Emperor Mage (26 page)

She had
the oddest dream. She was Zek, and the world was hug. Kitten, who to Daine was
the size of a medium-tall dog, looked like a three-horn to the marmoset. He
watched the dragon sleepily from the bed as she walked to and fro on the floor,
talking to herself. He could tell she was worried, but not about what,

Then a
section of the wall that was farthest from him swung open with a sound.
Zek/Daine leaped from the bed, and hid underneath. Kitten whirled, turning
orange with fright, as the Emperor Mage came in, a solid black crystal in his
hand. He lobbed it gently at the dragon. It shattered on the floor without a
sound, filling the air with smoke. When Zek could see Kitten once more, she was
frozen in place, unmoving.

Ozorne
knelt in front of her and drew a hank of thin, black cord from the pouch at his
belt. Swiftly he unrolled it and bound Kittens muzzle and paws, tying the two
ends together when he was done. When he let go of the cord, it shone green,

then
vanished completely. Kittens eyes closed, and she collapsed into the emperors
arms.

Ozorne
pointed to the door; green fire left his finger, spreading to cover the
opening. He then waved to someone in the hole in the walL Slaves came,
gathering up Daine s things. "Be certain you take aU of her
belongings," he instructed quietly. "Not a single hairpin must
remain."

Zek,
wits made sharp by exposure to Daine, looked around. There was no place under
the bed to hide if they looked there, and there was magic on the main door. He
didn't know what lay beyond the opening in the wall, but in any event the
emperor was between him and it. He peered at the corner near the windows. A
cloth hanging was on the wall. Above it, near the ceiling, he saw a rectangular
opening: an air vent.

The
emperor's face appeared under the foot of the bed. "There you are."
Fire collected at his hand, and lashed forward.

The
time to think was past. The marmoset raced from under the bed, scrambled up the
hanging. Emerald fire lashed the cloth below. It burst into flame. Zek jumped
into the vent and found himself in a long, dark tunnel not much bigger than he
was. Turning, he saw that the tunnel ended nearby in an opening with a fine
screen over ic no escape that way.

"Where
are you, little rat?" he heard Ozorne

say.
Zek fled down the long end of the tunnel, into

the
palace depths.

Daine
continued to dream after that, funny images that had little in common with the
dreams she was used to. She wondered if she ought to complain to whoever was in
charge of these things, but Gainel, the Master of Dream, was not one of the
easily found gods. With no one to protest to, she paid attention once more to
the dreams.

Guards
formed a square around the Tortallans, marching them to a waiting ferry. Alanna
walked grim-faced behind the covey of clerks, eyes watching everywhere. Duke
Gareth, Lord Martin, and Gareth the Younger kept their heads together,
whispering urgently. Harailt gripped one of Numair's arms, talking fast as he
half trotted beside the much taller man. Daine wondered at the look on Numair's
face. His nostrils and lips were white-rimmed; his eyes blazed. His unfastened
robe spread behind him like black wings.

The
scene changed. She was in the immortals' menagerie,
 
watching
  
as
 
Ozorne
 
himself
 
gently placed the
sleeping Kitten on a giant cushion inside a cage. Next to it, flesh-eating
unicorns looked on
       
i with eyes
that blazed hate

The
next dream was an entire play set in a cramped shipboard cabin. It glowed in
the corners with sparkling fire, shielding against eavesdroppers.

Harailt,
Gareth the Younger, and the clerks were absent. Lord Martin and Duke Gareth
were side by side on one of the bunks, watching Numair on the other. Lindhall
was also present, Bonedancer the lizard-bird on his shoulder; he looked deeply
worried. In her dream, Daine was mildly surprised to see that Bone was still
awake. She noticed, fascinated, that his empty eye sockets followed each
speaker*

"Impossible,"
Lord Martin said curdy. "Our duty is to return home and warn the
king."

"She's
one of ours" retorted Alanna, The Champion leaned against the wall, fisted
hands thrust deep into her breeches pockets. "That letters a forgery—it must
be. He's keeping her somewhere, and using it as a pretext to end the talks and
declare war.

Duke
Gareth looked at her, eyes sad. "We cannot prove that, my child. Neither
can we help Daine; we must warn the country. As it is, Tortall will stand alone
against him. By announcing it before the foreign ambassadors, he made certain
they believed his proof that Daine conspires against him. As far as our allies
are concerned, u* caused the talks to fail."

"You
can warn Tortall, then, and the king" Numair said quietly. "I won't
leave without her."

"We
never should have brought that child," snapped Lord Martin. "I knew
it would be trouble!" Standing, he approached the door. "Let me
pass," he ordered. A hole appeared in the magic; he opened the door and left.
Once he was gone, the fire sealed the room tightly again.

"Arram,
there is more at stake than any girl, even this one." LindhalTs
absentminded air was gone. "The information passed to you—contacts, new
routes for the slave underground, conspirators' names—it must go north, now,
before the borders are closed by war. We may have to get the prince out in a
hurry if the emperor begins to suspect him, and the only way to do it safely is
to have aU prepared on your end."

Numair
shook his head "I don't care. Someone else can take the information to the
king."

The
Champion whirled and slammed both fists into the wall. "I hate not doing
something!" she cried. "I bate itf I want to go back there and—"

The
lizard-bird leaped from his perch on Lindhall, flapping clumsily across the
room to land on Alanna's shoulder. He ran his beak through her hair, trying to
comfort her. "Go away, you old Bone," she whispered, but her heart
wasn't in it.

"You
cannot, my dear," Duke Gareth said, his voice filled with pity. "We
are going to war. Your place is at home with tne &mg anofnis armies."

Alannas
eyes brimmed with tears; she turned away from the men.

"Numair^
if you choose to remain, I cannot

stop
you—you are too great a mage," the duke said. "Please think, then.
The emperor is mad, but not stupid. He knows you wouldn't leave Daine here. My
concern is that he has planned for just that eventuality."

Numair
and Lindhall exchanged looks. "I'm aware of the danger. Your Grace,"
Numair said quietly. "I have taken precautions. They may be enough. Ozorne
has trouble believing in his heart that anyone else has more of the Gift than
he does, even when his mind knows there are more powerful mages. I can use that
to fool him, As for the knowledge of the prince s conspiracy—"

"Give
it to me," Alanna said curtly. "It's the least I can do." She
handed Bonedancer to Lindhall. Numair looked at the duke, who sighed and
nodded. Getting up, the tall mage went over to Alanna and placed his fingers on
her temples. Black fire sparkled where they touched.

Daine
would have liked to view more, but the dream was pulling her away, and her head
ached.

The
dream headache turned into a real one as she awoke. Putting up a hand to shield
her eyes from s Ijght-gjobf overheat), Daine found that she was stiff in places
she hadn't known could get stiff. Arms and fegs aAke were s(ow to respond as
she sat up and put her feet on the floor.

Here
was a strange thing—she sat on the floor, The bed on which she lay was only a
thickj>ad covered with a blanket. A stack of clean, fresh clothing

lay
next to thepad.

As her
eyes got used to the light, she realized that she was someplace totally
unfamiliar. The room was a box; its white plaster walls, floor, and ceiling
were bare of any ornament. Three skins of liquid and a napkin bundle rested
beside the pile of clothes. The skins contained water, the napkin stale rolls
and grapes. A wooden bucket sat in the corner, she assumed for use as a privy.

Fear
chilled her. The door had no handle or knob. Running her fingers along the
frame as high as she could reach, then down to the floor, she sought a lock or
latch without success. She stripped off the clothes soiled in the aviary and
put on the clean garments. It didn't escape her attention that they were her
own things. She ate the rolls and fruit greedily and could have eaten more. How
long had she been asleep? How long would it be until someone let her out?

Did
anyone mean ever to let her out?

She
searched the room, seeking locks, vents, or anything else. Only plaster met her
fingers. A year earlier Numair, telling her of his captivity before he'd
escaped to Tortall, had said there were rooms under the palace that canceled
magic, used from within them or from without. If she was in such a room,
Numair, Alanna, and Harailt might seek her with their Gift and never find her.
And what about her dreams?
 
Had they
been true?
 
Where her friends still in
Carthak?

By then
she was trembling. She was caged. "I want out," she whispered. The
room was stuffy. She tried to fill her lungs, without success. With no vents,
she might run out of air. The walls drew closer. In a moment she would stretch
out both arms and be able to touch them— "No!" she screamed, slamming
into the door. "No/ No/"

The
pain cleared the last traces of drug from her mind, and she could hear her
friends outside. Her prison might cancel the Gift, but not wild magic. The
People screamed with her, throughout the palace and in the city, over the
river. Daine roared her fury. Animals turned on the two-leggers. Dogs set on
master, cats the nearest passerby. Birds drove nearby farmers out of their
fields. Daine was in all of them, shrieking defiance of cage builders.

In the
palace, dogs and cats leaped for the mage Chioke. He threw up his hands: orange
fire lashed, crisping their bodies. Daine shrieked as their agony shot through
her.

"Stop/"
she cried to the others. "No, don't! Stop/ They'll hurt you, they'll kill
you/"

A
hunter shot his horse with a crossbow; a soldier speared his camel; Ozorne
flamed a charging pet monkey. The rest of the People calmed down

and hid
from sight. Daine collapsed to the mattress and wept. She had gotten her
friends killed, and she was still trapped.

She
heard a thump somewhere near, and a click. Taking a deep breath, she shaped
herself. Bones shifted. Skin and senses changed swiftly; claws sprouted from
paws the size of plates. Daine the bear plodded over to a corner behind the
door. Rearing up on her hindquarters, she waited.

The
door opened. A cheetah entered the chamber, with Zek on his back. The marmoset
clutched silvery metal in his paws. He looked at the bear, and showed her his
prize.

Keys,
Zek said proudly.

Zek and
his new friend, Chirp, the Banjiku performers' male cheetah, led Daine through
the web of branching tunnels under the palace, avoiding humans. At last they
came to a round chamber deep underground, where odd-looking signs and runes had
been painted on the walls. Tano, Chirp's trainer, waited there with fruit and
water for Daine.

"It
is safe to speak here and to be here," he told the girl as she ate. He
pointed to the signs on the walls. "This is protected place. Slave magic
protects here from owner-mages. Tell me what you need, and we will find."

She
 
swallowed
 
a mouthful
 
of grapes.
  
"My friends—are they here?"

He
shook his head. "Two days ago emperor say you run off to get slaves to
rebel. His warriors take your friends to boat and guard it until they leave.
The armies prepare for war. Their great drums pound all night." He shook
his head. "Sleep very bad."