The First Confessor: The Legend of Magda Searus

Chapter 61

As they walked into the storage room, Merritt swept an arm out to ignite the lamps. Since he was gifted, his presence also lit the half-dozen heavy glass light spheres in iron brackets on the walls. The closed shutters held back the night and the distant flickers of lightning at the horizon.

“So what’s this about Lothain wanting you as his wife?”

His tone betrayed his displeasure.

“We have trouble,” Magda said without answering his question.

“More trouble than Lothain wanting you as his wife?”

“Lothain has been named First Wizard.”

Suddenly speechless, Merritt stared at her, not unlike the way she had stared at Councilman Sadler when he’d first told her the news. The only sound in the storage room was the hissing sputters of the freshly lit lamps.

Merritt finally found his voice. “That is trouble. I’ve never trusted the man. He’s not half the man needed for First Wizard.”

“Believe me, I have a far lower opinion of him than you do, but he’s apparently a man with enough power to get himself named as First Wizard.”

“That’s true enough. A lot of people support him. His reign as head prosecutor has seen a lot of formerly respected people brought down. Many people hold him in high regard for so vigorously going after criminals and traitors. You have to admit, he has been able to prosecute a lot of traitors.” Merritt leaned toward her as they crossed the room. “I have to confess, though, that I’ve always had my doubts about the guilt of some of those he has prosecuted.”

Magda frowned over at him. “Like who?”

Merritt pressed his lips tight before finally giving in. “I knew some of the wizards on the Temple team. I’d always thought favorably of them. I can see that many on the team turned against our cause and betrayed us, but all of them? I wonder if some of them might not have been scapegoats. Charging someone and beheading them ends the investigation. It makes Lothain look like he successfully prosecuted all of the guilty. But I wonder.”

Magda was a bit surprised to hear Merritt say such things. She had thought that she was the only one. Being ungifted, she had assumed that she didn’t know enough about the whole thing to judge. She didn’t know that wizards had doubts about the guilt of the Temple team. Maybe Merritt was the only one.

She looked back over her shoulder at his eyes. “I’ve wondered as well.

“That’s not all of it,” she said as she reached the familiar workbench. “Right after you left me to go help James, I ran into Councilman Sadler as he was leaving the Keep. Besides telling me that Lothain was to be named First Wizard, he also told me that Lothain dismissed him from the council.”

“Dismissed him?” Merritt leaned in. “Can he do such a thing?”

“Apparently. Sadler put on a brave face, but I could tell that he was heartbroken about it.”

Merritt scratched his cheek as he considered it. “Why would Lothain get rid of Sadler?”

“In order to reduce the council’s number to five so as to make it possible to carry any motion with three votes. There were six members, before, so the vote could be spilt three to three, preventing action. Now, with five members, the council can’t be evenly split anymore, as happened with difficult decisions. Now, no matter what, they are always guaranteed to have a majority to decide up or down on any matter.”

“That is troubling. I’ve never really had much to do with the higher powers running the Keep, but this doesn’t sound good to me. What I’m more worried about, though, is what does Lothain know about running a war?”

“He has his own private army.”

Merritt arched an eyebrow. “That doesn’t make him a general, it makes him a petty tyrant with muscle behind him.”

“Well, if I’m right about him, he may now become a bigger tyrant.”

Merritt considered silently for a moment, and then folded his arms. “All of this news is troubling enough, but what’s this about you marrying him?”

Magda took a deep breath. She hated the whole subject. “Well, Lothain says that I’m causing all kinds of trouble in the Keep. He says that the Keep has become divided and filled with discord and distrust. Apparently, a lot of people besides us don’t think he is the right man to be First Wizard.

“Lothain thinks that his problems with credibility are chiefly my doing. He thinks that because of the things I said about him I’ve undermined his authority and have made people doubt him.”

“You said something about him? What did you say?”

“When I was in front of a crowd in the council chambers, he accused me of making up the story about the dream walkers in order to get people to switch allegiance to D’Hara. I, in turn, accused him of chasing phantoms just to make a bigger name for himself. I said that he sees conspiracies lurking in every shadow, spies hiding around every corner, traitors behind every door. I said that he cared only about inventing wrongdoing in order to advance his own personal fame and power.”

Merritt let out a low whistle. “You said that? Publicly?”

“I’m afraid so. In front of everyone I accused him of coming up with conspiracies that were only meant to promote his own status. I said that in order to elevate himself he was deliberately ignoring the truth about the dream walkers.”

“No wonder he blames you for tarnishing his credibility.”

“He also says that I’ve given birth to wild speculation about dream walkers. He says that my groundless accusations have turned people in the Keep against him. He says that such divisions are harmful to our cause.”

Merritt paced a few step away and then returned with heat in his voice. “Then why in the world would he want to marry you?”

“His solution to people’s doubts about him, doubts that he says I created with what he calls my baseless accusations, is to have me marry him. He thinks that if I were to marry him, it would convince everyone that I’ve reconsidered my views, views shaped by my grief and not any true failing on his part. He says that my consent to marry him would show people that I’m putting my faith and trust in him, and so they should as well. He thinks that it will banish any lingering doubts. He thinks that only in that way will people unite behind him and the war effort. He says that I need to do it for the good of the Midlands and our cause.”

Merritt, arms still folded, stared at her with an unreadable look.

Magda finally leaned toward him and said, “I’m not going to marry him.”

He let his arms drop. “Oh. All right, then.”

Magda turned to the familiar, worn workbench. She knew how angry the very idea of marrying Lothain made her, but she was a little surprised to see how upset it made Merritt. It made her feel good, though, that he cared that she didn’t make the mistake of marrying Lothain.

Shadow jumped out from the darkness among crates and supplies stacked on the floor and up onto the workbench. The silky black cat came close and rubbed against Magda’s hand.

As Magda stroked the cat’s back, Shadow lifted her hind end, hoping to have it scratched. As she enjoyed the attention, her tail curled around Magda’s wrist.

“Who’s this?” Merritt asked.

“This is Shadow. Isidore told me that cats have some small capacity to see between worlds. She said that black cats catch glimpses of the spirit world.”

Merritt held his hand out so that Shadow could get to know him. “Isidore would know.” Shadow inspected each finger in turn.

“Shadow detected the presence of that dead man that attacked us before we knew he was there. She definitely didn’t like him.” Magda smiled. “But I see that she really likes you.”

Shadow was rubbing against Merritt, purring in response to his touch. With his black shirt, the cat matched him, looked almost part of him. Magda wondered if Merritt, too, could detect the presence of spirits. The limits of the gift were often a mystery to her.

“I now sleep with the cloth from Isidore’s maze as a blanket, and Shadow curled up beside my pillow.” Magda scratched the cat’s head. “Don’t I, little one? But now you need to move.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” Merritt said. “For someone ungifted, you seem to know how to use the things of magic at your disposal.”

Magda smiled as she lifted the cat and set her to the back of the workbench, where she lay down on her side, curled a paw under, and settled in to watch as Magda pulled a piece of wood out that covered a secret compartment in the bench top.

“I have something to show you.”