Bookworm III (5 page)

“Charity Conidian,” the Grand Sorceress said, in her raspy voice. “Come forward, into the light.”

Charity obeyed. The Grand Sorceress was sitting below the Throne, half-hidden in the waves of magic billowing around it. As always, her body was hidden and shapeless behind the veil, suggesting that she had something to hide. If she was truly as staggeringly beautiful as the rumours said, Charity was sure, she would have flaunted it to the entire world. Instead, she chose to hide. It suggested there was something about her that would shock everyone, if they learnt the truth. But she kept that thought to herself. Irritating the Grand Sorceress didn’t tend to lead to a long and happy life.

She went down on one knee, then bowed her head. “I came as you commanded, Your Supremacy,” she said. There were many ways to address a Grand Sorcerer, but she knew she didn’t dare show any form of defiance. “And I look forward to serving you.”

“I’m sure you do,” the Grand Sorceress rasped. “How is House Conidian?”

Charity gritted her teeth. “Weak, but recovering,” she lied. In reality, she wasn’t sure if she could keep the house in the Golden City. Perhaps it was time to retreat back to the countryside and spend the next few decades rebuilding the family. “We will survive.”

“I am glad to hear it,” the Grand Sorceress said. There was a hint of ...
something
, perhaps amusement, in her tone. Lady Light Spinner
was
from a rival Great House, after all. If the Conidian Family took a fall, her family would be strengthened. “And your younger children?”

“Well enough,” Charity said. She’d called the younger siblings back to the house, just to keep them out of the firing line. “Jay is in his fourth year at the Peerless School, while his younger siblings are enduring their first.”

She shuddered, bitterly. The full powers of a Family Head had descended on her, no matter how ill-prepared she was for them. She could command her younger siblings as she saw fit, with no regard for their feelings. The only blessing was that Jamal was no longer in a position to claim leadership of the family.
He
would have had her married off to one of his cronies before she could muster a single word of protest. And she dreaded to think what he would have done if she
had
managed to object. She would have been better off abandoning the family completely.

“How nice,” the Grand Sorceress said. “I ...

She broke off, then rose to her feet. “What are
you
doing here?”

Charity turned her head, then jumped. Vlad Deferens was standing at the edge of the room, smirking at them. Charity had never liked him, even when he’d been working with her father; he’d always given her the impression that he was leering at her behind her back. And when she’d looked up his homeland, she’d realised why. She’d never understood why her father had seen him as a potential ally, even though he
was
a Privy Councillor and a powerful magician. He was just too uncivilised to be trusted.

He was a tall, powerfully-built man, wearing a red tunic and kilt that exposed his bare arms and legs, revealing his muscles to anyone watching. His dark hair was long and unkempt, his beard just long enough to be difficult to comb. His eyes, as dark as his hair, sparkled with mischievous light. She couldn’t help the impression, as he looked at her, that he was undressing her with his mind. No doubt he was one of the magicians who had learnt stripping spells and used them in the Peerless School. The Administrator might hand out harsh punishments for anyone caught in the act, but he’d never been able to stamp out the practice completely. In the end, all it had done was encourage the girls to learn more protective spells.

“You shouldn’t be here,” the Grand Sorceress snapped. Magic crackled around her, more magic than Charity could summon at a moment’s notice. “How did you get through my wards?”

“It’s easy to walk though the wards if you happen to be superior,” Deferens said. He had a rich plummy voice, which couldn’t quite disguise the scorn. “Or if you happen to know one of the great secrets of the universe.”

Charity took a step backwards ... and another, and another, until she was pressed against the far wall. Magic was boiling around the Grand Sorceress now, barely held in check by her indomitable will. And to think that her father had thought he could manipulate her ... Charity shivered, fighting down the urge to turn and run for her life. She’d known the Grand Sorceress was powerful – Lady Light Spinner was the strongest magician known to exist – but she’d never really understood
how
powerful. A flick of her wrist could obliterate Charity as easily as she might step on a bug.

And yet Vlad Deferens had walked through the Grand Sorceress’s wards as if they hadn’t even existed.

“There are no secrets that would let you past my wards,” the Grand Sorceress said. “How did you enter my palace?”

Charity knew she was right. Warding had been a particular speciality of hers – Jamal had encouraged her to learn how to protect herself and her property as quickly as possible – and even though any ward could be broken with enough magic, it would definitely have sounded the alert before it snapped. By all the gods, there were plenty of ways to set up wards to monitor the other wards and alert spells to monitor
those
. And the Imperial Palace was
crawling
with wards, some so ancient that they predated the first Grand Sorcerer. There was no way a team of highly-experienced ward-crackers – or even Inquisitors – could have broken the wards without sounding an alarm. Light Spinner should have had hours to prepare her counterstroke as the wards were weakened, then finally broken ...

“You
wanted
to surrender to me,” Deferens said. He leered at the Grand Sorceress, a filthy expression that made Charity feel unclean – and she wasn’t even the target! “And so your wards let me through.”

Magic billowed around the Grand Sorceress as she took a step forward. “You will leave this place, now,” she hissed. “Or fight me in the heart of my power.”

Charity shivered in fear. Magic was flaring around both of them now, enough magic to do real damage to the Imperial Palace if they started fighting in earnest. It was hard to tell which of them was the strongest, but it hardly mattered. She knew there would be little left of the palace if they fought ... and there would be nothing left of her. Carefully, she looked towards the door ...

... And Deferens looked at her. And she found her feet frozen to the floor.

“I merely wish to claim my right,” Deferens said, as he turned his gaze back to the Grand Sorceress. “You cannot deny me that, can you?”

The Grand Sorceress took another step forward. “What right do you wish to claim?”

Deferens indicated the Golden Throne. “I wish to take my rightful place.”

Charity stopped casting counter-spells – none of which seemed to do anything more than waste energy – and stared at Deferens in disbelief. Only a member of the Imperial Bloodline could sit in the Golden Throne and the Imperial Bloodline had been extinct for centuries, as far as anyone knew. The Privy Council might be obliged, by their oaths, to allow anyone who wanted to sit in the Golden Throne a chance, but there had been few takers. It wasn’t really surprising. A fake would die the second he sat on the Throne.

Let him do it
, she thought, vindictively.
The Throne will kill him
.

But Deferens wasn’t stupid, a nagging thought at the back of her mind reminded her. Surely, he would know the dangers of taking the Throne ...

“If you wish,” the Grand Sorceress said. Her voice was tight, utterly emotionless, but Charity was sure she was worried. She had to know the dangers too, but her oaths wouldn’t let her stop him. “Please. Take a seat, if you dare.”

Deferens smiled a victorious smile, then stepped up onto the podium, turned, and sat down on the Golden Throne. Magic blazed around it for a long second – Charity thought that he was about to die – and then the entire palace shook, violently. She screamed in pain as the wards suddenly pressed down on her with terrifying force, then pulled back so quickly that she couldn’t help wondering if she’d imagined the whole thing. And yet, her feet were still stuck to the floor ...

“I claim my right as Emperor,” Deferens said. He sat on the Throne, illuminated by shimmering golden light. The radiance was magic, Charity realised, because she couldn’t take her eyes off him. And it played with her emotions, causing her to feel respect, awe ... and fear. “Kneel.”

There was so much power in his words that Charity found herself on her knees before quite realising that her body had started to move. Light Spinner started to kneel, then stopped herself, magic flaring around her. Deferens snorted rudely, then drew on the wards. Charity covered her eyes hastily as light flared through the room, the wards pushing down on their former mistress. There was a scream, then darkness fell like a hammer. And then a thin chuckle echoed through the room.

“You can open your eyes now,” Deferens said.

Charity obeyed, helplessly. Deferens was standing in front of Light Spinner, who was still ... too still. He looked down at the veil for a moment, then pulled it free in one savage gesture, revealing a stony face. Charity found it hard to grasp what she was seeing. The Grand Sorceress had been turned to stone! And her face was warped and twisted ...

“So that was what she was trying to hide,” Deferens said. He ran his hand over Light Spinner’s chin, smiling unpleasantly. “She must have been a very bad girl in her youth.”

Charity swallowed as he turned his attention to her. “And you? Are you such a bad girl?”

“No,” Charity said.

Deferens turned and walked back towards the Throne. It seemed to have changed, somehow, now that a true heir to the bloodline had taken his seat. Charity tried to move, but her legs refused to obey. It was hard to tell if he’d trapped her in place or she was simply too scared to move a muscle. Sheer terror kept her rooted to the spot.

“You have a choice,” Deferens said. “You can serve me, loyally and faithfully, or you can join her. Which do you choose?”

Charity thought about it, somehow calming her thoughts. There was no way she could fight him, not even without the wards backing him up. Light Spinner hadn’t been able to fend off the wards and she had been the most powerful magician in the city. She glanced at the warped statue and shuddered, helplessly. That fate – or worse – would be hers if she refused to submit.

But if she
did
join him, what would he make her do? The thought was terrifying, her imagination providing all kinds of possibilities. And yet, she would have a chance to escape, if she waited for the right moment. And maybe she could steer him in more positive directions.

“I will serve you,” she said, and bowed her head.

Vlad Deferens – Emperor Vlad I – started to laugh.

Chapter Four

Elaine shook her head in embarrassed amusement as Daria and Johan departed, then rose and started to make her way through the Great Library for the last time. Daria, perhaps because she’d been born and raised among the Travellers, had no sense of the appropriate. Johan was her apprentice, not her boyfriend, and even if they hadn’t shared that bond, he was still four years younger than her. It would be inappropriate for her to even consider such a liaison.

But you have to admit he’s handsome
, her thoughts mocked her.
And he wasn’t scared by your eyes
.

She scowled at the thought, angrily. She’d never had a boyfriend at the Peerless School – her low magic levels and constant bullying had seen to that – and she’d only ever had one relationship since, which had faltered as soon as her lover had seen her eyes. Red eyes,
glowing
red eyes, meant tainted magic; they were rarely a good sign. Even a mundane like Bee had known to be scared of them ... and she might have understood, if he’d left someone else. But he’d left her ...

Magic danced around her as she walked through a pair of wards and into the lower chambers, where the magic shimmering through the building was focused. She closed her eyes as soon as she stepped into the chamber, reaching out to touch the wards and perform one last scan of the building for trouble. As always, a number of students had rediscovered a dozen ways to try to cheat in their exams, no doubt convinced that no one else had ever discovered how to use magic to cheat. A handful of others were bending rather than breaking the rules outright; she silently applauded them for exploiting the loopholes, then prayed they wouldn’t bend the rules any further. Cheating wasn’t just forbidden at the Peerless School; it was
pointless
. No amount of cheating could help a cheater prosper when he or she had to actually use what they’d learnt in the real world.

Idiots
, she thought. Mastering the theoretical parts of magic had never been difficult for her, she remembered; it was the practical exams that had almost killed her.
They can’t hope to fool the anti-cheating wards on the testing chambers
.

She frowned as the wards reported a handful of dark – or at least grey – artefacts, then sent orders for her staff to investigate. The wards had been tightened up considerably since she’d become Head Librarian, but most wizards tended to consider such wards a challenge to break rather than a warning sign. It wasn’t as if she could bar people from the library for anything short of serious misconduct, she reminded herself, even though there were quite a few students who should probably be denied access to the library. Their conduct outside the school had been appalling.

But it won’t be my problem for much longer
, she told herself.
And someone else will have to worry about it
.

She opened her eyes, then walked into the next chamber. It was piled high with books, mostly older textbooks that had been donated by former students to the librarians. Most of them were out of date, Elaine knew, and therefore largely useless to the current generation of students. She had a feeling that most of them would be shipped to the smaller magical training establishments, if they weren’t sold to private tutors. By then, the
next
set of donated books would probably have arrived. There was no shortage of books in the lower levels that hadn’t been inspected, let alone tagged or marked for disposal.