by Icy Sedgwick
“Delsenza! What are you doing here?”
“I’ve brought a most esteemed guest to meet you, your Highness,” said Eufame. She bowed to the prince, but winked at a dark-haired councillor to her left. A vague smirk hovered at his lips, and he gave an almost imperceptible nod.
“You are the Crown Prince?” Hari Ma’Hara’s grating stone voice brought silence to the council chamber.
The Crown Prince pouted. “I am. And you are?”
“The Heart of the City.”
The Crown Prince turned white and the pout dropped from his lips. He sat forward in his chair. Six of the councillors stood up so fast they knocked their chairs backwards. The remaining five looked past Hari Ma’Hara at Jyx. Two of them smiled at him. Jyx managed a weak smile in return, but his stomach roiled.
Do they know who I am? Do they know what I did to the Coronation Procession?
“Your Eminence!” The Crown Prince finally found his tongue. He clambered out of his seat and waddled around the table. Jyx looked down at him and frowned.
“Why do you wish to destroy the Underground City?” asked Hari Ma’Hara.
“Who told you that I wanted to do that?” The Crown Prince let out a high-pitched giggle and fluttered his fingers at the stone goddess. She pointed at the model on the other side of the room.
“Your plans would appear to be most conclusive.”
“Your Highness, the Heart has come here to lodge a complaint. See, you can’t touch the Underground City as she’s sworn to protect the Twin Cities. You can’t really have the Twin Cities if one of them doesn’t exist.” Eufame flicked a tiny figure across the courtyard of the model’s council building.
“Don’t be a fool, Delsenza. Of course the Underground City will still exist. Just not in its current form.” One of the councillors scowled at Eufame.
“Turning a slum into a pleasure palace is not acceptable. Where do you propose to put the Underground City’s inhabitants?”
“They will be offered alternative accommodation elsewhere,” replied the councillor.
“Not good enough.” Eufame wagged her finger.
The Crown Prince glared at the necromancer general. He stamped his foot, annoyance sending a mottled blush across his cheeks. He rounded on the councillor.
“It wasn’t supposed to be like this! There weren’t going to be any inhabitants because Mr Gondavere was going to deal with that for me! He was supposed to make her help me, not that idiotic dead talker!”
Eufame chuckled at the Crown Prince’s description of her. Jyx glanced at Hari Ma’Hara. The goddess wore a terrible expression, fury and disgust chasing each other across her stone features. A faint green glimmer rippled around her, pooling in the cracks of her torso. Sparks flickered at the corners of her eyes. Jyx took a step back, glad that Vyolet rested safely in the shadows of his hood.
“Mr Gondavere was working for you all along?” Jyx frowned.
“And who are you? Why is there a commoner in my chamber?” asked the Crown Prince.
“What’s the matter, your Highness? Don’t you like to meet your actual subjects? The ones you would have happily thrown to the Lords and Ladies of Death if your stooge had succeeded in reaching our friend here first?” Eufame stormed across the room and towered over the Crown Prince.
The Crown Prince spluttered in reply.
“I have heard enough. I am no pawn in a political game,” said Hari Ma’Hara.
Before the Crown Prince could utter another word, Hari threw back her head and let out a fearsome scream. The green magick resting in the stone exploded outwards, filling the room with energy far too powerful to look at. Jyx squeezed shut his eyes, feeling the shockwave of Hari’s sorcery push up against his skin. Warm and cold at the same time, the magick surrounded him, but no fear accompanied the light, only safety, and security. The solid power of earth and stone folded him into its green embrace, and Jyx allowed himself to sink into the weightless void between the worlds.
38
Chapter 38
Jyx struggled to focus. Soft lights bobbed and swirled around him. Was this the world beyond the Veil? He didn’t care. The Perpetual Death would continue, and maybe he’d have another dream like the one he’d just had – the one in which he rescued Eufame from the House of Correction and helped to resurrect an ancient goddess. If he strained his ears, he could even hear Eufame now.
“Jyx! Jyx, are you awake?”
Why would he be awake beyond the Veil?
Pain exploded across his face, throbbing in a handprint on his left cheek. His eyes flew open, and a familiar grimace rested inches from his nose.
“Ah, finally! I was beginning to wonder when you’d wake up!” Eufame moved back and hauled him up into a sitting position.
The remains of the room lay broken around him. Velvet drapes hung in tatters before shattered windows. The table rested on the floor in two halves, scorch marks running along its split edge. The five seated councillors huddled around one half, examining each other for injuries. The other six councillors and the Crown Prince were nowhere to be seen. Only six pairs of smoking riding boots, and one pair of ridiculous jewelled slippers, proved they’d ever been there.
Eufame helped Jyx to his feet. Hari Ma’Hara stood nearby.
“Where’s Vyolet?” asked Jyx.
“She’s fine. I rescued her from your hood when you passed out. She’s gone downstairs to fetch the Wolfkin,” replied Eufame.
“What happened?”
“Hari here did her thing. She burned through the corruption that was threatening the Twin Cities.”
Hari nodded and smiled.
“These councillors survived because they want the cities to work for everyone,” said Eufame. She pointed at the remains of the council.
“I must say, Eufame, I didn’t quite expect that to be so…spectacular,” said one of the councillors.
Eufame laughed. “No, that was better than I ever could have hoped for!”
“What about the Crown Prince?” asked Jyx.
“Well it turns out we don’t have one anymore,” replied Eufame.
Jyx gulped. “I didn’t think it was going to lead to murder.” He stared at a scorched handprint on the wall.
“Oh, come on now, they weren’t murdered at all. If they’d been innocent, they would be here now. But they weren’t. You saw what they had planned for the Underground City. If Mr Gondavere had gotten to Hari first, we’d be knee deep in the Lords and Ladies of Death now, and half the City would already be lost,” said Eufame.
“I should return to the Ruined City,” said Hari Ma’Hara.
“Must you go so soon?” asked one of the councillors.
“Yes, it’ll take a while to form a new council. I think any applicants should have to get your seal of approval before we’ll allow them anywhere near a position,” added another.
“They have a point,” said Eufame.
“Then I shall stay. For a time. Until things are settled.”
The councillors smiled, relief shining in their eyes.
Vyolet’s voice drifted into the room. “Eufame?”
“Ah! Vyolet has returned. Let’s see how things stand downstairs.”
* * *
In the atrium, the council guards knelt on the broken floor, hands held behind their heads. A ring of Wolfkin guarded them with vicious pikes. They all wore different armour, including the sigils for the House of the Long Dead, the Academy, and even the House of Correction. Vyolet never thought she’d see so many Wolfkin in one place, and so soon after Hari’s fury. Had they known beforehand what would happen?
Eufame and the others came down the stairs. Vyolet gestured to a spot where the Dreadguards had been. Black scorchmarks covered the floor.
“Did Hari’s magick kill the Dreadguards?” asked Vyolet.
“I doubt it.” Eufame reached the bottom step of the stairs and pointed at the night iron doors. They stood wide open.
“Will your sister be angry with you?” asked Vyolet.
“For a while, but she’ll get over it. Naiad’s a stickler for rules, so she’ll be more furious that I left of my own accord. The Crown Prince probably invoked some ancient piece of legislation that she wanted to abide by,” replied Eufame.
Hari Ma’Hara nodded to the Wolfkin and strode to the door. Jyx scampered after her.
“Come on, Vyolet. It’s a brave new world now. If we can manage it, the council and I want to reverse the legislation against the Wolfkin and the Shadowkin. You’ll be able to do whatever you want,” said Eufame.
Vyolet looked at the black stains on the floor, ghosts of the shadow tendrils she’d made just an hour earlier.
“Can I learn magick?” she asked.
“Of course you can. Question is, would you rather learn at the Academy, or with me?”
“Isn’t Jyx your apprentice?” asked Vyolet.
“Oh I think he’ll be a mage in his own right before long. He’s learned more by doing than he ever would have learned at the Academy. Make no mistake, Vyolet, I can’t teach you to be a necromancer, but we can certainly explore that Shadow magick of yours,” said Eufame.
“Then I’ll come with you,” said Vyolet. She didn’t even need to think about it. A life spent hiding in the shadows, filching food, or stealing secrets for people who thought she was no better than vermin? Or a life learning what she was really capable of? It wasn’t a difficult decision.
“Excellent choice, Vyolet! Let’s get you to the House of the Long Dead. I need to see what damage the council guards have done in my absence,” said Eufame.
They followed Jyx out of the front doors. Hari Ma’Hara already sat in the black carriage, deep in conversation with a Wolfkin who stood nearby. Her series of barks and yips sounded even more alien in her grating stone voice. Jyx climbed in beside her. Vyolet pulled down her goggles to step outside into the gathering dusk.
Darkness pooled in the alcoves either side of the doors. A tiny movement to her left drew Vyolet’s attention to two figures lurking in the shadows. She peered at the taller figure, making out feminine curves strapped beneath leather armour. White sigils covered the gauntlets and the patterns reminded Vyolet of the tattoos on Eufame’s arms. The figure’s hood obscured the upper portion of her face, but she held one long, white finger up to her lips. Vyolet looked at Eufame then back at the figure. She nodded and climbed up into the black carriage behind the necromancer general.
* * *
The figure in the shadows watched the coach leave the grounds and smiled. Her wizard companion jangled the buckles in his beard.
“I wish you’d told me about your scheme earlier. I’d have stalled the gravedigger for longer,” he said.
“Relax, my dear. I knew my little sister could handle it all.”
To be continued in The Necromancer’s Mage…
Get more of Eufame Delsenza
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MEET THE AUTHOR
Icy Sedgwick was born in the north east of England, and is currently based in Newcastle. She has been writing for more than ten years, and had her first book, the pulp Western adventure, The Guns of Retribution, published in September 2011. When she isn’t writing or teaching advertising, she’s working on a PhD in Film Studies, knitting, exploring graveyards, or watching history documentaries.
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