The Novice

“I don’t know. Perhaps the rivalry was good for us.”

“Good for us?” Lorlen gave a short laugh. “Good for you. Believe me, there was nothing good about second place. Next to you, I may as well have been invisible - at least when it came to the ladies. If I’d known we’d both end up bachelors, I wouldn’t have been so jealous of you.”

“Jealous?” Akkarin’s smile faded. He turned away to stare at the horizon. “No. Don’t be jealous.”

The reply was so faint the Administrator wondered if he had really heard it. Lorlen opened his mouth to ask why he shouldn’t be, but Akkarin’s gaze had slid to the ruined Lookout.

“How are Davin’s plans for the Lookout going?”

Sighing, Lorlen put aside the question and turned his mind back to Guild matters.

By early afternoon, Dannyl and Tayend had left the last of Capia’s shabby outer homes behind. Farms and orchards covered the hills with squares of different greens. Occasionally a patch of newly turned soil added a splash of red-brown to the pattern.

Their horses plodded along at a comfortable pace. Servants had gone ahead to announce their arrival at the first stop, the home of Tayend’s sister. Dannyl drew in a deep breath and sighed contentedly.

“It is good to be travelling again, isn’t it?” Tayend said.

Dannyl looked at his companion in surprise. “You’re actually looking forward to it?”

“Yes. Why shouldn’t I?”

“I’d thought our last journey had put you off travelling.”

Tayend shrugged. “We had some unpleasant experiences, but it wasn’t all bad. This time we’re staying inside the borders of Elyne, and on solid ground.”

“I’m sure we could find a lake or a river with boats to hire if you start to feel our trip lacks that feeling of adventure you craved.”

“Snooping around in other people’s libraries will be adventure enough,” Tayend said firmly. He looked into the distance and narrowed his eyes. “I wonder which Dem has the books we’re after.”

“If any of them do.” Dannyl shrugged. “For all we know, Akkarin could have visited a Dem somewhere else, and travelled to the mountains for a completely different reason.”

“But where did he go afterward?” Tayend glanced at Dannyl. “That’s what intrigues me the most. We know Akkarin went to the mountains. After that there is no mention of him. Not in the city records, nor in people’s recollections. I doubt that he could have slipped back into Capia in secret, and it was several years before he returned to the Guild. Did he stay in the mountains all that time? Did he travel along them, north or south? Or did he go through them?”

“Into Sachaka?”

“It would make sense. The Sachakan Empire wasn’t old enough to call ancient, but it was a highly magical society - and he may have discovered references to even older cultures.”

“We have plenty of material in our libraries about the empire,” Dannyl said. “But I doubt there is much left to find in Sachaka. What the Guild didn’t take after the war, it destroyed.”

Tayend’s brows rose. “That was nice of them.”

Dannyl shrugged. “It was a different time. The Guild was newly formed, and after the horrors of the war the magicians were determined to prevent another. They knew that if they allowed the Sachakan magicians to keep their knowledge of magic, there would be never-ending wars of vengeance between the two countries.”

“So they left it a wasteland.”

“Partly. Beyond the wasteland there is fertile soil, farms and towns. And Arvice, the capital.”

Tayend frowned. “Do you think Akkarin went there?”

“I’ve never heard anyone say that he did.”

“So if he visited Sachaka, why did he keep the fact to himself?” Tayend paused, thinking. “Perhaps he spent all those years researching the Sachakan Empire and found nothing, and was too embarrassed to admit it. Or,” Tayend smiled, “perhaps he spent the time in idleness and didn’t want to admit that - or he did something the Guild would not approve of - or he fell in love with a young Sachakan girl, married her, and vowed never to return, except that she died, or left him and he—”

“Let’s not get too carried away, Tayend.”

Tayend grinned. “Or perhaps he fell in love with a young Sachakan boy, and was eventually found out and expelled from the country.”

“This is the High Lord you’re speaking of, Tayend of Tremmelin,” Dannyl said sternly.

“Does it offend you that I suggest such a thing?” There was a hint of defiance in the scholar’s tone. Dannyl met Tayend’s gaze levelly.

“I may be digging up a little of his past to aid my research, Tayend, but that does not mean I have no respect for the man, or his position. If he would be offended, or his position was threatened by speculation, then I would discourage it.”

“I see.” Sobering, Tayend looked down at his reins.

“But even so,” Dannyl added, “what you suggest is impossible.”

Tayend smiled slyly. “How can you be so sure?”

“Because Akkarin is a powerful magician. The Sachakans expelled him? Ha! Unlikely!”

The scholar chuckled and shook his head. He was silent for a while, then he frowned. “What will we do if we learn that Akkarin did travel into Sachaka? Will we go there, too?”

“Hmmm.” Dannyl turned to look back down the road. Capia had disappeared behind the undulating hills. “That depends on how much time it takes me to perform my duties as Guild Ambassador.”

When he had heard Errend groaning about his coming biyearly tour of the country, Dannyl had offered to take his place, thinking it would be an ideal opportunity to leave Capia and continue his research without raising questions about shirking duties. Errend had been delighted.

To Dannyl’s dismay, he had learned that the journey would wind about the entire country, that he would be required to spend weeks in places where there were no private libraries, and that he wouldn’t be leaving until summer. Impatient to start, Dannyl had persuaded Errend to arrange the trip earlier, but there was no way he could omit any of the destinations from the schedule.

“So what exactly will you be doing?” Tayend asked.

“Introducing myself to country Dems, checking on magicians, and confirming magical potential in the children the King will be sending to the Guild. I hope you won’t find it all very boring.”

Tayend shrugged. “I get to snoop around private libraries. That’s worth ten journeys. And I get to visit my sister.”

“What is she like?”

Tayend’s face lit up with a bright smile. “She’s wonderful. I think she worked out I was a lad long before I did. You’ll like her, I think, though she has a way of getting to the point that is quite disconcerting.” He pointed down the road. “See that row of trees on the hill ahead. That’s where the road to her property begins. Let’s move on. I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry!”

As Tayend urged his horse into a trot, Dannyl felt his own stomach rumble. He looked ahead at the trees Tayend had indicated and nudged his mount’s flanks with his boots. Soon they were turning off the road, riding beneath a stone arch and starting toward a distant country mansion.

Returning to the library after her evening lesson, Sonea noted the shadows under Tya’s eyes.

“Did you stay much later last night, my lady?”

The librarian nodded. “When these deliveries come in, I have to. There’s no other time to sort them.” She yawned, then smiled. “Thank you for staying back to help me.”

Sonea shrugged. “Are these boxes for the Magicians’ Library, too?”

“Yes. Nothing too exciting. Just more textbooks.”

They picked up a stack of boxes each and made their way through the passages. Lord Jullen’s eyebrows rose as Sonea followed Tya into the Magicians’ Library.

“So you’ve found yourself an assistant,” he remarked. “I thought Lorlen refused your request.”

“Sonea has offered her time of her own choosing.”

“Shouldn’t you be studying, Sonea? I should think the High Lord’s novice would have better things to be doing