collapsed beside it. Pulling out the invitation from the duke’s son, she saw the worn piece of folded parchment she always kept somewhere close by. She grabbed it, feeling the difference between its thin paper and the thick linen on which the invitation had been written. It reminded her of another she had burned weeks ago.

Maddi carefully unfolded Tallen’s one note he had written her from the Isle of Wizards, and read it for the hundredth time.

Maddi,

I miss you. I’m sorry to start with something so simple, but that’s really all I can think of to say. I miss it when you smile. I miss it when you laugh. I miss it when you look at me like I’m an idiot, which you are probably doing right now. I miss that…

I’m learning so much, and personal time is rare here. I don’t know how often I’ll be able to write. Boats do not dock as often as I hoped, and this captain only gave me a few hours to finish this note. I had already written it a dozen times, but each time I threw it away, so now I only have one chance to get it right.

I hope you are learning as much or more about being a Doctor as I am about being a mage. Not only have both Dorias and Tomas taught me things, but so have a dozen other wizards here on the Isle. Varana herself teaches me almost every day. I cannot believe she is the same woman of legend. She feels like a normal person mostly. Yet at times, I can see the thousand-year-old elf sorceress. To be honest, she scares me.

I’m running out of paper, and the captain said only one page. I hope you are happy, but not too happy without me around. I’m much happier when I’m around you.

I…I want to spend much more time together.

Tallen

“I love you too,” she whispered, “even if you can’t say it yet.”

O
nly a small group of the duke’s family and closest retainers gathered at the peak of the citadel tower. Maddi sighed with relief when Captain Ranier stepped onto the balcony, a freshly pressed, brown-trimmed cloak on his shoulders. He offered her a tight smile, before greeting the lords.

Maddi moved to the parapet, focused on a blur along the eastern horizon that obscured the sunrise. The murmur of noble whispering disappeared as a low rumble rose even to their expansive height. The rumble soared until Maddi felt it in her stomach.

Across the Stonebourne Fork where it flowed past the city docks, a few tall banners peeked over the shoreline. Blue pennants spangled with silver dragons fluttered in long, serpentine arcs. Moments later several different ones lifted into view: a seahawk on turquoise and amethyst, a blue tulip on yellow. A cluster of crossed hammers and pale green bridges crested at the northern end, while a banner of three golden trees and another with a red horse appeared to the south. More and more flags came over the ridgeline, soon followed by the thousands upon thousands of men who carried them. Knights on horseback moved in battalions, while even greater numbers of infantrymen marched to a steady drumbeat carrying pikes, spears, and longswords.

Maddi could not avoid a shocked gasp. “I’ve never seen so many,” she whispered behind her hand.

“Few have.” Captain Ranier, finished with his noble visits, had found his way close by. “King Arathan has raised an army unlike any seen since, well since the beginnings of his reign. Some say it is larger than the one he led at the Battle of the Andon Delta, though Arathan is probably one of the few still alive from that time, so only he could say for certain.”

Maddi nodded, paying only partial attention. Her focus remained on a small party who rode out from the ferry landing on the far side of the Stonebourne. A dozen horsemen in green and blue rode under the dragon banner and the stonewall pennant of Gavanor. Maddi sucked in a breath when she recognized what could only be Prior Edwyn among them, dressed in black and white robes. They crossed the few yards of floodplain to meet the van of the army, where several of the most common banners clustered together, including the Sigil of Balance.

Squinting at the distance, Maddi saw that they exchanged formal greetings, including the duke’s son dismounting and bowing low before the king. Maddi picked Arathan out of the crowd, his white armor catching the few rays of clouded sun. He signaled to his commanders, and the army proceeded toward the ferry landings, where hundreds of boats had gathered.

Captain Ranier laughed. “Perhaps now His Majesty will fund the bridge we’ve been calling for, though I doubt the duke really wants it.” He leaned toward Maddi to whisper. “Easier to control the price on a ferry.”

Maddi looked at the army, which continued to line up in the distance, as far as she could see. “How long will it take to bring them all across?”

“Probably two or three days. They will assemble to the north of the city where a staging area has been organized.”

The king rode his horse onto the first boat, along with Doran Varlan and a few dozen other nobles. They left their bannermen waiting along the docks for another craft. Maddi scanned the far side. The prior remained along the shore, talking to a fat man in matching robes underneath the Sigil of Balance.

“Damn,” she grumbled under her breath. “Now
he’s
here. All I need is the Lord Doctor.”

Ranier tried to follow her line of vision. “What do you mean?”

She shook her head. “I have a feeling like our work just had sentence passed.”

The engineer frowned, concern deepening on his features. “I still don’t quite follow.”

Maddi patted his thick shoulder. “Never mind, Captain.” She played at the strings on her dress. She needed to get her leathers on. “If you are up for it, I’ll see you at the hospital site in an hour.”

Ranier placed his hand on her elbow to stop her before she moved away. “You have many friends, Maddi. I’m not without resources.”

She gave him a weak smile. “I know, Captain. Thank you.”

Not quite an hour later, more comfortable in her simple leathers, Maddi walked onto the hospital grounds. The workers at the site hoisted rafters and set floor joists, ignoring the arrival of a vast army outside the wall. She smiled at them.
If they can get paid today, they will be here, not down with the gawkers.

The workers all bowed to her with respect, their diverse backgrounds showing in their faces. The refugees had come from all over the west, including the mixed bag of the Free Cities. This surplus of multi-skilled labor resulted in the great speed with which Maddi’s vision had risen to reality. Yet it also brought the city to the edge of chaos, so many different people who did not know or trust each other crowded into one place.

Maddi threw herself into the work, helping spread mortar with one group before assisting a crane crew in sliding a rafter into place. As the morning wore on, she noticed more soldiers walking along the streets in twos and threes. At first, they were mostly officers and nobles, but soon enlisted men began strolling in, their voices louder and more gruff, though their arms had been left in camp.

Around midday she stopped for lunch with the engineers, Captain Ranier now in his working clothes as well. She enjoyed the barley porridge, once she had poured enough dark brown honey into it. The men also tore into a smoked ham, but meat did not appeal to Maddi as much as it once did. It always reminded her that the many bodies she had healed were little more than meat themselves.

Afterward, Maddi looked over Ranier’s shoulder, watching him add the final touches to some of the interior plans. A commotion rose down at the worksite’s edge, drawing her gaze. A large group of armed men pushed their way through the thin line of folk watching the construction. Most of the men wore black polished armor with white tabards. A few priests in black and white robes strutted along with them, one being the prior, while another slowed the entire procession with his waddling gait.

Most of the crowd made way, while quite a few bowed with deep respect for the High Elder of the Temple. When she noticed the sickening smile on the prior’s face, Maddi considered running as her best option. Instead, she strode to meet the party, a generous grin plastered to her mouth.

“Prior Edwyn, it is so good to see you returned.” She bowed her head. “And I have never had the honor of meeting the man that can only be the High Elder. Thank you for blessing our site, sir.”

The knights halted and the prior and his acolytes lined up beside them. High Elder Varon Hastrian waddled his way to the fore, dabbing his sweaty, balding pate with a silk kerchief.

“Miss Conaleon,” he began. “I have heard your name before, though in Daynon it was affixed to some blasphemous moniker that I am certain you did not give to yourself.” The High Elder dabbed his head again as he puffed to catch his breath. “How the masses can be so ignorant and so innocent at the same time is one of the many conflicting facets of the Balance.”

Edwyn stepped up to the elder’s shoulder. “Your Holiness, may we get to the point?”

The High Elder shook a ruby-ringed finger at the prior. “So you may get to your revenge, Brother Edwyn? For shame.” He clucked his tongue as a teacher might do to an unruly child. “Vengeance is an act of Chaos, and not in tune with the Balance. This is not about your revenge. This is about the wishes of King Arathan.”

Prior Edwyn bowed his head and backed up between his acolytes. His beady eyes shot daggers at Maddi from beneath wiry brows.

“Now, back to the point at hand…”