Magic and Loss: A Novel of Golgotham

by Nancy A. Collins

  “Hexe, I don’t think this is a good idea,” I whispered as he hopped up onto the table. “I mean, look at this place! It couldn’t pass inspection as a tattoo parlor! I wouldn’t let this guy neuter Beanie, much less try to fix your hand!”

  “Tate, I know you’re concerned,” he replied wearily. “But, please, I beg of you, stop trying to talk me out of this.”

  “I know, I know,” I sighed. “It’s a Kymeran thing; I wouldn’t understand.”

  Dr. Moot opened a cupboard and removed a dark green bottle without a label. He poured a finger of thick, bright yellow liquid into a greasy-looking shot glass and handed it to Hexe.

  “What is that?” I asked, intercepting the glass and giving it a suspicious sniff.

  “Safflower oil, if you must know,” Dr. Moot replied sharply, snatching it back from my hand. “It’s for his safety. Psychic surgery itself is relatively painless, but I can’t have him wriggling around while I’m working, can I?”

  “I’ll be okay, Tate,” Hexe said as he accepted the shot glass, “just as long as you promise to hold my left hand.”

  “Believe me, I’m not going anywhere,” I assured him.

  Hexe knocked back the safflower oil like it was a shot of tequila and stretched out on the surgical table. I stood next to him, holding his left hand in both of my own. Within seconds his facial muscles began to relax and his golden eyes rolled back in his head.

  Moot slipped on a headband that resembled an antique doctor’s reflector, save that it was fashioned from a flat scrying stone and set on a swivel, so that it could be rotated in front of his eyes. After removing the splint from Hexe’s right hand, he turned to Madam Erys, who was holding what looked like a clamshell jewelry case. She flipped open the lid, revealing the Gauntlet of Nydd. Even in the miserable light of Moot’s dingy surgery, the artifact glittered and gleamed like frost at sunrise.

  “Heavens and hells!” Moot exclaimed hoarsely, shaking his head in admiration. “Such exquisite workmanship! It makes Esau’s prosthetic arms look like clockwork toys!” Once he removed the gauntlet, Erys closed the case with a snap that would have done a crocodile proud.

  Dr. Moot removed the splint on Hexe’s wounded hand and carefully slipped the gauntlet onto Hexe’s hand. As he did so, I was finally able to get my first unobstructed view of the damage inflicted by the witch-hammer since the night of the attack. Although I was relieved to see the swelling and bruising had been greatly reduced, I was shocked to discover that Hexe’s fingers looked as if they were trying to avoid one another.

  Once the gauntlet was secured in place, Moot strode over to a nearby table and plunged his hands into a jar of that blue stuff barbers keep their combs in. Flicking the excess disinfectant from his hands, he took a deep breath and flipped the scrying stone attached to his headband into place over his right eye and began to gently stroke Hexe’s wrist and forearm with his long, delicate fingers.

  At first I could not tell what he was doing. Then I saw the psychic surgeon’s fingertips dip past the gauntlet covering Hexe’s mangled hand. Moot’s spidery digits moved like those of a skilled lace maker as he spliced nerve endings, grafted muscle, and shaved away bone without shedding a drop of blood. After an hour, he stepped away from the table and swung the scrying stone back into place, his face drawn and covered in sweat.

  “The bonding is completed,” he said, his voice shaking ever so slightly. He walked back over to the prep table and took a swig from the jar of blue stuff. “There. That’s better.”

  “How long before he wakes up?” I asked anxiously, staring at Hexe’s silver-clad hand.

  “He should come out of it in five minutes or so,” Dr. Moot said. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, there are some matters that require discussion with Madam Erys.” With that, he and the glover retired behind the curtains at the back of the surgery.

  I looked down at my own hands, which were still clasping Hexe’s motionless left one. His breathing was that of a man in a deep sleep, and I could tell that his eyeballs were twitching behind their lids, keeping track of whatever was gamboling through his drug-fueled dreams. It was the most peaceful I’d seen him since the Jubilee.

  “Everything’s going to be all right,” I murmured aloud, more for my benefit than his, as I brushed the purple hair away from his face.

  Suddenly Dr. Moot’s voice announced heatedly from behind the curtain: “I’ve done what you asked of me! Whatever debt I owed is now paid in full! Never contact me again—is that understood? I can’t bear the sight of you. Wasn’t it enough that you lured her away? Must you torment me in such a ghastly manner as well?”

  “She was not ‘lured,’” Erys replied dryly. “She chose of her own free will. When will you get that through that liquor-soaked sponge you call your brain? But I am more than happy to agree to your conditions. Far be it from me to prevent you from continuing to wallow in self-pity and whatever intoxicant might be closest to hand.”

  Before I could wonder what the two could be possibly squabbling about, Hexe’s eyelids fluttered and he began to stir.

  “He’s coming around!” I shouted.

  The arguing voices fell silent. Dr. Moot threw back the blankets that served as his privacy curtain and returned to the table. He took Hexe’s pulse and inspected his pupils. “How do you feel, Serenity?” he asked.

  “Did it work?” Hexe rasped in reply.

  “There’s only one way to find out,” Moot said as he helped his patient sit up. As Hexe swung his legs over the side of the table, the psychic surgeon picked up the shot glass he had used to serve the sedative and tossed it at him. “Catch!”

  Hexe snatched the flying glass in midair with his right hand without a moment’s hesitation. He then stared in amazement at his appendage, now encased from wrist to fingertips in shimmering silver and white gold.

  “Is there any pain?” Moot asked.

  “There’s no pain,” Hexe replied with a shake of his head. “I can tell that the glass I’m holding has weight and is hard and smooth, but the sensations themselves are . . . distant, like I’m picking something up while wearing a silk glove.”

  “That disconnected feeling should fade, in time,” Moot assured him. “Eventually the gauntlet will completely merge with the sensory receptors in your brain, and it’ll be just like the hand you were born with.”

  “I owe you my life, Dr. Moot,” Hexe said solemnly.

  Moot flinched and dropped his gaze. “You owe me nothing, Serenity. This was done to discharge a debt, not out of any desire to curry favor.”

  “Regardless of the reason, you have still done me a great service I will not soon forget.”

  “You are too kind, Serenity,” the psychic surgeon muttered, his cheeks flushing red.

  “Can I take him home now?” I asked, not bothering to hide my eagerness to get the hell away from Moot and Madam Erys.

  “Of course,” Moot replied, quickly regathering himself. “There may be the occasional ‘hiccup’ over the next few days as his nervous system becomes accustomed to the gauntlet, but otherwise, he’s good to go.”

  “I thank you for the loan of the gauntlet, Madam Erys,” Hexe said as he put his jacket back on, this time without my help.

  “The honor is all mine, Serenity,” the glover replied, her pale gray eyes shining like pieces of polished tin. “May you wear it in good health.”

  As we exited Dr. Moot’s surgery, we were greeted by a wall of fog from the nearby river, which turned the surrounding buildings into smeared outlines and hid us from any nosy neighbors. Although the streets seemed deserted, Hexe kept his hands stuffed deep into his pockets, just to be on the safe side.

  As we headed back to the boardinghouse, I noticed that his shoulders were no longer stooped and that he now walked with a far more confident stride. I wasn’t sure how much of it was directly due to the gauntlet, or simply a placebo effect, but I was glad to see him more like his old self.

  Upon our return to the boardinghouse Beanie came scampering o
ut of the kitchen. He was so eager to tell us “hello,” he leapt up in the air like a two-tone springbok.

  “I’m glad to see you, too!” Hexe laughed, reaching out to pet Beanie, only to have the dog suddenly yelp in alarm.

  “What’s wrong, boy?” Hexe frowned as Beanie dropped his ears and drew away, shivering as if he was freezing.

  “He’s freaked out because your hand doesn’t have the same scent as the rest of you,” Scratch explained as he entered the front parlor.

  Hexe lifted the gauntlet to his nose and gave it a sniff. “I hadn’t really noticed it before, but now that you mention it, it does smell like Erys. I guess that’s to be expected—it was in her possession for some time. No doubt it’ll eventually acquire my scent once I’ve worn it for a while.”

  “A little heavy on the bling, don’t you think?” Scratch asked, eyeing his master’s silver-clad hand.

  “It can glow in the dark, for all I care, just as long as it enables me to use my right hand.”

  Later, as we prepared for bed, I found myself watching Hexe as he undressed, marveling at how the silver filigree mesh of the gauntlet gleamed like crushed ice on a hot summer day. Hexe caught me staring and halted his disrobing.

  “Does the sight of it bother you?” he asked.

  “No, I think it’s quite beautiful,” I replied truthfully. “But I’m uneasy about Madam Erys’ motivation for giving it to you. I don’t like that woman, Hexe, and I don’t trust her. Whenever she looks in my direction, I can feel hatred oozing out of her.”

  “Granted, Madam Erys is a misanthrope,” Hexe agreed. “But there’s no reason to suspect her of anything more than calculated self-interest. It’s fairly common for tradesmen to curry favor from the Royal Family by presenting us with elaborate gifts in hopes of winning a royal warrant. Why do you think Lafo and Lorelei are always so glad to see me at their establishments? It’s not just because they’re my friends. Being able to claim a member of the Royal Family as a regular client still means something in Golgotham, even in this day and age. Sometimes it’s good to be the Witch King—or at least the Heir Apparent. And tonight was one of those times.”

  “Does it feel like your hand?” I asked.

  “Why don’t you tell me?” he smiled, sliding it along my naked body until it finally came to rest on my hip.

  The silver chain mail was so tightly woven it was more like the skin of a snake than something forged from metal. Although his right hand felt slightly cool and distant against my flesh, it didn’t keep me from noticing how warm and close the rest of him was.

  • • •

  A couple of hours later, after thoroughly testing how his gauntleted hand held up under pressure (which turned out to be “pretty well”), I woke up from a sound sleep. I lay in the bed for a long moment, my thoughts still muzzy, trying to figure out what had jettisoned me back into the waking world. Did I have to pee? Was I thirsty? Was I tangled up in the bedclothes? Was Beanie snoring? Was Scratch kicking me in his sleep again?

  As I ran down the checklist, answering “no” to each question, I became aware of a rhythmic tapping sound. I rose up on one elbow and looked down at Hexe, who was asleep on his back, his left arm carelessly thrown across his forehead and his right hand resting on his naked chest. The tapping noise—which I now realized was what had awakened me—was that of the fingers of his gauntleted hand drumming against his sternum, as if patiently biding their time.

  Chapter 14

  Now that he had regained the use of his right hand, Hexe was his old self once again. I was relieved to see the gleam back in his golden eyes and hear the confidence return to his voice. Since that very next day was my day off, Hexe had planned a leisurely, romantic breakfast for the two of us. However, those plans were quickly dashed by an unexpected knock.

  Upon opening the door, Hexe was surprised to find his mother, Lady Syra, standing on the stoop. Before he could say hello, she breezed past him and into the front room.

  “So, exactly when were you going to tell me I’m going to be a grandmother?” she asked, fixing him with a withering glare. “Before the baby arrived, or after?”

  “How did you know—?” Hexe sputtered in surprise.

  “Besides being your mother, I am also a professional astrologer,” she reminded him sharply. “And it so happens, while I was drawing up your father’s horoscope, as a present for his birthday—and don’t you dare tell him that’s what he’s getting—I saw in the stars that he was going to be a grandfather! Imagine my surprise! Especially since I was finding out from the orientation of Orion’s Belt and not my own son! I might as well have read it in the gossip column of the Gazette!”

  “I’m sorry, Mom,” Hexe apologized. “I’ve been meaning to tell you, but Tate and I just wanted a little private time as a couple before everything goes crazy and the Blue Hairs start calling for my head on a pike.”

  “Granted, the hard-line aristos are not going to be thrilled when they hear the news,” she sighed. “But that’s no reason to keep me out of the loop!”

  “So—you’re not upset that we’re having a baby?” I asked anxiously.

  “Heavens and hells, no!” Lady Syra exclaimed, throwing her arms around me. “I can’t wait to be a grandmamma!”

  I blinked in surprise. “You mean you don’t have any problems with the new Heir Apparent being half human?”

  An odd look crossed the Witch Queen’s face, which she quickly tried to camouflage by smiling. “Why don’t we deal with that problem when it arises, shall we? Whatever happens, I won’t love my grandchild any less.”

  “What do you mean by ‘whatever happens’?” I asked suspiciously.

  “You think our child is going to be a norlock, don’t you?” Hexe said flatly.

  “A what-lock?” I frowned.

  “It’s slang for Kymerans born incapable of working magic,” he explained grimly. “Their ‘extra’ fingers end at the second knuckle. My grandfather used to employ a norlock named Jake when I was a boy. He lived in a little cottage at the foot of the garden.”

  “Please don’t take what I’m about to say the wrong way, my dear,” Syra said apologetically. “But very few half-castes are born fully functional in the magic department. Understand I’m not trying to be negative, my dear; I’m just being practical. There is also a very good chance your child might not even be of Royal blood. . . .”

  “Are you suggesting that Hexe isn’t the father?” I gasped.

  “Of course not!” Lady Syra replied quickly. “It’s just that . . .”

  “Just what, exactly?” I retorted, trying to keep hold of my temper.

  “If the baby doesn’t have gold eyes, it can’t be recognized as heir to the Throne of Arum,” she replied, shifting about uncomfortably. “It can never be a member of the Royal Family.”

  “Why are you so certain this will be the case with our child?” Hexe scowled.

  “Because you’re not the first Heir Apparent to take a fancy to a human,” Lady Syra explained. “Great Uncle Jack, the one who built this house, had a child by a human mistress shortly before he disappeared. His son was born a norlock. Your great-grandfather, Lord Jynx, refused to acknowledge him as one of us because he had his mother’s eyes.”

  “This norlock child of Uncle Jack’s—what happened to him?” Hexe asked.

  “After Lord Jynx died, my father took pity on the boy and made him his gardener.”

  “You mean Jake was—?”

  “Your first cousin, once removed,” Syra said with a sad nod of her head. “But you must remember that was another time. Things are different now.” She reached out to touch her son’s arm, only to have the ivory bracelet wrapped about her wrist abruptly rise up, revealing itself to be a tiny albino serpent. The familiar hissed loudly and flared its hood, which popped open like the miniature parasol in a Mai Tai. “Trinket—!” Lady Syra scolded, delivering a light tap to the top of its milk-white head with the tip of her finger. “By the Outer Dark! What has come over you?” />
  The micro-cobra flinched at the reprimand, but did not resume its previous, passive stance, and continued to keep its ruby-red eyes focused on Hexe.

  “Perhaps this is what has her upset,” he said, holding up the glittering glove that now covered his right hand.

  “By the sunken spires!” Lady Syra exclaimed in surprise. “What is that thing?”

  “The Gauntlet of Nydd.”

  “Well, no wonder Trinket became alarmed!” His mother frowned. “She’s very sensitive to charmed objects. But I thought the Gauntlet of Nydd was lost during the Dragon War. Where on earth did you find it—and how could you possibly afford it once you did?”

  “I know what you’re thinking, Mother—it’s not a forgery,” Hexe assured her. “I checked the enchantment—the signature on the spell is General Vlad’s. And as to how I ended up in possession of it—it was a gift from a tradeswoman seeking a royal warrant. It’s really no different from that time Bulgari sent you that cocktail necklace. . . .”

  “Yes, yes, that’s all very well and good,” Lady Syra said impatiently. “But why are you wearing it?”

  “I find it helps focus and enhance my Right Hand magic. I need all the help I can get if I want to bring in even more paying business. After all, I’m going to be a father soon.”

  Although it was obvious that Lady Syra did not completely believe what her son had just told her, she did not push the issue. “In any case, you should be careful. The Gauntlet of Nydd was neither truly Left or Right Hand magic. Since it is ambidextrous it can easily go either way, depending on the user.”

  “Well, I don’t think you have to worry about me using a right-handed glove to work Left Hand magic,” Hexe reassured her.

  “I’m not the one who’s concerned,” Lady Syra replied, gesturing to Trinket, who was still weaving about atop her wrist. “There, there, little one,” she said soothingly, planting a kiss atop the familiar’s wedge-shaped head. “No need to be upset.” This seemed to placate the albino serpent, which once more resumed its role as living jewelry. “Now go get dressed, dear,” Lady Syra exclaimed gaily, turning to address me. “I’m taking you shopping!”