Chapter 6 - Allies and Enemies
"Before the Empire, Sorcerer-Kings fought for dominance at the tragic expense of anyone unable to match their magical might. One of the most enlightened tenets of the Empire has been Her Eternal Majesty's insistence on the separation of magical and political power, balancing the two great pillars of our society. No Mage can own land, they cannot rule and their children may not inherit. Equally, nobles may not hold magical power. Their children with the Talent are given to the Academy and our highborn rulers must justify their position through wisdom and courage, instead of otherworldly might. In this way peace has been preserved throughout the Empire for centuries."
Two Thousand Years of Empire by Jahangir Amini
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“So how are you liking Vass Karan?” Revan was the third young man to have approached Ester since her conversation with Caia. Probably the most handsome of them too.
“It is a very interesting city, the architecture is also very different to Trevayn…” She trailed off as she searched for nice things to say about the city. “This is a very nice palace too.” She wasn’t going to blush!
He grinned at that. “Yes, I often came and played here when I was a child, we have always been friends with the Velias.” Was he trying to impress her? Or was it just a statement of fact? He did have an intriguing smile.
“What was that like? Growing up in a palace?” He hesitated and Ester resisted the urge to kick herself. There’d been no need to remind him where she was born. She looked awkwardly away, just for a moment. Her attention was caught by a giant of a man who seemed to have come wearing an actual breastplate, he seemed to be telling a very enthusiastic story judging by the hand gestures. Her eyes went back to Revan. She wasn’t sure there was much going on behind those eyes, but they really were a lovely shade of blue.
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Arnos Velia was not a happy man. Drawing the attention of the Watch was less than desirable, no matter how easily deflected it was. Old Velthur might have nodded and smiled at Alciar’s denial of anything to do with the incident at the docks, but he was a canny one. He would be watching. That was part of why Arnos had invited Velthur’s new Mage to the ball.
That had hardly gone as well as he had hoped and now, once again, he was forced to clear up his family’s mess. Old Thero had warned him about what had happened, good man that he was.
“What were you thinking you foolish girl?” He hissed the words, despite having had her pulled out of the ballroom to obtain some privacy.
“What do you mean father?” Of course Metli had put on her innocent face. She still thought it fooled him. He really should have taken more of a hand in her upbringing. A firm one.
“You…” Arnos mastered his temper with years of practice. “You were approached by the Watch’s new Mage and you deliberately insulted her as if she was some third daughter of a country knight. Do you even know how stupid that was?”
Metli blinked a couple of times. “Why are you so upset father? She is an incompetent girl who did not even have the sense to approach me properly. Why, she does not even have attendants with her.”
Throne save him from idiot women. He could only be thankful that his sons seemed to have inherited his brains. “She might not behave as she should, but that is her right as a Mage. Whatever you might think of it, that is no justification for rudeness. Do you want to make an enemy of a Mage?”
“Pfff.” Metli made a very unladylike sound of dismissal. This was the problem with teaching women magic. He should never have allowed Metli to learn. “Why are you defending her? If I behaved like that you would be furious.”
“You are not a Mage!” With an effort he brought his voice under control. “If I decided to make an enemy of every Mage whose behaviour offended my sense of propriety this House would have ceased to exist years ago. She is a Mage. She can be as eccentric as she wishes and we must endure it.”
Metli’s scowl deepened at his words. “She is an upjumped peasant girl whose only route to associating with her betters was some modicum of power. Even without her poor breeding and manners I could flatten her without exerting myself overly.”
Arnos resisted the urge to growl. He normally had better control of himself, but Metli could always bring out the worst in him when she decided to be obstinate. “Once again you miss the point! It does not matter how strong or well trained you think you are. She is a Mage. I should not have to repeat this to you. Do not make an enemy of a Mage, however weak you think they are. Hate them, plot against them, but do not be stupid enough to let them know that is what you are doing.”
Metli sniffed. She actually sniffed at him. Arnos pitied whoever he ended up marrying her off to. Something he needed to get to work on for his own sanity if nothing else. “It is not like she would even have understood she was being insulted.” He did not respond to that at first. Just stared down at Metli until she looked away.
“Later this evening I am going to go and find her and make her feel welcome and like a valued friend of House Velia. I am going to have to work all the harder at that because of your actions.” He ignored Metli’s dismissive shrug because if he paid attention to it he might lose his temper. “You. You are going to find her and apologise to her.”
Metli gasped in outrage. “I will not!”
Arnos slammed his hand down on the table, the loud crack making her jump. “I am your father and you are my daughter. You will do as I say, for the good of the House or I will make you regret it. Now you can apologise to her by yourself, or if you prefer you can accompany me and make it clear that I have chastised you. Which will it be?”
Metli opened her mouth, hesitated and then curtsied sarcastically to him. “I will go and apologise to her. Will that be all father?”
“Yes.” He sighed. “Go.”
This was the problem with having let her learn magic. It gave women ideas above their station. The sort of ideas that let them think they could safely insult a Chartered Mage. Great Spirits, this Ester could be useful to him, or at worst a neutral factor in the game. She might be useless now, freshly minted Mages generally were rather naive, but they grew, even the least of them. Assuming otherwise would be foolish and if Metli was not reined in he might end up having to have the Ester girl killed instead and killing a Mage was never completely without risk.
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Abiel hurried down the corridor hand in hand with Aliana. She giggled surprisingly convincingly. Anyone who saw them would think that a foppish young noble was going to bed one of the servants. A tale as old as the Empire.
The couple of servants that did see them smirked and looked away. Anywhere sensitive would be locked and guarded after all, so what was the problem. More fool them.
It didn’t take long to get to their destination. Ruben had better be ready!
The two guards outside the Count’s reading room were certainly paying more attention than the servants they’d passed earlier. As soon as Abiel and Aliana came into sight they turned to face them, putting their hands on their swords.
“What are you doing here my lord? Are you lost?” Despite their caution, the guard’s tone was polite. Of course he ignored Aliana.
“Oh, I was just umm…” Abiel glanced at Aliana and laughed nervously. “I suppose I am. Perhaps you could tell me where I should go.” He very deliberately didn’t look at the figure that had slid quietly round the corner behind the guards.
“Well my lord,” the guards were smirking at him. Good. “You’re not going to find any privacy here I’m afraid, but if you head…” The man’s words were cut off by the wet thump of a cosh into the side of his head. Before the other had time to react, Ruben’s forearm was round his neck, squeezing so hard he couldn’t make a sound.
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“Ah you must be Ester!” The man’s smooth Trevayn accent cut through the bustle of the ball.
The woman who’d been speaking to Ester glanced over her shoulder, winced slightly and dropped a low curtsy. “My lord.”
With that she fled leaving Ester facing the man. Imposingly tall, his long hair was just starting to turn grey. She didn’t recognise him, but just looking at him gave her goosebumps. He was practically thrumming with magical energy. A Mage? He must be, but who?
“I am afraid you have me at a disadvantage… my lord.” She spoke carefully.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.
He looked disappointed for a second and then smiled. “Oh of course, we have not met before. Why would you recognise me? Master Aref Tabasi.”
Oh. Oh! Ester bowed low to him. “Master, my apologies I had not realised you would be here.”
“I shall not hold that against you, after all you could not have known. It is good to have another Mage in the city. There are not so many of us out here in the distant provinces after all. So you are welcome.”
“You are too kind Master Tabasi.”
“Nonsense, it is only proper for Mages to welcome each other. You are no apprentice now. Well done on that by the way.”
“Oh, uh thank you Master.” Ester blinked, trying not to let herself be overwhelmed by his enthusiasm.
“Yes, most excellent. Well done indeed, it is always good to see someone overcoming the weakness of their sex.”
He said it so enthusiastically that Ester took a moment to realise what he’d just said. “Excuse me?”
“Yes, indeed. Statistics my dear Ester. Perhaps they do not teach that sort of thing to apprentices, but it is well known women simply do not have the magical talent that men do. Surely you noticed the disparity in numbers at the Academy. So a most excellent job on your part. The docks however, I am not so sure. A reasonable performance I am sure, given women are so unsuited to fighting and yet you were able to save those Watchmen.” He gave her a firm nod. “However, while I would not presume to tell a Mage what to do, my advice would be to avoid such impropriety.”
“T t thank you.” At that moment Ester hated herself for stammering, although not quite as much as she hated him.
“Of course!” He leant in slightly. “You should work on your control though. That unfortunate display at the tailor’s… setting a poor example you know. I realise the commoners do tend to exaggerate when they see something they do not understand, why they are saying you practically opened a portal to the Weiryd! Ridiculous of course, but still, one has to keep one’s focus or one might as well be an overpowered hedge witch.”
“I will keep that in mind. Thank you.” At least she’d managed not to stammer that time, Ester was fairly sure she’d managed not to blush too. She cursed herself internally, that display at Master Cutlis’ had seemed like a good idea at the time, but of course word had spread. Given who he was, she couldn’t even argue with Master Tabasi. Instead she was left reeling, trying to come up with polite responses to his boorishness.
He must have seen some sign of embarrassment on her face, despite her best efforts. His voice took on a sympathetic tone.
“I would not worry. These things happen when you are new and out of your depth. Have no fear, I certainly will not be spreading the story. You might say my lips are sealed! Now, enjoy the party, I am sure you will have plenty of hard work to do under old Velthur.” He gave her another nod and headed off into the crowd.
She took a deep breath, tried to get her anger under control and turned to find herself face to face with Metli Velia once more. This time the blonde woman looked like she’d just swallowed a lemon.
“Excuse me.” Ester’s voice was frosty as she turned away. That conversation with Master Tabasi had been bad enough. She wasn’t going to embarrass herself further by speaking to the stuck up bitch.
“Ah actually I wished to speak to you Lady Mazar. If you could spare a moment?”
Ester came close to growling and turned back to her. “Of course, I am at your disposal.” Her tone didn’t match her words.
“I wish to offer you my apologies. I was rude to you earlier. I had just been given bad news and was not in the right state of mind to interact with anyone, but you had no way of knowing that. The fault was mine.”
“Oh.” Ester blinked. “I see.” Perhaps Metli wasn’t as much of a bitch as Ester had thought. “Thank you for your apology, of course it is unnecessary. I struggle to recall anything which could have caused offence. I hope that you are not too troubled by your news and that everything turns out well.”
“Thank you.” Metli offered a hint of a curtsy. “I am sure everything will be well in the end, but please, tell me. How do you find Vass Karan after the capital? It must seem terribly provincial.”
Ester resisted the urge to sigh at the question. She might be pleasantly surprised by the apology, but that didn’t mean that she was going to trust Metli, not yet. And she certainly wasn’t going to fall into the trap of calling her home provincial. Even if it was.
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“Perfect timing!” Abiel gave Ruben a grin as he and Aliana hurried to the door to the Count’s reading room. At the same time Ruben pulled a couple of small vials from his belt and set to work on the guards. A cheap, well as cheap as such things came, sleeping potion poured between their lips and a small amount of liquor poured onto their faces. It likely wouldn’t fool anyone for long, but when combined with the potion ensured that they wouldn’t be telling any stories for some hours.
Aliana first, no need to walk straight into any unpleasant surprises. Abiel stood aside as the plain-faced woman frowned at the door. A moment later he had to resist the urge to stagger as the world seemed to shudder around him.
Another breath and the feeling was gone. Aliana pushed down on the handle with a faint smile of satisfaction, which faded when the door stubbornly refused to open.
“It’s locked.” She stepped back from it.
“As expected. Ruben?” Abiel smoothly caught the little bundle Ruben threw to him and knelt down in front of the door, already pulling picks out of it. This was the most dangerous time, if anyone were to come down the corridor they might be in real trouble. But then what was life without a bit of danger? He resisted the urge to bite his bottom lip as he inserted the first pick into the lock.
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After her brief conversation with Metli, Ester had found herself speaking to a succession of young noblemen and women. The men mostly seemed interested in trying to work out whether she’d be receptive to their advances and the women alternated between trying to work out where she fit in socially and being fascinated by the idea of a female Mage. That was, until they scattered in the face of a stocky, red haired older man. His clothes declared him to be a Velia, or at least allied with them and the number of jewels on them said he was a man of some wealth.
“Lady Mazar, I am Count Arnos Velia. I had hoped to make your acquaintance this evening.”
“Oh, Count Velia. What a pleasure to meet you.” Ester’s mind was racing. Why had he approached her? What was his game? She gave him a polite bow, although not as low as she had to Master Tabasi. She resisted the urge to grimace as the thought of him immediately took her back to his boorish compliments.
“The pleasure is all mine.” Count Velia bowed back to Ester, not as low of course. “It must be a challenge for you, coming all the way here from Trevayn and joining the Watch. Had you ever left the capital before?”
Ester frowned. “Thank you, but I am quite capable of…”
Surprise flashed across his face, “Oh that is not what I meant at all. I would not doubt your capability. The fact that you wear the lightning bolts is evidence enough of that. I simply meant that everything must be alien to you. Leaving one’s home behind is always difficult, why I spent three years in Trevayn in my youth. Most of them I was wishing I was home again, despite that city’s wonders.” He laughed, amused at his own foolishness.
“Ah, I had thought you…” No one had actually thought about that or asked how she really felt since she’d left Trevayn. “Of course I miss Trevayn, but Vass Karan is a fascinating place and I am getting to know it quickly.” It was a platitude, but she did appreciate him asking.
“Of course, well do let me know if there is anything House Velia can do to make your life easier.” Was he trying to bribe her? Surely not.
“Thank you. I appreciate it.”
Count Velia smiled. “Now, there was something in particular I wished to discuss with you.” He paused, Ester was fairly sure it was for dramatic effect. Somewhere nearby a man’s booming voice rang out, something about fighting a bear. “The incident at the docks. Most unfortunate the accusations that were made. I was glad that none of the Watch were harmed.”
Ester had to stop her eyes from widening. How did he actually have the audacity to bring that up with her? Nevertheless she kept her voice smooth. “Commander Savate explained to me that they were lying to try to save their own skins.”
“Mmm of course he did.” Count Velia smiled. “Still, it looks bad and I would hate to have House Velia under suspicion. I confess that this was actually one of the reasons for inviting you here.”
“Well you have nothing to worry about from me.” Ester lied with a smile. “But I do appreciate you making the effort to give me your personal assurances.”
“Naturally, but as it happens I would like to give you a more… shall we say solid assurance. I certainly knew nothing of those smugglers, but you have no real reason to believe me.” He held up his hand when Ester started to protest that of course she believed him. “For my own peace of mind. You see, I have a Schema which compels truth. Please, accompany me to my reception room and allow me to swear on it. Then that regrettable episode can be left firmly in the past where it belongs.”
Ester hesitated, her mind racing. “That is a very generous offer.” Was he trying to get her alone for nefarious purposes? The idea was ridiculous. Did he think he could use a false Schema and fool her? Surely he wouldn’t be that stupid. He seemed to be genuine and it might let her leave this ball with her investigation already complete. “There is no need, but if you feel it would put your mind to rest, then of course I would be happy to accompany you.”
“Thank you Lady Mazar.” He gave her a small bow. “If you would follow me?”
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Abiel didn’t breathe a sigh of relief when the lock finally clicked open. After all, it was important not to show any doubt. It had been a surprisingly good lock. Or perhaps not so surprising, considering who they were targeting.
With a grin he straightened up, pushed the door open and stepped inside. Count Velia’s reception room was as opulent as he’d expected. Flagrant displays of wealth everywhere. Even the desk, carved out of a single piece of polished wood would have cost a fortune. As for the paintings, furnishings and decoration…
They didn’t matter though, they were here on commission after all. Their target was right where it was meant to be. A thin fluted rod of gold, perhaps a foot long, sat on a red velvet cushion on a table in the middle of the room. He couldn’t tell just by looking whether it was plating or solid. Either way, while he certainly didn’t ask questions of his employers, he suspected that they weren’t overly interested in the gold itself.
Behind him he could hear Ruben dragging the two unconscious guards inside and closing the door behind them. At least that way a casual observer wouldn’t be immediately alerted to them.
“Aliana?” She hurried over to the table, looked it over and then held up her hand before he could follow.
After a moment’s pause she spoke a single word that echoed through his head, leaving him having to resist the urge to put his hand on something for support. “Dachaid.”
The sound of a small crack from under the table and a greasy smell of smoke was evidence of her success.
“Thank you. What about the rod, is it safe for us?” Aliana glanced over it.
“I’m not entirely sure what it does, but something to do with speaking. You’ll be fine Ruben, just don’t make any jokes and you’ll be safe and we’ll be happier.”
Ruben gave her an unimpressed look before pulling out a cloth, wrapping it around the rod and sliding it inside his tunic.
“Nicely done. Now let’s get out of here before someone starts wondering what happened to the guards.” Abiel cracked the door open and poked his head out. “Coast is clear. See you outside Ruben!”
The man nodded and took off down the corridor. Abiel however turned back to the door. Now that he’d worked the lock out… He quickly reinserted his picks, a small movement and it clicked shut again. Perfect. That should help alleviate any suspicion.
“Well I think you’re off duty now.” He gave Aliana his most winning grin. “Shall we go and find somewhere more private than the palace for our liaison?”
The look she gave him was less than impressed, but she still took his hand and a second later anyone looking at them would have sworn she was starstruck to be with him. They still had to get out of course, but that was the easy part. All in a all, a perfectly planned and executed robbery. It felt good to be the best.