The Last Wizard of Eneri Clare (85 page)

Tvrdik wrung his hands in confusion. This was unexpected. He swallowed hard, “Master, you know I could never deny you anything you asked of me, but it is you who are Wizard to the Crown. You are needed – your place is here. Everyone is expecting it.”

“That may have been so, once, my dear boy. But now, it is high time I passed the baton on to a worthy successor. I will always be near if you need assistance.” He clapped his protégé on the back, but the younger man still seemed uncertain, casting about desperately for another approach, another well-seasoned argument.

“Well, then, stay here and start another school. Surely you will not abandon the search for promising candidates?”

“You have a point there, but I was speaking with young Mark here, and his bride, earlier, and I believe they have some interesting plans for you if any potential students of magic do turn up. I think we can leave the school in their capable hands.” The young couple smiled, and exchanged an ecstatic look, confirming Xaarus’ assertion.

Tvrdik stood again, his eyes darting about in near panic, a little like a cornered mouse, his mouth opening and closing, but no words coming out – no more arguments he could think of to put forth. At this point, Jorelial Rey had heard enough debate. She stood up with an air of determination, stepped forward, took Tvrdik by the arm, pulled him aside, and addressed her guests, “Will you excuse us, everyone, for a few moments? We need to have a little private chat. Perhaps I can make him an offer he can’t refuse. Please make yourselves comfortable and have some dessert. I expect we won’t be long.” At that, she near dragged the hapless mage out of the room and into the gathering twilight, through an archway and around a corner into a deserted area of the palace courtyard. In fact, it was the very alcove where, not so very long ago, a ragged, bespectacled stranger had waited for hours for his first audience with the Lady Regent. Checking that they were alone, she pulled him around to face her, and with hands on hips, and eyes ablaze, she gave him a fair piece of her mind.

“What in heaven’s name are you thinking? I have been very patient with you, since I thought you needed time to recover. But first you sulk all day, and then this…this announcement, so unexpected, and so insane! You can’t leave, just like that. ‘Oh, we’re done now…I guess I’ll go back to the woods…’ How am I supposed to keep everything running here all by myself? You know I never wanted this job, but now I am stuck with it for life, and you know I can’t do it alone.”

Tvrdik, stunned, confused, and backed up against the wall, adjusted his glasses on his face, “I…I thought this is what you said you wanted. And, anyway, you aren’t alone. You have Tashroth, and Mark and Delphine, and Bargarelle, and Warlowe and all the rest. You are a natural born leader. You’ll do just fine.”

“Dragonsbreath!” she shouted, “We were supposed to be a team, remember? You have the ideas, and I make them happen, wasn’t that it? What happened to that, eh? It isn’t fair for you to show up here and stir everything up, and then, just like that, out of the blue, up and disappear again.”

“I’m sorry, but I…I…simply cannot stay here any longer. Please,
please
, just let me go…” It was a desperate plea now from somewhere deep within his being.

Jorelial Rey heard it, stopped in her tracks, hung her head and shook it slowly in disbelief. Then she raised it and looked him straight in the bespectacled eye. Crossing the distance between them so that she was standing closer than was comfortable, she lowered her voice to something more intimate, “Tvrdik, can you think of
no
other reason to stay on here, at Theriole?”

He stood there stone still, speechless, gazing down at her proud, upturned face. For a moment, another face appeared before his eyes, a beautiful face from the past, golden hair blowing about in the gentle evening breeze. Perfect features, porcelain skin, lovely blue eyes regarding him, now seeming shallow and dangerous. The sound of far-off laughter like little tuned bells fell on his ear from a time long past, but now rang somehow cold and hollow, even cruel. The vision faded, and in its place was another face, an achingly familiar face – sun-browned skin and a crooked smile, dark arched brows, one raised higher than the other in a sharp question. And, under those brows, the deep brown eyes, brimming over with intelligence and warmth, staring at him, but looking into his soul as if they knew everything they would find there, and embraced it all…real eyes, eyes that spoke volumes, and at this moment seemed to be searching, pleading for something….

And then, in one of those eyes, a single tear eased its way from the corner and began a slow journey down the cheek. Before he even knew what he was doing, Tvrdik had raised a trembling hand, and was tracing with a delicate finger the line of dark hair where it framed that face. His hand was caressing the damp cheek – such a gentle caress, a feather’s brush of a touch. And then he was leaning down to kiss away the tear. Somehow his lips moved sideways to find her mouth, her lovely mouth raised to meet his. Eyes closed, he kissed her long, with tenderness and passion.

Tvrdik straightened up in horror, trying to back away, but there was nowhere left for him to go. “Oh gods…” he stammered, “I…I’m so sorry. I never meant to…I had no right to…” He was pacing, hands fidgeting in abject mortification. But she was laughing now, tears pouring down her face.

“Oh, Tvrdik, you ridiculous man! Why in heaven’s name did you wait so long?”

“What?” he froze, fixing her with an incredulous stare, “Why, you are the Lady Jorelial Rey, the most powerful individual in all of Eneri Clare. You are responsible for the entire kingdom. There is no possibility you could ever see
me
as…I mean…we could never…there could
never
be anything…”

“Stop talking,” she commanded, stepped to him, took his face in her hands and kissed him on the mouth. When she pulled away, and smiled up at him, he drew her close and circled her slim frame with his long arms, her head resting just on his heart. He leaned his face down to kiss the top of her head, breathing in the sweet scent of lavender and vanilla, like an elixir, and for the first time in his life, he felt every corner of his being release its tension, uncoil. Every old burden, wound or stress, every fear, doubt, and sadness was melting and falling away like so much sand pouring out of an hourglass. All he knew at that moment was the warmth of that embrace, the bliss of being wanted, the joy of dreams fulfilled. He had at last found his way home.

“Bless you, heavens, but what did I ever do to deserve this?” he breathed. “Jorelial Rey, I think I have been in love with you from the first moment I saw you, but I dared not even admit it to myself. Can you understand, that’s why I was so desperate to go away – after all we have been through together, I couldn’t bear to spend even one more day so close to you, without being able to hold you like this.”

He was stroking her hair with such tenderness it renewed her weeping. She whispered, “How could you believe I would ever want to go back to the lonely existence I lived before you came along? I couldn’t have gone on without you.” Tears fell from his eyes now, too, onto her hair, and he smoothed them away with his hand. She spoke again, “Aren’t you wizards supposed to be able to see beneath the surface of things, to read people’s thoughts? How could you not know?”

“I guess there are certain things to which we are deaf and blind. And you keep your secrets pretty well guarded, my lady.”

She was looking up at him again, “Oh, Tvrdik, how could I ever keep secrets from you? Who knows me as well as you do? Who just allows me to be myself? Nobody makes me laugh like you do, or makes me feel like who I am, is sufficient!”

“You are so much more than sufficient, dear heart, you are magnificent.”

“And you wonder why I like having you around.”

His grip tightened for a moment, “Will it be all right? I mean, will anyone object?”

“Not that it would matter to me, anyway, but remember I am not of royal blood, and you, my dear, are a person of some fame and distinction now, whether you believe it or not. It will be more than all right. But, I am still regent, and my responsibilities are here. Will you stay, my magical friend, and help me to rule well?”

“Winged horses could not drag me away from you, now that I know you love me. You
do
love me, don’t you?” He pulled back a little to look at her face.

“Stop talking,” she said again, and kissed him. Then, “You do realize you’ll have to share me with a dragon?”

“I have already had the worst of this dragon, and, you will notice, it did not chase me away. I almost think that Tashroth might approve, the crafty old worm.”

“I wouldn’t call him that to his face.”

“I meant it with the utmost respect and affection,” he covered, “but, I am afraid, I, too, have a confession.” One of her eyebrows arched. He went on, “I think Ondine might have a bit of a crush on me.”

Rel laughed out loud, “Well, someone has a rather high opinion of himself, doesn’t he now.”

He tightened his arms about her, “Tonight, my love, I feel like I could take on anything.”

And then, in a grave voice, and with a slight furrow of her brow, she asked, “What about Ailianne?”

“Who?” was his response, just before kissing all her worries away.

Just around the corner, several pairs of eyes were spying on the couple. Delphine giggled, “Look, Mark, his spectacles are all fogged up.”

“Delphy, that’s terrible. Hush! They’ll hear us.”

“I can’t help it. It’s so perfect. I
knew
Tvrdik was lucky for us the moment I met him.”

Mrs. Praeger sniffled, a hanky in one hand, dabbing at her eyes. Her husband patted her on the back, in an awkward comforting gesture, “There, there, Maihre. It’ll be alright…”

“I can’t help meself, I’m that happy for the pale, bony boy!”

Bargarelle was wiping his eyes with his sleeve as well, with Minister Verger’s arm around his shoulders. Warlowe joined them, a broad smile on his face, while Corbin Maygrew stood with his hands on his hips. “Well, I’ll be…” he chuckled, not knowing exactly how to finish the sentence. Andrus scratched his head, and looked down in embarrassment.

“I was so hoping this would happen,” Xaarus murmured, grinning ear to ear. “After all, I
did
foresee it, but you never can tell with people. Free will, you know, and they can be so dense, so stubborn. Well, what do you say, Stewart? You could come out to the woods with me and pick up right where your grandsire left off?”

“A great honor, sir, for ye to ask, but if it’s all the same to ye, I think I have already found
my
wizard. I have a cousin, though, who might be quite interested in a position, if ye’re offerin’. And I also know a very clever turtle, one of us talkers, by the name of Philip …”

A strange sound drifted down into the courtyard from high above on the north tower. Tvrdik and Rel looked up, along with everyone else, to see a white dragon, close beside a green, peering down from atop the tower, silhouetted in stark relief against the flaming sky of sunset. Again, the strange, dragonish sound trickled down and tickled all of their ears. It was a sound not unlike laughter.