“That’s an interesting one,” the woman said. “We discovered it in some old papers the Prince Bishop found, but we’re not sure what it was used for. We can speculate, but the important thing for these purposes is that it’s a complicated piece of magic that takes quite a bit of skill to shape. It slows the world around you, or at least the part of it you’re focussing on. Time moves normally for the caster, and others if you’re able to extend the effect to them, but that’s very difficult. I sometimes wonder if I should try using it to help me get through all of this.” She gestured to the pile of papers on the side of her desk.
Solène sat back in her chair and thought about it. Other than the first one, she hadn’t attempted any of them. The challenge of trying to do them in a controlled way was an exciting prospect, and she wondered if she might be able to manage them all. She chewed her lip for a moment, then made her decision.
“When can I take the test?”
Dal Drezony laughed. “Well, I commend your eagerness, but as I explained, we have to be careful. Your talent is obvious, but there are huge dangers that you need to be aware of and trained to avoid. How far you’ve learned to use this talent is an entirely other matter, and it’s my responsibility to help you develop it, and most importantly, learn how to control it. The greater the power, the greater the importance of control, and you are most certainly the most powerful mage I’ve encountered.”
Solène blushed at the compliment, but wanted to take the tests even more. She had spent too long hiding from this. Now that she was free to explore it, patience was a very hard thing to come by.
“How can I show you that I have control?”
Dal Drezony laughed again. “Well, I suppose, by completing all the tests. Usually we know that a novice is going to be able to pass before allowing them to attempt them, but admittedly, these tests are new. There are a number of brothers and sisters here who I suspect might not be able to pass them even now. As I said, it’s early days for us, and we’re still trying to organise everything in the best way. For the first few years, there were no tests at all.”
“I’d like to try,” Solène said. “If I can’t then I’m happy to spend as long as it takes to pass them, but I’d like to know where I stand now. How much work I need to do.”
Dal Drezony chewed on her lip for a moment, her gaze drifting to her window, and the courtyard garden. After a moment, she nodded. “Very well. I’ll make the arrangements and you can attempt them this afternoon. As you say, at the very least, we’ll know what we have to work on. We’ll meet again after supper at the crafting gallery. Will you be ready?”
Solène smiled, and nodded.
CHAPTER 26
“How did you even find your way out here the first time?” Guillot said. He stared up the narrow valley and shivered in the chill breeze. It had taken them the entire morning, since well before dawn, to get to the valley that led to the mountain Leverre said was home to the dragon.
“We have our methods,” Leverre said.
“Remind me what you were looking for?” Guillot said.
Leverre glared at him. “I didn’t tell you, and I’m not going to now for no other reason than it’s a waste of our time.”
“Whatever you say, Banneret-Commander Leverre.”
Dal Sason cleared his throat. “I’d very much like to be there before nightfall. The uneven ground ahead will be treacherous in the dark.”
It was barely noon, but with dal Sason, it was difficult to identify irony. Still, Guillot couldn’t quite take the comment seriously. “I have to admit, the danger posed by the uneven ground does very little to bother me, all things considered,” he said.
“Another thing we agree on,” Leverre said. “We should camp soon. If we keep going, there won’t be enough daylight left to fight the dragon when we reach its cave. I’d rather not face the thing in the dark.”
“Indeed,” Guillot said. “If we keep agreeing, we might end up friends.”
Leverre gave him a thin-lipped smile, but said nothing.
“Let’s find somewhere sheltered and out of sight to make camp,” Guillot said. “If we’re close to its home, we should stay hidden.”
“There was a copse of trees not far from here, if I recall correctly,” Leverre said. “It should give us enough cover.”
“Lead on,” dal Sason said.
Leverre took them into the valley along the track of a streambed. While the water was currently little more than a trickle, Guillot knew that during the spring thaw it would be a raging torrent capable of washing them back to where they had started. The ground grew rockier as they moved into the pass and the scree from the mountains rose on either side. He could feel his horse slipping on the rocks and had to admit that he was more concerned about a bad fall than he had led dal Sason to believe.
“That’s the copse up ahead,” Leverre said.
The trees were clustered in a hollow, safe from the howling winds that swept through the valley every winter, and far enough from the stream to avoid the torrents of meltwater every spring. They were the last trees in the valley, and there was something sad about their loneliness yet defiance in their continued existence in such a harsh and remote place. Guillot hoped their using it as a campsite wouldn’t lead to the dragon burning it, and them, to ashes.
“It’ll be a chilly night,” Eston said when they gained the shelter of the trees.
“We won’t freeze,” Guillot said, “but if we light a fire, our flame-spurting friend might decide to come over and contribute. I’ll take a night of discomfort over that, thanks.”
“He’s right,” Leverre said. “While we’re here, we have to be invisible.”
They made their camp as comfortable as possible, piling pine needles up under their bedrolls and into mounds to give them shelter from the breeze. Guillot spotted Leverre standing at the edge of the copse, looking up at the mountainside. Making his way over, he followed Leverre’s gaze up to a gaping maw in the mountain.
“It’ll take time to get up there,” Guillot said. “We’ll be pretty exposed.”
“Yes,” Leverre said. “You’d be surprised how quick you can get back down when you’ve got a fire-breathing dragon chasing you, though.”
Guillot let out a sober chuckle. “I’m sorry about your people. I’ve lost men in battle, and I know how hard it is.”
Leverre nodded. “I’m sorry too. For your people. Your village. It was a horrible thing. Makes what we’re doing here all the more important. No one intended any of this to happen. We had no way of knowing the creature was up there.”
Guillot let out a grunt, not knowing what to say. Stopping the dragon was important, but he couldn’t help feeling they were getting in way over their heads. If anyone was relying on him to have some miraculous superpower because he was a Chevalier of the Silver Circle, he feared they were going to be sorely disappointed. He had tried to recall the ceremony many times over the past few days, without much success.
“What’s it like up there?” he asked.
“It’s a huge cavern, pitch black. I think there’s another chamber toward the back. The beast seemed to come out of there, but I didn’t see myself. I was at the cavern mouth, overseeing the search.”
“The dark will give us problems. We don’t have many torches.”
“We won’t need them. I can fill the cavern with as much light as you want. Magic has its benefits.”