Ascendant (31 page)

"I've
seen such cards, I don't remember where." Shomas said, half lost in
thought. "There was a card with a skeleton, indicating death, a card with
a sword, indicating battle, or fighting, or danger. It was very crude," he
observed with a rather disparaging smile, wondering how wizards of that age
managed to accomplish anything with their crude magics.

"Skeletons,
yes," Wing agreed, "and swords, also lovers, and flowers, the sun and
the moon. Among those in the deck was a special card, a card sometimes called
the joker, or the trickster. A card that could represent any card, a card that presented
any possibility, and all possibilities, at once. A wild card."

"A wild
card." Mwazo pondered the idea. "I do seem to recall hearing such, in
my studies of ancient magic. If a person drew a wild card, it was supposed to
mean that person had no fate, that even the spirits did not know his or her
future, that the person was entirely in control of their own destiny. That
their future was not written. But, drawing such a card would be rare,
exceedingly rare." He was silent a moment. "Do we now have two wild
cards? Is it possible?"

"Is
what
possible?" Shomas almost shouted.

"Consider,
Shomas," Paedris said, "four people, one a powerful wizard," he
nodded to Madame Chu, "three are servant boys, who all have the same
fortune, identical fortunes. A fortune which says their future will be largely
determined by a lightning bolt and a crown; by a wizard and a queen. Now,
consider two other people, one a future wizard, one a future queen. The cards
for their futures are not fixed, their cards display images of every possible future.
Their futures are not fixed in any way, for they control their own fates."

"And
ours." Mwazo added in a near whisper. "Somehow, they control our
fates."

"A boy
and a girl?" Shomas scoffed. He rose from the chair to poke at the fire,
pushing a log into a pile of glowing coals. "I mean no offense, Mwazo, but
Koren is merely a boy, and Ariana a girl. They may very well become immensely
powerful some day, but right now, Koren is mucking out stalls in the stables,
and Ariana can't do anything without asking permission from her mother. A
mother who says no to almost everything. Cecil, you are telling me these two
children control my fate?"

"No,
Shomas," Mwazo pointed to the cards, "that is what the spirits tell
us. The spirits see this world as it truly is, not this illusion," he
tapped the wooden table with a finger, "that we perceive as real. You do
control your own fate, what the spirits are telling us is that, whatever you
do, what we all do, ultimately does not matter. Koren and Ariana will decide
the fate of this world. We only matter in how we affect them."

Shomas turned
to Paedris in frustration. "You believe this nonsense?"

Paedris nodded
gravely. "I do."

"I do,
also." Wing added. She stood and began to pace in front of the fire.
"More importantly, our enemy will. Our enemy has been as blind as we were
to the future. Until a dozen years ago, when our ability to foresee the future
began to fade, our enemy was content to bide its time, to chip away at our
defenses, to be patient, for the enemy saw the same inevitable future we saw;
we would be defeated, the barriers between this world and the underworld would
be sundered, and demons would consume us. The demon is unspeakably ancient, it
can wait, time is nothing to it."

She took a
breath, and looked up into the faces of her fellow wizards. "When the
future became unclear, the demon grew afraid for the first time, for its
victory was no longer certain, and it didn't know why. It could no longer wait,
so it has been on the attack for a decade. King Adric died not because the
enemy is bold and confident, but because the enemy is fearful. Now, we see our
fates are determined by a wizard and a queen. Our enemy will see the same, if
it has not already."

Paedris
nodded, his face grim. "Cecil, what has happened? Before, the fortune
cards were blank. Now, they clearly show the images of lightning bolt and
crown. What has changed?"

Paedris
expected Lord Mwazo to ponder that question a while before answering, perhaps
take a sip of wine while he considered the matter. Instead, he answered right
away "Because the spirits have now seen the futures of Ariana and
Koren."

"No one
ever cast Ariana's fortune before today?" Wing asked, surprised.

Paedris
shrugged. "Her mother has always forbidden it, that is why we needed to manipulate
Ariana into requesting Cecil into casting her fortune. Without her mother
knowing about it. Cecil, I didn't understand your answer," Paedris
exchanged a puzzled look with Shomas, "this is not my area of
expertise," he admitted.

"The
spirits could not tell anyone's fortune before, because the spirits did not
know anyone's future. We had not asked the right questions." Mwazo
attempted to explain. "The spirits only look into the future when we ask
them to; the future of this world is of no interest to them otherwise. Then, we
asked the spirits to look into Koren, and then Ariana's futures, and the
spirits now know that everyone's fate is tied to Ariana and Koren-"

"The
enemy knows this also?" Shomas asked with great alarm.

"No, no,
the enemy will only see what we have seen; a lightning bolt and a crown. The
enemy cannot cast the fortunes of Ariana and Koren without their blood. I
expect the enemy will assume the wizard is you, Paedris, and that the crown
belongs to Carlana. There is no reason for the enemy to think of a young
servant boy, and a girl who has not yet come of age."

"Paedris,
you and Carlana will be in great danger." Wing said, her voice half choked
with concern.

"I see no
change there," Paedris said, "the enemy has long sought my death, and
the Regent is as securely protected as she can be. For Koren, and for Ariana,
their apparent unimportance is their best defense for now. No, I don't see that
anything has changed there. Except, that I expect our enemy to grow more
desperate to strike at us, to end this war soon, by force, before the future
escapes its grasp. Now, Lord Mwazo, there is one final card to cast. You know
the card I speak of."

Mwazo's hands
trembled when he reached for the deck of cards. "Yes," he spoke in a
harsh whisper. "Do you think this is wise, Paedris? If I ask this question
of the spirits, we will know, and the spirits will know. And the enemy will
know also, for the enemy will ask the spirits the same question."

"Cecil,
we must know. We have waited so long. We must know if this is the path forward,
if this is our fate, our fortune, if the destiny of the world rests in the
hands or two people so young, so unready."

Mwazo placed
the two wild cards on the table, closed his eyes, muttered an incantation, and
selected a card from the middle of the deck his fingers were so unsteady he
almost dropped the card on the floor. In the tense silence, the sound of the
card hitting the table made Shomas jump.

Mwazo took in
a sharp breath.

Paedris bent
over the table to look at the card and he, too, gasped. "Ascendant.
Ascendant!" The card displayed a raging fire, reaching to the heavens.
"Their power is ascendant."

"They are
so young," Madame Chu said in a whisper. "We must protect them until
they can protect themselves-"

There was a
sound of feet pounding on the stairs, and the wizards became silent as Koren
poked his head in the doorway. He had been walking back from visiting Ariana
when he saw Cully, who told him about the fortune-telling. And showed Koren the
shiny silver coin he'd been paid. "Sirs? Madam? Can I do anything for
you?" For some reason, Koren felt guilty to be wearing the fine clothes he
used for visiting the palace, when he was supposed to be serving the wizards.
He glanced around the room in dismay to see how cluttered it was. It had been
clean that very morning, he had gotten out of bed early to scrub that very room
until the floors shined, and now every flat surface was piled high with books,
scrolls, empty cups and dishes, glasses, jars and crocks of roots, herbs and potions!
He didn't need a magical card to foresee his immediate future; he would be up
late, and getting up early, to clean again.

"Koren,
hello." Paedris said, with a quick guilty look of his own, and averted his
eyes to look at the fireplace.

Uh oh, Koren
thought, what have they been up to while I was gone?

"Koren,
come in, boy." Shomas called out, trying to suppress his grumpiness. He
took a swig of beer from his mug, beer that had grown warm, and flat, and so
Shomas made a sour face. In his fine clothes, clothes which were at odds with
his current station in life as a servant boy, Koren looked to be play-acting.
Shomas found it difficult to believe this good-natured, still fairly ignorant,
innocent and clueless boy could somehow determine the fate of the entire world.
"Did you, uh, have fun with the princess?" A sharp look from Paedris
and the sudden redness of Koren's cheeks made Shomas hastily add "Mwazo
says you two were looking at maps of the eastern border?"

"Oh, yes
sir, her mother has been wishing the princess," he avoided calling her
Ariana as that would seem far too familiar, "to learn about the Indus
Empire. Because their new ambassador is here, I suppose." Koren noted that
all four of the wizards appeared uncomfortable, he suspected they had been
talking about him. Eager to get away, he began picking up dirty dishes. The
large tankard which held beer was almost empty, and the beer at the bottom
smelled stale. "Could I get you a fresh tankard of beer, sir," he
asked Shomas, "and see if the kitchens have something to snack on, as it
is hours before suppertime? Sometimes the kitchens have hot rolls, or salty
pretzels."

"Ooh!"
Shomas clapped his hands. "Yes, more beer, please."

To Koren's
surprise, Mwazo rose from his chair and added dishes to the pile in Koren's
arms. "I would dearly love a fresh hot pretzel, and I think, as Shomas
seems so fond of it, I would try some of this beer."

Koren bowed as
he backed out of the room, laden with dirty dishes. He could see that somehow,
he needed to convince the royal kitchens to bake pretzels, whether they liked
it or not.

 Shomas
left three days later, while Madam Chu and Lord Mwazo stayed in the castle for
another week, then reluctantly had to leave, before the coming winter snows
trapped them away from their homes. Koren was sorry to see them go, especially
Lord Mwazo. The tall, thin wizard had become positively friendly, insisting
that Koren put aside his chores to study books with him; learning about
history, and, to Koren
’
s
surprise, wizardry. Mwazo did not, of course, show Koren how to cast spells, or
create magical potions, instead they talked about the nature of light and dark
magic, the history of wizards, and the rules that all good wizards had to live
by. That seemed to be very important; Mwazo was very concerned that Koren learn
about the heavy responsibilities of wizards, although Koren could not
understand why a mere servant had to care about such things. Afternoons were
spent in the cramped chamber Mwazo used as a study, reading books or scrolls in
front of a warm fireplace, with hot tea and plenty of snacks to eat. Koren was
sorry to see Mwazo leave, for it meant Koren went back to the drudgery of
chores as the wizard
’
s
servant.

"Hey,
Koren, ain't seen much of you the past fortnight." Cully said as he sidled
up next to Koren in the royal kitchens, trying to squeeze in near the ovens,
where it was warm. It was a raw, gray, nasty day outside, with rain, sleet, and
freezing rain, thoroughly miserable weather to be out in. So Koren, and Cully,
and many other servants, were taking any excuse not to be outside unless they
had to. Koren had fed and brushed Thunderbolt, but the great horse had stuck
his nose outside the stables, sniffed the damp, cold air, and walked back to
his warm, dry stall. Having been warned about the coming weather by the wizard
the previous day, Koren had plenty of firewood in the tower, so he didn't need
to go outside to keep the stoves hot.

"I've
been busy." Koren said with a yawn. He was sleepy, both from work and from
the combination of being outside on the walk back from the stables, with wet
clothes, and now being lulled toward sleep by the over-warm air in the
kitchens. "All those wizards kept me hopping."

"What
were they doing?" Cully asked curiously.

"Talking,
and eating a lot, and making a mess. I don't know why the other three came
here, so late in the year, Paed-, uh, Lord Salva didn't tell me." Koren
yawned again, he couldn't help it. "He went back to bed after breakfast
this morning, the wizard, I mean. Said this weather wasn't fit for man nor
beast."

"Sounds
like you need coffee, to keep you awake." Cully observed, trying to keep
from yawning himself. Yawning was contagious, he thought.

"Never
tried it." Koren admitted. "It smells good, when I grind the beans.
What does it taste like?"

Cully
shrugged. "It's bitter, if you drink it black. Put some cream in, and
sugar, and it's good. You never tried it? But you brew it every morning for the
wizard!"