Trial By Fire (Schooled in Magic Book 7)

by Christopher Nuttall

  “I thought I’d redecorate,” the demon said, in a breathy voice. The throne looked far too large for its body, but its malevolent presence more than made up for it. “Do you not recognize the throne?”

  “King Randor’s,” Emily said, flatly. The mists were pressing in around her, strange voices echoing through her mind. “You took that image from her mind.”

  “Among other things,” the demon said. “Would you like to know her most private secrets? I could tell you.”

  “No,” Emily said.

  “But you’re tempted,” the demon said. It wasn’t a question. “You would like to know everything.”

  “Everyone has secrets and little shames,” Emily said, thinking of the Grandmaster. She hadn’t known he had brothers, let alone that two of them were dead, until he’d told her, even though she’d looked him up in the scrolls. He’d buried his past very well. “I don’t want to know hers.”

  “I could tell you that she used to be in love with you,” the demon said. “I could tell you that there was a time when she seriously considered marrying you.”

  Emily felt her mouth drop open. Alassa had said, more than once, that if Emily had been born a man King Randor would have insisted that she - he - marry Alassa. It had never occurred to her that Alassa might be interested in her personally, no matter how close they’d become since they’d been forced to work together. No one had questioned Alassa’s duty to marry a man and bear children to succeed the throne. They’d never wondered if Alassa was interested in women, rather than men.

  Because if she had been, it wouldn’t have mattered, Emily thought. She would still have had to bear children, even if she’d had to do it with a stranger...

  She scowled as the penny dropped. “You could tell me?”

  The demon bared its bloodstained teeth. “You are wise in the ways of demons.”

  No, I’m not, Emily thought. The demon couldn’t lie, but it had never actually lied. It had merely tried to mislead her and it had almost succeeded. And if I start believing I can’t be outsmarted, I will be outsmarted.

  She drew herself up to her full height and looked the demon in the eyes. It wasn’t easy.

  “You know why I’m here,” she said.

  The demon giggled. “Nothing may be known until it is spoken.”

  “I’m Shadye’s Heir,” Emily said. “I command you to leave.”

  The demon snickered. “Not that sort of heir, I’m afraid,” it said. “Do you have something else you wish to say?”

  Emily clenched her fists. It could read her thoughts, she was sure; she’d willingly plunged herself into its mind. But it was going to force her to spell everything out, just to humiliate her one step further...

  “I offer you my life and soul, in exchange for the release of my...of everyone you hold in your thrall, including the school,” she said. Her heartbeat raced as she realized how close she’d come to screwing up. She didn’t count everyone trapped in the demon’s clutches as a friend and it knew it as well as she did. “Take me, free them, and leave us for good.”

  The demon stroked its pointed goatee. “And why should I accept you when I already have so many?”

  “Because I am offering myself willingly,” Emily said, simply. “None of the others gave themselves to you of their own free will.”

  “Are you sure?” The demon asked. “I worked my way into their minds...”

  “They were in no state to make a decision,” Emily countered. “You twisted their thoughts to the point where they couldn’t tell right from wrong, life from death, freedom from submission. You won their souls through trickery.”

  The demon giggled, again. This time, the sound cut right into her soul.

  “There’s always a trick,” it said. “So few humans choose to come to us willingly.”

  It stood up, the throne vanishing in the mists, and walked towards her. Emily forced herself to stand her ground as it stopped in front of her, then reached forward and stroked her chin in a mocking parody of intimacy. Caleb had stroked her too, she recalled; the demon had seen it in her mind and turned it into a weapon. It was all she could do to ignore its touch and keep her mind focused. There was no way to avoid it using her own weaknesses against her. All she could do was remind herself that her friends - and countless others - depended on her keeping her cool.

  “But I could offer you so much more,” it added, darkly. “Would you like to wake up in a hospital bed, on Earth? Leave this world for good?”

  It leaned forward until it was whispering into her ear. “And then she woke up and it was all a dream?”

  Emily felt her blood run cold. “You wouldn’t have me, if you did,” she pointed out, somehow. It had been the Nightmare Hex, she recalled. “I wouldn’t know I belonged to you.”

  The demon smirked, drawing back. “Are you sure?”

  “...No,” Emily admitted. There was no point in trying to lie. The demon could not only read her mind and know she was lying, it knew when she was thinking about lying. “But I believe you would want me personally.”

  “And, without you, the Allied Lands will be in deep trouble,” the demon said. It reached forward again and touched her neck, one sharp fingernail scratching her skin. “You would sacrifice yourself to save a hundred students, but your absence will cost the lives of thousands - millions - of innocents. And that is the truth.”

  Emily paled. The demon couldn’t lie. If she allowed herself to die, here and now, she would save everyone in its clutches, but she would no longer be able to help the Allied Lands. It was manipulating her, she knew, and it wasn’t even trying to hide it. There was no need to keep her from recognizing the manipulation.

  And if that is true, she thought, there must be a way to escape Master Grey...

  She pushed the thought aside. “You see possibilities, not certainties,” she said. “What you predict might come to pass...”

  “It will,” the demon said. “But in which reality?”

  Cheat, Emily thought.

  “Of course,” the demon said, answering her thought. “We always cheat.”

  Emily took a breath. “And that means that I may not save the Allied Lands anyway,” she snapped. It would be just like the demon to tempt her into abandoning her friends, after deciding that the good of the majority outweighed the good of the few, then manipulate events so that she lost anyway. She would betray her friends for nothing. “If I surrender myself to you, at least my friends and the other students will have a chance.”

  “How true,” the demon agreed.

  “Then I offer myself to you, in exchange for their freedom,” Emily said. She braced herself, and dropped to her knees. The demon loomed over her, seemingly larger than before. But then, it wasn’t human and it could present itself to her in any manner it chose. “Take me and leave this world.”

  The demon reached down and stroked her hair, as someone might pet a dog. “Are you sure?”

  “Get on with it,” Emily said. She knew she could expect nothing but endless torment. The demon would break her, body and soul. It wouldn’t matter, not if her friends were freed. “I am sure.”

  “Very well,” the demon said. Its voice became a sneer. “I will remove my taint from those I lured into my clutches, my sweet, but they will still have to bear the memories of what I did to them. It will haunt them for the rest of their lives.”

  “Take those memories,” Emily said.

  “You have nothing else to bargain with,” the demon said. “You’re mine.”

  “No,” a quiet voice said.

  Emily’s head snapped up. The Grandmaster was standing there, looking younger than ever before. It took her a moment to realize that he wasn’t wearing his blindfold and he had both eyeballs. She stared at him in shock, unsure just what he was doing in Alassa’s mind. He couldn’t be here, could he? Was the demon playing games? Or...

  “Well,” the demon said. “How nice to see you again.”

  It reached down and gripped Emily by the shoulder. �
�I’m afraid it’s too late to save this young sweetheart from my clutches,” it said. “One more failure to add to a very long list.”

  The Grandmaster kept his eyes fixed on the demon. “It is you, isn’t it? The demon we tried to summon, decades ago.”

  “I could be,” the demon said. It smiled, cruelly. “I assure you that you will never know.”

  Emily looked up. “How could you see him again if you hadn’t seen him for the first time?”

  The demon pushed her forward until she was prostrating herself in front of it, then rested its foot on the back of her neck. “Silence,” it ordered. Emily grunted in pain as it pushed down, threatening to break bones. “You’re mine.”

  “Not yet,” the Grandmaster said.

  “I have released all I held in my thrall,” the demon said. “She made the deal, understanding and accepting the consequences. I can do anything to her.”

  Emily screamed as it stamped down. Her neck broke...then snapped back together as the demon lifted its foot. Pain seared through her, burning every cell of her body, then faded away as she recoiled. It took her a long moment to realize that she was trapped in the demon’s mentality, that it could hurt her any way it wanted without actually killing her...and that it was waiting.

  But waiting for what?

  “Another failure,” the demon taunted, addressing the Grandmaster. “How many times have you failed?”

  “Too many,” the Grandmaster said. “I offer you myself in exchange for her.”

  “Oh,” the demon said. “And what makes you think I want you?”

  “I think you and I have unfinished business,” the Grandmaster said. “And even if you’re not the demon we summoned, you could certainly trade me to it.”

  “No,” Emily said. She’d accepted her own death - and worse - but she didn’t want to watch the Grandmaster die. Or have him surrender his own life for hers. “I...”

  “She doesn’t want you to die,” the demon mocked. “Are you so willing to trade yourself for her?”

  “Yes,” the Grandmaster said.

  “Your death will make life harder for her,” the demon said. It clamped a hand over Emily’s mouth before she could protest again. “She may not even survive the week.”

  “I know,” the Grandmaster said. “But she doesn’t deserve eternal torment.”

  “Matter of opinion,” the demon said. “You people, blessed with the precious gift of free will, invariably become tainted. Emily was never an obedient child.”

  I had no choice, Emily thought. What would I have become if I’d obeyed my stepfather?

  “I have yet to meet the person who was truly pure,” the Grandmaster pointed out. “Free will may allow us to make mistakes, to become tainted, but it also allows us to work to overcome and survive our errors.”

  “It also allows you to make excuses,” the demon sneered. It threw Emily a sharp look, reminding her that it knew what she was thinking. “To justify bad behavior to yourself. I assure you that very few humans truly believe themselves to be evil, whatever society thinks.”

  “Yes,” the Grandmaster said. He gave the demon a long look, then dropped to his knees. “I offer myself in exchange for her freedom.”

  The demon tilted its head, then let go of Emily’s mouth. “And what do you think of that?”

  “Don’t,” Emily pleaded. “The Allied Lands need you.”

  “You want him to make the trade,” the demon said. “Whatever you may say, a few moments as my possession was enough to make you regret bargaining with me.”

  Emily felt her cheeks burn. “That’s true,” she admitted. There was no point in trying to deny it. The demon could spend decades tormenting her for its own amusement. “But that doesn’t mean I’m right to ask him to make the trade himself.”

  “Then you will have to live with the memory of him making the trade,” the demon said. It turned back to the Grandmaster. “I accept your offer. I’m afraid there’s no time to say goodbye.”

  “No,” Emily said, desperately. “I...”

  There was a flash of light. When it faded, she was back in her own body. Her hand felt wet, stained by the co-mingled blood, but she barely noticed. The Grandmaster had fallen off his chair and was lying on the floor, his face twisted in agony. She stumbled to her feet and knelt beside him, checking his heartbeat even though she knew it was already too late. The demon had accepted the Grandmaster’s offer and then reached out to claim him.

  Then you will have to live with the memory of him making the trade, it had said...

  Alassa’s body jerked; she coughed, loudly, as she started to make her way back to herself. Emily heard bells ringing in the distance as monitoring spells alerted the Healers that their charges were waking up. She wanted to rise to her feet, to assist her friend, but the darkness welled up in her mind and swallowed her.

  By the time they burst into the room, she was unconscious on the floor.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  “YOU’RE BEING AN IDIOT,” LADY BARB said. Emily barely heard her through a haze of pain that hung over her thoughts. “You’re risking everything for an unintended insult!”

  It dawned on Emily slowly, very slowly, that she wasn’t the one who was being berated. Lady Barb was talking to someone else...and, even through the haze, she had a feeling she knew just who was being attacked. Who else could it be?

  “You’re risking the wrath of a Lone Power, and all her friends and allies, and even the very safety of the Allied Lands,” Lady Barb thundered. “Why are you doing this?”

  Emily coughed and opened her eyes. Her head hurt so badly she could barely think; her mouth was so dry she couldn’t speak. Lady Barb was standing at the edge of her bed, facing Master Grey. The two Mediators looked as though they were going to start fighting at any moment. Magic crackled around them threateningly.

  “Water,” Emily croaked, as Lady Barb turned to face her. “Water, please.”

  Master Grey picked a glass of water off the bedside table and held it out to her, holding it in place so she could drink her fill. His eyes were bright, either with suppressed amusement or anticipation; Emily eyed him darkly, then remembered the demon. There were worse things than Master Grey out there. Oddly, she no longer felt scared of him.

  “The Grandmaster is dead,” Lady Barb said. “What happened?”

  “He offered himself to the demon in exchange for me,” Emily said. She cursed inwardly as Master Grey withdrew the glass and refilled it. The demon had hurt her - she wanted to rub her neck to make sure it wasn’t broken - and she knew she was glad to escape, but she hadn’t wanted the Grandmaster to die. He must have planned it from the moment she’d told him what she had in mind. “He offered himself and the demon accepted.”

  She coughed, again. “Have they awoken?”

  “They’re starting to wake up,” Master Grey answered. “It will be some time before they recover completely, but they will return to the world.”

  “Thank you,” Emily said, quietly.

  Master Grey cleared his throat. “I’m afraid there is worse news,” he said. “The absence of the Grandmaster means that his edicts are now powerless. You will face me in a duel two days from now.”

  Unless I choose to run, Emily thought, bitterly. Cold hatred ran through her heart as she stared up at him. You’d beat me either way.

  Lady Barb swung around to face him. “You’d face a bedridden girl?”

  “She will recover,” Master Grey said, shortly. “And my reputation is not an issue here.”

  He turned and swept out of the room. Emily watched him go, cursing the Grandmaster under her breath. She’d calculated that offering herself to the demon would not only save her friends, but save most of what she’d built. Now...either she fought or ran...and if she lost, everything she’d built would be at risk. No doubt Master Grey wouldn’t see value in the bank, either. Or understand what it meant for the long-term future of the Allied Lands.

  “The Grandmaster was hoping to find a way to
put pressure on him,” Lady Barb said. Her voice was so cold that Emily felt chills running down her spine. “He could have found something, if there had been time. Instead...there won’t be another Grandmaster until the end of the school year. The White Council will take that long to decide on a successor. By then...”

  “The duel will have been fought,” Emily said. She sat upright, rubbing her forehead. The water had helped dull the pain, but she still felt unwell. No doubt the demon had left a parting gift, even though it had removed its taint. She’d have to spend the rest of her life knowing that the Grandmaster had traded himself for her. “And everything will come to an end.”

  “Then run,” Lady Barb said. “Go now and don’t look back.”

  Emily looked down at her hands. “I’ve been running all my life,” she said, bitterly. It was true. “I don’t want to run anymore.”

  “You don’t have a choice,” Lady Barb said. “If you face him, you will die.”

  Maybe not, Emily thought. There were ideas, countless ideas, she’d dreamed up to use in a fight. She’d withheld them out of fear of what others could do with them, but now...she owed it to the Grandmaster to fight, to preserve what she’d built. He’d offered his life in exchange for hers. If I surprised him...

  Lady Barb gripped her shoulder. “I understand how you’re feeling,” she said. “But...you cannot win.”

  “We’ll see,” Emily said. “Do we have time for some training? I need to know how a Mediator fights.”

  “You’ve already seen him fight,” Lady Barb reminded her. She helped Emily to her feet, then threw open the cabinet to reveal a set of clean clothes. “But if you’re insistent on seeing just how hard it will be, I’ll do my best to help you.”