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  “You asked to see me?” Emma asked, nervously. She had seen little of the arch mage during the school year following the attack. She had told her at the time that she was preparing to ensure this never happened again, but Emma wasn’t sure what that entailed.

  “Yes.” She steeped her hands and studied Emma over her fingers. “I have a question for you. There is going to be a parade tomorrow, in the city, and a ball tomorrow evening. I know it is short notice, but I wondered if you would like to accompany me.”

  Emma blinked in surprise, thoughts racing. “Can Kylie come?” Her first thought was for her friend, who would be left out otherwise. “She’s remaining in the Tower for the summer and doesn’t have anywhere to go.”

  Alivia smiled wide. “Of course she can join us. I apologize for not thinking of her sooner. My mind has been elsewhere, and alas this parade and ball crept up on me, as much as I hate to admit it.”

  “You know the queen, don’t you?” Emma asked. She remembered that detail from the stories.

  “Yes, we are good friends. Being trapped in a city under siege will do that.”

  “It must have been scary, fighting the Krai’kesh.”

  Alivia stared at the wall behind Emma, eyes taking on a distant expression as the memories surfaced. “In hindsight I suppose it was frightening, but it wasn’t in the moment. I knew I had to be brave or I would die. There wasn’t time for fear to enter the equation. And the queen, well, she had to take control of the situation for the same reason. I was unconscious for part of it, but during the final battle the queen rallied all the townsfolk, all the defenders of the city, to charge out through the gates in a final push. It was a sight to see, the final fight for survival. The way the people put their differences aside and fought a common enemy. I haven’t seen that scale of cooperation in any time since then.”

  “Will we meet the queen tomorrow?”

  “Of course. We will meet her at the ball tomorrow evening. I’ve told her much about your achievements and she is eager to meet you.”

  “Me?” Emma felt surprise at that revelation. The surprises just keep coming today.

  “Two heroes of the Federation,” Alivia pointed out. “Why wouldn’t she want to meet you?”

  Emma shrugged. Maybe because my own boyfriend is embarrassed for me to meet his family. “I am just a humble commoner. It’s hard to imagine a queen wanting to meet me.”

  “With most queens that would probably be true. With the Empire you would be filled with arrows before you came within one hundred paces of the emperor, but our queen is different. She learned firsthand the value of a ‘common’ life when the Eternals came. They proved that birth meant nothing, a fact that did not set well with the aristocracy across the continent.”

  “They obviously overcame it. Or at least Jason and Bridgette and Dawyn did.” She didn’t know what had become of John and Ashley. The stories didn’t say, and even the histories about them in the library of the Tower ended about eighteen years earlier. She didn’t think they’d died, for there would have been a state funeral and that would have been recorded in the histories for sure. “What ever happened to John and Ashley?” Alivia had trained them, had been friends with them. If she didn’t know, no one would.

  Alivia smiled a sly smile. “That, my dear is a secret. They are alive, but I can’t tell you where they are.”

  “But the other three aren’t in hiding.”

  “No, they’re not. But that was their choice. Bridgette could hardly run a network of spies anonymously. Or at least it wouldn’t have been as effective. Her name...well...it opens doors.”

  “And strikes fear into the heart of her enemies,” Emma chimed in wryly.

  “That too. And Dawyn, well, he is the supreme commander of the Tar Ebon military. He could hardly command in secret.”

  “I suppose not,” Emma said, curiosity over the identity of John and Ashley still boiling up inside her. But she knew she would get nothing further out of the arch mage than what she’d given her. Well, maybe one thing. “Do you think they’ll return one day?” She tried to keep her voice as innocuous as possible.

  Alivia shrugged. “I hope so. We could certainly use them in the fight with the Cult of Rae.”

  Curiosity over a new topic arose in her. “How is the fight against the Cult going?”

  Alivia sighed, suddenly looking her age, creases above her eyes spring into focus and her shoulders slumping. “Not as well we had hoped. They’ve proved more elusive than expected, to be honest. It’s as if they went underground and disappeared.”

  “Or are lurking, waiting to strike,” Emma posited.

  “More than likely that is the truth,” Alivia conceded. “Still. I expected questioning the captives would have yielded more intelligence. Bridgette herself has been practically threatening her network of spies at knife point for information but no one knows anything.”

  “Sounds frustrating.”

  “You have no idea. We are vulnerable, a shining beacon of hope, while they are the darkness surrounding us, ready to lash out at any moment and drag us down. We must remain ever-vigilant to ensure they do not strike again.”

  “Is there anything I can do to help?”

  “Not until you finish your training. It would be irresponsible for me to ask you to join the fight before you’re ready.”

  “I already joined this fight when they kidnapped me and attacked the Tower,” Emma protested. “There’s no going back from that.” The nightmares certainly hadn’t gotten the message and stopped.

  Alivia shook her head. “There’s a difference between a fight for survival and fighting as a mage guard or arch mage.”

  Emma conjured up the memory of the mage guards training in the yard behind the Tower. Soldiers trained to use magic, the mage guards stood as the first line of defense against magic attacks on mundane armies. A group of soldiers without a mage guard to support them would soon find themselves wiped out if faced with a powerful, rested caster. Mage guards, though, could hold back the enemy caster long enough for an archer to put an arrow through their eye or for the company to retreat if necessary. It was this very same utility that made mage guards high value targets, even above officers. Or so Ethan had told her in an excited voice one night as they studied for their exams. “I would like to be a mage guard.” True, she secretly wanted to be a professor, but she could always become one after serving as a mage guard, couldn't she?

  Alivia smiled. “I thought you might say that. Hoped for it, actually, but again, you have to finish your training before joining the mage guard corps.”

  “I can join at eighteen regardless, can’t I?”

  “Technically. but the training is rigorous, both physically and magically. I wouldn’t want a girl with two years of training under her belt to get burnt out by the experience.”

  “I can’t see that happening,” Emma protested. “I’m in this for the long haul. I won’t be forced out.”

  “No, I suppose you won’t be,” Alivia agreed. She sighed and forced a smile. “I will meet you and Kylie at eleven o’clock tomorrow morning in the entrance hall.”

  Emma knew a dismissal when she heard it. Standing, she bowed. “Thank you for inviting me. And Kylie.”

  Alivia nodded in response, leaving Emma to turn and leave in silence. It wasn’t an awkward silence - Emma didn’t think she could be awkward around the arch mage. But still, there were times when the arch mage reminded Emma through her actions that she was not her mother. Not that she needed one - she was seventeen now.

  She returned to her chambers earlier than anticipated, but Isabelle wasn’t back yet. The new head girl, Rosalinda, stood lecturing a pair of first years about something, though Emma didn’t pay attention to what they were arguing about. She considered leaving and going up to the library, to study, but her mind still reeled from her exams and she wanted one day where she didn’t have to study a book.

  “Emma,” Rosalinda said as Emma had entered the hallway, intending to make for her
dorm.

  Emma sighed and turned.

  The prefect had dismissed the first years, who were even then scurrying away like rats being chased by a cat and studied her. She didn’t speak for a long moment.

  Irritation spiked in Emma. “Did you want something?” She grimaced as soon as the words left her lips, for she knew they had come out harsher than she expected.

  The fact was not lost on Rosalinda, who raised an eyebrow. But she made no mention of it when she spoke a moment later. “I heard you are staying for the summer.” It wasn’t a question. She would have received a listing from the adviser of their house. She technically wasn’t required to stay for the summer, and someone would be assigned to watch over the house in the event the prefects and the adviser left for the summer, but maybe she had decided to stay? “What made you decide that?”

  Emma, her temper incensed once, bit back a sharp retort. What business was it of the prefect what she did or did not do? She wasn’t a squirming first-year, despite it being her first year at the magical school. She and the prefect were likely the same age. The girl had had it out for her since being appointed to the post, however. What is her grudge with me?

  Hormones often make teenagers make irrational decisions, even with regard to people they interact with and form friendships with.

  My hormones are going to make me snap at you, Shadow. Shut up. She shoved the sensation of her artificial intelligence from her consciousness and focused on formulating a response, preferably a polite response, to the head girl standing before her. “Yes. I’m remaining behind. It would be too far for me to travel to Ironforge to see my family and make it back in time.” That and it would be too expensive. And do I really want to face them? She feared her old town would seem quaint compared to the metropolis that was Tar Ebon. She would feel like a big fish in a small pond. That would result in the more attention on her, which was the last thing she wanted, in truth.

  The head girl nodded. “Well, I am staying too, so if you need anything...” she trailed off and cleared her throat. “I’ll be here.”

  That surprised Emma. The prefect had barely said two words to her all year, even before being raised to prefect, and now she was offering her support? Did she have an ulterior motive, or was she afraid of Emma, or what? Probably the latter. Many girls, and boys, for that matter, had shied away from Emma while passing her in the halls during the months following the attack on the Tower. She had done nothing further to warrant the fear, but apparently fighting down a large group of enemy mages in the basement of the Tower and winning warranted a healthy dose of fear. Never mind that she hadn’t been alone in the basement - her friends had sacrificed much to give her the time to stop the Cult of Rae. No, it was she, Emma, who had obtained a reputation that exceeded even that of Isabelle.

  “Uh, thank you,” Emma replied, not knowing what else to say to the offer of aid. She had no intention of taking the girl up on her offer, but it was the polite response. “I will bear that in mind.”

  The girl offered a smile that Emma interpreted as nervous before turning in the other direction and heading toward the opposite hallway.

  “That was weird,” Emma muttered under her breath. She made for her room and found her roommates had already vacated the room. Emma sighed. “So much for goodbyes.” Granted, only one of her roommates had even given her the light of the day. If anything, the other two talked to her less after the attack on the Tower. No love lost there.

  Emma laid back on her bed and closed her eyes, not ready for sleep but using the darkness to focus. A parade, and a dance to follow. There was no time to go shopping, so she would need to wear the dress she’d worn earlier in the year. During a simpler time. Who was she kidding, though? The time before the attack on the Tower hadn’t been simpler, not really. It had merely had the illusion of being simpler. The reality was far different.

  What would it be like to meet a queen? Alivia said she was more down-to-earth than other monarchs, but Emma still harbored doubts about that. She hadn’t met the crown prince or any of the other royal children, so she truly had no basis by which to gauge the parenting skills of the monarch of Tar Ebon.

  For a time she lay there, letting her mind wander in a thousand different directions. At last, some time after the sun had slipped below the horizon, sleep overcame her.

  Chapter 3

  The glow orbs high hanging high above the entrance hall illuminated Emma and Kylie as the bell tolled eleven times, indicating the time they were to meet Alivia. As if on cue, the arch mage emerged from the elevator, looking resplendent in a yellow dress, and approached them. “Are you both ready to go?”

  Emma felt slovenly in her traveling cloak and school clothes, but she told herself she would get dressed properly before the ball later that evening. There should be time before the ball, right? She straightened her back and smiled. “Yes, we’re ready.”

  Alivia nodded as if expecting the response. “Excellent. Follow me.” She led them out through the main doors of the Tower and into the muster yard. It was vacant save for a few guards on patrol. Not surprising, given that most of the students had left the day before or at dawn. Even her brother had left that morning, though he and their friends had all said goodbye. Isabelle had made a show of shifting into the shadow realm, heading back to her father’s ship, while Ethan and Richard and Melissa rode off in a carriage, probably to the steam wagon depot. In just nine months the steam engines had become popular, with lines going to more places to the east and south. Nothing heading to the north or west yet, though.

  They passed through the main gates and joined the flow of people headed toward the main thoroughfare. The air held a vibrancy Emma had yet to feel, with most of the citizens wearing dresses or suits. As if the queen cared what her subjects wore.

  At last they arrived at the edge of the crowd lining the main road through town. Guards lined it, facing the crowd to make sure the peace was kept, and the royal procession was protected.

  “Do we get a special spot?” Emma asked.

  Alivia snorted. “I’m not that special.”

  Emma looked back to Kylie. Her friend gave her a shy smile. She had been ecstatic to come along to see the parade, and to join her and Alivia for the dance.

  “But,” Alivia went on. “We do get to stand with the other mages.”

  Emma perked up at that and searched the crowd. She wasn’t sure what she expected. Perhaps a cluster of well-dressed people? There were plenty of those - but they weren’t composed of mages. Maybe the group in robes? No, those were priests of An’Hara, the goddess of fertility. “Where are they?” She asked at last, stumped as to their identity.

  “There,” Alivia answered, pointing across the thoroughfare to where a ragged group of men and women in a variety of clothing, including work clothing, dress robes and formal wear, stood. “I admit they’re not much of a sight. Most mages leave the Tower during the summer break.”

  “So do we just cross the road?” Kylie asked. She peered one way and then another. “I don’t see the parade yet.”

  “No, the procession hasn’t started yet,” Alivia acknowledged. “Follow me.” She pushed through the crowd to the line of guards and said a few words to one of the guards, which Emma could not hear over the din.

  The guard looked Alivia up and down, then eyed Emma and Kylie before stepping aside and waving them through. He pushed two onlookers back when they tried to follow through the gap, much to their chagrin.

  Within minutes they’d crossed the stone river and joined the group of mages. A few nodded to them, while most ignored them. The full-fledged mages either liked Emma or ignored her - if they felt fear at her potential, they didn’t show it. They seemed to treat Alivia similarly, though Emma suspected it was the mages who were intimidated by a strong arch mage that ignored her. They came to rest between two of Emma’s teachers just as horns echoed through the city and the sound of marching feet echoed distantly.

  The first hint of the procession did not show itself
for several minutes. At the head of the parade rode a man in gleaming gold armor accented with silver. A helm covered all but his eyes and a sword hung at his side. He sat atop one of the tallest horses Emma remembered ever seeing. “That must be a general,” she whispered to Kylie.

  “Indeed. That is General Ravenscroft,” Alivia answered, somehow picking up Emma’s words despite the crowd. “General of the Home Guard.”

  Emma didn’t need to ask who the Home Guard was. She’d seen their members around enough to recognize them, and her brother had taken it upon himself to fill her in on the entire history of the order. They were the guardians of Tar Ebon, never leaving the city for any reason. Ethan stressed that even if a city two miles distant were under attack the Home Guard would not march beyond the walls. The idea of such a draconian policy struck Emma as odd but when she’d asked, Ethan explained the second rule - no army of Tar Ebon could enter the city proper. Only the Home Guard was allowed inside en masse. In fact, if two or more armies gathered outside the walls of Tar Ebon it would be in violation of the constitution and possibly be viewed as a coup.

  Numerous other men, no women, not surprisingly, rode behind General Ravenscroft. They wore silver armor accented with gold, standing in stark contrast to the general. Emma didn’t ask who they were - she assumed they were his lieutenants and other sub-officers.

  Row upon row of horsemen came next - each in their dress uniforms and wearing feathered hats. They held sabers against their shoulders as they rode.

  Pikemen followed, pikes tilted to the exact angle and marching in unison. Emma felt her heart swell and couldn’t help but smile. It was one thing to see horsemen, but these were the meat of the army. They were the front-line soldiers who would fight, and die, in the name of Tar Ebon at the command of those fancy officers.

  Archers marched behind the pikemen, bows unstrung but held against their shoulders, quivers hanging at their sides. They preceded a band composed of drums and flutes and brass horns and instruments Emma did not recognize. The upbeat tune they played caused Emma to tap her feet in time.