ã€ŠThe Mage and the Convertã€‹


 1. The Mission

    The mood in the city of Crelt was grim. It was no wonder: its population was nearly doubled by Charles¡¯s army and its camp followers and the households of the young nobles and politicians who made up his court. And they had just suffered their greatest setback since the war had truly begun.

    It wasn¡¯t just a military defeat, James reflected as he stalked through the city¡¯s streets. The loss of the Battle of the River Clirith was a humiliation, even though the retreat had been orderly and they¡¯d only lost a few hundred men. They were waging war; lost battles were near-inevitable.

    It was how they had lost. The extraordinary magic wielded by the enemy. Felix Blackthorn was one of the most talented magicians alive, everyone knew that, but even he wasn¡¯t capable of turning an entire battlefield into a swamp without being noticed. Even he couldn¡¯t have turned day to night and peeled back clouds to reveal the stars.

    James still felt a chill at the thought of it. He knew only too well how fortunate they had been to escape total destruction. And yet that wasn¡¯t the worst of it: it was the otherworldly woman who had worked such great and terrible feats of magic.

    He reached a stables that had belonged to an inn before the army had suborned it, stopped and leaned against its wall. It was a bright spring day, though the sun hadn¡¯t yet gained its full summer strength, and he unbuttoned his jacket. And waited. And listened.

    Sure enough, on the other side of the wall were a pair of stable-hands, talking as they worked. He heard the splash of water, and then a young voice with a thick Creltish accent: ¡°You must have heard what they said about her!¡±

    ¡°Theola,¡± said another voice, older and male. ¡°The Mage Theola, returned after five hundred years.¡± The words dripped scepticism. James was glad of it.

    ¡°My brother, he has a friend who was there,¡± the first voice replied, sounding a little affronted. A horse whickered softly. ¡°He said she made the stars rise on a cloudy day, and that her voice ¨C even over the noise of battle, everyone heard her clearly ¨C ¡°

    That voice still gave James nightmares: it was not a human voice.

    ¡°What did she say?¡± asked the older voice. James struggled a little to guess the tone: curious? Still sceptical?

    ¡°I am the Mage Theola. I have returned. I fight for the true king.¡±

    The true king. Felix, not Charles.

    If this was true, it was the end.

    ¡°It can¡¯t be,¡± the older voice said. It was easier this time to recognise the uncertainty behind the words.

    ¡°If it is,¡± the first voice replied, ¡°if it is. Then we¡¯re fighting for the wrong side.¡±

    James had heard enough. He pushed himself away from the wall, whirled and marched straight into the stables. The main door was shut but not locked, so he waved his hand and opened it with magical force without breaking stride.

    ¡°Oi!¡± shouted the stable-mistress, an old woman with blindingly white hair. ¡°What d¡¯you think you¡¯re ¨C ¡°

    James pulled back the edge of his jacket to reveal the badge pinned to his shirt. The eagle and the oak: Charles¡¯s symbol. Only his inner circle were permitted to wear it.

    ¡°Oh ¨C forgive me, my lord ¨C ¡°

    James ignored her, looking around for the right door. There it was, directly on the left, leading into the stable where the man and the boy he¡¯d heard talking were at work.

    ¡°Sir?¡± said the man, flicking an anxious glance at James¡¯s badge. The boy dropped his pitchfork.

    ¡°Theola,¡± said James with as much force as he could muster, a not inconsiderable amount, ¡°has not returned. The woman who fought for the usurper at Clirith was an imposter, no more a Mage than he the rightful King. The Mages are dead. Immortality is a myth. The stars are on our side. And the next person I hear saying otherwise shall be whipped.¡±

    The horse slammed a hoof against the ground and exhaled loudly. James was a magician and so less used to horses than most, but even he knew the signs of an agitated animal. He didn¡¯t much care.

    ¡°Sir ¨C sir, you¡¯re disturbing the horse ¨C ¡° the man stuttered.

    ¡°Have I made myself clear?¡± asked James in the same cold tone.

    Silence except from the horse, which snorted again and gave James a distinctly unfriendly look.

    ¡°Have I made myself clear?¡± repeated James. He hoped they didn¡¯t push him; he¡¯d made his point and didn¡¯t particularly want to enforce it.

    ¡°Yes, sir.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir.¡±

    ¡°Good. Be about your business.¡± James spun around and left. He had no more time to waste on these stable hands. As he marched out he cursed the anti-teleportation wards that surrounded the city; this was far less dramatic and more time-consuming an exit than it would have been to simply vanish into thin air.

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    It couldn¡¯t be helped, though: having enemy magicians teleport into their base of operations would be completely unviable, and adding conditions to the wards so that friendly magicians could do so would make them far more complex. And the more complex the ward, the easier it was to break. That counted for a great deal when the other side had magical superiority.

    He¡¯d spent enough time clearing his mind and assessing the mood of the city. It was time to return to the rightful king¡¯s side.

    The Duchess of Crelt was one of Charles¡¯s most ardent supporters among the nobility. She hated the new laws Felix had passed which increased the power of magicians at the expense of non-magical landowners like herself, and it had only taken the promise of repealing those laws to earn her loyalty.

    That was why the city was their stronghold now, and why Charles¡¯s residence was now the ducal palace in its centre. James had been surprised that she was prepared to cede her own home to them, but it certainly showed she was committed to the cause.

    He¡¯d barely set foot in what they were calling the Central Square ¨C it was a mimicry of the Central Ring in the capital Ryk, held by Felix for the foreseeable future ¨C when he was hailed by one of the many guards who patrolled the area. ¡°Lord Wilde! Where have you been? His Majesty has been asking for you for the last half an hour!¡±

    ¡°I shall go to him at once,¡± James replied, not bothering to justify his absence. He had been planning to go to Charles at once anyway.

    He was well known in these circles as one of Charles¡¯s most powerful magicians and his close friend besides, so he was unchallenged as he marched through the palace corridors. Charles had chosen luxury over accessibility for his apartments, one of the few luxuries he afforded himself, and so it took a good five minutes for James to reach them from the Central Square.

    A footman stood outside the door, but he swept James a shallow bow as he saw him approach before smoothly opening it. ¡°Lord Wilde is here, your Majesty.¡±

    Charles was sat at the desk in the room opposite, listening to a woman James recognised as Olivia Fielding, a logistics officer. But as he saw the door open, he held up a hand and stopped her mid-sentence. ¡°James! I was beginning to wonder if you were lost again!¡±

    He was never going to live down that incident from the beginning of their occupancy of the city, was he?

    ¡°Thank you, Olivia. I believe I understand the essentials of the situation. We shall continue our discussion at a later time.¡±

    Fielding was clearly unhappy with that, but she bowed deeply and left. James stepped to one side to let her pass, and then entered his friend¡¯s apartments.

    Charles was worried. He did a good job of hiding it, but James had known him intimately for years. The signs were easy enough to spot once you knew them: the slight furrow of the brow, the tension in the way he held his hands, the narrowed eyes.

    ¡°James,¡± he said. ¡°Would you set up privacy wards?¡±

    ¡°Of course, Your Majesty.¡± Normally he called Charles by his first name, but at a time like this he could probably use the reminder that he was King, even if he was not crowned.

    He had made enough privacy wards over the last four years that it was practically second nature; he hardly had to think about tracing the line of the room out in chalk or drawing the complex set of interlocking circles on the door, and channelling in enough magic to fuel the ward for as long as it would be needed was simplicity itself.

    ¡°It is done.¡±

    ¡°Good,¡± said Charles, and slumped forwards, letting his head fall into his hands.

    ¡°Charles ¨C ¡°

    ¡°Tell me truly,¡± he said. ¡°Do you think that Theola fights for the usurper?¡±

    James hesitated for a long moment. He wanted to tell his friend the same thing as he had told the stable hands (though without the threat of whipping, of course). But that would go against the promises they had made each other when they were still teenagers, before any of this began.

    People will lie to me, James. They¡¯ll tell me what they think I want to hear, give me advice that is biased towards what they want of me, hide ugly truths from me. I want there to be one person who will never do that, who will always tell me the truth, however little I want to hear it. Will you do that for me, James?

    I swear I will.

    He¡¯d kept that oath ever since, and he would not break it now. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    Charles winced but said ¡°Elaborate.¡±

    ¡°The feats she seemed to perform are beyond the power of any known mortal magician. But I say seemed because they could be faked. Trickery and illusion could give the appearances of having done far more than was truly done. It could have been a great ritual performed by dozens of magicians working in concert. And even if she does have that power, who¡¯s to say that makes her who she claims to be? There simply isn''t enough evidence to work with.¡±

    ¡°Do you think you could know, if you were given more evidence? If, for instance, you worked and fought and lived beside her?¡±

    James narrowed his eyes. Charles was scheming something, wasn¡¯t he? ¡°Probably, yes.¡±

    ¡°Good. Then that is what I want you to do.¡±

    There it was. ¡°To be clear,¡± James said. ¡°You want me to infiltrate the enemy camp and get close to this supposed Theola in order to find out who and what she really is.¡±

    ¡°Precisely. It shouldn¡¯t be too difficult: you heard the rumours of the returned Mage who fought for the rightful King ¨C ¡° Charles couldn¡¯t keep the bitter note out of his voice ¨C ¡°and wanted to join her in that fight. You¡¯ll need a false identity, of course, but you and I are no strangers to that.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± said James.

    ¡°You refuse an order from your King?¡±

    If Charles had said that to anyone else, it would have been a deadly threat. It wasn¡¯t, not with James. ¡°With respect, your Majesty ¨C ¡° he mirrored Charles and switched back to the formal address ¨C ¡°I am needed here. We lack for magicians of the highest ability already, and who knows when there will be an emergency for which I am needed?¡±

    ¡°Your capability as a magician is precisely why I must send you. It is no use sending someone who does not understand enough of what they see to tell if it is real or not. You are the only capable one I can trust with this task, and it must be done.¡±

    Charles had a point. He¡¯d set his mind on this, it seemed, and once set his mind was nearly impossible to change. James resigned himself to accepting this mission. But he had to tell Charles the real reason he had refused at first.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to leave you.¡±

    ¡°I know. I don¡¯t want you to leave me either. But if it is a choice between your companionship now and the throne in years to come? That is no choice at all.¡±

    ¡°Two questions,¡± James said, ¡°and then I will obey you.¡±

    ¡°Ask them.¡±

    ¡°Do you think that Theola fights with the usurper?¡±

    ¡°It is impossible. The Mages lived five hundred years ago. Immortality is a myth.¡±

    The same words James had used against the stable hands earlier. But where he had said them with force and venom, Charles sounded like he was only trying to convince himself.

    ¡°When I have the answer,¡± asked James, ¡°what should I do?¡±

    ¡°If she is a fraud, then you must of course expose her. If she is not¡­ then you must do what is necessary to preserve my claim to the throne.¡±

    James didn¡¯t know what frightened him more: the fact that his closest friend had just tacitly ordered him to kill a Mage¡­ or the fact that he knew without doubt that if it came to that, he would obey that order.

 2. Infiltration

    James had no family. Well, no family that he was on speaking terms with, at any rate. His parents had been good friends of the usurper Felix Blackthorn before the war, and now fought for his side, and his sister had fled the country and married a Sirgalese count rather than be forced to choose between her parents and her brother. He still hated her for it.

    He wasn¡¯t married, either. In normal circumstances he would have been by his current age of twenty-five. But this was war. It was no time to think about settling down and raising a family. He¡¯d vowed privately that he wouldn¡¯t take a wife until he¡¯d seen Charles crowned.

    That meant there was no-one to leave behind. No-one to miss him. He¡¯d insisted on not being part of the formal chain of command, which meant there was no need to make sure it would continue to function in his absence.

    It was disturbing, realising how little he¡¯d be missed if he never returned from this mission. Well, if there was one exception to that, at least it was the future King. Once the war was over, he¡¯d see about making sure he had his place in the new kingdom they¡¯d build together.

    In the meantime, he had to disguise himself. No-one in Felix¡¯s court had seen him in seven years, but he could still be recognised if he appeared as himself. Self-disguise was a tricky business, though, that needed all his magical talent.

    He worked piece by piece, staring into the mirror as he did so. First he cast subtle illusions to make sure each changed feature still looked natural, that it wouldn¡¯t be obvious he¡¯d magically changed his appearance. His blond hair turned a deep black, his eyes turned from green to a pale grey and narrowed, his nose became longer and more pronounced.

    James paused to take in his new look when he was done. He¡¯d changed the superficial details, which were all that most people remembered about a person. His seven years of absence would take care of the rest. And the man staring back at him was certainly handsome, maybe even a little more so than he was. When you were creating a new identity, why not make it good-looking?

    Then he dismissed the illusion and set to work replicating it with proper spellwork. That was a much trickier task, because now he was truly changing himself. It was the only way to make sure that his disguise wasn¡¯t obvious to a sensitive or vulnerable to being dispelled, though.

    It took about twenty minutes to complete the changes. That was his appearance taken care of; now he would need a new character to play.

    Magic made that significantly more difficult. Hiding the fact that he was a magician would make it far harder to get close to the supposed Theola, since without magic he was just another common recruit. And lying about his School was also out, because while he could plausibly fake casting in a different way he wasn¡¯t confident he could do that in the heat of battle.

    Which meant he would have to go as the Siaril he truly was. The problem that posed was that Siaril was passed down through family bloodlines. And most of the Siaril families were powerful nobles like his own or the Blackthorns; they were known. If a strange new Siaril appeared out of nowhere, questions would be asked.

    Fortunately, he had an answer: he would be a bastard. Illegitimate children were common enough. Every so often a child from a non-magical family would turn out to be Siaril and possibly learn that their parentage wasn¡¯t what they had always believed; they had a noble parent who had given them magic and would never come to claim them.

    If James had been a bastard like that, he likely would have hidden his power and stayed away from court as this new identity of his must have done. It was a plausible enough story it wouldn¡¯t arouse too much suspicion. After all, it had even been the first Lord Blackthorn¡¯s backstory.

    ¡°So,¡± said James to the mirror, ¡°what¡¯s your name, you handsome bastard?¡±

    He¡¯d had a few false names in those years on the run with Charles. Most of them had been chosen more or less at random, but this identity would be more permanent than any of his past ones. The name deserved more thought.

    He¡¯d always liked best to keep his first initial. John? Jacob? Maybe he could even go by James, because no-one would ever suspect that James Wilde would walk right into Felix¡¯s camp without even bothering to change his name. He laughed a little at the thought, but shook his head. There were risks, and then there were stupid risks. Best not to take the latter.

    No, he would be Jacob. Known to his friends as Jay, perhaps. And for a surname? He might as well keep that initial as well. Wilson? It was very ordinary; perhaps that was safest, but like most Siaril James had a loathing for the ordinary.

    What other surnames began with the letter W? He thought through the people he knew. Most of them were nobles, though, which meant taking their name was out of the question. Except¡­ he remembered dragging a man out of the swamp at Clirith. He¡¯d thought nothing of it at the time ¨C it was just what you did for a fellow soldier ¨C but afterwards the man had found him and shaken his hand.

    The name¡¯s Winter, my lord. Lieutenant Winter. You saved my life. Thank you.

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    Jacob Winter. Jay Winter. It had a ring to it. When he came back from this, he¡¯d have to find the lieutenant and tell him how he¡¯d unknowingly repaid that debt.

    James met Cat Perkins outside the city gates the next morning. Cat was one of the most useful assets the army¡¯s Magical Division had. She¡¯d developed Malaina a couple of years ago after seeing her home burnt to the ground and her parents murdered by Felix¡¯s troops, and had immediately signed on with Charles for a chance at vengeance.

    Accepting her had been a risk. There was a reason armies didn¡¯t normally take Malaina despite their vast power reserves: if she were to have an episode during a battle, there was no way to make sure the resulting destruction would be aimed solely at the enemy. She¡¯d been pretty persuasive, though, and after intense testing James and his king had decided it was worth the risk. She didn¡¯t disappoint: she was one of the most efficient raiders they had, and fought well as part of a team too. James had trusted her with his life in more than one battle.

    ¡°Hey, Kitty,¡± he said.

    Cat scowled. She hated that nickname. That was why he used it. ¡°Hey, Jamie,¡± she shot back. ¡°You¡¯re actually pretty now!¡±

    He hated that nickname too. His mother had always called him that, and the reminder of her was somewhere between painful and rage-inducing. Still, he had no right to complain about her giving as good as she got. It was one of the things he liked most about her. That and the fact she couldn¡¯t even compliment him without insulting his past appearance.

    It was a shame about the war, and their difference in social status, and the care he had to take with his reputation. Because Cat was precisely his type. Gorgeously wavy dark hair, knew her own mind, wasn¡¯t afraid to stand her ground in a battle of insults.

    No use dwelling on what could never be, though. ¡°You know the plan?¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes, hold back so you can look suitably amazing when you defeat me and all that.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not so I can look amazing. Quite the opposite, in fact.¡±

    ¡°Ah, yes. Your famous modesty.¡±

    He could have stayed here trading banter with her all day. He wanted to. ¡°Enough backchat,¡± he snapped. ¡°We have a job to do.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir.¡± Cat saluted ¨C how in stars¡¯ names did that girl manage to make even a salute seem mocking? ¨C turned on the spot and vanished.

    The next part was a question of timing. Too soon, and the coincidence would be a suspicious one; too late, and Cat wouldn¡¯t be able to hide the fact she was stalling. A minute and twenty seconds, he¡¯d decided. He¡¯d performed enough time-sensitive rituals he¡¯d had to learn to judge time that exactly.

    And exactly one minute and twenty seconds later, he too turned on the spot and vanished.

    He reappeared outside another city gate, though this one was far grander than the one he¡¯d left: it was the East Gate of Ryk. Like their own base in Crelt, the City was warded against teleportation in and out (though magicians could teleport freely within the wards), but the area just outside its walls wasn¡¯t. There was a constant stream of refugees, volunteers and supplies queuing up here, the few harried officials struggling to keep up with their workload.

    And it was vulnerable to attack. In fact, it was being attacked at the moment: Cat was holding back a small detachment of soldiers with magical force as she attempted to break into a large wagon. People were screaming, the horses that led the wagon were agitated, and the soldiers¡¯ weapons were having no effect on her barrier. She¡¯d already killed two men.

    Backup must have been called in, but it would take a few minutes to arrive. By that time Cat could be gone along with the precious supplies.

    Unless, that was, a talented and handsome young magician here to volunteer for Felix¡¯s army were to happen across this unfolding incident and decide to play the hero.

    James took a moment to assess the situation. He¡¯d landed halfway up a small hill overlooking the road: a perfect position to cast without being in physical danger. Almost as if he¡¯d planned it that way.

    He began with a shield-breaker that effortlessly tore down Cat¡¯s magical barrier. The soldiers were startled enough when their weapons¡¯ pounding at the barrier suddenly met no resistance that it took them a second to regain their composure, by which time Cat too had noticed. She responded by vanishing into thin air: normally he¡¯d expect invisibility over a short-range teleport, but he knew Cat. She was one of the best teleporters he¡¯d known, but couldn¡¯t cast a decent invisibility spell to save her life.

    James spent the few seconds until she reappeared in advancing down the hill towards the recently-attacked wagon. It was shoddy strategy, of course, giving up the high ground and revealing his location in one move. But strategy wasn¡¯t the point.

    Cat materialised about five yards behind him and immediately rolled behind a cart, hoping to hide her position. He¡¯d been looking in that direction, though, so he cast a summoning-spell on her uniform. That was a trick he liked, since it was a way around the increased difficulty of casting on a person.

    Cat was fast enough to cast a counterspell before his spell activated. She knew half a dozen ways of countering his attack. She used none of them, and was dragged towards him, flying over the cart and nearly knocking it as she went. She recovered herself before she¡¯d reached him, though ¨C she dispelled his summoning and teleported the second her feet hit the ground.

    James watched her go, feeling faintly disappointed. He¡¯d thought of so many ways to defeat Cat without actually defeating her, and she just vanished before he had a chance to use more than a couple? Damn that woman.

    ¡°Sir?¡±

    James whirled around: the leader of the detachment of soldiers, the markings on his breastplate designating him a sergeant, was approaching.

    ¡°Sir, thank you. You saved our lives and our supplies.¡±

    It wasn¡¯t in James¡¯s nature to politely demur when congratulated, but it was in Jacob Winter¡¯s. ¡°Really, captain, I didn¡¯t do anything. It was only a couple of spells. Any magician could have done the same. And I¡¯m not a sir. I¡¯m just Jacob.¡±

    And Jacob knew nothing about military ranks. The sergeant would probably be flattered that he could be mistaken for a captain.

    ¡°Well, Just Jacob, I¡¯m just a sergeant. What battalion are you with?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not with any battalion. Not yet. I came here to volunteer. I heard about Clirith River, and I knew I had to do my bit.¡±

    ¡°Of course. I¡¯m sure there won¡¯t be any difficulty with that. In fact, if you¡¯d like to come with me ¨C we¡¯ll have to report this incident to my superiors, and then we can see about the necessary paperwork. I¡¯m not speaking for Felix, or for the cause, mind you. But if it were up to me? I¡¯d say that we all owe you a debt.¡±

    This was almost too easy. James had to fight to keep the smug look off his face as he asked apprehensively ¡°Do you ¨C do you think I could meet Theola?¡±

 3. Settling In

    It wasn¡¯t exactly that simple, of course. Once the paperwork was done, he was installed in a barracks, sharing a plain room with six other magicians in the usurper¡¯s army. He immediately hated them all on principle.

    He cracked open the door and asked ¡°Is this the place for unassigned magicians to sleep?¡±

    Only one of his new roommates was inside, busily scrubbing his already-shiny boots. ¡°So it is,¡± the man replied without looking up. ¡°Only one bed left.¡± He jerked a thumb towards it; to James¡¯s dismay it was the central one, far from both window and door. ¡°You know how things work round here?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve had the basic briefing,¡± James answered. ¡°We¡¯re expected to serve under whatever unit requests our services until we¡¯ve found a permanent assignment.¡±

    His roommate grunted in agreement. ¡°Free time is your own, so long as you spend at least two hours a day training when not on assignment.¡±

    Discipline for magicians was much laxer than for ordinary soldiers: there were far fewer of them, so imposing the same harsh regime would likely mean they¡¯d struggle to find enough magical recruits.

    ¡°Got it.¡± James marched over to his new bed and dumped his pack. It was easy enough to carry even without magical aid, since it contained only the bare essentials. He¡¯d have to transfer his belongings to his new army-issued pack soon enough.

    For now, he removed a piece of chalk and set about constructing a ward around his space. When activated, it would filter out background noise and alert him whenever anyone crossed it. That should be sufficient for the purposes of basic privacy and security, though if he obtained anything he wanted to hide properly he¡¯d have to upgrade the measures a little.

    ¡°What¡¯s your name, by the way?¡±

    ¡°Ja ¨C cob. Jacob Winter.¡± Careless. It was fortunate he¡¯d chosen a name with a similar sounding beginning to his real one. He was out of practice at deception. That had to be fixed, and quickly.

    ¡°You just volunteered?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me ¨C because of Theola.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with wanting to follow a Mage?¡± James asked with fake indignation, completing the chalk rectangle around his bed. The ward circle itself was more complex than the standard template he used for privacy wards, so he decided to finish this conversation before sketching it out.

    ¡°Nothing, if she really is a Mage,¡± his roommate replied.

    ¡°But ¨C surely you heard about what happened at Clirith River?¡±

    ¡°I was there at Clirith River. Sure, what she did was impressive and flashy, but it could be faked. And I think that is much more likely than her being really five hundred years old and reappearing now of all times.¡±

    It occurred to James that one of the easiest ways to fake Theola would be to have many magicians working on it at once, and that if he befriended enough magicians or drew the attention of the right commander it wouldn¡¯t be too hard to discover something like that. If his roommate was part of a conspiracy to fake the return of a Mage, though, he was doing a good job of hiding it so far.

    ¡°I guess if you were there, you¡¯d know how likely it was,¡± James replied. ¡°I still think it¡¯s worth it, just for the chance of it being real.¡±

    Jacob, unlike James, had faith. Not just in the stars ¨C James was as true a believer as anyone ¨C but in the Mages. In the stars¡¯ plans for the Kingdom, and his own tiny role in them. In being part of something bigger than himself. James had never really looked for that kind of meaning. He was content to be who and what he was, making his own choices.

    ¡°Sure, if you say so.¡±

    ¡°Why¡¯d you volunteer, anyway?¡± James didn¡¯t get the impression his roommate particularly believed in the righteousness of Felix¡¯s cause.

    The man shrugged, setting down his shining boot and sitting down on his bed. James looked at him properly for the first time: he was strong physically for a magician, a large man with short dark curly hair and small eyes. Probably quite intimidating, if you were the type to be easily intimidated; James wasn¡¯t. ¡°It was this or prison.¡±

    That wasn¡¯t enough to scare James, but it would have been enough to scare Jacob, so he took a step backwards. ¡°What did you do to get that choice?¡±

    His roommate shrugged. ¡°Murdered two of my colleagues in their beds.¡±

    The threat was unmistakeable. Maybe his current wards wouldn¡¯t be that sufficient after all. He took another step back.

    The man burst out laughing. ¡°I¡¯m kidding. I volunteered because the pay was good. You should have seen the look on your face!¡±

    ¡°Very funny,¡± said James dryly, annoyed with himself for falling for it.

    ¡°I¡¯m Tom. Good to meet you, Jacob.¡± Tom walked over to his bed, smudging the chalk rectangle as he did, and offered his hand to shake.

    James took it and shook firmly, though he¡¯d already decided he didn¡¯t like Tom. Apart from the stupid murder joke, he¡¯d have to completely redraw his ward line now. It was disappointing to see a magician so careless. Maybe that was why he hadn¡¯t found a permanent assignment yet.

    James resolved that he was going to find a permanent assignment of his own soon, one that got him closer to Theola and further away from Tom.

    Once he¡¯d set up the ward properly and activated it, he decided to get his daily training out of the way. He was rather curious about how Felix¡¯s magicians trained and how strong they were. It wasn¡¯t his mission, but now he¡¯d gone to all the trouble of infiltrating the enemy he might as well spy on everything he could.

    He¡¯d been given a map of the City by the officer who¡¯d first briefed him. It clearly showed the training areas, supply depots, bases of his superiors, and the places he was forbidden from going. That included the entire Central Ring, much to his dismay.

    His eyes caught on a familiar street name and a particular building marked with a dagger and the number sixteen. He checked the key in a corner: Wilde Manor. Residence of the Commander of Magical Logistics. Do not enter without an appointment.

    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    So that was what his father was doing now. He wanted to walk straight in and announce his return to the City where he belonged. Since he wasn¡¯t a complete suicidal idiot, he made his way instead to his designated training area. The building was only a few blocks away; it had been the home of a minor noble who¡¯d risen under Felix¡¯s rule and moved into the Inner Ring, and in the lord¡¯s absence it had been repurposed for the army¡¯s use.

    James showed his new badge designating him a magician in the army¡¯s service to the woman at the entrance, and gave her a flirtatious smile as well.

    ¡°Afternoon, sir,¡± she said. ¡°Can I take your name?¡±

    ¡°Jacob Winter.¡± He wanted to tease and banter, but that would be out of character for Jacob. His new persona was really rather boring.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t seen you around before, have I? I get the feeling I¡¯d remember your face.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not easy to forget,¡± James said, unable to resist just one line. ¡°I just volunteered today.¡±

    ¡°Good for you,¡± she replied. ¡°You¡¯re very eager to start training.¡±

    ¡°I want to serve to the best of my ability.¡± It was a struggle to make such a trite remark sound serious, but she seemed to buy it.

    ¡°Well, I¡¯m glad the cause will have such noble service.¡± She made a note on the scroll of parchment in her hand. ¡°If you don¡¯t have an arranged appointment with an instructor, just go straight down into the basement. There¡¯s training dummies to cast at down there, and a few enchanted training aids as well. And if you want to spar, just find a partner, agree terms and get on with it. There¡¯s only three rules: don¡¯t cast anything outside the containment wards for your area, don¡¯t interfere with other magicians¡¯ practice, and don¡¯t be stupid. Got it?¡±

    ¡°Got it. How would I go about arranging an appointment with an instructor?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re still unassigned, right?¡±

    James nodded.

    ¡°Then you don¡¯t. Once you have a permanent assignment, if you feel personal instruction would make you better able to fulfil your duties you can request it from your superiors and they¡¯ll arrange it for you.¡±

    That was a pity; he might have been able to learn something from some of those instructors. He was good, better than most, but that didn¡¯t mean he had no room to improve. ¡°Thank you for your help, then.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re most welcome. Do stop by again. My shifts are one ¡®til five every weekday.¡±

    ¡°Then I look forward to seeing you again.¡± He passed her and set off for the basement, but turned a few steps later. ¡°Wait a second,¡± he said. ¡°You got my name, but I didn¡¯t get yours.¡±

    Her cheeks turned the faintest scarlet. ¡°Ruby.¡±

    ¡°Ruby,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯ll remember that name.¡±

    Then he left for good, grinning to himself. It was rare for his attempts at flirting to meet with that success. Maybe she was a flirt as well. Or maybe Cat had a point, and his new face really was prettier than his old one.

    James didn¡¯t spar, not at first. He was tempted, but working out exactly how much he needed to hold back before he had an idea of his enemies¡¯ skill level would be a challenge. Better to wait.

    There were maybe twenty or thirty magicians in the basement, mostly men. Four pairs were sparring, with another half dozen watching the fights and cheering or hollering advice. The rest were working with various training dummies. Most were just static, vaguely human shapes there to be cast at, but there were a few that were more advanced. One held a shielding enchantment that a young dark-skinned woman was repeatedly breaking through and then resetting, another fired beams of light intended to mimic area-of-effect spells for dodging practice.

    James was most intrigued by the set of square wooden tiles lying on the ground inside a square containment ward about three yards wide, just because it wasn¡¯t immediately apparent what they did. No-one else seemed to be using them, so he stepped into the containment ward. Nothing happened; he cautiously approached the squares.

    There was a piece of parchment resting on the topmost square. The squares were enchanted to fly in a random pattern when they were activated by channelling magic into them; the aim of the exercise was to hit them with any light-spell, which would deactivate the enchantment and drop them to the ground.

    There was a warning attached: this exercise was a difficult one, and magicians shouldn¡¯t be demoralised by failure. James raised a sceptical eyebrow. It might be hard, but it wouldn¡¯t be too hard for him.

    He set the parchment down outside the ward and channelled magic into the five squares, one after the other. They soared into the air above him, though their motion was quite unlike that of birds. They were far more agile but moved in a discrete, jerky pattern. James watched them without casting for half a minute, trying to find a way to predict their movements. He had no luck, though. Their movements were, as far as he could tell, genuinely random.

    Still, though the squares were fast, they weren¡¯t as fast as he was. He cast a simple arrow of light towards the nearest one, just above his head. It flew straight and true ¨C but the square swerved to one side at the last second and the arrow extinguished itself on the top of the containment wards.

    That was a strange coincidence, if coincidence was what it was. His suspicions were confirmed when the same thing happened with three more arrows. The squares were enchanted to dodge light-spells.

    This was a more interesting exercise than he¡¯d hoped.

    Five minutes later, he was re-evaluating that conclusion. He must have tried twenty different light-spells and set half a dozen different traps, but he hadn¡¯t brought down a single square. He¡¯d stopped holding back long ago. He was going to catch at least one of those squares if it killed him.

    It was in theory possible to create any shape from light, though it would of course have no solidity; the spells were used mainly for lighting the darkness and for sending signals. In practice only a few variations were commonly used, though: arrows, spheres, the occasional sword for those who wanted to be flashy. Most magicians didn¡¯t know any more variations than that.

    James also didn¡¯t. But he was a good enough magician to derive an unfamiliar spell variation in less than a minute without paper, if it wasn¡¯t complex. And there was nothing inherently complex about what he was doing, it was just unusual. It was also cheating a little, since it would never work without the containment wards.

    The exercise was unrealistic enough that an unrealistic solution was justified, though, or so he told himself. He double-checked his calculations, chose a suitable incantation and pressed his hands to the ground. In one smooth motion he rose and flipped his hands upside down. ¡°Banish the darkness!¡± he cast.

    It worked; of course it would work. A horizontal pane of light snapped into place just above his head, covering the three-by-three-yard square of the containment ward. The spellwork was sloppy; the pane had no inherent boundaries, and if it wasn¡¯t for the containment ward it would have spread out forever ¨C or until his power was exhausted. Still, it wasn¡¯t that bad for something he¡¯d put together on the fly.

    And then all he had to do was focus and lift. The pane slid smoothly upwards until it reached the top of the containment wards. The squares were left with nowhere to dodge, and one by one the pane touched them and sent them tumbling to the ground.

    There was a round of applause, and James realised that while he¡¯d been failing to bring down the squares with more conventional methods a crowd had gathered: almost everyone in the training room was watching him.

    He turned to face them and bowed as though he were a performer. ¡°Thank you, thank you.¡±

    ¡°Did you really figure out that spell in less than a minute?¡± asked a man at the front of the crowd, one of those who¡¯d been watching the spars earlier.

    Oh. Right. He¡¯d been trying to hold back and not be any more talented than Jacob Winter could realistically be. It was a bad habit of his: when faced with a sufficiently interesting challenge: he simply couldn¡¯t back down. ¡°Uh¡­ yeah. Yes, I did.¡±

    His best bet now was to play it off as if he didn¡¯t realise quite how talented he really was. That was somewhat plausible; the way that belief affected magic meant that it wasn¡¯t too uncommon for a magician isolated from the wider magical community to do extraordinary things because they didn¡¯t realise how hard they were supposed to be.

    ¡°That¡¯s impressive spellwork,¡± said the woman next to him. She was pretty ¨C James knew that shouldn¡¯t be the first thing he noticed about a woman, but sometimes he couldn¡¯t help it ¨C with gorgeous dark hair stretching just past her shoulders and sparkling eyes. ¡°You¡¯re new here, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    James nodded. ¡°Yes. I am. Jacob Winter. It¡¯s a pleasure to meet you.¡±

    ¡°Jacob Winter,¡± she repeated thoughtfully. Even her voice was pretty; it was a shame he couldn¡¯t hear her say his real name in that tone. ¡°Will you spar with me?¡±

 4. Theola

    James considered refusing for a heartbeat. Then he grinned. ¡°Certainly.¡±

    There was a murmur from the audience at that, which James guessed to mean that this woman was good enough that this promised to be an entertaining battle. He hoped so; there was no fun in an easy victory.

    They agreed terms of combat: until surrender or incapacitation, no cutting-spells or fire magic (those were the most likely to lead to accidental injury), no deliberately causing serious injury. Nothing unexpected there, and nothing that would limit James¡¯s options too much.

    There was no reason to delay, so they stepped inside another set of containment wards, this one a little larger than the one he¡¯d trapped the squares in. Just enough room for interesting manoeuvres without athleticism becoming as important as magical skill.

    The man who¡¯d asked whether James had designed the pane of light on the spot was assigned as referee by unspoken consensus. ¡°Three,¡± he said, raising a hand with three fingers showing. ¡°Two.¡± He lowered one finger. ¡°One.¡± And another. ¡°Begin.¡±

    They began. James had decided to be cautious; if this woman was as good as the crowd¡¯s reaction suggested then he didn¡¯t want to take the chance she could hit him with something nasty before he had a chance to respond.

    So he opened with an old classic, the General Counterspell. It was amazing how a spell so simple was still so effective. The woman wasn¡¯t casting offensively, though; as she finished muttering an incantation the air shimmered in the unmistakeable way it did when a magical shield snapped into place.

    Either she was so confident in her defence that she was prepared to sacrifice all attack and let him exhaust himself against it, or she was multi-School and a capable simultaneous caster to boot. The latter was far more likely, and would explain the crowd¡¯s reaction: in almost any fight between two magicians of otherwise equivalent level, the simultaneous caster would win. The ability to shield and attack simultaneously was nearly impossible to counter.

    James, though, was prepared to stake a few gold coins on the fact that she was not otherwise his equal. She looked young, almost certainly younger than him, and experience counted for an awful lot when it came to magical combat; besides that, he had faith in his own skill.

    Time to attack, then. He fired off a chain of spells: shield-breaker, counterspell, shield-breaker, counterspell. The shield-breaker wasn¡¯t the strongest he was capable of, but it was far quicker and easier to cast than others. And even a weak shield-breaker would be effective when it hit a dozen times in quick succession.

    The shield held; there was no sign of the telltale flash of light that the shield-breakers would emit when successful. So she had high raw power reserves, then, or else that shield was specially designed to counter shield-breakers ¨C but that sort of shield was far too complex to be cast in the seconds she¡¯d had.

    He fired off another spell-chain and then switched tactics. There was no rule preventing the use of weapons brought into the arena, and he always carried his sword with him. It was a simple enough task to levitate it and send it flying impossibly fast towards her shield.

    But while he was casting the levitation-spell, he couldn¡¯t keep up the barrage of counterspells, and that left him vulnerable. She took the opportunity to prove that she was in fact a simultaneous caster by casting something that reduced the friction on the ground beneath him, so that he slipped and tumbled inelegantly to the floor.

    He wasn¡¯t so much an amateur that he lost control of the levitation-spell over something as little as that, though it made little difference: she followed up immediately with a disruption that broke his impeded focus and sent the sword, too, clattering to the ground. It hadn¡¯t made it through her shield.

    James realised that he was probably going to lose this fight. She was at least close enough to his skill level that her second School gave her an edge he couldn¡¯t hope to beat. He cast a frantic chain of five counterspells and then a purging-spell to remove whatever she¡¯d done to the floor, then leapt to his feet ¨C

    And found himself unable to move his limbs. He swore under his breath. Casting directly against another magician was supposed to be near-impossible, never mind doing it while simultaneously maintaining a powerful shield in the seconds she¡¯d had since his last counterspell.

    She was better than him. Impossibly good.

    ¡°Do you yield?¡± she asked.

    He had no hope of victory. But he could at least give her a better fight than this. ¡°Make me,¡± he ground out.

    James knew how to cast a self-purging purely mentally, no gestures or incantations. It was surprising how few people could do that when it was a basic survival technique, and it served him well here: he sprang back a pace the instant after speaking and fired off counterspell after counterspell. That was the extent of his strategy now; he couldn¡¯t stop for a second without giving her an opening.

    She didn¡¯t bother waiting for one, though; she cast a simple levitation on his fallen sword and sent it soaring towards him. His attention was absorbed in casting, so he couldn¡¯t dodge until it was too late and the tip of the blade pressed against his neck.

    ¡°Do you yield?¡± she repeated.

    It was technically still possible to refuse, but it went against the spirit of the fight. If this was real, his choices would have been surrender or death; just because the latter option was no longer possible didn¡¯t mean he could continue fighting. ¡°Yes,¡± he said grudgingly.

    She levitated his sword right back into its sheath in his belt. Show-off. Though she certainly had plenty of skill to show off. Now it was over he realised that hadn¡¯t even been a fight for her; never once had he posed a threat to her defences.

    Impossibly good. ¡°That was¡­ extraordinary,¡± he said. And then, because he was dedicated to becoming the best fighter he could possibly be and to stealing this woman¡¯s secrets for Charles, ¡°Can you teach me?¡±

    She shook her head. ¡°Not just anyone can learn to do what I can. You were good, though.¡±

    He bristled for a second, because he wasn¡¯t just anyone and he didn¡¯t want her faint praise. Then he realised what she really meant: she was setting herself apart from everyone else. In a category all of her own, where mere mortals couldn¡¯t hope to compete.

    ¡°Who are you?¡± he asked, already knowing the answer.

    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

    ¡°My name is Theola,¡± she replied. ¡°You wanted to meet me, I believe.¡±

    ¡°I¡­¡± James was rarely speechless, but this was definitely one of those rare occasions. She definitely wasn¡¯t a complete fraud. She was definitely capable of things no mortal magician should be.

    Immortality is a myth. She couldn¡¯t be a Mage. She couldn¡¯t be.

    Because if she was¡­ if she was chosen of the stars, here to exercise their will¡­

    Then it was the will of the stars that Felix should be king.

    Then he had been fighting for the wrong side for his entire adult life.

    No. He¡¯d sooner believe the stars themselves were wrong. Charles was the rightful king, and not even a Mage could change that.

    ¡°I startled you,¡± she said. ¡°I apologise.¡±

    Right. Yes. He wasn¡¯t experiencing a crisis of faith. He wasn¡¯t filled with a growing dread that she was really who she claimed to be. He was Jacob Winter, who practically worshipped her and wanted nothing more than to serve her and her cause.

    It would have to be the performance of his life.

    ¡°No,¡± he said. ¡°I apologise¡­ my lady.¡± And he knelt, not smoothly as he was trained to but clumsy and awkward ¨C it was hard to be deliberately so ¨C because Jacob Winter knew nothing of court etiquette and had only his genuine feelings to work with. ¡°I should not have ¨C I didn¡¯t ¨C ¡°

    He couldn¡¯t find the words, but that was all right: Jacob would have been unable to find words here.

    ¡°Rise,¡± said Theola ¨C James decided to call her by the name she claimed until he knew whether it was her real one. ¡°Walk with me.¡±

    James took a moment to breathe, to be certain that this speechlessness belonged to Jacob and not to him, and then he rose and followed her out of the basement. ¡°Forgive me if any of this is impertinent,¡± he said as they climbed the stairs. ¡°But I have¡­ many questions.¡±

    ¡°No doubt. There are many things I cannot tell you, but I shall answer what I can.¡±

    There were so many questions competing in his mind, but he had to prioritise. He would be lucky to get another chance like this. He needed to work out whether she was really a Mage without compromising his cover.

    ¡°Are you really five hundred years old?¡± he asked. ¡°Because you don¡¯t look a day over twenty-four.¡±

    They were just passing the desk in the building¡¯s entrance hall as he said that. The woman he''d flirted with earlier shot him a disdainful look, which he hardly noticed.

    Theola laughed a little, and James had to remind himself of who and what she was and the countless reasons that he should not be trying to flirt with her. ¡°I am. The blessing of the stars is that I do not grow old and die as others do.¡±

    Immortality. Not just a myth, if she was to be believed.

    ¡°Why ¨C ¡° James began, and then stopped to hold the door open for her.

    She thanked him and stepped outside. James followed, letting the door swing shut behind him, and then asked: ¡°Why did you leave? Why not just¡­ stay and rule over your Kingdom forever?¡±

    Theola turned left and began to walk. He didn¡¯t know where she was taking him, and he didn¡¯t quite dare ask. ¡°Our purpose is not to rule. It is to guide, to support, to help. Once there was a capable mortal ruler with the country¡¯s best interests at heart, we were no longer needed.¡±

    ¡°And now there isn¡¯t,¡± James said. ¡°Because of the war. And that¡¯s why you¡¯ve come back.¡±

    She nodded slowly, gracefully.

    ¡°The country has been at war with itself before now,¡± James said. ¡°This is not the first civil war. Yet you did not return then.¡±

    Theola smiled. ¡°Didn¡¯t we?¡±

    ¡°You mean ¨C ¡° James said, thinking aloud, ¡°you mean the Mages ¨C you ¨C never really left. That you¡¯ve always been guiding and supporting your kingdom, just without our knowing it.¡± If true it was incredible. But very much plausible at the same time.

    She nodded once more.

    ¡°Ardith and Cyrus,¡± he said. ¡°They¡¯re out there, then. Doing the same work as you, just without revealing themselves.¡±

    ¡°That is one of the matters I cannot tell you about.¡±

    ¡°I understand. Then will you tell me this: what is special about this moment that makes you reveal yourself?¡±

    ¡°This war has been drawn out too long already. It must come to an end, and the right side must be victorious; without my intervention it is likely that the wrong side would have won the Battle of the River Clirith, and potentially the whole war.¡±

    It was like a shock of icy water, restoring him to his senses after a night¡¯s drinking and dancing. He¡¯d been entranced by her, her power and beauty, the legend of the Mages. He¡¯d nearly forgotten what was most important. The wrong side. His side.

    He and Theola were enemies. Even if she was a real Mage, that didn¡¯t make her cause the right one. Maybe even the stars made mistakes sometimes.

    But how was he supposed to fight her? He¡¯d tried and lost miserably already.

    ¡°I find I also have questions about you, Jacob ¨C may I call you Jacob?¡±

    ¡°Yes ¨C yes, my lady. You may.¡± Sacred stars. Now of all times, he was not prepared to be interrogated.

    ¡°You¡¯re Siaril, are you not? Yet the Winters are not one of the Siaril families I know of.¡±

    ¡°That would be because we¡¯re not. My mother is a Winter and she was never a magician ¨C my magic came from my father. I don¡¯t know who he is.¡±

    She tilted her head to one side as she walked, studying him. ¡°You do have something of the look of the Wilde family about you.¡±

    James had to force back the urge to run. She was observant ¨C paid attention to subtle features ¨C he hadn¡¯t expected anyone to make that connection so quickly. And yet his cover story saved him; though she suspected him of being his father¡¯s son, she thought he was cast out because of his illegitimacy rather than his loyalty to the rightful king. The irony, once the initial surge of panic had vanished, was delicious.

    ¡°I¡¯m acquainted with Lord Wilde,¡± Theola continued. ¡°I could make discreet enquiry, if you so wished.¡±

    ¡°No ¨C no.¡± The last thing he wanted was a reunion with his long-lost father. Especially because, say what you might about him, he was faithful to his wife. James would be surprised if he had a bastard child, and if Theola found out that he did not¡­ but he needed a reason for Jacob not to want to make contact.

    ¡°My father abandoned me,¡± he ground out, letting anger seep into his voice. ¡°I want nothing from him. If he does not wish to know me, I do not wish to know him. I have all the family I need.¡±

    ¡°Very well. You have my word I shall keep your secret as long as you wish it kept.¡±

    ¡°Thank you,¡± said James, ¡°thank you, my lady.¡±

    ¡°Where did you learn such magical skill, if you are not of one of the old families?¡±

    ¡°Truthfully, my lady, I am not particularly skilful. I had a cousin who was Rittome; he taught me a little. The rest I learnt either from books or by deriving the formulae myself.¡±

    ¡°Quite remarkable,¡± Theola said. Was he imagining the hint of suspicion in her tone? ¡°What happened to your cousin?¡±

    ¡°I¡­¡± James said, confused.

    ¡°You used was.¡±

    Had he? Yes, he had. He¡¯d been thinking of his real cousin Thomas, who had of course been Siaril like him but had really taught him some magic. Thomas had left to marry a Thalian noblewoman, and they¡¯d lost touch. But he couldn¡¯t tell Theola that, not when the Winters were an ordinary family.

    ¡°He died,¡± James said instead, and then with a sudden flash of inspiration, ¡°at Clirith. He fought for Charles.¡± That might have been one of his more stupid ideas; he was accustomed to having enough time to think through them and realise they were stupid before it was too late.

    Theola flinched. It was the first time he¡¯d seen her show any emotion other than curiosity or amusement. ¡°I may have killed him,¡± she said tonelessly.

    ¡°You may have,¡± James agreed, since it was too late to back down now. ¡°I don¡¯t know. The death report offered no detail.¡±

    ¡°I am deeply sorry to you and your family if I did.¡±

    James couldn¡¯t help feeling a little guilty at that. He was effectively using a fictional cousin to trick her into thinking she owed him something. It was war, he reminded himself. She was the enemy. Even if she hadn¡¯t killed his cousin, good men he¡¯d fought beside had died because of her.

    ¡°And yet still you came to me. Why?¡±

    The obvious question. James in Jacob¡¯s position would have never done such a thing. He would have raged against the heavens themselves, sworn to fight for the cause his cousin had died for and die himself rather than see Felix and Theola victorious.

    ¡°Because you are a Mage,¡± he said. ¡°Because your will is the will of the stars. Because it is right. I do not claim that you were right to kill my cousin, but even a Mage cannot wage a bloodless war.¡±

    Theola stopped walking. James took in his surroundings; they were close to the Inner Ring now, on a street of shops that were doing a thriving trade despite the war.

    ¡°You must have sacrificed a great deal to be here.¡±

    James narrowed his eyes, not quite grasping her meaning. ¡°No more than any other soldier,¡± he tried.

    ¡°I thank you for it. I suppose you do not yet have a permanent assignment?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± said James, relieved to be on safer ground. ¡°I don¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°Would you like one?¡±

 5. Palace

    Yes. James wanted to work for Theola; it was just perfect. ¡°What¡­ sort of job?¡± he asked, because accepting without a second thought would be suspicious.

    ¡°I am looking to recruit more bodyguards.¡±

    ¡°With respect, my lady¡­ judging by what you just did to me¡­ I don¡¯t think you need bodyguards.¡±

    She laughed. Stars, she had a beautiful laugh. Curse his lustful mind; that was the last thing he needed to be thinking about right now. ¡°I may be strong, but I am not invulnerable. I could be taken unawares by an assassin ¨C ¡°

    James forced his expression to remain steady, forced himself not to think about the fact he could be that assassin.

    ¡°And in battle, I will be significantly more effective if I do not have to shield myself as well as casting more offensive magic.¡±

    That was true enough; magicians normally fought in pairs or small groups, so one could shield and the rest could attack without fear. James preferred attack to shielding, but he was still more than capable of casting an effective battle-shield when needed.

    ¡°You¡¯ve only seen me fight once,¡± he said. ¡°And that didn¡¯t last long.¡± He chuckled wryly. ¡°What makes you think I¡¯m qualified to protect you?¡± No, no, that was all wrong. Jacob would have asked himself the same thing, but he would never have challenged her so openly.

    ¡°Once is enough. You are a remarkable magician, Jacob.¡±

    Stars, was he blushing? He didn¡¯t need this woman¡¯s praise or validation. She was the enemy. ¡°I ¨C thank you, my lady, but I am really not worthy ¨C ¡° he lied.

    ¡°I say you are, and I am a Mage. Is that good enough for you?¡±

    ¡°If ¨C if you really think so ¨C ¡° James was beginning to hate his new identity. This pathetic grovelling and self-deprecation was beneath him.

    ¡°I do. So, would you like to become my bodyguard?¡±

    ¡°My lady,¡± said James, falling to one knee beside her. The ground was cold enough he regretted it, but it was done now. ¡°It would be my highest honour to serve you.¡±

    With the agreement made, the rest was simple. He was given a token bearing the symbol of the Mages that he could show for entry into her residence and sent to pack his things and take them to his new room there.

    Tom was gone by the time he got back, and none of his other ex-roommates had appeared; they must be on assignments or just spending their free time elsewhere. James was pleased by that: it meant he could think rather than having to make conversation.

    It had been too easy. Much, much too easy. If he had been in charge of finding bodyguards for a Mage ¨C or someone who claimed to be one ¨C he would have recruited from the best magicians Charles¡¯s army had to offer, careful to choose those who could do more good in that role than elsewhere. He definitely wouldn¡¯t have taken a random new recruit who¡¯d done something vaguely heroic and then lost a fight to him.

    Could it be a trap? Was she baiting him into trying to kill or expose her so she could in turn expose him? Surely if she suspected who he really was there were less elaborate ways of proving it. But if she was really a Mage ¨C and after fighting her he found that a lot more probable than he had before ¨C who knew how she could gather information. Some legends said the Mages had a form of foresight. Was he just unknowingly playing a part in a great scheme of the stars that would destroy his closest friend¡¯s chances of claiming his birthright?

    He shook his head. He was being paranoid. She didn¡¯t know who he was. And if she did, he was as good as dead anyway and there was no use dwelling on it. He absently rubbed out the chalk of his ward network and asked himself a better question: what was so special about Jacob Winter?

    He was talented, clearly; James had shown off far more of his real abilities than he¡¯d intended to. Enough to prove he was an extremely capable combat magician, if not just how capable. But this was the army of Felix Blackthorn; that alone was nothing remarkable here.

    What else? Was it his supposed connection to Lord Wilde? No, not Lord Wilde, because that was his title; his father was a traitor to his rightful King and had forfeited his lordship for it, even if reality had yet to catch up with Charles¡¯s proclamations. But his father, who was regardless one of Felix¡¯s most powerful allies. Was his bastard son of use to Theola?

    It was possible, but it didn¡¯t quite fit. There was nothing else remarkable about Jacob Winter, except ¨C

    Except that he had joined to fight for the will of the stars and the Mages. Except that he was here to fight for Theola, not for Felix Blackthorn.

    Now that was interesting. James smiled, and was fortunate that no-one was there to see his wolf-like expression. So she was recruiting bodyguards loyal to her personally. That implied that, at least in her mind, her interests and Felix¡¯s were not entirely the same.

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    And that, to James, seemed like an opportunity.

    He spent longer wondering about the exact nature of that opportunity and how to exploit it than he did actually packing, removing any traces that he¡¯d briefly stayed in the room. It was half an hour before he returned to the City streets, and by then it was beginning to grow dark. James felt a little on edge, as he always did at night. He wasn¡¯t afraid of the dark, but it was only sensible to fear what could lie in the shadows.

    But Felix¡¯s soldiers walked openly in the streets here, and though there were a few people who clung to the shadows none of them seemed interested in James. He reached the gate to the Inner Ring without being stopped.

    There were guards there, naturally, but they were almost comically eager to open the gate for him once he showed them Theola¡¯s token. It made him wonder what other doors that token could get him through. It could be a spy¡¯s perfect weapon. He was half-tempted to march right into the Round Palace and demand audience with the usurper.

    But he had to be careful. He knew the consequences of making one more mistake, if he was unlucky. Theola was more important than anything else he could accomplish short of assassinating Felix, and that would not be happening. The usurper had his own unit of bodyguards with him at all times and was himself a far more capable magician than James.

    It didn¡¯t stop James from idly daydreaming about the perfect opportunity as he walked ever closer to the centre of the City. Fewer buildings here had been requisitioned by the army, since they mostly belonged to those powerful enough for their opinions on losing their homes to matter. There were exceptions, though, mostly the former homes of Charles¡¯s supporters. James stared fixedly ahead each time he passed one of those, not trusting himself to hide his anger.

    The streets, too, were quieter than normal. With the city under martial law it was a risky business to leave your home for anything that wasn¡¯t essential, and so the only people he passed were soldiers, haulers of goods and the occasional official carrying a clipboard.

    About ten minutes after passing through the gate, he reached his destination: the Central Ring, the heart of the City and the Kingdom. Though it wasn¡¯t beating strongly now. It was nearly deserted and ringed with soldiers manning the ends of the four Great Roads and the entrances to the grand buildings.

    Not that there was much point, for half of them. Parliament hadn¡¯t sat since the war proper had began; they had passed a few half-hearted resolutions about resolving the matter diplomatically but that had led to nothing. And half those with a right to sit there fought for Charles and so couldn¡¯t safely enter the City. The Central Bank had also shut its doors to the public, and was focusing all its efforts on funding Felix¡¯s campaigns.

    If James had had money there he would not have been happy about having it spent in that way, whatever their promises of repayment after the war. As it was he was instead unhappy about his parents spending his rightful inheritance on the usurper¡¯s war effort.

    The Abbey Royal was an interesting case. The Temple¡¯s official doctrine was neutrality, had been since the war began, but any fool could see that was unsustainable. It was, James realised grimly, quite likely that the reappearance of a Mage would provide the Temple with the pretext it needed to declare support for Felix.

    But for now, managing the Temple was a delicate political operation for both sides. Felix had no choice but to allow the Abbey to remain open for services and pilgrims ¨C not that pilgrims would be allowed into the City at a time like this, but it was the principle of it that counted.

    James didn''t look at the Round Palace, where the usurper had taken up residence. He focused his attention instead on the fifth of the kingdom¡¯s great buildings. It was very much the odd one out: three different buildings had stood there over the last five centuries and had served many more purposes. It was also his destination.

    The first building known to have stood on that site was the Mages¡¯ Palace, from which Ardith, Cyrus and Theola had ruled over their kingdom. Charles First-King had lived there after them, but when the original building was destroyed in a fire the Royal Family had moved next door to the Round Palace and never returned.

    The new building had been gifted in turn to the Kings¡¯ most favoured relatives and courtiers as a residence. That practice had ceased after the Civil War ¨C the First Civil War, James corrected himself; it was no longer the only one Rasin had experienced ¨C since the palace had been a key part of what allowed Lucius the Usurper (First Usurper, James hoped he would soon be known as) to assassinate Elizabeth the Martyr and seize power.

    The palace had been torn down during the riots that marked the end of the war. Philippa the Bright had it rebuilt, and since then it had served as many things: a home for political exiles and prisoners, a place for magical research, a great library.

    Most recently under James¡¯s namesake King James the Wise it had become a school of magic. James had been one of its first students. And now, he supposed, one of the last, because the building had returned to its original purpose: a home for a Mage.

    While soldiers elsewhere wore the symbols of the Kingdom itself or of the usurper, those who guarded the gate to the Mages¡¯ Palace wore their sacred symbol, the three intersecting circles with a single point in the centre. The same as the pattern carved into his token.

    They saluted and opened the palace gates when James showed them the symbol. He kept his uncharitable thoughts about operational security to himself, since their laxness benefited him, and just nodded and stalked through.

    Despite the change in purpose, the building itself was much the same as he remembered, at least on the outside. Having lived there a year and a half during his studies, James supposed it made sense: there was very little that could be done to improve such a place.

    The palace was set back a little from the Central Ring, unlike the other buildings that surrounded it, so he had half a minute to pace up the drive towards the entrance and gather his thoughts. No more messing around, no more risks. From here he had to get everything right.

    Two guards stood at the main entrance. They were the first not to let him pass at the mere flash of his token. ¡°Who are you?¡± one of them barked.

    ¡°Jacob Winter,¡± said James. ¡°The Mage¡¯s new bodyguard.¡± He was telling the truth, he reminded himself. Well, not about his name, but he was supposed to be here. There was no need to feel as if these men would throw him in a dungeon if he said the wrong thing.

    The man grunted in acknowledgement. ¡°New bodyguard? You¡¯ll want to report to Captain Taylor, then. Her office is on the third floor, south corridor.¡±

    He¡¯d been hoping to be sent directly to Theola, since he knew her and had a rapport of some sort with her already ¨C and definitely for no other reason. Now he¡¯d have to prove to this Captain Taylor that he was actually a competent bodyguard, and he didn¡¯t want to waste time proving himself.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± he said. Best to be polite; he didn¡¯t want them looking for reasons to make his life difficult.

    The guard grunted again and opened the door.

    James stepped into the Mages¡¯ Palace.

 6. Colleagues

    Captain Taylor was not easily impressed. In fact she seemed to hate him on sight. He hadn¡¯t even done anything this time, but she was convinced he had a bad case of worshipping Theola and didn¡¯t have what it took to keep her safe.

    It took every ounce of self-restraint James had to not prove he had what it took by challenging her to a fight and getting the satisfaction of seeing her lose to him. Only the thought that the Captain of the Mage¡¯s Guard was one of the few people who might be able to give him a fair fight held him back. Challenging her and losing would be disastrous.

    She told him what he needed to know, though: Theola had twelve bodyguards, and three were on duty at any given time. When he was off duty he was expected to rest and train; he had a room to himself, thank the stars for small mercies. She also gave him instructions for how to comport himself when meeting with those above his station (James dug his nails into his palms to prevent himself from punching someone).

    Those instructions were mostly an unnecessarily long and complicated way of saying ¡°look intimidating and keep your mouth shut¡±. James could do that, though his normal approach was to use his mouth for purposes of intimidation. And then there was the whole lecture on why he shouldn¡¯t let Theola sneak off unguarded and wander into any of the magicians¡¯ training rooms.

    James found a perverse joy in the idea that Theola was going against what Captain Taylor ¨C and by extension presumably Felix ¨C wanted for her. He had no interest in putting a stop to that even if he¡¯d been remotely capable of it; even if she wasn¡¯t a Mage she was way out of his league.

    After suffering through an hour of this and getting ten minutes¡¯ worth of information out of it, he was finally told where he could get food. He had eaten while being enrolled in the usurper¡¯s army at lunchtime, but the portions had been disappointingly small and the fare bland compared to what he was used to. Now he was starving.

    And the new position definitely came with better food: the Mages¡¯ Palace had a grand kitchen to rival any in the country and far fewer people to feed, since Theola didn¡¯t keep her own court. James devoured his steak as if he hadn¡¯t eaten in weeks, and then set off to explore his new room.

    It was a lot better than he¡¯d expected, downright luxurious in fact. Maybe even nicer than his room back in the Duchess of Crelt¡¯s palace; that didn¡¯t hold a candle to either of the two palaces on the Central Ring. A four-poster bed, walls decorated with the symbol of the Mages ¨C the decorators had clearly worked quickly ¨C even a carpet. He was a little less pleased by that, since it made it harder for him to chalk wards.

    The skirting-board would serve, though, so the first thing he did was to set up a basic network. He used the same template as he had back in the unassigned magicians¡¯ dormitory. Despite the increased area inside the wards, it was easier: warding was always more natural when you were placing wards around an existing boundary rather than arbitrarily imposing one.

    And there was even a door to chalk the central symbol on. He considered the implications of making it so visible to anyone else who entered, but decided he had nothing to fear: it was common enough among magicians, especially those used to combat, to lay wards around any place they planned to sleep. No-one would think it remarkable that he was doing the same.

    That done, he found himself with no obligations for what little remained of the day. His first shift began at noon the next day ¨C he was to guard Theola as she lunched with the so-called King Felix, which promised to be interesting ¨C and he had trained enough for one day between the staged fight with Cat, the incident with the squares and his ill-fated spar with Theola.

    Normally on the rare occasions when he found himself with time to spare he would read magical theory, or play cards and drink with Charles or other members of his inner circle. But there was no-one he could call a friend here, and he had no interest in getting to know his fellow bodyguards. And Jacob Winter hadn¡¯t brought the few magical theory books he owned to war.

    It shouldn¡¯t be too hard, with Theola¡¯s token, to acquire a reasonable supply of reading material ¨C but doing the same at eight and thirty after noon would be hard. That would have to be a project for tomorrow, and in the meantime ¨C he considered going exploring; if he was caught somewhere he shouldn¡¯t be he could always claim he was lost, looking for the bathroom or the library or the training room or the temple ¨C but it was late, and he wasn¡¯t at his best after such a long and unusual day.

    So, despite the early hour, it was best to sleep. He would need all his strength for the next morning.

    It was the best night¡¯s sleep he¡¯d had in months. Before there had always been a new emergency, new spells to learn or new troops to train or new wards to lay. There were never enough hours in the day, and sleep had suffered as a result even when he had a proper bed rather than the closest thing to one it was practical to bring on campaign.

    Now he was away from all of that, and he slept for twelve hours straight. He hadn¡¯t realised just how tired he was. He woke much refreshed and with an urge for a large breakfast; evidently he hadn¡¯t eaten quite enough last night after all.

    He washed and dressed quickly and returned to the dining room. He wasn¡¯t alone: half a dozen others in the same shiny new uniform with the Mages¡¯ symbol that he wore were gathered around a table, chattering amongst themselves. These, then, were his new colleagues.

    The door swung shut behind him, louder than he intended, causing them to start and look up. ¡°You¡¯re the new guy, then?¡± said one of them, a man in his mid-thirties with a thick ginger beard.

    ¡°That I am,¡± James replied. ¡°Jacob Winter. It¡¯s a pleasure to meet you all.¡± It wasn¡¯t, but it was much easier to get on with people when you obeyed the unspoken social rules. ¡°Now where do I get food?¡±

    By the time he¡¯d filled his plate with eggs and bacon, they¡¯d made space for him at their table. Right, then: time to pretend he wanted to eat with his enemies and get to know them. He could do that.

    ¡°What shifts d¡¯you have, then?¡± asked Ginger Beard.

    ¡°Noon until six after,¡± replied James, and shovelled a forkful of bacon into his mouth.

    ¡°Lucky,¡± said the woman sitting next to him. She was thin but wiry with tightly-cropped blonde hair, and reminded James of a spring waiting to uncoil. ¡°I¡¯m on midnight to six after. It is boring as a starless sky standing guard outside the Mage¡¯s room. People should not be awake at that time. Name¡¯s Eleanor, and if you make any comparisons to Eleanor the Bold, I will tear you limb from limb.¡±

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    The threat was clearly a joking one, but she still delivered it without once changing her tone or flinching. This one was dangerous, then, and he shouldn¡¯t cross her. He was tempted nonetheless. Jacob wouldn¡¯t, he told himself firmly.

    That seemed to mark the beginning of introductions. James told himself he would remember all their names, but he already knew he¡¯d fail at that. Ginger Beard was Christopher, that one would at least stick in his mind. He¡¯d be one of James¡¯s shift partners; the other was a small quiet man who introduced himself only as Will.

    ¡°We were thinking of sparring a little after this,¡± said Christopher (James made a note to ask him if Chris was an acceptable nickname). ¡°Care to join us?¡±

    ¡°You were thinking of sparring,¡± corrected Eleanor. ¡°I am thinking of sleeping.¡±

    ¡°All the better for the rest of us,¡± Christopher replied. ¡°We might stand half a chance now.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll join,¡± said James. A good fight was just what he needed to get him alert and awake, and he was interested in finding out where he stood against his new colleagues. That would be a better measure of the strength of Felix¡¯s magicians than, well, Theola.

    The Mages¡¯ Palace held a combat room very similar to the one in which he¡¯d fought Theola; there were different enchantments to test yourself against, but the only significant difference was that the containment wards were larger. About ten yards by ten, James guessed.

    He soon discovered the reason for that: the spars were not intended to be between only two magicians. Each shift fought against the others. It was sensible: if there was an emergency, James needed the perfect coordination with Christopher and Will that came only from hard-earned practice.

    Or he would have needed that, if he were here to protect Theola.

    Eleanor¡¯s two shift-mates had apparently prioritised sleep over breakfast after finishing their shift that morning, so with her gone it was noon-till-six against six-till-midnight.

    ¡°We¡¯ve been outnumbered the last week, ever since Tim was reassigned,¡± Christopher explained. ¡°This is our chance to turn the tables on them. So, new guy ¨C ¡°

    ¡°Jacob ¨C ¡° James interrupted. He hated being known as new guy already. He made a mental note to ask about this Tim and what had happened to him when they weren¡¯t two minutes away from a fight.

    ¡°What do we need to know about working with you? Attacker, shielder, disruptor?¡±

    James shrugged. ¡°I prefer attacking, but I like to consider myself a jack-of-all-trades.¡± Tying himself down to a particular role seemed stupid: why limit his options and capabilities when he could just tackle everything at once?

    ¡°Master of none, eh?¡±

    James felt the familiar urge to punch Christopher in his smug face. He managed to restrain himself only with the thought that he had the opportunity to prove him wrong right here and now.

    ¡°Will¡¯s our shielder. Best in the business. I¡¯m mostly an attacker, so you want to disrupt?¡±

    ¡°Can do,¡± James said. ¡°Just fire off chains of counterspells, or anything more advanced?¡±

    ¡°Just make sure nothing gets through to us.¡±

    ¡°Got it. You can permute the shield so that my spells will pass through, right?¡± James asked Will.

    ¡°I¡¯m a shielder,¡± Will repeated.

    That was, to be fair, pretty much how James would have reacted to someone questioning his competency in his specialist area.

    They stepped into the containment wards and took up their positions, standing close enough together that Will could cover all three of them with a strong shield. James hated the way that limited his mobility. It was why he preferred fighting alone. Still, he could make this work if he had to.

    One of his opponents counted down from five, and then they began. James fired off a chain of five counterspells. He couldn¡¯t keep that up for the entire fight, but the first few seconds before Will could get the shield up were the critical ones. Whatever the enemy were casting, none of it had any effect on them.

    He took a second to take stock of the situation. The enemy had a shield up as well; one of them was firing what looked like shield-breakers, while another was crouched on the ground behind them, preparing¡­ was he trying to perform a combat ritual? James was sceptical for a moment, but if the shield held he might have long enough to complete it. And if that happened, it would almost certainly lose them the fight.

    So the enemy shield needed to come down quickly. Christopher was casting shield-breakers but they were having seemingly no effect. James shifted to a mixed chain, as he had against Theola: shield-breaker, counterspell, repeat. And on the fifth iteration of the chain, there was a shimmer in the air and the enemy shielder began frantically casting.

    ¡°Did you ¨C ¡° Christopher began. James didn¡¯t spare the breath to reply. There was no time: they had seconds before the shield was recast, they had to press their advantage. If Christopher wasn¡¯t going to, James would. He summoned a gust of wind to tear across the wards and knock the enemy off their feet, and followed it up with a spell similar to the one Theola had used against him, reducing the friction on the ground beneath them.

    All three of them went down, hard. James grinned and kept attacking, firing spell after spell without pause. An attack of pure magical force, easy to resist or disrupt when prepared but devastating against those already fallen, pushing them into the edge of the containment wards. A chain of disruptors to nullify their attempts to fix the damage he was doing. Levitations on their clothes, dragging them into the air, if only for the moment before he cast again.

    James stepped outside the shield. He didn¡¯t need it; he fought alone. One of the enemy had managed to cast a couple of purging-spells and fired off a spell at James; he countered without stopping to wonder what it was, and aimed a targeted disruptor at him. There weren¡¯t many magicians who could make use of those in combat, but for those that could taking an enemy¡¯s ability to cast, even for a few seconds, was invaluable.

    He kept going, advancing and firing off spells as fast as he could think, knowing nothing but the next step, the next gesture, the next dodge. After his humiliation against Theola the sheer joy of being in a fight he was winning was overwhelming.

    ¡°Jacob?¡±

    What? Who was Jacob? It didn¡¯t matter. There could be no distractions: it was just him and the enemy, just the next spell and the next moment. That was the way to truly fight: to abandon thought and be guided by magic and instinct.

    ¡°Jacob, stop!¡± Someone grabbed his arm.

    A new enemy. He pivoted, jerking his arm free, and prepared to cast ¨C

    Wait. No. This was Christopher. Christopher was on his side ¨C

    He was Theola¡¯s bodyguard. He fought for Felix. That made him an enemy ¨C

    And one he couldn¡¯t afford to kill here and now ¨C

    He stopped.

    ¡°Jacob, what in stars¡¯ names was that?¡± Christopher sounded angry. Why was he angry? What had James done wrong?

    He glanced across to the other side of the containment wards, where the six-till-midnight shift lay battered, bruised and exhausted. Ah, yes. That. Perhaps he had taken this a little too far. ¡°I¡¯m ¨C I¡¯m sorry ¨C I don¡¯t know what came over me ¨C ¡°

    ¡°You¡¯ve fought before,¡± said Christopher.

    James nodded, realising too late that Jacob Winter was not used to combat, whatever talent he might have.

    ¡°Really fought. Life or death. Them or you. Too many times.¡±

    Too many, and yet never enough. It would never be enough until Charles had his throne.

    ¡°After a while of that, every time you fight starts to feel like that, doesn¡¯t it? You should have warned us. We could have done things differently ¨C ¡°

    James shook his head. He didn¡¯t want Christopher¡¯s special treatment. It wasn¡¯t like he was a keg of explosives that could go off at any second. He glanced over at the other squad again. On second thoughts, maybe Christopher had a point. ¡°This was the first time it¡¯s been this bad.¡±

    It was the first time he¡¯d sparred against agents of the usurper, people who were by any reasonable measure his enemies, even if he was hiding that for now.

    ¡°I see. Do you think it¡¯s likely to happen again?¡±

    James shrugged.

    ¡°Perhaps it¡¯s best you don¡¯t spar with us for the next while.¡± Christopher hesitated. ¡°Though you were good. On Eleanor¡¯s level. I can see why Theola chose you. Now go and rest; there¡¯s an hour and a half until our shift, and Captain Taylor will have us flogged if we¡¯re not ready and fit to go precisely on time.¡±

 7. Lunch

    James was reasonably sure that Christopher¡¯s threat hadn¡¯t been literal, but he didn¡¯t take the chance. He even put on the full plate armour that he was supposed to wear for each shift; he was strong enough it wasn¡¯t too burdensome, but in a real fight, lighter armour that had been thoroughly enchanted was a thousand times better. It felt as if his role was more ceremonial than practical. He hated that.

    Theola was in her private apartment at noon, dressing for lunch, so James, Christopher and Will met the six-till-noon shift outside it. That meant another round of introductions and names James had no particular interest in remembering, though he at least pretended he cared.

    Theola emerged fifteen minutes after they¡¯d taken up their posts. James sucked in a breath and tried not to stare. He¡¯d found her pretty when they¡¯d first met, when she¡¯d been dressed in ordinary clothes.

    Now, dressed up to meet the King, she was stunning. She wore an exquisite blue dress that perfectly offset her raven-black hair and accentuated her curves, a diamond tiara that could probably finance an entire regiment of soldiers, and just the faintest dash of make-up ¨C though she barely needed it.

    ¡°Jacob, good to see you again,¡± Theola said. ¡°Shall we go?¡±

    James realised belatedly that he¡¯d been staring. He tore his gaze away from her perfect figure and nodded.

    ¡°Really?¡± muttered Christopher to him as they processed through the corridors.

    Had he been that obvious? ¡°Tell me she¡¯s not gorgeous,¡± he replied in the same low tone.

    ¡°She¡¯s a Mage. That is: way, way out of your league.¡±

    That, and she was an enemy, not to mention way out of his league in a fight as well. It was a stupid idea. She was gorgeous, though.

    The guards threw open the gates leading out onto the Central Ring. Theola blessed them with a smile, and the three bodyguards took up defensive positions. An attack was hardly likely here in the heart of Felix¡¯s capital ¨C James himself was probably the biggest threat to her ¨C but it was their job to be cautious.

    There was no incident in the half-minute it took them to reach the gates of the other palace, that belonging to the King ¨C to Charles, rightfully, though he was not here to claim it. James allowed himself to enjoy the fantasy that he was escorting Theola to the true King as they were welcomed into the palace by another set of guards, their armour bearing the royal standard.

    They were met at the door to the palace itself by a footman in an immaculate black suit. He bowed lower than it should have been possible to bow and announced, ¡°My lady Mage, His Majesty expects you in the Blue Dining Room.¡±

    The Round Palace had no less than eight dining rooms for different occasions. The Blue Dining Room was the smallest, used for more intimate receptions of a few select guests. James had eaten there a dozen times on Charles¡¯s invitation during the Regency, before Felix had given up any pretence that he would yield the throne when Charles came of age.

    They saw no-one as they passed through these corridors, no doubt by design. Two more footmen stood outside the doors to the Blue Dining Room, which were themselves painted a pale shade of blue. The footman who had escorted them bowed once more and left, while the two new footmen threw open the doors and announced ¡°The Mage Theola has arrived!¡±

    James peered inside, eager to get his first glimpse of the usurper. Some mad part of him was wondering whether there would be a chance to plunge a knife into his back; even if he succeeded there was no chance of surviving, but perhaps it was worthwhile nonetheless.

    Felix Blackthorn rose from his seat at the head of the table, smiling. ¡°My lady Mage,¡± he said, ¡°how good of you to join us. Please, do sit down.¡±

    ¡°I thank you for your invitation, your Majesty,¡± Theola replied, though she did not curtsey. She stepped into the room and made her way to the empty seat on Felix¡¯s left. That was interesting: their greetings implied they were equals. James hadn¡¯t been quite sure what to expect there.

    There were no established conventions for how a Mage and a King were to treat each other; the Kingdom had changed a great deal since the Mages had left it five hundred years ago. That meant the way Felix and Theola interacted here would reveal much about the power dynamic between them.

    The three bodyguards took up positions behind Theola¡¯s chair. They were not to eat; Captain Taylor had made that very clear, much to James¡¯s disappointment. Though one of them was also to serve as her taste-tester; it would have been the height of insanity for Felix to have her poisoned but it would only take one rogue servant to slip something into her food without his knowledge. Today that duty fell to Will.

    James shifted a little before finding a comfortable position to stand in, and glanced around to see who else was joining them for lunch. There was the Duke of Ridgeton on Felix¡¯s right ¨C that was hardly a surprise, they badly needed the naval power he could provide, and James happened to know that Charles had been negotiating for his support for months now. The old woman next to Theola on the other side wore the robes of one highly ranked in the priesthood, though James didn¡¯t know her name.

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    The table was small, so those four took up the whole of the side facing the door. Opposite the priestess was a man James vaguely recognised as one of Felix¡¯s generals, opposite Theola was ¨C that had to be Grenfell, Minister for War. The Duchess of Ridgeton sat opposite her husband, and opposite Felix ¨C

    His daughter. Georgiana. Georgie.

    He¡¯d forgotten Georgie. If he was brutally honest with himself, he¡¯d deliberately forgotten her. Because it was easier to pretend that Felix Blackthorn was nothing but a monster. Because it was easy to pretend that his daughter hadn¡¯t once been the third of a trio of friends destined for greatness.

    Charles, James and Georgie. Friends forever. He had to supress a bitter laugh at the thought. And then another thought on its heels, this one far worse: Georgie knew him. It had been seven years, but that kind of familiarity didn¡¯t just disappear. She knew him better than his own parents did, better than anyone except Charles.

    The chances were good that surface-level changes to his appearance would not hide his real identity from her.

    Especially when he had no choice but to stand opposite her for the next hour.

    He looked away, trying not to meet her eyes, and stared fixedly at the door.

    ¡°I was just telling the Duke,¡± the usurper said, ¡°about the excellent progress we¡¯ve been making recently. Our victory at Clirith River shall be legendary one day. And we owe it all to you.¡±

    ¡°To the stars,¡± Theola corrected mildly. ¡°I am merely the agent of their will.¡±

    So that was why Felix had invited her to lunch, then: to be evidence for the Duke that the stars were on his side and that it was no use entertaining Charles¡¯s offers. James found to his surprise that he pitied her: for all her power, it was as a political symbol that she held real value to Felix. Not as a person.

    He wondered how many people really thought of Theola as a person, and hated himself for the thought. She was the enemy. She didn¡¯t deserve his pity. He found his gaze drifting involuntarily towards Georgie.

    So the hour passed: watching Felix and his most powerful allies eat and trying not to look at Georgie. Theola was soon drawn into a conversation with the priestess, who seemed more animated than he¡¯d ever seen her kind. But then how often was it that you found yourself sitting next to your object of worship?

    Georgie was quiet. If she had recognised him, she didn¡¯t show it. She spoke only when spoken to and then kept her answers as brief as she could. He recognised that withdrawal: it was how she always acted when in company she didn¡¯t much care for but which she couldn¡¯t offend.

    The stab of pity that followed that thought was even more unwelcome than his pity for Theola. When had things become so complicated? It was black and white. Right and wrong. Allies and enemies. There was no blurring of the lines.

    He repeated that to himself again and again until finally, thankfully, the hour ended and Theola rose to leave. James stalked after her. It wasn¡¯t, he realised, the walk of a submissive and dutiful bodyguard. But that was the worst mistake he¡¯d made. Not too bad, considering the circumstances.

    They made it back to the Mages¡¯ Palace without incident. James felt as if he wasn¡¯t needed from then, and wished he could just escape to eat. Theola had other ideas, though: she wished to study in the library. That wasn¡¯t too bad; maybe he could get some studying of his own done while he was there. He¡¯d never had access to the library as a student and hadn¡¯t been able to subvert the wards surrounding it.

    ¡°Jacob, will you join me?¡± Theola asked.

    James wasn¡¯t the most socially adroit, but he still noticed the tension in Christopher and Will at that. Jealousy. It was understandable; he¡¯d have felt the same in their place. ¡°It would be my honour, my lady Mage.¡±

    ¡°I am glad of it.¡±

    They passed through the wards without James noticing anything. Theola either had access or could just subvert wards without even blinking. He hoped very much it was the former. Though the door said the library was beyond it, it led only to a small antechamber with another door opposite.

    Theola was smiling as she crossed the room and flung open the door.

    ¡°What¡­ is that?¡± James asked.

    It was clearly a library; there were bookshelves stretching up higher than James was tall, packed tightly together. The unusual part was the floor. Or, to be precise, the lack of it. There was nothing holding up the shelves but a misty greyness. James found his head hurt when he stared at it too hard.

    ¡°The concept doesn¡¯t seem to have a universally accepted name. I like to call it the space between spaces.¡±

    ¡°Space between spaces,¡± James repeated. ¡°You mean¡­ it doesn¡¯t exist, not in the normal sense. It¡¯s set apart from the world.¡±

    Theola nodded. ¡°I believe it to be the space you travel through when teleporting.¡±

    James blinked. ¡°Distance has no meaning there. So it can exist without taking up ordinary space. You can store things there, train there ¨C this could revolutionize logistics ¨C why isn¡¯t there more of this?¡±

    ¡°It appears to cause instability in matter,¡± Theola said. ¡°Anything that is left there too long tends to¡­ disintegrate, if it is not correctly enchanted. Besides that, the ritual to create it is extremely difficult and dangerous, so much so that even the original creator didn¡¯t dare try to repeat it.¡±

    ¡°But surely you could,¡± James challenged.

    She faltered a little, and her hand slipped from the doorknob. ¡°I haven¡¯t tried.¡± In other words: no, or at least she didn¡¯t believe she could. That was interesting; a precious piece of evidence that she was an imposter. ¡°You seem very interested in this, Jacob," she said, deflecting.

    Did he? Wasn¡¯t this just the normal reaction to discovering a new kind of space and a new area of magic? ¡°I¡­ suppose so. Yes.¡±

    ¡°Then you won¡¯t be like these two ¨C ¡° she gestured to Christopher and Will ¨C ¡°who are too scared of it to step inside.¡±

    So that was her challenge. James was, in truth, a little scared ¨C he would have liked the chance to at least experiment with passing different objects through the door before trying it himself ¨C but now there was no choice at all. ¡°If it is your command, my lady Mage, I will go with you.¡±

    She smiled. ¡°Forwards, then, together.¡±

    Stars, that smile was dazzling. He wondered what he would do for another glimpse of it. He offered her his arm ¨C no, Jacob who believed she was nothing short of a demigoddess would never dare ¨C too late now.

    Theola took his arm, and together they stepped over the ¨C

    Before James could step over the threshold he felt the ground vanish beneath his feet, saw nothing but darkness all around, felt the familiar awful discomfort of teleportation.

 8. Picnic

    He landed seconds later and found his footing. Theola was still beside him, holding his arm and smiling. James took a moment to look around: they were in the centre of a grassy clearing barely half a dozen metres across, tall straight trees growing in a ring around its edge. It seemed vaguely familiar from somewhere.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± Theola said. ¡°I couldn¡¯t think of a way to warn you without the others noticing.¡±

    ¡°Where are we?¡± James asked. They had to be within the City limits, unless Theola¡¯s teleportation had no regard whatsoever for wards ¨C in which case surely Crelt would have fallen directly after Clirith River ¨C but green spaces within the City were scarce and hard to find.

    ¡°The woods behind the two palaces. You know them?¡±

    James did. He¡¯d explored these woods with his friends when they were young, traversed every inch of them and discovered their every secret. That must be why he remembered this clearing. Hadn¡¯t they picnicked here once? ¡°Yes. But why ¨C ¡°

    Theola sighed. ¡°I can¡¯t live the way they want me to. I have to escape sometimes. I thought you might like to join me.¡±

    He narrowed his eyes. It felt like a trap; too good to be true. ¡°Why me?¡± he asked, because Jacob would have had that same thought. ¡°Why am I special?¡±

    She shrugged. ¡°Everyone else has been assigned to me. I chose you myself. And you¡¯re an interesting man, Jacob. I want to learn about you.¡±

    Another round of interrogation, then. He could deal with it.

    ¡°Are you hungry?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± James admitted.

    Theola took a few steps over to the nearest tree and crouched down beside it, reaching downwards into the ground besides its roots. After a few seconds she emerged with a picnic basket in her hands.

    That, he wasn¡¯t sure he could deal with. Not so soon after seeing Georgie again. Not in a place where they¡¯d made happy memories together.

    Theola returned and set the basket down between them, then flopped down onto the grass. James sat down, cross-legged, and laughed. It was bizarre. She was Felix Blackthorn¡¯s greatest asset, possibly the five-hundred-year-old chosen of the stars. He was King Charles¡¯s closest friend and advisor, here specifically to discover her secrets and strike her down.

    And here they were, picnicking in the woods like a pair of teenagers.

    ¡°How are you finding it here?¡± Theola asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s¡­ very different to what I¡¯m used to,¡± said James carefully. In one sense it wasn¡¯t, because two great cities playing host to great armies were much the same. But in another sense it was very different, because no-one respected or feared him here. The name of Jacob Winter meant nothing. ¡°But it¡¯s a privilege to serve you, my lady.¡±

    ¡°Call me Theola,¡± she said.

    ¡°Theola,¡± he repeated, a little awkwardly. He felt he needed to give her something back, but she was already calling him by his first name, so ¨C wait, hadn¡¯t he decided ¨C ¡°Jay,¡± he said.

    ¡°Jay?¡±

    ¡°Yes. It¡¯s my nickname.¡± He hesitated. ¡°My friends call me Jay.¡±

    She smiled a little. ¡°You consider me a friend?¡±

    ¡°We barely know each other. But¡­ I think, someday, I¡¯d like to. I have questions, if you¡¯ll permit me to ask them.¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± Theola busied herself opening the basket and setting out the food and drink. Sandwiches, mostly, with a little fruit, and a bottle of what looked like quite expensive wine. It seemed a good picnic.

    ¡°What¡¯s it like? Being¡­ well, so different from everyone around you. Being immortal.¡± Immortality is a myth. He had to pretend it wasn¡¯t, though; showing doubt in her would ruin everything.

    She hesitated, passing him a wineglass. ¡°A privilege. A burden. A blessing.¡± Another brief pause. ¡°A curse.¡±

    ¡°I must seem very young to you,¡± James said. He wasn¡¯t quite sure what his goal was, whether this was deception or reality. He was just working on instinct and hope. It had got him this far, after all; why should it fail him now?

    ¡°In a way, yes. You have a lot to learn yet. Though I don¡¯t feel weary of the world in the way perhaps I should. I¡¯m as young as you at heart.¡±

    James narrowed his eyes. ¡°Forgive me for asking, but¡­ how exactly does your immortality work? Are you just¡­ never going to age?¡±

    She shrugged. ¡°I haven¡¯t in the last five hundred years. It might be that some day my years will catch up with me, or that I age far slower than you.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s unfair.¡±

    ¡°What is?¡± Theola uncorked the wine bottle with a satisfying pop.

    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    ¡°That in fifty years I¡¯ll be an old man and you¡¯ll still be¡­ you. The same.¡±

    ¡°The power comes with a great burden,¡± she said. ¡°Would you take it, if you could?¡±

    Would he want to be a Mage? Want to be chosen of the stars, with all that entailed? Have the kind of power Theola had shown at Clirith and since? Stars, of course he would. Who wouldn¡¯t?

    Then he thought about Felix, and how he had treated her. As a political tool. That, he didn¡¯t want. But maybe he could find a way to have both power and freedom. If he was strong enough, no-one would be able to make him do anything he didn¡¯t want to.

    ¡°I think I would,¡± he said. And then, because it felt right to reciprocate, ¡°Would you put down your burden, if you could?¡±

    She was silent for a long moment. He feared for a second he¡¯d gone too far. Then she spoke: ¡°No, but¡­ perhaps I would choose to bear it in a different way.¡±

    She wasn¡¯t happy with the way things were; she wasn¡¯t happy with what Felix gave her. ¡°More freedom?¡± he guessed.

    Theola nodded once. ¡°I understand why it must be this way. But sometimes¡­¡±

    ¡°Sometimes you just can¡¯t take it any more,¡± finished James.

    The feeling was not an unfamiliar one. He¡¯d never been able to stay put in the safe houses in that dreadful year on the run with Charles. It had nearly got them both killed more than once. But the alternative felt like death too, in a way.

    Maybe that was why he¡¯d refused a formal place in the chain of command, why he¡¯d never married. So that if he ever wanted to just leave, he could.

    He didn¡¯t want to leave, though. He still wanted to serve and support Charles, however he could. Just¡­ in the way he chose, without anyone giving him orders.

    ¡°Precisely. Hence: this.¡± She waved her hand in a vague gesture that encompassed the picnic, the clearing, him. ¡°Wine?¡±

    He held out his glass to her. ¡°Please.¡±

    Theola poured steadily, filling two glasses with the deep red liquid. He almost asked what vintage it was before realising that plain Jacob Winter would know next to nothing about wine. It would have to be a surprise, then.

    She lifted her glass. ¡°To freedom.¡±

    ¡°To freedom,¡± James repeated. They clinked glasses and drank. It was good wine: just the right amount of sweetness. ¡°Out of curiosity, can you get drunk?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing in my nature preventing it,¡± she replied. ¡°But I do happen to know a few spells to purge the influence of alcohol from my body.¡±

    James couldn¡¯t help perking up at that. It sounded a very useful spell to know. ¡°Is that something you could teach me, or¡­¡±

    Theola shrugged. ¡°There is nothing preventing mortals from learning it. Much of my power is a product simply of having had hundreds of years to practice.¡±

    ¡°How long did this one take you?¡±

    ¡°A decade or so,¡± she replied, shrugging. If she was lying, she was doing a good job of it. But then anyone with the talent and sheer nerve to impersonate a Mage would naturally be an extremely good liar.

    ¡°Continuous work, or¡­¡±

    ¡°More time than you could afford to devote to it while maintaining your combat skills.¡±

    Well, so much for that idea then. He¡¯d just have to avoid getting drunk the mundane way. That was a pity.

    ¡°Tell me about your family,¡± Theola said.

    James swore to himself, and then decided to resort to the time-honoured strategy of making it up as he went along. ¡°My father is a blacksmith,¡± he said, ¡°and my mother bakes. I have a sister, two years older than me. She¡¯s always convinced she knows best.¡±

    ¡°You must miss them.¡±

    ¡°I ¨C yes. Yes, I do, very much. But I don¡¯t regret my choice.¡± He put it together mid-sentence: his fictional cousin had been killed fighting for Charles¡¯s forces, so his equally fictional relatives would not have been pleased that he was joining the opposing side.

    ¡°I suppose we can at least be glad of that.¡±

    ¡°What ¨C what about your family? I suppose ¨C ¡°

    ¡°They¡¯re long dead?¡± Theola¡¯s face clouded; he regretted asking, even if she was lying as much as he was. ¡°Yes. That is the greatest reason immortality is a curse.¡±

    James took another sip of wine, hesitated, and then said the words he wanted to: ¡°So we are both alone.¡±

    Theola nodded. ¡°But,¡± she said slowly, ¡°perhaps¡­¡±

    James suddenly realised what was happening. Picnicking alone in the woods, sipping wine together, talking about how alone they both were. The way she was looking at him, at once bold and tentative.

    Sacred stars. Maybe that was why Theola was interested in him; he was just that handsome.

    Getting into a romance with a woman who might be five hundred years old and who he might have to kill seemed like the worst of the long list of terrible ideas he¡¯d had. He should stop this here and now. Could he invent a girlfriend waiting for him?

    But. If that was why she was interested in him, she might just discard him when she found out he wasn¡¯t willing. And without her, he was just another magician in Felix¡¯s army, without the connections he¡¯d need to get answers.

    Maybe it was easier to think of it that way, because it was better than thinking of how perfectly beautiful she was, how inviting her lips were. Because it was easier than admitting that somehow, despite everything that should have stood in the way, some part of him wanted this too.

    ¡°Perhaps¡­¡± he echoed in the same slow, careful way, glancing up from his wine to meet her eyes.

    ¡°Perhaps we could be alone together,¡± Theola said, and reached for his hand.

    It was wonderful. It had been too long since James had kissed a girl, and he¡¯d forgotten how intoxicating it could be to lose yourself in someone else. He was drunk more on that than wine. He had to be careful, though. This couldn¡¯t be anything more than a passing fling. Actually getting attached would really be the worst mistake he¡¯d ever made.

    But one perfect afternoon? What was the harm in that?

    They stayed in the woods for two or three hours, but agreed reluctantly that they had to return to reality before it came looking for them. No-one could know what they had been doing. They were once again Mage and bodyguard, weapon and spy.

    They made themselves presentable, packed away the remains of the picnic and rose to leave. She offered him her hand; he took it.

    ¡°We should do this again,¡± Theola said.

    No. There were only so many times he could afford to do this without getting attached; he wasn¡¯t completely heartless. ¡°If it is your wish, my lady.¡±

    She shook her head. ¡°Don¡¯t. Please.¡±

    ¡°You are ¨C ¡°

    ¡°In public, I am. In private? I would like very much for us to be just Jay and Theola.¡±

    His treacherous mind wanted to replace Jay with James. It was only a slight addition to the syllable, yet it was the difference between truth and lies. And he couldn¡¯t say it. ¡°Very well,¡± he said. ¡°Theola.¡±

    And she pulled them away from their isolated clearing and back to reality.

    James finished the rest of his shift in awkward silence. He didn¡¯t tell Christopher or Will where he¡¯d been and what he¡¯d done. It was the Lady Mage¡¯s secret to keep and he was loyal to her above all else, or so he said.

    That done, he ate with the others, still keeping his silence, and then returned to his room to have time to think through the day¡¯s events in private.

    The stars did not see fit to grant him that luxury. There was someone sitting on his bed.

    He hadn¡¯t made a mistake with the wards, he knew he hadn¡¯t, so how had they got in? How ¨C

    ¡°Hello, James,¡± said Georgie.

 9. Georgie

    James¡¯s mind was filled with a torrent of unending swear words. ¡°Who ¨C who¡¯s James?¡± he managed to stammer out. ¡°There must be some mistake, I¡¯m ¨C ¡°

    ¡°You,¡± Georgie said calmly, ¡°are James Wilde. Friend and advisor of so-called King Charles, reckless combat magician, and definitely not someone who should be working as a bodyguard of the Mage Theola.¡±

    Yeah. He wasn¡¯t fooling her, was he? It had been worth a try. ¡°All right,¡± he said, raising his hands. ¡°You got me. Hello, Georgie.¡± He took a breath, slipped easily into a combat stance. If it came to a fight and she hadn¡¯t brought backup, he would win: she¡¯d never been his equal in a fight, and he¡¯d improved immeasurably in the last seven years.

    That wasn¡¯t what he was afraid of. It was what happened after. What he might have to do to keep his secret. ¡°So, is this just to catch up for old times¡¯ sake, or are you planning on turning me in to be executed?¡± He tried to keep his voice casual, but he was afraid.

    ¡°That depends very much on why you are here and what you do next,¡± Georgie said. ¡°So I suggest you tell me the truth, now.¡±

    Georgie had always been a little scary; these calm threats were enough to terrify most people into submission. She got it from her father, unfortunately. James had never expected that he would be the one on the wrong end of them, though.

    He considered his options. She wouldn¡¯t believe for a second that he¡¯d really betrayed Charles for Theola, which left only two reasons he could be here. The truth was the safer of those two options. ¡°I¡¯m here because of Theola,¡± he said. ¡°To find out whether she¡¯s a real Mage.¡±

    There was a good chance Georgie knew the answer to that question, he realised. Felix certainly did. Which meant that if he was careful, if he made the right moves for the rest of this conversation¡­ no. The priority was making sure she wouldn¡¯t destroy his cover. Anything else was a secondary concern for now.

    Georgie nodded. ¡°I thought so. I¡¯m surprised Charles sent you. With all due respect, James, you¡¯re the furthest thing from a good spy imaginable. You don¡¯t have a deceptive bone in your body.¡±

    ¡°I made it this far, didn¡¯t I?¡± James snapped.

    ¡°My point exactly. A good spy would have let me continue to believe they were a bad one.¡±

    James grimaced. He might be able to defeat her in a straight fight, but in this strange kind of conversational battle he didn¡¯t have a chance. ¡°How did you get in?¡± he asked. ¡°I warded ¨C ¡°

    ¡°I¡¯m the High Princess and a master-level wardsmith, James. I can go wherever I choose.¡±

    High Princess. Yes, she was. Felix¡¯s only child would naturally be his heir. The idea was still a horrific one: if something happened to the usurper, the only obstacle between Charles and the throne would be Georgie.

    ¡°What do you want?¡± he ground out to hide his discomfort.

    ¡°What do I want?¡± Georgie echoed. ¡°Isn¡¯t it obvious?¡±

    It really wasn¡¯t. For once he remained silent, not wanting to anger her with an incorrect guess.

    ¡°I want my father and my best friend to stop trying to destroy each other. I want them to stop destroying my country in the process. I want an end to this endless bloodshed. Peace, James. I want peace.¡±

    James laughed bitterly. ¡°Is your father prepared to abdicate?¡±

    ¡°Well, no, but ¨C ¡°

    ¡°Then there can be no peace.¡±

    ¡°Not unless,¡± Georgie said, ¡°a Mage decrees there should be peace.¡±

    So that was what she wanted from him. To ¨C to manipulate Theola into something that was in neither his interests or hers ¨C stars ¨C ¡°I¡¯m not using her for you.¡±

    Georgie laughed. He glared at her.

    ¡°I take back what I said. Clearly you must have a deceptive bone somewhere in you, because that is really a remarkable act of self-deception. You are using the Mage,¡± she spat. ¡°You are here explicitly to spy on her and remove her from the field. Is it really so different because the agenda is not your own?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s war, Georgie. I have to do whatever it takes.¡±

    She shook her head, then raised her hands above her head. ¡°I surrender.¡±

    James stared blankly at her. ¡°¡­what?¡±

    ¡°You heard me. I surrender. Here I am, Felix Blackthorn¡¯s beloved daughter and heir, at your mercy. I imagine there are a lot more concessions he¡¯d be prepared to offer with my life on the negotiating table.¡±

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    ¡°You¡­ want me to take you hostage¡­¡± James said slowly. What in stars¡¯ names was she playing at?

    ¡°No,¡± she said. ¡°Stars help me, I¡¯m not willing to be a martyr. That could lead to peace, or it could lead to nothing more than my death. But, if you want to take me hostage¡­ I can¡¯t stop you.¡±

    James met her gaze; she didn¡¯t look away. He considered it. She had a point: he knew how much Felix cared about her. Whether he¡¯d actually consider abdicating in exchange for her life, he wasn¡¯t sure, but there was at least a chance of it.

    But she also had a point that it could lead just as easily to her death. If Felix refused to yield. If Charles decided that taking away his enemy¡¯s heir was more valuable than she would be alive. It scared him a little that he wasn¡¯t quite sure whether Charles would kill her, if it came to it.

    He couldn¡¯t do that to her. Stars help him, even if they¡¯d been apart for so long, he still cared about her. He still wasn¡¯t prepared to gamble her life without her consent, even for a chance at victory.

    And that, he realised, was precisely her point. ¡°Stars, Georgie. I hate it when you¡¯re right.¡±

    ¡°You should know by now, James. I am always right.¡±

    This was the old Georgie, the one he¡¯d known, not the withdrawn girl who¡¯d dined with Theola and her father only a few hours ago. He¡¯d missed her. ¡°So,¡± he said. ¡°I persuade Theola to advocate for peace¡­ or you turn me in?¡±

    She shrugged. ¡°I¡¯d give you a few hours¡¯ warning. You¡¯d have time to escape. I¡¯m not prepared to kill you any more than you are me. But¡­ you wouldn¡¯t have your answers. You wouldn¡¯t have the Mage removed from the field. You¡¯d have to go back to Charles with nothing. Surely a Mage advocating for peace is better than a Mage fighting for your enemy?¡±

    She wasn¡¯t bluffing. If she hadn¡¯t offered him the warning he might have thought she was, but she would have no problem with forcing him to flee the City in defeat. ¡°I don¡¯t even know if I can,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯m her bodyguard, not her advisor.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll figure it out. You¡¯ve risen from nobody to bodyguard in only two days, after all.¡±

    ¡°How do you know how long I¡¯ve been here?¡±

    ¡°I do now,¡± she said, grinning.

    Stars damn it.

    ¡°No, just messing with you. I did my research before coming here. The paperwork trail was easy enough to follow, especially when you don¡¯t even change your initials. Jacob Winter, indeed. So however you did that, I¡¯m sure you can manage it again.¡±

    James had managed that more by luck than anything else ¨C though his natural talent and good looks had also played a part, of course. Wait, his good looks weren¡¯t entirely natural any more, were they?

    ¡°I¡¯ll be generous,¡± said Georgie. ¡°You can have a week. After that, if nothing has happened, I¡¯ll assume you never intended to try. Do we have a deal?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± said James. It was the obvious answer, regardless of whether he intended to honour it. It bought him more time at the least.

    Would that be long enough to tell whether Theola was a Mage and do whatever came next? He wasn¡¯t sure. But having a week was better than not having a week.

    ¡°Good. I should get back, then; I¡¯ll be missed.¡± She stood and took two steps over to his window. ¡°It was nice seeing you again, James. I missed you.¡±

    I missed you, too. The words caught in his throat. She was Felix Blackthorn¡¯s daughter. She¡¯d just outmanoeuvred and blackmailed him. Maybe some day there would be peace and they could be friends again, but for now he couldn¡¯t miss her.

    She opened the window deftly and perched herself on the sill. ¡°And¡­ when you see Charles again¡­¡± She swung herself around so that her legs were dangling over the air below. ¡°Tell him I miss him, too.¡±

    ¡°I will,¡± James said. ¡°Bye, Georgie.¡±

    ¡°Bye, James.¡± She vanished. It had to be invisibility; even the best of magicians couldn¡¯t teleport while sitting down. It certainly achieved the dramatic effect she no doubt wanted, though.

    James walked over to the window and felt around it to make sure she was gone, then pulled it tightly shut. He¡¯d have to rework his wards and improve them if she had subverted his work so easily, master wardsmith or not. That would occupy his mind for a little longer, at least.

    It wasn¡¯t nearly long enough. He was soon alone with his thoughts. It all came back to the one question, really: was Theola a Mage? If she wasn¡¯t, then he only needed to prove it and the legitimacy she offered Felix would be gone. And assuming he could do so within a week he would be safe from Georgie¡¯s threats besides.

    If she was? Then trying to persuade her of anything would be trying to change the will of the stars themselves, and what chance did he have of achieving that?

    It was impossible to be certain. If he was forced to guess, though, he would say that Theola was an imposter. She was capable of extraordinary feats of magic, there was no denying that, but the only true miracle she had performed was turning day to night and revealing the stars at Clirith. And he couldn¡¯t be sure that she had done that on her own; it would have been quite possible for that to have been done by a group ritual.

    And she seemed¡­ human. Mortal. James didn¡¯t have much of a template for how a five-hundred-year-old immortal would act, but he was willing to bet it didn¡¯t extend to being so lonely she¡¯d start a romance with her bodyguard.

    Unless she¡¯d done that many times before. Unless he was just the latest in a centuries-long chain of lovers. If James were five hundred years old he would have had many casual flings over the years. For some strange reason it hurt a little to think that was all their afternoon had been for Theola.

    If she wasn¡¯t a Mage, though, how was she so much better than him? What was her secret? There was only really one answer: a more extreme version of his story for why Jacob Winter was so talented. She simply didn¡¯t understand the meaning of the word impossible.

    And that gave him an idea for how she could be defeated. He hated himself for even having the thought, but once it had occurred to him he was certain that it would work. Unless, that was, she was a real Mage. In which case it would probably get him killed.

    Georgie wanted peace. James could understand why: being so close to both Felix and Charles, it couldn¡¯t be easy watching such a bitter conflict between them. He¡¯d laughed in her face at the suggestion, but honestly he hadn¡¯t given much thought to it. It had just been a fact of his life for years: they were at war, and there could be no peace without victory.

    Charles wouldn¡¯t settle for anything less than the throne. James wouldn¡¯t, either. But seeing Georgie again had reminded him of how close they had once been. He¡¯d give almost anything for things to go back to the way they¡¯d been then. Perhaps, if there was peace, it would be the first step towards that.

    What harm could it do, anyway? If Theola was an imposter, he would expose her and it would make no difference. If she was a real Mage then better she fight for peace than for the usurper.

    Yes. He would try. For Georgie, for the friendship they¡¯d once shared.

    It felt a little like a betrayal, but there was no choice that wouldn¡¯t have felt that way.

 10. Speech

    James didn¡¯t remember falling asleep, but he must have done so at some point, because he woke at eight the next morning. He¡¯d had a strange dream which he couldn¡¯t quite remember. Something to do with the two trios: the Mages, and himself, Charles and Georgie. All he remembered clearly was Georgie begging him for peace, Charles begging him to do what was necessary, and himself caught in between, not knowing what to do.

    Well, you didn¡¯t need to be an expert on the meaning of dreams to tell what that one signified. It had all been so simple before this mission, before Theola. He fought with Charles, fought for the throne that rightfully belonged to his best friend, fought against the usurper. No conflicted loyalties, no blurring of the lines.

    James dragged himself out of bed and went to find breakfast. He wasn¡¯t invited to spar with his fellow bodyguards this time. Maybe he had gone a little far yesterday. Instead he secured himself access to the library in his free time ¨C it wasn¡¯t that complicated, really, just involved listening to another lecture from Captain Taylor ¨C and spent a few hours researching the Mages.

    He didn¡¯t want to stay too long in the space between spaces, but it wasn¡¯t too hard to smuggle out the books he needed disguised within a stack of books on combat magic. Those would be genuinely useful, it was just that this research project took priority.

    It wasn¡¯t too hard to find copies of the main sources: the story of the Mages as Temple doctrine decreed it and the epic poem known as the Lay of the Mages. Neither were contemporary accounts, but those were practically non-existent.

    The two sources agreed on the main events: the slaying of the dragon that threatened the faraway mountain village, the resurrection of Prince Edmund and their taking the throne together, their role in the battles and negotiations that followed and forged the Kingdom of Rasin.

    James was particularly interested in the accounts of the battles. Neither account went into much detail, but both made it clear that the Mages¡¯ power had turned the course of many battles. During the First Battle of Confluence, for instance, they had caused the River Sirg to burst its banks and strand enemy reinforcements on the other side with no way to join the battle. They had gained the services of one of the great spirit-forests and used it to trap thousands of soldiers. Most interestingly, at a battle which bore no name, it was said they had turned day to night and caused the stars to rise at an unnatural time.

    That was not a coincidence. Though surely an imposter would have done their research and mimicked a miracle performed by the real Mages?

    The Lay of the Mages ended abruptly with the second, permanent death of Edmund, after the Mages had won their greatest victory at the Battle of Greyford. That was the ending of the story it set out to tell, the story of the chosen heroes who built a kingdom together. But the Mages ruled for seventy years, long after those early battles ceased.

    For an account of what happened next, he was left with only Temple doctrine. After seventy years, the Mages chose a mortal successor, the man who would become known as Charles First-King, and then the kingdom needed them no longer, so they stayed no longer.

    According to the ancient book, they had returned to the stars from whence they came. James hoped that was the truth, but he was sceptical; there was no evidence of any return to the stars. Certainly no-one had ever found a Mage¡¯s body, and there was no record of their deaths, but¡­ could they really still be out there? Could they have wandered the land for centuries, never making themselves known?

    It wasn¡¯t impossible, and that was enough to terrify James.

    There was no description of anything the Mages could do that would be impossible for normal magicians, except the Esteral resurrection. And James guessed that wasn¡¯t the sort of thing even a genuine Mage could freely repeat. What if he could kill someone important to Theola and see if she brought them back?

    No, that was a foolish plan. She didn¡¯t have close friends, as far as he could tell. Felix would have been dead already if James had a realistic chance of making it happen, Georgie was out for obvious reasons, and the only other person he knew she cared about was himself.

    Dear Charles. I killed myself to see if Theola would resurrect me. If I don¡¯t come back she¡¯s probably an imposter. PS: Georgie says she misses you. He laughed. Even for him, that plan was more than a little stupid.

    He set up a simple concealment ward to hide his research and set off for his shift. Theola was assigned to give a speech to a battalion about to leave the City for the front lines that afternoon, which meant James would be standing on the stage looking intimidating for fifteen minutes or so.

    He wished he¡¯d paid more attention to large-scale military strategy, so he could work out what this meant for the course of the war. Reinforcements were sent to the front lines all the time, weren¡¯t they? This wasn¡¯t unusual. It wasn¡¯t a sign of preparations for a new offensive.

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    But it had to come some time: after Clirith, Felix had momentum on his side. Any self-respecting general would be trying to exploit that. James missed his seat at Charles¡¯s table and the detailed information that came with it.

    He met Christopher and Will outside Theola¡¯s room, as he had the previous day. She emerged sooner this time, dressed in a practical black outfit likely designed for combat. ¡°Hello, everyone,¡± she said, smiling. James knew it was meant for all three of them, but he couldn¡¯t help feeling it was his alone.

    There was something wonderful about knowing they had a shared secret memory now. He sank into a bow. ¡°My lady Mage,¡± he said, echoing his fellow bodyguards.

    ¡°Rise,¡± Theola replied. ¡°Shall we eat before we go?¡±

    That met with enthusiasm from all three of them; watching everyone eat yesterday without being able to share in it had not been fun.

    Conversation over the meal was awkward: Christopher and Will were overly deferential to Theola to the point she struggled to get them to express their own opinions at all, and James felt obliged to act the same. He wasn¡¯t even sure whether it was to keep in character as Jacob or to hide his afternoon with Theola any more.

    He wasn¡¯t sure why he wanted to be alone with her.

    Stars, what was happening to him?

    The speech was less tedious than he¡¯d expected. The four of them waited behind a curtain at the back of the stage while the battalion¡¯s Lieutenant-Colonel and his superior officer addressed the troops. The Lieutenant-Colonel was charismatic and well-liked by his soldiers, to judge by the enthusiasm of the crowd.

    But when he finally announced ¡°The Mage Theola is here to speak to you,¡± utter silence fell.

    ¡°Good luck,¡± James whispered to Theola.

    She blessed him with a smile and tore back the curtain.

    Six hundred soldiers stood just beneath the stage. As Theola strode forward to join the officers, every single one of them fell to their knees before her. The officers, too, knelt to her.

    Stars. James had seen Charles address troops countless times. They had never once knelt to him like this. But Theola was something else, wasn¡¯t she? She wasn¡¯t their leader. She was an object of worship.

    Was he imagining it, or did her step falter a little as she saw them kneel?

    James shrugged and took up his position behind Theola.

    ¡°Please,¡± she said, her voice carrying easily over the silent crowd. ¡°Rise. Thank you for allowing me to speak, Brigadier. Lieutenant-Colonel. And thank you all, for coming to listen.¡±

    Thanks were hardly required; even if attendance at this event hadn¡¯t been mandatory he doubted many of the soldiers would have missed the chance to see a Mage face-to-face. It was an effective rhetorical device, though, especially as she continued: ¡°More than that, though. I thank you for your service.¡±

    She paused for effect and then added ¡°The stars thank you for your service.¡±

    The comparisons he was making to Charles were unfair, he realised. His friend might be a good speaker, but he couldn¡¯t just invoke the power of the stars in the same way she could. Couldn¡¯t persuade them all of the righteousness of their cause in just a handful of words.

    That was what James was supposed to prevent. For all he was pleased with himself for getting so close to Theola so quickly, he hadn¡¯t really accomplished anything to that end. His hand twitched towards his sword.

    Then he stopped. Was he really contemplating trying to kill her here and now? No. That was stupid. If she died like this she would be a martyr. Felix¡¯s troops would only be inspired to fight ever harder.

    That was why he let his hand relax and fall to his side. Definitely not because he was getting attached. He focused on her words to avoid focusing on anything else. She was a good speaker: calm and clear, words chosen for maximum effect. Then again, perhaps she didn¡¯t write her own speeches. If she was really a Mage, though, she must have become a good public speaker somewhere along the line.

    If he ignored the meaning of her words and let them flow over him, listening to her was surprisingly¡­ nice.

    Once the speech was done and they¡¯d returned to the palace, Theola decided she would study in the library again. James was invited to join her. It was almost a surprise when he stepped into the space between spaces without vanishing somewhere else first.

    ¡°I make a habit of not disappearing in the same way twice,¡± Theola said. ¡°It gets boring otherwise.¡±

    James could relate to that more than he cared to admit, and indeed more than he could safely admit. ¡°Have you ever considered just¡­ not coming back?¡± he asked. It was a risk, but he had a deadline now. He needed to speed things up.

    Theola stopped walking across nothingness and turned to look back at him. Her gaze was piercing, and he was struck with a sudden irrational fear that she could see through him, that she knew who and what he really was. James forced himself to meet her eyes.

    ¡°I have,¡± she said. ¡°More than once. But¡­ I have my duty.¡±

    Which led neatly into the other risky question that needed to be asked. ¡°Why?¡± he asked. ¡°Why Felix?¡±

    ¡°He is the rightful king, is he not?¡±

    James¡¯s nails dug into his palms, and he bit his tongue. It was that hard to avoid saying no. Maybe Georgie had a point about his being a bad spy. ¡°So I am told. But¡­ I still don¡¯t understand.¡±

    ¡°It is the will of the stars,¡± Theola said flatly. ¡°And they are not in the habit of justifying their decisions to mortals. You do not favour him, do you?¡±

    Yes. Definitely a bad spy. He forced himself to think why Jacob would feel this way, and found his answer: ¡°I favour you, Theola. Who sits on the throne does not matter to me.¡±

    He wished the light was a little better in the space between spaces, that he could see her face more clearly and tell whether he was imagining that faint flush of red on her cheeks.

    ¡°I appreciate your loyalty,¡± Theola said. ¡°Really. I do. But this is my path. My destiny. This is what I must do.¡±

    ¡°I know,¡± James said. ¡°I know.¡± And this deception was what he must do. They were both bound by loyalty to higher powers. It could never change, and the voice in the back of his mind wondering what would happen if it did needed to be silenced.

 11. Eleanor

    James didn¡¯t quite dare ask the next of his dangerous questions, so he kept his silence and settled down to study. Theola seemed content to work alone, but it was far too risky to openly research the Mages when she was sitting right next to him so he settled for an old tome on spell variations useful in combat. It wasn¡¯t as productive as he¡¯d hoped; he already knew half the variations it listed and disagreed with the author¡¯s opinions on the usefulness of most of the others.

    He was restless. He didn¡¯t want to sit here and study; he wanted to be out there fighting for his cause. It was getting harder and harder to remind himself that the best thing he could to for that cause was to win Theola¡¯s trust, to learn the truth about her, and then ¨C

    ¡°And then what?¡±

    Theola looked up from where she was taking notes. ¡°I don¡¯t know. What do you mean?¡±

    He¡¯d said that aloud. Stars, if she knew the answer to that question ¨C ¡°I was thinking,¡± he said quickly, ¡°about the future.¡±

    She said nothing, silently inviting him to go on.

    ¡°How long will the war go on?¡± James asked. ¡°And what will come after?¡±

    ¡°Stars know,¡± said Theola.

    ¡°And you know the stars.¡±

    ¡°I cannot see the future. Things would be very different if I could.¡±

    James would have given a lot to know why and how. He didn¡¯t have time to think about it, though: he needed to invent Jacob¡¯s melancholy thoughts about the future. ¡°It just seems so¡­ pointless,¡± he said, finding inspiration mid-sentence. ¡°The war. How great a difference does it make to ordinary people, who sits on the throne? And how many of them will die for it?¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t take you for a pacifist,¡± Theola said. ¡°You really are full of surprises.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not a pacifist. There are times when violence and war are what is necessary. It¡¯s just that¡­ I¡¯m beginning to doubt whether this is one of them.¡±

    ¡°Have faith, Jacob. In me, and in the stars.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll try,¡± James lied.

    And that was another day gone. Maybe his questions had made an impact on her; maybe they hadn¡¯t. If she was a true Mage then he didn¡¯t have a chance of persuading her to listen to him over the stars themselves, and if she wasn¡¯t then she had no authority to call for peace and he would have to prove that.

    He doubted there was much more he could do with these subtle methods in the time he had left. He would have to find a more direct way. Unable to sleep, he paged through his Mages research once more. Perhaps there was a detail he¡¯d missed, some crucial piece that would show him the way. If there was, he couldn¡¯t find it.

    Well, that was no good, and sleep was no good; he had to do something. He needed a good fight, or failing that at least exercise against challenging training enchantments. That, at least, was a problem he could fix: he knew where the training room was, and as far as he knew the fact it was eleven and ten after noon wouldn¡¯t stop him visiting it.

    So that was what he did. It was eerie, walking through the ancient corridors alone at night, seeing only by an orb of conjured light. He felt on edge, more alive than he had all day.

    The training room wasn¡¯t closed, but it also wasn¡¯t unoccupied. The enchanted lights were switched on, revealing a single woman firing chain after chain of spells towards a wooden dummy. He recognised her: lean and wiry, tense and agile. The woman on the midnight-till-six shift who¡¯d been at breakfast on his first day here. What was her name? Ellie, Elara¡­ something like that.

    James stepped inside and let the door swing shut. She didn¡¯t look up or break focus for an instant, even though she definitely would have noticed the sound. That meant she was deep in a state of magical flow. Or possibly she just didn¡¯t want to talk to him.

    He didn¡¯t particularly want to talk to her, either, so he examined the various training devices. Most of them seemed the usual sort ¨C there was another set of the squares he¡¯d defeated by brute force before he¡¯d met Theola, which he grimaced at ¨C but there were a couple of dummies similar to the one El-what¡¯s-her-name was fighting, which had no obvious purpose.

    James shrugged and stepped into the nearest set of containment wards. He¡¯d figure it out as he went along. He took a breath and adjusted his stance, and was about to begin casting when the woman acknowledged his presence.

    ¡°New guy,¡± she said simply, stepping towards him.

    ¡°I have a name,¡± James replied, turning reluctantly to face her.

    She shrugged. ¡°Heard about what you did to the six-till-midnight shift.¡±

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    ¡°¡­and?¡± James asked when it was clear she wasn¡¯t going to continue of her own choice.

    ¡°It¡¯s nice to finally have some competition around here.¡±

    That sounded very much like a challenge. James was tempted. ¡°Oh? What makes you think you¡¯re good enough to compete with me?¡±

    ¡°Cocky, too. I like cocky. Makes it more satisfying when I win.¡±

    James had to resist the urge to start attacking there and then. ¡°Terms, then?¡±

    She rolled her eyes. ¡°Oh, I don¡¯t want to fight you. Based on our track records that would likely end with one of us dead, and I don¡¯t particularly want Theola to be annoyed at me.¡±

    ¡°Please,¡± James said, ¡°you do not have what it takes to kill me.¡±

    ¡°I just scored yellow five,¡± she replied, ignoring her bait. ¡°Reckon you can beat that?¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± James bluffed. ¡°That¡¯s trivially easy.¡±

    ¡°Go on, then. Do it.¡±

    James hesitated a second too long.

    ¡°Have you even used these before?¡± she asked. ¡°They record the spells cast at them. Type, power, speed. And they give you a score based on the strength of your casting. See those spots on its chest? They light up and give you a number and a colour.¡±

    ¡°Is yellow five the lowest, then?¡± James asked.

    ¡°Stars, no. It¡¯s not the highest, either, I¡¯ll admit. But these are calibrated with the Mage in mind. No mere mortal could make orange, let alone red.¡±

    James did not appreciate being referred to as a mere mortal, but he had to admit he was never going to reach Theola-level scores. He could definitely beat what¡¯s-her-name, though. Without another word, he turned back to the dummy and began to cast.

    His first attempt was a simple chain of shield-breakers, meant more as a test than anything else. The spots on the dummy¡¯s chest did indeed light up when they were hit by spells: one by one, blue lights flickered on. Then they vanished, and a single purple light appeared in their place. He kept casting, waiting for the second purple light to appear, but nothing happened.

    When he stopped casting, the lights flicked back to five blue, and then gradually winked out.

    ¡°That¡¯s the best you can do?¡±

    James laughed. Type, power, speed. That chain hadn¡¯t come even close to his limits on any of those. It was interesting how the score had stopped increasing, as if the dummy was saying ¡°yes, I know you can cast basic shield-breakers, you don¡¯t get anything more for that¡±. It was a masterwork of enchantment; James was no specialist enchanter, but he still found himself longing to dissect and examine one of these dummies.

    ¡°Honestly,¡± said what¡¯s-her-name. ¡°There I was thinking you were actually ¨C ¡°

    He began another chain. More variety, this one: attacks of pure magical force, with a few shield-breakers and the occasional targeted disruptor mixed in. It wasn¡¯t one of the chains he¡¯d trained himself in, since those were designed to deal with someone who actually fought back, but the repetitive pattern was simple enough he could pick it up on the spot.

    The lights flickered faster this time: they were purple by the time he¡¯d cast his third spell, and kept going up. Green one. Green two. This was easy, almost too easy. He found himself sinking into the flow of his movements and spellwork, no longer having to devote conscious thought to casting or indeed anything else.

    Stars, this was what he lived for.

    He didn¡¯t think again until he saw that first light flicker orange. That broke his concentration, and he gestured in the wrong way. The orange light vanished, replaced with five yellows, and then one of those too winked out.

    Orange one would do for now, he supposed. ¡°See?¡± he said. ¡°Trivially easy.¡±

    She didn¡¯t look impressed, even grudgingly. Instead she was regarding him with naked suspicion. ¡°Where did you train?¡± she asked.

    James swore internally. ¡°What¡­ do you mean?¡± he asked, trying to buy time to think. His mind was still half-lost in the glorious flow of magic. He¡¯d been too good, or maybe she was just annoyed he was better than her. He''d been good enough that there was no doubt he¡¯d had professional-level combat magic teaching.

    Which contradicted Jacob Winter¡¯s established background.

    For all his talent, James reflected grimly, he was really an idiot.

    And just after slipping into magical flow, as well. He¡¯d drawn deep, but it was difficult to know exactly how deep. If this came to a fight, he might well have to draw deeper than was safe, lose a part of himself or even his life to the flow.

    ¡°Who taught you to fight like that?¡± the woman clarified unnecessarily. Eleanor. That was her name. It wasn¡¯t really relevant at this point.

    James shrugged. ¡°My cousin, a little. The rest I¡¯ve picked up on my own. I guess I¡¯m just a natural.¡±

    ¡°Do you even understand how magic works?¡±

    James did, of course, but he might as well give her the satisfaction of explaining it to him. It gave him more time to think of a way out of this.

    ¡°It works by belief. Talent arises because you believe you have talent. That¡¯s the only way a true natural, as you put it, can arise.¡±

    She couldn¡¯t be allowed to tell anyone that she suspected Jacob Winter wasn¡¯t what he seemed. That meant he either had to persuade her that she was wrong, persuade her not to turn him in, or kill her.

    ¡°How many men,¡± Eleanor continued, ¡°really believe they are incredible fighters? And I don¡¯t mean the kind who go round saying that to impress the girls, or the kind who believe it until they face reality. What you did to the others¡­ I don¡¯t think anyone could have done that if they hadn¡¯t seen combat first-hand, if they didn¡¯t truly believe they could take out three of a Mage¡¯s bodyguards simultaneously.¡±

    Killing her was risky, because she was close to his match in a fight if those dummies were anything to go by, and because he¡¯d already used more power than was advisable. Wait¡­ she was talking as if she¡¯d suspected beforehand. Had she challenged him partly to make him weaken himself this way?

    ¡°So. Who taught you, or where did you learn? And why must it be kept a secret?¡±

    An idea came to him, the one thing that might work. ¡°Some things,¡± he said, ¡°can¡¯t be revealed to just anyone.¡±

    ¡°I am not,¡± Eleanor replied, ¡°just anyone.¡±

    ¡°Some things are secrets of the highest order. Secrets that I could only entrust to one person.¡±

    ¡°Theola,¡± said Eleanor.

    ¡°Theola,¡± James agreed.

    ¡°So naturally, when I ask her about this, she will be able to confirm that she knows about your secret and it is nothing that could harm our cause.¡±

    ¡°Naturally,¡± James lied.

    ¡°I should get ready for my shift,¡± said Eleanor. ¡°Best of luck with the rest of your training.¡±

    James let his mind sink back into the calm a magician needed to cast as she walked away. It wouldn¡¯t be hard, now she wasn¡¯t on guard: a simple cutting-spell would do the trick. Then he¡¯d be left with a body he didn¡¯t have time to hide and a complete lack of alibi.

    He hesitated a fraction too long, and she stepped through the door and let it swing shut behind her.

    Sticking with the other plan, then. That meant getting to Theola and persuading her to cover for him, without revealing exactly why, in however long he had before Eleanor¡¯s shift began.

    What could possibly go wrong?

 12. Midnight

    James ran to Theola¡¯s room, as fast as he dared without risking another encounter with Eleanor. If she realised what he was trying to do, it was the end. He was fortunate in that, at least, and skidded to a halt outside Theola''s door. It was guarded by three men: the six-till-midnight shift. The ones he¡¯d single-handedly defeated. The ones who probably hated him as a result.

    ¡°I need to see the Mage,¡± he said in between gulps of air. ¡°It¡¯s urgent.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s sleeping,¡± said one of them. ¡°Like you should be.¡±

    ¡°Urgent,¡± James repeated, letting an intensity very uncharacteristic of Jacob Winter into his voice. It made little difference now.

    ¡°What¡¯s so important about it, anyway?¡± the same man asked.

    ¡°That is a matter between the Mage and I.¡±

    ¡°We can take a message. Tell her in the morning.¡±

    ¡°She doesn¡¯t like losing sleep,¡± another man added, with a thick Western accent.

    James wanted to scream in frustration, or to push them aside and break down the door. He restrained himself with an effort: that would destroy his cover as thoroughly as not speaking to Theola now would. ¡°She¡¯ll like it even less if she doesn¡¯t hear this now.¡±

    The bodyguards glanced at each other, considering. ¡°She does like him,¡± one of them said, ¡°stars know why.¡± That last phrase was said in what was clearly meant to be a subtle undertone but was still perfectly audible to James.

    ¡°If it makes you feel any better,¡± James offered, hating the fact he was being forced to negotiate, ¡°I¡¯ll take the blame if she¡¯s angry. You can say I threatened you or something. I¡¯ll even actually threaten you so it wouldn¡¯t be a lie.¡±

    The nearest guard rolled his eyes. ¡°That will not be necessary. But it will most definitely be your fault if she doesn¡¯t like it.¡± He turned abruptly and knocked three times. ¡°My lady Mage!¡± he called out.

    Silence. James imagined her hearing the guard¡¯s voice through the fog of sleep, dragging herself out of bed and padding to the door in a thin, revealing nightdress ¨C no. No, he should not be thinking that. He needed to figure out how to persuade her to help him keep his secret without revealing what the secret in question was. There had to be a way. She liked him; if he could just find a semi-plausible story¡­

    The guard raised his hand to knock again, but the door swung softly open before his fist could hit it. Theola was not clad in a revealing nightdress ¨C well, she might have been, but it was impossible to tell when she¡¯d wrapped herself completely in the duvet. ¡°Jacob,¡± she said. ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°There is¡­ an urgent matter I must discuss with you, my lady Mage,¡± he said. ¡°In private. Please.¡±

    She gazed at him for a long moment and then nodded. ¡°Well, then. Do come in.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, my lady Mage.¡± He stepped inside and shut the door behind him.

    The room was dark. James was struck suddenly by the fact they were alone in her bedroom. No. Focus. ¡°I ¨C forgive me for disturbing you ¨C ¡°

    ¡°Forgiven,¡± Theola said at once, crossing the room to sit down on her bed. ¡°What is this urgent matter?¡±

    ¡°Is this room secure?¡± James asked.

    ¡°Of course. I warded it myself.¡±

    Did he trust her? It took him a moment to realise that he¡¯d passed that point long ago; if he couldn¡¯t, he was as good as dead. ¡°Thank you,¡± he said, and then hesitated. He had yet to think of a good way of framing this. Best to stick as close to the truth as possible, at least about his encounter with Eleanor.

    ¡°I couldn¡¯t sleep tonight,¡± he said. ¡°I went to the training room to work off some excess energy. I found Eleanor there. We got to talking, and, well¡­¡± He shrugged. ¡°She thinks I¡¯m too good.¡±

    Theola raised her eyebrows in silent question.

    ¡°Too good a fighter not to have had professional training,¡± James said. ¡°But I haven¡¯t. It¡¯s not something I can explain; it¡¯s just something I am. She didn¡¯t believe me, though. I was¡­ honestly, I was scared of what she might do. So I may have said you knew the truth and trusted me regardless. And she may be coming to check at the start of her shift shortly.¡±

    Theola closed her eyes for a second. ¡°You want me to lie for you.¡±

    James didn¡¯t bother dissembling; he knew her well enough by now to realise that was destined to fail. ¡°Yes.¡± After a moment in which she didn¡¯t respond, he asked ¡°Will you?¡±

    Theola sighed. ¡°Are you telling me the truth?¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± James made himself say. Too quickly? Not quickly enough? Stars.

    ¡°Because if you are, then of course I¡¯ll help you. But¡­ I¡¯m wondering whether Eleanor might have a point. Whether there¡¯s something you¡¯re hiding from me.¡±

    James shook his head. ¡°No. No, never. If there¡¯s anything I can do to prove it to you ¨C ¡°

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    ¡°Swear it,¡± Theola said, ¡°by starlight.¡±

    James froze. He knew the stories of what happened to those who broke an oath by starlight, or those who swore one falsely. That the stars would guide them no longer. That they would die alone and in pain, abandoned by all who once loved them.

    He wasn¡¯t sure whether they were true: for obvious reasons, few people were prepared to test them. But even the possibility was enough to terrify him.

    It was a choice, though, between the possible doom of swearing a false oath and the certain doom of not persuading her to vouch for him. There was only one rational option. ¡°I swear by sacred starlight,¡± he said, willing his voice to remain steady, ¡°by the light that guides me at night, by all that is holy, that I am not lying to you, Theola. That I have not had professional combat magic training.¡±

    He paused for a second and then decided that if he was already damned, there was nothing left to lose. ¡°That I will never betray you.¡±

    Theola said nothing for a long moment before settling on ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ¡°You ¨C you believe me?¡± James asked, finding it very easy to fake panic. ¡°Please tell me you believe me.¡±

    ¡°Of course I believe you, Jacob. Only a monster could be cold enough to swear that to me without meaning it, after everything we¡¯ve done together.¡±

    Ouch. James struggled not to let his emotions show. He wasn¡¯t a monster, he wasn¡¯t cold and unfeeling. He just¡­ separated his feelings from his duty, remembered that the latter always had to come first. Was that really so monstrous?

    ¡°You ¨C you should go,¡± Theola said softly. ¡°Before¡­ rumours start to spread. That we¡¯re¡­¡±

    ¡°That we¡¯re what?¡± asked James. He knew the answer, but he wanted to hear her say it.

    ¡°It¡¯s nearly midnight. And here we are, alone in my room together. Just you and me.¡±

    Stars, James was tempted to make those rumours into reality. She seemed almost more beautiful than ever, even wearing nothing but a duvet and a nightgown ¨C or, wait ¨C no. He¡¯d spent more time than he cared to admit studying the precise way her body curved, and the shapes under the duvet now were subtly wrong.

    ¡°Theola,¡± he asked, ¡°what are you wearing?¡±

    She blinked once, slowly. ¡°I should have known you¡¯d realise. You¡¯re perceptive.¡±

    Lustful, James mentally corrected.

    Theola stood. With one elegant shrug of her shoulders she sent the duvet tumbling to the ground, revealing that beneath it she was clad in what appeared to be full combat gear: loose, comfortable clothes, a thin sheet of mail covering her chest and torso, a belt wrapped tight around her waist with a sheathed sword attached.

    ¡°Stars,¡± James said aloud. ¡°They said outside you didn¡¯t want to be disturbed when you were sleeping. But you weren¡¯t sleeping. You were training.¡±

    She nodded once.

    ¡°¡­why?¡± he asked. The pieces weren¡¯t fitting together.

    ¡°Why do you train? I am strong, but I can always become stronger.¡±

    James narrowed his eyes. ¡°But¡­ why now, when you should be asleep?¡±

    ¡°Much of what I do I simply cannot allow to be seen by anyone. This is the only time when I can guarantee true privacy. Or ¨C ¡° she laughed ¨C ¡°I could, until you came along.¡±

    James didn¡¯t think she was annoyed with him, but he said anyway ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I didn¡¯t know what else I could do.¡± That, at least, was no lie. ¡°If you¡¯ll forgive my asking¡­¡±

    She looked at him expectantly, which he took for permission. ¡°When do you sleep, if not when everyone else does?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t sleep.¡±

    Nope. No way did she get the power to not need sleep. Even if she was a Mage, that was just too much. ¡°You can¡¯t survive without sleep,¡± James said, pointing out the obvious.

    ¡°There are¡­ certain rituals, certain magical meditations, that can mimic the effects of sleep on the body, while needing to be performed for only an hour or two each night.¡±

    ¡°And they work?¡±

    Theola laughed. ¡°Well. I¡¯ve been using them a few centuries, and I don¡¯t appear to be dead from sleep deprivation. I¡¯d say that¡¯s sufficient evidence they do.¡±

    James hesitated to ask the next question, but he couldn¡¯t let an opportunity like this slip by. ¡°Is this¡­ something that you could teach me?¡±

    Theola paused for a second. ¡°You know,¡± she said thoughtfully. ¡°I think it might be.¡±

    James grinned. His newfound happiness lasted all of a second before it was shattered by a knock at the door.

    ¡°Two minutes to midnight,¡± said Theola.

    ¡°Eleanor,¡± said James. ¡°Cover for me ¨C ¡°

    ¡°Hide ¨C ¡°

    James dove under the bed; it wasn¡¯t the most comfortable of hiding places, but it was the only one he could find at such short notice. He took a few precious moments to calm his racing heart and sink into a state of mental balance in which he could cast. Silently casting a sufficiently strong invisibility spell was hard even for him, but the combination of the necessity and the knowledge that he had Theola on his side was good enough to let him succeed.

    Theola, meanwhile, rewrapped herself in the duvet and padded towards the door. She paused with her hand on the knob and turned to glance at the space where James lay; then she pulled open the door.

    ¡°My lady Mage, forgive me for disturbing your rest, but there is an urgent matter about which we must speak.¡± That was Eleanor¡¯s voice, yes; James couldn¡¯t see her from his somewhat awkward angle, but he could hear well enough.

    ¡°Is that so?¡± Theola said. ¡°Enter, then.¡±

    There was the brief sound of shuffling footsteps, and of the door clicking shut. James watched Theola¡¯s bare feet and Eleanor¡¯s shiny-booted ones pace across the floor.

    ¡°Well?¡± Theola asked after a few seconds.

    ¡°It¡¯s about Jacob Winter,¡± Eleanor said. ¡°I don¡¯t think he¡¯s what he seems.¡±

    Theola didn¡¯t respond; James imagined her raising a questioning eyebrow.

    ¡°I trained with him on the dummies half an hour ago. He scored orange one.¡± Her words dripped disbelief.

    ¡°I only take the best into my service,¡± Theola replied calmly. ¡°Do you really wish to complain about that?¡±

    ¡°No ¨C of course not, my lady Mage, but ¨C I just don¡¯t understand. How it¡¯s possible for someone to be that good without having had professional training.¡±

    ¡°So you think that he¡¯s lying to me, lying to us all. You think he¡¯s hiding something.¡±

    ¡°Well ¨C yes.¡±

    ¡°And what would you have me do about it?¡±

    This wasn¡¯t what she was supposed to say. James felt a jolt of panic shoot through him, and focused on keeping his breathing steady and maintaining his invisibility. What was his way out, if Theola betrayed him? He didn¡¯t stand a chance against both of them in a fight, so he¡¯d have to¡­

    Stars. He wouldn¡¯t be able to escape, would he?

    ¡°Well,¡± Eleanor said, ¡°I would hardly dare to presume I could dictate your actions. But in your place, I would interrogate him. Find out who he really was and what he wanted with you. And the results of that would make the next steps clear, I imagine.¡±

    No. James couldn¡¯t let himself be taken alive. If they found out who he really was, what he knew, what he meant to Charles¡­ that would be catastrophic. He¡¯d have to ¨C

    He didn¡¯t know if he could do that.

    ¡°And if he is innocent?¡± Theola asked calmly.

    ¡°He won¡¯t be.¡±

    ¡°You seem very certain of that.¡±

    ¡°I trust my judgement.¡±

    ¡°More than you trust me?¡±

    James bit his lip to avoid letting out a sound, and wished he could simultaneously cast so that he could become silent as well as invisible.

    ¡°What ¨C what do you mean?¡±

    ¡°I trust Jacob Winter,¡± Theola said. ¡°With my life. If you have more credible evidence than what you currently present, I would be delighted to see it ¨C but for now, kindly let me sleep.¡±

    James found himself wishing that Theola¡¯s trust was not so terribly misplaced.

 Hiatus

    What the title says. Yeah. Sorry.

    In case I haven''t mentioned it already, my RL schedule is ridiculously busy, and I just don''t think I can sustain three weekly updates across two stories rn. I''m thinking of the thousand words I need to write in the next two and a half hours before I need to sleep to get the next update up on time and it just doesn''t really feel like where I should be focusing.

    And... this story has just been flowing way less naturally than Fallen Magic has. I think it''s because I don''t really have an idea of where it''s going next - I know approximately what the ending looks like but not much more than that, and it would help to take some time to plan and rediscover my inspiration for this story. Which I can''t do rn because, you know, no time.

    The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    RL will become less ridiculously busy in about three weeks, and after that I''ll take a little while to plan and build up a couple of chapters'' backlog. The aim is to resume updates in approximately a month.

    Sorry again, and thanks for reading!