The Firemage's Vengeance (7 page)

“A merchant family from Dulmun,” said Ebon. “I know the name.”

“They left the Seat just before it was attacked—and now it may be guessed that they knew of Dulmun’s treachery before it happened. They have not returned since.”

The sky was already darkening above them. Ebon gave a weary sigh. “What is this all about, Mako? Curfew is not far off, and I cannot be out this late.”

“This will not be a long engagement,” said Mako. “And besides, if you are late in returning, you will not be the only one.”

He ducked in through a gap in the fence, crossed the courtyard, and entered the manor through its front door. Ebon swallowed hard, wondering what the bodyguard had meant by that comment, before he finally mustered the courage to follow.

MAKO [2]

From the street, the manor looked nowhere near as impressive as the home of Ebon’s family. But when he crossed the threshold, the sight of the main hall froze him in place and robbed his breath. Far it stretched, thirty paces at least, and lined with hearths to either side. At its head was the greatest fireplace of all, where a fine mantel of marble was likely meant to hold treasures and goblets of silver and gold. The shelf lay bare now—what the invaders had not taken, looters would have stolen since. That is, if the family Skard had not taken their valuables with them when they fled.

Running the hall’s length was a mammoth wooden table, wider than Ebon was tall, and a long bench to either side of it. Where the Drayden manor had little dining rooms in which the family could take their meals in privacy and comfort, this was a place for feasts, banquets for an entire clan at once, where merchants and servants alike could be seated by station, while their children and the dogs played and tussled on the rugs in the corners. Some of these still remained: those too grease-stained or ratty to be stolen. Though all the hearths lay cold, and the place was lit only by the fading daylight coming through the door, Ebon could imagine the hall filled with proud Dulmun warriors, the air ringing with their ululating songs.

Then he caught a motion at the other end of the hall, and his breath caught in his throat. But peering deeper, he saw it was Mako—and beside the bodyguard, to Ebon’s great shock, were Theren and Kalem.

“What … Mako, what are they doing here?”

Theren glowered at him, and then at Mako. “We were summoned. Mako told us you were in great peril, and to meet him here at once so that you might be rescued.”

“And look how quickly they came, boy.” Mako’s smile was cruel. “We should all be so lucky to have such loyal friends.”

“Ebon, what is going on?” said Kalem. Ebon could see the fear in the boy’s eyes. Kalem eyed Mako’s cruel knife, and Ebon knew he was thinking of the time the bodyguard had drawn blood from Ebon’s throat with the tip of it.

“This sack of dung has lied to us,” said Theren. “We are not your lackeys, bodyguard, to be dragged across the Seat at your whim.”

Mako flicked his fingers in the air. “Isra is on the loose, and we must find her. Do you not want that? You may spurn my aid if you wish, but then you must capture her yourself.”

“Do you think me incapable of it?” Theren drew up to her full height, which was only a pair of fingers shorter than Mako. “I would stand a better chance against her—one wizard against another.”

“You think I have never killed a mindmage before,” Mako’s voice had taken on a dangerous growl. “That is the trouble with you wizards. You are used to being more powerful than everyone you meet, and so you grow overconfident. That is when someone like me arrives to slit your throats.”

Theren glared back at him. But Ebon remembered Isra, and how she had blasted Mako with her magic, only to leave him unharmed. A shiver of fear ran through him.

Before Mako or Theren could utter another word, Kalem stepped between them. He held his hands out to either side, though it was ludicrous to imagine he could stop them with his diminutive frame.

“If the two of you have taken sufficient measure of each other, mayhap we could speak of whatever Mako has summoned us for? I would rather not miss curfew.”

Mako’s countenance shifted at once to a kindly smile. “An excellent idea, child. Here is the matter at hand: ever since last we saw Isra, something has been brewing upon the Seat, and I have not been able to wrap my fingers around it.”

Theren scoffed. “Something? What does that mean? What is brewing?”

“If I knew that, do you think I would require your help? I am aware of how desperate I seem, coming to the three of you. But the spies I have tucked into the city’s dark corners tell me nothing. When someone gets up to dark business, it sends out ripples. There have been many such ripples of late, but I cannot follow them back to the center. I thought it must have to do with smuggling Isra from the island, but now we know that she is still here.”

“You are telling us, then, that you were wrong?” said Theren, arching an eyebrow.

Mako’s nose flared. “Not all information is a clear as the words on one of your scrolls.”

Theren nodded. “Of course not. It is easy to imagine how you might have been misled.”

Ebon feared that Mako might strike her. But with great effort, he went on. “In any case, now we know she is here, and she seems to have no intention of leaving. I am bringing you into the fold on the slight chance that you may be able to help. Am I wise to do so?”

“We will do what we can, of course,” said Ebon. “But I fear we know nothing more than you.”

“That may be true,” said Mako. “But then, you may know something without knowing it. Whatever buzzes within the city, it has something to do with the family Yerrin—an odd thing, for recently they have been on their best behavior.”

That raised Kalem’s eyebrows. “Yerrin keeping their noses clean? That is a wonder.”

“They were implicated in the attack,” said Mako. “The High King had half a mind to purge them from the land, and they only barely avoided that fate. They have been good little children since—but now they have begun to lurk again.”

“You think they are working with Isra, then?” said Ebon.

“That is entirely possible, though not certain.”

Ebon thought of Lilith. Surely if Yerrin were involved with Isra’s doings, then Lilith could be of help one way or another. But even as he opened his mouth to speak, Theren caught his eye. She looked anxious, or frightened, and gave him a quick shake of her head. Ebon closed his mouth again.

The silence in the hall had stretched a moment too long, and Mako was peering at them. Theren spoke up quickly. “Yerrin, working with Isra? It seems unlikely. Her schemes brought them great suffering. Oren was murdered. Lilith was tortured, and would have been executed.”

Mako shrugged. “That is hardly out of character for the Yerrins. Their thoughts and schemes stretch for years, and they are willing to prune some dead branches to ensure a healthy growth.”

But Ebon was not so sure. He remembered Oren’s mutilated body, and the madness in Lilith’s eyes. Surely even the cruelest plan could not stand by such actions. He saw the same doubt in Kalem’s face.

Their hesitation seemed to annoy Mako, for he gave a little growl. “Very well, then. Let us leave the Yerrins alone for now. But to search for Isra, I must start in the right place. Tell me what happened when I left you in Xain’s home—and I mean all that happened, with no detail added or left out.”

Ebon stiffened in fear, and saw it reflected in the faces of his friends as well. Mako saw it, and smiled as he settled down on one of the benches at the head of the table.

“This must be an interesting tale indeed.”

“As she fled, I tried to stop her,” said Ebon. “I missed her, but I got hold of the amulet. Kekhit’s amulet, the one she used to cast mindwyrd, and also to hide her magic.”

“I remember it,” said Mako. “What next?”

“When we ourselves tried to leave, she was there. She had Xain’s son, and she took him prisoner.” Ebon shuddered as he remembered the fear in the boy’s eyes, his whimpering cries as Isra dragged him away. “She tried to kill me, and Kalem as well, but Theren recovered and saved us.”

Mako’s eyes narrowed. “Why did you not give Theren the amulet? She could have stopped Isra, could she not?”

“I had not yet thought of that,” said Ebon sharply. Then he stopped, and his eyes went wide.

“Yet,” said Mako, his smile widening. “You had not yet thought of it. But you did think of it.”

Theren shook. “Darkness take you, Ebon.”

“He is trying to help,” Ebon told her. “We will do ourselves no favors by holding back. Yes, Mako, I thought of using mindwyrd. For when Isra fled, Dasko arrived. He is an instructor at—”

“I know the man,” said Mako. “And I think that now I know the rest of your tale. He found you before you could get out of Xain’s home, and you were holding the amulet. You thought he would expose you—and you were right to think it. So you gave the amulet to Theren, and she used her mindwyrd to make him forget you had been there.”

“Yes,” said Ebon. “You have it.”

Theren turned to hide her face. Kalem’s head drooped, and carefully he took a seat at the table opposite Mako. Ebon sighed. To speak the truth so plainly … it was a relief, and yet he wished it had been to someone other than Mako.

The bodyguard was studying his fingernails. He drew his knife and began to pick under one of them. “I am no wizard. Yet it seems I have heard something of mindwyrd—that if it is not maintained, it produces a sort of mind-sickness in the victim.”

No one answered him. Theren met Ebon’s eyes, and he saw how haunted her expression had become.

“I take it that your silence means I am right,” said Mako. “If that is so, you did not use mindwyrd upon Dasko once, and then let him be. You have been using it ever since.”

“We have,” said Ebon quietly. Theren turned away again.

“That is excellent,” said Mako. “Your new Dean Forredar has some knowledge of Yerrin. And Dasko will be close in Xain’s counsel, for he is a wise man and well respected at the Academy. Mayhap we can use Dasko to use Xain.”

“What?” said Kalem, straightening at once. “We will not use mindwyrd on Dasko to control him, but only to make him forget. Keeping his memory empty is one thing. Using him to accomplish our own ends …”

“I will not do it,” said Theren. She stormed up to the table and slammed her hands down on it. The heavy
THOOM
of the blow echoed around the hall, flitting about its many pillars. “I will not, and that is the end of it. He is like a puppet on strings, and I feel more of a monster every time I jerk them. Mayhap I do not suffer from magestone sickness, but this is its own kind of torture.”

“We will not use him for evil,” said Mako. His tone was gentle, as though he were persuading a wounded animal. “We will only collect information we cannot get ourselves. And that information could do great good. It could even save the life of the boy, Erin.”

“Erin could already be dead,” said Ebon. “He likely is. It has been weeks.”

“I know something of these matters,” said Mako. “One does not take a hostage if one does not intend to use them. And through Dasko, we could learn something that—”

“Stop saying that!” cried Theren. “Stop saying ‘we,’ when you mean me. We are not committing a crime—I am. We will not be put to death if this scheme is discovered—I will.”

“We are with you to the end, Theren,” said Ebon quietly. “We have been there every step of the way. If the King’s law learns of our dealings, we will not abandon you to die alone. And if you refuse this scheme, I for one will not argue against you.”

“We cannot do it,” said Kalem. “If we do, we are little better than those we hope to expose. Evil cannot defeat evil, but only strengthens it.”

Mako stood suddenly from the table, and his eyes had grown hard again. “This is not a council. My duty is to see to Ebon’s safety—and if you call him your friend, girl, then your duty is the same. The next time you use your power on Dasko, have him tell you what Xain knows of Yerrin, as well as anything he knows about where Isra went. I assure you, Dean Forredar will have been most earnest in his searching.”

Theren did not answer him for a moment, but looked to Ebon. He gave her a little shrug. “It is your choice.”

She sighed. “Very well. I will ask him—but I will not command him to go digging any further.”

Mako smiled. “Good enough, I suppose—for now. In that case, the three of you had better scuttle off back home. I have heard that curfew draws near.”

eight

THE STREETS HAD GROWN COLDER still, for the sun was almost gone. They hurried between the snowdrifts, moving quickly for warmth as well as for the lateness of the hour. Ebon waited until they had left the manor a few streets behind before he spoke to Theren.

“When I almost spoke of Lilith, you stopped me. Why?”

She gave a nervous look over her shoulder. “I wish you would not speak of her even now. I feel like that man has ears everywhere, even among us.”

“He is nowhere in sight, and I am no traitor,” said Kalem.

Theren sighed, and the frost of it whipped around her face as they hurried on. “I fear that if Mako knew of our closeness—well, my closeness—to Lilith, he might think of her as a target. Especially now that he is so interested in the doings of the family Yerrin. And I think that we have already put her through enough. We pursued her when she was innocent, and she was put to the question because of it. I wish to cause her no more harm.”