Michael Foster - She Who Has No Name

She unclasped her hands and Samuel’s mouth nearly dropped open upon sight of her finger, for a familiar ring glinted upon it. For a moment, he thought that Balten must have given her his ring, but then he realised it was a twin: the Queen’s own Argum Stone.

In that instant, and taking her commoner’s aura into account, he realised she was not truly a witch as the Order had feared, but was as much dependent on the ring for magic as he.

‘What’s this?’ she said and held her hand out for him to inspect. ‘You’ve only been here a moment and already you gawk at my finger like a lustful thief. From this, I must presume you know the secrets of my ring already. You’re not a very good spy at all, Samuel, if that is what you are supposed to be.’

‘I’m no spy and,yes, I know about your ring. It grants you magic abilities,’ he stated. ‘Without it, you cannot use any magic at all.’

She hesitated, then smiled again and sat up, leaning forward and putting her elbows on her knees to speak with him. ‘So you know more than I would have guessed. Perhaps I should have had you killed before you can cause any mischief. Tell me, Samuel-Saviour of Cintar-why have you come here to my city? What brings you across the great continent to meet me?’

‘You demanded it in a letter. I have come in exchange for two people: a woman and a child, stolen and brought here to your city. One is the Empress of Turia,the other is her son, Emperor-to-be Leopold Calais.’

‘Oh,’ she said with disappointment. ‘No games? No lies? No misdirection? What kind of magician are you? If you keep this up, you will ruin the reputation of your kind.’

‘You know why I am here. Why would I pretend any different?’

She laughed at this. ‘You would be surprised, Samuel. Perhaps this will be interesting after all.’

‘So?’ he prompted her.

‘ So? ’ she repeated. ‘What do you mean by that?’

‘Will you release them to me?’

Again she laughed, but it was a hollow and mean-spirited laugh meant to demean him. ‘Oh no, not yet;notby any measure. They were gifted to me and I know nothing about the letter of which you speak. What I do know is that if I let them go, how would I keep you here? No, I have much planned for you yet and my war with theWest is yet to be won. Nowthatmy plans are known, Turia has rallied its defences, but it is only a matter of time before I take Cintar. The cities of theWest shall fall one by one until its capital becomes mine.’

‘Why have you attacked us?’

‘It was not my decision, Samuel. It is the time of Ajaspah, when the desert people return to the fertile lands beyond the desert to retake their homelands.’

‘Turia was never their homeland,’ he said adamantly.

‘Perhaps not,’ shereturnedwith a knowing smile, ‘but that is what my people believe and they expect me to lead them to victory. The heavens have spoken. The Star of Osirah has marked our destiny and grows brighter with each of our triumphs.’ She noticed his doubtful look. ‘Have you not seen it? I thought you magicians were scholars? My astronomers found it many years ago when it was only the faintest of dots in the night sky, and it has since carved a path across Rom’s Belt as they foretold. Now, it has settled in the eye of Rah, where it will remain until it fills the entire night sky. At that time,we will have our victory. These things were spoken of in texts more ancient than time. Our victory is assured. We will burn the infidelsintheir homes and pour from the desert into theWest, as countless as the grains of sand.’

‘I am not sure I can allow that,’ he told her plainly, but she remained cool despite his efforts to test her.

‘You are in no position to make such bold statements, Magician. Perhaps I will play with you some more to test your resilience and then we shall see if I cannot dampen some of that fiery spirit. I was personally quite disappointed with your effort in the arena today. I hope next time you will display some of your fabled magic, rather than running around like a witless fool. Your friends have put on a much better show than you.’

‘What do you mean?’ he asked with concern.

She smiled as if she had just eaten a gloriously delicious sweet. ‘Your other friends from theWest, Samuel of Cintar. You didn’t think I would let them sit idle in my city did you? They have been entertaining my people much more splendidly than you, although they have started to look a little worse for wear.’

‘Where are they?’

‘Would you like to see them? Very well. I will arrange it. Go now and leave me be.’

She looked at her attendants and a trio of bare-chested guards stepped from the shadows with their curved swords at the ready and escorted Samuel back to his new room.

He slept uneasily and woke when the unusual presence of sunlight came streaming in through his window. After spending so long in his prison, the diurnal cycle of light and dark felt entirely foreign to him, but it was a welcome sight nonetheless.

Dressing himself in his Paatin robes as best he could, he readied himself for what the day would bring.

Utik’cah brought him a set of magicians’ robes shortly after breakfast and explained that he would be expected to perform in the arena once more. The clothes were expertly made and seemed more than just a copy. He suspected they had been stolen from the Order and brought all the way from Turia, appearing to be authentic in make and brand new.

‘How many will I be expected to kill today?’ he asked the man. After having some decent meals and a good night’s rest,he felt a different man to yesterday.

‘I do not know and cannot say,’ was Utik’cah’s reply.

‘I will kill as many more of your people as you set against me.’

Utik’cah gave a hint of a smile, not out of cruelty, but of one who has received an unusual surprise. ‘They were not desert people that you killed, Lord Samuel. They were captives, like yourself,from the land of Avalia. We would not make our own kind fight for amusement. We are not animals. In fact, we had assumed you would ally yourself with the Avalians for your first battle, weakened as you were, but you seemed intent on killing them. I was surprised by your ferocity.’

Samuel had no reply, for he was taken aback by the revelation. At that point, he wished he had some tiny mote of his power, for it seemed that Utik’cah was one of the Paatin Queen’s most trusted servants. If he could reach inside the man’s mind he could learn everything he wished to know about her and her war, or perhaps even force the man to be more open to suggestion.

Frustrated, he had only a question for the Paatin. ‘What was that creature I fought? Will there be more of them?’

‘That was a jidanti -a lizard of the desert. I cannot say what you will face today.’

‘I can’t imagine such beasts are natural. They could not grow to such dimensions without magical intervention.’

‘As you presume, Lord Samuel, our wizards have gained great insight into many aspects of nature.’

‘And in the desert I saw another large creature. I could not see it clearly, but it had a great hardened shell upon its back.’

‘ Sitt’i ,’ Utik’cah stated. ‘A powerful creature, but unreasonably slow. They are immeasurably strong and resilient. They can demolish the strongest of fortifications quite easily. I am not fond of such beasts, but they have their uses.’

‘Are these what you have in mind for Cintar?’ Samuel asked, but Utik’cah replied with a look that meant there would be no response to a question such as that.

‘Let us go,’ he stated instead and waved his hand towards the door.

Samuel followed the Queen’s loyal servant towards the arena, and this time he had regained his senses enough to memorise much of the route and what he saw around him.