“Let us leave, this place, my love,” said Geoffrey lightly squeezing Mal hand, his tone let her know he wanted nothing to do with these people for what they had done to her.
“I can’t leave yet, remember I came here to find out about the Angelas,” replied Mal squeezing his hand back in return.
Turning to Siva she continued “Grandmaster, I come from the other side of the world, A demon has raised an army and it looking to return to our realm. If we fail then the world as we know it will be lost. His demon army will march across all of the countries of the world and before we know it all will be dead.”
“Let us go to Grandmaster T…, I suppose I mean my office now,” replied Siva.
Siva led the way to the tower that contain the previous council’s personal apartments in the magisterium. Apartments that would now belong to others. The Council didn’t change often as it took years to grow into your power so the process was normally one that flowed naturally. Not this time the Magisterium was being turned on its head. With the breaking of the spell of binding everyone would be tested to see their limits and a new order would eventually come to the magisterium. To date Siva was the first female to hold a place on the council in the last two hundred years.
Pausing only briefly Siva placed her hand on the doors to the Grandmasters apartments and pushed them open. As she walked in a man was standing at a large ornately carved desk. With a bundle of papers in his hands.
“Lady Siva, what is the meaning of this intrusion into the Grandmasters office,” he demanded looking from Siva to Geoffrey and eventually stopping at Mal. When he recognised Mal He dropped the papers and quickly started to weave a pattern in the air before him.
“Master Nim, STOP!!” commanded Siva gathering all of the power she could hold and using the spell of testing she lit a spark of pure energy, the brightness of the spark startled him and his weave disintegrated in the air before him as he lost his concentration.
“Master Nim, The Grandmaster has been arrested along with the rest of the council. At present until the time of testing I am acting interim Grandmaster. Do you recognise my authority?”
“How can this be? How are you free of the binding? Please for all our benefits let me put the binding back in place.” He almost pleaded, his words tinged with fear.
“No! No female Magi will ever be bound again. Especially not for a lie perpetrated against all females in the Magisterium by the Grandmaster and those that came before him. Now do you recognise my authority?”
The silence lasted for several seconds until he eventually nodded his acceptance.
“Master Nim, I need to hear it,” responded Lady Siva her voice held the full authority of the Grandmaster.
“Yes, I accept that you are interim Grandmaster until the time of testing,” he responded.
“Good, Will you stay on as the grandmasters secretary until such time as we can get over this upheaval?” Seeing him nodding she continued “The Lady Malderia here has important information to share with the Magisterium, I would like your opinion on what is shared here. In two hours we need to present ourselves to the King and Queen I would like you there as well.”
“Yes, grandmaster,” he said gesturing to the chair behind the desk and taking one to the side.
“Please Mal tell us everything,” said Siva.
When Mal had finally finished her story of what had transpired over the last several months, Siva who had hardly spoken as she listen to the tale. One that mirrored the ballad of the Mountain Princess so closely that she could hardly believe it.
“Mal, thank you for your story, I will help you how ever I can,” said Siva, before continuing with a heavy sigh, “But first, the Magisterium must present itself before the king.”
Turning to Look at Master Nim she spoke with the full authority of the Grandmaster of the Magisterium, “Master Nim, please assemble all of the Masters in the courtyard I must address them all.”
“Yes Grandmaster,” he replied with the touch of a smile on his lips. A smile that said he was going to enjoy this a lot more than they would.
Siva, Mal and Geoffrey headed down to the courtyard, when they arrived a goodly number of Masters and students were already there while more entered the courtyard from different entrances.
Many watched the three of them as they walked to the raised platform at the far side of the courtyard where the Grandmaster or a member of the council would address the Magisterium.
As Siva reached the platform she bade Mal to wait at the foot of the steps. As she hitched her skirt and ascended the three steps silence spread across the awaiting masters and students. Several of the older masters were having a difficult time seeing a girl standing where only the council should stand.
Raising her hands she wove the testing spell and once again poured all of her power into the spell. This time instead of sitting on her outstretched hand it sailed high above everyone before winking out.
Seeing the look of fear on the assembled people and seeing some of the masters starting to place their hands on the shoulders of others.
Siva quickly spoke quickly “Fear not that the spell of binding has been broken, for it was a lie, a lie purposely forced on to you by the Grandmaster and the Grandmasters before him. The binding is a lie and the spell has been destroyed. The Grandmaster and the council have been arrested. I am now Grandmaster of the Magisterium.”
Seeing Master Flen, a Master who was almost powerful enough to be on the council himself muttering to those masters near him as he started to weave a spell, probably the spell of binding, she thought as she watched one master after another place their hands on him or a master connected to him, she quickly continued, “Master Flen, I call on you for a truth reading.” Seeing him pause his spell he started to weave a new spell even more complex than the first the magi that were touching him feeding him the power to create one of the most complex spells in the Magisterium in a matter of seconds rather than the hour it would normally take.
As he released the spell at Siva, Mal’s natural reaction started to take over but Siva held up a hand to her to reassure her that it was okay.
As the spell lay on her she did not resist but welcomed it and embraced it. Feeling that the spell had completed Master Flen strode to the steps of the platform and ascended to stand beside her.
Turning to the crowd he spoke loudly so they could all hear, “She stands bound in the spell of truth,” turning back to Siva he continued “You say that the spell of binding is a lie how do you know this?”
As Siva opened her mouth to answer she felt the spell take over and it spoke for her delving into her mind it pulled forth the answers.
“Lady Malderia has the ability to read minds she read the Grandmasters mind and learnt it from him that the spell was devised by the first grandmaster as a means of controlling female magi. The woman that caused the destruction was innocent and was but a pawn of his. He caused the destruction and blamed it on her before convincing the King of the time to grant the Magisterium freedom from the kingdom as a reward for dealing with her. When a new grandmaster takes his position of authority he gains access to the secret history of the Magisterium. It is in those secret histories that Grandmaster Trigan, learnt the truth and refused to do anything to fix the miscarriage of justice.”
“What do you plan on doing now”
“Now as acting Grandmaster for the Magisterium, I have been summoned to the king. I plan on taking a delegation with me. The King has said that the Magisterium is no longer separate from the kingdom and we are now bound once again to the king and to his laws.”
At this the crowd grew angry. Raising her hands she waited until the crowd settled once again.
“Brothers, Sisters, Today is a new day for the Magisterium, for centuries we have all been taught that a woman needs to have her magic bound for the safety of the public. We have all been lied to both male and female magi.
Myself, Master Nim, you Master Flen and two others of you're choosing, along with Lady Cartright and Lady Miloy will accompany me. When we get back Grandmaster Trigan and the members of the council will be questioned and the judged. Some will be guilty while others will be innocent only duped by the same lie that we have all be told. While were are away Master Jule if you would organise everyone to be tested so that we can determine who should be on the new council.”
Master Flen on seeing that her words were starting to settle the crowd, released the spell and as a bi-product also the masters that were attached to him during it. The spell allowed the caster to force the individual to speak only the truth in effect speaking for them but it also had the side effect of allowing the caster and those connects to him to feel the emotion behind the words. Since he was linked with nearly twenty senior Magi at the time of the casting each of them felt the love that Lady Siva held for every member of the Magisterium and the truth that she truly wanted to heal the magisterium.
Raising a hand to settle the last of the crowd. “Grandmistress Siva speaks the truth, I stand beside her. Today we start the long healing process and it is befitting that a senior healer should now lead the Magisterium into the future,” then kneeling he intoned “I pledge myself to the Magisterium and the GrandMistress”
Shock followed his word but one by one members of the Magisterium knelt and intoned the pledge. Only a handful of Magi were left standing, As one the turned and walked out of the courtyard. “Something to be dealt with later,” thought the Grandmistress.
Waving a couple of the most senior Magi still left in the courtyard towards him he turned to Siva, “Grandmistress we are ready when you are.”
“Master Flen, I must admit I did not feel that you would have taken this so well.”
“Grandmistress, To be honest it will be hard to adjust our thinking but I know that you only have the interests of the Magisterium in your heart. As for how this will all play out, that we will have to see.”
—
Arriving at the gates to the castle, Lady Siva stepped forward towards the guard, “I am the Grandmistress of the Magisterium, The king has requested my presence”
Looking at the group of ten standing before him he hollered into the gate, “Cap, the magi are here.”
Captain Keggon exited the guard house and seeing Lady Siva, Lord Geoffrey and his wife in the group waved them in “Follow me please and I will take you to the king,” he said before turning and walking into the castle proper.
Once they entered the throne room Lady Siva could see the King and Queen sitting on their thrones. All eyes were on her as she followed Captain Keggon to the dais. Excited whispers flowed around her like the ebbing of a slow river around a rock.
When he reached the dais Captain Keggon bowed “Your Majesties, may I present the Lady Siva, Grandmistress of the Magisterium. Grandmistress may I present their Royal Highnesses, King Athelstan Livingstone the Third and Queen Henna Livingstone.”
While he had watched the group proceed towards him, he had also noticed Lord Sawn and a striking woman stepped off to the side. “It must be his wife, She looks too small to have taken on an ogre,” thought the king before focusing his attention on the magi that were bearing down on him.
Seeing the steel in her eyes, King Athelstan stood, “Grandmistress, I bid you welcome to my home, may today mark a new period of prosperity for our kingdom. As a healer I am sure that you would join with me in wishing that our fractured nation should take the time to heal.”
As the king watched her face he saw the steel in her eyes soften when she spoke he was certain that what ever words she had being going to say were not the words she spoke.
Siva was impressed that the king knew she was a healer, thrown by his words she discarded the statement she had prepared but moments before.
“Your Majesties, as a healer and the acting Grandmistress of the Magisterium. I am warmed by your greeting and feel humbled to be invited to your home.”
Noticing that she did not reference the fact that the Magisterium sat outside of his the rule of law. He continued, “I believe that the Captain of the Guard has informed you of my decree; that the Magisterium no longer stands outside of the rule of law,” he stated so that there was no room to manoeuvre around the issue.
“I have been so informed you majesty,” replied Lady Siva with a slight nod of her head.
“Then you have come here to recognise my authority over the Magisterium?”
Taking a deep breath and with steel once again returning to her eyes, Lady Siva spoke with the full authority of the Magisterium. “No, your majesty, I did not come here to relinquish authority over the Magisterium to you. I have come here as a token gesture, simply because you asked. I have only just become the Grand Mistress of the Magisterium. The first woman to hold a position of authority in over two hundred years and I will not be known as a weak fool who gave away everything when pressured. For too long men have beat us down until we were scared to raise our voices, but that was a lie.”
Seeing her husband getting ready to snap back at the Grand Mistress. The Queen quickly stood up drawing all eyes towards her. Smiling she stepped up to her husbands side. Her hand gently squeezed his elbow a signal to him that she should take control. A system they had used for many years to defuse tense situations.
“There is plenty of time to discuss the finer points of both of our sides of the argument and they won’t be settled today, first let us have some refreshments and find common ground,” she said clapping her hands caused pages to arrive with goblets of wine for everyone and defusing the situation somewhat.
As Grand Mistress Siva accepted a goblet of wine the queen stepped up to her and embraced her. “We do mean to find common ground too long has the Magisterium be apart from us and we must heal that rift so that it doesn’t fester, we can be stronger together.”
Realising that the Queen was indeed right but not willing to give up everything. “Your majesty is wise, let us not rush to a hasty decision, I need to heal the wounds in the Magisterium first. Or those wounds would fester and destroy anything that would be accomplished.”
Looking over the Grand Mistresses shoulder the Queen asked “Is that Lord Swans wife with him?”
Turning to see she smiled “Yes, Mal is a truly powerful Magi,”
“How did she survive?”
“I don’t know she was bound and had her magic limited, but somehow she broke free and defeated the whole Council of Magi. Not only that but she freed every female Magi from the binding spell as well. Why when I was bound I could only hold this much power,” and in saying so she cast the testing spell and poured in a fraction of the power she now had at her disposal creating a little glob of power that gently lit up the room. “Once she released me I found that the amount of power I could hold was so much more,” and pouring in as much power as she had, she started to strain to add more power to it.
The light of her spell lit up the room as if a sun was in the room with them. All noise in the room ceased and when the Grand Mistress canceled the spell it was as if darkness had fallen. People started to lower there arms that they had used to protect their eyes from the brightness.
Grabbing the Grand Mistresses hand the Queen spoke and when she did it was with the full authority of someone who expected to be obeyed. “We must speak with Lord Swan immediately,” and she proceeded to almost drag the Grand Mistress along with her. The shock of the Queens command meant that she was taken aback by the shear force of her command and could hardly resist as the diminutive woman almost carried her through the room.
Seeing the queen coming, and the look on her face caused people to start getting out of her way. Lord Swan sensing that people were moving quickly away from him turned to see the Queen and the Grand Mistress approaching the queens eyes locked directly onto him and he knew full well that he was the destination that she had in mind. Her every move made him think of his mother when she expected to be obeyed.
“Your Majesty, Grand Mistress, how can I be of service,” said Lord Swan maintaining and outwardly show of confidence.
“That prophecy you quoted the bit at the start how did it go?” demanded the Queen.
The urgency in the voice of the queen caused Mal pause in what she had been about to say to her husband.
Lord Swan nodded, “Of course your Majesty, ‘Before the light bearer can appear light up half the light. Heed the smallest person as they know Jua-kle Trale lar valon dis vargon,’” he finished.
Squealing with delight the queen interrupted him, “That’s it, I think Lady Swan just fulfilled that part of the Prophecy,” and seeing the look of confusion on their faces she continued, “The Grand Mistress was explaining how much more power she can wield but she explained it by creating a little light and then making it much brighter,” still seeing confusing, she tried “it was half before and is now full. You removed the barrier to her magic.”
“I don’t know if that is what it means or not but I’m sure that end bit is pixie,” interjected the Grand Mistress.
“Pixie?” asked Mal the excitement in her voice clear for all to hear.
“I think so but I would have to ask my uncle he used to tell me tales when I was a very young child about his travels and when he met the pixies. I thought he made the language up because when I joined the Magisterium I asked the librarian about them but he didn’t know anything about them, he told me they were probably just tales told by my uncle to delight and amuse me.”
“Your Uncle?” asked Mal.
“Yes, Mal my Uncle the man you saved from certain death,” replied the Grand Mistress.