Page 43

Anneli removed the worm mess with magic, and fifteen minutes later, as fresh as we’d been before, I followed her across the bridge between the castle and the Stone Tower.

The bridge was narrow with a low parapet.

The gorge beneath was hundreds of feet deep, and with my pulse pounding, I stared at Anneli’s back, and the back of man, Camael, as they strolled on ahead.

Another curtain wall protected the compound surrounding the Stone Tower. Once through the armored gate, pink sandstone buildings with arched windows and flat roofs lined the neat cobbled streets, although I saw no sign of horses or carts. I supposed that, with magic, needs were met some other way.

Men and women moved about, some wearing cassocks, some wearing pants and shirts with fur-lined vests. The bustle and hurry reminded me of every town where craftsmen moved faster than those with leisure and prestige.

The Stone Tower stood with imposing ruby brilliance. Not even in Thales had I seen a structure as tall—taller than the ruined cathedral’s arched dome.

Judging by the window slits, the tower had ten floors. “On the inside,” Anneli said, “there are thousands of stairs, hundreds of rooms. Our oldest mages spend their lifetimes within the tower. Magic expands the space and I wouldn’t advise you to wander alone.”

I stepped closer to her. “How do you find anything?”

She smiled. “You’ll learn.”

As we walked along a stone corridor, the mage energy was a constant irritant against my skin.

I stopped rubbing my arms when we reached an oval room with blazing torchiers.

A dais supported three thrones of gold. Earthy, sweet smoke from burning sandalwood and sage scented the air.

Black-cassocked mages stood in groups. I listened to the murmured voices but didn’t bother with the words; tried not to think about priests in their red hoods.

Endless minutes passed while I glanced cautiously around, the way I’d glanced at Bogo to watch him eat. Strangely enough, I felt some mages wanted to bolt. Others resented the wasted time. An older woman stood to one side; she struck the floor three times with an ornate wooden staff.

“Camael Soget, Volkan Carr, and Ciriane Ymir will sit in judgment,” she said as the room quieted and the three named mages took their places on the dais.

Anneli placed her hand on mine to keep me still. “Senaria Wraithion, daughter of Anoria Vendarian, stands before you, a Skyborne mage, destined to lead our house.”

“So you say.” Volkan Carr’s boney fingers twitched around the arms of his throne. He wore a black cassock with an emblem of the Stone Tower at his throat. “Why should we welcome her?”

“Because we have not had a Skyborne mage in the tower since her mother left.”

“Her mother was weak.”

“Her mother was without protection,” Anneli countered. “This is Senaria’s birthright. That of her family, extending back for generations.”

“Blood does not supplant training,” said the lone female on the dais, Ciriane Ymir. Her tone held the same twitch as Volkan Carr’s boney fingers. “Magic is not acquired in months.”

“Senaria spent years beneath the thumb of Tarian Ardalez.” Camael Soget turned his head; his eyes dazzled in the shadowed light. “The Draakon of Dangira snatched her from beneath the nose of Thales. He would not have risked capturing her if he’d been unaware of the potential. And the danger.”

“Rumors,” argued Ciriane. “They prove nothing, Camael.”

“She destroyed a styrmir worm, something you scoff at but have never achieved,” he answered. “I would say she is…impressive.”

“But not to me. The girl’s petition to become a High Mage without proper training is an affront we—”

“She is Skyborne,” Anneli cut in, stopping the older female’s rant. “Did you learn nothing from denying protection to Anoria Vendarian because her training did not meet your outdated standards?”

Ciriane’s lip curled. “Anoria was unproven as a Skyborne.”

“Until she burned the queen’s son,” Anneli said.

“Senaria is the one the red priests covet. The girl Thales continues to hunt. Her value draws Eydis Khoth from his lair. As for the dragons, Senaria has proved her worth, and we must not allow a Skyborne to be used against us. Once she is a High Mage, the magic protects her. No other power can own or rule her.”

“She would be like you, Anneli,” Volkan Carr sneered. “A law unto yourself. Destroying Perun because you wished it.”

“Perun was teeming with thieves and traitors—your cohorts?” The smile creasing Anneli’s lips had me fisting my hands, controlling my reaction. These were mages, as deceitful and vengeful as those in Thales. Hungry for power. I needed to remember that.

“It’s possible, Volkan,” Anneli purred slyly, “that your objections cover your fear. You would lose power if she succeeds. It’s not her inexperience that you so loudly protest, but what it will mean if a Skyborne becomes a High Mage.”

Magic skittered through the room, powerful enough for the torchiers to burn with blue flames.

It was Ciriane who spoke. “You would be inviting dragons into our midst.”

“I guarantee that dragons will be in our midst if either Thales or Eydis Khoth can bind her to their cause,” said Camael Soget with a weight that quieted the room.

“As for the queen, her ambitions are the same. And if the Draakon controls both the girl and the dragons…” He waved his hand and the image of a burning tower hovered in the center of the room.

“Destroy her now,” Ciriane Ymir said. “Eliminate the risk of Anoria. ”

“Short-sighted as usual,” Anneli challenged. “Our enemies gather as we speak. They are eager to supplant the Stone Tower’s power with their own. You cannot win against them without Senaria, and yet, you’d throw the advantage away?”

Volkan Carr said, “Have her prove herself.”

Ciriane’s lip curled when she stared at me. “Your mother was too weak to survive.”

“I am not my mother,” I answered, although ice ran through my veins. The ice I’d summoned as Silk so I would not feel. Would not hesitate.

Ciriane was smug. Her thin fingers moved as if she flicked away an annoying insect. “I am not convinced.”

I glanced at Anneli before sending my magic slithering toward Ciriane. It was easy enough to slip into her mind, to have her shifting on her pompous throne as if ants were crawling along her back.

Anneli smiled as Volkan slapped at his legs; perhaps something strange prowled beneath his cassock. Camael’s lips twitched before he frowned.

“Senaria Wraithion spent years as the justice speaker for Thales,” he said. “They say even the red priests could not keep her out of their heads.”

Ciriane pinned me with her gaze. “You mock us?”

“No more than you mock me.”

“Why do you want this?” Camael seized the moment. “For power? Dominion over others?”

“For love,” I said.

“Whom do you love enough to make the sacrifice?”

“My brother. ”

“You are protecting him?” demanded Ciriane Ymir.

My face tightened. “The King of the Southern Lands has threatened to punish him for my failings.”

“If Senaria is a High Mage,” Anneli put in, “the threat from Thales becomes an annoyance and she can retrieve her brother.”

“We are not interested in saving her brother.”

“Are you interested in saving the Stone Tower, Ciriane?” Anneli glanced at the mages who stood in uneasy groups.

“The queen once again sits like a spider in her chambers, moving adversaries like game pieces. If the king from Thales arrives with his red priests and their wyverns…and then if Eydis Khoth comes with his monsters…who among you will stand in the field to face the threats? How much magic can you summon during such an assault when the Malice Moon is upon us?”

Volkan Carr’s voice grated like sharp stones. “We have no guarantee that Senaria Wraithion will remain loyal to the Stone Tower,” he blustered. “Even as a High Mage.”

“You’ll guarantee that she becomes an enemy if you don’t grant her protection.

” Camael’s voice deepened. “If she earns the magic, Thales cannot enslave her or use her against the king’s enemies.

But even without high mage power, she wields the fire of dragons.

Do not expect her to flee and hide as her mother did, making life easy for you.

She is not her mother’s daughter, but her father’s daughter as well. ”

“A false guardian,” Ciriane said with an undying sneer.

“False or not,” Camael answered, “he stood between the Faded Lands and the enemy in Thales with more courage than anyone from this vaunted tower. You, at least, have magic as protection, when all he had were his wits.”

At some point in that speech, I’d stopped breathing, until Anneli leaned in and pointed out my need for oxygen. She gripped my hand when I would have spoken. “Wait,” she advised quietly. “Let them work through it.”

Volkan stared at the various mages, clustering into groups, then refocused on me. “The magic tests your strength. If you are worthy, the ritual reveals your destiny.”

“But if I fail?”

Ciriane’s smile was wintry. “Your survival is unlikely.”

“At any point during the ordeal, you may yield and leave the tower, never to return,” Camael added, as if to reassure me, and I turned to Anneli.

“Shouldn’t we have discussed this first?”

“If you refuse the ritual,” she murmured, “they will destroy you. But if you love your brother, if you care about that little dragon, if you want to protect your friends, you must face the challenge and become a High Mage.” She put both hands on my arms, squeezed with her fingers.

“Don’t doubt the power you have, Senaria.

The mages in the Stone Tower failed your mother; she did not fail them.

I’ll be here. Camael is on your side. You defeated a styrmir worm. ”

“This is not the same as a worm,” I hissed.

“You slipped into their minds when their defensive magic is powerful. The ritual is something Silk would understand. A test against delusion—and fear makes you weak.”

I jolted at the words. “My mother said that.”