Chapter One

Master of the Books

James Moloney

Few travellers braved the treacherous mountain passes to reach the forests of Tannock Noor and that was the very reason one man had gone there to live. His name is not important to this story; what matters is the magic that was born in his bones. He was a farseer, one who could look into the future and know what would happen tomorrow, or next week, or ten years from now.

The magic was unnaturally strong and he had little control over it. Without warning, without reason, he knew the actions of others before they knew themselves, and if he touched naked skin – a hand, a face, even the brush of an arm as someone passed by – fragments of that stranger’s fate broke vividly into his mind. When his powers became known, people pestered him for his prophecies, so he fled to Tannock Noor and built himself a house in that farflung place, where only the most determined came to ask what lay ahead in their lives.

The house was a simple affair set back a little from the only road that wound through the forest. There was a front room with comfortable chairs where he entertained those who wouldn’t be deterred by the long distances and still came to consult him, a bedroom for himself and another for his servant, and at the back, a kitchen for their meals.

‘Stoke the fire and put the soup on to warm,’ the seer told his servant one morning early in autumn.

There had been no messenger to warn of guests, but the servant knew his master’s powers. ‘How many visitors?’

‘Two, a man and a woman.’

An hour passed and then the seer opened the front door of his house to look along the road that was darkened by tall pines on either side. Slowly, two figures on horseback emerged from the gloom: the man in a dark cloak that matched his hair; the woman, young and all the prettier for the smile that danced lightly across her features.

I don’t need magic to tell a woman in love, the seer said to himself, and that bracelet on her wrist is solid gold. If it’s a gift from her companion, then he loves her too. To the young couple, he called, ‘I’ve been waiting for you. Come inside, the soup is ready.’

They stared at one another, impressed, then slipped down from their horses and came to stand in front of him. The seer folded his arms into the loose sleeves of his coat.

‘They told me you wouldn’t shake my hand,’ said the man.

‘Not at first, no. That’s how the magic works. I suppose they told you that as well.’

‘Yes,’ said the woman, who seemed eager to begin. ‘We’ve come to find out the omens for when we marry. So far we’ve kept our love from our families and friends, and before we tell them the news we want to be sure that –’

‘We want to know if there will be children,’ said the man, cutting impatiently across his lover’s explanation.

It wasn’t the first time the seer had been consulted on such a matter. ‘Come inside.’

‘I would prefer to settle the contract first, if you don’t mind,’ said the man, taking a bag of gold from his belt. To release the purse, he’d flicked his cloak aside, revealing a dagger with gleaming rubies set into the handle.

‘If you wish,’ said the seer, although he was becoming irritated by the man’s cold manner. ‘The contract between a farseer and his client is quite plain and never varies, no matter if it is a king or a cowherd who comes seeking my prophecies. I pledge to tell you all that my powers reveal, whether good or bad, and in return you pledge to hear all that I have seen, whether you wish to hear it or not. Are we agreed?’

‘Agreed.’

The gold was passed to the seer, who in turn gave it to his servant when he appeared at the door moments later.

‘Good, now we can get started,’ said the visitor and, reaching out, he took hold of the seer’s hand.

Their skins had barely touched before the seer snatched his hand away.

‘Is something wrong?’

‘Oh, forgive me if I seemed abrupt,’ the seer said, forcing a smile. But there was something wrong. Even that brief touch of flesh had felt like an ember taken red and glowing from the fire. There was something sinister in this man’s heart, and although the seer hadn’t held his hand long enough for a vision to form, he was wary of him now.

He held out his hand to the woman, wondering whether he would detect the same blackness within her.

He couldn’t have been more wrong, he found, but the relief meant that he held on to her naked hand longer than he intended, long enough for images to form that frightened him even more.

‘You’ve begun to see our future already, haven’t you,’ said the man.

‘Yes, enough to know that it will be difficult to discover more. I’ll need water from the stream you passed some distance back. It is the purest water in these parts and will make my vision come clear. Would you mind fetching a jugful for me?’

‘If it will help.’

As soon as the man was gone, the seer ushered the woman into his parlour. ‘Young lady, there are things about this man you want to marry that disturb me. He has a lust for power such as I have never felt before. Tell me, do you have any ties with royalty or great wealth?’

‘My family is descended from kings and my sister is the Queen of Elster.’

‘Elster, where the new king has no royal blood in his veins at all. Then that is why this man wants to marry you. No matter what he has told you, he doesn’t love you. He wants power for himself, and you are no more than a tool he will use to get it.’

The young woman turned white with shock. ‘Doesn’t love me? No, your visions are wrong.’ In her distress, she lunged forward and grabbed the seer’s hands between her own. ‘Tell me this isn’t true.’

She might have gone on begging if she hadn’t seen his face at that moment and looked down at her hands to see what she had done. ‘My skin against yours. You’ve seen more, haven’t you?’

Anguish radiated from the seer’s eyes like heat from the sun and she knew better than to ask if he had glimpsed happier days.

‘It’s something awful,’ she whispered.

He turned away so that he didn’t have to look into her innocent face, but she was stronger than he’d imagined and forced him to meet her eyes.

‘Say it,’ she demanded. ‘You made a pledge, the seer’s oath, you must tell me everything that has come to your mind.’

‘Yes, a pledge to you both, which I cannot break. What I tell you I must also tell your companion when he returns.’

‘Then tell me first, at least.’

The seer let out a weary sigh through his nostrils. ‘You are carrying his baby inside your body, that is what I see.’

The woman put one hand to her mouth, the other gently on her stomach. ‘A baby . . . I didn’t know.’

This news stunned her, but also helped her make sense of the story that was unfolding around her. ‘He’s talked about a baby ever since we first kissed. He didn’t want to marry until he was sure I could give him a child. That’s why we came to Tannock Noor to hear your prophecy. What will happen now? You’ve seen more, haven’t you?’

Closing his eyes, the seer glimpsed the future in ghostly shadows and cursed this heartless magic he had never sought. ‘You will have a son, and when the boy grows up he will try to kill his father.’

‘Kill him!’

The woman seemed ready to collapse at his feet. The seer took a stout hold of her shoulders and held her upright until the weakness passed.

‘What will you do?’ he said. ‘Your companion will be on his way back from the stream by now. I have no choice, I must tell him what I have told you. Listen to me: a heart like his will gladly kill you to make sure this son is never born. He won’t succeed, for I have foreseen the boy’s birth, but after that, there is nothing to stop him killing the baby before he’s a day old.’

When the woman seemed incapable of making a decision, the seer took matters into his own hands.

‘Come with me,’ he said, leading her towards the rear of the house, calling for his servant as he went.

Bewildered by the revelations, the woman moved slowly, too slowly for the seer who tugged her behind him by the hand. The golden bracelet swung wildly, knocking against his wrist as they hurried towards the back door. Those few touches were enough to bring a fresh vision to his mind. He put it aside when his servant appeared.

‘Take this woman deep into the forest,’ he ordered. ‘Stay with her until she can find her way alone. The man I sent off to the stream must never find her. Quickly, make a bundle with whatever you need. He will be here soon.’

The servant hurried around the kitchen gathering whatever food was easy to hand and then raced off to fetch a blanket. While they waited, the seer pointed to the bracelet on the woman’s wrist and said, ‘That isn’t yours, is it?’

‘My sister lets me wear it, but it’s still hers, a gift from her husband, the king.’

‘Your sister is expecting a baby also.’

‘Yes, but she only told me a week ago and no one else knows, not even the king. How could you –?’

What a foolish question, she realised. This man saw the future as clearly as if it were happening before his eyes. ‘You’ve seen something about my sister.’

‘Not the mother, but her child. It will be a boy also. Tell your sister her son will be born with sorcery in his bones, as I was. How strong, I cannot tell, but I foresee this much: magic will make him a troubled young man.’

The servant returned, and as soon as everything had been tied into the blanket he led the way into the forest without letting the woman pause even to wave a desolate farewell. The seer stood in the doorway and watched her go.