Mercedes Lackey - Elvenbane

She stared down at the illuminated water-garden below her, and chuckled a little at the thought of someone spending all that time on a prank.

It sounded like something she'd do.

It would have taken years to set up, with the "wild" girl and all, but who cared? If it was a hoax, it was brilliant. She wished she had thought of it herself!

Now that was an intriguing idea...

She wouldn't be able to pull it off if it turned out that this was a hoax...but if the whole thing just fizzled, or it actually turned out to be the real thing, maybe she should try pulling a similar trick. It would be no end amusing to watch those stiff old elders chasing their tails over something that never existed! She could do it, too, if she could lure one of the few youngsters who was a strong mage over to help her set up something like the dragon-skin scam...

Someone like...oh...Valyn.

The faint, musical sound of a bell rang from the speaking-tube near the entrance to the staircase.

The message bell ? She gathered up her amber-silk skirts in one hand and crossed the cushion-covered floor to reach it, interest piqued. The slaves knew not to disturb her when she was up here unless it was something or someone special.

Maybe it would be something exciting.

"Yes?" she said into the tube.

"Lord Valyn is here to see you, lady," came the echoing voice from below, rendered anonymous by the distortions of the tube. "He says that it is very urgent."

Valyn? How convenient! First she thought of him, then he appeared...

She was tempted to think she was getting wizard-powers!

Triana knew Valyn well enough...he was like most of the others who came to her parties; she knew he found a certain fascination in simply associating with her. She hadn't even allowed him into the inner circle yet, and he was still one of the most prompt at answering an invitation...being even remotely involved with someone of her reputation seemed to be enough of a thrill for him.

For her part, she found his idealism and earnestness rather charming. Not for the long run, of course, but as an occasional thing, it was quite refreshing. So she had cultivated a special image of herself just for his benefit, an image some of her intimates would have found most amusing.

She wondered in startlement just what kind of a predicament he could have gotten himself into that would require coming to her for help.

Only one way to find out . "Send him up," she ordered, and waited for him, spending the time it took him to climb all of the four hundred steps to the top of her tower in carefully composing her pose, leaning out over the window to watch the lighted gardens below.

It never failed to astonish her that someone as innocent and...well... gullible as Valyn could be so elegant. So much naivete should accompany gawkiness, not grace. It was the grace she always saw first...

The fact that he was a threadbare, disheveled mess only dawned on her after he'd entered the room. It surprised her so much that she rose to her feet, quite involuntarily.

"Ancestors and Progenitors!" she exclaimed. "Valyn, where in the name of reason have you been? What have you been doing to yourself?"

"I've...been busy," he said hesitantly. "It's what I need to see you about. I've gotten into a bit of trouble."

"I would say you have, just from the look of you," she replied dryly. "I suppose it's too much to expect that this'trouble' hasn't followed you to my door?"

"I don't think it has, at least not yet," Valyn said, as he allowed her to draw him down to the cushions beside her, although she took care not to touch him in any other way. She didn't really want him, anyway. He was already conquered territory...and just like every other callow youngster she'd seduced. But this trouble of his...that could be worth getting involved with.

"Why don't you just begin at the beginning," she suggested, leaning back in her place, and assuming a properly attentive expression.

Shortly after he began, she no longer had to "assume" the expression. By the time he had finished, her head was buzzing with excitement.

"I'll help you," she said, quite sincerely, as he faltered to a close. His eyes didn't so much light up, as ignite. She interrupted him before he could start thanking her. "Go get the rest of your friends and bring them here, and I'll strengthen up the wards and shields. I may not be a master magician, but I'm not bad, and no one is going to be able to find you here without actually breaching my protections. I doubt they'll look here, actually," she added thoughtfully. "They're so used to thinking of me as a sybaritic nonentity that I doubt any of those old fools would even take me into account except as a joke if they were considering a list of possible troublemakers."

Valyn flowed to his feet, and extended a hand to help her up. She waved it away. "I want to stay up here and make some plans," she said truthfully. "Here, take this..."

She closed her hand briefly, and concentrated on the summoning-spell; when she reopened it, one of the bloodred stone signets she kept in her desk was in the palm, still a little warm from the journey. Like all her signets, this was a simple seal carved of sardonyx, her Clan crest, a rampant cockatrice.

"Here," she said, handing it to him. "Give that to my seneschal and tell him to take care of whatever you ask for. There's no one here but me, just now; take however many rooms you need."

Valyn smiled at her, a perfectly ingenuous, dazzlingly beautiful smile, and bowed over her hand, kissing the back of it lightly as he took the signet. "I'll never be able to thank you enough..." he began.

She waved him away, playfully. "Go on with you. Get out of here...and don't be such a foolish boy. You know very well how much I enjoy tweaking the old ones' beards. This is just one more chance to enjoy myself at their expense."

She noted with a certain pleasure that Valyn had learned enough of her to know when to withdraw gracefully before he began to annoy her. Once he was gone, she settled back into the softness of her cushions, caressing the fabric with a languid hand, and changing it from cream satin to deep black velvet with the touch and a few whispered words. With another word, she dimmed the lights to nothing, and watched the stars blazing through the glass of the skylight as she thought.

Wizards and halfbloods...and here she was, giving them safe harbor. What a magnificent jest! She remembered that "Shadow" now...lurking in the background the last time Valyn visited... he never left Valyn's suite once during the entire visit. Of course, now she understood why.

She chuckled, and stretched luxuriously against the velvet of the cushions. Oh, Ancestors and Progenitors! How the Council would love to get their claws on this little group! Three halfbloods, all with wizard-powers, and a renegade elven lord who'd been helping them for weeks!

Just the thought of defying the elders so completely gave her a thrill of pleasure equal to anything she'd experienced all summer. But it couldn't hold her for long...and she couldn't help but think of other possibilities.

Then she wondered...if these wizards really could read minds, could she trick any of them into doing a little mindreading for her? It would be nice, having a tame wizard of her very own. Think of all the things she could learn that way...

Perhaps she should go to work to captivate Valyn's Shadow. It shouldn't be too difficult, especially if she began while he was still a little sick. Humans were so easy to manipulate when they were young. Shadow should be no exception.

And as she remembered him, he was quite handsome. Definitely different from the late Rafe. Not in her usual line, of course...but it might be quite piquant to be the one doing the courting, instead of the courted, the dominant instead of the submissive.