Not your fault, she thought, knowing that he would pick up her message – and the truth behind it. Stop blaming yourself for problems that are not your fault.
Her memories grew stronger, a blur that only seemed to reveal flickering images that made up the essence of her. Her first day at the Peerless School; her graduation, with few honours; the pain and shock of discovering that she was a Bookworm. Millicent’s stunned face as she realised that Elaine was capable of much more than she thought, Bee leaning over her the first night they’d made love ... she couldn’t help smiling at the shockwave of embarrassment and lust from Johan as he saw those memories. And the Witch-King’s looming presence as she threw the Blight’s wild magic at Kane, hoping to bring him down.
“I am who I am,” she said, out loud. Johan could no longer dispute it. Nothing could have created so complex an illusion. “Do you see me now?”
Johan’s memories opened up in front of her. His first set of magic tests, blurring into dozens of others; his father’s eagerness to prove his son’s magic turning to disappointment and shame that his son was so weak. Endless torments and humiliations, each one a reminder that he couldn’t protect himself from his own siblings, let alone outsiders. An isolated existence, broken only by the few times he’d managed to sneak outside and explore his hometown – and then the Golden City, when his family had still kept him prisoner. And, always, the threat of being murdered by his own family, just to conceal the fact that they had birthed a Powerless.
He isn’t touched by the Witch-King, she thought, feeling a wave of relief that almost stunned her. Johan might have been touched by madness, grief and guilt, but he wasn’t under the Witch-King’s control. And that opened up all sorts of new options. If, of course, she could talk him out of imposing his rule on the city.
“I see you,” Johan said. She felt another stab of guilt, mingled with a set of thoughts of just what he had intended to do to the person he thought was impersonating his friend. “You’re alive!”
Her eyes snapped open as she felt him wrap his arms around her and hug her, tightly. “You’re alive!”
“Not if you crush me,” Elaine said, unsure if she actually spoke or thought the words. From what she’d read in books, the mind-merge would eventually recede, leaving them with a link that would be unbreakable, but nowhere near as intimate. All of a sudden, it was easy to see why so many apprenticeships became sexual relationships. “Or if you kill me.”
“I wouldn’t have killed you,” Johan protested. “I thought that you were ... someone pretending to be you.”
She knew that he was telling the truth, although he would not have hesitated to kill the person he thought was impersonating his friend. His only real friend, she knew now. Johan’s life had been so limited that he’d clung to Elaine as soon as she’d shown him kindness, kindness she hadn’t had to show. And she cared deeply about him, more than she’d ever realised. He reminded her far too much of herself.
“It’s all right,” she said, wrapping her arms around him. “But you have to stop this madness.”
Johan looked at her, a trace of betrayal in his eyes – and more, much more, in his thoughts.
“You’ve seen it too,” he said. “You know just how badly magicians treat mundanes. Surely I shouldn’t let them get away with it.”
Elaine hesitated. The hell of it was that she didn’t disagree, not completely. And she knew that he would see that doubt in her mind. If there was a way to strip magicians of their power, forcing them to live a normal life, the threat of using it might keep them in line. But it could also become the weapon of a tyrant, forcing magicians to serve him ...
“I think we have a more important problem right now,” she said, instead. “You caused a panic – and this house is likely to be destroyed. If I could get through the wards, the Inquisitors could also break through – and you would be killed. I won’t let that happen.”
Johan stared at her, bleakly. “So ... what do we do?”
“You come with me,” Elaine said. “We leave the Golden City for good.”
The thought was terrifying. She would have to sever her ties to the Great Library – and, even if she returned, it would never be the same. And she hated the thought of going outside the Golden City for longer than a few days, even though it was the only way to keep Johan alive. And if she failed to talk Light Spinner into supporting her, their life expectancy wouldn’t be very long at all.
Risky, she knew. There was the knowledge in her head – and the sheer power Johan possessed, both valuable prizes for anyone with the nerve to try to take them. But she could see no alternative. Now that they were bonded, there was a good chance that Johan’s death would take her with him. And she couldn’t knowingly lead him to his death.
But the Witch-King was still out there ... and, now that she had seen the web of life, she suspected she knew where to start looking for him. If they could find and destroy him, they could return home as heroes ... or, at the very least, build lives that would remain stable.
“Come with me,” she said. She cast a spell that incinerated much of the study. The effort tired her, but it had to be done. “We’ll let everyone think that you died here.”
Johan followed her without arguing, although she could sense the questions drifting through his mind. She cast an illusion over him, rendering his body invisible, then sent a silent command to him to release the maid. Johan obeyed, undoing his spell as soon as Elaine waved her wand. The maid climbed to her feet and fled towards the servants quarters. Elaine watched her go, feeling a strange mixture of emotions. Half of them were from Johan.
“Dread can help us smuggle you away,” she started, then stopped. Dread wouldn’t; his oaths would force him to take Johan into custody or simply to kill him outright. Given the danger, Elaine suspected the latter. “No, concentrate on remaining completely invisible and just keep following me. And don’t touch anyone.”
“I won’t,” Johan promised. “And thank you.”
“We shall see,” Elaine said. “We shall see.”
Chapter Forty-Three
“Perhaps you would care to explain to me,” Light Spinner said, “precisely why you decided to hide Johan from the Inquisitors and then bring him to my palace?”
Elaine winced at the Grand Sorceress’s tone. Light Spinner had good reason to be angry, not least because of the Privy Council’s divisions and increasingly strident attempts to insist that Johan be killed or brought under firm control. At least, now that he was officially dead, such demands were being abandoned.
But several Family Heads are dead, killed by their oaths, she thought. The chaos has only just begun.
“Because he represents a weapon we can use against the Witch-King,” she said. She’d filled Johan in on the missing part of her story during their walk to the palace, although he had picked up most of it from her mind. At least those memories weren’t embarrassing. “And because he doesn’t deserve to die.”
“An interesting argument,” Light Spinner observed, caustically. “Stripping someone of their magic isn’t a crime?”
“It isn’t actually against the law,” Elaine pointed out. It hadn’t been thought to be even theoretically possible, she knew. There were ways to prevent someone from using their magic, but not to actually take it from them. “And besides, he was well and truly provoked.”
Light Spinner’s eyes seemed to glare at her for a long moment, then she settled back in her chair. “Maybe,” she said, finally. “But you know that most of the world won’t see it that way.”
Elaine nodded. “Hence my decision to convince everyone that he was dead,” she said. “And that will ensure that the secret remains a secret.”
“Let us hope so,” Light Spinner said. “And what do you intend to do with your secret apprentice?”
“Go hunting for the Witch-King,” Elaine said, simply.
Light Spinner snorted. “You will leave the city for months – or years – searching for him?”
“Yes,�
�� Elaine said, although she had to admit that Light Spinner was right to have doubts. Leaving the city would hurt, even if they went to another city – and she knew better than to think that it would be that easy. They’d have to go into territory damaged by the wars and still largely uninhabited, hundreds of years later. “Whoever goes has to have the knowledge I have and the power Johan has.”
“If you’re sure,” Light Spinner said. “But there is the question of ensuring that Johan does not go on another rampage.”
Her brown eyes seemed to tighten for a long moment. “Can you stop him through the apprenticeship bond?”
“I believe so,” Elaine said, not entirely truthfully. She could have, if it was a normal bond, but it wasn’t settling in properly. Or maybe it was just taking its time. “But I think he’s learned his lesson.”
“I wish that were true of the rest of his family,” Light Spinner said. “House Conidian will be moribund until Charity reaches her majority ... and by then the patronage network Duncan ruled may have fragmented.”
Elaine grimaced. It had been simple enough to convince Johan to undo most of the spells he’d cast on his family – although she had no idea why he had transformed his younger sisters into dolls – and it had helped create the illusion that Johan was dead, but it would be a long time before House Conidian recovered. There was at least one seat on the Privy Council up for grabs – two, if her resignation from the Great Library was accepted – and the power balance would shift. The deaths of other family heads would only make matters worse.
Perhaps she should stay and help, she thought. But there was little she could do. Politics was hardly her forte. Either Light Spinner held it together or a new Grand Sorcerer unseated her and took her place.
And the Levellers were still out there, waiting for their chance to challenge the established order.
“And I wonder just who benefited from all of this,” Light Spinner mused. “Duncan overplayed his hand quite badly, badly enough to make me wonder if someone else was involved. But who?”
Elaine shrugged. “I do not know,” she admitted. “But I’m sure you will deal with them.”
“Let us hope so,” Light Spinner said. She rose to her feet, signalling the end of the interview. “Go back to your library, pack your stuff and go. And may the gods go with you.”
Elaine bowed her head, then turned and left the room, leaving Light Spinner alone.
***
“She thinks I’m dead,” Johan said.
“I’m afraid so,” Elaine said, as she checked his packing. This time, there would be two suitcases of clothes each. They would travel on the Iron Dragons to the closest settlement to the remnants of the Necromantic Wars, then move from there. “You can’t go talk to her.”
Johan nodded. Somehow, the thought of losing Jayne wasn’t so painful now. He wasn’t sure if it was something he had picked up from Elaine’s mind or a side-effect of growing up, but he knew that they’d had very little, if they’d had anything at all. Jayne would go on to apprentice herself to a Potions Master – Elaine had promised that one of her friends would see to it – and she would become a great Potions Mistress herself. Or so Johan hoped.
It didn’t really matter, he told himself. He would never see her again.
He stared down at his hands, wonderingly. Jamal was powerless, his father was a broken man and his other siblings had been shocked into decent behaviour for the first time in their lives. Well, apart from Charity, he reluctantly concluded. She had deserved better, at the last. He’d extracted revenge for years of mistreatment, yet ... there was a part of him that knew that it had brought him nothing. All he had was the certain knowledge that if the city’s population knew him to be alive, they would all turn on him.
“I know,” he muttered. “And I can’t speak to Charity either.”
“No,” Elaine said. “Let her assume the title without knowing that she isn’t the first in line. It will make it much easier for her in the long run.”
“Yeah,” Johan muttered.
It was strange facing Elaine ... and seeing himself from her point of view. And seeing her memories; most of them had faded, but a number of the most vivid had remained in his mind. She’d seen the Witch-King’s influence reaching out over the land, she’d seen death staring her in the face, even performed a forbidden rite to bring back the souls of the dead ... but those hadn’t been her most vivid memories. But he tried to avoid thinking about the ones that truly stood out. It was not right for him to dwell on them.
“Your packing seems good,” Elaine said. There were fewer books this time; they were leaving for months, perhaps permanently. They couldn’t take books from the library this time. “We leave tomorrow, early in the morning.”
Johan nodded, wondering why he couldn’t summon up the enthusiasm for the ride on the Iron Dragons. He should have been excited ...
“You won,” Elaine said, quietly. She sat down next to him and put an arm around his shoulders. “You escaped your family, you accomplished your goal ... and now you don’t know what to do next.”
“Thank you,” Johan said. She was right. “What did you do?”
“I walked straight into the Great Library,” Elaine admitted. “You ... may find it a little harder. But I will be there for you.”
“Thank you,” Johan said, again. “You’re the only one who ever was.”
***
In his study, behind a set of the most powerful blood wards known to magicians, Vlad Deferens raised a glass in silent salute. It had all worked out better than he had dared hope. The freakish magician was dead, House Conidian was in tatters and several other Great Houses were tottering as they came to terms with the loss of their Heads. And Lady Light Spinner’s weaknesses had been exposed for all to see. The only wild card had been the Levellers, but even they had been no real problem.
He smirked to himself as he took a sip of his wine. It was astonishing just how easy it had been to create an aura of fear, one that had affected even those born with the power to warp reality at will. The sight of several magicians stripped of their powers had helped, of course; it would have been kinder to threaten to castrate them. For a magician, there could be no worse threat than that of losing their powers. Even ancient magicians, doddering on their last legs, clung to their magic.
The pieces were in place. Soon, very soon, he would move. And then the world would be his.
He picked up the dark-covered book and opened it to a random page. There was power within the covers, spells long lost and forgotten ... just waiting for him to use them. The weak would call some of them dark, perhaps even evil, but Deferens knew better. All that mattered was taking power and wielding it. Light Spinner had taken power, even he had to concede, yet she knew nothing about its usage.
Looking into the mirror, he took a moment to smooth out his long moustache.
And he never even saw the Witch-King looking back.
The End
The Series Will Continue In:
The Best Laid Plans
Coming Soon!
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Elsewhen Press
Bookworm
Christopher Nuttall
Elaine is an orphan girl who has grown up in a world where magical ability brings power. Her limited talent was enough to ensure a magical training but she’s very inexperienced and was lucky to get a position working in the Great Library. Now, the Grand Sorcerer – the most powerful magician of them all – is dying, although initially that makes little difference to Elaine; she certainly doesn’t have the power to compete for higher status in the Golden City. But all that changes when she triggers a magical trap and ends up with all the knowledge from the Great Library – including forbidden magic that n
o one is supposed to know – stuffed inside her head. This unwanted gift doesn’t give her greater power, but it does give her a better understanding of magic, allowing her to accomplish far more than ever before.
It’s also terribly dangerous. If the senior wizards find out what has happened to her, they will almost certainly have her killed. The knowledge locked away in the Great Library was meant to remain permanently sealed and letting it out could mean a repeat of the catastrophic Necromantic Wars of five hundred years earlier. Elaine is forced to struggle with the terrors and temptations represented by her newfound knowledge, all the while trying to stay out of sight of those she fears, embodied by the sinister Inquisitor Dread.
But a darkly powerful figure has been drawing up a plan to take the power of the Grand Sorcerer for himself; and Elaine, unknowingly, is vital to his scheme. Unless she can unlock the mysteries behind her new knowledge, divine the unfolding plan, and discover the truth about her own origins, there is no hope for those she loves, the Golden City or her entire world.
ebook, paperback (384pp)
visit bit.ly/Bookworm-Nuttall
Elsewhen Press
The Royal Sorceress
The first book of the Royal Sorceress series
Christopher Nuttall
1830, in an alternate Britain where the ‘scientific’ principles of magic, discovered 60 years previously, allowed the British to prevent American Independence. The ageing Royal Sorcerer, Master Thomas, must find a successor: a Master of all the known magical powers. There’s only 1 candidate, who has displayed such a talent from an early age. A candidate perfect in all ways but one: the Royal College of Sorcerers has never admitted a girl before.
ebook, paperback (400pp)
visit bit.ly/TheRoyalSorceress
Bookworm II: The Very Ugly Duckling Page 40