Heroes' Reward (15 page)

Chapter Eighteen

It was a week
later, and my casting lessons were proceeding exactly as I had wished. Which
was not at all.

Caster Laing’s
casting assignment was to lift a candlestick off the floor. She’d been working
on it for several moments. The candlestick vibrated, but it didn’t rise.

That was because
Hallstrom was, under his breath, casting a spell meant to fix items to a
surface. As Hallstrom was a little stronger, his cast prevailed.

Laing broke off
and glowered at Hallstrom. “Do you want a pounding?”

Hallstrom tried
to look innocent. “I don’t understand.”

“You’re stopping
my cast!”

“How could I do
that?” He showed her his empty hands. “I don’t have any ingredients.”

But he had had
ingredients. While Laing and everyone else had been focusing on the
candlestick, Hallstrom’s hands had been busy behind his back, and he had
clearly rubbed the components for his cast off his hands.

Laing whirled
towards me. “Are you going to let him do this?”

“I have no
reason to believe he’s interfering,” I said.

“He clearly
was!”

I shrugged. What
was she going to do if no one would support her claim?

And no one
would. No one helped anyone else, if they could avoid it.

One of the
things that undermined the group as a whole was that they were viciously
competitive. There had been a desire to be the best among the Triple S casters,
of course, as there was in any group of people, but they hadn’t gone out of
their way to sabotage each other.

The Emperor’s casters
did, and I thought this was all down to uncertainty. Being branded the least
talented might bring serious punishments. Those who did best might end up with
an estate. So far, none of them had been granted the land the Triple S council
had claimed they had been promised, but no one had expressed any doubts that
some would, at some point, not in my hearing.

I didn’t know if
fear and uncertainty was the best way to motivate people. In theory, they could
leave, but I had no doubt that any who chose that option would find themselves
convicted of treason and sentenced to death.

The Pairs
weren’t doing well, either. Ogawa and Tenneson, who appeared to be the most
talented of the lot, didn’t even work well with each other. I wondered if, over
the years, Tenneson had come to resent Ogawa for getting them pulled from the
High Scape roster and preventing them from being granted another post. That
could make even the most reasonable of people bitter.

Others simply
refused to learn by observing other Pairs. It was stupid and short-sighted, but
their pride was stronger than their sense. Yes, Taro and I did all we could to
avoid teaching them anything, but the students did as much damage as we did.

“You have little
skill,” I said to Laing. “I was surprised to hear that you were promised an
estate and a title in exchange for your participation.”

I’d found
throwing that sort of allegation about had a tendency to infuriate the
students, both those I claimed had been given such favour and those I didn’t. I
was never told anything of the sort, and I never named the source of my
information. If they wanted confirmation, they would have to consult either
Gifford or Green on the matter, and I doubted they were prepared to do that.

Laing’s face
flushed. “I received no such offer.”

“I can only
speak as I’ve heard.”

“Someone’s
lying.”

“All right. If
that’s the story you want to go with. It has nothing to do with me. Do the cast
again. And try to do it right this time.”

She scowled, but
she didn’t feel confident enough to object.

Laing tried
again, and Hallstrom interfered again, and no one said anything.

And then,
without warning, Green walked through the door accompanied by two Imperial
Guards. I stared at her, shocked and outright horrified, because this could not
be good.

We all bowed.

“Erstwhile
Shield Mallorough,” she greeted me abruptly. “I have been told you are refusing
to teach our casters the black cloud spell.”

Well, that had
come out of nowhere.

“Not refusing,
my lady,” I said quickly. “It would be dangerous to have casters of this level
of –”

Green
interrupted me. “You were instructing the casters in the Triple S in the use of
this spell. Are you claiming the casters there are somehow superior?”

Every time I
received another hint that there was someone within the Triple S company that
was reporting back to Green, I felt queasy.

“No, my lady.”

“Then what is
your difficulty?”

“I truly don’t
know, my lady.”

“Forgive my
impertinence, my lady,” said Dench. “Perhaps it would be beneficial for
Erstwhile Shield Mallorough to perform the cast, so everyone might see how it’s
done.”

Green reacted as
though she thought this suggestion was surprising. “You haven’t demonstrated
the cast?” she demanded of me.

“I had
understood everyone had already seen it. I was told there had been casters
who’d been able to perform the spells, but that they had died in the prison
riot. I thought attempts to learn had been made and put aside until everyone’s
abilities had sufficiently advanced.”

“But their
abilities aren’t advancing at all.”

“I haven’t been
working with them long. Less than two weeks.”

“So you offer
excuses.”

There was no
good way to respond to that.

“You can perform
this cast?” Green asked.

“Yes, my lady.”

“Then show us.”

I could think of
no way to refuse or stall. I sat on the ground and pulled out the tools and
ingredients I needed.

“Fetch a chair,”
Green ordered one of the casters, who quickly ran from the room and returned
with a light wooden chair.

With a butcher
knife, I carved into the floor an almond, a symbol of an eye. The target of the
cast needed to be seen by the caster, requiring sufficient light and proximity
to discern the details.

“
An object to
our gaze revealed.”

Below the
almond, I drew a triangle with the powder from the wing of a rikkor butterfly,
and then a wavy horizontal line just under the tip.

“
Around the
object air defined.”

I sprinkled
along the outside of the triangle lines of ground limestone.

“
Around the
air a barrier holds.”

Under the
horizontal line, I drew three jagged lines with ground flint.

“
The lightning
built by air within.”

With my eye on
the chair, I used the knife to drow a small circle under the jagged lines.

“
The target
by the lightning torn asunder.”

With the tip of
the knife I slashed a vertical line from the top of the triangle to its base.

“
Tear
asunder.”

The chair was
surrounded by the black cloud and attacked by blue lightning. After several
moments, it exploded.

We were lucky
none of the flying chunks of wood hit anyone.

Green didn’t
hesitate. She nodded at Dench. “Can you do this?”

“Yes, my lady,”
Dench promptly answered.

I looked at the
floor so I wouldn’t stare at Dench in shock.

“Kindly
demonstrate,” Green ordered.

Another caster
ran from the room for another chair.

Dench easily
performed the cast and the chair was destroyed.

Why hadn’t he
told me he could perform that cast?

Unless….

Had he been
deliberately undermining me, as I’d been undermining everyone else? The Emperor
favoured me, sort of, but Green didn’t. Had Dench known that? Had he chosen to
be loyal to Green?

“Mallorough,”
said Green. “Given your consistent incompetence, I feel your services as our
instructor of the casters are no longer needed. You will, of course, continue
to assist Erstwhile Source Karish with his lessons, but you will have no
further contact with any other caster. Is that understood?”

“Yes, my lady.”

Many of the
casters were smirking. They were enjoying my fall from grace.

Green had more
to say. “To assist you in resisting any temptation to speak to other casters,
you will be honoured with escorts who will attend to your every need. Night and
day.”

Son of a bitch.

“You may return
to your chambers. Aside from your work with the Pairs, there is no reason for
you to leave them.”

Hadn’t I messed
up everything beautifully?

“Dismissed.”

I bowed and
left.

I couldn’t learn
anything if I was watched every moment.

But more
important, I’d made it impossible for Taro and me to leave.

Chapter Nineteen

Tenneson,
Shielded by Ogawa, squished out of existence the cyclone created by Taro,
Shielded by me.

Ogawa cackled.
“We defeated the Stallion of the Triple S,” she boasted. “Imagine that.”

Taro bowed his
head. “Imagine that.”

I was so
so
tempted to walk over to Ogawa and slap her for demeaning Taro. It alarmed me,
how badly I wanted to do it, but I’d been having a lot of violent thoughts,
slowly increasing over time.

My existence
over the past five weeks had been as bad as I’d feared it would be. Since I had
been removed from my duties as a casting instructor, a series of Imperial
Guards were with me every moment I was out of my chambers, and two of them
stood immediately outside the door when I was within them. Even during the
night. There would be no more unseeable adventures. There was no way we could
sneak through the door unnoticed. We’d tried, but doors made noise when they
were opened, even when they didn’t creak, and that noise made the Guards
straighten to attention and look about.

I spent most of
my time trying to remove the bars from the window in our bedchamber, with both
casts and knives. All I managed to do was blunt the blades and create a bunch
of suspicious-looking scrapes and gouges. Fortunately, the Guards never entered
our bedchamber.

Taro was the
only one I talked to. He brought depressing news of great improvement among the
casters under Dench’s instruction.

I wondered if
they had all hidden what they could do to make me look incompetent. If so, it
had been a gamble, as the casters who appeared incompetent courted punishment,
but the gamble had paid off. I was disgraced.

I hadn’t seen
the Emperor at all since Green had banished me to our chambers, and Taro, while
still used as a messenger and general servant, saw Gifford only rarely and
briefly. I’d come to believe that Green encouraged Gifford to forget about us.

Taro had been
left in charge of the instruction of the Pairs. We couldn’t continue to make
them appear incompetent. If Taro was also perceived to be useless, we might end
up in an even worse situation. So we changed our strategy and made them feel
they were stronger than they were, hoping it would make them unrealistically
confident in their abilities.

We’d chosen
Tenneson as the Source to ‘improve’ the most, because pretty much everyone else
despised his Shield on account of her acerbic personality. Ogawa didn’t spare
anyone her sharp words and jeers.

It was
disheartening to see what she had turned into. When we had met in High Scape, I
had liked and admired her so much.

“We’re going to
be the next Erstwhile Pair,” Ogawa taunted. “We already are, in all but name.”

I believed they
would be, and I was surprised there had not yet been an official announcement.

“I’m sure you’ll
do an excellent job,” Taro said calmly.

His manner
irritated Ogawa, as pretty much everything did. “Don’t try to charm me,
Karish.”

“Will you shut
up?” Source Peche snapped. “You waste time every single lesson with all of your
whining.”

Ogawa didn’t
appear chastened. “Watch yourself, Peche. You can’t afford to make an enemy of
me.”

“Fascinating as
this speculation is,” Taro drawled, “no one is going to realise any of their
ambitions without discipline. Shall we resume our lesson? Source Niam, Shield
Parrion, you’re next.”

I wondered how
the Triple S Pairs and casters were doing. I’d heard nothing of them, of anyone
outside Erstwhile. I hated it. I felt like I was living some unreal, suspended
existence, disconnected from everything and everyone else.

Day after day,
Taro and I tried to figure out a way to escape. As part of the wardrobe Gifford
had ordered we be given, we’d accumulated a cache of expensive items, including
hideous thick jewellery, so we’d considered bribery. As delicately as possible,
Taro tested the potential for trading luxuries for information or assistance,
but everyone was unusually resistant to his allure.

We searched
every fraction of every wall in our chambers, hoping there was some form of
secret passage, as there had been in Fiona’s manor, but there was nothing to
find.

Nothing nothing
nothing.

What were we
supposed to do? Just continue existing, floating in helplessness? We might was
well be in prison.

“Seriously,” I
said one morning, “just sink the whole building. We can get out in the chaos.”

“I’d have to
sink the whole city,” Taro responded in a flat tone.

“So sink the
whole city.”

“All of the
Pairs would be fighting me the whole way.”

“You can handle
them. You’re Karish.”

He glared at me.

We were pretty
much always in a bad mood.

There was a
sudden pounding on the door that startled me so much I almost fell out of the
settee.

Taro didn’t
bother to stand from his chair and open the door. “What?” he shouted.

Our manners had
gone by the wayside, too.

One of the
Guards pushed open the door. “Get dressed.”

We weren’t
naked, but I entertained the idea of showing up in that state. It was the only
act of defiance I could think of.

She nodded at
me. “And do something with your hair.”

I rolled my
eyes. She left, slamming the door behind her.

Once we’d
dressed in our ridiculously expensive clothes, Taro knocked on the door and the
Imperial Guards let us out.

When they took
us to one of the Imperial stables, my heart started racing in excitement. We
were to be given horses. We could try to escape once we were released onto the
streets. I had no idea how we’d get through the city gate, but we’d figure
something out.

And then my
stomach felt like it plummeted to my feet as Taro and I were ordered into a
carriage, which was immediately surrounded by mounted Imperial Guards. We
wouldn’t be given a chance to move from supervision.

I wanted to cry.

Once we were
settled, we were driven off the grounds. We hadn’t travelled far before I
noticed a dense crowd of people moving about the streets, all of them walking
in the same direction. As we drove on and the mass grew, I felt a strange sort
of intensity in the air.

Something
significant was happening. Probably nothing good.

The destination
for all of us was Statue Park, where a platform had been constructed. It was
very tall and wide, with a canopy and two thrones. I caught myself wondering if
people threw together a new platform for each occasion or if there were a bunch
of platforms of different sizes and levels of ostentation stored somewhere.

What a trivial
matter to cross my thoughts. Was I losing my mind?

The Emperor’s
herald stood beside Gifford’s throne.

Our Guards
dismounted. “Up, you two,” one of them ordered. Taro and I were escorted out of
the carriage and up the stairs of the platform. We were directed to stand on
one side of Gifford’s gilded throne. So we hadn’t yet been replaced as the
Erstwhile Pair.

Two Imperial
Guards stood immediately behind us.

When the park
had been packed with as many people as possible, crushed so closely together
that if a panic were sparked they’d all die, trumpets blared and the Emperor
and Green appeared, climbing the stairs of the platform. Green sat in her
duller throne.

Green appeared
unhappy about something. Her expression was blank, but there was something odd
about her. As though she were vibrating with irritation, under her skin.

Gifford remained
standing. He looked pale. He seemed to have aged since I’d seen him last. He
appeared ill, but Taro had learned it was an illness for which healers could
find no treatment. The conversation Taro and I had overheard between Green and
Gifford was leading me to think she was actually doing something to him.
Perhaps to poison him, perhaps only to control him, expecting everyone else to
believe it was just the family weakness attacking Gifford.

Gifford stood
near the front edge of the platform. He was clearly going to be giving a
speech.

Those closest to
the platform were titleholders and their families, Council members, and
merchants. Behind them, casters and Pairs. And then, behind them, what looked
like leagues of Imperial Guards. Everyone else was crammed into the sides of
the crowd.

I thought it
likely that most of the crowd wouldn’t even be able to hear the Emperor.

The herald
pounded his mace three times, and again, it was unnecessary. Everyone’s eyes
were already on Gifford.

“My good
people,” the Emperor said, “it is pleasant to see you all on this fine day.”

Despite looking
unwell, his voice had a bit more resonance than usual. I wondered if he’d been
practising.

“You have all
given your best to make Erstwhile a strong, wealthy city, a city more powerful
than has ever been under any other monarch.”

At this point,
he paused. There was applause, starting at the front and flowing back in a wave
to the people who probably couldn’t hear anything but knew it was in their best
interests to follow the rest of the crowd. Some of them appeared almost
ridiculously enthusiastic over the blandest string of words I’d ever heard.
Others were clearly slapping their hands together for the sake of
self-preservation.

I didn’t start
clapping until Taro did, because I didn’t think of it. That wasn’t good. The
Emperor or Green couldn’t see it, but a whole lot of other people could. It
probably wasn’t in my best interests to give the impression I wasn’t in
complete awe of the Emperor.

“We have devoted
considerable resources to promote prosperity and provide safety for all loyal
citizens.”

Safety. Sure.

“We have
extended these benefits to those beyond our walls. We have created a new order,
casting out the turmoil of earlier times, and this is merely the beginning of a
glorious new future.”

I wondered how
many people actually believed, or agreed with, what the Emperor was saying.

“But there are
grim forces threatening our peace. The threat is posed by those we once trusted
as friends. These traitors have no regard for the rule of law. We were led to
believe they were devoted to serving Our best interests, and the best interests
of Our people. We have since learned that all they want is the freedom to do as
they please, and have been false to us all for decades.”

After a long,
dramatic pause, Gifford announced, “These friends are the Triple S.”

No one in the
audience appeared surprised. Gifford’s dislike of the Triple S hadn’t been a
secret. This absence of shock drained a little power from Gifford’s attempt to
appall them. He raised his voice to a shriller pitch.

“They have been
negligent in fulfilling their duties. They have been removing Pairs from sites
that needed their protection, refusing to return them until the residents of
those sites – farmers, merchants, crafters – passed over all they owned to the
Triple S. For years, they have been siphoning from the Crown’s coffers funds
collected from all of you, for their own dark purposes.”

Someone started
booing. I suspected he’d been ordered to do so at the right time. Influenced by
this behaviour, others started booing, too.

After a few
moments, the Emperor held up his hand to shut everyone up. He had more to say.

“This may be
difficult to believe. Perhaps you have met Sources and Shields who have been
friendly and modest. We have no doubt there are many good and honourable Pairs
who are fully aware of their responsibilities and perform them faithfully. We
have such a Pair here.”

Thousands of
eyes settled on us. Lovely.

“But these
Pairs, good and honest as they are, don’t control the Triple S. The Triple S is
ruled by a council, an arrogant reflection of Our own. Their goal is to protect
the interests of themselves, not the people as a whole.”

Maybe all those
times I’d claimed I had to leave all of a sudden because of secret Triple S
business, without explaining myself, hadn’t been the best habit to cultivate.

“Such a betrayal
can be a devastating blow. A crippling blow. It can make us doubt what we
thought we knew. But we have to trust Ourselves and we have to protect
Ourselves. To do this, we all must make sacrifices.”

Here it came.

“To serve you,
We have chosen the most talented, the most honourable, the wisest for all
positions in Our city.”

Did anyone
actually believe that?

“They have given
much already. We rely on your willingness to give as well.”

Of course.

“Because we have
a dire but essential task before us.”

The speech was
so bombastic, I was getting bored. And there was more to come.