Magic's Promise (45 page)

“
If I ever knew that, I'd forgotten it,
”
Tashir confessed into the silence.

“
In other words, if Tashir is declared guilty of murder, the Linean throne gets handed over to the Mavelans - and Valdemar has to
enforce
this?
”
Vanyel said, incredulously.

“
In a nutshell.
”
Savil replied.
“
Great good gods -
”

“
That ain't real likely to make Valdemar popular around here,
”
Jervis observed.
“
Not that they're real popular after Van runnin' off with the boy. And if that ain't a pretty good reason for the Mavelans to kill off the Linean House and slap the blame on Tashir - who's Linean, even if he was disinherited - I don't know what would be.
”

“
Nor I,
”
Savil agreed grimly.
“Very
tidy little plot. Well, Van, you wanted a motive.
”

“
I certainly got one.
”
He returned to the window, and stared out of it.
“
And I have an
excellent
reason for Vedric making himself so popular with the Lineans.
”
There was still some lingering sunset afterglow to make the sky a pearly light blue-and against it, the palace loomed ominously dark.

“
Exactly. When everyone finally gets around to checking that treaty, Vedric will be the
only
Mavelan the Lineans will accept. And they
might
even do it with good grace, if he's done his job right.
”

“
Savil,
”
he said slowly,
“
I think our very first order of business is going to be -
”

“
The palace,
”
she supplied.

“
These seals were definitely tampered with,
”
Vanyel observed.
“
A little more power behind the attacks and the shields might well have come down.
”

Yfandes paced up beside him and extended her nose to the door, closing her eyes.
:Blood-magic,:
she judged. :
Faint, but there. Most of the energy traces are ordinary sorcery, but whoever set the spells is used to using blood-magic, and that will taint everything he does. :

“
Which means it's not Heraldic - which we figured. And probably not a local. Working mage-craft around here would get you into trouble with your neighbors quickly, but working blood-magic would get you caught and hung.
”
Vanyel licked his lips, and glanced around at the darkened courtyard. Acting on a hunch from Savil, they'd cleaned out their belongings from the inn and brought everything with them. Now he was glad they had. He raised his voice just a little.
“
Conference -
”
he called softly.

Four humans and three Companions made a huddle. Mekeal's stud was tethered as far away as possible.
“
Whoever tried to break the shields used something tainted with blood-magic,
”
he said.
“
Yfandes smelled it out. Now
I
have a problem of defense here. Jervis, Tashir, every time we pass the threshold we're going to weaken those shields further. I think maybe we'd better change our plans because I don't think those shields are going to take much more weakening, and the only way for me to reinforce them will be from inside.
”

“
That won't necessarily work either,
”
Savil observed.
“
You'll just be patching. The weak spot will still be there.
”

“
Exactly,
”
Vanyel nodded.
“
It isn't going to be pleasant, but what I'd like to do is to just cross
once,
to keep the strain to a minimum.
”

His immediate answer was a silence in which the sound of dead leaves skittering across the cobbles was enough to set his nerves jumping.
“
Set up in residence, until we figure out what happened, you mean?
”
Savil asked. He nodded. She pursed her lips, and gave a reluctant assent.
“
I'm inclined to agree. Blood-magic
will
break shields the way nothing else can, and I'd rather this place wasn't left open to tampering. But what about the Companions?
”

“
They leave,
”
Vanyel said unhappily. Yfandes Sent a wordless burst of protest.
“
I'm sorry, but I can't think of any place that's safe for them inside the city walls. The west gate stays open at night; but it's guarded. If I put a no-see, no-hear spell on them, they'll make it out all right. And if Vedric detects it, it won't matter; the stir I'm going to make by opening the shield ought to keep him thoroughly occupied.
”

Jervis cleared his throat.
“
'Mother thing; we run into trouble, that way
they're
free t' run for help.
”

Vanyel bit his lip thoughtfully.
“
Good point. 'Fandes,
I
don't like it either, but -
”

:
I
see no other recourse,:
she answered, pawing the cobbles and radiating unwillingness.

“
And you'll have to look after that damned stud.
”
:
May I kick him if he won't behave?:
she asked, raising her head and ears hopefully.

Vanyel grinned to himself. Other than Jervis, Yfandes had suffered the most from the stud's behavior; the beast kept trying to induce her to mate.
“
As much as you have to. From here to Karse if necessary. Be my guest.
”

:Then this is not altogether an unpleasant prospect. Kellan, Leshya - :
She waited for the humans to remove their packs from the saddles, then trotted to the tethered stud and freed him with her strong white teeth. With heads high and eyes fixed on Vanyel with acute interest, they waited for him to cast the spell.

Since the four of
them
already knew that the four mounts were there, the spell had very little effect on the onlookers. But Vanyel could See them surrounded with a distorting shimmer that meant the cloaking was in effect. Yfandes Mindsent him a wordless wave of love and concern, and with the stud's reins still in her teeth, turned toward the open gate to the courtyard. Then, with squeals and nips, the three Companions drove the stallion out of the gates and into the swiftly darkening streets.

Vanyel focused his inner eye on the place where he meant to set a portal in the fabric of the shields, then moved his hands in a complicated, mirror-imaged gesture. Through closed eyelids, he Saw the energy walls of the shields part just enough to let a tall man through.

“
It's open.
”
He looked with outer eyes again, and watched Jervis feel his way along the invisible - but patently tangible - shield-wall, until he came to the spot opposite Vanyel. Vanyel wasn't sure which was funnier, his expression when he couldn't force his way past the shields, or his expression when he found the
“
hole.
”

“
I can't hold this too long,
”
he warned; the other three snatched up their packs and his, and Medren's poor, battered, secondhand lute, and hurried up the stone stairs as far as the double door. They waited, white against the dark bulk of the door, while Vanyel slipped across the boundary and resealed the shields behind himself.

He took the stairs slowly, and regarded the purely physical barrier.
“
Tashir,
”
he began.

The boy looked at him in startlement.

“
Young friend, this is where you see how
useful
that Gift of yours is.
My
strong suit is
not
Fetching, and I've only seen this door once, remember.
”
Vanyel folded his arms and raised an eyebrow at him.
“
I also distinctly recall that I barred the door behind Lores.
You
surely remember what the door and bar look like, and your Gift
is
Fetching. Let's see you raise that bar.
”

“
But -
”
Tashir began to protest. Savil looked as if she might object as well, but Vanyel silenced her with a look.

“
Do it, Tashir. You're better at this than I am.
”

The young man took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and took a wide-legged stance in what may have been an unconscious imitation of the one Vanyel had taken, and frowned.

Vanyel
had
been giving him what rudimentary instruction he could, when he could. It wasn't much. But as Vanyel had half suspected, away from the disapproval of his family and
into
an environment in which
“
magic
”
was actually encouraged, he'd begun practicing, probably in an attempt to get his rogue Gift under some kind of conscious control. All of them could clearly hear the grate of the bar in its sockets on the other side of the closed metal-sheathed door; Jervis clapped Tashir on the back, startling him, as the door creaked open a thumbs'-breadth.

Vanyel did the same, a bit more gently. Tashir grinned at both of them, teeth flashing whitely in the first of the moonlight.
“
Good work, young man,
”
Vanyel congratulated him.
“
Now let's get ourselves under cover before somebody curious comes by.
”

Savil was already pushing the door open; the rest of them followed her into the absolute darkness of the entry hall. She waited until Vanyel had closed the door and rebarred it before fashioning a mage-light and sending it upward to dance and flare above her head.

“
Gods!
”
she hissed, shocked at the extent of the wreckage in the next room.

Jervis moved past her to stand at the top of the stairs, shaking his head.
“
I've seen wars and looters that weren't
this
thorough. What'n hell did that?
”

Vanyel glanced over at Tashir, who had lost his expression of triumph and had become very pale. His eyes were shadowed; his expression haunted. Vanyel put his hand lightly on the youngster's shoulder in encouragement, and felt him tremble.

Savil joined Jervis, oblivious to Tashir's distress, walking very slowly. “I can tell you what
didn't,''
she said, unexpectedly. '' Tashir.'' The youngster jerked in startlement.
“
You're sure?
”
Vanyel asked softly, feeling a tense core inside him go limp with relief. He really
hadn't
believed it was the boy, but still. , . .

“
Positive. You get under the glare of the node-energy, and this place is dusted all over with magic.
”
She closed her eyes, and reached out her hand as if to touch something.
“
There's a very old spell tied to the node that's
rooted somewhere just ahead of us. But there's a second spell overlaid on the walls themselves, and
that's
what caused this mess. Van, let me handle that one; it's a trap-spell, and I'd rather you didn't trigger it.
”

“
I'll second that. You're much better with set-spells than I am. Tashir, Jervis, did you understand that?
”

Jervis nodded.

Tashir looked both frightened and hopeful.
“
She said that there was a magic spell on the palace that - did all this? But why does that eliminate me?
”

“
Because you haven't even
Mage-potential.
Your Gift isn't
magic,
as we use the term. Real magic leaves traces of itself behind, like the dust a moth's wings leave on your hands when you catch it. You
couldn't
have done something that would leave those traces; you're not capable of it; for you, manipulating mage-energies would be like trying to carry water in a bucket with no bottom.
”

“
And that's good enough evidence for Valdemar,
”
Jervis put in.
“
Trouble is, I'd bet it ain't good enough evidence for Lineas.
”

Tashir's face fell.
“
That's only too true,
”
he said, crestfallen.

“
So our job is
to find
good enough evidence for Lineas.
”
Vanyel took on unconscious authority.
“
First off, let's clean out one of the smaller chambers and set up living quarters. Then we'll get some sleep; we'll be better off working by daylight.''

Savil dropped out of her half-trance and rejoined them.
“
I agree. I don't want to tackle anything that tricky without a full night's sleep. Tashir, this was your home; what would be the best place for us to set up where we aren't likely to be seen or disturbed?'' She shivered in a sudden chilly draft.
“And
where we can build a fire; I don't fancy freezing to death in my sleep, and there's a winter bite to the air at night.
”