Intrigues (Valdemar: Collegium Chronicles #2)

Foreign Blood

Mags had been an orphan working in a gem mine when his life was saved by his Companion, Dallen, who took him to Haven to be trained as a Herald. Now he was never hungry and never cold. He slept in a real bed in his own room and, most importantly, he had Dallen, who was like another part of himself. And yet, aside from Lena and Bear, both loners like Mags, he couldn't relate to most of the Herald, Healer, or Bard trainees. He was the only trainee who came from what-to the others- was unimaginable poverty. And since Mags had no tolerance for the chronic complaining of his fellow trainees, this kept him feeling like an outsider, even though he was part of an elite corps of students.

But there were other factors that contributed to his isolation. For Mags had been "recognized" by foreign assassins fleeing the court. These spies had escaped the Royal Guard and never been questioned. Now, Mags was an object of suspicion among his fellow students, and even some of his teachers. After this incident it seemed far more urgent to discover exactly who his parents were. And at Haven, he had access to the extensive Archives.

Pouring through the Archives, day after day, Mags finally got some answers, but they were incomplete: his parents, found dead in a bandit camp, had been two of a number of hostages, some of whom had survived. These survivors had told the Guard that Mags' parents spoke a language that no one understood or even recognized. So Mags' parents were foreigners, though from what country no one seemed to have any idea.

But rather than help his situation, this information did just the opposite, for ForSeers had been having visions of the king being assassinated by "one of foreign blood" and some had even Seen Mags with blood on his hands.

How could Mags defend himself against a crime that hadn't yet been commited?