The God-Stone War

Chapter 29

“I’m not an expert in these matters but it doesn’t look good for her,” said Lady Rose from somewhere close by. Consciousness had come upon me gradually and I hadn’t stirred yet, preferring to enjoy the warmth of my bed.

Penny responded then and her voice sounded closer still, “It just isn’t fair. She fought so hard to protect you and the children. Isn’t there something her father can do?”

Elaine, I realized, they must be discussing Elaine. I kept still and remained silent. My awakening would change the conversation, and I wanted to hear about my student’s condition before they started fussing over me.

“He’s spent the last few hours with her,” answered Rose, “but he says there is only so much he can do. His skill in healing is very limited. He told me that he has fixed the bone and sealed her skin, but the muscle and soft tissues are a mess underneath. Even if infection doesn’t take her and she somehow recovers, she’ll never walk again.”

“He could do it. If this hadn’t happened,” said Penny and I knew she was referring to me. Her voice broke when she spoke again, “He can’t be dying. Walter must be wrong about this poison.”

The air in the room stirred, and I imagined Rose must have moved closer to my wife, probably to put an arm around her. “We can’t know for sure, but he was very sure of what his father taught him about it. I cannot think that there would be many poisons like that in the world. You have to prepare yourself, in case the worst does happen.”

“This is my fault, Rose! I chose to take the earth-bond knowing it would blind me to the future. This was my gamble, and now it has cost me my husband, and possibly my child! How can I prepare myself for that!? There is no strength in the world that could help me to face it. How do I tell my husband that my arrogance has doomed our daughter as well as him?” insisted Penny in a voice thick with tears.

I longed to comfort her, but her words had frozen my heart in sudden shock. Our daughter? I knew she couldn’t mean Irene; therefore it had to be Moira. How? Then I remembered and cold fear replaced the blood in my veins.

“I’m sure she’s just sick, Penny. She never had a chance to eat or drink anything at the table,” said Rose reassuringly.

“It was in the wine,” I said slowly, opening my eyes. “She snuck a drink from the cup when she was bringing it to me.”

Penny looked down upon me, beautiful despite tears and puffy eyes. “Are you sure?” she asked fearfully.

I nodded. “I still had my magesight then… I was watching her as she took the tray from Peter.”

“Peter Tucker!” exclaimed Rose, in a moment of sudden insight. “After all these years I never suspected the snake still had venom in him!” she added with growing anger.

“Shhh!” admonished Penny. “His sister is in the next room,” she reminded, referring to Lilly.

“Wait a bit before you call out the guard,” I suggested quietly. “The wine was poisoned back in Albamarl, when those men tried to assassinate King Nicholas. Peter had nothing to do with it.” I quickly filled them in on what Karenth had told me.

“How do you know he had nothing to do with it? You already know of his prior reason to kill you,” said Rose firmly.

“In seven years, neither he, nor his sister, has ever given me cause to doubt them, even though I do not doubt that he once hoped to get his vengeance. I will not listen to slander against the man unless someone can show me real proof. Besides, if Peter ever decides to take his revenge he will do it with sharp steel, not poisoned wine,” I replied in a tone that implied I would brook no further argument.

Rose had never met an argument she couldn’t further, and she wasn’t about to stop now. “How could you possibly know that?” she asked.

Because he keeps an enchanted dagger close against his heart at all times, I thought to myself, but I declined to reveal that bit of information. It would only further incriminate the man I was certain had nothing to do with my poisoning. Peter Tucker might still harbor a secret grudge against me, but I had known him for too long to suspect his character. He was a good man, through and through. If and when he decided to seek his due, he would do it with his own hands, not by poison.

“It’s a feeling,” I told her instead. “I trust him and from what I learned from Karenth, his only connection to the whole thing was doing his job, which happened to put him in that place at that time.”

“Let it go, Rose,” urged Penny. “I trust him as well, and before I took the earth bond, my intuition was something worth paying heed. My heart always told me he would never hurt us.”

Rose looked back and forth between the two of us before letting out a long sigh, “I’m not used to losing arguments, and it never happened before I met both of you. I can never win when you both argue against me.” She said it petulantly, but her voice was masking a smile.

I knew for a fact that that was a lie, even with Penny and me on the same side Rose rarely took a position in an argument that she couldn’t win. I let her comment slide though, for a wave of nausea was sweeping over me and I hadn’t the heart to start bantering. I tried to ignore the queasiness and change the subject instead, “How long have I been asleep?”

“No more than five or six hours,” answered Penny, “We are into the small hours of the morning now.”

“Where is Moira?” I asked then.

“Asleep in her room.”

“Would you bring her to me? She can sleep here,” I suggested.

Penny gave me a look, “Right now?”

“We can be sick together,” I told her. “Later we might be too ill to appreciate it.”

Her eyes softened. “Matthew will want to come too. He’s been anxious to see you ever since Dorian carried you in.”

“That’s fine,” I acknowledged. “At least until it gets too bad. I don’t want him to see me if I get really ill. It might be too much for a child to see.”

Penny rose and started to leave, but I caught her hand, “I need to talk to Walter before you bring them though.”

“He won’t want to leave his daughter’s side,” Rose interjected. “Why not wait until morning?”

“It cannot wait,” I replied. “If he argues tell him I have that ‘look’ again. He’ll come.”

The two women nodded and left, but in the hall I could hear them talking. “What did he mean by that ‘look’?” wondered Rose aloud.

Penny’s fading voice answered as they walked away, “Probably that stupid vapid expression he gets when he thinks he’s being clever.”

Even as I’m dying she makes jokes at my expense, I thought quietly. I knew I picked the right girl. I smiled and closed my eyes while I waited for Walter.

He took longer to appear than I expected, and I fell asleep again while I waited. A soft touch on my shoulder woke me after he arrived. Dorian was leaning over me, looking anxious, while Walter stood a few feet away.

Dorian spoke first, “Mort, you look terrible.”

I caught a glimpse of his teeth and was surprised to see they were once again white, with no hint of the grey granite I had seen earlier. That’s unusual. I pushed the thought aside; whatever was going on there could wait for deeper reflection later. “You say the kindest things,” I replied sarcastically.

His eyes were rounded with concern, “I mean it. Your eyes look odd, and your skin is sallow.”

“At least I’m wearing pants,” I remarked wryly.

My friend blushed, “I have on clothes!”

“Now you do,” I replied, “but I’m afraid my image of you will never be the same again.”

“Get over it. We used to swim together as kids,” he said gruffly.

“As children!” I emphasized, “You weren’t all… hairy and ape-like back then.”

Dorian was beet-red now. “Well what do you expect? I’m a grown man!”

“What has been seen cannot be unseen,” I said in mock-seriousness while putting a hand over my eyes, as if to ward off an evil vision.

Walter interrupted then, “At least now we know what Lady Rose sees in him.”

I stared at Walter in shock and even Dorian turned to look at him, mouth agape. I had often despaired of the other wizard developing a decent sense of humor, but his latest remark was even worthy of a comic genius such as Marcus. “Wow!” I said after a moment.

“What?” asked Walter, “I thought it was funny.”

“It was!” I said to reassure him. “It was damned hilarious. I just didn’t expect it from you. Well done my friend.”

“Now you’re being condescending,” grumped Walter. “While we’re at it, he carried you back, sans trousers.”

“Ugh,” I said immediately. “I really didn’t need to know that.”

“What was so important that you wanted me to come right away? You should be resting,” continued Walter.

“I need you to fetch Dorian’s mother, tonight,” I said plainly.

“Tonight is almost over,” replied Walter.

Dorian frowned, “You think Mother will be able to help?”

“She’s probably my last chance,” I replied. What I didn’t voice was my suspicion that his mother had been much more than a simple healer and herbalist. She had named herself a ‘poisoner’ back when I had questioned her about drugging Walter into unconsciousness for days. I now believed there might be more to it than simple knowledge passed from mother to daughter, as she had claimed.

“How do you want me to get there?” asked the other wizard.

“Just walk out the door,” I answered. “I’m sure you’ve figured out the secret of my portal door by now. Once you’re back in the castle, you can just make your way to the circle building.”

Dorian spoke up, “The castle side is buried under stone rubble. Some of it had collapsed already. We cleared a bit to get to the door, but the rest fell as we entered. I don’t think it’s passable.”

Probably a direct result of Doron’s theatrical exit, I mused. “Can’t you just clear it?” I asked, looking at Walter.

He nodded, “Certainly, but it will take time. I am not as strong as you were.”

Were. His use of the past tense stung a bit, but I ignored it. “Make a circle then,” I said, changing tacks.

“I don’t know the circle keys for Lancaster,” said Walter gruffly, “and even if I did, I don’t have my book of diagrams handy to guide me in constructing a circle anyway.”

He was forgetting that I probably had my books stored nearby. We were in my home after all, but it was a moot point either way. “We don’t need any books. Just get me a sheet of parchment and some charcoal. I’ll draw it out for you.”

His eyebrows shot up, “You’ve memorized the keys and the circle design?”

I had yet to forget any of them, not just Lancaster, but I didn’t feel like gloating, so I just said, “Yes,” instead.

A few minutes later, I had created a passable depiction of the circle and given Walter my stylus to use in creating it. I handed it over to the other wizard. “I was a little hasty sketching it out. Can you read all of the symbols?” I asked.

Walter nodded and studied it carefully for a few minutes before commenting, “I have no idea how you remember things with such intricate detail, but this is certainly clear enough. My hand is not as steady as yours but I’m sure I can produce a workable circle using this; shouldn’t take more than thirty minutes or so if you have a suitable spot. I do have a question though, why don’t you have any circles here?”

“Paranoia,” I replied. “I put this house in the most remote, and inaccessible place I could find. Making a circle that could reach it, would just be like giving away the keys to my treasure box. I decided to only use the portal to get in and out. I figured I could always make circles later if I needed to for some reason.”

Walter seemed to accept my reasoning, but he had another question, “This design will take me to the circle in Lancaster, but I’ll need to create another circle that leads back to this one if I am to return with Lady Thornbear…,” he let his words trail off.

“So make one… we can always destroy it later to prevent anyone else from finding my home,” I replied, completely misunderstanding his hesitation.

“I don’t know the formulae to calculate the return keys for this circle,” admitted Walter finally. “I’ll need to borrow your books so I can work it out in advance.”

I couldn’t fault him for that. The formulae for calculating the return key for the other end was complicated, although solving it wasn’t particularly difficult if you remembered all the steps. “Here, let me add that, it won’t take me but a moment,” I said, waving for him to hand the parchment back.

I ran through the process in my mind before jotting the rune keys down, and then I took the additional step of drawing the rest of the other circle out around them. That part probably wasn’t necessary, since it was identical to the previous circle, but it only took a few minutes and it couldn’t hurt to be sure. I hadn’t realized how much Walter relied upon his references before this. Possibly, it was due to the late point in his life at which he had been exposed to it.

“Thank you,” said Walter, with visible relief as I handed the sheet back to him.

“There’s a stone patio on the side of the house facing the mountain, it would probably be the best place to set it up. Take Dorian with you. He’ll be able to explain things to her more quickly,” I told him.

“Yes, my liege,” Walter answered rather formally, completing the phrase with a quick bow. He and Dorian turned and left the room.

I grimaced at the extra formality and shouted after him, “You’d best hope I die soon if you intend to keep using honorifics in private!”

Easing into a more comfortable position, I closed my eyes. My head felt foggy and considering the recent sleep I had had, it probably was due more to the effects of the poison than to anything else. At least the painful part he told me about hasn’t started yet, I thought.

Penny woke me up as she laid Moira down beside me, and a bleary-eyed Matthew crawled into the bed on the other side. “You asked for children,” she told me, with a wan smile.

My wife had never looked more beautiful in my eyes, sitting on the edge of the bed; the candlelight behind her set glowing highlights in her soft brown hair. The thought of dying didn’t bother me as much as the thought of losing her. I glanced down at the little girl I held snugly in front of me. Losing them, I mentally corrected. “How are Irene and Conall?” I asked.

“Sleeping,” Penny replied softly, “as they should be at this hour.”

I nodded. “But they’re alright?” I prodded. “They weren’t hurt or badly frightened by all the fighting?”

She shook her head to indicate that they were unharmed. “Irene was hardly aware and little Conall was more disappointed that he didn’t get to see me battling the bad men,” she added with a slight laugh.

“He couldn’t see?” I said questioningly before I realized. “Oh, Elaine hid them!”

“She kept everyone invisible,” agreed Penny.

“How is she?” I asked.

My wife’s face took on a pensive expression. “It isn’t good. Rose was being optimistic earlier. You know… she almost took a second, fatal blow,” observed Penny.

“What do you mean?”

“I had just come from the stairs, but I saw what happened. She was already down and there was one of them standing over her. She had her wand in her hand, and she could have killed him before he struck, but she attacked a different one instead,” said Penny, describing the scene for me. “I didn’t understand why at first, until I realized afterward, that the one she slew had just found Rose and the children.”

“What happened then?” I asked. Walter had relayed the story to me at the time, but Penny’s description was much more detailed.

“I threw my sword. I didn’t have time to reach him otherwise. It didn’t kill him, but it bought me enough time to get there,” explained Penny.

“You fought the last two barehanded?”

“I was very cross at that point,” she said, without elaborating.

“Makes me almost feel sorry for them,” I commented wryly.

Penny’s tone changed, turning sad, “I feel terrible for Elaine. She was a hero, Mort. She sacrificed herself for our children. If I had just been there a minute sooner, I might have prevented what happened to her.”

I reached out to stroke her hair. “Don’t talk like that. We all did the best we could. Whatever comes… comes. We did our best.”

She nodded and smiled for me, but it was obvious that she was covering her feelings. I could only imagine how she must feel; her daughter and husband poisoned and probably dying, another friend that could be healed… if I were able to use magic again. Add to that the fact that we still had two or possibly three deities with a serious grudge against me, and my family, by extension. Despite my planning and efforts, I couldn’t see much light in her future if I didn’t find a way to survive.

Penny sat with me while I drifted back to sleep with a child on either side of me. Despite the excessive warmth they generated, it wasn’t long before I was out.