Ascendant (41 page)

Paedris could
not allow the enemy
’
s
eye to be turned on Koren.

“
It
’
s not fair.
”
Koren grumbled.
“
I know, life isn
’
t fair. Loyalty runs
uphill," he said with a wink, "and the smelly stuff gets dumped on my
head. Oh, what the hell, now I can stop looking for the stupid thing. Paedris,
why could I see the Cornerstone, and the guard could not?
”

“
Er, oh, I, um, well,
”
the wizard stumbled over
his own tongue,
“
you
see, Koren, I think that living here, being around powerful magic all the time,
you have become, well, rather sensitive to it. Nothing to worry about. Say, I
hear the kitchen is baking cream cakes this morning,
”
Paedris hurried to change
the subject,
“
why
don
’
t you
bring us a plate of them, and we
’
ll
have our own celebration?
”

Koren was not
the only person in the castle unhappy that he was not given credit for finding
the Cornerstone. Every time well-meaning people praised her for finding the
Cornerstone, Ariana felt like a complete fraud. Her mother had declared a feast
to celebrate the discovery of the fabled Cornerstone, fortunately for Ariana
the feast was not to be for another six weeks, to allow time for the Dukes and
Duchesses to travel to the castle. Perhaps by then her face would not burn with
shame when people gushed over how clever she was.

            Ariana
wanted to tell Koren that she didn
’
t
like stealing the credit for finding the Cornerstone, but the very next morning
after the unveiling of the Cornerstone, having stuffed themselves with cream
cakes, Paedris and Koren had ridden their horses out of the castle, and they
weren
’
t
supposed to return for five whole days! Ariana was miserable, expecting that
Koren might think it was her idea to steal the credit from him.

Being out of
the castle, riding about the countryside with Paedris and two of the royal
guards, almost made Koren forget his disappointment over not being able to tell
people that he had found the Cornerstone. Almost. The purpose of riding out of
the castle had been to give Koren
’
s
anger time to cool off; gathering rare roots for potions had only been an
excuse. It was difficult to find roots in the winter, even if a week of warmer
weather had caused much of the snow to melt; Koren knew Paedris didn't need
roots badly enough to roam around the countryside in winter, so he enjoyed
simply being out of the castle, seeing something different than the gray stone
walls. During the day, they rode along country lanes, Paedris mostly letting
Koren decide where he wanted to go. In the late afternoons, they stopped at inns,
where Paedris was given the finest room available, and the kitchen staff
scurried around frantically to make a dinner good enough for the court wizard.
What surprised and amused Koren was how the innkeepers and workers bowed and
scraped to
Koren
, asking what his favorite foods were, helping him care
for the horses, putting away the baggage, making sure he saw them taking
special care setting up his own room. It was the first time in his life that
people, especially adults, deferred to him. In the castle, Koren was just
another servant. Out in the countryside, Koren was the person closest to the
powerful master wizard Lord Paedris Don Salva de la Murta, and because people
were afraid to speak to the wizard, they spoke to Koren. A few people even
offered him money, if Koren would ask the wizard for a favor. Koren always
refused the money, of course, and also refused to ask favors from the wizard,
whether paid or not. He didn't have to; when people heard a wizard was in the
village, they flocked around the inn. Most people wanted merely to see the
wizard, and the soldiers had to shoo people away to keep them from following
the wizard all day, or he would get no peace at all. Some people wanted the
wizard to bless them, or their fields, or their animals; Paedris gently
explained that blessings were the province of priests, not wizards. And there
was always a family in each village who wanted the wizard to heal a sick
person. Sometimes Paedris could help, and sadly sometimes he could not, and
sometimes he declared the sick person only had a bad cold, and needed to rest,
to be kept warm, and to drink a hearty chicken broth with vegetables.

One morning,
in a very small village up in the hills east of Linden, where the tiny inn had
only two rooms and Koren had to share a room with the two snoring soldiers, a
man was waiting when they stepped outside after a surprisingly good breakfast.
The man was wearing what must have been his best clothes, but he was clearly a
poor farmer, with his clothes much patched, collar and cuffs frayed. When he
saw the wizard, the man snatched his cap off and knelt on one knee.
"Please, my lord Salva, my wife, she's with child, and she's sick, very
sick. Could you please look at her, kind sir?"

Paedris, who
had slept well, having suffered no snoring companions in his room, and feeling
good after a delicious breakfast served in front of a fire in the inn's cozy
common room, took pity on the man, asking him questions about his wife. The man
led the way, riding an old plow horse, several miles deeper into the hills, to
a small but well-kept farmhouse at the end of the road. As they came around the
bend in the road, Koren admired the man's property; a barn well banked against
winter winds with stacks of hay on the north side, healthy-looking animals
grazing in the fenced paddock, rolling fields separated by lines of trees as
windbreaks. The neat stacks of firewood, even now that winter was waning, were
impressive, enough surely for another year. Right then, Koren knew his fondest
dream was to have a farm just like this one.

As they
approached the house, the man called out, and two children ran out, a
blonde-haired girl a few years younger than Koren, and a boy Koren guessed to
be six years old. "Papa! Papa! Come quickly, mama is burning up with fever!"
The girl cried out, tears streaming down her face.

"Melissa!
This here's the master wizard of all Tarador, show your respect." Her
father admonished his children. The girl curtsied and the boy bowed, avoiding
looking the great and powerful wizard in the eye.

Paedris feared
he was too late, or could not help, when he entered the farmhouse and saw the
woman. She was laying on top of the bedcovers, and sweating although the fire
in the stove was low, and inside the house was cold enough the wizard could almost
see his breath. She was also shivering, and when he felt her forehead, she was
indeed burning up. First, Paedris told her husband to stoke the fire, to warm
up the house. While her skin was hot, her insides were cold, Paedris explained,
hence the shivering.

The wizard
covered the woman with a blanket, knelt beside the bed, and made her drink
water. He laid his hands on her, closed his eyes, and summoned his senses.

"Sir?'
Koren asked quietly. "What do you see, or, or feel?"

"A wizard
can sense-" Paedris had been about to explain how a wizard could sense
sickness inside a person, or animal, sense something wrong, and isolate it, and
act upon it, and then strengthen the surrounding tissues. He had been about to
explain, as a wizard to an apprentice, when he caught himself and remembered
Koren was not yet an apprentice. That if he explained how to sense corruption
inside a person's body, and how to send healing force flowing from wizard to
patient, Koren may realize he, too, could sense that. And that might get Koren
to thinking he, too, had wizardly power. Get Koren to realize his ability to
calm frantic animals, like Thunderbolt, was in fact part of his power as a
wizard. And for Koren to realize the truth, now, too soon, would be a disaster.
So instead of explaining, Paedris snapped "Koren, stop bothering me when
I'm working. Go boil some water, and get me clean cloths."

"Yes,
sir, sorry, sir." Koren mumbled, and hastened away to help the father
bringing in firewood. When the fire was roaring in the stove, and a pot of
water was on to boil, Koren brought a bag of clean cloths, and the wizard's
satchel of potions, then went out to help the two children with farm chores.
Chores around a farm waited for no one, they did not care whether someone in
the house was sick, or even dying. He helped the girl get the family's two cows
into the barn, and milked one cow while she milked the other, and her little
brother fed the goats and pigs. Then Koren tended the plow horse, bringing the
animal into the barn, brushing its old coat, and bringing in a bale of hay.

"Sir? Is
momma going to be all right?" The girl asked, and Koren momentarily turned
around to look for the wizard, for no one had ever called him 'sir' before. He
was not much older than the girl, which certainly didn't merit him being called
'sir'. But he was a companion of the great and powerful wizard, and he now wore
fine clothes, and he lived in a castle. To the girl, he must seem like a grand
figure.

"You
don't have to call me sir, miss. I lived on a farm like this, before I came to
serve the wizard."

"Really?"
The girl asked, wide-eyed.

"Really.
I'm no one special, just a servant. I chop wood, and fetch food, and clean up
after my master. As far as your mother, I don't know whether she will be well,
but I do know that Lord Salva is the most powerful wizard in all the land, more
powerful than you can know, more powerful than I could have imagined,"
Koren said with a shudder as he thought of the staircase that didn't exist, and
disappearing teapots, "so if anyone can help your mother, he can. And if
he can, he will. Lord Salva is a good man, which is why our enemy fears him so.
Now, let's bring this milk to your father, and see if the wizard needs
anything."

When they got
back into the house, Koren at first feared the worst, for the mother was laying
in bed, with the blanket pulled up to her chin, and she appeared not to be
moving. The wizard's face was drained of color, he and the father were huddled
by the stove, heads nearly touching, talking quietly. The girl, seeing this,
flung her arms around Koren and sobbed on his shoulder, while her little
brother clung to his waist. "No, don't cry, little ones," the father
called out softly, "your mother is going to be fine, and the baby too.
Lord Salva has worked a miracle on her-"

"No
miracle," the wizard protested, "merely a good dose of the right
potion, and some help from a touch of magic." From the wizard's tired
eyes, the woman had needed more than just 'some' help from magic, healing her
had been a strain on even his great powers. In his hand was a thick slice of
bread, slathered with butter and jam, for the use of magic had made him hungry
again, as it always did. Koren noted the wizard's hand shook slightly.
"Her fever has broken. Keep your wife warm, and let her rest, she needs
rest, and quiet, and fruit juice if you have it, and a broth, chicken broth is
best, I find."

"Yes, my
lord," the man replied, looking at the wizard worshipfully, which would
have annoyed Paedris. "Apple cider I have, and we've a pot of chicken soup
frozen in the shed, I'll heat it and give her spoonfuls, as you
instructed."

A bit later,
outside, the man tearfully offered to give Paedris sacks of grain, or a goat,
or even his prize cow, but the wizard refused. "I don't know how else to
thank you, Lord Salva." The man said, choking back tears.

"You
don't owe me anything," the wizard insisted. "You pay your taxes?
Your taxes help pay for my keep. And for the royal army that keeps the enemy
from all of our doors. My servant says you have an admirable farm, that you
work hard and are a good steward of the land. Live a good life, and take care
of your family, that is all I ask." In the end, Paedris accepted a small
jar of maple syrup, mostly because he thought the man would feel better about
having given something back to the wizard. "Now, Koren, we need to get on
our way. I believe I saw a ruined castle on our way up this road, and I've
never been in these hills before. I feel like exploring this morning."

"Oh, yes,
sir, please, sir. I'd love to do that." Koren said with genuine
enthusiasm. He loved poking around old tumbled down castles, cities and even
just the foundations of long-ago farmsteads. It was now mid-morning, a sunny
day warming up nicely, although the wizard warned cold and snow were on the
way. Best to enjoy the good weather while it lasted, and be thankful that he
would rest his head that night under the roof of an inn, with a full belly.
After they had ridden out onto the road, Koren asked "Do you feel up to a
ride today, sir? We could go back to that inn, for a meal."

"Yes,
yes, I'm fine now, Koren. That was a good thing we did this morning,
Koren." Paedris declared, and he did indeed look much better, with color
returning to his face, and his eyelids no longer drooping. Wizards did recover
faster than ordinary people, perhaps that was magic also. "Although lunch
does sound good, I think the innkeeper mentioned he would have chops on the
grill and potatoes later today. And I believe his wife was cutting up apples to
bake a pie, so certainly we can't let that good woman's efforts go to waste,
eh?" The wizard said with a chuckle. "We must go back down this road
anyway, so we'll stop by that ruined keep." The wizard looked up at the
cloudless sky. "This nice stretch of weather won't last past midday
tomorrow, I fear. Best we start making our way back to Linden."