The Mindmage's Wrath: A Book of Underrealm (The Academy Journals 2) (26 page)

Theren snorted, while Adara hid a smile. But then she leaned forwards, and in a low voice said, “When you sent your letter this morning, Ebon, I was most glad. I have heard something more from the other lovers. It seems many Academy instructors and other faculty have been seen along the east end of the Seat, though no one knows quite what they are doing.”

Ebon nodded slowly. “We saw something of this already. The new Dean, Xain, has moved into a dwelling there, and it seems the High King has placed a guard around his house—though I know not why.”

Adara frowned. “That hardly seems to account for it. There have been many goings-on—far more than could be explained by one man taking residence in a new home.”

“We were there,” said Theren, shrugging. “We saw them bringing in his possessions.”

“Well, that is not all,” Adara went on. “That Academy student has been seen about again, the one I spoke of before. Only this time they were been spotted to the east, in the same area as the dwelling you speak of.”

Ebon shook his head. “That does not matter now. Lilith has been caught, and is in the care of the Mystics. You will not see her skulking around again.”

“The student was seen only last night.”

They all went very still. Ebon, Kalem, and Adara shared a look. “Last night?” said Ebon. “But Lilith was captured four days ago.”

“Then it is not Lilith lurking about,” said Adara.

Theren stared down at her hands. But Kalem shook his head. “And we never had any reason to believe it should be, if you think about it. Likely it is someone causing harmless mischief—perhaps going to see a lover, as you do, Ebon.”

“Yet I always return before curfew,” Ebon muttered. All this talk of Xain’s home and the skulking student had brought it back: the itch at the back of his mind he had felt in his family’s courtyard, like something heard and then forgotten. And now the image of Xain’s home joined his scattered thoughts.

He started in his seat as he suddenly felt someone at his elbow. Looking up, he found Oren standing over their table. The boy’s dour expression had gone, and he smiled down at them magnanimously.

“Greetings, Ebon and Kalem. Ebon, I am sorry for speaking angrily before. My mind is much preoccupied these days.”

Ebon looked to Theren uncertainly. She broke off from glaring at Oren just long enough to give Ebon a steely look. “Worry not overmuch,” said Ebon carefully. “These are strange times.”

“Indeed. That is why I have come. I thought you and Kalem might wish to join me in the library. A number of us gather there in the evenings, to share wine and conversation. We call ourselves the Goldbag Society.” He chuckled and shook his head. “Every merchant’s child. Every son and daughter of royalty.”

A chill crept down Ebon’s spine. He looked past Oren for Nella, but the girl was nowhere to be seen. “That ... that was Lilith’s gathering,” he stammered. “But she is gone.”

Oren shook his head. “I have taken her duties in running the group. Your company would be most welcome—as would yours, son of Konnel.”

He could see that Theren was about to do something foolish, so Ebon quickly cut her off. “I thank you, Oren, but I will decline. I have friends to spend my evening with already.”

But Oren frowned at Theren. “She is no merchant’s child. No son or daughter of royalty.”

Theren shot to her feet. “I have had enough of this, and more besides. Leave us. You were not invited here, and they have already said they do not want to join your goldshitter club.”

Oren did not move. Instead he glared at her, planting both fists on the table. “They
must
join.”

“We
must
do nothing,” said Ebon, growing irritated. “Leave us be, or—”

Light flooded Oren’s eyes as he reached for his magic. But Theren struck first, not with a spell but with her fists. One hand chopped hard at Oren’s throat, and the other struck him between the eyes. He fell back with a cry, his head striking a table on the way to the floor. He rolled over on to his stomach, groaning, while Kalem shouted and gripped Theren’s arm to keep her from going after him.

Ebon was standing, unsure of what to do. But when Oren turned back to them, the glow had gone from his eyes. Instead they were wild and wide, turning in all directions. At last he focused on Ebon, mouth twisting in hate.

“I know not what I was thinking,” he spat. “To have you and this whelp of a boy would shame us all.”

“I am glad you have seen reason,” said Theren, her voice filled with steel. “Now begone, or next I will use my spells.”

Oren fought to his feet and swept away, weaving between tables and bursting through the tavern’s door. What few curious eyes had found them slowly drifted away. Ebon took his seat, as did Theren, who was still fuming.

“That was most odd,” said Adara, still looking in the direction Oren had gone.

“Perhaps you can tell your lover friends about it,” said Theren. “More whispers to slither across the Seat.”

“Theren,” said Ebon, frowning.

“It is all right, Ebon.” Adara put a calming hand on his arm. “He was beastly. I am sorry it tarnished what was a most pleasant evening.”

Ebon smiled at her. But Theren snorted and stood from the table. “The night is still young. I shall see you back at the Academy. Just now I find I need something more than wine to soothe me.”

She flung the tavern’s door open and left. Kalem frowned. “Do you think she will seek Oren, and try to finish their fight?”

Ebon shook his head. “Theren is hot-headed, but even she is not so foolish. I believe she makes for a house of lovers.”

Kalem blinked, and sank back on his bench. “Ah. I see.”

“Speaking of which,” said Adara, her hand sliding onto Ebon’s leg. “Theren was right about one thing: the night is yet young.”

Ebon smiled, but then paused. He looked at Kalem, raising his eyebrows. Kalem rolled his eyes.

“Oh, go on. It is the eve of the New Year, after all. I shall go spend mine alone, in the library. Only do not leave me to pay for the drinks. My allowance is late, and it has been scant besides.”

Ebon threw a gold weight onto the table, and then he and Adara stole off into the night, making for the blue door to the west.

twenty-seven

CLASS BEGAN THE NEXT DAY, and it seemed everyone in the Academy was all too eager to throw themselves into the business of learning once again. Ebon hoped that Yearsend had been a healing time for them all: a time to reflect upon their tragedy, to wrestle with their feelings, and then to put sorrow behind them. Now life could go on, as it had before, and everyone seemed eager to embrace it.

But three days later, Ebon received a sobering reminder of the Academy’s losses, though he did not recognize it when first it came. A messenger in dark grey robes came to the door—one of the Academy faculty, bearing a scrap of parchment that bore only a few words:

Please come and speak with me. You are still not in trouble.

Jia

That made him smile. He showed the note to Perrin, and she waved him off before resuming her lessons with Astrea, who these days barely looked up from her desk.

When he reached Jia’s study, Ebon was confused to find Theren already waiting. Jia waved him towards an empty chair, and he sat.

“I have spoken with Dasko since you made your request, and also with an old friend in the Mystics. She has secured their agreement to let the two of you see Lilith.”

Theren had been scowling since before Jia began speaking. Now she opened her mouth to speak, but Ebon saw the fury in her eyes, and interrupted her.

“Thank you, Instructor. It will do us good, I think, to see her.”

Jia looked bemused, knowing something of his feud with Lilith. And she was no fool—she likely knew something of Theren’s feelings towards Lilith as well. Yet for some reason, she had arranged the meeting anyway. He would not squander this chance, for he might never have another to learn the truth of Lilith’s motives.

But before she answered him, Jia grew solemn once more. “You must understand something before you go to see her. Lilith has been put to the question since she left us—almost a full week ago, now. Do you understand what that means?”

Ebon understood only too well. He swallowed hard. “Yes, Instructor.” Theren nodded grimly.

“She will look much the worse for wear, to say the least, for still she withholds the location of the artifacts she stole. You have been allowed to see her on one condition: you must make an attempt, at least, to draw that information out of her. Those artifacts cannot remain outside the Academy’s control.”

“We understand, Instructor.”

She softened. “And one more thing. When you see her ... you must understand that the Mystics’ questioners take no pleasure in what they have put Lilith through, nor in the further action they must take if you fail. It is their duty. And it is in the service of the Academy’s safety—as well as the safety of all the nine lands.”

Ebon bowed. “Yes, Instructor.” From the corner of his eye, he saw Theren hesitate.

“Lilith will die, then? It is certain?”

Jia’s lips twitched, and for a moment it seemed to Ebon that her eyes shone. But she blinked, and the moment was gone. “Yes,” she said flatly. “She killed another student. We all witnessed it.”

Theren’s throat worked, eyes wandering, as though she had not heard Jia’s words. She nodded, but would not meet the instructor’s eyes.

Jia stood, and led them through the Academy and out into the streets, towards a tall stone building a few blocks away. Ebon had passed the building a few times, but had never learned its purpose. As they came to a stop before its doors, he realized it must be a station for constables, for two of them stood in their red leather armor before the door.

Inside, the broad front room held more of the lawmen. But in the back corner were a pair of Mystics, both of their cloaks drawn about them. One, the taller of the two, had his hood down. The other had their hood raised, covering their eyes, and what little Ebon could see of the face was covered by still more red cloth, like a mask drawn over their features. He felt a little thrill of fear as Jia led them forwards.

“These are the students,” she said gently. “The ones to see Lilith.”

The taller Mystic said nothing, but only looked down at his companion. The shorter one spoke, and the voice, though raspy and harsh, revealed its owner to be a woman. Still he could not see her eyes. “You mean to see the murderer, Jia.”

“Yes,” said Jia softly. “The murderer.”

The Mystic’s head jerked towards the door behind her. “She is in there. We will be just outside, ready to act if she should try to harm you.”

“I can handle any harm Lilith may try to inflict upon us,” said Theren, eyes flashing.

“Can you now?” The Mystic erupted in a hideous, bubbling laugh. “Somehow the spirit in your words tells me you are no liar. Are you a firemage, then, the same as she?”

Theren frowned. “A mindmage.”

“Still better, or so I have always said.” Again came that laugh, sending shivers along Ebon’s arms. “Well, you have come for a purpose. See to it.”

The Mystic pushed open the door. Theren did not hesitate, and pushed in at once. But Ebon looked at Jia uncertainly until she ushered him on with a wave of her hand.

There, sitting and chained to a table in the room’s center, was Lilith. Ebon did not recognize her at first, and thought they must be in the wrong room. The girl’s hair had been cropped close to her head. Her limbs were pale and gaunt, and though she still wore the black Academy robes they had brought her here in, now they were covered with filth and matted with blood. Blood, Ebon guessed, from the cuts that covered her body. They were on her fingers and her hands, her ankles and feet. They had left her face free from cuts, but not from bruises, which welled up her cheeks and eyelids until she looked a different person.
 

Ebon threw a hand to his mouth, suddenly nauseated. But almost worse than her wounds was the look in her eyes. They were wide beneath the swelling, roving wildly in every direction. They must have been starving her, or else she would not eat, for her body had wasted away. She murmured and whimpered, and grunted in an unending stream of unintelligible words as though she were half-mad.
 

The sight of her froze Ebon in his tracks, and beside him, Theren looked just as horror-struck. But Lilith did not even appear to see them.

Theren started when Ebon at last put a hand on her arm. He led her forwards, and they took their seats across the table from Lilith. Ebon leaned over, trying to put himself in the girl’s line of sight. But her eyes moved with him, and away, so that he could not meet her eyes. He wanted to speak, but knew not what to say. To his shock, Theren was shaking beside him.

“Lilith?” Ebon said softly. “It is Ebon and Theren.”

“Why?” said Lilith, the word snapping like a whip from amid her mutterings.

Ebon looked at Theren, and she back at him. Then he leaned forwards. At least she knew they were here. “Lilith ... we have come to speak with you. We want to know why ... why you killed Vali. And Credell.”

She slapped her palms on the table, and then winced at the sound of it.
“I did not kill Credell!”
she hissed, looking him in the eyes for the first time. But then she looked away again, eyes roving across the walls. “I did not kill Vali either. I do not think I did. I wanted to help him. To save him. He was supposed to join us. The goldbags. I asked him.”

Theren sat up straight, sudden anger flashing in her eyes. “You asked him to join your little club, and killed him when he refused?”

But at Theren’s cry, Lilith retreated into herself. Her wrists were chained, but she pulled them as far back as she could, and drew her knees into her chest, whimpering.

Ebon placed a hand on Theren’s arm. “I do not know that that is what she is saying,” he whispered. “Or that she truly understands what we are asking.”

“I do,” insisted Lilith, whispering without looking up from beneath her close-cropped hair. “I do.”

He leaned in across the table, keenly aware that the Mystics were just outside, and could likely hear every word. “Lilith. Were there others involved?”