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

Returning to Imardin

The journey was a mirror of their original one, even to down to the fact that Mostyn had reappeared from somewhere to ride again at her side. He was the same talkative Healer as ever, but she was grateful to have him there. She had been concerned that Kelda would seek her out again and Sonea was in no mood for verbal fencing. The pace, however, was different. In place of Balkan's relaxed progress, the procession kept up a brisk pace, not flat out, but certainly a lot faster than before. It looked as if they would be back in Imardin much earlier than she had thought.

One advantage of the increased pace was that Trouble seemed happier. There was less of his dancing around so Sonea felt more relaxed about riding him. This in turn improved the horse's demeanour considerably. I might even start to like riding him, she thought, but not for long, as Trouble caught a glimpse of a wind-ruffled bush and flattening his ears, began to fight to gallop away from the danger. She held him hard until her arms ached, determined not to let the horse get his head, luckily after a few minutes, with the offending tree now a good distance behind him, Trouble settled down again.

They passed the town where they had stopped before without slowing. If she sat up as tall as she could in the saddle, Sonea could see Akkarin riding at the head of the procession. Next to him was Brenin, apparently happy to ride close to the man he had accused of being a traitor only a few days ago. Now how did Akkarin manage that? she asked herself. Then she shrugged. If I could explain how Akkarin does things, I would be a much wiser person than I am. The thought made her smile and caused Mostyn to pause in his endless tale and in injured tones, ask what had amused her. She quickly reassured him that she was not laughing at him. Mostyn continued to stare at her for a second or two, before resuming his anecdote. I must be more careful, she admonished herself, I don't want to hurt his feelings, and resolved to pay closer attention to her riding companion.

They continued riding until sunset, with only quick stops for food. The servants were well practiced and set up meals very quickly. Mostly it was cold food, but it was plentiful and tasty. There was fruit juice, water or wine to wash it down. Immediately they finished, the servants packed everything away in a few minutes, and they were off again. They were still in the countryside, with no sign of a comfortable inn for the ranking magicians. It seemed that Akkarin was in a hurry to return to Imardin, so they stopped in a clearing, surrounded by trees rather than riding on to the next town. The guild servants began to quickly pitch the tents and prepare the evening meal.

To Sonea's surprise, it seemed Balkan had come prepared for a night in the countryside, just in case he could not find a suitable inn, because she caught sight of servants erecting an enormous, and richly decorated tent in the middle of the clearing. It was the High Lord's tent, conspicuous by the large gold incal painted on each panel and on the banners flying from the top. Sonea wondered who was going to sleep in it and watched fascinated to see who would take possession of it. She wondered if Akkarin would be the one, however it wasn't Akkarin, but Brenin who entered the tent, with some of the High Lord's Warriors. The biers were carefully unloaded from the carts and they too were taken into the tent.

Interesting, Sonea thought, I wonder where Akkarin is going to sleep….. He had made no move to join Brenin and the others in the large tent but spent time talking with his Warriors. Sonea kept out of his sight, not wishing to start another of those rather uncomfortable conversations with him. She was worried about the amount of magic she was using up to maintain Jalette's physical appearance and determined she would not sleep in the tent with the others, but seek a quiet place where she would become herself again.

She excused herself with talk of finding it difficult to breathe easily shut up in a tent, and took herself off with a blanket. The others had lost interest in her some time ago, and were so wrapped up in their own concerns that no one asked any awkward questions. She even wondered if many of them actually noticed her departure. Sonea walked some way out of the camp until she found a much smaller clearing, with barely enough space to lay out her blanket. It was surrounded by trees offering a plentiful supply of magic. She was more used to the alien green magic now, so it would not be such a shock to her system.

She rolled herself in the blanket and slowly let go of Jalette. It was such a relief not to have to maintain the physical presence of the other girl, it was if a heavy weight had been lifted from her. She closed her eyes, but sleep wouldn't come. Her thoughts kept going over and over what she had to do to extract herself from the possession. Images of the location and the magic required seemed to be on a loop which played over and over again.

After almost an hour of fruitlessly trying to sleep, Sonea sat up and untangled herself from the blanket. Rather than waste time, she decided to drain some of the trees. As she worked her way round the circle which enclosed her sleeping place, she began to relish the quiet flow of green magic. Unlike the rush of warm, almost hot, power from magicians which seemed to prepare her body for fighting, the green magic seemed to have a much calmer effect. She found herself soothed by it, the frantic circling of her thoughts slowed then ceased altogether.

By the time she had gone through a dozen or so trees, Sonea found herself once more desiring sleep. She rolled herself up in the blanket and this time, drifted off to sleep without any effort. For the first time in weeks, she slept soundly and without being troubled by dreams. She awoke just before dawn feeling refreshed and ready to face the challenges ahead.

She found the servants preparing breakfast when she returned to the area of her tent. Some of the others were already up, drinking mugs of tea and munching on fresh warm rolls. Sonea grabbed a couple of rolls and a mug of tea and sat down by the fire. There was little conversation as Healers and Alchemists concentrated on devouring their breakfast.

All too soon, things were packed away and they were on the move again. Mostyn, perhaps still upset by her amusement yesterday, deserted her for another. She carefully tucked herself in the middle of a group, hopefully where she would not be noticed by the likes of Kelda, and settled down to keeping her horse under control.

The calmness she had experienced with the intake of green magic still remained with her and she was able to appreciate the attractiveness of the countryside they were passing through. It wasn't long before she began to recognise landmarks. They were drawing near to where she needed to leave. She focused her magic inwards, trying to see if the power available was enough. She had never attempted such complicated magic before and couldn't avoid the butterflies in her stomach. She dreaded to think what would be the reaction if halfway through, she became Sonea. Or how she would manage if a nearby magician challenged her use of magic. They were bound to sense that powerful magic was being used. Her only hope there was to try a little diversion magic at the same time so the exact source would be hard to pinpoint.

She moved her horse a little closer to an Alchemist named Katya riding nearby and smiled brightly at the girl, inviting some conversation. She had had some conversation with the Alchemist in the past and had soon realised she was a bit of a social butterfly, only interested in parties and other informal gatherings. She would not be difficult to talk to. Katya quickly responded and soon Sonea was engaged in a meaningless exchange of views about various social events. She only needed a small part of her concentration to spend on their chatter, so the rest was being used to slowly create the illusion.

She had chosen to base her messenger on one of the young men who ran with the Thieves when she lived wild in Imardin. He had one of those faces that people forgot in a short while which was exactly what she needed. The horse was a bit more difficult, but it slowly came into being, a brown, nondescript animal, not particularly memorable either. Sonea examined the picture of her illusion in her mind. Yes, it was exactly what she needed. Now…..to bring it to life.

The magic she projected was powerful and even empty-headed little Katya started and looked around but Sonea quickly asked a question and Katya's attention was diverted. Sonea risked a quick glance round, but to her relief no-one else seemed to notice the burst of magic or if they did, where it had come from.

Sonea guided her illusion out of a wooded path and on to the road along which they were travelling. She made it stop and ask a question of one of the leading Warriors, then the messenger spurred his horse along the road towards her.

"Lady Jalette," the illusion said. "I have an urgent message for you." She made his voice ordinary but with a hint of excitement as if he had momentous news to impart. She excused herself to Katya and drew Trouble to the side of the road. She looked at the illusion, while keeping her attention on the progress of the procession out of the corner of her eye. She pretended to have a conversation and when she had judged sufficient time had passed, she caused the illusion to reach into a pouch by his side and take a folded piece of parchment which he handed to her.

She made a show of looking at it before speaking to the messenger, nodding as if in agreement. She was beginning to feel sweat forming on her forehead, a warning sign that she was expending too much power. She had to get rid of the illusion. Most of the procession had passed her by now. She had been seen talking to a messenger by dozens of magicians, just what she wanted. She nodded once again, and the illusion hauled his horse's head around and galloped back the way he had come. She got him into the trees as soon as she could and let go the magic, retaining only that which provided the faint sound of hooves disappearing into the distance.

The sweat dripped into her eyes, she had released the illusion just in time. She could feel her power levels start to settle down, but she had to hurry because Jalette was draining her power quicker than ever.

She needed to get away quickly. She kicked Trouble into a canter and set off for the head of the procession. She had no other choice but to present her excuses to Akkarin. In the absence of the High Lord and Administrator, he was the ranking magician with the group and it would have been very odd to have told another magician why she had to leave. She wasn't looking forward to it, but it would soon be over and she could say goodbye to Jalette for ever.

She wondered just how to broach the idea of her leaving, but in the event, she was saved the trouble.

Akkarin observed her approach and halted his horse to wait for her to catch up.

"A problem, Lady Jalette?" he enquired in that deceptively ordinary voice, but she could hear something not at all ordinary threading through it.

"Yes, Lord Akkarin," she said formally, "News from home. My mother has taken a turn for the worse and I am to return at once.

He stared at her and she could feel his mind reaching out to read her thoughts. Pulling her mental defences tightly around her, she projected concern and worry, with an impatience to be gone.

"I am sorry to hear that," he said softly, but all the while she could feel him battering away at her defences, trying to break through.

"If I leave from here, it will save me time, rather than retuning to the Guild and setting out from there. I will have to leave my things behind here, but I am sure they can be taken to my rooms when you return."

"If you think that best," he agreed. "I will make arrangements. When will you return, pretty Jalette?"

His use of the endearment unsettled her for a moment and she stammered a little with her reply, "I…I…I'm not sure. The message said my mother was a lot worse than before. I…I have to go Lord Akkarin."

He abruptly stopped trying to enter her mind and, instead, reached over and unhooked her hand from a reign, holding it firmly in his. Trouble, feeling the loss of a controlling hand, danced a little and it took a few moments to settle him down again.

This time, there was no mistaking the amusement in his eyes as he watched her attempts to calm the horse. "Are you sure you can manage?" he asked, "that horse seems a handful and you have a long way to go alone."

"Oh yes," she said with a confidence she didn't feel. "He will be fine."

"I rather wonder why the messenger didn't wait to accompany you," Akkarin murmured in a solicitous tone. "It is unusual in my experience to leave a pretty young woman to find her way across country by herself."

Sonea cursed herself silently for not foreseeing this and thought quickly before inventing a need for the messenger to carry out another task before meeting her at a respectable inn a few miles down the road.

Akkarin listened to her, then smiled warmly at her when she'd finished as if her hastily invented explanation made complete sense, "You have everything well organised, pretty Jalette. Don't forget about my offer. I look forward to seeing you soon in Imardin." He bent over her hand and before she realised what he meant to do, he kissed the centre of her palm.

She wrenched her hand away and pulled the horse's head around. "I have to go, Lord Akkarin."

She didn't wait for any reply, but dug her heels savagely into Trouble's side. He took great exception to this treatment and shot away down the road as fast as he could go. She hung on, hoping that no-one would try to come to her aid. Trouble lengthened his stride and it was all she could do to keep him straight and level. The road curved round to the right and she knew she was out of sight of the others. She concentrated on clinging on, while trying to slow Trouble down. It seemed to take forever, but at last she could feel the horse's pace slacken and then slow. By the time she had him fully under control, she had travelled some distance from the others.

She looked around. There should be a turning off to the left which would take her in a slow circle around to an inconspicuous route into Imardin which she doubted many magicians would know. If she kept up a steady pace, she would be back in the Guild at least half a day ahead of the others, plenty of time for Sonea to emerge from her sickroom and be ready to welcome back her errant companion.