Techromancy Scrolls: Adept (12 page)

Fredrick motioned with his head toward the lower arch that lead out to the Great Meadow. “Walk with me Celeste. Tell me of the papers I signed for that new...” He paused, I could tell he was taking in where he was as he chose his words carefully, “..squire.”

The Duke and Duchess started walking as Celeste said, “Sir.” Then she looked down at me and just started walking away saying, “Laney, you are with me.”

I looked up from where I was and at her retreating back then at Verna. She had an urgent look on her face and kept nudging her head toward Celeste. I leapt up and hurried off. Verna was whispering after me, “On her left.”

As I approached, Celeste didn't look back but she was giving that discreet wiggling finger motion to her left. I got in step behind her feeling acutely aware of the fact I was following her and the rulers of the realm.

We reached the lower arch and there were four guards stationed there that fell into step behind us. The Duchess pulled Fredrick to a stop. “You go on ahead, I find business of the realm tedious dear. I'll retire to our chambers.”

The Duke gave her a quick peck on the lips and nodded as he said, “Alright dear, I won't be long.” She left us and two of the guards peeled off like her shadow and followed at a discreet distance.

We walked in silence into the Great Meadow to a little secluded area I hadn't been to before. It was some sort of sunken rose garden with trellises and a small gazebo. When we started walking down the little slope into the garden he made a cutting motion with a flick of his wrist and the guards stopped and turned their backs to watch the approach.

When we were out of earshot and approaching the gazebo, the Duke turned with an amused smile. He glanced at me then Celeste. “So this is the young adept then?” She nodded once and he tilted his head and looked at me up and down like one would a horse they were looking to buy.

He spoke to me as he furrowed his brow. “I thought you'd be... I don't know. Bigger?” He made a scrunching motion with both of his hands as he squinted, indicating I was small.

I lowered my eyes. What do you say to that? I replied, “I'm... sorry?” Then added quickly, “My Lord.”

He chuckled then looked at Celeste and grinned, then made a sweeping motion to the little gazebo. We went in and each sat on a bench on either side of the little space. I looked around and just stood by Celeste's left side. I bit back a gleep, as she yanked me down to sit with her. Then she said in answer to him, “She packs a mighty punch.”

He sat silently a moment then he concentrated and held his hand out toward me. I could feel power building. I had never heard the Duke was a magic user! I didn't like magics focused on me and I made myself as small as possible as I felt the heat gathering inside me. I looked to Celeste as my eyesight changed, her eyes had a soft green glow lighting them from within.

I turned and saw silver light trickling out of the Duke's eyes and flowing from his hand. I didn't like how it felt and mentally slapped at it to keep it off of me. I saw amber light dripping from my eyes like the overflow at a well, and the Duke flinched back, his power fading.

He inclined his head at Celeste, not me and said, “Ouch. Though not as much power as even you yourself Lady Celeste. I remember Sir Tannis' power was almost a physical thing it was so overwhelming.”

She defended me. “She ignited just days ago my Lord. Anyway, as a wise man once said, it isn't the amount of power that wins the day, it is how that power is used that makes it formidable.”

He chuckled, “Quoting my father again are we?”

Celeste chuckled more openly than I thought one should around the ruler of the realm. Then he looked at me and shook his head, “Another adept, in Wexbury, who would have thunk it? And a serf no less. Can you show me?”

Celeste seemed a little aggravated and said, “Fred, she's a human being not a trained circus dog.” I blinked, she called Duke Fredrick Fred?

He exhaled and dropped his head and looked at her as he admitted, “You're right, where are my manners? You're mother would have cuffed me soundly for that.” They shared a sad look between them again. Then he looked at me again and said, “Please accept my sincerest apologies.” Then he added, “Squire.”

He looked over at Celeste while I processed the fact a Duke had apologized to me. I was starting to hyperventilate. He said almost like an excited child, “I signed the papers just this morning. You'll have to have the criers announce on the morrow and since she is a commoner, get her to Bernadine in records to have her lands assigned. And quarters and jobs for her family in the castle, if she has any. This is a whole bottle of worms you've opened up here Celeste. Why squire? Why not just marry her off to some handsome...”

Celeste's sword started rising on its own toward me, and she held up a finger to stop the Duke and turned to me and said softly, “Remember Laney, control it, don't let it control you.”

I nodded and whispered, “Pick just one thing and concentrate on it.” She nodded back with a smile and I stared into her emerald eyes. They made me feel safe and I felt the heat leaving as my eyesight return to normal.

His head was cocked, “I've never seen an amber power signature before.”

Then Celeste answered his question, “We'll not be marrying her off or selling her into a family like was done to me. This was the best way.”

He looked thoughtful then nodded slowly. “I guess, but that will make her training difficult with the Techromancers if she's training as a knight.”

She shook her head, “She is my squire and her training is up to me. Father already said he would take her under his wing for all things magic.”

He cocked an eyebrow then smiled a little. Then his face got serious. “We can't let it out that we have an adept among us before she can properly wield her power to defend herself. Many realms will do most anything to have an adept since there are so few.”

He looked at me like I understood everything they were talking about and implying. I got the general gist, I was to be a secret of the realm for now. “So for now you are, Squire Laney, Knight Ascendant, from the house of Celeste. Do you understand? Tell no one until the criers announce it on the morrow.”

I nodded dumbly and he smiled reassuringly then asked, “You do realize that binds you to her, you are beholden to her and her house. Your actions reflect on Lady Celeste.”

I swallowed. I knew I would do my best for my Lady. I bowed my head slightly and said, “Yes sir.”

He stood suddenly and slapped his knee. “Grand!” Then he looked back the way we came and said absently, “Now I must get one of those sweet rolls while Lucia isn't around to protest.” He walked off and called back, “And welcome Squire Laney.”

I watched him leave, the guards following. There was something about his gate, it was too precise, too powerful. I think the Duke was a much more dangerous man than he covered up with his aloof act.

I turned and Celeste was watching me and turned to see the Duke disappear up the hill and she smiled a little. I think she knew what I was seeing. She picked one of the yellow roses growing up the trellis of the gazebo. She handed it to me and I just about melted into a puddle. She had no clue what effect she had on me.

She said quietly as she tucked strands of her red hair behind her ear, “Sorry about that. That was almost an ambush. Curiosity was killing him. The only adept any of us ever met around here was Sir Tannis, but that was before my time.”

I smiled then blurted out, “Lands?”

She started giggling and pulled herself together, she raised a hand toward me, hesitated, then cupped my cheek with an amused smile. I closed my eyes to bask in the contact as she said, “That's what you took away from all of this?”

I opened my eyes and she still had my cheek, heating it. I shrugged, “It was so confusing, only nobles hold land in the realm.”

She nodded and prompted like she wanted me to think it trough, “And you are Knight Ascendant. That makes you...”

My eyes went wide and she pulled her hand back slightly as I asked, “A noble?” She was nodding and I was shaking my head, “I'm a commoner, a serf, a nobody.”

She slapped my cheek lightly with the hand she still had next to my face and she said with anger tinging her voice, “You are not a nobody! I don't ever want to hear you say that again, is that clear?!” She calmed and placed her hand on my cheek again, “And yes, you and your family are nobles now. You will get a proper title when you become a full Knight. Lands will be assigned to you, it is rare for 'commoners' as you say, to be taken as squires, but it is not unheard of.”

I nodded, wondering what sort of unreal dream or nightmare I was in. Then she smiled and I was lost. Alright, definitely not a nightmare, too dreamy. I realized I must have looked like a lovesick puppy and straightened up and she pulled her hand away.

She stood and grabbed both of my hands and pulled me to my feet with excitement in her eyes. “Come along, let's get Jace home. Then I will expect you at the Castle proper at ten, that should give the criers time to announce your appointment throughout the keep and Wexbury Minor.” She didn't let go of one of my hands and just dragged me giggling behind her.

I was so thrilled that Celeste insisted on walking me and Jace home. He ran into the house babbling at mother about the feast and the sword he held. We grinned his way then she stepped close and brushed some hair off my cheek. It felt a million degrees with her standing close, I swear I could feel the heat of her body.

I smiled up at her. “I'm beholden to you now.”

She smiled and whispered, “Only as long as you wish it.” Then she kissed the top of my head and walked away, looking back with a smile, “On the morrow Laney.”

I bunched my fists under my lips, averted my eyes and murmured, “On the morrow,” back to her with a wistful smile. She was now my Lady in truth. I would do my best not to disappoint her. I stopped at the door to watch her almost skipping down the lane, she looked back as she turned onto the Crossbar. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face when I went inside to tell mother all that had occurred.

We talked into the night until the last bells of the church pealed, echoing through the keep. It was hours later I was able to finally get to sleep as my mind was going a thousand miles an hour.

***

I woke up to Jace shaking my shoulder in the dim twilight of the morning. The light filtering through the window. Mother was making breakfast again. She looked even better than the prior day, she seemed to have a little spring in her step though she was still weak from muscle atrophy of months of bed rest. I knew it would likely be months before she were back to her usual energetic self if the medicines could hold her symptoms at bay like Doc Maxwell said.

He was saying, “Laney, wake up! The criers are coming!” He was so excited. Mother was just grinning at his enthusiasm. Sure enough... I could hear the hand bells coming down the lanes. I pushed some of my own hair out of my mouth with my tongue then pushed it back off my face with my hands. It was a mass of tangles. I pulled on my boots and gathered my hair back and tied it into a ponytail with a strand of string from an unraveling burlap sack by the door.

Mother pulled the pan off the heat and wiped her hands on a rag then joined us. We stepped outside onto the stoop. I could see the Three Sisters dipping below the horizon. And marveled at the whitish glow of the debris trail behind them with a backdrop of only the brightest stars in the heavens that hadn't been extinguished by the impending arrival of Father Sol. My brow furrowed slightly. When was the last time I laid out by the hog pen to watch the glory of the night sky?

The page walking down the street toward the lane crossing ringing his bell was followed by people stepping out of their cottages bundled up against the chill morning air. I could hear other bells throughout Cheap Quarter. I knew the same thing was playing out throughout the village and soon in all the lesser villages of the realm.

The man was older for a crier. They were usually boys just barely of majority as they worked their way up the ranks in the Keep. This man was in his late twenties easily. He wore the stylish uniform of the Keep in the colors of the realm. He had the heavy coat of Violet and matching page boy cap barely containing his wild red hair.

He stopped at the lane crossing and I felt mother grab my hand to hold it as the man said in a rich tenor voice that carried well. “All bear witness!”

He stopped ringing the bell then looked at the parchment he carried, then around to all the people within earshot, before he looked back down and started reading the proclamation. “Be it known that on this eighteenth day after Three Sisters Conjunction, twenty seven and forty two years post Impact, as witnessed by Lord of the Keep, Duke Fredrick of Wexbury, and Lady of Wexbury, Duchess Lucia of Wexbury.”

He looked up and said the next without looking at the parchment, “That the son of Baron Reston of Wexbury, Bexinton, has been awarded the title of Squire and Knight Ascendant under the house of Sir Kristof, Knight of the realm. And as such is accorded all the rights an privileges associated with his post.” That was exciting, we only saw two or three Squires a year be appointed, now we would have two in one day! And he was a baron. Which made sense since most knights came from noble stock.

He paused and looked around and asked formally, “Witnessed?”

We all mumbled, “Witnessed.” In response, and people started to turn to go back in their dwellings

Then he glanced at the parchment and cleared his throat and added, “Also...” Stopping the people.

He seemed to like the power of that word as I could tell he restrained a little smile when everyone turned back to him. The man was having fun with this. I would assume it was a tedious job, but he seemed to rise to it.

He looked up and said, “The daughter of Margret Herder of the keep, Laney...” He paused and looked around as everyone started murmuring and looking to where I stood with mother and Jace. The man smiled at me and inclined his head slightly. He knew he was speaking of me! He spoke in a more powerful and clearer voice now, enunciating clearly. “Has been awarded the title of Squire, and Techno Knight Ascendant...” He paused again to let that sink in, the murmuring got louder.

My lord, Techno Knight? They just declared me a Techromancer. But I realized it only made sense. Others have witnessed my use of magic and this way they were still able to hide that I was also an adept. Then he continued, holding the parchment before him but looking over it slyly to gauge reactions as he finished. “...under the house of Lady Celeste, Techno Knight of the realm. And as such is accorded all the rights and privileges associated with her post.”

He lowered the parchment with a smile to all and asked like it was a given, “Witnessed?”

A much louder, “Witnessed!” Came from our neighbors. I was so embarrassed I wanted to pop back inside but mother held me tightly in place.

She said quietly to me without moving her lips as she smiled at the man. “Be gracious and strong. It is your new station.” I nodded and stood tall and proud for her. The man smiled over to us and I inclined my head slightly which he returned, only lower. Then he almost jauntily started strolling farther down the lane, ringing his bell.

I acknowledged the stares from our neighbors with another tilt of my head then we turned and entered our home. Jace was bubbling with excitement. “Techno Knight Ascendant! My sister!” Mother smiled and ruffled his hair as I stood by the door, still trying to comprehend that this was really happening.

I just sort of mumbled, “He was a happy sort.”

This caused mother to chuckle as she dished out our food onto plates. “He most likely fought to get our area to announce. He is probably the most senior crier of the keep. It is so rare for a commoner to rise to the station of noble and he took great pleasure in watching our, and our neighbor's, reactions.”

We ate in relative silence and then I stood. “Jace, help mother clean up the dishes, I'll attend to the flock and morning chores. We have to attend my Lady at ten to finalize my appointment.” I smiled at speaking that out loud... my Lady. It sounded good saying that about Celeste.

I went about the chores and stutter stepped. Was this to be my final time doing them? I hadn't thought of what would happen to our flock and home once we were moved to the castle. I sat on one of the rain barrels as Father Sol rose above the horizon to warm the world. This was all I knew since I was old enough to walk. I was a herder, like my mother and father before me. I finished the chores in a daze.

I was sweaty and dirty and was going to the castle in... before I could look up the church bell pealed nine. Shit! I ran inside and almost fell over when I looked at mother. The locked trunk that was in the corner, covered in an old quilt, was open and mother was in an antique dress that would have been fit for a lady of the court if it hadn't been so moth ridden. Her hair was pulled back loosely with an emerald ribbon. She had Jace cleaned up and in his new tunic.

I blinked at mother, if it weren't for the condition of the dress, her gaunt features and sick pallor, she would have been stunning, regal even. I asked in my confusion, looking at the trunk that had been locked my entire life. “Mom?”

She smiled at me and then motioned me over to the bed. “Come, we need to get you presentable.” I sat and she sent Jace out to hitch Goliath to the wagon. Then my mother bathed me with a bucket and a towel like she did when I was small. After I dressed in my peasant dress, she used the handle of a fork like a pick, to weed out the tangles in my hair, then let it just drape down my back without braiding or putting it in a ponytail.

Then she went to the trunk and pulled out some slippers like I had not seen before. They had that black flexible stuff on the soles like Emily, matron of the library, had on her calfskin shoes. She smiled, “These were to be yours on your wedding day. I fear that will never come to pass, so for you, for your appointment to noble status.”

I put the slippers on and they felt soft as silk and were padded like a goose down pillow. They were made of calf skin and had the musk of disuse and storage. The tan hide was dry and cracking at the seams, they needed a good oiling, but they were simply gorgeous. I asked her, “How?”

Her eyes were sad and she said softly, “I fear all your questions will be answered soon enough sweet Laney. Just know how very proud I am of you.” She smiled and stood, “We mustn't keep your Lady waiting. All you do now reflects on her, so punctuality is now more important than ever. As Squire, you are beholden to her as your master until you become a knight.”

Then she added with a cute smile that made her look younger, a smile I have never seen on her before, “And we...” She moved her hand from herself and toward the door where Jace had gone. “...are of your house. You are baroness now, but cannot use the title until you are appointed knight.”

How did she know so much about what was going on? And what treasures did she hide in that chest?

She smiled at the door as we stood, “And little Jace is now a Lord as I am a Lady. To change to baron and baroness when you can freely use your title.” She held my arm and I could still feel her using me for support as we headed outside. She was overdoing it again.

We helped her into the wagon and then I had a thought and ran back inside to grab one of the baskets of eggs I had gathered that morning. When I took the reins with Jace on my lap so he could practice, mother gave me a questioning look. I said, “A gift for my Lady.”

She smiled and got a thoughtful look on her face. She seemed to soften and more stated than asked, “You're quite taken with her.”

I blushed and urged my beautiful stallion on toward the Crossbar. It felt sort of ominous, like I were leaving my old life behind. I paused and looked back at our little cottage. Mother's hand rested on my arm. I gave her a sad smile and continued on.

We reached the castle and I wasn't sure where I was to go. I pulled us into the livery courtyard. A stable boy ran out and helped mother down and I blushed when the boy offered a hand down to me. I shrugged at him, that was just silly. Then I hopped down myself with Jace landing energetically beside me. I was surprised at the springiness of the slippers, that flexible sole took most of the force of my landing. I grabbed the basket then the boy hopped into the wagon and grabbed the reins.

I looked at him then said, “Excuse me. I'm Laney Herder, I'm to meet Lady Celeste at ten. I'm not sure where I'm supposed to go. Then I added hastily. I'm her new squire.”

He nodded excitedly and bowed, “Everyone knows who you are Lady. The chicken farmer who would be knight. It is all over the keep.” He said it in a way that was not disparaging, instead his voice was tinged with pride and excitement. Then he pointed out of the courtyard toward the main entry. “Lady Celeste had been waiting there for you since nine. She's pacing and making everyone nervous.”

I looked over then at him as he was about to urge Goliath on. “Excuse me, where are you taking our wagon?”

He looked at me like I were daft. “The Lady instructed us to put your horse in the stables and have the wagon looked after.” Oh. I nodded and he smiled, giving us a bow and they were off.

We walked to the main entrance with me supporting mother. As we reached the great doors the two doormen standing at attention by the two guards armed with swords and long pikes stood at attention. The doormen grabbed the huge iron rings and heaved. We stepped into the foyer and the doors shut behind us.

I smiled at two familiar figures. Lady Celeste and Prime Techromancer Donovan were talking and turned to us when we stepped in. We bowed our heads, mother slapping Jace's shoulder and nudging her eyes down until he caught on and bowed. We looked up and I only had eyes for my Knight, and her smile was making my heart ache. We both paused when Donovan's voice, barely a whisper, broke the silence, sounding as though he had seen a ghost, “Lady Margret?”