Magic Under Stone

from my scarf. Violet was at the kitchen table, reading, one stockinged foot tucked under her and the other scratching the cat’s back with agile toes.

“Are you mad?” she asked.

“No, just-I can’t get it right. Well, I can move a candle flame. After hours of trying, I can move a candle flame.”

“If it helps at all, I don’t think you were actually outside for multiple hours,” Violet said in a bored tone, still staring at her book.

“This is serious. I mean, I’ve been working on magic for weeks and I can move heat and I can barely move fire, which is all well and good, but it’s not going to help me fight off a jinn! I don’t know how stupid I must have been, to think I could learn anything useful in one winter. I guess I’ll make the jinn nice and warm, and Erris can talk to some mushrooms-”

Erris wandered in, eyebrows raised, obviously lured by my shouting. “Are you all right, Nim? You’re being way too hard on yourself.”

“It’s just… Well, you’ve been having magic lessons with Violet; is she learning anything?”

“I can talk to mushrooms now,” Violet said, rather sarcastically.

Erris nodded. “I was thinking of a poisonous mushroom army.”

“Are there even any mushrooms growing in the snow or are you two just toying with me? Because I’m in no mood. I just spent hours-or at least, an hour-trying to catch a candle flame, and as soon as I did, it started snowing and I had to come inside.”

“I think you’ve done enough for today anyway,” Erris said, pulling out a chair for me. “Sit down. Have an apple.”

I kneaded my aching head. “I’m tired of apples.” I took a deep breath, knowing I was verging on a tantrum. “I’m sorry, it’s just-I had so much success with the heat magic at first, but moving the candle flame took forever. It’s made me realize how silly this is. I can’t become a sorceress in a few months, no one can.”

“At least it’s something you can do to feel in control,” Erris said.

“Like giving a baby something to suck on,” I muttered. “What will happen when the jinn returns? What if he takes you away from me? You can’t hide in the sea now; it’s freezing out there.”

“I don’t know,” Erris said. “Maybe he won’t come back.”

“I bet he will,” Violet said.

“Violet, one would almost think you fancy the jinn, the way you talk.”

Violet finally put her book down and glared at me. “The jinn was nice to me. He is a person, you know. Jinns have to do what their master tells them, they can’t help it. They’d rather be free.”

I frowned. Jinns in stories were always trying to get free, but they weren’t especially nice about it, and our jinn hadn’t struck me as especially nice either. “Well, whatever his sweet and angelic intentions may be, we still have to consider it a serious threat, because he can’t help it, and I’m sure he will come back, so we can’t be complacent.”

“We’re doing our best,” Erris said. “And you’re beating yourself up over it. I doubt he’ll come back in the dead of winter and risk getting caught in a blizzard. We’ll all work on our magic and see how far we can get.”

TELMIRRA

Sometimes Ifra forgot all about Violet, but every time he pulled the plaid hair ribbon from his pocket, the memories rushed back like a sweet surprise-the kiss, the haughty way she spoke, the fire in her eyes despite her fragile body, and the small hand pulling off the ribbon and thrusting it into his palm. “I don’t want you to forget me,” she had said.

He understood that so well.

His tutor, of course, had warned him a thousand times not to develop feelings for anyone. Procreation was important to further the race of jinn; affection, on the other had, was dangerous.

Yet Ifra wondered how affection could be helped if one was to take things as far as procreation. His tutor could speak of these things so coldly, but much of his advice seemed impractical in the real world, when everyone around Ifra was full of life and love and hate instead of calm meditation.

When Ifra returned to Telmirra, a girl approached and took his horse to the stables. Ifra hoped he would ride the horse again. It had a lively, pleasing nature, and he had to stifle his emotion at seeing it led away. Belin met him in the main hall.

“You came back empty-handed?” he said.

“Well, for now, but-”

“Follow me. We’ll talk in my quarters.”

“Where is the king?”

“He’s not feeling well today. He asked if I would speak for him.”

Ifra followed Belin to the gardens, and then through a little gate in the wall, and down a path through the woods. It wasn’t really a long walk, but Ifra felt more and more apprehensive as they approached a smaller wooden building, the size of a large house, constructed in the same style as the palace. A fire crackled on the hearth, and an array of carved wooden animals pranced and lumbered and scampered across the mantel. Whoever carved them had skillfully captured motion from static wood. Evergreen boughs were hung on the walls, and the rafters were painted with bright patterns of knots, vines, and trees.

Belin didn’t bother to sit. As soon as the door was shut behind them, he said, “You don’t have Erris. What happened?”

“Erris has some sort of ability to disappear when I’m near,” Ifra said. “The strange thing is, I sense him in two places-in the northeast edge of Lorinar, and… well, right near here. Very near.”

“Here? It must be because he died here. You can’t pay attention to that. How much did you bother trying to find him there?”

“Several times,” Ifra lied. “It’s no use. I get close and-he vanishes.”

“Well, what did you think would happen, coming back here? My father told you to bring us Erris Tanharrow. All he’s going to do is send you right back out again.”

“I thought he might have a better use for me.”

“We need Erris Tanharrow. We can’t just go poking around the human land ourselves, jinn. No one else can fetch him.”

“I’ll try again.”

Belin groaned. “You wait here. I’m going to talk to my father. I’ll send for you shortly.”

Ifra nodded. His heart was pounding. Belin wanted him tied to the throne forever, so that when Luka died, Ifra would belong to him. How long before Luka gave in?

Maybe he should have tried harder to fetch Erris. Yes, he really should have. But he’d been troubled by the thought of disturbing Erris and his family for some reason… What was it? His hand moved to his pocket and pulled out the hair ribbon. Violet. Yes. Of course. He didn’t want Violet to see him dragging her uncle away.

About half an hour later, a young man opened the door and told Ifra the king wished to see him.

Luka was in bed, his glamour allowing no hint of illness to show through, except that he looked tired and had a cup of strong-smelling tea. He looked displeased, although not angry like Belin.

“Sit down, Ifra. I want you to tell me every detail of what happened when you tried to take Erris. Who did you see, how close did you get before he disappeared, what attempts did you make to find him-everything.”

Magic tugged on Ifra, making it harder to lie than he expected. He had never tried to lie to a master before. “I came through the woods. I met a girl there… a girl from Tiansher, which was unexpected.”

“That must be Nimira, the girl the Lorinarian papers spoke of,” Belin said.

“But…” Ifra’s memory was oddly hazy. “I could no longer feel Erris’s spirit there. I searched the area, but I had to give up.”

“You said you tried several times. What happened the next time?”

“They expected me the second time. I never even saw anyone, but the same thing happened. When I got close, Erris seemed to disappear.” Ifra knew he was speaking a little too quickly, to rush out the lies.