“I have already studied those,” Alain said.
“Have you? Well, one so young.” She stood irresolute for a moment, then came back to her chair and sat down. “There is nothing in those texts to help with this. I know that. Now, as to you.”
It had not occurred to him that he might have immediate obligations to his Guild which would prevent him from meeting Mari tomorrow evening. But Mari would surely understand if that happened. “I will join whichever search party you think I can best serve.”
The old Mage blinked, then actually smiled reassuringly for an instant. “No. Dragons are a threat for the most experienced to face. As for other service, I cannot offer you chance of employment soon, because all in and around the city blame our Guild for this plague of dragons and are refusing us contracts until we halt the predations of the spell creatures.”
“Lady Mage,” Alain said in his most formal voice, “honored elder, allow me to serve with the other qualified Mages.”
“No, Mage Alain.”
“I do not need protecting. I can protect the interests of the Guild.”
“Yes, yes.” The old Mage tapped her desk with the fingers of one hand. “I have seen the report of your attempt to defend the caravan. You did not know it had been sent to us? But of course the Guild Hall in Ringhmon wanted us to know what you have done. It is well you have not been discouraged by that failure, but still you must redouble your efforts to master wisdom and our arts.” She gave him a searching look. “And this female Mechanic who stalked you in that city. Strange business. Be satisfied that you are away from that one. Whatever hoax the deceitful little minx was planning, you are safely clear of it and the other temptations Ringhmon offers.”
So the Guild Hall in Ringhmon had used a message Mage to send a report on Alain to the hall in Dorcastle even before Alain arrived. He ought to feel flattered that they had gone to that much effort, except that even this old Mage with her very un-Magelike sympathy had obviously read things in it which cast Alain as not ready for full Mage duties. She also clearly shared the opinion of the elders in Ringhmon as to the threat to him posed by a female Mechanic. “Elder, I am capable of assisting the Guild in this matter.”
She shook her head. “Mage Alain, rest, study and be ready if this Hall should be attacked by these dragons. Then we shall need everyone who can work spells.”
“Will you inform the other elders that I am ready to assist them?”
This time the old Mage nodded. “Very well, Mage Alain. Your dedication to the interests of the Guild will be noted.”
He felt like a fraud for a moment, a vision of the “deceitful little minx” Mari filling his memory, but the Guild had taught him to hide even the worst emotions, and the elder did not seem to be paying too much attention to his reactions anyway.
Alain started to rise, then sat back down. This elder was not like others he had encountered. Perhaps she would answer queries which would be dismissed by other elders. “This one has questions.”
A flash of pleasure showed on the elder’s face. Alain imagined that she was rarely called on to teach anymore. More likely, she was the one greeting him only because the other elders were off searching for the dragons. “This one listens.”
“Elder, do you have any knowledge of foresight?”
“Foresight?” The old Mage perked up even more. “Why do you ask? Have you that gift as well?”
“Only recently, honored elder. It gave me a vision not so long ago, something I cannot understand.”
“Ah.” The old Mage nodded. “A vision. And you have asked other elders about foresight and they have told you that foreseeing was not a fit art for a Mage, did they not?”
“They did. I was told it would imperil my pursuit of wisdom and I should not speak of what I had seen.”
“Pah! I have pursued my knowledge of foresight, young Mage. Despite the words of others. I am not as strong as I once was, but I still have wisdom and my spells still work.” She gave Alain a questioning look. “Did you see yourself in this vision? No? That is important. When you see yourself, alone or with shadows, that means you are seeing what may be, a chance of what might come to pass if you do everything that leads you to that future. In such a case, you may not even actually survive to fulfill the vision if you should make the wrong choices. But other elders said you should not even speak of what you saw? What did you see in this vision?”
Alain took a moment to call up the memory, focusing on the details. “A second sun in the sky, against which a violent storm raged, trying to extinguish the sun.”
The elder looked at him for a moment before saying anything else. “A second sun? And a violent storm? Did this vision carry any sense of urgency, young Mage?”
He barely managed to hide his surprise at the question. “Yes. The storm moved swiftly. I felt a need to act, though I do not know what I was supposed to do.”
The elder nodded, her expression shadowed. “And this vision was alone? Nothing was near it?” she asked as if certain he would agree.
But Alain shook his head. “A shadow was near it. It appeared over her.”
This time the elder took a longer while to respond. “A shadow. The vision was close to this shadow?”
He hesitated, remembering. “Yes. Just above her. It was focused upon the shadow. I have no doubt of that.”
“Her.” The old Mage chewed her lip, looking down, her feelings impossible to spot. “The vision was focused upon her? A female shadow? You are certain?”
“Yes, Elder.”
The elder took so long to speak again that Alain wondered if she would say anything else, but finally she surprised him with another question. “Young Mage, have you heard of a prophecy the shadows speak of? About one they call the daughter?”
“No,” Alain said.
“The prophecy was made long ago, and somehow the shadows learned of it.” The elder sat back, her eyes distant as if gazing into the past. “They speak of a daughter of the shadow once known as Jules of Julesport. They believe that this daughter will overthrow the Mage Guild and the Mechanics Guild. They believe in that prophecy, but they do not know all of it.”
Another pause, then the elder focused her gaze on Alain. “Others will not tell you this, but the prophecy was real. It said that this woman would unite Mages, Mechanics, and those known as commons into a single force that would change the world. And so the Mage Guild has always considered the prophecy to be a fantasy. How could anyone do such a thing? Mages working with Mechanics? It could never be. Commons joining their efforts? Nonsense. No one could do such a thing.”
Alain nodded as if in agreement, but he was thinking of himself and Mari escaping from the dungeon in Ringhmon, and of the way Mari had gotten commons to aid her in helping another on the cliff. “Do you believe my vision has some connection to that prophecy?” Alain asked, making his strongest effort to hide any feeling from the words.
The elder leaned forward, tapping one finger on the desk to emphasize her words. “Other Mages have seen visions, young Mage. More and more in recent years. Visions of armies battling, and mobs of shadows tearing down all that is and will be, and even visions of Mage Guild Halls and the halls of the Mechanics being overrun and destroyed. And with each year the sense of urgency in these visions has grown, young Mage. The sense that this storm comes closer, that it sweeps toward us more swiftly than any can see, that it will wrap us in its chaos and destroy everything, leaving only ruin in its wake.”
She gazed intently at Alain. “Against this storm many have seen a sun, a promise of a new day, a promise of what may defeat that storm, but always that vision floated without reference to anyone or anything. But you, young Mage, you say you have seen that vision of a sun and a storm focused on a shadow. You have seen the battling images of a new tomorrow and a tomorrow filled with death all centered on one shadow. It must be her, the one the old prophecy spoke of. The one who can bring a new day to this world. And these visions make it clear that if she fails, if this shadow ceases, then the storm racing toward us will triumph.”