Magic's Pawn

Sixteen-year-old Vanyel Ashkevron is eldest son and heir to the Valdemaran estate, Forst Reach. He is not really interested in the estate or the running of it, and chafes with resentment at the exacting standards set by his father, Lord Withen. Withen is dissatisfied with his son's talents, character and what he believes is a deliberate refusal to "be a 'proper' " man. Bored and disinterested with his role as heir, Vanyel instead devotes himself to music and fashion, taking especial pride in his elegant appearance.

Eager to keep his father off his back, Vanyel applies himself to arms training and sword fighting. When he develops a style of fighting that suits his size and abilities, Withen's master-at-arms is enraged and deliberately sets out to injure him. Vanyel suffers a vicious beating and a broken arm, but Withen takes his armsmaster's side and sends Vanyel away to be fostered by his Aunt Savil. Savil is a Herald-Mage in Haven, Valdemar's capitol city. The royal palace houses the Herald Collegium, Bardic College, the Healer's school, and a school where the children of any noble family can attend. Withen is certain that his no-nonsense Herald sister will put a stop to what he views as Vanyel's nonsense. Savil is given specific orders to keep Vanyel away from Bards and music.[1]

Savil has little interest in Vanyel because he has no psychic or magic powers. She is too busy with her role as Herald-Mage to deal with raising a youth. She is more fair-minded and just than her brother, though, and tells Vanyel she will judge him by his own character. She suspects that he may not be as spoiled, arrogant and selfish as Withen described. She asks her Herald-Trainees, Tylendel Frelennye and the lifebonded (heart- and soul-bonded) pair Mardic and Donni to keep a surreptitious watch over her student.

Vanyel is hopeful that schooling in Haven will be more suited to his nature, but is crushed and heartbroken when the Bards test him and tell him he does not have Bardic gift, and cannot become a true Bard. Bereft of his dream, he becomes depressed and cloaks himself in his carefully cultivated persona of foppish, carefree young lord of society. Savil is disgusted, but Tylendel insists there is more to Vanyel and advises caution.[2]

Vanyel surrounds himself with beautiful but empty-headed court maidens. One day their gossip reveals that Tylendel is shay'a'chern, or homosexual. Vanyel is stunned because Lord Withen kept him ignorant even to the possibility of same-sex pairings, and realizes this fits his deepest feelings. He watches Tylendel, fighting his powerful attraction to the Herald-Trainee, certain he will only be rejected and hurt again. His depression sends him into the deep terror of a nightmare he has had for most of his life.

Tylendel hears Vanyel's screams and comes to his rescue. Vanyel responds with his usual surliness, but Tylendel's warmth and caring break down his defenses. He confesses all his deepest fears...and his desire for the other young man. They become lovers. Savil supports them and promises to protect them from Lord Withen, but orders Vanyel to keep up his vapid, foppish act to prevent their secret from leaking to the Court and possibly back to Lord Withen.

Vanyel finds true happiness for the first time in his life. Tylendel introduces him to Gala, his Companion; one of the intelligent horse-like creatures who bond with Heralds.[3] Vanyel supports his lover but does not understand the Herald's selflessness.

Staven, Tylendel's twin brother, is assassinated by a family enemy. The Gifted (psychic) Tylendel senses his brother's death and goes mad from grief and shock to their twin-bond. Savil tells Vanyel to forget about their masquerade and vows to keep him with Tylendel regardless of what Withen thinks. She says her young trainee's life and sanity depend on Vanyel's love and support. Tylendel awakens and vows revenge. Unable to understand Tylendel's deep trauma, and ignorant of his mental instability, Vanyel supports him and assists with Tylendel's plans for revenge.

Tylendel uses Vanyel's energy, and what he suspects might be a dormant Gift, to 'Gate' (a magical form of teleportation) them to the enemy family's home. Tylendel casts a complicated spell that summons deadly magical wyrsa to slaughter the opposing noble house. Gala repudiates her bond with Tylendel and attacks the wyrsa, sacrificing herself to give time for other Heralds to arrive and halt the massacre. Savil arrives with reinforcements, but backlash from the 'Gate' spell tears open Vanyel's dormant magic potential and severely wounds him. Occupied with Vanyel, she and the others fail to stop Tylendel in time from fleeing back through the Gate to Haven. Now completely insane from grief, Tylendel runs to the Herald's chapel and leaps to his death from its bell tower. [4]

Vanyel, suffering from psychic shock and crushing grief over his lover's death, wanders away. He is rescued by another Companion, Yfandes, who 'Chooses' him. She reassures of her love, her friendship and his worth. Her support is not enough to protect him from his wounds and she surrenders him to the care of the Heralds and Healers. The Healers are stunned to discover that Vanyel, unlike most Heralds, does not have just a few Gifts; he has ALL of them. They struggle to keep him shielded enough to heal, but nobody, including Vanyel, can fully control his newly "opened" powers. When he overhears angry, resentful thoughts from other Heralds who blame him for Tylendel's death, he decides life is not worth living and attempts suicide. Yfandes calls the other Heralds to rescue him. The other Heralds guiltily realize that his love for Tylendel was not only real, they were probably lifebonded soulmates.[5]

Savil realizes the damage from Vanyel's broken lifebond, grief and shattered mind are beyond her own or the Healers' ability to heal. Desperate, she decides to take him to friends of hers among the Tayledras, mysterious human beings who live in K'Treva, an environment immersed in magic. The Tayledras Hawkbrothers, Moondance and Starwind, are also a shay'a'chern couple. They train him in the use and control of his Gifts and help him realize his sexual orientation is not unnatural, deviant or immoral. Moondance even shares his own tragic first love story with Vanyel, and how selfish rage caused him to lose control over his Gifts and accidentally kill his lover. Vanyel rejects his new friend's attempt to share and comfort him.

Vanyel, grief-stricken and sullen, does not want to be either Herald or Mage. He thinks everyone values his power-potential rather than him. He runs away for an afternoon, but cannot shake his dawning suspicion that he is being immature, selfish and ungrateful for the caring Savil and the Hawkbrothers have shown him. He decides to return, but stumbles upon a small village being terrorized by a colddrake, a type of dragon. Vanyel, uncertain of how to proceed and afraid to use his Gifts, hesitates. The dragon attacks and kills an elderly man before Vanyel can act. He pulls himself together and kills the dragon, but his unfortunate timing reinforces his self-impression of cowardice and incompetence. The Tayledras arrive and attempt to explain that his reaction was cautious, not cowardly. Vanyel is unconvinced and believes he is unworthy to be a Herald. [6]

The Tayledras, aware that the drakes were deliberately gated in from Vanyel's description, begin an investigation to discover the identity of their enemy. Savil and Vanyel set out to check on another village that was under Tayledras protection, but has now fallen beneath an enemy shield.

Savil decides the village is not under immediate threat and, confident that even Vanyel's half-trained abilities are sufficient, leaves him to protect it while she joins the Hawkbrothers in tracking down the enemy mage. Instead, Vanyel finds himself face to face with the Blood-magic crazed wizard. The mage is charmed by Vanyel's youth and beauty, and offers himself as partner and lover. When Vanyel, repulsed by his evil and how he obtained his powers, rejects the mage, he attacks. Vanyel's initial defense succeeds, but he realizes he is not powerful enough to defeat this skilled, fully trained Adept Mage. He searches frantically for power, and touches the valley's power-node. He has a choice to make; he can let the evil mage murder him, or he can die with purpose, saving the villagers. He channels the node-power and assaults his enemy, comforted by the thought that he will join his beloved Tylendel. Vanyel wakes to find himself with his aunt in K'Treva. When he protests that the Heralds will not want him, she embraces him with pride and love. She tells Vanyel that he has all the heart, soul and power of a true Herald-Mage, and is more than worthy to wear Herald Whites. She drapes her white cloak over him, and writes a letter home to Withen's father telling him that he can and should be deeply proud of his son.[7]