Rondar said, "Depends on if there are more horses or women around." He rolled over again and leaned on his elbows. His dark eyes looked hard at Talon. "We have our ways," he said. "I'm not a good rider, but the shaman says I have talent. So, I go live with the shaman." He looked as if he had reached the limit of his patience and said to Demetrius, "You tell him."
Demetrius made a wry expression and said, "The home of the Ashunta is in the west of the Empire, rolling grasslands no one else wants, but a good way for slavers and renegades to move around without running foul of the Imperial army. Our friend and his master were off gathering herbs for some sort of ritual when a band of slavers happened on them. The shaman was too old to be worth anything, but our strapping young friend here was a prize for the auction blocks."
"Nakor bought me," Rondar offered. "He talks too much."
Talon smiled. "Who, Nakor or Demetrius?"
Rondar said, "Yes."
Demetrius reached over and gave Rondar a playful slap to the back of the head. "Our taciturn friend here is actually a very good fellow, despite his pretence of being a man of few words-he's glib enough when one of the girls is in the mood to listen to his nonsense."
Rondar lifted his head and grinned. "True."
Talon said, "About the girls . . ."
Rondar and Demetrius exchanged glances, then with one voice said, "Alysandra!" and burst into laughter.
Talon felt himself flush, but kept his smile fixed on his face. "What about her?"
Demetrius said, "I heard she'd been in to tend you from time to time."
Rondar said, "Every boy wants her."
"You two as well?" asked Talon.
Demetrius said, "Everyone has a try when they meet her. She's different. But she has a way of making you a friend and feeling like an idiot for trying to get her off alone somewhere."
Rondar sighed. "She's worth a lot of horses."
Talon laughed. "You sound like you're in love."
Rondar said, "True. Everyone's in love with her."
"Who is she?"
"No one knows," said Demetrius. "Or at least, no one who knows is talking. She's been here longer than either of us, and she's obviously someone special. I've heard her talking to a lot of outlanders in their languages, and she spends a lot of time alone with Miranda."
"Why is that special?" asked Talon.
Demetrius rose as a bell sounded. "Supper," he announced. "We'll talk on the way."
They left through the door with Rondar a step behind. Talon moved carefully, but could keep up as long as Demetrius kept to a casual walk.
"You know Miranda is Pug's wife?" asked Demetrius.
Talon nodded. "I know their sons."
"Pug is the . . . 'ruler' for lack of a better word of this place. But Miranda is his equal in just about every way. And some say she's a more powerful magician. All I know is she spends a little time with every student here, but a lot of time with Alysandra."
Talon said, "So, that's why she's special."
Rondar said, "Took a lot of words for you to get it, Talon."
Talon laughed. "I know."
"So, if you want to take your chance with Alysandra, no one is going to blame you."
"True," said Rondar.
"But don't expect to get anywhere."
Talon caught sight of Alysandra ahead, talking to two other girls. To his two new friends he said, "One thing my father taught me: there is no reward without risk, and you can only fail if you don't try."
"Hug," said Rondar.
"What?" asked Talon.
Demetrius shook his head. "No, kiss on the cheek."
"What are you talking about?"
"Alysandra will let you court her, my friend," supplied Demetrius. "I think she's secretly amused by the attention. And she's very sweet. I don't think she has a mean thought in her, but by the end of the first evening you court her, she'll have you swearing that you'll be just like a brother to her, and you'll know that you're never going to get your arms around that slender waist, and just before she turns you around and points you back to your own quarters, you'll either get a tiny hug, one so brief you'll barely feel her next to you, or a fluttering kiss on the cheek, with her lips hardly touching your face. A kiss on the cheek is considered a badge of achievement among the lads here."
As if sensing she was the object of this conversation, Alysandra looked back over her shoulder. When she saw Talon and the others, she smiled.
Talon glanced at his friends, both of whom were avoiding eye contact with the young woman. So he returned his gaze to her and gave her the broadest smile he could. She held his gaze for a step longer, then dropped her eyes and turned back to her companions.
Rondar said, "I'll wager a copper it's a hug."
Demetrius said, "Done. I wager a kiss on the cheek."
Talon lowered his voice. "I'll take both those wagers, for I'll have more than a kiss on the cheek from her."
"Determination," said Demetrius. "I like it!"
"Humph," was Rondar's inarticulate comment.
Talon watched the slender girl as she entered the common building where the students ate their meals. "I'll have much more," he said quietly, to no one but himself.
CHAPTER ELEVEN - Purpose.
The horses raced across the meadow.
Nakor and Magnus watched as Talon kept low against the neck of his mare, pushing her as much with will as with any skill as a rider. Rondar's gelding pulled slowly away as he stayed fluidly poised on two stirrups, his back straight and his hands light upon the reins.
Nakor said, "For someone who was counted a bad rider by his people, Rondar seems to know his way around a horse."
Magnus nodded as he said, "You know more about the Ashunta than I do, but aren't they counted as the finest horsemen in the world?"
"Best light cavalry, certainly. The Empire had to bring fifteen legions into their lands to subdue them in the end. They were key to Kesh's conquest of the western Empire two centuries ago, but a revolt by Ashunta chieftains ended that." Nakor studied the riders, while Demetrius stood whooping and cheering a short distance away. "Talon will be a very good horseman soon."
"This I understand, Nakor-" Magnus waved his hand slightly in the direction of the two riders "-Talon learning languages, riding, swordsmanship, the rest-but why are you including him in the classes on magic with the others?"
Nakor grinned at his former student. "Magic? There is no magic."
Magnus tried not to laugh, and failed. "You can debate that with Father until the universe ends, but we both know your 'stuff' is just another way of looking at the process of using magic."
"It's more than that, and you know it," said Nakor. "It's a way to free the mind of preconceived notions." He paused, "Besides," he added with a chuckle, "it was your father who first said 'there is no magic'."
"Are you or Father ever going to tell me how he knew to send that message to you with James on his first trip to Kesh? You two hadn't even met."
"He's never told me how he knew." Nakor replied. "There are things your father trusts to no one, not even to your mother."
"The Black Sorcerer," said Magnus with a sigh. "It's too easy to forget it's not just a role to terrorize sailors who get too close to this island."
"No, it's far more than that, as your grandfather knew."
Magnus's grandfather, Macros, had been the first magic-user to employ a Black Sorcerer to secure the island's privacy. He also had been an agent for Sarig, the lost god of magic, and had given Sorcerer's Island to Pug and Miranda.
Nakor and Magnus were as highly placed as one could be within the Conclave of Shadows, yet neither fully understood the deepest mysteries of the organization. Magnus had once asked his father who should take control if anything happened to him, and Pug had replied cryptically that everyone would know what to do if that should happen.
Magnus turned his thoughts back to the matter at hand. "Still, magic or stuff, you've not told me why Talon is studying the mystic arts."
"True, I haven't."
"Nakor, are you planning to irritate me all day?"
Nakor laughed. "No, I just forget sometimes you have a problem with the concept of humour." He pointed towards the other end of the meadow, where the race had ended and the three boys were standing, awaiting instruction. "Talon needs to know as much as he can about any potential enemy. Our enemies have relied on the black arts for years, and Talon's ability to survive the attack of those three death-dancers gave me an idea."
Magnus was silent. He knew that had he been alone in the hut, those death-dancers most likely would have killed him. He had speculated late into the night with his father why the enemy had taken such a bold step and why he had been selected as the target, but in the end all they were left with was speculation.
Magnus said, "You want him able to recognize magic?"
"If possible. Years ago, Lord James, Duke of Krondor, told me he could always feel the hair on the back of his neck rise when someone was using magic. He also talked about his 'bump of trouble', his ability to sense something was about to happen that was bad. It was a special intuition that saved James on several occasions."
"You think Talon might have that ability?"
"I don't know yet, but it might prove useful to have someone who is not obviously a magic-user, but who has some sense of it, who can enter places that will have wards set against magicians, and yet be able to act with some knowledge."
"Seems a vague enough motive for subjecting the boy to extra hours of study, especially since it will only be in the abstract and he will never be able to put that knowledge into practise."
"You never know," said Nakor. "In any event, it will make him a far more educated person than he is, and that is to everyone's benefit." He watched as the boys switched roles, so that Demetrius and Talon were to ride the next race, while Rondar observed.
"I'm thinking we must also see to another phase of Talon's education. I read with interest your notes on his encounters with those two girls at Kendrick's. I think we need to further those lessons."
"Alysandra?"
"Yes. I think it's time for her to start using the skills we've taught her."
"Why?"
"Because Talon will face things far more dangerous than steel and spell."
Magnus turned to look back at the large buildings of his father's estate. "How did we become such men, Nakor? How did we become capable of doing such evil things?"
"The irony of the gods," Nakor replied. "We do evil in the name of good, and our enemies have at times done good, in the name of evil."
"Do you think the gods are laughing at us?"
Nakor chuckled. "Constantly."
"You didn't."
"What?"
"When I was your student. You didn't . . . Helena . . . she wasn't one of yours, was she?"
"No," said Nakor, his features softening. He put his hand on Magnus's arm and added, "That harsh lesson was of your own devising. Life is like that sometimes." Then he turned his attention back to the three boys as the new race began, with Demetrius and Talon riding with all the skill they could muster, while Rondar shouted insults at both of them.
When Nakor looked back at Magnus, he found the magician lost in thought. Having some idea of where those thoughts led, Nakor said, "You should have found another, Magnus."
Magnus looked down at his former teacher. "Some wounds never heal. You just bind them up and go on with life."
Nakor nodded. "I know, Magnus."
Magnus smiled. He knew that Nakor understood, for he had once been wed to Magnus's grandmother and had loved her up to the very moment he had been forced to kill her.
Magnus took a deep breath. "Very well. When shall we start?"
"Might as well be tonight," said Nakor.
Magnus started walking. "Then I had better go and tell the girl."
Nakor called after him: "Just tell her what to do. She'll know exactly how to do it."
When he turned back it was in time to see Talon finish slightly ahead of Demetrius, both boys exulting loudly as they reined in before Rondar. Nakor reflected that youth often understood without having to be taught about seizing the joy of the moment, about not thinking too much of tomorrow and the worries and concerns it would bring, or too much about yesterday, with all its regrets and guilt. Softly, Nakor said, "Enjoy this moment, Talon. Savour it."
Then with a sigh of regret, he turned his back upon the three students and started walking towards Pug's quarters. They had a lot to discuss, and much of that would be unpleasant.