Katharine Kerr - The Silver Mage

‘You might have knocked,’ Nalla said. She handed the salve to Gerontos and grabbed her tunic to pull it down.

‘My apologies.’ Rhodorix knew his face must have turned scarlet. ‘I’ll uh just uh go find Hwilli.’

He turned and beat a hasty retreat, slamming the door behind him. Yet despite the blush, he felt gratified that his younger brother had found a woman of his own, partly because he liked seeing Gerontos happy. And he won’t be sniffing around mine this way , he thought.

All too soon, however, things changed.

‘Hwilli, Nalla, all of you.’ Master Jantalaber appeared in the door of the refectory. ‘I have something important to tell you.’

At their long table the apprentices, male and female both, fell silent as he walked into the room. Jantalaber looked weary, that night, his hair uncombed, his eyes heavy-lidded and sad as he looked over his students.

‘The prince has made a decision,’ the master said. ‘I don’t agree with it, but he’s the prince. Today the guardsmen brought back messages from Rinbaladelan, begging his aid. Ranadar’s sending all but two of you to Rinbaladelan. Refugees are pouring into the city. Many are wounded. They need healers badly and supplies as well.’

Everyone went tense, glancing at each other.

‘Hwilli, you’ll stay with me,’ Jantalaber said. ‘I’ll keep Paraberiel here, too, because he’s been helping me with – well, our project. The rest of you, once you’ve finished your meal, go to your chambers and begin to collect your belongings. In the morning, we’ll load up a wagon with supplies, and you’ll set out with an escort of archers and some of the new horse soldiers.’

Hwilli caught her breath. Would the prince sent Rhodorix away? Jantalaber looked at her and smiled, just briefly. When he spoke, he used her own language, that of the Old Ones. Since he was the only person among the People who had ever bothered to learn it, they both knew that no one else would understand.

‘Your friend will stay here with you,’ Jantalaber said.

Hwilli let out a sigh of sheer relief.

‘I decided to keep you here for two reasons beyond our project,’ he continued. ‘You’re the best of my students, and the healers at Rinbaladelan might not treat you as you deserve.’

‘My thanks, Master,’ Hwilli said, and in this instance nothing poisoned her gratitude.

Jantalaber returned to speaking the language of the People.

‘Par, you’ve advanced far enough to teach others. It will be your duty to instruct the archers in binding wounds. Hwilli will show them which herbs are vulneraries and how to prepare them. They need to be capable of healing themselves if something happens to the three of us.’

‘As you wish, Master,’ Paraberiel said.

‘I won’t lie to you all,’ Jantalaber continued. ‘Things are looking very grim. Apparently the Meradan have wits, after all. They’ve simply bypassed Ranadar’s realm and are striking at the heart of the Seven Princedoms.’

Nalla’s face turned white, and she caught the edge of the table so hard that the blood drained from her knuckles as well. Hwilli laid a gentle hand on her friend’s arm.

‘The prince is beginning to think that the best we can hope for is to fall back to Rinbaladelen eventually,’ Jantalaber continued speaking, ‘and help defend the city, but no one’s ready for that move yet. Still, who knows? With luck and the favour of the gods, I may see you all again in Rinbaladelan one fine day.’

No one spoke. Only a few of the apprentices so much as moved in their chairs or glanced around. Hwilli felt as if a north wind had swept into the refectory and laid a coating of dirty grey frost over everything in it.

When they finished eating, Hwilli helped Nalla fold her clothing and place it into two leather sacks for the travel ahead. Her few other possessions – combs, a silver brooch, a pair of blue ribands – Nalla tucked into a small pouch that she’d carry on her belt. Neither of them spoke until they’d finished.

‘Hwilli, this is horrible,’ Nalla said. ‘The prince believes he’ll lose the war, doesn’t he?’

Hwilli tried to speak, but tears clogged her voice.

‘You see it, too,’ Nalla continued. ‘And your family – ai! they live outside the walls.’

The tears spilled and ran. Nalla threw her arms around Hwilli and held her, just for a moment, before drawing back. Hwilli tried to speak, then hurried to the door before she wept again.

‘I’ll pray I see you in the spring,’ Nalla called after her. Hwilli ran down the corridor and took refuge in her chamber. The last of the sunlight gleamed through the window, a distant gold. She flung herself onto her bed and fought down her tears. This is no time for weeping , she told herself. We all have to be strong. Perhaps if she pleaded with Master Jantalaber, he could convince the prince to allow her mother to come into the relative safety of the fortress. Perhaps.

‘Beloved?’ Rhodorix opened the door and stepped into the chamber. ‘Have you heard the news?’

‘That the healers are leaving?’ Hwilli sat up and turned on the bed to sit facing him.

‘Not just the healers.’ He paused to shut the door. ‘The prince is sending all the farm folk with them. The Vale of Roses isn’t a safe haven anymore, the captain told me. Tomorrow our warband’s going to strip every bit of food they don’t need for the journey south.’

‘I hadn’t heard that.’ How like a man of the People, even Master Jantalaber, to forget to tell me! What does he care about the slaves outside?

Rhodorix sat down next to her and caught her hand between both of his. ‘Do your bloodkin still live out there?’ he said.

‘Only my mother. She’ll be safe, then, for a little while. Well, if she doesn’t starve at the gates of Rinbaladelan, anyway.’

‘The prince won’t let his people starve.’

‘Our prince wouldn’t, true. I know naught about the prince of Rinbaladelan.’

Rhodorix started to speak, sighed instead, and drew her into his arms. His love-making gave her more comfort than any words could have done.

In a grey dawn turned cold by a drizzle of rain, the healers led out their expedition from the fortress. Hwilli walked with them down to the valley, where the farm folk waited for them in a mob of weeping humans, bleating goats, and lowing cattle. The farmers pushed wheelbarrows and handcarts laden with pitifully small bundles of household goods. Hwilli worked her way through until she found her mother, Gertha, a big-boned woman who wore her long grey hair bound back into a single braid. In one hand she held the halter ropes of two milk goats, who were complaining softly and rubbing up against their human’s hips.

‘Mama!’ Hwilli threw an arm around her shoulders. ‘I’ve brought you a cloak and some extra food.’

‘Well, thank you.’ Gertha’s smile displayed the few brown cracked teeth left to her. ‘I was thinking I was going to have a cold walk of it.’

Hwilli laid the cloth-wrapped bundle of bread at her mother’s feet, shoved a curious goat away with one foot, then took off her cloak and placed it around her mother’s shoulders. She pinned it at the neck with a bronze pin. She’d considered giving her the golden bird brooch, but she knew that someone would only steal it along the way if she did. Gertha stroked the cloak with her free hand.

‘Very nice wool,’ she said, ‘but don’t you need it?’

‘No. Master Jantalaber will give me another one.’ She picked up the bundle again and handed it over. ‘Bread and cheese. Eat it first, before the overseers take it.’

‘I will. It’s kind of you to remember me. I wondered if you did, up there in the palace and all.’