Ascendant (54 page)

MacKurt
’
s eyes narrowed.
“
And yet you refuse to
prove who you are?
”

Koren had
enough of delaying.
“
Behind
me is an oak tree, with a target the sergeant
’
s men have been using for archery practice?
”
He knew the tree was a
good twenty yards behind him. Without warning, he pulled out his short sword,
which caused alarm among MacKurt
’
s
men, but Koren threw the sword backwards over his shoulder, without looking.
There was a gasp from the soldiers as the sword embedded itself in the center
of the target.

MacKurt
’
s eyebrows raised in
surprise, but there was a twinkle in her eyes, and she made a short bow from
the saddle.
“
Very
well done, master servant. I envy you your skills. You may be on your way, with
an escort. Lieutenant Meers, we need to send back a courier anyway, to report
our progress. Select a courier to ride north with Lord Salva
’
s servant. And, Koren,
your name is? Give the wizard my best wishes for a speedy recovery.
”
MacKurt
’
s smile faded.
“
We need his great power in
this war, and sooner than later, I fear.
”

Any thoughts
Koren had of racing north on a well-rested Thunderbolt were dashed when the
courier set off at a fast pace, then settled into an easy trot.  The courier
was named Lenner Smith, and at barely seventeen, he wasn't all that much older
than Koren. Perhaps self-conscious of his youth in the royal army, Lenner had
worked hard to grow a respectable beard.

"Mister
Smith, I thought couriers rode fast?"

“
Call me Lenner, Koren,
we'll be riding together for a while. It's a long way to the royal palace, can
’
t be wearing out the
horses. We
’
ll
change horses tomorrow evening, at Hereford.
”

Koren shook
his head.
“
I
won
’
t leave
Thunderbolt, and he doesn
’
t
need to be spared a fast run. Can
’
t
we go faster?
”

The courier
shook his head.
“
You
won
’
t get far
on this road without me, the army has checkpoints every few leagues, now. I
have a pass,
”
Lenner patted his vest, where he carried a scroll written by Captain MacKurt,
“
but you
’
ll be held there, without
me." Lenner also wore a vest with the royal army crest on it, and his
horse's saddle was army-issue. Koren wasn't wearing any sort of uniform.
"The whole countryside is up in arms, after we heard about the battle. You
were there?" Lenner asked excitedly. "What happened? I was in
Dunladdon when we got the call to move south, haven
’
t heard much more than
that we got raided?
”

Koren sighed,
and scratched his head in frustration at the slow pace. If he was going to be
stuck with the courier for days, he might as well tell the tale.
“
It wasn
’
t just a raid, Lenner, we
were ambushed by three wizards and-"

"Are you
sure Lord Salva said it was his summer retreat? The land that used to be one of
the king's hunting grounds?" Lenner asked, a couple days later. Having
exhausted the battle of Longshire as a subject for conversation while they
rode, Koren and Lenner had been talking about farming that morning. Lenner had
grown up in Linden city outside the royal palace, where his father was a scribe
in the royal archives. Other than growing some vegetables and herbs in the yard
behind their home, Lenner and his family knew nothing about farming. They were
riding by a farm Koren admired, with nicely rolling fields of corn and a
well-kept barn, when Koren excitedly mentioned Paedris' promise to give him
land to farm, on his sixteenth birthday. Lenner had tilted his head
skeptically, and asked the question.

"Yes,"
Koren answered, "Paedris, I mean Lord Salva said a couple there farms it
for him. I wonder what type-"

"Wait,
Koren. Hmmm."

"What?"
Koren asked.

"Uh, I
don't, uh, hmmm." Lenner struggled to find words. "Uh, if it's the
same land, and I don't know of any other, the wizard can't give it to you. He
doesn't own it."

"What?
Are you sure?"

Lenner nodded
seriously. "Uh huh. I helped my father in the royal archives, before I
joined the army. I remember my father saying, I guess this was the year before
last, him saying the old king made a bad deal when he let the wizard use that
land, because Lord Salva was making so much money from the farm there. The
reason my father wasn't happy is that, because the farm is on land owned by the
royal family, Lord Salva doesn't have to pay taxes on his income from that
farm. The wizard doesn't pay any taxes at all, so he must not own property
anywhere in Tarador."

Koren fell
silent, unable to speak.

"Sorry."
Lenner said, after a few minutes. Koren's sunny morning had been crushed by the
news from Lenner. "Maybe, uh, maybe he meant land in, where's he from,
Stade, some place like that?"

Koren nodded
gloomily. "Sure, sure, that must be it." He said, without believing
his own words. Why would Paedris have lied to him? Although, Koren was sure the
wizard had lied to him before, at least several times. Paedris was a powerful
wizard, Koren only a poor servant boy without a family. Why bother-

"Sometimes,
my parents would tell me whatever I wanted to hear, just so they could shut me
up for a while." Lenner said, but Koren wasn't listening.

Koren's
wonderful, brief dream, of owning a farm, was crushed. It had all been a lie,
only a lie. And an obvious lie, one that Koren could have discovered by asking
almost anyone around the palace. Did Paedris care so little about Koren, that
he couldn't even bother to come up with a decent lie? Koren nudged Thunderbolt
into an easy gallop. "Come on, if we hurry, we can be at the palace before
nightfall." Be at the palace, and confront the wizard about his lies.
Being in battle had changed Koren, changed him in ways he wasn't even aware of.
Having faced death, he was no longer willing to be the servant boy that people
tried to kick around. He had saved the crown princess, not once but three
times. He had found the Cornerstone, found it after centuries of the best minds
in Tarador searching in vain. He had rescued the wizard, all by himself. What
had he gotten from it? A cramped cubbyhole in a dark, drafty tower, a job
working for a wizard who lied to him, and denied him credit for his
accomplishments.

Lenner spurred
his horse onward, catching up to Thunderbolt. Koren wasn't speaking, but the
young soldier could see from the expression on the servant's face that he was
angry, very angry. Lenner had left the palace before Koren arrived, so he
didn't know the boy. From Koren's tale of the battle of Longshire, the wizard's
servant was either a good story teller, or extraordinarily brave. If Koren had
lied about saving the wizard, why would he now be riding to help his master?
And if Koren truly was as brave as he said, and as angry as he looked, well,
Lenner wouldn't want to get in his way.

Ariana left
her personal guard at the entrance to the hospital, and went straight for the
court wizard's bedside. Lord Salva, usually with fire, or a twinkle, in his
eyes even at his most weary, now looked sunken into the bed. His skin was gray,
ashen, thin, like old paper. A vein in his neck showed his pulse was rapid and
erratic. Ariana gestured for the Chief Physician to attend her. "What ills
Lord Salva?"

The man
snatched off his official white cap in respect for the crown princess,
"For the most part, exhaustion, Your Highness, deep, draining and
unnatural exhaustion, though simple exhaustion none the less. In an ordinary
man, who experienced ordinary combat, I would  prescribe rest, and
nutritious, plain, simple foods such as broth, and bread, and fruit to regain
his strength. For a wizard, of his unnatural age," Ariana thought she saw
the man make a superstitious sign behind his back, "who was attacked by
forces beyond this world," he shuddered slightly, "the best course of
treatment is beyond my skills. It may take a wizard, to heal this wizard."

Ariana bent
close to examine the court wizard. He smelled faintly of brimstone, though he
had been bathed carefully and was dressed in clean robes. Whatever had happened
to the court wizard, it had been bad enough to test even his powers to the
limit. "Has he been awake at all?"

"Lord
Salva has been talking in his sleep, it was difficult to understand at first.
He mentioned your name, Highness, and his servant, you may have met the boy,
Koren, I think is his name? And he spoke of several other wizards. Mostly, he
kept repeating one word, over and over; he said 'ascendant'. He has been most
agitated when saying that word. Does it mean anything to you?"

"No, it
doesn't." She frowned. "Ascendant," she pronounced the word
slowly. "It must be important. You sent for a wizard?"

"Yes,
Lord Feany should have received word by now. He is a skilled healer."

Ariana
straightened Paedris' robe, and brushed a stray lock of hair from his eyes.
"When Shomas gets here, ask him what 'ascendant' means. Unless Lord Salva
awakens first, then ask him. And when Lord Salva awakens, send for me,
please."

As she left
the hospital, Ariana saw that her personal guards were speaking with some of the
palace guards, they were all looking grim, shaking their heads.
"Princess," her guard captain bowed slightly, "how fares the
wizard?"

"Weak,
and he needs to rest. Lord Feany is on is way, he will surely heal Lord Salva.
Our wizard will be back on his feet in no time," she said with a smile.
The smile didn't work, all the men looked grim, staring at the stone floor,
shuffling their feet, muttering under their breath. "What is the matter,
captain."

"Well,
it's like this, Your Highness, I spoke with a soldier this afternoon, he'd come
in from the west, General Magrane sent him back with dispatches. He said all
the soldiers are worried, by how bold the enemy has been, attacking Lord Salva
on our own territory. It," he glanced at the floor, embarrassed, "it
shows the enemy's strength, Your Highness." And, he did not say, Tarador's
weakness.

"Does
it?" Ariana asked. "Strength, or fear?" She thought back to
something her military tutor Captain Raddick has told her. "The enemy took
a great risk, sending three powerful wizards to attack Lord Salva, a terrible
risk. Perhaps the enemy took such a risk because they fear our court wizard's
growing power. There are few wizards in the world, and few of them can handle
power, I'm told. The enemy sent three of their precious wizards into our
territory, to kill Lord Salva. And they failed. I think that tell us of the
enemy's desperation, not strength. But, I am after all only a girl, and I do
not know of military matters as you men do."

She had shamed
the men, shamed them, and opened their eyes. Her guard captain nodded.
"Her Highness speaks the truth. The enemy fears us. My apologies, Your
Highness, I should not have let fear enter my heart."

Ariana thought
of another thing Raddick had said. "There is nothing wrong with fear, Captain,
unless it leads to despair. I think it best that we leave fear and despair to
our enemy?" She said with a smile.

The captain
bowed. "Yes, Your Highness." This young girl was going to be a
formidable queen someday. If she lived that long. And if her mother didn't
stand by while the enemy conquered the realm while Ariana awaited her crown.

Lenner and
Koren did hurry, to the point where Lenner's horse was wobbly on its legs and
even Thunderbolt was laboring to gallop, but it was still after nightfall when
they arrived at the castle gate. The roads toward Linden had been choked with
wagons, with people from the  border counties looking for safety in case
of further invasion by Acedor, and by wagons loaded with grain, in case Acedor
raided or burned the storehouses near the border. News of the battle in
Longshire had everyone spooked, particularly news that the raiders included
three wizards, who had been bold enough to challenge Lord Salva. The court
wizard's near-mythical powers, in the minds of the citizens of Tarador, were
such that for an enemy to feel confident enough to attack their wizard, the
situation for Tarador must be dire indeed.

When they
finally reached the castle gate, with much shouting, cursing and pushing by
Lenner, the young soldier pulled out the pass signed by Captain MacKurt, and
the oil-skin pouch of dispatches. "Trooper Lenner Smith, with dispatches
from Captain MacKurt to General Magrane."

The lead
guard, tired from long hours of mostly turning people away from the gate, held
Lenner's pass up to the torchlight. "Looks real, but if you've been in the
field, you won't know today's password."