The Grand Crusade (23 page)

“I think there is, Highness.” Kerrigan Reese clutched the sheet around him as he sat up. “I think the lesson Chytrine just taught me will be very useful in that regard.”

Kerrigan looked around at those in the room. The expressions of surprise on their faces—save for that of the masked puppet of course—baffled him. He realized some time had passed since Chytrine had hit him with her spell, but he didn’t know how much. He stroked fingers over his jaw to see how much beard had grown, but he found more remarkable the loose flesh there and the hard press of cheekbones than he did some stubble.

A grey-robed Magister clapped her hands. “This is a miracle.”

Kerrigan snorted. “Not a miracle by any means. It was difficult, but I just unlocked her spell.”

The woman nodded. “As any true son of Vilwan would have done.”

The young mage shook his head and drew the sheet more tightly around him. It was a surprise to him that there seemed to be more sheet than he would have expected. He’d anticipated some of the effect of his work, but not quite this much. He smiled in spite of himself, very pleased to be free.

King Fidelius looked down at him from his throne. “You must understand, Adept Reese, we were given little hope for your survival by anyone here. The mages of your homeland were puzzled by the spell, as was Rymramoch.”

Kerrigan shrugged. “It was a difficult one to deal with.” He glanced up at the king. “I hope you don’t mind me asking, but who is she and why is she here?”

The woman preempted the king’s reply. “I am Magister Tadurienne. I have been sent to bring you home.”

“Home. You mean Vilwan?” The young man frowned. “I have no home, save where my friends are. Where the fight against Chytrine is.”

“You are yet young

”

Resolute barked a quick laugh. “You say that, yet everyone here was baffled by the spell from which he found a way out.”

Tadurienne sniffed. “I did not say he is not talented. He is. With more seasoning, he would have been able to avoid it or counter it faster.”

“That might be true, Magister, but I won’t get that training on Vilwan.”

The Magister blinked. “You are still addled by your experience. You need rest. The magick has wasted you. You need to recover. On Vilwan.”

“No, see, you don’t understand at all.” Kerrigan swung his legs around and faced her. “Her spell didn’t waste me,Iwasted me. The spell would have killed anyone from Vilwan and left a corpse without a mark on it. If people hadn’t seen it cast, and if she’d taken just a bit more time, I would have seemed to die in my sleep.”

Tadurienne nodded confidently. “And you wasted yourself to change yourself, so the spell would no longer recognize you as the target. A scapegoat transference of magickal identity. You learned that on Vilwan.”

Kerrigan groaned. “No. How stupid do you think she is? That’s an ancient idea, and she made sure it would not work.”

Rymramoch clattered forward a step. “Perhaps, Kerrigan, you can elucidate on the nature of the spell and your method for dealing with it. I think even the Magister should be able to grasp your explanation.”

“Okay, it is really pretty simple.” As he made that comment he noticed Princess Alexia smile indulgently, and Crow rest his hands on her shoulders. “No, it really is simple, I promise.”

“I believe you, Kerrigan, and will listen intently.”

“Thank you, Highness.” He sighed and continued. “Chytrine’s spell has two main components. Think of it as a nut with a shell. The shell is very complex and works to disrupt magick. It also had a part that would frustrate scapegoat transferences, with terrible results for the people trying it. Talk about wasting, oh it would have been awful, with parts withering and dropping off, and suppurating boils and

”

“I believe you said this would be simple, Kerrigan.”

“Yes, Magister.” Kerrigan gave the puppet a quick smile. “That shell is why your spells didn’t tell you anything. The meat of the spell, though, was the really tough thing. It’s like a blanket that cuts a mage off from the source of magick.”

Magister Tadurienne shook her head. “That is impossible. We are the source of magick.”

“No. If that were true, I would be dead. There are things I have learned about magick that Vilwan might once have taught, but not for centuries now. Not since the time of Kirun.” Kerrigan rubbed at his throat and found a lot of spare skin there, too. “Someone from Vilwan would have found himself wrapped in a smothering blanket. Magick would be but a memory, and any spell used to break out of that blanket would fail. No Vilwanese mage has sufficient power to break out.”

She glared at him. “But you managed it.”

“I did because I know more than you, both of magick and Chytrine. You

I fashioned a spell that found Chytrine. I was able to do that because I had h essence. She is half-dragon and half-urZrethi. Her strengths lie in those areas when it comes to magick. Human magick she knows mostly through Meskartu, and he was Vilwan-trained, but not in the ways of elven magick. There I detected a weakness. I knew I had been cut off from the source of the power I needed to undo her spells, and I had to make that connection again.

“I decided to modify an elven spell because the way they are formed is simple. They grow, and I imagined a seedling just pushing its way up through the ground, through rocks and all, to reach the sun. Until it could reach the sun, however, it needed energy. So, I cast another spell on myself, a modified healing spell that sped up my metabolism. It ate up my fat and gnawed at muscles and bones. I could have starved to death, literally, but the first spell grew and pushed out through both meat and shell. It reached the source of magick, flooded energy into me, and I was able to take her spell apart.”

He opened his hands. “So, here I am, no thanks to Vilwan.”

“You know not of what you speak, Kerrigan Reese.” Tadurienne advanced and took his chin in hand, raising his face. “I have known of you since you were but a babe. You were special, even from the start, better than your brethren. All of you were bred for one purpose—to be able to oppose Chytrine. While others did nothing to prepare for her return, we did. We prepared you.Everythingyou are is because of Vilwan. We chose your parents, we saw to it they mated, we saw to your birth and raising.”

“I thought you told us, Magister, you knew nothing of Kerrigan’s birth.”

“Forgive me, King Fidelius, I had forgotten.” She released Kerrigan’s chin, then patted him on a cheek. “Our case stands. He is yet a minor and he is ours. He will come with us.”

Her imperious tone sparked anger in Kerrigan, but he tamped it down. Keeping his voice even, he looked her squarely in the eye. “I’m not going with you.”

“Of course you are. No one here can stop us from taking you.”

He looked at her frankly. “You don’t want to test that statement, Magister. The fact is, if you meant what you said about Vilwan having created me to oppose Chytrine, then taking me back to Vilwan is stupid, isn’t it? If you were sent here to get me back, you have to see why that is wrong. You forged me, just to resheath me when I am best prepared to strike at her? You know Vilwan created me and others to oppose Chytrine so the world would see Vilwan as the savior of civilization and, in that role, you could expand your power back to what it was when Kirun existed. To withdraw me now makes no sense unless you have entered an agreement with Chytrine.”

“How dare you, you insolent whelp?” Tadurienne’s slap snapped his head around. “She is Kirun’s legacy and we want it expunged from history.”

He raised his left hand to cover his cheek. The sting slowly faded, as did the venom in her words, leaving only the fear behind. “That’s it, then? You fear I am

Kirun come again? You think you forged too well and now you need to control me? Orlawasright.“

“Orla was a fool. I said I knew you as a babe. I have always opposed your training. You have proven yourself a danger and you must be reined in.” She took a step back and lowered her hands to her sides. “You will be coming with

me.

Kerrigan glanced left and right. Resolute, Dranae, Peri, and Crow had moved into positions where they could physically intervene and prevent his removal. He slowly raised his hands out at shoulder level, showing his friends open palms. The flesh beneath his upper arms quivered as he spoke. “Let her do what she wishes.”

Tadurienne’s nostrils flared. “I command you to come with me.”

“No.” Kerrigan slowly shook his head. “You’ve struck me, Magister. You touched me. I now know you. I have your essence just as I had Chytrine’s essence. You can do nothing to compel me to go with you.”

Power began to gather around her. Red sparks swirled between her hands as they came up to waist level. The red light intensified, then the woman snapped her fingers back, shoving the heels of her hands in his direction. The scarlet energy boiled out at him.

Kerrigan didn’t even bother to gesture. He knew the spell before she cast it and picked one tiny piece of it that was tied to her nature to undo it. That component was all he needed to block it, which he did with minimal effort. As if he had pulled the linchpin from an axle, the rest of the spell just fell apart. By the time the energy stream reached him, it was already evaporating.

Tadurienne stared down at her hands as if they had betrayed her. She set her shoulders and began another spell.

Kerrigan held his right hand out, then closed it, snuffing the spell as effectively as if it had been a candle flame. “No, Magister. If that spell goes wrong, you will suffer. Don’t make me prove again there is nothing you can do.”

Tadurienne looked past him at the kings. “My lords, you have just seen what he has done. He has disobeyed a direct order of a superior. He is out of control. Give him to me or you will have another Kirun to deal with.”

King Augustus stood and descended to the foot of Kerrigan’s table. “It strikes me, Magister, that Adept Reese has exhibited incredible control, especially for one of his youth. Had you struck me as you did him at his age, you’d have had a foot of steel pinning your heart to your spine. With the power you say he has, he could have done much worse.”

“Moreover, you could not control him.” Even though Scrainwood spoke for him, Kerrigan still found his voice irritating. “He has bested Chytrine. You, having recovered your memory, will now agree he was born on Vorquellyn, which would strengthen Resolute’s case for guardianship.”

Tadurienne’s voice seethed with fury. “You will find, my lords, that Vilwan has done much for you in the past. You jeopardize our future dealings. This is

something I suggest you consider long and hard. I will wait a day for your decision, King Fidelius, then I will be forced to communicate to you the Grand Magister’s thoughts on the future of our relations.“

She turned on her heel, and with her aides trailing behind a step, stalked up the stairs and out of the Guild Master Hall.

Kerrigan slipped from the table and staggered when his feet hit the ground. He found himself caught from behind by strong hands beneath his armpits. “Thank you, Resolute.”

“My pleasure, brother.”

That sent an odd thrill through Kerrigan. He looked over at Rymramoch. “Where is Bok?”

“Resting. Heavier than a truncheon blow is the wrath of a spiteful child.”

“Is there anything I can to do to help him?”

The puppet nodded. “Just seeing you are well will be a tonic to him.”

Kerrigan looked down, saw his toes, smiled, then gathered the sheet up between his legs. “Let’s go. Clothes, then Bok, thenfood. I’mstarving”

Alexia accompanied Kerrigan as far as the palace, then excused herself and returned to her rooms while people scurried about to find him suitable clothing. Once back in her chambers, she seated herself beside the fireplace and closed her eyes. Taking a deep breath, she calmed herself, then projected herself into the Communion.

She found herself on the quay, with the dragonship ready and Maroth at the helm. She also found she had been anticipated, for the Black Dragon waited for her there on the quay itself. “Greetings. Iwascoming to see you.”

“I thought you might. Preyknosery reported to me his success in bringing Oracle to Narriz.” The dragon’s ears twitched. “Are you feeling manipulated?”

“Not per se, but I do feel you are orchestrating events to what seems to be my advantage. Chytrine is revealed to have been disguised for years as Tatyana, shattering morale. In the wake of that, and the more disturbing news of the Norrington’s death, hope is resurrected because Oracle comes and says the Norrington is waiting. I know you were part of having her brought to Narriz.”

“What is your difficulty with this?”

Alexia lifted her chin and, clasping her hands at the small of her back, she met the Black Dragon’s stare openly. “I don’t know who you are, so I don’t know why you are doing this. All you have done has been to my benefit, and has hurt Chytrine, but I am uncertain how you benefit by it all.”

The Black Dragon nodded. “There are many ways I benefit, daughter, but not the least of them is in the furtherance of the Communion’s mission. We seek a united and peaceful world. Chytrine opposes it; therefore I do what I can to discomfit her.”

“But, with a mind like yours, outside of this place, you must be doing more.”

He laughed. “You, Alexia, and Markus Adrogans, even your Prince Erlestoke, are far more competent to lead troops than I. You do that well. I do this well. My efforts elsewhere would be wasted.”

The princess frowned. “How long have you known that Tatyana was really Chytrine?”

The Black Dragon canted his head. “Very good. I’ve known for over twenty years.”

“How did you know?”

“Tatyana was a member of the Communion. Chytrine took her on one of her trips into Okrannel—on a precursor to your dream raids. Chytrine did not know she was of the Communion, and Tatyana was able to communicate for a time before she perished in Aurolan.”

“And you didn’t say anything?”

“How could I? I learned the information here. I could not speak of it in the world.”

“You didn’t tell me.”

“There was no need, was there? You already disliked her and did not trust her. She thought her secret safe and her efforts effective. Had she not been exposed, I would have told you that anything she heard would go to Chytrine’s ears, and you would have been cautious. That would have been enough.”