The Traitor Queen

clothes cupboard, then got back into the bed.

Sonea dressed quickly, and gulped a few more mouthfuls of raka before slipping out of Regin’s rooms. Moving in with him had been her way of stopping the rumours that she and Regin were lovers. It wasn’t a rumour any more when it was an obvious fact. She was sure Lilia was enjoying having rooms all to herself. Anyi visited now and then with Jonna’s help, disguised as a servant. The Guild had finally removed the problem of the underground tunnels by having them filled in. Though she checked on Lilia regularly and monitored her progress, it was more out of concern that Lilia wasn’t completely recovered from everything that had happened to her.

After all, she killed someone with black magic. That isn’t as easy to live with as most would think, even when your victim was a bad person.

A door opened further down the corridor. Recognising Lady Indria, Lord Telano’s replacement, Sonea waited for the woman to catch up.

“Any idea what this is about?” Indria asked.

“Not yet.” Sonea smiled. “How are you settling in to your new role?”

Indria shrugged. “It’s both harder and easier than I expected. I’ve been teaching for years, so I understand teachers’ complaints and needs. But there are so many records I didn’t have to deal with before.”

Sonea chuckled. “Yes. The only advice I can give is that you get yourself an assistant or three.”

“I will.” As they stepped out of the Magicians’ Quarters, Indria glanced around. “It doesn’t help that Telano left everything in such a mess,” she added in a low voice. “I guess he stopped caring. Have you got any closer to finding a cure for roet?”

Sonea shook her head. “No.”

Indria sighed. “These things take time. How are the hospices?”

“Full of addicts in withdrawal. Some responding to Healing, some not. Thankfully, those magicians resistant to roet have automatically healed, so we only have to deal with the forty or so who can’t.”

They discussed the ongoing roet problem as they walked through the garden. Reaching the front of the University, they saw Osen, Balkan and Kallen standing beside a carriage, and another carriage waiting behind. Osen looked up, saw them and beckoned.

“There’s room for you in here Lady Indria,” Osen said. “The rest have gone ahead. We’ll take the other.”

As Indria climbed inside, Osen led the way to the second carriage. Once they were all inside and the carriage began moving, Sonea looked at Osen and raised her eyebrows. He met her gaze and shook his head.

“No, I don’t know exactly what this is about, but the King’s Adviser assured me there is no invasion and Lorkin is fine.”

Sonea smiled. They’re afraid I’ll go rushing back to Sachaka at the slightest sign of trouble. Still, it is good to know this isn’t anything to do with him.

“Have you read Dannyl’s research notes yet?” Kallen asked the Administrator.

“I’m halfway through.” Osen’s eyebrows rose. “They’re actually rather fascinating, especially the Duna’s stories. I’m looking forward to reading the whole book, once he finishes and prints it.”

“He’ll have to write a new chapter on the Sachakan Civil War and magical gemstones first,” Kallen said.

“And I have a feeling there’ll be another chapter to add after that,” Balkan added.

Osen’s eyes narrowed at the High Lord. “Are you still worried about minestrike and that contraption the king’s spy says they have in Igra?”

“The ballshooter.” Balkan nodded. “Dargin thinks it is what enabled the Igrese priests to conquer all their neighbouring lands.”

“More likely the Igrese magicians weren’t very powerful or skilled,” Osen replied. “I can’t see how a ball sent through a tube can threaten a magician, if he or she is shielding well enough.”

“I suspect it works much like Lilia’s innovative idea of stabbing with magic rather than using a knife when performing black magic. A focused force sent quickly enough will overcome all but the strongest shield.”

“The spy said there’s little chance an Igrese army would survive a desert crossing,” Kallen reminded him. “And we know they do not have black magic or gemstones.”

As Balkan shook his head, Osen turned to the window and rolled his eyes. “It’s not the Igrese I’m worried about,” Balkan said. “The minefire the Thief Cery used was unlike the usual—”

“We’ll have to leave that argument to another time,” Osen said, turning back from the window. “We’ve arrived.”

The carriage slowed to a stop, and the door opened. Osen gave a little sigh of relief as Balkan stepped out. He, Kallen and Sonea followed. They were in a small courtyard within the palace where magicians were taken when the king wanted to avoid the delay of formal greetings. The other carriage was pulling away and the occupants had already disappeared inside.

A palace attendant ushered them through a door and into a sumptuously decorated hall, then led them along a corridor to a dining room. Sonea had eaten here a few times before, along with other Higher Magicians, sometimes as a guest of the king, sometimes in order to meet important foreign visitors. Today the chairs were occupied only by the Higher Magicians and four of the king’s non-magician advisers. Rothen smiled and nodded as she saw him seated at the end of the table. As she, Osen, Balkan and Kallen took the four unoccupied chairs a man strode into the room and all rose to their feet.

“Your majesty,” Osen began.

The king waved a hand. “Sit. You have important decisions to make, and knowing how quickly magicians make decisions you’d best get started without delay.” Sonea suppressed a smile at his dry tone. He moved to the end of the table and planted his palms flat on the surface.

“Yesterday the new Sachakan Ambassador arrived. As you know, she is a black magician – or, as she calls it, a higher magician. As you also know, her not being a member of the Guild makes her a rogue magician. So her presence here means two of our most serious laws regarding magic are being broken right now.

“So, either I send her home or we change our laws.”

He paused to look around the table, meeting each magician’s gaze.

“I do not intend to send her home, so we had better change our laws. That is what you are here for. You’ve been arguing about this for months, and it is time you came to an agreement. Between yourselves and my advisers, before the end of the day, you will draft new laws that will allow foreign, non-Guild magicians to live and trade here legally and with effective, workable restrictions. Those restrictions must regulate both the use of black magic and the possession of magical gemstones. Your predecessors had good reason to fear black magic, but we need a better method of control than banning it.

“It has also been pointed out to me that gemstones put magic into the hands of non-magicians, and we don’t want them hearing about the Igrese and deciding to rid the Allied Lands of magicians. Though I think it is unlikely they’d succeed, I do not want to deal with a civil uprising. We must have some kind of regulation of gemstones, even if only to prevent the Thieves from getting hold of them. The rise of the Rogue Skellin should be a warning to you: we must keep magic out of the underworld.

“I also expect that these laws will go some way toward improving the behaviour of Guild magicians. It is clear from the corruption roet has revealed in the Guild’s ranks that some magicians aren’t immune to vice and profiting at the expense of others. It is time their excesses and activities were curtailed.”

The king straightened. “You have a lot to discuss, so I will leave you to it. Bring me a summary of your progress at midday.” He pausing for a last look around the table, then turned and strode out of the room.

All were quiet, listening to the king’s footsteps fading in the background, then Osen cleared his throat and looked at the advisers.

“If it is acceptable, I will lead the discussions.”

The advisers nodded. As Osen started to speak, Sonea felt an unexpected sadness. And so everything changes again. Just like after the Ichani Invasion, when we knew we had to accept black magic as our only form of defence, and restore the Guild by taking in lower-class novices. There were so many unforeseen consequences, like the Thieves battling each other and the city overtaking the slums. We can try to make laws that control the changes that magical gemstones and an alliance with Sachaka will bring, but they will have effects we don’t anticipate.

All they could do was try. And, for her part, attempt to ensure that when Lorkin returned to Kyralia, even if