Sworn To Transfer (15 page)

“And you sort of took care of that?” he asked carefully.

She bit a lip. “Yeah, with some help.”

“Someone you can trust?”

“Absolutely possibly.”

He blinked. “Right. Is the duke likely to retaliate because of what you did?”

“Nothing that I can’t handle,” she said resolutely. “I’ve got enough dirt on him that he can only rely on besmirching my character at court now. Speaking of which, have you heard all the rumors about me?”

He looked at her in amusement. “Such as?”

“That you’re leaving me, for one?” she snapped.

He chuckled. “I’ve heard of that one, yes.”

She glared.

“No truth to the matter, of course.”

“Of course,” she said smoothly. “But it’d be nice if you could do something about them.”

He shook his head. “I can’t. My father has forbidden me from declaring you as my Companion for now.”

“Seriously?” she gasped. “You couldn’t have mentioned this? For how long?”

“I’m mentioning it now. And indefinitely. But in all other concerns you are my one and only choice. Don’t worry.”

“You know what this means, right?”

He looked at her silently.

“It means I’m stuck with the shitty end of the stick.”

“Smart woman.”

She shot him a long-suffering look that bordered on anger.

He grimaced and choked down a post-bug bite of soup.

“So I take it the meeting didn’t go well?” he said, shifting his attention back to the Companions’ Council.

“They said they have received three reprimands of conduct against me from the palace protocol office.” She paused and stared pointedly at him. “I repeat:
the palace protocol office
.”

“I have no influence over protocol. They’ve been around for hundreds of years and don’t care for my opinions,” he said.

She sighed and grumbled, “I know. I just wish you did.”

Clearing her throat, Ciardis said, “I won’t be around for about a month—the council decided it was best I have formal mage training.”

“With?”

“Maree Amber.”

“Good, she’s strict but a great mage.”

“What kind?”

“You don’t know?”

“Would I be asking if I did?” she snapped.

“She’s the head of your guild.”

“And?”

He muttered an unintelligible response.

“She’s a telekinetic companion.”

“Oh, well, that could be useful.”

“Officially.”

“Officially? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Unofficially, she’s supposed to have other talents in service of the empire.”

“Says who?”

“Says half the nobility, and my father.”

“Oh. What kind of talents?”

“No idea. Only the ruling emperor and his closest advisors are privy to that sort of knowledge.”

“Damn.” Ciardis was curious. There were many talents a person could have, but to have more than one generally qualified a person as a master mage. And “in the service of the empire” was as revealing as mud. Another mystery to solve, then.

Sebastian tapped his fingers in a pattern back and forth as he thought.

“See what she can teach you. I’ll call you into the Aether realm in a week’s time so we can convene.”

It was then that they heard a crier at the front door. “A summons has been issued to gather at the square for news of the day. Five minutes until the clock strikes the mid-afternoon.”

Ciardis cursed a blue streak. “I’m late. See you at our regular meeting?” She barely saw him nod before she scrambled up from the table and ran out the door, nearly barreling over the crier in the process.

H
urrying into the street, she signaled for a fast carriage. The fact that the driver had to nearly run down an old woman carrying a basket of bread to get Ciardis where she was going was enough to earn him his tip. She took off in a flat out run before the wheels had even stopped in the courtyard. Tossing a small bag of coins at the man, she set off for Maree Amber’s tower. Panting and out of breath, she made it to the base of the tower just a few minutes past the start of the hour. Ciardis approached the single-door entryway to the council head’s chambers with some resignation.

Although it was called a tower, it was really a very large set of suites set together. She’d read that the original apartments for the council head had been in a tower. But an attack three decades ago had destroyed it. No one was quite sure if it disappeared entirely or fell into the ocean. The new set of apartments had taken on the name of the tower despite being only one and a half levels and in a fairly rectangular shape.

Loitering outside Maree Amber’s door was only making Ciardis later than she already was. Sighing, she reached for the handle of the door and squeaked in surprise when the door not only shocked her with some form of electricity, but also swung wide open of its own accord.

Squeezing her hands together, she walked inside, slightly unsettled. She was getting used to magic, but only a fool would trust unseen magic. Inside was a wide foyer with a floor of marble, bookcases that lined each wall, and plush chairs arrayed in a sitting room style. Seeing no one there, she continued forward into the next room. There was a short hallway that made a sharp right into the council head’s office. Ciardis walked around the corner and immediately stopped in her tracks.

Maree Amber, Head of the Companions’ Council, sat perfectly composed behind her large desk. A few objects sat on the desk, but for the most part it was blessedly empty. She gave Ciardis a pointed look over the wire-rimmed glasses perched on her nose.

Ciardis wasn’t paying the woman the least bit of attention. The beast in front of the desk sitting sedately, but Ciardis wasn’t fooled, had her full attention. She began focusing on controlling her breathing, trying not to hyperventilate, and edging backwards through the door as fast as she could. Reaching it after three tenuous backward steps she put her hand back to find the corner for the turn. What she found instead had her nearly swearing a blue streak. The way was blocked by a barrier. It felt like the wind barrier on the ship, but she wasn’t turning around to make sure.

She had to keep an eye on that monstrosity sitting in the middle of the room. It was practically salivating as it waited to attack her.  It was covered in white fur and was easily the size of a horse. Pointed ears with tufts made of her think of a big cat, but its broad, curved tail and fluffy fur said it was a dog. Whatever it was, it’s long and powerful legs would enable it to reach her in a single bound.

She wasn’t fond of dogs or big cats. The former were mangy mutts with fleas and all manner of diseases. The latter were hunters that killed with impunity in the great forests of the North. She had some experience with big cats from her time in Vaneis. All the villagers had to some extent. The snow leopards there were so brazen that they’d been known to hunt the large oxen in the outlying farms and then kill the farmers who retaliated against them.

Looking at Ciardis with distaste, Maree Amber said, “Ranger, come.”

The dog...cat...
thing
obediently stood and came and sat next to her desk.

“Better, Miss Weathervane?” she said caustically.

“Not really,” said Ciardis.

“The dog is not leaving, so I suggest you take a seat.” Her tone brooked no argument.

Wishing she were anywhere but here, Ciardis sat as she was told. For a few moments they just stared at each other. One a young woman who wished she were napping in her room. The other an older woman, wondering if this petulant girl could really be the answer to their problems. Ciardis was everything that the Companions’ Guild wanted in its candidates: beautiful and talented. It was a guild of young men and women destined to serve as the partners of spoiled noble Patrons. For many of the companions the guild accepted into its halls, it was no more than that. But Crassius, for some reason, saw something more in this girl.

*****

H
e had seen past the soft and pretty, willful and obstinate exterior; apparently to a girl with some spine. Right now, to Maree Amber that spine seemed to be encased in sullenness.

Sitting back, Maree Amber knew it would take more than the usual to undo the damage done by rich food and a soft summer of parties and court functions. She needed to go from sullen girl to a warrior who could use her skills to fight. According to her portfolio she’d grown up in poverty; they would use that to their advantage. Strip her back to the basics.

With an inward smile Maree Amber knew what she had to. The girl would be going on a mission – a mission to Ameles. Perhaps after they completed their training in a few weeks.

Any other year Maree Amber would have told Crassius he was insane and to go out and find someone that wasn’t so
soft
. She would have turned a primped and finished Ciardis Weathervane out to pasture, found her a suitable, perhaps even Imperial, Patron and washed her hands of her.

But the girl’s powers stilled her hand. Unfortunately, they needed the Weathervane skills. The war in the North was only growing worse, and they were losing. The girl’s adventures with the Prince Heir in the Aether realm had only served to further incapacitate their side. That blasted elemental, the one called the Land Wight, had been subdued for a reason. Now it was loose and wreaking havoc on both sides of the battlefield, fiery infernos showing up at unknown times, cracks in the earth turning into chasms, and crops turning to dust for miles. Unfortunately, there was no one to control it—not even the emperor, and certainly not his son. Maree was just grateful the elemental was content to leave its meddling to the North for now.

But it wasn’t just the creature. Maree wished it were just that. The enemy on the other side of the northern barrier was growing stronger. They needed powerful mages to fight them. Maree wasn’t foolish or starry-eyed. She didn’t think Ciardis Weathervane was someone who could walk onto a battlefield and kill scores of soldiers. What she did think was that if the girl were properly trained and vetted, she could have the potential to be a part of the cohort they were amassing. If not, if they failed to train her...then other measures would be taken.

The idea of magically cauterizing the girl or killing her didn’t hold any appeal to Maree Amber. But she was practical. That practicality had earned her a seat on the Shadow Council. She was a Shadow member, through and through. And she would do what she had to in order to ensure that everything that was threatening her civilization would fall.

She focused back on the girl who now quietly fidgeted in her seat.
Starting with her. It’s time for you to succeed or fail, Miss Weathervane.

“Have you ever been outside in the midst of a winter storm, Miss Weathervane?”

“Yes, many times, ma’am. I—”

“Yes or no is fine. What did you think of it?”

Not a yes or no question. “It was cold.”

Maree Amber cracked a smile. “I suspect it was frigid.”

*****

C
iardis lifted her head, wondering if she was being mocked. “But you’re right, cold is an apt description. It’s never nature’s intention to make you cold or uncomfortable. It’s just the way it was—natural. But nature has its limits, and those limits are broken when it comes to mages. Mages can manipulate anything and anyone. They manipulate people, objects, and the elements around them to their benefit. Do you manipulate those things to your benefit?”

“No.”

“You don’t think so? You didn’t push that mind reader’s talent over the summer? Just enough to spread his reach to a certain room? It exposed the Duke of Cinnis’s infidelities to the world and made his wife a laughing stock.”

Looking at Ciardis’s flaming face, she laughed softly. “Oh, I see. You think what you did was for the greater good?”

“It was!”

“You did what you thought was best?”

“Yes!”

“Without training, without supervision...”

“There was no one else.”

“There’s
always
someone else.”

“Of course.” She snarled it.

Maree Amber didn’t look as if she believed that Ciardis was agreed with her. She peered at her with a finger tapping on her desk occasionally.

Finally she said, “You have potential but it needs to be cultivated in service to the crown. Which will mean some sacrifices.”

Ciardis looked at her uncomprehending. “Sacrifices?” she said.

“You can’t be trusted amongst court officials for now,” said Maree Amber, “So I’ll ask you to stay away from the Imperial courts and I’m forbidding travel to the Aether realm.”

Pulling out a box Maree Amber held out a hand, “Give me the bracelet, Ciardis.”

Ciardis automatically clutched a hand over her wrist protectively. Her fingers hid a golden bracelet intricately designed with butterflies. What could the woman want with it?

“The other one. The bracelet that connects you to the Aether realm.”

“How did you...?”

Maree raised an eyebrow. “I’m the head of this guild. It’s my job to know.”

“It’s mine, given to me by my Patron, the Prince Heir.”

“I didn’t ask you for details on ownership, Miss Weathervane.”

Ciardis decided to try another tactic. “I need it to make sure—”

“Now,” the woman snapped.

Ciardis inhaled a calming breath. She carefully took it off her ankle and held it out. All the while she was fighting the urge to hurl the bracelet in the woman’s face.

“I’m doing this for your own good,” Maree said as she locked the bracelet inside the small box, and secured it in her desk.

“As of now, you’re far too unstable to handle it.”

“Am I dismissed?”

“No,” she said.

“No?”

“No. Now, my dear, I think it’s time for your lessons to begin,” Maree Amber said as if she hadn’t just stolen Ciardis’s most prized possession.

Before Ciardis could think of anything to say, Maree said, “Ciardis, can you see what I’m holding?”

She was tempted to say “air,” but held back.

“Look deeper. Open your core.”

Ciardis gathered in her magic and prepared to drop down into her core.