Page 5 of Awariye

Luckily Wren saw the stress on my face and nodded, squeezing my hand in reassurance. "Just soft bread and some broth, thank you, Sigrid. My friend is also from the monastery—we're not used to eating rich foods."

The woman didn't argue and disappeared into the kitchen, calling a couple minutes later for Wren to come get the food.

"That's Sigrid, you'll get to know her I'm sure. She runs the whole castle. Nothing gets by her," Wren explained as I drank the hot spiced wine that soothed my throat but startled my stomach.

"I pushed it too far," I said softly. "I didn't mean to."

"You're all right," Wren assured me with a soft pat to my shoulder. "It's winter, time to rest up. I'm sure Uli's arranging a place for you to sleep as we speak. Eat what you can handle now, take your time, then you can have a bath and a good rest. I've heard stories about the bards walking off their bellies when times get lean. You'll be back to your regular self in a couple of weeks."

Who was Uli? Either way, I was so grateful for Wren’s optimism that tears burned my eyes. "Thank you."

"Your voice sounded amazing just now," he said in awe. "You filled up the whole hall like it was nothing. And to have captured the undivided attention of not just the adults, but the kids! Awariye, you're coming into your stride."

I smiled at him, knowing such praise was not given lightly, but the reality of my situation still made me ache. "I can still sing, I just have to preserve it. I can't work the way I need to...I've gone three weeks without singing, and barely speaking. If I can’t do bardic work…I have no other training."

I stood at a crossroads that had already proven it could drive me into brutal poverty. I'd spent my whole childhood singing with a traveling theater group until my mother was forced to leave me at the monastery in hopes that I would at least be fed. Then after leaving my life as a monk and going into the outside world to seek patronage, like any other bard, I sang over rancorous crowds in community halls to entertain and earn my room and board for the night. But because of such a childhood, I had stressed my vocal cords to the point that it put a deadline on such arduous work, and now despite my decade and a half of magical training, I had no mechanism with which to earn my keep or make a living.

"What brought you here?" Wren asked.

"I hadn't intended to come," I answered. "After missing Ceredigion, I tried to get through the mountains and back to Diana Monastery. The passes were closed. Then I thought to sing to the king and offer to work for him and the elderly mystic who looks after the shrine to the lantern gods. Surely you've heard of him? The common folk believe it was these gods that helped Ulbrecht the Great, that their king was chosen by them."

Wren gave a small, knowing smile, and I recognized a kind of magic in his eyes, that of a person who had dedicated his life to theurgy, of connecting with the divine forces living in the natural world. "I have heard of him, yes. This is how I dreamed you here. I see it now."

I waited, but he didn't elaborate.

Instead, Wren pushed the bread and broth in front of me, so I laughed and dug in. "Tell me what you're doing here while I eat."

But Wren stared off at something unseen as I cautiously slurped down the delicious broth and soaked my bread in it.

"I don't know where to begin, to be honest," he said.

"Who's Uli?" I asked, thinking it was another one of the maintenance staff like Sigrid.

Wren's smile was soft. "Uli is Ulbrecht, but only those close to him use that."

That sent a spark of fear down my spine, and I recalled them leaning close, the king listening as Wren whispered in his ear while I sang. Such a powerful and dangerous man could harm my friend on a whim. "Wren...are you close to him?"

Wren gave a bashful laugh and scratched the back of his neck. "He kept coming up to visit me at the mountain hut before I knew who he was. We fell together, I guess you could say."

"You fell together," I echoed him, the pieces slotting into place, my food forgotten as the enormity of Wren's truth covered us like a thick cloud. "You mean he's taken you as a lover?"

"I am not here against my will, Awariye," Wren said. "I am still a free citizen of Helvetica. I can leave whenever I choose. Uli found me and was there for me in a vulnerable moment, when I was missing my life back at the monastery fiercely. Then the lanterns..."

Everything stopped. "What do you mean, the lanterns?"

Wren held my gaze. "They led me here. The old mystic you've heard of has died. I now guard the shrine in the mountains. I am the mage of the seven lantern gods."

CHAPTERFIVE

AWARIYE

Awave of vertigo hit me and I reeled, covering my mouth and trying to get the earth to stop spinning.

"Whoa," Wren squeaked and pulled me into a stabilizing hug. "Alles okay."

"Danke," I managed as my body thankfully course-corrected.

"What do you need right now?" asked Wren.