The Bone Witch

by Rin Chupeco

  “Ah, so now you know better than I which runes to use in a fight, little chitterling? You have suddenly mastered the craft after only half a lesson?”

  I clamped my mouth shut and shook my head.

  “Support magic is almost always forgotten when one refers to spellbinding. It can be just as deadly as combat magic if you know how. There is a reason why Instructor Kaa teaches you these exercises. Many people do not remember that while Dark asha cannot use the more popular elemental magic, they can still invoke support magic as well as their own runes. That is why ateliers and hairdressers, who cannot use Fire runes or Water runes, can use potions and weave support spells into their fashion. Only a rare few know how to turn this into offensive magic, and that is what you are here for. Attack me.”

  I was at the fourth tier in my combat training, still at the second-lowest level, but was competent enough to be further along than many apprentices who started at the same time I did. But I hesitated.

  Lady Hami’s fingers moved, and I was down on the ground. My mind had been suddenly overwhelmed by unexpected and irrational fright.

  “You were afraid, weren’t you?” Lady Hami extended her hand, helped me to my feet. “See what a little support spell can do? Attack me again.”

  Her fingers moved, and immediately I was overcome by anger. I rushed at the asha but was stopped in my tracks by a sudden barrage of doubt. What was I doing?

  “You can use emotions to win a fight without taking a step,” Lady Hami said, and both the anger and doubt disappeared. “The first thing an asha is taught is how to recognize emotions that are outside of their own and nullify them before they take over. Veteran asha will not be affected by these spells—unless you are subtle enough that it passes beneath their notice.”

  She held out the Heartforger’s protection stone that I had entrusted to her before the practice began. “You have an advantage, but you cannot always rely on this stone to protect you. I will first teach you how to defend these attacks. In time, I will teach you more. And perhaps I will even teach your brother, so that he needs not hide behind trees to watch his sister at practice.”

  There was an injured silence from a cluster of oak trees a few meters away before Fox walked out. “I felt her distress,” he said, like this alone was reason enough for his presence.

  “Yes, you do. And that is why you will accompany Tea from now on to most of her training unless I say otherwise. It would be a waste of time to teach you both separately.”

  “If that is an offer, Lady Hami, I am honored.”

  “It is not an offer,” the woman told him. “It is an order. You are Tea’s familiar, and it will do you both good to learn to control your emotions together. If Tea is to profit from her training, then it is important that you learn the same things she does. But not today. You are not fully her familiar yet, and there are certain requirements that must be in place before I accept you as another student. For now, you will watch, and you will learn when the time comes.”

  • • •

  I was grateful when Mistress Parmina decided to end my singing lessons. I had improved to the point where I no longer sounded like a dying frog and could pass off a reasonable warble. But both she and Instructor Teti decided that to give me more lessons was a waste of time—I would never be asked to sing in any official capacity. This was not a blow to the Valerian’s honor, though it was certainly a disappointment. Lady Shadi, for instance, excelled in singing, dancing, and all the refined arts but was only an average student in combat training. Her movements were too refined, without the quickness and speed necessary to make her effective.

  The dissolving of my singing lessons gave me more time to pursue my combat lessons with Lady Hami, and I admit that I enjoyed those lessons more, though I frequently lost. My dancing classes continued, where I made better progress. I loved to dance, and I loved my fighting classes—they were compatible skills. I breezed through many of the easier songs and learned two new dances a week on average. I was soon promoted to the fourth tier of dance, the same week I was also promoted to the third tier in my combat lessons. Instructor Yasmin and Lady Hami were pleased, so I supposed Mistress Parmina was too.

  Matches became part of my regular schedule. I sparred every day as often as I could. The week after I received my third tier, I walked into the training hall, still basking in my accomplishment. It was early enough in the day that there were few students about, but I saw Lord Kalen was present, already geared up for sparring. My steps faltered.

  “What are you waiting for, Tea?” Lady Hami called out, and I hurried to comply.

  Kalen frowned when he saw me approach. “I suppose there’s a reason she’s here.”

  “Tea is one of my most promising students, Kalen. Her training is going splendidly.”

  “I find that hard to believe.”

  “Would you like to see for yourself? Tea, stand at the ready.” The instructor tossed me a wooden stick.

  I caught it. “Against him? But, Lady Hami, I’m only a student. I haven’t even warmed up—”

  “Only a student, yes. But if you participate only in fights where your opponent is either evenly matched or weaker—or where you have been sufficiently warmed up—then you have already lost. Stand at the ready, Tea.”

  I obeyed. Kalen stood on the other end of the mat, flexing his fingers. A few other pupils drew nearer, attracted to the discrepancies in our skill. “Begin,” Lady Hami said, and any hope I’d had that the Deathseeker would go easy on me was dashed when he sprung forward, striking a blow to my shoulder before I had a chance to gather my wits.

  “Point to Lord Kalen,” my instructor said. “Begin.”

  Kalen leaped again, but I managed to counter his next attack. The wooden stick whirled and blurred, and it took all my concentration to keep him from striking another hit. For the next ten minutes, it was a one-sided affair where he kept up the offense, until he scored another blow to my leg.

  “Point to Lord Kalen. Begin.”

  His blows are weaker when they come from his right side, Fox’s voice said from inside my head, and I nearly tripped. Use the room to your advantage. Circle him from your left and wait for an opening.

  I followed his instructions and dodged to the left. He spun to confront me.

  Now!

  I dropped to my knees, and the stick flew above my head. I struck out at the same time and managed a glancing blow off his hip.

  “Point to Tea. Begin.”

  “No,” Kalen interrupted. “I’m satisfied with her progress.” He looked down at me, still sitting on the mat and struggling for breath. “You’re pretty good,” he said, placing his hand on his side and wincing, “as much as it pains me to admit it.”

  “Thank you, milord.” I spotted Fox strolling aimlessly along the side of the room, grinning.

  “I was hoping you would be so kind as to help me train Tea,” Lady Hami told Kalen. “I think you have much to show her.”

  “I’m not sure I would have the time to—”

  “You said only yesterday that your post here at Ankyo hasn’t given you much to do,” the woman pointed out. “And you offered to help me instruct some of my students.”

  The colors in Kalen’s heartsglass flickered. “I…did say that.”

  “Excellent.” Lady Hami was brisk. “Tea here takes her lessons in the afternoon. I think between us, she will be quite proficient.”

  Kalen turned to me with a brittle smile, and I stopped myself from outwardly flinching. “I think so too.”

  • • •

  Lord Kalen poured his resentment into our training sessions and made Lady Hami’s seem like child’s play by comparison. I frequently came home bruised and tired, with little energy for anything else. But I made no protest; he could have used them to justify how I wasn’t strong enough for his training, and he would have been wrong.

  And
as hard as he worked me, he was making me better. I started winning more matches against others in my class, sometimes outclassing those above my tier. Lady Hami still trounced me often, but I was lasting longer with each fight.

  I don’t know what kind of arrangement had sprung up between Fox and Kalen, but I walked in on them sparring on several occasions, with Fox holding his own exceedingly well.

  “Why doesn’t he like me but has no problems with you?” I asked my brother once in a burst of frustration.

  “He’s fairly protective of the prince and views you as a source of danger to him,” Fox pointed out, carefully wrapping his hands in thick strips of gauze. “And there’s an advantage to teaching you, even if he doesn’t want to. On the off chance that you’re with the prince when something attacks, you’d be more adept at fighting them off and protecting him. I reckon it’s also why he’s sparring with me.”

  “But I don’t want him angry with me.”

  “You’ve got a choice, Tea. You can choose to distance yourself from the prince and possibly earn Kalen’s friendship, or continue your meetings and retain his bodyguard’s ire.”

  Fox looked at my face and sighed. “I thought so.”

  I have entertained many people in the course of my short time as an asha. It is believed that asha only accepted discerning nobles of exemplary tastes and good standing within the community as patrons. The truth was that many who went to those parties could be just as crass and rude as the next person on the street. Being a noble didn’t exempt you from being fool born. Some of my favorite guests came from humble beginnings. Some of my worst guests came from the highest of positions. Breeding isn’t what you were born as; breeding is what you grow to be. You were born a man of Drychta, Bard; you didn’t choose the kingdom of your birth. But you chose to protest against the injustices you did see, even as they drove you out. You are a good man.

  “And as for me…”

  She held out her hands, and the daeva flocked to her, nuzzling at her palms like a newborn puppy fresh from the litter, yearning for its mother.

  “I don’t know if I can claim to be good and principled,” she said softly, “but I know exactly what I need to do.”

  20

  No matter how tired I was and no matter how many bruises I earned during my training, I never turned down the prince’s requests to join him for an evening meal at the Snow Pyre. Sometimes Kalen accompanied him, though he preferred to remain outside the room, ostensibly to keep guard. My practice sessions with the Deathseeker continued. When not criticizing my techniques and form, he ignored me. His dislike still made me nervous, and I frequently made mistakes I would not have with a different teacher.

  I never told His Highness about Kalen’s disapproval. It was obvious that Prince Kance didn’t know.

  “Is Lord Kalen always this…serious?” I asked him hesitantly one time. “He never seems to take any days off.”

  “Kalen’s always kept to himself, even when he was younger,” the prince admitted. “His childhood wasn’t always easy. His father, my uncle, is in prison.”

  My history lessons had glossed over this. “What?”

  “My uncle had ties with many nobles in Odalia who tried to rebel against my father ten years ago.”

  “Daar’s Rebellion,” I remembered.

  “The farmers claimed poor treatment, but some of the gentry used it as fodder to declare war against Odalia. A daeva had attacked the city previously, and many citizens perished, my mother and Kalen’s mother among them.” He paused, then added sadly, “We all took their losses hard.”

  “I am so sorry, Your Highness.”

  “There were a few who believed that Dark asha had somehow conjured the daeva and that my father conspired with them against his own kingdom. The Duke of Holsrath was one of those ambitious gentry who believed in these lies. There was some evidence to prove he instigated the rebellion, but my father chose imprisonment for him over the hangman’s noose. I know Kalen harbors guilt over his father’s actions, and he can be very single-minded when it comes to my safety. He has trained with the sword ever since he was a child, intending to right his father’s wrongs. His heartsglass only turned silver recently—not very long after my first meeting with you in Kneave, in fact. But he has continued to remain devoted to my family. I trust him like a brother.”

  “And what about your older brother, Khalad? If you don’t mind my asking,” I added quickly, worried that I was being too inquisitive.

  “Most people pretend that my older brother doesn’t exist. It’s refreshing for someone to be upfront about him.” He smiled sadly. “He was supposed to take over the reins of the kingdom after my father. But his heartsglass turned silver three years ago. At first, we feared he would be conscripted to the Deathseekers, but much to our surprise, the Heartforger asked to take him in.”

  “As a favor?”

  “No, the Heartforger would never choose anyone out of sympathy. He has never had an assistant; he said he never found the right one. Khalad was very angry about it at first.”

  “He didn’t seem angry to me,” I said, recalling the smiling, if vague, young man sitting beside the Heartforger.

  “Khalad always liked helping people. Being king would have suited him well. But he soon realized he could help people just as much in this way. Forging new hearts for the sick, helping people start anew in life—he was very good at it. Except he started using his own memories for ingredients, more than what he ought to. Khalad always liked to test boundaries.” He sighed. “Sometimes I wish I had the silver heartsglass instead of him. Some days I feel like I don’t have the right temperament to take the throne.”

  “But you do,” I said, driven to his defense. “It would be a shame for Odalia not to have you as its king.”

  I stopped, flushing a little because I hadn’t intended to sound so passionate. But the prince laughed.

  “Thank you for your confidence. I have talked many times to Khalad since then, and he has also been supportive. I suppose that’s what brothers are for. But I don’t think I have to tell you that. You and Fox have had your share of troubles.”

  “I took his death hard,” I confessed, still embarrassed by my previous outburst. “I knew nothing then of Dark asha. I thought I had raised him from the dead through sheer force of will alone.”

  “And now he’s both an asha’s familiar and a third lieutenant.”

  I stopped. “Third lieutenant?”

  Prince Kance looked surprised. “Didn’t he tell you?”

  “He’s in the army?”

  “He’s conscripted, but his duty is only to protect you. My father made him a third lieutenant, with financial compensation guaranteed for your family. Sir Fox has been taking part in Kion’s military exercises and has performed admirably enough to be ranked in so short a time.”

  “And how long has this been going on?”

  “Shortly after you became an apprentice. I’m sorry, Lady Tea, I assumed he’d told you.”

  “Don’t be, Your Highness.” I wasn’t mad, not really. It explained Fox’s bruises, his limp. If anything, I felt glad that he wasn’t involved in anything shady. But that didn’t mean I was going to let him off that easily.

  • • •

  I’d never had reason to visit the Ankyon palace before, but most of the courtiers and servants took one look at my apprentice robe and left me alone. I concentrated on keeping my presence hidden from my brother until the last possible minute, but I soon saw that this wasn’t necessary; Fox was distracted, judging from the irritation I could feel coming from him.

  A large man in a general’s uniform passed me, confirming my suspicions. There was a large tattoo of a bird on his neck—he was the same man I had seen in my previous vision of Fox.

  I peered into an inner courtyard and found him with his arms crossed, staring stonily down at a younger woman dressed like an as
ha. I’d come at the tail end of their argument; the woman threw her hands up in disgust and marched away. Fox was too busy watching her leave to notice me.

  “A lover’s spat?”

  “Tea! What are you doing here?” My brother was wearing a soldier’s uniform: plain tan breeches and a long-sleeved shirt.

  I pointed at a star insignia on his shoulder, a symbol of his soldier’s rank. “I could ask you the same question,” I countered.

  He coughed. “I’m getting my official papers at the end of the week. I planned on telling you then.”

  “Was all this your idea?”

  “No. Your Mistress Parmina’s.” My mouth fell open. “The Odalian army doesn’t have the intensive training Kion’s does. She wanted to make sure I could protect you if it came down to it.”

  “I’m surprised she paid attention to you long enough to suggest that.”

  “Lady Mykaela’s doing, I’m sure.” He scanned my face worriedly. “I’m sorry, Tea. I should have told you sooner.”

  “I can’t say I’m pleased by all this planning behind my back—but honestly, I’m relieved. I thought you’d be involved in something illegal.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Make it up to me. Tell me who that girl was. A girlfriend? She knows you’re dead, right?”

  He winced. “No! She’s…she’s not very happy to find a corpse wandering around the castle. She’s dead set against them, in fact. That’s another reason I agreed to join the army. I may be a corpse like she claims, but I’m not useless.”

  It was easy for me to forget that my brother was dead, easy for me to forget that he wouldn’t forget it. “You’re not useless, Fox. And I’ll beat up the next asha to say otherwise.”

  “She’s not…” He trailed off and then hugged me. “Thanks, Tea.” He sounded amused for some reason, and I didn’t understand why until much later.

  • • •

  I had one other patron who frequently requested my presence at parties. Councilor Ludvig of Istera was an old man with a pinched face, prone to going into rants about how things were better in his time, because for many years he served as King Nodvik’s most senior political advisor and guided the small winter kingdom into a robust economy and into one of its most peaceful eras. He retired a few years ago, but his mind remained as sharp as ever. He had no patience for flattery and always called things the way he saw them, regardless of whose feelings were hurt in the process. I enjoyed conversations with him immensely.