bone, the feeling coursed through him, too much to ignore, yet somehow too undefined to merit the aversion it produced.
He shook his head in annoyance. The rat suddenly halted in midstride and looked nervously back to its hiding place. Alodar frowned with renewed concentration and slowly started the enchantment. He stared at the rat as he spoke, trying to bore past the gleaming eyes into the small mind behind. He completed the first recital and the rodent did not move; during the second it resumed its cautious tread forward.
Alodar began the third. Although his mouth seemed filled with cotton, and nausea bubbled up from his stomach, his pulse quickened when the barrier suddenly gave way. In a rush, he felt himself drawn into the small confusion of the rat's mind, tasted its hunger and felt the sharp edge of its fear. For a moment he paused, marveling at what he had done, but the growing discomfort forced him to continue his task. He frowned deeply and then carefully separated the pulsing emotions from his own. Like a potter at his wheel, he massaged the simple thoughts and reshaped them, rounded the corners of the apprehension to a smooth pebble and tickled the stomach to growl all the more.
Alodar unstuck the last word from his throat and the rat did not bolt away. With trusting eyes it sat placidly on the planking and curled its tail about its legs. The uneasy tug at Alodar's innards continued for a minute more but then began to fade. He sighed with relief, knowing that he had succeeded and the worst was over. He marched the rat, stiff-legged like a child's doll, towards the illusion of the cheese at his feet. When the twitching nose was within inches, he released control of the limbs and let the rodent pounce on the imagined feast of its own will. The rat showed no concern for Alodar's presence; with a vicious bite, it snapped its jaws on empty air. Alodar felt the upwelling of simple anticipation in the rodent's brain and carefully stimulated the tongue and stomach to make each gulp a savory delight. In a moment the phantom morsel was completely devoured, and the rat again curled its tail in contentment. Alodar watched for a second and then suddenly took away the cloak that sheltered the fear. The rodent started and quickly scampered back into its hole.
'You must maintain eye contact at all times, Alodar,' Kelric said over his shoulder. 'Had you not laced yesterday's bait with that sedative, the rat would have broken away when you faltered. And the discomfort you felt was nothing compared to what it would have been if the charm was not completed.'
'I will gradually reduce the dose,' Alodar said. 'In a few days more, I will be able to enchant a rat as well as one who does not have the benefit of alchemy. And by working up gradually, I think I progress far faster than otherwise.' He bent down and picked up the crumb of cheese he had dropped nearby. 'It is the same with the illusions. By starting with a real sample, I can make them more realistic with far less effort. The drain of the vital force made me hesitate, but without the aid of thaumaturgy I would have been unable to get both the glamour and the enchantment finished together.'
'Oh, you are progressing well enough without such aids,' Kelric growled. 'Your mind is quick and there is no reason not to proceed as I did in my youth.'
'It is my training as a thaumaturge that provides the edge,' Alodar said. 'Without some measure of cunning, one cannot aspire to be a master.'
'Yet sorcery is not learned by wit alone,' Kelric warned. 'It takes dedication as well.' He paused and scratched his side. 'Although I must admit, I find no fault with you there. You have labored hard and indeed are further along than I thought possible in such a time.'
'The perseverance comes from alchemy,' Alodar replied.
'And the precision with which you speak the charms?' Kelric continued in mild annoyance. 'Do you have a craft for that as well?'
'Magic.' Alodar laughed. 'The rituals would not complete if not correctly performed.'
Kelric shook his head and stroked his chin in thought. 'The crafts have always been so separated,' he muttered. 'Perhaps there is some profit in intercourse between them.'
'Regardless of that, my concentration is now totally on sorcery,' Alodar said. 'What next must I learn of the fundamental charms before I advance to ones more potent?'
'You have yet to show mastery of the simple illusions for dumb beasts without the fancy shortcuts,' Kelric said. 'And believe me, those must be second nature to you before you can profitably continue. You should rest and try again with the rodent tomorrow.'
Alodar frowned and started to protest the delay but a last rumble of his stomach changed his mind. 'You are right. I can tolerate no more, at least for today. I will go topside to clear my head.'
Kelric nodded in agreement. 'And I shall attend the queen in your absence,' he called after Alodar. 'Perhaps some lady of the court will lower her guard and let me look her in the eye.'
Alodar slowly climbed the companionway to the main deck, pushing his thoughts of Kelric and sorcery aside. He pressed on the hatch and frowned as he had to shove with his shoulder to pry it open. With a forceful crash, it slammed shut as he let go. He reached for a line nearby to steady himself in the gusts that lashed the deck.
The motion of the barge as it plowed through the waves was even more apparent than it was below. High walls of spray rained over the bow. Ever so often the line between water and air seemed high above the tightly wrapped spars that tilted madly with the wind.
Alodar bowed his head and stomped purposefully to the rail amidship to join a solitary figure that was peering out over the churning sea.
'A bit rough today,' Alodar greeted Grengor as he reached his side.
'Yes, that it is, master Alodar,' Grengor replied drawing his hood closer about the wide face and stubble of beard that protruded from it. 'Everyone below is packed together like fortune cards but no one complains. Not even the ones who must guard the sorcerer from the south. The discomfort is far less, they judge, than enduring the wet and cold up here.'
Alodar nodded and looked out over the rail across the water. 'I cannot see any of the fleet in these waves and spray,' he said.
'Long ago, each has furled sail and shipped oars to ride out the storm. We will be leagues apart when it blows over.'
'And no nearer Arcadia either I wager,' Alodar said. 'This wind from the south blows us farther from king Elsinor with each minute.'
'Perhaps so, master,' Grengor said, 'but the same wind batters any enemy wargalleys out here as well.'
Alodar grunted in reply and then both men lapsed into silence, drawing their cloaks about them and exposing little save then1 eyes to the lash of wind and wave. As they watched, the broad bow nosed down under the wall of water which broke over it, and spray bounded across the deck to strike Alodar in the face. He and Grengor retreated aft as the bow sluggishly rose and the wave rolled underneath.
The ship plunged over the back of the wave and met the overtopping crest of the next one low in the water, shuddering as the shower pounded the deck. This time both Grengor and Alodar were pelted where they stood. The ship began to right itself with agonizing slowness, barely coming up to level as the wave slid past.
Alodar turned to Grengor with a question in his eye. By his small experience, the barge at first had seemed a city afloat, but the tremble and groan as the ship steadied for the next pitch upward put in perspective how small they were in the fury of the storm. He arched his eyebrows in surprise as Grengor returned his glance. He expected to see the condescending smile of the experienced sailor, but saw instead a set jaw and eyes alive with concern.
The next wave hit the barge and a cascade of water skittered the length of the deck, spiraling past their boots and drenching their cloaks to their knees. Again the water tumbled off in giant falls to the side, but Alodar held his breath as he waited for the bowsprit finally to break through to clean air.
He looked all about the deck, expecting to see that only he, Grengor and the helmsman were insane enough to be about. He saw instead a head emerging from a hatchway near the forecastle. In a moment, another figure was on deck and Alodar wrinkled his brow in puzzlement. The wind and water howled as before, but no cloak protected the newcomer and his pole axe of shining steel. With a somewhat halting step, he lumbered past, not even acknowledging the small nod that Alodar threw his way.
'One of Feston's men, no doubt,' Grengor said. 'Too disdainful to return even the slightest courtesy to someone not of his faction.'
'It is of no importance, Grengor,' Alodar said as he stared at the figure retreating past them and climbing the ladder to the poop deck. 'Such slights might have angered me greatly a year ago, but now I give them no thought.'
