The Fire Mages (21 page)

But I was a long way from Durmaston, and every sun brought me closer to the end of my drusse contract and the moment when I would have to decide what to do, and where to go. I still had one option which would allow me to stay in Kingswell; the Lady Yannassia had invited me to become her scribe.

So I wasn’t surprised to receive a note from her asking me to come and see her. It was a little more surprising that I was to attend her in her private apartments, not her suite of formal rooms, and when I arrived she was alone, apart from a single bodyguard standing silent and motionless beside the door. The room was vast, large enough for several apartments, and filled with ornate gilded furniture and over-decorated vases and a fireplace large enough to house a wolf pack. The Bai-Drashonor was not a small woman but she looked like a doll in such a setting.

“Ah, Kyra! May I call you Kyra? You do not mind if we are informal here? Do come and sit beside me. I was unsure what you liked to eat, so I have a selection, as you see.” I did see – several tables were covered with platters and dishes and jugs. “Will you take some wine? There! Now you must tell me how you are getting on and everything that you have been doing.”

Needless to say, she did most of the talking, and I said very little. She asked me a succession of questions which I answered monosyllabically. I suppose she thought me quite stupid, but I was never very good at idle chatter.

She was a pleasant companion, though, and sometimes varied her questions with amusing little anecdotes, patting my hand when I laughed in the right places. It was as if she wanted to be my friend. After a while, she began to talk about Drei, and once or twice she giggled girlishly, covering her mouth with her hand in mock embarrassment. Neither of us ate much. She didn’t mention the idea of me working as a scribe at all. I found it strange, but I supposed she was finding out more about me, and Drei was part of that. It wasn’t for me to question her, so I sat in increasing frustration as the time dribbled away.

Eventually a servant knocked discreetly on the door and crept into the room. A polite cough. “The ambassador is here, Highness.”

She nodded, and he withdrew. “Well, this pleasant interlude is at an end, I fear, although I daresay there will be many more such in the future. I am glad to have got to know you a little better, Kyra, and I’m sure we shall all get along very well.”

She rose, gracefully shaking out her skirts, and I jumped to my feet. I was puzzled, but I had to know whether her offer was still open.

“Um... may I ask, Most Powerful...?”

“Of course.”

“You asked if I wanted to be your scribe...”

For an instant her face was blank, as if she’d forgotten all about it. Then she laughed. “Oh – yes, of course. Actually, that would work very well. And so convenient, having you living here.”

Now I was completely lost. Why would I live in the Drashon’s tower?

“Naturally you and Axandrei will live here,” she said, seeing my bewilderment. “Had you not realised? I cannot move elsewhere, so you will both stay with me. I am sure you will get used to it, in time.” Unexpectedly, she blushed. “It will be more – convenient for him, you know. To have both of us so close. He will not always be with me, you understand. He will still come to you, even afterwards.”

“Afterwards?” I felt so stupid, but I had no idea what she was talking about.

“After Axandrei and I are married.”

For an instant, I was astonished. Drei to marry? Then I burst out laughing.

“You did not know?” Yannassia said. “He did not tell you?”

“He didn’t. But at least now I know what he was up to when he went off by himself. He was wearing his wooing hat.”

“Wooing!” She laughed too, although a little half-heartedly. “I suppose he was. I just assumed he was being his normal charming self, but I daresay he had an objective in view. Well, no harm in that. You do not mind, then?”

Oh, I didn’t mind at all. It relieved me of any pressure to renew my drusse contract. He didn’t need me anymore, he would have a wife and she could put up with his nightly gropings. I wondered a little that he had even considered extending the contract, but perhaps the decision to marry was a recent one. Naturally he would have wanted to hang onto me until his prize was secure.

And she was a prize, I had no doubt about that. Marrying the Bai-Drashonor! That was something indeed. It would have to be accepted by the nobles, of course, but if Drei could pull it off, he would be very grand. Very powerful, too, for in law a husband is the equal of his wife, and could rule in her stead if anything happened to her. So much for his plan to find a husband for his sister, Bellastria. He’d been looking out for his own interests all along.

~~~~~

Drei just laughed when I congratulated him on his forthcoming marriage.

“It’s probably a long way off, still,” he said. “Maybe the nobles won’t even go for it. But she seems quite keen, and she usually gets what she wants. Are you jealous, Kyra?”

“Of course not! I’m happy for you both. She’s a nice person, and fond of you, I think. It’s a relief, actually.”

“Relief?” he said stiffly. Was he offended?

“I thought you would be all alone after my drusse contract ends, but now that you have someone to keep you warm I don’t have to worry.”

“Keep me warm! The marriage of the Bai-Drashonor is a matter of state politics, Kyra. Yannassia is not some inn companion, you know, or a cheap bed-warmer. I won’t be jumping on her at every moment, just for the fun of it. So I shall still need you around.”

“You forget – my contract ends in two suns.”

“I have
not
forgotten, and
you
have not appreciated how beneficial it will be for you to renew it. I can look after you while you’re pregnant.”

“Drei, I don’t need you to look after me, I’m perfectly capable of looking after myself.”

“And how are you going to do that?”

“Well... I haven’t actually decided yet, but I have plenty of options. The Bai-Drashonor herself offered me a job.”

“And you think I can’t sink that little arrangement? Or any other arrangement, if I decide to?”

I was silent. I didn’t doubt he had enough influence now to do it, but would he really be so vindictive? Surely not.

Seeing me so crestfallen, he laughed, sunny again. “Come now, Kyra, I’m sure we can find some resolution to the problem.”

~~~~~

The next morning, he surprised me.

“Let’s go for a ride. A long one, out into the countryside. It’s fine weather, it will be pleasant enough if we wrap up warmly.”

“How long a ride? Should we take food?”

“Oh, we’ll find somewhere for the noon board. It will be fun, won’t it?”

I wasn’t sure about that. I wasn’t an experienced rider, and hours in the saddle didn’t appeal much. We were still deep in winter, too. On the other hand, a trip out of Kingswell would be a pleasant change from the confines of the town and Keep. A quiet little town with a comfortable wayside inn and a simple meal – that would be very agreeable. Besides, it was my last full sun as his drusse and perhaps I owed him something before I abandoned him to the Lady Yannassia. So I agreed to it.

My usual grooms offered to accompany us. One or other of them, and sometimes both, always went with me when I rode, and they seemed concerned when Drei said we would ride alone.

“Are you sure about this, Gracious Lady?” one of them said. “If anything should happen... We would be very discreet.”

I almost laughed. Did they really imagine we were off for an outdoor romp in the middle of winter, when we could have stayed in our own warm bed? “Thank you, but we’ll be fine.”

It wasn’t as difficult as I’d feared. We rode northeast along a good road, not too busy with wagons, and before long we were beyond the limits of Kingswell and passing through fields and orchards. Farming here was on a much larger scale than around Durmaston, and the ploughed fields were fringed with hedges rather than bent wood fences, but it reminded me a little of home.

Before long, though, the farms became sparser, and here and there stands of trees pressed close to the road. There were low hills, but the road wound about to avoid them. It was very pleasant riding, but the wind was cold and I began to wonder how far Drei planned to take me.

In the middle of the morning we rode down a long incline to a wide river with a fine stone bridge. Probably it was the only crossing for some distance, for several roads merged with ours as we approached. A sizeable settlement had grown up on the near side of the river. It wasn’t quite large enough to qualify as a town, but the main street was lined with shops and board houses and inns and wagon yards. A small square to one side was filled with stalls and carts, a lively market. As we passed by, tempting aromas wafted under my nose, and I could feel the warmth of the braziers.

“Shall we stop for a while?” I said longingly. “Have a rest and stretch our legs, maybe?”

“Not here,” was the only reply.

I sighed, for I was chilled to my very bones. Within moments we were clopping across the bridge and then the little settlement with its pleasant bustle was behind us. The paved road now began to dwindle away, becoming boggy and rutted in places, and overgrown with weeds down the middle. There was no snow on the ground just now, but the last fall had melted and filled the ditches which overflowed in places.

“Why doesn’t the Drashon keep the road in good order here?” I said.

Drei laughed at me. “Did you not realise, my little ignoramus? When we crossed the River Dissanthe, we left Bennamore behind. This is not the Drashon’s road.”

“Well, whoever it belongs to, they should do a better job of maintaining it,” I said, splashing through yet another puddle stretching fully across the road.

Drei snatched at the reins, his horse pulling up with a snort of disapproval. For a moment I wondered if I’d said something to offend him. But when he spoke, his voice was quiet. “All of this land used to be part of Bennamore at one time, and good fertile land it was too. But too many crops and too much grazing destroyed much of it, and the farmers left. Now there are only a few patches of decent land in the north, and new farms are being carved out along the river and in the southern forests. But the roads still follow the same lines, and here and there you can see the proper road under all the dirt.”

He pointed a little way ahead, and it was true, there was a stretch of paving slabs free of all but a few straggling weeds, and to one side a marker stone would have told the distance to Kingswell to anyone who scraped away the layers of lichen.

“Is it uninhabited here, then?” I’d seen nothing but the occasional sheepman’s hut since the river.

“No, the Icthari live here now. Descendants of the desert dwellers to the north. They build no towns and need no roads, but there are a great many of them scattered about these valleys, living simple lives much as their ancestors did. Come on, let’s get going. Nearly there.” He flicked the reins and the horse trotted off.

There? I wondered what that meant. But at least he had a destination in mind, and we weren’t just meandering about randomly. That was a relief, for we hadn’t passed a single inn or even a decent looking house since we crossed the bridge.

We rode on for some distance, and I was beginning to grow concerned. I was weary and hungry, and the further we were from Kingswell, the less likelihood we would be able to return the same sun. Already, it seemed to me, the shadows were lengthening again.

Eventually he turned aside from the main road, although it hardly justified the title now, being no more than a wide track. This side road was narrow, winding through trees so close that we had to duck down to avoid low branches. Very soon the trees opened out to reveal a small estate, a modest house with a few outbuildings. It was surrounded by fields but it didn’t look much like a proper farm to me. There were a few animals grazing, and some ploughed strips of land, weedy and neglected. To one side of the house was an orchard, and beyond it a vegetable patch, last year’s beans hanging desiccated on their poles. It was an unpromising place, but Drei rode straight up to the house and dismounted, calling out as if he was expected.

At first nothing happened, and he called again, louder, a long rattle of lilting words. It must have been a local language, because I didn’t understand it. Then, one by one, people appeared, exclaimed in surprise and began rushing about. Not expected, then.

I had no idea what to make of it, but I was uneasy. This was clearly not an inn or anything of the kind, so these people must be friends of Drei’s, and it was obvious they’d had no warning of his visit. They seemed pleased enough, though, chattering away in their strange language, and laughing together.

Drei strode across to me. “By the Moon Gods, Kyra, don’t look so anxious. They won’t bite, you know. You might at least get off that horse and look a little pleased.”

What was I supposed to be pleased about? I dismounted, and someone came to lead both horses away to a stable building set a little apart from the house.

Drei took my arm and tucked it in his. “Come and meet my mother.”

His mother? I tried not to show my astonishment, but truly I was bewildered by his behaviour. If his mother lived so close, why wait till now to let me meet her? Why even bother, when the next sun would see my legal arrangement with Drei at an end? It made no sense. Did he hope to persuade me to extend my contract by showing me his family? It was bizarre.

At least the house was warm, and there would be food and drink. There were no hot water pipes under the floor, as at Kingswell, so there were braziers and stoves and hearths everywhere, filling the house with noxious smoke and a slightly pungent aroma. I allowed myself to be led through the house to some inner fastness, even smokier than the rest of the house, where Drei’s mother reclined regally on a low bed, draped with blankets.

It didn’t surprise me that she was very handsome, with skin even darker than Drei’s and a mass of dark curls framing her face. I tried to imagine her as she had been twenty-five years earlier, a plump little beauty, exotic and enchanting, catching the eye of the Kellon. Yes, she would have been just his type. Now the plumpness had turned to fat, which was hardly surprising if she lounged on a bed all the hours of sun.

Drei had a younger brother and sister, too, a little paler than him, and there was another sister, I learned, recently married and living some distance away. Apart from that, there seemed to be only a handful of house servants and the stable boy.

They stopped speaking their own language in front of me, but they might as well not have bothered for they said virtually nothing to me. Food appeared, a surprisingly good array, so at least I could eat while they talked together, exchanging news about people I’d never heard of. I’d asked Drei about his family, of course, but he’d said he barely knew them, having been brought up in the Kellon’s hall. Yet there was no constraint between them, as you might find in those who’ve been apart for many years, so I guessed he’d found ways to keep in touch. From Ardamurkan it would have to be written messages, but he could easily have ridden out from Kingswell to visit them these last few moons.

After the meal, the sister, who was perhaps sixteen, was instructed to show me the ‘trophy room’, which turned out to be the only unheated room in the house. It was filled with an assortment of stuffed animal heads in varying degrees of decrepitude, and some modest collections – birds’ eggs, sea shells, stone arrow heads, some wooden carvings with symbolic significance I didn’t really understand, and so on. I was bored and she seemed embarrassed for some reason.

Meanwhile, I could hear low urgent voices from elsewhere – Drei and his mother, I think, pattering away at some length. When I emerged from the trophy room, they sprang apart with rather forced smiles. I couldn’t say why, but I was uneasy all of a sudden.

“I think we should head back,” I said to Drei.

“Soon,” he said, smiling again, and there was something – was that a flare of blue? I couldn’t be sure.

“We have to get back before dark.”

“There is just one more thing I want you to see, Kyra.”

“I don’t think...”

“Come on.” He took my arm, and half dragged me down the hall to what looked like a closet door. The brother opened it, and Drei whisked me inside and pulled me down some steps into the cellar. There was only one lamp, and I would have stumbled on the uneven steps if he hadn’t been holding me so firmly.

It’s hard to say now why I didn’t make more of a fuss, or resist in some way. Perhaps it was all those years of Mother lecturing us all about doing what we were told and not arguing and not making a scene – and somehow it seemed unreal. This was Drei, my drusse-holder, the man who had been so kind to me, the man who shared my bed, the only person who understood my magic. He was a little odd, to be sure, but he wouldn’t hurt me, would he? I wasn’t sure about that anymore.