I
Ista
She blinked several times, until the murkiness of sleep faded and she saw Kalli leaning over her. That seemed to be the normal state of things. Why wasn't Kalli ever the one who used so much magic she collapsed, her with all her noble martyred airs? And where was that pig-skinned boy who sold out one of his own just for a chance to join the tectors' stupid army and become a thieving thug?
She pulled away from Kalli, and as she did so caught a glimpse over her shoulder. There stood the Chaos Mage, not ten feet away. Ista tried to yell a warning, but all that came out was a sort of "Urglll."
"Drink this. It should help." Kalli lifted a cup to her mouth. Ista sputtered at the taste of it on her lips, a draught that should have been hot, but was no more than the memory of something tepid. "Take your time."
She struggled to sit up, her head sloshing with every movement. "What's he doing here?" she whispered.
"Spinning a very interesting story," Kalli said darkly. "I need you to help me see if he's telling the truth."
"It's not that easy," Ista protested. Kalli, never having mastered even the most basic empathy, often seemed to think the power more objective, more definite than it was.
"I know. Just try."
"Don't you remember what happened last time?" When she'd reached out to feel his essence, it had hurt. A physical pain. Somehow he'd trapped her half in the connection and started draining her life force. If they hadn't carried her out when she fainted, who knows how much he might have drained. "I won't touch him."
"I apologize for that," said the Chaos Mage from behind Kalli. His voice sounded almost pleasant, like it had at the lunch where they'd first met him. "The spells attached to the chain still need refining. They weren't meant to affect you that way. And as for your mistress, I feel confident the mages here will know how to reverse the condition. Given enough time, that is. They work by their own hourglasses."
Kalli seemed unbothered by the Chaos Mage's presence, almost as if she'd forgotten all the evil he'd worked, all the danger they'd been in because of him.
"What enchantment has he cast on you?" Ista whispered.
"I can hear you perfectly well." The Chaos Mage sighed.
Ista didn't dare look at him. She'd just seen how vulnerable she was to enchantments, succumbing to the boy's untrained sleep suggestion. It was only because she was so weak, she told herself, but she wasn't at all sure of that, and she didn't want to form any connection at all with the Chaos Mage, or provide him any insights that would help him target his magic. "You've cast your evil enchantments on her," Ista said. "I won't let you manipulate me through her."
"I haven't cast any enchantments," he said tiredly.
"And I'm not under any," Kalli said, but if she were in his spell, of course she'd deny it. Her eyes were clear and alert. Most people trapped under an enchantment had a vacant, distracted air. She probed hesitantly in Kalli's direction and could detect no magic clinging to her. Maybe she was just playing along with him, trying to pacify him. Ista supposed she'd have to play along too, at least until Kalli made a move.
Kalli spoke again. "He claims he's not a mage."
What? She must still be sleeping. She rubbed her eyes, but Kalli and the Chaos Mage didn't disappear.
"Listen," Kalli said. "He says the chain he's wearing is heavily enchanted to be undetectable by magic. That's why the far-knowing went wrong, why your attempt to read him caused such a reaction that first day, why he's been able to avoid the High Mage's seekers."
"What I felt was too strong to have come from anything non-living," Ista protested.
"It's a powerful enchantment," the Chaos Mage said. "Strongest I've ever heard of. It's taken months to work. They've soaked the chain in so many enforcements the gold's sticky. And it's still not quite right, as you have unfortunately felt for yourself. It's believed by some mages that such slow-worked enchantments may actually strengthen over time, when bound to the right object. But the casting takes a master. And of course it has to have something to feed it. In this case, me."
"You know a lot about magic, for someone who's claiming not to be a mage."
"I've studied quite a bit. If I had any shred of the gift, I'd dedicate myself to the craft. But I don't."
"Yet you've broken our enchantments."
"Not me." He patted the heavy chain. "I can't do a lick of magic without it. And I'm willing to let you test that."
This was preposterous. He was trying to confuse them. Lure them into complacency.
"Protectoressa Kallinesha says you're quite an empath."
Ista frowned at Kalli. Wasn't she always spouting off about how you should never let your enemies know too much? But Kalli wasn't treating him like an enemy, and Ista's own fear began to ebb. Was that some sort of calming enchantment?
"So," Kalli said, "Let's get on with it."
Ista put one finger to the tender spot just above her left eye, where pressure always helped her magic-drain headaches.
"Give the poor girl a chance to rest," came a familiar voice from across the room.
"Tay?" She leaned over to see past Kalli and the Chaos Mage. There was Taylendar, sitting against the opposite wall, hands bounds, foot chained to the floor. One of the baron's men stood nearby, dagger ready.
"No need for that at the moment," the Chaos Mage said to the guard, who shrugged and took half a step back.
Tay shifted on the ground, looking uncomfortable but unhurt. "After that badger pup brained her, she deserves a bit of quiet."
Ista felt her cheeks redden.
"Don't you two realize what's at stake here?" Kalli demanded. "The King is in danger."
"Yes, from him." Ista pointed her finger at the Chaos Mage.
"Not from me," he said. "From the High Mage."
"Who?" She hadn't heard right.
"The High Mage. Look, it's very simple. The High Mage is controlling the King."
"No. The High Mage serves the King. He protects him. He—"
"He's placed a very powerful enchantment on the King. From what we know, it's most likely a complicated form of dependence enchantment."
Dangerous magic, Mistress had said once. Such spells rendered the victim incapable of making serious decisions without first consulting with the caster, incapable of doing anything that would displease the caster. A man under such an enchantment soon began to lose himself.
"We have record," The Chaos Mage continued, "of a few cases in which the enchantment lasted so long that once it was broken, the man fell into a stupor from which he never woke. You have, I'm sure, heard rumors of the King's recent distractedness?"
"It's worry over the queen's health," Ista said weakly.
"I think not. I believe it's the enchantment. We've suspected it for over a year."
"A year? Of constant enchantment? That's impossible. It would kill either the caster or the victim."
"Unless the spell is drawing some of its strength from a third source."
"Like the queen," Kalli put in.
Ista stared at her. The queen's failing health? Impossible. Mistress held the High Mage in such regard. He couldn't be involved in something like this. But Ista remembered his treatment of the innkeeper's daughters, taking their life force without their consent. She shuddered. She wished now she'd met him then, but he hadn't wanted to make her uncomfortable. At least that's what he'd told Kalli. What if he feared Ista's empathic abilities, and knew that she would see through him? No, surely not. The High Mage would have developed defenses against such probing.
"Protectoret Ryveld claims the High Mage is the one causing all these disasters," Kallinesha said. "That summoned wind that caught us…he was in the area. He came to the inn right afterwards. He looked tired."
If he had exhausted his own reserves of power summoning the wind, transferring life force into Ista, and making the amulet Kalli still wore, maybe he wouldn't have been able to defend himself against Ista's empathy after all. But that threw everything out of balance. It was easier to believe that the man in front of her was the Chaos Mage, and destroying him would stop all this evil.
"You expect me to believe that the High Mage—a man respected by the whole mage guild—has been killing innocent people in these storms and plagues and fires?"
"He's far from being respected by the whole guild," The Chaos Mage said. "But he's removed all his enemies from favor, so it appears he has unanimous support. And yes, as difficult as it may be to accept, I believe he's behind these disasters."
"But why? What could he possibly gain from such violence?"
"Power. I suspect it started small. He's a talented mage. No denying that. It's natural that an ambitious man like the High Mage would want to be constantly improving, mastering more difficult and dangerous magic. You're a mage. How do you develop a skill?"
Ista clamped her lips shut. She wasn't about to help him prove his point. Kalli thought she was stupid, but not that stupid.
"You practice," he said. "You can't master any magic—much less such powerful magic—just by imagining it. So you practice and practice. I suppose he's been doing the same thing. And once you get good enough at summoned wind, for example, you can't really hide it. Perhaps the first time he killed it was an accident. But then he developed a taste for it, for the raw power of life and death. Some men, once they've possessed such power, can't stop."
"So the Chaos Mage…"
"Doesn't exist. He's an invention of the High Mage. He's created this whole mystique to cover his own misdeeds."
Ista shook her head. "You're the Chaos Mage. You've been destroying the peace of the kingdom." But she only half believed her own words.
"No. The High Mage is doing that himself."
"Then tell me this," Ista demanded. "Why would he help us so much? Why would he send us off to find someone he knew didn't exist?"
"He knows the Chaos Mage doesn't exist, but he knows someone's trying to thwart his plans, and from what Protectoressa Kallinesha tells me, your mistress far-knew and found me. He must have deduced that I have the chain."
"But you said the chain's only to hide you."
"No. It's to hide itself."
"Ista, listen," Kalli said. "I've already been through this all with Protectoret Ryveld. The chain is the weapon. It breaks enchantments. Remember how the sleep-ring didn't work? How my disguise enchantment evaporated the moment I touched him? And look." She pulled the amulet off her neck and tossed it over.
Straw was all she felt when she touched it. No trace of the protection enchantment it had carried.
"When I attacked Protectoret Ryveld, it lost its power."
"How do you know?" Ista asked. Kalli struggled to sense these things.
"It had started burning my skin. Now I can't feel anything from it. Don't you see? It's the chain that's the danger to the High Mage. Protectoret Ryveld plans to use it to break his enchantment over the King."
Ista shook her head and glared at the man behind Kalli. "But when Mistress far-knew, she saw you, the Chaos Mage."
Ryveld nodded. "That's the problem with far-knowing. You get a sense of the thing—not the actual thing—colored by what you already know or what you want to believe. She was looking for the supposed Chaos Mage, and since he doesn't exist, she probably received no answer. I'm guessing she finally began thinking about the Chaos Mage as the High Mage's enemy, and that, among other things, is this chain." He held it up, a heavy gold snake that seemed to cling to him. "So her far-knowing revealed the chain—and me—but what she took from it was that I am the Chaos Mage. Then she put that seed in your minds. But she completely missed the significance of the chain."
"She wouldn't make a mistake like that," defended Ista. "She's fourth mage."
"Far-knowing is rife with mistakes. It's unreliable even for the best practitioners. And your mistress, from all accounts, is even more skilled than the High Mage. He's tried it, I believe, several times, and twice he's destroyed villages near where we've been working, but he's never found us."
"Who is us?" Ista asked.
"Those who realize the danger the kingdom is in. Those who want to cut off the High Mage's influence and free the King, before it's too late for him. But don't bother asking for names. I didn't tell Protectoressa Kallinesha, and I'm not going to tell you."
"If you have so many friends," said Taylendar from across the room, "why would they send you to carry this invaluable chain? Practically unaccompanied? With such little experience in these matters? Such little experience with life, really."
Ryveld's eyes narrowed. "Some men make more of their years than others. They sent me because the leaders needed someone they could absolutely trust. Someone who could defend himself without magic, considering what this chain does. Someone with enough status to demand respect from the various mages consulted. Someone young enough, strong enough, to feed the spells. That, quite simply, is me. The three of us came alone because too big a force or too powerful a mage in our midst and the High Mage would have detected it. Sometimes you achieve the best defense by simply appearing harmless."
"There's nothing harmless about you," Kalli said sharply.
He smiled. "Thank you, I think."
"That wasn't a compliment."
He shrugged, but his smile lingered.
Kalli scowled.
"Now that the High Mage knows who I am," Ryveld Daistar said, "It's not going to take him long to track down the others. And because you were kind enough to tell him where I was headed," he threw Kalli a dark look, "he has more than likely sent others here to finish me off if you fail. And if he gets me alive, then he can pin his own evil on me—convince everyone I'm this invented Chaos Mage—and kill me and the others with the blessing of the whole kingdom. Problem solved. So I have to act now. I'd like to do it with your help." His gesture took in Kalli and Tay too. "But if you don't believe me, we'll have to come to some other, less pleasant arrangement."
"Don't go threatening us," Kalli said. That was more like her.
Ista felt a bit of Kalli's spirit carry over to her. "If you're lying, the High Mage will avenge us."
He laughed. "He doesn't care about you."
His laugh made her claim seem foolish. Even if all this were a lie, would he avenge them? Did he care? "He helped us."
"Yes, so he could send you out to do the dangerous bits he doesn't want to do himself. No matter how much talent and skill you have, you're not the most powerful mages in the land. Don't kid yourselves. Why would he set you loose on me unless he didn't really care what happened to you? You were convenient, closer than any of his more powerful henchmen. So he just let you go, on the off chance you'd succeed, all at very little cost to himself."
"That's a disgusting accusation," Ista managed.
"It's a disgusting act. And that's the type of king you'll have if you let the High Mage be the puppet-master."
Ista wanted to argue. But the High Mage hadn't cared about those girls at the inn, or their anguished father. If he truly was the one summoning these winds and fires, he didn't care about the people he hurt. She stared at the man before her: Ryveld Daistar: soldier, tector…Chaos Mage? They had to know if he was lying.
She turned to Kalli. "What do you want me to do?"
Kalli actually smiled a little, not in mockery, not at her own triumph, but in something that might have been camaraderie. "He's agreed to take off the chain. Then you can probe him. You'll be able to tell if he has any of the gift, right?"
"Yes." Ista turned to Ryveld, really looking at him for the first time. If what he said was true, he'd be defenseless without the chain. Except, of course, for this sword and his dagger and his men—the two who rode with him and the swarthy baron's man over by Tay.
As if he could read her thoughts, he said, "I will, of course, have to have some guarantee you won't use your magic against me."
"I'm that guarantee," Kallinesha said, pulling herself up to her full dignified height.
Ista jerked toward Kalli. "You mean…"
"Yes," said the Chaos Mage. "You play me false, and she'll be the one to suffer."
Ista wondered briefly if he understood how little she liked Kalli. But that didn't mean she'd let him hurt her.
She glanced over at Kalli, and there was something strange in her eyes, something Ista hoped she wasn't meant to understand. Did she want to martyr herself for this? Did she want Ista to somehow incapacitate or kill the Chaos Mage when he took off the chain? His men would take their revenge first on Kalli. She would suffer, die even, in the service of her king. Her stupid father would certainly be proud, if all Kalli said of him was true, but if he was a real father, he wouldn't care half as much for displays of valor as he did for his daughter's life. Then again, Ista had never understood tectors. And it wasn't just Kalli who would suffer. Unless Ista could incapacitate them all—highly doubtful even with all her power intact—Tay would pay the price, too, and then Ista herself.
She wanted the best for Andalinn, but she had to admit that she would never be a real hero, because she didn't think, when it came down to it, she could sentence them all to death. But at least she could determine if he had the gift.
She rose unsteadily to her feet. "Take off the chain."
II
Ryveld Daistar
It was working. The High Commander's daughter didn't seem to like the High Mage a great deal, and that helped his arguments. Of course, he was beginning to wonder if she respected anyone except her corrupt father. She'd studied enough to know that what he was saying was sound in principle, but though she seemed to be going along with him, he didn't trust her.
The younger one was faltering. But what would she find when she probed him? What she wanted to find? What she thought Protectoressa Kallinesha would want her to find? He felt tension there between them, but he wasn't sure how to turn it to his advantage.
His uncle was a great mage—he'd probably be third or fourth mage by now if he were more ambitious—and he'd subjected Ryveld to dozens of enchantments, trying to harden him up, but his uncle was not much of an empath. Though Ryveld had submitted to mind probes several times, he'd never learned to feel when it was happening, much less defend against it or shove false feelings to the foreground to confuse the empath. You had to have a sliver of the gift, he feared, to put up any real defense.
Unfortunately, one of his very real emotions at the moment was fear, and no matter how well he suppressed it outwardly, if she was any good, she'd feel it. He wasn't just nervous about these girls. The chain still wasn't acting exactly as they wanted it to. Why the High Mage hadn't yet moved against him here, he could only guess, and none of the hypotheses were comforting. Would his fear betray him? What else would she be able to detect? Most mages, he knew, could only feel emotions and vague desires. Would she know if he was telling the truth?
He ordered Garen to tie Kallinesha's hands, then told him again, in a voice Ista would not be able to ignore, that if anything happened to him, Garen should respond with equal force. Kallinesha first, then Ista.
"And me?" asked the baron's man eagerly, holding the knife again to the sub-commander's throat.
This sub-commander was a bit of a mystery: Protectoret Taylendar Orglawyn, from lands that bordered the High Commander's, bound to be loyal to the High Commander and his daughter, yet he'd been remarkably submissive. Odd. Of course, resistance wouldn't get him very far right now. Maybe Protectoret Taylendar was waiting to catch him off guard. He frowned. "If it becomes necessary, kill him." His task was too important to jeopardize over issues like this. The baron's man half-smiled, and Ryveld added, "But I don't want any extra blood, hear?" The baron's soldier continued to leer. He should have chosen a different man. These types only responded to those as hardened as themselves. "Understood?" he barked.
The man shrugged.
Ryveld turned to the commoner girl. "Ready then?"
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