Daughter of the Disgraced King (7 page)

The master stood up. “The test is complete. We have found a
green mage. It now remains only for her studies with us to reveal how strong a
mage.” He smiled. “The evidence would suggest that she may give you a run for
your money, Jathan.” He chuckled. “Let’s see how you handle a little
competition, eh?”

Ailsa sat back down on the bench, too stunned to even think.
It had never occurred to her that she might be a green mage. Images of what she
could accomplish with that kind of magic bloomed in her imagination. Somewhere
in the back of her mind was a small consideration for what this would mean for
her relationship with Sav, but that was something she’d think about later.
Right now, the thrill of her magic was too strong. A grin spread across her
face.

Jathan strode over and took her hand, bowing over it in a
courtly fashion, but at the same time both fluid and casual. “Hello. I’m Jathan.
As the only two green mages in training, I expect we’ll be studying together a
lot.”

She looked up and met his eyes. “I’m Ailsa.” Here, she didn’t
have to introduce herself as Lady Ailsa. She didn’t have to carry the burden of
King Ewart’s paranoia about her family. It was like a weight being lifted from
her shoulders.

He grinned and winked again. “I know.”

Ailsa cocked her head and watched him saunter away. She’d
never, ever been winked at before. Now this young man had winked at her
twice
in the space of a few minutes. What a strange mixture he was, reminding her at
the same time of the best of Sav and the worst of Cergio.

Ailsa shook her head to clear the fog out of it. Too many
things had happened in just two days. She couldn’t begin to sort out what it
all meant, yet. She had time for that. A whole year. Something tickled her
wrist and she looked down to see that the newborn vine was still twining around
her arm, more slowly now that the magic had been withdrawn. Ailsa smiled and
very gently pulled the tendrils free.

~

Ailsa’s studies began the next morning, right after
breakfast, with a knock on the door.

Grandmama picked up the last of the breakfast dishes and
headed for the small kitchen. “Go ahead and answer that, Ailsa, while I clean
up.”

Ailsa stood up from the polished cherry-wood table and
started across the main room. The largest room in the small house was divided
between the dining area next to the kitchen and a larger area on the opposite
side that was furnished more like Papa’s study—lots of shelves full of books
and comfortable, over-stuffed chairs in which to read them. The kitchen and
this multi-purpose main room were the only two rooms at the front of the house.
A narrow corridor led to the two bedrooms and a tiny bathroom squeezed between
them.

“It’ll be Jathan,” Grandmama called from the kitchen.

Ailsa stopped halfway to the door, remembering the
impertinent youth from yesterday. “Jathan?”

“Until yesterday, there was only one student of green magic,”
Grandmama came out of the kitchen and headed straight for the tall bookshelf in
the corner. “It didn’t seem worthwhile to take up a whole classroom for that
when I have everything we need for your beginning studies right here.”
Grandmama laughed at the look on Ailsa’s face. “Don’t worry. You’ll get plenty
of time at the Institute, too, for more general classes. We’ll have to get your
robes, first, of course. Students are required to wear them. Maybe we’ll do
that this afternoon. Then we’ll discuss what other beginning courses you’ll
need and get you started.”

Ailsa opened the door. It was, indeed, Jathan. She stepped
aside to let him enter. “Good morning.”

“Good morning,” he responded. “Told you we’d be studying
together.”

There was something about his cheerfulness that drew a smile
from Ailsa. “So you did.”

Moments later, Jathan and Ailsa sat on opposite sides of the
small dining room table. Grandmama sat at the head of the table, thumbing
through a large book.

“All right, Ailsa, how much did your tutors teach you about
botany?” Grandmama asked.

Ailsa’s brow furrowed. “Botany? I thought I was going to
study magic here”

Jathan laughed. “You don’t
study
magic.”

Grandmama gave him a withering stare and he sat back without
looking the least repentant. “In fact we will, eventually, conduct training in
your magic. But first, you must understand your medium. Heat mages, like your
mother, study thermodynamics. Water mages study hydrology. Green mages, like
you and Jathan, study botany. Magic, as you’ve already found, tends to flow
naturally. Knowledge of botany will help you guide that flow.” She looked with
mock sternness at Ailsa. “For example, that vine we used at your testing yesterday
is
supposed
to have orange flowers, not pink. Working with its nature is
both easier and less damaging to the plant.”

Ailsa’s shoulders drooped slightly. “I . . . we didn’t study
much of what you’d call real science about plants. Just the names of some of
the most important ones and where they grow. I used to help the gardeners some,
when I was little. Mama hasn’t let me do that since I turned twelve, though.”

“Well, then. We’ll start at the beginning. Jathan isn’t that
far ahead of you.”

“Or I could just study on my own for a bit,” Jathan said. “Maybe
go out and try a little practical application.”

Grandmama smiled but shook her head. “You needn’t be in such
a rush. The review won’t do you any harm.”

Jathan sat back. For once he wasn’t smiling.

Grandmother turned to Ailsa. “Jathan tends to be a little
impatient with the book work. Something, as I recall, you’ve always excelled at,
Ailsa. You two should be able to help each other with your studies quite a bit.”

~

When Grandmama closed her book after their class the next
day, Ailsa stood up and pulled on her brand new student robes. The open,
sleeveless, full-length robe of grass green proclaimed her a green-mage-in-training
even if she didn’t have very much green clothing yet.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Grandmama asked.

“I have . . . um.” Ailsa paused to check the schedule of classes
that Grandmama had written out for her yesterday afternoon. “Um, History of
Magic in about an hour. I thought I’d go over to the Institute now and explore
some of the gardens on the way.”

Grandmama tapped her fingers on the cover of the book. “I
don’t think that’s such a good idea. I don’t want you wandering around alone.”

Ailsa jerked up to her full height. Out of the corner of her
eye, she spotted Jathan leaning back in his chair and watching them through
narrowed eyes. Ailsa felt a flush creep up her cheeks. Why was Grandmama
suddenly treating her like a child? “I’ve never needed to be accompanied
everywhere before.”

“There was never a reason to worry about a direct attack on
you before.”

Ailsa snorted. “There isn’t now. The man from the stage was just
a chance meeting.”
A very unfortunate chance meeting.

Grandmama waved her hand in the air. “That’s not what I
mean. After my talk with the Master of the Institute yesterday, he and I agreed
that there’s evidence that someone—likely King Ewart—has been interfering with
the mails. He never received those letters you say your mother sent. The only
motive we can think of for that is to suppress information about how mages are
currently treated in Far Terra and which barons are the worst offenders. If
that’s so, then there is now another source of that information here in
Terranion—you. It’s possible that King Ewart might have agents here who would
try to . . . silence you.”

Ailsa swallowed hard. “He wouldn’t . . .” She trailed off,
not really sure what King Ewart might
not
do.

“The master and I judge it possible,” Grandmama said with a
nod. “For now, at least, we both think it’s better if you don’t go about alone.”

“But—”

“I’ll go with her,” Jathan said. “As first years, we’ll have
most of the same classes anyway. And it’s not very far out of my way to come
here first and to bring her back. I doubt even King Ewart’s agents would want
to attack me openly.”

Grandmama smiled at him. “I think that’s a very good idea.
Thank you Jathan.”

~

 Savyon played with a pen from his desktop as he scanned his
second letter from Ailsa for the third time. It was short and almost
impersonal. The briefest mention of missing him. Almost perfunctory. He was
glad that she’d arrived safely after her frightening experience, but he could
wish that she’d at least given him a more affectionate closing. One word would
have been enough, if it was the right word. This note made it feel like more
than distance separated them.

He looked over the lines again. Maybe she was just tired
from her long journey. And busy with preparations for her testing. Looked at
that way, it was a sign of how much she cared that she’d written him at all, so
soon after the first. But then why had she taken time to remind him about a
game they hadn’t played in years?

Years ago, when they’d all had the same tutors—Ailsa,
Cergio, Perion, and he—they’d had a system for fooling the adults. It was most
often used on fine spring days when they wanted to plan what they were going to
do when the tutors finally let them out of the classroom. It involved referring
to a passage from one of their textbooks so that if the note was intercepted,
it appeared to be related to their lessons. Usually, the history texts were
most productive for this, but there was that one memorable time when Ailsa had
cited a problem from their mathematics text.

Savyon smiled at the memory. He missed those days when he
and Ailsa could spend most of the day studying together, but that particular
game wasn’t the first thing he usually remembered about that time. What would
make Ailsa remember that? He had a feeling that she was trying to send him a
message again, like in the old days, but why not just say what she meant?

Idly, he turned the paper over. Something attracted his
attention to the seal and he raised it to his face to look at it more closely.
There was a smudged area above where he’d broken the seal as if someone else
had opened it and then resealed it. He crumpled the letter in his fist. Savyon
could think of only one person who would dare to open a letter addressed to
him. His father was reading his mail—specifically letters between him and
Ailsa.

That was how Father had known about the attack on Ailsa.
Sources, indeed! His source had been Ailsa’s own letter. Savyon ground his
teeth. Father had read that account, full of Ailsa’s terror and horror, and he
hadn’t
cared
.

Savyon took a deep breath and smoothed out the letter again.
Somehow, Ailsa had discovered that her mail was being read and she’d written
that impersonal note specifically to warn him. Had Father also read Savyon’s
letter to Ailsa? And Ailsa had noticed that the seal had been tampered with?
That seemed like the only way she might have found out. He’d never thought his
father was as paranoid as both Perion and Ailsa seemed to think he was. But if
Father was afraid that a girl was going to take his throne away from him, well
. . .

He snorted. As if Ailsa would be the center of some plot to
oust Father from the throne! If Ailsa wanted the throne, she’d have accepted
Savyon’s offer of marriage immediately. Clearly the easiest way to the throne.
She certainly wouldn’t have gone off to the Institute of Magical Arts.

Savyon tapped the pen on the desk. Things were worse than he’d
thought. Ailsa was right to have questioned whether Father would approve of
their marriage, too. His outlook on that had been a little too rosy. He could
see that now.

Savyon stood up and paced across the room. He’d need to do
more than convince his father that this marriage would be good for Far Terra.
If Father’s suspicions ran that deep, Savyon would have to frame the argument
carefully, emphasizing the ways in which the marriage could strengthen Father’s
position. Tricky.

Argument. There was bound to be one. Savyon hated how
contentious his relationship to his father had become in recent years. Seemed
like Father didn’t even trust his own son anymore. Maybe Savyon should stop
pushing so hard about the need to change the way mages were treated, let things
calm down between himself and his father, before he brought up Ailsa. Much as
he didn’t like the way things were in Far Terra, he could do that for Ailsa.

Meantime, Ailsa was right. For now, they’d keep their
letters impersonal to outsiders and encode any other messages by reference,
just as they used to do. Only now, the coded parts wouldn’t be about riding, or
flying kites, or any of their other juvenile pastimes. He crossed to the small
collection of books he kept to hand and picked up a book of poems. Love poems. Ailsa
had said that she wanted to be courted. The poets had said all the things he
wanted to say better than he’d ever manage, anyway.

Ailsa stopped at the fork in the path as Jathan turned left.
“Isn’t our class that way?” She pointed down the right turning.

Jathan grinned and shrugged. “Yes, but we’re a little early.
It’s not much farther to go through the rose garden and it’s worth the trip.
The roses are just starting to bloom.”

“Oh!” Ailsa turned left with Jathan. “I’ve always loved
roses.”

The Institute’s rose garden was huge. She stopped to smell a
pink blossom. “I didn’t know there were this many varieties of roses.”

Jathan grinned and Ailsa returned the smile. How had she
ever classified him as ordinary-looking when she first saw him? There was
something about his smile that completely transformed his face. And when he
laughed . . . well, that was just contagious. And Jathan seemed to smile and
laugh—and wink—a lot. Just being around him made Ailsa feel more cheerful.

Her smile wavered. That wasn’t disloyal to Sav, was it?
After all, she and Jathan were just fellow students. Maybe friends.

Jathan cocked an eyebrow at her, noticing the change in her
expression. He pursed his lips and then turned to one of the rose bushes that
was just coming into bud. He stroked the largest bud with a finger and it burst
into full flower, a deep red. Jathan plucked the blossom, expertly stripping
the thorns, and presented the flower to her with a grin and a courtly bow. “You
should always have roses. Their beauty suits you. Almost as much as your smile.”

Ailsa couldn’t suppress a giggle as she took the rose. “It’s
lovely. But you probably shouldn’t have done that.”

Jathan drew back slightly, staring at her. “Why ever not?”

Ailsa looked down. “Well, we haven’t really been taught how
to use our green magic yet. Won’t you get in trouble?”

Jathan tilted his head back and laughed. “Of course not. I
mean, we probably shouldn’t try anything really big without some training. But
this takes only a trickle. That rose would have bloomed in a day or two anyway.
And no one expects us to completely refrain from doing any magic at all.” He
smiled and shrugged. “Some will leak out sometimes, even without trying to do
anything. Much better to start learning to control those trickles. At least,
that’s what Mage Barth says.”

Ailsa looked up. “Oh. I guess I didn’t know that.”

Jathan shrugged. “Well, how could you? You haven’t even been
to your first real class, outside of studying with your grandmother, yet.” He
took her hand and guided it to another bud. “Here, you try it. You don’t even
really have to do anything. Just let out a little trickle of magic and watch
what happens.”

Ailsa swallowed, a little reluctant to try this. But Jathan’s
smile urged her on. She called up just the tiniest amount of her magic. The
rose bud opened into another flower, very like the first. Ailsa couldn’t help
it. She laughed with the pure joy of it.

Jathan laughed with her. Ailsa grinned up at him, sure she
was going to enjoy studying green magic with him.

~

Ailsa ignored Jathan attempting to beckon her up front with
him. For this first real class in magic—Practical Basics of Magic—she’d rather
be somewhere less conspicuous. Book classes like Magical Ethics and History of
Magic were one thing, not very different from her studies back home in some
ways. But she’d actually be expected to use magic—out in front of everyone—in
this class. She didn’t want to draw too much attention to herself. She found a
back corner that seemed just perfect.

An older teacher limped up to the front of the class. Mage
Barth, according to the schedule Grandmama had written out for her.

He tapped his cane on the ground to get everyone’s
attention. “Good afternoon, class. Today we’ll be working on your mage lights.
One of the kinds of magic available to all mages and obviously a very useful
one. Saves on candles. So . . .” The elderly mage went on to detail the process
of making a mage light.

Ailsa’d known how to do that since she was about twelve, but
she listened anyway, just in case there was some trick Mama hadn’t passed on to
her. When he gave the word, she held her hands as if she were grasping a ball.
Then she moved them together as if she were trying to compress the air between
them. Slowly, a light began to coalesce between her hands. As it grew brighter,
it took on a strong green cast. Hmm. That was new. Was it because she now knew
the source of her magic? She continued to press until she had a fist-sized ball
that was nearly bright enough to read by.

She was so involved in her task that she didn’t notice Mage
Barth strolling around the room until he stood before her.

“Very good! For a new student very good indeed.”

Ailsa jumped a little and her light went out.

“Um, Mama used to make me practice at home.”

“Yes, yes. It does help to have a parent with similar
talents.”

Ailsa nodded, not daring to correct the teacher. Actually,
she’d learned very little for all her mother’s efforts, possibly because their
magic was so different. Her mage light, which had always been crystal white up ‘til
now, and the whirlwind were the only things Mama had ever successfully taught
her.

The teacher smiled at her. “Here, now. You should be up
front next to Jathan. Sometimes we work in teams, you know. Always better if
the team members have the same talent, where possible. I’m sure it will be a
great relief to Jathan to have another green mage to work with.”

Ailsa swallowed hard. She didn’t want to be up front, where
everyone would be looking in her direction. Why couldn’t Jathan come to the
back with her? But she couldn’t resist the teacher’s insistence. With a deep
sigh she moved up to stand next to Jathan. But the position, and her knowledge
of all those pairs of eyes at her back, disrupted her concentration.

~

Two weeks later, Ailsa walked back from the far side of the
Institute of Magical Arts. She was surrounded by a gaggle of other students
coming from their Magical Ethics class. They made a brightly colored rainbow,
traipsing and laughing across the lawns and through the gardens, wearing their
sleeveless robes of red, orange, yellow, brown, pink, at least two shades of
blue, and lavender. There were only two students in green robes—herself and Jathan.

Being a part of a group like this was still a wonder to her.
It could never have happened back home in Far Terra. Even the irritation at
being dragged to the front of nearly all their classes was worth it for this.
Only the fact that Jathan seemed never to leave her side, as he’d promised
Grandmama, had brought her into this group. Amazingly, the others seemed to
accept her as one of them without any sniping at all. What a different world
Terranion was than Far Terra.

As they passed through one corner of the rose garden, Karensa,
a wind-mage-in-training, skipped up beside Ailsa, pale blue robes swirling
around her legs. “You are coming to the student ball, aren’t you, Ailsa?”

Ailsa paused in thought and the whole rainbow procession whirled
around her. A ball where she didn’t have to submit to King Ewart and his
paranoia could be a lot of fun. But did she have anything to wear? The gown
Mama’d had made for her for this trip, that she had said complemented Ailsa’s complexion,
wouldn’t be suitable. Not only did she not want to make that much of a
spectacle of herself, but that gown was sapphire blue. Suitable for an air
mage, like Karensa, or a water mage, but not for a green mage. Not at a school
function like this ball. “When is it?”

Karensa executed a little dance step, twirling in place. “Only
ten days.”

Ailsa grimaced. “I don’t think I have anything appropriate
to wear.”

Jathan laughed. “Oh, that’s all right. I’m sure my sister
knows at least a couple of dressmakers who could come up with something in
plenty of time. That is, if your grandmother hasn’t already taken care of it.
You can be my dance partner. I bet you dance beautifully.”

Ailsa smiled. This ball would be very different than the
charged atmosphere of one of King Ewart’s functions. “Well, if I can get
something to wear in time . . . sure.”

Karensa spun one more time. “Maybe this time the princes
will even come. We always invite them—to foster good relations between the
Institute and the Imperial court. But they never come.”

Jathan waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. “Oh, I wouldn’t
count on that. I’ve already asked the terrible three
not
to show up. It’s
one place where I don’t have to be compared to them, you know.”

Karensa deflated a little. The she turned and thrust out her
hand. A gust of wind whipped Jathan’s robes back. “Spoil sport!”

Ailsa gasped and took a step back.

Jathan laughed. He stood up on his toes for a minute,
scanning the surrounding area. “Looks like the coast is clear.” As he dropped
down to his normal height again, he brought his hands together as if he were
holding something. The rose bushes spurted forward and encased Karensa in a
thorny cage. “Ha!”

Karensa’s arms were trapped at her sides. She closed her
eyes. Ailsa already knew that some forms of magic came easier or were easier to
control if the user could use his or her body to guide it.  Karensa’s whirlwind
whipped the roses away from her, but it also threw petals, leaves, even a few
thorny branches around the entire group.

Ailsa, being the shortest, escaped the worst of it. Suddenly
all of the students were taking part in a magical melee. Water splashed from a
nearby fountain to drench Karensa and Jathan equally. A blast of wind picked up
Ailsa’s braid and blew it into her face. The ground seemed to tip under her
feet. Probably the work of an earth mage.

Ailsa ducked and ran for it, only stopping when she was out
of range, on the fringe of a ring of onlookers. She turned and watched, too.
From the amount of laughter, the other students were having a lot of fun, kind
of like little children playing in a fountain. They were also attracting a lot
of attention. Though, to be honest, most of the crowd seemed to be cheering the
others on. Ailsa moved back a little, trying to blend into the crowd.

After the initial chaos, a sort of order emerged as students
clumped together. Three wind mages in a knot on one side. Four water mages on
the other. The pink-robed healer mages grouped together and moved off to the
other side, away from Ailsa, behind a barrier made of a controlled whirlwind.
Healer mages took an oath early in their training never to use their magic to
do harm. They really could be expelled from the Institute for misuse, so they
were restricted to defensive magic. A group of brown-robed earth mages put
their heads together as if they were planning their move in this weird scuffle.

Jathan stood alone in the center, surrounded by a writhing
wall of vines, which occasionally lashed out to flick at one of the others. He
looked around and his eyes locked on Ailsa’s where she tried to appear
inconspicuous. He gestured for her to come join him. Ailsa shook her head.

Ailsa was distracted by a burst of laughter from Karensa’s
group of wind mages as the ground under their feet rolled. Karensa lost her
balance and fell backward, laughing even harder. It certainly did seem that
they were having fun. Ailsa bit her lip. It was just so . . . public.

She jumped as Jathan touched her hand. A wet streak slashed
across his green student robes.

Jathan gestured with his head back to the spot he’d occupied
a moment ago. “Come on. Mages with the same talent team up. That’s how this
game is played.”

Ailsa hung back as he tried to pull her into the middle of
the fray. “Game? What kind of game is that? You’re all going to get into
trouble.” She yanked her hand free. “Stop. I don’t want to be a part of that.”

Jathan blinked at her in surprise. “It’s just a little
harmless fun. This game’s almost as old as the Institute. The teachers know all
about it. They consider it a good way for us to practice our magic and blow off
some steam at the same time. Sometimes old Barth even has us play it in his
class. He says it forces us to think fast. No one’s going to get into trouble
for it as long as we put everything back the way it was when it’s over.” He reached
for her hand again. “Come on. Together we can show them what green mages can
really do.”

Ailsa shook her head violently and hung back, swallowing
down a wave of panic. Go out there in front of everyone and purposely draw
attention to herself? Was he crazy? “I don’t want to.”

Jathan kept hold of her hand, though a puzzled crease
appeared between his eyes. “We’re a team now. The only two green mages in
training. It’ll be fun once you get the hang of it, I promise.”

~

Jathan dropped Ailsa’s hand and turned as the crowd swirled
around them, parting to allow half a dozen men in uniform through. He cursed
under his breath. “Why do they
always
have to interfere?” He narrowed
his eyes at the much more ornate uniform of the leader. Arrigo. Seven hells!
What was
he
doing here?