Ascendant (30 page)

"Ariana's
fate is connected to her mother through the Regency, and by blood." Wing
explained. "We can use that close connection to divine her mother's
future."

The four
wizards agreed that approaching the crown princess with a request to use her
blood for fortune-telling, with her mother angry and watching the wizards
closely, was not a good idea. Instead, Paedris casually mentioned to Koren that
Mwazo wished to try telling the boy's fortune again that afternoon, and that he
wanted to try casting the fortune of a girl also, as an experiment. And that Mwazo
promised, if the fortune-telling spell didn't work, he was willing to perform
other magical 'tricks' to make up for the disappointment. Paedris casually
mentioned this to Koren, as Koren was going out the door, properly dressed, for
lunch and reading old books with the crown princess. Naturally, Koren excitedly
mentioned the fortune-telling to Ariana, who exclaimed that, in case Koren
hadn't noticed, she was a girl, and she very much wanted to see magic.

The spell
didn't work, Mwazo said, and he expressed great disappointment, and had to
entertain the princess by performing silly tricks. In truth, the spell had
worked; he was much perplexed why Ariana's fortune was the same as Koren's; a
blur of images. What could that mean? What were the spirits try to tell him
through the cards? Or, worse, was the future as much a mystery to the spirit
world as it was to Mwazo?

He finished
his last trick, a simple spell which made Ariana's hair stand straight up, then
he bowed deeply and announced that, regrettably, he must return to the wizard's
tower, when a painting caught his eye as he walked out the door of her suite of
rooms. "Your Highness, who is this in the picture?"

Ariana touched
the gold-painted frame lovingly. "That is my grandmother, my father King
Adric's mother, Queen Lilith."

"And this
portrait was done while she was queen? Not before?"

"Yes,
why?" Ariana titled her head. Wizards hardly ever took notice of the
doings of the Taradoran royal court.

"The
crown she wears, it is rather," he struggled for the right word, not
wishing to cause insult, "understated, is it not?" Queen Lilith wore
a simple gold band, wider on her forehead, where it was inscribed with the
symbol of Tarador. No jewels, there was nothing fancy about it, that is, if you
forgot that it was made of gold. "It is not unlike the regency crown your
mother wears."

"Of
course." Ariana said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"That is a queen's everyday crown. The big ceremonial crown is much too
heavy to wear every day, Lord Mwazo. You don't wear your formal robes every
day, do you?"

Koren thought
Lord Mwazo would indeed like to wear formal robes, and have everyone call him
'Lord Mwazo' every day, but he kept silent.

Mwazo stood
rigid for a moment, his mouth open, as if he'd been struck by lightning. He put
a hand to his mouth, breathed heavily, and recovered his senses. "You will
wear such an every day crown, when you are queen, Your Highness?"

"Of
course. I will wear
that
crown. It has been in the royal family for
generations." She said with pride.

Mwazo fumbled
for something to say, when all he wanted to do right then was get to the
wizard's tower as quickly as he could. "I'm sure you will wear it well,
Your Highness." He bowed awkwardly, one eye still on the painting, and
fairly bolted out the door.

"What was
that about?" Ariana asked with amusement.

Koren
shrugged. "Wizards. If that's the strangest thing they do today, that will
make me very happy."

Mwazo sprinted
up the stairs of the tower, bursting in on his fellow wizards as Paedris was
reading aloud from a scroll. "It's not a Regent's crown! It's the crown of
a queen! A queen!" He shouted in excitement.

Shomas almost
spilled his mug of beer when Mwazo surprised them. "Crown? What in the
world are you going on about?"

Paedris took a
guess. "The crown you think you saw, in my fortune card? It was not the Regent's
crown? I thought the crown you saw was too simple, too plain to be the crown of
a queen?"

Mwazo shook
his head vigorously. "I was thinking of the fancy type of crown a queen wears
on formal occasions. Paedris, but I've rarely met a queen when it was not a
formal occasion. Ariana told me she will wear a very simple-looking gold band
as a crown, for everyday use. She will only wear the big crown with all the
jewels on formal occasions. You see what this means?"

"I have
no idea, so please tell me." Shomas said.

 "When
I cast Paedris' fortune, I saw two symbols, and one symbol was a crown. We
thought that meant the Regent, but I now know it is her daughter, the future
queen."

"Wait,"
Madame Chu said, "you were sure the crown could not mean the princess, for
she will not become queen until her sixteenth birthday?"

Mwazo's hands
made two fists, and he knocked them together. "I cannot explain that. But
the crown means Ariana, I am certain of it. I think something very exciting is
about to happen! May I show you? May I cast your fortune now?"

Wing nodded.
"Please."

Mwazo smiled
broadly and clapped his hands in delight, the other three stood with mouths
agape. On Wing's card, clearly visible, were two symbols: a lightning bolt; a
white-hot streak of fire flashing across from top left to bottom right. And a
crown, which, oddly, flickered from a simple gold circle to a shape more like a
tiara, and back.

"What
does this mean?" Wing asked in a near whisper. No wizard had seen a
fortune card display an image in many years, all across the world.

"May I
cast another card, before I answer?" Mwazo said with a raised eyebrow.
"And not with one of us, I need someone who is not a wizard. We are too
close to the spirit world, for me to be comfortable with interpreting what the
spirits are trying to tell us. I need someone not affected by magical contact
with the spirit world."

"Agreed."
Paedris nodded. He walked to the window, opened it and leaned out. "How
about, ah. Boy! You there, boy! Cully, is it? Yes, yes, you. Come up here,
please. And bring your two companions with you. Yes, at once. Quickly, quickly,
now!"

It was just
Cully Runnet's luck to be crossing the courtyard while Paedris stuck his head out
the window. He goaded his two companions, who had never been inside the
forbidding tower, through the door, and up the stairs. It didn't help that
Cully harshly told his friends not to touch anything, not a single thing, in
the tower. The three boys warily edged into the chamber where the wizards were
waiting, to find not one, not two, not three, but four wizards. Four wizards!
And one of them a pretty lady wizard.

It was all
Cully could do to bow to the wizards without falling on his face, he was so nervous.
The chamber, despite the winter sun peeking out between clouds, was dimly lit,
the roaring fire tinted everything in the room with a light that Cully would
have called golden, except with the place crowded with fearsome wizards, it was
ominous. The room was crowded not only with wizards, it was cluttered, cabinets
and tables were piled high with leather-bound books, ancient scrolls, glass
jars and ceramic pots that Cully knew Paedris used for keeping roots, herbs,
odd minerals and potions. That put Cully on edge, wondering what spells the
wizards were planning to cast, spells that could not be good for three healthy
boys. A burning log shifted in the fireplace and crashed onto the grate. That
was enough, Cully was about to race back down the stairs, when a large wizard
with red hair spoke from a chair in the corner "Well, come in, come on in,
we don't bite, you know. I'm Shomas Feany, I assume you have names also?"

All three boys
were tongue-tied, so much that they barely managed to stammer out their names.
"Cully Runnet, Lord, um, Feany, sir."

"Stephen
Bello."

"T-Toman
Miller."

"Well,
Cully, Stephen and Toman, we want to try telling your fortunes." Paedris
smiled in a way he hoped would be reassuring. "All it will require is a
moment of your time, and a single tiny drop of blood from each of you. When
you're done, each of you will be paid a silver coin." Paedris pulled three
shiny silver coins from a pouch, and laid them on the table by the window, in a
shaft of winter sunlight. They glittered enticingly, and the boys almost forgot
their fear.

Almost. A
silver coin was not enough to overcome a lifetime of superstition about
wizards. The idea of having blood taken had the three boys imagining horrible
spells, where the blood would be used to turn them into undead creatures, or
something even worse. Cully's two friends were shuffling their feet,
considering running for the door, when Cully screwed up his courage. "I'm
ready, Lord Salva."

"Come
here, please." Mwazo said with a smile that was less reassuring than he
intended. Madam Chu sought to calm the boys' fear by showing them the needles,
and explaining "Lord Mwazo is going to lay three fortune cards on the
table, and I am going to prick your finger with a needle. We will squeeze a
tiny drop of blood onto the card, and then you can be on your way, with our
thanks. And a silver coin."

Cully went
first. he didn't flinch, and a truly tiny drop of blood dropped onto a card. He
sucked on his finger, and nodded to his two friends. In a moment, it was done.

"A lightning
bolt and a crown, sir? What does that mean?" Cully couldn't tear his eyes
away from the mesmerizing images, the same images on all three cards. The crown
spun, and flipped from one image to another, the lightning bolt fairly crackled
with energy, so bright it almost caused spots in his eyes.

"That is
wizard's business, Mister Runnet." Paedris said, not unkindly. "Thank
you, gentlemen, you may run along now. Here are your coins. Oh, and you may
take that tin of cookies with you."

"Yes,
sir, Lord Salva sir, and Lords and Lady, ma'am." Cully said nervously,
although not so nervous he didn't tuck the tin of cookies under his arm, before
he bowed deeply, and the three fled down the stairs.

"So?
Cecil? What does this mean?" Shomas said unhappily, having watched a tin
of cookies disappear down the stairs, cookies he'd been planning to eat.

Mwazo frowned.
"I don't know for certain. I will have to ponder this. Four people now
have the same fortune, and I will wager my wizard's robes that if I cast the
fortunes of every citizen in Linden, I would find the same two symbols. Except
for two people; Koren, and the princess. Their fortunes are a blur of images, a
blur of every image I've seen on a card. I am at a loss to tell you what that
means."

Shomas pushed
the cookies out of his mind. "It cannot be a coincidence that the two
people whose fortunes are unreadable, are represented by the lightning bolt of
a wizard, and the crown of a queen."

"Except
Koren is not yet a wizard, and Ariana is not yet a queen. And you say this
fortune will manifest soon?" Wing asked.

"Within
the year, yes, unless I am very, very wrong." Mwazo answered. "The
wizard can't be Koren, then, nor the queen Ariana, can it?"

"Again,
we return to the question; what does this mean?" Paedris asked.

The four
wizards stood, or sat, in silence, staring at the fireplace for inspiration.
"I admit, this is not my area of expertise." Paedris said, after
several minutes.

"Nor
mine." Added Shomas.

"The
mysteries of- oh!" Wing took in a sharp breath. She put a hand across her
face, her knees wobbled, and she slumped into a chair.

Paedris was on
his feet in a flash. "Wing, are you well?" Deep concern showed on his
face, he knelt at her feet, and held her hands in his own.

"Yes,
yes, thank you." She held his hands perhaps a moment too long, then pulled
away gently. "Wild cards." She told Paedris.

It was his
turn to gasp in surprise. "Could it be?"

"It makes
sense, no?" Wing responded.

"Would
the two of you mind explaining to the rest of us?" Shomas said, mildly irritated.
A cookie would have improved his mood.

Wing smiled.
"I was recalling something I have not thought about for many years, not
since I was a little girl, learning the craft of magic, in a school high up in
the mountains. There were cards there, cards used to tell fortunes, to foresee
the future. These cards were not used, not even in training, they were in a
sort of museum, a dusty old library of wizardry. I remember asking a very old
wizard about this deck of cards, and he showed them to me, and told me such
cards had not been used by wizards for many, many centuries, since the spell to
create your picture cards was created." She pointed to Mwazo's deck of
blank cards. "Before such picture-revealing cards were developed, wizards
used a different type of cards?"

"Yes,"
Mwazo answered slowly, ransacking the depths of his memory. He was a student of
wizardry, in addition to being a master of the arcane subject. "The art
was very limited back then, a deck of cards had various hand-painted images. A
wizard would shuffle the cards, and deal them one by one, the spirits were
thought to have influence on which cards came to the top, to indicate the
person's fortune."