Ellen Under The Stairs by John Stockmyer

this power-worshiping world!
    They waited, Ellen taking in the
garden and sky, John eager to see Coluth, one of only a few people
he could trust completely.
    Footsteps.
    Then Coluth, coming down the path, his
skin roughened by a life at sea, brown hair fading to
gray.
    John stood as Coluth stopped to
salute, the Navy Head still looking strange to John, dressed as he
was in his Admiral's tunic instead of in the brown leather jerkin
worn by merchant seamen.
    "It's good to see you, old friend,"
John said, trying his best to add authority to the warmth he felt
for the man.
    "Yes." With a wide grin. Coluth was
also the one person who, knowing John was a Crystal Mage, could
still treat him like a regular man. "When the messenger bird came
and Gagar made it speak, it was my greatest wish that the message
be true. That you had come back."
    "You've come from Xanthin?"
    "As fast as possible."
    "What's the situation
there?"
    "Same as always. Except that the king
is getting older. Stronger." Couth smiled. Ever since the death of
Yarro I, Coluth had taken charge of the king's young son, Yarro
II.
    "May I present Ellen," John said,
uncertain about how to explain Ellen's presence. "She's been ...
not herself." What an inconvenience to be unable to use words like
"ill" to people who knew nothing of these things!
    Coluth frowned, unsure of what was
expected of him, turning again to John. "I am to announce the
king's pleasure that you have returned, great Mage." More reciting
than announcing. "He says you are most welcome and asks that you
come to Xanthin, to the palace, where you will be honored as befits
your status."
    John turned to Ellen. "Do you feel up
to a trip? We could take our time. Stay as long as necessary at
inns along the way if you tire."
    "I'm ready. Maybe not quite up to
travel in the early morning, but ...." What she meant was that, as
soon as the light was strong enough, she was herself
again.
    "If there is some difficulty," Coluth
said, trying to understand, "additional troops are guarding this
place, ready to be an escort. Also, members of my crew are with me.
Others command the cable boat at the Tartrazine. I have a ship at
Canarin, ready to ferry you to Xanthin island. All has been made
ready."
    "You have done well. After we get off
the mountain, Ellen will need the smoothest riding pony cart there
is."
    "It shall be done. I will send a
runner ahead to arrange transport."
    "Ellen, you're going to see the island
capital of Stil-de-grain."
    "About time," she said, pretending to
sulk.
    Assuming their luck continued to hold,
John thought, but didn't say.
     
    * * * * *
     

Chapter 12
     
    Platinia was awake, her eyes blinking
in the light of a single torch. Was she still dreaming that the
Mage, John-Lyon had disappeared into the frightening other
world?
    Reality returning, she realized she
was in her room. No ... Zwicia's room, the old woman in the other
bed, making the growling sound of angry cats. Snoring, was what
that sound was called.
    Almost awake, Platinia was clothed in
her sleep tunic, the small girl covered by a light cloth against
the castle damp. Above her, the wall torch flickered shadows on her
narrow bed. She would not sleep without a lighted torch. Ever since
she escaped from the torturing priest in Fulgur's temple. As the
princess of the dark, the priests had chained her to the wall in
the dark torment room. If she had her way, she would never again be
in darkness!
    Across the small room was a rough wood
table and small chair, the room's only furnishings, the table used
by Zwicia for crystal gazing.
    The young Mage said he and the woman
would go back to the other world. But they did not.
    Platinia could not think about that
since she was so fearful in her mind. It was the other world that
made her so afraid. Though she did not have the powers of a Mage in
any world, in that strange other place she lost her little control
over others. In her own world, she could see into people's minds;
could make stronger