Balancer (Advent Mage Cycle) (27 page)

I felt no sympathy for them.

Slowly, I let my pillar go back down, coming to stand on ground level again. Now that we had them, what were we supposed to do with them? Throw them into a prison somewhere? The right person to ask would be Vonlorisen, but he was inconveniently not here at the moment. Well, I guess Saroya would know the answer to the question as well. I turned to go look for him—and froze.

Within one heartbeat and the next, ten Gardeners had suddenly appeared in the palace compound. I could clearly feel them, spread out in different areas. I had two standing right in front of me. One was slightly taller than the other, the shorter Gardener had more angular features, but other than that they looked nearly identical.

The shorter one came up to me and extended a hand. Still amazed at their abrupt arrival, I slowly sank to one knee and took the hand he offered.

“We will take them,
” he said clearly with a firmness that could not be argued with. “
Whenever you find these men, we will come and take them. They must be taught.”

I was not
about
to argue. I gave the only response I could. “Thank you.”

With a pleased nod at me, he gathered the Priests up with a wave of his hand and they simply…disappeared. It wasn’t like air travel, or earth path, or any other method that I was familiar with. One moment they were there. The next moment they weren’t.

For several moments, I sat there in a daze, my mind not able to accept the abruptness of the whole situation. Then I took a deep breath and shoved myself back to my feet. First, check on Chatta and everyone else. I wanted to see with my own eyes how they were.

Then I guess I needed to go fetch a king back home.

Chapter
Eighteen: Aftermath

The next week was nothing but cleanup. We found more pockets of hiding Priests that we stripped of magic and handed over to the Gardeners. Vonlorisen was just as glad not to have them hanging around or being in a prison. We destroyed the rest of the sigils as well, and this time we went over
every inch
of every city in Chahir until we were absolutely positive that no more sigils existed. This time around, there were no more nasty surprises.

Well, at least, I
thought
we were past the nasty surprises.

“He
what
?” I demanded plaintively.

Prince Audax, not bothering to hide his smirk of enjoyment at my obvious dismay, repeated, “My father and I are holding a formal dinner for you and the rest of the team. He wants to reward your efforts. It will be held later tonight, so I suggest getting ready now.”

There I was, on my way to get a late lunch when the Prince just waltzed through the door and then sprung
this
on me. He knew that I hated anything formal or political! How was a formal dinner—which no doubt included all of the Doms—a reward?!

Audax, proving that he had spent a lifetime in a world of political maneuverings, added shrewdly, “He won’t release you from your duties until the end of the dinner.”

I thought several uncharitable things about both of them but wisely bit my tongue. With a sigh, I capitulated to the inevitable. “Very well. Have you informed everyone else?”

“No, I thought I’d let you do it.” He gave me a smile of sadistic cheer. “Be at the formal hall at six sharp.”

I watched as he sauntered back the way he’d come, irritated with him, his father, and the whole situation in general. Shame those two men have become friends and allies over these past several months. If they were still my enemies, I could strangle them.

Ah well. Might as well get this over with.

~*~

The entire team managed to get to the formal dining hall by six, although it was a near thing. None of them really had anything on hand that was formal enough for this kind of environment. I was the exception, for once, because of all of those Dom meetings I’d been forced to go to. Chatta and Loewen had put their heads together and whipped up formal uniforms for everyone through some very amazing conjuring. They’d basically stayed with the same style of uniform for the team, but made them out of brushed velvet instead. Fortunately, if given a chance, most of the team cleaned up very nicely. With the new uniforms, they were more than presentable.

Shad, of course, had no uniform. For him, they chose to adapt the current uniform for the Jarrell Province Guard. Since it was similar in coloring—black and white instead of the Ascalon black and red—he almost looked like he belonged to the team.

As Chatta was the only one comfortable in this political and formal environment, we unanimously voted her to be our spokesperson and made her take the lead. She stepped into the role with ease and led us through the announcement from the majordomo and to our correct seats as if there was nothing challenging about it.

I was glad I only had to follow her lead because after my first real look at the room, my stomach was doing too many flip-flops for me to truly pay attention to the niceties. I’d never been in this room before. It was comparable in size to the formal dining room of Guin’s palace, which meant it could hold five hundred people with ease. There were three extremely long tables that took up the entire length of the room, and every inch of table space was claimed by nobilities, officials, and anyone else Vonlorisen had decided to invite. I only recognized about a dozen faces.

We were ushered, unfortunately, to the very front of the room, to the very table that Vonlorisen and Audax sat. Both of them were dressed in their finest, crowns and all. The muted chatter in the room rose a few decibels when we walked the length of the room, and no one attempted to hide their curious stares. Months of being in similar settings had taught me how to look at ease even when I didn’t feel it. So I had a slight smile on my face as I held out Chatta’s chair for her before I took my own. It did not escape my notice that I was seated at Vonlorisen’s left hand. Traditionally, anyone that sat on the right of the royal family was considered to be their “sword” or the person they depended upon to fight anyone that threatened the country. The person on the left, on the other hand, was the “shield.” They were the ones that defended.

So. Vonlorisen considered me to be the defender of Chahir?

I could not mistake the implication to be anything else because only Chatta sat on this side with me. The rest of the team was to the right, on the other side of Audax.

As soon as I was properly settled, Vonlorisen turned to me. His expression was unlike any other I’d seen before. His face was carved into serious lines but there was a light of triumph in his eyes and a mischievous curve to his mouth. Just what was he up to…?

I opened my mouth to ask only to cut myself short when he abruptly rose. The muttering in the room abruptly ceased as the King raised a hand, waving them to silence.

“My dear people,” he started in a voice deep enough to reverberate through the room, “we have been through a great deal of change this year. We have overturned old laws, welcomed old enemies as new allies, and discovered that the ones we thought were our allies were in fact enemies. Most of what We have learned has been because of one man, Magus Rhebengarthen.”

I stirred uncomfortably. If he started praising me for anything, I was leaving.

Chatta, sensing my intentions, put her hand over my wrist and clamped down. The look she shot me out of the corner of her eye made it clear that short of violence, I wouldn’t shake her off either. Why did she have to know me so well?

Vonlorisen, oblivious to my unease, kept going. “His perseverance gained Our attention and trust as nothing else could have. Without him, and the allies that he brought with him, we would have lost a third of our population’s lives to the Star Order.”

A great wave of gasps and exclamations rippled through the room. No one apparently had known of this. It made me wonder: what did they think we were fighting so hard for?

Vonlorisen waited for this to die down before speaking. “We have brought them here to not only reward their fortitude and diligence but also to make several announcements.” He turned his head to look first left, meeting Chatta’s eyes and mine, before he looked right to meet the gaze of each member in the team. “Once, many generations ago, the four-point star stood for something else entirely than the Star Order. It was meant as a physical reminder that from each compass direction, we should gather new knowledge and innovation. We should never be satisfied with what we know now, but be constantly looking for ways of improving from every source. That original meaning has been twisted and lost these past two centuries. It took a stubborn Earth Mage to remind us.”

He turned to look directly at me. “Magus Rhebengarthen, we will have magic in Chahir again. We will have an Academy built so that anyone who wishes to train in the art of magic may do so.”

I felt a thrill shoot up my spine at these words, words I never thought I’d hear coming from him. An academy…an
actual
academy.

“And
you’re
going to build it,” he added firmly.

“What?!” I blurted out before my mind could stop my mouth. “Majesty, no! I’m an Earth Mage, not an architect!”

The whole room laughed at my response. Shrieking hinges, alright, I shouldn’t have said that. I could feel my skin flush at their reaction. Still, I wasn’t backing down from this point. “You have good architects in this country that understand Chahiran design much better than I do,” I maintained even as he frowned at me. “I wouldn’t even know where to begin.”

“You can call upon all of the experts you wish to,” he promised, frown still gathered between his brows. “But
you
will build it. I trust no one else. And when it is built, you will be its Dean as well. It is Our will that it be so.”

I winced at that
Our
. I couldn’t weasel out of a royal command. Resigned to my fate, I looked to my fiancée. She looked just as flabbergasted as I felt, which was reassuring, but even as I looked at her, the surprise faded into one of pride. Well, to be recognized and trusted like this by a King was amazing. Some part of me was happy about it, certainly.

In the spirit of passing along impossible jobs, I told her, “You’re going to be the Head of Administration. I hope you realize this.”

She shook her head, a playful smile on her face. “You can’t scare me. I
like
organizing people, remember?”

“Good thing, too,” I muttered not quite under my breath. “I’m terrible at it.”

Audax, next to his father, was trying not to laugh and failing at it. My team mates, wonderful, supportive people that they are, were laughing outright.

Vonlorisen reached down and gave me a reassuring pat on the shoulder. “You’ll soon realize that you are the perfect man for the job. I know of no one else with the patience or the tenacity to build an Academy from the ground up. Now, Magus, We formally release you from your previous duties so that you may take up your new ones.”

Right. So I didn’t have to juggle two jobs at once. That was nice. “As you wish, Your Majesty.”

With a nod of approval, he turned to the team. “We also recognize you, Captain Riicshaden and Red Hand team of Ascalon, for your efforts and contributions during this trying time. We award each of you the Right of Access.”

I nearly fell out of my chair.

The Right of Access had only been awarded a few times in the entire founding of Chahir and for very good reason—few people could be trusted with that amount of power. There was no physical symbol or crest given with this privilege, but every person in the country would be notified of the bearer. If anyone on the team asked for help or supplies or aid from a Chahiran citizen, then they would automatically be given it. From the lowest beggar to a Dom, they all had to respond. Whether it be an apple from a fruit stand or an entire Province, if a bearer of Access asked for it, they got it.

The entire room was frozen for several interminable seconds. The team must have learned about this quirk in Chahir from somewhere, for the blank expressions of shock on their faces said quite clearly they knew what an incredible privilege they’d just been handed.

Xiaolang was the first to find his tongue. “Your Majesty, this is too much. We only fulfilled the duty you laid upon us.”

“You did far more than that,” Vonlorisen corrected gently, a genuine smile on his face. “And I think you know it, Captain. We will not be dissuaded. We trust that you will use this power well and not abuse it.” He turned back to the general room before Xiaolang had a chance to argue the point. “Let us now celebrate with a toast.” He lifted his wine glass to shoulder height. “To a new era!”

We all raised our glasses and toasted with him. But even as I sipped from my glass, a thought struck me.
Night, is it just me, or did the team get a reward while I just got more work?

His snickering pretty much answered the question. “
I dare you to say that to the king.”

Did I look suicidal?

Vonlorisen regained his seat, which apparently was the cue for the food to actually be served, as servers started bringing in plates steaming with delectable dishes. The king leaned closer to me and murmured, “Build it quickly, Garth. I want my grandson home as soon as possible.”

Ah-ha. Now things were becoming clearer. “You do realize, I hope, that he’s not old enough to be trained yet. He could actually come home tomorrow.”

He blinked at me. “Then go get him. Tomorrow morning. I want him home by dinner.”

Now
that
was an order I didn’t mind obeying. I tried not to grin as I responded, “Yes
sire.
”

Chapter
Nineteen: Best Intentions

Trev’nor walked at Nolan’s side as they meandered through the Queen’s garden, listening with interest as his friend pointed out the various animals that were raising their children. It seemed like every other creature within sight was chasing down errant offspring. They had covered the entire path winding through the gardens, and were within sight of Queen Chaelane again. She was relaxing on a comfortable bench under the shade of a blooming cherry tree, a glass of something cool in one hand and a book in the other. “So is the Queen going to have a baby too?” Trev’nor asked in eager anticipation.