MageLord: Unwanted Beauty

A/N: Hello again, I realize that this begins another subplot, please know that we will be seeing Thom and Helene again next chapter. Not to worry.

"When cities hold their breath, when animals pause and then flee, when old women wake in the middle of the night and old men once again carry weapons, those are the warnings for great disasters. Such warnings usually go unheeded by the masses, and those who listen are called crazy. Crazy for listening to natural warnings? Crazy for a quiet soul? If that is the accusation then yes! Yes!- I am crazy! Downright insane! And I will gladly take the criticism and prejudice thrown at me. For it appears that in this city that holds it's breath I am the only one that realizes a disaster comes ever closer.

"Do you honestly think that the storm coming from the east is natural? That the plague of rats that has recently come down upon us mere chance? The disappearance of our siege supplies a grand miscalculation? How can you believe that the unmannered man who appeared and overnight becomes the palace sorcerer was really the priest of a god of old? He who offends the princess, seduces the queen and half of the women of court while he had food in his beard was just uneducated? Are you so blind that you cannot see the sorcery that has befallen you? You, some of the greatest sorcerers know to this land?" The voice that rang clearly throughout the mages chamber was young, and very female. It was the voice of one of the most controversial and promising students ever to have graced the city of the gods. And as usual, Lily of DeLorento was causing trouble, and as usual she was feeling like everyone in the room was thinking that she was an idiot. And as usual she was thinking that she would really like to curl up in a hole and die far away from the mages council.

The oldest and wisest of the mages looked slightly intrigued and slightly embarrassed. Before speaking he cleared his throat in a manner that was questioning. "You are suggesting that the lady Kallisto's husband is a mage?" He asked to clarify.

"Yes, High Magus." Her speech was passionate, and her mind was begging them to understand that her accusations were not only plausible but true.

"So you are therefore suggesting that the members of this council are not strong enough to know when an enemy mage is in our territory?" Magus Adolph was a terrifying man, he was old enough to be her father, but full of the same amount of power found in young men. He was rumored to have shut several students up in walls after they offended him. Lily's common sense was screaming that she had just offended one of the only men she had ever feared.

"No sir, I was merely suggesting that this man was as powerful, and able to hide is aura. It can be done sir, I read in –" Her voice failed her when Magus Adolphus stood up.

"I know it can be done!" He roared, the lowest notes of his voice echoed off the stone walls, creating an even more terrifying atmosphere. Lily's common sense was again screaming for her to flee, and yet her irrational self told her she would survive. "Because I have done it." His voice quieted, and yet still managed to echo through the room. "This council is not to be summoned for your pleasure Lady DeLorento. Nor is it to be summoned only to be insulted. Perhaps you have not noticed, but this council is no longer run by your father. And I do not think that I need to remind you that he was thouraghly discredited and considered a joke by the time he left. I do not wish to see you stray down that same path. Now kindly resume your studies quietly, and do not summon the council until you are forty five." Lily had always thought Magus Adolphus cold and distant, and now she found him cold, distant, rude and cruel. For a moment she looked to the other Magus in the room, only to find their jaws equally firm and their faces just as stony.

Lily was full aware that shock painted her face, shock and outrage. Those two emotions combined gave her the power to turn on her heel and walk from the room with her head held high. What have I done? Her mind asked frantically, and as always, a few moments later she was rewarded with the answer. I have told the truth. I have told the truth to a room full of stubborn old men who are too attached to peace to see danger when it dances naked in front of them.

Most people would have noticed glares and whispers as they stormed down a hallway, but Lily was no most people, and she was quite used to whispers and glares. The other apprentice's of the City were, well, once could use the term 'put off' by Lily, but truly they were afraid. She was the only woman of her age to complete spells of the Red level and live to tell the tale, she was also the DeLorento heir, the daughter of the 'Mad Magus'. It was only natural for people to stare and whisper. Upon her arriving at the Magus center she had hoped that after a few years they would get over it, she had obviously hoped in vain.

Her room was a mess of papers and books. Clothing lay haphazardly over her chair. Every flat surface was covered with something. Idly she wondered when the last time she had cleaned it was before she moved through the mess, searching for the saddle bags she knew where in the mess. Lily cursed as she fought her way through piles of research that she had long ago abandoned when new, more interesting things appeared. One of the great flaws of Lily's was that she seldom managed to finish things, she generally got distracted. She also never threw anything away, causing the mess.

Several minutes, and several curses later she found them under the chair with her clothes on it. She set the pack on her bed and began searching for the clothes she had bought two years ago when she had been sure she was leaving. She hadn't left, but she had spent her months allowance on skirts, breeches, tunics, and a rather sturdy pair of boots. The old clothes she found wrapped in their original brown paper in what was supposed to be a closet and had turned into a door that she never opened because she was sure it would never close again, Lily left it open.

She took the clothes to her bed and opened the leather flaps on the saddle bags. The bags were full of papers. Lily sighed and flipped over the bags and shook out the papers. They danced their way to the floor and Lily paused to watch them. They were her notes on MageLords, one of the first things she had learned about when arriving in the City of the Gods.

MageLords are, very rare, extremely powerful, and unbeatable. Their power is worn like a mantle, visible and suffocating to all who have the gift. It can however, be hidden, if the Magi feels the need for secrecy. The last Magi of this rank lived three hundred years ago.

Lily stared at her notes, gods above! She thought in a panick. Rasputin is a MageLord?