Fire Angels

Chapter 11 Part 2 Lady Julia Madraga

There was no sign of Tomas or Lucien in the corridor outside the room, but Shad was there standing in one of the alcoves that lined the corridor, running his fingers along a border carved with fruit and flowers.

"This is beautiful work," he said. "Beautiful."

He turned and saw my face.

"What is the matter?"

"Oh Shad. They were so hurt. I don't think Uncle Louie will ever recover and all because the Burning Light were looking for me."

He put his arms around me and I leant against him and felt him rub my back.

"You did not order the mind searches," he said.

A door banged at the end of the corridor and as if by mutual consent, Shad and I moved quickly apart. A young woman came sweeping purposefully down the corridor towards us. From her rich velvet dress and the fact that an older woman was scurrying behind her in attendance, she was obviously someone of importance. Her bright red hair was uncovered in the fashion of an unmarried aristocrat and hung in a long braid twined with pearls down her back. Perhaps one of Lucien's relatives? Whoever she was, such was her manner that without thinking twice I found myself curtsying and saw that Shad too was bowing.

She did not sweep past, but came straight up us and held out her hand.

"You are Enna Dion. The Demonslayer?" she asked excitedly.

I murmured my assent, took the hand uncertainly and curtsied again.

"This is such a privilege for me," she said. "I never hoped to have the opportunity to meet you, Enna Dion. Your actions are an inspiration to Morians everywhere."

"Thank you .... M'am."

Who was this woman? Yet even as I wondered I began to suspect who she might be. She spoke Morian like a native, but she had red hair which was not a common color among Morians. Surely it couldn't be HER! Not here speaking to ME!

"And who is your companion?" asked the lady.

"This is Shad Forest," I said. "He saved my life and protected me while I was hiding from the Burning Light."

Shad bowed low. "Your loyal servant, my lady," he said softly. He looked awed.

"Well done Ren Forest. We and all of Moria are grateful to you. So you have been hiding in the forest, Enna Dion? Near here? For how long?"

Her questions came like arrows, swift and unavoidable. She wanted to hear the whole story and there was no brushing her off with half truths. Fortunately before I got to the part about the Circle of Power, we were rejoined by Tomas and Lucien.

"This IS an honor, Lady Julia" murmured Lucien, bowing low. So it was definitely her. Lady Julia Madraga! Heir to the throne of Moria and the last surviving member of the Morian ruling family. A Duke of Gallia was all very fine but he was only some parvenu foreign ruler. Our own dear Lady of Moria was scion of the oldest royal family on the peninsula.

I was interested to see that Lucien introduced Tomas quite openly as his father's natural son and managed to give the impression that I was Sandor Sercel's natural daughter. The Sercels were very great nobility and could no doubt afford to be careless with both conventional morality and truth.

Lucien's arrival seemed to end the encounter with Lady Julia, which was perhaps lucky because the definite knowledge of her identity had made even Tomas loose the power of coherent speech. After a long round of bows and polite remarks by Lucien, she swept away with her lady-in-waiting pattering after her.

"Look at you lot," laughed Lucien. "Anyone would think you'd seen Tansa's own mother."

"Lady Julia Madraga," said Shad, in an awe struck voice.

"What a wonderful creature," said Tomas, in much the same tone.

"Yes and very quick off the mark even for her," said Lucien wryly. "Everyone in Lammerquais is crazy to met the Demonslayer of Gallia and lucky me - she's my half sister."

He drew my hand though his arm.

"Am I your half-sister?" I asked.

"You're my half-brothers half-sister. That must make us some kind of relative."

Despite the fact that the White Tower was full to the bursting with the Duke of Gallia's retinue, I was to have a room to myself. It was a little room on the fifth floor up under the eaves of the building. I suspected that it was normally a servant's room, but it had a comfortable bed and that was all I cared for. There was a trunk in the corner for my clothes and a large mirror on the wall at the end of the bed. Almost without thinking, I took the mirror down and turned it to the wall. Andre/Bedazzer had always been able to use mirrors to look into this world. Perhaps all demons could do so. Once a demon latched on to you, it was unlikely to forget you. Although I had not had any dreams from Andre/Bedazzer since I had gone into the Circle of Power, I was pretty certain that would not last. Though the Duke and Lord Sercel would have teams of mages in this tower maintaining all kinds of magical protections, I knew better than to rely on conventional magic to protect me from demons.

With this in mind I took my chalk from my belt purse and set to work decorating the walls with the Runes of Protection, Distraction and Blindness. They were not a foolproof protection but they were the best I had. Though the runes were made with chalk, when they were fused with magic, they became invisible to ordinary sight.

Halfway through my rune making I heard the door creak open behind me. I assumed it was the maid who would know better then to interrupt a mage at work. When I had finished however, I was surprised to find myself still alone. I had been so sure someone had come in. When I went over to the door it was slightly ajar. I opened it and looked down the corridor but the only people there were two red faced maid servants toiling up the stairs carrying copper buckets of hot water for my bath.

While I was bathing, two messengers came. The first came from Lucien bearing a gown that had belonged to his dead wife. It was midnight blue silk and covered in red ribbons. It was so gaudy that I shrank from wearing it though I knew that a grand gown would be my expected dress while I lived at the White Tower.

The second messenger was Lady Anne, Lady Julia's companion in the corridor. She bore a beautiful black velvet gown with brocade sleeves complements of Lady Julia Madraga. Lady Julia obviously remembered her countrymen's love of somber magnificence. It was far more to my tastes than Lucien's gown and I had no qualms about accepting it.

The maid who had been scrubbing my back was obviously impressed by this present and by the well dressed servants who came with Lady Anne. She began scrubbing with much more enthusiasm and even offered to obtain some scented oil to rub me with. Lady Anne, however, quickly hustled her out of the room and set her own servant to washing me. By the time this was finished and I was tenderly ushered out of the bath, I was more thoroughly washed that I could ever remember being in my life.

Lady Anne organized me into the gown, organized one of the maids to measure me for alterations and then bustled away having organized the other maid to massage me with scented oil while the first sewed.

I lay on the bed enjoying the massage and reflecting that I had changed a great deal from the shy seventeen year old I had once been. When I had last been in such grand surroundings, I had found such attentions unbearably intimate and embarrassing. In those days I would never have imagined myself sleeping with a man either. Strange how three years as your own mistress surrounded by people who look up to you for advice can improve your confidence.

The whole experience was only spoiled by my guilty realization that I had this afternoon been in company with the Duke of Gallia and I had not managed to mention my information about Sanctuary or my concerns that we go south as quickly as possible. The fact that there had been little opportunity to mention it was no more than a weak excuse.