The Magic Council (The Herezoth Trilogy) Read online

  THE MAGIC COUNCIL

  Book II of the Herezoth Trilogy

  Victoria Grefer

  Copyright © 2012 Victoria Grefer

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN: 1475132492

  ISBN-13: 97814751324

  Cover Design by Brad Covey

  http://designer.bradcovey.com/

  https://twitter.com/bradcovey

  https://www.facebook.com/bradcoveyofficial

  DEDICATION

  For Ethan James, the most precious nephew an aunt could ask for. Your sweet smile and boundless energy inspire me always. Aunt Vic wrote a fair bit of this novel when we were on vacation together with your parents at the beach! Also, for Lily and Caroline: even your tag teaming couldn’t stop me getting writing done on vacation with you at Omie and Opie’s, and I loved every minute of having you around. You’re such beautiful and fearless nieces. Love all three of you! Always follow your dreams, and don’t be afraid if, like Vane, they lead you to try new things.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Greg and Rachel, I hope you always remain my fabulous first readers. Your comments and confusions helped so much to work the kinks out of the novel. You helped me cut down some things that simply weren’t needed and just slowed the pace down. Thanks!!! (PS: Rachel, you got the character list you wanted. That was a great suggestion.)

  Olivia, your experiences with a growing Svea provided me a lot of inspiration, as you’ll see when you read the novel. A lot of the book is due to you, I think: influences of real life and all that! Hope you enjoy this installment of the trilogy!

  Dad and Brenda, thanks for your love and support. You’ve always encouraged me to be who I am and pursue my dreams. I appreciate all you’ve done and continue to do.

  Loren and Erin, you guys are the best sisters I could ask for. You’ve always been there for me and supported me. What I’ve learned about family from the two of you had no small influence on my writing. Erica and Jeffrey, the same goes for you. Love you guys!

  Laura R. and Katrina, thanks for letting me rant and rave and talk through issues relating to the novel with you as the first draft came together. Appreciate it much! Thanks especially for proofreading, Laura. You’re as awesome as Andy’s awesomesauce.

  Thanks to all the fans and reviewers of “The Crimson League.” Your positive response helped give me the courage to put this next work out there. I appreciate you all!

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  BOOK ONE

  Chapter One: Kidnapped

  Chapter Two: Rexson and Gracia

  Chapter Three: The Brothers

  Chapter Four: The King’s Spy

  Chapter Five: Of Knights and Negotiations

  Chapter Six: Mistaken Identity

  Chapter Seven: Of Spies and Specters

  Chapter Eight: The Diary

  Chapter Nine: Treel Warrell

  Chapter Ten: The Next Move

  Chapter Eleven: Of Babies and Blankets

  Chapter Twelve: The League Reunited

  Chapter Thirteen: Nasty Surprises

  Chapter Fourteen: Gambling on the Past

  Chapter Fifteen: Of Guidance and Geese

  Chapter Sixteen: Of Magic Bound

  Chapter Seventeen: Sunset

  Chapter Eighteen: Of Rings

  Chapter Nineteen: Family Affairs

  Chapter Twenty: Dorane’s Demand

  Chapter Twenty-One: To Face the Future

  Chapter Twenty-Two: Of Jobs and Jails

  BOOK TWO

  Chapter One: Carson Amison

  Chapter Two: Of Elopement and Intrigue

  Chapter Three: Of Traigland and Tarts

  Chapter Four: Of Necklaces and Newspapers

  Chapter Five: Of Motherhood and Marriage

  Chapter Six: Visiting Ursa

  Chapter Seven: Of Infants and Interviews

  Chapter Eight: Jorne Warrell

  Chapter Nine: Amison’s Intentions

  Chapter Ten: Race to Bendelof’s

  Chapter Eleven: The Trial

  Chapter Twelve: Return to Podrar

  Chapter Thirteen: The Court

  Chapter Fourteen: To Swear on a Chicken

  Chapter Fifteen: New Beginnings

  CHARACTER LIST

  Carson Amison: the Duke of Yangerton

  Rayla Amison: the younger of Carson Amison’s two sisters

  Arbora Anders: foundress of the Enchanted Fist

  Brianna Bellis: Rexson’s first love and late wife of Carson Amison, whom she married while Rexson was with the Crimson League and presumed dead

  Crale Bendit: firestarter, Arbora’s mentor and surrogate father, officer of the Enchanted Fist

  Kansten Carder: deceased, grew up with Bendelof in the farmlands west of Podrar. She was in the Crimson League

  Kora Cason: married name of Kora Porteg. Sorceress and former member of the Crimson League exiled to Traigland

  Parker Cason: Kora’s husband, a blacksmith from Yangerton residing in Traigland

  Johann Clee: secretary of the Magic Council, a banker with the ability to read (or absorb written information) by touching a book or piece of paper

  Samson Denwood: a warden at the Partsvale prison

  Neslan Dormenor: Rexson’s former best friend, should have been Duke of Crescenton but died in the days of the Crimson League

  Bendelof Esper: inn worker, former member of the Crimson League

  Sedder Foden: deceased. Kora’s childhood friend, Crimson League

  Malzin Forzythe: Zalski Forzythe’s wife, killed the day of his fall

  Zalski Forzythe: former dictator of Herezoth and Vane Unsten’s uncle, son of the last Duke of Lanceton

  Byron Gent: scribe who writes occasionally for the local Partsvale paper

  Rich Goodly: one of Carson Amison’s servants

  Gilbert Greller: eldest son of the Duke of Podrar

  Mason Greller: Duke of Podrar and Rexson’s Chief Adviser

  Tanya Greller: Carson Amison’s sister, married to Gilbert Greller

  Thad Greller: youngest son of the Duke of Podrar

  Bidd Grissner: deceased. Hayden’s cousin, was in the Crimson League

  Hayden Grissner: the current Duke of Crescenton, though of common birth, and former member of the Crimson League

  Tara Grissner: Hayden’s wife, Duchess of Crescenton. Of common birth

  Alten Grombach: first general of Zalski Forzythe’s army

  Hal Halt: deceased, friend of Hayden and Bidd Grissner and former member of the Crimson League

  Hansrelto: ancient sorcerer rebel, crafter of a famous, evil spellbook

  August Hincken: Ursa Hincken’s half-sister

  Ursa Hincken: can control animals with magic. Officer of the Enchanted Fist with Dorane Polve and Arbora Anders

  Lanokas: Rexson Phinnean’s alias with the Crimson League

  Mayven: Ancient sorceress who helped defeat Hansrelto, ancestor of the Portegs who removed the sorcerer’s mark from her descendants

  Menikas: the former crown prince, deceased. Rexson’s older brother, Hune Phinnean, used this name as an alias with the Crimson League

  Laskenay Heathdon: former Duchess of Ingleton and Zalski Forzythe’s twin

  Valkin Heathdon: former Duke of Ingleton and Vane’s father, after whom Vane was officially named

  Carlina Lant: the Count of Fontferry’s daughter, engaged to Thad Greller

  Petroc: a sorcerer in the days of Zalski who aided the Crimson League

  Gracia Phinnean: Queen of Herezoth

  Rexson Phinnean: King of Herezoth

  Dorane Polve: a sorcerer, officer of the Enchanted Fist

  Drea Polve: Dorane’s wife


  Zate Polve: Dorane and Drea’s young son

  Ilana Porteg: Kora and Zacry’s mother

  Joslyn Porteg: Zacry’s wife, Traiglandian

  Zacry Porteg: Kora’s younger brother, sorcerer and academic

  Casandra Quin: Crale Bendit’s great-niece. She is a fire-starter and member of the Magic Council as well as the Enchanted Fist. Hart’s wife

  Hart Quin: member of the Enchanted Fist and Magic Council. He has the power to shape glass with touch

  Francie Rafe: Vane’s Unsten’s childhood friend, raised in the village of Fontferry

  Mouser Rone: deceased, spy who betrayed the Crimson League

  Teena Unsten: an innkeeper who raised Vane as her son

  Vane Unsten: sorcerer, son of the former Duke and Duchess of Ingleton

  Ranler Voldrone: deceased. He was the Crimson League’s thief and Bendelof’s teacher and protector

  Jorne Warrell: former butler to the late Duke of Ingleton

  Treel Warrell: childhood friend of Dorane Polve, kitchen hand in the Palace

  Gratton Welder: a royal guardsman

  Argint Wicker: Zalski’s second general, he was promoted after Alten Grombach’s untimely death and was responsible for Zalski’s murder

  Gretta Yastly: Bendelof Esper’s alias with the Enchanted Fist

  KORA’S CHILDREN:

  Kansten, female

  Walten, male

  Wilhem, male

  Laskenay, female

  Tressa, female

  REXSON’S CHILDREN:

  Valkin (“Tommy”), male

  Neslan (“Ryne”), male

  Hune (“Brant”), male

  Melinda, female

  ZACRY’S CHILDREN:

  Viola, female

  Foden, male

  BOOK I

  CHAPTER ONE

  Kidnapped

  Vane Unsten, at age seventeen, was no ignorant boy. He not only could read and write; he had a passion for history, and his mentor Zacry had taught him the ways of magic. Both men were sorcerers, and after four years of study a fair number of spells had become second nature to Vane, almost commonplace. Ironically, Vane’s education was the cause of the stupid expression that had come over him as he stood in Zacry Porteg’s study with his auburn hair in his face and a letter in his hand. That letter was what had startled him; had he not been able to decipher its contents, he would not have appeared so muddled in his thoughts.

  The emergency’s unexpectedness intensified the haunted air that Vane’s eyes, deep brown and too large for his face, customarily evoked. Some daunted-looking individuals get swallowed up by their surroundings, but Vane was not one of those people. First of all, he could not be called timid, though neither was he particularly bold; that first impression of him being overwhelmed was a lie of his physiognomy. Second, his apparent introversion was not one that pleaded, “Don’t consider me. Pass me over, please; I would rather be ignored.” Quite in contrast, the eyes Vane had never grown into drew attention when he was with others (he was alone just now). They screamed in silence to be noted. The strength of his voice, not as deep as some but resounding in tone, came as a surprise when one first heard him talk. One rather expected him to squeak, like a mouse.

  “It can’t be. It just can’t be.”

  Vane dropped into his mentor’s armchair. In the moonlight that filtered through the window and by the lamp he had set on the desk, Vane stared at the parchment in his hand. The letter was from the king of Herezoth, his home country, and quite short.

  Zacry,

  I need you in Podrar. At the Palace. Come discreetly, come quickly, and in the name of God, leave your sister behind—she’d be conspicuous, far too conspicuous.

  One of my guards will be waiting for you at the servants’ entrance, on the west side. I hate to ask this of you, but I have nowhere else to turn. Please, come in haste. Transport if you can, but be discreet at all costs, even that of time—a rogue faction of the magicked has my children, and will kill them if it learns I sent for you.

  Vane respected the king. Loved the king. It had been Rexson Phinnean to bring Vane to the small, quiet nation of Traigland in the first place, in order to learn from Zacry. Vane’s parents had been a duke and duchess in Herezoth and faithful to the royal family, even after Vane’s sorcerer uncle, his mother’s twin, executed a coup d’état mere months after Vane was born. Valkin, Vane’s father, had died in the initial scuffle for the Crystal Palace. Vane’s sorceress mother had met her end in a later battle, the final battle to reinstate the legitimate monarch, who still ruled, a father who had now lost his three sons and perhaps young daughter with them. So Vane gathered from that letter.

  Herezoth’s ruler was an honest man, with a streak of selflessness that Vane personally could confirm. “Selfless” was the word Vane thought, but “loyal,” perhaps, would have been more accurate; Vane’s parents had lost their lives for Rexson’s sake, and Rexson repaid them by watching over their orphan son. Admittedly, “watching over” meant little more than sending clothes, books, and tutors, and arranging for Vane to visit the Palace every third year when he had still been living in Herezoth with the woman who had raised him, an innkeeper named Teena whom the boy called his aunt. But then, Vane’s situation was delicate. Not only was he a sorcerer, a dangerous thing to be at any time across the ocean; he was also the dead dictator’s nephew. Vane’s visits to Rexson’s home had never been publicized.

  Rexson could have involved himself to a greater degree in Vane’s upbringing, should have done more to make Herezoth safer for those with magic powers: these were Vane’s principal criticisms of the monarch, especially the last. The king had never reached out to the empowered, a community that felt persecuted in general and even personally by Rexson, for Rexson had torn down Zalski’s rule. Zalski was Vane’s uncle, and he had proposed that the magicked not be persecuted. In fact, he had thought sorcerers should rule the kingdom.

  Rexson was wrong to ignore the magic problem, but he did the best he could. He had suffered much to reclaim the throne as the only surviving member of the Phinnean line. Vane’s heart broke to learn the king was suffering again, and shame filled him to think how the pains came, as before, at the hands of people with powers like Vane’s own.

  Zacry had already left home. He had probably gone to his sister, the sister referenced in the king’s letter. She was older than her brother and had been a major player in Rexson’s bid to retake power.

  Vane turned invisible with a whispered magic word. He forgot his lamp, leaving it alight, and a second phrase transported him to Kora Cason’s family room. The place was all aclutter: dolls, whittled toys, and wooden swords covered nearly all the space that Kora’s mother’s loom left free. A shelf on the wall held a small collection of books, most of them grammars for the children.

  As straight and strong of body as any man of twenty-six, Zacry was there with his dark hair and gray-green eyes. His rugged face looked more severe than usual. His brother-in-law Parker, red-faced from the fires of the smithy where he passed his days working, had taken to pacing the floor, as much as that was possible with all the mess. Only the house’s mistress looked pale, though the ruby that had spent the last fifteen years fixed to her forehead provided even her a splotch of scarlet. Her chestnut curls were pulled in a loose bun, and her skin had a gray tinge. The baby’s dress she was stitching shook in her hand.

  “I’m going with you,” Kora told her brother.

  Zacry protested, “You have five children.”

  She shook the dress in his face. “You have an infant of your own! This is for your daughter, not mine. Tressa wouldn’t fit in this.”

  Parker stopped his roaming to put a hand on his wife’s shoulder. “Zacry has to go. The king sent for him.”

  “And specifically wants you to stay here,” said Zacry. Kora’s grayness deepened.

  “I don’t believe you. Where’s the letter? Why didn’t you bring it?”

  “You shouldn’t go,” said Park
er. “You belong here, and I don’t say that for the kids. It’s because of who you are, because the king had to banish you last time just to save your life. After those papers printed your letter, the whole kingdom knows about your ruby. They know you’re the Marked One.”

  Kora swore. “That ridiculous legend. I don’t care if it’s about me. I still say it’s absurd. A hero to save Herezoth with a mark on his face…. I didn’t put the ruby there, and if I did save Herezoth, I most certainly had help.”

  Parker told her, “If anyone over there caught the gem glinting, well, this time Rexson would have to kill you. You know that, Kora. He wouldn’t have a choice, and you wouldn’t be the only victim. If people saw that ruby, word would get around and the king’s own sons would die. The magic folk would kill them. That’s what Zac said. You want to be responsible for that?”

  Kora threw an empty glass against the wall, where it shattered dangerously close to Vane’s head. He ducked to avoid it, but did not blame her. It must be hard to live in exile, to see your brother going home when you yourself never could. Kora had already spent fourteen years in Traigland, and she was young, thirty-two or thirty-three. Traigland was far from horrible, but it was quaint. Vane could not imagine spending a lifetime here.