The people around heard me and, after a murmur of surprise, seemed to believe me. However, it did not seem to make them feel any less favorably toward me.
“Then we have both the best Royal Wizard and the best Royal Chaplain a kingdom could have,” said the queen. “We were all just going to go to the chapel for a service of thanksgiving to God. Won’t you join us?”
“With greatest pleasure,” I said, scrambling to my feet and brushing off my knees.
IV
I was sitting in my chambers, quizzing the Lady Maria on the first points of the Hidden Language, when a knock came at the door.
She was not doing well on the first-grammar. Her enthusiasm for learning magic was as high as ever, and I think she really wanted to study hard, but she seemed distracted.
Maybe, I thought, she was the only other person in the castle, besides me, still to be worrying about the king. A month after his recovery, he seemed to be growing even stronger. After a week in the rose garden, he had moved back into the castle, so far without any ill effects. But I still sometimes felt that lurking sense of evil and worried that he might weaken again. Or maybe the Lady Maria was not worrying about anyone else, but only about the three gray hairs I had spotted that morning among the golden curls.
“Come in!” I called, thinking it might be Gwen with tea. She often brought a pot if I had someone visiting in my chambers, but if she were jealous and checking up on what I and the Lady Maria were doing she certainly gave no sign.
But it was the constable. I was surprised; he rarely came to my chambers.
“Excuse me, sir, I hate to interrupt you and the lady, but there’s a — person here who wants to see you at once.”
Maria jumped up. “I can’t concentrate this afternoon anyway,” she said, before I could tell the constable to have this mysterious person wait a few minutes.
“Shall I see you later today?” I asked. But she had rushed out already. “Show him in,” I said to the constable.
“Excuse me, sir, but he wants you to go outside.”
Shaking my head, I went out, stopping only long enough to put the magic lock on my door, and followed the constable across the courtyard to the main gate and the bridge.
Waiting on the bridge was an unmistakable figure: tall, lean, with a tall red hat and a long white beard. It was Zahlfast.
I rushed forward, hands outstretched to greet him, and although he tried to give me a look of stern dignity I could see a smile already lurking at the corner of his lips. That was why I had chosen to write to him.
“Welcome to Yurt!” I said inanely. “Come in! Did you have a good trip? Are you just stopping by, or can you stay for a while?”
He returned my handshake vigorously but resisted being drawn into the castle. “It’s such a beautiful day,” he said, “and there won’t be many more this fall. Didn’t I see a little garden over there where we could sit?”
We proceeded to the rose garden, where only the queen’s rose bush, of all the bushes, was still blooming. I continued to chatter to hide my surprise at his arrival.
“I was glad to get your letter,” said Zahlfast when we were seated on the bench where the king often sat. “Is your king still sick?”
“Oh, no. He was cured by a miracle a month ago.”
Zahlfast shot me a sideways look, then looked away. “Good,” he said and then added, “We never talk much about miracles at the wizards’ school.”
This of course I already knew. “The chaplain cured him. The chaplain’s my friend,” I added, feeling the same need to justify my friendship that I had felt with the old wizard. I started to say, that is, I think he’s my friend, but decided not to raise doubts.
But I should have remembered Zahlfast was the sharpest of my teachers. “You sound somewhat dubious about this friendship.”
“Not dubious. But he had insulted me, and I insulted him, and I tried to apologize but, in a way, he wouldn’t let me-especially since, I’ll admit to you, I’m almost in awe of him after the miracle.”
“Don’t stand in awe of those who deal with the supernatural,” said Zahlfast as though making a key point at the front of the lecture hall. “Wizards too can deal with forces beyond the natural, indeed have the special training to do it. And always remember, those who can heal with supernatural aid can always sicken.”
Abruptly he changed the subject. “Anyway, it sounded from your letter as though you might be lonely, so, as I was flying in this direction anyway-” I was surprised to realize he was having almost as much trouble feeling at ease as I was. He was still my teacher, but this was my kingdom, and I was no longer a student. “It really wasn’t time yet for your first checkup-”
“My first checkup!” I cried, devastated. “You mean you go around checking on us after we leave the wizards’ school? No one ever told me! Or is that just one more thing I missed?”
“We don’t tell the young wizards,” said Zahlfast with an amused smile he tried to suppress. “In fact, many are checked and never even know it, at least for some years. But I knew you were sharp enough to guess it wasn’t just friendly interest in seeing an old student that brought me here, after I got your letter.”
The compliment softened what would otherwise have been another devastating blow. And I had even hoped he remembered me fondly! But now I began to wonder what ulterior motive he may have had in passing me in that transformation practical-was this an experiment to see just how badly a young wizard could do?
“So what are you checking for?”
“In your case, I was interested in your progress. In general, it’s a continuation of the school’s original purpose, to organize and rationalize the practice of wizardry, to be sure it doesn’t go astray. That’s why I wanted to learn more about your study of herbal magic and who has been teaching you.”
“It’s my predecessor. He lives not far from here, and he’s taught me the rudiments,” I said, feeling somewhat defensive, whereas I had expected to be proudly demonstrating an unusual accomplishment when I first met a wizard from the school again.
“He’s your friend, too,” said Zahlfast. It was a statement, not a question. “There aren’t many young wizards who are even on speaking terms with their predecessors.”
“Is that what you mean when you say I’m sharp?” I said, hoping for another compliment.
“Why do you think you were hired as Royal Wizard of Yurt?”
“I’d assumed I was the only person who applied.”
“You may have been; I’m not sure. But when I heard you’d applied, I talked to the Master, and we agreed. I wrote to the constable of Yurt and told him not to hire anyone else.”
“That was the constable who you met at the gate,” I said, wondering again why Zahlfast had not wanted to come in. But another question took precedence. “Why did you want me in Yurt? Was it to keep me out of the way?”
“Not at all. We knew something was happening in Yurt, something odd, and it needed someone who combined your intuitive flair for magic with the potential, at least, to work hard and master academic magic. Neither careful mastery of spells nor innate ability would have been enough without the other. Also, of course, we hoped that here, away from the distractions of the City, you might meet enough challenges and find enough leisure that you really would set yourself to learning the magic we had tried to teach you.”
There was not nearly enough of a compliment in this to mitigate the sting. “You mean you knew all along what was going on in Yurt? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Actually,” said Zahlfast, with a snort that could have been amusement, “I have no idea what’s going on in Yurt. I was hoping you would tell me.”
“There’s an evil presence in the castle,” I said slowly, looking at my hands. “I don’t know where it’s coming from, and sometimes I can hardly even sense it. Most of the time I think it’s a person, but I don’t know how to find out which one. Once or twice I’ve thought it could be a demon, but the old wizard says there was never any evil presence in the castle before I arrived, and I don’t think even I could have summoned a demon by mistake.”