Chapter Forty-Three

“Perhaps you would care to explain to me,” Light Spinner said, “precisely why you decided to hide Johan from the Inquisitors and then bring him to my palace?”

Elaine winced at the Grand Sorceress’s tone. Light Spinner had good reason to be angry, not least because of the Privy Council’s divisions and increasingly strident attempts to insist that Johan be killed or brought under firm control. At least, now that he was officially dead, such demands were being abandoned.

But several Family Heads are dead, killed by their oaths, she thought. The chaos has only just begun.

“Because he represents a weapon we can use against the Witch-King,” she said. She’d filled Johan in on the missing part of her story during their walk to the palace, although he had picked up most of it from her mind. At least those memories weren’t embarrassing. “And because he doesn’t deserve to die.”

“An interesting argument,” Light Spinner observed, caustically. “Stripping someone of their magic isn’t a crime?”

“It isn’t actually against the law,” Elaine pointed out. It hadn’t been thought to be even theoretically possible, she knew. There were ways to prevent someone from using their magic, but not to actually take it from them. “And besides, he was well and truly provoked.”

Light Spinner’s eyes seemed to glare at her for a long moment, then she settled back in her chair. “Maybe,” she said, finally. “But you know that most of the world won’t see it that way.”

Elaine nodded. “Hence my decision to convince everyone that he was dead,” she said. “And that will ensure that the secret remains a secret.”

“Let us hope so,” Light Spinner said. “And what do you intend to do with your secret apprentice?”

“Go hunting for the Witch-King,” Elaine said, simply.

Light Spinner snorted. “You will leave the city for months – or years – searching for him?”

“Yes,” Elaine said, although she had to admit that Light Spinner was right to have doubts. Leaving the city would hurt, even if they went to another city – and she knew better than to think that it would be that easy. They’d have to go into territory damaged by the wars and still largely uninhabited, hundreds of years later. “Whoever goes has to have the knowledge I have and the power Johan has.”

“If you’re sure,” Light Spinner said. “But there is the question of ensuring that Johan does not go on another rampage.”

Her brown eyes seemed to tighten for a long moment. “Can you stop him through the apprenticeship bond?”

“I believe so,” Elaine said, not entirely truthfully. She could have, if it was a normal bond, but it wasn’t settling in properly. Or maybe it was just taking its time. “But I think he’s learned his lesson.”

“I wish that were true of the rest of his family,” Light Spinner said. “House Conidian will be moribund until Charity reaches her majority ... and by then the patronage network Duncan ruled may have fragmented.”

Elaine grimaced. It had been simple enough to convince Johan to undo most of the spells he’d cast on his family – although she had no idea why he had transformed his younger sisters into dolls – and it had helped create the illusion that Johan was dead, but it would be a long time before House Conidian recovered. There was at least one seat on the Privy Council up for grabs – two, if her resignation from the Great Library was accepted – and the power balance would shift. The deaths of other family heads would only make matters worse.

Perhaps she should stay and help, she thought. But there was little she could do. Politics was hardly her forte. Either Light Spinner held it together or a new Grand Sorcerer unseated her and took her place.

And the Levellers were still out there, waiting for their chance to challenge the established order.

“And I wonder just who benefited from all of this,” Light Spinner mused. “Duncan overplayed his hand quite badly, badly enough to make me wonder if someone else was involved. But who?”

Elaine shrugged. “I do not know,” she admitted. “But I’m sure you will deal with them.”

“Let us hope so,” Light Spinner said. She rose to her feet, signalling the end of the interview. “Go back to your library, pack your stuff and go. And may the gods go with you.”

Elaine bowed her head, then turned and left the room, leaving Light Spinner alone.

***

“She thinks I’m dead,” Johan said.

“I’m afraid so,” Elaine said, as she checked his packing. This time, there would be two suitcases of clothes each. They would travel on the Iron Dragons to the closest settlement to the remnants of the Necromantic Wars, then move from there. “You can’t go talk to her.”

Johan nodded. Somehow, the thought of losing Jayne wasn’t so painful now. He wasn’t sure if it was something he had picked up from Elaine’s mind or a side-effect of growing up, but he knew that they’d had very little, if they’d had anything at all. Jayne would go on to apprentice herself to a Potions Master – Elaine had promised that one of her friends would see to it – and she would become a great Potions Mistress herself. Or so Johan hoped.

It didn’t really matter, he told himself. He would never see her again.

He stared down at his hands, wonderingly. Jamal was powerless, his father was a broken man and his other siblings had been shocked into decent behaviour for the first time in their lives. Well, apart from Charity, he reluctantly concluded. She had deserved better, at the last. He’d extracted revenge for years of mistreatment, yet ... there was a part of him that knew that it had brought him nothing. All he had was the certain knowledge that if the city’s population knew him to be alive, they would all turn on him.

“I know,” he muttered. “And I can’t speak to Charity either.”

“No,” Elaine said. “Let her assume the title without knowing that she isn’t the first in line. It will make it much easier for her in the long run.”

“Yeah,” Johan muttered.

It was strange facing Elaine ... and seeing himself from her point of view. And seeing her memories; most of them had faded, but a number of the most vivid had remained in his mind. She’d seen the Witch-King’s influence reaching out over the land, she’d seen death staring her in the face, even performed a forbidden rite to bring back the souls of the dead ... but those hadn’t been her most vivid memories. But he tried to avoid thinking about the ones that truly stood out. It was not right for him to dwell on them.

“Your packing seems good,” Elaine said. There were fewer books this time; they were leaving for months, perhaps permanently. They couldn’t take books from the library this time. “We leave tomorrow, early in the morning.”

Johan nodded, wondering why he couldn’t summon up the enthusiasm for the ride on the Iron Dragons. He should have been excited ...

“You won,” Elaine said, quietly. She sat down next to him and put an arm around his shoulders. “You escaped your family, you accomplished your goal ... and now you don’t know what to do next.”

“Thank you,” Johan said. She was right. “What did you do?”

“I walked straight into the Great Library,” Elaine admitted. “You ... may find it a little harder. But I will be there for you.”

“Thank you,” Johan said, again. “You’re the only one who ever was.”

***

In his study, behind a set of the most powerful blood wards known to magicians, Vlad Deferens raised a glass in silent salute. It had all worked out better than he had dared hope. The freakish magician was dead, House Conidian was in tatters and several other Great Houses were tottering as they came to terms with the loss of their Heads. And Lady Light Spinner’s weaknesses had been exposed for all to see. The only wild card had been the Levellers, but even they had been no real problem.

He smirked to himself as he took a sip of his wine. It was astonishing just how easy it had been to create an aura of fear, one that had affected even those born with the power to warp reality at will. The sight of several magicians stripped of their powers had helped, of course; it would have been kinder to threaten to castrate them. For a magician, there could be no worse threat than that of losing their powers. Even ancient magicians, doddering on their last legs, clung to their magic.

The pieces were in place. Soon, very soon, he would move. And then the world would be his.

He picked up the dark-covered book and opened it to a random page. There was power within the covers, spells long lost and forgotten ... just waiting for him to use them. The weak would call some of them dark, perhaps even evil, but Deferens knew better. All that mattered was taking power and wielding it. Light Spinner had taken power, even he had to concede, yet she knew nothing about its usage.

Looking into the mirror, he took a moment to smooth out his long moustache.

And he never even saw the Witch-King looking back.

 

The End

 

 

 

 

The Series Will Continue In:

The Best Laid Plans

Coming Soon!