“Here is the forestallment formula that she devised to conjure and later summon the serpents,” he said. “They were first conceived as embryonic beings, and she protected them with time enchantments so that they would not die as the years passed. These notes state that the embryos would be placed in a deep stream in Hartwick Wood. There they would lie in wait. The Viper Lord was also placed there, but in his already fully realized form. He too was protected by time enchantments.” Closing the book, Wigg looked around the table.
“When some predetermined event finally occurred, the spell automatically took effect,” he added. “The Blood Vipers appeared and their master rose with them. The grimoire also states that the Viper Lord was once a fully realized Vagaries wizard who served Failee in the war. In her notes she reveals no qualms about morphing him against his will into some kind of cross between a human being and a serpent. He might look much like the many creatures he commands. This was supposedly done so that the Viper Lord and his servants would feel like kindred spirits, bonding them to each other. She would then condemn him to the river along with her embryonic vipers. The notes go on to say that the mission of the Blood Vipers and the Viper Lord would be to search out all right- leaning endowed blood and destroy it. The plan’s entire motive was vengeance, pure and simple.”
Shailiha pursed her lips. “Much like the Blood Stalkers,” she murmured.
“What was that?” Tristan asked.
Shailiha looked into her brother’s eyes. “The Viper Lord is much like the Blood Stalkers that the Coven used during the Sorceresses’ War,” she answered. “The stalkers were morphed wizards, turned to Failee’s purposes. They became partly human and partly…something else. They could also detect endowed blood, and like the Viper Lord they were used to hunt down and kill the Coven’s enemies.” She turned to look at Faegan. “I’m right, am I not?” she asked.
Faegan nodded. “But these new threats are even more dangerous,” he added. “We believe that the Blood Vipers already far outnumber the late Blood Stalker ranks. Worse, they are commanded by a wizard-one who probably still commands the craft.”
“Does the grimoire reveal this wizard’s identity?” Tristan asked.
Aeolus turned toward Tristan. “Despite the many myths that have grown up over time about the Sorceresses’ War, Failee had many wizards in her service,” he answered. “The Viper Lord might be any one of them.”
“Why do the Blood Vipers-or perhaps their lord-remove the livers from their victims?” Traax asked. “That makes no sense.”
Tristan watched as Faegan reached into a pocket of his robe to produce a small rectangle of glass. The prince soon realized that there were in fact two pieces, with something red sandwiched between them. Faegan placed it on the table.
“I took this from between the teeth of the Blood Viper that Tyranny brought home,” Faegan said.
“What is it?” Tyranny asked, taking another lungful of smoke and blowing it toward the ceiling.
Wigg scowled and waived a hand in her direction. “Mustyou practice that foul habit here?” he demanded.
Undaunted, Tyranny scowled right back at him. Clearly neither was in a mood to take orders from the other.
“No,” she answered, “but I like it.” Taking another pull on the cigarillo, this time she blatantly exhaled the smoke through her nose.
Wigg shook his head. “I’m too tired to argue about it,” he said. “Pollute yourself with that stuff if you must. But at least allow an old wizard to breathe some clean air while you do it.”
Wigg raised one arm and the gathering fog quickly disappeared. Tristan correctly guessed that each time Tyranny exhaled more smoke the same thing would happen. It seemed that the two intractable Conclave members had found a compromise. Tristan glanced over at Shailiha and winked. The princess smiled back. As Faegan let go a muted cackle, Tyranny sighed and shook her head.
Wigg cleared his throat. “That red bit taken from the Blood Viper’s mouth came from a human liver,” he continued. “It was no doubt part of one that was incised from one of the many Birmingham victims.” He paused for a moment as he looked around the table. “Not only is the Viper Lord impaling his victims, his servants and perhaps even he himself are eating the excised livers.”
For several long moments the room was silent. Shailiha could scarcely believe her ears, and she fought back the urge to become ill. After taking a quick sip of tea, she looked aghast at Tristan to see that her brother was equally stunned. She gazed back at Wigg with wide eyes.
“Butwhy?” she breathed.
“I can answer that,” Jessamay said. “During the Sorceresses’ War many Vagaries practitioners believed that devouring the fresh liver of an endowed person immediately granted the eater greater power in the craft. This was never practiced among Vigors mystics, but it was common among our enemies. The Old Eutracian phrase for this selective form of cannibalism is known ascannabae carnetorus, or simplycarnetorus. Although the theory was never proved beyond a doubt, there is some lingering evidence indicating that it worked.”
His mouth still agape, Tristan sat back in his chair. “I beg the Afterlife,” he said. “But why eat only the liver?”
“Because the liver performs a unique function in the human body,” Faegan answered. “All one’s blood-be that blood endowed or unendowed-is filtered through it. The theory postulates that as this happens, certain aspects of endowed blood’s power are continually left behind and trapped there. The lost power is later regenerated as it courses through the bloodstream and is again exposed to the Paragon-or so goes the theory. Vagaries practitioners believed that if the liver was eaten raw, these filtered bits of errant power could be taken as one’s own. It logically follows that the higher the quality of the victim’s blood, the greater the purloined power will supposedly be.”
Pausing for a moment, Faegan thoughtfully pulled on his beard. “In truth, the idea is not as far-fetched as it sounds,” he added quietly. “The entire notion of using the endowed blood of others for various reasons has teased both sides of the craft for centuries.”
Tristan shook his head. “It’s monstrous,” he said softly.
“Yes,” Aeolus replied. “Like so many Vagaries practices.”
“Is it likely that the Viper Lord is also doing this?” Tyranny asked.
“Perhaps,” Wigg answered. “But there is an even larger question that must be answered.”
“And that is?” Jessamay asked.
“Whether the Viper Lord knows that Failee is dead,” Wigg answered. “If he has somehow been informed, then what becomes of his mission? And if not, will he continue to ravage Eutracia in an effort to continue her revenge? My guess is that he will, because that is what Failee would have wanted. Only a Vagaries mystic of far greater power might induce him to stop. And as far as we know, no such persons remain on this side of the world.”
Tristan reached out to pour a cup of tea. As he sipped it he could sense its stimulating effects take hold almost immediately. He nodded his appreciation to Abbey; the herbmistress nodded back.
Tristan put down his teacup. “Two things still need clarification,” he said. “First, is there a spell of reversal in Failee’s grimoire that might help us deal magically with these monsters and their lord? And second, do you have any idea what act initiated the forestallment allowing them to rise from the river?”
“The grimoire contains no reversal spell,” Faegan answered sadly.
“And what act triggered the forestallment?” Abbey asked.
Wigg again reached out to take up the grimoire. It is such a small book when compared to the Tome, Tristan thought. But its secrets can loom equally large. He watched Wigg open the book to another page beyond where the golden bookmark lay. Wigg placed the opened book onto the table, then beckoned everyone to view its pages.
Tristan leaned forward and saw that the pages were written in green ink. He had seen the book only briefly when he, Wigg, and his late wife, Celeste, had first found it deep in the bowels of the Recluse, the Coven’s onetime stronghold in Parthalon. Seeing it again reminded him of Failee’s elegant handwriting. These pages held only handwritten text, seeming to suggest that Wigg had opened the book to the section that held the First Mistress’s private memoirs.
Tristan again looked at the First Wizard’s face and saw that the sadness had returned. Despite Failee’s madness and her devotion to the Vagaries, Wigg had once loved her with all his heart. How much pain had it caused him, Tristan wondered, to have read these pages and to relive even so few moments from those terrible, heart-wrenching days?
Gathering himself up, Wigg pointed to a paragraph on the left-hand page. He cleared his throat.
