Agnith's Promise: The Vildecaz Talents, Book 3

by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

  “Papa,” said Erianthee with a sigh. “He trusted Zervethus Gaxamirin, too, and the Imperial Scholar only sent Pareo.”

  Ninianee nodded. “And even he’s gone.” She folded her arms. “What kind of rite did you have in mind?”

  “I don’t know. I thought we could look in the library. Papa must have something useful in all those tomes.” She stopped. “Don’t mind me, Nin. I’m still feeling . . . pulled out of myself and it makes me short-tempered.”

  “But you manifested a god to save your escort – small wonder you may be a bit frayed still,” Ninianee approved. “You may be as sharp-tongued as you like after such a great feat. Just don’t forget what it cost you. That faint into which you fell sounded dire.”

  “Without Kloveon, I’m sure it would have been much worse,” said Erianthee, getting out of the water and reaching for her jalai.

  Ninianee stood up and dawdled into her larnija. “Do you think we should tell anyone? – about what we’re going to attempt?”

  “Probably not. They might try to stop us, if you mean Kloveon and Doms,” said Erianthee, starting to towel her hair. For thirty heartbeats she said nothing more, then, “But we could be taking risks that we don’t need to take. Perhaps we should let someone know what we intend.”

  “That’s what I was thinking. Let me sleep on it, and you, too.”

  “All right,” said Erianthee. “We’re really going to do it, then?”

  Ninianee tossed her tightly curling hair to shake off much of the water. “I’ve got to do something, but I don’t want to try your idea alone. The animal contact wouldn’t help much without your talent to reveal what I may come upon. And it is your idea. If you’re set on it – ”

  “I will if you will,” said Erianthee.

  “Then we’ll do it,” said Ninianee. “We start looking for texts tomorrow. We should have it done – whatever we decide to do – before your official home-coming celebration.” She thought briefly. “I have to meet with General Rocazin tomorrow, and a delegation of masons is coming from Valdihovee.”

  “I’ll meet you in the Castle library after the afternoon meal. We can set to work on our spell tomorrow night or the night after, when most of the Castle is asleep, after we’ve decided on the kind of spell we need.”

  “Do you think we can find a rite so quickly? Papa has hundreds of books, some of his best in the tower library.”

  “We can try there if we can’t find what we need in the Castle library,” said Erianthee with determination. “Papa’s private library should have more advanced texts, if we need them.”

  “It could take a long time to find what we’re seeking, Eri,” Ninianee warned.

  “So we begin with a searching-spell, and lessen the hours of hunting. I know one that served me well in Tiumboj.” She had learned it from Magstee Dinenniet Meanaj during their time together in Tiumboj; the few times she’d used it, the spell had performed flawlessly. “It might also help us hunt for Papa.” Erianthee smiled suddenly. “This is going to work out. I know it will.”

  Ninianee had picked up a wide-toothed comb and was dragging it through her hair. “I hope so – because if it doesn’t, we’ll be out of possibilities.”

  * * *

  The spell-hounds had completed their nightly sweep of the Castle and only the Night Guard was actively awake when Erianthee and Ninianee made their way to their father’s quarters in the tower above the keep. Both were in mauve-grey gaunels without ornamentation, and both had added protective screening-spells to lessen the chance of their being noticed as they slipped through the darkened corridors and up twisting staircases to the tower room. They were both excited and apprehensive at the thought of what they were going to attempt to do; when they spoke, it was in breathy whispers.

  “Is there a Night Guard in the tower?”

  “Not that I know of.”

  They were on the next-to-last-landing when Erianthee said, “Is there any chance Doms might follow you? He does that, doesn’t he.” She lowered her voice to little more than mouthing but the rounded stairwell murmured like a seashell.

  “I don’t think so. I left a small slumber-spell on my pillow. He should sleep all night, assuming the spell is a good one: I got that out of the Castle library.” Ninianee resumed climbing, but couldn’t keep from asking, “What about Kloveon? Does he know where you are?”

  “No. He should sleep all night long. I put drowse-mallow in his mead,” said Erianthee.

  “They’ll be annoyed when they find out,” Ninianee warned, still climbing.

  “We’ll have done whatever we’re going to do by then, so even if they’re upset, they won’t be able to change anything. We’ll explain the situation to them later,” said Erianthee, and they both went on in silence until they reached the top landing and the iron-bound door to Duz Nimuar’s private library and personal quarters.

  “We’ll have to be as quick as we can,” Ninianee reminded Erianthee.

  “Do you think it’s locked?” Erianthee asked as they hovered outside the door.

  “Probably,” said Ninianee. “But I have an access-spell that should do the trick – it’s one of Papa’s own, for when he forgot his keys.” She took out her vial of ympara-oil and dropped a little on the latch, reciting an invocation to Agnith, the Preternatural as she touched the lock with a small rod of gold. The rite was fairly short, and when it was over the latch snicked open, and Ninianee shot a look of triumph at her sister. “See?”

  They eased the door wide enough to allow them to slip inside, and then secured the lock once more. Erianthee took a small oil-lamp from out of her large sleeve and set it on the broad table next to the fireplace. She said the right words, snapped her fingers, and the wicks came alight, casting enough illumination for the two women to be able to read, but not enough to make the windows shine, alerting the Night Guard to their presence. “Stand back, and I’ll do the searching-spell. The spines of the books with the information we want should shine when I’m done, and we can choose the ones we want.”

  Ninianee set down her vial of ympara-oil. “If you need this . . . ”

  ”Thanks.” She took a sheet of parchment from her sleeve and unrolled it on the table, marking the corners with ympara-oil. “Analahor, the Inspirational, Lenchmai, the Informer, Tsumohr, and Yenotomaj, show us the way to make the spells that will permit us to find where our father has gone, even if it is to the House of the Silent One.” She made the required passages with her hands, then dropped grains of salt onto the parchment and waited while a faint luminescence filled the Duz’s room, moving slowly but stopping to light upon various volumes on the high shelves, leaving behind a faint lambency. When the whole of the room had been covered, the shining air shivered, then dispersed, leaving the room once again lit only by Erianthee’s oil-lamp. “Can you make out the spines?”

  “There’re a lot of them,” said Ninianee, peering into the dimness. “I guess I’d better get started.” She went to the nearest shelf and pulled down Magnesteon, Purpose and Spells, The Magsto’s Techniques, Guiding Spells, Location Spells, Dual Magical Techniques, For Agnith and Kylomotarch, and The Index of the Priests of Mirvex-Doz. “If you want to get started? I’ll keep pulling the ones with the glowing spines.” She put her armload down on the broad table next to the parchment, and went back toward the shelves.

  Erianthee stared at the stack of books, realizing that there would be hundreds more to scrutinize in their search for the spells that would help them. She tried not to be overwhelmed at the thought of looking through them, but as Ninianee brought another seven books to the table, she began to wonder if the two of them could accomplish their task. She sat down and opened the nearest book, scanning its contents and turning to the middle portion of the tome. There was a suggestion for creating spells to locate missing soldiers after a battle, and another for summoning the diejinee of the lost. “We might try that again,” murmured Erianthee, “if the screen around Duz Nimuar can be pierced.”

  “It depends on how
he’s cloaked,” said Ninianee.

  Erianthee looked at the growing stacks of books. “We may need more than one night to do this.”

  “Do you think Zhanf is right – that someone has cloaked our father in spells so that we can’t reach him, or is it only the . . . state of his mind that causes the difficulty?” Ninianee had been mulling this over for most of the day and still hadn’t made up her mind.

  “I think he’s cloaked, or we’d sense his confusion, one way or another,” said Erianthee as she turned the page and perused the rites described there. “We’ll know more when we try a spell.”

  Ninianee had a third armload of books to bring to Erianthee when there was a sharp sound at the door and the latch sank. The Duzeons stared in alarm, and Erianthee scooped up the vial of ympara-oil and the unrolled parchment as the door opened and quickly concealed them at the top of her sleeve.

  Heijot Merinex stepped into the room, his smile fixed and his eyes completely lacking in jovial good-will. He was in a simple dark-gray gaihups with only a single ornament embroidered on it: an ioraj, a device neither sister had ever seen him display before. He made an insulting respect and looked from one to another, derision in his eyes. “Well, well. I wondered who was up here,” he said as he closed the door behind him and face the sisters.

  “What are you doing here?” Ninianee demanded as she put down the books she was carrying.

  “I am responsible for all magic done in Vildecaz Castle, and magic coming from these quarters surely demands my attention. No door opens in this Castle that I don’t know about it, and when it opens by magic, I’m doubly alerted,” he said smoothly. “I’ve been expecting something like this.”

  “Like what?” Ninianee’s voice was sharp.

  “The two of you interfering, the way you always do. I was afraid it would come to this. You’re both so . . . so determined,” said Merinex, shaking his head in feigned regret and drawing a hand-wand from the embroidered sleeve of his gaihups. “Since the separation-spell was broken, I haven’t been able to restore it. I wish I knew how that happened, that breaking. It shouldn’t have.”

  “Something happened without your permission?” Ninianee marveled, wondering now why she hadn’t recognized the seething scorn in him. If he had shielded himself so well, she began to comprehend how greatly they had underestimated him. But if the separation-spell had failed, they might still have reason to hope.

  He clicked his tongue in disgust. “If only you’d stayed away. But with you both back, it was only a matter of time before you decided to take matters into your own hands. You’ve done it sooner than I anticipated, but I’ll find a way to use it to my advantage.”

  “Merinex, what’s wrong with you? What’s this about?” Erianthee asked, feeling a growing sense of dread.

  “Nothing is wrong with me,” he said, his voice much less cordial than they had ever heard it, his stance that of someone intent on domination. All of his habitual bonhomie had faded and in its place was something dark and ruthless. There was an odor of something just starting to rot about him. “You shouldn’t have come back. There was no reason for it. You could have stayed away for years. I didn’t want to have to do this, but since you force it on me – ”

  “Do what?” Ninianee challenged. “Vanish us, too? The way you did our father?”

  “I didn’t vanish him, as you say,” Merinex mocked her, “I urged him to go away, to be safe. I helped him to go.” He paused. “That manifestation at the end of the Shadowshow, the one you thought was Nimuar, exclaiming ‘Agnith’s Treasure’? I conjured it, so you’d be willing to leave. The Duz knew nothing about it. If you remained here, it was only a matter of time before you realized what I’d done to the Duz – you aren’t so blind that you can’t see what’s obvious,” he said, regarding Ninianee with undisguised contempt.

  “Well, Yulko Bihn couldn’t have done it – he wasn’t here often enough to do more than restrengthen his limitation of Papa. Unless he had you do things for him.” She could feel a cold gathering around her, and knew it came from him. Stepping in front of Erianthee, she glared at Merinex. “Why have you been his tool for so long?”

  “His tool?” Merniex burst out. “His? Yulko Bihn is my tool. He is the one who answers to me. I was the one who blasted the talent from your father, not he. I was the one who kept him faltering and unfocused. Yulko Bihn came here at my behest, not to instruct me, or to jeer at your father. He came because I summoned him. He had to obey me because he knew I could blast him as I blasted the Duz. He couldn’t muster up enough power to do anything more than Court tricks, whereas I – “ He broke off. “I could do it to the two of you, you know, make you as ineffective as your father, with your talents without controls and your memories in tatters,” he said as if he had only now thought of it.

  Chilled to the marrow of her bones, Ninianee continued to goad Merinex, for as long as he was talking, she and Erianthee had time to act. She reached behind her and felt Erianthee brush her hand. “What do you mean?”

  “Aren’t you listening? I could blast your talents out of you and leave you as harmless as Duz Nimuar is. He may have escaped the Duzky, but he is still under my manipulation. In time, you will be, too. You being here begs for me to render you harmless.” He patted the cover of the nearest book. “You think you’ll find the answers in here? It takes years to acquire such knowledge. Your father would tell you if he were here, and could hold his thoughts together.” Merinex laughed without a trace of mirth.

  “If he’s so harmless, why did you send him away?” Ninianee prodded. “You must have been worried about his abilities returning.”

  “I did it to get the two of you away from here.” He sauntered down the line of bookcases, a strange dark halo around him. “Believe it or not, I mean the two of you no harm. But you can’t remain at Vildecaz as you are. You must go, or you have to become less . . . talented.” He made an abrupt gesture and five books flew off the shelves, crashing onto the floor. “This is my Duzky now. It’s been mine for years. So long as Duz Nimuar was unable to maintain his position, I’ve had every chance to restore my Order, unnoticed and untrammeled. For too long we’ve had to hide in remote places and let everyone think we had been eliminated. But now I need to have this Castle as my own, and this Duzky as my fief. Your father abandoned it, and it’s mine.” He rounded on them, malevolence in every line of his demeanor, his eyes shining like live coals. “So you see, you mustn’t be here any more. I do wish you hadn’t come back.”

  Erianthee took her parchment and stuck it in the back of Ninianee’s belt, then she palmed the vial of ympara-oil and slowly eased a little of it onto her hands, then slipped it back into her sleeve. This was a big risk, she thought, and began the rite to summon Hyneimoj, the Ineffable in her crag-lion form, knowing this goddess would be able to use Ninianee’s talent to protect them from Merinex. She made a sound like stifled sobs so that Merinex wouldn’t be alerted to her efforts.

  “If you’re going to do something to us, you might as well get it over with,” said Ninianee.

  “There’s no reason to spoil my enjoyment,” said Merinex, preening unabashedly. “I’ve had to conceal my accomplishments for more than two decades, letting all of you think I was nothing more than an incompetent fool, a Court fixture capable of nothing but basic tricks and the occasional protection spell. It’s pleasant to have an opportunity to let you know how much I’ve done without any of you having the least suspicion.”

  Erianthee smothered a wail that had in it the portion of the rite that would bring the goddess from the Outer World to the Great World. The summons was working, she knew it, and the coming manifestation was like a fever in her. She blocked out all notice of Merinex, leaving him to Ninianee’s attentions.

  “You deceived us all.” Ninianee changed her posture to more completely conceal Erianthee from Merinex’s gaze.

  “You can’t shield her from what I can do. Flesh alone cannot withstand the powers I command,” Merinex said, sneering. “With m
y Priest-brothers, we ruined the Porzalk Empire. The conjure-storm will cost them treasure and lives for years to come, and nothing Riast can do will change it. So you, Duzeons, will not require more than a minor effort on my part.”

  “And what are you going to do?” Ninianee asked.

  “I haven’t quite decided,” said Merinex with false playfulness. “There are so many possibilities.”

  Erianthee continued her silent summons, leaning a little against Ninianee’s back as much for concealment as for her protection.

  Ninianee made an impatient little snort, doing her best to conceal her growing fear while striving to distract Merinex from what Erianthee was doing. “While you’re gloating, you might as well let us get warmer. You’re freezing the room. If we could move toward the fire?”

  He pointed at her. “You’ll stay where you are. I’m not letting you start anything foolish. You can’t stop me. I have far more talent than you could ever guess, and more power than anyone could imagine. You have talent and a little power, and that isn’t enough to interfere with what I’m planning.” His voice was loud and snapped with disdain. “You have to do what I order you to do,”

  “Or what?” Ninianee asked sarcastically, hearing her sister begin hushed invocation to Agnith, the Preternatural. “Or you’ll do something dreadful to us? Aren’t you going to do that already?” She raised her chin.

  “How bad it is and how long it lasts I haven’t decided. Your insolence will only prolong your misery.” He smiled nastily. “It’s a shame your father can’t see you now.”

  “Can’t, not couldn’t?” Ninianee asked, hoping that Nimuar wasn’t wholly beyond finding. As Merinex shook his finger at her, she began to lean away from him. She felt Erianthee’s hand on the small of her back. It wouldn’t be much longer. She found her concentration drifting, and forced herself to goad Merinex again. “So I assume you killed Hoftstan Ruch, didn’t you?”

  He studied her. “Does that bother you? that I, your tame Castle magician, would rend your seneschal limb from limb and leave his head in place to watch? He was astonished and in agony before I let him die. At least he knew who killed him.” This time his laugh grated. “Or are you worried I’ll do the same to you?” He paused and shook his head. “No, I wouldn’t do that. Not that I have any hesitation about killing you in any way that would please me. In this case, it wouldn’t be prudent. There would be too many questions asked, and I’m not ready for that.” He paced along the bookcases again. “I’ll make you imbeciles and that will be the end of it. Everyone will say how sad it is that you suffered your father’s fate.”