The Black Mage: Candidate (6 page)

Because even
with
Emperor Liang’s renewed alliance to Jerar, the Borea Isles would not support a breach of the Great Compromise without the backing of Pythus. They were too weak. And from the fit Blayne had thrown during this year’s ascension, it was clear even if the crown prince did obtain the hand of one of Joren’s daughters, the Pythian king was not pro-Jerar.

And King Joren already had a sister married to one of King Horrace’s brothers.

Which meant if we did not find a way to convince the others, we would end up at war with three countries instead of one. Something even a Pythian princess and my Borean dowry couldn’t fix.

“The other rulers are cowards.” Next to me Paige prodded the shore with a stick. She had come along in a bitter mood herself. “They use their distance as a crutch, claiming they are too far away to see what Caltoth is doing. We all know the truth.”

“They shouldn’t have signed the compromise unless they were willing to uphold it.” My stomach was rolling.
What if they didn’t?
“What if they leave us with no choice but to declare war on Caltoth without the protection of the treaty?”
Are they planning on siding with the wealthiest country, or the country with the greatest army?
Because Jerar was only the latter.
And do we really have the greatest army if we are facing three armies combined? From all sides?

I looked down at my hands to see them shaking. Try as I might to appear unaffected, I was far from it. I hadn’t a lot of free time to think about my mission in Dastan Cove, but I still dreamed of it. What it had felt like to kill. What it had felt like to almost lose Darren.

Fighting was easy until there were consequences.

I hadn’t been close to Caine—or Eve—during the events of my second and fifth year as an apprentice, but that didn’t mean their deaths didn’t haunt me. Their memories were easy to ignore during the day, but they were always with me when I closed my eyes. I could still smell the singed flesh from the desert pyre. I could still remember the determined look in Eve’s eyes right before she gave up her life to save the prince and me. A mage’s “last stand”—a sacrifice she never should have had to make.

“We cannot afford to go to war against Caltoth, the Borea Isles, and Pythus.”

“No, we can’t.”

I turned and found Paige watching me, her expression unwavering. “I do not believe you will let it come to that, my lady.”

I frowned. If only it were up to me.

If only there was a way.

****

We picked up the bandits’ trail almost immediately.

Unfortunately for us that was the only thing that came easily.

We had received the request for aid on our second week of duty. Sir Gavin’s squad patrolled a hundred-mile grid in the northwestern territory of Jerar and three small townships fell into our route. Two of them reminded me of Demsh’aa, but the third, Pamir, was a sizeable city that was famous for its breeding grounds and the realm’s best thoroughbreds. We had only just reached the border when several envoys appeared with tales of a theft that had taken place only three days before.

Apparently Pamir’s Lord Waldyn had already sent out half the town’s local regiment to hunt down the thieves, but they had returned empty-handed. Small town regiments were expected to stay close to home. They didn’t have the resources for a long hunt. After all, most were needed at home to stand guard and keep a watchful eye on the remaining livestock in case the bandits decided to strike twice.

Since Pamir was a part of our patrols, it came down to Sir Gavin’s squad to seek out the offenders and return the stallions to the desperate merchants.

“These are no ordinary bandits,” the envoys had warned. And they were right. Within a couple of hours the thieves’ tracks had all but disappeared.

“Forty horses don’t just vanish into thin air.” Lief studied the dirt. “My guess is they had someone with magic casting alongside them. It’s the only explanation.”

I nudged my mare forward. “Do you think it’s the rebels?”

The lead mage shook his head vigorously. “The rebels don’t bother this far north.”

“Why not?” Ray was just as curious as me.

“All the Crown’s Army reports state attacks south of the capital.” Lief didn’t seem concerned. “There hasn’t been so much as a whiff near the border.”

I frowned. It was true the Red Desert had the salt flats in the south, one of the nation’s most profitable exports, but what about the armory in Ferren and the horse breeders in the townships up north? We traded with those too, did we not?

Ian noted my expression and drew closer. “The rebels don’t bother us up here. There’s no point. Caltoth does the job for them.”

“Do you think King Horrace is the one financing their efforts?”

His eyes stayed focused on the woods around us. “Perhaps.”

Next to me Paige scoffed. “If it were that easy all we’d need to do is round up one and beat the fool ‘til he sings. End the war with Caltoth and those sorry rebels in one easy strike of the fist.”

Ian’s eyes flashed under the bright rays of the afternoon sun. “That’s a bit—”

“What?
Cruel?
Well they shouldn’t have turned traitors. My brother died serving in Port Cyri because of a rebel attack!”

Lief cleared his throat and took over for Ian. “No one is defending those rebels, Paige. But I can tell you that
this
isn’t them. They stick south. We get thefts up north all the time because of the border raids. When their livelihood is destroyed, they turn to crime. It’s not right, but it happens.”

“With magic? An impoverished family wouldn’t have mages with them.” Bless Paige’s skeptical heart, she wasn’t ready to back down just yet. I hid a grin. I had to admire her resolve: she did not let anyone’s explanation stand in the way of facts. Even when that person was scowling directly into her face.

Ray snickered beside me as Lief let out an exasperated sigh. “Yes, Paige, ‘with magic.’ There are plenty of people who apply to the Academy who aren’t granted an apprenticeship but would still have enough magic to cast a simple enchantment like this. Hiding tracks and broken foliage isn’t exactly an expertise.”

My knight had the decency to duck her head. “Oh.”

“Oh indeed.” Lief gave her what I was sure was a tired smile. “It’s against the law to practice magic unless you are a mage—or a part of the apprenticeship, but the desperate ones don’t exactly play by the rules. I’m sure most follow the Code of Conduct where you grew up?”

“They did.” Paige’s cheeks were tinged pink. “They were tried with a higher sentence otherwise.”

The young man laughed. “If only that worked around here.”

I watched as my guard and the lead mage carried on into what could only be described as a friendly discourse. Ian, Ray, and I followed behind in an amused silence.

“Is she
blushing
?”

Ian stared. “I thought your guard hated everyone.”

“Apparently there are exceptions.”

“Exceptions with shining blond locks and long,
long
lashes,” Ray chortled.

Ian grinned at me. “Apparently Paige
and
Ray are harboring amorous feelings for Lief. What about you, Ry? Are you pining after our lead mage as well?”

“Certainly. What with those long, long lashes.” I winked at Ray. “How could I not?”

Ian opened his mouth to say something in reply, but it was lost on me as I caught wind of two knights’ conversation behind us:

“…Future princess can’t even take her mage duties seriously, too busy flirting with the others.”

My good humor was lost in a second.

“I heard she only got offered the position because Nyx suspected her relationship with Prince Darren would be beneficial to the keep.”

“Was it that obvious?”

“After the attack in Ferren? Everyone knew. He was in and out of the infirmary every day she was recovering… Can you imagine what she must have done to convince him to leave Lady Priscilla? She certainly wasn’t practicing Combat, if you catch my meaning.”

“I heard about that. I was in Tijan. So you truly think she’s here because…?”

“Why else? From what I’ve seen she’s nothing special.”

I didn’t even realize how tightly I was gripping the reins until the conversation died off and the second knight cleared her throat.

“Mage Ryiah, is something wrong?”

The false worry was like burnt sugar to the taste. My grip on the reins was so tight my knuckles were white. I could barely feel my fingers. I was sorely tempted to turn around in the saddle and tell the knight exactly what I thought of her “concern.”

“What’s wrong?” How about
you
daring to pretend you know anything about me! Nyx offered me the position because of my performance saving soldiers from a Caltothian attack! Why did she offer you yours? Because of your talent for tasteless gossip?

A slender arm slid into my field of vision and pried my hands from the reins, releasing the tension so that my mare was able to start forward once again.

“Ryiah.” Ruth was leaning close to my face. I hadn’t exchanged so much as a word with the Alchemy mage since I’d arrived—mostly because I had been too distracted to remember. “Come on, let’s catch up to the rest of your group.”

“Did you hear?” My voice cracked as she led me away from the knights, back to the center of our formation where the rest of the Combat mages and Paige rode.

The girl nodded once and I flushed.

For the past couple of days I had noticed conversations ending rather abruptly when I approached, but I had never thought twice about it until now. Was the entire squad talking about
me
?

Was that what this was?

“They don’t know you, Ryiah.” Ruth’s discerning gaze was sympathetic. “All they can do is speculate.”

“Do
you
think I was offered this post because of his feelings for me?” I didn’t need to say whom. Ruth had watched Darren’s and my relationship play out from a distance the entire apprenticeship.

“No.” The girl hesitated. “But there are people who will always believe that no matter what you tell them.”

“Are there…” I swallowed back my anger. “Are there a lot of them?”

Ruth didn’t say anything.

Great
. I felt anger fighting its way back to the surface. My entire squad thought I had received my rank
and
position because of my betrothal to the prince. My comrades gave me compliments to my face and speculated on my skill the second my back was turned.

Five years of proving myself. Gone. In an instant.

No wonder Darren had been so cold that first day at the Academy when Ella and I had questioned his place as a student. Doubtless, he had experienced what I was feeling now thousands of times. As a prince he probably got tired of proving himself again and again. Darren’s angry retort that morning had been a culmination of years of false flattery and cruel speculation.

“You will thank me one day for not filling your head with false compliments.”
Darren had been doing me a favor after all. If only I had realized it then instead of years after the fact. What I had thought was mocking irony was in truth the advice of an angry young prince who had been tirelessly lied to and talked about whenever he left a room. His entire life.

“Thanks,” I told Ruth aloud, “for stopping me before I said something I’d regret.” Although in truth I wasn’t so sure. Those two knights deserved a piece or two of my mind.

Ruth patted my shoulder awkwardly, unaware of my internal conflict. “It’ll get better, Ry, you’ll see.” She never was one for warm, friendly gestures. “And if it doesn’t, well, you are only with us for a year before you have to return to the capital, isn’t that right?”

That was a bleak prospect. I gave her a weak smile, and Ruth returned to her group of Alchemy mages as I followed behind Ian and Ray, lost in my own self-pity and fury.

****

“Ryiah. Ian. You two are going to go south with Jeffrey’s band. Ray and I will head north with Sir Gavin’s.”

I tried not to let my disappointment show when we reached a fork in the road and Gavin had Lief split us up into two separate parties. Though the bandits’ tracks had been missing for the first two days everyone suspected they had taken the stream north after the general resurgence of prints leading to the south.

As Lief put, “No one spends that much effort trying to hide their presence to suddenly stop trying.” The thieves had clearly run out of magic and taken the stream to hide their route—leaving an abundance of evidence south to lead their pursuers astray. Still, Sir Gavin had to send some of us to investigate both options, and it was no surprise I got assigned to the group least likely to encounter the enemy.

The conversation between the two knights came echoing back: “
From what I’ve seen she’s nothing special.”
As I parted ways with Ray and Lief I had to keep from lobbing my apple’s core at the lead mage’s back.
Do you think I’m nothing special too?
I wanted to scream,
I am more than capable of handling a couple bandits on my own!

But of course I couldn’t say any of that. Because any fit of temper would confirm the skeptics’ assumption that I was only here because of my relationship to the prince. Because a
true
war mage would never complain over their duty, no matter how menial or insignificant it might seem.

“You are unusually quiet.” Paige sidled next to me on her mare after two hours of silence. “Is something bothering you, my lady?”

I clenched my teeth. Self-pity would not get me anywhere. “Nothing is bothering me.” I studied the forest in front of us and the moss-covered granite scattered throughout—it would have been beautiful if I hadn’t been so distraught. “Do you really think the bandits would be this obvious?” I was referring to the droppings peeking out between dense patches of grass and ivy.

The knight bit her lip, understanding my real reason for asking. “No, my lady.”