The Magician’s Apprentice

“About twenty.”

Surely it won’t be enough. Not against the strength of thousands. But then he realised that if Takado thought his army wasn’t a match for the Kyralian army, strengthened by its people, he wouldn’t be attacking again.

Dakon looked at Tessia. “The king has said that if we lose this battle, apprentices should leave Kyralia.”

She opened her mouth to protest, but Dakon lifted a hand to stop her.

“The Sachakans will kill you all. Your only chance is to seek safety in other lands. Then, perhaps, you might work towards winning back Kyralia in the future.”

She closed her mouth and nodded. The crowd had quietened now, and everyone turned towards the king.

“People of Kyralia,” Errik began.

As the ruler addressed the crowd, in a speech similar to the one he’d made on arrival, but full of thanks and praise, Jayan’s attention strayed to the small group of Elynes standing nearby. They looked relaxed and unworried. Some of them looked bored, though the leader was watching King Errik with thoughtful attentiveness. Dakon had told him that Ardalen’s method had been no revelation to the Elynes.

I wonder what other magical tricks they’ve known all along that we haven’t yet discovered? Could they be persuaded to share them with us? Perhaps in exchange for being part of a magicians’ guild? He glanced at Tessia. Does she really think it’s silly?

Suddenly everyone was cheering. Jayan joined in.

“Tonight Sachaka will learn to fear the people who once feared them,” the king shouted. “Tonight the Sachakan empire ends for ever!”

More cheers followed. The king jumped down from the cart, Sabin following. As he strode forward, magicians began to follow. Dakon paused to look at Tessia. She patted his arm and shooed at him. Then she looked at Jayan and her eyes narrowed.

“I’ll be watching,” she told him, barely audible over the noise.

Then she hitched an arm in Mikken’s and led him away. Jayan quashed a sudden flare of jealousy and hurried after Dakon as the magicians of Kyralia started towards the edge of the city, and their last chance to defeat Takado and his allies.

CHAPTER 40

Tessia wasn’t able to take Jayan’s advice at first. Once the magicians had passed, the crowd fell in behind and she was carried along with it. Her arm slipped out of Mikken’s and when he looked back at her anxiously she waved to show she was fine. Whenever she could, she resisted moving left towards the river side of the road, and took every opportunity to move right, where the land sloped upwards.

Soon the last of the city buildings slipped by and the crowd was moving past the slum houses and makeshift shelters of the poor and homeless. Tessia finally made it to the edge of the crowd. As she stepped out of the tide of people, she joined a thick wall of spectators. Back towards the city, she noticed a group dressed more finely than the rest, and then her heart skipped a beat as she recognised them.

The healers, she thought. And Kendaria!

Her friend had seen her, and was beckoning. Weaving and dodging between the spectators and the edge of the moving crowd, Tessia made her way back. A few of the healers nodded to her politely, but they said nothing. She saw one lean close to another and whisper something, and they both stared at her with narrowed eyes.

“Apprentice Tessia,” Kendaria said, shouting over the noise. “What is going on? Why are the people leaving the city?”

“Probably to watch the battle,” Tessia shouted back. “Which is not a good idea. They should stay inside. Keep their distance.”

Kendaria grimaced. “Can’t stop people being curious. Where are you planning to watch from?”

Tessia smiled. “Jayan recommended I go up there somewhere.” She pointed uphill. “Near the palace. Can I get there from here?”

“Sure, but you’ll have to cut through the slums. Can I come with you?”

“Of course.” Tessia looked at the other healers. Kendaria glanced at them, then shrugged.

“Don’t worry; they don’t care where I go.” She hitched a hand through Tessia’s arm. “Let’s go.”

The makeshift shelters were a disordered, confusing maze, but Tessia kept heading uphill, keeping a globe of magical light hovering above them. She was surprised to see how many people were here, either unaware or not caring that a battle to decide their future was about to take place close by. Many looked too sick to care. Some were drunk, slouching or staggering about, or asleep. At one point they stepped over a dead man lying across a gap between shelters. She exchanged several looks with Kendaria, each time seeing that the woman was as dismayed as she by what they encountered. Some day I’ll come back here and try to help...

At last the number of shelters began to thin and the slope grew steeper. Twenty or so paces past the last, collapsed shelter, Kendaria turned.

“Do you... think... this will do?” she panted.

They were still nowhere near the palace. Tessia stopped and looked back. “I think it will.”

The slums, road and land before the city spread before them. The crowd had spilled out on either side of the road, stretching from the edge of the river in a widening arc that reached up the slope of the hill, in front of the shelters. Lamps had been set around the entrance to the city. Beyond it was the Kyralian army, now split into groups of seven magicians and moving out to form a line.

Several strides further away was the Sachakan army. It was two-thirds the size of the Kyralian one. To most of the people watching, this would appear to put the advantage firmly on the Kyralian side. But the group of newcomers to the Sachakan army had been making its way, unresisted, through the south of Kyralia, strengthening itself as it came. Who knew how powerful they’d become?

But we have the strength of all these people, she reminded herself. Surely that will be enough.

Lights floated above the two armies, creating two pools of brightness. Two figures moved from the Kyralian side towards the enemy. Tessia recognised them as King Errik and Magician Sabin.

From the opposite side a lone figure stepped forward. She narrowed her eyes, then felt a chill as she recognised Takado. A memory of him leering at her flashed into her mind. Thinking of the harm he had done since that moment, she knew she had been very lucky. Not just to find the magic in herself to push him away, but that he hadn’t been able to risk killing her at that moment.

Oh, but I wish I had killed him, instead of throwing him across the room. I would have hated myself for doing so, not knowing that he planned to invade Kyralia, but it would have saved us so much death and pain.

With the thought came anger and for a moment she imagined herself down there, throwing the final strike at Takado. The one that reduced him to ashes, or shattered all the bones in his body. She shuddered then, repelled by her own imaginings.

How can I think about wounding and killing, when what I most want to do is heal people and save lives? She sighed. I guess I have a bit of the fighter in me after all.

“What do you think they’re saying?” Kendaria asked.

Tessia shrugged. “Pointing out their strengths and the other’s weaknesses? Calling each other names?”

“Swapping threats, I suppose.”

“Yes. That sort of thing. Perhaps inviting the other side to surrender.”

Abruptly a flash of light shot from Takado to King Errik. A moment later the air began to flash and vibrate. A sound like thunder echoed over the hillside, forming a constant rumble as the last boom never quite fell silent before the next. Through the dazzling streaks of light, Tessia saw Errik and Sabin step calmly backwards, rejoining their group. Tessia recognised Dakon among them.

Suddenly her heart was racing with fear. The apprentices hadn’t witnessed the last two battles, instead keeping safely out of the way. She had been full of impatience and frustration at not knowing what was happening. But now she almost lamented that ignorance. Now, if Dakon or Jayan died, she would see it, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to.

Jayan! Where is Jayan? She began looking for him.

“The crowd is having second thoughts,” Kendaria observed.