A white shirt in a straightforward style—those could do well in any era—leather pants, and a leather jerkin. The leather was expensive and high-quality, soft as butter. You could wear it without any smallclothes, even. But as for my feet...
“Take a look at this. Not sure if it will fit, but I couldn’t find anything better.”
The boots were obviously too big, and the soles had cracked. Still, that was better than nothing.
“Where did you get them?”
“They are my father’s old boots. He’s too greedy to give them to the servants, but his feet have grown too big, or, rather, have swollen.”
“I’ll have to change them. Is there a place?”
“There’s a town called Anderron about eight hours away from the castle.”
“Yours?”
“It’s on my land. Can you get there?”
Could I? That was a funny question.
“Innis, sweetie, tomorrow afternoon, get ready to meet your cousin Alex...err...”
“Belient.”
“That’s right. I’ll have to remember that.”
The girl’s smile turned especially snide, and she shoved a sheet of paper torn from some book into my hands. The edges were jagged, it had clearly been pulled in a rush.
“That’s my family tree. Learn it.”
“Will do, my Countess.”
“Cousin Innis.”
“My dear cousin, grandma told me so much about the Andago family. You won’t believe how much I wanted to see her homeland! And after the recent war...”
Innis grew sulky.
“That’s true...”
I smiled.
“Cousin Innis, cheer up. May I go?”
She nodded.
“Yes. Tomorrow afternoon?”
I pocketed the sheet of paper.
“I promise.”
“Come on, I’ll lead you out. I also have some money here...”
“Cousin, I won’t take a woman’s money!”
“But—”
“I’ll think of something. Trust me, demons aren’t poor.”
She believed me and smiled shyly. She was beautiful; Dariola was nothing compared to her, even if a princess. I took a dagger from the wall.
“May I?”
“Of course.”
Great. I didn’t really want to scratch myself with my own claws. And then, I wasn’t sure whom I would meet on the way there. What if I had to...get to know them better?
We passed through dark passages, never meeting anyone. Good, I didn’t really want to kill anyone. Upon saying goodbye, Innis looked at me sadly. I touched her cheek.
“Cousin Innis, smile. I promise I won’t disappear before we solve your problems.”
She didn’t believe me, but I knew we would make it. We definitely would.
***
Summoning Ak-kvir was easy. He appeared almost right away and sniffed the air.
“You again, necromancer?”
“Do you object?”
“Do you have the payment?”
I sneered viciously.
“I’ll figure something out.”
“Get comfortable, then.”
I sat down on his back, and Ak-kvir darted off straight ahead.
Eight hours to the town? Dear Innis, just twenty minutes...and that’s taking into account that the demon had grown very lazy. We passed the town wall in a few rough leaps. Good thing that Ak-kvir’s claws were saber-sharp and could pierce any stone three feet deep. And finally, I was left standing in a narrow street.
Monsignors bandits, come on. I can’t believe nobody wants these easy pickings!
Yeah, that was rhetorical.
Five minutes later, a three-man group stumbled upon me. They were so delighted that it was even funny.
“Oh, look who’s come to visit!”
“A noble boy, bless his heart!”
“You there, stand and deliver!”
They tried to surround me; how naive. Did they want me to speak?
Like dark lightning, I darted off, reaching the first man’s throat with my suddenly elongated claws and the second, with Innis’ dagger. The third one shrieked, ready to flee, but Ak-kvir appeared right behind him, and simply bit his head off with his terrifying jaws.
“Bon appetite.”
“Thank you.”
“Wait, don’t eat his pockets, there might be money there.”
Without needless disgust, I looted all three bodies and wiped my dagger on their clothes. Those were some slim pickings. But they aren’t the only robbers left in town, are they? I’ll have a walk... Ak-kvir, do you need more time to finish your meal? Oh, you’re already done! Great. Come on.
The demon sneered, content. Demons couldn’t get into our world freely, but I let him in, my power was like an anchor to him, and I made sure to feed him—all of that was enough to let a necromancer mount him. It’s not like it was too hard for him, after all.
By the morning, we had cleared Anderron of twelve more slum dwellers. Ak-kvir looked sated, and my pockets were full of coins. And no, I felt no shame. There was no reason to; so what if I had fed a score of bastards to a demon? Those who take pity on them have never met such scumbags in the street at night, or they’d quickly forget all about compassion. A garrote on your throat or a blackjack to your head are a compelling argument against it.
And then again, they did repeatedly demand that I share my money with them. Let them do the same.
I released the demon before dawn and dragged myself to the nearest tavern, where I ordered some food, and lots of it. Delicious. I wanted to sleep, but I had made a promise to Innis. Whatever, I would make up for it in Andago.
Meanwhile...
Where is the nearest horse trader? Two blocks from the tavern? Awesome. And a cobbler?
I had enough money for new boots, a cloak, and even a horse with a harness and a couple of saddlebags. That was a nice county if just a dozen bastards had so much. Mine were poorer, probably. Should I check? Maybe. Walk around the capital’s narrow streets under the moon... Of course, I wouldn’t have much money left after that, but I couldn’t linger. And then, I could summon Ak-kvir.
The horse slowly moved toward Andago. I was quite annoyed with losing so much time.
On the other hand...why should I be? I could use it to reach my relatives and talk to Martha. I wasn’t a random warlock, I was a half-demon and didn’t have to wait until night to call upon them, and they were bound to hear me.
It took a lot of power, but I finally managed to reach Martha. She was definitely alive and well, but very angry. She wasn’t captured, either, but she clearly felt my curiosity and satisfied it as much as she could.
Rage, anger, worry...I decided I would summon a lower-level demon at night to send her a message. Or should I do it now?
No, better not. I was already exhausted, and I would have to do more than just cast spells. Daylight also wasn’t my time of choice. Using magic during the day took more power and was harder to mask. If some thrall happened to be near, they would start looking for me, and I had no need of that.
Andago would be a better place, and the walls there would help.
Too bad I hadn’t known about Innis before. A good bloodline. Necromancers were hard to come by, and she was a countess! And she had spirit!
What woman would risk summoning a demon not for herself, but for her family, having no idea what would happen or if she could succeed in bargaining with it? She hadn’t done it for her own gain. She didn’t care about money, but Andago blood was not to disappear.
What a girl.
***
Evening was almost at hand when the spires of Andago castle appeared on the horizon. My horse was tired and started to stumble, slowing down to a walk. Horses were such a bother.
The guards met me at the gate.
“Halt! Who goes here?”
“Alexander Innorant Belient, the youngest heir of Baron Belient. Announce my arrival to your masters.”
&nb
sp; The guards exchanged wary looks, but didn’t dare to argue. The most important thing was poise, and I had authority infused in my blood, after all those years on the throne.
One of the guards remained by the gate, while the other went to inform the count, and pretty briskly. I didn’t have to wait long, as Innis bounced into the court.
“Cousin! At last! I am so happy!”
Her father also arrived on the scene. Well, what can I say? The girl was lucky to take after her mom. He was short, balding, and fat, with hanging bulldog’s lips and a frown on his face. He had the look of a man who knew everything, loved lecturing people, and brooked no argument.
“Cousin Innis. Charming, as expected.”
“Yes! Alex, that’s my father, currently serving as Count Andago.”
Oh. I couldn’t have shut him down worse if I tried. Sidon Andago glared, turned crimson, but had nothing to say.
“And you...”
“Father, I told you about it. Alex wrote me a few months ago, and I invited him here.”
“I won’t stay here long, and I promise not to inconvenience you in any way. It’s just my grandma...she told me so much about Andago that I simply had to take a look.”
Sidon would have kicked me out for sure, but the custom of hospitality was too deeply entrenched.
“Well then. Welcome, cousin. May I introduce you to my wife, Amorta Andago.”
“My pleasure.”
A middle-aged woman of unremarkable appearance coyly gave me her hand, and I touched her fingers with my lips.
Of course, she didn’t like Innis. She had sparse blonde hair, petite features, a scrawny figure that even padding in all the right places couldn’t save, and eyelashes and eyebrows profusely blackened with make-up. Next to Innis, she looked like a piece of soggy bread. What could Sidon see in her, if Innis’ mother looked the same as her daughter?
Of course, men don’t often pick smart and strong women. It’s so much easier for them to find someone next to whom they look like an alpha male. Let her be a cow, so long as they soar in the sky like an eagle, casting a shadow on the ground with their sweeping wings. Wow, I’m starting to wax poetic.
What if I took a closer look? Oh wow. The lady spared no expense on love potions!
Balms, ointments, and she might have added something to his food, too! Why hadn’t Innis noticed that? But then, those things didn’t work on mages, and the spells used to make them were quite specific. I only learned about them during my talks with Mistress Eliza, but how could a snotty girl know about them?
We’ll deal with it.
I smiled sweetly. “Amorta, you’re enchanting. I can understand what your husband sees in you.”
Of course, I could, and I wasn’t lying about the enchantments.
“What about your dear child?”
“Ingor? Oh, he’s in the nursery. Did Innis write about her brother?”
“How could she stay silent about her kin?” I declared dramatically.
Of course, she couldn’t, even if she didn’t consider him her brother at all. What can you do, blood isn’t everything. Family also means education and communication, and if you never let the girl come close to her brother, no familial connection could ever form. Would you be attached to a person that you met once a month for three minutes while under constant supervision? That’s what I’m talking about.
To Innis’ credit, she wished no evil upon the baby, but neither did she wish him any good. She simply tried to avoid seeing him in any way. Let Amorta’s family take him and do with him whatever they wanted. Her relatives, her problems.
Sidon sighed and invited me to the dining room while expressing surprise that I traveled light. I had to complain that we poor Tevarrians weren’t exactly popular in Radenor anymore. And for what? We have never done anything wrong!
It turned out to be quite a fertile ground for discussion, and we spent the next ten minutes throwing mud at Radenor, the scumbag. How could we not! A sorcerer, almost a necromancer—they say his mother was a fire mage, but who knows what magic he has! And his mother almost burned his cousin alive, too, and Bright Saint only knows what he himself has done. But really, his uncle’s troubles started as soon as he appeared in Radenor.
Whoa, I knew about the rumors, but I never expected the Church to set people against me so noticeably.
As for Princess Dariola... Poor girl! It must be so hard for her, living with that nasty creep! We can only pray that the poor woman doesn’t lose her own soul...
Yeah...and I brought her upon myself. If they are already gossiping like that, maybe I really should show up in Alethar, tell everyone about my power and rule by steel and blood? Or should I not?
A king has to be loved or he won’t remain king for long. He would burn himself up while trying to achieve something. A country already was an ancient, complicated, and rusted up winch, which could only be turned if nobody tried to oppose you. And if your own subjects hated you...
Although they weren’t actually mine. I hoped that Radenorians thought better of me. Still, it was an alarming sign. How much have I missed? The ghosts had told me a lot, but I hadn’t sent them to Riolon...and I really should have.
A gullible fool. Have I said that already?
***
During dinner, I felt like I was the main course. The local residents questioned me about everything, starting from silk prices in Tevarr to my family, from weather to the royal palace. I squirmed like I was in a hot pan, trying to avoid telling too much. I was pretty good at that.
By the end of dinner, Amorta graced me with a smile and a suggestive look from her thin eyelashes, while Sidon thawed out and started to tell me his hunting stories. If they had been true, all the beasts in Radenor wouldn’t be enough for him.
I listened to them, nodded, and was finally rewarded with seeing the heir: Sidon’s complete copy. He had Amorta’s ears, but was the spitting image of his father otherwise. Maybe that was why he cherished the child so much. Innis was way too smart, sharp, and independent, not to mention, entirely Andago in her appearance. Blood couldn’t be locked away.
I had to coo for a bit, while discreetly collecting a few stray hairs from the baby’s clothes. Let’s see if he’s truly Innis’s brother...
I told them that my visit would be a short one. I would like to get to know the family and go back in ten or twenty days. If you don’t mind, that is. I could also return to the town or live in a village.
Sidon, of course, couldn’t bring such shame upon his lineage and invited me once again to stay as long as I would like.
I promised I wouldn’t stay a day longer. I still had to deal with my own mess, so I could only spend so much time there. Still, I would make the most of it.
Incidentally, the chambers that I was given were far away from Innis’, even if she had requested that I stay next to her. They wouldn’t put a guest into the northern tower, would they? They most certainly would and did. A pretty great place, actually. I had demon bones buried under a corner, walls that had seen a lot in their time, a couple of ghosts that needed help with manifesting, an aura of spilled blood... Awesome! I appreciated it a lot.
And I appreciated it even more when just before nightfall, a secret passageway opened up in a wall, Innis’s smiling face sticking out of it. What a fox!
“How are you here?”
“Magnificent. Will you keep me company, cousin?”
The girl had great self-control. She sat in a chair, drank two gulps of wine, and even bit off a piece of apple before finally asking, “So?”
“Do you know that Amorta dabbles in charm potions?”
“Bitch.”
“How rude for a young lady! Innis! The Andago ancestors are watching you!”
She flung the apple at me. I caught it and took a bite as well.
“It’s beneath you to offend dogs with such comparisons.”
“And using charm potions?”
“Who would ever be tempted by that dowerless moth? I also need your
hair or blood.”
“What for?”
“To check if your half-brother is actually related to you.”
“When?”
“As soon as we find your great-grandfather’s laboratory.”
“Laboratory?”
“I’m sure there is one, somewhere in the basement, maybe even right below this tower.”
“That’s likely,” Innis said thoughtfully. “This tower was built first; the others followed.”
“Then...can we go down to the basement?”
“Right now, if you like. Everyone’s already sleeping.”
“Then I’ll lock the door, and let’s go. Will you come with me, Countess?”
“As you wish, cousin Alex.”
The glimmer in her eyes, the smile on her face...yeah, I couldn’t leave that place just yet. I liked Innis too much to abandon her to her fate. I would fix her up and then get home.
Oh, and I really should talk to Martha. She was alive and unhurt, or I would have felt it, but I really had to know what was happening in my kingdom.
***
I liked the dungeons of Castle Andago. They were in dire need of cleaning, however: dust, webs... But the smell of necromancy outweighed all those drawbacks.
Yes, those in the know could smell it. It was the aroma of dry snakeskin, fresh blood, wormwood blowing in the wind at night, bitter on the tip of the tongue...peculiar, but quite pleasant…for me, at least; Innis shuddered. She was an air mage, after all. She preferred open spaces, highlands, fresh breezes. Underground, she was out of her element.
“Alex, do you think Ingor’s not my brother?”
“Quite possibly.”
Firmly, I walked toward the smell. It would be the strongest inside the laboratory, or a hideout, or...
Something would be there, or the atmosphere would be different.
“Could Amorta have cheated on father?”
“That one? Who’d want her? Even with a charm potion, you’d never find such a fool.”
Innis’ eyes flashed so brightly I could see it in the darkness.
“You’re talking about my father, mind you.”
“Now that’s far from certain.”
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