Corec followed as Treya led the group up the wide stone steps that stood before the ducal palace. It was just him and the four women. They’d left Bobo and Boktar behind, but had decided that everyone who was affected by the runes should be present.

The main entrance to the duke’s palace was to the left of the ceremonial entrance, but was actually the larger of the two. There were three sets of double doors open to accommodate all the people going in and out.

The guards who were standing there stopped them. “Your name and your business?” one asked.

“I’m Sister Treya of the Three Orders. We’re here to see Sister Kirla of the Three Orders, concubine to Seneschal Ollis. She’s expecting us.”

“You may enter,” said a minor functionary who was standing just inside. He dipped a pen into an ink bottle, then made a mark in a large book that was open before him on a lectern. “I’ll send a page for Mistress Kirla.”

The guards stepped aside to let them pass. The men guarding the other doors just waved most of the visitors through, apparently recognizing the people who had regular business at the palace. The functionary pointed to a boy in a uniform, who took off running.

“Please clear the doorway,” the functionary said in a bored voice. “You can wait in the sitting room, straight ahead.”

They took his suggestion.

“I’ve never watched the palace during the day before,” Katrin said. “Who were all those people?”

“They have something to do with running the city,” Treya replied. “All the work is coordinated from here, or so I’m told. That’s why it’s larger than the king’s palace.”

There was a surprising amount of wealth on display considering this was the administrative side of the building. Paintings hung throughout the corridors and the sitting room, and there were ornate windows on all the external walls. The vaulted ceilings were fifteen feet tall. Corec wasn’t a stranger to money, but his family’s manor house was more utilitarian and much less ostentatious. He’d never been inside a palace before, even on his brief visits to Telfort as a knight trainee, and what he saw in this place was much different than he was accustomed to.

A young woman in an ornate gown entered the sitting room. “Treya!”

The two exchanged greetings, and Treya introduced everyone to her friend.

“Come this way,” Kirla said, then continued speaking as they walked. “I can’t believe Yelena actually agreed to see you. She doesn’t usually take an audience unless she’s the one who requested it. Or if Duke Voss asks her to, of course.”

“How well do you know her?” Treya asked.

“Not well. For formal meals, she sits at the great table, and Ollis’s position puts us farther down. Plus, I don’t really spend much time at court, except during ceremonies or when the bards are playing. The Sisters who sit at the great table would know her better.”

“Yes, but I don’t know them,” Treya pointed out. “I do know you.”

“Oh, true. Anyway, here’s her study.” Kirla knocked and poked her head in. “Miss Yelena, they’re here.”

“Send them in, please.”

Kirla ushered them through the door into the study, which appeared to be a converted library. The walls to the left and right were lined with full bookshelves. The far well held a series of tall windows overlooking a garden.

Three desks were arranged around the room, but only one was in use. It stood at the back of the room, near the windows, but was facing the entrance. The woman behind it rose when they entered. She was short, with long, straight black hair, and was much younger than Corec had expected—somewhere near his own age. Was this really Yelena? Kirla had addressed her as such, but how had she become the duke’s wizard so young?

She was wearing a long dress of a startling bright red. It had simple lines compared to the fancier gowns they’d seen on Kirla and the other women in the palace, yet still looked elegant and expensive. The dress was sleeveless, but she had a matching red shawl over her shoulders.

There were two men in the room as well. One was tall, wearing a long leather coat and a wide-brimmed hat. He stood to the woman’s right, but was leaning back against the far wall, his arms crossed in front of him as he watched them enter.

The other man was Bishop Lastal, who was on the woman’s left. Treya drew in a sharp breath when she saw him.

“Come in,” the woman said, keeping her face expressionless. “Kirla, would you mind closing the door on your way out?”

“Oh, yes, miss.” The door closed behind them.

The woman spoke again. “I suppose introductions are in order. I am Yelena.”

“My name is Corec.” He continued down the row, introducing his companions.

“I believe you know Bishop Lastal,” Yelena said, “and this is my husband, Sarlo.”

“I remember you!” Katrin said. “That day in the Tailors’ Quarter!”

Sarlo grinned. “Yes. As I recall, you ran right into me and almost fell over.”

“You had a rune!”

Yelena cleared her throat. “Shall we get this out of the way?” She moved around to the front of her desk and slipped the shawl off her shoulders. Six glowing red runes appeared on her upper arms, three on each. A red triangle appeared on Sarlo’s forehead, and a red square, rotated to look like a diamond, showed on Lastal’s.

“There, that’s better,” Yelena continued, as Corec exchanged shocked glances with his friends. “It’s been a long time since I met another warden in person.”

“A warden?” Treya asked. “What’s a warden?”

“He is,” Yelena said, pointing at Corec. “According to Lastal, anyway.”

Corec rolled up his sleeves to display his own runes while he tried to think of what to say. Bobo had thought the word warden might somehow be related to their runes at one point, but they’d never found any further information on the topic and had given up looking for it.

“I don’t understand,” he said. “I don’t know what a warden is either. Are you like the First?”

Yelena laughed. “I hope not. He’s a rather crotchety old man.”

The First had appeared young in the dream, but Corec could understand Yelena’s description. The man acted old, regardless of his apparent youth.

“But you know him. You’re one of the others.”

“I am.”

“And you’re called wardens?”

“We are wardens,” she said, pointing back and forth between herself and him. “You should already know that, from your choosing.”

“What choosing? I tried to tell the First, I don’t know anything about what’s going on, or how to stop it.”

She frowned. “You don’t remember your choosing?”

“I don’t even know what a choosing is!”

“For me, it was something like a wordless dream full of images. Not like the First’s dream world—it was something else entirely. When I woke up, I knew how to create the bond, and I knew I was something called a warden, though I’d never heard the term before. Unfortunately, the choosing doesn’t tell us much about what it means.”

“What does it mean?” Ellerie asked.

“It’s difficult to get any information out of the First, so I’ve had to study it on my own,” Yelena said, leaning back against the edge of her desk. “As best as I’ve been able to figure out, some ancient civilization managed a rather incredible ritual spell that created a group of mage-guardians to protect their people. Somehow, the spell kept going even after their civilization came to an end. My guess is that the citizens all knew what a warden was, so the choosing didn’t need to convey any more information than it does.”

“I never experienced any choosing,” Corec said, “and I don’t know how to use the binding spell. How do I stop it from happening?”

She pursed her lips. “The old man told me you bonded people without asking them. As a wizard, you should know how wrong that is. Didn’t your teachers cover binding spells?”

“I’m not a wizard, and I didn’t have any teachers. I’d never have cast the spell if I knew how to avoid it.”

She stared through him for a moment, her eyes going out of focus, then blinked and looked at him normally again.

“Perhaps that’s true,” she said, “so I’ll tell you that it’s considered a great crime. The rules go back to the earliest binding spells, some of which were truly evil. The warden’s bond is hardly one of those, but you’re still lucky that Lastal spoke to me about your problem before the First did. If I’d thought you were doing it on purpose, Sarlo would have tracked you down before now so I could kill you.”

Corec swallowed as he realized who he was speaking to. “You’re Six, aren’t you?”

“I’m Yelena. The First just doesn’t bother to learn anyone’s names. But yes, I’m the sixth warden, just as you’re the eighth. That’s simply how they track seniority—when someone ahead of you dies, you’ll be the seventh. Personally, I don’t see much point to it. We don’t interact with each other enough for seniority to matter.”

“How many of you are there?” Ellerie asked. “I’m a wizard, and I’ve never heard of wardens before.”

“I keep the wardens a secret, even from my fellow wizards. Some of the others are more open about their abilities, but they don’t go around discussing what we truly are. As for how many, there are just the eight of us, and even that seems like a lot. It’s rare that a new one would come so soon. Seven—I don’t know his name—was chosen just four years ago, and before that, there were only six.”

“How do we undo the binding spell?” Treya asked.

“Lastal told me you’d ask that,” Yelena said. “I don’t think it’s possible. Other binding spells can be banished, but this one is…more complicated. It was meant to be permanent. If you can’t stand each other’s company, simply go your separate ways. You may feel a faint pull drawing you toward the others, but you can ignore it.”

Corec said, “The First said there was a way. He said Three had done it.”

“Three? I suppose it’s possible—I’ve never met her.”

“Where can we find her?” Ellerie asked.

“Somewhere across the sea…but I don’t know which sea.”

“East,” Sarlo said. “East and south. I couldn’t tell you more without going myself.”

“There,” Yelena said. “Sarlo’s a Seeker. When I need to locate something, I send him. That’s the true strength of a warden—your bondmates. They augment your strengths and compensate for your weaknesses. I’m a scholar myself, not a warrior, so I depend on Sarlo and my wife, Venni, to act as my hands. The others each have their own roles. Your friend Bishop Lastal provides eyes and ears into the inner workings of the city’s temples, in exchange for the benefits he receives as a warden’s bondmate.”

Corec had never heard of a Seeker before, much less someone having both a husband and a wife, but he had too many other questions to ask about either. “Benefits?”

Yelena sighed. “You really don’t know anything about this, do you? Very well, then—what does it mean to be a warden? First, you can only bond mages, but it works with any type of mage. You live longer, both you and your bondmates. Until Seven, I was the youngest of us, and I’m two hundred seventy years old.”

Katrin and Treya both glanced Corec’s way, stunned looks on their faces. He’d forgotten what the First had said about Yelena’s age. He’d assumed that Six was an elf, but she was clearly human.

“Two hundred seventy-four,” Sarlo reminded her with a wink.

“Seventy-four? Already?” She thought about that for a moment. “I suppose you’re right. Anyway, beyond the longer lifespan, the bond also strengthens your magic.”

“How?” Ellerie asked. “That shouldn’t be possible.”

“Perhaps strengthens is the wrong word. I might say, instead, that it increases your potential, and makes it easier to achieve that potential.”

Ellerie said, “But you’re claiming that if we don’t undo the binding spell, my magic will be stronger?”

“You’ll have the potential to become stronger, at least.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“It’s an easy experiment. Find Three, end the binding spell, and let us know what happens. I’m curious about the results myself.”

Ellerie glared at her.

“Is there anything else we should know?” Corec asked, hoping to forestall an argument.

“I should think that’s quite enough,” Yelena replied. “You already know that you can track your bondmates’ locations, and they yours, I trust?”

“Yes.”

“That works over any distance, but it only gives you a general indication of the direction. It’s something like Sarlo’s seeking magic, I gather, but with less detail. I assume it’s got something to do with how we feel pulled together.”

“How can I stop from casting the binding spell again?”

“I don’t know how you ever managed to cast it unintentionally at all. Perhaps we can discuss that privately—one of my areas of study is arcane mages who cast spells without wizardry. The topic may lead us to a solution regarding your binding spells.”

“I would appreciate that. I’ve tried to be careful, but so far, I haven’t had any luck.”

“You should be careful. Bonding four in so short a time, you’re certain to run into problems. It takes a special kind of personality to work with the same people for decades or centuries, and still continue to get along with them. I’ve spent over two hundred fifty years choosing my bondmates. Lastal here is the most recent, just a few years ago, but I knew him for ten years before that. I had to be sure I could trust him with my secrets.”

Lastal nodded. “I apologize for my earlier deception, but at the time, I had no idea who you were or what I should say. I wasn’t aware there was a new warden, and Yelena likes to keep our identities quiet. I’m somewhat new to this life myself, you see.”

Yelena said, “Sarlo had discovered there was a new warden, thanks to the incident in the Tailors’ Quarter, but I hadn’t thought to inform Lastal. It never occurred to me you’d show up in his office.”

“How do you hide what you are if you’re so old?” Katrin asked Yelena. “I mean, if you’ve lived for so long?”

“I move around and change my name and appearance. Again, some of the other wardens are in different situations, either remote enough or in such a position of power that people don’t question things. But me, I’ve always liked living in the city—the bigger the better. I’ll have to move on in a few years, before the duke and his people start wondering about the fact that I’m not growing any older.”

“The duke doesn’t know about you?” Treya asked.

“I rather doubt Voss would tolerate me if he knew what I was. He doesn’t like anyone to challenge what he thinks of as his own authority.”

“If you don’t like him…”

“Why do I stay? He considers me to be a useful tool with useful friends…and I think the same about him. Tyrsall is the largest city on the continent, and from here, I can keep an eye on everything. I have no interest in becoming a ruler myself, but I can watch for threats, look for opportunities, and provide advice to both the duke and the king. Sometimes they even take my suggestions. It’s a good place for now, and next, maybe Sanvar. It’s been a hundred and fifty years since I lived in Sanvara City—even the stoneborn will have forgotten me by now.”

“What about the other wardens?” Corec asked.

“We tend to be territorial. The only one I’ve met in person is Shayliel, one of the yanvasta.”

“Yanvasta?” Shavala exclaimed.

“Yes. She travels more than the other wardens.”

“But what’s yanvasta? The word doesn’t make any sense. There are other elves?”

“My mother told me about them,” Ellerie said. “They’re far away, well beyond the seaborn homeland.”

“Why have I not heard of them? Why don’t my people know about them?”

Ellerie looked uncomfortable. “I think your people do know. The elders, at least.”

“Why would they keep it secret?”

“I don’t know.” Ellerie turned to Yelena. “I thought even the seaborn were reluctant to sail to the yanvasta homeland, and that’s why the yanvasta almost never come here.”

“Shayliel has her own ship, and her bondmates are her crew. I rather doubt she has trouble with any sea, no matter how rough it is.”

Corec said, “Who are the others? Do you know where any of them are?”

“Two is a seaborn, according to Shayliel. She’s met with him quite a few times, though she wouldn’t tell me his name. I don’t know much about Three. Some decades ago, I discovered that Four is a human man, who was living north of Larso at the time. Shayliel is Five, and you’ve already met the First. All I know about Seven is that the First hates him…but he hates you and me too, so take that for what it’s worth.”

“That’s really all you know about them?” Ellerie asked.

“The world is a big place, and it’s easier to keep ourselves to ourselves. We command enough magic that we could find the others if we truly wished to, but what would we do then? I don’t know any of them well enough to understand what they truly want, not even Shayliel. What would happen if we find ourselves at odds? Would we risk starting a war between a group of powerful mages? So, instead, we stick to our own territories. Between you and Four, I’m starting to feel crowded here, but I’ll attempt to stay away from your interests if you return the favor.”

That seemed like a less-than-subtle suggestion that Corec not settle down in Tyrsall, at least as long as Yelena was still there.

“I’ll try,” he said. “I don’t really have any plans other than looking for Three, and I’m not involved in Tyrsall’s politics at all.”

She nodded. “We can speak more in the future, but that will suffice for now.”

#

“How much do you believe of what she said?” Ellerie asked. The five of them had gathered together back at the inn after speaking with Yelena.

“I’m not sure,” Corec said, “but if it’s true, at least now we know what’s happening, and why.”

Treya said, “I don’t trust Lastal, so I don’t trust Yelena either, but I can’t think of any reason she’d have to lie about it all.”

“I can’t, either,” Katrin said.

“Let’s say it’s true,” Corec said. “What are we going to do about it?”

“She said we could go our separate ways,” Ellerie suggested.

“She also said we’d be drawn together,” Treya said. “What does that mean?”

Corec said, “I was considering that on the walk back. When I went after Katrin’s bounty, I didn’t know what I was doing and I didn’t have any sort of plan. I think I just used the bounty as an excuse to see her again.”

“Sure you did,” Katrin said to him with a smirk.

He winked at her. “And after that, Shavala chose to travel with us even before we knew about her binding spell.” He pointed to Ellerie and Treya. “You two are here because we’ve been looking for a way to end the bond, but doesn’t it seem just a bit too easy how we decided to continue traveling together?”

“It was time to start my travels,” Shavala said, looking embarrassed. “Though, perhaps it was convenient to find traveling companions so easily.”

“Then, is the answer to just split up?” Ellerie asked. “If there is something drawing us together, Yelena said we could ignore it.”

“Well, I still want to find Three,” Corec said, “or some other way to end the spell. We might need to be together for that.”

“And I still wish to visit the Storm Heights,” Shavala said. “It seems silly to travel to the same place in two separate groups.”

“But are we doing those things because we’re being pulled together?” Treya asked.

They all looked around the room uncertainly.

“We can’t second-guess everything we do,” Katrin said. “If we all agree with a decision, does it matter if there’s some extra reason involved?”

“Should we look for Three now?” Ellerie asked. “We can take a ship to the east.”

Corec shook his head. “That’s not enough information to find her. She could still be almost anywhere. Maybe there’s a spell we could use to track her down, or maybe we’ll find some other way to end the bond if we help you find Tir Yadar.”

Ellerie sighed. “I think Treya and Katrin are both right. I can’t help feeling that something’s pushing us to continue traveling together, but I can’t think of a better choice either, especially if we all need to be together to end the binding spell.”

“Do you want to end the binding spell?” Shavala asked. “I never have. If Yelena was telling the truth about it making your magic stronger, do you still want to undo it?”

Katrin said, “I don’t care about the magic, but I don’t want to get rid of my rune anymore.” She grasped Corec’s hand.

“I want to learn my magic on my own,” Ellerie said. “I don’t want something…helping me, even if it makes me stronger.”

They all looked at Treya.

“I…I don’t know. I don’t like how it happened, but I feel like my healing has improved. I’m not sure how much of that is from practicing it and how much is from…this. Without the binding spell, would I have been able to help those people who were attacked by the ogres? What if we end the bond and I find I’m back to only being able to heal sprains and pulled muscles? Can I justify not being able to help people that way anymore?”

Ellerie looked down, shaking her head. Was she the only one who was still sane? Why would anyone want to be linked to some human mage who’d bonded them against their will?

Corec said, “I’m sorry about what I’ve gotten you all into. I’ll keep looking for a solution for anyone who wants it, and whether we find it or not, we can all go our separate ways once we’re done.”

“Some of us, anyway,” Katrin said.

He nodded. “Some of us can go our separate ways.”

“Is Yelena really almost three hundred years old?” Treya asked. “How is that possible?”

Ellerie shrugged. “Three hundred isn’t very old.”

“Not for an elf, maybe, but she wasn’t an elf.”

“That’s the part I have the hardest time believing,” Corec said. “But if it’s true, and she’s the youngest of them other than Seven and me, then how old are the others?”

#

“We’ve now recruited two thousand mercenaries, Your Highness,” Captain Benis said.

“Good,” Rusol replied. “My father has approved increasing that number by five hundred more. Please see to it.”

“Yes, Your Highness. And I should mention that Captain Tark has asked to recruit from amongst them for the Royal Guard.”

“After he told me he didn’t approve of allowing any mercenaries into the palace? Very well. If he sees any he likes the look of, he can recruit them, but only to his approved numbers. We’re not increasing the size of the Guard. And make sure he doesn’t find out about the…special troops.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

There was a knock at the door and Rusol’s mother strode into his chambers. A concubine of the Three Orders, Sharra was still a striking woman at forty-six, though gray streaks now lined her hair.

She spared a glance for the soldier. “You’re dismissed, Captain.”

Benis bowed. “Yes, Mistress.” He left the room, closing the door behind him.

“Mother, always a pleasure,” Rusol said. “To what do I owe the honor of having my work disrupted?”

“Don’t be rude, Rusol. I’ve brought you a gift. You know the Duke of the Crows’ investiture is coming up?”

“I am aware, yes.”

The last duke had died over the summer. His son had inherited the title automatically, but to make it official, the king would have to confirm him during the investiture ceremony. It was the first dukedom in the kingdom to change hands in over ten years, and three days of parties and events had been planned around the ceremony. The dukes and barons who wintered in the city would all be attending, as would the more remote barons from the Black Crow Mountains—Tarwen, Tammerly, Highfell, and Deep Valley. Once the new duke had pledged fealty to the king, the four barons that held lands within the duchy would in turn pledge fealty to him, before renewing their vows to the king.

“The queen is still unwell. I’ll be attending in her place, and I want you to look the part of heir to the throne. This is Larso, not Matagor, and you’ll never have the people’s respect if you continue dressing like a courtier.”

Rusol sighed. “What are you talking about, Mother?”

She rapped on the door and two servants came in carrying a bundle of armor. A third followed with a sheathed sword in his hand, a sword belt hanging over his shoulder. Sharra directed them to lay their burdens on a nearby table. The armor gleamed and reflected the light, almost like a mirror.

Rusol’s mother dismissed the servants, then said, “I’m talking about this. I want you to wear it to the investiture.”

“Wearing plate armor at a ceremony? That’s a little much even for Larso, don’t you think, Mother?”

“Your father used to do it, and people respected him for it. Even now, he wears a knight’s uniform so everyone remembers who he is.”

“This isn’t who I am. I’m no warrior!”

“That was your own choice!” Sharra said. “I indulged you, to my shame, and your father didn’t mind because Rikard would become king. But now Rikard’s dead, and you need to look like what you are—a prince of Larso.”

More likely, he’d look like a fraud, trying to wear armor that he had no right to, but he doubted his mother would listen to that reasoning. Instead, he said, “I can’t wear this. It’ll be too heavy for me to stand around with it for the whole ceremony.”

“No, it isn’t. It’s enchanted, and I paid a great deal of money for it. The whole thing only weighs fifteen pounds, and it’s stronger than steel. The man I bought it from hit it with a hammer and it didn’t make a dent. The sword’s enchanted too, and made out of the same metal.”

Rusol looked over the armor again, this time with more interest. Magical weapons were rare, and magic armor even more so. Just how much gold had his mother spent? The spells for creating permanent enchantments had been lost to time…or, if anyone still remembered how, they were keeping quiet about it. Rusol’s father owned a magic sword that had been passed down from king to king for generations. It was worth a fortune, even though its only enchantment was to never break or need sharpening.

Rusol slid the first few inches of the sword out of its scabbard. It gleamed in the light, just as the armor did. Returning it to the table, he picked up the breastplate that formed the front half of the cuirass. It was indeed lighter than he’d expected.

“I think it’s too large,” he said.

“It’ll match your size once you put it on,” Sharra said. “That’s part of the enchantment. The man who sold it showed me how it works.”

“Why would anyone sell something like this?”

“I didn’t ask, but wherever he got it from, he looked like he needed the money.”

Rusol held the breastplate up in front of himself and stared at his image in the mirror. The barons and dukes didn’t need to know that he’d never learned how to fight. Perhaps just appearing as if he could would be sufficient after all.

He said, “I suppose I can try it, but if it makes me look like a fool, I’m not wearing it.”

“You’ll look very dashing, just like the next king should look.”

“Thank you, Mother.”

“And Rusol? Don’t bring any of your…friends to the ceremony. Let’s not risk the populace finding out what you’ve been up to. Not yet, anyway.”