Night of Madness

Chapter Thirty-three

There were soldiers marching in the streets of the New City, but the warlocks ignored them and flew easily back to the garden behind Lord Faran’s mansion. Once they were safely back on the ground Hanner took the first opportunity to pull his uncle aside into an vacant room and talk to him privately.

“There’s something out there, somewhere in the north, that’s calling to your most powerful warlocks,” Hanner said.

“I’d noticed there was something odd about Rudhira’s behavior,” Faran said.

“Yes, well,talk to her. I think she’ll listen to you more than she will to me, and maybe you can get her to tell you something useful. And maybe get Manrin to do some checking-maybe he can do a divination and find out just what it is that she’s hearing. I think it might be the same thing that causes those nightmares. And it’s not just Rudhira-Desset’s starting to hear it now. I suspect Varrin and some of the others are, too.”

“You may be right, my boy.” Faran’s tone was reassuring, and he plainly intended to go on to say something more, but Hanner quickly cut him off. What he wanted to say was urgent; he couldn’t risk being distracted.

“Uncle, I think that whatever is calling them is the same thing that called all those people on the Night of Madness-the ones that disappeared. I think there’s something out there thatwants warlocks.”

“It’s possible,” Faran agreed calmly. “It may be the same thing that made us into warlocks in the first place. A mad wizard, perhaps.”

Hanner shuddered. “Could a wizard do all this? You saw Ru-dhira out there today.”

“There’s no known limit to what wizardry can do, Hanner. And from what I saw today I’m not sure there’s any limit on what warlockry can do, either.”

“But using it... well, when you get more powerful you start to get the nightmares and to hear that calling.”

“That’s a drawback,” Faran admitted. “It’s hardly fatal, though, and we may well find a way around it.”

“Ihope it’s not fatal,” Hanner said. “None of those people who disappeared has come back.”

Faran was about to reply when someone shouted, “Lord Faran! Lord Faran!”

“We’ll talk more later,” Faran said. Then he turned and called, “I’m here. What is it?”

“Soldiers!”

Faran smiled, an unpleasant expression that reminded Hanner of the one he had seen on Desset’s face half an hour before, over Spicetown.

“It would seem Azrad is trying again,” he said.

“And we still haven’t heard from the Wizards’ Guild,” Hanner said.

Faran’s smile broadened. “You know, my boy,” he said, “after what I saw Rudhira do today, I’m no longer concerned about the Wizards’ Guild. I think we can handle Azrad and his men without their help.”

Hanner opened his mouth, intending to say that he was not worried about the city guard but about the Guild itself, but Faran was already out of the room, striding briskly toward the front of the house. Hanner snapped his mouth shut and hurried to follow.

“Rudhira! Desset! Varrin!” Faran called as he walked. “Everyone, come with me! I think it’s time we demonstrated to Lord Azrad that his authority does not extend to us!” He reached the front door and flung it open, the other warlocks gathering behind him. Rudhira stood by the door, looking slightly dazed-clearly, whatever was happening to her, whatever was calling her, had not stopped.

Hanner hesitated. He wanted to see what would happen, but he didn’t want to get in the way-he wasn’t a known warlock, so he wouldn’t participate in whatever the warlocks did. And it might be dangerous.

Besides, there was such a mob of warlocks in the hallway and at the parlor windows that he doubted he could get a decent view in any case.

And there were questions he needed answered. Two of the warlocks were notable by their absence, and Hanner thought this might be a good time to talk to them.

And there were windows upstairs; he might wind up with a better view that way.

He turned and started up the stairs at a trot. His weight and general lack of conditioning caught up with him by the time he had reached the second flight, though, and he slowed to a walk.

On the third floor he made his way down the central corridor, listening at each door; at the third one he heard voices and knocked.

One voice stopped, and Hanner heard footsteps approaching. Ulpen opened the door and peered out at him.

“I’d like to speak to you and Manrin,” Hanner said. “May I come in?”

Ulpen swung the door open. “Don’t interrupt him,” he warned.

Hanner knew enough about wizards to not need the warning. He looked around the room with interest, being careful not to touch anything.

The room was lined with shelves and chests of drawers; several drawers stood open, displaying various powders and dried leaves. The shelves were jammed with jars, bags, boxes, and pots of various shapes and sizes. A table stood to one side, most of it covered with jars and boxes similar to the ones on the shelves; a large book lay open upon it next to an assortment of small tools. More tools were spread on the floor-two daggers, a wood-handled brush, a small iron tripod, a tinderbox, and three small metal implements Hanner couldn’t identify.

Manrin was seated cross-legged on a silk carpet before a small brass pot. Something in the pot was smoking and smelled absolutely terrible; Manrin was weaving his fingers through the smoke while reciting an incantation.

“...gattu sa brutin fara... fara... Oh, blast.” Manrin spread his hands wide and leaned back.

“Didn’t work?” Ulpen asked.

“Lost it completely,” Manrin said. “I could tell it was going.” He shook his head in dismay. “That spell was second nature to me a sixnight ago.” He looked up and noticed Hanner. “My lord,” he said. “What can I do for you?”

“I came to inform you that Lord Azrad has apparently sent soldiers to enforce my uncle’s exile. More of them, this time. This may turn nasty.” He frowned. “I thought you should know. And I had some questions I hoped you could answer.”

Manrin uncrossed his legs, brushed dust from his robe, and with a little help from Ulpen, got to his feet. He nodded politely at Hanner.

“Let’s have a look at these soldiers,” he said. He led Ulpen and Hanner through two other rooms to a study with two windows overlooking High Street; there he swung open one casement and leaned out.

Hanner and Ulpen, not wishing to crowd a respected elder, took the other window.

Lord Faran stood in the dooryard below, wearing his magnificent green cloak, his hair newly brushed and tied; a soldier, a captain by his helmet, was standing in the gate, facing him. Hanner knew that gate had been locked, with runes supposedly sealing it, but now it stood open, and he doubted very much that Faran had unlocked it.

Beyond the iron fence, filling the street, were soldiers-hundreds of them, all heavily armed. Lord Azrad had clearly decided not to waste any more time with half measures.

There were no civilian observers in sight this time-the soldiers had crowded them out of High Street completely. On the other hand, Hanner could see half a dozen figures in the array of guards who were not wearing tunic, helmet, kilt, and breastplate, but the colorful robes of wizards. He thought he recognized one of them as Ezrem of Arena, who had performed various spells around the Palace over the years.

Those wizards presumably explained how the wards and runes had been bypassed-assuming the wards and runes had really been there in the first place. It was also entirely possible that Ulpen and Manrin had botched the spells without even realizing it.

However it had happened, the wards were gone and the gate stood open. The soldiers held their spears at the ready-and the wizards clearly had spells ready to cast, as well. Ezrem, if it was really him, was holding a gleaming dagger with a blue gem in the pommel, and the others also held assorted knives or staves or crystals.

All eyes, though, were focused on Faran and the captain. The two men were speaking to each other, loudly enough to be heard over the muttering of the city, but Hanner didn’t bother trying to make out the words. He knew what the gist of it would be. The captain would be ordering Faran out of the city, and Faran would be replying that he wouldn’t go. Both would insist they wanted no trouble.

“I don’t recognize anyone,” Manrin remarked. “No Guild-masters there.”

Hanner and Ulpen both glanced at him.

“You’re sure?” Hanner asked.

“Unless Ithinia’s promoted someone in the past few days, yes,” Manrin said. “They don’t look like much. Even as damaged as I am, I’m probably a match for any of those wizards down there.”

“That was one of the questions I wanted to ask,” Hanner said. “How damagedare you?”

Manrin snorted. “As a man, I’m fit and strong for my age, as healthy as anyone who’s seen a century could ask. As a warlock, I seem to be adequate, if unimpressive-I believe Lord Faran ranked me twenty-first in the company here. But as a wizard, right now you’d probably do as well with a drunkard journeyman. It’s frustrating, my lord, very frustrating-I’ll be working a spell, some spell I know by heart and have performed a hundred times, I’ll feel the magic building up and falling into place, and then the wrong magic will arise, and I’ll be using warlock sight instead of wizard sight, or moving something by warlockry that I shouldn’t touch yet because my thoughts strayed a little, and the wizardry will just vanish, poof! Like the shadows of night when the sun comes up, it’s just gone and I can’t get it back. I can still doquick spells, because there isn’t time for them to go wrong, but anything that takes more than fifty heartbeats-well, I can’t count on it. And anything that takes more than twenty minutes is completely hopeless. Fendel’s Divination would beso useful right now, but I can’t do it.”

“Then you haven’t been able to learn anything about the nature of warlockry?”

Manrin snorted. “Fendel’s Divination is hardly theonly way to learn things, young man! I’ve learned a little.”

“Do you know what warlockryis, then?”

“Well, no,” he admitted. “I know several things it’snot, though. With little Sheila’s help, we have established irrefutably that the name is a misnomer-we arenot war-locked witches, and warlockry is not witchcraft, though there are very definite similarities. And Alladia has helped us demonstrate conclusively that neither gods nor demons are responsible for its existence.”

“Then... Rudhira and some of the others say there’s something to the north somewhere calling to them. It’s not a demon?”

“Not a demon, not a god,” Manrin agreed. “But yes, there is something somewhere to the north of the city that we are all somehow linked to.”

“A mad wizard, perhaps?”

Manrin shook his head. “No. Not a wizard. Because whatever is there, its magic blocks wizardry in a way that... well, it’s not wizardry. When one wizard’s spell blocks another there are several ways it can work, but none of them are anything like this.”

“Itdoes block wizardry?”

“Oh, yes.”

“Then those wizards out there can’t do anything to Uncle Faran?” he asked hopefully.

“Oh, I didn’t saythat!” Manrin replied quickly, dashing Han-ner’s hopes. “It’s not like a wall. It’s more like drowning out a voice by shouting. Wizardry and warlockry interfere with each other, like... like fire and water, almost. That’s how I know it wasn’t wizardry that created warlocks. But a hot enough flame will boil water away, and a well-aimed squirt of water can pass right through a flame... the analogy isn’t exact, you understand.”

“I understand,” Manner said. “I think. But about the thing calling to Rudhira-can you do anything about it?”

Manrin frowned. “I don’t know,” he said. “If you could bring her up here, so we could talk, and I could have a look at her...”

“I think she’s busy right now,” Hanner said. He pointed at the street below. “Then later, perhaps,” Manrin said.

“Something’s happening,” Ulpen called. While the others spoke he had stayed at the window, leaning out the casement to watch the events below. Now Manrin and Hanner leaned out as well.

Faran was striding out the gate into the street, and the soldiers were being swept back, as if a gigantic invisible bubble were expanding outward from the dooryard. They were colliding with one another as they were forced back, stumbling against each other, and some were falling to the ground as they lost their balance. The captain was pressed back flat against the iron fence, his helmet askew.

The wizards were reacting to this assault; orange flame suddenly burst into being in the dooryard, only to be instantly smothered. A wizard gestured, and Lord Faran staggered briefly, then resumed his march.

“The first one, Thrindle’s Combustion, was just silly,” Manrin remarked. “And the second one was Felshen’s First Hypnotic, which is a better choice but still not much of a spell. Even in my present condition I’m sure I could still do that one.”

“Maybe we should get down there, Master,” Ulpen said worriedly.

Manrin stroked his beard, considering, then nodded. “I think you’re right,” he said. “We could be useful. I’ll just grab a few things.”

Hanner, leaning out the casement, saw Rudhira marching out into the street behind Faran, still in her white silk tunic and long green skirt, and Varrin appeared behind Rudhira. The empty circle around them was thirty feet across now, the full width of the street; the sea of soldiers had been parted. The guards to the east were tumbled atop one another, trying to get themselves upright and scramble back; the guards to the west, on Coronet Street, had managed to keep more order, and were all still standing.

And Rudhira was looking back over her shoulder.

Looking north.

“I’ll meet you down there,” Hanner said, turning.

He didn’t even take the time to close the casement before running for the stairs.