I held out my hand, but she flinched away.
“Not my hands, sir. They’re infected, and… it spreads, sir, if you touch it. One of the doctors tried to treat me, and he died of it. I don’t dare let anyone else touch my clothes, let alone my skin.”
“That’s what I was afraid of,” Avilla said worriedly. “Be careful, Daniel.”
“I plan to,” I assured her. “If I have to I can cut my fingers off and grow them back. But I think I can see what’s happening, I just need to confirm it. Elin, I’m just going to touch one finger to your forehead, alright? That’s well away from any of the marks.”
“I… yes, sir. I think that’s safe,” she agreed cautiously.
I touched her, and reached out with my magical senses. I could feel the tainted flesh beneath those marks on her skin, slowly eating into her body. Yeah, she had enough mercury in her system to kill a herd of elephants. Even more was still bound up in hundreds of little blobs and tendrils that retained what I was now sure was a golem animation enchantment, and were trying to slowly dig through her flesh to reunite with each other. Her flesh was supernaturally tough, holding all but the largest blobs trapped in place, but that had to be agonizingly painful. How did she stand it?
Of course. She was holding a pain block on herself. I could feel her magic bolstering her body’s health, forcing it to go on living when it should have been long dead. She had a lot more raw power than I’d expected, almost enough to be a match for Avilla. But it was only delaying the inevitable.
“It looks to me like you’re right about what that monster was,” I told her. “Hmm. Your healing mostly works by bolstering the body’s natural abilities, doesn’t it?”
She nodded. “Yes, sir. There are a few things I’ve learned that go beyond that, but the pain block is the only one that applies to this situation.”
I studied the magic. “How do you keep it up when you sleep?”
“I can’t.”
Oh. Damn.
“Well, I think I see why you can’t heal this. You were right about this thing being made of mercury, and the body doesn’t have any way to purge that. Once it gets into your system it stays there for as long as you live. Fortunately my healing uses a different approach, so I can pull it out.”
Her breath caught. “You can?”
I nodded. “Yes. It’s going to be tricky, though. You’ve got fragments of the golem embedded in you everywhere, and they’re still partially animated. If you were human they’d have burrowed right through your flesh to reunite with each other, and you’d have died in a matter of hours. They’re enchanted to resist all the obvious ways of affecting them with magic, so I can’t just banish them either. I’ll try to come up with a better option, but I may end up having to cut them out and then heal the wounds.”
Everyone else blanched at that. Daria looked like she was going to be sick, and Avilla suddenly seemed much more sympathetic to the girl’s plight. But to my complete shock, Elin didn’t flinch at all.
“You’d… invest so much work, so much time in me?” She asked. “Even though I might not even live until you finish?”
“Yes, Elin. I will.”
She looked up at me, and now there were tears in her eyes. “Thank you, sir. I thought I was going to die, when they voted... but if you want me… if you can save me… I promise, I will do everything in my power to be useful to you.”
There was a flash of magic when she said that, and Cerise whistled.
“A faerie, making an open-ended promise voluntarily? Damn, boss, you sure can pick them. Welcome to the group, Elin.”
“Apparently,” I said uncomfortably. “But don’t you have some kind of obligation to the Conclave, Elin?”
“Sir, I gave them fourteen years of loyal service, and they cast me out the moment I was no longer useful. If they want me to heal for them again they can come beg you for the use of me.”
Chapter 10
I didn’t expect an invitation to Nat Lagep’s funeral. I’d barely known the harbor pilot, and I was a bit ashamed to realize I hadn’t even remembered his name until a dock worker showed up on my doorstep to leave word about the event. We’d had our own little ceremony for Enok, the wolfen who’d died on the expedition to the coast, and I’d moved on.
But the man had died under my command, and for once I could take the time to pay my respects. No one else was going to die if I took an hour or two to attend a funeral.
The ceremony was held just after dawn, on a rocky promontory overlooking the harbor. A few dozen men with weathered faces and shabby clothes braved the cold to stand huddled among the mausoleums, listening to a tired old priest commend his soul to the gods. Harbormaster Lundt had actually dragged himself out of bed, to my surprise, and he stepped forward to address the crowd when the priest was done.
“Nat was a good man,” he said solemnly. “A hard worker, and a shrewd pilot. He’ll be sorely missed. But Kozalini are a tough lot, and I know we’ll pull together to do what we can for those he left behind.”
There were nods all around, and a couple of men patted a smaller figure at the front of the crowd on the shoulder.
A woman. With three little kids gathered around her, the oldest maybe ten. Damn. I hadn’t even known Nat was married, although I should have guessed. Men with steady jobs don’t usually go single in a medieval society.
The Harbormaster went on. “You all know the Pilot’s Fund is going dry, what with the deaths and the lack of shipping, but there’s still a bit left. Aina, if you’ll stop by my office this afternoon I have ten silver set aside for you and your family.”
Ten silver, for a man’s life? That might actually be generous for this land, but it wouldn’t last long in a city under siege.
“I’ll match that,” I announced. “It’s the least I can do, under the circumstances.”
“Thank you, lord wizard,” Aina said with a bow. She turned to look up at me, and I saw that her face was tracked with tears.
“Milord? Can you tell me how my husband died?”
I nodded, and took a moment to gather my thoughts as I moved up to stand beside the Harbormaster. What was I going to say? He hid in the transport, and drowned when it went in the river? In the Norse religion that was a coward’s death, which would doom him to become a shade in Hel’s realm. She didn’t need to hear that.
“He died in battle,” I announced.
A surprised murmur went through the little crowd.
“We were prepared for any of the monsters my men had fought on the way to Kozalin,” I went on. “Bands of goblins, trolls, felwolf packs, even giants as long as they weren’t too numerous. But when we reached the coast a sea serpent rose from the ocean and attacked us, while a small army of goblins and trolls fell on us from behind.”
“It was the sea serpent that struck Nat down. Narfing, son of Jarlof, son of Jormungandr the World Serpent. I don’t know if the valkyries were watching that day, but if they were we gave them a hell of a spectacle. We left the field littered with dead goblins and trolls. I nearly died myself, but in the end we sent the sea serpent limping off with his whole jaw missing and the sea turning red with his blood.”
A flash of color caught my eye, and I spotted Mara standing beside one of the mausoleums frowning at me. But then her gaze went to the grieving widow, and her face softened.
Aina wiped away her tears. “Thank you, milord. I suppose Valhalla might not stand for much longer, but… thank you.”
“You’re welcome, Aina.”
A few minutes after that the group broke up. I looked around, and made my way over to where Mara was inspecting one of the little stone monuments that dotted the graveyard. She noticed my approach, and smiled at me.
“Making things sound good for the widow? That was nice of you,” she commented.
I shrugged. “I feel kind of guilty about the poor guy. I’d hoped I was finally done burying the noncombatants.”
Her dress wasn’t nearly warm enough for the weather, but she was r
adiating so much fire magic it made the whole area around her feel like spring. It was an impressive display, especially if she planned to keep it up for any length of time.
“Yeah, that part sucks,” she agreed. “I love fighting, but sometimes I wish we could limit battles to just the people who want to be there. Things would be better that way.”
“Too bad the enemy never seems to cooperate with that. What brings you all the way out here, anyway?”
She grimaced, and gestured with the scroll she was holding. “Errands. People around here used to bury warriors with their gear. I’ve got a whole list of heroes who had magic swords and shit, but finding their tombs is a pain in the ass.”
“The Conclave is robbing graves already?” I asked.
“Nah, the old men aren’t quite ready for that. But I can sense magic through a few feet of dirt, so I’m supposed to be checking what’s there just in case. It wouldn’t be so bad, except the city records mostly got burned in a big fire about a hundred years ago. I’m going to be stuck wandering around graveyards for days, and don’t get me started on the catacombs. Ugh, that place is a maze.”
“That does sound pretty aggravating,” I said sympathetically.
There wasn’t enough space inside Kozalin’s walls for what I’d consider a normal graveyard, so the locals seemed to prefer mausoleums instead. Judging from the number of names inscribed on the walls most people didn’t get individual crypts either. More likely the poor people got mass graves of some kind, and only the wealthier citizens got their own niche.
Assuming there was a body to bury at all. There was a whole cluster of monuments along the shore, inscribed with the names of men who’d been lost at sea.
But Kozalin was centuries old, and the mausoleums were packed together into a haphazard maze that was a nightmare to navigate. I could only imagine how bad the catacombs must be, and of course this wasn’t the only graveyard. I didn’t envy Mara her task.
“What about you?” She asked. “You about ready to wow the old men with your amazing magical revolution?”
I shook my head. “Believe it or not, giving the guys who run the Conclave even more power to play with isn’t exactly my top priority. I’ve mostly been working on better weapons for my men, and trying to figure out how to heal Elin. Speaking of which, she’s doing a lot better these days. I think I’ve figured out how to get those fragments of the mercury golem out of her, so we can eventually get her back to normal.”
Mara looked away, and kicked at a loose stone in the walkway. “Good. I was afraid she was going to die on me, and that would really suck. I should be able to come by and see her tomorrow.”
“Good. She could use some support from her friends.”
She winced. “I’m not really much of a friend. I want to be, but it isn’t easy. Elin can be prickly, and I’m kind of a moody bitch.”
“Oh, you’re not that bad,” I said. “These are hard times for everyone, so it’s understandable if you get grouchy now and then. Anyone worth knowing will cut you some slack, as long as you do the same. I know Cerise is looking forward to seeing you again.”
Mara frowned, and hugged herself. “She’s an odd one. Kind of cool, but… she really doesn’t mind having a tail?”
I shrugged. “I think she actually likes being different. Plus, it’s prehensile, so it comes in handy.”
She hesitated.
“You don’t mind her having a tail?”
“I kind of like it, actually,” I admitted.
“Do you, now?” Mara teased, suddenly all smiles. “Well, aren’t you a kinky guy? I’d better be on my guard tomorrow.”
“Are you telling me you’re hiding a tail under that dress?” I craned my neck to look behind her. Nope, no way she was hiding anything under that dress. Damn, what an ass.
She swatted my arm. “Stop that, you perv.”
I stepped back. “Well?”
“You never know what a girl might be hiding, Daniel,” she said mysteriously. “Who knows? Maybe you’ll find out someday.”
Well, that was intriguing.
I stopped by the Harbormaster’s office to drop off the silver I’d promised, and made my way back to the tower with a million thoughts on my mind. Things to build, spells to research, plans to make. But the first thing was to take care of this arm.
I figured that growing my arm back would only take a few hours of uninterrupted work, now that I was otherwise healthy. Somewhat to my amusement, when I went to lie down and work on the project Tina followed me to the bedroom. She unbuttoned her cute little maid uniform, letting the fabric whisper down her impressive curves to pool at her feet, and smiled brightly.
I raised an eyebrow. “What’s this about?”
“I’m just here to help, milord,” she said cheerfully, and hopped into bed.
“Ah, Tina, I need to concentrate on healing myself.”
“Yes, and it works much better when there’s a pretty girl holding you,” she said earnestly.
“What? Where did you get that idea?”
“Lanrest,” she said softly, her eyes downcast. “When we dug you out from under that troll’s bones. You didn’t start healing until I touched you.”
Then she threw off the moment of seriousness, and smiled brilliantly. “But don’t worry, milord. Your secret is safe with me! Now come rest your head on these pillows while you magic your poor arm back.”
She cupped her breasts, and bounced the hefty mounds.
I laughed, and shook my head. What the hell. Letting silly rumors like that spread was probably a good thing, if it kept people from figuring out my real limitations. Besides, I was coming to really like the cheerful girl. She might not understand a lot of what was happening around her, but she was always pleasant company. So let her stay with me for the rest of the morning while I fixed my arm, with occasional interruptions to fool around.
Elin’s treatment was a lot less pleasant.
I gave her a quick pass that first evening before bed, removing what I could of the mercury contamination in her organs. That was a temporary measure, since the hundreds of blobs of enchanted mercury embedded in her tissues would just poison her again in a few days. But it eased the strain enough that she was no longer in danger of immediately dying at the slightest interruption in her own healing magic. With that reprieve we were able to combine our efforts to weave a healing trance spell combined with a pain block, so the poor girl could get a decent rest for the first time since her injury.
After that it was slow going. I’d hoped to find a loophole in the protective enchantments on those fragments of the mercury golem, but on further examination they were even more complete than I’d thought. They couldn’t be banished by earth magic, and the enchantments themselves were heavily resistant to anything I might have done to break them with metamagic. Elin’s techniques for cleaning wounds and extracting foreign objects just slid off them ineffectually, and my force magic worked only slightly better.
Finally Elin threw up her hands, and declared the effort a waste of time.
“I appreciate your efforts to spare me from further mutilation, sir. But really, I know what I look like. A few more scars won’t make it that much worse, as long as I keep myself covered up. I suppose the nerve damage will cripple me, but that’s better than being dead. I’m skilled enough to animate my own limbs a bit with magic, if it comes to that.”
“Damn. You’ve got a lot of guts, you know that?”
She blushed faintly, and her gaze fell to the floor. “I’m just being practical, sir. You can’t spend weeks researching some exotic treatment for the likes of me, when your people are depending on you. This is already going to take days, but at least then I’ll be able to start earning my keep.”
I shook my head. “I suppose you have a point. But Elin, I can heal severed tendons and nerve damage. I’m not going to leave you crippled just to save a little time.”
“You can? But how? There’s no pattern for such things for the spell to follow.”
“Flesh sorcery,” I told her. “My magic knows how to do all sorts of interesting things.”
She stared at me a moment, astonished. “Sorcery over flesh? What sort of creature… I’m sorry, sir. It’s not my place to pry. I… may I watch? If I could learn even a little from your magic…”
I smiled. “Of course you can. You can ask questions, too. I may not answer them, but I’ll never be offended by honest curiosity. Now, shall we see how this works?”
We started with an ugly silver scar on her left arm, where the damage from any unexpected side effects would be minimized. I cut it out with one careful sweep of a force blade I’d made just the right size and shape for the job, letting the severed flesh fall into a stone bowl I’d conjured up for that purpose. Then I healed the wound, while Elin watched what I was doing with her own magic. Her power flowed through mine like warm water through a steel mesh, an oddly intimate sensation.
When we were done I checked the bowl, and found that the drop of mercury I’d removed had torn its way free of the lump of dead muscle and was now trying to crawl out of the bowl.
Figuring out a way to dispose of the golem fragments proved a bit tricky, since my force constructs couldn’t hurt them and using fire magic on enchanted mercury sounded like a spectacularly bad idea. I was pretty sure superheated mercury vapor would be fantastically toxic, and I didn’t have any particularly good way to decontaminate a room. I ended up just trapping it in a hollow ball of iron for now.
Elin looked a little pale when I returned my attention to her.
“I have those… things… inside me, sir? How am I even alive?”
“That was my first thought, too,” I told her. “But your body is actually too tough for little bits like that to damage, at least not quickly. I guess that’s a grendelkin attribute?”
She nodded slowly. “I think so. Mercury isn’t cold iron, so I suppose mother’s nature may also be giving me some protection. Undines can live in the depths of the sea, so they’re surprisingly durable.”
We did a few more extractions that first day to confirm that there weren’t going to be any other complications, then stopped until we could figure out how to dispose of the fragments. Elin asked permission to consult with an alchemist in town for that, and I introduced her to Oskar and told him to give her a transport and a detachment of guards whenever she needed to go out. It didn’t escape my notice that the mishap where she was injured might well have been an assassination attempt, and if that was the case there was no sense making it easy to try again.
Black Coven (Daniel Black Book 2) Page 15
