Michael Manning - The Line of Illeniel

“I am the last wizard and the only defense those people have. If no one else will guard them then I shall. The enemy will pay dearly for every step they take into Cameron lands. You may judge for yourself whether that be treason or not!” As I spoke I felt my blood rising and my temper grew hot. For a moment it seemed I could feel the very earth throbbing underneath me, as if some giant heart beat far beneath the ground. Grinding out the last words I brought my foot down heavily and it felt like the earth moved. The sensation startled me and I wondered if it was a product of my imagination. My thoughts were far from clear.

King Edward’s face had gone white and a fine trickle of stone dust filtered down from the ceiling above. He gripped the arms of his chair as if he were afraid he might fall out of it. Perhaps I hadn’t imagined it. “Very well, we are sympathetic to your plight. If that is your wish so be it, you have our leave to do so.” His tone made it clear that the audience was over, but my magesight could detect the fear he carefully concealed.

I bowed and rose to leave but as we reached the door he called out to me, “Mordecai!”

“Yes your majesty?”

“The trainer, Cyhan is his name, is here. Adam will show you to him when you leave. He will remain with you and Penelope until the training and bond are complete. Do you understand?”

“Of course your majesty,” I bowed again and left, quietly gritting my teeth. Of course I understand, you want a muzzle on the dog before it goes rabid and bites you, I thought.

I left the room with an angry stride while Penny hurried to keep up with me. “You knew this was going to happen… Rose said as much,” she reminded me. “Did you make the earth shake back there?” she added.

“I don’t know exactly. I felt it, but it didn’t feel like I did it… I think. The man just told me he was abandoning our people! It’s not expedient to help them. What sort of king is that?” My tone was full of anger.

Penny looked around, “Keep your voice down!” she hissed. “We’re still inside the royal palace.”

She was right of course, but I was too mad to care. Adam stepped up from beside the doors, “If you’ll follow me my lord I’ll take you to meet the trainer.” He was as quiet as a ghost, were it not for my extra senses he’d have startled me half to death.

“Lead the way,” I replied without turning to look at him.

We followed him down several long corridors and a flight of stairs, till we reached another waiting room. A man waited there. He was big, I’ll give him that. He stood slightly over six foot tall, which meant he was looking me eye to eye, but where I was slender he was… not. He carried muscle on him the way a pig wears mud, meaning there was a lot more than anyone should find necessary. He had dark brown hair and brown skin that went well beyond a casual tan.

“So you’re my handler,” I stated. I was in no mood to mince words. Even as angry as I was I could not help but notice how he carried himself. He gave the impression of a coiled spring, ready to break loose into deadly violence without warning. I couldn’t help but wonder how he would match up against Dorian.

He shrugged, “At least we’re starting out with no illusions. My name is Cyhan.”

I raised an eyebrow, “Just Cyhan?”

“Any other name I had is long dead. If you’d rather call me something else that’s fine,” the man’s face gave away little in expression.

“Cyhan will do. Anything else we need to get out of the way before we get moving? I have a lot to take care of today,” I was impatient to get moving.

“Just one,” he replied. “Before we start you need to understand how things work between us. I’m not your bodyguard. I’m not your man-servant. I’m not your friend. I’m here to do a job, and that job is all I care about. If it looks like something is getting in the way of that job I’ll make sure it doesn’t get in the way for long. You cooperate and we get along fine. You don’t and this will be a short job.” Even as he essentially threatened me, his expression never changed. The effect was altogether chilling, but I’d be damned before I let him see that.

“Is that what you told my father?” I asked.

“Pardon?”

“You heard me. I know you trained my mother, so you must have had a similar conversation with him at some point. I’m curious how he responded to it.”

“He was younger than you are now, but he already knew the necessity, so we never had a conversation such as this one. Besides, we had already begun training the candidates. He merely had to choose,” he answered simply.

Curious, so he had chosen my mother from a set of candidates. “You trained more than one?”

“Back then there were still a number of wizards alive, we kept a small school going so there were always several ready when needed.” He stated it as a simple fact.

My curiosity got the better of me, “What happened to those not chosen?”

“Some became knights, some trained the next generation.”

“Like yourself?”

“Yeah, ‘cept after your father died we didn’t think there would be anymore.”

Something in his eyes made me uncomfortable, but I couldn’t put my finger on it so I pushed the feeling aside, “Alright, let’s go. Daylight’s burning.”

Cyhan picked up a heavy looking pack and we headed outside. As we went I caught Penny giving him an appraising look and a surge of jealousy went through me. Thinking back to the other day I guess I could understand her feelings about me looking at Rose a little better. I still didn’t like it though. The heavyset warrior spoke up, “Where are we headed?”

“The royal bank,” Penny put in.

Cyhan looked her over as if he had just noticed her. His gaze swept slowly up from her feet, taking her in carefully. I didn’t care for it. He looked at her in much the same way a butcher does when he’s sizing up a side of beef. “Pardon my manners, we haven’t been introduced…” he said.

“Penelope Cooper,” she answered quickly, “I’m to be his bond-bearer.” She pointed at me with her thumb.

Cyhan grinned, a big white toothed smile. It was the most expressive I had seen him be so far and it thoroughly unnerved me, “Pleased to meet you Miss Cooper. We’ll have a lot of time to get to know each other after this, but I doubt you’ll be glad of it.”

“What do you mean?” she asked uncertainly.

The big bastard laughed, “Oh you’ll see. No sense spoiling it now.” He clammed up after that and refused to answer her questions although she peppered him with them incessantly as we walked.

I decided to change the subject, “Cyhan, I have a question.”

“Yeah?”

“Do you know the way to the royal bank?” I asked.

As a matter of fact he did know the way. Several turns and a half hour’s walk got us there. A large building with a large stone facade in the front greeted us. “That’s it there,” Cyhan said.

“Ever been in there before?”

“Do I look like I have money?” he asked. I had to admit he had a point.

“How about me, do I look like I have money?” I turned the question around.

“Not really. We’ll see if they let you inside,” he replied.

“They turn people away?” It hadn’t occurred to me that the bank might be hard to get into.

“Banks are for the rich. If you’re not a member of the club they’ll have you locked up faster than you can blink. Why are you here anyway? Not that it’s any of my business,” Cyhan asked.

“I’ve got a war to fight. For that I’ll need all the money I can lay my hands on.”

“We’ll see,” he replied.

I had no plans to go away empty handed. I stepped up to the doors and a uniformed fellow held one open for me. I looked back at Penny and our new ‘friend’, “Come on.” They followed me in. The interior was richly appointed. Vaulted ceilings and dark wood greeted my eyes in every direction. Unsure where to go I walked up to the man at the nearest desk, he seemed very busy with something he was writing, “Excuse me…”