Sarabande: River of Falcons Book 4

4. Plans

"Vultan was over-confident. He was a fool."

"Really, Mother, you shouldn't speak of him like that. You know he was, or is, no fool. It was bad luck when that girl managed to overcome him. I don't see why you take such a negative attitude toward him always. After all, you must once have been in love with him. I'm evidence of that." Magus looked at Nautilus, who gave him a "humph" and turned away.

They were standing side by side, the lean, bearded sorcerer and the large, wrinkled, commanding woman who was his mother, in front of Sorcerers' Keep. Or Vultan's Keep, as many still called it, although Vultan had been missing and presumed dead for nearly two moons. Since then, Nautilus and her band of disloyal Fena elders had joined forces with Magus and the remaining sorcerers. They stood together in their opposition to the royal family, which they regarded as having wrongfully taken the Palace back.

"Well, he was foolish to go up against the new Princess like he did," Nautilus continued. "When a prophecy says that fate is in someone's favor, it's not wise to test it so arrogantly. My own view is that we will need to be clever and well prepared to get rid of Drift and her allies."

"You went up against her yourself," Magus pointed out. "And she bested you, too. Were you being foolish?"

"Of course not! I had planned my exit, just in case." She waved toward a ring of large stones arranged in a spiral on the field in front of the Keep. "With that portal, I have but to construct a mirror spiral wherever I am and link the two, and I can come back here instantly."

"It's a clever piece of magic," Magus admitted. "And it irritates me that none of the rest of us can seem to master it. We'd be able to launch attacks much more easily if we could use transvection to bring ourselves and our guards to the Palace grounds."

"Well, I can't help you, Miles. It takes a long time to learn to move through space. Besides, you aren't in sufficient harmony with your surroundings to perform the spell. Your magic, I fear, is of a more violent nature."

Magus frowned. "Do not call me Miles. That is a name I associate with a very unpleasant childhood."

"Very well," Nautilus said. "But let's not argue over small things. We have larger matters that deserve our focus. Have you managed to arrange a spy inside the Palace yet?"

"It has proven difficult to coerce anyone to work for us. Everyone seems quite resolute in their loyalty. I can't understand it. However, I've been sending my people over as guests from time to time, so that we at least hear all that is said in the dining room. The royal household seems to speak freely of its plans during mealtimes. An amazing lack of discipline that plays nicely to our advantage."

"And do you think they have sources within our ranks?" Nautilus asked, giving Magus a hard stare.

"I'm investigating that. They often seem to be forewarned about our movements. If someone is sending messages, I'll intercept them and find out who it is, do not fear."

"I hope so. By the way, I had a dream last night about you. You were in your falcon form, chasing a pigeon."

"A pigeon? Magus laughed dismissively. "I have much better things to hunt, such as princesses."

"Perhaps not. My dreams are often important."

"Very well. I'll keep an eye out for pigeons," Magus said with a sideways glance at his mother. "Now, shall we go down to the coast and see how our work progresses?"

"It progresses well, which is why you must ferret out any spies or traitors who might spread news of our work to the Palace. If that girl hears what we're doing, she will no doubt interfere."

"The Princess? She won't hear. I do appreciate that we have to keep our work secret, Mother."

Nautilus scowled. "Of course, but she's a continuing problem, Miles. How did she manage to escape us? As soon as we finish this project, you will have to eliminate her."

"I'll see to it. If you're right about this new source of power, we'll soon have in our hands a weapon so strong that no one will be able to stand against it."

"Whatever it is, it's definitely of great power. We just have to lift it from the seabed before anyone else finds it. Shall we go?"

Magus nodded.

Nautilus stepped onto the stone wall separating the terrace from the fields below it, then she spread her arms and muttered a strange chant. With a shimmering, her arms elongated and sprouted long black flight-feathers as she transformed into a condor and, with a rough fluttering of wings, soared out over the valley.

Magus stepped onto the wall after her. Grasping his staff firmly so that it would be bound in the shifting spell and travel unseen with him, he shimmered into a black peregrine falcon and with rapid wingbeats sped after the condor.

*

It was a bright autumn day, and the fields were yellow with the dried seed-heads of long meadow-grass. The trees still held their green summer color, but here and there a leaf was turning yellow or orange. In the distance, haze lay low over the seacoast, making it difficult to see what was going on down there.