Tagaza suspected Excar’s real reason for joining the Unbound, offering his manor as a meeting place, providing money and resources, was to strike back at Castilla. In any event, he had quickly become the leader of the Unbound, as was his son after him, and his son after him: Lord Falk.
The Unbound had long faced a serious difficulty: to fulfill the SkyMage’s will, as they saw it, they had to bring down the Barriers. But as far as anyone knew, there was no way to bring down the Barriers.
Until Tagaza came along.
Early on in their discussions Tagaza had told Falk his belief that magic was fading, and would disappear entirely unless the Barriers fell. Falk had scoffed at that. He believed magic came from the SkyMage and could no more fade and fail than the sun, and that the lode of magic beneath the Palace was simply a conduit for the SkyMage’s power. He also vehemently disagreed with Tagaza’s argument that the MageLords and Mageborn had to find a way to share more power with the Commoners, treat them more as equals. The Unbound saw the Commoners first as an underclass, there to serve the Mageborn, and second as a potential threat. After all, it had been Commoners who had risen up in rebellion against the MageLords in the Old Kingdom, with the help of traitorous mages, of course, since it was unthinkable they could have defeated the Mageborn on their own.
“Treat them well as long as they keep their place,” Falk said. “Punish them without mercy if they don’t.”
Their differences were great, but their goal was the same. Both wanted the Barriers brought down.
And when Tagaza finally, one night over a bottle of wine… or possibly two, he couldn’t remember… told Falk how it could be done, Falk had grown very silent, excused himself early, and disappeared for several weeks.
When he’d reappeared, he’d asked Tagaza to work for him upon graduation. Tagaza had agreed, of course-it would have been foolish to turn down such a request from the heir of a MageLord even if he didn’t share Falk’s goals-and a few years later, when Falk’s father had died and Falk had ascended to the Twelve, Tagaza had (officially, though not in practice) left Falk’s service to join the Magecorps, advancing rapidly. When the King named Falk Minister of Public Safety, some years later, he had also named Tagaza First Mage, in which position he had remained now for twenty-five years.
Twenty years ago they had finally been able to begin the process of bringing down the Barriers. Until the Heir turned eighteen, and the presence of the Keys’ magic could be confirmed, they’d been unable to act. Having finally made that confirmation, they were within weeks of carrying out their long-laid plans…
… and now, this.
Tagaza looked uneasily again at the corpse in the water. Could Falk’s darkest suspicions be true? Could someone know, and was that someone working against them?
Mother Northwind may be able to find out, he thought, and shuddered. The old renegade Healer frightened him more than a little. He knew she had only to touch him to read his mind like an open book, and so he never let her touch him. But to think she might also be able to read the mind of a corpse… that was frightening on a whole new level. A man’s secrets should be safe when he’s in the grave, he thought.
Although he had to admit that he fervently wished her luck in obtaining information from this corpse.
The wagon sent to retrieve the body had almost arrived. About time, Tagaza thought. My wine should still be waiting in the garden. I might not even be called on for the Prince’s afternoon tutoring session. An assassination attempt is a pretty good excuse for skipping class.
He smiled a little as he thought about how Karl had stood up to Lord Falk… and how much it must have galled Falk to show the respect due to a Prince to the youngster.
Karl would make a far better King than Kravon, Tagaza thought. Perhaps a very fine King indeed. Too bad he’s not really the Prince, or the Heir, at all.
He sighed, and went to meet the approaching wagon.