Secrets and Spellcraft

by Michael G. Manning

  He stopped in front of Will and sat back on his haunches.

  Will produced a small wooden bowl and cracked the egg into it. “I thought you might like this,” he said. “It’s been a while.”

  The cat stared at him for a long minute, and when he finally decided the cat was going to ignore the egg, the Cath Bawlg bent and began to lap at the yolk. Will waited until he had finished before he spoke. “I need your help.”

  The goddamn cat looked up at him and though his mouth didn’t move, a voice found his ears. “I wondered if you would be bold enough to call me.”

  “I wasn’t sure if I should,” he admitted.

  “I am no demon that you should fear to call. So long as you offer respect, I will do you no harm, whether we make a bargain or not.”

  “I wasn’t sure since I have little experience. In the past calling someone was always risky—”

  “Because you called the fae,” growled the cat. “A human calling one of them is like a mouse calling a cat. We are not enemies.”

  “We may have much in common,” suggested Will.

  The cat’s ears flicked forward with interest. “Don’t dance around the subject, boy. You wish to suggest that you are like Arrogan, but you are not. He and I shared three enemies, but you frequently consort with the fae, and you are friends with a sorceress, so we share only one. Arrogan spilled enough blood to fill a river before he dared to call my name, though I never asked it of him. I owed him a debt before we ever met.”

  “I’ve slain a handful of sorcerers and two demons,” said Will.

  “One demon,” corrected the goddamn cat. “Your sorceress mate killed the other one.”

  His cheeks flushed. “She isn’t my mate.”

  “You’re foolish, like most of your kind. Neither of you will admit the truth until it’s impossible to deny. My eyes see more clearly. You brought her through my home, risking your own life when faced with my wrath.”

  “I didn’t know.”

  “Because of her, our arrangement will be limited. Demons are the only enemy we fully share.”

  “I’ve already promised to eliminate sorcerers,” said Will. “Except for her.”

  “There are others I bear grudges against,” suggested the cat.

  Will shook his head. “I won’t act against the elves either.”

  “If Arrogan weren’t dead, I would think he was still advising you.”

  “He is,” Will admitted. “His knowledge is still with me, though his spirit has gone.”

  “More fae tricks,” hissed the goddamn cat. “You would do well to rid yourself of them. Arrogan knew better than to accept their aid.”

  “He did once,” countered Will.

  “And his wife paid the price for it. You’ll learn a similar lesson eventually, and then we’ll have more in common.” The cat began cleaning egg from one of his paws.

  He didn’t know how to respond to that, so he decided to move on to practical matters. “If we strike a bargain, what can you—”

  The goddamn cat interrupted, “I’m not your fae dog. I come and go as I please. For the demon you have slain I may help you, but only as I decide. I do not deal in favors.”

  “Then what—”

  “Tonight, at midnight, leave your room and come outside. I will show you your greatest desire. That is all I will give.” The cat moved forward and bumped his head against Will’s knee. “I’ve marked you. In the future I will watch. Please me and I might aid you another time. Don’t call me again. I answer only once.” Then he turned and walked away.

  Will stared after the cat, unsure what to think. After a moment he summoned the limnthal and told the ring about his conversation.

  Arrogan laughed. “I told you not to worry. Bargaining with the cat isn’t like dealing with demons, or the fae for that matter.”

  “But I’m not sure if he’s going to help me or not,” complained Will.

  “Usually the answer is ‘not,’” said the ring. “Meet him tonight, though. He never lies. Now that you’ve called him, he’ll watch you.”

  “What does that mean though?”

  “It means if he likes what you’re doing, he might help. Most of the time it means you’re on your own. He never shows up when you want him to,” said Arrogan. “It’s like having a guardian spirit that doesn’t care if you fall and break your neck.”

  “Then what good is he?”

  “What good are cats generally? They don’t come when you call, they don’t care if you hurt yourself, and they do what they want regardless of what you need. But sometimes, you find a dead snake in a place you might have stepped. The goddamn cat is like that. Trust me, he might not do what you want, but when he does do something, you’ll usually discover it was important.”

  With a sigh, Will dismissed the limnthal and left. He couldn’t decide if he had gained an ally or not. He walked back to the dorm, and since he had nothing better to do, he started practicing his spellcraft again.

  That evening at the appointed time, Will left his room and walked away from the lamp light that illuminated the areas around the larger buildings of Wurthaven, adjusting his vision as he entered the deeper darkness. It wasn’t long before he felt another presence, and a small shadow stepped into his path—the goddamn cat.

  The cat said nothing, simply walking away and leaving it to him whether he would follow or not. He led him to the wall on the side of the college that was closest to the royal palace. Will never saw the cat climb, but when he got to the base, he saw him sitting at the top, looking down at him. He sighed and cast the climb spell. On the other side was a small lane that was seldom used, for it led between the college and the palace to the city’s northern gate which was kept closed to public traffic.

  Across the road was the outer wall of the palace grounds, though unlike Wurthaven’s wall, which was set close to the road, it was fifty yards back from the verge. Will had never dared approach it for fear that there might be watchers atop the wall. The cat stopped and a voice found Will’s ear, “Adjust your vision. With the heart-light, you can see where the sentries are.”

  Will did and was surprised to see that the guards atop the wall were spread few and far between, with hundreds of yards between them.

  “The king relies on the fact that this place is well within the city’s defenses, as well as that no one knows where the watchers are at any given time. Make note of the section directly across from us. If you ever return on your own, that is the best place to cross.” The cat moved off the road into the shadows and turned right, following the road north.

  “Where are we going?” asked Will, but he didn’t get an answer. They traveled for half a mile, until the city wall loomed in the distance, and then the cat began angling his path to track closer to the palace. Eventually they came to an unpaved path that was only a path in the sense that there were no trees or rocks to impede a rider. They followed it to the palace wall, where Will saw a door set in the palace’s outer wall. It was open.

  “This door should be locked and guarded,” said the cat. “Today is an exception, but never come here on your own. In the future it will be even more strongly protected.”

  Passing through the door, Will was shocked to see bodies strewn about with gaping wounds. Surely the goddamn cat didn’t do this, did he? Blood stained the ground and was splattered on the stone archway within the gate. A sense of evil seeped into his bones, making him feel cold. Will increased his turyn sensitivity and saw black traces left on the bodies. “Demons,” he hissed.

  The cat stopped beside one corpse. “This one was a sorcerer.”

  Will understood. Bending down he put his hand against the man’s chest. It was still warm. He pulled the heart-stone enchantment free and picked it apart. A massive elemental spirit appeared and then faded away. The cat walked on, leading him through the wall and into the sculpted gardens of the palace grounds. “What does all of this mean?” he whispered, but again, the cat didn’t respond.

  The garden was quiet
and still, unsettling Will since he knew so much violence had just occurred. Where had the demons gone? Why weren’t there soldiers combing the grounds to find the intruders? Had no one raised an alarm?

  The palace itself wasn’t a fortress or keep as so many lords lived within. It relied on the city’s defenses and the wall that surrounded it. Its main concession to defense was that it was built of stone and that the lowest level had narrow windows too slim for a man to pass through. It was defensible, but not against an army. The upper levels had broader windows with glass panes to let in more light. Will followed the cat to the northern corner of the building.

  “Directly above us is what you desire. The demons entered through the eastern entrance, to the south of where we are now. They’ve slain everyone they encountered, so the palace is unaware of their presence.”

  Will looked south and saw light spilling out from an open door. Cold dread clutched at his heart. Selene is in there somewhere. He started in that direction, but the goddamn cat spoke again. “Go that way and you will be too late.” The cat stared upward. “Her room is above, on the fifth floor.” After a moment the cat turned and began to walk away, back toward the postern gate they had entered through.

  “Where are you going?” Will asked desperately.

  “I’ve done what I desired,” said the goddamn cat. “What you do from here is your own affair.”

  Will went to the wall of the palace without pausing to think, then cast the climbing spell. He dismissed the wind-wall spell he had prepared and replaced it with a demon-armor spell. Then he started climbing as rapidly as he could manage, counting the floors as he went.

  In less than a minute, he reached the window that was his target. A faint light was emanating from within, likely from a candle. If it’s Selene’s room, why wouldn’t she use a light spell? he wondered. Candles were far inferior. He looked in, readjusting his eyesight to make the most of the dim light.

  It appeared to be a parlor or sitting room, for it was appointed with cushioned chairs and low tables. A candelabra on a sideboard was providing the illumination, but the room was empty. On the far side of the room was an archway that led to a bedroom, for he could just see the footboard of the bed to the right. A lady’s table with a mirror and a stool was directly within his view, and Selene was sitting there, holding something in her hand.

  It glinted in the dim light, and Will realized it was a dagger. She was holding it in front of her, with the point against her breast. He could see her expression reflected in the mirror; it was one of desperate resolve. No!

  He tried the window and found it locked. He began constructing an unlocking spell, but before he could finish, Selene stood and threw the dagger across the room. Her head was down, her face obscured by unbound tresses that badly needed a comb. The sight of her desolation broke his concentration, and the spell construct in his hand dissolved, so he was forced to begin again.

  He had just completed the spell when a loud crash emanated from the room, followed by the sound of wood cracking and splintering. Selene looked up, and Will could see dark streaks on her cheeks, but she was no longer crying. Her face showed fear and anger.

  Casting his spell he heard the distinctive click as the latch opened and he pushed the window in. He climbed inside just as something dark and massive ran through the parlor. To his left he could see another door, the one that had been destroyed.

  A cry of rage filled his ears—Selene—and a blue jet streaked through the air, destroying a chair next to where he was standing. Something evil stood between them, though he could see a hole had been blown through its midsection. If the wound bothered the demon, it showed no sign of it, for it launched itself at Selene anyway.

  Will expanded his outer shell to increase his turyn absorption and activated the demon-armor spell, then he charged forward.

  Chapter 38

  The demon was unlike the ones Will had seen before. Where those had been smoke, blood, teeth and claws, this one was a massive bulk of black muscle and scales that glittered in the light. Its attention was firmly on the sorceress in front of it, so it failed to note his arrival as he leapt onto its back.

  He had no real plan. His only hope was that the demon armor would do the job. He was mistaken.

  For a brief moment he saw Selene, clad once more in her stone armor with blue water blades gripped in each fist, and then, as his spell began to burn into the flesh of the monster, it reached over its back and plucked him loose before flinging him at the wall. Something cracked when his body met stone, and it wasn’t the wall.

  Pain shot through his back and legs as he slid to the floor. Meanwhile the demon had turned its attention back to its main target, Selene. Her water blades had transformed into spinning circles that surrounded her body, and when the creature tried to catch her in its claws, it screamed with rage, for the water cut away talons and sent black ichor flying whenever it got too close.

  Her eyes fell on Will for a moment and he saw fear in them, not for herself, for him. He could almost hear her foremost thought, Why are you here?

  The distraction cost her, as the demon stepped back and something dark formed in the air in front of it—a spell.

  They can cast spells? thought Will. He’d never considered the idea, but it probably should have been self-evident if he’d thought about it. Black tentacles shot forth, dodging between Selene’s water blades and grappling with her stone armor. They seized her body and began to pull, but she didn’t move. It was then that Will noticed that her stone boots had fused with the floor, anchoring her in place.

  To his left, Will saw two more demons of the more common variety enter through the archway, gliding masses of smoke and claws. They spread out to either side, moving to flank the lone sorceress. He tried to rise, but his legs refused to respond.

  “Get out, Will,” yelled Selene. “Go!”

  Fuck that, he thought. He couldn’t run if he wanted to, and if he could it wouldn’t be to leave. His demon-armor spell had vanished when he struck the wall, but his expanded shell was still absorbing turyn at a prodigious rate. It would be full soon. He studied Selene’s stone armor and hoped it would be strong enough.

  A water drill tore through one of the smoke demons, causing it to scream in pain, but it didn’t stop advancing. Will began constructing his next spell, hoping he could finish it in time.

  All three demons were on top of Selene now, pulling and tearing at the stone armor that protected her. Her water elemental had gone wild, ripping through them and sending gouts of viscous, black fluid across the room, but it wasn’t enough to stop them. Will could see the stone beginning to crack.

  He finished his spell and began to pull himself across the floor. He wanted to be closer, but the floor melted around him, flowing up and covering him in a stone cocoon. She’s trying to protect me. Not now! He wanted to scream with frustration.

  Placing his hands against the stone, he pulled, drawing in the turyn the elemental used to sustain its creation. After a moment the cocoon crumbled, and he dragged himself out.

  “You idiot!” yelled Selene. “They’ll kill you.”

  Worry about yourself, he thought. He was at the feet of the big demon now. It glanced down and grinned at him with a mouthful of rotten fangs. A few feet away, Will saw red blood beginning to trickle down the outside of Selene’s stone armor.

  A clawed hand caught him with such speed that he hardly saw it move, and Will felt a searing pain as black talons punctured his chest and back, punching through the plates of his brigandine as though they were made of paper rather than steel.

  It lifted Will into the air, and he saw the demon’s maw open wider than should have been physically possible. “Go fuck yourself,” he muttered, and then he pushed everything he had into the wind-wall and released it.

  The room exploded as a furious wind ripped through it, destroying the furniture, the bed, and shredding the demons. The only thing left untouched was Will himself, who dropped to the floor, still gripped within
a now-severed demon hand. Selene’s armor had shattered, and her body was covered in small cuts and lacerations as the last of the wind sent fragments of wood, glass, and stone across her body, but she was otherwise unharmed.

  Will could see some of the demon turyn beneath her skin, though, where it showed through her tattered dressing gown. She stared at him with an undecipherable expression, even as she shivered with pain.

  Reaching out, Will caught her ankle and began drawing the turyn from her, draining her of everything, demon essence and normal turyn alike. Gradually, she sank to the floor beside him.

  The demonic turyn burned, but his body rapidly converted it and his strength returned. Glancing around, he saw the central portion of the greater demon begin to shift and move. It wasn’t dead.

  “You jerk,” said Selene weakly. “You should have run. Now we’re both going to die.”

  Will gave her a stubborn look, then summoned three potions from the limnthal. He handed a regeneration potion to Selene, then drank one himself, followed by an elixir of turyn.

  Under normal circumstances, his disgust at knowing the main ingredient of the regeneration potions would have stopped him from drinking one, but he was beyond caring. The acrid taste was only marginally worse than the flavor of the turyn elixir, and he felt his legs begin to tingle.

  The demon was starting to rise on the stumps of its limbs as Will crawled over and recast his demon-armor spell. Its body was regenerating, but not quickly enough to escape as it shuffled and crawled away. He crawled faster, and when he reached it he put his arms around the foul body and pulled it close.

  The stench as its body burned was unbearable, but he bore it anyway. The thing writhed and screamed in agony, but eventually its strength ebbed. Pushing it to the floor, Will pulled himself on top and pressed his hands into a gaping wound in the creature’s chest. Flesh sizzled and ichor boiled around his wrists as he pushed deeper, until his burning fingers found the monster’s heart.