Magician Prince (15 page)

“You went too far. I never would have put so
many innocent lives at risk,” Byrn answered.

“And you’ve never done anything that you
regret,” Alia said defensively. “Byrn Firemas never had to lie or
steal to get by.” She added knowing full well that Byrn had lied
repeatedly and even stole a horse during his escape from Baj and
later Ilipse.

Byrn wanted to yell at her in response.
Alia’s accusation was completely unfair and she was just trying to
deflect blame away from herself, but before Byrn could say anything
else a knock at the dining hall door gave Alia an opportunity to
rise and step away so that she did not have to look into his eyes
that at that moment held back a simmering rage.

Her apprentice, Tomlin, entered the room
holding a baby and gave it to Alia. “I think you better take the
little pooper,” he said amiably, “She is giving too many ladies
around here the crazy idea that I might be father material. Not
that I mind the attention, but it sends the wrong message.”

Alia nuzzled the child to her chest where it
cooed loudly. Then she poked the baby girl in the nose with her
index finger causing the child to reveal a toothless grin and
giggle. “I was hoping to make this introduction under better
circumstances… Byrn, I would like you to meet your daughter,
Avelice.”

Alia handed Avelice to Byrn before he had a
chance to even think about what Alia had just announced. She was so
small in his arms that he feared she might slip from his grasp. He
looked down on the baby. “This is my child?” he asked and the
little girl smiled at him.

“You don’t believe me?” Alia asked, sounding
offended.

“No. No. It is just that I never
expected-”

“If you don’t want to have anything to do
with us,” began Alia, but Byrn interrupted.

“Alia, enough! Can I have a moment to take
this all in?” Byrn held his daughter and was surprised at how light
she was. Avelice stared at him intently and Byrn hugged her close
to him. He was struck with the knowledge that his child was
completely defenseless and it was his job to protect her and teach
her how to live as his parents did for him. For all of his trials
and tribulations, Byrn felt completely unprepared for fatherhood.
“I can control the very elements around me, but this little child
scares me.”

He looked to Alia who was watching him with
interest. How was he supposed to deal with her? His heart was torn
between the love he felt for Alia and disdain at her for starting
the ogre rampage that killed Tannys.
No, I killed him,
Byrn
reminded himself. It took a year in prison for Byrn to stop blaming
Sane for those events. If prison had done one thing it gave him
plenty of time to think about his role in that event and to come to
terms with what happened. He would not blame others for his
actions, but he could not deny the role Alia played either.

“I don’t know what to do,” Byrn whispered to
the little baby that had no clue what he was saying to her, but
pulled at his finger, her grip was so strong for one so tiny.

A calloused hand gripped his shoulder. “There
is no need to rush to a decision now. There will be plenty of time
for that.” He had almost forgotten that Sane or anyone else was
still in the room.

“I need to think about what I have learned,”
he told Alia, “Can we talk later in private?”

The enchantress took back Avelice, “It seems
that we have much to discuss. I hope that you will choose to leave
the past in the past… for Avelice’s sake.” She left the others in
the dining hall.

“You should find it in your heart to forgive
her for your own sake too,” Xander told Byrn in a tone that was
both frank and threatening, “If for no other reason than Colum is
nothing but a memory now and that was done by my doing. By the man
that you have come to seeking aid.”

Any other magician might have cowered at a
threat from Xander Necros, but Byrn felt no such fear. Xander had
no clue just how powerful Byrn had become and if the gods willed
it, he never would, but Byrn would not shake in fear of this or any
man. “I am well aware of what you did and it sickens me. Rest
assured that you do not have my forgiveness, but I need you in
order to bring this war to a peaceful end.”

Impossibly, Xander laughed. “You are still a
stubborn idealist. Welcome back home, son.”

The grandmaster walked away leaving Byrn to
calm his spirit that had been raging almost of its own accord. He
had been gathering magic about himself so that almost all of the
ambient energy in the room flowed around him. Byrn wondered if
Xander had the ability to see magic too. Could he see the vast
amount of magic that Byrn had effortlessly called upon?

“So… that was awkward,” Tomlin decided and
offered Kaleb a beer. “Do you want to see something, kid? It’s
called a hand-cannon.”

The small one-story cabin was the kind of
home that was large enough for a small family with only a child or
two and that was enough, but it was a surprising choice for a woman
who was accustomed to living in more lavish accommodations. Maybe
he was wrong about her. Maybe she had truly changed. Maybe…

“Are we going in?” Kaleb asked. Spring would
be upon them soon, but the night still held a chill that bit at his
uncovered arms and face.

Byrn tried to remember the last time he felt
like that. Winter’s chill and summer’s heat no longer touched his
skin in the same way it did other men. At times that
invulnerability proved to be a blessing, but the downside of no
longer feeling the gentle warmth of a spring day or the cool breeze
blowing in off the Great Sea only served to remind him that he was
something not quite… normal.

He knocked lightly, almost tentatively.
Avelice might be sleeping and he did not wish to disturb her. His
daughter could be sleeping; it was a strange thought to try to get
used to. A few days ago he was just another man making his way
through life with no one to answer to or for, but today he was
suddenly a father. He had a responsibility to care for someone
else- to protect, feed, clothe, and raise- to put someone else’s
needs before his own and to love her unconditionally. He exhaled
deeply and forced a smile at his own foolishness, because the
thought of doing that, or rather not doing that, scared him more
that the largest ogre or the deadliest Kenzai. Were his own parents
this nervous at the prospect of adopting him?

The door swung open and Alia greeted her
visitors warmly. Her raven hair was down and draped over her
shoulders. She wore the blue robe of an enchanter instead of the
black necromancer’s robe with the red skull on the back that she
used to wear in remembrance of her father. Her smile was disarming
and Byrn felt that familiar skip in his heart that he used to get
whenever their eyes met, but just as quickly, he felt a stab of
pain when he remembered what she did, turning the ogres loose on
Colum.

It almost seemed foolish to worry about that.
Xander had killed nearly everyone in Colum last year. If Alia never
would have attacked the city, they would all still be dead now. So
why blame her? Why hate her when all he really wanted to do was
kiss her?

She asked him in and he entered offering some
off-hand pleasantry. Kaleb followed not far behind, unsure if he
was welcome or not. “Come along, Kaleb. It’s all right.” Byrn spoke
the words of reassurance, but thought they sounded hollow. He
didn’t feel entirely comfortable being there either.

Alia took Byrn’s cloak and her hands lingered
on his shoulders a little too long, but she said nothing and took
it into another room. When she came out a minute later she held
Avelice who was fast asleep.

“Can I hold her?” Kaleb asked. He stood on
his tiptoes so that he could see her face that was nestled against
Alia.

“How old are you?” Alia asked him
sweetly.

“I’m ten,” Kaleb announced proudly.

“Practically, a man,” the enchantress nodded
her approval. “If you sit in a chair, then you can hold her.”

Kaleb picked a rocking chair near the small
living room’s shuttered front window and gladly accepted the
baby.

“Keep her head up,” Alia told him, “That is
good.”

The boy rocked gently and watched the little
girl fast asleep. He smiled at her with a grin that stretched
across his face though Avelice never noticed. Byrn wondered if it
could really be that easy. Kaleb certainly played the role well
enough.

“You’re an excellent helper, Kaleb,” Alia
told him, but he barely noticed. His attention was fully on the
bundle in his arms. “What kind of magician do you want to be? I bet
a fire magician like Byrn.” She looked at the man as she said his
name and their eyes locked for a few seconds before he turned to
look out a window. She was trying and Byrn knew that. He should be
trying too. He wanted to try and make this work and it would be a
lie to say that he was only doing it for Avelice, but something
held him back.

Kaleb looked to Byrn with a question in his
eyes and Byrn shook his head. “Kaleb is not a magician. He is just
a normal boy.”

“Then why do you travel with him?” Alia asked
in surprise, then realizing how her question sounded, quickly
added, “I didn’t mean it like that, Kaleb. It is just unusual for a
magician and a… normal human to travel together.” Kaleb would not
have noticed that she substituted the term “normal human” in place
of the word “lesser” to spare the boy’s feelings.

“Maybe that is part of the problem,” said
Byrn, but his words held no malice or judgment, “We stay away from
the normal people and they stay away from us. It makes it easier
for us to hate each other and dehumanize one another.”

“It is a pleasant idea,” admitted Alia trying
to sound neutral, “but alliance or not we are a long way from that.
When the magicians started coming to Wolfsbane I told the normal
population and let them make up their own minds. They chose to
leave. It didn’t happen all at once, but they all left
eventually.”

“At least you tried,” Byrn told her. Would
the woman who attacked his hometown all those years ago have done
that or was he just looking for excuses to forgive her? He wanted
to believe that she truly regretted what she had done and learned
from that, but how could he know for sure?

“When will she wake up?” Kaleb asked of
Avelice.

“She is still very little,” Alia told him
with a smile, “Most of her time is spent sleeping and eating right
now. Do you have any brothers or sisters?”

“No.” Kaleb’s answer was short and did not
lend itself well to a continued discussion on the subject. Judging
from the expression on Alia’s face she knew that she was treading
on dangerous ground that threatened to ruin this little visit and
chose to move on to preparing the evening meal.

They ate dinner together and talked of
meaningless things, because talking about how or even if they could
move forward together was too difficult of a subject to broach.
Neither of them wanted to ask the question, because that would have
meant that they could not dance around the subject any longer and
they both feared having to make that decision.

Hours after dinner, Kaleb slept curled up in
the rocking chair. A blanket was draped over him and his head
rested on a pillow placed on the chair’s arm. He looked like he
should be uncomfortable, but his sleep was sound and his face
revealed pleasant dreams lurking behind his fluttering eyes.
Avelice rested in Byrn’s arms and stared up at him while Alia
watched them intently. A great deal of hope rested in that
stare.

Finally when it seemed that they could avoid
it no longer Byrn raised the subject, “For over a year, I spent
every day thinking of you and working towards getting back here,
but now that we are finally together, I don’t know if this is where
I should be. I want to forgive you for what you did in Colum, but I
don’t know if I can.”

Alia poured them each a cup of coffee and
took a seat next to him. “I felt much the same at times when I was
pregnant and felt so alone. Some days I wanted nothing more than
for you to show up on my doorstep just like you did tonight and
others I wished that you were suffering as I was. In truth I didn’t
know how to react when I heard that you had returned, but when I
saw you I knew that I still loved you and I want us to be a family.
We could be happy together.”

No words came and Byrn was forced to stare
into her stunning blue eyes as he wrestled with his tongue to say
something- to say anything to fill the silence that hung between
them.

Seeing his hesitation, Alia added, “There is
only one thing that truly matters.” She placed her hand on top of
Byrn’s that held Avelice against him. “Do you still love me?”

For the first time since his capture in
Silvering, Sane slept deeply and restfully. The sun warmed his face
gently waking him to the day. The pains of the past year felt like
a distant memory as he dressed and prepared for the morning meal.
Following the Council of Masters’ vote of confidence for the
sorcerers, Byrn and Sane were now allowed to move freely through
Castle Wolfsbane and Sane decided to join the ranks of the teachers
and begin instructing the lesser skilled magicians today. It was
the least he could do to help make up for all of the magicians that
he rounded up under the king’s banner.

The dining hall was nearly empty when Sane
arrived for his morning meal. It was the third hour for breakfast
and most of the other castle residents would have eaten by this
time. He fixed a plate from an assortment of eggs, sausage, and
fruits native to the region and found a seat near the former priest
and council member, Skynryd. The two older men became fast friends
in the days since Sane arrived and he found Skynryd’s theories on
magical healing to be truly intriguing. Byrn who had more skill at
healing than most priests had confirmed much of what Skynryd said
already, but it was still interesting to hear from someone who was
an authority on the subject. If healing was a true discipline of
magic, then what other disciplines had been lost to the halls of
time and history? Were his visions some latent form of magic or
something else entirely? It got the mind of the old sorcerer racing
with possibilities. If the magicians were able to practice openly
whole new worlds of magic could be opened in time.