The White Order (The Saga of Recluce #8)(154)

Cerryl swallowed.

“You think I don't know.” A wry smile crossed Myral's face. “I can tell you what I think now. You'll either be accepted as a full mage before the day is out, or we'll both be dead. Makes no difference either way.”

Leyladin opened her mouth and then closed it.

“Off with you, young lady.”

“Yes, Myral.”

“Dear Leyladin,” Myral said mildly, “I don't intend for us to be dead. Jeslek might, but Sterol trusts me, and probably Cerryl, far more than he does Jeslek.”

“Be careful... please ... both of you.” Leyladin offered a smile after her words.

Cerryl noted, though, that the smile was for him, and he smiled back as she slipped out. He fancied he could hear her boots on the stone stairs of the tower.

Myral waddled toward the door. “Sterol is yet up in the High Wizard's quarters, and so we will make our way there.”

A single guard stood outside the High Wizard's quarters. “Myral and Cerryl to see the High Wizard, and it is important.”

The guard knocked on the door, then announced, “Myral and Cerryl to see you. The mage Myral states his call is important.”

The door opened, and a thin, red-haired apprentice mage-barely more than a girl, and one Cerryl did not know-scurried out and down the steps, followed by Bealtur.

“Come in.” Sterol's voice was cold and formal. Once the door had closed, he turned to Myral. “Is the return of this deserting apprentice so important?” His eyes fixed on Cerryl. “Have you come cowering back ... to beg mercy?”

“No, ser. I never left. Jeslek set me a task in Gallos. I did it, and I returned-as he told me. After all I have seen, honored Sterol, I would not desert Fairhaven and then return.”

“A task, you say?” Sterol's eyebrows lifted.

“You say, young Cerryl, that Jeslek told you this task was a test?” Myral asked yet again, as though Cerryl had said nothing previously.

“Yes, ser. One that I had to pass to become a full mage.” Cerryl left his shields down, including the barrier that would have kept Sterol from sensing whether he told the truth.

“Jeslek told you this, and you believed him?”

“Yes, ser ... that is, he told me such. I did not fully believe him, but he had sent Fydel and Anya out scouting, and he raised chaos and was ready to destroy me if I questioned him.”

“If you doubted him, why did you undertake the task?” asked Sterol, his voice still cold.

“How could I defy him?” Cerryl asked. “Also, after the actions of the prefect's troops, it appeared as though the removal of the prefect might indeed be the will of the Council.”

“The prefect's removal? You have said nothing of that.”

“That was the task. I was sent to become Sverlik's assistant and then to assassinate Lyam. That didn't work because the prefect had already had Sverlik killed.”

“How? He was a strong mage.” Sterol's brow furrowed.

“I heard a conversation ... they used iron bolts. Sverlik still killed half the bowmen. That was what the subprefect said.”

“And you let him live?”

“High Wizard,” Cerryl said carefully, “Jeslek told me to do only that with which I was tasked, and my task was to be Sverlik's assistant, to remove the prefect, and to return to Fairhaven. I could not serve as Sverlik's assistant because he was dead before I arrived. I sneaked into the palace and killed the prefect with chaos-fire-the overmage was most insistent that I use chaos-fire. Then I sneaked out and rode home.”

“And no one even chased you?”

“They sealed the palace, and they had guards running everywhere, but I climbed over a gate no one was watching closely enough. I did dress as a bravo to ride out of Fenard. I even kept the blade and trousers and cloak I used. They're in my pack.”

Sterol bobbed his head up and down, and the gray hair glinted in the dull light that came through the window from the cloudy day outside. “You have taken pains to reach me undetected. What if I just removed you?”

“Not totally undetected.” Cerryl swallowed, thinking that the High Wizard would have no compunctions about removing witnesses. “I doubt it would be in your interest to remove me and those few who know. It is clear that I have followed your directions. Others have not. You told me to report to you, and I have.”

Sterol laughed, a braying laugh that ended abruptly.

“He tells the truth,” Myral added.

“I know. That is the most disturbing of all.” Sterol nodded once more. “I think we should call the great Jeslek-after we summon Kinowin and Derka.” Sterol nodded. “It would be best if you both waited here with me.”

Cerryl walked to the window while Sterol rang the bell he carried to the door. A misting rain was beginning to drift across Fairhaven, bringing with it the twinge of an incipient headache for Cerryl.

One of the youngsters from the creche, attired solely in red, appeared and stepped into the High Wizard's quarters. “Honored ser?”

“Have the overmage Kinowin and the mage Derka attend me here. Immediately. Then return.”

“Yes, High Wizard.” The brown-haired youth bowed, then scurried down the steps.

“Young Cerryl... I am curious about a few details.”