The Dead Falcon (The Eastern Slave Series Book 4)

by Victor Poole

  "Sometimes someone would get sick," Rane said, "or they would seem to fade into a different kind of themselves, but they didn't die."

  "There was no evidence," Ajalia said.

  "Yes," Rane said. "We couldn't find them, and Tree refused to use the tests."

  "Why didn't you use the tests yourself?" Ajalia asked. Rane looked sharply at her.

  "They are loud," Rane said, "and a little uncouth. There was no way to hide the test, and perform it."

  "And you were a spy," Ajalia added.

  "And Slavithe," Rane said, "has never been the business of the king. He hoped for a steady alliance, but would not permit open trade."

  "Because the witches were rampant," Ajalia said.

  "Yes, and the Thief Lord refused to use the tests, so anyone could have been a witch, or in thrall to a witch."

  "What do you mean," Ajalia asked, "in thrall?" Rane looked at Delmar, and then down at his hands.

  "Like I was," Rane said, "and Ocher."

  "And like I was," Delmar said. He had finished the food, and now he turned the basket around in his hands.

  "Is that why Tree changed the laws about marriage?" Ajalia asked. Delmar looked at her.

  "There were a lot of witches," Delmar said, looking over at Rane, "not all of them powerful, but still witches."

  "If a woman was a witch," Rane said, "and married a wealthy man, or put him in thrall, she controlled what he owned."

  "So the witches married money," Ajalia said.

  "And power," Rane said. "So after Tree had secured an heir—"

  "Because Delmar was born," Ajalia said.

  "Yes," Rane agreed, "as soon as Delmar was born, Tree tortured his wife. He got a list of names from her, a more complete list than he had gotten before, and then he killed her. The witches were destroyed, and Tree made an edict that forbad any marriage between a woman and a man, when the woman did not have her own means. The witches," Rane added, "were not known for being industrious, or self-reliant. Many of them went deeply into debt, and married well to free themselves."

  "And Tree married the witch in the first place," Ajalia asked, "so that he could find other witches?"

  "Yes," Delmar said. "He promised her the protection of his house and name, in exchange."

  "Many existing marriages were dissolved, when Tree passed the edict," Rane said. "There was much anger against him in those days, and the people were more violent."

  Ajalia thought again of the old Thief Lord, Tree, and of the vicious curve of his lips. She imagined his sharp eyes turned down over a writhing figure, and she was glad that the old man was dead.

  "Look at that," Daniel said. He was pointing at the pool of dark red matter that had bled from the heart stone. The viscous matter, which moved like watery mud, had begun to crawl, as if driven by some otherworldly force, towards the place where Delmar sat.

  "Delmar, stand up," Ajalia said sharply. Delmar looked at her; he still could not see the red stuff. He stood, and put the basket down on his chair. "Go out in the hall, Delmar," Ajalia said, "and stay there."

  Delmar turned, and left the room. Rane had stood as well, and he edged around the moving pool, which paused, and then moved, very slowly, towards the door that Delmar had gone out of.

  "That's disgusting," Rane said.

  "Is that Lily?" Ajalia asked quietly. Rane glanced at her, and nodded.

  "I told you that I thought I knew what that was," Rane said. "I thought it might be her."

  Ajalia saw that the red puddle was a similar texture and color to the pieces of Beryl that she had drawn out of Rane and Ocher; she thought that Beryl, because she learned magic that Lily had taught to her daughter, made magic similar to her predecessor's.

  "How will we kill it?" Rane asked, but Ajalia had already begun to draw cords of purple and gold from beneath the earth. She imagined the coiling blue lights in the sky, and as she closed her hands around the bundles of light, mixing them into a tight ribbon of crackling white energy, the red puddle on the floor rose up a little, and formed itself into a face.

  Lily's face was reminiscent of Lilleth's, but her eyes were more like Beryl's had been. Lily, Ajalia saw, could see much more clearly than Lilleth had been able to, when Delmar's mother had risen out of her son's face. Lily looked at Daniel with speculation in her eyes, and Ajalia cried out, and shoved the magic she had drawn together at the heap of dark red.

  Half the puddle vanished in a hiss of ugly smoke, and Lily looked away from the boy, and fixed her eyes on Ajalia. Ajalia saw Lily's eyes widen a little in surprise, and then she saw Delmar's grandmother's face quicken with lust.

  "You," Lily said in a low thrum, and the puddle began to creep towards Ajalia. "You will do very well," Lily said.

  Delmar had opened the door, when the first crash of white power had hit the red puddle, and he stared now at Lily's bloody face in shock. It was clear that he could see the red matter now. Ajalia gathered more power from the earth into her hands, and reached for light from the sky.

  "I will not let you get away," Lily hissed, the face rising up farther from the floor. "I will take you for myself," she hissed, and a tongue of black, like a whipping snake, shot out towards Ajalia's heart.

  Delmar let out a shout, and a crash of gold, and of vibrant blue moved like lightning from his fist. The lights Delmar had sent curled tightly around the cord of black, and Ajalia saw Lily's face struggling with the effort to pull free.

  "You are my grandson," Lily said at once, when she had turned to see where the lights had come from. "You are Delmar," Lily said. She had a look of coaxing in her eyes; Ajalia was forcibly reminded of the way that Delmar's mother had looked, when she had told Ajalia that Delmar belonged to her.

  Delmar had a look of utter disgust on his face; he twisted the blue and gold lights like a noose, and the black cord swelled. Ajalia saw Lily's face struggling, as if for breath.

  "You can't do this," Lily cried softly, her voice warm and hypnotic. "I am your own grandmother."

  Delmar let out an angry hiss, and the blue and gold lights merged together to make a blinding white. The black cord snapped into pieces, and Lily shrieked, her eyes enraged.

  "You cannot break my spells!" Lily told Delmar, an edge of hatred in her voice. "You are mine. Your father sold you to me," she snapped.

  "You are an abominable hag," Delmar spat at her, and he sent the white streams of light into Lily's eyes and mouth.

  Lily choked on the white light; Ajalia could see that her eyes and mouth were being eaten up from the inside. The old witch could not scream, or cry out. Ajalia saw the dark red lips struggling to form words. Strangling bits of black cords, like the wispy ends of frail roots, reached out from the dark red puddle, and then shrank back. With a final burst of energy, Lily freed her mouth. She swallowed down the white light; her eyes were shining like possessed stars. Lily smiled in triumph when she had eaten the white light. She opened her lips to speak again, and then, as though lit from within by the beautiful lightning she had taken into herself, she burst into gleaming ruby pieces, and was gone.

  Lilleth had exploded into a cloud of white, chalky dust, and Beryl had been like the swift fall of wet dirt, but when Lily died, her remnants of soul fragmented into clear red stones, sharp and glistening, that clattered over the floor of Tree's apartment. The wet dirt from Beryl had vanished into nothing, but these red stones from Lily remained. Ajalia thought that they were hardened fragments of the magic that Lily had used to sustain herself. Delmar kicked at one of these stones with his toe; the sharp red rock was clear, and gorgeous. The kicked rock skittered lightly over the floor, and came to rest against Daniel's feet. The boy stooped down, and picked up the stone.

  "Can I keep this?" Daniel asked Delmar eagerly. Ajalia looked at Daniel; the boy looked as though he had never experienced so much excitement in his life, which, she reflected, was most likely true. Daniel looked as though he had been transported to a realm of wonder and danger; Ajalia thought that he would probably trade on
the fact of his having been here, in the room, when Lily was exploded into pieces, for the rest of his life. She smiled at him, but Daniel's eyes were fixed with furious fervor on Delmar's face.

  "You can take all of them," Delmar said.

  "I want one, too," Ajalia said. She could not help herself; the rocks were very pretty, and she wanted to remember the way Delmar had looked, when he had stepped forward to protect her from his dead grandmother's evil soul.

  Delmar looked at Rane.

  "Did you think that would happen?" Delmar demanded. "Did you think her soul would come out?" Rane was looking down at the block of wood, which now looked scorched and ordinary. The etchings on the side, which had been covered in grime, were smudged now, and damaged.

  "I did not know that she would come out," Rane said carefully, and Ajalia realized that Delmar was speaking now as the Thief Lord. "I thought we would have time," Rane said, "to destroy the heart stone safely." He looked at Delmar, and Ajalia watched Delmar judge Rane's expression. Ajalia had never seen Delmar act from a position of authority like this, and manage other people, and she was eagerly interested in what he would say, and how he would be.

  "If something of this kind happens again," Delmar said slowly, "I will send you home." Rane bowed his head, and Ajalia saw that Delmar carried authority well. He seemed wise, and strict, and honorable. Ajalia thought that she saw Rane studying Delmar's expression as assiduously as she herself had done, and she remembered that the Talbos man still answered to his own king.

  "Well," Ajalia said, and she stood up. "I guess we can all go now."

  "Were those all of your questions?" Delmar asked her. He was frowning.

  "No," Ajalia said, "but I think I've got enough to think about for now." Ajalia felt as though she had not slept for days, which, she reflected, was not entirely an inaccurate expression for the kind of sleep she had been getting lately. She was beginning now to feel a little overwhelmed, and she went to the door. Daniel, who had been busy on the floor, scraping up every bit of Lily that he could find, and stuffing the clear red stones into one of the baskets he had brought, stood up, and followed her.

  "That awful message is still in Tree's room," Ajalia reminded Delmar, "and all the blood," she added.

  "Are you going home?" Delmar asked, and she knew he meant to the dragon temple.

  "I told Rane that I'd sponsor him," Ajalia said, turning in the doorway. "Is that a problem?" she asked. "I don't know how yet," she threw in.

  Delmar looked at Rane, and narrowed his eyes.

  "That depends," Delmar told her. "Let me think about it." Ajalia nodded. She started to walk down the hall, towards the stairs, and she heard Delmar follow her. "I'll come and find you at home," Delmar said quietly to her, pressing his mouth against her hair, "after I've sorted out some things."

  "I love you," Ajalia told him. She blushed after she had said it, but she looked up at him, and he did not smile at her blush.

  "I love you, too," he said, and pressed her lips in a swift kiss. Delmar went back into the room, and Ajalia, feeling quite light and happy, went down the stairs.

  Daniel had been just beside her when Delmar had kissed her. The boy was holding his basket of red stones against his chest, and his eyes were turned speculatively on Ajalia as he followed her down the steps. The neighbors had vanished from sight.

  "Are you going to get married?" Daniel asked Ajalia. Ajalia, who did not know how to answer this question, said nothing.

  "I want to see if your aunt is a witch," Ajalia told Daniel. "I want to see if I can tell when I see her." Daniel looked up curiously at her.

  "My aunt isn't a witch," Daniel said.

  "How do you know?" she asked.

  "Because she can see colors, like I can," Daniel said. "She told me about it. Witches can't do that."

  "How do you know what witches can do?" Ajalia asked. Daniel was silent for a long time.

  "Nam pretended to be a witch," he said finally, "but she was only a bully. She couldn't do anything." Daniel looked at Ajalia; they were walking down the center of the street now, and Ajalia, though she was not looking for them, could sense the long cords of colored power running through the earth below her. She felt slightly ill in her heart. She had thought, earlier, that she had made peace with the reality of magic, but now she was beginning to feel once again the haunting sense that she was fooling herself into being a great chump. She could find no excuse for the magic, aside from the fact that it was real, but now that she was learning of her powers, and hearing the others talk openly of witches and of spells, she felt crazy. Why, she asked herself, had her parents known how to eat her soul? She was sure that her mother had no connection to Slavithe, and, she remembered, the slaves that had formed the original population of Slavithe and Talbos had come from countries all over Leopath. Perhaps, she thought, the magic was real for everyone, and the slaves who were apt with magic had banded together to form their own community long ago. Maybe, Ajalia thought, a place like Slavithe was the natural conclusion, in a continent full of people who did not believe in magic.

  She remembered now the stories she had heard about Slavithe, before she had come. Someone, she remembered, had told her about golden lights dusting the heads of the children, and she remembered that the land was said to be graced with fairies.

  "My mother was a witch," Daniel said quietly. Ajalia looked down at the boy.

  "When did you find that out?" she asked. Daniel's face was sober, and he was turning over the heap of red stones in his fingers as he walked. They were drawing near the street that led towards the dragon temple; the old man Tree had lived between the poor district, and the place where the wealthier residents lived.

  "My father told me," Daniel said, "after I was sold. He wanted to explain to me," the boy said, "why he wanted me out of the house. She wasn't doing magic then, you see, and my father wanted to make sure I wasn't hurt." Ajalia watched the boy for a little while. Daniel's cheeks were somber, and his eyes were on the road. The red stones made a gentle clinking sound beneath his fingers. "They won't punish witches," Daniel said, "when they aren't doing magic."

  "Why is that?" Ajalia asked. Daniel glanced up at her.

  "Because," he said. "If you don't catch a witch actually doing magic, then how do you know she's a witch? Anyone could say that anyone else was a witch, couldn't they? I could say Nam was a witch, just to get her in trouble, and if she wasn't a witch," he said, "which she isn't, then she would be punished for nothing."

  "How did you father know?" Ajalia asked.

  "He caught her once, doing a small charm," Daniel said. "It was over my sister, and my father thought she was all right, then. She's my older sister," he added. "She's dead now."

  "Why did your father think your mother was all right?" Ajalia asked. Daniel lifted his shoulders helplessly.

  "My mother said she was afraid my sister would be a witch," Daniel said. "She said that she had to check, to make sure my sister was all right. My father didn't know better then. He believed her."

  "Why did your sister die?" Ajalia asked.

  "She got sick," Daniel said. They were walking near a block of buildings that lay just before the entrance to the street that led to the Thief Lord's house. Ajalia had often taken a back way, to avoid passing before that white stone house, but now she felt that the specter of Delmar's father and mother had passed from that place. She wondered where Isacar was, and if it would take him some time to track down and break the boy Coren. Ajalia thought that Coren was an awful pest; she had met him three times now, and each time her opinion of him worsened dramatically. Coren seemed to her to embody everything that had been wrong with both Delmar's father and his mother. It was as if all their faults together had been mashed into the shape of a boy, and then covered over with brown eyes and sandy hair. Wall, she remembered, had vanished, and she thought that he had probably taken Yelin with him. A tiny spark of longing rose in her heart; she made a picture in her mind of Wall and Yelin living somewhere far away, and nev
er appearing in the city to aggravate Delmar anymore. Yelin at least, Ajalia thought, would have the sense to plan an auspicious return for the pair of them, if they did return. If Wall had left the city when Ajalia had warned him about his mother, she thought, the late Thief Lord's second son would not have learned of his mother's death, or of his father's. Wall, she thought, would expect to be vilified by both his father and mother, if he returned openly with Yelin.

  "People don't fight off sickness very well," Daniel said, "when they've been tasted by a witch. Our medicines don't work as well on them."

  "So your sister got sick," Ajalia said, "and if she hadn't been eaten by your mother before, she probably wouldn't have died?"

  "I think so," Daniel said. "My father sold me when I was a little boy. He'd gotten suspicious, by then, and he didn't have anything to take to the Thief Lord, or to the witch-caller."

  "Does everyone know about the witch-caller, then?" Ajalia asked. Daniel nodded earnestly.

  "She's who you tell," Daniel said, "when you suspect a witch. She knows when there's strong magic done in the city, and she can smell the power, if there are charms being worked nearby."

  "So you send for the witch-caller," Ajalia said, thinking of Beryl, "and she comes to see if there's a witch."

  "Yes," Daniel said.

  Well, Ajalia thought, and she remembered the long chain of shadowy bodies that had lined up behind Beryl. She imagined that it had been all too easy for Beryl, in her position of authority, to collect as many spirits as she pleased. She thought of the way that Lily's eyes had fixed onto Daniel, and she looked at the boy, and at his lack of a white brand.

  "Do you think you were eaten by a witch?" Ajalia asked him. Daniel gazed up at her.

  "I know my mother was a witch," he said. "I don't know."

  "Can I try an experiment?" Ajalia asked. Daniel nodded, and looked at the Thief Lord's house, which was opposite of where they stood. There was still a gathering of people around the door. Beryl's corpse, Ajalia saw, had been taken away, and the blood had been cleaned up. Ajalia saw one of the girls that had carried the rug for Tree, and she curved her path towards her. Daniel followed, his hands clasped protectively over his basket of red stones.