Chapter 10

As had been predicted it was a long hard winter for many.

Normally by the end of the fourth week of the last month of winter, the days start to warm, and the snows start to melt. However, one of the worst storms of the whole winter season had hit that week. It was a right tempest, and it was so damn cold that if it wasn’t for their shield the couple and their pets would have frozen had they been out in it for any length of time.

Jean and Mark had been to town the week before, and the old timers said that the animals that didn’t hibernate were leaving the high mountains in droves. They muttered darkly that Genesis must have been having one of his moods and that they would have to pray to Faith that she could temper him into a sunnier disposition.

The locals worshipped the six Ketrians Gods, The Matriarch, Justice, Genesis, Faith, Unity and Charity. The Matriarch is considered the Queen of the Gods, her word was final, and she was considered the mother of the people. Many considered Justice, deemed what was good and what was bad and determined the people’s fate.

Genesis is the protector of the land and the animals, and he controlled the seasons. Faith is the one to whom you prayed when you needed hope, courage, luck or help. You prayed to Unity when you had family problems or were looking for love and Charity is the Goddess of compassion, health and good will to others.

They also believed in reincarnation and a place called the Void. Some said that it was more like Hades, for those who misbehaved. People who angered the Gods were sent there to atone their sins. If they were lucky, they might get a chance to come back and atone for them in their next life.

It was widely accepted that you only briefly visited the Void if you lived a just and compassionate life. Some said that going the Void if you were good, was a visit to Nirvana. You may even be sent back to do the bidding of the Gods as an entity for magical items to ensure the gift of magic was not used to create disharmony or promote evil doings.

What every your beliefs, these were theirs. Mark knew that the Keltrians had believed in the One People, that people all had the right to live as they choose as long as it didn’t harm others. His people had taken this ideology, and they had few problems on his world as tolerance of differences was widely practised.

He had noticed that here it wasn’t practised as diligently as it had once had been. He wondered just how many souls resided in their place called Hades. The failing of the magical items seemed to be letting the worst of human nature come to the fore. He had also wondered, during the long cold winter, if the Gods had stepped in, and send him here for a purpose.

He snuggled up to Jean and rubbed his hand gently over her bulging stomach. He missed his sons at home and his daughters at the Palace. He worried how the other children that Vasari has so callously created without his consent were thriving. He couldn’t claim them as the mother had all of the legal rights unless she abused the child.

It was only very rich and powerful men that could control the destiny of their children, and they were few in number, from what he had learnt. Many used the facade of their wives, to control from behind the scenes. He remembered a quote from the old Earth files his people had, ‘That behind every powerful man was a powerful woman’. Here it was the reverse.

Oddly, this didn’t bother him. He could see a lot of advantages being behind the scenes while Jean appeared to run the roost. One interesting law he had read gave him some hope. As Jean’s first husband, he did have some say as to what happened to his progeny, even if they were conceived before their joining; especially if she was perceived to be powerful in their society.

Mark sat up with a jerk. From what he had learnt, Jean was probably the most powerful female born Shifter, let alone woman on this continent and possibly even the planet. He had listened carefully to tales from other continents but had not heard of any wizards more powerful than the Queens here.

“I need more information,” he mumbled as he rolled off the bed and hurried to complete his ablutions and to dress. He dressed as befitted a man of wealth. He placed a glamour over his body and altered his appearance to look more like a person from the Genteli race. He added pink tones to his hair and shaded his skin tone to match.

He had seen a man from a continent called Angelli who looked like the image he adopted. They didn’t get a lot of foreigners here, but they had enough that he wouldn’t stand out as odd. He turned when Jean said, “What are you doing, Mark?”

“I have to go see a man about some laws. I’ll probably be gone a few hours but promise to be home by dark. You stay inside, don’t go out for any reason,” he warned her.

She harrumphed and replied, “There is a bloody blizzard out there. I’m not going anywhere but back to sleep.”

“Sounds like a good idea. I’ll try to be quick, my love,” he said and bend down to kiss her. He realised his mistake when one of her arms curled around his neck and her other had found something to play with. He was very tempted to crawl back in with her but needed more information if he was going to do what he planned.

Finally releasing himself, he blinked.

When he had first come to Tara, he’d had a lot more freedom.

He had been introduced to High Mage Renita and had several conversations with her. He had been very careful to shadow his aura so she couldn’t perceive how powerful he was. She had a three gem medallion and was the Lord of the Guild of Mages in Vasa and the Guardians. She was also called, The Protector of Law.

She had a counterpart called Gralin who ran the Guild on the other side of the Bellini Range, in Rollin. They were the two most powerful mages under the Queens on this continent. Mark felt safe going to her and trusting her to some of his secrets if he had to. He knew she protected the Crown, not necessarily the person who wore it.

He’d gotten the impression from her that she wasn’t pleased with Vasari and that she was worried by the state of the crown. Unlike Vasari’s crown, the medallion she wore was spelled to pass on every two hundred years if it didn’t happen sooner. They even have a ceremony where the wearer was offered a lesser item to replace the medallion.

Renita was fairly new to the job in that she was barely fifty and had inherited it only twenty years before. She didn’t look that old of course. She looked closer to twenty-five. She and Vasari also didn’t get along. Vasari didn’t like to be told that her requests were denied if they conflicted with the laws of the use of magical items.

They had common laws like taxes, business practices, property regulations and minor offences that the Queen could control. Then they had laws concerning magical items and the use of some spells that were for all intent, set in stone.

For example, mages were forbidden to use magic to wage war or to kill unless in self-defence. Vasari couldn’t use the mages to attack Robina. They could be used to build fortifications, erect shields and heal the injured but that was about the extent that they would contribute.

Mark turned up in a small garden. He approached the large glass folding doors that he knew would let him into Renita’s apartment at the Guild Hall. He knocked on the door. A woman pulled a curtain back and looked at him and said through the glass, “Who are you and how did you get into my garden?”

He bowed and displayed the ‘fake’ medallion. Renita frowned and opened the door. She waved him in and pointed to a seat by the fire. “So who are you?” she asked as she sat in the large comfortable chair opposite him.

A second cup appeared on the tea tray. She poured tea into it and refreshed her own cup. She indicated the honey and milk, and Mark nodded to both. Accepting the cup when handed to him, he sipped it and regarded Renita. “Thank you for graciously allowing me to talk to you. I need your help. For the point of conversation, I’d be happy to answer to the name, Mike.”

She sat back and looked him over as she sipped her tea. “So, Mike, what matter so concerns you that you brave the Aracnzi’s burrow?”

Mike chuckled softly. He had heard why Renita’s nickname was the Aracnzi. It was said that she saw all and her bite was far worse than her bark. He sighed heavily and frowned. Now he was here he wasn’t sure how to pose the questions without her knowing who he truly was. He wasn’t sure that she wouldn’t try to hand him back to Vasari.

“No,” Renita said making him look up. “I don’t know what you’re up too, Mike, but I’m sure you wouldn’t come here if it weren’t important.”

He nodded and understood why she stressed his name. As a precaution, he erected a sound shield over them, and she sat up straighter when she felt him use his magic. “What happens when the crown fails?” he asked her.

“Anarchy,” she replied promptly.

“What if, another took its place?” he then asked.

Renita frowned and pondered his question for a minute as she sat back and sipped her tea. “It would depend I think on who wore it,” she finally answered with a look of speculation.

“A member of the royal family,” Mark tried.

“Hum, even then, I think, which member may have significate bearing,” she replied.

“One who will be the mother of two powerful magical children,” he tried again.

She looked at him shocked. “How? She couldn’t! We tried, but ... What did you do?” she asked in awe as she sat forward and stared at him.

“Do you swear as the protector of magic to keep my secret safe until I wish it to be revealed?” Mark asked her.

Renita replied, “I know who you are. I also know that you shadowed your aura while in the palace. I was very curious as to why you did this. I have had you watched, and you have created more questions than you answered. It took some manipulating, but I got out of Vasari why you had disappeared.”

“Her abuse of her power has become intolerable. We don’t understand why the crown hasn’t deserted her. I felt your shield, and that is why I am being frank with you. Anything we say under this shield is strictly between you and me, may my medallion desert me if I lie. So Jean isn’t dead?”

“No, she is very much alive and well. Our son and daughter are due in about six weeks. They are both strong and gifted. I gave Jean her box to heal her after she was bitten. Children conceived between two High Mages tend to be capable of even more. They will also carry special traits that I will have passed on to any child of my seed.”

“What is this box, and your definition of a High Mage?” she asked.

Mark reached up and removed the medallion he had displayed for her. She gasped when it didn’t seem to affect him. He grinned at her and then handed it to her. She took it and then gave him a concerned look. Perplexed she said, “Why does it want me to put it on?”

“Wow! Does it? Then put it on,” he said as he motioned at her to do so.

With a little trepidation, she placed the chain over her neck and let the medallion settle over her breastbone. She gasped when her old medallion appeared. Mark watched in fascination as the two melded together to become one. The chain appeared a little thicker and was bright and shiny, as if new.

The medallion was also a little bigger and thicker as well. The symbols and gems had been rearranged. The diamond and the topaz were slightly larger than the amethyst from her medallion and the emerald that had been on his. Light swirled in the Quaz crystal, and then it settled down to wink brightly at him.

Mark grinned, “I’d call you a Novice High Mage or one in training anyway.” He then turned on his bling and produced his wand. “This is what a true High Mage wears.”

“Take me to the Void!” she hissed out as she stared at him. “You have a true full set. I have only read about them. We have never had any here. We don’t know why we were sent here without magical items. A wizard long ago tried to make items from the books we had, but she never made full sets.”

“The only two diadems she made are worn by our Queens. They also have a ring but for some reason, as time passed the medallions disappeared. We have never had wands. You are the most powerful person on this planet to my knowledge. How may I serve you, my King?”

Mark was a bit flustered at her calling him a King. “No, no, I’m not a King, I’m a High Mage. As I told Jean, we’d have to make two decad’s first before we could make a Queen’s box.”

“We?” she questioned.

I grinned, “Of course, Jean is my partner. I told you I had to give her, her box so she could heal. She has Nature and Physics in place of my Energy and Earth disciplines,” I explained.

“Ah! Now I see,” Renita said as she stood and paced a little. “That is why your children will be so powerful. Oh, my goodness, the two of you could remove Vasari and not a living soul could stop you. Jean is not known as well as many of the other royals.”

“Since the accident three years ago, she shunned the Court to pursue her own endeavours. She has no alliance with any faction, but it is well known that she won’t play the political games of others. It was a sticking point between her and Vasari.”

“Mark, you will have to protect her. We are decimated. So many items have failed. We have potential candidates but nothing to give them. It has become a huge headache. As more and more fail, it will undo our society. We hadn’t realised how dependent we had become to the use of magic.”

“Can I have them?” Mark suddenly asked.

“What?” she asked, confused by the sudden question.

“The old items, I’ll see if I can fix them. We can pretend I’m a foreign trader who happens to have some crystals to sell to explain them being fixed. Can you contact your counterpart?”

“Yes, a good plan and yes!” she exclaimed excitedly. “Wait here. You will be safe, and I will be back.” She hurried off.

Mark opened his satchel and looked at the other medallion he had made. He had a good idea who it was going to go to. He hadn’t meant for what had happened, to happen, but he had felt that he needed to see Renita. Perhaps he was supposed to do more than getting answers to his questions.

He tried to fathom the pros and cons of what he had offered to do. To be honest, the cons were few. The people relied on the mages for a lot of vital services. Neither Queen could exploit them beyond providing medical care for the wounded if they did go to war.

He knew he would give both Guilds a small supply of crystals. Even a small bag could go a long way to fixing a lot of systems. Some items may be able to be used to assist with any war, but he had no intention of either side getting that far. Not on his watch, anyway.