Gerd too raised an eyebrow. “But they can’t go back to their homes.”
Eicewald nodded. “That’s right. I’m not saying I share her extreme methods of protecting her people, but nor would it be fair to say she kills everyone who comes to these islands.”
“What else did you teach her?” Astrid asked.
“Before I could teach her anything I had much to learn. I spent time studying her language, and once I’d managed to learn it, I began to teach her everything I knew about magic. During that time, I also taught her our language. Not only her, but also some of her Shamans, like Arrain. They were good times, I won’t pretend otherwise.”
“Good times?” Nilsa asked. “Weren’t you a prisoner?”
“Yes, but after a while they stopped treating me as that, and began to show more respect to me, as to any other Shaman of the tribe, only with a different appearance, and a different magic to their own. Uragh allowed me to live here, on this island, and it was an experience I treasure.”
“Did you become good friends?” Gerd asked.
“Yes. We spent a lot of time together, studying, learning and experimenting with our magics.”
“Friends, and something more than that …” Astrid added. She glared at the Mage like an inquisitor.
“What are you suggesting?” asked Ingrid, who had not caught on.
“Well, it’s clear enough,” Viggo pointed out. “They were lovers.”
“Lovers?” Nilsa repeated in surprise.
Eicewald was silent for a moment, looking up at the sky. “That was a very long time ago. I was young …” Then he nodded. “It’s true, Uragh and I … had a sentimental relationship.”
Lasgol wanted to be shocked by the fact, but for some reason he was not. It made sense.
“And you’re telling us about it now?” Ingrid demanded indignantly. “Didn’t you think that little detail was something we might need to know before we set off on this mission?”
“I didn’t think it was a significant detail.”
“Well, it’s about as significant as it can be!”
“For once I agree with Blondie here,” Viggo said. “It would’ve come in handy to know that trivial detail before we got into this mess.”
“It wouldn’t have changed what happened,” the Mage assured them.
“But it would’ve put us on our guard.”
Eicewald said nothing more.
Gerd was rubbing his chin in puzzlement. “But … I don’t get it. How can that be possible? The Queen’s still young. She can’t be older than twenty-five.”
“That’s true,” Nilsa said, and turned to Eicewald. “While you must be around sixty.”
“Uragh is no young woman of twenty-five, even though she might look like one. She’s like your friend.” He waved his hand at Camu. “She’s a special creature, with a special power. She must be more than five hundred years old.”
“By all the Ice Gods!” Nilsa exclaimed. “I’d never have imagined!”
Viggo nodded, with a lecherous look in his eyes. “Well, I find her most attractive, for her age,” he said ironically.
“You’d find a sea urchin attractive!” Ingrid retorted.
Viggo gave her his most charming smile.
“And as for secrets, we’re even. Nobody warned me that a Creature of Power from the Frozen Continent was traveling with us. And yes, it would have come in handy to know that beforehand.”
“We don’t reveal his presence, because he’s a special creature and attracts too much interest,” Lasgol explained.
“Of course, he attracts interest. He’s exceptional, and what he did was extremely interesting and worthy of study. If I had the time, and we weren’t in this complicated situation, I’d love to study him. Perhaps when we get back …”
“Perhaps,” Lasgol said. “But this isn’t either the time or the place.” He had no intention of letting anybody study Camu, least of all the King’s Ice Magi.
“If we get back,” said Gerd.
“We will get back,” Ingrid assured him.
Astrid was staring at the Mage. “Maybe the reason why Queen Uragh didn’t want to help us wasn’t lack of interest, but spite.”
“That’s right,” said Viggo. “When you parted, did you do it by mutual accord and on good terms? Or the opposite?”
Eicewald stared ahead, apparently lost in memory.
“It took me a long time to persuade the Queen to let me go back, to go on with my studies.”
“She might not have wanted you to leave,” Astrid said, “and when you did it, you broke her heart. And now she doesn’t want to help you because of that.”
“I don’t think so … Uragh is a very strong woman. Our parting left no mark on her. I’m convinced of that.”
“But you could be wrong,” Ingrid insisted.
“The heart of a woman is a mystery,” Viggo said. He was looking aside at Ingrid as he said this.
“And a jilted woman might have room for plenty of spite in it,” Astrid added.
Eicewald shook his head. “I don’t think that’s the case.”
“Let’s hope not,” Ingrid said. “Things are bad enough as they are without adding a jilted woman’s spite.”
“I don’t see our Mage as very … seductive, shall we say,” Viggo commented. “The opposite, if anything, however young and attractive he might have been then. No, I’m with him, I don’t believe we have this extra problem.”
Nilsa sighed. “Let’s hope not.”
“There are things you never forget,” said Astrid, who did not seem too convinced. “And one of them is a love story.”
Lasgol saw things more clearly now. “Do we understand that you parted on good terms?” he asked Eicewald, staring into his eyes, trying to resolve the question. “And the fact that Uragh doesn’t want to help us has nothing to do with what happened?”
“That’s how I understand it,” the Mage said, and Lasgol thought he was sincere.
“Well then,” Viggo said, “let’s accept that. Now what?”
“Now we wait for
