Magic's Price

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Magic's Price is the 1992 fantasy novel and final in the Last Herald Mage Trilogy by Mercedes Lackey.

[edit] Plot introduction

This is the last book in Misty's Last Herald Mage trilogy. The three books are Magic's Pawn, Magic's Promise, and Magic's Price. In this book Vanyel and 'Fandes must deal with a dark mage who wishes to overthrow Valdemar.

[edit] Plot summary

In the beginning of the book the last four Herald-Mages, Vanyel among them make a type of magic barrier. This barrier makes it uncomfortable for wild or rogue mages to use magic, which is useful for Valdemar. This barrier figures into other books.

Sadly, King Randale is near death and no one seems to know why. He is barely able to move from bed and only has a few years to live. Vanyel has taken over nearly all the responsibilities of the throne, while Treven is trained.

Nothing can relieve Randale's pain, until Medren finds his uncle with a solution. In the Bardic Collegium there is a Bard, Stefen, who can block pain. Vanyel finds Stefen and takes him to play for Randale. While Stefen plays he is able to keep Randale from being in pain. Later on, other Healers learn how to pain-block.

However, the first time Stefen plays for Randale he overplays and tears his fingers to ribbons. Van seing this takes pity on the young Bard and takes him to his room. Vanyel bandages Stefen's hands and then they talk for hours.

Stefen instantlly starts to love Vanyel. He is openly shaych, but mistakenly does not tell Vanyel this. For weeks Stefen pursues a relationship wih Vanyel, but Vanyel hesistates. For years Vanyel has isolated himself from most friends and certainly all lovers. He is afraid that his enemies will hurt those he's in a relationship with.

Completely frustrated, Stefen and Medren form a plan that will force Van to take Stefen seriously. Once the plan is formulated, Van, Stefen, and Savil head to Forst Reach, for some rest. When they arrive Withen mistakenly puts Stefen and Van in the same room. This is much to Stefen's delight.

Vanyel does not realize the mistake until he goes to his room and finds Stefen there too. Stefen ambushes Van, explaining that he is shaych too. Van finally gives in and they become lovers. In the moring Van is startled to find that he and Stefen have lifebonded. It is unheard of to have more than one lifebond in one lifetime; and Van had already had Tylendel.

Confused, Van heads off by himself, where he is ambushed by a wildmage. Van quickly takes care of the mage and leaves him in the family priest's care. Meanwhile, Stefen is playing for Treesa (Van's mother), her ladies, and Yfandes in the gardens. Suddenly the wildmage from earlier attacks the ladies. 'Fandes attacks, but is injured. Vanyel shows up in time to see the mage throw a dagger at Treesa. Just in time he jumps in the way, while Van's cousin kills the mage.

Savil shows up and cannot wake Treesa or Vanyel. She recognizes the dagger as a leech-blade. Frightened, Savil Gates to see the Tayeldras Hawkbrothers. There she asks Moondance and Starwind to come and help Vanyle, which they agree to hesitantly.

Once at Forst Reach they heal Treesa quickly and then reach Van. As it turns out, Van's lifebond with Stefen has slowed the dagger from taking all Van's energy. Despite this, Moondance and Starwind have slight difficulty with healing Van.

While Van is recovering, Moondance and Starwind tell Savil that they think Stefen is the reincarnation of Tylendel. They also hint at saying that the Companions are also reincarnations of former Heralds. All three of them agree that they will not tell Vanyel this, because it would strain Stefen and his relationship.

Once Vanyel is recovered, all three of them and the two Companions head back to Haven, the capital. Vanyel's mother and father also come, because Van is scared that someone will try to kill them again. In the space that they were gone, Randale has deteriorated even more. His condition is so bad that Sharvi opens a link with him to provide him with strength. But, this link means that whenever Randale dies, so will Sharvi.

To make matters worse, Karse is about the declare the holy war that will last all to the next Herald books. Van is forced to leave to make a treaty with Rethwellan. When he returns the situation declines even further.

Herald-Mages begin to die. The first two deaths look like accidents, but Savil is worried. She asks Van to strengthen her wards, but he forgets, thinking she's paranoid. That very night a mage-made creature murders Savil, leaving Van the last Herald-Mage. In rage, Vanyel kills the creature and then sets off to track the dark mage that caused the deaths of three Herald-Mages and the threat on his own life back in Forst Reach.

Stubbornly Stefen comes on the journey too. He is frightened by Vanyel's single-mided obsession with revenge, but comes nevertheless. After they reach the mountains, they are ambushed. Stefen runs (which is what Van told him to do if they were attacked) while Vanyel and 'Fandes fought. When Stefen returns to the scene he finds 'Fandes hurt, but Van has been carried off. At this point 'Fandes Mindspeaks to Stefen, revealing that Companions can talk to whoever they want to.

The bandits that took Van then proceed to torture and rape Van until he is barely living. Realizing this, the bandits call for a Healer. They cannot let Van die, because their master, the dark mage said that they couldn't. When the Healer arrives he sees that there is a magical block on Vanyel's mind and removes it.

With the block gone Vanyel temporarily loses his sanity. In a rage he attacks every bandit in sight. Stefen and 'Fandes arrive just in time to stop Van. They then run into kyree, who willingly help the weary friends. The kyree help heal Van mentally, while Stefen and 'Fandes help too. Finally, Van is returned to almost being himself, like he was before Savil was killed.

With no less purpose, but less hunger Van returns to hunting down the dark mage. They arrive at a mountain pass, where the mage obviously intends to takes his troops down into the heart of Valdemar. Bravely, Vanyel sends 'Fandes and Stefen down to the Guard Post to get help; knowing he may never see them again.

As Stefen and Yfandes run to the Guard Post, the dark mage's army shows up. Van takes down the lesser dark mages, but then has to face Leareth, the ultimate dark mage. The mage is even more powerful than Vanyel, until Yfandes shows up back from her mission. Together the two of them call down the Final Strike against Leareth, destroying not only the dark mage, but themselves in the process.

Stefen feels Van die and heads up to the pass. Desperately he looks for signs of his lifebonded's death and finally finds them. When he does, the not-quite ghosts of Vanyel and 'Fandes appear before Stefen. Van tells him that he is to guard Valdemar, specifically the Forest of Sorrows (where the battle was fought). He tells Stefen/Tylendel that in order for them to join him they must convince all of Valdemar that Herald-Mages are no longer necessary, and that Heralds are enough; a nearly impossible task. However, Stefen/Tylendel agrees to it. Through his entire life, Stefen/Tylendel works towards his task and at the end of his life joins Vanyel in guarding the Forest and Valdemar.

[edit] Characters in "Magic's Price"

• Vanyel: A 36 year old shaych Herald-Mage, who is also the most powerful of the Herald-Mages. His new lifebonded is Stefen.
• Stefen: A young 17 year old Bard, who has the ability to block pain. He is surprisingly lifebonded to Vanyel.
• Savil: One of the last Herald-Mages and Van's aunt.
• Yfandes: Vanyel's Companion.
• Kellan: Savil's Companion.
• Medren: Vanyel's illegitimate nephew, who is a gifted Bard.
• Randale: The ailing King of Valdemar and Sharvi's lifebonded.
• Sharvi: The King's Own Herald. A Full Healer and Randale's lifebonded.
• Jisa: Sharvi and Van's daughter (secretly, since Randale is impotent). A potential Herald, whose lifebonded is Treven.
• Treven: The heir to Valdemar. A Herald, and Jisa's lifebonded.
• Starwind: Tayeldras Adept. He is shaych, and lifebonded is Moondance.
• Moondance: Tayeldras Healer-Adept; Starwind's lifebonded.