Sil had insisted upon rooms in the Order House for herself and Mat.
Hirn had made many attempts to see her since her initiation over three years ago, but she had always refused him admission.
Of the many ceremonial robes that she had been provided with, she wore only the black.
She obeyed every other convention and rule that the Order of the Elite had.
Her conduct was exemplary.
She feasted on stolen magic with the rest of them when required, had helped drain unwary mages of their powers
and had grown to twice the stature in magical stamina that she had had at her initiation.
She had made more weapons for the Elite on Danid‘s direct instruction, but had invented nothing new.
If she had entered the Order as a simple initiate, she would have had no choice but to live with her husband, but
she had been assessed by Danid at Mage Master Level Four, outranking Hirn by several levels.
He was therefore only able to see Mat if she allowed it. She never allowed it.
She saw him occasionally at gatherings and ceremonies, she ignored him every time.
Danid had explained her situation to her explicitly a few days after her initiation.
“You have to feed now, or you’ll fade.
However you feel about it, you are too far committed to our ways to simply walk away.”
She had nodded her understanding.
She’d asked about her initiation. Danid had admitted that he had tested her to a higher limit than most.
“I would have stopped it if you had been unable to continue. I wouldn’t have allowed you or your son to be injured.
That is unless you had refused at the last to take the only sensible course left to you.
Then, of course, the simulations would have killed you both.
That was Hirn’s trial. His test of loyalty.
I doubt you’ll believe now what this has cost him emotionally, but time will teach you. “
Danid sat back in his seat regarding her with pride.
“I have to say, I am delighted that it turned out this way. You are a most welcome addition to my flock,
and one day you’ll see how much you are prized here.”
She hoped she’d managed not to show her disgust, and thanked him for his explanation,
taking her leave to begin her first year as a member of the Order of the Elite.
He had summoned her again the next year.
“It is my hope Sil that one day you will see the honour that was done for you. We are the best of the best.
Truly the Elite. You were chosen to be one of us.
One day it is my hope that you and your husband will once again work side by side for our Order.”
She had made no comment.
“He suffers greatly in the separation from you, and of course, from his son.”
Again she had made no comment.
Danid had sighed a sad parental sigh
“Is there no compassion at all in your heart for the man who gave you your position here?”
“My power works from my will Master of Masters, not from my heart.
I find that my heart is not a useful tool for power, Sir.” had been her cold response.
He dismissed her, but far from being disappointed by her continued refusal to be at least publicly reconciled
with Hirn, it had impressed him. She had come here a silly young woman, full of power, but easily beguiled by love.
Now she was a formidable and powerful ally.
He didn’t think that any other member of the order was as single minded or as efficient. She played no power games,
had no tantrums, simply did what was necessary in the most expedient way possible towards a given goal.
He would have welcomed a hundred more like her. He turned a blind eye to her ignoring their dress code.
Her black robes, worn for battle usually, had caused several members of the Order to approach him with requests that
he force her to conform. He had lied and told them that she wore them on his instruction as a devotion.
She was an oddity, and a precious resource.
He could allow her little eccentricity.
It was a small price to pay for her acquiescence and her skills.
Soon he would be unable to maintain the needs of the Order’s members from Artez.
There were reports that less and less people were showing themselves capable of spelling even one simple ward.
In less than twenty years his Order had consumed most of the magical energy on that world.
It would soon be time to move their base.
He’d been planning for years, developing alliances and setting plans into place.
What he planned was akin to an invasion, and Sil’s gadgets would be very useful in helping it to go smoothly.
It was his intention to feed his flock on Tinvarth, a fairly pleasant world with a lot of magic to be had.
When they had cleared that, it was his simplistic hope that Artez would have had time to regenerate,
and that its human population would once again be able to satisfy their needs.
If not, well there were many worlds, and he had his blueprint made as to how to most easily infiltrate them.
It bothered him that she had invented nothing new though.
His plan did rather need her special input to ensure a successful and rapid takeover.
He decided to give her a little more time and then request that she concentrate her efforts on research.
Sil was concentrating her efforts on research. Her own research.
She had found that the situation that she was in was not quite as dire as she had thought, or as Danid had described.
She had discovered that she could keep at bay her need to feed for at least a week.
The minimum that she needed to survive was the equivalent of two basic wards.
The longer she stayed with the Order, the more she would need.
To ensure that they were all kept at optimum level the Order had scouts bringing in wide eyed hopeful young people
with magic abilities and offering them a chance to test for places in the Order of the Elite Academy.
All but about five percent of these were fully drained of their magic in the testing.
They were none the wiser and the loss of their talent explained away as them having an “intermittent” ability.
A few did not survive the draining, but most lived for a few years more.
The more experienced a person was with magic, it seemed the quicker the draining killed them.
The five percent that were not killed were carefully indoctrinated into the Order over a long period of time.
Elite Mages were given these “candidates” on a rota basis.
Sil always took her turn, but never over fed, realising that to do so would simply make her even more reliant on stolen force.
It made no difference to the candidate however because when Sil was finished, another Elite mage would just take over.
The rule was that if a candidate could still make a ward spelling after seven had been absorbed,
then they were to be forwarded on to the Academy for further assessment and possible membership.
She had also discovered that half of her needs could be supplied artificially via a device that she had found on
the Scrapyard world and adapted. She also found that using the filter that they had made for the “hospital“
helped a little.
If her plan was succeeding then it wouldn’t be long before Danid was insisting on her inventing something new.
She would find a reason to take Mat with her and they would use the Portal there to travel to the Keep completely undetected.
After she had recovered from the initial emotional backlash of her initiation, a few months later, she ceased to
blame herself so much. Now three years on she still blamed herself, but saw that to stay here condemned Mat to
the same fate. She had made a decision, and there had been few options available to her to choose from.
She had to now move on from it. Avin need never know about any of this, no one need ever know.
The coordinates to the Keep were not known to Hirn. She had always erased them when going to or from the Keep.
She and Avin had both always been very careful about that.
Now though, thanks to her teaching, Hirn was a little more sophisticated with the Portal and so the use of one that he had access to was not as safe.
She had found two Portals so far on Scrap yard, Hirn only knew of one of them.
Yes, she was expecting a summons from Danid any week now.
She saw her freedom and that of her son once again within reach, and now she dared to grasp it.
She looked at the sleeping Mat, three years old now, and looking more like her than Hirn. That pleased her.
She guessed that Mat would probably have strong magical abilities, and she had no intention of allowing her son to be
made into a member of the Elite Order. She cradled the sleeping child in her arms. She had truly loved Hirn,
and this child had been the reason for her seeing that Hirn did not truly love her. He had wanted her, but he
had not wanted her as she was, he had wanted her to be a thing that he had perfected for himself. She had no
doubt that he was suffering, but it was because of his need to control everything.
She couldn’t have helped him with that.
She banished the regret from her heart, and the memory of them in their first few weeks together.
That was gone forever. She could never have it back.
Even so, a tear fell without permission for her lost love, and her lost belief in it.
She wiped it away absently.
It was only a tear.
Sure enough a week later she was summoned to see the Master of Masters. She reported punctually as always.
She was surprised, but more irritated, to see Hirn already seated in the room. He looked dreadful, thin and ill.
It was evident that he had neither been feeding his body or his addiction.
She betrayed no feeling and sat down at the desk when invited by Danid to do so.
This would complicate matters but not too much. She could simply kill him and escape as planned.
Certainly the physical state that he was in would not make that difficult.
She listened as Danid described the sort of thing that they needed, nodding at the right times and probing with
questions where necessary to get a complete understanding of what he wanted her to do.
“Its certainly possible.” she said thoughtfully. He was asking for a portable hand held molecular transport device
that could be worn on a wrist or belt to allow easier transport to the closest Portal.
“It would cut out that day long journey that Poul has at the moment, and make life more efficient for quite
a few people of our people.” she added. “Of course I would need to spend some time at The Scrapyard.”
“Yes “ agreed Danid, “I thought you would, it’s a while since your last trip. You must be quite low on supplies at
the moment.”
She nodded her head affirming that he was right.
“I want you to work with Hirn. I trust there is no objection?”
“None Sir. Mage Hirn and I are adults and can behave ourselves. Of course I would like it to be clear that I am in
control of the mission. I am willing to offer basic instruction to Hirn. He has shown some aptitude for the work.”
She decided that now was the time for all cards to be played.
“Sir, about my son, Mat. I anticipate that Hirn and I will be away for perhaps a week or maybe two.
I would very much like to take him with me, together with his nurse Wenda of course.
It would also be a chance for him to become reacquainted with his father.
I realise now that a boy needs to at least know his father, and he will soon start to ask questions. He is three now.
Would you have any objection?”
“None at all” Danid replied. “It’s a safe, if a little barren place for the child, but with both parents present
and the nurse…no I have no objection.”
“Thank you sir. Will that be all?”
“Yes, yes, you have a lot of work to do, both of you. Get on with it.”
Sil stood and left the room closely followed by Hirn.
“Sil” he was almost running to catch up with her. She stopped abruptly and faced him. “Yes Hirn?”
“Thank You, I…I don’t know what to say.” He looked grateful, sad and beaten.
She felt anger rise in her.
The sort of heartless game that he had played with her had not been of his devising.
She could see that now. He had simply followed suggestions and instructions, thinking that this was how he could win a woman he desired.
He couldn’t think for himself.
If he had just been himself…well maybe he would not have been tempted to join the Elite, and maybe she and he…
She quickly reminded herself that he had joined the Elite, he had given her to them, and that he couldn’t think for himself.
“No problem Hirn. Report to the Order House Portal at 0800hrs tomorrow morning.”
“Er…yes, I’ll be on time.”
She was already marching down the corridor before he had finished his sentence.
Somehow though all thoughts of killing him now seemed out of the question and a gratuitous cruelty.
She would probably settle for maybe drugging him, or simply losing him in the City.
She ceased the feeling that was beginning to rise in her, countering it with a memory of her Initiation.
“I have no room in my life for love.” She told herself. No room at all, and no room for Hirn either.