Free The Princess of Trelian by Michelle Knudsen Page A

eyes turned back to Calen. He found it was easier to speak now that he was angry.
    “I do see colors when people cast,” he said, directing his words toward the council masters. They, at least, seemed to want to hear what he had to say. “When I cast, or when other mages cast around me. It is stronger with spells I know well, but over the past few months, I’ve been able to see more, even if the spells are unfamiliar. I didn’t realize for a long time that I was the only one. I thought everyone could see the colors.”
    “And what did you see today, Calen?” Renaldiere asked.
    “Everything,” Calen said. “I mean, it seemed to be all different kinds of magic together. More colors than I’ve ever seen at one time before. And I could see the creatures that were attacking. I mean, before you and Mage Serek cast that spell to make them visible. They were completely made up of magic energy, a lot of black and red and purple, but also some green, and some other colors — so many that it was hard to sort anything out, especially because I don’t know anything about that kind of spell — making things, creatures, out of magic that way.”
    There was a great deal of muttering at this. Calen looked at Serek nervously.
    “It could be that the unusual variety of colors Calen saw reflects the fact that the spell was designed to be hard to decipher,” Serek said.
    An older female mage from across the room raised her voice to be heard over the continued muttering from the other mages. She bore many marks, and her white hair was pulled back from her face with a bright, rose-colored scarf. Calen recognized her as the one Council Master Galida had been speaking with on the stage just before the mass casting. “I did sense a great, tangly confusion of magic this afternoon, friends. And”— she raised her eyebrows and glanced around significantly —“you all know I normally don’t need to stretch to tease out what’s being cast around me.”
    There were nods and murmurs of agreement at this. Anders leaned over and whispered to Calen, “Lisbette is highly skilled at sensing magic. She can usually identify a spell even from the energy that lingers afterward; it’s quite extraordinary.”
    Mage Lisbette went on, “That spell didn’t feel like anything I have ever sensed before. I am willing to believe that what the young apprentice says is true. Which says to me we are dealing with some kind of magic unfamiliar to the lot of us. Which is, to say the least, a matter of more than passing concern.”
    More muttering, more nods, some head shakes, lots of worried faces.
    A man sitting a few rows back spoke next. “We have not yet discussed the possibility that the attack is connected to the recent events relating to the woman Sen Eva and her efforts to aid in the return of Mage Krelig.”
    Calen sucked in his breath. He had hoped he was just being paranoid about that.
    The other mages had erupted into side conversations again at the man’s words, and Council Master Renaldiere had to ring his bell for quiet. Then he nodded and said, “We might as well begin tonight. That topic is, of course, the main reason we called this general assembly. There does not seem to be any doubt that Sen Eva’s benefactor is Mage Krelig; we are agreed on that. Mage Serek’s report suggested that Krelig’s attempt to return was thwarted by the events at Trelian, but as long as Sen Eva is still at large, we must assume that she may still be working toward that goal.”
    “But how
can
he return?” one of the apprentices Calen had noticed earlier asked. “Isn’t that supposed to be impossible? Wasn’t he exiled to keep him away forever?”
    “They should have killed him when they had the chance,” an older apprentice said. There were many mutters of support for that sentiment among the other apprentices, but also a lot of head shaking from the full mages.
    “Mage Krelig was too powerful to either compel or kill,” Galida said. “He had