In Pursuit Of Wisdom (Book 1) (57 page)

“So Phillip,” said the Queen.  “You do not look as excited as your companions.  You’re not reconsidering your involvement, are you?”  The Queen smiled sweetly at him, with Simon hovering close by.

“N-not at all, Your Majesty.  I am quite looking forward to helping look after my fellow westerners.”  He bowed low.

Kari came up to Phillip unexpectedly.  She whispered to him, “It’s ok, Phillip.  I know this isn’t what you expected, but if it makes you feel any better, I’ve had my doubts about leaving, too.”  She patted him on the shoulder.  Phillip just looked at her gratefully.

She looked over at the Queen.  “This is what Phillip—and the rest of us—are leaving.”  Kari stepped forward and closed her eyes, chanting silently to herself.  Everyone stopped talking and stared at her.

The room began to change.  Instead of the benches where petitioners waited, she painted a picture of a scene for all to see.  The river Elomere flowing past a smitty, a large man that Phillip instantly recognized as Black-John.  She showed them pictures of the old widow, Melanie Goodwin, and the large-scale farmers Horace Packard and Brandon Gains.  Rebecca was taking dead aim on a large moose, meandering by the banks of one of the small streams that split off from the river.  There was Tarsh and Nugget, running through the woods toward their barracks.  She zoomed out and showed the court
Kraggentop, and the incredible ice falls, and Elsa, the Ol’ Shakoor.  Finally she shifted the illusion to focus on a beautiful tree in bloom close to where her brother lived.  Under the tree, in the shade, was a young mage studying.  He looked up when Marik, his teacher, approached.  “It’s time, Magi,” he said.  He looked up and smiled.

Kari let the illusion hang in the air to the gasps of those gathered.  Phillip was awestruck at the scene.  He could
smell
the flowers in the tree.  It was an incredibly rich picture of Brigg.  His village.  His
home
.  He rubbed the wetness from his eyes and looked around the room.  Everyone was equally dazzled by the brilliant spell.  It literally looked like one could enter the scene by walking straight from the Queen’s throne to sit down under Magi’s tree.  They even
felt
a breeze when the wind passed through the blossoms.  It was a spectacle.

Phillip looked up at the Queen and her confidants.  They were all amazed, but the enchantress, Belara, was positively beaming.  Today she wore a pure white outfit, along with her trademark cloak and cowl.

“That place no longer exists, Kari.”  Kyle walked over to his sister and put an arm around her.  “I wish that it did, but it doesn’t.  At least, not as you would have us remember it.  The Magi you portray in this scene is not the man I left in Paragatha.”  He shook his head.  “Sister, you romanticize him.”

She narrowed her eyes, and the scene immediately faded away, much to the disappointment of Phillip and everyone else he could see.  “
Romanticize
him?  I know you say he’s changed, but I hardly am romanticizing him.  You and I both know better than most how gifted he is.”

Kyle scowled.  “I am tired of hearing of how
gifted
he is.  I am tired of hearing how
special
he is.  You know what Magi has become?  Selfish, cruel, and power-hungry.  He is obsessed with his own needs, his own goals, his own prophecy.  He cares nothing for others…and having had time to ponder him lately…I’m not sure he
ever
cared for anything or anyone other than himself.  He’s simply unconcerned with hiding it now that he’s got his prophecy.  If that is your pleasant little image of home, I can tell you that it truly is an illusion in every sense of the word.”

“Remember, dear brother, he grew up an orphan.”

“Remember, dear sister, you and I grew up away from our parents for most of our lives as well.  At some point, we are each accountable for own actions.  And he is well past that point.  Why are you defending him?”

“Why did you show us that, young Kari?” asked the Queen, interrupting the petty argument between the siblings.

Kari walked over to the Queen and exhaled.  “I’ve always wanted to see the world, my Queen.  And now as I am faced with the prospect of leaving, I find myself conflicted.  I guess I wanted to see Brigg as I remember it one final time before we depart.  I do not know when we’ll return, or when I’ll see it again.”

“Or you could stay,” offered Belara.  “Your skill as an illusionist is exceptional, Kari.  Stay if you wish.”

Niku turned to his protégé.  “Belara, the Queen has decreed that she should travel with us to Urthrax.  What do you mean to do by undermining this order?”

Belara smiled.  “Pardon my directness, Master, but I do not believe the Queen ordered anything of the sort.  She
offered
Kari a chance to go with you.  I am
offering
her a chance to stay.  Unless I have overstepped, Your Majesty?”  She bowed low to the Queen.

The Queen just looked at Belara, then at Niku, and finally back toward Kari.  “No.  Of course not.  Kari came to us weeks ago with a request.  If her feelings have changed, we would gladly welcome her to court, and I see that she already would have a Master under which she could apprentice.  The choice was always yours, Kari.  And it still is.  But if you are second-guessing yourself, tell us now, for it affects all our planning.”

Phillip had stood there watching the entire conversation bounce around the room from one to another.  Kyle’s description of Magi was
very interesting. 
Frightening, actually.  But he pushed all that was pushed to the back of his mind as his near-term fate hung on the emotional whims of a seventeen-year-old woman. 
Put aside this cleric nonsense and let’s stay here!  Or go back to Brigg!

Kari walked over to Belara and bowed.  “Thank you for your guidance, Mistress.  But I feel compelled to seek answers in Urthrax.”  She turned to the Queen.  “We will depart this afternoon according to plan, Your Majesty.”

Phillip fought hard not to cry again.

~Queen Najalas~

Later that morning, the Queen waited patiently for Jonathon to call out the name of the first petitioner.  Kari, Kyle, Sarah, Rebecca, and Phillip were all seated near the back; they had been allowed to hear petitioners, as were other ancillary members of the Queen’s court, from time to time.  This being their last day in Rookwood, they wanted to get as much time with the Queen as possible.

Niku and Simon were also there, seated near the Queen, all drinking a fragrant tea, its scent wafting throughout the Great Hall.  Belara stood on the other side of the Queen, somewhat more stoic than she had been earlier that morning.  Strongiron, apparently, was with his army lieutenants in training, for he still was nowhere to be seen.

“Let’s have our first petitioner,” the Queen
ordered, somewhat impatiently.  “We have an excursion to see off today.”

“Yes, my Queen.  We have only one petitioner this morning.  The True Mage Magi Blacksmooth, from Brigg.”

There was a gasp in the back of the room.  Magi didn’t even turn his head as he entered the Hall from the side parlor where all petitioners gathered to be heard before their name was called.  As he walked toward the Queen in the front of the room, he lowered his hood to reveal his shoulder-length, auburn hair.  He had grown a full beard over the last several weeks, and he now sported the sign of a mage who has successfully Climbed:  his pure white eyes.

The Queen stood
as he approached.  “I have heard of you.”

Magi nodded.  “And I’ve obviously heard of you, my Queen.”

The Queen saw Kari and Kyle approaching from the back of the Hall, Rebecca and Phillip right behind.  She held up her hand to stop them.  “To what do we owe this visit, Magi?”

The mage narrowed his eyes.  He knew from years of looking up at his former master’s face just how unnerving that particular facial expression was.  “I am
here to report an injustice, my Queen.”

“What injustice?”

“I have been deceived.  It has been made known to me that as a small child, I was kidnapped, and only recently have I met my natural father.  I discovered this man was murdered recently, his throat slashed.  I believe the man who stole my childhood to be the murderer, and I would like you to use your resources throughout Elvidor to help identify him and bring him to your court to answer for his crimes.  He is a mage—a rogue True Mage—and his name is Marik Kinshaw.  He used to run a school in Brigg.  My old school.”

The Queen leaned back in her throne.  “That is quite an accusation.  Do you have proof of this?”

“I can direct your mages to my father’s body.  We can teleport together this very minute if you like.”

“That won’t be necessary.  But tell me, if you are right and the man whom you accuse of this crime is guilty—this man being your former teacher, a True Mage you say?  Then why would he slash your father’s throat?  Is that typically how mages kill people?” she asked pointedly.

The Queen watched Magi closely.  She found his story odd, to say the least, and was wary of him to begin with, based on what Pilanthas and more recently Kyle had shared with her about this man.  
But for some reason I think, at least, that
he
believes what he is saying, even if I have my doubts.

“I can’t answer that, my Queen.  But when you hear his story and mine together, I will leave it to you to judge the truth.”

Queen Najalas leaned forward in her throne.  “Will you truly ‘leave it to me’?  Your request reeks of revenge.  Should I expect you to sit there quietly if I bring this Marik into court and sit him there next to you?”  She leaned back again.  “Tell me, Magi.  What do you really want with Master Kinshaw?  Why do you call him ‘rogue’?”

“I wish to have a conversation with him.  I was hoping you could help
find him.  As for why he is rogue—I believe he is an agent of an ancient foe.  I would like to determine that for myself.”

“An ancient foe?  Who might that be?”

“A self-styled God that you may have heard in your bedtime stories: Kuth-Cergor.”  Another series of gasps, some derisive laughter, and mostly chatter immediately filled the room.  Jonathon’s loud voice silenced the crowd.

The Queen panned around the room again.  Miss Sarah had moved away from the crowds, constantly looking around for some reason.  Kyle and Kari shared a shocked look between them.  Simon and Niku nodded to one another.

The Queen regarded Magi for several moments.  The silence in the Hall grew awkward.  Finally Magi spoke again.  “If you are unwilling to post a warrant for this man’s capture for questioning, I’ll be on my way and trouble your court no longer.”  He pulled the hood back up over his head.

The Queen raised her h
and.  “Wait, True Mage. Will you—join us?”  She didn’t know how to be anything but direct.

Magi tilted his head. “Join you?  Join you in doing what?”

“We are fighting the same foe.  I have heard you are a strong mage—we will need all the help this land can muster.  Stay.”  Her tone was as soft and as unQueenlike as anything anyone in the room had ever heard from her.

“He won’t stay.  He never does.”

All eyes in the Great Hall turned toward the voice behind Magi that belonged to the beautiful woman with intoxicating green eyes that had won over the hearts and minds of so many earlier that morning.

Magi slowly turned around and faced Kari, who st
ood right behind him.  He lowered his hood once again and looked upon her for the first time with his white eyes.  Though it didn’t change his vision in the slightest, his appearance would never be the same.  She sucked in her breath slightly at the sight.

And then he slapped her, sending her sprawling on the floor, lip bloodied.

“You are the last one to issue proclamations about commitment!”  Magi strode toward the exit when he heard another familiar voice. Glancing over, he saw Kyle shouting as he began moving his hands.

Magi surrounded himself effortlessly in a body-hugging invisible shield
, his fingers crushing a small marble without the slightest of pauses.  Ten missiles struck his shield and evaporated into nothingness, while all around him the Great Hall erupted into chaos.

“Goodbye, Kyle.”  Magi sent one missile at Kyle, who was putting up a pathetic shield of his own, to no avail.  The missile exploded through his magical defenses
, boring a hole straight through his body the size of a melon.  He grunted unceremoniously and convulsed on the floor in his sister’s arms.  He was dead a few seconds later as the blood emptied out of his body.

“
KYLE!” screamed Kari.

“SEIZE HIM, SIMON!” screamed the Queen
, standing up.

And then Magi was gone.  Teleported away on the wings of his Art.

The Queen was staring and pointing at the spot where Magi had just teleported.  Without turning to Jonathon, she declared, “The True Mage Magi Blacksmooth is to be found and executed.  I do not need a trial—my own eyes testify to his guilt.  Send his likeness to every Lord and Elder throughout Elvidor with an open death warrant of five thousand gold crowns. 
Nobody
commits murder in the center of my court, and his sentence is to be carried out by any who can.”