The Unexpected Demon

by Simon Waldock

  Gratefully, I withdrew from Korel's mind, I had what information we needed.

  "Castamir," Chessina asked, "can the spell you just used be reversed?"

  "Almost any spell can be reversed," I replied, "why do you ask?"

  "I know a great deal more about babies than I realised," Chessina stated. “I think the Priestess must have pushed knowledge into my mind without me realising it."

  "That's rather unethical," I commented. “Would you like me to complain to her about it?"

  "N . . . no, I don't think so," replied Chessina. “Not only am I a little frightened of her, I'm rather glad to know about babies so I can help look after Elizelle, and . . . and our babies too, when they come along."

  Chessina turned a somewhat worried expression to me. I smiled at her in reassurance.

  "I think you had better start teaching me," I said, "so I can help look after our children too. Foster or otherwise."

  Several servants entered the room bearing all the equipment Chessina had demanded. I noted that all were female and wondered cynically if the male servants had thought it beneath them, or if they were too squeamish to want to be involved. Chessina washed the little girl gently and carefully, then briskly tied off the umbilical cord with the thread, tying a workmanlike knot. She then deftly severed the cord to the afterbirth. It looked remarkably unpleasant, not at all like the drawings and I felt deep sympathy for women having to have that inside them as a part of pregnancy. I watched closely as Chessina demonstrated the arcane mysteries of tying an infant's nether garments. Doubtless Chessina would be watching my future attempts with a critical eye. With this intricate ceremony completed, Chessina picked up the now wrapped child and turned to me.

  "Lead on Castamir, you know the location of Lord Whatsit's apartments," Chessina said incisively.

  Having been in what Lord Whatsit laughingly called his mind, I did know. I had been ignoring him as all he seemed to be doing was babbling about demons. I would get the story from Dragovar later. We sallied forth with the baby. On our way out I spoke to the royal guard who had been hovering at the edge of the room, not sure what to do.

  "Arrange for a midwife to go to the apartments of Lord Korel at once," I ordered, "we are returning the child to her mother."

  "Yes, my lord," said the guard, obviously relieved to be given concrete instructions.

  oOo

  We hurried through the corridors to get the child to her mother as quickly as possible. At Lord Whatsit's apartment I had some difficulty opening the door more than a crack. Casting mage view I saw the crumpled body of a woman lying against the door, she seemed to be still breathing.

  "The poor woman's collapsed against the door," I told Chessina. “I think she's still alive."

  I summoned an invisible servant to pull the woman far enough away from the door for me to open it.

  "We need to get her on the bed," said Chessina, looking for somewhere to lay the infant down.

  "I'll manage," I said, casting levitation on the woman, and gently moving her towards the bed. She stirred at that, and opened her eyes.

  "My baby?" she croaked.

  "She's here and quite safe," Chessina replied.

  Glancing down at the bloody bed linen, Chessina whisked it off the bed with a movement spell cast with a flick of her off hand, the other being occupied by the baby. I was so proud of Chessina, her spell casting was sure and precise. I laid the woman gently on the bare mattress of the bed, her shift I now noticed was also stained with blood.

  "Out, Castamir," said Chessina peremptorily, "give the poor woman some privacy."

  I made for the door and stood aside for a woman who entered, whom I presumed was the midwife. I was glad to leave this business to someone who knew what they were doing. Pausing only to order a passing footman to go to Lord Korel's apartments and render any assistance required, I returned to Dragovar's tower. I hoped that, for a while at least, I could take it easy; I'd had a busy day.

  Chapter 23

  Upon entering Dragovar's tower I didn’t hear the cry of "Demon, demon" every few seconds so Lord Whatsit had obviously been calmed down . . . one way or another. Dragovar came out of the door to the room where I had last seen Whatsit, so presumably he was still there.

  "How is the child's mother?" Dragovar asked without preamble.

  "Still alive when I left her," I replied, "she is in the tender care of Chessina and a midwife, the mother won't dare die. What about Lord Whatsit?"

  "Korel? I gave him something to make him more . . . relaxed. He's sitting quietly now," explained Dragovar.

  "Did you get the story from Korel?" I enquired.

  "I got the gist of it," replied Dragovar, "Korel's wife Lady Norvelle was one of Renilla's coterie and at some point during Norvelle's pregnancy, Korel somehow got it into his head that the child was a demon. I suppose it's fortunate that he loves his wife and so didn’t try to cut the foetus out. Korel's wife, silly chit, was persuaded to keep the pregnancy secret."

  "It wouldn't have been secret from the servants," I said, "Lady Norvelle not putting out bloodied cloths once a month would be a dead giveaway. Servants know everything."

  "Do they?" asked Dragovar, startled.

  "Servants bring your food, clean your clothes, change your bed-linen," I replied, "from the evidence of . . . bodily fluids, they know who is sleeping with whom."

  Dragovar turned brick-red at the last revelation.

  "How do you know this?" Dragovar snapped, "you didn't have any servants growing up, and you don't have any now."

  "No, but there were many merchants in the city where I grew up," I explained, "and they had servants. Most of whom gossiped nineteen to the dozen in the market-place."

  "Oh," said Dragovar chastened.

  "Sorry to interrupt," I said, "did Korel say anything else?"

  "Yes, although he rambled rather a lot," Dragovar explained, "when Lady Norvelle went into labour he got her to bite on cloth so she didn't make too much noise, poor woman. When the baby came, Korel was horrified by the umbilical cord, and when the afterbirth came he just lost it, grabbed up the baby and ran looking for me as I know how to deal with demons."

  "I assume they were both first-time parents?" I remarked.

  "You assume correctly," Dragovar replied, dryly.

  "A cup of tea?" I asked, rather plaintively.

  "Or something stronger?" replied Dragovar.

  "Better not," I commented, "Chessina will be back sometime, and we may both need our wits about us."

  We were both still drinking tea when Chessina entered the sitting room where Dragovar and I were ensconced. We both rose.

  "How are mother and child?" asked Dragovar anxiously. I remained silent, having a mouthful of tea.

  "Both doing well," replied Chessina smiling at us. “Norvelle had a little tearing but I am quite competent to heal that, under the direction of the midwife. Your presence, gentlemen, was not required. Baby has fed and she and her mother are sleeping. The midwife and a servant are present if Norvelle needs anything."

  Chessina suddenly looked shy.

  "She . . . Norvelle that is," Chessina began, hesitantly, "asked if she could call the baby after me. I . . . hope you don't mind."

  "I think that's wonderful," I said, giving Chessina a hug.

  A servant came in with another cup, and Dragovar poured tea for us all. While Chessina was drinking Dragovar filled her in on what he had learned from Korel.

  "I talked to Norvelle," Chessina said, "and she told me what happened. Men!"

  "Don't castigate Korel because he's a man," I commented, "castigate him because he's an idiot. That condition affects men and women alike."

  "I suppose so," muttered Chessina.

  She thought for a moment.

  "Have you explained yet to that idiot Korel about umbilical cords and after-births?" Chessina asked pointedly.

  "Not yet," Dragovar replied, "I had to give him something to calm him, so at the moment he's not sure whether he's a ne
w father or a tree. I'll explain certain things to him when he's more . . . receptive."

  oOo

  That evening we were invited to dinner again by Tasseder and Elinne. Chessina was much more cheerful than last time and explained that we were a lot further forward without going into too many details. She told the story of Korel's misapprehensions, and had Elinne looking shocked and laughing in turns at the man's antics.

  "Castamir, there's something I've been meaning to ask you," said Chessina, "if you could extract information from Korel's mind, why didn't you do the same to Renilla, rather than use a potion of truth?"

  "The spell I used, can only detect what a person is thinking of at the moment," I answered. “Korel was thinking about the child and his wife and where he'd left her, so I could get at that information. Anything other than what is in the forefront of their mind, for want of a better word, is unavailable. It is also possible to think lies as well as speak them. That's why we used the truth potion."

  "Thank you, I understand now," Chessina said, satisfied.

  oOo

  "Castamir, are you asleep?" Chessina asked.

  As I had just settled down to go to sleep I was very tempted to answer 'yes' but I knew from bitter experience how well such flippancy would go down. I have noticed over the years, that women often want to discuss deep and meaningful subjects just as one is on the verge of sleep. I wonder if this is to have one at a disadvantage in any debate. At least Arcana had the decency to let me actually get to sleep before talking at me.

  "What is it, love?" I replied.

  "Nebkhamae's soul had to be temporarily put back in his prepared corpse," said Chessina.

  "Yes," I agreed.

  "I need to regain my soul, though," Chessina stated, "so I have to go to where my soul is, in the place of waiting, and I think I need to go through the mirror, like one of the gates you've taught me about."

  "You're right," I said, another crystalline certainty unfolding in my mind, "we need to go to the place of waiting where your intellect can join with your soul. Then when we return, your combined soul and intellect go into the new body that Arcana will make using the bones of your previous body."

  "Does that mean that the body I have now, this demonic one, will be destroyed?" asked Chessina, her eyes wide in fear.

  "I'm afraid it does," I said, in horror as the true meaning of the knowledge implanted in me became clear, "if we fail, you will die. So we are just going to have to do this correctly."

  We clung to each other as we realised the implications of what we were going to try to do. After a time, Chessina relaxed her grip on me.

  "Castamir," she said, "as you are still awake . . ."

  oOo

  At breakfast next morning Chessina and I discussed everything with Dragovar and Tasayne.

  "If I expand the mirror and cast the gate spell on it, that will take you to Chessina's soul," said Dragovar, "and I think you should both go through as I doubt Fishface has left her soul unguarded."

  "I'm sure there will be something there," I agreed, "that seems to be Fishface's style. I'd be grateful if you would teach me the spell that you used to discommode the demon from the cellar, Dragovar."

  "The striking fist spell? I'd be glad to," replied Dragovar.

  "I'm going to leave my staff behind," I explained, "in case we don't return, you'll need to give it to whoever you choose as the new towermaster."

  "But the towermaster chooses their own heir," expostulated Dragovar.

  "These are somewhat unusual circumstances," I replied, "although I fully intend to return with Chessina's soul and intellect recombined, the procedure is rather risky. I will write my will beforehand leaving the choice of towermaster, but not the position itself, to you, Dragovar. Not that I don't think you would make a good towermaster, but it would set a bad precedent. Why not give the position to Tasayne?"

  "Me?" Tasayne cried, "but I'm not qualified, I'm not experienced enough."

  "Just how I felt when I inherited it," I said dryly, "you'll be fine."

  "I wonder when the ritual must be performed?" Dragovar asked.

  Another one of those answers unfolded in my thoughts.

  "It must be done on Chessina's – Shareen 's – birthday," I declared positively. "You have no idea how irritating it is to know something, without knowing that you know it until something somebody says triggers it. I expect I shall be discovering such things for a long time to come."

  "I imagine that it would be," said Dragovar dryly, "however I am very grateful to Arcana for putting the information there, otherwise we would be completely in the dark."

  "I am grateful," I said, "it's just very uncomfortable and disturbing. That is, however, a very small price to pay."

  "Ah, does anyone know when my birthday is?" asked Chessina, plaintively.

  "I'm sure that either Tasseder or Elinne does," I replied, "and we shall ask them after breakfast."

  oOo

  Rather than descend on Tasseder and Elinne en masse, I sent a servant with a message, asking Tasseder and Elinne if they knew the date of Shareen's birth. As I had half hoped both Tasseder and Elinne came to see us. We sat them down and explained what we had learned.

  "Could you tell us when Shareen was born?" I asked.

  "Yes she was born on the summer solstice, that's in just over a week," replied Tasseder.

  "I'm glad it's in a week's time, not a week gone," said Chessina firmly.

  "Why is that?" enquired Elinne.

  "That's when we must do the ritual to cure Chessina's curse," I replied.

  "And you should know Elinne, that it will be dangerous," said Chessina, "if we make a mistake, both Castamir and I will die."

  Both Elinne's and Tasseder's eyes widened in horror at this revelation.

  "W . . . Why?" Tasseder stammered out.

  "Both the curse and the person who placed it are very powerful," Dragovar explained, "dealing with such is very dangerous and involves those things that most non-magic users don't want to know."

  "I want to go back home to the tower," said Chessina, "to see Elizelle, our foster-daughter. I haven't had much of a chance to see her as we have been rather busy."

  "I'll go and pack," I said, getting up.

  "I'll have the servants do it," said Dragovar.

  "With respect, Dragovar," I replied, "I will do it. I don't want to get too used to non-magical servants. Besides, in the case of packing, I trust my servants, more than yours. Mine won't break anything. "

  oOo

  The farewell from Tasseder and Elinne had been emotional, although both of them had done their best to conceal their worry. I suppose I was less affected, as whatever happened I would be with Chessina. We sat together, holding hands as the rug flew us homeward to the tower. We didn't speak often, just content to be together watching the sights on the ground below. Near the villages we could see the ripening fields of grain promising a good harvest. I sent a prayer to the storm god that he would not afflict the fields. A bad harvest threatened starvation for the peasants even if the king distributed grain from the royal granaries. Getting ready to put our lives at risk certainly made the important things in life stand out from trivialities. The horizon in front of us became a green line which then expanded into the ocean of trees that was the great forest. Whichever direction one looked all one could see were trees. There was a profusion of different shades of green from the many kinds of trees, with yet more shades in the occasional clearings where great trees had fallen, giving room for other plants. We had become thoroughly oppressed by the vastness of the great forest when the top of the tower came into view followed shortly by the fields surrounding the village of Fair Pastures. Gratefully I guided the rug towards the tower. As we approached I could see the new cottage standing near the tower, a neat four square two story building with no fripperies. I could see the influence of Harmon in its construction, and then wondered not only how much the towermaster influenced the tower's servants, but how much the tower influenced
the towermaster. These philosophical thoughts were dispelled when I realised that we were expected as a figure had come out of the cottage to greet us, Priestess Oakheart.

  "Towermaster Castamir, Chessina, I thought you would be arriving today," the priestess said. “Welcome home."

  We got up from the rug and made our gestures of courtesy.

  "May we go in? We would like to see Elizelle," asked Chessina.

  "You do not need my permission," said the priestess, "as the cottage belongs to the tower and hence to you both. I bid you welcome in any case."

  Priestess Oakheart ushered us into a large airy room that was wood panelled and floored. There were several pieces of furniture that bore the stamp of Theer, the village carpenter. Our attention however, was on the young blonde woman sitting in a chair near a window, breastfeeding an infant.

  "Towermaster Castamir, apprentice Chessina, may I present Nilla, daughter of Corrund the ploughman," the priestess introduced us, "Elizelle you've already met," she added dryly.

  "Please don't disturb Elizelle," Chessina said as Nilla started to rise, "how is she doing?"

  "She's doing fine well, milady," replied Nilla, "sucks well and with a good pair of lungs. No danger of her fading."

  A shadow passed over Nilla's ruddy cheeked face as she said this.

  "Nilla's baby faded until he died a few days after he was born," explained priestess Oakheart, laying a hand on Nilla's shoulder, "and she agreed to act as Elizelle's wet-nurse."

  "We are more grateful than we can say," said Chessina, kneeling down beside Nilla and taking her unoccupied hand, "anything we can do for you, we will."

  I gestured the priestess further into the room.

  "Couldn't you save Nilla's son?" I queried quietly. Priestess Oakheart shook her head.

  "He was born very weak, and my spells revealed many problems with him," the priestess replied, "sometimes a healer has to recognise that it is wiser to let nature take her course. I made sure he didn't suffer."