Mage's Blood

24

Manifestation

Magic

The term ‘magic’ is incorrectly applied by laymen to all gnosis-workings. To a mage, the term means the channelling of raw energy into bursts of fire, protective shielding and moving objects. A ‘mage-bolt’ can be a useful and often lethal weapon; a shield is vital to any mage in a dangerous situation and the ‘telekinesis’ applications of ‘magic’ are innumerable. Mastering magic is the first task of any student.

ARDO ACTIUM, SCHOLAR, BRES 518

Hebusalim, Dhassa, Antiopia

Thani (Aprafor) 928

3 months until the Moontide

Casa Meiros was in a state of semi-celebration since a healer-mage had confirmed Ramita’s pregnancy. Antonin Meiros openly wept for joy, and treated her like an apsara sent from on high. He had told her a dozen times a day that she was the bravest and most wonderful bride in all of history, and his kindness had further softened her heart towards him.

It also doubled her guilt and shame, and she felt like the worry was driving her insane. The city was suddenly fearful as rumours of Keshi armies on the move intensified, and increased security meant no visitors. But Huriya was endlessly inventive, and persuaded Ramita to ask Meiros for the chela from Omprasad’s temple to come and light candles for their peace and safety. So Jai and Kazim duly visited Casa Meiros, improvised some prayers to the Omali gods and then took tea in the outer quarters. Ramita was so desperate to talk to Kazim she could barely contain herself, but Kazim was clearly full of a different need. He kept glancing over her shoulder at the doorway, but the servants were hovering.

‘Settle down, Kazim,’ Huriya hissed in Lakh. ‘You’re like a bull in the mating season.’

‘I am a bull!’ he retorted. He looked at Ramita and groaned. ‘How are you, my love?’

‘How do you think I am? Pregnant to the wrong man, in daily danger of discovery and stoning, in a city where war could break out any moment!’ Hysteria was threatening to break through any moment. ‘We need to talk, Kaz, not go to bed.’

‘But Mita—’

Ramita felt a sudden and alarming urge to slap him. ‘Listen to me: I’m going to have a child, probably more than one, if my mother’s line holds true, and when he realises they aren’t his, my husband will have no choice but to hand me over for stoning. And don’t think he won’t come after you too. He may be old but he is Antonin Meiros, and he will pull you apart.’ She dropped her voice to a hiss. ‘You have to run, Kaz: go home, go anywhere, but go.’

‘I’m not going anywhere without you, Mita. I love you—’ His voice was almost loud enough to reach the ears of the housemaids. Huriya shushed him.

Ramita found herself wishing he had never come. ‘Kaz, please listen to me: your only chance is to be so far away that he can’t find you. Please go – you don’t know what it’s like here now. He’s so happy, and I feel sick, having to lie and pretend. I could betray us with a stray thought at any second. I can hardly bear it. The only way I can endure this is if I know that you’re safe. When Huriya next visits you at the temple, all three of you run. Please, if you truly love me.’ She felt close to tears.

Kazim was unmoved. ‘No, Mita, there is another way. I have friends who can help us. We don’t have to leave you behind.’

‘I can’t come with you, Kaz. They might not pursue you, but they will come after me, whether they believe the children are his or not. No man can tolerate an adulterous wife and maintain face.’

‘You’re not thinking clearly, any of you,’ Jai put in quietly. ‘I have found a woman who can remove unwanted children from a woman’s womb. If we can bring her here, pretending she’s a midwife—’

Huriya looked at him scornfully. ‘Antonin Meiros is never going to let some backstreet hag from the eastside near Ramita and his precious babies, you idiot. He’s got magi-healers watching over her.’

‘What if we bring the woman to the Sivraman temple and then have Ramita visit?’

‘Oh and the soldiers are just going to stand by as this woman sticks a poker up Ramita’s passage, are they? That’s even assuming Meiros lets her leave the palace grounds now she’s pregnant.’ Huriya glared at Jai. ‘What did you need to find such a woman for, anyway? Is your Keita knocked up too?’

Jai nodded miserably, and Ramita felt like someone had punched her in the throat. ‘Jai? You’ve got Keita pregnant? Oh, sweet Parvasi, what are you boys thinking with?’ She stood. ‘Just get out! You’re children, not men.’

Kazim grabbed her arm, then looked round. The servants were fortunately chatting amongst themselves, not paying them any attention. ‘No, Mita, please: hear this. I have a plan.’

‘You have a plan? Two thoughts that follow one another in logical sequence? I wouldn’t have thought it possible – what on Urte did I ever see in you, you fool?’ she hissed harshly.

Kazim flushed. ‘Mita, we’re doing this for you – I love you, you know that. I have a plan, and good people who will help.’ He leaned forward. ‘Don’t give up hope. Just hold on a few more weeks, then everything will be resolved.’

‘In what way? What is your plan?’

Kazim leaned forward, his face intent. ‘We’re going to kill him.’

She felt the colour drain from her face and her bones weakened. No – that is wrong. It is impossible. It would be evil. No— ‘You can’t,’ she whispered. ‘You cannot.’

Kazim shook his head, misunderstanding her. ‘Don’t worry, it will be well planned. We can do it.’ His voice brimmed with suppressed excitement. ‘We will kill him and become heroes of the shihad.’

Her husband lay behind her in the gathering dusk, his body pressed against her back, his arm around her. The air was warm, even though the sun had gone and the silver of the waning Mater-Luna lit the room. Three weeks had passed since she’d last seen Kazim and Jai. She would have bled this week, had she not been truly pregnant, but she hadn’t, of course. Her belly was swelling, even this early. Her breasts were tender and she woke queasy most mornings. I will have twins, even triplets, like Mother.

That night, to celebrate, Meiros had produced a dusty bottle of wine and prevailed upon her to enjoy a glass of heady pale amber fluid that had tasted divine: a chard from Bres, he’d told her. ‘This is to celebrate the conception of our children, Wife.’ He was so clearly relieved and happy that she found herself feeling genuine affection for him. And then he had done patient things with his fingers that had brought her as much pleasure as she had ever derived from her body before entering her gently. Despite the guilt and the fear, there had been long moments of bliss in their coupling.

‘It will not harm the babies?’ she had asked anxiously, but he had just laughed and reassured her.

Now he sat up abruptly, a decisive look on his face. ‘Wife, there is something I need to tell you.’

She sat up also. ‘What is it?’ she asked anxiously.

He stroked her arm. ‘Do not fret; this is good news, not bad. I had hesitated until your condition was better-established, but it can be delayed no longer. I apologise that I have not spoken sooner, but this is something you must know, about when a male mage mates with a female non-mage. The act of carrying the child to term necessitates a sharing of body tissue between mother and child, and this results in a manifestation of the gnosis in the mother. Normally it is temporary, and minor – too minor to have any real effect. But I am Ascendant, and you are carrying twins, and I believe the manifestation will be potent and permanent.’

Ramita sat up and hugged her knees. ‘What do you mean, lord?’ she whispered. It sounded like nonsense, but it was clearly important to him.

Meiros put a hand on hers as if to comfort her. ‘What it means, my good and brave wife, is that in a few weeks those first manifestations will become apparent.’

‘“Manifestations”? What does that mean?’

‘Manifestation of the gnosis, my dearest wife. You will gain the gnosis and become a mage.’