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By morning, Avender had decided he couldn’t leave right away. If he disappeared too suddenly, even Brizen would figure out he was the father of Wellin’s child. But the king had been urging him to have another talk with the magicians for some time and, though Avender still doubted he could help them patch up their quarrel, now seemed the perfect time to do as the king asked.
He only had to wait two days before Brizen mentioned the matter again. This time Avender gave in reluctantly. Although he would have preferred to make the journey on his own, he asked Ferris to come get him. The first snow had already fallen on Firron Pass, and no one was going to get through to Valing without magic till spring.
Trier came instead, leaving Avender to guess Ferris didn’t want to take the chance of being away in case Reiffen finally decided to come to Valing. Hern and Sally Veale gave him enormous hugs when he arrived, their aprons smelling of apple sausage and fresh-brewed beer.
“This is a surprise!” said the steward, embracing Avender a second time. “Berrel’ll be that mad he missed your arrival, but he’s gone over to Bracken to help with the mill. The stone cracked in the middle of Dub’s grinding, and Dub’s just the one to raise a fuss. Will you be here long?”
“Not this time.” Avender scraped his muddy boots on the doormat. “A quick talk with Ferris, and then I’ll probably be off again.”
The lines in Hern’s face deepened as she sensed his visit’s purpose. “She’s in the orchard with the apprentices. They’ll be coming in soon for lunch, if you want to wait for them.”
But, now that he had come home, Avender found he was anxious to move on. There was nothing for him in Valing either. One more stop in Castle Grangore and he would be free to find something new, away from all the places that reminded him of what would never be his.
He found Ferris and the apprentices practicing levitation spells on the cliff beyond the apple trees. A piglet squealed, its legs kicking at empty air as Plum raised it magically off the ground and sent it gliding over the edge of the cliff. The poor animal nearly dropped out of sight on the other side before Plum managed to catch it again and hold it steady.
“I’m showing them how to focus properly over shifting ground,” Ferris explained when Avender asked whether she was teaching magic, or how to terrify pigs. “If the apprentices can handle a sudden change like a cliff, they can handle anything.”
“And if they can’t?”
“So far I’ve caught all the pigs myself before they hit the water. Otherwise Hern and Sally will just have to make more sausage.”
She led him up to the Map Room when the lesson was over, leaving Trier in charge of the apprentices. A switch in the wind sent the mist from the gorge across the pines, masking the back of the house in a white fog that reminded them both of the Tear.
She looked older than the last time he had seen her. At her daughter’s birthday Ferris had still been the same twenty-two year old he had known for the last ten years. But now her eyes were darker and more deep-set, the care and worry clearly visible despite her smooth, unlined face. Apparently Living Stones only preserved a body’s appearance, and could do nothing about the drift of memory inside.
“You’ve been an idiot, you know,” she said, settling into a chair by the window.
“Pardon me?”
“Having an affair with the queen. What were you thinking?”
“I don’t see how it’s any business of yours,” he grumbled. Magicians had too many ways of knowing what they weren’t supposed to for Avender to bother pretending her accusation wasn’t true.
“I’m your friend. And Wellin’s and Brizen’s too. I don’t like seeing any of you unhappy.”
“Wellin and Brizen’ll be fine.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure of that.”
“I would. Brizen’s overjoyed he’s finally going to have an heir. He doesn’t care who the father is.”
“So Wellin told me. But that doesn’t mean he won’t figure it out eventually. He’s not as innocent as he used to be.”
“I’ll be far away when he does.”
Ferris nodded. “I suppose that’s best. Have you decided where you’ll go?”
“Not yet. Maybe the Pearl Islands. I hear winter’s the best time there. I was thinking I might hire a ship in the spring and go looking for the other side of the ocean.”
“Don’t you think that’s a bit extreme?”
He shrugged. “I’ll worry about that when the time comes. But I didn’t come here to talk about me. What’s the news with you and Reiffen?”
Some of the stiffness went out of Ferris’s shoulders at Avender’s show of concern. “It’s sweet of you to ask, but nothing’s changed.”
“Do you want me to try and talk to him?”
“Do you really think you can bring him to his senses any more than I can? Or Giserre?”
“It’s worth a try. I don’t imagine you’re enjoying things the way they are. You must miss Hubley terribly.”
Anguish weakened Ferris’s face. “It’s not just Hubley. I miss Reiffen too.”
“All the more reason to go back to Grangore. Leave him alone and he’ll just think you’ve deserted him.”
“I know. To tell the truth, he frightens me. I thought he was going to hit me the last time we fought.”
Avender was about to say he didn’t think Reiffen was the sort of man to hit his wife until he realized that wasn’t true. If Reiffen thought he was right, he was capable of anything. How else had he managed to survive all those years in Ussene?
“You agree, don’t you,” she said, guessing his thoughts.
“I can see it,” he confessed. “And I can understand why that might make it hard to go back to him. But don’t you think your fear is a bit like Reiffen’s attitude toward the apprentices? He hasn’t hit you yet. Until he does, I think you have to trust him.”
“There are worse things than being hit.” Ferris folded her arms across her chest. “If I give in to him on this, he’ll be even worse the next time. He’ll think I’ve surrendered completely. And there are the apprentices to think about, too. The next time he tries to kill one of them it might not be so easy to stop him.”
“What does Giserre think?”
“She agrees with me. And you. But she also thinks the longer I wait before going back, the better. Reiffen needs to know he’s wrong. I’ll tell you right now, neither of us is going to be happy if I’m the one who gives in.”
“So I’ll talk to him then. It can’t hurt.”
“I should warn you, Giserre’s been to the castle twice and hasn’t been able to budge him either time. What he really needs is for you to knock him down the way you used to do when we were children.”
“I’d probably get myself turned into a toad if I did.”
“Or something worse. Which is why, if you do go, I want to make sure you have a way to leave quickly. You’ll have to watch out for Mindrell, too.”
“Mindrell’s at Castle Grangore?”
“He showed up here first. About two weeks ago.”
“Hern must have had something to say about that.”
“She did. But Mindrell left soon enough. He came to offer Giserre his service.”
Avender shook his head. This was getting much too confusing.
“So why is he in Valing if he wants to serve Giserre?”
“Giserre didn’t want him around any more than the rest of us did, so she sent him to Castle Grangore to guard Hubley.”
“Guard Hubley? Guard her from what?”
“From her father.”
“And Reiffen allowed it?”
Ferris shrugged. “We haven’t heard from either of them since he left. For all we know Reiffen killed him.”
“No loss there. But why would Mindrell want to serve Giserre?”
Ferris looked at her old friend curiously. “I guess there’s no reason you’d know. Mindrell’s been in love with Giserre ever since Ussene.”
“You can’t be serious. Does he really think Giserre could ever do anything but despise him? He was the one who stole Reiffen for the Three in the first place.”
“Giserre’s forgiven him a great deal, after all the time they spent together.”
“Not enough to fall in love with him, I hope.”
“Of course not. That’s why she sent him off to Castle Grangore, to get killed for all we know, instead of letting him stay here. And why he was willing to go.”
They said no more about Mindrell, or Reiffen, when they went down to lunch. Even so, it was a much gloomier meal than Avender was used to in Valing, or even Castle Grangore. Giserre and Hern tried to keep the conversation going by asking everyone questions, but even they had given up by the time Hern passed around slices of maple cake for dessert. Avender had the feeling his presence didn’t help. Probably his arrival had reminded everyone even more of the way things used to be. One more example of how he really didn’t fit in anywhere.
The tops of the High Bavadars were the only part of Valing still catching any sunlight when Ferris finally led him up to a long garret under the Manor roof. Avender remembered the room as having been used for storage when he and Ferris were young; now all the old furniture and unhung paintings had been piled against the back wall to make room for a long table. An assortment of jars and other magical equipment lay stacked at one end.
Ferris retrieved a small gold box from a chest under the window. “I was preparing this for myself, but I think you might need it sooner than I will.”
“What do I need a reliquary for?”
“To hold your finger.”
“You think I’m going to let you use magic on me after all these years?”
“Yes.” From a second drawer in the same chest she removed a thimble and a small silver knife. “I’m not about to let you visit Reiffen without a way to make a quick escape. Just in case.”
Restraining the urge to hide his hands behind his back, Avender shook his head. “You know I hate magic. Look at what it’s done to you and Reiffen.”
“If it hadn’t been for the magic, Reiffen and I would never have gotten together in the first place. Now hold still. It’s not half as bad if you don’t have to do it to yourself.”
When she was done, Avender had to admit he’d been through worse. The iron thimble wasn’t as heavy as he’d expected. In time, he probably wouldn’t even notice it. Not that he wanted to wear it long enough for that to happen.
“You’re sure you don’t want to spend the night?” she asked as she stuffed the last of the bloody towels into a hamper. “Hern’s making cabbage and leek pie for supper.”
Avender shook his head. Valing was already making him feel sad. More than any other place in the world, this was the life he missed most.
“Let’s go.” Wiggling his new thimble in the air, he added, “I can come back any time I want after I’m done.”
His nose wrinkled as Ferris set a pair of smoking smudges at either end of the table. Holding hands, they sat between the pots on a pair of tall stools. The usual echo of the caster’s memory seeped across his mind as Ferris composed herself for traveling: town and forest, lake and mountain. Sooner than he expected, his stool vanished and he tumbled to the ground. Their thimbles clicked faintly as Ferris let go his hand.
Back on his feet, he brushed the damp leaves from his trousers. Gloomy trees arched through the dusk around them, the patter of a small waterfall somewhere close by. Avender guessed they were near Nolo’s Glen.
She gave him a hug. “Good luck.”
He left her seated at the base of a tall beech, her eyes closed as she concentrated on her return. Except for the brush of his boots through the wet leaves, he walked in silence. What little light still clung to the sky was just enough to allow him to see the trail. Above his head bare branches framed the first stars sprinkling the sky.
He stopped when the narrow path he was following ran into the Grangore Road. Ahead of him, an old woman hurried toward the castle.
“It’s a little late for you to be out, isn’t it grandmother?” he asked, his long strides bringing him quickly up beside her.
The old woman nearly jumped off the road. “Oh, what a fright, sir! Coming up on me like that in the middle of the forest. And so close to the Castle, too!”
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. Didn’t you hear my feet in the leaves?”
“My hearin’ ain’t what it used to be, sir.”
“Are you going to the Castle?”
“I am.” She showed him the basket on her arm. “I only just found out Widow Notte didn’t go up today, so I thought I’d come myself. No reason my vegetables aren’t as good for his honor as hers.”
“You’re not with the Castle?”
“Lands, no, sir. He’s given ‘em all the sack, he has. Cooks, grooms, maids—even the soldiers. Widow Notte comes up twice a week with truck from her garden, but no one else. Don’t see why I shouldn’t be gettin’ some o’ the business myself.”
“I don’t see why you shouldn’t, either.” Lifting the cloth, Avender made out what looked like beets and butternut squash filling the old woman’s basket. The smell of black earth drifted past his nose.
They paused at the edge of the woods. A few lights shone in the Magicians’ Tower, but the rest of the castle was dark. More stars had come out in the sky above Aloslomin, though Ivismundra’s shoulders still carried the faint glow of evening.
Crossing the meadow, Avender hammered on the front gate several times without an answer.
“They expectin’ you?” asked the woman.
“No.”
“They must be in the dungeon then.”
“Dungeon?”
“Castles always has dungeons,” she said with the firm authority of someone who’d never seen one.
Avender pounded at the entrance again. Finally a voice snapped out at them from somewhere in the air above their heads. The old woman shrunk even closer to the ground.
“Visitors are no longer permitted at Castle Grangore. Or peddlers. Off with you!”
“Reiffen, is that you? It’s Avender. I’m here with a woman from town. She’s brought vegetables, but I’ve come on business of my own. Will you let us in?”
A long pause. “No.”
“Why not?”
“I have no guarantee you were not sent by Fornoch.”
Avender checked his impatience. Ferris was right, Reiffen did need wrestling in the dirt.
“Maybe I’ll just leave my basket on the stoop,” suggested the woman.
“And trudge all the way back to town without getting paid?” Avender addressed the air once more. “Really, Reiffen. How can either of us hurt Hubley? We’re not mages. Even if we are under the Wizard’s control, do you think we can steal her away from under your nose?”
Another long pause, then the post-door opened. At first Avender thought Reiffen had done it magically, until Mindrell stepped out from behind the gate.
“Welcome to Castle Grangore,” he said.
The bard’s easy manner vanished at the sight of the old woman. “Do I know you?” he asked, bending forward to inspect her face suspiciously in the fading light.
She looked him straight in the eye. “I don’t know, do you? I never been to the castle before. Maybe you seen me at the market in town.”
“I’ve never been to Grangore on market day. But you bear more than a passing resemblance to someone I used to know.”
“Well, it don’t matter to me none whether you know me or not. Unless it makes you more likely to buy what I brung. I don’t see why Widow Notte should be gettin’ all your custom.”
Mindrell’s self-assurance returned as he decided he didn’t know the woman after all. “I don’t see why she should either, but then I’m not the one in charge. Don’t try it again, though. Next time the mage might fry you. Here.”
With a flick of his thumb, he launched a copper into the air. Dropping her basket, the old woman scrambled along the road after her payment.
“Who’d you think she was?” asked Avender as he entered the castle.
“Someone I used to know in Ussene.” Shutting the post-door, Mindrell rebarred the gate. “But it couldn’t have been her. She’d have to be a lot older, for one. And she didn’t act the same at all.”
Crossing the courtyard, he opened the door into the house. Clear light spilled across the step, allowing Avender his first good look at Mindrell in years. The bard may have become as famous for his songs and ballads as he was for slaying Usseis, but Avender had always tried to avoid him. Mindrell had tried to murder him once, after all. The bard was middle-aged now, thicker through the chest and shoulders, with strings of gray in his hair, but his mocking smile remained the same.
“Come to see if I’m still alive?” he asked.
“No.”
“Sorry to disappoint you.”
They entered a small library off the front hall. Finding the room empty except for a desk and pair of chairs, Avender asked where Reiffen was, only to discover Mindrell had left. Trying the door, he found it still unlocked.
“Leaving so soon? I thought you came to see me.”
Turning around, Avender found Reiffen seated behind the desk. Good as Ferris had become at casting the traveling spell, Reiffen was always going to be better.
“I can’t say I approve of your friends,” said Avender as he sat down in the empty chair.
“Mindrell is hardly a friend. But he provides good service.”
“As good as he gave Fornoch?”
“Better, I hope.”
“Why’s he here?”
“To help me guard Hubley.”
“I thought that was your job.”
“It is. But who is going to guard Hubley from me? At first I was going to send the harper away but, when he put it that way, I had to let him stay. But I do not suppose it is Mindrell you came to talk to me about.”
“No.”
“I hope you are not here to persuade me to let Hubley visit her mother. Giserre has already come twice on the same mission. If I refused her, what chance do you think you have?”
“I still have to try. Ferris misses you, you know. It’s not just about Hubley.”
“And I miss Ferris. We will be much happier when we are back together. Believe me, I understand it all.”
“No you don’t. You don’t understand anything. You’re acting just like you used to when we were children, a spoiled brat who had to have his own way about everything.”
“Not everything. Just Hubley. It is unfortunate my decision is causing so much discomfort to my family, but it cannot be helped. Any other choice would lead to misfortune of the worst sort.”
“Worse than sending Ferris away?”
“I have not sent Ferris away. She is free to return whenever she wants.”
Avender grunted. “Only if she does whatever you say once she’s here. Do you really think you can make Ferris live like this, completely cut off from the rest of the world? And for what, some fear you have the Wizard’s going to steal your daughter? Has he ever even tried?”
The magician laid his hands patiently on the desk, the long sleeves of his cloak nearly covering the surface. “He threatened Hubley quite plainly in Norly. That is why I made such a hasty return.”
“If you ask me, what he really wanted was for you to come back here and hide just like this.”
Reiffen shrugged. “It is the correct decision, regardless of Fornoch’s wishes. In the meantime, once Ferris returns, she and I, and Hubley also, will study and learn. And although we do not know enough now, some day we will know enough magic to bring Fornoch down. Until then, I refuse to allow Hubley outside these walls.”
“And how long do you think that’ll take?”
“As long as it has to.”
“I see. And after that you’ll be the new Three.”
“No.” Reiffen drew the word out with condescending patience. “After that we will be free. Free to present Fornoch’s gift to the rest of the world without fear of Fornoch’s interference.”
“Right. Just like Fornoch’s done with you.”
Reiffen’s face hardened. “Do not compare me to Fornoch again, Avender. It is true I have done things I regret, but I am no Wizard. The fact I turned down Brizen’s crown proves that. Unlike the Three, I seek to rule no one.”
“Except your wife,” Avender reminded him. “Ferris is afraid of you, you know. She said you nearly hit her.”
“I did no such thing. Such an act would be monstrous.”
“That’s not what she thinks. And it’s why she gave me this, in case you got angry with me too.” Avender held up his thimble.
“I was wondering why you finally allowed Ferris to do that. But it was not my intent to scare her. Please apologize for me the next time you see her. All the same, I cannot promise to always hold back my anger when provoked. But she should know I would never hurt her.”
“Well she doesn’t. Which is your fault, not hers. Every one of your friends thinks you’re the one in the wrong about this, Reiffen. Wellin, Brizen, even Giserre. How arrogant can you be that you won’t even listen to us?”
“I have listened. I may not show it, but do not doubt that I am as hurt as Ferris by the course I have chosen. I am just more used to this sort of thing than she is. Castle Grangore is not nearly as horrible as Ussene.”
Avender reminded himself he had come here as an excuse for leaving Malmoret, and not with the hope of changing Reiffen’s mind.
“Can I at least see Hubley before I go?” he asked.
“No. She is asleep. Unless you want to wait till morning.”
“What about Durk?”
“Durk’s with Hubley.”
“Are you going to keep him here too?”
Reiffen opened his hands generously. “The stone has asked when he might return to Malmoret. I have no objection. Hubley is bound to grow as weary of him as I have eventually.”
“Then I guess I’ll spend the night. That way I can see Hubley, and take Durk with me in the morning.”
“As you wish. You know the way to your apartment. There is food in the kitchen. If you will excuse me, I am working on a spell that will require my attention for the remainder of the night.”
The magician left as he had arrived, in an instant. Avender went off to the kitchen to see if there really was anything to eat. Half-expecting the cabinets to be filled with imaginary food, he was surprised to find fresh eggs in the larder, and bread on the counter that tasted no more than a day old. Dust covered Ferris’s spice rack, and the evidence in the flour bin was that the mice were making themselves quite at home. But there was bacon and onions to go with the eggs, and a jug of milk, and Avender found more than enough for a quick meal without having to poke through the contents of the old woman’s basket.
Afterward he went to his room. The autumn wind knocked against the window as he lay on the bed and thought about what had happened in the six weeks since he and Wellin had spent an hour together on the floor above. He might have felt out of place in Valing but now, as he watched the clouds skid across the icy stars, he knew there was no place he’d rather be. Sailing off into an unknown ocean didn’t sound nearly so interesting as it had in Malmoret the day before. Maybe he should just forget the last dozen years, lay them aside as if they had never happened. It wasn’t too late to learn to farm.
He, at least, could do what he wanted. Hubley had to live with her parents’ quarrel. Who knew what Reiffen had given as the reason she couldn’t see her mother. Or worse, perhaps the magician had cast some sort of spell on her. For all Avender knew, Hubley was sleeping in a glass casket out of some fairy tale. Maybe that was why Reiffen hadn’t let him see her, and not because she’d gone to bed.
The thought made him sit up. Surely it wouldn’t hurt if he peeked in on Hubley while she slept. How would that harm Reiffen, unless he really did have something to hide? The least Avender could do was bring Ferris news about her daughter. And if Reiffen caught him and did something rash, Avender could always whisk himself back to Valing. For that matter, he could bring Hubley with him too.
He stopped with his hand on the door. Did he really want to stir the pot that much? Checking to see if Hubley was all right when Reiffen wasn’t around was one thing, but carrying her off to her mother was another matter entirely. Ferris had already tried that once, and had only made things worse.
Putting on a bold front, he crossed the castle from the east to the west tower. No sense acting as if he was doing anything wrong. Even outside the family apartment he made no attempt to move cautiously, and pushed open the door to the sitting room as if he had as much right to be there as Reiffen himself. But he found no one inside. A single Dwarven lamp lay uncovered on the table in the middle of the chamber, its yellow light casting soft shadows across the walls.
Hubley’s room was the second on the right, beyond Giserre’s. A pair of eyes glimmered in the lamplight as Avender entered: Sandy’s yellow face and shoulders soon followed. The old dog recognized Avender at once and came out from under the bed to lick his hand. Avender scratched the animal behind the ears, feeling suddenly silly about his suspicions. Sandy would only be in Hubley’s room if Hubley were there. Maybe he ought to turn around and go back to bed.
But he didn’t. His hand still on the doorknob, he peered inside. Though the back of the room remained dark, enough light seeped in from the sitting room to reveal Hubley asleep in her bed, a small mound among the rumpled covers.
He leaned forward. The child breathed softly, fast asleep. No, he really should let her be. Her parents would figure everything out eventually. Meddling would only make things worse. Gently he brushed his hand along the dark fan of her hair. Maybe, if he were lucky, he’d have a daughter he could call his own some day.
A second light came on. Startled, Avender looked up. His thimble scuffed against the quilt, catching on a tear. Mindrell came forward from the back of the room, setting the new lamp on top of the chest by the door. A sharp, heavy ax gleamed in his other hand.
“I wouldn’t try it,” said the bard.
Avender realized Mindrell thought he was trying to steal the child.
“It’s not what you think,” he said.
“It’s exactly what I think.” Mindrell pointed with his chin. “Reiffen expected you’d try something like this. I’ve been guarding her ever since you arrived. It’s what Ferris sent you here to do.”
“No it isn’t.”
But even as he spoke, Avender wondered if he should just do it. What did he have to lose? It couldn’t be good for Hubley to be living here alone with Mindrell and her father. The one was a thief and a murderer, no matter what Giserre thought of him, and the other seemed to have fallen back into all his worst habits. Children were better off with their mothers, anyway. If Reiffen had turned into such a suspicious ass as this, maybe Avender should just do what they expected of him.
“I say.” Durk spoke from the tangle atop the chest. “Avender, is that you?”
Thinking to take advantage of the stone’s interruption, Avender grabbed Hubley’s wrist in his left hand and reached for his thimble with his right. Sandy, fearing for his mistress, jumped up from his place below the bed and began to bark. But Mindrell wasn’t distracted. His arm swept forward, the ax a bright blur. A burst of pain shot up Avender’s arm, much worse than Ferris’s severing of his finger that very afternoon.
“Return!” he shouted, fighting off the agony long enough to twist the thimble free.
Nothing happened. Numb with shock, both from the pain in his arm and the fact the magic hadn’t worked, Avender dropped the empty cap. Looking down, he saw a pool of dark blood thickening on the bed. Hubley, half-awakened by the noise, rubbed her eyes as she pushed herself up from the pillows.
There was no sign at all of his hand.