Life at the Heralds' Collegium in Haven had definitely improved for
Mags. He'd even become something of a hero since risking his own life to
rescue Amily--daughter of Nikolas, the King's Own Herald--from Karsite
kidnappers.
Things had improved for Mags' small group of close friends, too. Mags'
friend Bear had become a bit of a hero himself; though still a Trainee,
he had performed a difficult and complicated medical procedure on Amily
and restored the use of her legs. Now Bear was accepted as a peer by the
Healers, and Amily was slowly gaining strength, walking on her own for
the first time in her life. Lena, the Bard Trainee, was relieved to be
free of the crushing disapproval of her now infamous, exiled father.
Bear and Lena were in love, and so were Mags and Amily. Mags had his
Companion Dallen, classes, his friends, Amily, and kirball. He was no
longer the "foreigner" so many students distrusted. Life was good.
But Mags still didn't know who his parents had been, and Bear, who had
his own demons, was not one to let him forget: "You gotta deal with your
past, Mags, you have to. If you don't, it'll just keep coming back to
haunt you, and one day it'll do something to you that you can't get out
of."
Mags began his special training as Nikolas' undercover partner and
future spy for the crown. Disguised, they worked at night in one of the
seedier parts of Haven, where Nikolas had set up a false identity as a
pawnbroker and fence. Mags posed as his deaf-mute nephew, covertly
watching and listening from behind the desk. He was especially good at
the trait that had kept him alive in the gem mine--ferreting out hidden
motives. Fading into the shadows, as he had done as a child laborer, his
extensive knowledge of gems was a multifaceted benefit, for he could
identify specific stolen treasures and also separate the real from the
fake. And Nikolas could trust him to chase down leads.
Mags had grown extremely strong, agile, and remarkably adept at running
across rooftops, slipping down drain pipes, and sneaking unseen along
dark alleyways. He knew there were still skilled, determined assassins
hunting for him, hired by Karse, Valdemar's long-standing enemy. It was
necessary for Mags to be always on his guard.
Now Mags has graduated to a new role: Nikolas' partner and information
broker. Mags channels his old cunning self from the mines and discovers
that he's quite good at his new job. So good, in fact, that Nikolas
decides to let him open the shop alone one hot summer night.
Mags has barely unlocked the shop when everything goes black in a
blinding flash of pain. He wakes with an agonizing headache, bound,
blindfolded, in a conveyance of some kind. But worst of all, he's
head-blind. No Mindspeech--he can't even sense Dallen. And if he can't
sense or hear Dallen, then no one can sense him. And if no one can sense
him, no one can come to his rescue.
