Tamora Pierce - Emperor Mage

Looking around, the girl saw the immense bole of a tree nearby. ‘About what, sir?’ She settled into a fold between two large roots, resting her back against the tree.

‘The emperor.’ Lindhall’s pale eyes were troubled. ‘He shows his best side in regard to his birds, and to animals in general. He possesses – other sides.’

She smiled at him. ‘I’ll keep it in mind.’ She didn’t think she had needed the extra warning – not after two years of finding imperial claws hooked into all parts of Tortall. Closing her eyes, she called her patients to her.

The ones in the best condition came first, heads bobbing on weakened necks. Some barely had the strength to fly, a result both of the disease and of the appetite loss that went with it. Daine looked deep inside herself until she found the pool of her magic. She drew it up not in threads, but in ropes, sending fibres of it into each of the birds resting on her shoulders and legs.

If they had a disease, it was like none she had ever seen. To her inner eyes, it shadowed the dab of copper fire that was each bird’s wild magic, leaving a film that grew until it blotted out the animal’s fire, and its life. She burned the shadows away in every bird that could reach her, then rose to find those that couldn’t. She ached all over, particularly in her joints. She ignored it and felt her way into the shrubbery that concealed the rest of her patients from her. Many were on the ground, too weak to move. Three had died since the last time the place was cleaned. She stubbornly went after each flickering life light she could sense.

Some had made it to aboveground nests. The thought of climbing the large trees of this indoor enclosure was daunting, but she found a stair that followed the walls in an upward spiral. Using it, she searched out the rest of her patients. At last she had seen to all of them. Lindhall must have heard her coming down the stair: he, Kitten, and Zek met her at the bottom.

‘How did it go?’ the man asked.

‘They’re healed – for now, at least. Oh, dear.’ Now that she was in somewhat better light, she could properly see that her hands, arms, and dress were coated with heavy, white droppings. Before coming down, she’d scraped the worst off with leaves and twigs, but her splendid gown was ruined. Even one of Kitten’s magical sounds wouldn’t save the cloth.

‘Perhaps I should continue to hold Zek,’ Lindhall said tactfully. ‘Would you like me to show you to your room?’ She brightened, looking up at him, and he laughed. ‘My dear, I’ve lost more garments to animal droppings than I can count. Clothing is not worth a candle when placed against what you have done here. Come. We’ll go through the gardens, where no one will see you.’

Kitten, following them down the hall with the bird inlays on the walls, whistle-croaked. The stone birds lit up. Lindhall grinned with pleasure as lapis, jade, and citrine shimmered in their natural colours. Once that had faded, they went out into the gardens.

‘What was wrong with the birds?’ he asked, navigating the tangled paths.

‘It’s not a disease. Could they have eaten mouldy seed or anything like that? I think they were poisoned somehow.’

‘It’s possible, though the slaves are vigilant with the food that goes to those birds. They have to be. Do you think the poisoning was deliberate?’ They passed a large, many-tiered fountain lit from within by glowing stones.

‘I don’t know. If they get sick again, I can check their food and things like that. Should I mention poisoning to the emperor?’

‘Please don’t. He would kill the slaves. It wouldn’t matter to him if the poisoning were deliberate or not – only that it happened. He might torture them first, to see if it was deliberate, but it wouldn’t do much good. All his personal slaves are mutes.’

Daine shivered as they entered another wing of the palace. Now she knew their surroundings: the guest quarters, near the wing set aside for the Tortallan delegation. A slave dozing in the central area onto which the rooms opened jumped to his feet and held the door to Daine’s room, trying not to stare at her.

‘She will be going out to bathe in a few moments,’ Lindhall said. The slave nodded without looking up. ‘Daine, will you be all right? Shall I have Lady Alanna look in on you?’

She smiled up at him. ‘I’m just tired, and I need to wash, that’s all. Thank you, Master Lindhall. Numair said you are very kind, and he was right.’

To her amusement, the lanky mage blushed. ‘Well, good night, then.’

About to enter her room, she said, ‘Oh, wait – if it’s possible, can the birds be left alone all day tomorrow? They can be fed as long as food’s left quietly.’ She had seen food trays and water bowls somewhere in the aviary. ‘If there’s a way to keep it dark in the aviary for half of the day, I’d use it.’

He looked interested. ‘Of course – I can manage it, actually. Glass walls conduct magic well, and it’s no great matter to make them dark. You want the birds to sleep? Even the healthy ones?’

‘It won’t harm them, and the rest will get the sick ones over their reaction to the healing. Birds are funny.’ She yawned. ‘When they’re up and alert, their bodies use energy faster than any other animals. The magic sticks better if they can sleep for a while after I’m done.’

‘I shall take care of it. Try not to fall asleep in your bath. Good night, Veralidaine – and welcome to Carthak.’ He closed the door for her.

‘I like him,’ the girl told Zek and Kitten drowsily.

So do I, replied the marmoset as Kitten also nodded agreement.

Slowly, half asleep already, Daine began to gather her bathing things.

She woke early, with no ill effects from the previous night’s work. By the time she dressed and left her room, a large breakfast had been laid out in the area common to the bedchambers occupied by the Tortallans. The others were emerging from their rooms to eat.

‘It went quite well last night,’ Duke Gareth said once they were settled. ‘Some of the imperial ministers are more forthcoming than others, but that is to be expected. I am particularly happy with the reports I’ve had of you, Daine.’

Startled, the girl looked up, her teeth halfway into a bite of melon. Blushing crimson, she put the forkful onto her plate again. ‘Me, Your Grace?’

‘Emperor Ozorne heard from Master Lindhall that you cured his birds in one session,’ explained Harailt of Aili. ‘The emperor is very pleased – says he has to think of a proper way to express his thanks.’

‘It’s like that with some men in high places,’ commented Gareth the Younger, buttering a roll. ‘Things that would impress us have no effect on them, but a kindness done to creatures they love, they never forget.’ He looked at Daine, brown eyes uncomfortably keen. ‘I hope you’ll continue to stay on his good side. The ministers’ definition of concessions they will and won’t make changed to our benefit after the emperor thanked us for bringing you.’

Daine frowned as she passed a roll to Kitten. That didn’t sound much like the way Ozorne had described himself – as a ruler whose lords told him what to do.

‘Which reminds me,’ Numair said, feeding Zek as the marmoset sat on his lap. ‘We’re scheduled to have a tour of the imperial menagerie after breakfast.’

Daine gulped. ‘A menagerie?’ King Jonathan had possessed rare, caged animals when she first came to Tortall. Even going near it had been a torment until the king began to change it, making it into enclosures that resembled the captives’ original homes.

‘Ozorne would never ill-treat his animals,’ said Numair, seeing the discomfort in her eyes.