The Archmage Unbound (30 page)

My friend looked sharply at me as I
spoke. “You’re absolutely right.”

I grinned, “I’ll need you to write that
down and sign it for me. I can use it the next time you’re being stubborn.”

He shook his head again, “No, I really
mean it. All the information you have about this ‘Doom’ comes from the gods, first
from Celior, and now indirectly from Mal’goroth. I should be looking through
the church archives, not this library.”

“I don’t think your search here is
entirely a waste,” I told him. “After all this is the only known library of
the Illeniel family, so it seems an obvious choice to search.”

“True,” he agreed, “and I have learned a
lot of interesting tidbits while I was looking here. We’ll have to sit down
for a week or two sometime. You would be surprised at some of the general
information about wizardry, the gods, and even people like Dorian that can be
found here.”

“Dorian?”

“Yes,” he said smugly. “Dorian is, as
far as I can tell, what your ancestors called a ‘stoic’.” He folded his arms
in front of him, waiting for me to ask the inevitable questions.

I waved a hand nonchalantly at him, “Oh
yes, I knew that. I learned about them in Vestrius’ journal, but I would like
to see what books you found the information in… I’m sure there’s a lot more I
need to know.” I knew my phrasing would irritate him, but then, that’s what
friends are for… right?

“Sometimes you really are a wet
blanket. You know that?” he said with resignation. “You could at least
pretend to be excited, just to make your friend feel better.”

I winked at him, “A friend told me
recently that I ‘overdo’ my acting and I should just be honest. It seemed like
good advice.”

Marc grimaced in mock pain, as if my
joke had wounded his delicate sense of humor. Rose appeared in the doorway
before he could prepare a good come back though. “From the look of things I
doubt you gentlemen are up to anything good,” she said.

Marc held up his hands, “For once I am
innocent of all wrongdoing, though I cannot be so sure of our friend the
incipient thespian here,” he said pointing at me.

An arched eyebrow was all the response
he got. Rose ignored our banter and asked a question instead, “I need to visit
my father, would either of you gentlemen care to escort me?”

I knew for a fact she wasn’t afraid to
walk the streets of Albamarl by herself. After all the last time we had been
here together she had crossed half the city at night, alone. She was simply
being polite, and perhaps offering us a chance to stretch our legs. She could
have just taken one of my guards with her if all she wanted was an escort.

I glanced at Marc and found him watching
me. We knew each other well enough that it only took a glance for us to
communicate volumes. I was planning to volunteer if he didn’t feel like going
out, but he wanted to go. I waited and Marc answered her, “I’ll come with you
Rose. I was hoping to stretch my legs in town today and I couldn’t think of
anyone who would be better company.”

“Thank you for the offer Rose, but I’ll
let you two go without me. I have some things I’d like to take care of,” I said,
chiming in.

“More research?” she asked.

“Essentially,” I replied. “I found some
interesting information in the library and I’d like to test some ideas.”

“Experiment, that’s what he really
means,” said Marc said with a chuckle, “It’s probably safer if we leave anyway
Rose.”

“I wasn’t planning to try anything
dangerous,” I said without humor.

“Sure, sure… I believe you,” he replied,
“but I made a promise to Mother after all, and I can’t go back on that.”

I stared at him quizzically, “You made a
promise to Genevieve?”

He gazed at the ceiling innocently,
“Yes, she said that she had to shout at you once over tea… when she had come to
visit. Apparently you had nearly blown yourself to bits during some experiment
and you were half deaf as a result. I had to promise her that I wouldn’t go
near you if you were doing any future experiments. She was very worried…”

I knew for a fact she would never have
forced him to make such a promise. Well, I was pretty sure anyway. The more I
thought about it the less sure I became… he was her son after all.

Rose started laughing and then exclaimed,
“Oh that’s nothing! You should have seen him the day he first tried to get
into this house! He nearly fried himself and his hair was standing on end for
hours afterward.”

The conversation was rapidly devolving
into one long joke at my expense. “I’d have thought you two had already told
each other these stories,” I put in.

Rose smiled at me, “We all have other
things to talk about you do realize? We don’t just sit around talking about
you all the time.”

“Well no, I didn’t think that,” I said
caught off guard. My legendary wit had abandoned me, so I settled for
escorting them to the doorway.

Rose gracefully took Marc’s arm and the
two of them left the library. They kept talking as they went, having stumbled
upon a juicy subject. As they went down the stairs I could still hear them.
Marc was telling another story, “You should have seen the day he tried to tell
Penny he was a wizard. He nearly convinced her he was working with the powers
of darkness and when I saw her bolt from his room I thought he had tried to
assault her…”

It was several minutes before I turned
my attention back to the silver-bound book I carried. I had the rest of the
day to myself now and I didn’t intend to waste it. Drawing out the silver
stylus I started thumbing through the book, considering what I should try
first.

The sun was shining down like the wrath
of a vengeful god, causing me to squint. While some people love sunny days I
found them to be intrusive. The bards sing of cloudless skies and bright sun,
but I honestly preferred a few clouds and a bit of shade. Not that I minded
the sunshine, it was a welcome respite from the past winter… it was just that
sometimes it was too much. Especially with hundreds, perhaps even thousands of
people staring at me.

That many eyes watching made me
understandably nervous, and with the glare from the sun overhead I couldn’t see
their faces clearly. Of course I could have closed my eyes and simply relied
on my mage-sight, but sometimes there’s just no substitute for seeing something
with your own eyes, a mob of strangers staring at me being at the top of that
list.

“…and while the Baron of Arundel
abandoned his people to the unkind mercies of the enemy,
this man
,
stayed to defend them!” King Edward’s voice rose to a crescendo while his
arms waved to highlight me standing beside him. “This man stayed, to protect
his people, to protect his neighbor’s people… and to protect us! All the while
his fellow lord, the craven Baron, was here… spreading lies and dissent. Even
so, this man, the Count di’Cameron, stayed to do his duty, both to kingdom and
crown, and so doing he saved us all.”

I was finding it difficult to keep from
fidgeting as I stood there. Being the object of an unrestrained river of
praise and compliments was more uncomfortable than I had imagined. Not that I
had ever imagined such a barrage of half-truths and exaggerations. Well I had
to admit the last part was true, but much of what had come before had been
outright fabrication.

Apparently the late Baron was a
scoundrel and coward of immense proportions, who had not only run from danger
and abandoned his people, but also a tremendous liar who had worked tirelessly
to have our hero, yours truly, deposed so that he could receive my lands. This
ignored the fact that my lands would have reverted to the Duke of Lancaster if
I had had my title stripped from me. According to the tale, the baron was soon
confronted by our wise and good king, once he had learned of the plot.
Naturally the villainous baron had attempted to kill the good king once he
realized that he would not be fooled by the baron’s wicked lies.

All of this led of course, to today,
when I, the loyal servant would be rewarded for my faithful service in
protecting the kingdom from both treacherous cowards and powerful armies. The
tale was so sickeningly sweet I could almost hear my mother warning me that I
would get a tummy ache if I listened to any more.

While I wasn’t particularly heart-broken
about Sheldon’s sudden execution I didn’t think he fully deserved to be hanged
for his cowardice. Worse I knew he had been executed simply to smooth the way
for my ‘reward’ today. My thoughts flew apart at that moment, for Harold had
just nudged my elbow and I realized I had lost track of what the king had been
saying. I looked at the king with a question in my eyes.

“Kneel before the king,” Sir Harold
whispered to me and I realized I had nearly made a grave mistake. I hastily
genuflected, hoping the pause had not been noticed by the crowd.

Edward drew forth a simple gold circlet,
set with a large blue sapphire. He had had it made specifically for today, to
symbolize the accolades I was receiving. Gently he placed the circlet on my
brow and then rested his hands on top of my head. “Take this as a small token
of our gratitude for your service, and with it we name you the Protector of the
Northern Reach, in honor of your victory. In addition to this title we also
bestow upon you the lands formerly held by your neighbor, the late Baron of
Arundel, to keep or use for your own vassals.”

When he had finished speaking he put his
hands on my shoulders and lifted upward as a signal to rise. As I stood I felt
a wave of disgust crash over me, disgust for the entire ceremony, and for
myself for participating. It was nothing more than an overblown lie, meant to
sooth the people and create more support for the king, a man I could barely
stand, much less respect.

Raising my head I saw Cyhan standing
beside and slightly behind our monarch and as our eyes met he saw the look in
my eyes. An imperceptible shake of his head cautioned me to hold my tongue.
Taking a deep breath I knew he was right, the wrong words now could start a
civil war, and that was precisely what I was here to prevent.

I wondered at his calm. His last words
to me had cautioned me that our next meeting would be an unpleasant one, yet
now he stood calmly by the king, acting as his bodyguard. I could only surmise
that his oath to our monarch superseded his oath to execute unbound wizards.
I
bet it keeps him up at night,
I thought. I gave Cyhan a polite smile when
the king took his eyes from me, letting him know I appreciated his tolerance…
and his advice.

“Perhaps our hero would like to say a
few words to the crowd?” asked the king graciously.

“Certainly, your Majesty,” I answered
quickly. He stepped back and I turned to face the people. The sun was no
longer in my face so I could see them more clearly now. “Our king has honored
me today, but I want you to know that the honor is not just my own. The
defense of Lothion is not something any one man could accomplish alone; it was
done with the aid of hundreds, nay thousands of men and women. People just
like those here today. I did no more, and no less, than I would have expected
any loyal citizen of our nation would do.” I stopped there.

I was tempted to continue, to tell them
that they should prepare to do the same, should fate again threaten our nation,
but I withheld those words. I knew they would be badly received by Edward. I
had already given him a slight insult by insisting that the honor was not my
own, by sharing it with those who served me. Despite Cyhan’s unspoken warning
I could feel my temper flare, but I went cold when I saw a young man staring at
me in the crowd.

It was a surreal moment, when the world
slows down and everything becomes crystalline. Though there were hundreds of
people before me, for those few seconds the only other person I was aware of
was the young sandy haired man whose eyes burned into me. It was a look of
utter hatred, the look of someone who saw in me the personification of all the
ills in the world. In that timeless moment of focus my mind saw him clearly,
even to the knife he held clutched at his side, hidden under a ragged cloth.
This man, who seemed to be even younger than I was, had come today with no
other reason, than the hope that he might get close enough to kill me.

It was a shocking thought, but I knew it
was true, with a surety that pure logic can never provide. Whatever his reason,
this fellow desired nothing more than to end my life. A woman’s voice rang out
through the crowd. It was but one voice among many, but he knew it and he
turned his head to see the girl who called for him. I followed his gaze, and when
his eyes settled upon her I saw her as well.

She was young, and she resembled him,
probably
his younger sister,
I thought. She struggled to get through the crowd, to
reach him, and her face bore a look of profound fear and worry.
She’s come
to stop him,
I realized. The crowd went on cheering while the king put his
hand on my shoulder. Unnoticed by everyone a tiny drama played out within the
crowd, and yet I saw them.

The king began speaking again but I did
not hear him, all my attention was upon the young man and his sister. She had
reached him now and they argued with one another in the midst of the crowded
square. Realizing his chance had vanished with her arrival his shoulders
slumped and he turned away, letting her lead him toward home. As he did she
cast her eyes toward me and I found myself transfixed by her gaze. I had hoped
my expression would convey my thanks to her, but face was lit with a fury and
hatred every bit as intense as his had been.