The Vildecaz Talents: The complete set of Vildecaz Stories including Nimuar's Loss, The Deceptive Oracle and Agnith's Promise (81 page)

“Court life must have been difficult,” said Ninianee.

“Enough that I hope I don’t have to return to Tiumboj for at least two or three years.  Riast may invite me, but I’m going to have to decline.  There must be some good reason I can offer when it happens, one that won’t offend him.”  She shook herself as if to be sure she was no longer in the Porzalk Empire.  “I’m afraid I’m not in the mood for entertainments, not after what transpired.”

“I know what you mean, at least about the expectations of others,” said Ninianee.  “I’ll see if I can convince General Rocazin to issue invitations for a week from now.  Some of those who’ve just left won’t be in a hurry to return, so our company should be light.  We won’t have to house two dozen guests and their servants for three days  – I’d think we’ll have fifteen guests at most.  If we put the reception off longer than that, there’ll be rumors flying that won’t do us any good.  Besides, so soon after you’ve come back, you’ll have an acceptable excuse not to perform one of your Shadowshows at the celebration.  From what Kloveon said, I gather you aren’t ready to do a Shadowshow yet, in any case.”

“That’s one of the reasons I’d like a delay, yes,” she said, letting he hair fan out around her in the water, her face turned up while she let the warm, scented heat soak into her.  “Nin, I need to talk to you about . . . about an idea I had.”

Ninianee wiped the dampness from her face with a soft cloth and rose a short way out of the water.  “What is it?”  She knew that tone and suspected that she should give her sister her full attention.

“It’s about Papa  – about finding him,” said Erianthee, moving up one seat level in the water so her shoulders were out in the air now.  “I think there may be a way to locate him.”

“You’re not planning to summon up another god or goddess, are you?  From what Kloveon described you’d be wise not to try anything like that again, or not for a good while.”

“Perhaps not,” said Erianthee, her oblique answer alarming Ninianee.  “But the animals that bore him away might be able to show you where he is, and I may be able to . . . bind what you see enough to manifest it, so that we’ll know . . . “ She let the words trail off.  “I can’t do it without you.”

“I don’t know if you can do it with me.  I’ve never used my talent that way, and I might not be able to find a way to do so, not in the manner you’d like,” said Ninianee.  “If he still has Vildecazin animals with him, I might be able to reach them, but if not, then you’ll exhaust yourself to no purpose.”  She pulled herself half-out of the bath and looked up at the dark beams of the ceiling.  “It may be that there is something we can do together.  Let me think on it through the night.”

“Does Doms give you time to think?”  Erianthee prompted with a giggle.

“We don’t do anything but sleep, not yet,” Ninianee mumbled.

“Nothing but sleep?  He’s your Official Suitor, you said.”

“And you haven’t yet made Kloveon yours,” said Ninianee.  “Doms and I have been traveling alone together for long enough that having him as my Official Suitor makes sense, and avoids awkwardness.”

“For everyone but the two of you,” said Erianthee.  “At least you know he really is a Yaolaj by now.”

“I hope so,” said Ninianee. 

“You don’t mean you still doubt him?”  Erianthee was shocked at Ninianee’s continuing reservation.

“No, I mean he’s at odds with his father, and his situation is precarious,” said Ninianee.  “I spoke to Magsto Zhanf about it, two days ago.”  She didn’t add that it had been Doms who had told her about the alienation, back during their travels.

“If he knew, why didn’t he tell you before you left?”  she asked, and went on before Ninianee could frame an answer, “By the way, that was a very reckless thing you did, going off on your own like that.”

“I felt I had to go, Eri.”  She reached for her bathing-cloth again.  “Zhanf said he had pledged to say nothing unless I asked, and he was bound to abide by his word.  He told me that he would have explained about Doms and his father if the matter had been his to decide.”

“That’s admirable of him, I guess,” said Erianthee.  “If he’s true to his word.”

“I imagine he has to be, given his position.  A Magsto Atoreon can’t be lax in such observances, or he wouldn’t keep his position,” said Ninianee.  “And Papa trusted him.”

“Papa,” said Erianthee with a sigh.  “He trusted Zervethus Gaxamirin, too, and the Imperial Scholar only sent Pareo.”

Ninianee nodded.  “And even he’s gone.”  She folded her arms.  “What kind of rite did you have in mind?”

“I don’t know.  I thought we could look in the library.  Papa must have something useful in all those tomes.”  She stopped.  “Don’t mind me, Nin.  I’m still feeling . . . pulled out of myself and it makes me short-tempered.”

“But you manifested a god to save your escort  – small wonder you may be a bit frayed still,” Ninianee approved.  “You may be as sharp-tongued as you like after such a great feat.  Just don’t forget what it cost you.  That faint into which you fell sounded dire.”

“Without Kloveon, I’m sure it would have been much worse,” said Erianthee, getting out of the water and reaching for her jalai.

Ninianee stood up and dawdled into her larnija.  “Do you think we should tell anyone?  – about what we’re going to attempt?”

“Probably not.  They might try to stop us, if you mean Kloveon and Doms,” said Erianthee, starting to towel her hair.   For thirty heartbeats she said nothing more, then, “But we could be taking risks that we don’t need to take.  Perhaps we should let someone know what we intend.” 

“That’s what I was thinking.  Let me sleep on it, and you, too.”

“All right,” said Erianthee.  “We’re really going to do it, then?”

Ninianee tossed her tightly curling hair to shake off much of the water.  “I’ve got to do something, but I don’t want to try your idea alone.  The animal contact wouldn’t help much without your talent to reveal what I may come upon.  And it is your idea.  If you’re set on it  –  ”

“I will if you will,” said Erianthee.

“Then we’ll do it,” said Ninianee.  “We start looking for texts tomorrow.  We should have it done  – whatever we decide to do  – before your official home-coming celebration.”  She thought briefly.  “I have to meet with General Rocazin tomorrow, and a delegation of masons is coming from Valdihovee.”

“I’ll meet you in the Castle library after the afternoon meal.  We can set to work on our spell tomorrow night or the night after, when most of the Castle is asleep, after we’ve decided on the kind of spell we need.” 

“Do you think we can find a rite so quickly?  Papa has hundreds of books, some of his best in the tower library.”

“We can try there if we can’t find what we need in the Castle library,” said Erianthee with determination.  “Papa’s private library should have more advanced texts, if we need them.”

“It could take a long time to find what we’re seeking, Eri,” Ninianee warned.

“So we begin with a searching-spell, and lessen the hours of hunting.  I know one that served me well in Tiumboj.”  She had learned it from Magstee Dinenniet Meanaj during their time together in Tiumboj; the few times she’d used it, the spell had performed flawlessly.  “It might also help us hunt for Papa.”  Erianthee smiled suddenly.  “This is going to work out.  I know it will.”

Ninianee had picked up a wide-toothed comb and was dragging it through her hair.  “I hope so  – because if it doesn’t, we’ll be out of possibilities.”

* * *

The spell-hounds had completed their nightly sweep of the Castle and only the Night Guard was actively awake when Erianthee and Ninianee made their way to their father’s quarters in the tower above the keep.  Both were in mauve-grey gaunels without ornamentation, and both had added protective screening-spells to lessen the chance of their being noticed as they slipped through the darkened corridors and up twisting staircases to the tower room.  They were both excited and apprehensive at the thought of what they were going to attempt to do; when they spoke, it was in breathy whispers.

“Is there a Night Guard in the tower?”

“Not that I know of.”

They were on the next-to-last-landing when Erianthee said, “Is there any chance Doms might follow you?  He does that, doesn’t he.”  She lowered her voice to  little more than mouthing but the rounded stairwell murmured like a seashell.

“I don’t think so.  I left a small slumber-spell on my pillow.  He should sleep all night, assuming the spell is a good one: I got that out of the Castle library.”  Ninianee resumed climbing, but couldn’t keep from asking, “What about Kloveon?  Does he know where you are?”

“No.  He should sleep all night long.  I put drowse-mallow in his mead,” said Erianthee.

“They’ll be annoyed when they find out,” Ninianee warned, still climbing. 

“We’ll have done whatever we’re going to do by then, so even if they’re upset, they won’t be able to change anything.  We’ll explain the situation to them later,” said Erianthee, and they both went on in silence until they reached the top landing and the iron-bound door to Duz Nimuar’s private library and personal quarters.

“We’ll have to be as quick as we can,” Ninianee reminded Erianthee.

“Do you think it’s locked?”  Erianthee asked as they hovered outside the door.

“Probably,” said Ninianee.  “But I have an access-spell that should do the trick  – it’s one of Papa’s own, for when he forgot his keys.”  She took out her vial of ympara-oil and dropped a little on the latch, reciting an invocation to Agnith, the Preternatural as she touched the lock with a small rod of gold.  The rite was fairly short, and when it was over the latch snicked open, and Ninianee shot a look of triumph at her sister.  “See?”

They eased the door wide enough to allow them to slip inside, and then secured the lock once more.  Erianthee took a small oil-lamp from out of her large sleeve and set it on the broad table next to the fireplace.  She said the right words, snapped her fingers, and the wicks came alight, casting enough illumination for the two women to be able to read, but not enough to make the windows shine, alerting the Night Guard to their presence.  “Stand back, and I’ll do the searching-spell.  The spines of the books with the information we want should shine when I’m done, and we can choose the ones we want.” 

Ninianee set down her vial of ympara-oil.  “If you need this . . . ”

”Thanks.”  She took a sheet of parchment from her sleeve and unrolled it on the table, marking the corners with ympara-oil.  “Analahor, the Inspirational, Lenchmai, the Informer, Tsumohr, and Yenotomaj, show us the way to make the spells that will permit us to find where our father has gone, even if it is to the House of the Silent One.”   She made the required passages with her hands, then dropped grains of salt onto the parchment and waited while a faint luminescence filled the Duz’s room, moving slowly but stopping to light upon various volumes on the high shelves, leaving behind a faint lambency.  When the whole of the room had been covered, the shining air shivered, then dispersed, leaving the room once again lit only by Erianthee’s oil-lamp.  “Can you make out the spines?”

“There’re a lot of them,” said Ninianee, peering into the dimness.  “I guess I’d better get started.”  She went to the nearest shelf and pulled down Magnesteon, Purpose and Spells, The Magsto’s Techniques, Guiding Spells, Location Spells, Dual Magical Techniques, For Agnith and Kylomotarch, and The Index of the Priests of Mirvex-Doz.  “If you want to get started?  I’ll keep pulling the ones with the glowing spines.”  She put her armload down on the broad table next to the parchment, and went back toward the shelves.

Erianthee stared at the stack of books, realizing that there would be hundreds more to scrutinize in their search for the spells that would help them.  She tried not to be overwhelmed at the thought of looking through them, but as Ninianee brought another seven books to the table, she began to wonder if the two of them could accomplish their task.  She sat down and opened the nearest book, scanning its contents and turning to the middle portion of the tome.  There was a suggestion for creating spells to locate missing soldiers after a battle, and another for summoning the diejinee of the lost.  “We might try that again,” murmured Erianthee, “if the screen around Duz Nimuar can be pierced.”

“It depends on how he’s cloaked,” said Ninianee.

Erianthee looked at the growing stacks of books.  “We may need more than one night to do this.”

“Do you think Zhanf is right – that someone has cloaked our father in spells so that we can’t reach him, or is it only the . . . state of his mind that causes the difficulty?”  Ninianee had been mulling this over for most of the day and still hadn’t made up her mind.

“I think he’s cloaked, or we’d sense his confusion, one way or another,” said Erianthee as she turned the page and perused the rites described there.  “We’ll know more when we try a spell.”

Ninianee had a third armload of books to bring to Erianthee when there was a sharp sound at the door and the latch sank.  The Duzeons stared in alarm, and Erianthee scooped up the vial of ympara-oil and the unrolled parchment as the door opened and quickly concealed them at the top of her sleeve.

Heijot Merinex stepped into the room, his smile fixed and his eyes completely lacking in jovial good-will.  He was in a simple dark-gray gaihups with only a single ornament embroidered on it: an ioraj, a device neither sister had ever seen him display before. He made an insulting respect and looked from one to another, derision in his eyes.  “Well, well.  I wondered who was up here,” he said as he closed the door behind him and face the sisters.