Apprentices are supposed to be given an allowance, he thought. The book had told him that much, although there was no fixed scale. How much would Elaine give me?
He would have to ask, he knew. And then make up his mind.
Chapter Twenty
Elaine felt somewhat refreshed as she stumbled out of bed in the morning, although the combination of sweaty clothes and lying in a bad position didn’t help. She undressed, ran a hot bath and enjoyed a soak, then dressed in new clothes and sent a message to Johan to join her for breakfast. When he entered, he was carrying another creamy-white envelope in his hand.
“Another letter from my father,” he said, as Elaine scanned it quickly. “Should I go?”
Elaine scowled. She wanted to take it easy for the day, not grapple with complex political and personal problems. “Do you want to go?”
“No,” Johan said. “But if he’s offering to actually talk ... and not try to hold me there ...”
“He has given his word,” Elaine agreed, neutrally. There were hidden implications here, she was sure, but she’d never been raised as a member of the Great Houses. “And he’s giving you a great deal of money. Maybe he’s sincere about wanting to rebuild connections between you and him.”
“Build them, more like,” Johan muttered. Dishes of food appeared in front of them and they started to eat. “Do you think I should go?”
“I don’t know,” Elaine admitted. Clearly, she would never cure Johan of his habit of talking while eating. “I think that he could make life difficult for you, particularly now that your secret is out and spreading. What you did yesterday will be all over the city by now and ... and people will be asking questions. Something will leak, sooner rather than later.”
“Because my father will want it to leak,” Johan agreed. “And he’d want to dispel any rumours about my status as a Powerless.”
Elaine rubbed her forehead, wishing that she could see all the implications. “Work out what you want to say to him, then go,” she advised. “With Jamal currently in jail, you might not have a better chance to talk to him as an equal.”
“He won’t be alone,” Johan objected. “Inviting me to a full dinner party means that the entire family – well, everyone who can make it – will be there. But I can talk to him alone afterwards.”
He was interrupted by a purple-edged envelope that flew into the room and landed in front of Elaine. She swore under her breath and opened it, finding a card and a single note written on fine notepaper. The card informed her that a full meeting of the Privy Council would commence in precisely two hours; the note, written in Light Spinner’s own hand, told her to attend. Elaine, who would have preferred to avoid the meeting, scowled. She was in no fit state to listen to the various councillors arguing about the current situation.
“I have to attend a meeting at the palace,” she said, crossly. “What are your plans for the day?”
Johan hesitated. “Read more books?”
Elaine smiled. It would have been her ideal day as a child, although somehow she doubted that Johan felt the same way. “There are quite a few you should read,” she said, “although I made a deliberate decision not to give you the standard spell and textbooks provided to new students. Given the nature of your powers, they would probably only confuse you.”
“I suppose,” Johan said. He didn’t sound happy, which made Elaine smile. If he thought she was keeping the books from him, he would look them up for himself. “Can I ask a cheeky question?”
“You may,” Elaine said.
“I ... I would like to take Jayne out for a meal,” Johan admitted. “But I don’t have any money.”
Elaine frowned, inwardly. Was that why Johan hadn’t dismissed his father’s offer of a bank vault out of hand? But she could understand him wanting a social life, even if it wasn’t a desire she shared. Daria had always been the one dragging her out of the apartment to go places, mostly places where she’d been nothing more than a wallflower. And yet she’d met Bee at one such place.
She stood up, walked over to a chest of drawers and waved her hand over it, muttering unlocking incantations. Once it opened, she reached inside and produced a small bag and a handful of gold coins. Daria had always taught her to keep some cash on hand, although that hadn’t normally been a problem. It was only recently that she’d earned enough money to open a vault at the bank.
“There should be enough money here to go just about anywhere,” she said, as she dropped the coins into the bag. “I would suggest” – she allowed her voice to harden – “that you do a little research before picking a place to go. Most of the fancier places are often far more expensive than they deserve. Vane would be able to offer advice, if you asked her.”
Johan took the bag, staring at it as if he’d never seen so much money in his life. The chances were, Elaine knew, he hadn’t. As a Powerless, he would have been vulnerable to both magical and mundane thieves. His father would probably not even have given him an allowance to spend on sweets or whatever else took his fancy.
“I will have to get dressed and go,” Elaine said, feeling tired again. If she tried to stay at the Great Library, Light Spinner would probably send the Inquisitors out to drag Elaine back to the palace. “You have the books in your room?”
“Yes,” Johan said. “What are you going to tell them about me?”
“As little as possible,” Elaine said. “Or at least as little as I can get away with telling them.”
She found herself mulling the letter over as she dressed in her finest robes, then started to walk towards the Imperial Palace. Was Johan’s father serious about trying to rebuild connections with his son or was he hoping to take advantage of Johan’s new powers for his own purposes? Or was he merely hoping to ensure that the entire world knew that he hadn’t birthed a Powerless after all? There was no way to know.
For once, the interior of the Imperial Palace was buzzing with life. Servants moved from room to room, carrying out the orders of the Privy Councillors; outside, guards thronged the grounds, looking for potential threats. Elaine wondered, as she made her way through wards that provided more protection than a whole army of guardsmen, if Light Spinner was making a point. Whatever the Privy Council might think, most of the regime’s instruments of compulsion were firmly in her hands.
There were twelve Privy Councillors, all politically and magically powerful – and wealthy, of course. To some extent, Elaine knew, she was the sole exception to that rule; her magic was subtle, rather than powerful. If it came down to a duel, she would be beaten by any of the other Privy Councillors, although the unwritten rules of the chamber insisted that Privy Councillors could not fight each other, no matter how strongly they disagreed. The knowledge in Elaine’s head whispered that the original Grand Sorcerer had wanted to ensure that some of the most powerful magicians in the world didn’t start fighting – and, while trying to kill each other, damage his city.
Elaine took her seat at the stone table and watched as the others sat down. Deferens gave her a twisted smile that told her that, despite serving under a Grand Sorceress, his views on women had never really changed. As always, he wore a bright red outfit under his purple robes, having altered them to show off his clothes. Elaine had often wondered if his hyper-masculinity was actually an act that compensated for something, but from what little she knew of his homeland she suspected that it was actually the standard behaviour for men there. And women, there, were expected to be obedient and silent. Any female magician born there would be lucky to reach five years old before being killed.
Two seats away, Lord Duncan Conidian sat down. Elaine eyed him with some interest, uncomfortably aware that he was studying her too. He looked like an older version of Johan, with lines on his face that suggested a man under heavy stress. Not too surprising, Elaine knew, with one son in jail and another estranged from the family. There was a faint hint of a glamour surrounding him, probably hiding the true state of his hair. At his age, it should have started to turn white.<
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Elaine sighed, fighting the impulse to shrink back into her seat and hide. She didn’t belong here and she knew it, no matter what Light Spinner said. The others in the room had grown up wielding power; they could snap their fingers and expect obedience from just about everyone. But she ... she’d been an orphan, then a mediocre student and then a librarian. All she’d done to earn respect was drain the Blight and save the city from Kane - and only a handful of people knew the full story.
As soon as the final Councillor sat down, Light Spinner entered and took her own seat. The Privy Council didn’t stand on formality, not when they were alone. Light Spinner held her hand in the air, casting the first privacy ward; one by one, the other members added their own wards to the mix. No spying magic, as far as Elaine knew, could penetrate such a powerful set of wards. Picking one’s way through thirteen wards with thirteen different signatures and styles would take hours, at the very least. It made the room the most secure place in the Empire.
“There is much to discuss,” Light Spinner said. She spoke quietly, but the magic of the room projected her voice for all to hear. “Yesterday, terrorists attacked innocent people in the Golden City. They were taken into custody and interrogated by the Inquisitors. We now know that their aim is to ensure that the mundanes remain firmly in their place.”
She clicked her fingers. Paper scrolls appeared in front of them. “In the two attacks they launched, nineteen people died and over a hundred were injured, directly or indirectly,” she added. “That includes people hurt by friends and family who were under the influence of compulsion spells. This behaviour is completely unacceptable. Unfortunately, as they have taken Oaths of Secrecy, they have been unable to divulge the names of their comrades who remain at large.”
Elaine scowled. An Oath of Secrecy literally prevented the oath keeper from giving up any information covered by the oath, no matter what their interrogators tried. Mind-raping spells, simple physical torture, even psychological trickery ... none of them would produce a morsel of information from the prisoners. Indeed, there were legal precedents that agreed that trying to force someone to break such an oath was thoroughly illegal.
Deferens leaned forward. “How many of them are there?”
Light Spinner’s face was hidden, but Elaine would have bet good money that she was sneering. “The largest group observed was ten,” she said. “If we assume that is all of them, there are three more to find. But we don’t dare make any such assumption.”
She placed her gloved fingertips together, looking directly at Duncan Conidian. “As you can see from the scrolls,” she continued, “all of them are scions of the aristocracy. And one of them is a Prime Heir.”
Heads turned to look at the Conidian, who looked uncomfortable.
“My son has clearly been misled,” the Conidian said, finally. “His conduct has not been in line with what I brought him up to consider acceptable. Should he be released to my custody, I will work to teach him better.”
“But you have already failed to teach him better,” Lady Lakeside said. Elaine barely knew her, although they sat on the same council. She had no idea which way Lady Lakeside would jump. “And his crimes are hardly minor.”
She turned to look at Light Spinner. “Grand Sorceress, this young man committed terrorist acts against citizens of the Empire,” she said. “He merits the strongest punishment.”
“They were committed against mundanes,” Deferens pointed out, sweetly. “The strong may do as they wish to the weak.”
“He also used a torture curse on the Lady Elaine,” Lady Lakeside pointed out, nodding towards Elaine. “She is a Privy Councillor.”
Elaine had to fight to remain seated upright as the rest of the table stared at her. “That is true,” she said, quietly. “I tried to stop them and they attacked me.”
“You weren’t wearing your robes,” Deferens said. “It is arguable that they didn’t know that they were attacking a Privy Councillor.”
Elaine kept her face as expressionless as possible, thinking hard. Deferens knew that she hadn’t been wearing her robes ... that probably meant that he had interrogated the eyewitnesses or, more likely, sent someone else to do it for him. And that meant ...
“There is a more important issue here,” Deferens said, confirming her worst fears. “How were they stopped?”
He knows about Johan, Elaine thought, as Light Spinner quickly explained. She looked up and met the Conidian’s eyes, seeing a strange combination of relief, pride and fear. What else does he know?
“You should know the full story,” Light Spinner said. “Lady Elaine, if you would ...?”
It’s just like writing an essay, Elaine told herself, frantically. “Until recently, Johan Conidian was believed to be a Powerless,” she said, out loud. There were a handful of gasps as several councillors realised that the rumours were true. “During the first attack, outside the palace, there was a stunningly powerful magic pulse that was sensed thousands of miles away from the city, centred on Johan. Since then, he has developed magic of a rather curious nature.”
She outlined the rest of the story, keeping the details to herself. If they didn’t pry too deeply, they would just see Johan as a normal magician, if one with significant power reserves. But she knew that the Privy Councillors were all experienced, with considerable knowledge about their powers. Johan, no matter how they looked at it, had become fantastically powerful in a very short space of time.
Lady Lakeside looked over at the Conidian. “It must be a relief to know that your son is not powerless,” she said. “However ... was he truly powerless?”
The Conidian gave Elaine a look that suggested that he wanted her dead. “My son was tested yearly by the druids,” he admitted, reluctantly. “Until now, they didn’t even find a spark of magic. He seemed to be a Powerless.”
“And to think that there were only ever rumours of his existence,” Deferens mused, mockingly. “How could you hide him from us?”
The Conidian swung round to glare at the younger man. “You know as well as I do that the life of a Powerless can be hellish,” he snapped. “I took steps to keep him safe.”
Elaine scowled. On the face of it, the Conidian had a point. Most families would have quietly arranged for a Powerless child to die in an ‘accident;’ perhaps, if the child was lucky, sending him or her to an orphanage once the child was legally dead. And, with the Conidian Family having only recently moved to the Golden City, it wouldn’t have been hard for them to conceal Johan’s existence completely.
“That’s as may be,” Deferens said. “However, if he really was Powerless ... we are looking at something that can give power to the powerless. Aren’t we?”
He swung round to look at Elaine. “Aren’t we?”
“Perhaps,” Elaine said, reluctantly.
“But my son comes from a strongly magical bloodline,” the Conidian protested. “He might just have sparked very late in life.”
“There is something very odd about his magic,” Deferens said. His gaze never left Elaine’s face, watching for the merest twitch that might help answer his questions. “No matter how strongly magical his bloodline, he represents a very odd puzzle. And something that can turn the world upside down.”
He looked over at Light Spinner. “Grand Sorceress,” he said, “I propose that this young man be put to death.”
Elaine had expected it. But it was still a shock.
“That young man is my son,” the Conidian said, through gritted teeth. “You cannot just execute him because you find his existence inconvenient.”
“We might just be executing another of your sons for his crimes,” Deferens pointed out, rudely.
“I will fight tooth and nail to prevent that from happening,” the Conidian snapped.
Light Spinner held up a hand and they fell silent. “Johan Conidian represents a fascinating puzzle,” she said. “It may even be a gift from the gods.”
“Or the demons,” Deferens said. “What happens when a m
agician gets a sudden boost in power?”
Elaine shivered, remembering a conversation she’d had with Dread in Ida. He’d assumed that she’d had a power boost and, fearing that it might have driven her mad, had probed gently to determine the truth. The hell of it was that Deferens was right. A sudden power boost tended to drive magicians insane, turning them into deadly threats to everyone else. It was all too easy to imagine Johan, mistreated and abused from a very young age, going that way.
But he has a good heart, Elaine thought, grimly.
“We have moved away from the question at hand,” Light Spinner said. “How do we deal with these terrorists?”
“Try them,” Lady Lakeside said. “They can state their case in front of us; we will judge them.”
Elaine sighed and settled back to listen as the arguments started to rage. The Conidian wouldn’t want to sit in judgement of his eldest son; others, his political enemies, were only too keen to force him to serve as a judge. Whichever way he voted, they would find an excuse to condemn him. Elaine felt a moment of pity, which faded away as she remembered just how badly he had treated both of his eldest sons. One was a spoilt brat and a bully, the other had no interest in returning home.
She sighed inwardly, feeling her temples already starting to throb. It was going to be a long day.
Chapter Twenty-One
“I really don’t want to do this,” Johan muttered, as the carriage came to a stop outside the family home. “I really don’t want to ...”
He cursed his own cowardliness as he hopped down and looked up at the house. He’d never really had a chance to take a proper look at it from the outside, not when he’d had to sneak in or out whenever he’d wanted to escape his prison. It was solid stone, but ivy and other plants had grown up around the house, giving it a slightly wild appearance. The windows, he knew, were effectively illusions. Inside, the house was far bigger than it seemed on the outside.
Bookworm II: The Very Ugly Duckling Page 19