Herb-Witch (Lord Alchemist Duology) (47 page)

Kessa
felt slightly queasy. "Ugh. So . . . Emerald
salts. Need more. Do you want to knock on Master Iste's door, or
shall I?"

Nicia
tapped the analyzer machine. "There aren't any more salt-forms
to find, so I'll do it. Check for bad combinations?"

"All
right. Going with her, Dayn?"

"I'll
stay here, if that's all right."

"I'll
be fine." Nicia slipped past him. "Back soon!"

Kessa
traced one of the forms lightly with chalk, and checked it against
the others to see if it would combine to a dangerous shape. "Anyone
else out there?"

Dayn
swung the door mostly closed. "A couple of apprentices watching
brews and playing dice, down by the water-closet. Why?"

"What's
this about Lairn not running off?" Kessa made a mark on the
first form and went to the second, to compare it with the remaining
ones.

"Oh,
that. Brague stopped him. Lairn claimed he feared he'd been caught by
someone he owed money to."

Kessa
paused, forgetting the shape she'd put in her head. "Don't tell
me he owed Darul . . ."

"He
says not, but he jumped high as a cat when m'lord asked that same
question. And he's been working on alchemy-smoked teas – and
selling them to volunteers for testing, he claims."

"What . . .
kind of teas?"

"A
variation on youth potions, and a sort of aphrodisiac. M'lord and
Brague are taking him to be interrogated with guardsmen as witnesses.
Perhaps even a judge."

If
he's the other source . . . Iasen's student . . .
Blight the man, he's been ruining my life since before he even saw
me.
Kessa leaned against a bare patch of chalkboard. "Did . . .
did Master Kymus tell you to inform me?"

"No.
Nor said not to. Are you all right, m-Miss Kessa?"

That
wasn't him seeing my eyes. That was . . .
m'lady
.
"Not . . . entirely. Why bother with the guard,
though? Wasn't
his
fault someone added another brew."

"No,
but it's to clear his name as well. Joy-powders
are
against
guild rules, and m'lord found one while Lairn was missing. Nor are
journeymen supposed to sell new preparations that've not been passed
by m'lord." Dayn sounded unconcerned. "And he did try to
sneak out, so we had to wake m'lord, who wasn't happy."

"That
doesn't reassure me, you know." Not the sneaking, the irritated
waking, nor the ages-old (it felt) memory of Kymus buying her little
beer-blight powder that she'd not mentioned to Rom.

"Oh."
Now
the dramsman sounded taken aback.

Feet
pattered down the stairs, and Nicia opened the door, extra papers in
hand. "We're to combine all that's left down here. If there's
not enough, go back and fetch Master Iste, and he'll get it
restocked."

"All
right. Let me finish these forms."

Dayn
said, "I'll get the other jars."

After
he left, Nicia whispered, "
Were
you two flirting? You're
not done with the forms."

Kessa
snorted. "Just asking why Master Kymus was delayed. Tell you
later."

"All
right." Nicia paused. "He
is
handsome, though."

Kessa
laughed. "I use my blood for dry tea, Nicia. I don't even
look
."

Nicia
checked the other ingredients in their containers. "That's a
shame."

"It's
how the brew has to be."

"I
suppose. Oh, we're low on waterflame salts, too."

Kessa
frowned and noted that on the corner of the chalkboard. "When we
get done, let's see if anything else is missing."

"All
right. We should make a list of what needs restocking, if there's
more than just the emerald salts."

"That
and . . .
I
don't want the blame if some
apprentice is filching. Better to catch it while everyone knows I'm
not here often."

"Oh.
But why would
you
be blamed and not me?"

Kessa
held out her hand without turning. "Are you this color?"
She used that hand to tug at her hair. "Or have this?"

"Oh.
Um."

"Exactly."
Yet another hurdle in the way of guild domination. Thank Earth and
Rain.

"That's
so unfair. It's not your fault."

"Life's
not fair." Kessa marked the last of the forms. "Nothing
combines in the danger-shape. I think we've a working recipe."

They
set to work, drafting Dayn to help with the jars of ingredients and
mark which ones were lower than they felt was right.

By
lunch, they'd a tall tumbler's worth of silver goop bubbling over a
Fervefax Stone that glowed with its own heat.

Nicia
looked at the recipe. "Simmer three days, till it's a glittering
half-cup of liquid. At this stage, it can be siphoned off and stored
for future use." She leaned forward and sniffed it.

Kessa
held her hair out of the way and did the same. Bittersweet painted
itself inside her nose, but though there were sweet notes, they were
as slick and silvery as the brew looked, not a thick honey.
Thoughtfully, she took a little ceramic spoon and dipped it in. She
glanced over at the door. No one.

The
potion tasted something like raw fish, and something like
moon-steeped dew, as she held it on her tongue. The edges of what she
saw seemed sharper. Her brain raced. Her pulse . . .
She checked. Fast, but not dangerously so. She swallowed and breathed
in. The air crackled through her nose. "Perhaps . . .
I shouldn't be so sure of myself." Fear tried to spike,
somewhere behind the silvery sweet-bitter fizz, and drowned.

Nicia
squeaked, "Should I fetch Purgatorie?"

Kessa
held out a hand vaguely. "Am I fevered? Chilled?"

Dayn
touched her forehead. Nicia felt for her pulse, fingers cool against
her wrist.

If
Herbmaster Keli and Nicia fooled Kymus into taking a dramswife, he'd
not be furious. He'd be heartbroken.
The thought came from
nowhere, disconnected from emotion.
He wants an equal, not another
person to be responsible for. Just like I'd hate being Guild Master,
responsible for everyone though I was an untrained street rat.

"Your
blood's fast," Nicia said, doubtfully. "But there's no
fever, nor chill."

"Let
me see your eyes," Dayn said.

"Won't
like them," she warned.

"If
your pupils've gone strange, we should know."

"Mm."
She tipped her head back.

Dayn
had blue eyes, as she'd thought. She supposed he was attractive,
though her brother Jontho was more-so. He twitched, of course; an
instinctive reaction to push her away, his own eyes going wide. But
he shielded her eyes from the light with his palm, then took it away
again. "That's normal."

She
closed her eyes. "Then it's all in my head. I think . . .
a mentally active brew, but not mind-controlling." Words crowded
in her mind, from the book Kymus'd sent home with them. "It
sharpens memories."

"Mindbright?"
Nicia said.

"Haven't
a clue. Could be." She took a shuddering breath; the air was
only a tingle in her throat. "It's fading."

Steadying
her before stepping away, Dayn chuckled. "Crazy as m'lord."

"Mm."
Kessa caught Nicia's hand as the girl released her wrist. "Nicia.
If you're not immune . . . Don't ever pretend. It'd be
cruel."

"I
don't understand."

"Ask
your mother," Kessa whispered, sorry to betray the Herbmaster's
plan . . . but cold realization sank through the
potion's silver shield, into her heart.

When'd
I become responsible for him? He's no family.
The glittering
potion tumbled thoughts from deep, dark recesses.
He's the Guild's
Master, responsible for . . . us, in turn. He's done
nothing to merit drowning in Rain's own justice. If I didn't
speak . . . If Keli and Nicia conspired . . .
I'd be drowned in the backwash.

She
frowned, drew breath to say something, and forgot it immediately,
like a dream. "Remind me not to do that again."

Chapter
XLIX

G
uild
Masters sometimes appeared when least wanted, such as in his office
when Kessa came to leave their report after Iste'd pronounced it
adequate. She paused in the doorway, Dayn nearly tripping over her.
"I didn't know you were back, Master Kymus."

"Only
just." He sounded tired. "Did you have lunch?"

"Ah.
Somewhat. We couldn't leave the potion, so we sent Dayn for something
fast." She didn't ask
Why'd you assign your dramsman to watch
me? Did you think I'd vanish?
Nor,
Did your brother threaten
me?

"Mine
was also 'somewhat.'" Kymus paused. "Join me for belated
lunch, at the Smoking Flask?"

For
a moment, Kessa wished for more mindbright, to send the world into
glittering silver thorns against her skin, snowflake patterns of pure
thought, without fear. She looked at the paper in her hands, stepped
forwards, and handed it to him. "Nicia's gone to her mother's
office. I was going to take the buggy home." She already wore
her cloak, turned back over her shoulders.

Holding
the paper (and probably looking at her), Kymus said, "Please? I
must ask a favor."

She
swallowed. "What?"

"If
you'd carry a message to your sister."

That
was entirely unexpected. "Why?"

Kymus
sighed. "I'll regret this. Because I want to ask her something."

What?
Was Laita wrong? He's interested in her after all?
"If . . .
If you say it's not my business to know, I'll tell her you're asking
after her."

"Eh?"
He sputter-snorted. "No! Not that. Can't we eat first?"

"It's
something that'll upset me," Kessa predicted, looking at the
edge of his desk, hands clasped in front of her hips.

Another
sigh. "Likely. Especially if you're unfed."

Tightly,
Kessa said, "The source of my temper is not whether I'm fed or
not."

"Perhaps
not, but it exacerbates matters." He stood. "Iste had you
making mindbright?"

"We
think so." She glanced to see the door was closed. "Especially
from the effects."

"Effects?
You tasted it before it was done?"

". . . yes."
She tried not to sound sheepish.

"And?"

"You
never did?"

He
coughed. "Only once. I don't remember much. My mother was
brewing some, and I was . . . much younger."

Kessa
stared into her palms, her fingers still interlaced. "It was
odd. I knew I should be afraid, but wasn't. Thoughts . . .
came together. Like a brew quickening. Then it faded, and some didn't
make sense anymore. Like dreams."

"Strange.
Perhaps I should try some again," he mused. "Let me feed
you? So I'll have accomplished
something
today?"

No
telling if Laita'd hinted which taverns she danced at. Kessa let her
hands hang loosely. "All right."

"Thank
you." He actually sounded relieved, as he came around the desk
and offered his arm.

I
shouldn't.
But Burk knew ways out of the city, and Iasen already
hated her. So she took his arm, no matter that journeymen and
apprentices in the hall might see and gossip behind them.

Outside,
she pulled away to wrap her cloak around herself against the chill.
That meant Kymus steered her by the shoulder; since they were both
hurrying to the next place of warmth, she forgot to object until
they'd gotten into the Smoking Flask and he'd put them into a
booth-alcove, him beside her, her cloak and his coat in Brague's
hands.
He's taking over my life again.

The
booth's wicker walls provided a semblance of privacy for chatting
master alchemists, but not enough shadow, yet, for Kessa to watch
anyone's expressions. She shivered with residual chill as Kymus sent
his dramsmen to fetch strong tea and the day's offering of food, then
muttered, "What do you want me to ask of my sister?"

"
After
you're fed. How was your lesson?"

She
smiled wryly, though it was hidden behind the fall of her hair.
"Master Iste accused me of flirting with Dayn. Otherwise . . .
Interesting. We had to send poor Dayn foraging for ingredients,
though. Three jars were nearly empty, and one low enough that we
thought it best to check the other rooms, and see if they needed
restocking, too. After we got the brew to a stable point, we checked
the rest, to be thorough."

From
the movement of his hand, off the table and onto the bench between
them, he'd turned to look at her. "How odd. What ingredients?"

She
named them on her fingers. "Emerald salts, waterflame salts,
dried fork-root, Bradomach's salt, ground oyster shells, the
spreading fingers paste, and Farchen's salt. I think that's
everything, but Nicia might've added one or two."