Master Mage (6 page)

Before you even entertain
the thought of children, you might want to do something about the
Brotherhood first. As long as they are around, all they would have
to look forward to is assassins.

Thuraman was right. The Brotherhood
should be at the forefront of his thoughts. As long as they were
around to threaten mages, any children he might or might not have
would be in danger. The first step to ensuring that never happened
was protecting Farlan at the moment.

His resolve strengthened, Thad walked
briskly back to the barracks, ready to get a good night’s sleep so
that he could head out at first light. There was still plenty to do
before the snows melted in early spring, and he couldn’t do them
from here.

While he was ready for sleep, Thad
found the barracks a bit livelier than he had expected. Given the
morning and evening exercise routines and the hard day’s labor,
Thad had expected the soldiers to want nothing more than to crawl
into bed. Instead, they were up playing cards, rolling dice, and
generally having a good time.

As soon as he entered the building, he
was immediately drawn into a dice game. As the night rolled on,
Thad’s purse continued to grow lighter until he finally begged off
for sleep. Even in his bedroll, Thad had a hard time shutting out
the noise, but before long, he was fast asleep.

CHAPTER V

The ride back to the capital was as
lonely as the ride out, but Thad didn’t let it bother him. Lady was
a good horse, and he pushed her to her limits in a rush to return
home. Plans swirled in his head, and without the forethought to
bring some parchment and a quill, he feared they would disappear
before he could put them to pen.

The night before Thad expected to
arrive back at the palace, he found himself pacing around the
campfire anxiously. Every day, the pressure had mounted, and now
instead of just an unwanted burden, he felt a great responsibility
as well. Before, he had just seen it as another duty, but over the
past few days, his views had changed. He was no longer running
through his tasks out of a sense of revenge or duty to the
queendom. There was no longer the thought that others should or
could perform the duties. Now he knew that not only his future but
the future of every child born with magical powers rested on the
upcoming war. Most would find that knowledge unbearable, but for
Thad, it was a boon to his spirit that strengthened his resolve to
see it through to its end.

“Thad, what have you gotten me into?”
Tuck’s voice said, ringing in his ears.

“Did something happen?” Thad asked
worriedly.

“That’s hard to say,” Tuck replied, his
voice slipping between humor and confusion. “I was able to get in
to see the queen with little trouble once I mentioned your name,
but it was hard to tell if she was happy or mad to hear you were
alive. Shortly after I told her of what was going on, she politely
asked me to wait outside.”

“What happened after that?” Thad asked,
Tuck holding his full attention.

“I don’t know. I have been waiting
outside for near a half hour. There is a great deal of commotion
going on behind the door. Honestly, it sounds as if she’s doing her
best to destroy the room single-handedly. What did you do to her to
make her so … wait a moment. The door’s opening back
up.”

Thad continued his pacing, hoping Tuck
was all right. Eloen was a strong-minded woman and was not above
using violence if she thought someone deserved it, but Thad doubted
she would harm a messenger. As the minutes dragged on, Thad’s worry
mounted, and he found himself chewing nervously on his
nails.

“Thad, Thad … how in the nine hells
does this thing work? Thad … if you can hear me, you better answer
me this instant,” Eloen’s piercing voice demanded.

“Eloen, it is nice to hear from you. I
had heard rumors about a new queen in Abla. Who would have thought
it would be you?” Thad said honestly, happy that his old friend had
not perished in her search for him after he had been taken prisoner
after the battle at Southpass.

“You were supposed to be dead,” Eloen
replied amusingly.

“Sorry to disappoint,” Thad replied
jokingly. “You should know it takes more than a mountain falling on
my head to do me in.”

“Don’t get smart with me. How dare you
send a messenger to me to casually tell me you’re alive. Do you
know what I went through when I thought you were dead, you backside
of a mule?”

Thad suddenly felt ashamed of himself
but quickly pushed aside the feelings. “It’s not like I would
simply stroll into Abla after the reception I got during my last
visit. I only have one foot left, and I would like to keep it
attached to my body for as long as possible.”

“You have changed, and I am not sure I
like it,” Eloen said, her voice losing its anger and becoming
slightly amused. “I think I preferred the young boy who always
seemed to wet himself whenever I yelled. OK, so you’re alive.
What’s this about the Brotherhood and Rane? Your messenger tried to
explain it, but he seems more afraid of me than you ever
were.”

“You can be a bit overbearing at
times,” Thad replied, laughing. “The Brotherhood is an army that
has hunted down mages as well as the magical races since before the
Fae War. Some years ago, they settled in Rane. I might have made a
bit of a nuisance of myself when I visited them. On my way back to
Farlan, I picked up a large group of elves and a smattering of
other mages. Now Rane has its eyes set on whipping us out and
taking Farlan over in the process. I think that about sums it
up.”

“Seems like you have been busy over the
past few years when you weren’t playing dead. I don’t know if you
heard, but we just got over a pretty long war ourselves, and it’s
not like we have the best relationship with Farlan.”

“I have heard that, but Farlan needs
help … I need help,” Thad said pleadingly. “I understand that
troops might not be possible, but we need weapons. Our blacksmiths
are churning out everything they can, but we are quickly running
out of ore and time. Farlan can pay and pay well. We are not short
on coin, just time and resources.”

“I will see what I can do, Thad. Our
people are still getting over the war, but if we were to get
certain trade tariffs lifted, I am sure it would go a long way to
increasing our cooperation.”

“I will talk to the queen as soon as I
return to the palace. I will leave Tuck and his ring in your care
until then,” Thad said, laughing. “It was really nice to hear from
you again.”

“It was nice to hear from you as well,”
Eloen replied, tears hanging heavily in her voice. “Once your
business in Farlan is finished, you should come over to Abla for a
visit. I promise to throw you a warm welcome. This time, no prison
cell … unless you misbehave.”

That night, as Thad lay under the
stars, his mind ran through the events of the past few years. His
left eye and right foot had been replaced with magical items. He
had a myriad of scars running across his body, and yet here he was,
against all the odds.

Shortly before noon the next day, Thad
reached the palace of Farlan. He had the urge to stop by his tower
and see how Roger and Marcus were faring, but he quickly pushed the
thought aside. It didn’t take long for him to locate his target.
Maria was in the throne room, meeting with a few of her nobles that
had been resisting the coming war.

Thad waited outside, his ear pressed
firmly against the solid oak double doors. The voices were muffled,
but Thad could still hear most of what was being said. Countess
Elisee and Duchess Melanie were petitioning the queen to try and
negotiate with the Kingdom of Rane. Being the two closest land
bearers to Rane, they stood to take the brunt of the invading
force, and it sounded like they were desperately trying to avoid
that from happening.

Sitting down on a long padded bench,
Thad waited. If it had been Maria’s mother who had still been
queen, he might have held some fear that she would cave in to the
pressure of her nobles and the invading force. Maria, he knew,
would hold firm. Not out of love for him or his people, but because
she hated the Brotherhood as strongly as he did. They had taken
over her home and made a prisoner out of her mother. When they were
forced to abandon the palace, they stabbed Maria’s mother and left
her to die in her daughter’s arms.

When the two nobles left, their faces
looked none too happy. The looks that were directed at him as they
walked past were aggravated, to say the least. Not wanting to cause
any further problems, Thad held back his laughter until he was sure
they were well out of earshot.

Entering the throne room, Thad found
Maria sitting with her thumb and forefinger pressed against the
bridge of her nose. Her red hair had been curled and bounced
lightly on her shoulders.

“I see you’re back,” Maria said, her
brow furrowed slightly. “When I first heard you scampered off, I
nearly had the guards ride out and drag you back. If it hadn’t been
for the arrival of one of your friends, I would have done just
that.”

“Who saved my hide?” Thad asked, hoping
it was news from either Reeve or Crusher.

“Captain Kain came with a message from
Reeve and the elves. Would you like to hear it?” Maria asked, her
face taking on the stony façade her mother had done so
well.

“It would be great to know what was
actually said, but I can tell it was good news. You still need to
work on your mask. Your lips tend to twitch when you’re holding
back a smile,” Thad said with an innocent smile.

Maria threw up her hands in
frustration. “You could at least play along,” she said, pouting. “I
swear, you don’t have one ounce of tact within your body. Yes, it
was mostly good news. The elves have pledged to send as many
soldiers as they can as well as put four boats out to help guard
our harbors. The captain also brought news that the
Miramer
would also be
helping guard the waters.”

“What’s the bad news?” Thad asked,
knowing that she was holding something back.

“The elves have sent a little over two
hundred soldiers right now, but the captain says the rest will not
be coming until early spring. The elfin island seems to be prone to
heavy ice drifts during the winter months, making travel nearly
impossible.”

Thad cursed to himself. A contingent of
elfin warriors would greatly bolster their strength, but it would
do little good if they arrived after Farlan had already
fallen.

“From the initial reports, Rane has
already rallied far more soldiers than we had thought possible.”
Nearly ten thousand soldiers had been gathered outside of their
capital. The Rane army alone was over eight times the force Farlan
could muster, but they didn’t want to simply conquer Farlan. They
wanted to destroy it. Rane had petitioned other nearby kingdoms to
aid them in their assault, claiming that Farlan had started the war
by attacking the merchant guild and capital.

The first reports were vague, but from
what Thad could tell, most of the kingdoms had pledged at least a
small force to aid in the coming battles. “How are we going to hold
out until they arrive?” Thad asked as his mind searched for
answers.

“Don’t ask me,” Maria said, shaking her
head. “All I know is that we have to win and that you better find
out a way to make it happen.”

“I might have a bit of good news as
well,” Thad said slyly.

“Did our eastern force triple since the
last report?” Maria asked sarcastically.

“No, though I wish it had,” Thad said
thoughtfully. “I have been in contact with the Ablaian queen, and
she is willing to try and sell us ore and weapons as long as
certain taxes are negated.”

Maria leaned forward, a look of shock
plastered on her face. “I won’t ask how you came to contact the
Ablaians, but are they really willing to come to an agreement? A
few of the nobles might balk at the thought of opening free trade
with Abla, but right now, I would even reverse the tariffs and pay
them myself if it would give me even a small chance to win this
war.”

“That’s good to know. I am sure that
you and Eloen will be able to come to an agreement, then,” Thad
said, holding back a laugh.

“Eloen? What does she have to do with
this? I thought she got captured by the Ablaians when she foolishly
went in search of you?”

“It seems the young captain was not
only able to make friends in Abla during her visit. She made enough
of them to crown her queen,” Thad said jokingly, knowing that Maria
and the young captain had never gotten along.

“Eloen … that vile … how in the nine
hells did she do that?” Maria stuttered, her face showing a look of
complete shock. Thad waited as the queen mumbled to herself as she
worked through everything. “It doesn’t matter. If I have to make a
deal with that trumpet of Jezebel, I will. Tell her I will suspend
all current tariffs and taxes on Abla as long as she can get me
weapons and ore. Tell her if she can get me some of her soldiers, I
will even call her a great queen in public.”

Thad found himself laughing as he
walked back to his quarters that night. He had expected some
resistance from the queen once she learned that Eloen was the new
queen of Abla.