Master Mage (3 page)

Sitting down at his workbench, Thad
missed his other friends. Crusher and Reeve were headed back to
their homelands to seek aid. Avalanche and Parson went to the mines
west of Southpass in search of gems for the enchantments. Arianna
was still around, but she was often busy finding way to aggravate
the palace guards, much to Maria’s enjoyment.

The young queen had loved the little
fairy from the moment she had met her. Their new friendship made
Thad uneasy as he was sure the queen often sent Arianna to pester
him.

“Thad, what do you think?” Roger asked,
holding out a thin steel bracelet for Thad to inspect.

“What?” Thad asked, looking
confused.

Roger held out the bracelet again. “I
was asking what you thought of my new idea. I have been talking
about it for near a quarter hour.”

“I have a lot of things on my mind,”
Thad replied apologetically. “How does it work?”

“You know those rings you use to talk
with Tuck? I tried copying it. I know that just being able to
communicate with one person wouldn’t be very useful on the
battlefield, so I expanded on the idea. I have linked this bracelet
with five others, but the links are still weak. I believe if we
give them the proper attention, then by the end of winter, we could
have them working correctly.”

“That long? Seems like a lot of work
for little gain,” Thad replied.

“I think it is still worth the effort,”
Roger said strongly.

“If you believe they will be of use,
then I won’t try and stop you,” Thad said, his focus still on the
ring in his hand.

After finishing two rings, Thad decided
it was time to retire to his own quarters for some much-needed
rest. When he reached the stairs leading up to his room, he was
stopped by one of the servants. “Master Thad, Her Majesty was
looking for you earlier,” the man said, looking Thad in the
eyes.

“Where is she?” Thad asked
tiredly.

“Last I saw, she was on the balcony
overlooking the palace gardens.”

As the servant rushed off, Thad nearly
laughed. Every branded person within the capital seemed to view
Thad as their personal knight. He was not only considered the
queen’s slave but also treated as a near equal as far as they could
see. They had seen the changes that had come with him, and though
minor, they had greatly changed their lives. They could now buy
their freedom, among other things.

Thad found the princess still on the
balcony, staring worriedly at a moon lily that had been placed in a
small pot. “What seems to be bothering you today, Maria?” Thad
asked, walking up behind the petite queen. She wore a dark burgundy
gown that accented her bright red hair and deep green eyes. Thad
tried not to look too closely at her, his emotions still raw from
the loss of Brianna.

“When I told one of the gardeners the
other day how much I enjoyed the moon lilies, he put one in a pot,
but it has not done well. Already, the leaves have started to wilt,
and it has started to lose its glow,” Maria replied
sadly.

Thad leaned close, trying to
see if he could hear the plant’s thoughts.
Cold. Why is it so cold?

“It is winter. Everything is cold,”
Thad replied to the small flower.

The ground is cold and
shallow. My roots can’t feel any warmth
,
the moon lily replied sadly.

A few feet of snow fell around
Southpass and near the Rane border, but in the center of the
queendom, it rarely garnered more than an inch. The warm air,
drifting in from the ocean, pushed the worst of the cold weather
toward Rane and away from the capital.

“I think it needs a bigger pot and
maybe something to keep the dirt warm,” Thad told Maria after a
brief moment of thought.

“Do you really think that will help?”
Maria asked, her downcast face suddenly brightening. “I will talk
to the gardener first thing in the morning, then.”

“Don’t tell me you were looking for me
just to cry to me about your flower?”

“What if I was?” Maria asked, raising
her voice slightly. When Thad didn’t respond, Maria huffed and
turned around. “You’re no fun. I was looking for you because I
haven’t seen you in days. I would like to know what has been so
important you couldn’t visit me.”

“Things have just been hectic, my
queen,” Thad replied as his mind fished for anything that might
stay her anger.

“Don’t you ‘my queen’ me. I told you I
want you to report to me at least every other day, not every
fortnight,” Maria said commandingly. “Now what has been going on
with the war effort?”

Thad sighed inwardly as he thought.
“The elders of Mage’s Roost are still giving me trouble, though
more than a few mages have started to train in preparation for the
war. The enchanting is going slow, but Roger and Marcus are doing
their best to get what they can get done. I still haven’t received
word from Tuck, Crusher, or Reeve.”

“That’s it? That is all that is
happening that would keep you from my company?” Maria asked, her
anger starting to flare.

“No, that’s just the most important,”
Thad replied hotly, his patience with the spoiled queen starting to
run thin. “We also have a shortage of proper weapons and armor, and
the blacksmiths want to charge outrageous prices to fill the order.
A few of the nobles have been slow to respond to my summons and
have done everything short of physically harming me when I mention
conscription or taxes. Food stores are low thanks to the influx of
people, which means if we can’t solve that problem, then come
spring, we are going to have a very hungry army. Should I go
on?”

Maria’s face blanched. “I see,” she
replied weakly. “I think that will be enough. You are
dismissed.”

“Thad,” Maria said as Thad turned to
leave. “I am glad you are home.”

Thad could almost hear the pleading in
her voice. He cared for the queen, but his heart was still sore and
not ready to move on. “So am I, Maria,” Thad replied gently before
he quickly headed back to his chambers. Thad knew it wasn’t Maria’s
fault that he was irritable and in a bad mood. Most of that
belonged to the elders of Mage’s Roost and the vast number of other
people who seemed to like to get under his skin.

It’s good for her to have
someone talk back to her. Someone needs to tell her what she needs
to hear and not just what she wants. I am sure that given the
choice, she would say the same.

“Coming from you, I don’t know if I can
trust the advice. You have made it clear that you don’t care much
for women, Thuraman.”

I don’t hate women. I just
don’t trust them. All I have seen them do is twist their words and
use you for their own gains. Brianna was the only one who never
seemed to want anything from you other than yourself. The rest see
you as a tool, an object.

“I think I let too many of my bad
experiences color your view,” Thad said, shaking his
head.

I don’t think you have paid
enough attention to your own experiences.

“You might be right, but I think no
matter what sex a person is, none of them are perfect. There is
good and evil in each of us.”

It is your life. Just don’t
go back to breaking your back to bend over for them again. The more
you do that, the more they will get used to the notion of using
you.

Thad decided it was best to end the
argument. Thuraman’s views were not going to change, and neither
were his. He knew that he was too forgiving where women were
concerned, but he didn’t see it as a fault. He believed that if
more people in the world let the smaller things go, then it would
be a much more peaceful place.

Thad looked longingly at his bed, then
to his desk, where the large stack of papers called him. Knowing
that putting off the work would only make it that much worse come
morning, Thad shambled over to the desk and sat down.

Three new missives awaited him, two
from lesser nobles and one from the local blacksmith guild. Opening
the one from the blacksmiths, Thad was pleased to find that his
late talk with them had garnered some results. They would keep the
prices the same under the condition that the queen reduced their
taxes by a small margin. In the end, it would still mean less money
coming into the queendom, though not by much.

Talk if I remember
correctly—you walked in there and threatened to have them all
clasped in iron and tried for treason during wartime. They had to
either agree or face the headsman.

The other two missives were along the
same lines. Thad had quickly grown tired of all the arguing and
political meandering. Thad had quickly decided to use the authority
the queen had given him and started threatening force. Luckily,
none of them had called his bluff yet because if push came to
shove, Thad wasn’t sure if the queen would back up his
threats.

After signing a few documents and
preparing his own missives to be taken out the next day, Thad was
finally able to crawl into his bed. The covers were soft, warm, and
inviting, almost like a balm for his tired soul. Closing his eyes,
Thad quickly drifted off to sleep.

CHAPTER III

“Thad, are you awake yet?” Thad heard
Tuck’s voice say loudly.

Opening his eyes, Thad sat up and
looked at the window. “The sun isn’t even up yet, Tuck.”

“You told me to contact you as soon as
I reached Southpass and met with General Foreman.”

“Yes, I did say that, but I thought
common sense would dictate that you do so at a rational hour,” Thad
replied sleepily. “Well, I’m awake. What did Trent have to
say?”

“Not much more than we have already
heard. Abla had gone through its own civil war, and things have
started to settle down. A few merchants have started to come
through the pass again, and a few of the soldiers have heard them
use the name Eloen.”

Thad rubbed his head. He had hoped that
Eloen was still alive, but he never would have guessed that she
would take over the rival kingdom while he was gone. He knew there
was a chance that it was another woman called Eloen, but he highly
doubted it. “Tuck, I want you to ride through Southpass and try to
gain an audience with the queen. If she is who I think she is, then
we might find more aid or at least be able to remove some of the
soldiers still manning Southpass.”

“You don’t give an elf a break, do you?
Very well, but when I return, I expect a large banquet in my
honor.”

“Done,” Thad replied,
laughing.

Knowing that it would be useless to try
and return to sleep, Thad grudgingly shimmied out of the
covers.

The cold air hit Thad like a punch,
causing a shiver to run up his spine. Thad quickly pulled on his
tunic and leather armor and britches, the cold metal clasps
stinging as they touched his skin. Thad was thankful winter was
coming as it kept the Rane army at bay, at least for a short time,
but he could have done without the cold.

After he was dressed, Thad headed to
the kitchens, where he found the bakers already hard at work. Very
little was prepared, but Thad was able to grab a couple of loaves
of fresh bread and some leftover meat from the night before. After
he had his belly full, Thad walked down to his tower to grab a few
things.

The tower was empty and felt lonely.
Normally, by the time Thad had a chance to arrive, Roger and Marcus
were already at work. After picking up a bag of the rings, Thad
headed for the stables.

“Thaddeus. Going back out again, I
see,” the old stable master said when he saw Thad. “Want me to get
your Lady saddled?” he asked with a bit of a smirk.

After Thad had returned, Maria still
tended to give Thad a hard time where women were concerned. Though
the queen was too proper to voice her displeasure that Thad had
courted other women, she had no problem showing it discreetly. When
Thad had requested a horse, he was given a young filly that was
named Lady with the comment that she was a gentle ride. The sly
comment had sparked numerous rumors among the palace
staff.

Thad had no complaints with the horse
itself. She was young yet well trained and had more speed behind
her than most he had ridden. If it wasn’t for the sly jokes, Thad
would have thought it a perfect gift.

Once mounted, Thad quickly left the
palace grounds and headed into the city proper. He had little on
his agenda today, so he decided a quick stop to check in on Shariel
would be nice.

Thad had not been back to his own home
since returning to the city. There had been so much to do that he
had not even given it much thought. Shariel visited often, though
she tended to spend more time with the princess than she did with
him.

Opening the door, Thad found his charge
sitting in the kitchen, enjoying an early morning meal. Shariel had
changed a lot since he had first left the capital. Then, she had
been nothing but a seven-year-old child. Now, she was nearing her
teen years. Unlike most children her age, she knew she didn’t know
everything, though there were times she liked to pretend she
did.

“Thad,” the young girl said, rushing up
and giving him a peck on the cheek. “I didn’t expect you,” she
added, looking at the sparse amount of food she had
prepared.