Finally, a Moment of Peace

“What are you—get down from there!” Morenna yelled. “There are archers, you’re just making yourself a…target…”

Their enemies did indeed start shooting at Uthien, ineffectually. In seconds he was surrounded by a cloud of arrows and slingstones slowly orbiting him.

“See, that’s the easy part,” he called back to Morenna. “Let me see if I can…”

Uthien began hurling rocks back at the archers. He couldn’t seem to make the arrows fly straight with magic, but from that height, flinging stones was devastating. Screams rang out as Uthien began pounding enemy positionss with chunks of masonry and their own slingstones hurtling fast enough to punch through roof tiles.

Then a fireball went flying at him, and Uthien veered away with an alarmed squawk. Suddenly he looked a lot less impressive, allowing rocks to fall as he reeled this way and that, pinwheeling his arms.

“It’s okay! I just haven’t—quite—got the hang of it yet!”

“Ignore the archers!” Morenna shouted. “Fire rocks at the life mages coming up the sides before they can get to your mother—I’ll keep the spellcasters off you!”

“Got it!”

Working in tandem, the work took them only minutes. Uthien picked up loose stones and smashed them down upon enemy mages hard enough to pulp flesh and shatter bone, while she flickered like a wraith through all the buildings surrounding them, applying her sword. Everywhere Morenna appeared, an ice or fire mage died before they realized they were under attack.

Shockingly quickly, it was done. Morenna returned to the plateau, Blackwing utterly soaked and dripping with blood. With no more mages targeting him, Uthien ruled the skies—any physical object fired at him became a weapon in his own arsenal, and though he couldn’t do much with those captured arrows…

The ruins were full of loose rock.

Morenna stepped out of the darkness beside Linnea. “You okay?”

The concubine didn’t answer her, gazing up at her son in awe. “He can fly.”

“Which is insane,” Morenna grumbled. “How is he doing that? Do you know how much effort Ophia and I had to put in to unlock her fire magic? It took hours. And then I just say the word ‘gravity’ and suddenly Uthien can fly? Ridiculous.”

“My son is a genius,” Linnea whispered fiercely.

“Huh.” Morenna gazed up at Uthien as he sailed around above them like a circling vulture, now running low on targets to strike. “Apparently he really is. Well…good for you, little brother. Good man.”

Linnea and Morenna paused in watching the Prince, their eyes meeting for a moment, then looked away again.

“Linnea, listen,” Morenna said, “this must be secret. Tell him the first chance you get: no talking about gravity. As far as anyone needs to know, Uthien had a breakthrough under pressure and is now the most powerful air mage in a generation. There’s a reason I was reluctant to talk about this. If he starts spreading this around, the kind of assassins who’ll come for you both will make these guys look like jesters, and they’ll pick a time when I’m not close enough to save you.”

“I understand,” Linnea said quietly. “I knew there were secrets being hoarded about magic… I’ve been pursuing hints of a cure for Ophia’s fevers, but I could never find it. But you already knew it, didn’t you?”

“I do not answer questions about—”

“Morenna,” the concubine interrupted, “I know well the power and importance of discretion. I’ll warn Uthien as soon as I can. And for what you’ve done for my son, I will guard your secrets as if they were my own. I don’t need to know how you do…any of these things you do. No one will hear a word of it from me.”

“Hm. Maybe you’re not so awful after all,” Morenna said grudgingly.

“Maybe I am, though,” Linnea said with a sad smile. “It’s not as if I ever thought it was right to bully a teenager. But… Understand the trap I am in. I’m not equipped to play politics the way Tamara and the other concubines and courtiers do. Staying neutral is the only way I can protect my son, and protecting my son is the only meaning my life has. Not that your father isn’t…fun, but I’m not the sort of woman who can make pleasing a man her life’s work.”

Morenna looked away, flushing.

“I wanted to protect him at all costs,” Linnea whispered. “Sometimes… Pursuing what the heart desires means being guided by your passions, and passions can cause us to…do irrational things.”

“Well,” Morenna murmured, “maybe I can relate to that, just a little.”

* * *

“So the great feast is being expanded,” Queen Tamara said later in Morenna’s tower, where she sat in Morenna’s most comfortable chair, sipping Morenna’s tea provided by Morenna’s maid, while Morenna slouched in the desk chair looking annoyed by the intrusion. “Your father is now celebrating two of his offspring having had magical breakthroughs. Also, both of them are insisting you be given a place of honor at the high table.”

“I’m not going to that,” Morenna growled.

“And I won’t force you to,” Tamara said, smiling. “It’s clear you like your quiet… Or at least, you are more used to it.”

Morenna grimaced and changed the subject. “And you weren’t attacked? Was anyone else?”

“No. Linnea told me about your theory, but there were no other assaults at the same time. It seems they only seized an opportunity to go after you.”

“Weird,” Morenna murmured. “Then it wasn’t connected to anything else going on?”

“In fact, Zaurgan believes this attack was part of the greater pattern, and I agree with his reasoning, as does your father. The tribe who attacked you had moved their entire fighting strength into Kourvald without anyone noticing. That would have taken months of discreet effort, and assistance from someone powerful and highly placed. For them to then squander all of that in a reckless, futile assault on the castle seems…absurd. Unless they were misled by their trusted source. We are missing pieces of a larger picture, here; Zaurgan believes they were aided by the same party who arranged the attempts on myself, you, and Ophia. Someone who likes to use expendable, deniable resources is probing at our defenses.”

“And the only lead we have is that they’re a light mage who knows ancient Machine Men secrets?” Morenna said.

“The only lead so far; we’re hoping to learn more from the captured fighters. Your father has sent scouts to their home village.”

“I’m surprised he didn’t just send the army to crush them.”

“Your father is aggressive, Morenna, not stupid; you don’t conquer an Empire by doing things like diverting troops from your capital during a crisis to attack an empty valley. These people had time to smuggle their entire fighting strength into Kourvald—we’re assuming their noncombatants have been sent elsewhere. Hopefully the scouts will pick up their trail. Some kind of example must be made, or every disaffected tribe, of which there are many, will try the same thing.”

Morenna sighed. “All I wanted was to sit quietly in my tower and read. It’s a fair enough deal, having to kill the occasional assassin to protect my peace; I know what kind of world I live in. This is getting absurd, though. How much blood do I have to spill before everybody just leaves me alone?”

“Take it from someone who knows,” Tamara said, a faraway look in her eyes. “No amount of spilling blood brings you peace. Eventually, you must find another way forward.”

“Yeah? How’s that working out for your ass, your Majesty?”

The Queen, to Morenna’s surprise, smiled at her.

“You are…so very like your mother, you know. Not just the hair and eyes. Jevenna was an asshole, too. The difference is you’re only mean when provoked; she enjoyed needling people. Just, an absolutely rotten bitch, when she didn’t feel the need to be charming.”

Tamara turned to gaze sadly at the window.

“But,” she whispered, “she was mine, and I adored her.”

Morenna’s mouth fell open.