Disclaimer – I do not own BMT world – it belongs to Trudi Canavan
Prologue
Neris glanced at herself in the large mirror in the main corridor. She smoothed the silver-grey of her skirts and made sure that her dark grey apron was without a crease. It was not every day that a delegation of the highest magicians in the Guild came to Clunitan, a smallish village, clinging rather desperately to the hillside at the foot of the Grey Mountains, mid-way between Windrest and the Northern Fort. It was about as far away as you could get from Imardin and still be in Kyralia. Still, I suppose that's why I was sent here, she thought, resentment still colouring her thoughts so many years after her reluctant arrival.
She looked again at her reflection. It showed a neatly attired Guild housekeeper, with an oval face and smooth, light brown hair parted in the middle and pinned tidily back in a bun. Her eyes were a curious shade, not exactly blue, nor precisely grey either. In her youth, they had often seemed a different colour depending on what she wore and she had taken great pleasure in choosing just the right colour to set them off. Now, however, she mostly wore shades of grey, so their blueness was dimmed. She adjusted the collar of her white shirt, so that her necklace was hidden. There were rules about wearing jewellery, but she had always worn the chain with its gold pendant since being given it and had no intention of stopping now, just because an important visitor from the capital might inspect her.
"Well, here I am," she said softly, "All dressed up in my best uniform, ready to meet….." She paused for a moment, "….ready to meet…the important magicians from the Guild. Housekeeper Neris, of the Community of Magicians of Clunitan, at your service!"
She made a mock curtsey to herself in the mirror and was pleased to note that she had the depth and angle just right.
"My magicians will have no need to worry I'll disgrace them!"
"Neris? Neris, where are you? It's almost time!" a voice called from downstairs.
"I'm coming!" she called and took one last glance in the mirror before hurrying down to the entrance hall where her anxious little team were waiting.
There was a lot of activity around the main door. The hall was neither big nor impressive and the fact that there were several people milling around in it made it appear even smaller than usual. Luckily, the magicians had not yet made an appearance, so Neris had an opportunity to organise the servants into something resembling an ordered group.
She had decided that trying to organise the domestic staff into anything which might be construed as rank would create more problems than it solved. After all, how did anyone decide whether a cook was more important than the stablemaster, or whether the younger, indoor servants were of a higher status than the older, outdoor servants? So, once notice of the visit had been given, Neris had decided that the staff would be arranged in order of height, regardless of any notion of importance. There had been a few grumbles at first, but eventually she had won them over.
She chided them into position and stood back to regard the picture they made and nodded, pleased with the outcome.
"Good, that looks very smart." She looked more closely at the younger ones, "Stand up straight, Verat, there's a good girl. No slouching today! I don't have to remind you all that this is a most important occasion, the first time we have had such high ranking visitors from the Guild and we want to do our magicians justice and show just how efficient we country servants can be."
"But why are they coming to Clunitan, Neris?" Verat asked, screwing up her face, "There's nothing much here, after all!"
Neris reminded herself that Verat was only twelve and very new to her position as a kitchen maid, and smiled, rather than glared, at the girl, "You heard what Lord Tommen said when the message arrived. The High Lord has ordered that as many people as possible should be tested to see if they have magic, so groups of Higher Magicians are travelling to remote parts of the Kingdom to carry out the tests. The High Lord himself, along with the Administrator and other very important magicians, are visiting some of the places to see the tests carried out for themselves. We were chosen for this honour because we are a remote community…."
"Will we be tested too?" interrupted one of the grooms.
She glared at him, "How would I know what the High Lord intends to do? All I know is that he is coming here, he will stay a day or two, then he will go somewhere else. And the sooner he goes somewhere else, the sooner we can all get back to normal!"
Someone laughed and said that Neris would soon deal with the High Lord if he started to be a nuisance, and the rest of the group joined in the guffaws which followed this statement.
It was at this moment that Lord Tommen, the Magician-in-Charge of the Community chose to make his appearance. He was the oldest magician living at Clunitan, a Healer by discipline who had chosen to work in this remote village as soon as he had graduated from the Guild. He had married a local girl, many years dead now along with their child, but he had never expressed any interest in moving on. He was a gentle man and had done much to ease Neris's grief when she had first arrived.
"Now, now, what's going on here, Neris?" he asked, a twinkle in his faded brown eyes. "Haven't you managed to organise them yet?"
Neris dipped in a servant's quick bob, a cross between a formal bow and a curtsy, and smiled at him, "All is well, Lord Tommen. We were just trying to relax a little, before our important guests arrive."
One by one, the other magicians began to assemble. In addition to Tommen, there was another Healer, Lady Marigold, and an Alchemist, Lord Stepan and three Warriors, Lords Makon, Igrond and Marceny. All were dressed in their best robes and they had evidently taken a lot of trouble over their appearance. Neris smiled to herself when she saw that Lady Marigold had managed to get her usually riotous brown curls under control with the help of a fine net and some pins.
Tommen fussed around them for a few minutes, then ushered the magicians outside to form the official greeting party. The domestic staff remained inside and Neris found herself moving back into the shadows, as if she would disappear from the hall.
This is so silly, she thought furiously, It will all be over soon and I can go back to my routine.
Standing at the back, she felt herself grow cold and her throat become dry. She could feel the beating of her heart, much louder than usual. She wiped her sweaty hands down the sides of her skirt, hoping it wouldn't leave a mark. How much longer?
Tommen reappeared in the doorway, "I can see the horses just entering the far end of the lane," he announced, then paused. "Neris, where are you? You are the Housekeeper! You should be here, right by the door, so you can introduce the staff!"
She forced herself to move to where Tommen indicated, a prominent position which could not be overlooked by anyone entering the building. She knew it was no use arguing, Tommen would simply tell her not to be so silly, so she gave in with good grace, smiling at him reassuringly.
He patted her on the shoulder, "Good girl, Neris. I know I can rely on you to do things right."
So they were all in position, the younger servants, craning their necks to try to see what was happening outside, the older ones trying to be nonchalant, but curious all the same. Neris could hear the sounds of horses coming closer at a steady pace. It won't be long now, she thought as her throat became even drier. She reached into a pocket and took out the small sweet she'd had the foresight to bring for an occasion such as this. She would have to name the staff when she presented them, and it wouldn't do to have her voice fail. She slipped it into her mouth, relishing the sudden rush of saliva with its moistening effect.
The sound of the horses reached a crescendo then ceased, as the party arrived. She could hear the noise of people dismounting and exchanging words with the magicians outside. She could even hear Lady Marigold's laughter, carried on the breeze. She stared down at the patch of sunlight which streamed in through the open doorway and watched the shadows race across it as people moved towards the building.
"The High Lord Akkarin, of family Delvon, House Velan," announced Lord Tommen formally, "Together with Administrator Lorlen and Lady Sonea."
Neris kept her eyes on the sunlight, so the first thing she saw of him was the heavy black silk of his formal robes and the glimpse of a highly polished black leather boot.
"May I present my Housekeeper, Neris?" She head Tommen's voice as if it came from a long way away.
She began to look up, eyes following the flowing blackness of the silk, up and up. How had she forgotten just how tall he was? Up and still up until she could see the beginnings of pale skin, made even paler by the darkness which enclosed it.
At last, her eyes reached his face and seventeen years vanished in a instant as she saw again the pale, flawless oval of his face, the chiselled lips with their crooked smile, the long straight nose and the large, bottomless black eyes smiling at her as he said gently, "Neris?".
"Yes, Lord Akkarin…" her voice died away as she sank into a deep formal curtsy.
She heard him say to Tommen, "But Neris and I are old friends…" and felt him take her hand to raise her up. Her hand trembled slightly and she felt his long, elegant fingers close over hers firmly to support her as she rose. He kept hold of her hand and bowing slightly, much to her surprise, he kissed the back of it. She head a sharp intake of breath from Tommen but the High Lord seemed to have noticed nothing.
He turned and spoke to someone behind him, "Lorlen, come and see who's here! It's Neris, our faithful servant from the Guild!"
She was suddenly confronted by a familiar figure, dressed in blue robes, who seized her around the waist and swung her around, calling out her name just like he used to do when he was a novice, "Neris, Neris, it's so good to see you again! And so elegant in your Housekeeper's uniform!" Lorlen's merry green eyes smiled into hers and he gave her two hearty kisses, one on each cheek, much to the astonishment of the other servants.
The High Lord turned to Tommen and smiled disarmingly, "You'll have to forgive us, Lord Tommen, but we haven't seen Neris for many years. She looked after us when we were novices and saw we were always well turned out and our rooms were kept tidy."
Neris stared at the High Lord's face. She knew that magicians aged much more slowly than ordinary people, but it was hard to realise that he was seventeen years older than the last time she'd seen him. She would have sworn any sort of oath that he hadn't changed at all. It was still the face which haunted her dreams, the face that she kept in her heart, the face of the man she loved.
She was conscious of a third person partially hidden behind Lorlen, so she wasn't completely surprised when Akkarin said, "Sonea, come here, there's someone you must meet." He turned to Neris and said gently, "This is Lady Sonea, my wife."
Neris looked at her curiously. She had heard many tales of the Warrior who had been the High Lord's Novice, and then his wife. Lady Sonea was smaller than she'd expected, but rather pretty, with the typical dark hair and eyes of a Kyralian. She was dressed in the deep red robes of a Warrior and Neris had to confess that they suited her, certainly much better than they suited the ginger-haired Lord Igrond!
"Pleased to meet you, Neris."
Her voice was low and musical and she seemed genuinely pleased to be introduced to a servant by her husband. Not many high-ranking magicians would have appeared so pleased, Neris thought, then she remembered that the high-ranking Lady Sonea had been born a dwell, a person of the lowest social class.
"Perhaps you would present the staff to the High Lord," Tommen reminded her.
She felt the colour blossom in her cheeks as she introduced each one. The High Lord and Administrator acknowledged the bows and bobs of the group and then as suddenly as they had arrived, they vanished from the hall into the house's guest room, where, Neris knew, refreshments were waiting. She had organised two of the other servants to serve the food and drink, so that she wouldn't have to. It would be more than she could bear to be so close to him but without the opportunity to have a private word.
She escaped the teasing questions of her team, who were surprised that the High Lord himself knew their Housekeeper, and sought the solitude of her own room. It was at the top of the house, hot in summer and cold in winter, but it was her own space and she had been able to organise it exactly how she liked it. She shut and locked the door and sank down on the bed.
Seventeen years of controlling how I feel and locking up my memories overturned in a moment, she thought miserably. One glimpse of his face, a kind word and a kiss on a hand and I am lost again.
She could feel the tears start as she thought back to what had happened all those years ago, when she had been young.