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The Emperor's Mage
Chapter Twenty-one: Solve

Just before filing into the grand audience room with the rest of the Tortallan delegation, Alanna thought to reach out for her magic. There was a little of herself in Daine, still, keeping up the spell that separated Daine's sense of self from the wild magic all around it. If Daine were killed, or all magic stripped from her, then Alanna would know instantly. Instead, when Alanna reached out carefully with the smallest threads of magic that she could manage, she felt that Daine was deeply asleep, but unharmed.

That knowledge gave Alanna the strength to stride confidently into the audience chamber. Daine was far too smart to have made comments about freeing the slaves or any of Ozorne's excesses, and for all she knew, Daine had finished up some business of hers and fallen asleep on a bench somewhere.

Wherever Daine was, the People would protect her.

Alanna was one of the last Tortallans to enter, but Gary had saved her a seat at the very front. Normally, she preferred to stay as close to the back as she dared, but for tonight's sudden announcement Gary had the right idea. Alanna wanted to be very, very close to the main action.

Gary didn't say a word as the rest of the nobles made their way into the hall, but he rested one of his big hands on her knee. Alanna kept her eyes on the emperor. Ozorne's expression was difficult to read, but the state of his makeup told her quite a bit more than his vaguely smug look. There was barely any gilding on the man's face, the rings decorating his ears were unadorned gold hoops, and three fingers were bare of any rings. For that matter, most of his jewelry was downright tasteful compared to his usual ensemble. The most prominent item was a rather simple gold band topped with a long, rounded black opal that covered the first knuckle of his right index finger.

Whatever had happened, it was important enough for Ozorne to gather the dignitaries together before taking the time to put on some gaudy costume or other. There wasn't even an elaborate backdrop in place. Ozorne stood at the top of a small flight of stairs, but that was the only concession to rank. Alanna had little time to speculate before the doors at the side of the hall opened.

Arram Draper strode in quickly, his open black robe billowing behind him. He stopped when he was ten paces from the throne to bow deeply, then continued forward to stand on the step below Ozorne's throne. Given Draper's height, this left his head eight inches above the emperor's. Ozorne didn't correct the discrepancy, which made her all the more suspicious. Very few things had been more important than the emperor's vanity thus far.

The room fell silent after a gong sounded. Ozorne stood, spreading his hands grandly, but the expression he adopted was somber.

"My guests, I am very sorry to report that the peace talks cannot continue." Though Ozorne's voice remained quiet, it reached every corner of the hall. "Veralidaine Sarrasri has—"

Arram Draper cleared his throat rather loudly. As one, the gathered crowd turned disbelieving looks at the man insane enough to interrupt the emperor.

"Master Draper, you haven't heard the charges against the girl yet," Ozorne hissed. He regained his composure quickly, but the slip had been all too visible. "Have you something to add to proceedings?"

"I heard what had been suspected, your imperial majesty." Arram bowed a second time. "You had reason to suspect that Mistress Sarrasri had abetted slaves in their unlawful departure of the country. I am pleased to inform you that these charges were false. The writ against her contains several times and dates that I will contradict in an oath given by my blood."

Ozorne seemed too stunned to react, and he wasn't the only one. At Alanna's side, Gary was blinking rapidly, while Lindhall seemed to have forgotten how to breathe.

Arram Draper continued calmly, as if the entire hall wasn't staring in shock. "Furthermore, I am delighted to announce that Mistress Sarrasri has cured every last bird in the aviary. She realized that the recent changes in décor contributed to lead poisoning. She removed all traces of ill health from the flock while I transmuted the offending decoration to something more suitable."

Ozorne stepped forward ominously. Arram, seeming oblivious to the danger, politely descended to the next step. "Master Draper. You cannot possibly account for every charge against the girl, and each charge is to be tried separately. I believe that the girl has currently absconded, and cannot answer for herself?"

"She was exhausted by her efforts to cure your birds, your majesty." Arram Draper looked remarkably unconcerned by the emperor's fury. As a matter of fact, he looked...

Alanna started, reaching blindly for Gary's hand. She knew that look. She'd seen it in Jon when the daft man had been heartset on defeating the Ysandir, she had watched it in George all too many times when he was about to set out on something foolhardy, and even Daine had been prey to that particular expression. That was the way Daine had looked while dismantling a treasonous plot at Fief Dunlath, entirely unconcerned with the danger to her person. She had been doing the Right Thing, she'd been doing something that felt more natural than breathing, and there was no use for second thoughts.

Arram Draper had spent ten years as Ozorne's creature, from what all the stories said, and no sensible person would remain under Ozorne's heel that long. Alanna cursed herself being a dozen varieties of imbecile when the magic surrounding the opal on the emperor's hand was bright enough to be seen without her ember-token. When she touched her hand to the ember, already knowing what she would find, ropes of emerald green fire looped around Arram Draper in increasingly tight bands, tying him to Ozorne over and over again.

Arram was dressed very simply under the robe. There were still smears of bird dung on his boots, and not a jewel in sight. This was Daine's friend Arram, not the over-dressed Master Draper that had presided over the court dinners, and she had been fool enough to not realize that he was bound by the strongest focus she had ever seen.

"Where is the girl, Arram?" Ozorne's voice remained smooth, but the fury in his eyes left no doubt. The emperor had exhausted his supply of patience, and Arram Draper would pay for his impertinence.

"Beyond your influence, Ozorne, and it's no use trying to pin the charges onto her. Not one will stick after you have the actual culprit in custody." Arram looked over his shoulder only once, finding Lindhall in the crowd. The sight seemed to steady Arram in the seconds after he had turned to face Ozorne. "I've spent ten years helping slaves to escape this place. I am responsible for every last incident that your investigators wrongly attributed to Veralidaine Sarrasri."

For a moment, nothing happened. Arram and Ozorne were staring at each other—Arram defiant, Ozorne disbelieving. The entire hall sat in silence, trying to understand what had just happened, until the emperor snarled. Forgoing magic, Ozorne backhanded his friend hard enough that Arram fell down the last few steps. When Arram rose slowly to his knees, the marks of the emperor's rings were clear on his cheek. The man's magic hadn't even made a token attempt to defend him from the blow.

Alanna could barely see Arram's black-with-white-sparkles aura through the thick green net of Ozorne's creation. Arram Draper's magic had been weak from the moment he walked into the audience chamber, and the opal was steadily glowing a sickly green shade when Ozorne stepped away. The guards that had been standing at the doors rushed forward, followed quickly by red-robed mages, and it seemed that they moved too slowly for any of this to be real.

Gift-blocking manacles quickly secured Arram's hands in front of him, followed by so many chains that they obscured the mage. The black robe was cut away roughly, in jagged pieces, as Ozorne trembled with anger. "Take him to the dungeons," Ozorne said, loud enough to carry over the clanking of the chains and the whispered conversations throughout the audience halls. "Mistress Sarrasri is innocent of the charges pressed against her. The peace talks will resume tomorrow morning. Arram Draper's execution will occur at sunset, as our Gift has shown that his confession is true."

Ozorne disappeared in a flurry of courtiers and panicked assistants. The guards and mages quickly dragged an unresisting Arram Draper from the room. A Carthaki minister hurriedly dismissed the rest of the guests, and most nobles promptly quit the room to gossip in more secure quarters. Lord Martin led out most of the Tortallan delegation, but not everyone left.

Lindhall Reed was still staring at the empty area in front of the throne. Alanna was sitting beside him, trying to get some reaction from her friend, while Gary stood behind them, making use of his height to intimidate away most remaining nobles. Only one person approached, and she looked just as shocked as Lindhall.

Varice Kingsford was wearing a cream silk mage's robe over a sensibly cut grey dress dusted in flour. The colored staining at the dress's wrists seemed to be permanent, and the hem showed signs of hasty mending. Her hair was in a plain knot at the back of her head, her face was bare of all cosmetics, and very little about her resembled the glamorous hostess that seemed to own a different dress for each day of the year.

"Lindhall?" She sounded very young, and perhaps that was what drew Lindhall out of himself. Lindhall stood shakily, like a man thrice his age, and held out his arms. Varice stepped into them without hesitation, and if she was crying into Lindhall's shoulder Alanna tried not to notice.

"I'll stay with him," Gary said quietly when two minutes produced no change. Lindhall was staring toward the throne while rubbing Varice's back, and the Carthaki mage continued to sob. "You go find our girl."

Alanna was too numb to feel anything strongly, but she was faintly grateful for the suggestion. Alanna pulled a necklace from beneath her dress. The chain was invisible even as she felt for the right charm. George's was a small knife with an actual edge, Thom's was a book, Alan's a sword, and her little Aly's seemed to change every week—the last Alanna had heard, a scroll was the most appropriate. Aly was considering following Uncles Myles and Lindhall into academia. Daine's had been a delicate silver working of a bridle from the very start, and that was the charm that Alanna took in hand. The silver had several of Daine's long brown hairs worked into its construction, as well as a drop of the girl's blood.

Alanna let her heart thaw the tiniest bit when she felt the study tug toward Daine's location. She would have felt different pulls from the silver focus if Daine was in danger, or hurt, but even when she reached toward her spell at Daine's core Alanna could only feel tiredness.

Eventually, Alanna found herself in the small group of shrines in the heart of the castle, and wondered about the mage all over again. Arram had told Lindhall to pray, when nothing else would work, and that was the soundest advice that they would have believed from a supposed enemy. Arram had left Daine curled on one of the padded benches left in the palace's shrine to the Goddess, with a familiar badger tucked against her side.