by Anna Sheehan
I realized she’d been looking at my clothes. Where they weren’t actively ragged they were patched. I selected brown when I could, because it blended easily into the background, and they were dirty from crawling into the burrow. She turned her gaze back onto my face and frowned. She was thinking. That worried me. ‘I’m surprised you actually came, Highness,’ I said.
The princess’s eyes flashed, not quite in the way I would have hoped. She seemed annoyed at me. ‘Don’t call me that,’ she muttered.
Anger surged in me. I rarely called anyone by their name if I could help it. It felt like rubbing it in. ‘Oh, did I get your title wrong, Splendour? So sorry Your Grace. You must forgive this poor peasant, Your Majesty.’
She gazed at me sardonically as I danced through various noble titles. ‘Done?’
‘Probably not,’ I smirked. ‘What should I call you, Excellency?’
‘Will,’ she said.
Short. Terse. Awfully informal. I hadn’t expected that. Still. I couldn’t resist. ‘Won’t.’
‘Very droll. Quite original. I had no idea magicians were so amusing. Since pleasantries are obviously not to be expected, shall we come down to cases?’ That brought me up short. Wasn’t I supposed to be seducing her? It was as if my carefully constructed lines had fallen out of my head. Before I could come up with anything charming, she pulled a thin, tattered green book out of her muff. ‘I need help with this spell.’
She was so brusque and businesslike I despaired of the kit’s advice. Instead, I turned mercenary. ‘Now wait a moment, Princess. Where is my payment?’
‘Pardon?’
‘Don’t be coy. If this is a business arrangement, I expect to be satisfied. I want to see The Ages of Arcana.’
She pulled herself up to her full haughty height. ‘It is my choice which of my magic books I allow you to read. Tonight, I choose this one.’
I stood taller myself. If this was to be a challenge, I was as game as she was. Simmering, I pulled myself a little too close to her and glared down into her eyes. It was surprising how tall she was, for a human girl. ‘You are coming perilously close to making me lose my temper,’ I told her with gentle menace. ‘You’re the one who came up with this ridiculous scheme, which let me tell you, is not a risk I take lightly. When you were merely an annoying but wealthy brat, the risk I took by agreeing to meet with you was slight. As it seems you are the princess, I am risking my very life, not to mention that of my family. Even by spending time with you I could be accused of kidnapping a princess, or robbing you of your virtue. I could be executed for treason if the right reason were invented. So unless you have something more reasonable than your royal whims as your excuse for negating our agreement, I’m going to back out of this mad situation before I see myself hung.’
‘Hung? Aren’t you overstating your peril?’
I nearly hit her. My hand clenched impulsively, but I managed to take a step back instead. ‘Fare thee well, Princess,’ I growled.
‘Please, wait,’ she said as I turned. Her voice was very quiet and calm. ‘I didn’t bring the book because I don’t have it any more.’
I turned back to her, simmering, but steady. ‘Why not?’ I asked evenly.
‘It was burned,’ she said with grim finality. ‘I couldn’t stop it.’
It was like hearing of a murder. I think I went white. I know I went faerie still, which is something I try not to do. Perfect stillness is no more a human trait than overly quick movement. ‘How?’ I finally asked.
‘I told you my family does not approve of magic.’
‘You told me you could keep it safe!’ I exploded.
‘And you were going to steal it!’ she snapped back. ‘Is that keeping it safe?’
‘Get away from me,’ I snarled. ‘I’m leaving. I should have known you weren’t serious about magic. You’re just dabbling. Tossed the book in front of My Lord Provost showing it off, did you? You didn’t think, didn’t care what might happen to it.’
‘Didn’t care?’ she hissed. She pulled her hand out of her muff and held it out at me. ‘Didn’t care? Does this look like I didn’t care?’ She forced the hand into my face. It was covered in fierce burns. I blinked at them. I knew exactly how much those had to hurt. ‘I couldn’t stop it – Lavender threw the book in a huff, and I couldn’t stop her. I singed half my hair and would have been willing to burn my hand off to save it!’ She kept advancing on me, and I shrank down, abandoning my height. ‘I’d rather have lost an eye.’ She was nearly in tears. ‘And it doesn’t even matter, because now you’re going to run off, and I’m going to end up married to Narvi and shuffled off to Hiedelen. You think you’ll be in trouble if people think my virtue in question? I’d be cast down as a handmaiden to the Vestal Virgins. I shouldn’t have even come here, alone, without guards. I care about my magic. That much should have been obvious, even to a scavenger like you.’ She put her hand back into her muff, which I noticed, finally, was filled with snow. No doubt it was keeping the pain at bay. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. ‘I have the books. You have the experience. We both want to learn magic.’ She glared at me. ‘I’m sorry about The Ages. You have no idea how sorry. But I brought this book to lend you, and … I don’t want you to leave.’
I blinked up at her. I was surprised by my own reaction. She’d nearly pushed me right across the room. Faerie Light, this woman was strong. Any magic aside, her personality was strong enough to cow a faerie, and a nameless one at that. I suddenly realized seducing her might not be possible. At the same time I was even more interested in the challenge involved. Rather than snapping back at her, I grinned. ‘All right,’ I said, trying not to laugh. I wasn’t sure why I wanted to laugh. It was pure delight, but I didn’t know where it came from. Quicksilver changes of mood were something I was used to, though – a trait of the nameless. ‘Let me see it.’ She passed the book to me. It was called A Greenwitch’s Almanac, and seemed very well read. She was probably giving me her oldest and least interesting book. Unless this spell was so important to her that she was giving me her most cherished and studied. I longed to ask her, but I was afraid she’d catch on to my game. ‘What spell did you need?’
She turned to a creased and dog-eared page marred by smudges of dirt. ‘This is the Stillness Spell for greenery that I use on the hedge. It’s not very reliable, and I’d like to know what I’m doing wrong. If anything.’
I flipped through the book, considering. It wasn’t a proper spell book. The book had some ordinary weather predictions, details of which plants grew well together in the same plot of ground, and a great many tinctures and potions which one could use the plants for. The Spell for Stillness was one of the few actual chants in the book, and stood alongside a chant for dispelling unhelpful insects. I looked back at her, then back at the spell, blinking.
As it was, the spell was simply for helping the formation of aspiliated fruit trees and the growth of topiary, but that was only because it was at minimum strength. Greenwitches weren’t considered proper magicians, for all they could work miracles in gardens. I was surprised that she managed to get it to work on the thorns at all, in the form the spell was in. She must have some real skill, despite being utterly untrained. I glanced back at the princess appraisingly. ‘And you use this on the briars?’
‘Yes.’
‘And you can get through the thorns with it?’
‘Sometimes.’
I frowned. Even the kit couldn’t keep the thorns still enough to survive passage through them, and she was a faerie. Well, at least I wouldn’t have to lie about the princess’s abilities. ‘Well, it’s pretty mundane,’ I said. ‘The spell is at dabbler’s strength. It lacks a word of power. You hear this section where the metre slips? That’s where the word goes.’
‘What word is it?’
‘Usually it’s hidden somewhere in the description. Let me see.’ I muttered over the page. ‘For the control and stability of growth of plants, vines and trees … etcetera, etcetera. To have integra
tion of the seasons, etcetera …. There! Blessed with the gift of growing things. Do you see the extra spaces around the word? That’s usually an indication.’
‘I thought it was a mistake by the printer.’
‘No. There was a time the printers wouldn’t put the spells on their presses unless they were marred in some way. This was the only way around it. Blessed. A pretty common word of power, an easy handle for those who lack faith in their own ability. They can use the belief in a greater entity to power their own magic. “Blessed with sweet flower.” Now, you’re using this on the briars?’
‘Yes.’
‘Hm. They’re wildly magical in their own right. First off, you should add back the word of power. If you’re using it on the thorns the spell should have a rhyming couplet to punctuate the strength on the end of the spell. Let me see …’ I muttered through the spell, and my mouth caught on the final verse. ‘That’s it. These two lines are only draining power. They’re there for aesthetics, and you aren’t trying to make the briars look pretty. If you cut the second and fourth lines out of this verse, it should have more strength to bind. You can recite it faster, too.’ I showed her the book.
‘Six lines instead of eight?’
‘The world loves a hexagon. Look at beehives and snowflakes. Six is stronger. And …’ I ran through the spell in my head. ‘Yes. If you have the first verse memorized, which, as you aren’t a complete imbecile, you do, you might be able to get away with just the final couplet, in an emergency.’
She blinked. ‘Really?’
‘Only if you have faith in your own magic, of course.’
‘That would have saved me a dozen times. I’d have paid my teeth to know that earlier.’ She sounded a bit rueful. The princess frowned at me. ‘How do you know all this?’
‘What?’
‘How do you know the spellmakers hide words of power?’
‘I read, just like you.’
‘I haven’t seen that anywhere in my books.’
‘Well, The Ages of Arcana had a chapter on it early on.’ I looked up at her, and I’m afraid I probably glared.
The princess flashed an irritated wince. ‘But what about the other part? How do you know how to shave a spell to make it more powerful? I would have thought more detail would strengthen it. I mean, all the spells I’ve seen for summoning demons are high power, and the incantations go on for pages.’
‘Don’t be a fool,’ I said. ‘You can summon a demon with a single word. The pages of incantations are to keep it from running amuck.’
‘See? All I know is what I’ve managed to read, and that’s cryptic enough. How do you know these things?’
I shrugged.
‘Are you apprenticed to anyone? Who taught you all this?’
‘No one. No apprenticeship.’
‘So how do you know it? I only know as much as I do because I have enough money and leisure time to find the books and do the research. You don’t give me the impression of being someone with that kind of luxury.’
I frowned. ‘I thought we were supposed to be talking about the spell, not me.’
The princess sat back on her heels. ‘Well, terribly sorry,’ she said, sounding like she wasn’t sorry at all. ‘I thought it was only fair, seeing you know everything about me.’
I glared. ‘I know nothing about you.’
She leaned back as if affronted. ‘Good gods! I’m learning about magic from an illiterate! You can read, can’t you? Do the daily agony sheets somehow not float up to your magical ivory tower?’
‘No,’ I laughed. ‘They get weighted down by the snow halfway up.’
She cracked a smile too, though it seemed to cost her. She had lost a great deal of spirit since I’d seen her that afternoon. She was very pale, and her burns obviously hurt her. I peered at her intently, trying to figure out what else was different. What if she really was ill? ‘Are you all right?’ Now what prompted me to ask that? It wasn’t as if I cared about her.
‘I’m fine,’ she said brusquely.
‘It’s only, I heard you were ill.’
She looked sad. ‘Ill. Furious. Easier to pretend I was sick than try and explain my behaviour.’
‘What behaviour?’
She blushed and looked down. ‘I was rude at court. I don’t lie easily, and I don’t like King Lesli.’
‘Who would?’ I muttered.
She laughed ruefully. ‘Half the kingdom.’
‘Fools,’ I spat.
She hesitated. ‘Poorly educated,’ she said finally. ‘They grew up hearing Hiedelen’s propaganda, and they still believe it. I wish we could afford to found a university. Teach our people what freedom really means.’
‘A university?’
‘Well, public schools first. For children. Do you know how many of our people cannot read? Even much of our nobility are functionally illiterate. If you don’t know the history, how can you understand the difference between justice and injustice? Knowledge versus prejudice. That’s all this onus on magic is, equating it with prostitution. It’s all just prejudice.’
I gazed at her. There were depths to this princess that made me uneasy. ‘And you want to change that.’
She frowned. ‘I want to change anything that is a remnant of Hiedel law. Nearly a century of Hiedelen rule has not been good to this land. The people are uneducated, the economy is geared entirely for export and support rather than self-sufficiency. It worries me. We have almost no army, and we’re landlocked, apart from the delta off the River Frien. So far the only reason some other country hasn’t invaded is because we’re still Hiedelen’s protectorate. But their demands are draining us, and making us even weaker. Mother’s been trying to change things. You know the laws on magic usage have changed in the last ten years. Now they have to prove that a witch or hedge wizard has been doing evil or committing crimes with their magic, not only that they were doing magic at all. But the onus is on the magician, and the bias is so strong …’ She shook her head. ‘Never mind. It’s all politics, and that bores everyone, including me. In answer to your question, no, I’m not ill. I’m just frustrated. I can’t seem to make myself into what the country seems to need. They need another Amaranth, or a wiser Lavender, and I’m neither.’
‘Poor princess,’ I whispered. I wasn’t sure whether I meant it or not.
‘Everyone’s always glaring at me and whispering about me,’ she muttered, almost as if she was talking to herself. I wondered if she had anyone to talk to at home. ‘I’m being judged all the time, and I keep being found wanting. Everyone is just waiting to pounce on the least little mistake. And I’m always making mistakes. I can’t seem to stop doing it. So I’m always looking behind my shoulder waiting for someone to pounce.’ She glanced at me and shook her head. ‘Sorry. No doubt it all seems pretty silly to you.’
Her little speech had touched me. Was it right for me to punish this princess? She hadn’t done anything horrid to me. It was her mother I really wanted the revenge on. For a brief moment, my resolve wavered. ‘Not silly,’ I said. ‘I think there are others who feel the same. Having to hide who you really are. Everyone always watching and judging.’
‘Even you?’ she asked.
I was about to confirm, adamantly, when I remembered I didn’t want to give her any clues as to my identity. ‘Well. What magician isn’t frowned on in Lyndaria?’
She shrugged. ‘Well, the faeries are accepted, in their way.’
I scoffed. ‘They’re frowned upon, too.’
‘I know, but not at court.’
I scowled. ‘Don’t talk about things you don’t know anything about, little girl.’
‘You’re not that much older than I am,’ she pointed out, and I realized from her perspective that was true. I didn’t look much older than twenty. ‘And I happen to know some faeries personally.’
‘I know faeries,’ I told her, quite truthfully. ‘And if they ever come to your court, it’s because they’re too scared not to.’
She blinked a
t me. ‘Why do you say that?’
‘Why do you think there aren’t many faeries left in this kingdom? They use magic. We’re all frowned upon, faerie or no. Why do you think Mistress Caital buried herself in her enchanted forest? Why do you think the Winnowinns barricade themselves into their mountain fastness? It isn’t because faeries are loved and revered.’
‘I know that. But everyone knows faeries have to do magic or they’d … I don’t know. Melt or something.’
I laughed. She was such a child. ‘Waste away,’ I corrected her. ‘Lose strength. Start to become mortal, turn old and die.’
She frowned at me. ‘How do you know that?’
Oops. Said too much. ‘Well … I-I’m a magician,’ I said lamely. ‘It’s my business to know.’
‘But you’re wrong. Faeries don’t get old, do they?’
‘No books on faerielore in that palace, apparently.’
‘No,’ she said. ‘My grandfather burned them all first thing. The only reason the faeries weren’t banished completely is because of Mistress Caital. And she hasn’t aged a day.’
I shook my head. It was a common misconception that I wished would go away. We weren’t human, but were weren’t gods, either. ‘Faeries age four to six times slower than your average human, depending on their heritage, and what kind of magic they do,’ I told her. ‘They do age. But if they stop doing magic their age catches up to them, and then yes, they will die. It’s an awful cycle, because the less magic a faerie does the less it can do, so once age starts to accelerate it’s nearly impossible to stop the process.’ I think I wasn’t able to keep the worry out of my tone as I said this. My ma feared her spinner’s gift and only used the smallest of magics, and I was beginning to see her age catch up to her. It might have just been hardship, but I couldn’t tell.
‘You know a lot about this.’
I cursed myself. I should learn to keep my mouth shut. ‘I told you. It’s my business to know.’
‘Hm.’ She seemed to be considering this. ‘Still, people know faeries will do magic. It’s expected of them. But that’s not the case for you and me.’