| |
––––––––
He found his daughter safe in her own room. Ferris lay on the bed beside her, the light of the new risen moon checkering their sleeping faces through the mullioned glass. Reiffen’s temper calmed somewhat when he saw they were unharmed, but, knowing he had much still to think about, he woke neither. Though he doubted he would change his mind, he wanted to be sure the decision he had come to with Ahne was the right one. Unlike a dozen years ago with the nokken, this time he really had killed a friend.
Descending to the cellars, he passed through a series of hidden doors and false walls till he reached his most private workshop. Not even Ferris had ever visited him here. Chin in hand, he settled on a stone bench beside a small stream and studied the large blue-black mussels that filled the bottom of a shallow pool.
He saw it all clearly now. Fornoch’s turning of Ahne had made him understand how everything fit together. Areft and Ina, the Wizards and the Oeinnen, humans and Dwarves and everything else that lived in the world, all of them were connected in ways he had never seen before. His dream of teaching magic would have to wait, at least as long as the Gray Wizard remained outside Castle Grangore to twist his purpose away from him.
He had tried so hard to keep his art’s more selfish aspects hidden. To keep at bay the sort of power Usseis and Fornoch had taken such pains to make sure he learned. Living Stones and worse. Magic that created pasties, or the sorts of things that only left something like Durk behind. Spells that urged a mage to live forever, spilling other peoples’ lives to feed his own. It was all so tempting, to reap humanity the way other people harvested corn and hogs.
He could be just like Areft if he chose.
That had always been the danger. Fornoch had hinted at the possibility sometimes, when showing Reiffen the best way to gather gills from a mudpuppy, or an unhatched clutch from a swan. Everything in the world had its use: fish, fowl, beast, water, weed, flower, tree, tuber, rock, shell, metal, gem. But humans had the most uses of all, because only humans had been created by Areft, and Areft had fashioned the world. Everything else that lived was brought forth by the other Ina—Bavadar or Oeina or Brydds—which meant that everything else’s power was separate, and smaller. Tigers could not shape rocks. Ants had no use for the sea. But humans, having been created by Areft himself, could do anything. Oeina had fashioned Redburr and the other Shapers as a way to teach humans a measure of balance and respect; to keep them from picking the world clean until it was as barren as Areft’s first creation.
The relationships were so obvious, Reiffen was almost ashamed he had not seen them before. The Wizards were the humans’ Shapers, masters left behind by Areft to teach humans how to be like him. Ossdonc and Usseis might have thought their rule was what mattered, but Fornoch knew better. Fornoch understood the Wizards’ knowledge was supposed to be revealed. The reason he had taught Reiffen every bit of magic he could was to make sure that, even if the Three were destroyed, their knowledge would live on.
Areft’s knowledge.
No, Reiffen told himself. He would not be another Areft, no matter what Fornoch planned. Nor would he allow anyone else to be Areft in his place. But not teaching what he knew was not enough. He had to make sure Fornoch did not teach it, either. Even now there might be Dremen merchants able to double the count of their coins with blood and incantations, or Cuspor astromanths summoning leviathan ashore with sacrifice and chants. Even hissers, whom Usseis had once shown him were half-human, might learn to cast, slithering through the night to strike their victims numb with voice instead of venom.
He knew the best way to keep Fornoch from infecting anyone else was to kill him, but that might take a while. Just finding the Gray Wizard was difficult enough, as the last dozen years had shown. In the meantime Reiffen would work to enhance his power, and Ferris’s and Hubley’s as well. Anyone else Fornoch had taught, he would kill. But Fornoch was the key. Fornoch represented the greatest danger.
First, however, he had to make sure the Gray Wizard turned no more apprentices the way he had turned Ahne. That he could take care of now.
Making his way back upstairs, Reiffen discovered he felt better than he had in a long time. It was good to have a settled plan to work toward again, the way he had all those years ago in Ussene. The cock was crowing as he emerged from the cellars; morning brightness swept the halls. On the second floor he found Trier guarding the entrance to the Magicians’ Tower. Her narrow face tightened further in concern at the sight of her master.
“My lord, we have been terribly worried about you. Where have you been?”
Reiffen raised his hand. Not surprisingly, Trier’s reaction to the spell was the same as Ahne’s. Fear flooded her face even as the air was pressed from her lungs. Unable to breathe, she fell forward on hands and knees, her skirt pooling on the stone. Though Reiffen was certain he could have handled her dismay, he was glad she had not looked him in the eye. She had been his best student, after all. Which was why, if Fornoch ever got his hands on her, she would be much more dangerous than Ahne.
His concentration wavered as his mother appeared on the stair. Trier gasped.
“Reiffen!” cried Giserre. “What are you doing?”
Without waiting for an answer, Giserre hurried down the last few steps to Trier. Reiffen broke the spell at once. Though she had spent seven years with him in Ussene, his mother had never fully comprehended Fornoch’s mind. She would not appreciate why he had to slay Trier, or the other apprentices either. Much better to present her with the matter over and done with, than give her the opportunity to stop him.
Trier gulped fresh air. Giserre, when she saw the young woman was out of danger, looked up at her son in fury.
“What has Trier done that you should attack her?” she accused.
“It is not what she has done, Mother, but what she may yet do.”
“In that case you might as well murder us all.”
“Hopefully, it will not come to that.”
Fresh coughing from Trier rescued Reiffen from further argument. While Giserre’s attention was turned back to the apprentice, he continued up the stairs. He could finish with Trier later.
Entering the family apartment, he decided Ferris was no more likely to agree with what needed to be done than his mother. Better to have it out with her right away. That way there was less chance of any of the apprentices escaping.
She met him outside the door to Hubley’s room, her finger to her lips. For the sake of the sleeping child, Reiffen embraced her silently, and reminded himself the current difficulty was his fault, not hers. He had been the overconfident one, certain he could teach others what he had learned from the Wizards. He had misjudged what would happen when his young, impressionable mages went off on their own, the Gray Wizard ready to pluck them like feathers off a dead bird.
Not everyone was as strong as he was.
“Where have you been?” Ferris asked when their hug was finished. “We’ve been scared to death since Brizen told us what happened at Norly. Hern and Giserre sat up the whole night with me.”
“I went to you as soon as I returned, but you and Hubley were asleep. Hern and Giserre were not there.”
She frowned at his deliberate misunderstanding. “Brizen must have called right after. You should have woken me. Instead we heard the news from the king. Avender called on his mirror—he’s fit to be tied after the way you ran off without him. You’ll have to go back at once after you’ve rested. Neither Trier nor I have ever been within three days’ march of Norly, or Ipwell, so we can’t do it.”
Reiffen shook his head. “My place is here, with Hubley. Tell Brizen Avender must make his way back to Malmoret without me.”
“You took him there. You have to bring him back. You can’t just abandon him.”
“I will not leave the castle.”
“Why not? Avender said everything was taken care of. I admit, it would have been better if you hadn’t killed Ahne, but if he really was turned, you didn’t have a choice.”
“It is more complicated than that.”
“I’m sure it is,” she agreed. “What you had to do was terrible, and then you had to deal with the Wizard too. You must be exhausted. But you really owe it to Avender and his men not to leave them in Norly. It’ll be more than a week before they get back to Malmoret on their own.”
Reiffen checked his temper, reminding himself that Ferris still did not know how much everything had changed. “Come with me to the top of the tower and I will explain. This is not a place we can talk alone.”
While Ferris fetched a cloak, Reiffen looked in on their daughter. Hern, full of sympathy, pressed his hand, but he let the child sleep.
Together, he and Ferris climbed to the top of the Tower. A drift of gray cloud made the dawn dim and cold; the tops of the mountains pierced the rumpled sky.
Ferris laid her hand gently on her husband’s shoulder. “Tell me everything that happened. It must have been horrible. And everything the Wizard said, too.”
Reiffen remained staring across the dull morning. “I have been thinking about it all night. Fornoch made me realize many things he did not intend, not the least of which is that it was a mistake to start this school.”
“Nonsense.” Ferris rubbed her husband’s back. “The whole point of your returning to Ussene was to steal the Wizard’s power. You made the right choice, dear.”
“I am not talking about that.” As he spoke, Reiffen remembered the look on Ahne’s face. Not at the moment when his former apprentice realized Reiffen was about to kill him, but earlier, when Ahne had wished bitterly that Reiffen had taught him everything he knew. “I am referring to the teaching only. The power is too great. Especially while Fornoch still lives to tempt our students with its more unpleasant aspects.”
Ferris continued rubbing her husband’s back. “You’re just in one of your dark moods. The temptation hasn’t been too much for you.”
“It was for Ahne. And it will be for Trier, too, and the rest of them, when their time comes.” Dropping his hands to the cold stone of the parapet, Reiffen leaned out over the wall.
Ferris leaned beside him. “That was Fornoch’s doing. Our mistake was picking someone who listened to him when he should have known better.”
“Will you have the strength to ignore the Wizard when he comes to you? Because he will, you know.” Sadness touched Reiffen’s voice, a sadness of resignation rather than despair.
“I would hope so.” Straightening, Ferris faced the morning breeze. “You’re a wonderful example for all of us, dear. The Wizard’s offers meant nothing to you.”
“After speaking to Fornoch yesterday, I am not so sure. I may have chosen my own path, but the Wizard has always controlled the larger design.”
“You know better than that. That’s just Fornoch’s way. He always says whatever happens was his idea. As long as you keep trying to do your best, what he says doesn’t matter. Right and wrong are pretty easy to tell apart, if you ask me.”
“Only in the narrowest sense,” said Reiffen. “Look what I did at Rimwichside.”
“I keep telling you, what you did there was absolutely necessary. Rimwich was under attack. People are allowed to defend themselves, you know.”
“What if I had simply stayed in Valing after you rescued me? Would it have been necessary then? Would Gerrit have raised an army against King Brannis? Would Backford have been sacked? Baron Backford killed? Or Baron Sevral?”
“Something like it, I’m sure.” Reiffen noticed Ferris examining him closely as she spoke. “You don’t think the Wizards would have just let you go, do you? Something else would certainly have happened. There was nothing you could do to stop it. I think you made the best and bravest choice possible. You’ve said it yourself more than once—it was the Wizards and their magic that were the problem. Until they were beaten, nothing else mattered. I say we’ve done two-thirds of the job, and the rest still has to be finished. And that’s what we’re doing. That’s why we’re teaching magic. So it won’t just be the Wizards who have that kind of power, and we won’t have to fight them alone.”
“But that’s just it. We are alone. Fornoch will turn all the apprentices. He will turn you, if you give him the chance. He will even turn Hubley, some day. We have to try a new approach. No more contact with the rest of the world. Just the three of us, here in Castle Grangore, preparing for the day we fight him. The day we can finally end the rule of Areft, which is all the rule of Wizards really is.”
Ferris’s face filled with sympathy. “You really are tired, dear, if you think that’s what we should do. You’re not thinking straight at all.”
“I am not tired. My understanding has never been clearer.”
Ferris shook her head. “You’re just feeling bad about Ahne, but you’ll get over it. You’ve always gotten over it before.”
“I will get over it, but only when it is finished. Mark what I say—I will have to slay Trier next, and she will be far more dangerous than Ahne because she is a better magician. One by one I shall have to kill them all. Better to slay them now, and not take the chance of failing later.”
Ferris gripped her husband’s wrist. “You can’t just kill them.”
“I certainly can. The only reason Trier isn’t dead already is because Giserre stopped me.”
Ferris let go his arm. “You tried to kill Trier?”
“I did. The next time I will do more than try. It will be better for them all that way.”
“Better?” Ferris gaped in disbelief. “How?”
“Better than if they go through what I did. Or Ahne. You cannot imagine how easily he confessed to me what he had done. How much he regretted his fall. It will only be a mercy if I prevent that from happening to the others.”
“You can’t punish people for what you think they might do. All this talk of not wanting to become Areft—can’t you see you’re acting just like him?”
Reiffen stepped back as if Ferris had slapped him. “Areft? How am I like Areft?”
“Are you listening to yourself? You’re talking about murdering people. That’s what Areft used to do. That’s why Issing and the other Ina came into the world. To stop him.”
“It’s not the same at all. I’m trying to prevent greater evil. What Areft did was wrong in and of itself. I did the exact same thing twelve years ago when I slew Ossdonc’s army in Rimwich. You just said so.”
“I did not. Our apprentices are not an invading army. You can’t kill them just because you’re afraid of what they might do. If they start acting like Ahne, I’ll be the first to help you. But you have to let them have their chance. You got yours.”
Reiffen rubbed his forehead wearily. Maybe Ferris was right. He really didn’t want to do this. “One does not drown kittens because one wants to,” he protested weakly.
“One doesn’t drown kittens at all, if one knows what’s good for one. Not around me.”
“It’s Trier I worry about the most,” he admitted. “She is much stronger than Ahne. The others know too little to cause any real harm. Perhaps we could simply stop teaching them.”
“First you have to get rid of this crazy idea about killing them. Then we can talk about the rest.”
Reiffen shook his head. “No. There will be no more teaching, regardless of what we decide. We have to defeat Fornoch first.”
She paused for a moment, looking at him. “Maybe I should take the apprentices away for a while. To Valing. We can discuss it when I come back.”
“No.”
Her tone became more challenging. “Maybe I’ll take Hubley with me, too.”
“No,” Reiffen repeated more sharply. “Hubley stays here.”
“Are you ordering me?”
“This is the only place any of us can be safe from Fornoch any more. He will be sure to go after you in Valing, especially if I am not there.”
Ferris pulled her cloak closer around her neck. “I don’t have time for this. We’ll talk about it when I get back.”
Their eyes met. Reiffen could see his wife was not going to back down. She could be so stubborn sometimes, and he was doing it all for her. And Hubley. But he could not stop her from taking her own road. And she might be right; slaying the apprentices might not be a good idea until they had actually been turned. Everyone would be against him then, and that was not what he wanted. He had fought the Three alone before, and knew how hard it was.
And would do so again, if he had to.
He knew he would have to act quickly. As Ferris stalked away, he traveled to Hubley’s room, surprising Hern at his sudden reappearance. She jumped back; the sock she was darning fell to the floor. Gathering his sleeping daughter in his arms, Reiffen disappeared.
***
When Hern told Ferris what Reiffen had done, Ferris knew she had no choice. Her husband might be showing signs of madness, but there was no way he would hurt their daughter. Besides, she had no idea where he’d gone. Angry though she was, there was nothing she could for now to bring Hubley back.
The apprentices were another matter. The best thing would be to get them away from Castle Grangore as quickly as possible, in case Reiffen came back to finish what he had started. That he was serious about slaying them Ferris had no doubt, especially after she found Giserre tending Trier in the Apprentices’ Tower.
Plum and the others were already awake and wondering what was going on. They whispered to one another in the halls, fearful and confused. Ferris hushed them with a look and told them they were going to Valing for a few days. “We’ve all been working too hard. A change of scene will do us all good. Everyone, go pack a bag, then meet me here.”
Giserre wasn’t fooled. “You are doing the right thing,” she said after the apprentices left. “My son is not himself.”
“He’ll be all right in a few days,” said Ferris, as much to reassure herself as Giserre. “You’ll see. He’ll come back tonight once he knows I’ve taken the apprentices. I’ll come back too. But it may take a while. I’ll need two spells to get to Valing with so many people, and I’ll have to rest in Malmoret along the way.”
“I will remain here,” said Giserre. “Someone should be here to see to the child if you are correct.”
Not fifteen minutes later they were in the New Palace. Hern took Berrel and the apprentices off in search of breakfast while Ferris went looking for the king and queen. Although by this point she was in as much need of rest as Reiffen, Ferris still felt it was important to tell their majesties what had happened.
Wellin nearly spilled her tea at the news. “He tried to kill Trier?”
Brizen reached out to steady his wife as Ferris wrapped her hands around her own cup. She had only just noticed how empty and cold she felt.
“Yes. I think he’s completely overwhelmed. He worries about Fornoch all the time, and having to kill Ahne has taken him all the way to the edge.”
“How long do you think it will be before he recovers?” Brizen’s honest face furrowed with concern.
“Not too long, I hope. But I really can’t say.”
“And Avender?” asked Wellin, her composure restored.
“Reiffen refuses to bring him back. You’ll have to do without him for a week.”
“I can never do without Avender,” said the king.
The queen swirled her tea with a spoon, careful not to touch the sides of the cup. Despite everything else on her mind, Ferris found herself wondering just what had happened between Wellin and Avender in Castle Grangore. Her talk with the queen two days ago now felt like it had happened months before. Later, perhaps, Wellin might confess what she’d done but, if anything had actually happened, Ferris didn’t want to know. Especially not now. It was strange, though, the way both of their marriages appeared to be approaching a crisis at the same time. Though perhaps that was an exaggeration of her own situation. Reiffen would come back to his senses soon enough. The queen, on the other hand, might well have done something from which there was no going back at all.
“He just needs a good night’s sleep,” Wellin advised. “Matters would be far worse had he actually killed the poor woman.”
“I’ve already talked him out of that,” said Ferris more forcefully than she actually believed.
“Perhaps if we invite him to Malmoret for a few days he will be able to relax,” suggested Brizen.
“No.” Ferris set her cup back down on the breakfast tray, her thimble clicking on the saucer. “Leaving Castle Grangore is the last thing to suggest to him. He’ll think the Wizard put you up to it. Once I get the apprentices settled in, I’m going back to Castle Grangore to look after him.”
Her duty done, Ferris excused herself. Brizen went with her, his manner plainly showing he had something he wanted to say. The fact he didn’t get around to saying it until they were outside her door suggested it was personal.
“Please pardon me for bothering you with this now,” he finally began, tugging at his ear. “But, when things in Castle Grangore settle down a bit, I wonder if you might come back to Malmoret. In your capacity as a physician, of course.”
“Is something wrong? You look fine.”
“No, nothing like that. Nor is it anything that needs looking into right away. Whenever you have time. Only I’d just as soon you not say anything to Wellin. No need to bother her with what will probably turn out to be nothing at all.”
She forgot Brizen’s request as soon as he was out of sight. Although her mind was racing, and she was more worried about Hubley than she cared to admit, she still fell into a deep sleep that lasted well into the afternoon. She woke suddenly, not remembering where she was and feeling as if she had forgotten something important. Thin rain spattered on the windows; the curtains veiling the room made the day seem later than it was. Jumping up, she found her parents waiting for her outside.
Gathering the apprentices, she cast the second spell. With such a large crowd, Ferris took them to the Tear, where there was less chance of running into someone. Finding the strain of the second spell even greater than the first, she lay back on the musty cushions as Hern hustled everyone else off to the Manor for hot chocolate and making beds. What she really wanted was to just go home. Her uneasiness had been growing all day, and wouldn’t be quelled until she spoke to her husband and child. With any luck, they had probably returned the moment Reiffen learned Ferris and the apprentices had left. It might be a good idea if she went up to the house and tried calling them on her parents’ mirror. But the Tear, though cold, was comfortable once the dust on the pillows had settled. The thrum of the gorge rushing below lulled her.
Still, she grew cold without a fire. She had almost made up her mind to move on to the house when the double doors at the top of the room opened and a tall man stooped to enter.
Not a man at all, she saw, but Fornoch.