Disclaimer – I do not own BMT world, it belongs to Trudi Canavan

Kelda's Plan

"Engage in a flirtation with Akkarin?" To her own ears Sonea's voice sounded high-pitched and incredulous, as she tried in vain to find the right sort of tone. The point of all of Kelda's questions was now obvious.

Kelda laughed briefly, "Does it sound that bad? You, yourself, admitted he was a handsome man. There are many who would like to try to engage his interest."

"But what about….her? Sonea, I mean."

Kelda didn't answer directly, but went on, "Black magicians are powerful, we all know that, and Akkarin is strong in ordinary magic too. However, it may be possible for enough of us to subdue or control Akkarin. Having another black magician like Sonea to deal with as well just makes the task harder. She is not here, he is on his own and therefore he might be more susceptible to an attack. If you can distract him, it gives us a greater chance to be successful."

"What if he doesn't want to be distracted? You said he was a cold man so it sounds as if the last thing he would do is respond to a flirtation."

"You don't do yourself justice, Jalette, you are a beautiful woman and I'm sure if you put your mind to it, you could have him interested in no time. We will be at the Fort for several days while the High Lord carries out his inspection. What better chance will you have?"

Sonea's brain was working furiously. Of all the things she might have expected Kelda to ask her to do, seducing Akkarin was not one of them. She laughed inwardly, if only Kelda knew how difficult it had been to seduce him in the first place, she wouldn't assume it was such an easy task! Despite herself, she couldn't help but think in other circumstances, an attempt to engage Akkarin's attention while in the guise of a much prettier woman would be greatly amusing. But of course, she couldn't risk it. Akkarin would see through her disguise very easily and she needed to avoid that at all costs. But, how could she deflect Kelda from her plan? Whatever excuse she came up with, it would have to be convincing. At the same time, she didn't want to drive Kelda away, as she was her best chance of finding out what was actually going on.

"I'm flattered that you think so," she eventually said. "However, everyone knows that he and Sonea are a couple, despite there being no marriage between them. They have been together for years….."

"Exactly!" Kelda exclaimed. "They have been together for years and everyone knows what can happen then; even the most devoted of lovers likes a little change now and again. Anyway, there's no evidence of a grand passion. He didn't want her to go with him originally, she insisted. They've been living in some hole in the corner place so she's had no rival to contend with. Now they're back at the Guild, he's rarely with her and did you know he ordered her to stay behind? Now what does that tell us about Akkarin and Sonea?"

Put like that, it did sound as if Akkarin was glad to be free of her for a while, but deep down, Sonea didn't believe it. He does love me, she told herself, but the old uncertainties were creeping back. Why did he make me stay behind? Kelda was looking at her expectantly so she needed to reply and quickly.

"How would I even get close to him? He's up with the High Lord or surrounded by his own Warriors most of the time. I can't just wander over and start a conversation."

"Have you forgotten you're a Healer, Jalette?" laughed Kelda and Sonea, who had done just that, felt her cheeks colour.

"Of course not," she said hastily, "but I don't see how that helps. He seems a very healthy man."

"You leave that to us. We can arrange things so you are put in his path, then all you have to do is work a little female magic."

"I really don't think this is a good idea, Kelda," she said hoping the desperation didn't show in her voice. "I'm not the sort of person who can play a part like this. I'm sure I'd be tongue-tied."

"Nonsense, you're an experienced Healer used to dealing with a whole range of people with many problems. How many times have you had to convince a sick person they will get better, when you know they won't, just to keep them calm? It's the same thing. Just convince Akkarin you find him fascinating or something, and let nature do the rest."

"You make it sound so easy!" Sonea muttered. "I don't agree. Please let me do something else to help your cause. I'd be willing to try anything, but not this. I…I'm afraid….."

"What are you afraid of?" Kelda asked sharply. "You won't be on your own, one of us will always be nearby."

"But you said he's powerful and who knows what being a black magician has done to twist his nature! Who knows how he will react. He might…might be..overwhelming…."

Kelda laughed again, "Good, we want him overwhelmed. That way, we can deal with him easily."

"What happens if I refuse the task? I'm not saying I will, I just want to understand how your group operates."

"Don't worry, it's a natural question. We've had people in the past who've had second thoughts. We can deal with it quite easily. All that happens is that one of us enters your mind and removes all the memories associated with our discussions. You will not feel anything and you won't remember anything either. We are safe from discovery and you will just carry on as if nothing had happened. Everyone wins."

That was the worst possible news Sonea could have received. If they entered her mind, they would discover her true identity. Even worse, they would have the secret of black magic. She must prevent that happening at all costs. Kelda had no other task for her, so she had no choice; she would have to go along with it and hope she could prevent Akkarin discovering her identity.

"That's very fair, Kelda. Now that I've had time to think about it, I'm sure I could do it," Sonea said after a moment.

Kelda's smile widened and she reached over to pat Sonea's shoulder, "That's really good news, Jalette! Now don't worry about how you will meet up with him, we'll do all that. You just think about how you will go about getting Akkarin's attention."

Soon afterwards, Kelda left her to ride alone and Sonea could think about how she was to prevent her identity being discovered. During the seven years since she had last been in the Guild, she had continued her studies into magic. Akkarin was a good teacher and with only one student to concentrate on, he had been able to develop her skills quite considerably. Her knowledge of magic was probably as good as many of the Higher Magicians now.

One of the first things they had worked on was her ability to shield herself. That had been one of her main weaknesses and it was important that, should they come into contact with a magician, their own power would go unnoticed. They had spent weeks developing her skill. Towards the end, Akkarin had sent her off and then tried to find her simply by sensing her power. At first, he discovered her three times out of four, but by the final week, she had succeeded in hiding herself from him every time.

If I could do that then, she thought, surely I can prevent him recognising my power now!

However, hiding out in the countryside was one thing, trying to do it, face-to-face was very different. What if he gets really close? Sonea brushed that thought aside. She had no choice, sometime soon, Kelda would arrange for her to be close to Akkarin, so she had to prepare herself.

She wrestled with the problem for the rest of the journey, and then later, around the table during the evening meal. She began to believe it might be possible and concentrated on the mechanism. She was confident in her ability to hide her power from others, even Akkarin, but she mustn't hide it completely. Akkarin would expect a Healer to have some power and he would obviously try to probe it, especially if she engaged in a flirtation. He would want to know who he was dealing with.

What she needed was some sort of different feel to her power, one that he wouldn't recognise. She thought back to the morning when she had taken power from the tree and the alien feel of it. Would that do it? She couldn't simply give off what, for want of a better name, she called 'green power' because that was a black magic trick to take power from trees. But if she could mix a little of it with her ordinary power, perhaps it would change it just enough to make it unrecognisable to him. That was all she needed, a different signature for her power.

Pleading tiredness, she took herself off to her bed soon after finishing her meal. There she lay quietly experimenting with mixing the tree power with her own, allowing tiny wisps of greenness to contaminate her human power, until she could sense a difference. Not too much, just enough to mask what would be immediately recognisable to Akkarin. Healers spent their lives experimenting with and using plant-based ingredients as part of their treatments. She could only hope that Akkarin's sense of the green element in her power would seem to him a natural part of being a Healer.

She drifted off to sleep, only to wake very early. She hadn't intended to sleep in the tent, just in case her disguise slipped while she was asleep, but she must have been more tired than she thought. She had a vague remembrance of disturbed dreams but couldn't remember any details. The others in her tent were sound asleep, so it seemed a good opportunity for her to find some more plant power. She dressed quickly and left the tent without disturbing any of her companions. Outside, the Eye was setting and the first faint traces of the soon to rise sun were becoming visible. She hadn't much time.

She avoided any contact with the patrolling Warriors or the busy servants and made her way out across a field towards a nearby wood. There she found a number of healthy trees, with a fair quantity of power. She drained several, more used now to the alien feel of it. For good measure, she took tiny trickles of power from a group of low-growing plants, then even tinier drops of power from some pretty white flowers dotted around the woodland. Perhaps some wisps of that would further change her power signature and be more in keeping with a Healer's work.

She was surprised at the power loss involved in her masquerade as Jalette. It had taken much more than she had realised, so she needed to replenish her store of power as much as she could. There was no other choice but to return to the trees. A dozen or so trees later, she began to feel almost complete. They would arrive at the Fort later today so she hoped there would be more conventional sources of power available, there were only so many trees she could face draining!

She returned to camp just in time for breakfast, then it was off again for the last part of her journey. She didn't see Kelda until much later, riding next to Regin. Obviously once she had agreed to Kelda's plan, there was no further need to cultivate her. The Alchemist had no wish, it seemed, to become Jalette's friend. Instead, Sonea found herself once again next to Mostyn, who was a talkative as ever, leaving her plenty of time to think about her own plans.

Her aim now, was to keep her identity secret from Akkarin. That had been true right from the beginning, but now she had the added complication of being thrust into his company, making her task that much more difficult. However, having examined it from every angle she could think of, Sonea was now convinced she had a workable plan to deal with that. Given the choice between discovery by Kelda and her friends, or possible discovery by Akkarin, there was really no option. After all, if Akkarin did penetrate her disguise, he would be angry that she had once again gone against his wishes, but he would not harm her. Kelda, on the other hand, would certainly try to. She had been right and had made the correct choice. Now all she had to do was stay in control of Trouble until they got to Corres Fort and she was convinced she would be able to do that easily after her recent practice.