There was a loud knock at the door. Emily stood, hastily replaced the preservation spells, and walked back out into the main room as Lady Barb opened the door. A heavily-pregnant woman stood on the other side, sweat pouring down her face. She started to gasp an explanation, but Emily already understood. The woman’s contractions had begun and she was about to give birth. A moment later, she staggered and fell to the ground.
“Help me get her onto the table,” Lady Barb snapped. She waved her hand, banishing the food and drink to another table. The visitors started backwards in shock, even though they’d known that Lady Barb was a sorceress. Magic wasn’t really part of their lives. “Hurry!”
The two boys ran forward and helped the woman to her feet, half-carrying her towards the table. Emily picked up a bottle of relaxant and brought it to Lady Barb. Something nagged at the corner of her mind as the woman was placed on the table, an odd sense that something wasn’t entirely right. But she couldn’t place it.
Lady Barb looked at the two girls. “Do you know who she is?”
“Jeanette,” the older of the two girls said. Or at least Emily assumed she was the oldest. It was hard to tell in the countryside, when a young girl could look at least a decade older. “She’s married to my cousin.”
“Go tell him that she’s here,” Lady Barb said. She passed her hand over Jeanette’s chest, casting a diagnostic spell. “She’s going to give birth in a few hours.”
The girl nodded and fled out the door. Lady Barb carefully poured the potion into Jeanette’s mouth, holding her upright so she could swallow safely.
At least there wouldn’t be much pain, Emily told herself. Theory lessons on attending a birth had noted that relaxant potion could prevent pain from overwhelming the mother, without harming the child. Emily could only hope they were right.
She frowned as the two boys stepped closer, eager to see. Something was wrong with them, something that kept nagging at her. It didn’t feel dangerous...
“Go,” Lady Barb ordered them, shortly. “There may be more work later.”
Emily saw it, suddenly. One of the boys had calloused hands, the legacy of hard work since he was old enough to walk on his own two feet, the other...had soft hands, the hands of someone who had never lifted anything heavier than a sword. He reminded her of some of Alassa’s suitors...she looked up into his face and knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that she was looking at the missing heir. He’d hidden out in the town right below his father’s castle!
He looked back at her and knew she’d made the connection. Before she could say a word, he turned and bolted from the house, fleeing into the countryside as if devils were after him. Emily hesitated and looked at Lady Barb. The older woman seemed to have made the same connection.
“Go after him,” she snapped, as Jeanette let out a moan. “Find out what he was doing here.”
Emily turned and ran out the door. The missing heir – Rudolf, she reminded herself – had vanished into the countryside, jumping across the stream that marked the edge of the town and losing himself among the trees. Emily cursed and gave chase, remembering all-too-well just how easily she’d been outrun by the boys during Martial Magic. She had to hope that Rudolf didn’t have any magical assistance or she’d never find him at all.
The trees thickened rapidly as she followed him, hearing the sounds of a body crashing through the undergrowth ahead of her. She gritted her teeth as branches seemed to lash out at her, holding her hands up to protect her face as she ran. The sound of his footsteps seemed to fade as she ran faster, although she couldn’t tell if he was outrunning her or if he’d decided to go to ground somewhere. It would be far too easy, she reflected sourly, for him to hide. She hadn’t had time to even think of attaching a tracking hex to his back.
She paused as the sound of footsteps faded away, breathing hard as she stared into the shadows. Sergeant Harkin had followed his students through the forest without breaking a sweat, without the use of any magic at all. It hadn’t been so surprising, somehow, at the time, but in hindsight...He’d been a remarkable man. A twinge of the old guilt rose up within her – Sergeant Harkin had been one of her few father-figures – but she pushed it away ruthlessly. There was no time to let her mind wander.
What did Rudolf want? The question nagged at her mind. Why had he run from his father? And why hadn’t he run further? Emily knew she was observant – it was one of the things she’d been taught in martial magic – but surely someone who actually knew him might have spotted his disguise earlier. Hell, why hadn’t the other teenagers betrayed him? The town wasn’t large enough for a stranger to remain unnoticed?
And was it any of their business?
Emily listened, carefully, but apart from the chirping of birds she heard nothing. Rudolf had either outpaced her completely or he was hiding, trying to sneak away as quietly as possible. The question nagged at her mind. Was it any of their business? Lady Barb had told her, time and time again, that they had to stay out of local politics. But Emily couldn’t help feeling sorry for someone fleeing an abusive parent – if, of course, the lord was abusive. Was that why Rudolf had fled?
She shook her head, dismissing the thought, then slipped forward as quietly as possible. The undergrowth was even murkier than it was at Whitehall; it was quite possible that she would walk very close to Rudolf and miss him completely. If he’d been running through the forest as a child, he’d be able to hide...she glanced around, looking for signs of his path, but saw nothing. No doubt he knew how best to hide himself.
Should she call out to him? Emily considered it, then dismissed the thought. Anyone could hear her shouting, including the soldiers. If they’d noticed Rudolf as he fled...no one seemed to have followed Emily, but that didn’t prove anything. She continued creeping forward, listening carefully. Something moved, far too close to her, and she jumped, then stared at a shape crouching on the ground.
She found her voice. “Rudolf?”
The shape moved, rolling over and standing up. Up close, even wearing peasant clothes, Rudolf was a handsome youth. His dark hair fell over an elegantly-shaped face, with no trace of any of the blemishes she’d seen on the other town children. In some ways, he reminded her of Jade, but there was a harder edge to his smile. He watched her with the deepest of suspicion.
Emily readied a spell, in case he attacked her, but held up her hands. “Why are you running?”
Rudolf stared at her. “It’s none of your business,” he snapped. “Get out of my life.”
“You’re the one who walked into our building,” Emily pointed out. It wasn’t very mature, but she couldn’t help it. “I need to know what you were doing there.”
“Hiding,” Rudolf said, after a long moment. “I wanted to be safe.”
Emily lifted her eyebrows. “In the middle of a small army of soldiers?”
“Those dunces never see anything,” Rudolf growled. The disdain in his voice made her wince. Sergeant Miles had taught her that even an untrained opponent could be dangerous. “Father has been pulling in more recruits than he can train.”
Emily shrugged. Clearly, Rudolf knew his father’s men better than she did. And she had to admit that he’d been right. It had been an outsider who had finally spotted him. “Why are you on the run?”
Rudolf met her eyes. “Can I have your word you won’t betray me?”
“I don’t know,” Emily countered. Oaths were dangerous things and she’d already sworn one, which might come back to haunt her sooner or later. “Can I have your word that it’s none of our concern?”
“My father wants me to marry someone,” he said. “I don’t want to marry her.”
Emily winced. She understood the impulse, all right. God knew she’d had enough marriage proposals from people she didn’t even know to be grateful that Void wasn’t trying to sell her to the highest bidder. Some of the girls and boys she knew at Whitehall had precisely that problem. Their families saw them as breeding stock first and individuals second. It was even wors
e among the aristocracy.
“Don’t come after me,” Rudolf said. There was a pleading note in his voice. He was begging her, she realized. Whoever his father wanted him to marry had to be horrible. “Please!”
He turned and fled at blinding speed. Emily gave chase, but this time Rudolf had a advantage. She reached for a spell, shaping it in her mind, but dismissed the magic before it had properly formed. Rudolf had done her no harm. Instead, she followed him through a tangled mass of trees...and ducked, too late, as something lashed out at her head. The world seemed to explode into darkness...
...She hit the ground, hard enough to hurt. Her head spun madly; she’d hit a branch, she realized, through the haze covering her thoughts. She felt sick; she rolled over, swallowing desperately. The world seemed to fade in and out of her awareness...she wondered, in a moment of clarity, if this was how she was going to die. After everything she’d done, it was a little anticlimactic. Her body seemed too weak to move.
There was a hiss, right in front of her. Emily opened her eyes, unaware of exactly when she’d closed them, and looked. Her entire body froze with fear.
She was staring into the golden eyes of a Death Viper.
Chapter Twenty
EMILY CAUGHT HER BREATH, TOO SCARED to move.
The snake was sitting on her chest, its eyes fixed on her face with unblinking malice. It wasn’t very large, barely longer than her hand, with blue-gold scales, but she knew it was absolutely lethal. Even touching it with her bare skin risked losing her hand; a single bite would kill her within seconds. Its head slowly rose, moving from side to side hypnotically. She couldn’t escape the sensation that it was biding its time before striking.
She tried frantically to think of a plan. A movement, any movement, might cause the snake to strike; there was no way she could get it off her by herself. She could try to use magic, but if she alarmed the snake she might be bitten faster. And her body had to be warmer than the surrounding environment, considering the chill. It was unlikely the snake would want to move elsewhere until it got hungry, and it might bite her before then anyway.
The snake hissed. Emily felt a shiver running through her body as she stared at it, wondering if she dared try to jump to her feet. If she did it fast enough, maybe she could throw the snake somehow before it could bite her.
But her mind refused to believe it; fear kept her still, as motionless as possible. She knew it was only a matter of time until the snake bit her. She wanted to use magic to call Lady Barb, but her concentration was so badly shot she wasn’t sure she could cast the spell without alarming the creature. Lady Barb might find her dead and rotting body after the snake had eaten its fill.
She met the golden eyes again and shuddered, despite her best efforts. The snake seemed to reach out and invade her mind, although she wasn’t sure if it was real or if it was just her imagination, aided and abetted by fear. There was something about it that held her frozen, something more than the threat of being bitten or merely touched. She felt a sudden warmth against her chest and realized, in horror, that the snake’s venom was slowly oozing through her shirt. It wouldn’t be long before the poison sank into her body and killed her outright.
A thought occurred to her as she stared at the snake. She knew the spells for taking a familiar, an animal companion, but she’d never been able to bond with anything. It wasn’t common – only a handful of magicians ever bonded with an animal – but the spells had been hammered into her head in Second Year. Did she dare try to take the snake as a familiar? She tried desperately to recall what she’d been told about such creatures; they couldn’t harm their humans, if she recalled correctly, and they aided with certain types of magic. But there was a price in return...
The warmth against her chest grew stronger. There wasn’t much time left.
Emily braced herself and cast the spell despite the risk of provoking an immediate attack. The Death Viper hissed angrily as the magic reached out to touch it, then there was a sudden blur of sensation that threatened to overwhelm Emily’s mind. It felt like she’d been transfigured into a snake herself in some ways, but different, too...as if she was both human and snake at the same time. She had a sudden vision of her body, her pale face staring in fear, before the magic faded away.
The Death Viper hissed – somehow, the sound was no longer so threatening – and slid off her chest. Emily let out a sigh of relief and, despite her exhaustion, stood upright. The Death Viper looked up at her with a curiously biddable expression, insofar as it could have an expression. It took her a moment to realize that she was reading its emotions through the familiar bond.
It felt...strange. Every work of fiction she’d read concerning familiars suggested that they could talk to their pet humans. Instead, all she received from the creature were impressions, half of which didn’t even make any sense. The ground was warm, she was warm, the rest of the world was not...she shook her head, unsure what to do. Most familiar bonds were forged under controlled conditions. But she’d never heard of anyone trying to bond with a Death Viper, ever.
She looked down at her shirt and gasped. There was a dark mark on her chest where the snake had sat, its poison slowly oozing through the material. Emily gritted her teeth, then carefully – very carefully – pushed the shirt away from her body and disintegrated it into dust, acidic poison and all. There was an odd resonance in her magic – it was linked to the snake now, she realized – which faded away almost as quickly as she noticed it. Her undershirt felt thin and revealing against her chest, but there was no alternative. Rudolf had hardly given her time to snatch up her bag before she’d run after him.
Shaking her head, she looked down at the snake, which looked back at her. The waves of snakelike sensations grew stronger as she met the golden eyes. It loved her, she realized dimly, even though part of it realized that the feeling wasn’t natural. But then, what sort of idiot would try to domesticate a Death Viper? The snakes were so lethal that nature hadn’t even bothered to provide them with any form of camouflage.
“So tell me,” she said, out loud. “What should I call you?”
There was no response. Emily rolled her eyes at herself; of course there wouldn’t be any response. The snake wasn’t human, and it wasn’t even intelligent in its own right. She suspected it hadn’t even been touched by wild magic or deliberately altered to be intelligent. It was just a snake, even though it was now bonded to a human. It didn’t make it automatically intelligent enough to hold a conversation.
“Maybe I should call you Voldemort,” she said. The thought made her snicker. A snake called Voldemort. It sounded like a piece of fan fiction. “Or maybe Scales.”
The snake didn’t seem to like either of those names. It moved, curling up and uncurling with astonishing speed. Emily couldn’t fear it any longer, but she still felt a cold shiver as she realized just how quickly Death Vipers could move. She’d never had the impression snakes could actually chase humans down, yet now...there was an odd sense from the Death Viper, an impression that there were dead humans nearby. Emily hesitated, then followed the snake as it plunged into the undergrowth. It seemed to want to show her what it had seen.
She half-expected to see Rudolf. She had no idea how Death Vipers mated and bred, but she was sure that where there was one, there would be others. Maybe Rudolf had run into a Death Viper, too, and been killed. Surely, someone who lived near such creatures would know better than to be caught by one, but the snakes were lethal.
She had a vision of a snake dropping down from the trees to land on its target and realized, a moment later, that it came from her new familiar. Reluctantly, she looked up and saw...nothing.
The bodies came into view a moment later, lying in a hollow off the beaten track. Emily gagged at the smell...and gagged again when she realized just how many animals had taken bites out of the corpses. Several of them had been so badly gnawed that it was hard to tell just how many of them there actually were, but there were at least three reasonably-intact bodies. A
ll three were children – and all three had died from multiple knife wounds to the chest.
It’s trying to show me what it thinks I want to see, she thought. The snake was interpreting her desires in ways that made sense to it. I wanted to find a human; it took me to human bodies.
She felt her senses shiver in response to magic as she stepped closer, fighting to keep herself from throwing up. The bodies were coated in magic, magic that reminded her of the feeling that had surrounded Shadye. It had to be the residue of a necromantic rite. She looked closer, feeling an odd sense that something wasn’t entirely right. Two of the three children had been stabbed in the wrong place. Their mana, if they had mana, couldn’t have been drained properly.
Odd, Emily thought. It looked as if the necromancer – and she had no doubt there was a necromancer – had wanted life energy, rather than magic. Would that be enough to drive him mad? She wondered just how long the bodies had been lying there and received a handful of impressions from the snake, but none of them made any sense to her. The Death Viper didn’t keep track of days or weeks, not like a human. All it could tell her was that the bodies hadn’t been there for longer than a season.
The snake hissed. There was another bizarre sense of impressions, followed by a sudden terrifyingly fast movement. Emily turned, just in time to see a rat-like creature swallowed whole by the Death Viper. She stared at the sudden bulge, wondering just how long it would take the snake to digest its meal. The impressions she was receiving suggested that it wanted to sleep now. She yawned in sympathy, and shook her head. Who knew what else was lurking in the dark forest?
Work Experience (Schooled in Magic Book 4) Page 19