The Fire Mages' Daughter by Pauline M. Ross Page B

sure that I was. “There is no problem. Something… took me by surprise, that is all.”
    She nodded, and slid the sword back into its scabbard, but she stayed close to my side as we made our way back into the village.
    Ly-haam regained his composure quickly. We had barely passed the first clava when he smiled and said, “You forgive, I hope. The lake is… special to us. The island… that is where our children go to be made into adults.”
    “And where you were made into a god, I presume?”
    A half smile. “It is forbidden for those not of our blood to enter the water.”
    “We will respect your customs, of course. I will tell my people to keep away from the lake.”
    A broader smile. “You will want to rest for a while. I will show you and your friends to your sleeping places. Then we will meet again at supper.”
    We were given two large clava which Jayna immediately designated as the men’s tent and the women’s tent. I could see her point. Vhar-zhin and I could hardly monopolise one tent while everyone else squeezed into the other, nor did I want to send half the guards back to the fortress. We were evenly divided in gender, so it was a sensible compromise.
    While my bodyguard was examining my small sleeping place for hidden assassins, I said to her, “Cryalla, you were raised in a village, weren’t you? How does this one strike you? Is it typical?”
    “Oh no, nothing like a normal village. Usually there’d be animals everywhere – goats and chickens outside, pigs and oxen in barns. Maybe cattle in the fields. And fields – nothing is grown here. No children, either. No one going back and forth to the lake for water. Just – no one about. This place gives me the creeps.”
    “Hmm. Interesting. But maybe there are no goats and such like because of their own beasts. Although we’ve seen none of those, either.”
    “They’re close by, though,” Cryalla said. “Wolves, anyway.”
    “Oh. You’ve heard them?”
    “No, I…” She looked self-conscious. “I hope this doesn’t sound too weird, but I have an affinity for wolves. My parents were hunters in the summer, and spent a lot of time in the deep forest, so we saw wolves all the time. I’m… aware of them, if you like. There are three wolves nearby, I can tell.”
    “Within the camp?”
    “Perhaps. Yes, I think so. And I’ve seen several eagles flying overhead, and this is not eagle territory. They usually live in high mountains.”
    “There are crows, too,” Vhar-zhin put in. “Sitting on top of the tents. Just sitting. Watching us.”
    “As Ly-haam is watching us. And as we are watching him .”
    ~~~~~
    For two whole suns we watched Ly-haam and his people, and they watched us. He talked a little to Vhar-zhin, and more to the mages, who fascinated him. He asked them endless questions about their magic, which of course they couldn’t answer. Not from secrecy, but because it was a process passed to us by our ancestors which we used without any understanding of how it worked. The spells were written in books, the methods for using them were taught to strict rules, as were the procedures for enhancing paper, ink and quills for scribing spellpages. There was no scope for originality.
    “So any person can be a mage?” he asked. “There is no special talent needed?”
    “Anyone can be a scribe and write spellpages,” Jayna said. “Mages need to have some awareness of the magic. But the process is taught. It is not an innate ability.”
    “So you could teach me?”
    “Only if you can read and write. The spells have to be written.”
    “Even for mages? I have heard that mages can just…” He waved his hands about, fingers waggling.
    “Thought mages can apply the spells by thought alone, it is true. Or by reciting the spell, with the proper intonation. But it is still a written spell, at heart. And it takes five years of learning – with books – before anyone could even think about becoming a mage.”
    He grinned at her. “May I