WinterMaejic Read online

  The power of maejic never ceases to awe me. That we must keep its use secret is criminal. How many people have gone to their graves never knowing they had the gift—or knowing, choosing not to use it?

  Our numbers decrease. There are scarcely enough of us left to maintain the balance of power. We weary and are in danger of growing weak.

  Long have I pondered what it will take to put things to rights. Maejic was outlawed when the dragons were overthrown from joint rule. Will it be restored when they regain their rightful place? Is Xyla the precursor? I am tempted to pin my hopes on her, but this does not seem wise, for many things can yet go wrong.

  Though go we to rest now,

  Say not thou “defeat.”

  The power of ages

  Again shall be meet.

  Ascent from the ashes,

  Descent from the stars,

  The power of ages

  Once more shall be ours.

  A strong one will quicken

  And harvest alone

  The power of ages

  To lead us all home.

  Is Xyla the strong one? Is Donavah?

  “I assure you I am not kidding.” Yallick’s chuckle made me look back at him. “Come inside,” he said.

  I followed him into the cottage, the inside of which looked nothing at all as it had when I’d left it earlier in the day. The furniture was pushed back against the walls, the rugs were rolled up leaving the floor bare, and not a single book, manuscript, or instrument was to be seen anywhere.

  “I was right,” I burst out. “We are leaving.”

  “Yes, indeed. And who knows when or even if we shall return?” I detected a wistful note in his voice. “What we cannot carry on our backs we must leave behind.”

  “But if the king’s men are coming . . . what about all your things?”

  “That is what I need your help with. I have already buried everything of import—”

  “Buried your books?” I interrupted. “They’ll all be ruined!”

  Yallick snorted. “I think not. I would have hoped you would trust me to do better than that. Everything is safely sealed in magic trunks. But even the most junior of Roylinn’s novices could open the trunks if they were found. That is why I need your help. We must move that boulder to cover the spot where the trunks are buried.”

  I looked at him as if he were crazy, and then it dawned on me. Of course! We would move the boulder using our power. My eyes widened. “I’ve never . . . I can’t . . .” I spluttered. Then I rose to the challenge in Yallick’s eyes. “All right. Teach me what to do.” He smiled in satisfaction.

  He led the way back outside and around to the back. The boulder was at least twenty feet across and close to half that high.

  “Close your eyes and compose your thoughts.” Yallick’s voice was soft, almost chanting.

  I took another look at the huge rock, then did as I was told.

  “Gather your power.”

  I took a deep breath and raised my hands, as if feeling for the threads, the strands of power to weave into substance. There—on my fingertips, now in my palms. I gathered it as Yallick instructed.

  “Direct it to the boulder.”

  I sent the ropes of power to surround it, lift it into the air. Not much, just a few inches. I heard the tiniest of gasps from my teacher, which I put out of my mind.

  “Move it to the left, not far, maybe eight feet.”

  I felt like laughing, this was so easy. Obviously, Yallick was doing most of the work. Still, I was learning a new skill. With a slow movement of my hand, I slid the power to the left.

  “By all the . . . !” Traz’s voice rang through the night, shattering my concentration. The ground shuddered as the boulder fell. I almost lost my balance, but Yallick grabbed my arm. Traz sauntered over to us. From the look in Yallick’s eyes, I knew the boy was in for a tongue-lashing. “That was awesome, Donavah!” Traz went on. “I didn’t know you could do that. C’mon. Do it again!”

  I braced myself for the expected torrent of anger from the mage, but before it came, the entire world seemed to tilt. Yallick caught me up in his arms before I fell, then quickly strode to the cottage. I tried to protest that I could walk, but no words came out. He carried me inside and to my room, placed me gently on my cot, and pulled several heavy blankets over me. I caught sight of Traz’s worried face watching from the doorway, but I couldn’t move. Panic started to seep into my stomach.

  Yallick placed a warm hand on my forehead. “You are all right. Sleep now. We must leave before dawn.” And I immediately fell asleep.

  I was softly prodded from a dreamless slumber to find Yallick looking down at me in the candlelight. “Awake?” he asked.

  I nodded and pushed myself into a sitting position. I felt a little groggy, but nothing a cup of strong tea wouldn’t take care of.

  Yallick sat on the edge of the cot, and I moved my legs aside to give him more room.

  “It is almost time to depart. But before we go, I must beg your forgiveness. What I did last night was utterly inexcusable.”

  “What do you mean? I don’t understand. So I helped you move—”

  “Helped me?” he interrupted. “Helped me? My dear, you did it all yourself.”

  I almost asked if he was kidding, but I could see the concern—concern for me—in his eyes.

  “I did not think you would be able to do it; you have not yet had sufficient training. But after yesterday’s events, it was wrong of me to put you to that kind of test. My only defense is that I did not expect you to succeed. But you did.”

  He paused, as if to let that sink in.

  My voice came out in a whisper. “I . . . I did it all myself? That’s not possible.”

  Yallick smiled. “I was surprised myself, despite my confidence in your abilities.” He patted my shoulder. “It is almost time to leave. Traz has prepared porridge and tea. You must eat well, and then we will be off.”

  I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. “But I haven’t packed yet.”

  “Not to worry. Traz and I took care of that last night. Your pack is in the front room. Hurry along now.” And he was gone, closing the door behind him.

  I looked around the room. Although it was at least twice as big as my cell back at Roylinn Academy, I hadn’t been here long enough to really make it mine. I’d set a few pinecones on the desk, but that was about it. Still, the bed was comfortable, and the thought of camping in the outdoors during Winter didn’t make it seem less so. I sighed and threw back the covers, discovering with relief that I was still dressed in yesterday’s clothes.

  Breakfast improved my mood still more, so that when we left the cottage, I felt ready to face whatever was ahead. We hoisted our packs and went outside.

  “Don’t you want to lock the door?” I asked Yallick as we walked down the front path.

  “If they find the place, a lock would scarcely slow them down.”

  Something about the way he stressed the word if made me look back. Sure enough, where the cottage had stood was now a meadowy glade. Even the boulder I’d moved the night before was gone.

  “Then why did you have me move it?” I asked in exasperation.

  “Because I have no idea whether they will be able to break the illusion. And even if they do not, the illusion will not last forever. Let us carry on.”

  Yallick took the lead, and Traz and I walked side by side behind him. We headed north.

  The sky was just turning rosy in the dawn light when the mage Anazian joined us. He had a very serious look on his face, and he spoke with Yallick in a language I didn’t understand. Not liking the feel of being left out, I slowed my steps to let the two men get a little ahead. Traz stayed with me.

  “Where is Xyla?” I asked. “I didn’t see her anywhere. I can’t he
ar her, either.”

  Traz’s winced a bit, reminding me of his secret wish to become maejic. “Yallick sent her ahead last night. Said she needs to travel when it’s dark.”

  “But where’d she go?”

  “To wherever we’re supposed to camp tonight. I guess that’s the plan for awhile, until we have to start traveling at night, too.”

  “At night?” I exclaimed much louder than I’d meant to. Anazian looked back at me. I smiled at him, and he turned back to Yallick. “At night?” I repeated more quietly. “You’re joking.”

  Traz shrugged. “I’m not. And I can’t imagine Yallick ever joking.”

  “You’ve got a point there,” I agreed. Then I shivered. “It’s already too cold to be outside at night.”

  “I know. And I think we’re heading for the mountains on the northeast border.”

  “Great. Just great.” I hunched up in my cloak, shoved my gloved hands deeper into my pockets, and trudged along in silence for awhile. I tried to enjoy the scenery, but the woods had suddenly lost their appeal.

  As the day progressed, more and more mages joined us, until we were a group of well over a hundred. Traz attached himself to Klemma, and I couldn’t help smiling when I realized he’d managed to coax her into a verbal lesson on weaponry.

  After lunch, Anazian joined me. “So, Donavah, how goes the teaching? Are you studying hard?”

  “I was until today,” I grumbled.

  Anazian threw back his head and laughed. “Very bitterly said. You would rather be attending to Yallick’s boring old lessons than hiking in the fresh air?”

  His humor was infectious, and I grinned sheepishly. “Well, maybe if it were Spring it wouldn’t be so bad.”

  “You just might be right, at that.”

  “Well, in answer to your first question, I guess things are going all right. Yallick seems to be satisfied.”

  Anazian looked closely at me. “He does? That’s unusual.”

  That pricked my pride. “What’s so unusual about that?” I snapped. “I’m a good student, and I work hard.”

  He laughed again. “No, no. You misunderstand. My apologies. What I meant was that it’s unusual for Yallick to let a student know what he thinks. Especially if it’s positive. I should know.”

  “Why?”

  “I apprenticed with him, too.” I looked at Anazian in surprise. He caught the look and said, “And now it’s my turn to bristle if I choose. Does that seem so unlikely?”

  I ducked my head in my own apology. “No. It’s just that I thought it had been a long time since he’d had an apprentice.”

  “And so it is. I believe I’m considerably older than you think. The same is even more true of Yallick.”

  “But he’s ancient. He must be at least fifty.”

  Anazian laughed aloud yet again. This time I noticed several mages look our way in curiosity. I wanted to tell him to stop, but didn’t think it would do any good. He’d probably just laugh at me more.

  “My dear girl, I am almost fifty. Yallick is over eighty. And even that is not terribly old for a mage. Or have they not told you that long life is another part of the gift?”

  Yallick was over eighty? I couldn’t believe it. He didn’t look much older than Papa.

  “I was Yallick’s last apprentice. He said he would never take another, as I’d been so much trouble.” There was a long pause in which I expected him to laugh again, but he didn’t. Instead, he went on in a low voice, more to himself than to me. “I was quite surprised to hear he’d actually taken another.” He gave me a sidelong look.

  Disconcerted with Anazian’s strange shifts of mood and conversation, I allowed myself to drift away from him.

  We walked until about an hour after nightfall. I’d long lost track of both Yallick and Anazian in the ever-growing group. I hadn’t seen Traz for some time, either, although every once in awhile I heard his boyish laughter rise above the murmured conversations all around me.

  In the short time I’d been at Yallick’s, I had met only a few of the other mages, and they were mostly the ones who lived nearby. As a result, I knew very few of the people now surrounding me, nor did they know me. Most would smile and perhaps nod if our eyes met, but no one seemed interested in speaking to me. I walked along and let my mind drift.

  My fifth birthday. Breakfast, the traditional time for children to open their family gifts. Eight-year-old Breyard squirms excitedly in his chair, almost as if it’s his birthday instead of mine. Mama reprimands him several times for his misbehavior, but she never catches me making faces back at him. Finally, the meal ends. Papa hands me a large, brightly wrapped and beribboned gift. I shriek in delight when I open the box to find it filled with wooden animals of every kind, all skillfully carved by Papa himself. Except for the whale, Breyard points out with pride. Then he hands me his gift, a box about eight inches square and four high. The contents of the box seem to shift even as I hold it. Mama and Papa obviously don’t know what’s inside and watch in curiosity. Breyard stands close as I unwrap it, staring into my face. I tear off the wrapping and open the box, and out slithers a small green and yellow snake. It’s so sweet and soft. I let it twine around my fingers. This is apparently not the reaction Breyard expected, and his face falls.

  CRACK! The sharp, resounding noise startled me out of my reverie. A streak of orange lightning shot overhead. Another, and then another, all from different directions.

  “Everyone down!” Yallick’s voice roared over the cries of surprise.

  I heard the sound of running footsteps and then was knocked to the ground by something very large.

  The final play is in motion now. Ah, how proud Wals, DragonLord of old, would be to know of the fruition of his plan. The assault on the mages has begun by now. Once we have disposed of them, it will be easy to overpower the king, obsessed as he is with throwing his self-indulgent temper tantrums over the loss of the red dragon. He is like the legendary shavelle-mouse, which would eat until it burst if so allowed. We have given Erno free rein, and he engorges himself.

  But I digress. My son has done his duty and will be richly rewarded. To shake his hand, to clasp him to my breast, to look upon his face. All the long years of sacrifice are worth what we shall gain, but I look forward to being able to speak with him again, father to son, son to father.

  Has he married? Have I grandchildren hitherto unknown? Our final victory will bring the answers to these and so many more questions. It will not be long now—by Spring, I predict. The mages certainly cannot hold out against us longer than that.

  “Are you all right, Donavah?” Anazian’s voice whispered right next to my ear as he pushed himself off me and rolled aside. I couldn’t answer since he’d knocked the wind out of me. He placed an arm protectively over my shoulders. “I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to knock you down like that. I guess I misjudged in the dark.”

  I didn’t say anything but just continued to lie there face-down, trying to get air into my lungs again and waiting to see what would happen. No more of the weird lightning bolts, but no one seemed inclined to rise until Yallick said it was all right. Next thing I knew, he was standing beside me, then crouching down, a hand on the middle of my back.

  “Are you all right, Donavah?” By now I’d regained my breath, and I would have laughed at the way he asked me the exact same question Anazian just had, except that I was much too scared. The vibrations in the air all around exacerbated my fear, and the deep tension I sensed through Yallick’s touch made it even worse.

  “Yes, yes. I’m fine,” I managed to whisper, my voice a little shaky. I pushed myself up onto an elbow and looked toward Yallick. “Anazian here was looking out for me.” There was enough light from the moon for me to see the glint in Yallick’s eyes as his gaze flicked to the other mage, then back to me.

  “Stay here. Do not move
until I return for you.” Then he raised his voice just a little, and even though he was still whispering, he somehow projected his voice to everyone. “Remain as you are. I will investigate.”

  There were brief murmurs of conversation here and there, but Anazian didn’t say anything to me. The minutes seemed to stretch into hours. I was sure it must be almost dawn before Yallick came back. And when he did, it was as if he appeared from thin air between eye blinks.

  “All around is clear,” Yallick announced in that same soft voice that carried to everyone. “We must move on quickly now.”

  He reached down a hand to help me to my feet. I’d grown stiff and cold sitting on the ground, and I was grateful for his assistance this time. “Stay by my side, Donavah,” he said, taking my hand and leading me to the front of the group before letting go. I sensed that the responsibility for almost two hundred people weighed heavily on him, so I stayed near him despite a strong wish to find Traz.

  Yallick didn’t speak as everyone got underway again. I walked at his side, trying hard not to yawn and not succeeding very well. Then, after we’d been moving somewhat less than an hour, I heard Xyla’s voice inside my head.

  “Donavah? Something is wrong.”

  “What?” I asked her as my heart started racing again.

  “Not with me. With you. What has happened?”

  I explained quickly about the lightning bolts, then asked how far away from her we were.

  “Not far. Close enough for you to hear me and me to hear you.”

  “Thanks for that, Xyla. I hadn’t noticed.” And I grinned.

  Indeed, it wasn’t long before we arrived at the rendezvous point to find the red dragon waiting patiently. She lay curled up, as usual, but I could see her eyes watching us. I ran to her and spread out my arms along her shoulder—the nearest I’d ever get to embracing her.

  A lump rose in my throat when I thought back to the day, scarcely three months ago for me but who knew how long for her, when I held her, newly hatched on my lap. Neither of us had known then what our futures held together. But later she’d gone away, to Stychs, to mature and grow so that she’d be big enough to help me try to save my brother. A new thought struck me, and I leaned away from Xyla’s shoulder and looked first at her belly and then at her head. Stychs must be where she’d gotten pregnant. Why hadn’t I realized before?