“Your words are just a distraction,” said the Shaman. “Wild Magic is a threat to human reason. To rationality itself. What’s coming has nothing to do with how we live, it wants to change all the rules and create a new world where humanity might not even be able to exist. I’ve felt the effects of Wild Magic during the long night. Seen its horrors close up. You weren’t here when the Darkwood came flooding over all the Land … or were you?”
“Was the Blue Moon really such a bad thing?” the Magus asked. “Look at all the heroes the Demon War produced. All the deeds of courage and self-sacrifice. Having a common enemy to fight against brought out the best in people. All right, a lot of people died, but people always die. For some people the long night was the making of them, a second chance they might never have found for themselves. Isn’t that right, Sir Vivian?”
Sir Vivian looked briefly at Cally, then looked away. “Things were clearer then,” he said thoughtfully. “You knew where you were. There was good and bad, light and dark … Our every decision took on mythical proportions. Everything’s been so confused since then. And the darkness did make heroes out of men who might otherwise have just stumbled through their lives, but the price was too high. No amount of heroes was worth all the innocents who died horribly at the hands of demons. The long night must never come again, while we have strength in our bodies to prevent it. No matter what it costs us.”
“King John would have shut down the Rift,” the Shaman pointed out. “He knew all about poisoned gifts.”
“Yes,” said the Magus. “He did, didn’t he? Such a pity he’s not here now. But then, all he ever really knew was how to die for his country. Not how to put things right.”
“You don’t talk about the King,” snapped Sir Robert, lurching forward to glare right into the Magus’ face. “You know nothing about him. He led us against the demons. He was a hero.”
“Only because he died,” said the Magus. “Heroes are so much more convincing when they’re dead. Mostly because it’s so much easier to forget the faults of the nobly fallen. Look at you, for example, Sir Robert. A hero in the Demon War and a savior of the Land, but what are you now? A minor functionary with a title that no one respects, chasing dreams of democracy. Relying on pills to wake you up, pills to get you through your day, and more pills so you can sleep at night. How far have you fallen, Robert Hawke? But you could still be what you used to be. Would you like that? Of course you would. Allow me to demonstrate, Queen Felicity, that the Wild Magic can be put to good use, as well as evil. Observe …”
He gestured grandly at Sir Robert, who bent over suddenly, convulsing and crying out in pain and shock as magic shot through his veins and exploded in his blood. All the drugs he’d dosed himself with over the years seemed to come shooting forth all at once as he vomited violently, his whole body shaking with the power of it. Sweat burst out of his pores, smelling rank and acid, as all traces of his drugs left his body by the quickest route. Everyone before the Throne drew back to give him plenty of room as the unpleasant purge proceeded. At the end he was on all fours before his Queen, wiping at his wet mouth with a shaking hand, feeling and smelling absolutely foul, but clear-eyed and sharp-minded for the first time in a long time. He was still panting roughly with the strain of what he’d been through as he rose slowly to his feet, but all his old authority and command was back in his voice as he glared at the Magus.
“What have you done to me?” he demanded.
“What you didn’t have the strength of will to do for yourself.” The Magus gestured casually and all the foulness Sir Robert’s body had thrown out was suddenly gone. “The unpleasantness is only fleeting, I assure you. You are now pure in body, if not in spirit, and all your old strength is yours again. What will you do with it, I wonder? Well? Aren’t you going to say thank you?”
“I don’t know,” said Sir Robert. “I haven’t seen the price tag yet. Is this a gift, or a bribe?”
The Magus shook his head sadly. “Still so cynical. Perhaps a further demonstration is in order to show what wonders the Wild Magic can perform. Let me turn back the clock for you, right before your eyes. Let me make whole again what time has broken. Observe.”
He clapped his hands once, and Sir Robert’s old comrade in arms, Ennis Page, was suddenly standing beside him. Old before his time, trembling in every spindly limb, Page blinked confusedly about him, and then cried out as Magus gestured sharply. The years fled Page’s face in a moment, and his body filled out into the muscular bulk of his prime. The bones in his back cracked loudly as he straightened up for the first time in years. His eyes were sharp and clear again, his mouth firm, all the confusion swept from his thoughts like so many clinging cobwebs. His old sword hung from his hip, and he looked quickly around the Court with his old warrior’s clarity. Sir Robert saw his old friend returned, and his heart was so full, he thought it would burst. He tried to say something to Page but was stopped with a look.
“Explanations can wait,” Page said crisply. “Just point me at the villains.”
“Hell,” said Sir Robert, grinning fiercely. “Just pick a direction.”
They laughed briefly together, two fighting men in their prime again, ready for anything.
“You see?” said the Magus mildly. “This is what the Wild Magic can do, to heal as well as change. The Wild Magic is a thing of wonders and miracles as well as darkness.”
“No need to bother with the sales pitch,” said Sir Robert. “We’re convinced.”
“Then you must stand with me,” said the Magus. “Stop these people from trying to close down the Rift. I am very powerful, but even I need someone to guard my back. I can’t be everywhere at once, so I require allies. Heroes such as yourself and Ennis Page. You know I’m right, Sir Robert. Your politics, your dreams of a better future for all, derive from the Rift. If the Queen forces its closure, everything you believe in will be lost to you forever.”
Sir Robert looked at him for a long moment. “What do you want me to do, sir Magus?”
“Stop anyone who tries to stop me.”
“You mean kill them?”
“If necessary, yes.”
“Starting with the people here? Sir Vivian and the Questor, and Cally?”
“I can handle the magicians,” said the Magus. “Surely you and your friend can handle the others. Or is your reputation merely legend after all?”
Sir Robert looked at Ennis, who shrugged easily. “I haven’t got a clue what’s going on here, Rob. You decide and I’ll follow.”
“Just like old times,” said Sir Robert. He turned to the Magus. “And if I won’t do what you want? If I decide I must follow my heart and my conscience, as I have always tried to do? What then, sir Magus?”
“Then you should consider that what the Wild Magic has given, it can also take back.”
Sir Robert smiled mirthlessly. “Somehow I just knew you were going to say that. That’s all you understand, isn’t it, sorcerer? The carrot and the stick. Reward with one hand and threaten with the other. You’d have made a fine politician, sir Magus. But this isn’t a time for politics. If you’d appealed to my patriotism, asked me to defend the Rift for the good of the Land and its people, I might just have gone along with you. There’s a part of me that’s really missed being a hero. But you don’t understand about things like heart and conscience, do you? All you understand is threats and power.
“Well, thanks to you I’m the man I used to be, and my mind is wonderfully clear. And I say to hell with you. The Wild Magic is, was, and always will be a threat to everything that men of good will hold dear. I lived through the long night while many of my friends and comrades did not. I’ll do whatever it takes to stop the Blue Moon coming round again. If the Rift really is doing what the Shaman claims, it’s a sword hanging over all our heads. Shut it down, Magus, or we’ll make you shut it down. And to hell with your gifts and your threats.”
“That’s my old Hawke,” said Ennis Page. “I’m a little confused as to how much things hav
e changed while I was not myself, but the present situation seems clear enough. Typical sorcerer, thinking it all comes down to power. A soldier knows better. A man either has his loyalty and his honor, or he is not a man. The Throne is the Throne no matter who happens to be sitting on it, and I have sworn my life to defending it from all enemies. And especially from vicious little shits like you, Magus. So take back your gift if you wish, sorcerer; but you’d better be bloody quick with your spell, or I swear I’ll hang on long enough to spill your tripe on the floor.”
“Damn right,” said Sir Robert. “We’re Prince Rupert’s men, and no one messes with us and lives to boast of it.”
“Ah, well,” said the Magus. “It was worth a try.”
“How dare you?” thundered the Queen, and the cold, fierce fury in her voice drew all eyes back to her. “How dare you treat my people like this, sorcerer? They are my subjects, under my protection, not your playthings! Threaten harm to any one of them again, and I’ll—”
“Oh, shut up,” interrupted the Magus. “Or I’ll do something amusing to you.”
And in that moment of unchecked temper he lost whatever influence he might have had. Chance, Sir Vivian, and Cally moved quickly together to form a living shield between the Queen and the Magus. Chappie crouched before them, growling fiercely at the sorcerer. Sir Robert and Ennis Page drew their swords. Tiffany raised her hands in a gesture of summoning. The Shaman raised his hands, too, while the Creature crouched beside him, flexing his claws. The Magus considered them all and smiled tiredly.
“You never learn, do you? What is steel and conjuring and numbers against the Wild Magic? You have no idea of what I am and what I can do. What I have had to do in years gone past. I have seen things that would blast the reason from your eyes and done things you would never dare to consider, even in your worst nightmares. I am the Magus, and only I know what is truly necessary. I have come a long, hard way to reach this place and this time, and I will not see my long-laid plans thwarted by a few small-minded people. You know nothing. You are nothing. I am the Magus, and I will do what I will do.”
Tiffany drew her power about her, and it snapped and crackled on the air as she rose up above the Magus. Lightning flashed about her hands as she hung high in the air, then the Magus looked at her and all her rising magic was snuffed out in a moment, like a doused candle flame. She fell out of the air like a stunned bird, and Chance was quickly there to catch her. The impact drove them both to the floor, and Tiffany clung to Chance, wide-eyed and shaking, all her power ripped from her in a moment. The Magus laughed softly.
“Poor little Tiffany. So sure in her power that she never thought to wonder where it might be coming from. Ever since you came to the Castle, little witch, you have been channeling another’s power. You’re quite gifted in your own right, and someday you might be powerful indeed. But right now you’re just another witch, and I always knew there was no way you could wield the power you showed without burning yourself up in the process. Only a sorcerer could have driven the killing shadows from the Court that day. Once I realized that, it was easy to uncover the hidden link connecting you to the Mother Witch of your Academy. The sorceress who founded it and runs things from her hidden cell. It was her magic you were channeling, all unknowingly, and now that I have severed that link, you’re just another witch. And your little magics aren’t nearly enough to stop a creature like me. So be a good little girl and sit this one out. Or I’ll hurt you.”
Chappie was suddenly there, standing defiantly between Tiffany and the Magus, showing all his teeth in a terrible grin. “Don’t touch her, you bastard.”
“Oh, please,” said the Magus. “I don’t have time for this.”
“I swore to protect her,” said Chappie. “And I will. To get to her, you have to get past me.”
“I have always found you a very tiresome animal,” said the Magus. “Pets should know their place.”
A bolt of black lightning blasted from his hand, only to fade away to nothing before it could get anywhere near the dog. Chappie laughed nastily.
“I’m the High Warlock’s dog, idiot. You might wield magic, but I am magic. And now I’m going to bite your balls off.”
“What an edifying spectacle to come across in a Royal Court,” said Duke Alric. “You really have let things go to the dogs, Felicity.”
Everyone looked around sharply as the Starlight Duke walked slowly toward them. Behind him the double doors stood wide open, and a small army of soldiers filed quickly through, fanning out past the Duke to take up strategic positions covering the whole Court. There were dozens of them, all wearing Forest uniforms, but they all looked to the Duke of Hillsdown for their orders. By the time they were all in, they filled half the Court, swords and axes at the ready in their hands, silently watching the Duke as he made his painful way across the Court to confront his daughter, the Queen. He stopped a respectful distance short of the people clustered before the Throne, and ignored them all to fix his daughter with a steady gaze. The creaks and shiftings of his metal and leather bracings sounded loud in the strained quiet of the Court.
“You see, Felicity?” asked the Duke. “I told you it would come to this. You’re not in control anymore. Even your closest defenders squabble amongst themselves. These armed men were once your soldiers, but now they are mine. They’re all mercenaries, you see, serving the Forest Throne for money, not loyalty, and I have made them a substantially better offer.”
“You’ve turned my own people against me?” the Queen asked.
“They were never really yours. A mercenary will always go where the money is. And they’ve rather lost faith in your ability to pay them. So I am now taking over for the good of everyone. I never intended to launch an invasion from outside the Forest Kingdom. Far too many people would have died—on both sides. No, I came here into the hands of my enemies and simply waited for the right moment. And now my newly bought army will put me into the seat of power with a minimum of bloodshed. Get off that Throne, Felicity. I need to sit down. My back’s killing me.”
“Not all my army are mercenaries,” said the Queen. “Most are still loyal to the Throne and to me.”
“By the time they discover what’s happened, it will all be over,” said the Duke easily. “And I will be installed as the new King of the Forest and Hillsdown. Technically I’ll just be Regent here, ruling in Stephen’s name until he comes of age, but it all amounts to the same thing. I shall rule here and make the Kingdom strong again.”
“The people will never accept this,” said Chance. “They’ll never accept you.”
“Which people?” queried the Duke. “The Forest people or the Hillsdown immigrants or the Redhart communities? They might have risen up in support of Harald, that hero of the Demon War, but not, I think, for a foreign-born Queen. In the end the people will do what the army tells them. And the army will follow whoever’s in charge. That’s their job. Of course, certain subversive elements will have to be purged from my army; there are always a few fools determined to be heroes or martyrs. But my mercenaries will weed them out quite efficiently. A few mass public executions should make my position quite clear. And after that, things will go on as they did before for most people, and they will learn to do as they’re told by a strong King. Bring the child forward.”
One of the soldiers came to stand beside the Duke. In his arms he carried a sleeping child, his small form wrapped in a blanket, and the Queen cried out and half rose from her Throne as she recognized the child.
“Stephen! That’s my son! What have you done to him?”
“Calm yourself, daughter. And sit down. You don’t want to make my mercenaries jumpy, do you? That’s better. The child is fine. Do you think I would harm my own grandson? He’s just been given a little something so he’ll sleep till this is over.”
“But I left him guarded! How … ?”
“The gentleman at my side with my grandson in his arms is called Snare. My very own personal magic-user. Not actually a sorcerer, b
ut well on his way. I brought him here disguised as just another soldier, and no one noticed. He killed your guards with a single spell and took your son away. And now he guards Stephen against any physical and magical attempt to retrieve him. Stephen is mine now, and I will raise my grandson to be a real King. A true ruler of the Forest and Hillsdown, united again into one great country as it was always meant to be.”
“You didn’t do such a good job of raising your daughters, did you?” asked Cally. “They all turned against you in the end. What makes you think you’ll do any better with a boy?”
“I have learned from my mistakes,” said the Duke. He looked coldly at Felicity. “You couldn’t protect Stephen; that in itself is enough to prove you are not worthy to be Queen. You should have had all my people checked out for hidden treachery. Did you really think I would deliver myself into the hands of my enemies unprotected? You’re not fit to rule, Felicity. It’s as simple as that. I will silence all the squabbling in your Court and put an end to all this democracy nonsense. Power belongs to those strong enough to take and hold it. My grandson will be King, and by the time he comes into his power, I will have seen to it that his enemies are dead.”
All the people before the Throne, who had been at each other’s throats only moments before, now stood shoulder to shoulder facing the Duke, united in a common cause against a common enemy. Whatever their varying beliefs, causes, or intentions, none of them had any intention of bowing down to the Starlight Duke. Everything else could wait. A few quick looks among them was all it took to confirm that, but politician that he was, Sir Robert still felt the need to put it into words.
“This is our Court and our Land, Duke Alric, and we will all fight to the death in their defense.”