Varna Ch. 17

- "No. But the fey know it to be true. They also told me that my grandfather was half-elven. The fey themselves find it hard to believe that magical talent could skip so many generations - and yet here we are."

I looked the Portoan mage in the eye. "How else do you account for the fact that fully half of my father's children had magical talent? My brother Nathal was a potent Body mage, and my sister practices alchemy. What are the odds that three of six siblings would be proficient in magic?"

Master Edon had no answer to that. But I wasn't quite finished with him yet.

"Yesterday, you asked for a demonstration. You were hoping, of course, that I would get carried away by my own vanity, and seek to impress you. If I manifested more than two Schools of magic, then you would have the evidence you hoped for."

I warned them that I was going to gather aether, and then summoned a significant amount. Then I did it again. I was concentrating on my task, but Glasha and Murzosh were watching our guests.

- "You should have seen their faces." Glasha told me later.

I gathered more aether than all three of the Portoan mages could have handled, and began to shape it into an arrow.

- "Master Edon." I said. "Can you see two elves, at the other end of this field? The object between them is an archery butt. How far away are they, do you think?"

- "Almost two hundred yards, Lord."

- "Very good. The object I am fashioning is an aether arrow. The fey are taught to do this when they are very young. But they do not attempt to strike targets quite so far away."

I released the arrow, and let it fly. It took only a little guidance to compensate for the wind. My arrow struck the archery butt, and smashed it.

Master Edon did not speak. His two colleagues stood there with their mouths open. They could feel the power still swirling around me, and knew very well that I had expended less than half of the aether that I'd gathered.

- "That is how Master Durgulel died." I said. "The range was a little greater, but the effect was much the same."

I summoned more aether, and began fashioning a stout spear. This took more of my concentration, so I did not speak. Instead, I simply pointed at a rotten tree stump some fifty yards away.

Then I unleashed my aether spear.

- "That is how I sank a ship. Again, at greater range - but the principle remains the same. Is that enough of a demonstration, Master Edon?"

It was. The Portoans remained for two more days, compiling the report which they would present to the Topaz Order. Edon and his junior colleagues were in agreement that I had used only Mind magic, but in ways which they had never seen. They were also well aware that I had not exerted myself.

- "He didn't even break a sweat." said one.

- "And the amount of aether he gathered?" said another. "Unbelievable."

Yes, Glasha time-walked so that she could spy on them. That was why she'd come out with me for the demonstration: to get another good look at Master Edon. That was how we learned that they were not planning to assassinate me.

Master Edon accepted a letter from me, addressed to the Order, explaining why I had refused to see Master Aveus, and why I had sent away Master Rophiar.

- "I believe that we should leave you in peace, Lord Tauma. I will try to persuade my Order that this would be the wisest course. It may be, too, that we have much to learn from you."

- Safe journey home, Master Edon."

***

Glasha surprised me, one morning, by wrapping both arms around me, and then leaning her head against my chest.

- "I'm so glad you're back." she said.

I was more than a little puzzled by her words, because I hadn't been out of Elmina for more than a month.

- "Where did I go?" I asked her, with a smile.

- "Look at me." she said. She leaned back, so that I could do just that.

Then she reached up one hand, and tapped her finger between my eyebrows.

"There." she said. "You were gone for a long time. But I think you're finally back. The way you looked at me last night... it was very nice to see that again."

I didn't have to ask what she meant.

Saska and Sanatha had been worrying and warning me for a long time. Rhigen had also warned me about the risks of walking along the edge of the cliff. I'd always thought that he was referring to the danger of falling off.

But I'd never stopped walking that cliff. I'd become accustomed to carefully watching where I placed my feet, or even staring into the abyss, trying to see what might await me if I should fall. When there was no immediate threat, I could turn my back to the cliff's edge, but I never forgot - not for a moment - that it was there.

Only now I didn't have to do those things. Those days might come again. But for now, the wars were over. No one was plotting to assassinate me, that I knew of. Murzosh was dedicated to protecting me, as were Osha and Yazgash and Enneiros.

- "I'm so sorry."

- "Don't be. Be glad, as I am." said Glasha.

There were many, many things that required my attention - and many people who needed me. The cliff would always be there, but I didn't have to live on the edge.

***

EPILOGUE

KUREBIR the strategist remained with us for ten years, at which point he decided to stay longer. He taught the elements of strategy and tactics to my sister, to our niece Sirma, and to several young Varnan nobles. He married our chatelaine, RENNA, which might explain why he chose to remain in Varna for the rest of his life.

HURMAS and BATHENE ESIN surprised no one when they decided to wed. They were good enough to come to Sanatha and me for approval before making a formal announcement. They were concerned that uniting two titles might create an unwise precedent. The matter was easily resolved: Hurmas stepped down from his position, and his family promptly elected a new Gerdar.

The pair of them did a remarkable job of rebuilding Whydah. The new seawall incorporated quite a few new emplacements for guns. They also built a fort on the eastern side of the river mouth, with its own battery of guns. But the townspeople were more impressed by their efforts to repair or replace homes within the city walls. My only regret was that I didn't get to see them as often as I would have liked.

CATAIN URBO was the Varnan consul in Galtin's Port for ten years. He returned to Whydah, and helped to organize and finance a new generation of ship captains.

DURGAT led his people home, and inaugurated an era of change. The half-orcs had more contact and more trade with humans in Calep and other settlements. Durgat held annual gatherings of the Red Knees under their Blasted Tree, where the tribe could vote on whether or not they wanted to replace him as Chief. It was less exciting than the Mak'gora, the formal challenge to a fight to the death for the leadership, but the new electoral system was a regular event. Durgat remained as Chief of the Red Knees for 34 years.

ALISSARA returned to the West, where she continued to serve as Warden for the elves. I simply couldn't persuade her to come to Elmina, and so we saw her only when we traveled to visit Tir Tanle at her home in Souglad.

YAZGASH remained as Commander of the half-orc Guard for another 12 years. She chose to retire, and to return to the Blasted Tree to live among her people. Six years later, she returned to Elmina.

- "Fine!" she said. "I got bored."

She also grew tired of people urging her to challenge Durgat, with whom she got along very well. Yazgash continued to train warriors for the Guard - and then she trained our children.

MURZOSH was my bodyguard until he succeeded Yazgash as Commander of the Guard. He arranged to have four bodyguards for me, with two on duty at all times, reasoning that they could only be half as good as he'd been.

OSHA remained Standard Bearer, but since he was as bright as he was loyal, I gave him a voice in our Councils by making him a Gerdar, representing the common people of Elmina. Hurmas and Bathene liked the idea; they created a similar position in Whydah.

TALANASSA ALBO also asked permission from Sanatha and me when she chose to remarry. She didn't ask because she was Nathal's widow, but because the man she'd chosen was a Tir in his own right - DERGUN of Calep.

The families of Tirs had intermarried, of course - but never the heads of two noble houses. The solution was simple enough: one of their children or one of their heirs could not inherit both titles.

It was a political alliance of the first order, which some considered a personal mismatch, because Dergun was as homely as Talanassa was beautiful. Yet the relationship was a tremendous success, because they were both kind and intelligent.

TIR PENEDA lingered on for eight more years with his shattered hip. His heir, ARVO PENEDA, was almost fifty years old when he succeeded to his father's title. Despite the difference in our ages, Arvo became a good friend of mine, and an excellent member of our Council.

RHIGEN came to Elmina every year, usually during the winter. He played music for us, and trained our children in fey magic. Regrettably, NAEVYS could not be persuaded to come with him. I only saw the fey leader twice more, when we travelled to the west.

TIR TANLE began to age quickly. Eleven years after Mehana, she passed away suddenly after a seizure of some kind which caused a blood vessel in head to burst. She had lived to see all of her grandchildren, because we took them to Souglad almost every year. We wanted the children to be familiar with the place - especially since one of them was going to succeed their mother as Tir one day.

SIRMA grew up as dear to us as any of our own children. Despite her magical training, she was not blessed with talent, but she was clever and kind, hard-working and responsible. Sirma remained our primary heir for many years, until the son of Tir Alit asked for her hand. She was more than willing, and I'd liked the young man since he'd come out to arrange the surrender of Elmina to us at the end of the civil war. We gave them our blessing.

SANATHA was the perfect partner. We had our disagreements, but they never grew bitter. She was also never afraid to tell me when I was being an ass. Apparently those episodes were more frequent than I would've thought. Many who feared me or my reputation were prepared to bring their issues to my sister, confident that she had an equal voice in ruling the Duchy.

I often wished that Sezima had survived the war, because I thought that San had been attracted to him. She would have had the strength of character, too, to tame him. But my sister seemed to prosper without a man in her life - until she announced, at age 30, that she'd chosen a husband. ENNEIROS, the Commander of our elven archers.

They had been utterly discreet. I had NOT seen this coming. I was prepared to object, considering that Enneiros was at least three times her age. But my sister had never complained about my domestic arrangements; what right did I have to disagree with hers?

There was remarkably little stir among our people. After all, the Duke was married to a half-elf, and his mistress was quarter-orc and half-fey. Bathene Esin and Talanassa Albo, both Tirs, were half-elves, married to humans.

Sanatha bore four lovely children, 3 girls and a boy.

SASKA TANLE was a far better wife than I deserved. She put up with my political preoccupations, and only rarely spoke up in Council. On those occasions, though, she was generally right. Her only real complaint was that we had four sons together.

- "A girl would have been nice."

She had one miscarriage, and delivered one stillborn child, a tiny female. We shared our grief over those losses.

Saska succeeded her mother as TIR TANLE, and began to spend part of each year in Souglad, among the people she ruled.

GLASHA remained the love of my life. Somehow, I balanced my time between her and Saska. My wife was my political ally, and the mother of my children. When we went to the west, Glasha might come along for a week or two, or stay behind in Elmina.

Glasha was my time-walker, my advisor (along with her father) in matters of magic, and the first person I turned to. She became 'Aunty Gee' to my children with Sanatha - just as she was to Sirma.

She was reconciled to the idea that we would never have children. There were no tears, and no jealousy when I was with my sons, or my nieces and nephew.

A year before the birth of Sanatha's youngest daughter, Glasha asked me to go down to the river with her.

- "Tauma." she said. "I'm pregnant."

I was thunderstruck. After all this time?

She gave birth to a lovely little girl, who proved to be quite a handful as she grew up.

I remained the Witch King.

The Topaz Order may not have liked me, or what I represented, but they did not attempt to have me assassinated (though it remained a concern for us for many years).

Varna enjoyed a long period of peace. Prosperity was a little slower to return, after all of the damage from two wars. Perhaps in another century or two, people will look back at this time as some kind of Golden Age.

It certainly was for me.

*****

THE END

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Thank you all for the comments and criticism. I truly appreciate the support. Thanks again to my editors, Iriad Arianath and Lastman 416.