Disclaimer – I do not own BMT world, it belongs to Trudi Canavan
Lady Sonea's Novice
It seemed to Alysa that ever since Morwhellin had revealed she must stay in the Guild, her world had been spinning out of control. Everything seemed to happen so fast. They had been treating Lady Sonea for weeks, no obvious signs of progress at all, then suddenly, Morwhellin declared that the balefire had gone and Lady Sonea was ready to rejoin her husband.
Alysa still couldn't quite grasp how it had happened. One minute it was all spells, incantations and moon dancing, the next the door was opened and it was all over, she mused. She went over it all again in her mind, but this time, she remembered one crucial fact. My moon cycles, she thought. They started a few days before the cure. Perhaps that was what Morwhellin was waiting for!
She was well aware of the importance of moon cycles for her Elyne magic. It was only when these started, that a young witch came fully into her powers. She remembered her grandmother had increased the pace of her lessons, as if time was running out, as indeed it turned out to be.
No one had told her when Morwhellin was to leave. She had gone to bed one evening as usual, but the next morning, her grandmother's bed was empty and her meagre possessions gone. Viola, Lady Sonea's servant, had woken her and passed over the message Morwhellin had left. It didn't say much, she remembered, merely that she was now alone in her new place and how she must do her best to learn the Kyralian magic.
A little while later, Lady Sonea had come to see her.
"You will have your own room, now," she had said, speaking slowly so that Alysa would understand. "It's the one I used when I became the High Lord's Novice, so I know you will like it. I have many happy memories of studying with my Guardian and I will be able to spend time, helping you with your studies."
Alysa had stared at her curiously. Morwhellin had explained the spell she'd implanted which made Lady Sonea want to have her for her novice and what would happen if the High Lord forbade it. Alysa felt guilty that such a thing had been done, but Morwhellin had dismissed her concerns contemptuously. Alysa had continued to worry about it for a few days, before the pressure to learn more and more magic had caused her to put it to one side. Now, all she could see was Lady Sonea's apparent happiness at the prospect of becoming the young Elyne girl's guardian.
Deep down, Alysa was very happy about it too because she liked Lady Sonea very much. It did cross her mind that perhaps her grandmother had bespelled her too, but she decided not to think about how it happened and just get on with things.
So, here she was, sitting at her desk in her comfortable room, working on her Kyralian grammar. She had already spent a couple of hours copying out verb tables and completing some exercises. She loathed the language study, but it was obvious that she must quickly master the foreign tongue, otherwise she wouldn't be able to understand any of the lessons.
She was due to start classes when the next intake of students arrived in a few weeks. She was already wearing the brown novice's robes, gradually getting used to the feel of the strange trousers and shirt and the three-quarter-length novice magician's robe which was worn on top.
"The colour's horrible," she said out loud. "The material doesn't feel very nice and I look like a walking mud pile!"
She pushed the books aside and stood up. She walked over to the mirror and studied her reflection. She thought she had grown a little since coming to Imardin. She was nearly as tall as Lady Sonea now. The pale oval of her face peeped out, half-hidden, from under her wild mass of dark red hair, her dark green eyes staring intently at her image. No, she thought, These horrible brown clothes don't look any better when I can see the whole of me!
The door opened and Lady Sonea came into the room. She laughed when she saw her novice staring into the mirror.
"It's strange, isn't it?" she said cheerfully, "I remember the first time I put on robes, all that material getting in the way. I was used to much more practical garments, clothes you could climb buildings in!"
She came over and stood next to Alysa and regarded their two images. I was right, Alysa thought, I am nearly as tall as her. She looked at Sonea, and thought how the deep red of the Warrior's robe suited her. Shall I be a Warrior? she wondered. I'm surprised Morwhellin didn't leave orders telling me which section to join!
Lady Sonea must have been thinking along similar lines, because she said, "I'm not sure Warrior red would suit you with that hair! The Guild has lots of complicated rules about what magicians can and cannot wear and such a limited range of colours – red, green or purple for the most part, dark blue for the Administrator and black for the High Lord, nothing else except novice brown of course. Now let's see about that hair."
She sat Alysa down in a chair and proceeded to brush the tangles from her thick curls.
"You'll have to keep your hair tidy when you attend classes, you know. Perhaps you should have it cut short."
"Oh no!" Alysa said quickly, "I can't cut my hair. We never cut our hair, it's one of our rules!"
Sonea regarded her steadily for a moment, then said, "Well, you're in the Guild now, not running free in your mountain village. There will be a lot of things you'll have to do you wouldn't do at home. It will be hard work…..I know, it was the same for me."
She looked down at the child and patted her gently on the shoulder, "All right, no hair cutting for now, but you must keep it out of the way." She began to plait the hair into a single thick rope which reached almost to Alysa's waist. "There, that'll do for now."
Alysa stared at her reflection. She looked so different with her hair pulled tightly back, leaving her whole face exposed. She sighed. I suppose I'll have to get used to lots of new things, now…..
Sonea checked her work and nodded approvingly, "You're making good progress with the written work, you seem to understand what I say, and you are much more fluent now, so by the time your classes start, you will be able to cope." She flicked over a few pages, "Now, try this exercise. I'll be back later to see how you've been getting on."
oooOOOooo
Akkarin was working through some papers, when Sonea came into the library. He looked up and smiled warmly. These days, he was always pleased to see her.
"And how is your novice getting on?" he asked.
She came over and dropped a kiss on his cheek, "I've just left her working through the grammar book." She grinned suddenly, "I don't think she likes her new robes! I found her frowning at her image in the mirror."
Akkarin fetched her a glass of fruit juice and encouraged her to sit in a comfortable chair. The birth wasn't very far away now, and she tired easily. He waited until she was settled before handing her the drink. As she sipped, he studied her surface thoughts and as he expected, they were taken up with the girl.
I curse you to hell and back Morwhellin, he thought savagely. Foisting that child on us in such a way that I can do nothing about it!
He had tried several times to deep read Sonea's mind in an effort to discover where the spell was hidden, but he had found nothing. The witch was cleverer than he had expected, which made him angrier still. He had experimented with making suggestions that perhaps the child would be better off in the Novices' Quarters once the term started, or that someone else could share the guardianship of her, but Sonea's expression had grown grim and she had narrowed her eyes in a particularly unpleasant way, so he had desisted. There was no doubt that Morwhellin's threat was true, if he prevented Sonea from having the girl close to her, she would hate him. And I cannot risk that, he thought.
He became aware that she had stopped talking and was looking at him expectantly, so he was forced to confess he hadn't been listening.
"Typical!" Sonea said, a mock frown on her face, "Just mention childbirth, and men just find something else to think about!"
Very understandable, he thought, but schooled his face to show nothing of that feeling.
"I was saying that Vinara thinks the birth could happen anytime now and she wants to have a Healer staying in the Residence, just in case. She's got one from that village…..oh, I forget the name, but it's the one where there are a lot of twin births. Anyway, this Healer, Willen, I think her name is, has arrived and Vinara wants her to move in today. You don't mind, do you?"
She looked at him anxiously, as she remembered his dislike of having a lot of strangers in his Residence. He could easily read her concern and moved quickly to reassure her.
"No, of course not. If Vinara thinks it necessary, then Willen must come as soon as possible."
She smiled at him, "It will soon be over and I shall be so pleased. I feel like an enormous elephant and the sooner I can get back to my Warrior training, the happier I shall be."
OooOOOooo
Alysa threw down the book and stretched her shoulders. She had finally finished and now all she had to worry about was dinner. Every evening, she had to dine with Lady Sonea and her husband. She had finally stopped thinking about him as the Black Sorcerer, but couldn't bring herself to refer to him as Lord Akkarin or High Lord. To her, he would always be the Dark Lord and she avoided using his name or title when speaking to him. In fact, she avoided speaking to him at all, if she could possibly avoid it.
Now that her powers were fully developed, she was even more conscious of the dark, swirling cloud which surrounded him. She could see darker tendrils amongst the sinister fingers of power which enclosed him completely. Occasionally there were silver flashes, almost as if there were silent lightning strikes in the cloud. He had caught her staring at him on a couple of occasions and she could feel his power bearing down on her, trying to get into her mind, but she could repel him much more easily now and he had been unable to penetrate her defences.
She could feel his frustration and the last time, she had allowed some of her glee at his discomfiture to seep out. He had looked surprised for a moment, before his expression reverted to its usual calm and distant look. She treasured that moment of triumph and often replayed it in her mind.
She glanced at the clock. It was almost time to go down. The Dark Lord didn't like people to be late for meals and Takan certainly didn't. She sighed a little. Morwhellin had obviously left strict instructions about her food because no meat or fish dish was ever offered to her. Luckily, Takan was an excellent and inventive cook, so the vegetable dishes were very tasty. Still, a part of her wanted to taste the forbidden food, but she knew she never would disobey Morwhellin. She sighed again. It was time to go.
With any luck, I'll be able to keep my eyes on my plate and concentrate on my food. If I eat quickly, I can be back here in no time.
