Secrets and Spellcraft

by Michael G. Manning

  Janice gasped again. “Your child could be the next king!”

  Will frowned. “I don’t think so. Selene can’t take the throne, so if Lognion dies it would go to the closest male—”

  “That’s Malcolm Spry,” Janice informed him. “He’s a distant cousin from several generations back.”

  “Isn’t there anyone more closely related?”

  “The throne has been passed through a single line of fathers and sons since Terabinia was founded. None of the other children survived. That’s why Selene doesn’t have any uncles or close relatives. Her brother should have inherited, though I suppose it’s no surprise since he wasn’t named Lognion.”

  “Why would he be given his father’s name?”

  She shrugged. “All the surviving heirs were named Lognion. That’s why all our kings have had the same name. I guess it’s tradition.”

  Will felt a strange sense of foreboding. He hadn’t thought about it before, but if Selene’s older brother had died, then his father had probably made an elemental out of him. Had his death been deliberate or accidental? Would Lognion mark his eventual heir with his own name and kill all his other children?

  Janice went on. “Anyway, the point here is that if the king dies, Malcolm will become king and his son, if Selene bears one, would be the next king. Do you see what I mean now?”

  It was a sobering thought, except Will had no intention of letting the marriage occur unchallenged. That was something he couldn’t bear to think about. “I think so.”

  “No, I don’t think you do. Let’s consider different scenarios. Suppose the count finds out she’s pregnant with your child. He’ll most likely kill it. If the king found out instead, who knows what he’d do. He might hide the fact for her sake, or kill it for Spry’s.”

  “This is all assuming she’s pregnant,” said Will. “That’s still a big if.”

  “You’re both eighteen,” countered Janice. “It’s not a big if, and the consequences are so big you should keep it in mind.”

  The entire conversation made Will think of his own father, and he wondered if Mark Nerrow had been forced to deal with similar circumstances. For the first time he felt a small portion of sympathy for the man.

  “There’s something else to think about,” said Janice. “Do you know who’s third in line for the crown, if Lognion doesn’t have an heir?”

  Will had no idea and said as much.

  “It’s Vincent Arenata.”

  “Shouldn’t it be the other way around?” asked Will. “The duke is the higher ranked of the two.”

  She shook her head. “Their relative power and rank doesn’t matter at all. For inheriting the throne it’s only the strength of their relationship to the royal line that matters.”

  A sinister picture was beginning to come together in Will’s head. If the king died suddenly, Malcolm Spry would inherit, but if the king and Spry both died, it would be Vincent Arenata. A demonic catastrophe that could be blamed on Darrow would be the perfect cover. One thing didn’t fit, though. “If Arlen Arenata is trying to set up a situation in which her husband becomes king, why would she want to talk to me? She’s bound to offer me what I want, which is Selene, but leaving her alive would mess things up.”

  “You’re misunderstanding,” Janice corrected him. “Selene can’t inherit. It’s only Count Spry she has to worry about, or his child. If Selene doesn’t marry him, or if she’s shown to have your child in her womb, then the throne is free and clear, so long as Malcolm dies. She probably wants to enlist your aid in getting rid of Spry, since you have a clear motive. You want Selene.”

  “What about the ritual?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t have any idea.”

  “She’s probably planning something big to get rid of both at once,” Will speculated. “She might need help making sure Count Spry is in the right place when it happens.” Another thought occurred to him. “The marriage to Spry makes more sense now too. If Selene marries him and has a child, then Lognion knows Arenata can’t kill him to get power. The child would be the main target.”

  Janice nodded. “If Selene had a son he would be next in line, even if Spry and Arenata were both alive. She can’t inherit, but her child would have a stronger claim than either of them.”

  “The assassination attempt on the palace makes sense now too,” Will pointed out. “If the Arenatas knew about the impending marriage, they’d want to nip it in the bud.”

  “And Spry was there the same day, so they could kill two birds with one stone,” agreed Janice. “You stopping the assassination is probably what made them desperate enough to try this ritual.”

  It all fit together, and it led to an answer that Will didn’t like. To save Cerria, he would have to save Count Spry. If he left matters as they were, then the king, who he’d already promised to kill, would die. If Lognion and Spry both died, there would be no serious obstacles left to him marrying Selene. He could fulfill his promise to Arrogan without personally killing Selene’s father. It was a double win for him.

  How bad could this ritual be? he wondered. Obviously, the Arenatas expected to survive whatever was coming. Arrogan’s advice was looking better with each passing moment.

  The only problem was his conscience. Will had no love for King Lognion—the man was psychotic, and he was using Wurthaven as a farm for human souls to produce elementals—but the alternative looked worse. The Arenatas were willing to resort to using demons to gain power, and they weren’t shy about furthering the war with Darrow either, if it covered their motives.

  Will wasn’t quite sure which was worse, but if he chose to side with the king it might destroy his chances to stop Selene’s wedding. Could he sacrifice his own heart’s desire if it was better for the people?

  The door to his room opened without warning, surprising Will. He was sure he’d locked it. When he looked up, he saw Aislinn standing in the doorframe, her presence filling the room. Will turned to Janice, who he was sure must be worried, but he saw that she was already asleep.

  Aislinn gave him a murderous smile. “Grandson.”

  Chapter 52

  “Grandmother,” said Will, momentarily lost for words. His brain caught up a second later. “I thought you weren’t coming.”

  “After your incessant calling, and that message from my daughter, how could I not?” responded the fae lady. “At the very least I need to make sure you learn a lesson for your rash actions.”

  Will knew she couldn’t harm him directly. He hadn’t early on, but after learning about the accord he knew he had less to fear than she intimated. “The accord—”

  Aislinn’s hand was around his throat, her nails digging in. He wasn’t sure when she had moved, but she was right in front of him now. “You’re right. I wouldn’t dare snap your neck with this hand, or tear open your veins to watch you bleed to death in front of me. You’re perfectly safe from that.”

  Will was struggling to breathe, and for some reason his grandmother’s words weren’t comforting.

  She went on, “But do you think any of that would stop me? If I desired it, you would have been dead long ago, perhaps not by my hand, but you would be dead all the same.” Aislinn released him and took a second to smooth out his tunic, her face the very picture of motherly concern. She stepped back and smiled, admiring her work. “There, that’s better. I simply abhor wrinkles.”

  He wasted no time apologizing. “I’m sorry, Grandmother. I was afraid and you were the only one who could help me.”

  Her eyes were cold as death. “As it will always be, my pet. In the future be sure to show proper respect and I won’t be tempted to do something rash.”

  “May I speak with you for a short time? The usual terms?”

  Aislinn shook her head. “Not today. I’m afraid you’ve become spoiled. You will have to pay in advance if you wish to receive my advice.”

  Will tried to think of something he could safely offer her. He already knew an egg wouldn’t suffice. If only the fae were a li
ttle more like the goddamn cat, he thought.

  “I want the girl,” said Aislinn.

  He shook his head. “You can’t have Janice.”

  Aislinn showed her teeth. “I meant the princess.”

  “No.”

  The Mistress of Magic gave him an odd look. “I haven’t even told you what I would do with her. Are you certain?”

  I’m not going to wind up like Grandfather. “I won’t make that bargain. Ask for something else.”

  “A single year,” said his grandmother, holding up one finger. “You can have her back then.”

  He scowled. “It wouldn’t matter. She’d be like you.”

  “I’ll return her with her humanity intact.”

  Will didn’t believe it. Maybe she would still be human, but he couldn’t imagine a year with the fae wouldn’t cause some kind of irreparable harm. “You can’t promise she wouldn’t be changed somehow.”

  “She would certainly be changed,” agreed Aislinn, “but she would be human.”

  And what if she is pregnant? thought Will. The child would be born fae if Selene was living on the other side. He shook his head. It was all a moot point anyway. “I’m not bargaining with someone else’s life, certainly not Selene’s. All I want is some advice. It isn’t worth the price.”

  Aislinn smiled. “Then I have only one other offer. Grant me one unbound favor and I will give you my advice.”

  “What if you don’t know anything useful?” suggested Will. “It’s a very obscure ritual. Do you want me to risk such a valuable thing for an uncertain gain?”

  His grandmother frowned. “Who knew you would be such a vexatious child. Very well, let me see this ritual and I will give you my judgment. If I deem the information vital, I will tell you so and you will grant me the favor. If it isn’t, I will tell you such and we can come to different agreement if you wish to know what I know. You know that I cannot lie.”

  He mulled it over. It was true that she couldn’t lie. If she saw the ritual and discovered something that he desperately needed to know, she would tell him, and the reverse was also true. Reluctantly, he answered, “Deal.”

  She held out her palm and Will produced his journal. “I sketched this from a chamber I discovered under the Arenatas’ home. The ring says it’s the old contact point for the ley lines beneath Cerria. The circle is laid with copper runes and stone channels for blood.” He pointed out the altar and showed her his separate inscription of the runes.

  Aislinn studied it for several minutes. “This is more worrisome than I anticipated, but I must be honest. You do not need to understand this ritual. You could simply leave the city and you wouldn’t suffer. In fact, your personal situation might improve if you allow this to proceed without interfering.”

  “I don’t plan on leaving the city.”

  “Then you desperately need my knowledge, otherwise you are likely to die.”

  “Why?”

  “Will you pay the price?” His grandmother lifted one brow questioningly.

  “One favor,” he said, nodding.

  “One unbound favor,” clarified Aislinn. “There will be no conditions on it. If I ask you to die, you will die. Are we clear?”

  “Could I trade you the one Tailtiu owes me?”

  “What use would I have for such a favor from her?” said Aislinn with a snort. “There is nothing she can give me that I do not already have. A favor from you is much more valuable.”

  “Then I guess we have a deal. One unbound favor.”

  Aislinn’s laughter rang out, filling the room and sending chills up his spine. She leaned close and whispered in his ear, “You will come to regret this choice. When I claim this favor you will learn the greatest pain that the human heart can experience.” Her breath tingled against his neck. “Look forward to it,” she murmured.

  Will closed his eyes and clenched his teeth, then relaxed. What was done was done. “Tell me what I need to know.”

  “So dramatic, Grandson. Relax. I will make certain you have the knowledge necessary to save your people, your friends, and your lover. The first thing you must be made aware of is the fact that this ritual has already begun. It began roughly three weeks before you entered the chamber.”

  “How do you know?”

  “That was the last time the moon was full,” said Aislinn, her voice full of certainty. “It must be completed on the night of the next full moon, this Friday. Otherwise the consequences to the city will be severe. The feedback might destroy much of the city center.”

  He blanched. “How do I stop it?”

  “Stopping it is simple,” she replied. “Kill the one who initiated the ritual and wait for Friday to pass. If the second step isn’t completed, the ritual magic will crumble.”

  “That sounds fairly simple.”

  “It is, if you don’t mind the contact point overloading with magic that has no outlet or purpose. I believe I already mentioned that such an event would lead to the catastrophic destruction of a substantial portion of the city.”

  Will held up his hands. “All right. Let me be more specific. How do I stop the ritual without destroying anything?”

  “You don’t.”

  He sighed in exasperation. Sometimes his grandmother could be so blunt and straightforward that she became cryptic even in honesty. He knew she understood what he wanted to know, but she was going to force him to tease it out of her bit by bit. “So, supposing that I don’t stop the ritual from being completed, what will happen?”

  “Whoever initiated this did so with a blood sacrifice. They will end it with another sacrifice, so one thing to consider is that someone will be murdered, though it doesn’t matter too much who they choose. Once the dying blood enters the channels in the floor the final phase will begin.”

  Will stopped her there. “Dying blood? Why did you phrase it that way?”

  Aislinn gave him a wicked smile. “Since you are paying so well, I’ll include a lesson in magic. Everyone assumes that blood sacrifice is about harvesting a soul, or that the blood itself has some special property. It doesn’t. Blood sacrifice merely requires blood from a living being, even an animal will do. The crucial point is that the blood is alive, and that after its removal it begins to die. This death, spread out across a ritual circle, facilitates one of the simplest and most efficient types of turyn conversion. In this case it will be used to convert the vital turyn of the ley line into void turyn that can be used to create a gate between your world and the demonic realm that Madrok resides in.”

  “So, the ritual circle is acting like a transducer,” said Will.

  She nodded. “I believe that is the term the wizards today prefer.”

  “What if the second phase was started using a different catalyst?”

  His grandmother gave him a look of approval. “An interesting idea, but one that would likely prove to be even more catastrophic. The contact point is already filled with a large amount of void turyn. Finishing the process with a vital type would produce an even larger explosion.”

  “Hmm. So I need to continue with blood, or at least something that produces the same type of turyn.”

  “Indeed.”

  “What will happen when this gate opens?”

  “It will be large enough for a major demon to enter, likely whichever one the creator of the ritual named. There will also almost certainly be an army of lesser demons that come with their master. If the circle master has made a bargain with the demons, they’ll kill whatever targets he or she has stipulated, along with whoever else they encounter.”

  Will thought about it for a moment. His frequent bargains with the fae gave him a certain amount of experience with difficult deals and that brought him to another question. “What things would these demons be interested in? More specifically, what would the ritual master have likely bargained with?”

  “An excellent question. Demons are primarily interested in souls. They cannot survive in this world indefinitely, but they can use the souls they take to cre
ate more demons or to power their infernal creations back in their own world.”

  A certain parallel became apparent to him. “Sort of like how sorcerers use them to create elementals.”

  “Exactly. Except they use them to create sources of void turyn, either by creating more demons or incorporating them into vile machines or enchantments,” said Aislinn. “Now let me finish. A major demon would either desire a large number of sacrifices up front, which doesn’t seem to be the case here, or the promise of a period of freedom in which to harvest souls themselves. Very likely, your enemy has chosen to offer the demons the latter in exchange for killing certain specific people first.”

  King Lognion and Count Spry, thought Will. “What about those the ritual master doesn’t want killed?”

  “That number would necessarily be small, otherwise the demons won’t agree to it,” said Aislinn, “but probably there will be a mark of some sort to be given to those who will be granted protection.”

  He was beginning to get a clear picture of what the duchess probably intended to do, but he had more questions. “You’ve explained the blood channels, but what about the copper inlay? That portion of the circle appears to have a different purpose.”

  “There are always two ways to motivate, the carrot and the stick. Copper is an efficient metal when creating enchantments involving fire,” noted his grandmother. “The person who created the ritual is probably not well versed in this fact. I doubt they intend to use the punitive portion of the circle at all. They may have copied it there simply because it was included in the original instructions in the book.”

  Will frowned. “So the copper part is for punishing the demons?”

  “If one doesn’t wish to pay them in souls, the other option is to torture them into submission. The rewards are far more limited, however.”

  “Could I simply punish them until they go back home?”

  “It’s possible, though you would incur a very deep and personal grudge. Consider this: the Shimerans pay a high price for the aid they receive from Madrok’s minions, but if you incite his wrath he may well begin offering them his aid for a lower cost if they agree to destroy Terabinia and you with it.”