I felt the moment it hit the more solid ground further down, the power instantly dissipating as the stone settled into place with several final groaning noises.
Chapter 2
For a single moment utter silence gripped the work site and the adjoining section of street. And then pandemonium broke out as Captain Layna, the two sealed commonborn builders, and half the gathered crowd called recriminations or demands for answers at the younger creator mage. He cast a panicked glance around before his attention was caught by the cutting voice of his mentor, rising above the hubbub of the crowd.
“Tell me exactly what went wrong there.”
“I…I don’t know. It worked.” He shrunk in on himself at the withering glance he received from the older mage. “In the end.”
Layna and the builders had fallen silent to hear the conversation, but the crowd continued to call out, making it hard to hear the mage’s words. My captain nodded at her team, and they immediately began to move the bystanders on. Experts at their job, the guards soon had our side of the street clear and traffic flowing again, the more recalcitrant giving way before their red and gold uniforms and stern expressions, some throwing glances at me in response to barked words by the guards. Even the mages among them knew not to question royal guards on active protection duty.
Layna had drawn close, hovering over me in a threatening manner and glaring at everyone around us. She didn’t try to make me move, though, obviously as anxious to hear the mage’s explanation as I was.
“This composition reads perfectly,” the older mage said. “If it didn’t, I wouldn’t have allowed you to work it. But a perfectly composed working would not have gone wrong in such a fashion.”
His student gulped. “I’ve never done a foundation working for such a large building before. I was trying so hard to keep the whole image in my mind.”
“You fool!” His mentor seemed to grow several inches until he towered over the younger man. “I told you that you weren’t ready to layer your workings. Not for something like this. So you went and did the worst thing possible and overlaid it with a conflicting instruction!”
The young mage’s face had drained of all color. “I didn’t mean to.”
“You’re just fortunate your true intention turned out to be stronger,” the older mage said darkly. “Or you’d be having a conversation with the Head of the Royal Guard right now. Or hadn’t you noticed we have a royal audience?”
The student glanced in our direction and gulped, nearly toppling over as he hurried to bow deeply.
“What is he talking about?” Bryony asked, casting concerned glances at me, but knowing better than to attempt to question me on my own part in the drama. “What did he do wrong?”
I knew vaguely what the older mage meant by layering, but our first year composition studies hadn’t extended that far, and Bryony wouldn’t have been likely to hear about it from her energy mage parents. When I didn’t attempt an explanation, Captain Layna spoke, her voice heavy with displeasure.
“Newer and weaker mages write long compositions, making every aspect and limitation of their working explicit with their words. More advanced compositions, however, can be shortened. Mages only achieve that level of control when they can place a secondary overlay of meaning over the words as they write them, shaping the power they force into their composition so it contains more complicated controls than outlined in the words themselves.”
She shook her head. “None of your power mage year mates would be able to do that yet, but I can assure you they would all know better than to let their concentration slip while in the middle of a composition.”
Layna was wrong about at least one of our year mates. I had no doubt that Prince Darius possessed the capability to overlay his compositions with deeper meaning. But I couldn’t imagine him ever making the mistake of this new creator mage.
Bryony frowned at the two orange-robed mages. “So he did the layers wrong?”
“It sounds like he didn’t mean to do an overlay of meaning at all,” I said. “But he must have been picturing the image of the foundation from a different angle, and accidentally overlaid a competing instruction.”
In fact, I knew that was what had happened because I felt it from inside the working, although I hadn’t understood the reason behind it at the time. I couldn’t say that in front of my guards, though.
“We’re all fortunate the true intention ended up having the stronger direction,” I added.
Bryony gave me a loaded look but didn’t say anything.
“I would issue him an official reprimand,” Captain Layna said, “except he had no idea you were here. There was clearly no harm intended for anyone, let alone you.” Her voice calmed somewhat. “And while the threat to public safety is unacceptable, that isn’t within my purview. Plus it looks like the creators have that well in hand themselves.”
She sounded satisfied with the way the older mage was continuing to berate his student, threatening all sorts of dire punishments, including a year spent on the most basic and repetitive compositions needed by their discipline. I hid a smile at her pleasure, too distracted by my own unseen role in the near disaster to wish to join in castigating the mage involved.
“So only the most powerful mages can write short compositions?” Bryony asked, her mind obviously still on Layna’s explanation.
I frowned at her, nervous about the direction of her thoughts since she seemed to be carefully not looking in my direction.
The captain nodded. “We have legends about a mighty mage of old who won a battle with a single word composition scratched in the dirt. But currently the Spoken Mage is the only one I’m aware of with the power and control for a single-word composition.” She spoke my mother’s popular title with respect. “I believe the instructors at the Academy are working with Crown Prince Lucien in the hope he might one day match the achievements of his mother.”
I grimaced at her mention of my talented older brother, but her words didn’t have the same sting they might once have carried. I was no longer the powerless sibling, constantly comparing myself to my gifted brother. It didn’t matter if no one currently knew of my hidden abilities. I knew—and one day they would, too. I just had to work out how and when to make the truth known.
“Oh, I see,” said Bryony, and this time she couldn’t resist throwing a single glance at me.
I tried to glare at her without moving my features too noticeably, and either she received my message, or her own natural wisdom asserted itself, and she let the matter drop. No doubt she would be full of questions, but she could ask them later when we managed to find a moment alone.
“Shall we continue to the shops?” Captain Layna asked. “Somehow I imagine the creators will leave the poor work team to complete the rest of the foundation with their own compositions. And we can assume they sourced them from a more competent mage than that—” She cut off whatever insult she had been about to utter with a glance at me.
I grimaced but nodded, not having the heart to disappoint Bryony by saying I would prefer to return to the palace. But she spoke for me.
“You know, after being nearly squished like a pancake, I find I’ve somehow lost my enthusiasm for shopping. There’s only one store I have to visit before we leave.” She looked at me. “Do you mind one quick stop, Verene?”