‘Do you think that if you reveal yourself, they’ll ask you to take the Throneship?’ she said.
‘I don’t know,’ replied Bel. ‘I don’t think so. I have other things to do. I can hardly go searching for the Stone and be the Throne.’
‘But the prophecy showed you leading the army.’
‘I don’t have to be the Throne to do that,’ he said.
‘Oh.’ She sounded faintly disappointed.
‘Is that really what you’d want?’ he asked, pulling away slightly so he could see her face. ‘To end up stuck in a frock, in a palace full of jewels that are already yours and therefore present absolutely no challenge in the taking of?’
She stared at him for a moment, then broke into a smile. ‘Maybe one day,’ she said. ‘In about two or three hundred years.’
They left The Wayward Dog and walked together through the streets, heading towards the carts that trundled up to the Halls. Although Naphur’s funeral wasn’t public, it was well known that he was being buried today, and the mood in the streets was sombre, devoid of the usual merry bustle. Two children throwing a cloth bundle to each other appeared out of place, though no one stopped them. Then one of them scraped his knee and started crying, which seemed to suit the atmosphere better.
A man in rags with a long beard was walking down the middle of the road, his eyes bloodshot. ‘We are lost,’ he called to anyone who would listen. ‘The Shadowdreamer comes to take us all! Fenvarrow marches, and we have none to stand against them.’
People shied away from him or sent dark glares his way, though by the looks on their faces many seemed to share his trepidation.
‘So,’ said Jaya quietly, ‘when does the mighty warrior plan to unveil himself?’
Bel stopped to read a shop sign. It said ‘Tomeo Fellet, Mercantile Mage’ . He glanced for a moment after the old doomsayer, shuffling on up the road.
‘Now,’ he answered. ‘Here.’ And he rapped loudly on the shop door.
‘You aren’t going to speak to the High Mage first?’
Bel stared hard at the doorknob. ‘No,’ he said. Although Fahren had been like a grandfather to him, he felt this was a decision for him to make alone.
‘Fahren likes to talk everything through from a dozen different directions. He has a talent for muddying certainty. I know I want this done, and I don’t mean to give him the opportunity to talk me out of it.’
‘Right,’ said Jaya. ‘To blazes with the old coot.’
‘I didn’t quite mean that ,’ said Bel, smiling despite himself.
The door opened. Standing inside was a sleepy-looking man of middle years, wearing a green robe and with a head of mussed brown hair that suggested he was not far from his bed.
‘Hello,’ he said, blinking at Bel. ‘You’re quite the strapping lad, aren’t you? Tomeo Fellet at your service, but …I’m not quite open for business yet. Could you come back in, oh …a couple of hours?’
‘A couple of hours ?’ said Bel. ‘The sun is high the sky, my good man!’ He jangled his money pouch. ‘Certainly high enough to glint off a gold piece or three!’
The mage looked from the pouch to the indignant young man before him and sighed. ‘Very well,’ he said. ‘Come in.’
He led them down a short corridor into a study full of potted plants, naturally lit by a large window in the back wall. ‘Please have a seat,’ he said, gesturing at a table, then turned to a pitcher of water. He put in his hand, made the water bubble, and vapour rose. He then sent little clouds flying about the room, seeking out thirsty plants to ‘rain’ on. The sight made a crazy idea dance through Bel’s head, but he shook it away. He already had his purpose – he was going to find the Stone.
‘So,’ said Tomeo, ‘what can I do for you?’ He cocked an eye at Jaya’s belly. ‘Need an unwanted bump removed?’
‘You might get yourself an unwanted bump if you’re not careful,’ she said. She loosened her belt a bit, however, and glanced at Bel. ‘Might be I’ve had a few ales of late,’ she conceded.
‘And cheese,’ said Bel. ‘Don’t forget about all the cheese.’
‘You have to admit, it tastes better stolen.’
Bel nodded. ‘Yes, and it takes my mind off the fact that, although I tried to rescue a girl from that jail, I apparently came back with a mouse.’
Tomeo cleared his throat.
‘There’s an enchantment on my hair,’ said Bel. ‘To mask its true colour. I wish it removed.’
Tomeo’s eyebrows went up. ‘An alteration of appearance?’ he said, and squinted hard at Bel’s hair. ‘Funny, I didn’t sense anything of that sort when you came in, and that is in fact my area of expertise. May I?’
Bel nodded and the mage reached across the table to set a hand on his head.
‘Ah,’ he said. ‘No one would sense this, unless they were touching you and knew exactly what they were looking for. This is no common vanity spell, Mr …?’
‘Bel.’
‘Well Bel, this tiny pearl of an enchantment is the most expertly crafted of its type that I have ever seen. Do you mind if I ask how you came by it?’
‘The Grand High Mage put it there,’ said Bel. Tomeo gave a little intake of breath and withdrew his hand. ‘Can you undo it?’
‘Yes,’ said Tomeo. ‘But I don’t know that I should go tinkering with the High Mage’s work. Perhaps he had a very good reason to …um …’
Bel upturned his pouch and coins spilled across the table. ‘I can think of several very good reasons why it should be undone.’
Tomeo stared at the gold, which did indeed glint in the sun that spilled through the window behind him.
‘All right then,’ he said. ‘I guess I don’t see what harm it could do for a fellow to have his real hair colour.’ Again he reached forward, but this time set both hands on Bel’s head. He muttered something under his breath, and from out of Bel’s brow appeared a tiny mote of light. Tomeo brought it towards him, still chanting. The mote quaked and broke apart in a tiny pinprick of an explosion.
‘Shame to destroy such a finely made spell,’ he sighed, and then his jaw fell open.
Jaya reached up to run her hand through Bel’s curly blue hair.
‘Well, there we are,’ she said. ‘And my – what vibrant eyebrows you now possess. And eyelashes too!’ She laughed as she glanced towards his trousers. ‘Wonder what else has changed.’
Bel gave the wide-eyed Tomeo a grin and pushed some coins across the table.
‘Thanks,’ he said, rising. ‘Come on, Jaya.’
As they walked out, Tomeo came to his senses. ‘Wait …’ he tried, running to the hallway in time to see the front door shut. ‘Oh dear,’ he muttered. ‘Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. What harm indeed? I knew it was a dangerous thing to get up so early in the morning.’
Bel realised he should have thought more carefully about the effect of walking down the street with a head of bright blue hair. Folk gathered to stare, as if an impromptu parade was being staged, but many seemed uncertain, some downright afraid, edging away or openly fleeing. He was puzzled by the reaction. What was the problem?
Ahead a group of men sitting outside a tavern, the kind who started their drinking in the morning, began to whisper and point, and he wasn’t sure he liked the tone of their voices. One, who seemed to be the leader, stood to move into the thoroughfare, and others quickly gathered behind him.
‘You think us so meek,’ said the man, ‘that you dare walk our streets in plain view?’
Bel pulled up, Jaya close behind, as the issue began to dawn on him.
The man drew his sword, glancing around to make sure he was flanked by his fellows.