Fire Angels

Chapter 18 Part 1 Love in a Fog

Pleading a headache, I went to bed directly after dinner, but of course I did not sleep. I had known for a couple of days that the plan to go south was going ahead and had been secretly impressed by my own calmness in the face of this dangerous step.

Now all calmness was at an end. So far I had managed to avoid taking responsibility for actions that might displease the Duke. This time... I was the Elector of Magery. I was about to commit an act that had already been called treason. I was scared.

I tossed and turned until I heard the watchman cry two. Then I rose and dressed in my strongest and warmest clothes. Outside the window the night looked oddly pale. One of the mists that Lammerquais was famous for had fallen. What luck!

A few minutes later, I was following Lady Julia and Lady Anna down the corridor. It was pointless to try and use magic to help us to slip unseen from the White Tower. The guardian mages would be able to detect any magic. Good old fashioned bribery had proved a far better option. No doubt, the guards simply thought Lady Julia had a lover or some such thing. We did not see them on our way to the stable yard entrance.

The moment I stepped out into the fog, I knew it was not natural. It was as pale as milk and no easier to see through. All around I felt little sparklings of magic on my skin, but I could not pin down its source. Klementari magic!

Once the three of us had stepped away from the doorway, we were completely lost. We stood still for a moment clutching one another, not knowing what to do.

A figure appeared beside us and a hand took mine.

"Come," it said. "The horses are this way." It was Symon.

Symon moved as easily in the fog as if it had been bright daylight.

The three of us stumbled after him till suddenly a horse was standing in front of me. Shadows gathered around me, and helped me up onto the horse and put reins in my hand. The fog was so thick I could not see the horse's head and I had a momentary ridiculous vision of myself blindly mounted backwards. Then the horse heaved into movement in the proper direction and I heard the distant clopping of hooves far away on cobbles.

Magic, magic all around me. I must have become more attuned to Klementari magic in the Stone Circle because all my senses were tingling as if they had been newly washed in crystal cool water. This magic was like wind caressing your cheek and hair. All the magic I had ever practiced hit you more like a thrown rock. I loved this silken magical caress. I became dizzy with it as we rode slowly along.

I have no idea how long we rode, but it was at least long enough for me to get saddle sore. The swirling grey blindness seemed to go on forever. What kind of magic could create such an enormous fog cloud? Surely we were well out of Lammerquais and yet still the grey wall of fog continued. It lifted enough for me to be able to see the head of my horse and the haunches of the horse before me. The two of them were roped together. I could make out darker patches in the fog which I thought might be other horses and riders around us. I had the unearthly feeling that there were many more riders all around me that I could not see. After a time the joy at the magic left me and my bored eyes became impossibly heavy. Several times I started awake to find myself slipping from the saddle.

At some stage the fog lightened from dark grey to pale grey. I heard the faint distant sound of bird calls. Was this dawn?

I had not been told much about the plan and had accepted this as wise, but I did know that all the conspirators were slipping out of Lammerquais in small groups this night, to be guided by the Klementari to a mustering point on the very edge of central Moria two days ride south. The logic behind this was that any vengeful ducal troops would not capture everyone together. With this fog however any vengeful troops would have trouble finding each other let alone following us. Were the Klementari going to keep this up all the way to the muster point? Could anyone keep such magic going so long? How incredible that would be!