Magic's Promise (2 page)

Vanyel paused in his vigorous toweling, looked down, and was a little surprised
himself at
the evidence of damage. He'd always been lean-but now he was whipcord and bone and nothing else. Then there were the scars- knife and sword scars, a scoring of parallel claw marks on his chest where that demon had tried to remove his heart. Burn marks, too-he was striped from neck to knee with three thin, white lines where mage-lightning had gotten through his shields. And there were a few other scars that were souvenirs of his bout with a master of mage-fire.

“
My job. Living on the edge. Trying to convince the Karsites that I was five Herald-Mages. Playing target.
”
He shrugged dismissively.
“
That's all. Nothing any of you wouldn't have done if you could have.
”

“
Gods, Van,
”
Tantras replied, with a hint of guilt.
“
You make me feel like a shirker. I hope to hell it was worth what you went through.
”

Vanyel compressed his lips into a tight line.
“
I got the bastard that got Mardic and Donni. And you can spread that as official.
”

Tantras closed his eyes for a moment, and bowed his head.
“
It
was
worth it,
”
he said faintly.

Vanyel nodded.
“
Worth every scar. I may have accomplished something else; that particular necromancer had a flock of pet demons and I turned them back on Karse when I killed him.
”
He smiled, or rather, stretched his mouth a little.
“
I hope it taught the Karsites a lesson. I hope they end up proscribing magic altogether on their side of the Border. If you can believe anything out of Karse, there's rumor that they're doing just that.
”

Tantras looked up again.
“
Hard on the Gifted-
”
he ventured.

Vanyel didn't answer. He was finding it very hard to feel sorry for
anyone
on the Karsite side of the Border at the moment. It was uncharitable, un-Heraldic, but until certain wounds healed-and
not
the physical ones-he was inclined to be uncharitable.

“
There's more silver in your hair, too,
”
Tantras observed, head to one side.

Vanyel made a face, just as glad of the change in subject.
“
Node-magic. Every time I tap into it, more of my roots go white. Moondance k'Treva was pure silver by the time he was my age; I guess I'm more resistant.
”
He smiled, it was faint, but a
real
smile this time.
“
One nice thing; all those white hairs give me respect I might not otherwise get!
”

He finished drying himself and wrapped the towel around his waist. Tantras grimaced again-probably noting the knife wound on his back-and handed him another towel for his hair.

“
You already paid that forfeit, by the way
”
he said, plainly trying to lighten the conversation.

Vanyel stopped toweling off his hair and raised an eyebrow.

“
You stood duty for me last Sovvan.
”

Vanyel clamped down on the sudden ache of loss and shrugged again.
You know you get depressed when you’re tired, fool. Don't let it sink you. “
Oh, that. Any time, Tran. You know I don't like Sovvan-night celebrations, I can't handle the memorial services, and I don't like to be alone, either. Standing relay duty was as good as anything else to keep my mind off things.
”

He was grateful when Tantras didn't press the subject.
“
Think you can make it to your room all right?
”
the other asked.
“
I said you don't look good; I mean it. Falling asleep in the tub like that-it makes me wonder if you're going to pass out in the hall.
”

Vanyel produced something more like a dry cough than a laugh.
“
It's nothing about a week's worth of sleep won't cure,
”
he replied.
“
And I'm sorry I won't be able to stand relay for you this year, but I have the Obligatory Familial Visit to discharge. I haven't been home in- gods, four years. And even then I didn't stay for more than a day or two. They're going to want me to make the long stay I've been promising. There's a letter from my father waiting for me that's probably reminding me of just that fact.
”

“
Parents surely know how to load on the guilt, don't they? Well, if you're out of reach, Randale won't find something for you to do-but is that going to be
rest?”
Tantras looked half-amused and half-worried.
“
I mean, Van, that family of yours-
”

“
They
won't
come after me when I'm sleeping-which I fully intend to do a lot of.'' He pulled on his old, clean clothing, reveling in the feel of clean, soft cloth against his skin, and started to gather up his things.
“
And the way I feel right now, I'd just as soon play hermit in my rooms when I get there-
”

“
Leave that stuff,
”
Tantras interrupted.
“
I'll deal with it. You go wrap yourself around a decent meal. You don't look like you've had one in months.
”

“
I haven't. They don't believe in worldly pleasures down there. Great proponents of mortification of the flesh for the good of the spirit.
”
Vanyel looked up in time to catch Tantras' raised eyebrow. He made a tragic face.
“
I know what you're thinking. That, too.
Especially
that. Gods. Do you have
any
idea what it was like, being surrounded by all those
devastatingly
handsome young men and not daring to so much
as flirt
with one?
”

“
Were the young ladies just as devastatingly attractive?
”
Tantras asked, grinning.

“
I would say so-given that the subject's fairly abstract for me.
”

“
Then I think I can imagine it. Remind me to avoid the Karsite Border at all costs.
”

Vanyel found himself grinning back-another real smile, and from the heart.
“
Tran, gods-I'm glad to see you. Do you know how long it's been since I've been able to talk freely to someone?
To joke,
for Lady's sake? Since I was around people who don't wince away when I'm minus a few clothes?
”

“
Are you
on
about that again?
”
Tantras asked, incredulously.
“
Do you
really
think that people are nervous around you because you're shaych?
”

“
I'm
what?”
Van asked, startled by the unfamiliar term.

“
Shaych. Short for that Hawkbrother word you and Savil use. Don't know where it came from, just seems like one day everybody was using it.
”
Tantras leaned back against the white-tiled wall of the bathing room, folding his arms across his chest in a deceptively lazy pose.
“
Maybe because you're as prominent as you are. Can't go around calling the most powerful Herald-Mage in the Circle a 'pervert,' after all.
”
He grinned.
“
He might turn you into a frog.
”

Vanyel shook his head again.
“
Gods, I
have
been out of touch to miss
that
little bit of slang. Yes, of course because I'm
shay'a'chern,
why else would people look at me sideways?
”

“
Because you scare the hell out of them,
”
Tantras replied, his smile fading.
“
Because you
are
as powerful as you are; because you're so quiet and so solitary, and they never know what you're thinking. Havens, these days half the
Heralds
don't even know you're shaych; it's the Mage-Gift that makes them look at you sideways. Not that anybody around
here
cares about your bedmates a quarter as much as you seem to think. They're a lot more worried that-oh-a bird will crap on you and you'll level the Palace.
”

“
Me?
”
Vanyel stared at him in disbelief.

“
You. You've spent most of the last four or five years in combat zones.
We
know your reflexes are hypersensitive. Hellfire, that's why
I
came in here to wake you up instead of sending a page. We know what you can do. Van, nobody I've
ever
heard of was able to take the place
of five
Herald-Mages by himself! And the very idea of
one
person having that much power at his beck and call scares most people witless!
”

Vanyel was caught without a reply; he stared at Tantras with the towel hanging limply from his hands.

“
I'm telling you the plain truth, Van. I wish you'd stop wincing away from people with no cause. It's
not
your sexual preferences that scare them, it's
you.
Level the Palace, hell-they know you could level Haven if you wanted to-
”

Vanyel came out of his trance of astonishment.
“
What do they think I am?
”
he scoffed, picking up his filthy shirt.

“
They don't know; they haven't the Mage-Gift and most of them weren't trained around Herald-Mages. They hear stories, and they think of the Mage Wars-and they remember that once, before there
was
a Valdemar, there was a thriving land to the far south of us. Now the Dhorisha Plains are there-a
very
large, circular crater. No cities, no sign there ever
was
anything, not even two stones left standing. Nothing but grass and nomads. Van,
leave
that stuff; I'll pick up after you.
”

“
But-
”
Vanyel began to object.

“
Look, if
you
can spend most of a year substituting for five of
us,
then
one
of us can pick up after you once in a while.
”
Tantras took the wet towels away from him, cutting off his objections before he could make them.
“
Honestly, Van.
”

“
If you insist.
”
He wanted to touch Tantras' mind to see if he really
meant
what he said. It seemed a fantastical notion.

But Tran had not invited, and a Herald did not intrude uninvited into another's mind, not unless there was an overriding need to do so.

“
Is ... that how
you
feel?
”
he asked in a whisper.

“
I'm not afraid of you, but let me tell you, I wouldn't have your powers for
any
reward. I'm
glad
I'm just a Herald and not a Herald-Mage, and I don't know how you survive it. So just let me spoil you a little, all right?
”

Vanyel managed a weak smile, troubled by several things-including that
“
just a Herald
”
business. That implied a division between Heralds and Herald-Mages that made him very uneasy.
“
All right, old friend. Spoil me. I'm just tired enough to let you.
”

The fog of weariness came between him and and the corridor, and he was finding it all he could do to put one foot in front of the other.
Lady, bless you for Tantras. There aren't many even among the Heralds I trained with that will accept what I am as easily as he does. Whether it's that I'm a Mage or that I'm fey
-
although I can't see why Mage-powers would frighten someone. We've had Herald-Mages since there was a Valdemar.

I wish he was as right about that as he thinks he is; I still think it's the other thing.

The stone was so cool and soothing to his feet; it eased the ache in them that was the legacy of too many hours-days-weeks-when he had slept fully clothed, ready to defend the Border in the blackest, bleakest hours of the night.

That reminder brought bleaker thoughts. Every time he came back to Haven it was with the knowledge that there would be fewer familiar faces to greet him.
So many friends gone
-
not that I ever had many to begin with. Lancir, Mardic and Donni, Regen, Dorilyn. Wulgra, Kat, Pretor. All gone. Not many left besides Tran. There's
-
Jays. Savil. Andy, and he's a Healer. Erdane, Breda, a couple of the other Bards. How can I be anything
but
solitary? Every year I'm more alone.

True to Tantras' promise, Vanyel found an overflowing plate waiting for him beside the pile of letters. It held a pair of meat pies, soft white cheese, and apples, and beside the generous plate of food was an equally generous pitcher of wine.

I'd better be careful with that stuff. I'm not used to it anymore, and I bet it'll go straight to my head.

He stifled a groan as he sagged down into the empty chair, poured a goblet of wine, then picked up the topmost letter. He broke the seal on it, gritted his teeth, and started in.