Page 2 of The Seventh Swan
Tears fell silently down her cheeks, and she whispered, "You are kind, Sorcerer."
"I only remind you of what is true.Thank you for the rooms, they are lovely."
"I'll leave you to rest, as I'm certain you must be tired after traveling so long and far to help us."She hesitated, then said, "Is it true they call you the Silverspun?"
Saveli's mouth quirked."They do, to the endless amusement of my siblings, who are wholly unimpressed and call me Saveli the Brat."
She laughed."I never had siblings, but my husband has seven of them, and that sounds very sibling-like.Thank you for answering my silly question.I will leave you in peace truly this time."
Then she was gone, and Saveli sighed as some of the tension of the day finally began to bleed away.Though this kingdom and his own were on opposite ends of the continent, nearly a month of travel between them, many recognized him and all had questions to ask, and it made long travel even longer.He had known that when he had taken up the work of his godfather, but that did not lessen the exhaustion.
In the bedroom, he stripped off his clothes and went into the washroom to scrub down thoroughly before settling into an almost too-hot bath, kept so with a trifling charm.His hair, still damp, he twined and twisted it to pin on top of his head.It was heavy and hard to hold up that way, but at least it wouldn't accidentally fall into the bath and get soaking wet all over again.
Out in the bedroom he heard as footmen deposited his trunk, whispering furtively as they no doubt discussed all they'd ever heard about the sorcerer from Loshar who had done so many great and terrible things.
When he had soaked sufficiently to ease his sore body, he climbed out and dressed in a soft, warm robe embroidered with cranes and jasmine, and then went to the front room to sit before a crackling fire to comb and braid his long, long hair.
Outside, the sun had set, and the full moon was high and bright, the kind of harvest moon that farmers worked by in the fading months to get the last of the harvest in before winter took its first bite.
It was a good time for magic, and for those haunted by it.
So he dressed in hose and robe and his fur-trimmed cloak the color of midnight, tied back the front of his hair and secured his prized feather where the strands met to lie against the rest of the heavy mass, and went in search of the man haunted by magic.
Saveli found him by the edge of a pond not quite large enough to be called a small lake, staring at the moonglow water like a hungry man stared at a king's feast.Saveli had expected to be intrigued.He had not expected to be captivated.
He was handsome, this Oskar, bathed in the same moonglow that danced upon the surface of the pond, dark of skin and hair, solid and strong like a piece of heartwood from an ancient tree.His left arm gleamed, sturdy magicked steel with gold filagree work and fine jewels, the kind of craftsmanship any artist would be proud to call his life's work.Mechanical arms were incredibly difficult magic; only a handful of people capable of it lived on the whole continent, and Saveli was not one of them.His magic was quite different.
Leaves and twigs rustled beneath Saveli's feet, and Oskar turned sharply, resentment in his face.He looked Saveli over thoroughly, and sneered."Who are you then?"
"Saveli, a sorcerer hired by your sister-in-law to see if I might ease your pain."
The resentment grew."I don't need anythingshehas to offer, nor the rest of them.You can take your help and leave."
"No, I am afraid I cannot," Saveli said softly."A heartfelt letter stained with tears called me here, and the magic itself says that I should stay.I will not do what you do not want, my lord, but allow me to at least stay with you here on the bank of the pond to enjoy the moonlight."
Oskar huffed."Fine, whatever.Only leave me alone."His eyes lingered all the same, as eyes often did, but they were filled with resentment and not the usual awe for Saveli's magic or beauty.Oskar looked away, eyes returning to the pond."I'm Oskar, but you probably know that."
Saveli smiled softly, the curve of it mostly lost in the shadows."It's an honor to meet you, Lord Oskar of the Pond."
Oskar looked as though he wasn't sure if that was an insult or a jest, but in the end he only gave another huff."Oskar is fine.I'm just the crazy one living in the woods these days, hardly a lord, and the youngest and most useless of them anyway."
"I've met many useless people in my day, all of them egotistical lords and royals dressed in silk and velvet and dripping gold enough to feed a struggling village or three.Trauma does not make you useless, my lord, it only makes you traumatized."
"Nobody else is," Oskar whispered to the water, then seemed angry at himself for the words, turning and storming off into the dark.
Saveli stayed there by the water's edge until his eyes grew too heavy to stay open, and then finally went back to his room to sleep.
The morning brought rain, and the famed duke himself at breakfast, when Saveli ventured out in search of food and information.Lady Celina welcomed him warmly, and Lord Althaus more cautiously, though politely.He stared at Saveli intently, his eyes deep and dark, like a swan watching for predators as his brothers feasted and rested."You've come far."
"I have traveled farther than this, and will again.I once traveled up a mountain so high that it is impossible to breathe without special sacks of air prepared by local mages, and from the highest peak you can stare down at the clouds.I once went down deep into the earth, where creatures have never known light and found it anathema."
"Why on earth would you do any of that?"
"The first was to pluck a rose that only grows in that one location to save a village from a curse-made plague.The second was to retrieve an egg from a shadow wyvern to save a child from a geas.I paid for the rose in smoke diamonds, and traded the egg for stones that offered heat without light."
"You're a strange one, to be sure," Althaus replied as his wife hissed at him to behave and profusely apologized to Saveli.
He lifted a hand in a show of peace."I take no offense that people want to be certain I am all that I claim.So far from my home, you've no reason to know my name or family, which makes people willing to lend me trust early on.Tell me more of Lord Oskar.I met him briefly last night, but he did not speak much, obviously."
