In the Hand of the Goddess (17 page)

Jonathan did not want her to go, but Alanna rode for the City of the Gods in early April, leaving Faithful with strict instructions to watch the prince and to get Myles if anything happened. Saddling Moonlight before dawn, she slipped out of the palace. Few people—no rogues—were about in the city. She thought she had fooled George, since she had given no one more than half a day's warning of her departure. She was wrong. The thief was waiting for her at the gates, dressed for riding and mounted on a sturdy bay.

“Jonathan told you,” Alanna accused her friend.

“No. Stefan keeps messenger-birds. I've got you under tight watch, youngling, and it's well for you that I do.”

Since there was nothing she could do, Alanna laughed and fell in beside George. Would she ever be able to outwit him?

The ride north was a good one. George was witty and entertaining; he had some wonderful stories to tell. They stopped at Trebond for a night. Coram was shocked to see the company Alanna kept and read her a strong lecture, but Alanna shrugged it off. Instead she spent time with the young man Coram was training as his replacement; he was a nice fellow, with a small family and some education. Alanna knew when she was done talking to him that he would serve her as faithfully as Coram did. Plans were made for Coram to come to the palace in November, in order to be there when Alanna underwent the Ordeal.

Alanna and George rode on to the City of the Gods. Alanna sighed wearily when they finally arrived before the City's great walls. Gray mountains bare of almost any greenery stretched for leagues around, making for a dull, tiring ride.

“How can Thom live in such a cursed ugly place?”
she asked George. “I'd go mad if I had to look at this all the time.”

“He probably doesn't notice,” her friend replied. “Most scholars don't.”

The warrior-priests who manned the gates showed them to the Mithran Cloisters. As they passed the Convent of the Mother of Mountains, Alanna shuddered. She had almost spent six years behind those walls. Now, more than ever, she appreciated her escape!

An orange-robed initiate admitted them to the Cloisters; novices took their horses. An ancient yellow man in the black-and-gold robes of a master tottered out to greet them. “We are honored to have you among us, Squire Alan, Freeman Cooper,” he said. “I am Si-cham, Chief of the Masters here.”

Alanna bowed very low; as a sorcerer, Si-cham would be nearly as powerful as Duke Roger. As a priest, he was the head of the cult of Mithros for all the Eastern Lands. “We would be honored if you would join us for our evening meal,” this friendly old man went on. “We get little news of the world.”

“We'd be honored to come,” George said.

“Excellent, excellent. Follow me, if you please. I do not believe Adept Thom is expecting you?”

Alanna smiled grimly. “I wanted to surprise him.”

Si-cham looked sharply at her before knocking on one of the many doors lining a long hallway. “Do you think much surprises Adept Thom?”

Before Alanna could answer such an astonishing question, Thom opened the door. He was bearded, taller—older. He hugged Alanna with enthusiasm, crying, “Brother Dear!” Seeing Alanna's companion, Thom widened his violet eyes. “Not—George Cooper?” He grinned.

“The same,” George replied, extending his hand. “I've heard a thing or two about you myself.”

“Surely some of it was good,” Thom quipped, shaking the offered hand. He looked at Master Si-cham as Alanna dazedly realized,
He knew we were coming. He wasn't surprised at all.

“Their things have been taken to the guest's wing.” The Master's voice, warm and friendly a moment ago, was suddenly chilly. “And they have accepted an invitation to take the evening meal with us.”

Thom lifted a single coppery eyebrow. “Oh?” he asked, his voice too sweet. “Then I will have to join you—won't I?”

“It will be a change.” The old man's voice was as dry as autumn leaves. “I will leave you to talk now.”
He hurried away down the long hall.

Alanna was confused. “I don't get it. He was very friendly a moment ago.”

“They've been angry with me ever since I stopped playing the idiot and passed the written examinations for Mastery. Come in; sit down. Wine?” Thom rang a bell, and a servant in the white robe of novice came in. He gave the boy orders, pretending not to notice that Alanna and George were staring at him. When the novice was gone, Alanna sat down hard. Most would-be Masters did not even try for that title until they were at least thirty.

“You passed the written examinations for
Mastery
?” Her voice emerged from her throat in a squeak.

“Two weeks ago. It was easier than you think.” Thom shrugged, motioning George to take the chair beside Alanna while he sat in the third. “All that's left are the spoken examinations, and the Ordeal of Sorcery.”

“You call that
all
?” Alanna demanded weakly.

Thom laughed at her shock. “I was ready for this more than a year ago. And now they can't wait for me to finish and get out of here. I make them nervous.”

The wine came. Alanna drank hers in one gulp and poured another glass while George told Thom about
their ride to the City of the Gods. When Alanna was calmer, Thom turned back to her.

“Now. What brings you two to me the moment the passes are clear? Or rather, sister, what brings
you
? I believe I guess correctly when I say George came to protect you.”

George smiled and sipped his wine. “Truth to tell, I came for the ride. Surely you know that Alanna can take care of herself.”

Thom smiled cruelly. “You came to protect her from a certain smiling gentleman,” he said. “Or did you think I had forgotten him? He hasn't forgotten
me.
There are two people watching me here.”

“It's just as well you're getting your Mastery, then, isn't it?” Alanna shrugged. If Thom could be matter-of-fact about it, so could she. “I need you at the palace.”

“Do you indeed?”

“Don't take that arch tone with me, brother,” she said tartly. “I used to duck you in the fishpond. I'll try to do it again if you make me angry. This is too important.”

Thom laughed. “So serious! All right, what's the problem?”

They talked until the bells called them to the
evening meal, and then they talked again until very late. Alanna wanted Thom in the palace to watch over Jonathan when she left. Thom did not refuse; he wanted to live well at Court for a while. With the most important question settled, Alanna and George told Thom everything they knew or suspected about Duke Roger. Alanna had the only surprise for either man as she explained about the ember-stone. She finished telling her brother about the tests she had performed on the charm and sat back, yawning tiredly. She could remember the watch had called midnight, but that had been at least an hour ago.

George shook his head, smiling ruefully. “Have you any more surprises for me, then?” he asked gently.

“Don't be silly,” she replied. “I would've told you before, but the time was never right. It's not something I think I should talk much about.”

Thom stood and looked down at her. “One of the gods themselves,” he remarked softly. “What I wouldn't give to have been there with you.”

“I wish you
had
been there with me,” Alanna said frankly. “I was scared to death. Except maybe she wouldn't have talked to me if you'd been there.”

Thom stretched out his hand. “Let me see it.”

Her eyes on her twin's, Alanna slowly pulled the chain over her head. The ember-stone swung in the air, its inner fire burning. Thom took it, holding it up before his eyes. “Does the glow give you away at night?” he asked absent-mindedly. Alanna could see his mind wasn't on her, but on the problems and questions posed by the Goddess's token. This was Thom's other face, his scholar's face, the one he wore when he was tracking down some ancient spell in rotting scrolls and half-burned books.

“No,” she replied, feeling a little forlorn. This was a place her twin went where she couldn't follow. “It burns inside, but it doesn't burn, if you know what I mean.”

George, seeing the loneliness on her face, stood behind her, rubbing her shoulders. She smiled up at him gratefully. Was there anything that George didn't understand about her?

“Fascinating,” Thom whispered. Suddenly his face tightened. He threw the charm into the air and pointed at it, shouting a word neither Alanna nor George knew. There was a great, soundless explosion. The room rocked, and Alanna grabbed George to keep him from falling. All around the Cloisters, lamps flared up and men shouted questions. Alanna
glared at Thom. Shrugging, her brother handed back the ember-stone. The chain was gone; a small bead of molten gold clung to the stone's crystal exterior. “No damage,” Thom reassured her.

Alanna got her wind back. “No damage!” she yelled furiously.
“What did you do to it?”

“He used a word of Command,” said a dry voice from the doorway. Si-cham, wearing a crumpled dressing gown over his sleeping robe, stood there. “Is the thing of immortal origin?”

Wordlessly Alanna handed the ember-stone over, mentally promising to get Thom for putting her in this position. The yellow man examined the stone for a moment before handing it back. “He Commanded it to give up its secrets,” the Master explained. “Only a thing made by the immortals could resist such a Command, as I see this has. You shouldn't give your brother such dangerous toys to play with, Squire Alan.” Si-cham glanced at Thom. “I suppose you realize you've disrupted a number of very delicate spells some of the Masters have been working on. It will take many of them weeks to repair the damage.”

Thom shrugged. “It was necessary,” he said coolly. “I had to learn how powerful it was.”

“I see.” Si-cham's smile was small and grim. “Very well. To teach you the virtues of
warning
your fellow scholars when you are about to play with the basic forces of Nature, your Ordeal of Sorcery shall be to set to rights the work you destroyed tonight.” The ancient Master nodded to Alanna. “Until tomorrow morning, Squire Alan.”

Alanna turned to her brother when the door closed behind Si-cham. “Couldn't you make friends with them?” she wanted to know. “I like Master Si-cham. And the others—”

Thom shook his head. “They're afraid of me because I'm better than they are. They'd hate me even if I went out of my way to be
good
to them; and I'm certainly not going to do that.”

Alanna frowned, worried. “You're going to be very lonely,” she said frankly.

Thom laughed. “I have the Gift. That's enough for me.”

“I wonder. It doesn't seem as if it would be enough.” She remembered what the Goddess had said about learning to love. Thom would have a lonely life without love or friendship. She at least had friends. Was it possible she had learned to love, as well?

They spent another day in the Cloisters, talking
to others while Thom studied and conferring further with Thom. When Alanna and George left at dawn the next day, Alanna knew her powerful brother would soon come to help her protect Jonathan. That at least she looked forward to; it would take a great burden off her shoulders.

They rode for half a day in silence, Alanna thinking about Thom. George waited to break the silence until they halted for the noon meal.

“Your brother is an interestin' fellow.”

Alanna laughed shortly. “That he is.”

“He'll be powerful protection for Jon. You can go adventurin' without another thought.” Alanna nodded. George watched her for a moment before adding, “Was he always so proud?”

Alanna raised miserable eyes to her friend. “I don't know,” she admitted. “I don't
think
so. He was different when we went home to bury our father. I could see then he was turning hard. I suppose that as powerful as he is, he has every right to be proud. Not everyone can harness so much magic. I never tried; I was afraid to.”

“A wise kind of fear,” George pointed out. “Besides, what would you be—a fine warrior
and
a great sorcerer?”

“It's not that,” Alanna protested, realizing George thought she might be a little jealous. “It's that he seems so
lonely.
And he doesn't even realize it.”

George raised his eyebrows. “Do I believe my ears? Alanna the Heartless talkin'
for
love instead of against it?”

“Don't tease, George. He's my brother. I love him.”

“He knows that,” George said, hugging her around the shoulders. “And I know I for one envy him. Now, eat up. We've a long ride home.”