31. All the Kings Men
“Givers we, and patient be
But greed and lust had weakened we
Keepers turned to render
Trust for us torn asunder.
Friends ye be, and friends of we
Send no more fire to where we be
Some come to us, life blossom grow with we
Some come to us…some come to us…some come to us…”
Riani heard it as the water of the fountain tickled her feet…
Avin heard it from beneath a willow tree…
Jan heard it as a softly sung song from a grassy knoll…
Gant heard it from a soft bed of spongy grass…
Everyone of them who had joined hands heard somewhere in the tiny meadow that housed the fountain,
somewhere on the world of Rintar, yet not.
As if they were the only person there,
yet always sensing that the others were nearby,
and safe.
About an hour later people started to waken up. Some had tears in their eyes They had woken from the beauty that
they had lived in for a short while, and wanted to return to it. They had been invited.
The Wishmakers had been quietly helping throughout it all, every mage assigned to healing,
in fact every mage with them, had joined the chain of blue fire.
The four fallen warriors were sleeping.
In a few days they would once again be receptive to more traditional healing methods.
Gant had his wish. He had lost no warriors, today.
Now they went to every Strant mage in turn and bowed as they had earlier to Elen, Sil and Riani.
They caught Gant’s attention as he returned to his earthly senses.
Why was he so fascinated by these people?
He’d always dismissed them as harmless eccentrics before.
He watched them, the mist of sleep slowly drifting from him.
Then they did a very strange thing.
They went to where the black robed ex Elite mages were awakening, and did the same, bowing to each one.
“There’s something very odd about them.”
He thought he knew a lot about a lot of things since hearing the singing voices in the dream world,
but he still had no idea why the Wishmakers did what they did.
Then Alena kissed him as if he’d been asleep for a hundred years, and he forgot about them again.
None of the black robed mages from Artez knew what had happened. None had any memory of anything.
They didn’t even know their names. Alena had been able to tell from the device that she still had from Jan that they had an
alive line, but no magical skill at all any more. Two hundred amnesiacs to care for somehow.
That would be a challenge. She set a troop to look after them and reassure them. They were all frightened.
The mage that had been Danid, who had caused all of this, was sitting on the ground not knowing what to do.
Arrin was standing next to him, staring at the sky.
She watched as Danid became distracted by little daisies growing in the grass and started to make a chain from them.
She saw no useful purpose in anyone trying and convicting them now for their crimes.
What would be the point?
It would be like punishing children unable to read for stepping into a area marked “keep out”.
Later around a table Teransir, Elen, Avin, Riani, Hirn, Gant, Terin and Jan sat with the forty mages from the
school in council around them. Alena and as many warriors who could fit into the Dortch town hall sat around as
best they could squeeze in. It had been a strong conviction in all of them that no secrets were needed after
what had been shared. The warriors had done their part, and also kept watch whilst these now very potent
forty or so Magicians had slept. They had a right to hear what was being said.
Riani spoke, “I know you all want to know what happened,” she said.
“The answer is that I don’t know how I knew what to do, I just did. ”
The five Wishmakers sat smiling at the edge of the crowd.
Of course no one would ask them. That was how they liked things to be.
“It seems that somehow something else took over for a while and simply took back the magic essence from the Elite mages.
It seems to have shared at least some of it between all of us.”
She looked around gratefully at all the mages around her.
“Thank you for standing with me, I wouldn’t have survived as I am if you hadn’t.”
Jan was curious. “What do you think you would have survived as?” he asked.
She blushed, almost feeling foolish to say it out loud. “A little light dancing around a fountain, Jan?”
The Wishmakers all raised their rattles, made from woven willow wood and filled with sea shells, nodding and making
some sign of agreement, and also bowing again to her.
“Very odd.” Gant shook his head as he tried to fathom them out.
She sat back down next to Avin, the first to stand with her and take her hand, the first to understand what she
couldn’t say properly with words. None of them could.
Teransir stood up. “There is a lot to do.” He announced seriously. “A lot to make right, and not all of it here.
By that, I mean here on the world of Tinvarth.
Elen and I are going to Rintar, we were all…invited, but I have much to be thankful to Rintar for, and we are drawn to go as soon as possible.
I know that Avin and Riani wish to return to try and salvage the Keep on Minthrall.
There may still be Order of the Elite mages on Artez.
I think that they will possibly be in the same condition as the people we have here, possibly not.
Whatever, someone needs to take the ones stranded here home and try to help them readjust.
Hirn has made it clear to me that he wishes to do that.
Derel will take over from me at the school. We have some alterations to make to the curriculum now concerning
our responsibility with the gifts we’ve been blessed with.
We also have some mages still there who will need to have this experience explained in some depth, and we are still
struggling to understand it ourselves.” he paused.
“not least, we then have a world of mages here on Tinvarth outside of our own city to educate, starting with the
King’s people. Its clear I think to all who shared this experience that its no longer acceptable to use simulations,
for example, in the way that we’ve been used to. I suspect that Terin will wish to take that on.”
Terin nodded. That was what he had been drawn to do.
“We can no longer act as individual owners of our magic essence.
Its also clear to all of us, I think, that we are merely custodians of it, and responsible for its use to…something else.”
Many “ayes” and nods from the magicians, and again the sustained rattling from the back.
“We forty or so are all Custodians. You all know it. You all heard them, the voices.”
Cal stood up to ask a question, “What did the voices say?” she asked, her warriors voice, normally clear and strong
now sounding like a child asking for a bedtime story.
Teransir thought for a moment and began to speak,
but as one about twenty of the magicians around him sang as one from memory,
“Givers we, and patient be
But greed and lust had weakened we
Keepers turned to render
Trust for us torn asunder.
Friends ye be, and friends of we
Send no more fire to where we be
Some come to us, life blossom grow with we”
The audience of warriors were spellbound. The Wishmakers had stood, and also sang.
“Well, that’s downright extraordinary.” Gant muttered to himself.
He would have to take a little time to get to know these people, he really would.
How could they possibly know those words. Then he realised. He would be learning quite a lot about them.
He was drawn to join them, at least for a while.
A few minutes of quiet seemed to just naturally assert itself when the singing stopped.
Gant stood up to speak.
“All of us who were there know where we were called to, and what we must do, or at least will do very soon.
I say this because our warriors don’t know this, and because I can no longer lead this fine legion.
I have been drawn also.
I just wanted to say that though its only been a few weeks in command, I feel proud to have been with you all. Very proud.
Captain Alena will see us all safely back to Strant.”
There followed a few questions and answers but the main work of the gathering was done.
Some forty seven members of a new magical order, The Custodians, that had more or less named and founded itself,
went about preparing for their tasks, or to make themselves useful until their task revealed itself to them.
Alena had decided that they would await the Kings legions in Dortch before returning home to Strant.
At about half past eight that evening she was talking in her quarters with The commander in chief, Stefin, three legion
commanders and their lieutenants.
They listened to her report, a clear an factual account as usual, and sat back shaking their heads in disbelief.
“Unbelievable! Not that I don’t believe you Alena, I’ve seen the state of those poor souls in the black robes,
and I know Arrin. He hasn’t got any idea who he is. I mean its just…well…a lot to take in.”
“Don’t I know it!” Alena laughed. “and I was there. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Then she remembered a question on everyone’s minds.
“Sir, what were you doing following them?”
“Oh yes, well Lancastre’s second in command turned up exhausted and babbling a few days after the hearing you had
in Strant, Vell he was called.
He must have told the King’s magic makers and we were sent to make certain that there was no chance of a takeover
by a rogue mage order. I have to say, it wasn’t unexpected. Some sort of trouble, I mean.
No-one could have expected the tale you just told us. It has to be true, its too bizarre to be anything else.
The King’s eye has been on Arrin for a while. The business with the young woman being exiled jogged his memory
to the time one of our own was sent away.
Bad business. Weren’t you…”
“Yes Sir” Alena answered before she was asked.
“I had a relationship with Gant, and also was required to escort him to the portal for Exile.”
“A lot of coincidences for certain. The King just didn’t believe it a second time.
He had no reason, other than a gut feeling, but the royal mages agreed something wasn’t right so…here we are.”
“I’ll show you to Lord Terin’s quarters Sir. I know he’ll want to thank you personally.”
“I only wish we’d have done something to help, still, looks like you didn’t need us.
One thing before we leave.”
“Yes Sir?”
“You’re an acting Commander, you don’t need the “Sir“, just Stefin will do Alena.”
She smiled. “I forgot.”
Terin spent a while with Stefin and his party.
A letter with the Kings Legion seal was quickly written and given to him for Finn, authorising his actions in the field.
“I’ll remember that name. Thank heavens we have someone who thinks before blindly following an order to massacre.
Actually, you people seem fairly good at that generally.
Thinking for yourselves I mean. Will you be presenting a case to his majesty to formally claim the Dukedom?”
“Yes, “ Terin replied, “er…except that we already claimed it I think, hard to say.
Only Gerard knows the protocols and red tape of it all.
It was necessary to the plan. I hope the King will allow it to stand. If not I’ll hand it over to whoever he chooses.”
“Oh I doubt he’ll have anyone else in mind. Who else would want to try and manage this bunch of rebels?” Stefin
grinned at him and Terin shook his hand.
When they’d gone Terin lay on his bed and tried to piece together his life over the past month.
He found himself drifting off to sleep, laughing quietly to himself at the impossibility of it all,
and dreamed of dancing lights.
The Dukedom seemed merely a trinket in comparison to the understanding that they had gifted him with.