Brightly Woven (25 page)

“Oh, shut up!” Oliver burst out. He started to whirl around but seemed to catch himself. His hands clenched in fists at his side, and he picked up his pace.

Quite the temper
, I thought. My eyes drifted down once more to the red hilt of his sword before I glanced at North. “Where are we?” I whispered, gazing up at the statues of Astraea lining the roof of the building.

“The Wizard Command,” North said. “The center of operations for all of the world’s wizards, including the island nations.”

“And the Sorceress Imperial is in charge of all of the wizards?” I asked. I wasn’t sure why I had thought her
command was limited to the wizards of Palmarta. North simply nodded, his eyes falling to his black boots.

“Listen, I’m sure you know this, but the Wizard Command has always served under the royals as their protectors and servants,” North said in a low voice. “But there’ve always been a few high-ranking wizards who believe that the Command should function independently and be granted full control over military affairs.”

“Why are you telling me this?” I asked. Oliver glanced back, as if to make sure we were still following him.

“So you’ll understand why this isn’t going to be easy,” North said. “I think the Sorceress Imperial sees the queen as an easy target. Queen Eglantine is young and inexperienced, and this is the best opportunity the Command has had in years to bully a royal into becoming a puppet, rather than a leader. To shift the balance of power, possibly forever.”

“I understand,” I said.

“What are you two talking about?” Oliver called. His eyes flicked back and forth between us, and I saw that his left hand was fiddling with the hilt of his sword again.

“About how lovely and wonderful you are, Ollie,” North said. Oliver’s face colored, and he turned on his heel. I shot North a look, but he only shrugged his shoulders and followed him.

Passing a small crowd of wizards, we came through an elaborately carved entryway of statues and murals. The
wizards’ heads were bent in serious discussion, but a few glanced up as we passed.

A long line of wizards was waiting in front of a desk set up in the middle of the chamber. Each looked more miserable than the next. Despite the crowd, the wizard at the desk did not appear hurried.

“Your assignment is
ground soldier
. You will report here at dawn every morning for further instructions.” The man crossed the name from the list. “Next wizard!”

We walked past the line and continued down the long hall. North tried to keep his face hidden, but I had the sneaking suspicion that we were gathering more and more looks as we proceeded. Oliver seemed to relish it, taking long, confident strides down the marble floor.

How can he have such a high position
, I wondered,
and at such a young age?

“It’s a ceremonial position,” North replied, and I realized I had spoken aloud. “At eighteen, there’s almost no chance he’d be ranked as number two, but he was given it when the Sorceress Imperial appointed him to that position. She’s grooming him to succeed her.”

After passing a dozen or so doors, we came to a stairwell carpeted in lush, crimson velvet. There was an enormous stained-glass window on the landing, depicting famous wizards throughout the ages. The upstairs hallway was a mixture of portraits and more stained glass, but North and Oliver were walking so quickly that I couldn’t stop to examine them.

Another stairwell. There was only one door at the top. Oliver raised his hand and gave a sharp knock.

“Come in, please,” called a woman’s voice. Oliver opened the door and strode in. When North didn’t move, I gently pushed him forward.

“Now
, Wayland,” she said.

North gave me a quick look. “Don’t hate me,” he said. “I’m nothing like her, I swear. I didn’t tell you before, because I didn’t want you to think even
worse
of me. She may be my blood, but there’s no love lost between us.”

“What?” I followed him inside, closing the heavy door behind me. A few scattered candles cast a halo of light around a desk, but otherwise the room was as dark as the night sky. A woman with long, dark hair stood by one of the open windows. She was wearing a stunning robe of dark purple with a mantle of gold over her shoulders. There was a small smile on her face—one that seemed vaguely familiar.

“Well?” she said.

Oliver stood off to the side, smirking.

“Hullo, Mother,” said North, looking down at his boots.

“She seems surprised.”

I stood rooted to the ground, unable to move even if I had wanted to. The Sorceress Imperial’s brow wrinkled into deep creases and she seemed to go into a trance. I flinched away
from her hand, my breath caught somewhere in my throat as her warm fingers came up to gently brush my cheek. At the touch, the spell broke. North stepped between us and gave her a disbelieving look. Even Oliver looked surprised.

The woman recovered from her strange daze, and the severity in her eyes quickly returned.

“He told me you were dead,” I said.

Oliver let out a short laugh.

“I did not!” North said.

“You said that both your parents had left you, or something!”

“Yes, well,
left
doesn’t always mean dead, you see,” North said. He turned back to his mother. “Just a misunderstanding.”

“In that case.” The woman held out her hand. “My name is Hecate Aisling.”

“Sydelle Mirabil,” I said weakly, shrinking away from her tight grip.

She clucked her tongue at North, walking back around her desk. “I suppose you’ve come to see if you could fight?”

“I’ve brought you information to
prevent
the war,” North said. “And what’s with Aisling? You’ve forsaken Father’s last name?”

“Don’t take that tone with me, Wayland,” she said. “I’ve only recently finished reviewing the complaints filed against you by Mr. Genet after that little stunt you pulled in Dellark.”

“So is it jail or a written apology this time?” North asked petulantly.

“Was it necessary to
‘savagely brutalize’
Genet in your duel?” Hecate asked calmly.

“Well, he was rather annoying,” North said, as if that explained everything. “You would have hit him, too.”

“Your behavior is shameful and inexcusable,” Hecate said. “Yet again you’ve proven yourself to be more of an animal than a wizard.”

I took a step forward, but North’s hand stopped me. “This
animal
has brought you information,” he said.

He reached into his bag and removed the envelopes tied with yarn from his book. Hecate held out her hand for them, but he threw them on the desk. She shook her head as she ripped the envelopes open, holding the paper close to the light. Oliver tried to read over her shoulder until she waved him away.

“Reuel Dorwan was the one to poison the king. I don’t think Auster was involved at all,” North said. “It’s an old hedge witch poison, not something out of their kingdom. He wrote it and the antidote down for me years ago, when I was traveling with him.”

“I suppose you thought this was going to earn you favor?” Oliver asked, disgusted.

“No,” North said. “But I would have appreciated a little respect.”

“Is that why you brought me this information?” Hecate asked, finally passing the sheets of paper to Oliver.

“I brought it to help convince you that there’s no need to fight, and to warn you that dozens of villages like Cliffton have been invaded and set up as camps for Saldorran and Auster armies,” North said, placing both hands on her desk and leaning forward. “Though something tells me you couldn’t care less.”

Oliver let out a bark of laughter. “Dorwan? That loon who was in here, making all kinds of threats after the Guard refused to rank him? That’s rich, even for your imagination.”

Hecate shook her head. “Are you truly naïve enough to think we’ll believe this? That I’ll just take your word on the poison? I know you spent time with him when you were younger. He told me that much when I met him, but I sincerely doubt he has the ability to mix that kind of potion. You’ll need a better excuse than that.”

“The negotiations won’t end for another day,” North said. “If you tell them it was a mistake and recall the declaration of war—”

“The negotiations never have and never will take place,” Oliver said, throwing the papers down on the Sorceress Imperial’s desk.

“What are you saying?” North asked.

“The information you brought us, if any of the commanders will believe the word of an
unranked
wizard, will, perhaps, force some of the other countries to consider coming to our aid. But this war will be fought regardless of your hedge rubbish,” Hecate said. “Our plans have been in place
for weeks now. You are the only one who does not want to see this through at last and rid ourselves of the threat from Auster once and for all.”

“And what about the queen?” North said. “What does the queen have to say about your
plans?”

“The queen needs to sit up in her chambers and mind what I say,” Hecate said, “as her husband should have done.”

“So you’ll let them invade the country,” I said, my voice trembling, “and destroy all of the villages, the towns, the homes and families—”

“Control your pet, Wayland,” Oliver said. “No one speaks to the Sorceress Imperial in that tone.”

“If you must know,” Hecate said. “We’ve already been presented with this information by Cliffton’s proxy, who arrived three days ago. He received the same answer you did. There is simply nothing else to discuss on this matter.”

“No!” I said. “We didn’t come all this way for you to tell us you never intended to seek peace in the first place! What kind of leader purposely sends the people of her country to their deaths? Don’t you understand what we went through to give you this information? Can you even imagine what my family has been going through every day since you failed to stop the Salvalites from invading?”

Hecate clucked her tongue, studying me with cold eyes.

“Mirabil, was it?”

I nodded, swallowing hard.

“That’s the name of the elder from Cliffton, is it not?”

“He’s my father,” I said, crossing my arms.

“Have you ever stopped to consider what use Cliffton is to this country?” she asked. “So far west it might as well be in Saldorra—no commerce, nothing but sand. You came here for purely selfish reasons, to save a village whose loss would be a necessary sacrifice.”

“That’s out of line, even for you,” North said coldly. I was too furious to speak. “What will it do to those people when they discover they’re considered by the wizards to be nothing more than a wall of bodies, an inconvenience for an enemy army to cut through? Don’t you feel any compassion for them at all?”

Hecate’s gaze on her son never wavered.

“This is our chance to assert some control over the leadership of this country,” she said. “Finally, after years of subservience to human kings, there’s a chance for us to exert our own policies.”

“Oh? And how do you plan to enforce this policy when the Guard is overwhelmed by Auster?” North asked. “Are you going to send dozens, maybe even hundreds of wizards to their deaths just so you can speak up at the Elder’s Council?”

“Better to die than to live under an Auster king!” Oliver shot back. “You don’t understand because you have loyalty only to yourself!”

“I have loyalty to the people of Palmarta, and I’m loyal enough not to fight a war to satisfy the greed of the wizard
leaders!” North yelled. “What’s the matter with you? Magister would be disgusted by what you’ve become!”

“Take that back!” Oliver shouted, his hand on the hilt of his talisman.

Hecate stood, slamming both hands on the surface of her desk. The two wizards broke apart at once. “Commander Swift, go tell the palace officials that Miss Mirabil and my son will be staying there for the next few nights under my jurisdiction.”

“Absolutely not!” both wizards shouted at once.

Hecate pointed toward the door, the air around her heating dangerously with magic. Oliver shot an irate glare in North’s direction before storming away and slamming the door behind him. North whirled back around to face his mother, his cloaks billowing out behind him.

“We’re leaving the city tonight,” North said stubbornly. “I’ve given you my information. I’d rather go back and defend the
sacrifices
than stay here and watch you get yourselves killed.”

North took a step back just as Hecate reached for him.

“Don’t,” he told her, and her hand fell away. “Just…don’t.”

“You have no choice,” she said firmly. “They’re closing the gates and restricting access, in order to set up the city’s defense. I have other plans for you and your friend.”

North didn’t say a word—just picked up the wooden chair beside him and threw it against the ground. My lips parted in surprise.

“How very mature of you,” Hecate said calmly. She sat down again, folding her hands atop the desk.

“I’m not ranked, so you have no control over my magic,” North seethed. “You won’t use either of us!”

“You should have thought about that before coming into the city,” she said. “If you won’t listen to me as the Sorceress Imperial, then you will listen to me as your mother.”