The Sorcerer and the Witch-King's Heir

"I'm not stupid," Leo told them. "Despite what everyone thinks, I haven't been stupid for a good two decades. I know when I'm being played." Daryl gaped at him. "You knew? But then why--" "I'm not saying I wasn't hoping like hell I was wrong," Leo snapped, then glanced at Sister Karina in apology. "But his story was too neat, it had too many straight edges. It was too perfect of a redemption story to be credible. So the day before we reached the tomb I took steps to make sure the crown didn't fall into the wrong hands." Tobias frowned. "What steps?" "I took it first," Leo said. "I swapped it for an illusion. I was going to swap it back when Michael walked out of that tomb but...." he swallowed. "You can't possibly have gone all the way to the tomb and back in the amount of time you had," Amaya protested. "It's a good six hours walk!" "I'm a sorcerer," Leo said. "We have other ways of walking." Tobias muttered something under his breath that could have been 'shadow-walker' or could have been a curse. "So where is the crown now?" Karina asked. "Safe," Leo retorted it. "You need to hand it over to parliament," Daryl said. "The druid council will make sure it gets destroyed." "Oh, I intend to," Leo said. "Once I get certain assurances of my safety." Daryl frowned. "I'm sure that the parliament will see to it that you get a fair trial and I, for one, will be more than willing--" "No," Leo said. "No trial. No imprisonment. No chains. I give you the crown and I walk away. That's the deal." "Absolutely not," Karina snapped. "You broke our most sacred laws. You can't expect us to just let you go without any consequences at all." "I can and I do. Your laws are unjust, if they'll condemn me for merely existing." "You can exist all you want," Tobias growled. "You just can't practice sorcery!" "Sorcery is what destroyed this country in the first place," Karina added. "We have to take steps to ensure that it never happens again." "Magic didn't destroy this country!" Leo shouted, losing his temper for the first time. "Magic saved this country. People destroyed it--greedy, powerful people who thought they could take what they wanted without consequences. And your government is no better if you think you can take away something that is a part of our history and heritage, as natural to us as breathing, just because you're afraid! Karina set her jaw. "I am not afraid." "Oh, you are sister. You have been since you walked out of that room with Drumion's head in your hand. It's easy enough to fight against tyrants, but how do you keep from becoming one yourself, once you've taken their power?" Karina hissed as if she was in pain, and Daryl put an arm around her protectively. "What are you going to do?" Amaya asked slowly. "If we let you go, what will you do?" "Make sure the crown is destroyed--for my sake as much as for yours. I have no desire to be enslaved ever again. And then...leave." "The city?" "The country. I promise you will never see or hear from me again." "But if you go to a neighboring kingdom," Tobias protested, "One where magic is still allowed, what is to stop you from coming back and--" "If I go to a neighboring kingdom," Leo interrupted, "Maybe I will meet one of my brethren who escaped the enslavement. They're already out there, somewhere, at the height of their power, having never endured what I did. Are you not afraid that they will mount an attack against you?" Karina let out a breath. "We'll take you to parliament, not as a prisoner, but of your own free will, as you said. After that..." she spread her hands. "It is up to the voting body." "Good enough," Leo said. He wrapped his cloak around him and glared into the dying embers. "Do you have anything else to eat?" ** The moment Michael handed the crown to Elaufen, his mentor and future grand vizier, it dissolved into dust and stars. He had two thoughts: the first, that Leo had tricked him. The second, that Leo had known. He hadn't expected that second thought to feel quite so much like a punch to the gut. Betraying the sorcerer was easier if he could pretend that he hadn't done it, that Leo was still standing guard outside the tomb, believing that he would come back. Elaufen swore. "What is this sorcery?" "Exactly what it looks like," Michael said wryly, shaking the last fragments of the illusion off of his hands. "Sorcery. It seems my guide had a few tricks up his sleeve that he kept hidden from me." "I thought you said you had persuaded him to join our cause." "I said no such thing." "But you were sent to--" "I was sent to find the crown," the prince said testily. "If I could have also brought in the last sorcerer, believe me, I would gladly have done so." More than gladly. Leo had known. The thought pounded inside his head like a drumbeat. When had he known? Before that first kiss? Earlier? Had Leo been playing him all along? Was none of it real? He couldn't bear the thought that none of it had been real, even if it had always been doomed to end in failure. "It doesn't matter," he said out loud. "This changes nothing." "This changes everything," Elaufen hissed. Michael waved his protest away. "We know where the crown is. Parliament has it by now. We were going to have to retake the city to have the coronation anyway. This just moves the timetable up by a few months." "If the druids get their hands on it..." "I am aware," Michael snapped. "That's why we need to make haste. Are the siege preparations in place? The ones we discussed?" "Yes, my liege, but--" "Then tell your men to get ready. Tomorrow, we go to war."