The High Lord

'The one who helped you, in the beginning?'

'Yes,' he said quietly. He paused, and looked away. 'I loved her.'

Sonea blinked in surprise. Akkarin and the slave girl? He had loved her? He had loved another? She felt a growing uncertainty and annoyance, then guilt. Was she jealous of a girl who had died years before? That was ridiculous.

'Dakova knew it,' Akkarin continued. 'We dared not touch each other. He would have killed us if we had. As it was, he enjoyed tormenting us any way he could. She was his... his pleasure slave.'

Sonea shivered as she began to understand what that must have been like. To always see each other, yet never be able to touch. To watch as the other was tormented. She could not imagine what Akkarin had felt, knowing what the girl endured.

Akkarin sighed. 'I used to dream about her death every night. In my dreams, I tell her that I'll distract Dakova so she can get away. I tell her I'll stop him finding her. But she always ignores me. She always goes to him.'

She reached out and touched the back of his hand. His fingers curled around hers.

'She explained to me that the slaves considered it an honor to serve a magician. She said the slaves' sense of honor made their life easier to bear. I could understand that they might allow themselves to think that way when they had no choice, but not when they did have a choice - or when they knew their master intended to kill them.'

Sonea thought of Takan, of how he had called Akkarin 'master,' and of the peculiar way he had handed the Ichani knife to Akkarin across his upturned wrists, as if he was offering something more than the blade. Perhaps he was.

'Takan has never stopped thinking that way, has he?' she asked quietly.

Akkarin glanced at her. 'No,' he said. 'He could not let go of a lifetime of habits.' He paused to chuckle. 'I think in the last few years he persisted with the rituals just to infuriate me. I know he would never go back to that life willingly.'

'Yet he stayed with you, and would not let you teach him magic.'

'No, but there were practical reasons for that. Takan could not join the Guild. Too many questions would have been asked. Even if we invented a past for him, it would have been difficult for him to avoid those lessons that involve mind sharing. It would have been too risky to teach him magic secretly. If he had returned to Sachaka, he would not have survived unless he knew black magic. I don't think he trusted himself with that knowledge, in that place. In Sachaka, there are only masters and slaves. To survive as a master, he would need his own slaves.'

Sonea shuddered. 'It sounds like an evil place.'

Akkarin shrugged. 'Not every master is cruel. The Ichani are outcasts. They are the magicians the King has banished from the city - and not just for being overly ambitious.'

'How did the King make them leave?'

'His own powers are considerable, and he has supporters.'

'The Sachakan King is a magician!'

'Yes.' Akkarin smiled. 'Only the Allied Lands have laws preventing magicians from ruling, or having too much influence in politics.'

'Does our King know this?'

'Yes, though he does not understand how powerful the Sachakan magicians are. Well, he does now.'

'What does the Sachakan King think of the Ichani invading Kyralia?'

Akkarin frowned. 'I don't know. If he knew of Kariko's plan, he would not have liked it, but he probably believed it would never work. The Ichani were always too busy fighting each other to think of forming an alliance. It will be interesting to see what the Sachakan King will do when he has a neighboring land ruled by Ichani.'

'He'll help us?'

'Oh, no.' Akkarin laughed grimly. 'You forget how much Sachakans hate the Guild.'

'Because of the war? But that was so long ago.'

'To the Guild it is. The Sachakans cannot forget, not with half their country a wasteland.' Akkarin shook his head. 'The Guild should never have ignored Sachaka after it had won the war.'

'What should it have done?'

Akkarin turned his head and gazed at the mountains. Sonea followed his eyes. Only a few days before, they had been on the other side of that jagged line.

'It was a war between magicians,' Akkarin murmured. 'There is never any point in sending armies of non- magicians against magicians, especially magicians who use black magic. Sachaka was conquered by Kyralian magicians, who promptly returned to their rich homes. They knew the Sachakan empire would eventually recover and become a danger again; so they created the wasteland to keep the country poor. If some of the Guild magicians had taken up residence in Sachaka instead, freed the slaves and shown that magicians can use their powers to help the people, the Sachakans might have been guided toward becoming a more peaceful, free society, and we might not be facing this situation today.'

'I see,' Sonea said slowly, 'but I can also see why it never happened. Why would the Guild help ordinary Sachakans when they don't help ordinary Kyralians?'

Akkarin regarded her speculatively. 'Some do. Dorrien, for instance.'

Sonea held his gaze. 'Dorrien is an exception. The Guild could do a lot more.'

'We can't do anything if nobody volunteers to do it.'

'Of course you can.'

'Would you force magicians to work against their will?'

'Yes.'

His eyebrows rose. 'I doubt they would cooperate.'

'Perhaps their income should be reduced if they don't.'

Akkarin smiled. 'They would feel they were being treated like servants. No one will want their children to join the Guild if it means they must work like commoners.'

'No one from the Houses,' Sonea corrected him.

Akkarin blinked, then chuckled. 'I knew you'd be a disruptive influence the moment the Guild proposed teaching you. They ought to be grateful I took you away.'

She opened her mouth to reply, but stopped as she realized Dorrien was approaching. He was riding a new horse and was leading two others.

'They're not the best,' he said, handing them the reins, 'but they'll have to do. Magicians all over the country are hurrying to Imardin, so the supply of fresh horses at rest-houses is dwindling fast.'

Akkarin nodded grimly. 'Then we must hurry or the supply will run out.' He moved around to the side of a horse and swung up into the saddle. Sonea hauled herself up onto the other horse. As she slipped her other boot into the stirrup, she watched Akkarin closely. He had called her a disruptive influence, but that didn't mean he disapproved. He might even agree with her.

Did it matter? In a few days there might not be a Guild, and the poor would discover there were worse things to endure than the Purge.

Sonea shivered and pushed that thought from her mind.

The corridor of the Magicians' Quarters was almost as busy as the University at midbreak, Dannyl mused. He walked with Yaldin past knots of magicians, their wives, husbands and children. All were discussing the Meet.

As Yaldin reached the door to his rooms, the old magician looked up at him and sighed.

'Come in for a cup of sumi?' he asked.

Dannyl nodded. 'If Ezrille doesn't mind.'

Yaldin chuckled. 'She likes to tell people I'm in charge, but you and I - and Rothen - know better.'

He opened the door and ushered Dannyl into his guestroom. Ezrille was sitting in one of the chairs, dressed in a gown of shimmering blue material.

'That was a quick Meet,' she said, frowning.

'Yes,' Dannyl replied. 'You are looking beautiful today, Ezrille.'

She smiled, the skin around her eyes crinkling. 'You should come home more often, Dannyl.' Then she shook her head. 'With manners like yours, I'm amazed you still haven't found yourself a wife. Sumi?'

'Yes, please.'