Liliana Vess—the real Liliana Vess—calmly faced down her two would-be assassins, the boy and the woman, with the latter’s knife to her throat. With every passing second, the spell that had befogged her mind was beginning to clear. She was starting to remember…
Against the advice—even the pleading—of Karina Témoin, Liliana had, with no plan or preparation, marched into her old home to confront this second “Liliana,” this forgery, in front of her assembled guests, in the house’s refurbished grand salon, as all were being served wine and hors d’oeuvres.
Before Liliana had been able to get a word out, the new mistress of the House of Vess had taken some offense: “How dare this peasant come before the great Liliana Vess uninvited?”
“ ‘Peasant’?” Liliana growled.
She was ignored. The mistress waved a lazy hand in the direction of her two zombie bodyguards. “Out of my presence, wench, or suffer the wrath of my undead.”
Scoffing, Liliana attempted to take necromantic control of the two zombies but was stunned to find she could not. It suddenly occurred to Liliana that the two creatures were mere illusions. And she said as much. Shouted as much. As a result, for a second or two, the mistress’ guests seemed suspicious of their hostess, turning to her for an explanation.
Unfortunately, Liliana’s accusations also resulted in a change to the sapphire amulet around Mistress Vess’ neck. It began to glow and smoke poured forth, rushing into the “bodies” of both “zombies.”
Suddenly they were solid enough to grab Liliana, drag her over and force her to kneel before their mistress. Though the smoke should have been a clear signal of deceit, the zombies’ obvious solidity served as a decided answer to any of the guests’ questions, and they laughed at the sight of the strange madwoman being manhandled by their hostess’ servants. Thus, Liliana found herself at the mercy of two supposedly undead creatures that she could not influence with her extremely powerful necromancy.
As her knees slammed to the floor, Liliana looked up at the woman who had taken her name, but her eyes instead focused above and behind the new Mistress Vess. Unnoticed by the rest of the assembly, ravens were gathering indoors on the balcony. The black birds quickly converged into the form of the Raven Man.
Speaking in a voice that only Liliana could hear, he asked, Is this the true Liliana Vess on her knees?
Liliana glared up at him while making an effort not to respond in any way, shape or form.
Are you trying to get yourself killed? he thought to her. Have you truly lost, not just the will to live, but any semblance of self-respect? Even now, you suffer this indignity and take no action? Put this woman and her laughing friends on their knees. You have the power! Use the Veil! That’s why I arranged for you to receive it. So that you could always protect yourself.
Protect myself and serve you! she thought-screamed back at him.
Now, as Kaya allowed Liliana to rise to her knees (without ever removing the blade from her throat), the irony seemed quite clear: The Raven Man had in fact unintentionally driven Liliana closer to a kind of suicide because she knew he only wanted her alive in order to use her.
“This one will need more than just the threat of a collar,” Mistress Vess had commented—seemingly to the air. “Bind her mind,” she had commanded.
Again, the Raven Man had urged Liliana to act: I warn you, girl, do not permit this! Do you truly want to spend your life under this woman’s thrall?
But to prevent herself from falling under his thrall, Liliana did nothing to prevent herself from being befogged and swiftly collared.
Safe from him. I’m safe from him now…
It was only then that Mistress Vess noticed the Spirit-Gem in her new servant’s hand. Liliana saw the woman’s tongue circle her mouth acquisitively. “Hand that to me,” she commanded.
Like an automaton, Liliana held it out, and her mistress greedily grabbed it. Instantly the façade of the dark-haired beauty—the image that so exactly matched the picture on the cover of the book in Mistress Vess’ other hand—fell away, revealing an old woman with ratty gray locks.
There was a gasp from the crowd, and the old woman (who was nevertheless considerably younger than the true age of the true Liliana) threw the egg-shaped gem to the floor, immediately returning to her prior appearance. Her panicked look was brief. She pointed to the Spirit-Gem, which had rolled to a stop a few feet away, and said, “Beware, my friends. Do not touch that cursed thing. It creates an illusion of your greatest fear. I hesitate to say it, but now you know mine. Though I have been young and beautiful for centuries, I still dread the passage of time. A shallow fear, I freely admit—especially since I am immune to that passage. But there you have it. Even Liliana Vess has her vanities. You, there.” She pointed at an old collared servant. “Get a napkin and pick that up.”
The white-bearded servant nervously obeyed, hesitating only briefly before using the napkin to lift the egg. Nothing seemed to happen to him, and he heaved a sigh of relief. His mistress nodded with thin lips. “Yes, a potent if petty bauble, easily thwarted by a mere napkin. We might someday find a use for it.”
Another servant entered then and said, “Dinner is served, mistress.”
“Excellent,” Mistress Vess replied, having fully regained her composure. “Ladies. Gentlemen. Please.” She indicated the door to the dining room, and the assembly began making its way within.
All but one. A single guest, a young kor woman in an elegant red velvet gown, hung back while the rest filed in. Her hostess eyed her with smiling hostility. It was a look this guest returned in equal measure.
Mistress Vess turned to the white-bearded servant and nodded toward the napkin-wrapped Spirit-Gem. “Take that to the dining room. Stand by my chair and wait for me.”
“Yes, mistress.”
“I assume I don’t need to tell you what will happen to you if you lose your grip on the thing.”
“No, mistress.”
“Good. You may go. Now.”
He departed quickly, leaving his mistress with the two zombies, the kneeling befogged Liliana, and the pale-blue-skinned Red Velvet, who approached and whispered, “You know, my dear Liliana, your fear of old age is familiar to me.”
“But you yourself are so young, child. I find it hard to believe you know such a fear already.”
“Maybe not the fear…but the image of that fear: the old woman that you so briefly appeared to be.”
“I’m not sure I understand, dear girl.”
“She reminded me of an initiate of the Cabal. Someone I worked beside on occasion. We had the honor of tallying the mystical items that the demon Belzenlok collected and hoarded before his demise.”
“Did you now?”
“We did. This initiate and I. She was many years my senior, and yet I was a trusted priestess of our order, so I had authority over this rather pathetic functionary. And it’s odd. Among the items we inventoried was a lamp.”
“A lamp?”
“Yes, an old oil lamp. One wouldn’t think it had the slightest value, except that the lid of the thing was actually a large sapphire, not unlike the one you wear at your throat.”
“How fascinating.”
“This one is much lovelier, of course. Though maybe that’s merely the result of your beauty reflected upon it. Otherwise, it could be an exact duplicate.”
“And what special magics did this lamp possess?”
“We never knew. Back then, so many items came across our desks, we barely had time to log them in our register. The intent was for the initiate to discern their natures at a later date. But she abandoned her duties some weeks ago. I don’t believe I ever saw her again. Then, of course, Belzenlok fell, and chaos descended. Many items of the inventory were lost, and it’s hard to say what disappeared before and what was misplaced after. Fortunately, I managed to preserve the register itself. I have it, you see. Hidden away.”
“Does anyone else know of this hidden register?”
“Only myself. I made certain that only I have the power to remove it from its hiding place and reveal it to whomever it might concern—about whomever it might concern.”
“A wise and prescient move. Quite unlike what you’re doing now.”
“Excuse me?”
Mistress Vess’ eyes went very cold. “Silence her,” she commanded in a harsh whisper.
The sapphire flashed briefly blue, and in that instant Red Velvet found that she no longer had a mouth. Panicked noises gargled in her throat but found no outlet from the now smooth blue skin of her lower face. And there was no one close enough to hear her muted cries, save the illusory zombies and the befuddled true Liliana, who observed all of this with no objective interest.
None of my business…What my mistress does is none of my business…
“You miscalculated, dear,” said the false Liliana. “If you’re the only one who can produce the register, then ridding myself of you rids me of any concern over it surfacing. Any reasonable concern, in any case.”
There were more murmured, fearful noises.
She’s scared. But I’m not. I have nothing to be scared of any longer. For nothing more can be taken away from me, as long as I serve my mistress faithfully.
“I’m tempted to collar you,” her mistress said to the mouthless kor. “A little payback for the way that pathetic old functionary you mentioned was treated by a trusted priestess. But unlike you, I don’t take foolish risks.”
Tears were shed. Muffled pleading.
But a smiling Mistress Vess seemed to take some pleasure in Red Velvet’s desperation. Up to a point. Then the smile vanished abruptly, and she issued another whispered command: “Drown her in the bog. Don’t forget to give her back her mouth. If they find her in the morning, we will all think it quite the tragedy that she chose to go for a stroll alone along the morass before dinner.”
Was that command directed at me? No, I am ignored for now. It is well.
Red Velvet shook her head vehemently and tried to scream. But her hostess merely patted her on the head, said “Goodbye, dear child,” and snapped her fingers.
Red Velvet disappeared in a puff of blue smoke.
Only then did “Liliana” deign to look down upon Liliana. “Let’s see. What to do with you? I know. Go to work in the dirt of the garden. See if you can make something grow…”
Now that it had all come back to her, now that she was fully aware again, a part of Liliana was enraged at having been enthralled and used, forced into servitude by her imposter…
And yet…
And yet part of Liliana was also in despair to be fully aware again…
Aware of all my crimes. And of the punishments I deserve for them. Tortures far worse than “making something grow.”
Still, the rage over her indignities was something she could hold on to. So hold on to it, she did.
For now, at least, Liliana wanted vengeance on Mistress Vess.
She slowly turned her eyes to face the woman Kaya and spoke calmly and coldly: “Here’s my one request, my proposition. Help me take down the woman abusing my name for her petty ends. Help me free the people of my homeland, and I’ll let you cut my throat. You have my word.” As she spoke, the collar around her neck began to heat up. It was somewhat painful, but it was still only a warning.
She saw the woman’s expression change to one of shock. She stumbled over her response: “I—I don’t know that I can take a woman like you at your word. And I still don’t know if this is any of our business.”
The boy Teyo jumped in. “But shouldn’t it be?”
The woman didn’t respond. She and the boy turned to look behind Liliana and waited.
Then Kaya shook her head. “No, that’s not the priority. And whatever promises you made, I took no oath to honor them.”
Teyo said, “You took an oath on Ravnica. We can’t leave these people to the mercy of the djinn and its mistress.”
Liliana said, “That’s all I’m saying.” The collar became hotter still, but she almost relished the pain.
Again, the two assassins paid her no mind. They looked behind her, silent and attentive.
Eventually, Kaya muttered, “Goddess, spare me from the ideals of the young.”
“Is it your goddess you consult with?” Liliana asked with some contempt.
The boy smiled and tried to stifle a laugh. Kaya rolled her eyes.
Liliana couldn’t quite make out what was going on, so she cut to the chase: “Do we have a deal or don’t we?” Now she could feel her neck burning. She was impatient to have this over with—one way or another. But to Liliana’s increasing fury, they continued to ignore her in favor of this goddess.
Teyo looked suddenly hopeful. He said, “If Rat does steal the amulet, we can undo everyone’s imprisonment and decide what to do with the real Liliana after.”
Liliana scowled. “Your goddess is a rat?”
Kaya said, “Teyo, let me make this clear. The decision about the real Liliana has already been made.” But she returned her knife to its sheath and turned to her captive, saying, “We accept your deal. For the time being.”
“Wonderful,” Liliana replied flatly. “Now my only problem is this collar. I need to remove it to be effective.” She could smell her flesh burn.
“Wait—” Kaya protested.
“This will only take a moment.” Liliana focused on the top layer of the epidermis beneath the collar, turning the scorched skin necrotic. The smell was rather unpleasant, but the pain subsided and the horrified faces of the woman and the boy somewhat made her evening. “There,” she said. “The collar has no use for what it registers as a dead woman. Help me remove it. Then I can steal life energy from the garden to heal myself.”
“I said wait. You’re sure the collar won’t work on you when your neck is…in that condition?”
“Quite sure, but that doesn’t mean I want to suffer this indignity for a moment longer.”
“Too bad,” Kaya said. “I have a plan to bring down your imposter, and you’ll need to be wearing a collar to execute it.”