Rogue Magician (The Magician Rebellion) (25 page)

“
Yes,
well I will take your counsel under advisement and send some of our own men to
investigate further once we return to the Western Province.” Sevu stopped at
the large set of double doors at the end of the hall. “Please wait here while I
ask his lord if he will see you. It is merely a formality of course.” Sevu
disappeared into the large room closing the door behind him.

A
minute later Sevu returned. “Lord Nightwind will see you now.” The trio entered
the small throne room and the old courtier announced, “Lady Sarianna of the Red
Tree Clan and Lady Marian Lightfoot of Colum are here to see the honorable
Warlord Ethiel Nightwind of the North Lands Western Province!”

The
ladies bowed in unison before the warlord. He was a well-built and handsome man
in his mid-forties with a strong jaw line. His sandy blonde hair was shoulder
length as was common in his region. His wife, Lady Edessa Nightwind, sat to his
left and wore a gown that was long and made of red silk- a common site among
the nobility since the color red was often associated with people of their
station.

Warlord
Nightwind said, “There is no need for such formality. We are here to discuss a
grave matter and I do not wish to waste time on simple niceties while my
daughter is in danger.”

“
Of
course, your highness, and if I may, I know I speak for my apprentice as well
as myself when I say we will do everything within our power to find Tian,” Sari
told them falling into a formal tone that she rarely used.

Marian
nodded in agreement. Her education in the ways of the world had been extensive
in the last few years, but she still felt unsure of herself around members of
the upper classes.

“
Can
you tell us where Tian was last seen and how she came to disappear?” Sari
asked.

Lady
Edessa spoke up, “It will have been a week ago tomorrow that Tian and I went to
the markets to buy her a new dress. She was very excited to see Prince Janus.
There are not many children of high rank near her age and she was looking
forward to seeing him again.”

“
Tian
also has a bit of a crush on the prince despite him being ten years her
senior,” interjected her father.

Edessa
continued, “We took a carriage to the marketplace along with an escort of our
honor guards...” The normally stoic woman's eyes began to water as she spoke.

“
And
she disappeared from the markets?” Marian asked sympathetically.

Lady
Edessa dabbed at her eyes with a kerchief. “Tian had gone to one booth while I
was at another not far away when a fire suddenly broke out. It was small at
first, but quickly spread and grew in a matter of seconds. We were separated as
the flames came between us.

“
One
of our escorts tried to reach her, but he was caught in the fire and suffered
severe burns to his arms and hands. Tian was backed into an alley to escape the
fire and that was the last that I saw of my daughter.” Lady Edessa fought back
tears and only allowed a few to be shed. It was considered unseemly for a noble
woman to show such emotion even under the most difficult of circumstances.

“
Thank
you, Edessa. I know this is painful,” Sari told her reassuringly, “If I may ask
two questions: What was Tian wearing when she disappeared, and what was the
name of the booth you were shopping at when the fire broke out?”

“
Tian
was wearing a yellow gown with ruffled sleeves. I was shopping at
Draker's Designs and Garments
, but I do
not know the name of the place where the fire broke out. However, it would be
hard to miss if you go to the markets.” Edessa dried her tears and added,
“Sarianna, please find my daughter. I-I could not go on without her.”

“
We
will, your ladyship.”

Once
the rangers left the estate Marian stopped Sari. “I know how she feels. My own
son is out there somewhere- missing. He may have run off on his own, but the
not knowing is the same. Byrn could be hurt or dead and there is nothing I can
do about it. I want nothing more than to know he is safe and happy just as the
Lady Edessa does for her own child. We must find this girl!”

“
It
is more than that. Lady Edessa blames herself for Tian’s disappearance and I
fear what she may do if her daughter is not found.” Sari placed her hand on
Marian's shoulder. “We will find Tian Nightwind. I promise.”

The
burned out stall where Tian went missing was easy to find just as Lady Edessa
said it would be. The husk of the fire's remains was still untouched a week
after the young noblewoman’s disappearance. Sari and Marian surveyed the scene
and saw the shop
Draker's Designs and
Garments
opposite
the charred mess. A middle-aged man with a protruding gut was hanging several
well-tailored shirts and dresses on display before opening for business.

“
Go
question Draker while I look around,” Sari told her apprentice. Not waiting for
a response, because none was needed, she headed to the blackened remains of the
unrecognizable market booth.

Marian
approached the tailor striking up a conversation. “What a lovely dress,” she
said picking up a light blue velvet gown with black lace sewn strategically at
the bosom and cuffs. “I must say I have been trying my hand at tanning leathers
of late and making my own clothing so I can appreciate the level of
craftsmanship that goes into such fine work,” she made a show of examining the
stitching and added, “Of course, I could never do such wonderful work as this.”

“
Thank
you, my lady. It is nice to meet someone who understands true quality,” said
the shopkeeper beaming happily. “Most of the people that shop my wares have no
idea of the skill or quality I provide they just think, 'Ooh, what a pretty
dress,' when they look at something like this fine piece of artistry.” Draker
motioned to the dress Marian was admiring.

“
Nonsense,”
Marian scoffed, “I am sure you get all kinds of wealthy and important customers
through here...”

Draker's
mood instantly darkened. His eyes went to the dark char of a booth across from
his and he noticed the elf rummaging through the mess. “What is she doing?” he
asked to no one in particular although Marian was the only other person within
earshot at this time of day.

“
What
happened there?” asked the apprentice ranger trying to take Draker’s mind off
of Sari who was at the moment examining something or other on the ground with
great attention.

“
I
thought that everyone had heard by now. It was horrible. That shop belonged to
Gilkame Axebeard. He is an eccentric fellow, but he is also a masterful artisan
of jewelry and time pieces.” Draker pulled a small bobble on a chain from his
vest and showed it to Marian. “He made this for me last year. It is a miniature
clock and works just as well as a larger sized one.” Turning it over Draker
opened the back to reveal a set of tiny gears and springs working in unison.

“
That
is amazing!” declared Marian. “I have never seen anything quite so intricate!
How did he make gears so tiny?”

Draker
laughed and told her, “I asked the same question when I first saw the pocket
clock. He said it was a trade secret and would never speak of it again.”

“
What
happened?” Marian asked indicating the burned out booth. “Did some sour fate
befall this Gilkame that caused his shop to burn down? Perhaps he was working
on something dangerous.”

“
No,
nothing like that,” Draker answered for the moment forgetting about the elf
crawling around the dwarf's booth, “If you believe Gilkame's tales, he is working
on all sorts of inventions that sound quite dangerous like a cannon small
enough that it can be held in your hand or a collar that can be fit around a
magician's neck to take away his power, but he supposedly has a workshop where
he works on these things and I have never seen any such devices around here. Of
course, it could all be bunk. Dwarves are known to be braggarts.” Draker
flashed a smile to show he was kidding.

“
Then
what happened?” Marian asked nodding her head in the direction of the ashen
booth.

“
No
one knows for sure.” Draker recounted the events of the fire much the same as
Lady Edessa had done the previous night. When he finished he was silent for a
minute then said, “You are not looking for a dress, are you? You are looking
for the missing noble girl, the warlord’s daughter.” Marian nodded and he added
solemnly, “I hope you can find her. If you think it will help, Gilkame
mentioned his workshop was in the warehouse district. If you want to question
him, then one of the local courier apprentices can probably locate it with
little effort.”

Marian
thanked him for his help, but before she left to join her master she had to
know, “How much is the dress?” indicating the blue velvet one she was looking
at before.

“
For
you, it is fifteen gold pieces, my lady,” he said his grin returning.

“
Thank
you, I will consider it when we are done with this mess and time is not so
pressing.” Marian joined Sari who was finishing her own investigation into the
crime scene. “Did you find anything?”

“
No,”
said the elf, “but that is something in its own way too. There is no sign of
accelerants and the origin seems to be in this area,” Sari pointed to a corner
of the booth, “but there is no sign of anything particularly combustible
besides the wood itself which would not have just caught fire on its own.

“
Look
here where the scorch marks go in a straight line from the corner. This coupled
with Lady Edessa's account of how the fire seemed to follow Tian makes me
believe this was the work of magic.”

Marian
considered the possibilities- a rogue magician with the power of fire. She had
never seen it herself, but Sane told them years ago, when they were still on
speaking terms prior to Byrn’s escape from Baj, that Byrn was gifted in fire
magic. Could Byrn be the one...? No there was no reason to think such a thing.
Byrn would never do something like this. It was only the ache in her heart that
wanted to see him once more that made her think such a thing might be possible.
True there were many rogue magicians spread throughout the kingdom and while
most of them may not be adept at wielding fire the ability to cast basic spells
of any discipline was a common enough trait. Knowing it was a magician gave
them little more information than they had before.

“
Did
you find anything out from Draker?” asked Sari.

“
Not
much we did not already know, but he gave me the name of this shop's owner, a
gifted dwarf inventor called Gilkame Axebeard, as another possible lead. He did
mention that this Axebeard claimed to be working on a collar to make a magician
powerless. It is possible that the attack was against the shop owner and Lady
Tian got caught in the mix.”

Sari
shook her head, “That would not explain why Tian disappeared. This Gilkame
could have been taken by surprise just as everyone else when the fire began,
but he may have seen someone or something unusual, but first we should check
the alleyway for anything the first investigators missed.”

Sari
and Marian were both well versed in wood lore. Either woman could track a bear,
deer, or person for miles simply by following subtle markings. However tracking
someone in the largest city of the kingdom was another matter entirely. The
same tricks used in the forests were nearly useless on the cobblestone streets
of Mollifas.

The
elf seemed at a loss to her younger companion checking cracks and crevices for
any small thing that might have been left behind by the abductor. They searched
for the better part of an hour and turned up nothing.

“
Gods,
this is useless!” Sari shouted in frustration- the search finally getting the
better of her. “There is nothing here that might help us find Lady Tian! No
scraps of clothing! No footprints or marks! Not even a sign of a struggle!”

“
Maybe
that is it!” Marian suggested to the confusion of her master, “You believe this
to be a magician at work, right? Well what would stop a magician from casting
some sort of illusion spell making himself appear as a trusted friend? Maybe
there was no struggle because the Lady Tian went with him willingly.”

Sari
thought back to the last enchanter she faced; the girl who forced her to try
and kill Sane in Colum the night of the ogres’ attack. There were not many
enchanters with that kind of skill, but it could narrow down the field of
suspects. The elf grabbed her apprentice and hugged her tightly, “What would I
do without you?” Marian was about to answer with something witty, but Sari kept
talking as she worked out what her student had already deduced, “Tian was
shopping with her mother when some piece of jewelry caught her eye. Perhaps
some pretty bauble that she thinks will impress the prince drew her away from
her escort- not completely, but just enough for an unexpected fire to isolate
her.

“
Tian
was forced into the back alley by the spreading flames. She was frightened, but
then sees someone she trusts like a guard calling her to safety... or she
becomes spellbound and is forced to follow her kidnapper.”

“
Or
the magician could have taken the appearance of one of the girl's escorts or
even the Lady Edessa,” offered Marian.