Green, Sharon - The Hidden Realms

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CHAPTGR OMG

t wasn't my fault. I'll be the first to admit it usually is my fault, but not

that time. It was a simple accident, and Master Haddil shouldn't have—But

maybe I ought to start from the beginning.

At first it was a perfectly ordinary day. I'd dressed to go riding right after

breakfast, but the heavy gray clouds that had been threatening since the day

before finally let loose. It wasn't exactly rain that came down, not with the

air as cold as it was. Half sleet and half snow, likely to become all one or

the other before very long, and nothing any sane person would deliberately go

out in. I'd stared at it through the diamond-paned window of my kitchen, not

very pleased.

And then I'd gotten curious. Water fell from the skies in different forms, but

it was still water. We drank it, bathed in it, washed things with it, cooked

with it—but how much experimentation had been done? If memory served there

wasn't very much, and what better day to correct that? There were ail sorts of

things to try with water, so I headed for my workshop to get started.

All right, so I didn't change out of the heavy riding clothes and boots. I

tend to keep my house on that world on the cool side; when I'm in the mood for

cold weather, I want to know it's there. Staying in those clothes shouldn't

have made any difference ...

Well, I gestured a bucket of water into being, then thought about what I

wanted to try first. A sorceress at my level is

SHARON

capable of quite a lot, but I didn't want to use magic to make water do

things. I wanted to investigate water, with magic just another tool. But what

was there to try . . . ?

And then I saw the single drop, shimmering at the rim of the bucket. What was

a single drop, and how much water had to be present before it became two

drops, or three, or a dozen? Some drops were smaller or bigger than others, so

where did the cutoff point come? Was it possible to extend the cutoff point,

using magic only lightly? How far beyond was it practical to go?

The questions increased to a dozen, then began multiplying. On top of that I'd

gotten an idea, which in turn suggested a test to answer the questions.

Wording my spell carefully, I used the water in the bucket to make a sphere a

foot and a half in diameter. I was able to hold the sphere in my hands without

bursting it like the soap bubble it resembled, which was one of the things the

spell had specified. I had to be careful, but 1 could hold it.

Once that was done, I brought into being nine more gallon buckets of water.

The first question to be answered was how many gallons the one-gallon sphere

would be able to hold without rupturing or leaking. That meant filling it

slowly and watching for the natural stress point, not forcing it to hold what

/ wanted it to. A wizard could have garnered the waters of an ocean into a

ball; that wasn't what I was trying to accomplish.

I had just finished adding the contents of the fourth bucket when the Summons

came. The sphere was very full but not yet leaking, and then my attention was

taken by the entry that chimed into existence not two feet away. It looked

like a perfectly ordinary doorway, except that the name Haddil sat in large

block letters on its top. A quick spell matched the master's true resonance

with the work, which meant it really was him doing the Summoning. Come now,

was the message, one Master Haddil had never sent before. There had to be some

kind of trouble . . .

Without wasting another moment, I stepped through the entry. Moving from world

to world like that is effortless, so much so that you sometimes forget to

watch where you're walking. One step, after all, and not even across a raised

threshold. It let me out just short of a real doorway, one

The HIDD€M RCAIM 3

that did, unfortunately, have a raised threshold ...

So it wasn't my fault. Maybe I did forget I was still holding the sphere of

water, but that wouldn't have mattered if the entry had been put beyond the

raised door sill. All my attention was on the room I approached, trying to see

who was in it. It seemed to be a conference room in the Palace of Ease at

Yellow Rivers, and the master wasn't alone. People came in by ones and twos

through other doorways that must also have had entries behind them, and Master

Haddil was in the midst of creating even more. I heard part of one spell as I

approached, and then—

And then my heavy riding boots made me trip over the sill. My reflexes were

good enough to keep me from falling, which was the major part of the problem.

As my arms flew up to reestablish balance, my hands threw the sphere of water

I'd forgotten I was holding. I recovered my footing in time to see the sphere

go sailing toward Master Haddil, and immediately felt relieved. Master Haddil,

after all, was warded against magic with his own wizard's strength, so my

sphere couldn't possibly reach him.

And it didn't. But his warding also didn't destroy the sphere, as I'd thought

it would. Instead, the sphere bounced—straight toward the man who stood beside

Master Haddil on his right. Again, since the man was Sighted, it shouldn't

have mattered; his own warding should have protected him. What's that saying

about "should" and "would" and "could"? To make a long story even longer, he

wasn't warded. The sphere hit him head-on, burst the way it was supposed to,

and drowned him in five gallons of water.

"Chalaine!" Master Haddil screamed, staring in horror at the man who was

drenched from head to foot. "What have you done this time? Have you any idea?

Even a hint?"

Chalaine, that's me. Master Haddil pronounces it as though it should be

Abysmal or Catastrophe, but he's always done that. Things tend to go badly for

me, especially when he's around.

So I was used to being accused, and that's why I didn't say anything as I

watched the big drowned man use one hand to wipe water out of his eyes. His

long, golden blond hair hung in strings, his dark tunic and leather

SHAROM

breeches sagged, and his boots must have been full. Even his swordbelt was

wet, and I had just enough time to wonder why a magic user would be wearing a

swordbelt before he moved his hand in a banishing gesture. All the water and

wetness disappeared immediately, of course, leading me to also wonder why no

one else had thought to do that.

Like Master Haddil. "Forgive me, Your Highness, but I should have done that,"

he apologized, tugging at his bright yellow robes. "It's just that girl — when

she appears, my mind ceases to function. Are you all right?"

"I'm not so delicate that I dissolve in water, Master Haddil," the big man

returned, annoyance in his deep voice. They were both trying to ignore the

hysterical laughter coming from the other new arrivals, all of whom were

Sighted. "If the girl's that bad, why did you include her in the Summoning?"

"She isn't bad, Your Highness, merely a catalyst for chaos," Master Haddil

answered with a sigh. "If we simply avoid her close proximity, we should

survive with only minor damage. If you'll excuse me now, I'll finish creating

the rest of the entries."

The big man nodded sourly, and Master Haddii went back to work. By then I'd

crossed over to a deep leather chair, hoping that sitting quietly in one place

for a while would calm the upheaval I'd caused. It was almost as though cause

and effect were two halves of a piece of rope that sometimes folded back on

itself. Normally each effect needed a separate cause, but the folding brought

about effect after effect after effect . . .

And I was always in the middle of that folding. I sighed as I leaned back in

the chair, noticing that the big blond man hadn't even given me a second

glare, let alone a second look. Well, there was nothing unusual in that, not

once I'd "caused." People don't enjoy being in the middle of chaos, not even

if they're Prince Bariden of Melen. Which was who he had to be. Third son of

King Agilar of Melen, and unexpectedly born Sighted.

Two more entries were created, one after the other beyond adjacent doorways,

and Master Haddil still wasn't finished. The conference room had been built

especially for the

TH£ HIDDGN R€ALFK 5

use of a wizard, with more than two dozen doorways spaced around its

circumference. Normally those doorways led only to various corridors or halls

in the Palace of Ease, specifically the corridors and halls just outside the

room. If an emergency happened and the king needed to meet with his nobles

quickly, his wizard could establish entries through the doorways and bring

them right to him.

But this time it was Sighted who were being brought through, and not just any

Sighted. From the few I recognized, Master Haddil seemed to be Summoning

everyone he'd ever taught who hadn't yet reached wizard strength. Since it

wasn't likely he was simply holding a reunion, something important had to be

going on. Once the Summoning was over, we'd all find out about it together.

In the meanwhile, those who had already arrived were finding places to wait.

Small groups had begun to form, using couches, chairs, and the small tables

they surrounded, for the purpose. The furnishings in that room were all

brightly colored silks and brocades, reds and yellows and blues and greens,

all bound around with the royal maroon and gold. Some parts of it looked like

an autumn tree had exploded, but that was the way the king liked it. Lots of

bright colors all thrown together, and never mind if some people had to squint

against the glare.

Aside from the colors, the room itself was magnificent. Round and high-

ceilinged, it gave the impression of large sunshiny windows bright with the

warmth of summer, the beautifully made furniture gleaming in reflection of

that. The effect came from magic, of course, since the room had no windows at

all. And it was warm despite its size, reminding me about the heavy clothes I

wore. I thought about changing entirely, but wasn't in the mood for dress-up.

A short spell simply changed my white tunic, brown breeches, and brown boots

to lightweight form, and that served the purpose.

I wasn't the only one who sat alone in the room, but I was the only one

pointed out to newcomers by whatever group they joined. After that the story

was retold, and then came the inevitable laughter. But most of the laughter

6 SHARON GRCCN

seemed to be aimed at Prince Bariden, as though he'd had some hand in what had

happened to him. It occurred to me that in a way he had, by not being warded,

and that made me curious. Why would a magic user not be warded, especially if

he was also a prince? Even I wasn't that blase or absentminded ...

I had some time to consider the question, but before I came to any

conclusions, Master Haddil finished the Summoning. Almost two dozen people had

come through the entries, and every one of us looked at him when he raised his

arms for attention.

"It pleases me that all of you honored your obligation so promptly," he began,

looking around at the group. "As the one who taught each of you his or her

craft, I have the right to call on you for assistance should the need arise.

It's my unfortunate duty to inform you that more than simple need has arisen."

Soft murmurs of surprised comment came from a few places around the room, and

not only because of what had been said. Now that I looked directly at Master

Haddil, I could see what certainly must be worry lines creasing his face. His

gray-touched brown hair was less neatly combed than usual, his light eyes were

bleak, and he seemed not to have slept in much too long. For someone who was

Court Wizard to King Agilar of Melen, he looked pretty awful.

"In the last month a ... situation has developed that I— haven't been able to

get to the bottom of," he continued. "Before I go into details, you're

entitled to know that there will be a good deal of danger for anyone who

assists me. I... have already lost four of you, those I Summoned more than a

week ago. I had no idea—I certainly wouldn't have— without warning them—"

His voice broke completely then, and he stood in the middle of the room

looking down at his folded, robe-covered arms, silently trying to pull himself

together. It occurred to me that yellow was an odd color for a wizard's robe,

but it probably had been the king's idea. Master Haddil's grief and guilt were

so clear he might as well have been projecting them, giving us the feeling

that black would have been more appropriate. A new round of murmurs arose,

THG HIDDeN

accompanied by stirring, and a man from one of the small groups stepped

forward.

"Master Haddil, are you saying you're giving us the choice about whether or

not to become involved?" he asked, his brows knit with disturbance. "Four of

us have already been ended, and there's a good chance more will go the same

way?"

"They haven't precisely been ended, but the rest of what you said is

accurate," Haddil agreed after taking a deep breath. "I cannot in all good

conscience demand your assistance, not with something like this. I ask for

your help, but will understand any refusal to give it. Take a moment to

consider, and those who decline may then leave."

Everyone stared at Haddil for the first moment, and then those in groups began

to murmur among themselves. Those who sat alone simply looked thoughtful, but

none of the deliberation took very long. Without glancing at Master Haddil

again people began to leave, presumably to go back to safer and more important

pursuits. Since I didn't have anything more important — or at least nothing

mat wouldn't keep — I stayed to become one of thirteen with similar opinions.

That number wasn't the best of omens for most, but for me it had always been

lucky.

"Well, we're left with a larger number than I had anticipated," Master Haddil

observed once the last back had disappeared through a doorway. "You all have

my thanks, of course, but I must repeat that I want you to be very certain. If

anything happens to one of you . . ."

He didn't want it weighing on his conscience any more than it already did. The

problem was actually Master Haddil's, which was why he felt like that, but we

already knew that. The man who had spoken earlier had been one of the first to

leave, so we sat without commenting until the wizard was ready to go on.

"All right, let's get down to details," he conceded with a sigh when no one

else moved. "The problem began about a month ago, when the king guested a

deputation of merchants from the city. Business had been going so well for

them that they were ready to branch out, and they came to discuss possible

trade treaties with the king. Trading with people you won't be able to collect

from isn't very good

cueeri

business, nor do you want to get involved with potential enemies. Not that

this realm has many enemies . . ."

His voice trailed off again as though his mind had become distracted, and some

of us exchanged glances. This wasn't the Master Haddil we knew, and the

difference was disturbing. He was badly shaken by the — situation, and in

another moment we found out why.

"At any rate, the king held a feast the night they arrived, and the next day

the first of the discussions was scheduled to begin. Everyone showed up in the

conference chamber at the appointed time — except for the head of the

deputation. Thinking he'd overslept, they sent a servant to his rooms to wake

him. The servant came back on the run, reporting that the man hadn't

overslept. There was something wrong with him, and a healer had already been

sent for. The healer arrived promptly, spent a few minutes with the man, then

immediately called me.

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摘要：

CHAPTGROMGtwasn'tmyfault.I'llbethefirsttoadmititusuallyismyfault,butnotthattime.Itwasasimpleaccident,andMasterHaddilshouldn'thave—ButmaybeIoughttostartfromthebeginning.Atfirstitwasaperfectlyordinaryday.I'ddressedtogoridingrightafterbreakfast,buttheheavygraycloudsthathadbeenthreateningsincethedaybefo...

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Green, Sharon - The Hidden Realms

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