“Come on,” she said, taking a look up at the sky. She’d been away for hours. Lady Barb would have to be getting worried. “Let’s go back to town.”
She cast a glamor over herself, hiding her undershirt, and started to walk. There was a reluctant hiss as the snake started to move, sliding along behind her as if it were perfectly natural. Oddly, Emily felt reluctant – no, unable – to leave the snake behind. It was hers now, no matter what it had been in the forest. Besides, it could navigate the interior quicker than she could. It would have been hard to get back to the town without it.
“Don’t do anything to alarm anyone,” Emily instructed the snake. She wondered if she could pick it up safely, then decided not to take the risk. Familiars couldn’t harm their owners, not directly, but the rotting touch could be unintentionally lethal. There were plenty of cautionary tales of magicians who’d bonded with horses and then fallen off at a gallop. “I don’t want you dead.”
She slowed as she reached the outskirts of the town, then walked towards the guesthouse. A handful of soldiers stood outside, surrounding a large carriage that reminded Emily of the carriages she’d seen in Zangaria, only less elegant. The soldier looked at her before staring in horror as they saw the Death Viper slithering after her. Emily had never seen grown men panic before, not outside a handful of group exercises in Martial Magic. They seemed torn between running and finding something to throw at the snake, hoping to drive it off.
Emily held up her hands in supplication. “It’s perfectly fine,” she said. They looked at her as though they thought her insane. “Really.”
She walked past them, the snake following her like a tiny dog, and pushed open the door to the main room. Inside, the woman lay on a mattress, a baby lying next to her, while a grim-faced man was speaking quietly to Lady Barb. She’d erected a privacy ward, Emily saw, as she closed the door behind her. All she could hear from her mentor was gibberish.
“Millie,” Lady Barb said, cancelling the ward. “I...”
Emily had to smile once Lady Barb saw the snake. Her mouth dropped open, and she lifted her hand, preparing to cast a spell that would reduce the snake to raw materials.
Emily stepped between her and the snake. “It’s my familiar,” she said, hastily. She knew it would hurt badly if something happened to the snake, now they were bonded. “I had to bond with it to save my life!”
“We shall discuss this later,” Lady Barb said, finally. The snake hissed at her tone, then crawled over to the fire and curled up in front of it. “What happened to Rudolf?”
The man looked over at Emily. “What happened to my son?”
Emily looked at him. He was older than Rudolf, with more lines on his face, but otherwise very like him. There was something about him that bothered her; he reminded her, she realized slowly, far too much of her stepfather. His hands twitched, as if he were restraining himself from jumping up and beating answers out of her physically. She wasn’t sure what she wanted to say.
She knew that aristocrats weren’t often given a choice in who they married. Even Alassa had been expected to make her choice from a shortlist her father had composed, all princes and all second sons. Somehow, it was worse to hear about a girl being forced into marriage than a boy, although she had to admit that there was little real difference. But perhaps there was; a man could go out and enjoy himself, even start an affair, while a woman wouldn’t have the same license. She had to carry the legitimate heir, after all.
But there are spells to ensure fidelity, she reminded herself. Was Rudolf threatened with one?
“He vanished into the countryside,” she said, carefully. It was true enough, although she suspected that Lady Barb would see that she was leaving part of the story out. “I couldn’t follow him.”
“You could have used magic to stop him,” Rudolf’s father snapped. He rose to his feet. “My son has to be found.”
“Sit down,” Lady Barb ordered. “Lord Gorham...”
“I will not permit him to be hidden from me,” Lord Gorham said. He glared at Emily, fists flexing violently, then he turned on Lady Barb. “I want her to talk.”
“She has talked,” Lady Barb said. There was a cold note running through her voice, one that would have made Emily think better of whatever she was doing, if it had been aimed at her. “She was certainly not ordered to bring back your son.”
They stared at each other for a long moment. “She should have known better,” Lord Gorham insisted, finally. “I will not have her...”
“But you don’t have to have her,” Lady Barb snapped, cutting him off. “I will deal with my apprentice, if necessary.”
“It is necessary,” Lord Gorham said, subsiding slightly. “She let my son escape.”
He looked over at Emily, then back at Lady Barb. “I expect you to handle it.”
“I will do so,” Lady Barb said.
Emily swallowed. She knew from Zangaria that innocence wasn’t always a defense, if the local aristocrat took a dislike to someone. Her predecessor as baron had been a very nasty man.
“And you’re both invited to dinner tonight,” Lord Gorham added. “It would be my pleasure to host you. You can tell me much about the Allied Lands.”
The sudden change left Emily feeling oddly disconcerted. Lady Barb’s face showed no reaction.
“We will be...occupied this evening,” Lady Barb said, throwing an unreadable glance at Emily. “But we will be happy to join you tomorrow.”
Emily lifted an eyebrow. She might not be as versed in aristocratic etiquette as Alassa, but she did know that turning down a dinner invitation was insulting. The aristocrats of Zangaria carefully kept each other informed of their plans, making sure that there was no opportunity to deliver an accidental insult. They might cut each other dead in public, but even the worst of enemies were prepared to cooperate long enough to prevent social disasters.
Lord Gorham stood, bowed to Lady Barb, then turned and strode out of the door without looking back. Lady Barb watched him go, then walked over to Jeanette and checked on her and the baby. Emily followed, marveling at just how tiny and fragile the baby seemed to be. It was impossible to believe that he would grow up into a large man...
“Don’t worry,” Lady Barb said, softly. She picked up the baby and cradled him for a long moment, then put him back down beside his mother. “Your child will be fine.”
There was a knock on the door. Emily opened it, bracing herself for more surprises, but it was merely Jeanette’s father, husband and sister. The men assisted the tired girl to her feet, then helped her out the door, while her sister took the tiny baby and carefully carried him after them. Emily wondered, absently, what happened to mothers who had just given birth. Aristocratic women were expected to go into seclusion, but could a peasant woman afford to take so much time away from work?
“The birth went well,” Lady Barb said, once the door was closed again. “Mother and son are both doing fine, though I had to give her a little extra potion midway through the birth. The additional excitement didn’t do her any good.”
Emily winced. Most townsfolk, she suspected, wouldn’t want to draw the attention of their lord. Jeanette had been giving birth when Lord Gorham had stormed into the building. If he blamed her, no matter how irrational it was...
“Someone must have told him his son was here,” Lady Barb continued. “He came here barely twenty minutes after you left, demanding answers. You may have made yourself an enemy today.”
Emily sighed. There were at least twenty necromancers in the Blighted Lands who hated and feared her, thousands of guildsmen whose livelihoods had been upset by her innovations and half the remaining aristocrats of Zangaria, who resented her sudden elevation over their heads. Enemies were the one thing she wasn’t short of. It was part of the reason she’d agreed to be Millie for the summer. No one would connect a shy apprentice with the Necromancer’s Bane.
Lady Barb looked over at the snake. “I think it’s time you explained yourself,” she added,
sharply. “What happened to you and where did you get...that?”
Emily swallowed and started to explain.
Chapter Twenty-One
“ONLY YOU, EMILY,” LADY BARB SAID, when Emily had finished. “Only you.” The older woman shook her head in disbelief. “A Death Viper as a familiar. I don’t know if you’ll be allowed to keep it at Whitehall.”
Emily winced. Somehow, the thought of being separated from the snake was unbearable. She knew, logically, that it was part of the bond she’d formed with the creature, but it didn’t matter. There was no way she wanted to leave the snake behind when they left the mountains.
“There are students with other dangerous pets,” she said. First Years were rarely allowed animals, but she’d seen older students with large dogs or other familiars. “Why not a Death Viper?”
“Because,” Lady Barb pointed out sarcastically, “none of the other pets are lethal to the touch.”
She shrugged. “You are immune to the snake’s poison. You may be immune to the rotting touch. But, for anyone else, your pet is a deadly menace. And you do know how the bonds work? If you get angry at someone, the snake might attack them.”
“The snake was going to kill me,” she said. “I didn’t have a choice. And I like him...”
She stopped. She hadn’t had any sense of the snake’s gender before. It had honestly never occurred to her that it had a gender.
“That’s the familiar bond talking,” Lady Barb said.
Emily shuddered. She could understand why Lady Barb was concerned, but at the same time she honestly couldn’t get rid of the snake. There were ways to break the bond, she knew, yet she’d never heard of them being applied willingly. The snake was effectively part of her now.
“I will have to give the matter some thought,” Lady Barb said. She motioned for Emily to sit down at the table, then produced yet more bread and cheese from the kitchen. “What happened between you and Rudolf? I hope it wasn’t he who took your shirt.”
Emily flushed. Lady Barb had seen right through the glamor. “It was damaged,” she said, shortly. If she went into details, Lady Barb might destroy the snake at once. In hindsight, she’d come far too close to death. “It wasn’t his fault.”
“Glad to hear it,” Lady Barb said. She put a piece of cheese on bread and nibbled it slowly. “And what actually did happen between you?”
“He told me that he was running away from an arranged marriage,” Emily said, softly. “Is that actually true?”
“It isn’t uncommon,” Lady Barb said, thoughtfully. “Why didn’t you stop him?”
Emily hesitated, then pushed forward. “I thought we weren’t meant to get involved in local politics.”
Lady Barb gave her a sharp look. “And the answer?”
“I felt sorry for him,” Emily confessed.
“His father was unhappy,” Lady Barb said. “But there was something odd about him, something that bothered me.”
She looked down at the table, then back up at Emily. “What were your impressions of him?”
“The father?” Emily asked. “I think he is the sort of person who will ignore his son’s feelings when he stands to benefit.”
“Something most aristocrats have in common,” Lady Barb said, dryly. “I believe he was under the impression that you were going to bring him back.”
Emily met her eyes. “Should I have brought him back?”
“Perhaps not,” Lady Barb said. “We aren’t meant to get involved in local politics.”
“We may not have a choice,” Emily said. “I found several bodies, too.”
Lady Barb stared at her, alarm in her eyes. “That is the sort of thing that should be mentioned first,” she snapped, as soon as Emily had finished. “Why didn’t you tell me at once?”
Emily stared down at her hand, unsure. Lady Barb was right. She should have mentioned the bodies at once, even dragged Lady Barb out to see them. But they’d slipped her mind...
Lady Barb stood up and touched Emily’s forehead, casting a light spell. “Someone used magic to hide the bodies,” she said, grimly. “Quite a subtle spell; if you hadn’t been banged on the head, you might have forgotten the bodies altogether.”
“I didn’t notice,” Emily confessed. She cursed under her breath. Lin had used subtle magic to avoid detection, but this was far worse. “I...”
“That is something of the point,” Lady Barb pointed out, dryly. “But it’s odd.”
Emily looked up at her. “How so?”
“Necromancers are rarely subtle,” Lady Barb said. “Why would one of them take a handful of children and use them for power, then hide the bodies?”
“I...I don’t know,” Emily confessed. Necromancers went insane; the first touch of necromancy started them on the path to madness. It was a law of nature. But it did take time for them to collapse completely. “It could be a newborn necromancer.”
“Perhaps,” Lady Barb said. She looked over at the snake. “Can your friend tell us anything useful?”
Emily shook her head. “The bodies weren’t there last season,” she said. “But I don’t know what it means by a season.”
Lady Barb nodded. “I think I should take a look at the bodies,” she said. “If there is a necromancer running around, we have to deal with him.”
Emily shuddered. The spell had left her feeling violated, even though she knew she had been lucky. If she’d forgotten the bodies completely, the necromancer would have hidden his victims successfully. It was quite possible that the parents of the missing children had forgotten they’d even existed...
No, she told herself firmly. A mother wouldn’t lose track of her children. Just because mine probably hasn’t even noticed I’m gone...
“Someone broke into this building,” she said. “Could it be the necromancer?”
“It’s a possibility,” Lady Barb agreed. “But there’s too much about this case that doesn’t make sense.”
She cleared her throat. “Lord Gorham expects you to be punished for not bringing his son back to the castle,” she said. “You can stay here while I go hunting for the bodies. Don’t go outside, but help someone if they come here and ask for it.”
“And pretend I’ve been thrashed,” Emily said, crossly. “Can you find the bodies without me?”
“I can follow your tracks, I think,” Lady Barb said. Emily wasn’t sure that it would be easy, but held her tongue. “In the meantime, I want you to write out a full report for the Grandmaster. We can put it in the postal coach before we leave town.”
Emily nodded, reluctantly.
“Then sew up some basic runes,” Lady Barb added. “We can provide ourselves with some basic protections, now we know to be alert.”
“Understood,” Emily said. She hated sewing – unlike most of the female students, it wasn’t a skill she’d been taught as a child – but there was no alternative. “If someone is using subtle magic, is it possible that Lord Gorham might be affected?”
“It is,” Lady Barb said. “It’s also possible that he or Rudolf might be the mystery magician. That’s why we’re going to his castle tomorrow.”
She picked up her staff and walked out of the building, theatrically slamming the door behind her. Emily looked over at the snake, then stood and retrieved parchment and a pair of quill pens from Lady Barb’s bag. Carefully, she wrote out an account of everything that had happened, grateful for the essays Sergeant Miles had made her write. He’d taught her how to be observant – and to make sure she wrote down everything, no matter how seemingly inconsequential. The smallest clue, he’d said, could lead to the most significant piece of information.
Emily felt her fingers ache as she finished the letter, but she retrieved another piece of parchment and carefully started to draft a letter to Jade. The words flowed easier, she was relieved to discover, now that they’d sorted out their relationship. Perhaps they could be good friends, after all. She smiled as she reread it, wondering what he would make of her observations of village
life. The only detail she’d glossed over was Hodge’s attempt to rape her. Jade didn’t have to know about it. Or, for that matter, about the snake.
The sun was setting in the sky when Lady Barb returned. Emily took one look at her drawn, white face and hurriedly boiled water as Lady Barb sat down, seemingly too exhausted to move another step. She made a mug of Kava, passed it to the older woman, then sat down facing her. Lady Barb gulped the liquid down, despite the heat. Emily watched, worried. She’d never seen Lady Barb so tired before, even when they’d walked all day.
“The bodies were very well hidden,” Lady Barb said, once she’d finished drinking. “A handful of glamors, a handful of runes...and a spell of forgetfulness, intended to prevent anyone from walking away with any memory of what they saw. But it’s a little harder to fool animals. Your snake clearly knew they were there.”
Emily nodded.
“Whoever did it isn’t a classically-trained magician,” Lady Barb continued. “It would be simple to destroy the bodies beyond recognition, but they settled for abandoning and concealing them. There were hints of vast power, combined with absolute ignorance. I think I might have noticed them even if I hadn’t been looking. There’s little as conspicuous as someone trying to hide.”
Lady Barb took a breath. “And the rite was strange too,” she added. “Necromancy isn’t that difficult.”
“I think he was going for life force, rather than magic,” Emily said, quietly. “The wounds were in the wrong place for magic.”
“It looked that way,” Lady Barb agreed. “But it doesn’t quite make sense.” She shook her head. “Let me see the letter to the Grandmaster.”
Emily passed her the scroll of parchment. Lady Barb skimmed it before adding a note of her own at the bottom and sealing it up, casting a handful of spells to ensure that the Grandmaster was the only one who could read it. Emily took it and placed it by the door, intending to give it to the post office before they left.
“I’ll have to write another one,” Lady Barb said. “If there is a necromancer on this side of the Blighted Lands, we may have a real problem on our hands.”
Work Experience (Schooled in Magic Book 4) Page 20