“Moonlight is a fantastic horse. Too good for the Commander. You should save him for a special student or future Master Magician or even for yourself.” Ulrick’s matter-of-fact tone didn’t waver despite the flaming red color spreading on the Stable Master’s cheeks. “I’ll come exercise him for you until you find a rider.” And with a jaunty wave goodbye, Ulrick swept out of the barn.
I hustled to catch up. There was no way I wanted to be anywhere near the Stable Master when he finally exploded.
I reported the whole spider incident to Zitora and she was most anxious for me and Ulrick to start experimenting with magic and glass.
“I’ll ask Master Bloodgood if he knows about another magician in history who could transform magic into a useful object,” she said. “Meanwhile, you should hire Mara to help you in the glass shop. There’s lots of work to be done.”
“Hire?”
“Yes. Offer her room and board plus a weekly wage—the accountant should know how much. You’ll need a manager to keep track of supplies and work schedules while you and Ulrick concentrate on learning about your powers.”
I knew all along what we would use the shop for, but when Zitora talked about managers and schedules, the reality of the situation hit me. It wouldn’t be a hobby, but serious research. Results would be expected, and I could no longer look to another to lead the way. Perhaps we should hire Aydan as a consultant.
Squashing my fears into a hard lump that sank to the pit of my stomach, I asked, “Should we pay Ulrick, too?”
“No. We’ll grant him student status and a stipend until you determine the extent of his magical abilities. Then we’ll decide how to proceed.”
As I returned to the glass shop, I thought there wasn’t much difference between being a student and a worker. Mara would be given a small apartment in the staff quarters and Ulrick would be assigned a room in the apprentice wing. The stipend was smaller than wages, but not by much. Ulrick should be happy with the new arrangements. He would no longer be a guest, but a member of the Keep.
It didn’t take long for Ulrick, Mara and I to settle into a pleasant routine. And a funny thing happened while Mara worked with us. The population of the Keep would introduce Mara as Opal’s sister to others, and she never batted an eye. She even boasted with pride over being my sister. I berated myself for my previous misgivings and pettiness. In those few days, Mara showed me how I should have behaved.
And even though there had been no sign of Sir or Tricky or blue-eyed Devlen for a month, Ulrick accompanied me everywhere.
On the first day of the cold season, I received a message from Zitora to come to her office. Alone. I told Ulrick I would meet him at the glass shop after the meeting.
“I’ll just wait outside her office, so you can do your secret magician stuff with Master Cowan,” Ulrick said. He tried to keep his tone light, but his voice held a sharp edge.
“It’s not secret magician stuff.”
“Then what is it?”
“I don’t know.”
“My point.”
Ulrick escorted me to Zitora’s office. He leaned on the wall next to the entrance. She waved me in, then stared at the door. It swung shut.
A split second of jealousy pricked me. “Handy.”
“Lazy. It’s been a long night.” She leaned back in her chair, rubbing her eyes. She wore the same clothes as yesterday. “You’ll need to let Ulrick and Mara work on the shop without you for a few days.”
“Why?”
“Remember the conversation the Masters had about the Moon Clan?”
“Vaguely.” It had been close to three weeks ago and so much had happened since then.
“We’ve discovered there’s more going on with the Moon Clan than the illegal border crossings and a possible assassination attempt on Councillor Moon. There’s a whole faction who want Councillor Moon to step down and the faction’s leader to take her place. Rumors of a civil war have reached us and now—” Zitora waved a scroll in the air “—now I have a report saying this group is selling illegal Ixian goods in the Citadel to raise money for weapons.”
“Bold.”
“Not necessarily. There’s always been a black market for certain Ixian goods—swords, tea, linen, spices. When we had no political relationship with Ixia, the officials at the Citadel turned a blind eye to the sales of Ixian merchandise. Once we negotiated a trade treaty with them, all the ‘contraband’ became readily available. It was no longer a problem.”
“What are they selling now?” I asked.
“Diamonds.”
The gemstones were a hot commodity in Sitia. Many riches were mined from the Emerald Mountains, but, so far, no diamonds have been found.
“The Commander keeps a tight control on the sale of his diamonds to Sitia, so there must be a new mine,” Zitora said.
“With diamonds being sold on the black market, there’ll be all sorts of problems.”
“Correct. What kind of trouble?”
“Another lesson?” I asked.
“I can’t pass up an opportunity to teach. You’re my first student and I endeavor to be a good mentor.” She rolled her hand in the air urging me to continue.
“All right. The black market diamonds will be cheaper, so buyers will go to them instead of the legitimate sellers. Word of diminishing sales will get back to the Commander, and he’ll want to know why. If the Sitian Council doesn’t stop the illegal sales, it could strain our relationship with Ixia. Plus, the money is going to the Moon Clan to pay for a potential coup.”
Each clan decided how they chose their Councillor. A few clans held elections, others followed family lines and the rest had committees who made the decision. The Moon Clan used a matriarchal system. It was understood the Councillor’s daughter would be the next Council member, but birth order didn’t always match the best candidate for the job. On occasion, sisters fighting for the position have been recorded in their history.
“There’s more,” Zitora said.
I thought about the people buying the diamonds. “Bigger chance for deceit. With more diamonds available from various sources, the buyers could be conned into purchasing glass.”
“Can you tell the difference?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never touched a diamond before.”
“I have one for you to examine.”
“Why?”
“Fisk needs someone he can trust to help him find the black market diamond sellers’ source.”
“Why would he care?”
No answer from the Master Magician.
Putting myself in Fisk’s place, I tried to see the situation from his point of view. “His customers are getting conned, which brings suspicion on the Helper’s Guild. And having the Citadel’s guards arrest all the sellers wouldn’t stop the source from going to another town to sell his diamonds. And the arrests would upset the legitimate people in the market. Fisk could lose business.” I considered for a moment. “Better to have everything resolved without the general population knowing about it.”
“Right. So we find the source and trace the new diamonds back to their point of origin before we arrest anyone.”
Her serious tone and emphasis on the word new caused my heart to squeeze a warning. This was no longer a hypothetical discussion. “Who will trace the source?”
“We have a magician in mind to act as our buyer, but she’ll need an expert with her so she doesn’t follow the wrong trail and end up with glass. Fisk trusts you. So does Yelena. She agreed with this plan.”
“I…But…”
“You’ll have the perfect cover.” When I didn’t respond, she continued. “Diamonds enhance magical powers. You need many large stones together to increase the magic, so it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary for a rich magician to buy a bunch of diamonds.”
A sense of having been maneuvered into a corner washed over me. I wanted to be part of the Keep’s network of magicians. Wasn’t this exactly what I would be asked to do when I finished my training? I could say no, but I would probably never be considered for another mission. However, my mission for the Stormdancers had bordered on a disaster, and still wasn’t resolved.