Discovery

CHAPTER FOUR

All ten soldiers ran to her, the leader followed by nine others. Their heavy boots struck the ground at the same time hammering out a heavy military rhythm. Their response happened so fast that Hannah turned to see who behind her they were chasing. In her entire lifetime, she had never drawn so much as a wit of notice from the palace guards. But today ten of them were after her.

“I didn't mean any harm,” she wailed as one took her firmly by the arm.

“You’re sure that’s her?” The soldier wearing more gold stripes and loops than the others asked.

Another soldier answered, “Seen the girl a hundred times before. It’s her, alright.”

The leader of the soldiers then stood taller and faced her. He ignored the tears streaming down her cheeks. “Are you the one called Hannah?”

“Yes,” she sobbed, knowing she would never leave the castle grounds again after this.

He reached out and took her other arm, pulling her along. “Come on, now. Don’t fight me.”

The others fell into a double line behind, their feet striking the ground at the same time as they fell into a marching step, two-by-two. Inside the gate stood more people gathered to watch her capture. They looked at Hannah and whispered behind hands held to their mouths to cover the words. She recognized most of them, but not one called out to her or waved. None smiled, laughed or offered support.

Hannah didn’t know what she would say to the Overseer when they stood her before him. It had just been a little walk in the forest to clear her head. That’s what she’d say. She hadn’t been out of sight of the castle walls. Not really. Then, in resignation, she quit resisting the guard and tried walking beside the soldier, head held high, back straight. Whatever happened, happened.

The guard led the procession directly to the stable instead of taking her back to the kitchens. The main doors stood open, but they used another smaller door that took them into the wide area where the wagons and carriages sat, instead of where the horses were stabled. One carriage stood alone in the center of the wood chips covering the floor, ready to be pulled by the matching steeds already in the harness. It was the gleaming white one that shimmered in the light. Cleanup stood in the shadows; half hid near the other doorway, his shovel and pail ready, but his eyes focused on Hannah, a look of fear on his face.

The other soldiers remained outside as if they were not good enough to occupy the same barn as the wagons and horses. Only the one who held her arm entered with her. Hannah became reluctant again and drew back. The Overseer would shout and threaten, and maybe give her a swat or two, but she had no idea of what might happen in the stables and she had no intention of entering without a fight.

Four other horses were saddled, including the beautiful mare, and men in uniforms stood beside each. Their eyes looked resentfully at Hannah, even uncaring. They wore the dark blue and red colors of the King. The four were Knights.

A small group of noblemen gathered beside the wide stable door the carriage would use. The palace guard holding her arm announced, “Found her, the one called Hannah.”

The Earl, his eldest son, and the Old Mage turned to face her as one. The Earl asked the Mage, “You’re sure about this?”

“My duty, and my pleasure, your grace.”

“Okay then, I wish you well.” He took the arm of his young son in the crook of his and strolled away to the main entrance of the Royal Wing without another glance behind.

The Mage moved slowly to stand before Hannah. In a voice filled with gravel, he said, “Have you anything of worth or sentiment you cannot live without?”

It sounded like a threat on her life. She owned nothing but the shift of a dress she wore, and even that was not technically hers. The Earl provided for all her needs. But she didn’t like the tone or the way he and the others were looking at her as if she was a specimen or a spider. I will not show fear. Her voice was short and firm, “No.”

“You are angry at me?” The Mage asked softly.

“Scared.”

“At the prospect of leaving here? I thought that was your intent.”

Hannah yanked her arm free of the guard and stepped closer to the Mage, eyes wide in wonder and anticipation. “Leaving?”

“Six Gods above, and three more below! Did nobody tell you anything? No wonder you’re scared. You’re leaving with me, of course.”

“With you?” she stumbled over the words, fear and hope conflicting in her mind. “Why am I leaving with you?”

“Because you are my daughter. Did you think I’d abandon you here? I admit I should have known about you many years ago, but I did not. For that, I’m sorry, and you might blame your dead mother, but I will try to repent as we get to know one another.”

Hannah said, “I’m not sure I understand all the words, but I think I want to go with you.”

“Good! Well, then. Climb into the carriage and we’ll get acquainted along the way.” He flashed a smile that made him appear years younger. The smile reminded her of the face in her reflection, and even the guard who brought her here smiled. The knights standing beside the horses remained at attention but looked amused.

Hannah hesitated, asking herself a basic question. If this man was able to perform magic why did he appear as a white-haired old man? Why didn’t he make himself look the part of a young, handsome prince? Then she took another instant to ask herself why was she not in the carriage already? It was the stuff of her dreams.

She spun and leaped to the step and propelled herself into the seat facing the front of the carriage. The Old Mage climbed sedately into the carriage behind her, finally sitting on the same bench, beside her. He leaned closer, “I also like to sit here so I can see where I’m going, not where I’ve been.”

“Should I move to the other seat?”

“Of course not. It will be easier for the two of us to communicate if we’re sitting right beside each other.”

On impulse, she snuggled closer to him. He didn’t move away, and she waited, thinking that she might never see the barn, castle, or her friend, Cleanup again. Not the cooks, the stoves, ovens, or the huge pile of kindling she left behind.

The Mage told the driver, “We can depart now.”

The carriage lurched ahead and pulled into the brilliant sunshine. Hannah tried to look in all directions at once. She spotted Ella beside a doorway, dabbing a cloth to her eye, but it looked like it was for show. All four cooks in the morning kitchen stood outside and waved as if they were the best of her friends. Hannah waved back, and as she did, her eyes found Cleanup scooping another horse apple from the floor of the barn. She wanted to leap out of the carriage and give him a hug and say something encouraging, but nothing was going to get her out of the carriage, at least not for a while.

The four horses carrying the King’s Knights followed them to the main gate where she waved to the palace guards as if they cared. Outside, two of the horses raced ahead and took up positions in front, while the other two rode behind. Hannah glanced up at the thin material that formed the top of the carriage. Silk. Too delicate for her touch.

She said, “Your carriage does not get dirty.”

“Noticed that, did you? A good mage must make a favorable impression on those who believe him important. Others wear fancy clothing, jeweled crowns, or create flashes of light, but none has a sparkling white carriage that remains so in mud or snow, but me.”

“So that’s why you do it. To impress people.”

“Yes, that’s why. But not how,” the Mage said, looking like he would going to say more, but holding back and waiting for her response.

“Now I am supposed to ask you how, but I already know. Magic.”

He held up his index finger and said, “Let that be your first lesson in enchantments. It is easier to put a spell on anything alive, or that once was alive. A carriage is mostly wood and therefore easier.”

“Do you even know my name?” she asked, flashing her best smile, but remembering his words, as well. Things like iron wouldn’t take spells, or not as readily, but that seemed unimportant for now. She waited for his answer because he’d almost snatched her away from her old life before departing. He had not said one sentence about loving her or her mother. Teaching her about magic didn’t make up for all she missed in her eleven years and the resentment in her grew.

“I do. Hannah, a very pretty name.”

“Do you have any other children?”

“I’m sorry to say I don’t, but I’ve always wanted a little girl.”

“You knew my mother, the gossips whisper.”

His face brightened. “Their whispers are right for once. I knew your mother quite well for some time. Actually for about three years, as I fondly remember. We were very good friends, although I was older and already set in my ways. But we managed.”

The carriage bumped and swayed with the ruts and holes in the road. Hannah grabbed one of the poles that held up the top to keep her from bouncing as much. If the ride continued as rough as it began, she’d rather walk. A single glance behind found the castle no longer in sight. The forest closed in on the sides, making the ride seem rough, dark, and lonely. “My mother never mentioned you, not once. She promised to tell me about my father when I turned twelve, and she thought I’d be old enough. Then she died before I was eight.”

“Your mother never told me about you, either, so we’re even on that score. She should have sent word to me, and I’d have come running, but when we last saw each other, we had a terrible fight and decided not to see each other again. Now that I look back on it, I believe she already carried you and she may have caused that fight on purpose to keep you hidden from me, though I cannot think of one reason why. She did not like magic.”

“But you’re a rich mage. Why would my mother want us separated?”

“Hannah, not everyone appreciates or likes magic or mages. She was one of them. She would not allow me to practice even the smallest spell in her presence. Not even a tiny flame at the tip of my finger.”

The mention of the flame at the tip of a finger made her look at him again to judge the truthfulness of his answers. He didn’t have to admit she was his. He could have ignored her at the banquet, and nobody would ever know. But there were things still unsaid, hidden from her view. Why hadn’t he leaped to his feet and declared her his daughter during the meal? “I knew you saw it. Then you pretended you didn’t. I thought you didn’t want me.”

He laughed and placed a casual arm around her shoulders to ease the bumps and grinds of the rough road. He said, “Did all the cooks in your kitchen get along? Or were some jealous of the others?”

Hannah joined in his laughter. “You don’t know anything. I’ve heard of cooks peppering another’s food, and once a cook claimed she baked a pie she never laid a hand on.”

The Mage listened closely, then said, “It is the same in my world. Some are always claiming the fruits of another, and often passing on blame where it does not belong. The simple truth is; I have many enemies and thus, so will you. There were more than a few who noticed you at the banquet, especially when you came and stood close to me. Our noses are similar, as are our eyes and hair color, before mine turned white. Only the blind would not see the similarities.”

“So you knew I was your daughter, and you said nothing?”

“I suspected who you were and intended to investigate. That was before you displayed the flame to me and that settled that. For your protection, I didn’t react, no matter how much I wished. But I needed to know more, to be sure. I put two discrete guards in the hallway near your door, and they trailed behind you all night and the next day, twice preventing attacks.”

Hannah sat stunned. She hadn’t seen any attacks or known about any of it, yet she found she believed the man. He had little reason to lie. But, she didn’t understand. “Why would they attack me?”

“Power. Jealousy. Revenge to get even with me. Many reasons, none of them your fault.”

She watched the forest pass by the carriage and then let her vacant eyes shift to the road ahead while thinking. She saw him watching her from the corner of her eye, letting her reason it out, and she appreciated his consideration. What he probably wanted to know was if his newly found daughter was a dunce or capable of reasoning out a problem. “If there are several reasons, that still does not tell me, who is responsible.”

Chuckling, he adjusted himself in the seat. “Now, that is a question, isn’t it? Who indeed? My first guess would be that the junior mage assigned to the Earl is deeply involved. He wants the power I possess, and the respect others give to me, let alone the gold they pay for my services. He wants it all because he is ambitious, and that is why I assigned him to this backwater years ago. I wanted him out of my hair, at least until he ages and understands matters of the world. But there are forces arrayed against the Earl, as well as against our King. My advice and spells are in demand by both, but royal intrigue is a way of life for some.”

“That has nothing to do with me. I just tend fires in a morning kitchen.”

As she watched, the two soldiers riding horses at the front of their procession stiffened as one. The man on the left quietly slid down and out of his saddle as if he had lost all the bones in his body. The other spun to face them with an attempted shout of warning, an arrow protruding from his chest. Another arrow struck him near his neck, and he also tumbled from the saddle.

The Mage leaped to his feet, arms held wide. Balls of blue swirling fire ignited in his palms, each the size of an apple. As that happened, a dozen screaming men rushed at them from the underbrush on both sides of the road, swords raised and flashing in the sunlight. The Mage threw first one ball of fire, then the other. Each struck a charging figure and exploded in a flare of intense blue fire, each explosion taking down two or three more men, all of whom laid still.

Hannah looked behind the carriage. The two guards back there were fighting off four more attackers, but already two of the attackers had fallen, and the guards were about to slay the last two. She turned her attention ahead again, finding the Mage had thrown more blue fire, and more men lay still, but more ragged attackers rushed from the underbrush, brandishing knives, swords, or clubs.

The Mage pushed her down on the floor as he muttered an incantation. At the conclusion of the short utterance, he snapped his empty hands forward, his face set in a rigid expression. The attackers screamed and dropped their weapons. Most turned their attention to their palms, crying and howling in pain. From her position on the floor, Hannah saw dirty gray smoke rising from the empty hands of more than one man, their weapons also emitted faint puffs of smoke.

But not one of them still held a weapon. Only the two knights from behind, who were charging forward on horseback held weapons, and those swords in their hands were already swinging downward when the Mage tossed a lap-blanket over her head.

“Don’t watch this, Hannah.”

She didn’t peek, but couldn’t close her ears. She heard screams and grunts, and she imagined the slashing swords from the backs of the horses. The whinnying of the horses, the swish of swinging swords, and the painful cries of men with hands that burned all mixed into a chorus of sounds too chaotic to follow. She heard the wet-sounding strikes of the guard’s heavy blades, and a short time after, the limp bodies of men falling to the ground, some still crying out in pain.

It was over in the time it takes to draw a few short breaths. She felt the lurch of the carriage as it moved ahead. The Mage said, “We’re safe for now, Hannah, but don’t take that blanket off just yet, it’s not pretty out here, and certainly not a sight for young eyes.”

His voice came from a distance further away. Hannah heard the snap of the whip and the jingle of trace chains. The horses nickered and pulled. Hannah did as he ordered. The blanket stayed on her head, and she listened to a few words exchanged between the two guards, and then the Mage said, “Up there, around the bend.”

Hooves stamped, and the carriage bounced and squeaked. Finally, it pulled to a stop. “You can take the blanket off, now.”

Hannah tore it off as if its smell offended her. She could see nothing from the floor so without asking for permission she leaped to her feet and turned a full circle. There were no attackers in sight, only forest. Two of the guards were missing, and so was the carriage driver. She spotted the pool of blood drying where the driver had sat.

“Scared?” the Mage asked.

“No. I should be, I guess, but you’re here, and that makes me feel safe.”

“I’ll drive the carriage, now. An arrow killed our driver, one aimed at me, I suspect. Others killed our two guards at the front, both of them longtime friends of mine.” He sounded distracted, “You can ride up front with me or stay where you are.”

Hannah scrambled over the back of the seat and used the blanket to wipe the blood. “Was it horrible?”

“It was, and I lost three dear friends and protectors. It’s a sad day. Those guards have been with me for over a year and the driver for ten. We’ll say words of worship to help them on their next journey when we have time.”

“You left them back there?”

“As they would wish. We could do no more than place them together and fold their arms across their chests, as was done. They would expect no more, given the circumstances.”

Hannah glanced at the two remaining guards, at their blood-splattered uniforms, sallow faces and wild eyes. One hand held blades still ready with sword-breakers in their off hand. Before making the smallest move, Hannah wanted to inform them of it and wait for their response until they calmed. She sat closer beside the Mage, all signs of their cheery conversation long past.

Hannah said, “They dropped their swords, and their hands caught fire.”

“I’m sorry you saw that.”

“The swords were iron. Magic doesn’t work on iron, or not very well, you said.”

Picking up the reigns and slapping the two horses’ rumps to draw their attention, he ordered them ahead. He’d driven more than one carriage from the looks of his skill. He glanced at Hannah from the side of his eye. “You listen well. They wrapped the handles in strips of leather. A rare wood called Yew made the bows. The knives had handles made of bone or antler. All those things emanated from the living and therefore easier to manipulate.”

Hannah rode in silence, sensing the Mage wanted the same. Her eyes darted from one side of the road to the other, searching for more danger. Attackers could leap out again at any turn. She ignored the hills in the distance, the puffy clouds in the sky, and smells of a forest growing older by the day. When one of the horses relieved itself, she couldn’t help but look for Cleanup to do his job.

She looked at the fine, beautiful carriage, the embroidered purple robe the Mage wore, the gold trim and rings on his fingers. Each ring held stones of different colors. A gold chain circled his neck; a black pendant hung to his chest. Then she looked down at her tattered and dirty shift, a dress made for someone else long ago. Two strips of material, one over each shoulder, held it on her. The color was the color of the dirt in the palace yards, the material thick, course, and patched.

“Will I ever go back?” she asked.

“Perhaps. But if and when you do, it will be different. Far different.”

“Because they’ll know I’m your daughter?”

“No. Because each person back there will know you as a woman mage. The first I’ve ever heard of. That alone puts your life at risk. People do not accept new things easily, new or different, and you are certainly that.”

“I’m no mage,” she snorted in disbelief.

“Not yet, but at your age, you already control fire. That’s the first law, the first test of a mage. Only mages can make fire, and it usually takes years of training for most of us, and always the boys training as mages are far older than you, usually at least fifteen and nearly full grown. You do it after teaching yourself at only eleven. I suspect you may become a far better mage than me, perhaps one of the greats.”

“Why are there no women mages?” Hannah asked, her tone defensive. “That’s unfair.”

The Mage snorted, as he might in amused laughter, but no trace of humor showed in his eyes. He said, “Because women are better than men in almost every way. We men only deal with physical changes in the world. Women deal with the ethereal.”

“I don’t know what that is.”

“While a mage can make a fire with his finger, or most of us can, a woman deals with the otherworldly. They forecast the future, influence animals directly, and cast spells on people via a love potent and the like. More than one king has married because of a similar spell cast upon him, and there are other ways to use a good potent. Some are for anger or hate. Any emotion, if the woman is skilled.”

“You see that as better?” Hannah asked, calmer now, but still curious.

“I would ask you the same question, in return. Which would you prefer? The ability to light a campfire or candle with a flame from your finger, or to know what will happen to you tomorrow? Or to know whom you will marry? Or even have the means to influence who it will be that marries you?”

“How would I know which is better?” She lifted her chin, suspecting she had won her first argument with him.

“I’d ask one final question on the subject. Given the choice between a fat, lazy peasant with foul breath, or a handsome young prince, which would you choose if you had the ability? That should provide all the answer you require on the subject.”