by JANRAE FRANK
"We have a yuwenghau, Eshraf?" Yukiah's face brightened.
"Yes, we have a yuwenghau, we have catkin, and we have several other magical creatures. We are gathering an army. I am assembling temple battle units. The vampire will not beat us."
"Thank the gods. Now what is this about the poison? Have the healers found it?" Yukiah asked.
"No. Only Dynarien and the yuwenghau have found it. For obvious reasons that isn't enough to convince anyone. Dynarien is a foreigner and not Guild. The yuwenghau cannot reveal himself until we find the vampire."
"You're certain about the vampire? I have heard that from other sources, but I wasn't certain."
"Yukiah, it's Talons the vampire has been feeding on. It may even be the vampire who has been poisoning her. He may have been making her drink the poison herself, calling her out, handing her the poison and telling her to drink it."
The look that flashed across Dynarien's face was terrible in its horror and fury. The room filled with the scent of roses. He spun up and out of his chair, striding across the room. "No! No, no, no. Talons!"
Yukiah started from his seat, but Edouina was already rising and Eshraf stopped him. They watched her wrap her arms around him, laying her head on his shaking shoulders.
"He loves a woman he can never have," Eshraf said, his voice filling with compassion. "Perhaps Edouina can find a place in his heart instead."
"Sharani are triadic, Eshraf, Edouina belongs to Talons."
"Belonged to Talons. Wrathscar will want someone submissive for what he will view as nonsense."
"You'll have to prove Wrathscar guilty of something before you can have the Guild take him out." Yukiah rubbed the burn scar on his neck. "You remember what happened last time. I will always believe he killed his wife. He squirmed out of it."
"I'll find it."
Eshraf turned to Queiggy, who up until then had been silent. "Old friend, I have a special task for you."
"Oh, yes? And what would that be?" Queiggy's voice was a tenor, cracking with age and growing whispery.
"Go through all the records of deaths for the last years, especially the period of the vampire attacks thirty years ago. I believe that the Lemyari still exist."
"Lemyari be a myth," Queiggy's words were skeptical, yet the intonations were a challenge and a suggestion of belief, as if perhaps he knew something that he was not telling. "And how would I know that I had found what I was looking for, Holy Father?"
"Poison, venom, a kind and type that could not be identified." Eshraf extended his hands, flexing his fingers. "They carry it in their hands and discharge it through their secondary nails. Small, perfectly round punctures. Either a single puncture or spaced in a pattern that could not possibly have been made by fangs. A tiny amount paralyzes and a larger amount kills. It is similar to a neuro toxin. Hit an artery and you're dead in seconds. They can also lay their arts of fascination far deeper than other vampires, places where only a yuwenghau could find them. They are demon-vampires."
"If it's there, I'll find it."
* * * *
Bryndel had lingered late in the library with a stack of volumes by romantic poets, jotting down poems he wanted to memorize, creating his own small collection in careful calligraphy to please Talons and Edouina with a reading in the garden. He expected the librarians to appear at any moment and chase him out, considering that it was past midnight. Running footsteps made him raise his eyes and then he heard a soft, rare laugh he recognized as his sister's. Bryndel went very still, hoping they had not noticed him. He saw only the back of the Guildsmon's head and the mon's uniform as he bent to kiss Belyla, long and passionate, before they raced down the stairwell and into the Cloverleaf. She wore a hood and had covered her face with a veil, which she lifted slightly for the kiss, but Bryndel would have known his favorite sister anywhere.
"Oh gods, Belyla, what are you doing?" Bryndel muttered. He knew his father would be enraged to find Belyla in a relationship with a Guildsmon. Suddenly all the papers in front of him, all the love poems were forgotten. He wanted more than almost anything for Belyla to be happy. He knew what his father did some nights in his sisters' rooms. He knew how it hurt her because he could see it in her eyes the next day. But a Guildsmon? His father would certainly kill the mon and break Belyla's heart. Well, if anyone told their father, it would not be him, Bryndel vowed.
"Be careful, Belyla. Please be careful ... be wise."
CHAPTER FIVE
A RECEIPE FOR DEATH
Galee set the wine glasses on her table and the vials next to them, forming a triangle with the wine bottle atop the crimson table covering. The new blend was darker red, more concentrated than what she had been giving Talons before. She had had to send to the Master of Blood for this. Solance's skills left more and more to be desired as Galee's plot progressed. Talons was stronger than she expected. The first collapse should have come a week ago. The Master had also sent her several interesting new drugs to introduce on the streets for testing among those who catered to such things – some of which, she had been assured, could in appropriate combinations and dosages bring down a Sharani in moments. If Solance did not watch his steps he would find himself becoming expendable far faster than he dreamed.
She began her silent call while still moving about the room, taking her journal off the shelf, and setting it next to her pen and bottle of ink. That room, like all of Galee's suite, was done in black lacquered furniture, delicately carved so that there were tiny leering, malevolent faces hidden among the leaves and flowers; cushions, curtains, and every bit of cloth was some obscene shade of orange or red, running the gamut from flame to blood. The walls matched the cushions with black trim and cabinets. She settled at the table, took up her pen, and began to record the progress of the poison in the column next to her calculations in the old language. There was almost no one alive – to her knowledge – who could read it, save herself. But it would not hurt to make certain of that by consulting the Master of Blood. Tonight she would do a deep Reading of Talons' body, and record her findings in more detail. Solance had had the right idea in kidnapping Arruth; he had simply chosen the wrong victim. Once she acquired a kingdom to play with, she would build some laboratories and get some decent bio-alchemists, mages, bio-magicalists, and geneticists to carry out her explorations into breaking the Tinkerer's Toys. None of her own creations had proved strong enough to defeat those minions in open combat yet.
"Come, Talons, come drink your death," she spoke the triggering phrase. "Come, it is time."
She tongued her lips in anticipation, allowed her fangs to descend, and tried to decide where she wanted to sink them this time. Perhaps it was time to begin taking Talons in the neck where all could see the wounds. That would frighten people and frightened people were easily stampeded. Then she could set herself up as their savior and protector before eating them.
Consecrated blood tasted the best of all. Well, not best, but the others – yuwenghau and sacred kings – were rare, hard to find, and dangerous to get. Still Talons did not come. Galee frowned, reaching into the room with her awareness only to be shoved out hard. Someone had warded and shielded it. Galee opened her awareness further, sniffing around the edges. No ordinary mage set these wards and shields: she could taste the divinity in them. Damn the holy rakehells scattering their seed in all directions! The mage must have at least half-blood or even be fully yuwenghau. Galee hated the yuwenghau. She had killed and eaten several in her long life and intended to devour more – starting with this one.
"I am the Glistening One. I am a god. The cow is mine. These people are my cattle." Galee raged around the room, breathing hard. "Mine. I will not be balked. If she will not drink it tonight, she will drink it tomorrow. And sooner or later I will drink from her. On the day she dies, I will hang her corpse from a pole and drain her blood into my bottles like the juice of the grape. It will be a very fine vintage; and I will do the same for the yuwenghau. Damn him."
Then she went to her mirror, slid
her fingers along the back, and caused it to swing forward. A small cupboard showed behind it. She pulled a magic, golden preserving bottle from the shelf and tore it open, drinking deeply of the contents. She rolled a swallow around in her mouth like fine wine and then drank more slowly.
The label read in the old tongue: Lord Ky of Hellsguard.
A few months back, the Master of Blood had given her seven bottles filled with the blood of Channadar's father, whom Blood had murdered fifty years ago at her request. Lord Ky had interfered with her hunt for the branch clan, after she had narrowed her search down to Hellsguard.
* * * *
"The palace is a warren," Yahni laughed, pushing open a door Belyla would never have guessed was there. "There are always rooms no one expects to find unless you know where to look for them. Finding them is a hobby of mine. Each and every master kept adding onto the palace and the compound."
Belyla giggled as he ran her up a narrow spiral stair and they came into a small tower room with a lovely bed shaped like a swan preparing to take flight, wings just spreading, a fantasy in pink and white beneath a mirrored ceiling. A high relief of swans and swan-mays dancing covered one wall, while a tapestry of those paladins of Willodarus in their silver armor and cloaks of black feathers vanquishing dragons filled another. A dresser with a large mirror edged in swan scrollwork stood in one corner beside a chest of drawers, also decorated in swans. The carpets were swans in black and silver. Belyla caught her breath in wonder. "It's lovely, Yahni."
"Isn't it? I remembered how much you loved the Verses to Alysinjin. This is her room. The sixth Grand Master, Chamche, built it for her. Swan-mays are long-lived, but humans are not. When he died, she took their youngest child and left, never to return. There is swan-may blood in the Gee lineage. It is thinning now."
"That's sad. I've always loved The Black Swan: Verses to Alysinjin. I was so afraid you'd think it was silly of me when I handed you that volume."
"The Verses is why I went looking for this room four years ago and found it. I've never brought anyone here before. It is always sad when a long-lived falls in love with a short-lived. That's why the Fae calls a human lover their firefly. Because their lives are so brief. I love you, Belyla." Yahni lifted her easily onto the swan-bed. "I should hear back from Shaurone soon. Even if I don't, we should just leave."
"I want to, Yahni. I'm getting frightened."
"Then I'll talk to Mikkal tomorrow." Yahni kissed her.
* * * *
Galee spent the first part of the morning making another set of entries in her ledger. The unknown yuwenghau had thrown her careful calculations off. She could not afford to have Talons start missing doses, especially this early in the process. Later, when the damage had progressed farther it would not be as crucial. She needed to find Talons immediately, and get a dose down her throat by whatever means necessary. Then she must find Wrathscar; she had promised that today she would turn him. Ah, but that would be delicious. Until now theirs had been a relationship of equals; after today she would be master. Last, before the day ended, she would need to force Bryndel to resume dosing Talons himself. She had never told him that blended in with the bi-kyndi blocker and memory drops had been a poison. Sooner or later he would begin to suspect, then she would either have to take his mind completely or bend it some other way.
Galee packed a basket with several glasses and a bottle of wine so deeply red it looked black, dressed, and went to Talons' rooms. She could not enter because of the wards, but she could stand at the door and speak. Jysy answered.
"I need to speak with Talons. Is she here?"
Jysy shrugged. "She isn't here."
Galee frowned. "Can you tell me where she is, child? It is very important."
Jysy gave her a sullen look. "No idea."
Galee swallowed back an imprecation and left. Talons' little band of companions clearly disliked her. Especially Jysy. But she chose not to make an issue of it – yet. She walked out of the wing onto the sweeping second floor landing from which she could see Channadar and his half-Fae sycophants along with their fireflies sitting on couches in the Great Central Hall as they frequently did, telling their magic stories.
Channadar was too much like his father and would end like him once the Master of Blood arrived. He'd caught her in Hellsguard, his holding along the edge of the escarpment, looking for the Gate of the Hellgod and had banned her from his lands. It had caused a political uproar, and cost her tremendous loss of prestige. She had tried unsuccessfully to force him to allow her there, since she was First Lieutenant to the Grand Master. Eshraf had intervened on Channadar's behalf and she had lost. It still rankled, despite the fact that she had gained a small victory in that Channadar had lost his seat on the council.
Juna, Channadar's younger brother, haremed. He had four fireflies: Tongari, Sysymi, Pelaui, and Yolany. They draped themselves about him. Galee drifted toward them, asking each mon she met whether they knew where Talons might be this early. Four of Galee's Lemyari, dressed as Creeyan nobles, fell into place behind her, smiling. They paused beside Channadar's entourage. She caught Yolany's eye with a suggestive glance. The young woman was lovely, blonde, like a bit of butter frosting.
"Have any of you seen Talons?" Galee asked.
"In the gardens," Yolany told her.
Channadar paused in his story, snapping his golden fans closed in irritation. Tiderider's firefly, an interesting auburn haired woman, called Leeza, stepped to Yolany's side, bumping her elbow. Galee had tried several times over the last three years to get close to Leeza and been rebuffed. She knew that Wrathscar had been trying to get a ride on that one and been scathingly rejected.
Yolany frowned and shoved Leeza, but she did not say another word to Galee.
"Thank you, you are kind, Yolany," Galee said. "I will go to the gardens."
Galee should have thought of the gardens immediately and her irritation increased for not having done so. The early summer made the gardens especially lovely and Bryndel had kept Talons imprisoned with her legs spread for months until the pregnancy became known; so the gardens must seem irresistible. Bryndel and Talons sat upon a spread blanket with a basket lunch. Talons wore a loose shift. The heir no longer dressed as a Guildsmon and Galee considered that a psychological victory. The cow's belly was swelling rapidly with Bryndel's triplets; no doubt that was part of the reason for the clothing change.
She simpered at Bryndel and Talons, her hand sweeping out to indicate the four Creeyans in expensive silks suggestive of the nobility. "My Lords, I wish to introduce you to our heir Lady Talons Gee, called Trollbane, and her betrothed Sir Bryndel Wrathscar, son of Lord Agasthenez Wrathscar."
As Galee continued to make introductions, Talons felt that the whole day had been ruined, but she coped with it. Her grandsire and the Wrathscars expected her to behave like a lady, and she was putting forth an effort to do so.
"Please, join us." Talons indicated the edges of the blanket and the newcomers sat down. Creeya was a large kingdom and, having rejected politics growing up, there were many of the nobility she did not know. She had never wanted to be the heir; that had been for her cousins. But now they were dead. She missed them.
Galee filled the glasses, handing one to Talons first and then the others.
Bryndel glared at her, shaking his head at the proffered glass. "I have my own," he said in a petulant tone, continuing to sip the white wine in his glass. He refilled it from the bottle he had brought with him, making it clear that he was annoyed at Galee for interrupting his visit with Talons.
"A toast to the wedding and the children, Bryndel," Galee said, her voice smoothly refusing to become irritated.
"Toast away, Galee. I'll drink my own."
Talons felt a certain nagging admiration for Bryndel's refusal.
They shared out that bottle of strange red-black wine and polished it off in a series of toasts. It tasted oddly familiar to Talons, although she could not say why. She was glad when they finally left.
/> * * * *
Galee handed the basket to the tall Lemyari walking beside her as they moved deeper into the rear gardens. They spoke in an obscure tongue as they traveled. "Carry that for me, Meilurk. When I am finished here, you may take it to my rooms and leave it there. Then you are free to mingle as you will."
"That was too simple, Galee," the tall Lemyari said to her. "Five demon dead sit drinking poisoned wine with a human."
"Why didn't you just take her mind?" asked another.
"Because I had hold of Bryndel's instead, to keep him from drinking it." Galee did not add that she could not get into Talons' mind because a yuwenghau had shielded it. The only way to take Talons' mind at this point would be to rip it to shreds. She was not ready, yet, to speak of the yuwenghau. She wanted to find him first.
"Ahhhhh," said Meilurk. He pulled at his long mustaches thoughtfully.
"Come with me, there are others I wish you to become acquainted with." Galee led them deeper into the gardens. "Today Lord Agasthenez Wrathscar becomes one of us." They walked through the forest of hedges and trees and flowering bushes. She halted abruptly when she saw, from the corner of her eye someone who looked very much like Belyla kissing a Guildsmon. They moved away and Galee could not be certain of what she saw or who the mon was – there were simply too many dark haired myn here. Belyla and a Guildsmon? That would never do. Galee needed to quietly ask around and discover who he was.
* * * *
Sha released Belyla's wrist and regarded her for a long moment. The girl had come into her office wearing a heavy veil and a long black dress like one of the Sisters of Novra. Sha had been startled to see who it was when Belyla settled the veil around her shoulders. Clearly the girl was trying to hide something. Tollo, another healer, had referred Belyla to her. "Who is the father, Belyla?"
"You mustn't tell anyone. Especially my father."