^ ^ ^ ^ ^
“If it wasn’t Elowyn’s mage talent,” Gem said archly, “then whose?”
Lord Grey laughed.
“Someone the Master of Assassins trusted above all others, I would think,” Lian said before the necromancer could answer, having caught on to the skull’s meaning quickly. “Someone he could trust to find me and to be able to help me.”
“Indeed,” Lord Grey said. “And this elf, whoever he might be, is the only person on Tieran who can locate you, Lian.”
“I don’t understand that part,” Lian said. “You said that even the great diviners cannot penetrate the veil around me. How can that little figurine get through it?”
Gem answered, “Because it was his magic, in your body, that you used to miniaturize the Key. And it was his magic, in your body, that instructed the Key to allow it, without your knowing.”
“Oh, ho, Lady Sword!” Lord Grey said, laughing again. “You’re far sharper than even your edge implies!” The necromancer seemed almost beside himself with mirth. He was, the other three knew, always well disposed to those who demonstrated great intelligence or guile, and Lian imagined he was very impressed with Elowyn’s plan.
“But not sharper than Elowyn and this mysterious elf,” the skull-bound wizard added, his voice becoming serious again. “I’m certain it’s a tale worth hearing, how the Easterner got possession of the blood and the frog, though I’m sure the acquisition of both is tied together somehow. However, the question now is: does the elf live or does he not? Fortunately,” he said brightly, and they could almost imagine his wide grin on the dead features of the skull that was his prison, “we already know the answer because the frog brought the mage here.”
“Ah,” Gem said, realizing the skull’s meaning at once. “Its enchantments would have faded upon his death.”
“Not precisely,” Lord Grey replied. “The magic would have remained, but the link between the frog, the elf’s magic, and the marble would most likely not. The frog would still have been seeking Lian, but it probably would have lost the ability to see through the veil.”
Lian nodded, following the mages’ conversation well. “Can he make another one and still find me?” he asked.
“Probably not, but possibly,” the skull said. “He would have to have access to your blood or hair to reestablish the link between himself and you. If he does have another sample, he could still make another tracking device. The marble simply won’t block his scrying magic until and unless someone with mage talent has possession of it, after which the opening in the marble’s defenses will close.”
The skull’s logic was fairly sound, if a little inaccurate. It had been Elowyn’s magic that had infused Lian, and the half-brothers’ magic intertwined together that had made the frog. Lord Grey couldn’t know, however, what Elowyn’s magic had also ordered the Key of Firavon to do, or in this case, not do. The great artifact was constructed to be helpful to mages and obedient to their will, and so when it was ordered to let the frog—and only the frog—through the defenses it created, it did so.
Lian had already established, during their conversations aboard Searcher, that neither Gem nor Lord Grey could command the Key of Firavon. The Artificer-King had designed it to be a tool only to the living, for reasons even the necromancer didn’t know. After all, more than one wizard-king of the Theocracy had been Undead, so to make an item of such power that would be useless to them was something of a puzzle.
“Elowyn would certainly have had access to your blood or hair,” Snog said thoughtfully, “so he could have collected some to give to this other elf. But I doubt he felt he needed to.”
“What do you mean, Snog?” Lian said. The goblin was an agent of Saael, the goblinish god of spies and thieves, and he’d proven to have a devious mind. Snog had a marked preference to deal with problems quickly and permanently, but he was more than capable of coming at them sideways.
“Either you went into the scrying chamber and got the Key—which required the jade cat to bite you and set the rest of this up—or you didn’t, and your uncle’s diviners and seers would have found you inside of a week,” the goblin explained. “If the cat didn’t bite you, no veil, and any other preparations are moot.”
“That theory doesn’t cover every eventuality,” Lord Grey observed, “but the reasoning is sound. Elowyn’s ally is your ally as well, Lian, if your visions can be trusted, and he or she cannot make a new tracking device. That means this mysterious elf has lost the ability to locate you and to make contact with you.”
The four ruminated on this for a time, until Lian broke the silence. “We have a sympathetic link to the other elf,” he said. “We can use that to observe him and see if we can find out more about him.”
“Very well,” the skull said, though Lian suspected he’d already settled on that course of action and was simply waiting for someone to suggest it. “I will need a mirror—the assassin’s will serve—and the phial of blood.”
Lian nodded, signaling Snog to retrieve the mirror. “I presume you know a spell that will allow us to see in the mirror as well?” he asked, his eyebrow raised.
The skull chuckled. “Yes, I do,” he said. “It was my plan to use such a one, in any event.”
Gem restrained her urge to snort aloud, instead remaining quiet. It was possible the necromancer had intended to do so, after all, but she felt it more likely he wanted to spy upon the elf privately and then decide what to tell Lian. Her thoughts narrowing to a sharp point, she decided to watch the scrying spell Lord Grey used with all of her magical senses. She had seen the old mage cast many subtle spells, including ones, like the disruption spells, that interacted with one another in ways her knowledge of magic simply wasn’t sufficient to unravel. She didn’t put it past him to scry the elf and then have the mirror show something else entirely.
Lian needs a living wizard in his service, she thought. Her own powers, of course, were solely at her prince’s disposal; she trusted her motives. But she was no Master magician, and the scrying magic Lord Grey was going to cast was just one example of areas where her powers were simply insufficient. One he can trust, she added to herself.
Lord Grey had Lian and Snog place him on the edge of the mirror, with the phial of blood resting on the opposite edge across the rectangular glass’s longer dimension. He sang a beautiful song, uncolored by his necromantic nature, what he’d described as being out of the general body of magical knowledge. As he sang, the mirror immediately clouded over as the spell searched for its target.
^ ^ ^ ^ ^
Whoever the new scryer was—Celewyn suspected it was the necromancer, Lord Grey—the magic was much more subtle than Ammon’s divinatory talents, and even though he was waiting for the sensation, it was a few moments before he noticed it. His brother’s magical abilities had not been as strong, and Elowyn might have missed the gentle touch of farseeing magic, but Celewyn’s talents were sufficient. He was sitting full lotus on the bunk in his cabin, where he’d been for some time, and as soon as he noticed the new wizard’s contact, his eyes snapped open.
^ ^ ^ ^ ^
The face in the mirror was beautiful, long golden blonde hair tied back in tight braids tucked behind his perfectly formed pointed ears. He appeared to be asleep, or perhaps in trance, his eyes closed and a look of serenity upon his face. He was an Avani elf, part of the subdivision of the elven race that had once been the ruling house in the time before the rise of humankind. The dark-haired Silei, as Elowyn had been, were the ruling house now (and during the ancient war with Peloria), though Lian knew that Elowyn himself wasn’t noble-born. This Avani elf’s age could be anywhere from a few hundred years to thousands, for once elves reached maturity, their aging process simply halted.
“Do you recognize him, Lord Grey?” Lian asked gently, not wanting to disturb the necromancer’s concentration.
“No, and I presume the question means that you do not, either?” the skull asked, all while continuing to sing his scrying songspell. He
made a “hmm” sound when Lian shook his head.
He might have said more, but at that moment, the elf’s crystal clear blue eyes snapped open and focused directly into the mirror. He knows he’s being scryed, Lian thought, and he can sense the observation point. Elowyn had the same ability, and he’d worked with Radiel for some time to try to get her to scry him without his sensing, without success. Diviners, meaning those mages with a strong affinity for such magic, were fairly rare, and none of the five spellcasters in Lian’s immediate family had been one.
The Avani elf held up a card lettered in Aesidhe in a beautiful calligraphy. It said: “I am named Celewyn. I am sailing west to your location, Prince Lian Evanson, and I ask that you remain upon the beach and set watch to ensure I do not sail past you. I have no further means of locating you besides the frog you no doubt already possess along with the blood that Ammon stole from me. You do not know me, Your Highness, nor do you have reason to trust me, but in my brother Elowyn’s name, I pray you, do so.”
He held the card in the focal zone of the scrying spell for almost two minutes, keeping it fairly still, but it was clear he was at sea from how gravity seemed to shift about him, slightly disturbing the fall of his hair. He then replaced the first card with a second, also in Aesidhe, save one word in Dunshorian, which appeared to be the name of a ship.
The second card said: “I estimate that I am three to four days’ sail east of your position, but the accuracy of that calculation is in question. Be prepared to light a smoky signal fire if you see the ship. She is a caravel called Wavecrest and though damaged in the Easterner’s attack on me, she is seaworthy. If you can read my message and agree to wait for me on the shore, please have your wizard reestablish contact with me briefly in a few minutes’ time.”
Lian looked stunned, and Gem felt the same. He reached out to pick her up, buckling the swordbelt on and signaling the others to stay behind. “I need to think a moment, Lord Grey,” he said shakily. “Would you be so kind as to end the spell for the moment?”
“Of course, Lian,” the skull said calmly. “I will be prepared to re-cast the spell whenever you decide.”
Lian nodded, walking toward the waterline with his hand on Gem’s hilt. The sailors had already gathered up more driftwood, and all three were gathered about the fire where Naryn was beginning to prepare a meal. You saw the code? Lian asked Gem, his heart pounding.
I did, she said. The elf’s message cards had been beautifully written in a skilled hand, and the calligraphy and embellishments were not just beautiful, they were deliberate. What appeared to a casual observer to be flourishes were instead a code, one that Elowyn had drilled into Lian’s head mercilessly.
“You may someday need to send me a message within a message, Lian,” Elowyn had told him, making sure he could read and write the code while making it look natural. While it was easier to use the code on Aesidhe lettering, it was possible to make it work in Dunshorian as well.
Did Elowyn ever teach Radiel that? Lian asked Gem. Or do you recall ever seeing it in any of father’s correspondence to and from Elowyn?
No, the sword spirit replied. The only time you worked on it was while she was studying magic with Adrienne or the other mages, and he was careful to round up all examples of it. I never saw it in any of your parents’ correspondence, and I saw quite a lot of that when you were a baby. At the time he was teaching it to you, I assumed you, he, and I were the only individuals who could read or write it. It seems we must include this Celewyn in that number, as well.
Lian nodded mentally, though no sign of it crossed his features. It lends credence to the idea that Elowyn sent him, that’s for sure, he said. I decoded it to mean that the Easterner was the only one who knew how to find me by that means.
I read it the same way, Lian, Gem replied. I think we must assume that he is who he claims to be and that Elowyn meant for him to find us despite the Key’s protection.
“I agree,” Lian said aloud, and walked back over to the skull and goblin.
“Gem and I have talked it over, and although Elowyn never mentioned he had a brother, I think we need to risk making contact with this Celewyn,” he told them. “Consequently, we’ll remain here for up to a week to wait for him.”
“Should I then reestablish the scrying in order to answer him?” the skull asked, and Lian nodded. Without another word, the necromancer sang the song again, no sign of strain from having just done so.
This time, the Avani elf was waiting with his eyes open, and as soon as the scrying began, he was ready for it. He locked his eyes onto the scrying focal point and held up one more card, saying: “Until we meet face to face, may Rula hold and keep you and Sineh guide you through the darkness.”
Lord Grey severed contact after a few moments, when it was clear the elf had nothing more to say at the moment.
“Can you send information to Celewyn?” Lian asked, sending Snog to tell the men to start watching the sea for sign of a rescue ship. This excited them—the idea of a trek across the Vellan wilderness was daunting—but Lian could see Naryn thinking hard afterward.
“No,” Lord Grey replied. “I don’t know him, have never touched his mind, and even with the phial of blood, such a spell would have to be specifically researched for that man. Give me a month’s, even a few weeks’ time, and I could certainly do so, however.”
“What do you want to tell him that we can’t discuss face to face?” Gem asked, but suspecting she knew; no one knew Lian better than she did.
“We need to warn him about Radiel,” Lian said, confirming her suspicion. “If she’s managed to acquire allies who can watch the seas as well as us, she could go out to destroy this Wavecrest and there’d be little we could do to stop her.”
“If she has such watchers, they did not find the mage, or she would have taken the opportunity to attack in concert, I should think,” Lord Grey said. “I have not sensed her or her magic in any way since she retreated, but you do raise a strong point. It is abundantly clear that she can sense where you are, Lian. If not specific location, at the very least, direction and distance, or they’d never have been able to intercept us at sea. Right now, you’re hardly moving, so she feels no need to act quickly; you’re not going anywhere she can’t find you and attack.”
Lian nodded. “But if we start making two hundred nautical miles’ progress a day, that may well change. Whether she thinks we’ve somehow repaired Indigo Runner or she realizes it’s a new ship doesn’t matter. She’ll at least come scouting us, and she’ll attack. She can’t let me reach a major city where she might lose me.”
“What makes you think a major city would deter her?” Gem asked.
Lian shook his head. “It’s not like she wouldn’t enjoy killing that many people,” he said sadly. “Any major population center is going to have mages of one color or another, and I could hire some of them to deal with her…” His voice drifted off and he turned to look sharply at Lord Grey.
“What is it, Alan?” the skull said calmly.
“The connection between her and me,” Lian said, trying to keep any accusation out of his voice. “Does it run both ways? Could we use it to track her and hunt her down?”
Lord Grey chuckled sadly. “I’m afraid not, my boy,” he explained. “She’s hunting you like Sir Temvri did, through the gifts of the Lord of Undead. For you to do the same, you’d need to be Undead, and while I fit that bill, I’m not connected to her.”
“But surely we can devise some kind of spell that would allow us to find her?” Gem said, annoyed with herself for not having thought of something like this. She didn’t have the magical knowledge or skill to devise such a thing, despite having impressed the necromancer with her stability spell the night of the attack and when she worked with him to enchant the sailors’ daggers. Those tasks had only been possible because they were within the spheres of magic she understood most; that of fighting and combat, and that of artificing.
But Lord Grey wasn’t just a necromancer. He’
d clearly been something before he had taken up the path of the blackrobe—or afterward, perhaps, thought Gem—and his knowledge of magical theory and its application to problems was impressive.
“If I had used some of my magic for the purpose of creating a linkage of some kind between me and her,” the skull replied, “then yes. However, at the time, we were focused on protecting Lian from their attacks, and although I can do more than one thing at once, as you have seen, I couldn’t spare that kind of attention.
“However, if she attacks again and you can hold off her magic while I work, I can certainly sample her essence sufficiently to track her,” he continued. “If her next plan of attack fails, she’ll unquestionably withdraw again to start thinking of a third plan, and we’re no closer to ending the threat she represents, so it’s something I’ll make a priority if the opportunity arises.”
Lian sighed. The discussion of how best to destroy his sole remaining sibling was necessary, but he didn’t like it. “I would appreciate your doing so, Lord Grey,” he said heavily. “I would very much like to lay her to rest, for a number of reasons.”
“Of course, my young friend,” the skull said kindly. “I will do what I can to show her mercy when the time comes, as well.”
Lian half-smiled. “You may have cruelty within you, Lord Grey, but I haven’t seen you indulge in it. I know you’ll make it as quick as you can,” he said gratefully but sadly.
“I don’t believe she’ll find the new ship before you’re aboard it, at the earliest,” the skull said, slightly changing the subject. “Whatever she’s been doing all this time, she knows where you are and doesn’t need to spy on you. If she had minions watching us, one of us would have spotted at least one of them by now.”
Lian nodded, taking in a ragged breath to try to throw off his renewed feelings of grief and guilt. “You’re probably right. She likely doesn’t know how good your senses are, Lord Grey, but she does know how sharply Gem can use my senses, so having scouts within sight of us would only tip her hand.”
By Blood Hunted: Kingsblood Chronicles Part Two (The Kingsblood Chronicles Book 2) Page 42