Fire Angels

Chapter 12 Part 2 Alone

When I returned to my room later, who should I see coming out of it but Dally, Tasha's daughter. The moment she saw me she took to her heels and ran off down the hallway, even though I called after her and told her I wasn't angry.

I hovered in the hall unsure whether to run after her or not. I didn't want to frighten her. The last time I had seen her had been at Tasha's bedside, just before Tasha had emptied her memories into my mind and died so painfully. The part of me that felt guilty over Tasha's death also wondered what on earth Dally must feel towards me. I sensed it wasn't good and was a little afraid of finding out. Unsure how to proceed I made a mental note to speak to Silva about meeting with Dally. If what I suspected about her parentage was true she had a good chance of inheriting strong magical powers from her parents and the magic would be making itself known in the next year or two. I must try to help her.

I could not find anything missing and I had so little magical equipment with me she could have come to no harm. Only my mirror had moved, turned back to face the room and that had probably been done by the maid. I turned it quickly back to the wall.

That afternoon I was called to the Duke and in a private audience with him accepted the role of elector, hoping secretly that Lord Sandor had not led me astray over the extent of my responsibilities.

A private audience with the Duke of Gallia was not terribly private. In the room with us were Tomas, Lord Sandor, Lucien, a couple of favored courtiers, Ren Garthan Redona, a mage I had been at college with, and Ren Daniel Devoirs, head of the White College of Moria. I was surprised not to see Lady Julia there. Somehow I had thought she'd take more interest.

Lord Sandor had taken me aside beforehand and warned me of that he had already made the Duke aware of my concerns over Sanctuary. He told me that it would not be necessary to bring the subject up in "this august company." It was with a certain sense of relief that I did as I was told.

The Duke of Gallia was just as friendly as he had been on the previous day, but I knew that he was a complex man, capable of a certain amount of loyalty but also of heartlessly discarding his friends when they ceased to be useful to him. Yet he was a liberal minded well-educated man. As I told Shad, Gallia had enjoyed an unprecedented period of peace, freedom of thought and prosperity under his rule. He was usually kind to ordinary folk, but delighted in keeping his courtiers off balance by blowing hot and cold on them and playing them off against each other. I'd been told it was a ploy to keep them from plotting against him, but now I was an Elector and counted as a courtier, this knowledge was not much comfort.

I thought I saw surprise flicker across the Duke's face when I said that I would be sitting on his Council and several other people in the room looked astonished. Nonetheless I was determined to do my best for the push to Southern Moria and in all conscience I must see what this council was all about and if it could be a good tool to encourage the liberation.

That evening the Duke held a reception for the Morian nobles and notables. The Great Hall of the White tower was packed with every important person in Lammerquais all wearing their dark finery and what looked like every piece of jewelry they could muster. Most of the important people in the Duke's entourage and his army were also there. I recognized several of the mages from my time at the White College of Gallia.

As I stood among the shifting crowd flanked by Tomas on one side and Lucien Sercel on the other, I was uncomfortably aware of people looking at us. I was not sure why until I heard a woman exclaim, "But she's just a young girl" and turned to see her startled face looking at me. Then I realized that it was well known that I was the "Demonslayer of Gallia" No wonder Tomas looked so pleased and. He busily introduced me to all kinds of people.