“You must be certain we’ll die, or you wouldn’t be saying all this to us.” Ninianee felt the parchment in her belt twitch, and the first uneasy stages of Changing come over her, this time not from the full moon, but from the arrival of Hyneimoj, the Ineffable, in the form of a crag-lion, who would make use of her for the goddess’ manifestation. Being made of more ephemeral matter than flesh, the goddess could make Ninianee much larger than she was, and empower her with all the strength of the source of mammals. Her body shivered and her gaunel tore as she transformed into the manifestation of the goddess, and Erianthee raised her arms to draw down the strength of Agnith, the Preternatural, with all the might of her talent to manifest such forces.
Heijot Merinex held up his hand-wand and began an incantation just as the crag-lion form of Hyneimoj reached him, penetrating his magical shield, physical enough to score his face with magical claws, striking with hard purpose to incapacitate him. With a hideous shriek, he tried to break free of the crag-lion’s spectral claws, and fell backward, the beast landing on his chest, rending his clothes and leaving deep, bloody scoring in his chest.
Erianthee continued the conjuration, fighting against the overwhelming exhaustion that was steadily increasing within her, and slowly Ninianee returned to her own shape, prone on Merinex, who was now moaning and struggling to hold onto his consciousness. “To Hyneimoj, the Ineffable, the honor of the Duzeons of Vildecaz is dedicated in acknowledgment for what use she has made of our talents. To Agnith, the Preternatural, the talents of the Duzeons of Vildecaz are made excellent.” Saying this last, she snatched a shining, diamond-folded parchment from the air before she collapsed on the floor.
8. Epilogue
Loud pounding on the door accompanied by shouts and the yelping of the spell-hounds brought Ninianee back to herself. Looking down, she saw Heimot Merinex lying beneath her, his clothes shredded, his skin still oozing blood. She stared at her own hands and saw them encarmined, her nails ragged, and wisps of filmy hair evaporating around her. Her clothes were disheveled and blood-stained, and her hair was in frenzied disarray. She got clumsily to her feet, her head throbbing, her skin feeling scalded, and staggered toward Erianthee, who lay, pale and hardly breathing, against the foot of the broad trestle-table. She reached out to pull Erianthee to her feet in order to place her in a chair, and discovered she had marked her with blood. “Eri. Eri. Wake up. Please wake up.”
There were a series of loud bludgeons on the door, and the first crack of splintering wood. Recalled to their circumstances, Ninianee maneuvered Erianthee into a chair and went to release the door, shouting as she did, “Put down your axe!”
The sound of her voice brought renewed shouts from outside. Ninianee waited until some of the confusion abated, then opened the lock and operated the latch, letting the door swing open. “Be careful,” she said as she caught sight of the four men on the landing. “Heijot Merinex is unconscious now, but once he regains his senses he’ll be very dangerous, and he’ll need more than iron bars to contain him.”
“Are you all right?” Doms asked as he shoved past Senijer ae-Miratdien. “You’re bloody.” He wanted to embrace her, but hesitated, wanting to be sure she was uninjured.
“Not my blood,” she said, nodding toward the supine form of Merinex. “It’s his.”
“What clawed him?” Doms asked, watching Ninianee narrowly.
At almost the same instant, “What happened to him?” Ae-Miratdien asked, trying to hold the two scent-hounds on their leash. Foluch put his head back and bayed.
Kloveon moved ae-Miratdien aside and hurried to Erianthee, catching her up in his arms. “Not again. Oh, no,”
Zhanf came to stand in the doorway. “No, she won’t languish as she did before,” he said, rather apologetically. “I’m sorry it had to come to this.” It was difficult to know to whom he was speaking, for his whole posture expressed chagrin. “It should never have been left to the Duzeons.”
“Do you mean you could have stopped it?” Doms demanded, looking away from Ninianee for an instant.
Ninianee spoke before Zhanf could. “It has always been our task – Eri’s and mine. Duz Nimuar is our father and Vildecaz is our home. If we don’t defend it, what right have we to be here.”
“But your father asked me to come to guard Vildecaz. He knew there was something malign gathering here, and that he hadn’t the power to stop it.” Zhanf stared at Ninianee. “I was charged with protecting you and the Duzky. Surely you knew that I was expected to make sure you and Vildecaz were unharmed.”
Kloveon and ae-Miratdien stood very still for his answer – even the spell-hounds were silent.
Then Erianthee opened her eyes. “Nin’s right. This was our struggle.” She let herself sag a little more in Kloveon’s arms. “We should have realized what Merinex was doing. We saw him almost every day. We should have known.”
Zhanf sighed. “I don’t know how you could have. As he intended, we were all distracted by the spell-mummies, and the constant failure of the outer wall, which he purported to want to help repair. To give him credit, that was a very clever ruse he employed – to put his servants in Cazboarth clothing and then have them be seen. No, he certainly managed to camouflage his activities and to keep us searching for something that wasn’t there. But I’m ashamed to say I didn’t look for the kind of cloaking-spells he has conjured all over the Castle.”
“But surely you noticed something,” Doms exclaimed.
Zhanf blinked, embarrassed to admit his failure. “I could feel a muffling, but I thought that was the result of Duz Nimuar’s blasted talents, that the Castle held some of the same limitations. I could sense something of his lack in his letters, and made the mistake of assuming that the cloaking-spells were the result of what I had already discerned.” He came into the room and stood a few paces from Merinex. “Loathsome man. We will need to confine him, as much by magic as by enclosure. He won’t be unconscious much longer, though I can prolong it a short while – perhaps a third of an hour. But we can’t give him any opportunity to conjure. He could overwhelm us quickly and easily. We’ll have to move him before he wakes, and for that I’ll need a shielding-spell and a captive’s box.”
“I can have one here in a quarter of an hour,” said ae-Miratdien.
“It should be sooner. He must be secured before he wakes,” said Zhanf.
“Then do it,” Ninianee said, “Now,” feeling more exhausted than she had when she had crawled out of the River Dej.
Kloveon, who had been holding Erianthee close against him, stroking her arms and her back with steady intent, now fixed his eyes on Zhanf. “You’re supposed to be a Magsto of great knowledge and power. How could you fail to see what was going on here?”
“Because the clouding overtook me,” Zhanf admitted. He motioned to ae-Miratdien, who was still stunned by what he had witnessed. “Hand me the leashes, and go get the captive box. We mustn’t linger her much longer, not with a Magstogorin of the Night Priests of Ayon-Tur injured but hardly incapacitated here and able to blast us all. I can put a spell on him for a short while, but he is sly and powerful, and I can’t assume that my spell can hold him if he regains consciousness before he’s properly confined.”
Ae-Miratdien, at last prepared to act, put the spell-hounds leashes into Zhanf’s hand, glancing down at Merinex. “I still can’t believe he’s been the one all along.”
“Which is precisely what he intended you to believe,” said Zhanf. “You confirm his success. Now go.”
Ae-Miratdien gave a tight nod, respected Zhanf, then offered a second respect to the rest. “I’ll be back, in ten minutes, and I’ll bring more Night Guards with me. Ten minutes.” He rushed from the room, the sound of his boots echoing loudly in the stairwell.
“What do we need to do until he returns?” Doms asked. “And don’t attempt to make light of the situation.”
“Why should I make light of this? Here is an admitted Night Priest of Ayon-Tur who says his Order is active again, and wh
o, with his brothers, has brought the Porzalk Empire to ruin.” Zhanf went over to Erianthee. “You saw the conjure-storm yourself. You must know if there’s anything to fear from him now.”
“I don’t know,” said Erianthee. “But that’s my shortsightedness, not his. I recommend finding some way to hold him captive until we can learn the extent of the activities of the Night Priests.”
“And the gouges on his chest – what power caused them?” Zhanf asked.
“Hyneimoj, the Ineffable, and my talent with animals,” said Ninianee. “Without Erianthee, I couldn’t have done anything. No doubt I’d be dead by now.”
“And I couldn’t have conjured anything more constraining than a substanceless manifestation, one that he could have dismissed with nothing more than a gesture,” said Erianthee, then looked up at Kloveon. “I’m sorry I couldn’t include you, but I knew you wouldn’t want me to undertake another godly manifestation so soon after . . . what happened before.”
“You’re right,” said Kloveon. “But this is the bravest thing you’ve ever done.” He drew her tightly to him, his lips on her forehead, as if to assure himself that she was truly there.
Doms’ silence was beginning to worry Ninianee, who faced him, saying, “All right. Tell me you’re disappointed, or annoyed, or angry.”
“But I’m not,” he said quietly. “I’m awed.” There was no questioning the brilliance in his eyes.
Zhanf held up his hand. “I don’t think I can keep him under control much longer.” The two scent-hounds were fretting, Senkei making low, distressed noises.
“But he’s still unconscious,” said Erianthee.
“That may not be enough,” said Zhanf as the room once again went cold.
A humming like a swarm of maddened wasps, but much lower, filled the air, the sound working its way into the heads of all those in the room, bringing a sickening ache with it. The oil-lamps grew dimmer, and then there was a sudden, grinding pop; Heijot Merinex rose in the air, then seemed to break apart into myriad shining scraps of blackness, that fluttered and then, in a breath, vanished.
It took more than fifty heartbeats for light and warmth to be restored in the room, where all five occupants stood, stunned, while the spell-hounds whined, their noses in the air as if seeking to find a trail for the vanished Merinex.
Finally Ninianee said, a little tremulously, “At least he’s gone.”
“For now,” said Zhanf. “It will take some days to find out how many devices he’s left in the Castle. The wooden jars and the spell-mummies can’t be all of it.”
They all went silent again, then Erianthee said, “Will he try to return, do you think?”
Zhanf shrugged as he knelt to calm the dogs. “I wish I knew. You can be sure he isn’t dead. That discorporation was an act of profound magic. He’ll need time to recover from it, but I have no doubt that he will.”
“And regain all his strength?” Kloveon asked.
“I fear so.”
“Will he try to come back?” Ninianee asked.
“I don’t know,” said Zhanf.
“I hope not,” said Doms. “Because if he does, the Duzeons are in terrible danger.”
“They are, but not only here in Vildecaz, which may provide them some protection, since they banished him from this Duzky through their triumph over him. Beyond the Duzky they will have to be on their guard constantly, or risk Merinex’s reprisals,” said Zhanf. “No matter where you go, Duzeons, you’ll have to be wary of the Night Priests. No matter what becomes of Merinex, from now on, you have malign and implacable enemies, and you’ll need to be vigilant.”
Ninianee dropped onto one of the benches, and pulled Doms down beside her. “That’s probably true, Magsto, but if you don’t mind, we’ll wait for tomorrow to work out a plan. For now, I’m very tired. I know Erianthee is, too. Would you object to staying here until ae-Miratdien returns, and let us go down to bed?” She rested her head on Doms’ shoulder.
“Yes,” said Erianthee. “We can determine how to look for our father when we wake up and recover from all that’s happened. With Merinex out of Vildecaz, we should be able to use locating spells with better results. Evening meal tomorrow, when we’re rested and new protective spells are in place, should be a good time to plan what to do next.” She brought the diamond-folded parchment out of her sleeve and held it up. “And there’s this.”
The others stared while Foluch wagged his tail.
“What is it?” Ninianee asked.
“I don’t know. It appeared at the end of the manifestation, and didn’t fade with the rest.” She held it out to Zhanf. “Use your skills, Magsto, and tell us when we waken what it says.”
Zhanf took the parchment, testing it carefully with his fingers before putting it into his sleeve. “All right. Go on, then. You two do need rest. I’ll set a reclaiming-spell over the Castle to begin securing it. Now that the two of you have vanquished Merinex, we can begin to restore Vildecaz.”
Ninianee got up slowly, threading her fingers through Doms’. “So long as you’re with me, I know I can face anything.”
“We must hope you won’t have to,” he said, lifting their hands to kiss hers.
Erianthee and Kloveon were already at the door. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Nin, Not too early,”
“Bontaj, no, not early,” Ninianee exclaimed.
“If we both work on it, I know we’ll find papa.” Erianthee said, and impulsively went to give her sister a hug. “We did it, didn’t we?”
Ninianee returned the embrace. “Yes,” she said. “We did.”
The end
Glossary and Pronunciation Guide
THE VILDECAZ TALENTS
Adamat [Ah-DAH-maht] – an ancient city on Pomig
Adamine-velvet [Ah-DAH-meen] – velvet from the ancient city of Adamat on Pomig
ae-Dysin, Okeij [eye-Die-SIHN, Oh-KAYZH] – one of Hajmindor Elet’s officers
ae-Freimir, Quardith [eye-Frey-MIHR, KWAHR-dihth] – legendary military leader of Harro-ae
ae-Melukah, Dozinen [eye-Mehl-LOO-kah, Doh-ZIH-nehn]] – a distinguished artist from Harro-ae
ae-Miratdien, Senijer [eye-Mihr-AHT-deeihn, Seh-NIH-zhehr] – Captain of the Night Guard at Vildecaz Castle
ae-Perqueon, Hallis [eye-Pehr-QUAY-ohn, HAHL-lihs] – guide with short-term precognition
ae-Semilgai, Dinvee [eye-Seh-MIHL-guy, DIHN-vay] – Yulko Bihn’s so-called student
ae-Tsomso, Dojlan [EYE-TSOHM-so, DOHZH-lahn] – heroic guard from Harro-ae in the Svalen-Tu myth
Agninean [Ahny-NAY-ahn] – Ninianee’s alias
Agnith, the Preternatural [AHN-yith] – goddess of all things magical, of continents and seas, of ideas and talents; one of the Six Founder Gods, and patron of Fah.
Agnitheon [Ahn-yith-AY-ohn] – the most illustrious center of higher education in the Great World even though it’s on Fah.
Aodil [Ow-DEEL] – helpful Kuyumai in the Svalen-Tu myth
Aiolenee [Ay-oh-LEE-nay] – Riast’s present Empress, from north-eastern Theninzalk, the daughter of an important Hircaj
Amejgon [Ah-mehzh-GOHN] – Bindomaj messenger
Analahor, the Inspirational [Ah-nah-LAH-hohr] – goddess of mortality, rebirth, agriculture, arts visible and invisible, intuition, and victory; first daughter of Agnith, the Preternatural, and twin of Hyneimoj, the Ineffable
Anvil, The – a constellation on the ecliptic, with fourteen others
Aon – of or pertaining to Ayo
Aon-bear – ursine from Ayo
Aon-nuts – delicacies from Ayo
Armies of Tsmai [TSMY] – mercenaries from Ymiljesai during the Lost Time
Atakirath [Ah-tah-KEE-rahth] – goddess of the waxing moon
Atazunah [Ah-tah-ZOO-nah] – goddess of the waning moon
Aubindimei [Au-bihn-DEE-may] – goddess of clouds; one of the children of Reonoj
August Ancestor – title for any ancestor whose deeds are still having an impact on the culture; not always flattering
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br /> Aycar [AY-cahr] – ancient title for the lord of a military fiefdom in Theninzalk
Aym [AIM] – a second-level maritime commander from Ymiljesai
Aymmeraj [Aim-MEHR-rahzh] – a land-grant on Ymiljesai for military service
Aymsai [AIM-sigh] – second-level cavalry commander from Ymiljesai
Ayo [EYE-yoh] – the largest island on the Great World, northwest of Haverartbow
Ayocath [EYEYOH-cath] – a Hircar in Ayo
Badrei [Bahd-RAY] – an island in the Drowned World, on the Zengoarst Sea
Badrei-fish [Bahd-RAY] – fish from near Badrei, an island in the Drowned World; similar to halibut
Bandikrion, the Destinizer [Bahn-dee-KREE-ohn] – goddess of ambition, fate, enterprise, education, apprenticeship, and of efforts rewarded; sister of Daj and Nyolach.
Banorin [Bah-NOH-rihn] – landlord of The Ioraj
barlo-cloak [BAHR-low] – woodsman’s cloak, long, engulfing, with pleated shoulders
Agnith's Promise: The Vildecaz Talents, Book 3 Page 23