Chương 29: Traitors

Ch 29: Traitors After another round of mind numbingly sexy kisses—that somehow left Felix with cold lips and burning skin—the door pushed open. Felix and Isa just about leapt apart. A stone-faced servant came in before a smiling Cara, setting the clothes in a pile. Felix swept the little blonde bodyguard with his eyes. That Isa was so casual about her becoming his 'concubine' if they got married was still mind boggling.

He tried not to imagine uncovering those perky breasts, her lithe body sliding up against him with Isa right beside them…

"Eyes up here." Cara had apparently busted him. And she was glaring. Felix cleared his throat, looking to the young brunette who'd brought in the clothes.

"Thanks. I'm feeling better. But I should definitely eat something before I go. I don't suppose…"

"You'll be taken care of," Cara said, taking Isa's arm with a grip somewhere between jailor and protector.

"Come, my lady. Your father calls."

"I should be there," Felix said. Cara's eyes narrowed.

"He's right," Isa said, and the women exchanged a meaningful look.

"Even if he sees us one at a time, Father should speak with Felix and hear about the fighting." Cara looked ready to roll her eyes, but nodded to concede the point.

"Alright. Bring the…Felix, behind us. And make sure he's fed. I don't want him passing out when he meets the king." The servant bowed, Isa giving Felix an encouraging smile before they whisked her from the room. Felix was led out to the tables and surrounded by plates of food, which he did his level best to clear. By the time the servants told him he'd been summoned, he realized he'd never eaten so much in one sitting in his life. And he didn't feel full.

"Fire wizards," muttered the servant, coming up to him with a white rag and literally wiping the grease from his face and hands like he was a child. He didn't stop her, too satisfied and suddenly tired to care about much of anything.

"Felix. Not fire wizard," he said.

"What's your name?" The girl scrubbed him and looked ready to spit on the rag before thinking better of it.

"Ella. Now off you go. We'll get in trouble."

"Thanks Ella. And I usually do." Felix stood and took a deep breath as the world spun. He was about to get another chance to impress or disappoint Isa's father, and his heart beat faster at the thought. It was so hard to tell what these islander's wanted or approved of. He still didn't understand their culture or their history. But a king was a king. They needed power, soldiers, protection.

He figured the best way to get what he wanted was to make sure the man saw him as useful, and loyal, and good for his daughter. So how to make that clear? He followed Ella to a nearby hall and a handful of stick-armed guards. As usual they looked more like teachers or priests than warriors. Felix tried not to think of them as ridiculous. They'd at least done a little work during the attack. Though they needed armor. And real weapons. He still hadn't learned what water mages could actually do in battle.

Except float people in… water bubbles, or something. To be fair, that was pretty good. But it wasn't the same as burning your enemies alive. The 'elementalists' of the continent were frightening enough to change how armies fought. Felix was no expert, but his father had told him of the mage wars and how every archer was trained to hunt them down. To know when they were casting, and at what range they were most dangerous. Felix followed his guides to the familiar ornate doors that led to Lord Amadi's court.

He took a deep breath as he stood outside. The herald at the front checked on his master and returned, bowing to Felix.

"High lord Amadi is ready for you now. Please answer any questions, and do whatever you are told. Try not to speak otherwise. You may call him lord, or highness. Do you have any questions?" Yeah. What do you figure I should say to him to let me marry his daughter?

"No, thank you. Ready when you are." ** Lord Amadi was still questioning a few nervous looking men when Felix came in. The court servants took him to a kind of side seating with a few others, including Cara. He grinned at her as he sat, thinking of her differently since the 'concubine' news. He looked for Isa but didn't see her anywhere.

"Shouldn't you be with your charge?" he whispered.

"I am Lord Amadi's servant," she whispered back as if annoyed.

"I do what he tells me." Felix nodded, wondering if Isa's father was feeling so paranoid after the attack he thought even his daughter's bodyguard might be a traitor. If so, it didn't bode well for Felix's chances. Or really anyones. He reminded himself the man had just lost several sons.

"Thank you," Cara said, as if the words pained her. Felix raised an eyebrow and glanced at the proud bodyguard's rigid posture.

"You've protected my charge twice now. I owe you for both."

"So you're not thinking about killing or gelding me anymore?"

"I saw you in battle," Cara said.

"I don't think it would be easy to do either." She frowned and looked at him.

"You are a warrior. We have few on the isles. Would you be willing to practice with me? To teach me whatever you know? I would be willing to…" she shrugged.

"I would owe you. Again." You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. Felix felt his brow raise.

"Part of my power comes from magic. I don't expect I can teach that."

"Even so. I'm sure you have much to teach us about combat. And you can't train with magic all the time. You should maintain your body as well. Perhaps a few times a week." Felix nodded, agreeing with that. Getting hot and sweaty with the attractive blonde bodyguard of the girl he wanted to marry maybe wasn't ideal. But Isa expected him to take her as a kind of wife, too. So maybe it was best to get to know each other better.

"Obviously Isa would have to be nearby," Cara said.

"She may even benefit from the training as well." Felix smiled, ready to agree without the bait.

"I'll find the time," he said.

"But you're right. You'll owe me. Again." Cara's green eyes flicked towards him then went back to the drama at court. He was feeling a bit smug and probably too pleased with himself, not paying enough attention when he heard Amadi's voice call his name. He blinked and jumped up, awkwardly making his way past half a dozen staring soldiers, mages, and nobles. Island sandals tapped as he moved out front and center before the gathered court members.

Lord Amadi was flanked now by High Mage Hasha (who had actually dressed up for the occasion), and some other adviser Felix didn't know. All three men stared with impassive faces. Mostly they looked at the bandages on Felix's arms. Amadi was the only one who nodded at his presence.

"I'm told you fought well. That you risked your life to kill many of the beasts that attacked my house. Why did you do that?" Felix felt sweat on his brow. He instantly saw the pain in the man's eyes at the loss of his sons. The kind of wounded exhaustion of a man who wished he could hide from the world, but couldn't. He really wished he'd had coffee. And a bit more sleep. And maybe a good ocean spray in his face as he hung off the prow.

This didn't feel like the right moment to say 'I wanted to protect your daughter, who I really want to sleep with on an ongoing basis.' And he supposed he'd gone down because Silas asked him to. Because there was danger and Felix was the sort to turn towards it.

"Another student told me there was an attack, highness. I went to look and saw the…creatures. The blood and bodies. I picked up a weapon and fought them. That's all." Unnerving silence. A whole lot of stares.

"But why not just stay hidden?" said Amadi.

"Why risk your life at all? We aren't your kin. You owe me no allegiance." Felix shrugged. The truth was, he hadn't really thought about it much.

"I'm a warrior, highness. It's not in my nature to stand by. And my…roommate, young Silas of House…" he literally couldn't remember and trailed off…

"he was worried about the high mage's…wizard's daughter. She was my teacher. I wanted to find her, protect her. I still haven't heard if she's alright. I would like to know." Amadi glanced at his cousin, who shifted in his seat.

"Lina is fine. Thank you. She was safe in my office when the attack started." The big man looked increasingly uncomfortable, though Felix didn't understand why. Amadi was staring now, his strained tone getting less friendly.

"Some of my advisors can't help but notice that, since your arrival, there have been two attacks. The first on my daughter. The second resulting in the death of both of my sons. It seems a strange coincidence, wouldn't you agree?" Felix blinked, realizing he should have thought of that. He was a stranger here. It was only natural to accuse him, to suspect him, no matter what he did. He felt the noose slowly slipping around his neck.

"I don't know how to answer that, highness. I fought to protect your daughter. And your sons. And I'm very sorry I failed." He saw the renewed flash of hurt and grief in the man's eyes before it again vanished behind the mask of his station.

"You could be working with the assassins," he said.

"You could have helped them get inside. Your goal could be to earn my trust, to kill me, my whole family. Doesn't that seem as likely or more likely than a powerful, dual wizard just happening to wash up on our shores the day of the first attack?" A pin might have dropped. Felix didn't even blame the man. He knew there was nothing else he could truly say. He could make all the arguments the clever man would have surely thought of already, but what was the point?

He could say he knew nothing about the island, that he'd been injured and nearly killed, that it was the lord who sent his daughter and high wizard to speak with him in the first place. But he couldn't prove his own ignorance or innocence. He started thinking about exits. He felt the now agitated inferno inside him promising power and violence and freedom. All he had to do was let it free." Tri- wizard," said Hasha, his voice echoing through the silent hall. Amadi turned and stared.

"What did you say?"

"He's not a dual-wizard, my lord, he's a tri-wizard. It was in his soul stone, hiding under all that fire. I saw the smudge but thought it some strange anomaly in the test. Then I saw him in the square. He can channel air. It was how he fought the Asashi without being killed." Whispers filled the hall. Felix wasn't sure why exactly or what was happening, other than assuming a 'tri-wizard' was rare and good. He didn't see how it helped his situation. If anything it made his sudden appearance even more unlikely.

Except he could sense the tension lowering in the room. Why?

"Show me the stone," said Amadi. Some servant scrambled from behind the dais. The sphere came out covered in a cloth, handed to the king who tossed off the covering and stared. It seemed everyone in Felix's peripheral vision was straining to see.

"It's there, in the fire, lord." Hasha pointed.

"Do you see the subtle movement? His air mana is small in comparison. But it's there." Felix blinked, watching the cyclone of fire in his fortress. Is that why it moved like that? Because it had some kind of air mana blowing it back and forth? It struck him as right, as true. And he also thought back to his testing as a boy—of the magistrate and his gems and proclamations about 'tiny mana' and a powerful 'trigger' that was really the 'soul', or internal capacity for loosing magic.

Had the man's crystal somehow just tested for the wrong things? Had it all really been a kind of ignorance and failure to truly understand magic? He expected yes. That the people and magic orders of the continent had been ruining lives and wasting potential for hundreds of years because they didn't know any better. He felt himself sag at the pure bloody waste and horror of it all. He wondered how many 'earth' mages had been ignored, or considered defective.

How many might be out there benefiting his world, if they could only be taught to control their power?

"I ask again: did you realize you were a tri-wizard?" Lord Amadi's voice rose.

"Is that why you were hired by my enemies? Were you brought here to enter my house and destroy my family?" Felix blinked and realized they were all staring at him again. He also noticed Isa had come into the court and was sitting in the wing with Cara. Her eyes were red, as if she'd been crying. He suspected he knew how her meeting with her father went. It was all becoming a tragic joke. They thought he was some agent of chaos hired by their rivals.

But the truth was he was just a fool who'd lived a twisted life for no reason except ignorance.

"No, highness. I didn't know that or anything else." He shook his head.

"We're ignorant on the continent. I didn't know earth magic existed and could feed starving people. I didn't know there were spells, or that mages had mana souls. And certainly not about dual mages or tri mages. I didn't know anything." He shook his head, expecting now to have to fight and somehow escape this place. A place that a moment ago he intended to live forever and bring his father, to defend with his life.

"All my life I've been called a Lifestealer," he said, not expecting it to matter.

"A thing that meant monster because where I come from people fear magic." He met Amadi's eyes.

"I found this place by fate or fortune. And if tomorrow more men or beasts attacked Lady Amadi, I would kill them. I swear it on the life of my father, and by all the useless gods of men." The lord stared at him with hard eyes. Isa was standing in the wing as if she meant to speak, Cara obviously holding her back. High Wizard Hasha took a deep breath and let it out with a sigh.

"No house would send a tri-wizard as an assassin. He'd be bred like a prize stud in some fucking plush basement. It's not him, cousin. End this nonsense." Amadi looked much less convinced.

"Even so," he said, eyes still hard.

"He will be tested. Take him." The boys with sticks grabbed Felix's wounded arms. He resisted the urge to toss them across the room, to explode in some raging inferno and burn the world. Instead he smiled at Isa, and fought the inferno instead of the islanders, letting the weak boys tie his hands with rope.