Authors: Lindsey S. Johnson
A Ragged Magic (28 page)
“Your Grace, you are raving,” Hugh says, pushing me further away as he steps up. “And as for a, what did you call it? A foul spell? Why is it you haven’t stopped this spell yourself?”
My lungs cramping, I look around at everyone staring at us, and realize all our secrets are about to be revealed to whomever is nearby.
Asa calmly walks toward us from across the hall. Connor, Hugh, and Julianna stare at Montmoore, waiting for an answer. Linnet stares at me.
Montmoore glares at Hugh. “I need more power to unravel it. Nearly everyone at the Inquisitor’s Building has come down sick — the Healers especially. I am surprised you have been spared, your Highness.”
He spits, grimaces, and curls over on his side, panting. Sweat dampens his robes. “No one has the magic to spare to stop this out-of-control spell. Except you, as long as you have that —” he gestures to me.
I hunch away from his scowl.
“She was here before, I felt it — at the party.” His breath hisses between his teeth. “Use that power. Dismantle the spell. The sickness will stop.”
“Unless it’s powered by demons,” Hugh says.
Julianna gasps, and Connor chokes back a curse.
I can hear the people around us murmuring in fear. Connor turns and looks at me. I’m shaking, fighting, trying to force the words out, but I still can’t break this spell.
“Demon spells are very dangerous,” Asa says from behind me, and it is all I can do not to scream, although I knew she was coming.
Linnet takes my hand and squeezes. I feel a little more power bleed off, but I’m grateful now, it is overwhelming me.
“Demon taint,” Asa says, “is something the empire of Indranah takes very seriously, indeed.”
“Bishop Gantry has fled,” Montmoore gasps out. “The kirche will condemn him as a heretic for this spell. You must stop it.”
“Gantry is your creature,” Connor leans in to murmur, his voice still deadly calm. “Any spells he did or did not cast were at your behest, surely.”
Montmoore swipes his arm out, to hit Connor, or to wave away such allegations.
Connor deftly avoids it.
“Will you stop this spell?” Montmoore says. “Princess, it will kill all your people. You must stop it.” His voice turns thready; he will likely pass out soon. Some people do, when the cramping gets strongest.
“Is the spell a demon spell, that sickens everyone?” Julianna’s voice could cut glass.
Montmoore does not answer.
Asa takes my arm and turns me to face her. Draining, again. This is not a good sign. “What is he talking about — oh. I see. That is quite something, isn’t it?”
I pull away from her, too, but her gaze is less kind than scrutinizing anymore. “Not scars from a fire,” she whispers. She doesn’t seem surprised. “Perhaps we should move this discussion elsewhere,” she says in a more normal voice.
Connor nods to us all, gestures toward the hall. “The lesser hall will suit,” he says. He walks a little ways away to have a word with a guard, his face closed and solemn. I wait for him, and Asa waits for me, and Hugh and Julianna wait for all of us. Linnet keeps hold of my hand.
“What are you going to do?” she whispers to me.
I shrug, magic burning in my veins, still pumping through me from the vision I don’t want. My fear is a cold lump in my stomach.
Connor speaks to Bhanu next, and then turns to us. “After you,” he says to Asa, but it is Julianna who leads us all to the room. She walks as though her feet hurt.
～
When we enter the room, Julianna sinks into a chair at the table with a faint groan and leans back, her arms around her belly. Hugh sits on the table, runs his hands through his hair.
“Rhia Wolff fitzWellan,” Asa starts, walking toward me, but Connor holds up a hand.
“Wait. How are you sure of demons?” he asks Hugh.
“Context,” Hugh says. He wipes at his forehead, tugs at his hair. “It fits, doesn’t it? The strange runes we can’t read, the power, the death spells, Rhia and Orrin. He can call a lot of power, and quickly, and tie it up in very intricate ways with demon spells and power wells. They’re unstable, but one can manage a lot of complexity with them — because they’re almost alive. But almost alive means they change. This one seems to have changed from specific targets to general populace. And I don’t know how to unravel it without knowing what went into it to begin with. Also there’s the point that I won’t be calling any demons.”
“Not while I am here, you won’t,” Asa says. Everyone looks at her.
“Tread carefully,” Connor says. “This is Talaria, not Indranah.”
“I am always exceedingly careful when it comes to demons. My sovereign will not take lightly to news of demon spell and taint in Talaria,” Asa says. “Is this young woman in thrall to Bishop Gantry?”
“No,” Connor says.
“Not as far as we can tell,” Julianna says at the same time. “He did try, but the spell failed, and he didn’t finish it.”
“May I see?” She addresses me now. At least she is asking.
“You don’t have to show her anything,” Linnet says from behind me, her hand clenched in mine. I can feel her trembling, in anger or fear, or both.
“Who are these traders from Indranah really, Connor?” Julianna asks. Her voice takes on a very royal tone.
Asa turns to her. “I am who I have said, Highness. Trader, ship owner, magician. Spy. You knew all that already. But I am perhaps a bit closer to my sovereign than I indicated.”
“How close?”
“Close enough. Connor is aware, as is your King Peter. I can help you dismantle this spell, perhaps. But I need to know more about it. What is the thrall spell the bishop placed on you? Please, let me see some of it.” She turns to me again.
I let go of Linnet’s hand, and pull up my sleeve. She takes my arm, and power slips from me again. She looks up, her dark eyes wide. “That is very interesting. Does it always do that?”
“More often lately,” I say.
“Interesting,” she murmurs, looking at my marked skin. The scars are all white and old-looking anymore, but still recognizably runic symbols. Asa turns my arm without pulling.
“I don’t think we have time for interesting,” I say, hoping against hope that she’ll know something, that she can fix me. Fix this.
Asa nods, purses her lips. “I recognize some of these. Some are ancient Indrani, and some — I don’t know all of these. Are they all like this?”
“I have drawings,” Hugh says. “But this isn’t the spell that is causing the sickness. This is just a version of how he got the power to call them, to set it up. He used Orrin. The spell might still be going through him, I think. Connor, where did you put him?”
“Who is Orrin?” Asa asks.
“Another of Gantry’s victims. He’s in a safehouse in town. I couldn’t get him any further away than that, and I had to go there a very roundabout way. He was — not in good shape.” Connor’s voice is very soft for the last sentence.
My eyes burn, and I pull my arm free from Asa, turn to look out the windows.
“He has this same spell on him? That Rhia does?” Asa asks.
“Yes. But on Orrin it’s complete.” Connor catches my eye in the reflection of the window. “We don’t have time to analyze this spell.”
“It does tell us what kind of magician this Gantry is,” Asa says.
I spin to look at her. “Evil, maniacal, and insane,” I spit. “He wants power, he wants death, and he despises everyone he thinks is in his way.”
“Familiar with ancient Indrani, clever enough to be able to conceal his actions, and, at least to begin with, cautious about interacting with the demons. Or he wouldn’t have created the spell on you and this Orrin. If he feeds demon power through other sources, it keeps him clean of the taint.”
“So you’re saying Orrin is likely demon-tainted,” Hugh says, his voice gravelly.
“If Gantry used demon power to control a death spell this large and intricate, and used Orrin to feed the power through, then yes. Probably. If Gantry called demons and fed them what they want, what they always want, air and life force and blood, it’s probable he used Orrin’s blood instead of his own. If he used his own at any time — he is theirs. Demons do not give up what they own. They only consume it.”
“How do we save Orrin then?” I hate how wavery my voice is. I can’t leave my friend to that kind of fate.
“I don’t know.” Asa’s eyes aren’t kind or comforting. She stares back at me, her face like stone.
“Let’s try and stop the spell first. If we can break the spell, then maybe we can cure everyone. We’ll work on a way to save Orrin, too, Rhia. I promise,” Julianna says. She starts to stand, then grunts in surprise. “Oh …”
I stare at the spreading wetness on her skirts, and Asa curses. Connor and Hugh stare in confusion.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” Linnet asks.
“The baby’s coming, I say, and hurry to Julianna’s side.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
W
e have been here for hours, it feels, but a glance at the water clock on the mantle tells me I’m mistaken. Sweat drips down my cheeks and back and when I breathe. I feel smothered in wet velvet.
The storm that was threatening finally broke, full of wind and rain and thunder. We’ve built the fire in Julianna’s chamber high to keep her warm while she labors, but I long to stand outside and drown in cooler air.
Asa has taken charge of the birth. The midwife we should have is sick, and Julianna doesn’t want anyone else up here. As it stands we need all hands taking care of everyone who’s ill in the great hall.
Linnet runs back and forth between here and there, bringing herbs and linens and anything else we send her for.
Connor stands braced in the doorway, behind the screen. I can see his head and his arms, holding the door frame as if he could tear it asunder. He only leaves to issue orders to the guards or for a few minutes if we send him away.
Hugh knocks into him from behind. I only hear a few words. He’s been working with Preyasi and Bhanu on a way to break the spell. Zelig has come down with fever.
Asa says, “This is it,” and urges Julianna to bear down. “It is now, your Highness, now.”
Julianna yells, and Asa cries out as she pulls the baby the rest of the way free. Asa holds the child for a moment, then cuts the cord and pats the child with a towel, wipes at its face and back. The child is still and quiet.
We wait for a cry, but it doesn’t come. Panting, Julianna collapses against the back of the chair. I look at Asa, whose eyes tell me what I fear.
“Give him to me,” Julianna says.
Asa wraps the baby in a clean towel, her head down. There’s no movement at all. My hand aches from where Julianna grips me.
I lean down to Julianna. “I’m so sorry, your Highness.”
“Give me my baby. He’s mine. I want to see him. I want Alex to see him.”
I close my eyes on tears.
“Oh, Juli,” Hugh says, and comes around the screen. I arrange the sheets down over her legs. Connor’s head drops, although he still holds up the doorway.
“Give me my baby.” She sits forward and reaches for the child.
Asa hands him over, and Juilanna pulls the child from the swaddling. I feel a pull on my magic as Julianna links to me, pulls power without even trying. I clamp down on the link, slow it to a trickle, try to stay upright.
I feel a hand at my elbow; Connor is behind me. He looks down at Julianna and her child, his face a mask of stone.
Julianna’s face crumples as she views the baby. His bluish skin and limp tiny limbs tremble from her crying. She clasps his corpse to her and rocks. “This is Gantry’s fault. His damned spells. He was perfect, perfect,” she sobs.
“The body is demon-touched. I can feel it,” Asa says. “You say Gantry cast a spell on your babe?”
“He cast a spell. I stopped it — I thought I stopped it,” Julianna says through tears.
“Juli, pet, let me have it.” Hugh tries to take the dead child.
“Him! His name is Absalom. He is my son.”
Asa and I gather up soiled linens. Sweat slides down my sides, and I try not to look at anyone’s face. Thunder booms close to the castle.
“Let me take him into the other room, pet. Let us take care of you.” He pulls the tiny bundle from her arms and takes it out of the room.
I look back at Julianna. She shakes her head, then groans a little, grips the arms of the chair. “Your Highness, it’s time for the afterbirth,” Asa tells her.
“Not yet. There’s another baby.” Julianna bears down again, as we stare in shock.
Connor spins back from the hall where he was going after Hugh. “What? Julianna, you’re not having twins.”
“It appears I am. Get out.” She pushes, and Asa hurries to check the position of the baby. Linnet and I stare at each other, then rush to get things ready for another birth.
“You knew,” Connor accuses.
“Of course I knew. What kind of Healer would I be if I didn’t know? Shut up! Get out!”
“Your Highness, hold back a moment, I have the head,” Asa says gently, and Julianna pants.
I hurry forward with a cloth to wipe her face. I glance up at Connor: he’s gone back behind the screen, bracing the doorway with both arms, his head down.
This baby is born much more quickly, and Asa cleans it off. It — she — starts to yell and move her arms. A live girl, and all her limbs seem well-formed. I breathe a sigh of relief. Julianna laughs a little, with a sob in it.
“Oh, give her here,” she says, smiling, and I reach to help, but the look on Asa’s face stops me.
Connor shoves forward at our silence. “What? What is it?”
“Give her to me,” commands Julianna, and after cutting the cord, Asa does.
I take a good look at the crying baby. Her eyes are tight closed, and she looks fine to me, pinking up already. Julianna looks her over, touching her face, her legs, her back, holding her close.
“I fear she is demon-touched also, your Highness. There is a taint.”
Connor whips around. “Hugh! Get back in here!” He turns and strides to us. “Can you lift it?”
“I don’t know. Please step back, my lord. Now it is time for the afterbirth.”
“Yes,” Julianna breathes, holding her baby out to me. “Wipe her down with warm water, Rhia.”
The tiny baby kicks weakly, still crying, but too tired to do more. I let the blankets fall away and reach for a cloth, soaked in plain water. When I touch her bare skin, I almost drop her. I sink to the floor, carefully, trying not to clutch.
I See a child with white eyes, blind. But I know she can see, with a Sight so strong she uses the eyes of those around her. I gasp and the child in the vision looks at me with her empty eyes, smiles. It is not comforting. I break out of the vision and look down at this baby, trembling.
In the chaos around me, no one has noticed my stumble. The baby is quiet in my arms, starting to root. Her skin is cold. I wipe her down quickly, wrap her again, trying not to touch her skin. I feel a hole has opened up in my stomach. Asa is right; there’s something wrong with this baby.
Hugh rushes in past Connor, looks at the scene. He sees me holding a live baby.
“Oh, Juli. Twins. May I see?”
“Stay behind the screen, your Grace,” I say, and I stand to bring him his niece. “I — Asa says the baby is —” and I look over at her, cleaning Julianna. “She is d —” and I can’t speak. I shake my head.
“I see. Let me have the child.”
“Give me my baby.”
“Yes, in a minute, love.”
Julianna seems about to leap from the chair, but Asa warns her to take care with herself. She helps her to stand.
“I want my baby.”
Hugh is looking over the child, who has started crying again. He sends out a tendril of magic, draws it back. He looks up at Asa. “Do you think we can reverse it?”
“I will try with you, your Grace.”
“Good, because I don’t know how much energy I have left. I will need the help. Rhia — I hate to ask it of you, but how worn out are you?”
My head aches and the channels of magic in my blood burn and chafe. I don’t know how much I have left. “Pretty worn, your Grace. But I can try to help.”
He takes a deep breath. “Don’t kill yourself. I mean it. But link to me if you can. Let me know if you have to drop out. I’m going to try a spell that I’ve only read. Asa, have you ever removed demon taint?”
“Once. Not on a child. It was difficult. Demons don’t give up what’s theirs.”
Hugh closes his eyes, opens them and walks to the side of the bed. He places the child on it and we gather around him.
Julianna stands beside him, tense. He smiles at her. “Sit down, pet. Don’t touch her just yet, but stay here and watch, if you’d rather.”
He reaches for my magic, and I wince and open to him. It feels like old, creaking doors, like my blood is rust, like I am an old joint about to break. I cling to the bedpost and shudder at the feel of the spell he begins to create; I didn’t know there were such spells.
Asa and Hugh chant words that bite sharp and cut ties, bind fast to create new ones, push out a lingering taint like a mold on the child.
Wailing and chittering voices call out inside the magic, spinning across my power to cut me off from Hugh. The line between us stretches thin. Exhausted, I reach further into myself and send a burst of power along the flickering thread.
The voices build into a shriek and I wish for mental hands to clap over my mental ears. I lean on the bedpost and feel chills crawl up my spine.
Blinding flashes of pure white light flicker across my closed eyelids, and the spell fades as I hear a thin wail. I open my eyes and see Julianna reaching triumphantly for her baby, who is squirming and hungry and angry enough to command armies.
Julianna closes her eyes. “My daughter’s name is grief,” she whispers. She brushes the thin fuzzy hair back from the baby’s forehead. “Atarah Kieran, I name you. Your father will give you another name, but this name you bear for yourself and your brother.”
A hard burden for a child, I think, but I am not a princess, and I did not just lose a child. Tears fill my eyes, and I sag back into Hugh, who catches me. Everything shifts sideways, and Hugh’s hands claw into my shoulders. I sit with difficulty on the side of the bed to gather my strength.
Julianna holds her child to her breast, and Hugh and Connor turn to leave. I stand to go with them, but I feel myself fading — Hugh has broken his link to me, but Julianna still feeds on me in a small current, and I am too tired to cut it off.
Connor catches me before I fall, and shakes me. “Rhia, for pity’s sake, breathe!”
I look up at him weakly. “I am breathing. Tell Hugh to cut his sister off from me before she kills me.” I have dropped the Grace. I don’t care.
Connor blinks and puts his arm around me, walks me out of the bedchamber.
I remember when the sight of priest’s robes brought me joy. I shudder in Connor’s grip at the sight of a young priest in the solar, standing to greet Hugh. He looks over at us, bites his already raw lips and bows a little. His shaggy hair is medium brown, the same color as his dirty robe. Dark circles bag under his bloodshot eyes, and his young face looks haggard with grief. He clears his throat to speak.
“I must,” and his voice catches. He tries again. “I must get a message to His Grace the Duke of Haverston, or Her Royal Highness, Princess Julianna. I was told I could find them here.”
“I am the duke,” Hugh says, looking almost as haggard as the young priest. His clothes are nicer, but also stained now, and his face is pasty and sweaty from the night, now become morning. “What is your message?”
“Please, your Grace, I am Daniel. Cardinal Robere sent me — we arrived at the seminary to find so many sick with the Wasting. He sent me to beg aid, but I find you also under plague banner.”
He turns away and clenches his fists. “Cardinal Robere asks you to come, your Grace. He says the spell is demon-borne. If you have any information —”
Hugh wipes his face, his shoulders sagging. “I have been working on something that may help. The herbs — Rhia, go and tell Linnet to get them for me.”
Connor stops me and turns to call, but Linnet’s voice stops us both. “Will we be back before dawn?”
Hugh turns to her, shaking his head. “It is dawn. And we won’t be going anywhere. I will go with Daniel. You stay here and get some rest.”
“What about you? You need to rest, too.”
He closes his eyes. “I do. But I need to get to the cardinal even more. I’ll bring him back with me as soon as I may; he should be able to help us stop the spell.” Hugh’s voice is hoarse. Linnet’s face is stubborn. “I’m perfectly serious, Linnet. I need you to stay here, and help everyone out. There’s still so much to do.”
She shrugs her shoulders and glowers, but leaves for the herbarium without further argument.
“Connor, you’ll need to — there’s …”
“I know. I’ll take care of it.”
I presume they mean Absalom’s body. I lower myself to the chair. Connor leans back against the wall and rubs his hand across his face. “Take sergeants Gengler and Watson with you. There may be desperate people on the road. You can’t let them stop you, no matter what they need.”
“I know that.”
“Also do it.”
“Look after —”
“I will.”
Hugh nods, and ushers the confused Daniel from the room. I hope he thinks to offer the poor man some water.
Connor looks down at me. “You should go to bed. Is Julianna still draining you?”
“I — no. I stopped her. Or leaving the room did, I think. I can’t tell anymore.”
“Stay out of her chamber for now. If they need you they can call for you.”
I nod and get up to walk to my room.
～
Asa passes me in the hall, heads into the solar to speak to Connor. I linger in my doorway to listen.
“Where is Hugh?”
“He’s gone to fetch Cardinal Robere from the monastery. He hopes he can help stop the Wasting spell.”
There’s a pause. “This will be a very long report to my sovereign. I’m not sure she will be happy with you. How ever did you allow all of this to come so far?” Asa’s voice is harsh.
“Don’t push me. I’ve done what I can to keep Stephen’s plots from coming to fruition. I’m not the Star Lord, to know everyone’s heart and mind. If I had known about the demons, I’d have taken care of Gantry months ago.” Connor sounds as if he’s pacing.
Asa sounds like a disappointed parent. “And what will you do, now your king’s heir’s heir has demon taint?”
“I thought you removed the taint.”
“I don’t know how successful that was, Connor. We did the best we could, but demons are slippery, and their magic changes as you handle it.”
“But you think you removed it. I would take it as a very great favor if you would keep word of Absalom quiet, and not mention it in your report. And also report that the taint has been lifted on Atarah.”
A short silence. I can hear outrage in it. “You are walking a very rocky path, my lord,” Asa says. “You cannot command me to silence. And while I look upon this royal family as friend and kin to my own sovereign, I will not take orders from you, or do anything to put my country in danger.”