Some of these chapters will be shorter than others. I have specific ideas in mind for some scenes that take more description and more action. Others rely on brief conversations.
Next chapter: Blaze
The Emperor's Mage
Chapter Twelve: Dispose
The room wasn't silent, but it was very quiet. It was difficult to find true silence in a palace with thousands of people in residence, even when the emperor ordered that more and more of his slaves be mute. The slaves, servants, and courtiers alike walked with careful treads in silk shoes, but even that created sound that the stones couldn't exclude. The nobles spoke in low voices, the kitchen workers made quiet clatters as they worked, and the birds sang.
It wasn't silent, but the afternoon's oppressive quiet was just as unnerving. For several minutes after Arram's recounting of the previous day's lesson with Veralidaine Sarrasri, the emperor had waited, hardly seeming to breathe. On some cue that no one understood, not even the man that had been his closest friend, the emperor exhaled at an audible volume.
"You're leaving something out, Arram. The librarians note which volumes that you check, and you have only addressed four of the points that you had hoped to learn."
"The girl's power isn't what I would have thought, your majesty. It is strong, but that is a measure of the quantity itself. If power alone were the judge of talent, then Master Emeka would be my equal." Arram's argument was voiced in the politest of tones, with pauses to watch for a poor reaction from Ozorne. "I cannot determine how she gained so much power, but her name is telling. Her father is an unknown man. Her last name is case enough for that, as you noticed immediately. Miss Sarrasri is a bastard child, and there may well be children all across the North with her abilities."
"She is powerful enough."
Arram knew from the emperor's expression alone, that cool look that had grown natural in the year before Lindhall had been forced to flee Carthak. Ozorne had been a close friend, once, but he had always been furious to be second-best in anything. If he couldn't possess it, he would settle for controlling it. If control was not an option, the only step left in Ozorne's shallow hierarchy was disposal.
"We will have the girl remain in Carthak. You did propose several methods last year that might be able to hold a wildmage captive without allowing every animal on the island to rise against her. Put them into readiness."
Arram wanted to argue, but there was nothing to gain in arguing with Ozorne. It only made the prize more interesting, especially when the object of his latest fascination was the child of a god. Ozorne thought himself to be above the gods, and to be above such things as consequence. Two of his heirs had been dead for nearly a decade, now, and Ozorne had ordered Kaddar's death two years before. Arguing hadn't removed Kaddar's sentence. It had only ended with giving Arram the responsibility for killing the young man, just as with so many other mages that had displeased Ozorne.
"Do you have any objections, Arram?" Ozorne's tone was a shallow imitation of the care he would have felt all those years ago, when the two of them had been the most gifted students that the Carthaki universities had ever seen. Together, they would have solved the mystery of the barrier between the mortal realms and the gods, and they would have known the very essence of greatness.
Now, Ozorne toyed with a ring. It was a large black opal, so pure in composition and form that it could have ransomed two kings and even then purchased them each a nation. It would have covered a quarter of Arram's palm, if it ever left Ozorne's hand, but the decoration had long left a mark against Ozorne's knuckles. It glinted in the darkness, a silent reminder of the nature of their relationship.
"Of course not, your majesty. I am sure that I will be able to show her all that she will need to know." It would be easier if Daine could be convinced to stay, but he had seen her with the Lioness and with Lindhall. She would never betray friends, and blackmail would have little effect with so many silent messengers to bring her help.
His life had never been so easy. She would fight them tooth and nail, drawing the attention of every animal within a very large radius, and with the full support of the Lioness and Tortall. If Daine still trusted him some small amount, he could use that to put the smallest touch of dreamrose in her water. Few drugs known to the "civilized" Carthakis worked well with the Banjiku, but a few experiments had shown that wildmages were remarkably susceptible to the substance. The few hostlers with touches of wild magic had agreed to take a quarter-dose of dreamrose with the promise of two days off and pay for time asleep. All of them had dreamed for at least ten hours. The most powerful had slept for twenty on a dose that wouldn't affect a housecat.
Ozorne had been studying Arram all the while, and must have found the decision that he wanted. He waved the hand with the opal ring in a clear dismissal. Arram bowed to the throne before backing gracefully from the room. He didn't relax when he shut the door behind him, and felt no more at ease during the long walk to the palace aviaries. He relaxed only when he reached one of the few safe havens and found that Daine wasn't there. There was no way he could face her now, and little chance that he would be able to face her that night.
Lindhall must have warned her about the emperor's pet mage. It was a pity for all of them that she hadn't listened.