Call of Wizardry, page 5
Carys held out her hand for the book. “It really shouldn’t be done indoors,” she said, “but there’s not a lot in here that can be hurt by rainbow. It’s meant to affect living creatures. Not that I’ll cast it on you or Milo, but I think you can see the effect well enough if I cast it on my table. Move your chair.”
She waited for Sienne to shift the chair a foot to the left so Carys could have a clear view of the table, surrounded by chairs. “The thing about rainbow is its somewhat random effect. If you read it straight off, with no pauses, the ray it produces flashes through six colors—hence the name—and does something different depending on what color it is when it strikes its target. It also strikes unerringly whatever you intend to hit.”
“I thought rainbows had seven colors.”
“As if anyone’s ever seen indigo.” Carys snorted amusement. “But if you emphasize one of the syllables, you can control which color the ray is. That gives it a shorter range, and less power, and you have to aim carefully, but sometimes you don’t want to depend on chance.” She spoke the syllables of rainbow, its harsh, acidic accents painful to hear, and at the end a coruscating beam of colored light shot away from her to score a shallow gouge across the table top. Sienne realized she was grinning like a madwoman and made herself stop.
“If you brought supplies, I’ll help you scribe these now,” Carys said. “I’m sure you’re busy.”
“Not too busy for this,” Sienne said. She opened her pack and removed paper and a vial of blood ink she’d prepared earlier, along with a handful of pens.
Carys turned pages in her spellbook and cast float, then pushed herself across the room to sit at the table. “I’m very adept at float after all these years,” she said. “Good thing, because I still hate being dependent on others to lift and carry me. Even my husband, may he enjoy God’s rest, couldn’t keep me from resenting it.”
Sienne settled in next to Carys and spread out her supplies, pouring the blood ink into a shallow dish and aligning the first page just so. “Let’s start with seeming,” she said.
An hour later, her hand ached from writing, but she had five new spells. She sorted through them. Wall of earth, the only useful magical defense against a force bolt. Transport. Rainbow. Seeming. And glow, which made a body shine with light. She had no idea what she’d do with it, but it had caught her imagination. And Carys had smiled when she’d chosen it, which suggested it was a good idea.
“Thank you,” she said again as she put the pages into her spellbook and tidied away her supplies. “Do you…maybe this is an intrusion, but could I bring my team to meet you sometime? You must know so much about scrapping, and have so many stories—but I don’t want to encroach on your time.”
“I’d love to meet them,” Carys said. “Talking about the old days…people always say it’s like feeling young again, but the truth is I don’t feel any older inside than I did when I was nineteen and just starting out, whether or not I talk about it. But no scrapper ever stops thinking about scrapping, and I’m just as interested in hearing your stories as you are in hearing mine. So yes, bring them around.”
“We’re headed for Ansorja soon, but maybe when we return.” Saying the words made Sienne conscious again of how dangerous this job was, how likely it was that they might not all return.
“Something’s troubling you,” Carys said. “What is this job, that it makes you look so worried?”
Sienne shook her head. “I can’t tell you the details,” she said, “but it’s dangerous.”
“All the most worthwhile jobs are,” Carys said. “Good luck to you.”
“Thanks,” Sienne said. “I think we’ll need it.”
4
Sienne lifted the last of the rolled-up carpets to the top of their lopsided pyramid and steadied it so it didn’t roll off. The debate that afternoon about whether to take the carpets to Ansorja had ended with Alaric saying, “They can’t carry much luggage beyond one or two small bags, not enough to supply us on the overland journey. And we’d have to fly much higher than before to get above the forests, because trying to navigate between the trees would slow us considerably. I hate to admit it, but I think we have to leave them behind.” Perrin was quicker than the rest to agree.
She thought about casting seeming to conceal the carpets, but there was no point, given that Master Tersus never interfered in their rented space and Leofus didn’t pry. She just wanted an excuse to use her new spell…and maybe that was a good enough reason. She opened her spellbook to seeming and began reading aloud, committing the syllables to memory as she did.
A blue haze rose up around the carpets, fogging her view of them. It thickened as she continued, taking on the colors around it: the deep green of the sofa, the lurid pink and blue of the ugly carpet that would never wear out enough to be replaced, the deep brown of the floorboards peeking from beneath the carpet. More shades of brown appeared, hard and angular and obscuring the ugly carpet.
She spoke the last syllable of the spell, and the haze pulsed once, then solidified. The carpets vanished. In their place was a short stack of wooden crates running the length of the sofa. The room even smelled of raw wood. Sienne stretched out her hand and patted the air. Her fingers sank into the topmost crate’s lid, disappearing beneath seeming, and she could feel the smooth surface of the topmost carpet curve beneath her fingers. She realized she was grinning like a fool and made herself stop.
Only Dianthe was in the kitchen when she returned to it and dropped heavily into her chair. The sun had set, and the sky outside the window was blue-black interrupted by the dark shapes of the yews. Dianthe was counting out coin into five piles. “Did you get a good exchange rate?” Sienne asked.
Dianthe nodded, not interrupting her counting. “Good enough I won’t complain.” She pushed one of the piles toward Sienne. “Your emergency money.”
“Thanks.” Dianthe would handle most of their money, but after a memorable day in the western dukedom of Marisse in which Perrin had been separated from the others without coin, they never went on a job without making sure everyone was provided for.
Sienne slipped her handful of silver and copper coins into her purse. “I’ve never been to Ansorja. It’s too bad we won’t have time to look around, because Esthold is supposed to be beautiful.”
“I’ve never been farther north than Concord. The journey is perilous if you’re on your own, and once Alaric and I teamed up, he didn’t want to go north. Makes sense.” Dianthe made her somewhat larger bag of money disappear. “And we’re going to bypass all that.”
“I hope it works. I’ve never cast jaunt using a scryed image instead of a place I know well.” Sienne stretched out her legs. “I know it works in theory, but it’s not the same as doing it.”
“I’m not worried.” Dianthe chuckled. “I never thought I’d be so blasé about magic. Could you have imagined we’d be at this point a year ago? And Alaric…well. You already know.”
Footsteps sounded outside the kitchen. “What about me?” Alaric said. He sat in his chair at the head of the table and scratched his head. “Am I in trouble?”
Sienne took his hand. “We were talking about how far we’ve all come from where we were a year ago.”
“That’s true. And tomorrow we’ll be in Esthold and setting off on the next part of this adventure.”
Kalanath entered and propped his staff against the wall. He looked a little sweaty from his evening exercise. “I like it when we say it is an adventure,” he said. “It is better than saying maybe death.”
“More positive,” Dianthe agreed. “Where is Perrin?”
“Talking to Cressida upstairs,” Alaric said, “at least that’s what he said he was going to do. He wanted to explain why our arrival in Beneddo would be delayed.”
“I hope everything is still all right,” Sienne said. “We did say we’d go there as soon as our job in Omeira was finished. This feels like going back on a promise.”
“Perrin was the first to say we needed to put this quest ahead of his family problems,” Alaric said. “And your parents will protect the Deluccos.”
Sienne once again refrained from pointing out that they didn’t know if they’d even survive this adventure. “I know. It’s not rational.”
Feet thrummed rapidly down the stairs, making Sienne turn toward the door. A moment later, Perrin appeared. His long, dark hair fell across his face, and he was breathing rapidly. “They have taken my children,” he said. “This afternoon. Cressida is frantic. Sienne, I must go to Beneddo at once.”
Sienne felt superstitiously as if they’d made it happen by talking about how everything was all right. “Perrin—”
“I am sorry, but this cannot wait.” Perrin gripped the door frame as if he might tear it from the wall. “I cannot abandon Cressida. You will have to go to Ansorja without me.”
“What?” Dianthe exclaimed.
“We need to talk about this,” Alaric began.
Perrin cut him off. “Do not dare,” he said in a low voice, “to tell me this is less important than your own needs.”
“I wouldn’t,” Alaric said, unmoved by Perrin’s anger, “but you don’t have to face this alone. We want to help.”
Perrin closed his eyes. “I do not see how,” he said. He opened his eyes and looked at Sienne. “Can you take me there?”
“I grew up in Beneddo. I know it better than just about anywhere,” Sienne said. She stood and offered him a hand, but pulled it back when he would have taken it. “I think we should all go. If there’s anything we can do, there’s no point wasting time going back and forth. And I can practice transport.”
Perrin nodded. “What do we do?”
“Everyone join hands—no, actually, not all. Alaric, put your hand on my shoulder. I need a hand free for the spellbook.” Sienne took Dianthe’s right hand in her left and cradled her spellbook in the crook of her right arm.
“What about Leaf?” Alaric said. “She’s still upstairs.”
“We’ll be back for her—for everything—eventually,” Sienne said. “This is complicated enough I don’t have time to figure out how to bring an animal along.” She willed the book open to transport. Steeling herself against the sharp syllables, she began reading.
Immediately, she tasted blood from dozens of tiny cuts the spell inflicted on the inside of her mouth. She swallowed and kept reading. As she did, she felt her mind absorbing the spell, writing it on her memory. She brought to mind memories of her bedroom in the ducal palace, how she’d grown up there, how it had been the home she returned to once a year when she was fostered at the school at Stravanus. It would be crowded with all of them in it, and she added that observation to her memory, picturing herself and all her friends standing in a circle on the hearth rug.
She spat out the last blood-flecked syllables and closed her eyes. A terrific jerk dragged her sideways, as if there were a hook embedded above her navel. She took two stumbling steps, gripping Dianthe’s hand and her spellbook tightly, and opened her eyes. Her familiar bedroom surrounded them, the hearth empty and cold, the lavender canopy over her small bed fluttering in the wind produced by their appearance. It was all so familiar, the bed and the bookshelves and the little armchair where she’d spent so many nights reading when she was supposed to be asleep, that her heart gave a hiccup of pleasure.
Perrin released Alaric and Kalanath and made for the door. “Perrin, wait!” Sienne cried out, but he was already gone. “He doesn’t know where to go.”
“Neither do we,” Alaric said. “Where might Cressida be?”
“Guest quarters, on the third floor,” Sienne said, “or she might be with my parents in their private drawing room.”
“Let’s try that first,” Dianthe said. “I can’t imagine your parents letting her be alone after this.”
Sienne led the way down the long hall half-paneled in cherry-finished oak. The walls were white above the dark paneling, making the hall feel more open than it was. Ahead, golden sunlight from the setting sun bathed the landing where stairs went up and down. Beneddo was far enough west that sunset hadn’t reached it yet, though the light had a dim twilight quality that made Sienne feel like squinting.
Beyond the stairs, the hall continued, lit only by another window at the far end. Unlike the clear window overlooking the landing, it was made of stained glass in shades of ruby and amber that made the light look like blood. Perrin had stopped halfway to it and stood embracing Cressida, his arms tight around her, his hand cradling the back of her head with such tenderness it made Sienne forget to breathe. Cressida’s face was buried in his chest, and her shoulders shook with sobbing. Perrin inclined his head to hers, and his mouth moved in speech too quiet for Sienne to make out.
Dianthe put out a hand to stop Alaric when he would have advanced. “Wait,” she said quietly. “They need to be alone.”
“We can’t just stand here,” Alaric said.
“Sure we can.”
They waited in uncomfortable silence until Cressida raised her head and nodded. Kiss her, Sienne willed Perrin, but he only smiled and wiped away her tears. That was enough.
Perrin released Cressida, though she didn’t move very far away, and turned to look at them. “It is not too late,” he said. “My father himself came to the house and demanded the children’s return. He had legal documents properly signed, and the duke and duchess were helpless to prevent it. But that was only three hours ago. They have not left Beneddo. We can get the children back.”
“We can?” Dianthe said. “That doesn’t sound promising. And where would they go? They can’t come back here.”
“We can figure that out later,” Alaric said. “Right now we need to retrieve the children before Master Delucco returns to Fioretti. Taking them from his house would be much more difficult. Do you know where he’s staying?”
“Wait,” Dianthe said, “just wait a moment. You realize this is legally considered kidnapping, right? If we’re caught, the law won’t care that we’re righting a wrong.”
“Dianthe is correct,” Perrin said. “I cannot expect you to put yourselves in legal jeopardy. This is my problem.”
“I didn’t say we wouldn’t do it,” Dianthe said, exasperated. “I’m just pointing out that we have to protect ourselves in ways we don’t normally need to. We’ll need disguises, for one, and we—Alaric, we really do need to know where we’re taking the Deluccos, because that has to be part of the job. They can’t come north with us.”
“Why not?” Sienne asked.
Everyone but Cressida looked at her as if she’d lost her mind. Cressida looked confused and a little frightened. “Well, they don’t speak the language, for one,” Alaric said, “and for another, we’re headed into terrible danger and I don’t want children along to complicate matters.”
“But there’s an Ansorjan community in Fioretti,” Sienne said. “An enclave, really. There has to be something similar for Rafellish in Esthold—it’s nearly as big as Fioretti is. And Master Delucco will never think to find them there. They can wait for us—they’ll be perfectly safe.”
“That assumes I will be going with you to the wizard’s valley,” Perrin said. “I cannot accompany you. My family needs me.”
Sienne, her mouth open to forestall more objections, found herself with nothing to say to that. An uncomfortable silence descended. Sienne, catching Alaric’s eye, could guess what he was thinking: without any one of them, their chances of succeeding dropped to almost zero. Without Perrin and his blessings, they might as well not make the attempt.
“Perrin—” Dianthe finally said.
“I know,” Perrin said. He wasn’t meeting anyone’s eyes. “But I have a duty I have neglected for far too long. I am truly sorry.”
“I don’t understand,” Cressida said. “If it is a…a job, a scrapper job, you cannot postpone it?”
“Not for more than a few days,” Alaric said. “But…if that’s how it has to be, Perrin, we understand.”
“But we can’t—” Sienne exclaimed, and Alaric silenced her with a swift glare.
“Let’s focus on retrieving Delphine and Noel,” he said. “Cressida, do you have any idea where Master Delucco went?”
Cressida shook her head. “I do not know Beneddo well enough to guess where he might stay,” she said, “though I do not believe it is with a private individual. He does not have friends who might put him up. So it will be an inn, and likely an expensive one.”
“I have two scrying blessings to seek out a location,” Perrin said. “It will be difficult, but I believe I can scry out where the children are, or at least one of them. The difficulty is in identifying where in the city the location is. But it is worth the attempt.”
“Once we know that, I can examine the building and work out the best approach,” Dianthe said. “Then it could be as simple as renting a room in the place and sneaking around after dark.”
“I just need to know which room they’re in, and I can transport them back here until we decide where to go next,” Sienne added.
Cressida drew in a breath. “I begin to believe you might actually succeed at this,” she said.
“Not to jinx our efforts, but this isn’t the most complicated job we’ve ever taken,” Alaric said. “Sienne, where can Perrin go for some quiet?”
“At this hour? The library,” Sienne said. “I’ll show you where it is, and then I want to talk to my parents.”
The library was on the ground floor, a room twice the size of Leofus’s kitchen without windows to interfere with the maximum use of bookshelf space. Lamps glowed on all four walls and at the shining mahogany table surrounded by matching chairs. It would have looked intimidating if the chairs and table hadn’t had nicks and black marks from generations of Verannus offspring kicking them idly during lessons. Sienne’s attention was drawn to the armchairs upholstered in dark green velvet. She’d spent so much time draped sideways over the armrests, reading or working small magics. This room was as much a part of her childhood as her own bedroom.
