Magic's Promise

The blankets, comforters, and sheets that Tashir and Vanyel had made into tolerably comfortable beds smelled strongly of sendle and lavender; proof enough that they'd been laid away in storage. Vanyel judged by Tashir's silence and white lips that the two had probably come across the same appalling signs and stains of slaughter that he had, though probably not the actual remains. The party that had searched the palace had most likely dealt with the actual bodies. Which was all to the good; if Tashir had seen what Vanyel had been dealing with, the boy might well have snapped. Vanyel gave Jervis high marks for unexpected sensitivity; in the state of nerves the young man was in now, one bloodstained sheet come upon in a bundle of bedding he was expected to use would likely send him into hysterics. Safer, far, to have searched out the linen closets and taken things sealed away for winter use.

And it was also probable that the pattern below had been continued above; rooms that had been occupied at the time of the massacre might not have anything usable in them anymore.

Savil wandered over to the fire and sat down absently on the bed nearest her pack. 'Any luck?' he asked her. She shook off her vagueness and finally looked at him instead of through him.

'Yes and no. I think I've got the site narrowed to the second floor, and I think I know how it was set. Someone brought in a catalyst, then using that catalyst, enlarged and strengthened the spell's compass over a long period of time. With no shields on this place, it would have been apprentice work once the initial spell had been set.' She accepted a plate from Jervis without looking at it. 'It's nasty stuff, ke'chara. Makes my skin crawl. Hard to force myself to probe it, now that I know it's there. Like some kind of web with something incredibly evil at the heart - and I'm over on the edge of it, trying to see into the heart without waking what's there. And there's something very, very odd about it. It reeks of blood-magic, as you might well expect, but there's 'blood' involved in it in a much subtler way.''

'Eat,' Vanyel advised, guessing that she hadn't paused for food or drink since this morning. 'Jervis, did you and Tashir find anything?'

The armsmaster chewed and swallowed before answering. 'Maybe. If you're done below, I'd like your word on it. It's a room, first floor, smack square in the center of this building. Not much bigger nor a closet, an' has just one thing in it; a floor-t'-ceiling pillar; same stone as the outside. Might just be a kinda kingpost for the palace, it's bigger around than I can reach, but I never seen anything like it. You said look for odd, well, that's odd.'

'Tashir?'

The young man froze in mid-bite, and stared at him like a cornered rabbit.

Vanyel felt an uncomfortable sympathy for him. His own Empathy told him Tashir was dancing on a hair-thin thread of nerve at the moment. There was no doubt in Vanyel's mind that he was trying to jar his memories loose. There was also no doubt in his mind that the youngster was, literally, going through hell. But there was no help for it; if the mystery was to be solved and Tashir cleared of guilt, it was likely to take all four of them to do it.

'Tashir, what do you know about this room Jervis found?'' he prompted.

Tashir swallowed and licked his lips. 'Nothing,' he replied faintly. 'They wouldn't ever let me in there. Everybody else got taken in at least once, but not Mother, and not me.'

'Tashir, that's something,'“ Vanyel chided gently. 'You said 'everybody'; do you mean that literally? Servants, too?'

The young man nodded so hard he started to tip his plate off his knee. Jervis caught it before it spilled. Tashir hardly noticed, he was so intent on Vanyel. 'Servants, too, Vanyel. Everybody.'

'That's more than odd; that's smacking of a mystery.' He brooded for a moment, staring at the crackling flames in the hearth. He was greatly tempted to seek the place out now, this instant.

But then he thought of the empty rooms filled with wreckage and the long, haunted halls he'd have to traverse to get there. He hesitated, and shivered. Strong stomach, battle-trained or not, there was a limit.

I don't think so. I'm not up to it. Besides, I'd rather not chance a light being seen from outside. It'll be there in the morning.

'D-d-d-do you want to go there tonight?' Tashir stuttered, patently not relishing the thought at all.

'No, Tashir, not tonight,' he replied, half-smiling as a rush of relief brought a little more color to the youngster's cheeks. 'Not tonight,' he repeated, echoing his own thought. 'We've all had enough for one day. It's been there all this time; it'll be there in the morning.'

Jervis broke the silence that followed. 'Van, I was noticin' something. Rooms where there wasn't any folks, hardly anything's smashed. Maybe a curtain torn, chair broken, that kind of thing. Rooms where there was people, they're wrecked. The more people, the worse.'

'It's the same down below,' Vanyel told him, as Jervis continued demolishing his dinner thoughtfully. 'Savil, does that kind of pattern suggest anything to you?'

She scowled with concentration. 'Yes, but I can't think what. Damn!'