After recovering control of himself, Tarrin stood up and gave Allia a grin, patting her on the shoulder just as Brel began to stir. His eyes looked up at the pair blearily, then raw horror crept into them.
"Never question my morals again, Brel," Allia told him coldly. "Else what I do next makes this look innocent by example."
The shrivelled old crotchety Sorcerer blanched at the cold-eyed Selani, his wrinkled face turning pale, then scrabbled to his feet and rushed away hurriedly.
"You're an evil woman, deshaida," Tarrin laughed. "And I love you for it."
"I love you too, deshida," she said with a wicked little smile.
Darvon's scent touched Tarrin's nose just as the man came into view at the door, with the massive Azakar trailing behind him. "I take it you were having fun with Master Brel?" the aged Knight asked idly.
"He could not accept that Tarrin is not my lover," Allia said bluntly. "I decided that it was time for him to understand a few things."
Darvon took one look at the hot-eyed Selani, and he chuckled. "I'm sorry I missed it. It must have been good."
Just thinking about it made Tarrin laugh again. "It was priceless, my Lord General," Tarrin assured him. "I always knew my sister is an evil woman. She proved it."
Allia only gave Darvon a wicked smile, which made him laugh. "I never doubted it," he said.
"What brings you into the Inititate's quarters, my Lord General?" Allia asked.
"Business, my sister, business," he said. "I had a talk with the Keeper yesterday, Tarrin. Some changes were made."
"Really?"
"She agreed to allow you off the grounds, but only if you give her a day's advance warning," he told him. "But she refused to allow you to go alone. So if you leave the grounds, you have to go with Azakar here to accompany you, and at least one Sorcerer. You may be a Knight, but even you have to admit that someone is out to get you. It isn't Knightly to refuse the help of the order, and we look after our own. So Azakar here has been assigned to accompany you and act as your bodyguard, and you get to choose the Sorcerer you want to go with you. You have to admit, this is much better than the complement of katzh-dashi that the Keeper was demanding on. I had to make some ugly threats to bring the Keeper down to this."
"Lord Tarrin," Azakar said with a curt bow. Azakar was still a cadet, where Tarrin was a vested Knight. That changed things between them, for Tarrin had always liked the massive young man, and Azakar had always treated him with courtesy.
"I guess I can accept that, my Lord General," Tarrin said.
"Good. You've been granted permission to go see your parents right now, but you have to be back by lunch. They want to return to your education. Dolanna is waiting for you at the gate. She goes with you too, and Faalken's going to accompany her."
So they had been willing to compromise. That told Tarrin a great deal. They wouldn't suffer outright defiance from any other Initiate.
Tarrin did indeed mean something to the Council. This was complete proof for his long-standing suspicion.
"Then can we go now? I guess I don't have that much time to see my father, so I can't waste any standing here."
"We just have one stop to make, Tarrin," Darvon told him. "At the Academy. Azakar here needs some new spurs."
Azakar gave Darvon a stunned look.
"Did you think that we'd let a cadet have a job as important as accompanying a Sorcerer, Azakar?" Darvon asked with a grin. "You'll be going out there with the honor of the Knights to uphold. It's better for everyone if it's your honor too, now isn't it?"
"Welcome, my brother," Allia told the huge Mahuut with a gentle smile. "It is time for my class. Until later, Darvon, deshida," she said, giving Tarrin a quick kiss on the cheek, then patting Azakar's shoulder as she passed by.
"Well don't stand there looking like a fool, cadet!" Darvon barked at Azakar. "Let's move!"
Azakar looked almost about to explode with pride.
He was wearing a surcoat over his mail shirt and a pair of silver spurs that denoted him as a Knight, and he looked like he was about to faint. Tarrin mused at it with a chuckle as they approached the gate leading out, where Dolanna and the cherubic Faalken stood waiting for them. The air was crisp and noticably cool, but the bright sunshine belied the chill in the air. The day was so crisp and clear that the individual colored lines of the Skybands were visible, which usually was only possible at night. They were all the same dull white, but the faint lines that separated the colors were just barely visible, if one studied them intently enough. Such a crystal-clear day was unusual.
Tarrin greeted Dolanna with a warm smile and taking her small hands, and Faalken was already digging at the new Knight, teasing him about his newfound status. They were surrounded by Tower guards, and people filed in and out of the grounds through the front gate. Standing by the front gate were the Keeper, Koran Dar, Amelyn, and the willowy blond Council member whose name Tarrin didn't know. Even from there, he could smell them, and they were all very anxious. It permeated their scents. They were afraid he'd go through that gate and then never come back, he was certain of it.
The idea had crossed his mind a few times, but there was no telling what would happen to Allia and Keritanima if he did fly the coop. They would all escape, but it would be a time of their choosing, and when the Tower had the least chance of getting them back.
"Well, dear one, are you ready?" Dolanna asked.
"I'm ready," he said. "I'm surprised they're even bothering to send you three with me."
"Why is that?"
Tarrin only smiled at her in return.
"Oh dear," she murmured. "Just be careful, my young one."
"Always, Dolanna. Always."
The four approached the Council members, who wordlessly linked into a circle. Tarrin could feel the connection join among them, as if each reached out and joined invisible hands with the others. He wasn't quite sure what was going to happen next, but Dolanna seemed calm and confident, and she payed the Council little mind as she smoothed her blue silk dress and wool cloak absently.
Then, the hands of the four Council members started to glow in a ghostly white light. The radiance that marked the use of High Sorcery. A hole silently opened in the empty air in front of them. It was surrounded by nothing, but the borders of that hole were limned in a pulsating bluish energy. Tarrin could see that they had somehow punched a hole in the Ward, a hole that would allow him to pass through it. He couldn't see what weave they had used to perform such an act, but it obviously involved all seven Spheres. High Sorcery always involved all seven Spheres.
"Be back by the tolling of the noon bell," the Keeper said in a tight voice, staring at Tarrin intently. "Don't make us come look for you. It won't be pleasant."
"Like you could find me," Tarrin snorted as he stepped through the penetrated Ward. He waited until Dolanna, Faalken, and Azakar were with him, and they stepped into the streets of Suld.
It was the first time he'd ever been in the city during the daytime. The streets were filled with people, dressed in all manner of clothing but sharing a common theme of warmth against the chill of the late autumn day. Sulasian doublets and breeches and long-hemmed dresses dominated the streets, but the occasional woolen mantle of an Arkisian, or the waistcoats and unusual appearances of the Wikuni were also rather common. Even the ruffled shirts and coats and tight-fitting pants called hose favored by the Shaceans. Several fur-clad Ungardt were strolling through an intersection, giving way to a horse-drawn open carriage that was occupied by a pretty middle-aged woman wrapped in an expensive velvet-lined cloak. A Torian woman, whose multitude of tiny braids clearly marked her city of birth, seemed to be haggling with a rough-faced Dal who wore the slate gray pants and brown cloak that were common among them. Suld was a city of trade, the largest city on the western coast, and from the city, on the well-maintained roads that criss-crossed the kingdom, goods travelled to Daltochan and northern Shace, even into southern Draconia and Tykarthia. Sulasia was famous for its craftsmen, and merchants from all over the world came to Suld to buy what were considered to be the best durable goods in the world. A Sulasian wagon would last ten years longer than one built by other hands, and there was a heavy demand for Sulasian four-banded barrels, famous for their durability. Daltochan was famous for metalwork and weapons, but Sulasia was famous for the things that modern man used in his daily life.