The Royal Wizard (19 page)

A cold wind made his shirt billow and he shivered at its touch.
Have you any news, wicked breeze? Have you news of my Nia?

It swept by him again, playing with his hair and trailing between his fingers when he held his hand up to it.
I do indeed,
it hissed, twining around him like a cat asking to be petted.

Tell me, then.

The wizard travels north,
the wind told him, sweeping once more into his hair and making him shiver with cold.
She travels with armored knights, seeking treasure.

Saeran rolled his eyes.
This I already know. Tell me…
He hesitated, unsure of what he would hear.
What is she doing now?

A moment’s rest in the air silenced the north wind and he feared he’d missed his chance. Saeran wondered if his summoning spell would work. Could he simply call Nia to him as he had before? No. If she’d charmed the earth into silence, she wouldn’t come to him for the asking. He could shout himself hoarse and Nia would not appear. She was well and truly gone.

But just as he was about to lose hope, the wind returned, sweeping past him with renewed strength and chill. It rushed at him with such force he nearly fell off his feet and it spoke to him four simple words:

She screams in pain.
 

CHAPTER 19

The first snow began to fall on the twelfth day. Arnaud pulled the hood of his cape over his head and watched the wizard ride out front to scout their way. They should have reached their destination by now, yet she kept leading them farther north.

It was getting colder by the day, the landscape more and more barren. Where before they’d hunted for their dinner to ration supplies, there was now little game to be found. Lucca and Alec had returned empty handed the night before and Arnaud himself had had no luck this morning. If something didn’t change, they would freeze or starve long before they ever made it back. If they made it back.

The wizard returned to confer with Frederick and Lucca. Arnaud might have savored the sight not long ago. Now chills ran down his spine, and they had nothing to do with the snow.

Arnaud had faced armies before. He’d felt the blade of a sword kiss his neck, moments away from death but for the grace of God. He’d brought lawbreakers and sinners to justice, looked in the eyes of monsters wearing a human mask, and never felt a twinge of fear for he’d always had God on his side.

The night he’d so foolishly sought the wizard alone, he’d felt his Savior abandon him. Demons had been out to play that night. They’d clawed their way inside the wizard, and Arnaud could still feel their taint lingering. He felt it each time she rode near, whenever she looked his way. The ice in her gaze now frightened him.

And no one else seemed to see it.

“What do you think they are talking about?” Alec asked.

“Planning the easiest path, no doubt,” he replied, but the way Frederick frowned, shaking his head, he couldn’t be sure.

Lucca separated from the group to come to the rest of them. “We camp here,” he said.

“It is midday!” Jonah protested.

Lucca glared at the young man. “Dismount and make camp,” he ordered.

“What’s happened?” Arnaud asked.

“Nia says there is a squall awaiting us not far ahead. We need to wait it out before we can ride on.”

“We have our winter gear,” Alec argued. “We have ridden through storms before.”

Lucca shook his head. “Not like this. We cannot risk it.”

“Especially when not even our guide knows where we are going,” Arnaud added with venom.

Lucca speared him with a hard look. “You two, do as you are told. Arnaud, a word.”

Arnaud dismounted and followed Lucca a fair distance off. Though the land was slowly turning white, the blanket of snow was not thick enough to cushion his step and frozen grass and foliage crunched beneath his boots.

“Something is bothering you,” Lucca said.

“I—”

“I do not care what it is. Look around you, Arnaud. This is as far from what we know as we have ever been, and if we cannot work together this land will kill us.”

“I put in my fair share,” Arnaud snarled.

“Then do it without questioning every step of the way,” Lucca snarled back and stalked off.

Angered more than he ever remembered being before, Arnaud returned to his mount to retrieve his pack. As he tossed it to the ground, the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end and he turned around to see the wizard watching him. He shuddered. Taking his crossbow from his pack, Arnaud went east to hunt for their midday meal. Anything to put some distance between him and the wizard.

He didn’t return to camp until the growing darkness forced him to the warmth of their fire. His hands were empty. The snow had begun to fall in earnest, hiding any tracks there might have been. Even creatures of the air were sparse here; he hadn’t seen a single bird in days.

Someone had unrolled his pallet and unpacked his winter gear. He nodded his thanks to Jonah and Alec, knowing that Lucca and Frederick would not have bothered, deeply engrossed as they were in their conversation with the wizard.

“No luck?” Alec asked, handing him a little piece of stale bread and old cheese. Jonah had the flask of wine, which had days ago been refilled with water.

“Nothing moving out there,” Arnaud told them. “It’s as if the animals know to hide from us.”

Jonah breathed on his hands and rubbed them together for warmth. He took out his whistle and held it up. “Shall I play?”

“Not tonight,” Arnaud said. “Get some rest. We will all need it for the days to come.” And pulling the furs around him up to his ears, he bedded down to sleep.

When morning came, they didn’t wait for first meal. Frederick gave the order to mount up, and he and the wizard took the lead going north. Ever farther north. Arnaud kept his complaints to himself. He filed in rank beside Lucca and held his peace.

They rode over even ground for a while before heading up an incline. Arnaud’s mount wasn’t as well shoed as the others. He hesitated and fell behind the rest, struggling up that hill. Arnaud picked his way with care, mindful that if they lost a horse now it would mean trouble. Better that he fall behind now than rush and meet his Maker too soon. The others wouldn’t leave him; he would take his time now and catch up with them on the other side.

But before they could crest the hill and head down, the front riders pulled to a stop not far ahead. “What is going on?” he called. “Why have we stopped?”

No one answered him.

Arnaud spurred his mount to join them and stopped as they had, lining the cliff. Breath left him at the sight. The valley at his feet was frozen, everything covered in a thick layer of glistening ice. The trees, the ground, even the animals stopped forever in their tracks stood there as if encased in glass.

Frederick crossed himself. “God have mercy, this could have been us.”

“It was not God who made us stop,” Jonah returned. “You saved our lives, Nia.”

Arnaud was speechless. His mount fidgeted, but the reins slipped from his numb fingers when he tried to subdue him. Saints, he could see the animals’ eyes wide with fear, their mouths open to scream. Deer, rabbits, squirrels, they all must have sought shelter here. As sheltered as the valley was, it would have been warmer than the rest of the forest before that squall swept right through it.

Arnaud looked at the wizard to find her watching him in return, and he felt no gratitude, only deeper unease.

Lucca dismounted and drew his sword. “Take what you can,” he said. “It may be all we will have to sustain us from this point on.”

* * *

“He says the orchard is infested with mice.”

Saeran looked up from the report at Kvaran. “Mice?”

“Yes, your Majesty.” The man looked left and right at the other advisors, but none of them spoke while he addressed the king. “They are destroying the flowers, and Robert says if it continues there will not be any apples left come harvest time.”

“But
mice
?” Saeran repeated. “Can mice even climb trees?”

“I do not know, your Majesty.”

He groaned and rubbed his aching forehead. Half the day gone and they hadn’t even touched on two thirds of the issues the council of advisors had brought before him. He’d never known so many things could go wrong at the same time. The apple harvest was being destroyed, the bears were breaking bee hives to get to their honey, the huntsmen had their hands full with too many wild boar which were digging up all the mushrooms and root vegetables to take care of the bears. The weather was dry, forcing farmers to carry water in pails to keep their crops from dying, and though the lake was filled with fish, the fisherman couldn’t catch anything because his nets fell apart every time they touched water.

And Nia had only been gone a fortnight.

Saeran had given orders to be informed the moment she and the knights were spotted returning. It should be any day now, thank Woden. He didn’t think he could handle this much longer.

“Your Majesty?”

“Yes, what is it, Liam?”

The servant bowed. “Forgive the interruption. I’ve been sent by her Majesty to inquire whether your business is finished.”

Did it bloody look finished? “Tell her no.”

“Yes, your Majesty.”

“Wait,” he said. “What does she want?”

“I do not know, your Majesty. Shall I inquire?”

He frowned. “No. No, that will not be necessary.” He’d told Mari many times if the matter was urgent she could interrupt him no matter what he was doing. But though she nodded each time he told her, she always sent someone else to ask for him and never insisted on his presence. He could only assume it wasn’t important.

After Liam left, Saeran turned back to his council. “Send word to the farmers that anyone handy with a bow or spear is free to hunt as many boar as they can slay until further notice. Anything they kill is theirs to do with as they please. That ought to free up the huntsmen to take care of the bears and save our honey, as well as compensate the farmers for the drought. Call together the carpenter guild to come up with a faster way to bring water to the fields and send someone to investigate the mysterious, tree climbing mice.”

“What of the fishing nets?” Allon inquired, snickering beneath his moustache.

Saeran closed his eyes and focused to hear the earth speak. It was exhausting this far up and he rarely used the trick, but at times like these, he trusted the earth far more than his own messengers. People lied to achieve their ends. The earth did not. What it told him made Saeran raise an eyebrow. “The fisherman’s wife is a weaver?”

Kvaran consulted the scribed message before him. “I believe so, your Majesty.”

“Send the midwife Kata to talk to them both. She is almost as good a peacemaker as Nia.”

Kvaran frowned. “Why do they need a peacemaker?”

“Because if I heard correctly, the fisherman Neal has been eyeing the weaver Sidda’s apprentice, Maeve. And if Sidda found out, I would not put it past the woman to take apart all her husband’s nets in retaliation.”

While many of them chuckled, Allon asked, “Where might his Majesty have heard such a thing?”

Saeran, in no mood to explain himself, made a grandiose gesture. “The wind told me.” Not a lie.

The old advisor harrumphed.

“Enough for today,” Saeran ordered. “I will trust you to take care of the rest. You may go, and have someone send for general Orri.” He wanted to know how the Aegirans were getting along with his troops. Most of the ones who’d stayed for Mari were trained warriors. At least two guarded her day and night, but the rest were housed in Saeran’s army barracks. In times of peace the building was mostly empty, but whenever new soldiers joined, they slept there while they trained.

Happily, Orri reported only a few disagreements, all of which have already been taken care of. Good. One less thing to worry about. After hearing the report on the soldiers and making sure all was in order, Saeran dismissed the general and took the first moment of quiet he’d had all day to stand up and stretch.

He went to the window and looked out across the courtyard to the northern woods. Nia was in there somewhere, hopefully already on her way back. Not a moment went by when Saeran didn’t miss her. He dreamed about her nightly and cursed the light of day that stole her from him every morning.

Someone knocked and Saeran sighed. “Enter,” he said because he had no other choice.

When no one spoke, he turned around to see Mari come in with a covered tray. She set it down on the table and waved him over with a slight bow-nod she always did whenever they met. The first few days he could not make her meet his gaze for longer than a moment. But as time passed, she became more at ease in his presence and Saeran found he didn’t resent her as he thought he would. Mari was a kind girl. She spoke little, embarrassed by her difficulty forming their words, but she listened intently whenever he spoke and he found himself talking to her more and more each day.

It didn’t make him miss Nia any less.

“What is this?”

Mari uncovered the tray. She’d brought him a hearty meal and a pitcher of wine and seeing it, Saeran realized he hadn’t eaten a thing all day. “Thank you,” he said.

Mari bow-nodded again.

“Will you not join me?”

She shook her head and touched her stomach, indicating she didn’t feel well. From what he’d managed to get out of her and her people, northern food was much different from what they were used to back in Aegiros, and it didn’t always sit well with them. Saeran understood. He’d instructed the cooks to do their best to prepare simple dishes and use the ingredients the Aegirans brought with them as gifts to ease the transition.

“Are you feeling all right?” Since she insisted on wearing her veil whenever she was outside of her chamber, he couldn’t tell from her face.

Mari bow-nodded and touched her stomach again. Then she did something he’d never seen her do. She reached up and untied one side of her veil to reveal her face. She was smiling. “Magic-woman tell me I have child.”