Труди Канаван - The Magician’s Apprentice

Sitting in the window casement, Tessia watched her mother carefully folding clothes and arranging them with numerous other things in a trunk. The room smelled of the trunk’s fragrant, resinous wood, which was not unpleasant but still alien, like a stranger come into her private space.

Her mother straightened and regarded her handiwork, then huffed and waved her hands as a thought struck her. Without an explanation, she bustled out of the room.

Tessia looked outside. The world glistened as afternoon sunshine set droplets from the recent rain shower alight. Below, the vegetable patch looked near empty, but if she looked closely she could see that the beds containing winter crops had a thin green pelt of new shoots, the plants within them happy to get a regular soaking.

Hearing footsteps coming up the stairs, Tessia looked towards the doorway. Her father smiled and came into the room. She noted the wrinkles round his eyes and mouth, and the slight stoop of his shoulders. It wasn’t the first time she’d noticed them, and as always they roused a wistful sadness. He isn’t growing any younger. But neither is anyone, really .

His gaze moved to the trunk. “Are you ready, do you think?” She shrugged. “Only Mother could tell you that.”

He smiled crookedly. “Indeed. But are you ready? Have you got used to the idea of becoming a magician yet?”

Sighing, she moved from the casement to the bed.

“Yes. No. I don’t know. Must I move into the Residence?” He looked at her silently for a moment before answering. “Yes. If your magic is as dangerous as Lord Dakon says, he probably wants to put you somewhere others aren’t at risk. It will be easier for him to protect everyone if you’re close by.”

“But I won’t be coming back after I’ve learned to control it,” she said.

He met her eyes and shook his head. “I doubt it. You have much to learn.”

“I could still live here and visit the Residence for lessons.”

“You’re a magician’s apprentice now,” another voice replied. Tessia looked up at her mother, who stood in the doorway of the room. “It’s appropriate to your status that you move into the Residence.”

Tessia looked away. She didn’t care about status, but there was no point arguing. Other people did, so it had to be taken into account. Instead she turned to her father again. “You will send for me if you need me, won’t you? You won’t hesitate because you’re worried about interrupting lessons or something?”

“Of course not,” he assured her. Then he smiled. “I promise to send for you when I need you so long as you trust me to judge whether I truly need you – and you promise not to skip lessons.”

“Father!” Tessia protested. “I am not a child any more.”

“No, but I know you’ll find perfectly adult reasons to place higher priority on helping people than on learning magic.” His expression became serious. “There are other ways to help the village, Tessia, and magic is one of them. It is more important because it is rare, and because we live so close to the border. You may one day save more locals by defending us than by healing us.”

“I doubt it,” she scoffed. “The Sachakans wouldn’t bother conquering Kyralia again.”

“Not if there are powerful magicians protecting our borders.”

Tessia grimaced. “I don’t think any amount of training would make me a fighter, Father. It’s not what I’m good at.”

I’m good at healing , she wanted to say. But though she would have expected to be dismayed at discovering she must become a magician, she wasn’t. Maybe because it doesn’t mean all my hopes of becoming a healer must end , she thought. They’ve been delayed, that’s all. All I have to do is learn everything I need to know to become a magician, then I’ll be free to become a healer. Much freer than I was before, because magicians can do whatever they like. Well, so long as they’re not breaking laws.

Perhaps learning magic would show her other ways to help people. Perhaps magic could be used to heal. The possibilities were exciting.

“It’s not up to you to decide what you’re good at now,” her mother said sternly. “Lord Dakon could hardly have planned to end up with another apprentice. You are not to waste his time or resources, you hear?”

Tessia smiled. “Yes, Mother.”

Her father cleared his throat. “Time to carry this downstairs yet?”

“No.” Her mother’s frown disappeared. “There’s this to go in.” In her hand was a flat box, the size of a thin book. Instead of putting it in the trunk, she handed it to Tessia.

As Tessia took it she felt a shock of recognition. “Your necklace? Why? For safe-keeping?”

“For you to wear,” her mother corrected her. “I was going to wait until you showed some interest in attracting a husband before giving it to you... but it looks as if that will have to wait. You’ll be needing something to wear now that you’ll be associating with rich and influential people.”

“But...it’s yours . Father gave it to you.” She glanced at her father and saw that he had an approving, almost smug, look on his face.

“And now it’s yours,” her mother said firmly. “Besides, it looks ridiculous on me now. It suits a younger face.” She took the box from Tessia and placed it in the trunk, then shut the lid.

Tessia opened her mouth to protest, then closed it again. She knew she would not win this argument. Perhaps another time, when her mother was in a different mood, she would persuade her to take back the necklace. It was ridiculous, this idea that she would need it to impress rich and influential people. Nobody in the village could be considered that way except one person: Lord Dakon.

Then an uncomfortable feeling came over her.

Surely Mother isn’t . . . she couldn’t be . . . there’s no way she would... the age difference is...

But she knew her mother all too well.

It’s too obvious to deny. She closed her eyes and cursed silently. Mother is hoping I’ll marry Lord Dakon .

CHAPTER 6

Well, don’t you look fancy.”

Jayan turned to find Malia standing in the doorway of his room. She looked down at his clothes and her eyebrows rose. “Is that the latest fashion in Imardin, then?”

He chuckled and smoothed his clothing. The robe was nearly long enough to touch the floor and all but covered the matching trousers he wore underneath. Both were dark green and the fine material they were made from had a slight shine to it.

“It’s what’s been worn there for the last twenty years,” he told Malia. “Hardly the latest fashion.”

“By both men and women?”

“No, just men.”

Her eyebrows managed to rise even higher. “I’d love to see what the women wear, then.”

“You wouldn’t believe what your eyes were seeing – and don’t ask me to describe it. I’d have to learn a whole new vocabulary first.”

Her brows finally came back to a normal level as she grinned. “If I hadn’t seen Lord Dakon wearing much the same thing, I’d have wondered about you, Apprentice Jayan. Don’t go walking out in the village like that or people will be talking about you from here to the mountains. As for your guests... they hid their surprise very well when they saw Lord Dakon.” She paused. “They’re all in the dining room, by the way.”

In other words, “You’re late’ , he thought. “I was about to join them,” he said. “Until I was delayed by a nosy servant, that is.”

She rolled her eyes to the ceiling, then took the hint and strode away.

Looking down at himself, he adjusted the sash, tugged a few creases out of the robe, then followed her down the corridor. He eyed the doorway at the end. Earlier that morning the servants had opened up the unused room beyond, cleaned it and moved furniture in and out. Later in the day Jayan had heard voices through his own closed door. He hadn’t gone out to greet Tessia and her family. They had more immediate things to be concerned about than meeting Dakon’s apprentice. Dakon’s other apprentice.