Assassin of Curses: (The Coren Hart Chronicles Book 3)

by Jessie D. Eaker

  Help....

  And then he was silent.

  I looked to Zofie. “Something’s wrong with Abe!”

  But I did not receive an answer. My eyes went wide in horror as I saw Zofie’s face—it was completely expressionless. Her arms hung limp at her sides.

  “Zofie!” I called. I gently turned her face toward me.

  Her beautiful blue eyes swept in my direction, but they did not see me. They held no recognition.

  It was like no one was home.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Forced Hand

  I stepped up to the bars of the holding cell and considered its single occupant. Cabrina sat on a stool in the center of the room and smiled back at me innocently. She looked down and smoothed a wrinkle on her dress.

  I watched her silently. I was unsure of how to approach an interrogation. She acted just like a young girl. Yet I knew from experience, she was much more. I wanted to be angry at her but punishing the body would do nothing to the other intelligence inside her. It was like beating up the coat of a thief. The garment had no choice in the matter and couldn’t help that it had been worn while a crime had been committed.

  Fumiko would be joining me in a moment. She was overseeing Zofie’s examination by the healer and Master Rourke. She had pushed me out of the room, saying I needed to quit walking around in a daze and find out what had happened. She was right, of course. I was having trouble dealing with this.

  When the charm had activated, all of Zofie’s bright intelligence had been yanked from her. She would walk if pulled forward, sit if placed next to a chair, eat if food was pushed in her mouth. But nothing more.

  Unfortunately, Zofie wasn’t the only casualty. Abhulengulus wouldn’t answer. I had called his name several times, but he had been deadly silent since his plea for help. The charm had to be interfering with him too. Rourke had examined me after looking at Zofie. He said my curse was still there, and even looked to be operating on some level. But he couldn’t tell me if Abe was truly broken or was just being suppressed. He did admit that combining curses and charms could have unexpected effects. While both used myst and could do similar things, they operated quite differently. I began to suspect that maybe the charm had actually been intended for me, but because of that strange charm to curse interference, Abe bore the entire cost.

  Funny, I had wanted to be rid of Abe since I first got him, but over the last couple of months, we had come to an understanding. Now that he was broken, I had to say I missed him.

  I shook my head and tried to focus on the problem in front of me. We had to figure this out.

  Cabrina loosened her braid and began to redo it. She seemed utterly unconcerned that she sat in a dungeon cell and had just harmed the kingdom’s ruling monarch.

  A moment later, Fumiko strode into the dungeon with a guard and Master Rourke in her wake.

  “How is she?” I asked. Fumiko glanced briefly at our captive before turning her gaze back to me. Her expression was unreadable. “The same.”

  I looked to Rourke. He shrugged. “The charm somehow interferes with mental processing. Her mind appears to still be there, after a fashion. But it’s like she has been separated from her body.”

  I frowned. “It’s got to be the bracelet. Can we remove it?”

  Rourke cleared his throat. “I’m not sure that taking it off is a good idea. At least until we can learn more about how it operates. I hate to admit it, but it’s a very complex charm, far beyond my abilities. I might study it for years and not fully understand it.” He pointed to my wrist. “Oh, and one other thing. It’s also connected to yours, and I believe, one other charm.”

  “A third?” I turned toward Cabrina, who was watching us with interest. “Your bracelet is the third one, isn’t it?” I asked her.

  Cabrina smiled at me but said nothing. She finished her braid and sat up straight, once more smoothing out her skirt. The youth finally pulled up her dress’s sleeve to show us the bracelet she had displayed earlier. “I told you already,” she said. “Take the bracelets off, and our bodies die. All three of us.”

  “You too?”

  She nodded.

  I looked to Rourke for confirmation, but he just shrugged. “I can’t say whether she’s right or not. The princess may have been able to tell, but I have no idea.”

  I shook my head and glared at Cabrina. “Why? Why did you do it?”

  She didn’t answer.

  I frowned and turned to Fumiko. “Were you able to find out anything?”

  Fumiko snorted. “Spraggel has been a whirlwind of investigation. I think he’s called in every favor anyone has ever owed him. According to what he’s found so far, Cabrina is exactly as she appears—a girl with myst abilities attending school. Her parents are extremely loyal and noticed nothing unusual about her behavior. Same story from her friends. Nothing extraordinary, except for the substitution. The day before the girl originally chosen was to leave, she took ill and nearly died. It left her too weak to come.” Fumiko took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “She was diagnosed with food poisoning. Not surprising since our supplies are in such bad shape. But it could have easily hid a different type of poison.” Fumiko turned her gaze on our captive. It was cold as ice. “Couldn’t it, Cabrina?”

  Cabrina just smiled and shrugged.

  I sighed. “What about Maggie?”

  Fumiko frowned. “We’ve confined her to her room. She is very distraught over what happened and has cooperated with us as best she can. More importantly, she is not possessed by a Dark Avenyts.” Fumiko shook her head sadly. “No, it appears she was simply used to get close to you and the princess.”

  “Maggie had nothing to do with this,” Cabrina interjected. “I’m the one that put the charms on the bracelets.” She sat up straighter and leaned forward on her stool, showing the first concern I had seen in her. “It was all me. I’m the guilty one.”

  I grasped the bars of her cell and leaned against them. “You realize Maggie is technically an accomplice. She made the bracelets and carried them inside the castle. That’s enough to execute her right there.”

  Cabrina sat back in thought. After a moment, a slow smile came to her face. “If you want me to answer your questions, you will release her and bring no charges. She was my tool. Nothing more. She worships both you and the princess, so there is no way she would knowingly cause you harm.”

  “I’m not sure the magistrate will go along with that.”

  “You’re the Cursed Knight. They will listen to you. It is the only way you’ll get your questions answered.”

  “How do I know you’ll keep your word.”

  She shrugged. “I will keep my word, as you will keep yours.”

  “Are you sure?”

  She smiled. “You’re the Cursed Knight. Maggie has told me enough about you that I have a good idea of your character.”

  I sighed. “All right. I’ll speak with the magistrate to dismiss the charges.”

  Cabrina sat forward. “And she stays at the school. She wants to attend very badly.”

  I nodded. “And she stays in school.”

  The youth smiled. “Now what would you like to know?”

  I thought for a moment. “Why did you do it?”

  She shrugged. “I assume it was to make it easier for my kind to take over this world, but other than that, I’m not sure. I was just given the bracelets and instructed on what to do. I am of low cothe, so they did not tell me what this was for.”

  “Cothe?” I asked. “What is that?”

  Fumiko answered for her. “There’s no word for it in Ellish. It’s a combination of caste and rank. She’s basically saying she’s young, low-born, and a common foot soldier.”

  I glanced in Fumiko’s direction, but her face was expressionless. Fumiko had been possessed by one of their kind for a few months. She never spoke of the experience, but we knew it bothered her greatly. Not only had it taken control of her body, but it had also riffled through the knowledge in her brain as on
e would the books in an archive. But I hadn’t considered that knowledge may have also flowed the other way.

  Cabrina smiled at Fumiko. “You must be the one whose exemplar was murdered. I bet you feel naked now with no one to whisper to you.”

  Fumiko glared at her but did not answer.

  I looked back to Cabrina. I had to ask the obvious question. “Why didn’t you just kill us instead of incapacitating us? Risten just the other day seemed pretty intent on it.”

  She shrugged. “I’m not sure, but it does seem strange even to me. Killing would have been more efficient.”

  I considered Cabrina for a moment. “And why didn’t you just switch to a new host after giving us the charms. You could have gotten away and left the girl behind.”

  Cabrina nodded. “Moving from one body to another is fairly quick, but not instantaneous. Besides, I ran out of myst when I activated the charms. They were very myst intensive. And when my kind doesn’t have enough, we lose consciousness.”

  “Where are the others? Who helped you?”

  She shrugged. “Last I saw them, they were headed into the woods close to this girl’s house. She was standing outside, hanging out laundry for her mother when they approached her. They simply used a silence charm and then I perfected her.” She leaned closer. “It’s amazing what you can do between the sheets, even if they’re hanging up.” She chuckled.

  “What are their names?”

  “They never told me. It was a man and a woman. Their bodies were just a few years older than this one, but their exemplars seemed very experienced.”

  “How about Wynn or Risten’s location?”

  She shrugged. “No idea. I know of no Wynn other than the one that was the previous king, and I had not heard of Risten until you mentioned her.”

  “You might know of her as Lilith.”

  Cabrina frowned. “That name, I know. I was told to stay clear of her. No reason was given.”

  “And your base of operations?”

  “Don’t know. I came straight from the cross-world portal.”

  Fumiko fixed her gaze at the girl. “This is getting us nowhere. Perhaps we should torture her a little. It might loosen her tongue.”

  “We can’t take a chance on it hurting Zofie.” I rubbed my face. The day wasn’t that old, but I was already feeling exhausted. “All right. What do you want from us to remove these charms?”

  Cabrina gave a quick shrug. “I wasn’t told to bargain. Besides, I don’t have a way to remove them. I was only told how to get them started.”

  I stared at her in frustration and ran a hand through my hair. She was just being so casual about this. “Aren’t you at least afraid of dying? The other lords could decide it’s too risky to keep you around and kill you even if it meant it killed us too.”

  She shrugged. “I’m not really afraid. I’ve had the chance to perfect a body far better than I could ever expect and in a land where everything is clean and beautiful.” She spread her arms to indicate the cell around her. “Even being in this dark, dingy place is better than my starting point. I would go content.” She lowered her arms and shook her head. “Although I would be sad that the girl would also die. She is a nice person.”

  I thought for a moment. First, she was concerned about Maggie, and now about the body she possessed. This was totally unlike the others I had encountered. To them, we were nothing more than articles of clothing to be worn and discarded at their whim. But this one didn’t seem that way.

  I had a sudden thought. “What is your name?” I asked.

  “Cabrina.”

  I shook my head. “Not your host’s name. Your name.”

  To my surprise, she blushed and looked down. “I... I don’t have a name. I am of low cothe. We aren’t given names because we usually don’t survive that long.”

  I blinked at her as what she said sunk in. She was disposable. I almost felt sorry for her. They never intended for her to survive, which meant she would not tell us anything useful. I didn’t think she was lying. She just didn’t know anything to tell.

  Sighing, I turned to Fumiko. “We’re done here.”

  She nodded and we turned to leave, with Rourke following behind.

  “What are we going to do now?” Fumiko asked.

  I shook my head. “I’m not sure. But praying for a miracle is high on my list.”

  I slowed as we entered the wing of the castle leading to Zofie’s quarters. As it does this time of year, evening had come quickly, and the corridor ahead was lit only with only a few myst lanterns. The dim light reflected my own dark mood.

  I drew to a halt at the turn leading to Zofie’s room. “Why don’t you two go ahead,” I said. “I need a moment to think.”

  Fumiko nodded sadly. She gave my shoulder a reassuring pat before turning down the hall. Master Rourke glanced my way, looking grim, and followed behind her. As I watched, the pair paused in front of the door—a guard on either side of it—knocked and then were admitted.

  A big sigh escaped me as I leaned against the cold stone wall, a complete sense of loss coming over me. What was I going to do?

  I rubbed my face. The simplest solution would be to cut the bracelets off and have Rourke and a healer standing by to treat us. But that was risky. There was no guarantee that they could treat us in time, and one or more of us could die.

  Why had they done it? Was it to stop us from rebuilding the kingdom? Or perhaps it was because they were afraid of us stopping their invasion. But incapacitating Zofie and my curse seemed such an odd move. I couldn’t help but think this had somehow been botched. That the effects we were seeing were not what had been intended.

  I looked down the darkened corridor. What were we going to do without her? Zofie was a genius of organization and leadership. Under her, the kingdom had started to rebuild. The people had begun to have hope. When word got out their ruler was unable to lead them—what would they do? And Zofie had no heirs, which could send the kingdom into chaos as the lords fought for control.

  There was really only one answer. Get these bracelets off us.

  And soon.

  I gave another sigh and pushed myself off the wall. I couldn’t put this off any longer. I walked up to Zofie’s door, nodded to the guards, and knocked. Permission to enter made my heart jump into my throat.

  Opening the door, I found Zofie sitting in her favorite chair with Fumiko standing beside her. The princess sat perfectly straight, staring off into the distance, with her hands neatly folded in her lap. I couldn’t count the times I had seen this familiar scene. She even still wore the dress from our earlier lunch. But she did not turn as I entered. There was no smiling welcome, no asking how I was, no reaching of her hand to take mine. Not the slightest hint of recognition. It tore my heart apart.

  Fumiko was talking to her quietly, reporting to her everything we had learned. At first this seemed odd, but then as I thought about it, it made perfect sense. We didn’t know if Zofie’s mind had been removed or if it was being suppressed. She could be listening to us and just not able to respond. Giving her updates would surely provide some comfort to her.

  Spraggel was already in the room, sitting in another chair by the fire. He looked grim. Rourke stood by the window with his back to us, rocking nervously back and forth on the balls of his feet.

  When Fumiko had finished her report, I knelt beside Zofie’s chair and took her hand. I kissed it gently. “I’m sorry, Zofie. It doesn’t look like this will be fixed quickly. I don’t have much to add. Our captive is not going to tell us anything useful.” I sighed. “I think our best option is to search for someone that can safely remove the charm.”

  I bowed my head over her hand. “If Abe still worked, I could modify your curse. We might be able to hit on something that would work around the charm. Or better yet, be able to see how to remove it.” While I fought so hard not to, I felt a tear come to my eyes. “I’ve failed you,” I said softly.

  Fumiko put a hand on my shoulder.

  Unexp
ectedly, a strange voice interjected: “Forgive me, may I have an audience?” The accent was familiar.

  I immediately leaped to my feet and reached for my sword. Master Rourke gathered his myst, and Fumiko whirled to face the newcomer—only no one was there.

  “Down here,” said the voice.

  I looked closely and then finally spotted it: A lone, earth-colored cricket sitting on the carpet. And I also recognized the voice. It was Imperial Advisor Tusita Yonge. Which meant he was using a cricket for his avatar this time.

  Fumiko moved between us and the insect. “Leave!” she shouted. “The princess gave you your answer.” She moved to squash it.

  “I can remove the charms,” it said calmly. Fumiko’s descending foot froze in mid-air.

  I grasped Fumiko’s arm. She looked up at me, conflict clearly on her face. But at a gentle shake of my head, she reluctantly stepped back.

  I put away my sword. “How did you find out? Fumiko is no longer your eyes and ears.”

  The antenna on the cricket moved excitedly, and it hopped forward. “Although the view of the toilet is quite striking, surely you don’t believe the great Kuiojia Empire has only one set of eyes and ears at its disposal.”

  The insect paused while we considered each other. I finally spoke. “Aside from the issue of spies, how can you help Zofie?”

  “Charms are my specialty. There is no one in the empire, maybe even the entire world, that is better. I felt it my duty to offer my assistance. At the least, it might offer a challenge to analyze a charm created by the Dark Avenyts. But from what I’ve heard so far, it is a simple mind capture charm with a death removal sequence. It should be simple to take off... if you know how.”

  “Are you sure?” Rourke asked. “These are very complex charms. Plus, the removal sequence has a lot of protections built-in. If not removed exactly the right way, it will kill them.”

  “Ah, you must be Master Rourke. It is a pleasure to meet you. While I cannot confirm or deny what you say, I can assure you. I am quite the expert in charms. This avatar before you is proof.”