Kay Hooper - The Wizard Of Seattle

"Oh. Well, that makes sense, I guess. And the powerless people here? What do they do?"

"Whatever is needed. Whatever they wish."

Serena thought about that as they walked, she looking around curiously. The streets were fairly busy with other people on the move, though still quiet. She saw several apparently powerless women (without the telltale elongated ring finger), and they did indeed look very much like the women of power, though a trifle less fair, and their expressions appeared rather vacant. There were very few men, most of whom were with a female wizard, and all of whom were clearly deferential to the women. When the women stood talking to others of their sex, the men waited silently and patiently.

But mostly there were women, almost all slender and rather fragile in appearance, which made them difficult to distinguish as individuals. As far as Serena could see, blonds outnumbered brunets by more than ten to one; the only redhead she had seen was the little girl playing with her doll. The range of ages appeared normal, from elderly women to at least one child, and Serena counted half a dozen obvious pregnancies.

That made her wonder, but before she could frame the question, she noticed something that seemed a bit odd.

"What's going on there?" She nodded toward a small house set apart from those around it. The windows were curtained, which was unusual from what Serena had observed. At each of the house's corners, two women stood talking, occasionally falling silent to gaze intently at the house.

Roxanne looked. "Breeding," she replied.

"What?"

"It's a breeding house. Wizards stand guard outside so that the one wishing to be bred is protected and made to feel safe. She takes her chosen powerless male inside so that he may try to impregnate her." Roxanne frowned slightly. "The males don't perform well unless they have a certain amount of privacy."

"I'm not surprised," Serena said, wondering that Roxanne could speak of this so dispassionately after her own brutal experience. Merlin must indeed have made the trauma seem distant to her. "But why do the women feel a need for protection? The man is powerless, you said, so-"

Roxanne looked at her new friend with something near astonishment. "They're afraid. We're all afraid. Our safety here in the city is very much dependent on our caution. The man who smiles respectfully today and inside these walls may attack any night he chooses."

"But she's safe during the day. It's hours yet until night; surely she isn't afraid now? If she's gone in there to let him get her pregnant, she must feel something for him. Trust, at least. Doesn't she?"

"Here women are never able to trust a man," Roxanne said.

"Then how can she sleep with him?"

"Sleep? Oh, no! If they went to sleep, they could wake in the middle of the night, and then he could hurt her."

Language, Serena reflected, was a tricky thing. So were euphemisms. "No, I meant… have sex. She's having sex with him, and that's such an intimate act. How can she do that without trust?"

"She wants a child. Are such things done differently in Seattle?"

Serena answered the question literally. "Yes. Yes, it's different in Seattle."

Roxanne looked curious, but didn't question. "There are so few children born now in Sanctuary. For a long time there were almost none, because the female wizards were too afraid of men to even attempt to mate. The male wizards increased in number, while we were on the verge of dying out, destroyed by the results of their lies and schemes. Then the laws were written and strictly enforced, which made it possible for female wizards to allow themselves to be impregnated."

Curious, Serena said, "What about the man? He goes in there to… urn… perform, and then he just leaves?"

"When he has succeeded in his task, and a Healer has verified a pregnancy, of course he leaves. He's no longer needed."

"Doesn't he help raise his child?"

"No."

"Then she's using him. What does he get out of the deal?"

Roxanne shrugged. "He probably believes he'll get some of her power, but that's only a myth, as I told you. Most appear to enjoy servicing wizards, even without being empowered. A few of the ones proven to be unusually fertile have chosen to make it their life's work."

Serena stared at her. Career studs? Lovely. "But the laws mention unmarried males, implying the existence of married males here in the city. You said the male wizards didn't marry, but do female wizards?"

"Yes, though rarely. A very few manage to accept a particular man to the extent of allowing him to share her home and her life, and those pairs marry. It was almost unheard of when I was a child, but slightly more common now."

Serena already had an awful lot to think about, but one final question was tormenting her. "Since all the powerless men look… well, look so brutal, aren't any of the female wizards afraid their children will be… abnormal?"

The question seemed to surprise Roxanne. "The child of a wizard is never born deformed-and always with power, of course." Then she frowned. "But there does seem to be a sickness of some kind. The powerless males who mate with powerless women and live in the village often sire healthy sons, but when they breed here in Sanctuary with female wizards, only their daughters are healthy enough to survive the first few weeks. Our Healers don't understand why, but it's always so."

Serena didn't say a word. But she wondered.

By the time he spotted another male wizard sitting at a small table at what appeared to be a sidewalk cafe near the center of the city, Merlin was more than ready to get off the street. He'd never been particularly concerned about what others thought of him, but running the gauntlet of scores of hostile female stares had made him feel even more like a stranger in a strange land- and definitely detested.

He had no idea if his fellow males would be any more friendly, but approached the table anyway. He was relieved when the other man rose to his feet with a faint but cordial smile.

"A stranger to Atlantia?"

"Yes," Merlin answered, reminding himself that the population was small enough to make strangers obvious.

"Not many of us venture into the city," the other wizard said somewhat wryly. "And the first time tends to be hideously uncomfortable."

"That is putting it mildly. My name is Merlin."

"I'm Tremayne. Join me?"

"Thank you." Merlin sat down across from Tremayne, weighing the other man swiftly. A few years younger than himself, he thought. A couple of inches shorter but well built, with dark hair and gray eyes.

Powerful, but not a Master wizard-though possibly Advanced.

"I'm a virtual stranger here myself," Tremayne said casually. "I've only been in Atlantia a few months-and I don't mind telling you I'm looking forward to my ship returning to take me back home."

Merlin hoped his sudden tension didn't show. "Are you leaving soon?"

"A few weeks. And you?"

"I haven't decided." Could Tremayne be the witness who would record the destruction of Atlantis from a ship at sea? "Do ships call here often?"

Tremayne shook his head. "Never by accident, and rarely by design. It's because there's no harbor, of course, and the reefs are so treacherous. The captain who gave me passage demanded a king's ransom and then refused to return for me as quickly as I wanted. If I had known of the ship carrying you, I probably would have requested passage aboard her."

Merlin smiled. "I'm sorry, I had no idea anyone was so anxious to leave Atlantis, though the captain certainly lost no time in setting sail. He said… this place was cursed."

"I don't doubt it. There have been tales for years, and since the skies above Atlantia are often lit with the strange glow of the Curtain, some of those tales have assumed mythic proportions." He hesitated, then added, "That's why I'm here, really. Some of the wizards outside this continent are growing concerned by what they hear of Atlantia."