that chain around your neck?'
CHAPTER FIVE
Toby shouldered the door closed behind him and marched across the shop to the back room, clutching Hamish to his chest with one brawny arm and keeping his other hand over the boy's mouth. The boy kicked and squirmed helplessly, feet well off the floor.
'Smoothly done, Tobias,' Valda said, sounding amused. 'What have you brought me?'
The praise sent a rush of pleasure through him. 'A whelp named Hamish Campbell, ma'am. But he's got a demon in his hand.'
The hexer jumped to her feet. 'Does he know its conjuration?'
'No, ma'am. I'm not sure it has one. It's the hob from Fillan, bottled in an amethyst.'
'Well, put it in there, just in case.' She gestured to the metal casket.
Toby set Hamish down in front of the table and transferred his grip to the boy's arms. 'You heard the lady!'
Hamish wriggled like a landed fish, vainly kicking and butting. 'No! No! Toby, she's hexed you! This isn't you, Toby!'
'It is now.' He banged the kid's wrist on the edge of the casket. 'Drop it!' He banged again, harder. 'I'll break it!'
Hamish released the amethyst and it fell inside. Valda slammed the lid down.
'Over there!' Toby said and shoved his prisoner away, sending him staggering into the corner by the stove. 'You said you needed a new husk for Krygon, ma'am. He would do, wouldn't he?'
Valda smiled with secret amusement. 'He would, indeed! I see you will be a loyal and helpful assistant.'
Toby gulped with joy. 'I shall always try my best!' He pulled the sapphire around to hang on his chest again, where he could glance down and admire it. It was a badge of his service, a sign of his loyalty to his mistress, like a medal, or an officer's sash. Men did not normally wear jewelry, of course, but he would be wearing Lowlander garb from now on, likely, and a shirt would hide it. He had been very lucky that it had been out of sight when he went to get Hamish, who would certainly have guessed what it was if he had noticed it.
A choking wail from the corner indicated that Hamish's eyes had adjusted well enough for him to make out Krygon.
Valda resumed her seat. 'Now tell me the story. How did you gain possession of the hob?'
Toby had barely had a chance to work it out himself. 'The witchwife was my foster mother, my lady, but she was very old. I think she knew she was about to die and then I would leave the glen. The hob was puzzled that all the young men were going away and not coming back. I think this is what happened: She persuaded the hob to move into the jewel so it could find out for itself where we were going; and then she gave it to me to take with me, thinking that it would protect me, so she had helped both of us.' He stared in dismay at the lady's disbelieving frown. 'The hob isn't very smart, ma'am! And Granny Nan was pretty much crazy, too.'
'So you think the hob…' Valda shook her head. 'How did you use it, then? By what commands did you conjure it?'
'None, ma'am! Whenever I was in trouble, it came to my aid. I could see what it was doing, but I never told it what to do.'
She frowned. 'This is no gramarye known to me! You think the witchwife
Appalled, he sank to his knees. 'My lady! I would not lie to you!'
'I'm sure you wouldn't, Tobias, but your explanation is not credible. An incarnate demon, like Krygon there, does have a small amount of initiative. It can follow orders, although you've seen that it does so reluctantly — it did not tell me you had been followed here, for instance. But I can give it general instructions: 'Protect me,' or, 'Go and bring Toby Strangerson back here without harming him or alerting anyone.' It has a human brain to think with, so it can do what is required to carry out orders. A bottled demon, though, must be directed specifically. Like Oswood.' She smiled.
He wanted to hug himself when she smiled at him, it felt so good. 'Oswood, my lady?'
'That jewel that so enhances your manly chest. I harvested that elemental at a place called Oswood. Just now I gave it two very specific instructions. I told it to keep you loyal to me always, and I told it to prevent you from removing the jewel. That way you can never move out of its range, you see. That is how Rhym controls his mortal creatures like Oreste. Oreste commands a dozen demons of his own, but he cannot remove the beryl on his finger, which binds him, nor order them to remove it for him.'
'I would not want to move out of its range, my lady! I enjoy serving—'
'Yes, I know you do. How long have you had that amethyst?'
'Since the day we met, ma'am. And that was when the miracles began!'
Lady Valda pondered for a moment, staring at the fire. Toby remained on his knees. Hamish cowered against the wall by the stove, paralyzed by horror, while Krygon watched them all with undisguised hatred, unobtrusively scratching skin off its thigh. The fire crackled. A drop of blood fell from the ceiling and hissed on the stove.
That continual dripping of blood was worrisome. Dead bodies did not bleed. It would be in character for Krygon to have left someone alive and suffering up there in the loft. Still, if Lady Valda was not worried, then it was not up to Toby to raise the matter. She might send him to finish the job, and he would rather not do that sort of dirty work. He would do it if she told him to, of course, but he would prefer not to volunteer for it.
' 'Tis strange!' the lady said at last. 'But I suppose if an elemental entered a jewel voluntarily, it might retain the free will it had in its own habitat. An unrestrained hob would be a dangerous companion, Tobias! Totally unpredictable! Still, it can do us no harm inside that casket.'
She sighed. 'Time passes! Oreste approaches, and I still have not solved the problem I started with.' She turned a dark and frightening gaze on him. 'Many years ago, a friend of mine obtained a most potent demon, known as Rhym. It was ancient, powerful, cunning, and for centuries had been bottled in a yellow diamond. My friend and I attempted to utilize this immortal in a conjuration. We knew the ritual to command it, but that night we were not specific enough in our instructions.'
'King Nevil?'
She raised an eyebrow. 'Indeed! So you have heard the tale? Well, it is true. Under certain circumstances, at critical moments in rituals, an exchange is not only possible, but actually quite easy. Rhym managed that exchange. The demon infested the king's body, and the king's soul was immured in the jewel that I later put on this dagger.'
Toby nodded. Even a muscle-bound bareknuckle yokel could work it out now. 'So you fled with the soul of the king, and Rhym set out to conquer all Europe?'
'That is what I was about to explain, yes. It has taken me many years to acquire the support I knew I would need to restore my beloved. Rhym hunted me tirelessly — it fears the king, because he knows the true name of Rhym. Many times I have escaped its clutches by inches! When at last I felt ready to proceed, having acquired and trained new pets to replace those I had lost, I returned to Britain and sought out a fitting vessel to hold the soul of my love. He was about your age when it happened, you see.'
Toby shuddered. 'I will do as you command, my lady.'
'Indeed you will. Get up!' She rose from her chair.
He rose also, and walked forward to stand before her. He could not hide his shivers, but he must be brave in her service.
'I know that Nevil is no longer in the jewel on the dagger,' she said. 'So he passed into you as I planned. Something went wrong.'
'The hob interfered?'
