‘Do you know where he is?’ Velindre asked in measured tones.
Her father’s eyes snapped back to her. No one will take your scholarship seriously if you associate yourself with a madman.’
Velindre met his gaze. ‘There’s precious little true scholarship about dragons, Father. It’s one of the few areas of study where there’s real work to be done. I want to know more and if Azazir is my only source, that’s where
I’ll have to start.’
‘Stubborn as your mother,’ the old mage muttered. ‘You haven’t told her about this, have you? No, I’d have heard the two of you arguing from here if you had. And I suppose I’ve no small reputation for strong will.’ A reluctant smile cracked his aged face.
The silence in the room was tense and brittle.
‘I’ll find him one way or the other,’Velindre said calmly, ‘I’m going to do this, Father.’
‘Perhaps you should see what it means to go chasing some madman’s idle fancies.’ The old mage pointed to a distant table where flat leather folders lay precisely piled. ‘Fetch me that third folio of maps.’
Velindre retrieved it and he untied the rubbed-silk cord to open the tooled green leather.
‘You’ve been to Inglis, haven’t you, on one of ()tick’s foolish voyages? Do you feel inclined to take the road north at the tail end of winter? That journey’s not for the fainthearted.’ He pulled out a half-sheet and stabbed at the parchment with a chalky nail.
‘So the Council’s banishment doesn’t just mean quitting Hadrumal.’ Velindre’s brow wrinkled as she studied the point he’d indicated on the map.
‘Azazir was told to lose himself. He was told if he injured anyone, ever again, that would be the death of him. You don’t believe the Council would do such a thing?’ The old man mocked Velindre’s startled disbelief. Believe it, and there’s more than me who will call for that madman’s death if he ever shows his face in the lowliest village. And we’ll know if he does. Planir knows what’s due to his office of Archmage. He keeps a weather eye on a menace like Azazir,’ he said with grim satisfaction.
‘So Planir will know if I visit Azazir?’ Velindre asked warily.
‘Would that stop you?’ He thrust the parchment at Velindre. ‘You were easily his equal, even if you were apprentice when he was a pupil, and you’ve twenty years’ standing since then. Besides, he’s another one full of ()nick’s high-flown nonsense about experimentation and observation. You might both learn something from a little closer acquaintance with Azazir, even if it’s not what you’re expecting.’ The hairs on the back of Velindre’s neck prickled at his ominous tone. ‘Something valuable, I take it, if you’re prepared to help me with this.’
‘More valuable than some foolery with dragons.’ The old wizard handed her the green leather folio and leaned back in his chair, gathering his mantle around him. ‘Put those back where you got them. And don’t say I didn’t warn you, if you decide to pursue this folly.’
‘Thank you for the map.’ Velindre rose and left, not looking back.
Outside, the rain had stopped and the clouds had lifted. A breeze was rolling down from the hills to scour the heavy dampness out of the air. Velindre relished the freshness as she walked rapidly through the empty back alleys. There wasn’t time to waste, not given the urgency in Dev’s voice. Whatever his many and varied faults, he didn’t indulge himself in foolish alarm, like some dog barking vacantly at every footfall.
She pictured a very different city in her mind’s eye. So Inglis was the closest place worth marking to this mysterious lake where the equally mysterious Azazir was lurking. A city of white stone, well planned and well built, entirely unlike the haphazard accumulation of Hadruraal. A peaceable city, thanks to the powerful Guilds who paid a well-muscled and well-drilled Watch, which incidentally ensured that they had loyal men to hand to deter any challenge to their hegemony. A city built on the endless resources of timber, fur and metal-bearing ores of the empty northern wastes.
Velindre smiled thinly as she arrived back at the New Hall’s ancient gate, blunted carvings unlike the sharp elegance of Inglis’s cornices. Her father might believe that the city was all respectability and serious trade. Otrick had known better and, thanks to him, so did she. Otrict had known the dockside taverns where those mariners who risked voyages out to the ocean deep could be found. Mariners who should more properly be called pirates, never mind their brandishing of some parchment from the Inglis harbour guild, licensing them to pursue some vessel condemned for not paying the requisite tariffs.
A translocation spell would take her there in short order. Velindre climbed the stairs to her study. Arriving somewhere discreet would be best, to avoid one of the wizards in Inglis reporting her arrival to Planir. Earth mages always found plenty of work and plenty to interest them among the mining concerns around Inglis. Planir had been Stone Master before he’d been Archmage and indeed still was, despite the displeasure of some on the Council. Well, Velindre had no interest in explaining herself to Planir until she had something to show for this boldness, something to give the Council pause for thought over their choice of Cloud Master.
She locked her study door. One of the better inns would suffice, where gold would shut the mouths of any chambermaid or potboy who happened to see her. Tossing her damp cloak over a chair, she went through the inner door to her bedchamber. Throwing open a tall cupboard, she surveyed the gowns lying on wide shelves, linen and stockings in cubbyholes beneath, boots and shoes thrown into the hollow bottom. She’d need heavy clothing as well as some furs and a sturdy saddle-horse when she got to Inglis. Dev’s timing was lousy as always. Velindre grimaced at the thought of the pristine white winter that would still be gripping those mountains. Even half a season later, she might have approached some privateer for passage north, but not now. No sailor would risk his ship among the inlets and coves still choked with floating ice.
Furs and horses would cost money. She found a soft leather bag among her neatly darned stockings and weighed it in her hand for a moment before setting it down again. That should suffice. Planir had been unwont-edly generous when she’d asked for coin to hire ships these past summers to continue Otrick’s studies of Toremal’s ocean winds. More to the point, the Archmage never asked for an accounting and she’d never felt the need to give him one.
She pulled a leather bag with stout handles and brass buckles down from the topmost shelf and threw in a handful of sturdy stockings and smallclothes, woollen chemises and flannel petticoats.
What would her mother do? As soon as word reached her that Velindre had left Hadrumal, her father’s eyrie wouldn’t save him from interrogation. Would he tell her mother where she had gone or keep it to himself, out of simple malice? Perhaps, perhaps not, if he decided he had erred in helping her. Would her mother set Planir on her heels? Possibly. It would be an excuse to remind the Archmage of Hadrumal’s concerns. Her mother was a voluble critic of all the time he lavished on dealings with mainland princes. Velindre rapidly sorted through her gowns for those of the heaviest wool and moved to her washstand to gather up soap and toothpowder and her silver-backed hairbrushes.
Would she come looking for her daughter herself? One of her father’s cruelly apposite jokes prompted a thin smile. It must be her mother’s affinity for air that gave her moods that veered as rapidly as the grasshopper weathervane on the tower of Wellery’s Hall. Velindre knelt to pull the straps of her bag tight with vicious jerks. More to the point, her mother’s rivalry with ()tick hadn’t died with the old wizard. She would dearly love to learn the trick of summoning dragons.
Twisting to reach the laces tied at the small of her back, Velindre shed her gown and petticoats for a close-fitted bodice and divided riding skirt. Picking up her purse she thrust it deep in a secure pocket. She drew on a second pair of thick stockings before finding heavy buckled boots in the bottom of the cupboard. With the laden bag dragging at her arm, Velindre returned to her study and shrugged a thick cloak around her shoulders from a hook behind the door. She closed her eyes and finally allowed herself to feel the currents of air stirring in the room.