She hummed quietly to herself as she set up the first batch of potion and began the final preparations.
She had Tracel’s Levitation finished and was beginning Varen’s when Yara leaned through the doorway and called, “I’m going out. The children are upstairs; would you put them to bed if I’m not back in time?”
“Of course, Mistress,” Kilisha replied. Yara disappeared back into the kitchen, and the apprentice reached for the silver coin and a bundle of seagull feathers.
The levitations were the quick, easy part, of course; the Spell of Optimum Strength took hours. That was the challenge in the evening’s work. All the same, all three potions were long since finished and the children secure in their beds when Yara finally returned; Kilisha had been waiting at the kitchen table and was half-asleep herself when the back door finally opened and her mistress stepped in.
“Damn them all,” Yara said.
Kilisha blinked in confused surprise. “Damn who?” she asked.
“The wizards,” she said. “I talked to a dozen of them-Heshka the Diviner, Anansira the Sage, Virinia of the Crystal Orb, Istha, Onoli, Tirin-everyone i could think of and find at home. None of them knew anything about the missing couch, and none of them would try to find out. They wouldn’t help at all”
“They wouldn’t?” Kilisha blinked again.
“Some of them don’t do divinations, some of them wouldn’t do them for anything magical, and the good ones were all too busy on this blasted project of Kaligir’s, trying to figure out what this beggar-queen Tabaea is doing in Ethshar of the Sands. They said maybe when they’ve done everything they can for the Guild. Damn the Guild!”
Kilisha’s eyes widened, and her sleepiness vanished. “Don’t say that!” she gasped. “You’re a wizard’s wife; you know better than that!”
Yara snorted. “I’m not sure of that right now,” she said. “I told them we had a half-finished spell simmering here, and they didn’t care, they still had to do their spells for Kaligir. I hope whatever that stuff is, it blows up and turns Kaligir into a toad!”
“Don’t say that,” Kilisha repeated. “The divinations probably wouldn’t have worked anyway. We’ll find the couch ourselves tomorrow; don’t worry about it. I couldn’t do anything more tonight anyway-I’m exhausted, and we don’t have the jewelweed.”
“I’ll get you the jewelweed in the morning,” Yara replied. “You had better find that couch!” Then she stormed past Kilisha and up the stairs.
“I will,” Kilisha said to her retreating back. “I promise.”
Then she got to her feet and began climbing the stairs herself, far more slowly than Yara had.
No matter how it turned out, tomorrow was going to be a very long day, she was sure.
Chapter Twenty
Kilisha had forgotten to draw the curtains or close the shutters on her garret window, and the morning light awoke her earlier than she might have liked. She had been up far too late waiting for Yara.
But she had duties, so the idea of closing the drapes and going back to sleep was discarded immediately. Instead she sighed, sat up on her pallet, and reached for her apprentice robes.
A few minutes later, dressed and brushed and with her favorite feathered hair ornament in its accustomed place, she carried the chamber pots and wastewater out to the sewers behind the house, then headed for the pump at the other end of the court to fetch the morning’s supply of water, idly wishing as she went that she had managed to apprentice herself to a wizard who knew how to create water magically. She had heard of a spell called Eshom’s Freshwater Spring, for example....
But there was probably a catch. There usually was, with wizardry. The spell might call for some especially rare or loathsome ingredients, or require an impractical amount of time and effort for the water thus obtained. If it were really useful then everyone would use it, the way every wizard knew at least one combustion spell to avoid meddling with flint and steel.
Ithanalin had taught her one of Eshom’s other spells, the Oenological Transformation, which turned water to wine, but the Freshwater Spring wasn’t in her master’s book of spells, so someone in the chain of masters and apprentices had presumably not thought it worth passing on. Or perhaps Ithanalin or his own master had bought the Oenological Transformation, rather than learning it as an apprentice, but at some point someone had learned the one and not the other. Changing water to wine was good for impressing people, but not really much use beyond that-the ingredients included a dragon’s scale, which cost considerably more than a decent bottle of wine, so the spell didn’t save any money. A single scale could be used several times before its virtue was exhausted, but not enough to make the spell a bargain.
So if someone had thought that spell was more use than Eshom’s Freshwater Spring, then the Spring must have some serious drawback.
Some of the neighbors were out in the courtyard, dumping their wastes and fetching water just as she was; Kilisha waved to a few, but did not say anything beyond a brief acknowledgment of their greetings.
The earth of the court was muddy and slightly slick-apparently it had rained during the night, though the sky was mostly clear now, with just a few pink-edged clouds scudding across the brightening blue. That made the footing tricky, and she had to be careful not to spill anything.
She was still wondering what the flaw in the Freshwater Spring might be as she carried the two heavy buckets back to the kitchen. She was almost to the door when Adagan called her name from his own back door.
She nodded to him, but didn’t stop until he called, “Wait a minute!” He was hurrying across the muddy kitchen yards.
Reluctantly, she lowered the buckets and asked, “What is it?”
“Did you find all the furniture? I saw you and the soldier bringing back some of it on a rope yesterday, but then you were flying around later, and I wasn’t sure whether you might be looking for more.”
“We’ve got most of it,” Kilisha said. “Everything but the red velvet couch-you know the one I mean?”
“Yes, of course. The one Ithanalin’s customers sit on for presentations.”
“That’s the one. I haven’t seen it since it got animated. So yes, I was looking for it when I levitated.” A sudden thought struck her. “Have you. seen it?”
Adagan turned up an empty palm. “I’m afraid not,” he said. “I’ll let you know at once if I do.”
“Yes, please. And tell anyone else you know to keep an eye out, would you? I think we’ll need all the help we can get to find it.”
“Of course. Do you have any idea where it is?”
“It was last seen heading west on the East Road, toward the Fortress,” Kilisha said. “But that was two days ago. It could be anywhere.”
“I suppose it took shelter during the rain last night.”
Kilisha looked up, startled. “I hope so,” she said. “Rain wouldn’t be good for the finish. Or the fabric.”
“No,” Adagan agreed.
“I need to get this water inside,” Kilisha said, picking up the buckets. “Yara will want it.”
“Of course. But do let me know if there’s anything I can do to help. And I’ll tell everyone I know about the couch.”
Kilisha nodded, and then hurried inside.
Yara was waiting, Pirra clinging to her skirt. “Any news?” Yara asked.
“No, Mistress,” Kilisha replied.
“I heard your voice.”
“Adagan the Witch was asking whether there was any news. I told him we still need the couch, and asked him to keep an eye out for it.”
“Oh, Adagan.” She glanced at the door. “What about the other neighbors?”
“I didn’t speak to anyone else, Mistress.”
“We should ask them if they’ve seen it.”
“I’ll do it, Mother!” Telleth volunteered from the stairs.
