Fire of the Soul (33 page)

Distressed though she was to see how Mallory
had mistreated his wife, still Calia recognized an opportunity when
one presented itself.

“Queen Laisren,” she said, “you cannot send a
badly beaten woman back to a husband who will likely kill her the
next time he’s annoyed. I warned you the other day that Mallory is
dangerous. What he has done to Fenella, he will do also to her
sons.” Seeing how intently the queen was regarding her, she pressed
on with her plea. “If you will send Fenella and her boys with me
when I return to Lord Euric’s house, Lady Elgida can meet her
grandsons at last, and Euric will keep them safe until all of us
can leave Kantia.”

Laisren’s next words told Calia that the
queen also could recognize and seize an opportunity. “In
repayment,” she said to Calia, “I expect you to carry the Emerald
to my father.”

“My lady, if you save Fenella and her sons,
if you help them to escape Mallory, I will do whatever you ask of
me.” Calia was reluctant to make that promise, but she could see no
other way to protect three helpless people and Lady Elgida,
too.

“Please, Queen Laisren,” Fenella whispered,
her hands fluttering around her battered face, “don’t let my boys
see me like this. Use your Power if you must, but help me, I beg
you.”

“I am bound by promises I agreed to in my
marriage contract, promises that place restrictions upon the full
use of my Power. Still.” Laisren set her mouth into a stern line.
“Sundaria, kindly take Fenella to your chamber. Help her to wash
and apply a bit of paint to her face to hide the bruises. Then find
Belai and Kinen and bring them here. Be as quick and as secretive
as you can. All of you must leave the palace before Mallory can
reach King Dyfrig and exert his corrupt influence. If the king
issues a direct order for you and your sons to remain here, I can
do nothing for you.”

When they were alone Calia faced the queen
with some trepidation, knowing what she must say and dreading
Laisren’s reaction. Still, she was duty-bound to speak the entire
truth.

“My lady,” she began, “you mentioned a direct
order from King Dyfrig. Well, Garit and Durand are under a direct
order from King Henryk of Sapaudia. They have been commanded to
find the Emerald and hand it over to him, so he can send it back to
Domini Gundiac. Apparently, King Henryk believes that act will
assure peace between Sapaudia and the Dominion.”

“No person, king or commoner, who has
followed the career of Gundiac can possibly believe any gift will
pacify his ambitions,” Laisren responded. “No, Calia, after much
thought I have decided that the Emerald must be returned to the
Great Mage Ultan, who will know how to make the best use of its
Power.”

“You will have to convince Garit and Durand,
because I doubt they will agree with you, and I am not strong
enough to overcome their objections,” Calia said.

“You are stronger than you think. Use your
Power, if you must.”

“Use -? My lady, I have spent my life
learning to control and conceal my Power,” Calia cried. “My
father’s Power was corrupt, and so is Mallory’s. How can I be
certain that what I am trying to control won’t prove to be as
corrupt and wicked as their Power?”

“If you were capable of corruption, my father
would not have sent you to me.”

Laisren extended her right hand. The same
finger that had opened and then resealed the stone box traced a
spiral design on Calia’s forehead without actually touching the
skin. Calia felt warmth and a slight prickling sensation and she
knew that Laisren was learning her thoughts, as only a mage of
great Power could do. Then the finger, and the prickling, were
gone.

“My father told you not to fear your Power,”
Laisren said.

“How can I not fear what’s locked inside my
mind, when I have such terrible examples before me in my nearest
blood kin?” Calia asked. “If not for the training that Lady
Elgida’s daughter provided me at Talier Beguinage, who knows what I
would have become?”

“Your mother is not corrupt,” Laisren
said.

“My mother is dead. She died almost twenty
years ago.”

“Who told you so?”

“My father. And Mallory.” Calia gasped at the
implication in Laisren’s voice. “Are you saying they lied?”

“Evidently. But, as you say, that was twenty
years ago. Now, before Fenella returns, take this. She must not
know you have it, in case Mallory is able to use his influence on
her.” Laisren handed over the little silver casket and a piece of
green velvet. “The casket is sealed in the same way the stone box
was sealed. Only my father can open it. Wrap it in the velvet and
hide it well. Ah, here is Sundaria, returned with Belai and
Kinen.”

When the queen turned from her to greet the
newcomers, Calia used the moment to slide the casket into her
pocket.

As Sundaria introduced the boys to Calia, she
could see she’d have difficulty telling them apart. Though Belai
was almost two years older than Kinen, they were the same height
and they were remarkably similar to their mother in appearance.
Both had reddish hair and fair skin, with freckles across their
noses, just like Fenella. Their eyes were bright blue, and Calia
imagined she could detect mischief lurking beneath their polite
manners.

“Listen to me well and obey me,” Laisren said
to them in a tone that warned Calia the boys had disobeyed her in
the recent past. “This is Calia, who will take you to meet your
grandmother, Lady Elgida. You are to do everything that Calia or
Lady Elgida may tell you to do. Do you understand me?”

“Yes, my lady.” First one and then the other
boy muttered the polite, required answer. The looks in their eyes
when they regarded Calia hinted of rebellion and she knew they
intended to do just as they pleased.

“You must understand,” she said to them,
“that your lives and the lives of others may well depend on your
prompt obedience to orders. Do you hope to become knights?”

“I shall be a great lord when I grow up,”
said the lad whom Calia guessed was Belai.

“If you want to live that long,” she told
him, “you and your brother will follow orders.”

“I want my quilt!” said the other boy. His
face puckered and he began to cry. “Awww!”

“Hush,” Calia said, feeling as if she had
just been plunged into a vat of icy water. What did she know about
children? The only young boy she’d ever had dealings with was the
stable lad at Catherstone, who had volunteered to help her prove
Mallory’s guilt and who had died as a result. She could not allow
Mallory to kill Belai and Kinen, too. Then she had an inspiration.
The stableboy at Catherstone had enjoyed hearing stories about
knights performing feats of daring; perhaps these boys would, too.
“We are setting out upon a great adventure, which will also be
dangerous. Your companions will depend on you. One of those
companions is your older brother, Lord Garit.”

“Who is he?” Belai demanded. “We have never
met him.”

“Is he a knight?” Kinen asked. To Calia’s
relief, he had stopped wailing.

“Garit is a famous knight, and he is waiting
to give you your instructions,” Calia informed them. “I am assigned
to take you to him.”

“Will he hit us, the way Mallory does?” Kinen
asked, his cheeks wet and his lower lip still trembling.

“I am certain Garit will never strike you,”
Calia promised.

At that moment Fenella returned. She looked
somewhat better with the tears washed from her face and powder
covering the worst of her bruises. To Calia’s surprise, Fenella
greeted her sons rather coolly, and the boys were very formal with
her.

“You must all leave at once,” Queen Laisren
told them. “Sundaria, take the documents on the table. You will
need them.”

Lady Elgida veered from dismay at Fenella’s
condition to tearful joy at her first sight of Belai and Kinen. She
sent Mairne to find Garit and bring him to the cottage. Durand
came, too, and before long a noisy game of knights and villains
erupted in the garden.

“Sundaria,” Lady Elgida said, “thank you for
bringing the boys to me. How long may they stay?”

“Indefinitely,” Sundaria answered. “I am to
remain here, also. We are to await instructions from the
queen.”

They didn’t have long to wait before Euric
and Ilona appeared. Calia promptly returned the key of the garden
door to Ilona. Sundaria handed over to Euric the documents the
queen had given her.

“Lady Elgida,” Euric said, his gaze on the
documents, “you and your party are commanded to leave Kerun City by
nightfall.”

“I cannot leave now,” Lady Elgida declared.
“I have only just met my grandsons.”

“They are to depart with you,” Euric told
her, still reading. “The queen has transferred guardianship of
Belai and Kinen to you. The manner of your leaving is not
specified, only that you are to go.”

“Leave?” Lady Elgida thought for a moment.
“What about Fenella? A mother ought to be with her children.”

“My instructions say nothing about Lady
Fenella,” Euric responded. “So far as I know, she is free to
accompany you. Allow me to tell you, Lady Elgida, that I am
entirely too well acquainted with Sir Mallory. He will be angry
when he learns that the boys have been removed from his
guardianship. If Lady Fenella remains behind, she will likely
become the object of his wrath.”

“Fenella, you may come with us,” Lady Elgida
said at once.

“I’m not sure. What will happen to me if I go
with you?” Fenella was plainly wavering between wanting to escape
and serious concern over her future.

“Lord Euric is correct,” Calia told her. “If
you don’t leave Kerun City, Mallory will almost certainly kill
you.”

“But, am I sentenced to permanent exile?”
Fenella asked Euric. “I haven’t done anything wrong.”

“According to the documents,” Euric
responded, reading them again, “Belai and Kinen have the queen’s
permission to leave her service to pursue their education
elsewhere. I see no reason why you cannot go with them and return
later, when you will be safe.” He carefully did not mention a
detail Calia understood very clearly, that Fenella would be safe
only when Mallory was dead or stripped of his Power.

“What does that mean, ‘elsewhere?’“ Fenella
asked, looking bewildered. “Where are my sons to go?”

“Queen Laisren discussed the boys with me,”
Sundaria spoke up. “She would like them to accompany their
grandmother to Sapaudia and then, when Lady Elgida deems the time
is right, the queen wants them to train at Nozay Manor, under Lord
Giles.”

“That is a very good idea,” said Garit, who
had entered the cottage while the others were talking. “Queen
Laisren has no doubt heard of Lord Giles from her father. In his
youth, Lord Giles spent some years studying under Ultan.”

“I should tell you,” Sundaria said, “that
Lord Giles is my father. During the time when he lived in Tannaris,
he married a Chandelari lady. She died when I was born. When Lord
Giles returned to Sapaudia, Ultan asked that I be left behind, to
be raised as a companion to Laisren. My father writes to me
occasionally, so I know of his later second marriage, and of the
births of his sons. Like you, Lord Garit, I have younger brothers
I’ve never met.

“Lady Elgida, if you will permit me, I would
very much like to travel with you to Sapaudia, and later continue
on to Nozay Manor with your grandsons. I have Laisren’s permission
to visit my father.”

“Of course, you are welcome,” Lady Elgida
said at once, “though I do wonder where Captain Pyrsig will put all
of his passengers.”

“Cabin space won’t be a problem,” Calia said.
“Lady Elgida, I won’t be sailing with you. Queen Laisren is sending
me on a mission to her father in Tannaris. I am to travel
overland.”

“
What?”
Garit’s face was stark with
anger. “I will not allow you to ride into danger—”

“Stop, Garit.” Lord Euric’s hand came up in a
commanding gesture. “Queen Laisren has included the necessary
documents to see you safely past the sentry posts on the Northern
Border. You and Durand are to escort Calia to Tannaris. I believe
Durand knows the direction,” Euric added dryly, watching Durand and
the two boys enter the cottage.

“Indeed, I do.” Durand’s expression of grim
resolve told Calia that he wasn’t happy at these arrangements. “I
have traveled that road many times on King Henryk’s service.”

“I will do what Queen Laisren has ordered me
to do,” Calia said to the men with all the firmness she could
muster. “I will deliver her package to Ultan. Then, the three of us
will discuss with Ultan what to do next. We will trust to his
wisdom about the situation between Sapaudia and the Dominion.”

“I don’t understand a word of this,” Lady
Elgida declared. “Lord Euric, do you know what she’s talking about?
Ilona, do you? Sundaria, you must know what the queen expects of
Calia.”

“My mission is a private one,” Calia said. “I
cannot discuss it with anyone but the Great Mage Ultan.”

“That’s very wise of you,” Garit said,
surprising her. “You’ve reached the best solution to the problem we
discussed the other night. We can deal more fully with the issue
when we see Ultan. Now then, Grandmother, I think you ought to pack
your belongings and hasten to the docks before Mallory comes
looking for you.”

Calia saw the approval in Garit’s glance at
her and for the first time since she’d been summoned by the queen,
she smiled. Her heart lightened considerably when Garit smiled back
at her.

“Your queen has betrayed you,” Mallory told
Dyfrig. “She is working secretly with her father, in the interests
of Chandelar. She cares nothing for Kantia, or for you.”

“I cannot believe that,” Dyfrig protested. “I
will not believe it.”

“No? Then ask her yourself.” Mallory gestured
toward the door that separated the queen’s private apartments from
the king’s chambers. “Shall I knock for you?”