Bronze Magic (Book 1) Read online

  Stormaway offered him another sip of wine but this time, as the wizard retreated to the other side of the path, the guard made a sudden lunge at him. In the space of an eye blink, the wizard’s shield was up, but by then the young man had already relaxed back against the tree trunk again.

  Stormaway frowned as he released his shield, “What was that all about?”

  Danton gave a satisfied, unnerving smile. “I wanted to see the colour of your magic. If I had asked you, you might have lied.”

  “So you have established that I have green magic. Well done,” said Stormaway with heavy irony. “So may we now return to the point of this discussion which is to establish why you are here?”

  “It was not I who deviated from it.” The guard considered Stormaway for a long time. Finally, he said, “I don’t know how to say this to keep myself safe. I think you’re protecting someone and if you know I’m looking for him, you may kill me to protect him.”

  “Why would you think I was protecting someone?” Stormaway asked quietly.

  “Because of your connection to him, for one thing.”

  Tense silences punctuated these verbal manoeuvres as the two men fenced carefully with each other.

  “I have connections with many people. Any other reason?” asked Stormaway, trying to sound puzzled.

  Danton drew a deep breath, obviously aware that he was on very thin ice. “There was a storm earlier today. Nearly all day, actually. It ended this afternoon with a pyrotechnical display that would take your breath away.” Danton’s eyes didn’t leave the wizard’s face. “One stream of magic was green, the other was bronze.”

  “More wine?” asked Stormaway, stalling for time.

  “Thank you.” When he had been fed another sip, Danton continued, “Bronze is a very unusual colour for magic, isn’t it? In fact, I know of only one person who has it. Don’t you?”

  Stormaway conceded the battle but not the war. “What do you want with His Royal Highness?”

  “I would remind you that I am not on the king’s business.”

  “So you say,” said Stormaway tersely. “But neither are bounty hunters on the king’s business. Not directly, anyway.”

  “This is where this becomes difficult.”

  “Oh, so it hasn’t been difficult up til now?”

  Danton shook his head. “Not really. Oh, it’s been difficult looking for him. I’ve been trying to find him for weeks now. But this conversation hasn’t been difficult until now. We’ve been fencing but I already knew the prince was here somewhere. No, the hard part will be getting you to trust me so that I can see him.”

  “Go on. Why should I trust you? And why do you want to see him?”

  The young man wriggled uncomfortably against the tree. “I don’t suppose you would consider untying me?”

  “What do you think?”

  Danton grimaced, “No. I wouldn’t untie me if our roles were reversed. So, back to your question. Why should you trust me? You see, that is exactly what I meant about this being hard. I am his friend, but how can you know that? I want to see him again to tell him that I remain his friend if he needs me,” he shrugged, “and even if he doesn’t need me.”

  “Your cause has not been helped by Andoran and Sargon.”

  “Why?”

  “They tried to take His Highness back for the bounty.”

  The young man’s purple eyes widened. “No! Those bastards! I can’t believe they would stoop so low.”

  The wizard’s voice was bleak. “I can assure you they did. They tied his hands behind his back, just as I have done to you, and force-marched him through the forest, belting him across the head any time he faltered.”

  “How dared they?” The young man was clearly upset. “I knew nothing of this. I left Tormadell on the same day as the prince and I have been trying to find him ever since he disappeared.”

  Stormaway raised his eyebrows. “Indeed?”

  “Yes. Indeed!” snapped Danton. “So is he all right after all that? How did he escape?”

  “He has recovered but he was badly hurt during his escape from Andoran and Sargon.” Stormaway shook his head. “And I’m afraid I can’t tell you how he escaped. Otherwise it may be one less chance he has next time.”

  “Well, he’s going to be very wary after that, even of me.” Danton sighed. “Never mind.” After a moment, he looked squarely at the wizard. “Wizard Treemaster, obviously you are in contact with him. Could you just let His Highness know that not everyone has abandoned him? Certainly I haven’t, and there are other friends of his who would still be waiting for him if he could ever come back.” The young man wriggled again. “I have travelled a long way and a long time to see him but perhaps that won’t be possible. Still, at least I know the prince is still alive and that he has received my message. Will you promise to tell him I came to see him?”

  Stormaway nodded gravely.

  “One more thing. Since you are clearly protecting His Highness, what relevance do these wolves have to his safety? I would be honoured to serve him in whatever way I can.”

  The wizard gave him a considering stare before saying slowly, “I do not believe that they are a direct threat to him. They are merely of interest to him.”

  “I see,” said Danton stiffly, interpreting this answer as a refusal of his offer. “In that case, there is no more to be said. While I am thankful that Prince Tarkyn has your protection, I can only hope that your strict guardianship of His Highness does not isolate him completely.” When the wizard did not respond, Danton gave a small shrug. “So be it. Now to practicalities. Are you going to let me go and send me on my way? I can promise not to say where I found you. In fact, I can promise to say I didn’t find you at all but after Sargon and Andoran, I suppose I might as well save my breath.”

  “We will not be here for long, anyway,” said Stormaway. “So it is of little consequence. However, it would be better if no one knew the prince was in the forest.” The wizard stood and gave a slight bow. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, please?”

  The guardsman’s mouth twisted into a crooked smile. “I can’t see that I have much choice.”

  The wizard lifted a wry eyebrow in response, as he headed out of the stand of beeches at a right angle to the way he had come in. Then he skirted around until he came to stand beside Tarkyn. “Do you know him?”

  “Of course I do!” exclaimed Tarkyn. “We grew up together. He’s my closest friend. At least he was until I met Waterstone.”

  “I’m glad you added that rider,” said Waterstone lightly, coming up silently behind them. “I might have had to kill him otherwise.”

  “You still might have to,” replied Tarkyn, tension in every syllable.

  Waterstone regarded his friend. “This changes things, doesn’t it? So what are we going to do?”

  Tarkyn shrugged. “I don’t know. I couldn’t hear what he said.”

  “Sorry.” The wizard filled the prince in on the contents of the conversation.

  Tarkyn shook his head. “Much as I would like to believe him, how can we trust him?” He gave a knowing smile. “Whatever his motives, there is no way he’s just going to return meekly to Tormadell, if he has been searching all these weeks and now knows I’m nearby. I know him. He gave up too easily.”

  “What’s he doing now?” asked Stormaway.

  Tarkyn connected briefly with the eagle owl. “He’s surreptitiously scanning the nearby trees. He knows someone will be watching him. So he’s making no move to escape.”

  “You don’t sound as though you trust him much,” observed Waterstone.

  Tarkyn glanced at him, “I don’t know whether I trust him or not. But I certainly don’t trust him to play it straight when he finds himself far from help, at the mercy of someone he doesn’t know.”

  Waterstone smiled wryly. “I admit one does not necessarily reflect on the other. I don’t think I’d be playing it straight in that situation either.”

  “Oh, for pity’s sake!” exclaimed Tarkyn
, his voice full of anguish. “What am I going to do? What are we going to do? That is my friend in there. It’s one thing to talk about ulterior motives to friendships when they’re all far away. It’s quite another to abandon someone who, as far as I know, has stood by me and is right here in front of me.”

  “What do you want to do about him?” asked Waterstone gently.

  Tarkyn ran a hand through his hair. “I want what I can’t have. I want him to come back with us and sit around the fire and tell us all about what he’s been doing.” The prince began to pace back and forth. “But, obviously, that can’t happen.”

  He stopped dead and looked Waterstone straight in the face. “I really don’t think I could countenance having him killed, any more than I could have allowed Stormaway to be killed by the oathless woodfolk.”

  Waterstone smiled wryly. “I’m relieved to hear you say that. I would have strong doubts about our friendship if I thought you could turn around and order your friend’s death only weeks after last seeing him.”

  Tarkyn looked much struck. “Oh. I didn’t see it like that. So you understand my dilemma.”

  “Tarkyn, no one wants to kill him.” Waterstone frowned. “I sometimes wonder what you think of us. Woodfolk don’t kill everyone who comes near them. The forest would be littered with corpses if we did that. We fade away to avoid the need.”

  “Yes. You may fade away, but I don’t. And that presents a dilemma”

  Waterstone shrugged, “As long as you are forewarned, you can levitate so that you don’t leave tracks. You can hide in trees or brambles nearly as well as we do. Just a minute. Let me fill in the other two.”

  When the woodman came back into focus, Stormaway said, “Regardless of your disappearing skills, I think His Highness is right. This man is going to dog our footsteps until he gets what he wants. He will be a constant thorn in our sides.”

  Suddenly, Autumn Leaves and Thunder Storm were in their midst. “The owl can see better than we can in the dark anyway,” said Autumn Leaves casually.

  Everyone carried on as though they had been there the whole time.

  “If you spoke to this guard,” asked Thunder Storm, “would he go away then?”

  Tarkyn considered the matter. “I don’t really know. It may depend on what I say to him and on his motives. But I do know he definitely won’t go away until I do.”

  Autumn Leaves suddenly went out of focus for a few moments. “That was Running Feet. They wanted to know what was happening. Just a minute.” He went out of focus again. When he returned, he was looking quizzical. “A group of them …”

  “Which group…?” interrupted the prince.

  Autumn leaves waved a hand. “Worry about that later. I don’t think it’s relevant at the moment.”

  Tarkyn experienced a rush of outrage that his question should be dismissed so lightly. He quelled it as quickly as it came but Stormaway and the three woodmen paused to stare at him.

  “I beg your pardon, Your Highness,” said Autumn Leaves stiffly. “I should have given your question more consideration.”

  Tarkyn looked uncomfortable. “No, you shouldn’t. You know the issues as well as I do. I trust your judgement. It was just a matter of old habits dying hard.” He gave a wry smile, “I’m sorry my feelings interrupted. Go on.”

  Autumn Leaves glanced quickly around the faces of the other three and received a slight nod from Waterstone. Reassured, he continued, “They were wondering whether this sorcerer might be of some use in the upcoming rescue mission at the encampment.”

  The other four were thunderstruck.

  “He did offer to help with the wolves,” said Thunder Storm slowly.

  Stormaway waved an impatient hand, “Yes, but that was expressly to protect Tarkyn.”

  “No, it wasn’t,” said Tarkyn. “He meant what he said. He would be honoured to serve me in any way I asked…assuming he is true.” He smiled at the sceptical looks on the woodmen’s faces. “I know. Alien territory for you, but true nevertheless… But I can’t see how it would work. Even if I asked him to undertake the rescue mission on his own or with me, he would still end up seeing the captured woodfolk. Where does he stand then?”

  The three woodmen looked at each other then back at Tarkyn. Waterstone spoke for them, “This is uncharted territory for us. Possibly hundreds of sorcerers have now seen these woodfolk. We can’t kill them all – or at least, we won’t.”

  A little chill shot down Tarkyn’s spine at the casual deadliness of the woodfolk. However, he didn’t let it distract him. “But we don’t even know whether we can trust him,” he objected.“He might have come from that encampment himself.”

  “We can check that out easily enough. Someone can backtrack his trail and see where he’s come from,” said Thunder Storm.

  Tarkyn frowned. “Danton will have been careful not to leave tracks. He’s an elite guard, after all.”

  The woodmen all looked at each other again. “And we are woodfolk. We can track anything,” said Thunder Storm.

  “As long as it stays on the ground,” conceded Waterstone, quashing the competitive air that was developing.

  “You can’t track back over weeks’ worth of travel, anyway,” objected Stormaway. “If he has come from the encampment, and wanted to disguise his intentions, he will have approached from a different direction. You can be sure of that.”

  “We could use mind control on him,” suggested Autumn Leaves.

  The prince thought for a long minute, and then he shook his head regretfully. “No. I know it’s a good idea but I can’t allow you to subject Danton to losing his free will like that.”

  “Oh come on, Tarkyn,” said Autumn Leaves in exasperation. “He’s lost his free will already, sitting there with his hands tied.”

  The prince looked at him. “Autumn Leaves, there is a huge difference between physically containing someone and invading their mind. As far as I’m concerned, using mind control is on a par with scanning someone’s memories without their permission.”

  When Autumn Leaves seemed unconvinced, Tarkyn continued, “Imagine if that were Waterstone sitting there, surrounded by sorcerers who considered him a threat, would you want me to order Stormaway to have unlimited, un-negotiated access to his memory?”

  Autumn Leaves glared at him. “No. Of course I wouldn’t. But Stormaway can be very specific about what he asks. Anyway, would you risk the safety of all of us for the sake of a small scruple?”

  Tarkyn stared at him then turned and paced up and down. He tuned in to the owl for a minute to watch his erstwhile friend. In the filtered moonlight between the trees, he could just make out the guardsman sitting uncomfortably against a spreading beech tree. Danton’s head was resting back against the trunk and his eyes were closed.

  Finally Tarkyn turned back to Autumn Leaves and said, “No, I would not risk your safety. I would find another way to keep you safe that did not require me to violate my friend’s trust in me.”

  “Stars above, you’re annoying sometimes!” exclaimed Autumn Leaves.

  Tarkyn spread his hands, “I’m sorry. I know you don’t agree with me but I couldn’t look Danton straight in the face if I had countenanced the use of mind control on him.”

  Autumn Leaves gave him a grudging smile, “No wonder your integrity galvanised the oath. Oh well. What’s our next move then?”

  Tarkyn shrugged, “I can go and talk to him. But what will I say?”

  “Whatever it is, it will have to be true,” Autumn Leaves rolled his eyes, “You wouldn’t be able to lie convincingly even if we did talk you into it.”

  “That’s what I’m worried about. The first thing he’s going to ask me is who is with me.”

  Waterstone smiled, “You can just freeze him out as you did Stormaway.”

  “I can’t just freeze him out when he’s just spent four weeks looking for me.” The prince sent an apologetic glance to the wizard. “I wouldn’t have done it to Stormaway, had I known what else to do.”

 
; “Just say to him that Stormaway is with you and there are no other sorcerers or wizards nearby, as far as you know.”

  Tarkyn brightened. “I can say that in all good faith, although” he glanced at Autumn Leaves, “it is giving the wrong impression.”

  “No, it’s not,” said Autumn Leaves firmly. “We are not wizards or sorcerers and don’t want to be, for that matter.”

  Tarkyn refused to be baited. “Then what?”

  “Then we lead him into a trap,” rumbled Thunder Storm with a note of satisfaction in his voice.

  The prince started in alarm. “You what? What sort of a trap?”

  Waterstone frowned and spoke severely. “Tarkyn, will you please get it out of your mind that we’re planning to kill him? We don’t need a trap to do that. We could have killed him any time in the past hour.”

  “Sorry, I’m being silly.” Tarkyn drew a breath. “Okay. Let me think. You want to see if he’ll betray himself, or more particularly, me?”

  “Exactly.” Waterstone reached up and put a hand on the young sorcerer’s shoulder. “Don’t worry. We are all working together on this. We are not going to knock off your friend unless…” The woodman shrugged, “…actually, I can’t think of a situation where we would kill him. Even if he went berserk and started trying to kill you or any of us, we’d just knock him out and disappear.”

  “So what do you want me to do?”

  “Spend the night with him, Sire,” said Stormaway. “Here. You’d better take this.” The wizard handed him a warm, light brown cloak. “I’ll be coming with you. He will expect that. I have some food and drink here. But I might need a bit more to give us enough to get convincingly drunk with.” Thunder Storm nodded and went out of focus. “I will pretend to drink myself into a stupor.Then when you go to sleep, we’ll see what he does.”

  Tarkyn looked around at them all. “And will I go to sleep or just pretend?”

  Waterstone shrugged. “It’s up to you. There will be many of us watching all through the night. Even if he put a knife to your throat, we could knock him out with a slingshot.”

  “And if he put his shield up?”