He smiled. “Of course. I won’t be going anywhere until Dannyl gets back, anyway.”
She looked relieved. “That’s good to know.” She looked at the ring, then at him, and smiled. “I’ll leave you to it.” She left the room.
Sitting down, Lorkin stared at the ring and gathered his thoughts. He slipped it on his finger.
—Mother?
—Lorkin? Lorkin! Is everything all right? Are you all right?
—Yes. Everything’s fine. Are you free to talk?
—Of course! Wait … I have a patient. I’ll just …
A long pause followed.
—I am alone now. Where are you? Can you tell me?
—I’m at the Guild House in Arvice.
—Not at the Traitors’ home?
—No. Queen Zarala sent me here. She sent me on a mission of sorts.
—Queen Zarala?
—Of the Traitors.
—You’re working for her now?
—Yes. But she knows I’d have never agreed to any task that would endanger the Allied Lands.
—That’s considerate of her.
He detected a tinge of disapproval and resentment in his mother’s tone. He smiled. He’d have been surprised if there hadn’t been.
—How are you? he asked.
—Good. A few problems were resolved in the Guild over the last few days. We have another black magician, I’m afraid. Two novices managed to learn it from a book. One learned it deliberately and killed with it, and tricked the other into learning it so that she would be blamed for murder. The first has been caught and executed. The other … she proved herself honourable enough to be allowed back into the Guild and University, though with conditions.
Lorkin could not help feeling a trickle of hope at that. If the Guild had forgiven a novice for learning black magic because she proved herself honourable, would they forgive him for learning it in order to bring them stone-making magic?
They’ll have to be more flexible toward black magic if they want to adopt stone-making magic, he reminded himself. And if they don’t, I’m going to return to Sanctuary anyway.
—Sounds like you’ve had some exciting times lately, he said.
—You don’t know the half of it. We also have foreign rogue magicians in the city, ruling most of the underworld. But I’ll save that story for when you get here.
—I look forward to hearing it.
—So what is this mission the Traitor queen has sent you on?
—To negotiate an alliance between the Traitors and the Allied Lands.
Sonea did not respond for several heartbeats.
—I gather the rest of Sachaka isn’t included in this.
—No.
—Exciting times ahead, I suspect.
—Yes.
—You want me to pass this on to Osen and Balkan?
—Yes. The queen sent me here because the route to the pass is not safe at this time of year. I suspect if I try to leave Arvice the Sachakans will try to stop me. I’m stuck here until Dannyl returns and officially orders me to return to Kyralia.
—I’ll get right onto it. So, what prompted this willingness to seek an alliance? I had the impression the Traitors were too secretive to want connection to the outside world.
—They do and they don’t. It’s … complicated. It has to do with Father.
—Ah. Dannyl told me what you’d told him: that Akkarin promised them something in return for learning black magic, but he didn’t deliver.
—He promised to teach them Healing, but he returned to the Guild because he wanted to warn everyone about the Ichani. Zarala gave me a blood ring of his—
—Oh! He said he’d made three blood rings, but he never said where the third one was.
—She used it to communicate with him. She said that something always prevented him returning, and after her daughter died she stopped using the ring. A sickness had struck the Traitors and killed many, and he was blamed for it because they believed Healing would have saved them. That wasn’t all there was to their bargain, however. Zarala promised Father that she would do something else, and she failed. She didn’t tell me what it was, but it was so secret that she couldn’t even tell her people. She said that sending me to negotiate an alliance had something to do with trying to achieve what she’d promised.
Lorkin waited as his mother absorbed all this.
—I’d really like to meet this woman, she eventually said. Which was not what he was expecting. He had expected her to say something about his father keeping secrets from them all. But then, he was a man of so many secrets, maybe it is no surprise that there were more.
—Hopefully I can arrange that. She is very old though. I don’t know if she will be able to make it to a meeting.
—Old, you say? So she must have been a lot older than Akkarin when they met. Do you have any details on the proposed terms of the alliance?
—No. The spy network among the slaves is ready to pass on instructions. We are to let them know if and when the Guild is ready to meet with the Traitors, who will select a safe location. But I can tell you this: I learned how to make gemstones with magical properties while I was there.
—Dannyl learned of these gemstones while in Duna recently. He said the Traitors stole the knowledge from the Duna. He’ll be excited to know they gave it to you. Well, so will all the Guild.
—You’ve heard from him?
—He contacted Osen a few days ago.
—He was still in Duna?
—Yes.
Lorkin muttered a curse. It would take Dannyl many days to return.
—Could you tell Osen to let Dannyl know I’m here? And to hurry up and come back.
—Of course. Is there anything else that the Traitors have to offer us in an alliance?
—Well … stone-making is of no use if you have no source of gemstones, and may involve a risk the Guild is not willing to take. I believe the Traitors would consider trading stones for something. They have a rudimentary knowledge of Healing now, but they could benefit from the help of good teachers. They might also offer to help us if Sachaka ever attacked the Allied Lands again.
—Oh, the Guild is going to love this! Is there anything else? I should go tell them straightaway.
—I don’t think so. If I think of anything, I’ll put the ring on. And I’ll check in with you in a few hours in case there’s anything the Guild needs to ask or you need to tell me.
—Good idea. And Lorkin?
—Yes?
—I’m so happy that you’re back. I love you and I’m very proud of you.
—I’m not back yet, Mother. But … thanks. I love you, too.
He removed the ring and slipped it into his pocket. He realised he was smiling, despite there being nobody to see it. Exciting times ahead, he thought. Thankfully I have this ring and can work at negotiations via Mother, or all I’d have to do here while waiting for Dannyl to return is eat, sleep and talk to Merria.