The Evermen Saga 01 - Enchantress (3 page)

Ella’s home was close to the Dunwood, far from the centre of Sarostar. She woke every morning while it was still dark and hunted for flowers, and she knew all of the best places to find them. Sometimes she found few, and her takings were meagre. Other times she was lucky, and she was able to return home with a handful of copper cendeens.

Winter was always the hardest. Ella hunted for pretty mosses and winter blooms but she was never able to gather as many, and people were less willing to pay good gilden. As well as rising early she stayed awake long into the night, trudging through the dark forest, seeing by the runes of a faded pathfinder.

The sun shone in Ella’s face as she exited a narrow lane and she smiled. Winter was over now, and she had a good feeling about the day.

Please, Ella thought, let her come today.

Nearly two years had passed since she had last seen Lady Katherine. She had replayed that encounter again and again in her mind. What had really happened that day? Why hadn’t Lady Katherine come to see her anymore?

Some of the market girls had laughed when Ella told them Lady Katherine used to visit her. Why would the High Lord’s wife visit a flower girl? They called her a liar, saying she just wanted to make up for the mother she never had.

Please, let her come today.

Ella’s dream was to study at the Academy of Enchanters, and to one day become an enchantress. Uncle Brandon couldn’t understand it, and although her brother Miro tried, he was too busy learning to be a soldier to really help. The only person who had ever encouraged Ella was Lady Katherine.

For some reason the High Lord’s wife had shown an interest in her. Lady Katherine loaned Ella books, and when Ella returned them the noblewoman always took them back with a soft smile. Lady Katherine brought some of her friends from court to Ella’s market stall, and with them came their friends. The High Lord’s wife was always different when her friends were around, and Ella guessed this must be to do with the difference in their stations, and acted especially deferential. Ella owed much of her success to Lady Katherine.

Please, she thought, willing it to become true. Let her come today.

Ella thought about the time her brother almost died.

When Ella was young there was a bitterly cold winter, and the Sarsen froze from one bank to the other. A group of boys had gathered on the bank and were throwing stones at the river, trying to break through the ice. Each boy tried to pick up a heavier stone than the others, and to throw his stone further. Ella and Miro watched them for a time, and as small as she was, Ella could still see the loneliness in her brother’s eyes.

"Go on. Go and play with them," she said.

Miro left without another word, running over to the group of boys and trying to join their game. His face set with determination, he had picked up a grey boulder, bigger than any of the others.

As Ella looked on, Miro tried to make his throw, but slipped on the treacherous ground, his feet scrabbling before he fell heavily over. The boys laughed.

Expecting Miro to run away, or burst into tears, Ella was instead surprised to see him pick himself up off the ground, his face red with anger, hands held in fists at his sides.

Without another word, Miro ran out onto the ice. His footsteps left cracks behind them, each wider than those before. The other boys stopped everything, dropping their stones to the earth with a series of thuds. Before long they were calling out encouragement, as Miro did what none of them had the nerve to do.

He reached the far bank, and raised his arms in the air triumphantly. The boys cheered. Then on the way back to where Ella stood watching, her fingers twisting nervously, the icy surface of the river broke.

It didn’t happen slowly; it happened all at once. Miro plunged through the ice, his body vanishing in moments. Ella screamed, a piercing, little girl’s scream, but ear-splitting nonetheless. She frantically looked around her, trying to find some kind of rope, or a long stick. There was nothing that would come close to being long enough to reach the place where Miro had fallen through.

Miro struggled, desperately trying to find some purchase. All Ella could see was the occasional flash of his arm, or his white eyes, wide with fear. There was nothing for it. Ella took a step out onto the ice.

"I wouldn’t do that, young lady," a booming voice rang out.

A hand grabbed Ella by the arm in an unbreakable grip.

"Let me go!" Ella screamed, watching her brother’s movements weaken.

"If you want to save him, you will need to stop struggling," the man said in a steady voice. "I need both hands for this."

Ella looked at the newcomer for the first time. He was dressed in the green robes of an enchanter. At his side he held a stout length of wood, inscribed with arcane symbols — runes, Ella knew they were called. He had a crisp white beard, gentle brown eyes and a long face.

He let go of Ella and she stilled, suddenly transfixed, watching the thrashing of her brother and then looking at the enchanter, wondering what he would do, praying it would be something to save Miro.

The enchanter took his staff in both hands and moved it to a horizontal position, his body sideways so that his left shoulder pointed towards the river. He began to chant in a sonorous voice, strange syllables coming from his mouth in a lilting rhythm. The runes on the staff lit up as the man chanted, bright colours in silvery lines running up and down its length.

Ella gaped as the staff began to grow. The man grunted with effort as he angled its increasing length in the direction of Miro’s twisting form. The end of the staff reached the crack in the ice and stopped there.

"Grab hold!" Ella cried. "Miro, grab hold! Please!"

There was nothing but stillness. The group on the riverbank — the young boys, Ella, and the robed enchanter — cried and bellowed, but there was no activity.

Then an arm thrust out of the water and took hold of the staff. When a second hand also took hold, Miro shakily pulled his body out of the water. The enchanter began to speak the words again, and the staff began to shorten, bringing Miro with it. Her brother was saved.

From that day Ella wanted nothing more than to become an enchantress. The young girl spoke of nothing else. It hadn’t taken Uncle Brandon long to shatter her hopes.

It cost nearly five thousand silver deens to study at the Academy of Enchanters. Aspiring students sat a gruelling round of examinations, and the knowledge that was tested was more than just what was taught at the temple school. No, it was better that she learn the skills they taught at the sky temple — weaving, sewing, numbers and letters. If she was lucky she could get a position as a maid, or a nanny. Without gilden she would never be able to become an enchantress.

Ella had thought about it long and hard. She didn’t make the decision rashly, whatever Uncle Brandon said.

At fourteen, the earliest age it was allowed, Ella left the temple school altogether. Her mind set on the five thousand silver deens, she started a stall selling flowers in the Poloplats market. The arguments with Uncle Brandon were long and bitter, but Ella could not be dissuaded. She worked from early in the morning until late at night, and she began to save. It was difficult at first, and business was slow, but Ella applied herself, and soon the copper cendeens began to trickle in.

She put most of the gilden aside, in a cache that grew slowly but steadily. With some of it she bought books from the market. Any book she could lay her hands on, provided the price was right — books about history, books about language, and books about the laws of nature. Most of all Ella kept up with what she was supposed to be learning at the temple school. And Ella read books about enchantment.

If any were too difficult — and that applied to most of them — Ella put it to the side, and kept it for another day. Over the years it constantly amazed her how a book that made little sense to her could be comprehensible at a later date if she had since built on her foundation of knowledge.

She thought about all she had learned as she set up her stall and arranged the flowers in attractive formations. Please, she thought desperately, willing it to become true. Let Lady Katherine come today!

For the last four years Ella had worked at the market day after day, and finally the time approached when young men and women of Ella’s age would have their one opportunity to sit the entrance examinations at the Academy of Enchanters. Ella had done it — she’d saved her five thousand deens, and she had taken every spare moment when she wasn’t selling flowers to study.

Only last week, Ella took her gilden to the Academy, and lined up with the finely dressed merchants’ sons and noblemen’s daughters. They sent her strange looks, dressed as she was in her simple tunic, holding a bulging sack in both hands. Ella had tried not to show her feelings, but she was terrified.

Suddenly she was the next in line, and then she was walking towards the huge wooden desk, where a man with shaggy eyebrows frowned as she approached.

Grunting with effort, Ella planted her gilden onto the desk with a mighty clunk. She heard snickers from behind her but didn’t turn around.

"And what have you got there?" the clerk said, pursing his lips.

"It’s… it’s the gilden, for the fees," Ella said.

The snickers grew louder.

"My dear," said the clerk, shaking his head, "I’m afraid it doesn’t work like that. Firstly, what were your parents thinking, allowing you to walk about town with that much gilden? It should be on account with one of the lenders. And don’t you think it’s a little presumptuous to arrive with your fees when you have yet to sit your entrance examinations?"

Ella heard laughter behind her and turned a deep shade of red.

"However, never fear, we can still get you enrolled to sit your turn. May I have your letter of recommendation?"

A chill ran through Ella’s heart. "Letter of recommendation?"

"Yes," the clerk said; his patience was obviously being tested. "From a member of the court, to say you are of good character, or from a priest at the sky temple, to say you completed your studies." He looked Ella up and down. "I’m guessing in your case it will be the latter. Which temple did you complete your studies at?"

Ella had left the sky temple years before; she never finished her studies and would never get a letter to say she had. How could she let this happen! Why hadn’t anyone told her!

"I… I don’t have my letter with me," Ella said.

"Well, you had better go and get it then. Perhaps you should return home and come back tomorrow. Enrolments close in a week, so you have plenty of time to deposit your gilden with one of the lenders and come back a little more prepared, eh?"

Ella nodded and turned away. It didn’t take her long to realise there was only one chance left to her. A member of the court, the clerk had said. Lady Katherine!

A woman entered the market square where Ella was searching every face in hope. She looked up, and Ella’s breath caught. Then she slowly released it — it wasn’t her.

For the last six days, Ella had waited in hope, searching the market for Lady Katherine from morning to night. And now the week was nearly up — tomorrow, enrolments would close.

If Ella didn’t see Lady Katherine today, she decided, she would go to the Crystal Palace, no matter what trouble it got her into. With a letter of introduction from the High Lord’s wife in hand, Ella would at least get her chance to sit the entrance examinations.

Nevertheless, the idea of presenting herself at the Crystal Palace and demanding to see the High Lord’s wife filled her with dread. Please, let her come today!

A thin man with a ragged beard and a hooked nose came up, pawing through Ella’s flowers with one hand while his other hand held a mug of steaming coffee. His name was Harry Maloney and he was a buyer — someone who didn’t hold any of his own stock but sourced stock when other merchants had particularly large orders come in. He was a notorious gossip, and seemed to spend as much time in taverns as he did working in the market.

"Ho there, Ella. Anything good today? You’ll need to step up, I should say, what with the funeral. Let me add that I’ll buy all you’ve got and all you can get." He put down his mug, examining Ella’s wares with both hands now. "I’m sure you’ve heard the news. Good for the flower business, funerals are," he chortled.

"News?" Ella interrupted. "What news? What funeral?"

"You haven’t heard? The High Lord’s wife, Lady Katherine. A ferryman found her body in the Sarsen, late yesterday evening. She drowned, still in her bedroom slippers. The funeral’s tomorrow. It’s a big job but there’s going to be a lot of gilden in it."

Ella didn’t hear Harry’s next words. She sat down heavily on a crate, staring into nothing. Lady Katherine wouldn’t be coming today.

2

The artificers use lenses of curved glass in their work. This enables them to draw runes so tiny they can hardly be read.

— Diary of High Enchantress Maya Pallandor, Page 356, 411 Y.E.

E
LLA
stood high on the Tenbridge, leaning out over the water. She stared into the turbulent river far below and imagined the sensation of falling — flying through the air, as light as a bird for an instant, before the icy water slammed into her body and drove the air out of her lungs.

She caught a strange look from a passing man and realising how she must look she straightened, looking away from the river and up at the rising sun, amazed that such a sad day could be so full of promise. She considered her options. She needed a letter from a priest or a noble, but she didn’t know any nobles, and Father Morton would never help her. They hadn’t parted on the best of terms, he’d thought she was foolish to give up her studies and it seemed he was right.

Looking down at the Sarsen one final time, she saw the water splash against the ferry boats, knocking them against each other. She wanted to talk to someone, anyone, who knew what had happened and could give her some reason behind why her friend and only supporter had died.