Fairytales Slashed, Volume 2

by Megan Derr

  "Um, well, I don't precisely know," Bralin hedged, continuing before Roark could get it into his head to try and remove one of Bralin's limbs or something he held more dear. "He wasn't very happy to find out you wanted me to keep tabs on him."

  "Why did you tell him?" Roark asked, looking incredibly annoyed at that news. "Damn it, Bralin."

  "I didn't mean to," Bralin said, shrugging. "But I'm pretty sure he's all right, at least."

  "And how do you know that?" Roark asked suspiciously. "Is he writing you letters or something?"

  "He wrote one, telling me not to worry," Bralin said, somewhat surprised that Roark hadn't taken his head off yet. Maybe Cos had mellowed him. "And I think I know someone who knows where to find him."

  "Who?" Roark asked, his hand sliding away from his sword.

  "Asa," Bralin said slowly, relatively sure that Roark wouldn't like that, considering how suspicious he'd been of Asa the first and only time they'd met.

  "Cos's teacher?" Roark asked, frowning in confusion. "He's done with class, right?"

  "Yeah, it ended a week ago," Bralin said, relaxing because it seemed like Roark was too tired—or too mellowed by Cos—to maim or kill him. Though it was probably better not to mention that he hadn't seen or heard from Cos in the week since his class had ended. "He passed."

  "Good." Roark half-smiled at that news, and Bralin had to stifle a snicker because Roark was still so obviously besotted.

  "Let's go find Asa then," Roark said, giving Bralin a knowing look. Bralin ignored him—he hadn't said a word to Roark about Asa, and he wasn't going to confirm Roark's insinuation and give Roark something else to give him hell over.

  "We can't," Bralin said, wondering if he could get Roark to intimidate his landlord for him. Before Roark could start yelling again, Bralin continued. "I don't know where he lives and the university offices are closed at this hour. We can go first thing in the morning."

  "Of course," Roark muttered, grumbling under his breath as he finally moved, unhooking his sword belt and crossing the foyer room to where a pair of armchairs sat by the fireplace. He carefully set his sword against the wall before sitting down heavily in the closer chair.

  "You're welcome to spend the night here," Bralin offered, then belatedly remembered his ruined kitchen. "I don't have anything to feed you with, though."

  "I ate," Roark said shortly, shooting Bralin a glare over his shoulder. "What the hell did you do to your kitchen, anyway?"

  "It caught on fire," Bralin said cheerfully. It was always much easier to be flippant about things around Roark, since he seemed to take it personally. Though that reminded him—he really needed to get the kitchen into shape if he was inviting Asa over here for dinner.

  "It smells like it. This is completely your fault," Roark said, and at first Bralin thought he was still talking about the fire until he continued. "I was supposed to get home early and surprise Cos, not spend the evening with you."

  "You do have your own house," Bralin said, not taking offense because it was Roark and three-fourths of the things he said were offensive. "And Cos ran off on his own, thank you."

  "Yeah, well, I'll yell at him too," Roark grumbled sourly. Bralin swallowed a scoff; he highly doubted Roark would do anything of the sort. Lock Cos in their house for a few months, maybe.

  "You can have your reunion tomorrow," Bralin said dismissively. "If you want to sleep, take my bed. I'm going to go intimidate my landlord."

  "Right," Roark said, waving him off tiredly. "Have fun with that."

  "I will," Bralin said, hesitating before heading back towards the front door. Roark was a grown man—he could deal with waiting until tomorrow to go see Cos. Bralin just hoped that he wasn't wrong and that Asa did know where to find him.

  *~*~*

  Bralin knocked on the door loudly, frowning at the faded paint of the door absently. Of all the places he'd expected Asa to live, the riverside slums were not even close to the top of the list. He'd known Asa wasn't as well-off as the other professors, but not to this extent.

  Roark shifted impatiently next to him—he was in even more of a foul mood today, especially after Bralin had insisted he leave his more obvious weapons at home.

  The sound of footsteps approaching was clearly audible through the door, further evidence of how cheap the building was. Bralin wondered dismally if the door would fall down with a stiff breeze. Or a swift kick.

  The click of a lock being disengaged was also obvious through the door, and Bralin quickly schooled his face into a smile that he hoped masked his dismay at Asa's living conditions.

  "Hey," Asa greeted quietly. Bralin smiled more genuinely, amused as always at the way Asa's curls were tangled together in an unruly mess. What little color was in Asa's face fled as he glanced past Bralin to Roark. "You'd better come in."

  That didn't bode well, Bralin thought, frowning as Asa stepped back, holding the door open so they could enter. He followed Roark in, looking around curiously. They were in some sort of foyer room, except that it held both a sitting area and the kitchen. There were two open doorways set against the right hand wall, but there didn't appear to be much space at all in the tiny apartment.

  Still, the room was homey; despite the threadbare appearance of most of the furniture and decorations in the room, they were neatly arranged and obviously well cared for.

  "Where is he?" Roark demanded bluntly, not at all moved to politeness by how exhausted Asa looked. Bralin rolled his eyes, earning a scowl from Roark.

  "I—" Asa began, his brow furrowing briefly as a tiny flurry of dark hair and blue dress pelted out of the far room. The little girl ran straight to Asa, grabbing at his leg and tugging impatiently at his pants. She didn't pay him or Roark any mind, and Bralin couldn't help but stare—Asa had never mentioned her.

  "I'm dressed!" She proclaimed, drawing a smile from Asa. Bralin studied her curiously—she had Asa's blue eyes and the same dark curls, but otherwise she looked nothing like him. A niece maybe? "You promised."

  "I know I did, Eli, but we've got guests," Asa said, dropping down to her level gracefully. Eli pouted, then glanced up at them curiously. Bralin smiled, amused when her eyes widened when she caught sight of his hair. Roark even managed to unbind enough to smile stiffly at her. "Can you wait a bit for breakfast?"

  "You can just tell us where Cos is and we'll go," Bralin offered, even though he wanted to stay and help.

  "He's in there," Eli said without hesitation, pointed to the room she'd just come from. "He's helping mommy."

  Bralin frowned—that didn't make any sense. Cos didn't do spells on people. Maybe he was just helping, non-magically? Roark immediately headed towards the room, giving Asa and Eli a wide berth.

  "Don't—" Asa began, letting go of Eli to stand. Roark shot him a look full of scorn, not stopping. "Don't wake him."

  Bralin followed Roark, confused—what the hell was going on? A faint niggling of doubt threaded its way into his assurance that Asa wouldn't get Cos in over his head. He entered the room after Roark, pausing in the doorway.

  Eli slipped past him, a solemn look on her face as she scrambled up on the bed on the right side of the tiny bedroom, where a woman who strongly resembled her lay sleeping, her blond curls spread across the pillow.

  Cos was sleeping in the bed pushed against the left wall. It was smaller, probably Eli's, and it was just short enough that Cos's feet stuck out of over the end of the bed. Roark frowned, but he wasn't trying to wake Cos.

  His suspicions growing, Bralin activated his mage sight, swearing softly under his breath as he saw the curse Asa had laid. A Sleeping Beauty spell, Bralin would bet his curse breaker's license on it. It wasn't illegal—but it was damn close. Asa sat down heavily at the foot of his sister's bed, running his hands through his hair and worsening the mess of it. Eli shifted over, curling up against his side, and stared at Bralin with wide eyes.

  "There's—" Asa's voice gave out. Bralin hesitated, torn between laying into him for casting the curse and
going over there and comforting him. Asa cleared his throat, frowning worriedly but not really looking at either of them. "There's a letter for you on the nightstand."

  Roark turned towards it with a snarl, and Bralin did not relish explaining the full of it to him. Asa hugged Eli closer, slumping a little as Roark broke the seal and started to read the letter.

  Bralin tried in vain to catch Asa's attention, hoping he could get a real explanation before Roark tore into him—but Asa steadfastly continued to stare at the floor, his fingers absently tangling in Eli's curls. She stared back at him, wide-eyed and solemn, and Bralin didn't even want to think what the last few months had been like for her, with her mother getting sicker and sicker.

  "Explain this," Roark said abruptly, shaking the letter at Asa.

  "I-it's a spell," Asa said, then shook Eli a bit, murmuring something to her quietly. She gave him a stubborn and rebellious look, but then slid off the bed, snatching up her stuffed rabbit.

  "You owe me," she said succinctly, sounding more like a teenager than a five-year-old. That drew a faint smile from Asa, and Bralin smothered a grin, wondering who she was parroting. Then she stuck her tongue out at Asa and flounced from the room. Asa didn't move, listening to Eli's stomped footsteps until the front door clicked open and slammed shut.

  "I sent her downstairs," Asa said, the smile fading from his face. "She doesn't—all she knows is that they're sleeping and Cos is helping her mother get better."

  Bralin nodded; that made more sense than trying to explain the particulars of an often-fatal spell to her.

  "So," Roark said menacingly, but he didn't move from Cos's bedside. "Explain the spell."

  "It's more of a curse," Asa said quietly. "It draws power from Cos to heal Sariah."

  "I got that," Roark said impatiently. "What about this bit—I should be able to feel my way out of the spell because of how my magic works, so don't worry about the possible side effects of the spell."

  Bralin swore, and what little color was in Asa's face fled.

  "I didn't think—he didn't tell me he thought that—" Asa stumbled out, still looking ashen and so incredibly guilty that Bralin wanted to shake him and tell him it wasn't his fault. Except it was—how did Asa even begin to justify taking Cos's life for his sister's? Why in the world hadn't he tried everything else? Why had he asked Cos for help instead of Bralin?

  "What are the side effects?" Roark asked, deadly calm like he always got right before he took someone's head off.

  "One in three power sources die," Bralin said flatly, when Asa didn't speak up.

  "I'm sorry," Asa blurted out, casting them both miserable looks. "I couldn't find another spell and he kept insisting he could do it. I should never have let him, I shouldn't have—"

  Roark glowered at Asa, but he still made no move to separate Asa's head from his body, which was good, because if Bralin remembered his spells right, they'd need Asa to break the spell when it was done.

  Focusing on the curse again—mostly to distract himself from doing something stupid—Bralin picked through the spell's threads, checking the way they unweaved. Asa had cast the spell, apparently using Cos's energy, and… Bralin frowned, confused. There was another curse in play… on Asa's sister. He wouldn't have seen it, except the original curse had been warped with the addition of the Sleeping Beauty curse and it had spread to Cos, as well.

  Asa couldn't be aware of it, or he would've mentioned it—or just removed the original curse, since that was apparently the cause of Sariah's illness. So he hadn't seen it, had thought Sariah was dying of a natural disease, and had unwittingly spread the deadly curse to Cos.

  "What is it?" Roark demanded as Bralin let the spell threads fade from his sight. Bralin hesitated, but finally turned to Asa, who was watching him with a dismal, resigned look.

  "Why use Cos's energy to cast the spell?" Bralin asked, trying to figure out how to drop the rest of what he'd found. "You have the power to do the casting yourself."

  "I didn't," Asa said, his voice flat and toneless. He sighed quietly as he turned to look at his sleeping sister. "She was dying, so I threw everything I had into—into keeping her alive."

  Roark sat down abruptly, next to Cos, frowning as though he was unsure whether he needed to take offense to that as well.

  "Asa," Bralin said, still searching for a tactful way to say it. "There's a second spell."

  "Second spell?" Asa repeated, shaking his head. "But—I don't… I don't see it."

  "It's a very well-cast curse," Bralin said, smiling humorlessly. "I probably wouldn't have seen it had you not cast a curse on top of it. It changed the original curse slightly."

  "Sariah was cursed?" Asa asked, wide-eyed. "But why? She's—she was just a seamstress."

  "Did you piss anyone off?" Bralin asked, ignoring Roark's growing impatience. "This is—it's a very powerful and very expensive spell. Not one that would be wasted on a split seam."

  "I did," Asa said quietly, then buried his face in his hands, tugging hard at his curls.

  "Changed the curse how?" Roark asked, either too impatient to deal with Asa's obvious upset or giving Asa a chance to collect himself. It was hard to tell with Roark sometimes, whether he was being rude or thoughtful.

  "It's… traveled the Sleeping Beauty spell bonds," Bralin said reluctantly. "It's infected Cos and Asa, too, and unfortunately, it's just lying dormant until the Sleeping Beauty spell is broken. I think that it's also been warped enough that it's not going to disguise itself any longer—when the spell ends, they'll all die."

  Roark swore loudly, mostly cursing Cos and his lineage.

  "You can break it?" Roark demanded, roughly grabbing Cos's hand and holding it tightly.

  "I don't think I can," Bralin said, shaking his head. "It's too complex, and a lot of the original curse is still hidden to me. But if I'm right, I know someone who can. Who did you get piss off, Asa?"

  "Mestal Ditor," Asa said woodenly, looking utterly lifeless. Bralin frowned, but he couldn't deal with that now—he had to fix this curse first.

  "How?" Bralin asked, but he thought he knew that—there had been a huge kerfuffle a few months back when an assistant professor had rooted out one of Ditor's men in his classes, someone who'd been trying to poach mages with a high concentration of power that other mages could use.

  "He had a mole in one of my classes," Asa said slowly. "Three students went missing before we figured it out. He was picking off students before they could block other mages from stealing their power."

  "Who is Mestal Ditor?" Roark asked suspiciously, scowling at them both.

  "Cos didn't think he was related," Asa said, frowning a little. Aggravatingly, he didn't offer anything more, and Bralin narrowed his eyes a bit, confused. Why would Cos be related to Mestal?

  "Like he'd actually know," Roark said, scoffing. "He only knew his immediate family."

  "Cos's surname is Ditor?" Bralin hazarded a guess, wondering how that had escaped his notice.

  "Yes," Roark said impatiently. "Who is Mestal?"

  "He's the man running the illegal mage-trafficking business in the city," Bralin said, shrugging. "He grabs mages who can act as power sources and sells them off to other mages who want more power for their spells and are too cheap to hire it or are performing illegal spells and so can't risk hiring it."

  "What was Cos's father's name?" Asa asked quietly, frowning worriedly.

  "Ulmer," Roark said shortly, and Bralin really wanted to beat his head against the wall. How had he missed that when he'd been helping Roark dissolve Ulmer's spells? Except he hadn't been helping dissolve Ulmer's spells, he'd been helping with Cos, not worrying about the dead wizard any longer.

  "He's related," Asa said, frowning at Cos worriedly as he tugged at the end of few of his short curls. "But why hasn't Mestal come for him? He has to know Cos is in the city."

  "Maybe he doesn't want to tangle with you again?" Bralin suggested, striving for levity but falling flat. "Or maybe he doesn't know. Ulmer disa
ppeared decades ago—Mestal may not be keeping an eye out for him any longer."

  "He did tangle with me," Asa pointed out quietly.

  "So who can break it, and why haven't you gone to get him?" Roark asked, looking like he'd sucked on something sour.

  "Liok Ditor," Bralin said, hesitating. "And I haven't gone to get him because I don't know where he is."

  "Then why bother bringing him up?" Roark demanded, obviously getting surly.

  "Because I know someone who knows how to get a message to him," Bralin explained patiently. "But I needed to know more about the spell first."

  "Oh!" Asa exclaimed sharply, doubling over. Bralin took a few steps forward before hesitating, halfway to where Asa was sitting.

  "What is it?" Roark asked, trying for cranky but it he was obviously worried underneath it.

  "The spell is trying to end," Asa whispered hoarsely, his hands clenching in the sheets as he forced himself into sitting up straight. Bralin cursed—he thought they'd had more time than that; Sariah hadn't been fully healed. Switching on his mage sight, he frowned—apparently Cos's energy was potent; he'd healed the remaining illness from Sariah three times faster than Bralin had predicted he could.

  He really didn't want to think about what that meant in terms of how sick Sariah had been.

  Asa was keeping the spell from ending by using his energy to hold off the closing of the spell loop. It would work for a time, but in a contest of Cos's energy versus Asa's, Cos's energy would win every time.

  "Keep doing that," Bralin said, wishing he had something he could give Asa. Unfortunately, all his power was the unsharable type. "Take from Cos, but be careful you don't both deplete; that will also end the spell automatically."

  Asa nodded, making a shooing motion. "Go."

  "Going," Bralin said lightly. He gave Roark a significant look, but Roark wouldn't kill Asa in his absence, not when doing so would kill Cos. Turning, Bralin left, making his way out of Asa's apartment and hoping like hell his contact was in place and it wouldn't take long to ferret Liok out.

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