The Secret Magic: 1: Complications

By: Karigan Marie

Chapter 6: First of Few

4 months later:

Majestic torches lit the banquet hall. The best tapestries hung from the walls, giving the mighty room a sense of warmth. Rows of tables placed strategically in advantage of the space. They lined the layout of the great rectangular room, with one richly carved table placed at the opposite side of the grand wooden double doors. Servants ran around frantically sorting out the last details on all the tables. They straitened napkins, made sure there were no spots on the crystal glasses, and set up hundreds of candles for lighting. Pitchers of water, juice, and wine were at all the small side stations; ready for a servant to grab it up quickly. Soon, all the guests would arrive to celebrate Jonathan's 20th year as reigning monarch, and their worst nightmares would surface; pompous, stuck up, demanding, intolerable court nobles.

Daine sprinted down the hall, Kitten hot on her heals. 'Could this day get any shorter?' she thought with annoyance. She was late. Very late. Onua was going to kill her. She was supposed to meet the formidable horse mistress at the palace gates twenty minutes ago. But one of the palace cats had gotten into a vicious fight with one of the strays that occasionally got into the palace. The poor little Tomcat had lost and lost bad. It had taken nearly an hour to heal the suffering little animal. Now, she ran for all she was worth down the corridors praying for dear life that Onua hadn't left for the market place without her. They were supposed to go pick up her uniform.

Yes, uniform. Daine now had an official uniform. Two years ago, the priests at the City of the Gods had given her the honorable rank of Mage. On top of that, Jonathan had bestowed upon her the original title of Wild Mage. There weren't any fancy robes or decorations for this new form of Wizardry. But last year, in Serain, another person, a boy around the age of 10, had shown signs of Wild Magic as well. The powers weren't as great as hers perhaps, but enough to have need to be trained. Then yet another person had surfaced. Apparently, now that it was widely known that wild magic existed, more and more people were found with it. The Priest had proceeded to insist that some sort of robe be attached to the rank of Wild Mage; one that only those with that rank could wear.

Since she was currently the only Wild Mage, they had given her some say in the matter. She didn't want a robe. As Numair had complained, they were too thick and hot. She had gone to the Queen and begged for help. The design they had come up with had Daine feeling somewhat like a soldier, and she had said as much. Queen Thayet simply replied that if she didn't want a robe, she had to have a uniform. The Priest would not accept anything else. Next thing she knew, Daine had been shuffled off to the finest shop in Corrus to get measured for the first Wild Mage uniform. Tonight would be the first time she would wear it. That would have made her nervous enough; but to top it all off, somehow, everyone had found out about it. She didn't like people staring at her. This was going to be horrible.

Grimacing at how late she was, Daine decided to take a short cut through the Mages corridors. Making a sharp turn around a corner, she was caught completely off guard. A girl, maybe of eight or nine years, backed out of one of the doors, closing it behind her. Daine slammed into the poor child. They both went flying to the floor, the contents the girl was holding crashing to the floor. Daine hit the ground with an un-lady like "oomph,"; the girl let out a small squeak like sound. Kitten sat two feet away, her head tilted to her side slightly, as if asking why they were on the floor.

"I'm so sorry," Daine said as she got to her feet. She walked over to the stunned girl and helped her stand.

"That's alright," She said while dusting herself off. She then bent down and picked up a handful of scrolls with a pair of worn brown leather gloves.

Curiosity picked at Daine's brain for a moment before the girl spoke up again. "Master Connor sent me down here to fetch his scrolls. He's working on some Rubian translations. He'll be angered if I take too long. I should go."

"Sure," Daine agreed hesitantly. Why was there something about what she said that she couldn't quite pick out? The great bell chimed loudly, making Daine jump. "Oh for the love of…" She again made a mad dash down the hall. Taking the steps three at a time, almost killing herself in the process, she slammed out one of the many entrances to the yard and raced towards the stables.

She saw Onua walk around the corner of the stables with her arms crossed over her chest, a perturbed frown marring her face. She turned in time to see Daine skid to stop in front of her. "Running a bit late are we?"

"I'm sorry, Onua; it's just that there was this ca…"

Onua held up her hand. "No time for explanations. We have to get to the Market. Come on." She turned and walked towards an already tacked up Cloud and Mangle. Daine picked up Kitten and trotted after her.

They walked into the shop and were immediately assaulted by the shop's owner, Karrin. "Where on earth have you two been? The banquet starts in two hours and you haven't even tried on the uniform," she scolded. Karrin looked back at one of her assistance and said quickly, "Maya, bring the uniform, we need to…" she stopped suddenly as she got a look at Daine. She looked her up and down with a look of horror. Daine looked at herself as well. Her tunic was stained from the various falls she'd had today, her breeches had grass stains on them, her hair was a mess of tangles and she noticed her fingernails had dirt under them. She looked back at Karrin and smiled weakly. "You haven't even bathed today, have you?" She asked with wide eyes.

"Well, no. I was go…"

Again, she was cut off. "Maya, go prepare the tub with hot water. We have our work cut out for us." Turning back to Daine, Karrin grabbed her hand and dragged her to the back, berating her lack planning, Kitten trilling angrily at her as well.

"I'm sorry," Daine sighed out loud. She wondered how many times she had said that today.

Daine couldn't believe the next two hours. They had bathed her, scrubbing at her skin with nearly unbearably hot water until she was pink, scrubbed her hair with soup, twice, and put a cream in it, claiming it would tame her curls for a few hours. Then, they had rubbed her down with lotions and oils, cleaned her nails and dried her hair. She looked over to where Onua was getting ready and scowled. "Why aren't they doing this to you?"

"Because," Onua laughed, "I'm not going to be starred at by all the mages and nobles. You have to make an impression tonight, Daine."

"That's right," Karrin said. "This uniform will be forever connected to your magic. A lot of time and money went into the creation of it. If it pleases the Priests tonight, they will make it sacred. So not only must you pull off a spectacular entrance, you have to shine."

Daine furrowed her eyebrows. "How much money?"

"Fifty gold Nobles," said Maya.

"What?" Daine screeched. "I'm going to be wearing fifty gold Nobles?"

"No," said Karrin dryly. "You're going to be wearing an outfit that costs 50 gold Nobles." Kitten whistled with amazement.

"What in Shakith's name could make a uniform cost fifty gold Nobles?" Daine asked.

"You'll see," was the only answer she received.

Daine starred at the full-length mirror in front of her with wide eyes and swallowed slowly. She couldn't believe her eyes. The woman she saw in the mirror looked… amazing. She wore golden-brown breeches made out of the softest cloth. Her tunic was white, reaching down to mid-thigh with slits that reached up to her hips on the outside of her legs. The slits, along with the bottom border of the shirt had an inch and a half thick lining of gold cloth. The collar was completely gold cloth; as well as the lining in the V neckline. A brown leather belt with small round pieces of gold spaced evenly around it fit the tunic to her modest curves perfectly. The buckle of the belt had a golden horseshoe with wings, the Wild Magic insignia, outlined in gold. Another belt, this one matching the golden brown of her breeches hung right below the first. Hooked right below the brown belt on her right side, it left the other side to fall at a slight angle on her hip, a sheathing belt. The angle, meant to give access to a gold handled dagger, also had small round pieces of gold evenly spaced around it. If she reached across with her right hand, she could reach the dagger for defense; although the uniform was not made to fight in, it was a state uniform. The same style of dark brown leather from the first belt was used for her boots. They reached up to just below her knees ending in a slight upward point in the front. The top of the boots had a thin gold trim line to match the tunic. Larger round pieces of gold than were found on her belt had been placed directly underneath the gold lining following the curved design, with a green crystal surrounded by gold on the center front piece.

On top of all this, was a deep rich hunter green coat made of thicker cotton reaching down to just above her knees. A collar of the same color as her boots had been attached and had a thin gold line less than an inch from the border. It was cut to blend with the gold collar on her tunic. The coat collar reached to almost the end of her shoulders. The sleeves, which reached down to her wrist, where folded back once to create slightly lighter cuffs. The very end again lined with a thin gold band. Four brown buttons where set on the edge of the coat with matching gold rimmed slits on the other side. Two thin lines of gold thread ran across the bottom of the coat.

They had braided her hair, which now reached down to the middle of her back, with tiny threads of gold, making her hair shimmer when she moved. Small strands of curly hair had been left out to frame her face. Dark emerald ear rings that Numair had given her for her birthday matched suspiciously to her outfit. They had kept the face paint to a minimum. Karrin had said she should let her natural beauty balance out the splendor of the uniform. 'Uniform! Ha!' she thought. She could never think of this outfit as a simple uniform.

She was afraid to move or even breathe. Never had she worried about scuffing her boots before. But now, with these boots, which surely cost five Nobles each, she would have to walk like a stork not to mess them up. She had to admit, she'd never felt so beautiful before. Which was odd really, she had worn dresses she thought that would have made her feel more beautiful. But something about the uniform boosted her self-confidence. She felt like she could walk into a room of kings and still be important.

Kitten whistled in appreciation and turned a beautiful deep blue of pleasure. Onua had an odd look on her face. "What?" Daine asked finally.

Onua shook her head slowly. "Daine, I don't believe I've ever seen anyone pull off a piece of clothing like you are right now."

Daine arched an eyebrow. "I'm sure there will be plenty of gorgeous noble women at the celebration, Onua."

"Yes, but it's not the same. Besides Daine, you are the first of a select few. Your station is going to be as important as a black robe with the Gift. And the rarity of your magic makes you all the more important. You haven't even reached your full potential yet, Daine. You're only twenty-one. Imagine the power you will have in ten years." Onua smiled. "You think that the first to wear the black robe didn't have to be shown off as well." She sighed. The Great Bell chimed, its ring could be heard from near a mile away. "There is no escaping that bell. Come on, we're late."

With that, they thanked Karrin and Maya and headed off back to the palace. Daine begged Cloud with every inch of magic she had not to get her dirty. She thought Onua looked very nice too. Her silk tunic and breaches brought out the dark brown of her eyes. She didn't notice the people stop along side them as she talked to Onua. She didn't notice the guards look at her with awe and lust.

When they finally got to the entrance of the hall a half hour late, Daine tried to swallow past the lump in he throat, but it was too dry. She was really going to be starred at after arriving late. To her delight however, another noble couple had arrived late as well. They entered before them and were announced by the herald. "Ready?" She heard Onua ask.

"No," was her weak reply. They stepped through the doors. The herald opened his eyes wide at her and then smiled. Nodding to Onua in recognition he called out there names.

"Onua Chamtong, of the K'miri Raadeh and the Wild Mage, Veralidaine Salmalin."

Daine held her breath as people turned to look and then stare in astonishment. 'Oh dear,' she thought in sudden panic.