The Unexpected Heir: A Tale of Alus (16 page)

The inner city wall had token guards, but unlike the outer walls there was no line to wade through or papers to show. Soon enough they were in a courtyard behind a five story building, the tallest she had been able to see, and leaving the carriage to enter the Two Circles Inn. While the outer building was impressive in size, it was the interior that sought to amaze its guests.

Four tall columns too wide for one person to reach around held up the ceiling high above their heads. The floor glistened like it had been polished only moments before they had arrived. Black and brown stones were set in patterns throughout the otherwise golden tan squares making up the floor. The colors complimented the look of the dark wood tables and the rich wood panels lining the outer walls. It felt expensive and the girl was sure that it was.

Reynolvan took the lead and moved to check them into the inn. When she and Xerese heard that they were on the fifth floor, their hearts sunk as one. The thought of climbing five flights of stairs everyday as many times as was likely, sounded like torture not prestige until the concierge took them to a special set of doors. A rectangular room was beyond them and once they were inside, he merely touched a button sending the box filled with her people moving upward. She could feel the shift in her body as she stood in the room, but wondered how it could move like that. Southwall was showing off for her once more.

It brought them to the fifth floor and they had exerted only as much energy as it took to walk to the box. They were shown their rooms and Xerese waited only until the guards checked the place for possible dangers before throwing herself back onto one of the heavily stuffed beds.

"It's like being on a cloud. Well, at least what I guess a cloud would feel like anyway," the dark haired girl said with a laugh to her cousin.

"I'm glad that you like it, though I've touched the clouds with my magic and I would have to say that it is not. If it were a real cloud, you would fall through it onto the floor; but I am glad that it is soft enough for your approval," the girl so opposite in looks replied.

Frowning at Annalicia's response, Xerese complained, "Don't be so literal, Anna, and come try it out. I wouldn't have thought that an inn would have such rich tastes."

"The guide did say that the Two Circles Inn hosts ambassadors and lords quite often. I guess that they must charge enough to make sure to have the best." The young woman said as she joined Xerese on the bed. Lying onto the comforter covered mattress, she had to agree that it was one of the most comfortable beds that she had ever tried, though her list was short in truth.

The girls didn't take too long to relax, however, though it was Annalicia who spurred her cousin to move for the most part. She rose and found her bedroom attached through a joining door. Both suites had two rooms. One was for the ladies, while the second would be shared by their bodyguards.

Security had been a big concern for their families. Even being thirteenth and twenty-second in the royal succession was close enough to make the guild very careful in their choice of inns and rooms. All that had been discussed away from the two girls, and Anna only knew that her father had worked with the guild to set up their reservations with the distant kingdom. Their ships had connections with most of North continent and Philip had used those ties to properly take care of his daughter and her cousin.

When Annalicia knocked on Xerese's door looking ready to investigate the city, she had two guards with disapproving looks at her back.

A big smile crossed her face like sunshine in the gray of the day and she had to work quite hard to get her cousin to follow with equally disappointed looking guards quickly pulling on jackets to join the others in Hala.

"I can't believe that you want to do this, Anna," Xerese complained as they took the magical elevator down to the first floor. "It is so cold here. I am seriously contemplating staying inside this inn the whole time until this tournament is over and we can sail home."

"Don't be so overdramatic," the silver haired blonde chided setting her spell to trap heat for the girls as Welden held the door for the group to exit the lobby. "We're in a foreign city. It isn't as large as all of Yalan, but it is still quite large from what I could tell from inside the carriage. This will be a bit of an adventure and when will you ever get to see a city covered in ice and snow again?"

Snorting derisively, the other woman replied, "Hopefully never."

Chapter 9- The High Wizard

Annalicia was up at an early hour, though not terribly early in the young wizard's opinion. Her body had been able to adjust to the change in the rise of the sun as they moved eastward on the ship; but the shortening of daylight, not to mention the many hours of gray thanks to the clouds often overhead created by the weather fronts of northern mountain air or sea, was something that Anna had not considered at all before traveling had begun.

Southwall had weather patterns that were nothing like Malaiy. Both were on the ocean, though the North Sea was to the east and Malaiy had water to the north and west; but her home didn't have mountains to affect it. Southwall had two ranges from her studies. One lay to the west nearly a thousand miles away, while the Dragon Spine Mountains were much closer, though not within the country's borders.

It was interesting to an air wizard, also referred to as a weather wizard by the other magical arts; though Annalicia found it was much less interesting to those who couldn't see how the world of air worked. They merely wanted to know if it would rain or snow to plan their days and didn't care to know how the wizard could possibly know.

Xerese, though a bit more understanding than some about her care for how the world worked, was not so forgiving about being awoken this morning. Her guard, Dillon, who answered the door and passed along her invitation, was one that the girls had enjoyed looking at as discretely as they thought they could get away with on the ship. He was handsome and easily Annalicia's taste. With brown hair and gray eyes, the tall guard had a jaw that somehow always seemed to have a five o'clock shadow without ever becoming a full beard.

The girls had often had discussions on it when he was far enough away not to hear. It was perplexing; but gave him an amazingly rugged appearance, the cousins had agreed. If he was of even remotely royal lineage, they also agreed that they would have wished to have a husband as handsome. Of course that was purely superficial on their parts; but when he wasn't being so sober in his duty to protect Xerese, Annalicia had noted his charm was not lost on other women as well.

Returning from the door to the sleeping lady's chamber, Dillon smiled ruefully, "Her ladyship has respectfully declined your request to accompany you at this time."

He used words that would be unlikely to come from a guardsman as he cleaned up the snarled rebuke that they had all heard from the hall. Trying not to laugh in her face, Dillon proved he had charm and a sense of humor as well.

Sniffing at his message as a smile revealed her fighting a similar laugh, Annalicia nodded. "Let 'her ladyship' know that I will see her later in the morning then. We're going to reconnoiter some of the local shops we were told about by the concierge desk. If I find anything Xerese might like," she spoke louder as the girl finished, "I'll buy it for myself!"

The guard nodded in agreement smiling at her. Anna felt her heart jump and quickly turned away to walk down the hall before Dillon or her guards could catch her blushing. It wasn't very ladylike and she didn't need the men talking about her response between them. Being both a royal lady and a wizard, it would be hard to be seen as a leader if she was caught fawning over the man like some childish school girl.

By the time they arrived at the elevator, Annalicia was composed enough to avoid being caught and the trip down in the small box was spent in silence. The guards were used to being addressed before speaking to her, though the wizard was hardly as strict in such treatment of the men she also considered friends. They had to become friends with as much time as they spent together, or Anna would probably have driven them away to find more suitable companions.

Still, it was early in the day and the woman was left with her thoughts. Nearly ignoring her guards, Annalicia stepped out of the elevator and was nearly flagged down the instant she stepped foot in the combination lobby and dining area.

"Lady Malef Eremia," the man called walking towards the girl and her guards with a paper folded around a couple envelopes in his hands. "You have messages this morning."

He smiled. It was an adopted smile of someone used to putting on the mask while serving those who came through the inn's doors daily. Annalicia knew the look from seeing the servants in the various castles of Malaiy. The people smiled because they were lords and ladies, but not every smile rang true. Letting on that they weren't happy wasn't allowed, she supposed. They were just supposed to serve and not bring any of their troubles out in front of those who paid them to serve.

Taking a pair of envelopes, Annalicia dismissed the man with a mumbled thank you as she opened the first. It was a schedule notice for the tournament. Registry for the tournament was officially in three days. They had already been waiting four days, but that was because the Sea Dragon had arrived a little early thanks to good winds following them their whole trip. She was an air wizard, but that wasn't her doing and was glad enough to limit the days on the ship. While Annalicia didn't get seasick, she was certainly sick of being at sea by the time they had arrived in Hala's harbor.

The second envelope caused her to smile with its message.

"We have a detour to make, boys," she said to Ryan and Welden standing at ease behind her. Their eyes roamed the room watching out for trouble, but they hardly expected any danger in the Two Circles.

"Good news?" Ryan asked.

"My grandfather is here and sent me a letter telling me where he was staying."

Frowning slightly with the thought, he asked in turn, "He isn't staying at the king's castle?"

Letting out a musical little giggle, Annalicia shook her head and replied, "No, Grandfather Darius isn't actually a lord; though as high wizard and an immortal, most people tend to treat him like one. He doesn't really act like he wants special treatment actually. Grandfather can try to be a normal man, but it is hard for others to see him that way."

Welden said quietly, "An immortal isn't a normal man."

Turning to him waving her finger chidingly, the girl warned, "Try to treat him like you would anyone else. Well, treat him like he is my grandfather actually. He isn't a stranger to me after all."

A stranger would have required close attention from the men, but Anna quickly put away any qualms about her guards being able to relate to the immortal without hero worship.

"Lady Anna, where are you going now?" a man's voice questioned from one of the tables.

Wincing at the voice of the wizard in charge of their team, the woman turned to face Reynolvan. The man's dark skin showed around the dutifully trimmed black beard and his combed hair.

"Well, Reynolvan, I was planning to eat a little breakfast before taking a walk in the brisk morning air. Then I will try to find my grandfather's inn, well, the inn he is staying in to be more exact. Is that all right with you?" the last was added sarcastically.

Though the man was in charge of the team of wizards, that leadership was meant to be in relation to the performance they hoped to field for the tournament. At times, the man had seemed to think that he was their guardian and treated them like children. His idea of a curfew had already been 'suggested', and had not set well with the lady of Malaiy.

"Your grandfather? You don't mean that the high wizard is here?" Reynolvan questioned showing excitement as he forgot any ideas of curbing her expeditionary jaunt.

Nodding at the man, Annalicia resigned herself to having to deal with both he and Ivanor who had been silently listening to the exchange beside him. Like Reynolvan, her training partner often acted like he was there to be a chaperone to the young lady.

Holding up the second letter in its envelope briefly, the girl replied, "He just arrived yesterday afternoon according to this and made sure to let me know. He should be around most of the morning apparently. I don't want to wait too long and risk missing him.

"Leaving each other notes as we missed each other would be very disappointing. I get to see him so rarely with him living in Eirdhen most of the time."

Nodding as if he was actually listening to anything beyond the initial words, Reynolvan stated, "Ivanor and I will join you. The city should be safe, but it is best if we accompany you as extra protection, I think."

Annalicia smiled tightly at his excuse and merely responded, "Of course, we wouldn't want to risk someone singling me out in a crowd of strangers."

"They might not know who you are, but you would stand out amongst almost any crowd, my lady. It can't hurt to have a couple more wizards keeping an eye out for you," Ryan said with a straight face. The girl was pretty sure that he was messing with her, but the guardsman was too good to let her know completely. Her assumptions aside, Ryan wouldn't put her in a dangerous position; but he was enough of a friend to put her in a potentially annoying one, she thought to herself.

"Whatever, but when we are there, you can't be fawning over him like you have a crush. He is my grandfather and I don't get to see him very often; so don't be idiots," the woman warned the older wizards. Wizards everywhere nearly worshipped Darius. Most of the magic they used derived from his school in Eirdhen, so not only his immortality but his position of high wizard would make most wizards giddy in his presence.