Landscape Magic Read online

  By R.J. Price

  Seat of Magic

  Trouble

  Sit Pretty

  Dark Spirits

  Highest Lord

  A Seat of Magic Novel

  Landscape

  Magic

  R.J. Price

  Copyright 2017 R.J. Price

  Front Cover Design by Masoumeh Tavakoli

  This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual events or people, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  All Rights Reserved. This book may not be reproduced in part or whole without written permission except in the case of small quotes for reviews, articles, or essays.

  Chapter One

  They sat in the war room in awkward silence.

  The table they sat at was old. Some antique thing that was little more than a few rough planks nailed together and then into four feet. Time and use had worn the table’s surface to an almost smooth finish. The chairs they sat on were mismatched, from different eras.

  Er and Url sat together, with Gamen across the table from them. Van sat near the opposite end, obviously feeling out of place from the warriors sitting at the table. Jer sat at the other end, almost at the head of the table.

  Jer didn’t know how he knew that, just like he didn’t know why they were all sitting in awkward silence. He did know that the silence affected the warriors at the table, and Van, being a queen, simply remained silent because the others were also silent.

  Van adjusted in his seat, which creaked under his weight as he moved. Jer turned to Van as the other warriors looked down the table at him. The Western Baron went red, then paled considerably and attempted to ease his weight back into the chair without causing more noise.

  The war room hadn’t been used since before Jer was born. Possibly even before his father had been born. The last war that the palace had marched to had happened when Telm was a girl. It had been so long ago that the room had been overtaken by the servant women. They had grudgingly given it back to the warriors, but only after Jer had found Telm and had her command the servants to leave.

  Because apparently being steward to the court and brother to the mate to the throne meant nothing to them.

  The doors to the war room opened, and Av walked in, glaring at the doors as he went.

  “Those things are supposed to creak,” Av growled under his breath.

  Amused, Jer waited until Av made eye contact with him before he spoke up. “The women thought it frightening that it creaked when they came and went, so they oiled the hinges.”

  Av pulled to a sudden stop, surprise playing over his features. Either he hadn’t realized he had spoken, or the women taking over the war room was news to him.

  Behind Av, Aren walked in.

  Even though Er and Url’s backs were to the door, the two stiffened at Aren’s entrance.

  The queen walked past Av and to the table, pulling the warrior out of his startled silence. Av’s eyes watched Aren move to the head of the table and take the seat that should have gone to him. There was hunger in those eyes as they flitted from Aren, then to the others sitting at the table, looking for any sign of rebellion.

  “Van, you surprise me,” Av said as he walked to Aren, stepping behind the queen and setting a hand on her shoulder. “Why wouldn’t you bring Ella with you? She does, after all, represent that which we need to discuss: War.”

  “I am the Baron, thus I will speak for my people,” Van said quietly, though he didn’t sound sure of himself in the least.

  This was a warrior thing. It was what they were bred to do. Queens only mucked things up, made things worse because they were always stopping to whine about innocents and commoners and how slaughtering one’s enemies was foolish.

  “You brought Aren,” Van said in a higher pitch than he normally used, accusing Av of a double standard.

  “And she knows that here, in this place, it is my word that is law, not hers,” Av said sternly.

  Aren shuddered and pushed back into the chair. Av set his free hand on her other shoulder. So much could be interpreted from that silent shudder.

  Jer tried to dismiss the motion, but found himself focusing on it the more he tried to ignore.

  “It’s too late now,” Url murmured, keeping his eyes on the table. “At least for this meeting. Van can bring her for the next one, or the one after.”

  “Very well, what are we discussing at this meeting?” Av asked. “Does anyone know how to plan a war?”

  “Uh…” Jer cleared his throat and adjusted in his seat. “I have Laeder looking it up for us. Unless he marches onto palace land, we have to gather an army then march down on him. To do otherwise is stupid, foolhardy, foolish, and only an imbecile of the highest order wouldn’t at least try to make some military strategy before marching into war against commoners who have obviously been planning this thing for years and might do something like the anvil. Or, so I’ve been told.”

  “What is an anvil in war?” Av asked.

  “Like a smithy’s hammer strikes an anvil, so would the army march on the enemy,” Van said from the other end of the table. “Perhaps as the only one of us who is not a warrior, it was in my best interest to study matters of war and history. Jer is correct, commoners who march against ranks have plans and great numbers. Conscripts usually.”

  “What’s a conscript?” Aren asked.

  “A man forced to war by his lord,” Van said. “I have a small army of conscripts. All commoners, prisoners who would have been put to death otherwise. They serve in small functions against the western lands.”

  “I thought palace lands were all there was to this land?” Aren said, sounding confused.

  “There are lands outside of palace lands,” Gamen said sternly.

  The Eastern Baron looked around the table as if asking the others if Aren were truly that stupid.

  “No, I know there are lands across the sea,” Aren responded. “But there are other lands attached to what was once palace lands, that is what you’re telling me?”

  “Yes, that is what I’m telling you,” Van said.

  The two queens met eyes and Aren frowned. It was very much a look that Jer expected to see on the face of a woman her age. Confusion at learning something that changed her view of the world. It was incomprehensible to her that there were other lands attached to her land.

  The lands.

  Jer reminded himself that what had once been palace lands were split still.

  “Then we need an accounting of men,” Aren said slowly. “Palace lands have few ranks. A majority of those ranks reside here, at the palace and the village an hour’s walk away.”

  “There’s also the commune,” Av said to the table. “But those are queens and healers who were outed by Em. Many of them are powerful, but we would not want them going to war. They are too damaged to see the difference between the enemy and their own men.”

  “I have many ranks,” Van said quickly. “Good, strong blood. Ella has made her wishes known. She will ride with the army.”

  Er made a scoffing sound. “You have many ranks of different sorts. The North is where your army will come from, Av. Good strong blood, warriors mainly. Let Van provide the healers. We will provide the fighters.”

  “Except…” Url said, glancing over at Jer.

  War took time. Bringing an army together took months or even years. Av didn’t have the patience to sit about while men gathered. Jer was surprised his brother had even managed to come to a meeting to start planning a war.

  “Except?” Aren asked.

  “We are warriors, Lady Aren,” Er said quickly. “The relationship between queen and warrior is different in the North. Certainly, there are the youth who will demand to go to war and those warriors who call to blood more strongly than other
s. But if you want real loyalty, if you want men to follow you, you need to draw them in.”

  “You—” Gamen gaped at Er from across the table. “You want her to do a calling?”

  “That is how it is done in the North,” Er said.

  “Yes, but your queens call your warriors to protect them. They march up to the men they grew up with, grab them by the ear and tell them that if a single hair is hurt on the heads of the commoner children, they will be held personally responsible. A queen from an outside land cannot call warriors.”

  “Olea did,” Van said.

  The table was quiet a moment.

  “Olea is a queen above any other,” Gamen responded quietly, keeping his eyes on the table. He looked up only to glare at Er. “What you propose is taking an untried, unblooded woman north and praying that she can handle her magic enough to stand toe-to-toe with your queens. You pray that she will be able to draw warriors in. The girl can barely control the lights. She has no grasp of what it truly is to be a queen, and you want the fate of the lands to rest on her being able to call warriors? Are you mad?”

  “The throne created me, just like it did Olea,” Aren said to Gamen. “I am her replacement, and if the throne found me lacking in any fashion, it would have simply used me to draw her here, then killed me and forced itself upon her. I do believe that your words be ignored.”

  “Olea is not you, you are not Olea,” Gamen said. “That is a woman who walks into a room and commands attention, even when she was young, on her first visit to the North. You simpered in the corner and waited for a warrior to come and claim you. You, Lady Aren, are a damsel-in-distress. Lady Olea was given that label and cast it off, daring any man to try to place it upon her again.”

  Aren’s mouth opened to protest. Then it closed again. Jer saw something pass over her features, but couldn’t tell what it was that she was thinking. The room felt darker, gloomier. Like a hole that would swallow them all, if they didn’t get out, and get out now.

  Jer found himself standing before he realized what he was doing. He had to fight the instinct to run, to keep himself in place as the others looked at him for an explanation.

  “Yes, Er, you’re mad for proposing the idea as if it were as simple as going north,” Jer said, then turned to Gamen. “But you’re a damned fool for saying such a thing to a queen. You grew up around several queens. Av making such a mistake, all right, I could see that. But you, Gamen? No woman deserves to be spoken to in such a manner unless she tells you outright that you’re an imbecile of the highest order, and even then, you do not use an emotional barb.”

  Gamen looked furious, but they were all on edge. They had gathered to plan war, and they all knew that war was still a long time off.

  The baron of the East gritted his teeth but forced himself to relax. “I apologize for my outburst, Lady Aren.”

  “Now, that being said…” Jer turned to Aren and saw that she was on the brink of tears.

  He didn’t understand why Gamen’s words had affected her in such a manner, but he knew he couldn’t focus on that. If he did, he’d end up attacking Gamen, and then Av would realize what was going on and probably hurt Jer in his attempt to reach the Eastern baron. Instead, he focused his attention on Av, who was watching Jer with that look on his face.

  The one that made the guards check their weapons. The one that said that Av was very aware of his mate’s mood and whatever was said in the next few moments would determine whether Gamen remained amongst the living, or was borne to the spirits.

  “It will be months before the warriors gather, and the two of you are newly mated,” Jer said finally. “I would strongly encourage you to visit the North, which has just rejoined palace lands. Speak with the youth there, see if they want to go to war and if you can rally them, by all means. But also just take some time with one another. If I recall correctly, the North has a tradition as such, yes?”

  Er flinched when Av turned his attention from Jer to Er. The Northern Baron swallowed hard and ever so slowly turned to Av.

  “Honeymoon, it’s called,” Er said to Av, keeping his eyes somewhere about Av’s shoulders. “I would be delighted to host the pair of you for it. It lasts a month, normally and, as Jer says, if you do rally the youth, then so be it. It would gladden many hearts to see the one who sits the throne walk amongst them rather than simply have her send commands.”

  “I want to see my palace,” Aren said distantly.

  “It’s mine, and you can’t have it back,” Url growled half-heartedly.

  The growl drew Aren out of her mood. Anger replaced the sullen silence of before as she glared at the warrior who dared claim what she thought rightfully hers.

  “I would just like to point out that we did not take the entire palace, just some of it,” Er said very quickly.

  Van looked at Jer and opened his mouth to speak. Jer gave his head the barest shake. Van would direct them back to talk of war, and they needed to avoid that for the moment.

  Talk of war would fuel Gamen’s annoyance and might drive Aren back to that point of tears. None of them needed to deal with that aftermath.

  “Why don’t we draw this meeting there?” Jer asked, turning to his brother. “We can all come to the next meeting with actual numbers. You know,”—he turned to the barons—“those little symbols that tell others how many people will be in the army to fight the war?”

  Except he was talking to three other warriors and an already irritated queen. Van glared at Jer as the other warriors growled at him.

  “Jer’s right,” Av said. “We need to know how many ranks you will all be sending for this war. We may need to conscript commoners.”

  “We wouldn’t conscript, we’d make a call,” Jer said. “Lords like sending their younger sons to battle and such, on and so forth.”

  “Whatever it is he just said,” Av said. “You need to bring us numbers, and think. If you can’t do that, then you’re no use in war. And if you aren’t going to be useful, you will serve at the back of the army with the prostitutes.”

  “Prostitutes?” Aren squeaked out.

  “Yes, darling, prostitutes, or loose women in general,” Av said quietly.

  “Breeders are very likely,” Jer said. “Those wanting strong blood for their children. Women following an army always happens and if we provide women willing to go to bed with the ranks marching on the enemy, there is a lesser chance of the warriors being—”

  “Overcome by instinct,” Van finished.

  “Do we have to feed them too?” Aren demanded of Jer.

  “Um…” Jer frowned at Av, who looked up at the ceiling. “Not really. They earn their keep. The army won’t exactly have the coin to pay the women. We will pay them from the treasury but only if they return, and on the way, they have to earn their food.”

  “That’s so wrong.”

  “The men are earning their food by killing people,” Jer said.

  “But they get fed all the way out,” Aren responded.

  “If we hire prostitutes, we can talk to them about it then,” Av said. “Like anyone hired for a task, we will draw up a contract that is suitable to their desires as well as our own.”

  “What about protection for them, should they change their minds?” Aren asked. “If they quit.”

  She was asking a table of men.

  “Or the women who might travel with them? If healers go, they will protect themselves, but what about the commoners who tag along as cooks and washers? Who will keep commoners safe when the army marches through? Who will hold the warriors to their honour? How many villages am I going to have to allow to be razed? I’d rather none at all. It is not the fault of the commoners that their baron has decided to go to war with palace lands.”

  “The men will care for themselves,” Av said finally. “There would be no cooks, or if there are, they will be men.”

  “Who will protect the squires, then?” Aren asked. “The young boys, the adolescents who are of legal age, technically, but far from h
ome and no longer under their fathers’ protection?”

  “No one is going to be seducing boys,” Gamen protested.

  “Your boys will be going to war, Gamen. What if Jer becomes lonely and takes one of them to his bed?” Aren asked.

  “Jer doesn’t do a one-night stand,” Av and Url said at the same time.

  “Then any other warrior in the army. You just said you need to put prostitutes in the army to keep the men from razing villages and I would forbid them from doing just that. You cannot send along an army of prostitutes to keep an army of men busy. There would not be enough women to go around.”

  “By the spirits,” Van said in a disgusted tone. “I think she’s actually right.”

  “I want to know who will protect the innocents when those who are meant to protect them fail at doing so.”

  “I will,” Av said. “As well as the men sitting here at this table. As well as Lerd, who will no doubt join us, and Ella. And who knows how many other warriors who will follow us with loyalty beyond that of a promise to bleed a man of his life.”

  “That is why a queen does the calling,” Er said gently. “In order to draw those who would do her bidding above all else. That is one reason why I want you to come north. Those sitting at this table, yes, would do their best. But those who call to a queen are a great deal more likely to stay loyal, and you have few loyal to you. Let me show you off to a land of warriors. They could all call to you and then there’d be no concerns about the innocents.

  “Come north with us. See the land that has rejoined yours.”

  Aren was quiet a long moment, then she said, “I will think about it.”

  Chapter Two

  Aren lounged in an armchair. Her back was against one side, bare legs dangling over the other. Av watched her, several feet away. His arms were crossed before him, irritation in every line of his body.