Shadowblack

by Sebastien de Castell

  ‘Son of a bitch, Shalla! Seriously?’

  The image in the basin took on the shape of her eyes, her nose, her mouth – which displayed not the slightest sign of contrition. ‘What?’ she asked, in a voice that sounded faintly, well, watery. ‘I couldn’t find you through the sands, and the only options other than this were the bathtub or the toilet.’

  Not a thought I wanted in my head. ‘What do you want, Shalla?’

  The droplets of water slipped and slid, and her expression grew concerned. ‘I had to reach you again, Kellen. You need to get out of there.’

  ‘Out of where?’ I asked.

  ‘Don’t play dumb with me. I know you’re near that disgusting place – the Academy or whatever it is they call it.’

  ‘Disgusting? It’s a school.’

  ‘It’s a monument to vanity and futility.’

  Shalla has this habit sometimes of using my father’s words as though they were her own. The fact that I can tell when she’s doing it is maybe one of the only things I have over her. ‘So Ke’heops doesn’t approve?’

  ‘No one approves, Kellen. The Seven Sands isn’t a country. It will never be a country. And you need to get out of there.’ The eyes formed by the water moved slightly, as if Shalla were trying to see into the room. ‘Are you with the girl?’

  ‘Which girl?’

  A slight sneer formed. ‘The one with the shadowblack plague, of course. What else would you be doing in that barbaric place?’

  Her use of the word ‘plague’ troubled me. ‘What do you know, Shalla?’

  ‘I … Not much, only that the council of lords magi has forbidden any Jan’Tep from travelling into the Seven Sands until further notice. The councils from the other clans are doing the same.’ The drops of water forming her eyes took on a less confident and more concerned shape. ‘Something bad is happening in Teleidos, Kellen. Please, just get away from there. Come home.’

  ‘Did you find out about the death warrant?’ I asked. ‘Do you know who—’

  The water shape shook, almost coming apart. ‘No one’s talking, and I don’t think anyone outside the council knows. Even Father won’t talk to me about it.’

  ‘Then why would I come home, Shalla? Chances are whoever put that warrant out for me will want to see me dead the second I set foot back in our city.’

  ‘I’ll protect you!’ she said. ‘I won’t let anyone harm you, Kellen. You’re my brother.’

  She would too. Shalla had a loyalty that was almost painful sometimes – when she wasn’t doing our father’s bidding. No matter how much she cared about me though, the strands that connected us would always be weaker than the ones she shared with Ke’heops. More and more that was becoming the defining quality of my life: every relationship was tenuous. Reichis was supposed to be my partner, but mostly he just got me into trouble. Ferius was supposed to be my mentor, but it turned out she had no intention of teaching me the ways of the Argosi. Nephenia had cared about me, for a time, but the further away I travelled from our homeland and the Jan’Tep way of life, the weaker that connection became. And Seneira? Well, she was betrothed to Revian.

  ‘Kellen?’ Shalla asked, her voice more distant now.

  So what was I left with? A little breath magic, some exploding powders and a spell warrant that said any mage who crossed my path would get a nice payment for killing me. In the metal of the sink, the reflection of the black markings around my eye were distorted, almost mocking. I was so sick of the shadowblack, of the way it destroyed not only my life but that of everyone else around me. More than that, I suddenly realised I couldn’t stomach the idea that someone would inflict this on another human being. I thought about the voices Seneira talked about during her attacks and the way they laughed at her, at the pain they caused her and Tyne and even Revian.

  Shalla and Dexan had each offered me a way out – a chance at a better life – but the price of either was leaving Seneira and her family and maybe the whole Seven Sands to suffer whatever horrors were stalking them.

  ‘Kellen, just come home,’ Shalla said, her words barely more than drips of water tapping against the sink.

  I picked up the hand towel from the side of the sink. ‘I love you, little sister. Stay safe.’

  Before she could say anything else, I wiped the last drops of water from the basin and put the towel back on its hook.

  The way of the Argosi is the way of thunder.

  The thunder comes rarely, but when it does, it strikes without hesitation or remorse. An Argosi seeks not to impose themselves on others, but neither will they allow harm or enslavement of the innocent. When the balance of water has been broken by those who would force others to their will, then does an Argosi restore the equilibrium. Like the thunder, they do so swiftly, boldly and, sometimes, mercilessly.

  32

  The Whispers

  ‘Have I mentioned that crocodiles just love places like this?’ Reichis asked, sitting on my shoulder and peering out into the swamp ahead of us.

  ‘A few times.’ I started walking again, as quietly as I could, yet somehow my every footstep seemed to set off leaves crunching, insects buzzing.

  ‘I mean, this is a really stupid idea, Kellen.’

  ‘You said that already, too.’

  Reichis is usually perfectly happy to go wandering around dark places in the middle of the night, but something about this particular swampy forest had us both on edge. It didn’t help that we were hunting for someone who had the power to summon spirits or demons or whatever else it was to kill us or destroy our souls or maybe just eat us alive.

  ‘If you’d just kissed that girl like I told you—’

  ‘What good would that have done?’

  He gave a snort. ‘She’d have got so angry she’d have slapped you into next week! That girl would’ve hit you so hard, Kellen, you wouldn’t even think of risking our lives going after some crazy whisper witch – you’d be too busy trying to find someone to cast an ice spell so you could get the swelling down on your face!’ He started giggling uncontrollably and had to dig his claws into my shoulder to keep from falling off.

  ‘You little bastard. I knew you were setting me up!’

  It took him a while to settle. Then he said, ‘But seriously, you should kiss her next time.’

  I would have picked him up and thrown him into a tree if it wasn’t for the fact that he’d just glide back down again to land on my head.

  A crackling behind us caused me to spin around, almost dislodging Reichis. I saw nothing, however.

  ‘Just the wind,’ he said. ‘It’s picking up the leaves and making them—’

  ‘I know how wind works.’

  ‘I still think we should have waited for Ferius.’

  Yeah, I thought as another gust of wind sent the leaves spinning around us. Me too. ‘Ferius wouldn’t have let us come,’ I said, as much to myself as to Reichis. ‘She’d say something stupid like, “Never listen to rumours about hedge wizards and whisper witches, kid … they’s just a bunch a hogwash.”’

  Reichis chuckled. ‘Yeah, and then Rosie would be like, “My … sister … has a certain unwarranted empathy for … recluses.”’ For a talking animal, he does pretty good impressions of humans.

  ‘Then Ferius would say, “Sister, them’s wrastlin’ words!”’

  ‘Oh, oh, and then Rosie would come back with, “You have lost the way, Path of Farting Daisies. Now we must fight to the death … or perhaps just play cards and stare at each other again.”’

  I started laughing so hard I had to hold on to a tree to keep from falling over. Reichis and I went back and forth like that as we made our way deeper into the swamp, knowing we should stop but somehow unable to.

  Eventually Reichis asked, ‘You know why this is such a stupid idea?’

  ‘You said that already. Like, twelve times.’

  ‘Yeah, but do you know why it’s a stupid idea?’

  I stopped. ‘Why?’

  Reichis shivered on my shoulder. ‘Becaus
e this place is giving me the creeps, and I’m a squirrel cat – normally we’re the ones giving other people the creeps.’

  A light laugh came at us, the sound of wind chimes in a soft breeze, dancing around us as though each note were being carried on the back of an insect darting this way and that.

  ‘Who’s there?’ I asked, my hands already dipping into the pouches at my belt.

  ‘Didn’t no one tell you, mister spellslinger? It’s dangerous to mess with Mamma Whispers in her own place of business.’

  Reichis growled, sniffing at the air. ‘I can’t see her.’

  ‘Who are you?’ I asked, then closed my eyes so that I could figure out where the reply was coming from.

  ‘Why you askin’, Jan’Tep?’ She stretched the word out, mak-ing it sound like ‘Jaahhn-Tehep’. ‘Maybe you trying to trick Mamma Whispers? Maybe you come to do a bit of murder?’

  ‘We’re not here to murder anyone,’ I said.

  ‘We’re not?’ Reichis asked. He sounded distinctly disappointed.

  My attempts to locate her from the sound of her voice failed miserably. It was as if she were flying through the underbrush all around us. Reichis wasn’t having any better luck with her scent. ‘Something’s not right,’ he said.

  ‘My spirits, they don’t want you tracking me, spellslinger. They make the air move for me. The spirits always help out Mamma Whispers.’

  ‘Then why are you afraid to show yourself?’ I asked. ‘Do you prefer to do your work unseen? Infecting innocent people with the shadowblack?’

  ‘Shadowblack?’ She spat the word. ‘You shouldn’t be sayin’ such things around here, spellslinger.’

  The sound of leaves and soft underbrush crunching crackled in the night air. ‘You want to see Mamma Whispers? Be careful what you wish for.’

  The figure that emerged from the trees was not at all what I’d expected. I’d imagined a woman, maybe in her forties or fifties, large and powerful. Instead what I saw was a girl of no more than ten or eleven, barefoot and wearing a simple peasant dress that hung to the ground. Her hair was long and black, topped by a hat that might have been worn by a wealthy gentleman were it not battered and threadbare.

  ‘You’re a kid,’ I said aloud. Probably not the best idea.

  ‘I am what you see, spellslinger, and what you don’t see too.’

  Reichis gave a low growl. ‘I already don’t like her.’

  The girl took another step towards us, and her presence made me more uncomfortable the closer she came, as if she belonged here but we didn’t. ‘Stay back,’ I said.

  ‘Or what?’ she asked, her voice young but the way she spoke that of a much older woman. ‘You going to burn me with your magic? Go ahead, spellslinger, show Mamma Whispers what you got.’

  I had no intention of blasting a little girl, even if she wasn’t really that young. ‘I’m not here to fight you. I just have questions.’

  The girl grinned. ‘But what if I’m here to fight you?’

  Okay, so much for the gentle approach. I lifted my hands up, each one holding enough powder to make an impression once I cast the spell. I wasn’t intending to aim it at her, just to fire off a warning shot, but as I hurled the powders into the air, I saw her lips move and heard a whispering sound. Suddenly the powders flew out of my hands, swirling up high, only to come right towards me and Reichis. I ducked down low just in time for the powders to pass overhead, clashing together and setting off an explosion of red and black glimmer that would have given me a nasty burn if they’d touched me.

  ‘My spirits don’t appreciate your kind of magic, spellslinger. You shouldn’t have come to mess with Mamma Whispers. They don’t like that, no they don’t.’

  ‘I told you, I didn’t come here to fight!’

  The girl came closer again, still seeming like no kind of threat at all, and looked up at me through wide, seemingly innocent eyes. ‘Maybe. Maybe not. We see what my spirits say.’

  Again I watched in fascination as her lips moved just a fraction and I could hear the wind moving in response. Soon it picked up in force, swirling all around us, and other voices appeared … ones I recognised.

  ‘Last chance to walk away, Kellen,’ the first one said. It was Tennat, the words those he’d spoken at our initiates’ duel months ago.

  The wind picked up. ‘A Jan’Tep must be strong,’ my father said from somewhere behind me.

  I spun around but he wasn’t there. ‘What’s going on?’ I demanded.

  A new voice appeared, off to my right. ‘These are the questions of a child, Kellen.’ Mer’esan, the night she first summoned me to the palace.

  More and more voices appeared, falling on top of one another, coming and going in the breeze, all voices I recognised, all words that had been spoken months before. Over and over they called out to me: Shalla, my parents, Nephenia, Panahsi, Ra’meth, Abydos … The swirl of sound became maddening and I was about to cover my ears to block out the noise when suddenly they all stopped, all except for one voice. It was Master Osia’phest, on my last night in my city, reading from the slip of paper upon which I’d written my answer to the fourth trial: ‘There’s no amount of magic in the world that’s worth the price of a man’s conscience.’

  Everything went silent, until finally Mamma Whispers said, ‘Well now, aren’t you a fascination?’

  Reichis bristled on my shoulder. ‘Can I kill her now?’

  ‘Maybe later. How did you do that?’ I asked the girl.

  She shrugged. ‘I didn’t do nothing. My spirits though, they can be powerful useful when they’re of a mind to be.’

  She’d certainly proved that to be true. To my people, the words ‘spirit’ and ‘demon’ were pretty much interchangeable. ‘What else can your spirits do?’ I asked.

  The girl gave me a sour look. ‘They don’t put the shadowblack on innocents, if that’s what you came to find out.’

  Reichis leaned forward on my shoulder and sniffed the air. ‘Hard to tell with all the crazy smells around here, but I think she’s telling the truth.’

  I felt tired then, as if all my anger, all my fear, all my brave words about fighting to protect Seneira and her family, were just that – words. ‘I’m sorry,’ I said, to the strange girl standing in front of me, and to all the people I couldn’t seem to help.

  The girl whispered something into the night air, and suddenly the winds swirled around me again, murmuring snatches of conversations from the last few days. Mage plague … The Academy … Laughter … They’re watching you now, Kellen. The sounds stopped abruptly, and Mamma Whispers said, ‘You’re being played, spellslinger, listenin’ to the wrong voices, following the wrong path.’

  ‘Then what is the right path?’ I demanded. ‘What am I supposed to do?’

  She laughed in response. ‘That’s a big question, boy.’ She lifted a thin arm and pointed a thin finger to the sky. ‘Look at all of those stars. Why you need to pick just one to follow?’

  ‘That’s not what I mean, damn it! Who’s behind all of this? You keep talking about your spirits, telling me I’m following the wrong trail. Fine, then ask your spirits who is causing the shadowblack plague!’

  I half expected her to run off into the forest, or maybe attack me with some kind of spirit spell, but instead she nodded, and whispered into the darkness behind her. At first there was nothing. Then the wind picked up again. ‘They see threads, my spirits do,’ she said. ‘Threads here, in the Seven Sands, stretching far, spellslinger, from Teleidos all the way to …’ She started turning round and round in a circle, as if she really were just a child spinning to make herself dizzy. Suddenly she stopped, her arm pointing due west. ‘Some of the threads go there.’

  ‘Where? That’s just more forest and, past that, more desert.’

  ‘Further.’

  There was only one place further west than the desert. ‘The Jan’Tep lands …’

  She started backing away in slow, languorous steps. ‘I wouldn’t know, spellslinger. My spirits, they se
e far, but they don’t like to leave this place.’

  ‘And you?’ I asked. ‘Do you ever leave here?’

  She smiled as if I’d said something entirely stupid and kept walking backwards until her small form blended into the darkness. ‘I’m Mamma Whispers, spellslinger. Why would I want to?’

  33

  The Warring Paths

  We made our way back to Seneira’s house, to find everyone had gone to bed except for Ferius and Rosie who’d returned and were – much to Reichis’s amusement – playing cards. I told them about Revian and his family’s house mages, and about my encounter with Mamma Whispers. I’d expected some kind of reaction, maybe even a tongue-lashing for having recklessly sought out a potential killer, but they just kept passing cards back and forth.

  ‘You never look like you’re having fun,’ I remarked.

  Rosie shot me a raised eyebrow that reminded me way too much of Shalla. ‘Fun?’

  ‘You’re playing cards. Playing. Shouldn’t it be … enjoyable?’

  The Argosi turned her withering stare on Ferius, who shrugged. ‘Give Rosie enough time and you’ll find she can take the fun out of just about anything.’

  Somehow that set the other woman off. ‘Jokes? Is that all you have to offer the boy? You take him from his home, let him believe he can be your teysan, yet you teach him nothing. He cannot even name the seven talents, let alone—’

  Ferius smirked. ‘Words? Is that what troubles you, sister?’ She gestured to me. ‘Go ahead, tell him all the important words you like, if that’s what you think it means to be an Argosi.’

  ‘Do not play the fool with me, sister, even if that does seem to be the path of the wild daisy. You know how few of us there are left. As a maetri you have a duty to search for those who could learn our ways.’

  Ferius let out a barking laugh. ‘First you tell me I don’t know how to teach and then you say I have a duty to do so? It seems the path of thorns and roses winds in circles, sister.’

  Rosie slammed a fist on the table before pointing at me. ‘He is not your teysan. I would teach him myself, but anyone can see he is too unfocused, self-centred …’ She paused then turned to me. ‘Forgive me – my words are harsh and none of this is your fault. I’m sure you will one day become a fine … mage or spellslinger or whatever it is you are.’