Bookworm

by Christopher Nuttall

  She closed down as much of her awareness as she could as the wild magic focused around her, slipping into the spells she’d designed to hold it. Higher magic could be controlled – once the first spells had been cast – by magic drawn from the wards; wild magic was just as likely to flicker out of existence for no obvious reason. Her own wards had been carefully designed, using theoretical models that had never been tried before they’d been added to the Black Vault’s collection of banned volumes, using a series of twisting wards to try to contain the wild magic. Even looking at it too closely might be dangerous.

  But she could still sense Kane. Her father’s awareness would have encompassed the Blight, even if he’d chosen to try to ignore it. Even without Dread and Daria trying to lure him towards the contaminated part of the city, he would have sensed something of what she was doing. He’d know that she was drawing on wild magic and he would be coming for her. She could feel his presence start to move, great waves of power washing out as he slowly walked through the city. Buildings toppled and people died wherever he cast his gaze. His power thundered through the wards that had once protected the city, causing them to turn in on themselves. Anyone too close to him would be enslaved or have their minds blown out of existence. He’d become a mad god.

  And yet, now she was more attuned to wild magic than anyone else had ever been, she could sense something else. Kane was Kane, but he...wasn’t. Something far older and far darker had infested him, just like he’d infested his cousin. Elaine had wondered how any young mind – and Kane was young, barely old enough to be the father he’d become – could have worked on such a plan for so long. But the puppet-master had been a puppet himself, caught in a web so subtle that he’d never suspected its existence. It had whispered into his mind, fanning the sparks of resentment into a blaze that threatened to bring down the entire world, slowly turning him into a shadow of someone else. As if the awareness was suddenly enough to shatter a barrier she hadn’t even known existed, she sensed an immensely old and powerful entity looking back at her...

  No one had ever found the Witch-King’s body...

  She saw it all in that moment of horrified awareness. The lich – a dead body animated by a mind so powerful that it could never die – waiting for its chance to strike. Over the years, it had sown many seeds into fertile soil. Some had died, some had failed, some had alerted the Inquisition...but none had revealed that the Witch-King was still alive. His power not only kept him alive; it also hid him from all detection. The gods alone knew where he was hiding, his body animated by vast power and endless hate, laying his plans against the Golden City and the line of sorcerers that had defeated him. How far back had he been drawing up the plans to create Kane? Had he influenced Duke Gama into having an affair with Kane’s mother? Or turned Gama’s wife into an icy shrew, preventing him from having children who would have been legitimate? Or...there were too many possibilities. A mind that could plot over centuries, slowly feeding ideas and hints into the minds of its unknowing allies, might be beyond detection. How could anyone tell if a single event was part of a greater plan or nothing more than a coincidence?

  The Witch-King’s insane laughter seemed to echo in her mind. Each fragment of his plan was part of a greater whole, something that twisted events and provided new elements for him to pick up and manipulate. The orphanage had taught Elaine how to knit – it was seen as a valuable skill for a young woman with neither family nor money – and she realised just how well the Witch-King had knitted his plans. Even if pieces of his plan fell apart, he could keep going, knitting elements of his grand strategy back together or twisting it into something new. How could one fight a plan that was so all-encompassing...?

  She started as Kane entered the Blight, his magical field flaring into blinding light as it encountered the wild magic. He was already trying to drain it, she realised, in the hopes of absorbing it into himself. And with the power he was creating...he could perform miracles, like restoring the Witch-King to a living body. There would no longer be any need for the Witch-King to use most of his power on keeping himself alive, keeping his soul firmly anchored in a rotting body. He would walk out upon the land and rebuild his empire, while whatever remained of the Golden City and the Regency Council struggled to recover from the damage Kane had inflicted on them. The Inquisition had been crippled, many of the aristocrats, traders and soldiers who made up the underpinnings of the empire had been killed...dear gods, King Hildebrand would lead Ida into rebellion and he wouldn’t be the only one. The entire empire would come apart at the seams.

  And behind it all, the Witch-King would build up his power once again, until he unleashed the third and final necromantic war.

  The wild magic tore at her mind, threatening to absorb her into itself, but somehow she hung on grimly. There was no point in trying to talk Kane into surrendering, or even helping her to hunt down and destroy the Witch-King. By now, the Witch-King would have so thoroughly riddled his mind with his influence that Kane would literally be unable to comprehend what Elaine was trying to tell him. He’d automatically dismiss everything she said, as if she was merely trying to distract him...and distract him…and distract him...

  She felt his influence reaching out for her and shielded her mind, using a technique that she’d learned from the knowledge crammed into her head. Kane knew it too, of course, but it would take him time to break her down enough to seed part of himself into her mind. And that would open her up to the Witch-King himself. The thought was terrifying, but she pushed it aside ruthlessly. Her entire body was quivering with wild magic as she sucked more and more of it into her cells, risking her entire life. Kane had already started the transformation towards a higher form of life, one composed completely of magic, but she was catching up with him...

  ...And they would both die when the magic ran out.

  Elaine opened her eyes. She was surrounded by people, the ghosts of all of those who had died in the Blight. They were looking at her as if they expected her to save them; perhaps, once the wild magic was gone, they would be free to move on to the next world. Or maybe they’d just flicker out of existence and die. Elaine reached out for them, trying to use her magic to ask them to help her stabilise the power. Some of them, perhaps all of them, helped her to ground herself. She could hear their voices whispering in her mind, but she couldn’t make out the words. They were trying to tell her something important...

  Kane was standing at the edge of the blackened ground. There was nothing remotely human about his form any longer. His entire body was glowing with light, magic flaring through the air only to fall back into a body that seemed to be constantly shifting into something else. Elaine could hear his thoughts pressing against reality, threatening her very life even as they recoiled from the wild magic that had consumed her. High magic, ordered magic, just didn’t go well with wild magic. Any graduate of the Peerless School knew that trying to combine the two was very dangerous. But was Kane too far gone to care?

  Elaine felt her body starting to come apart and knew that she could wait no longer. They were blood relations, even though she would have preferred to think otherwise. She reached out towards her father and their minds touched, just once. Kane’s far stronger mind grasped the magic boiling through Elaine’s body and soul and tried to take it for himself. Most magicians would have fought if they’d felt their magic being stolen, but it would have been the wrong response. Elaine took a breath and thrust all of her magic right at him, gambling that it would be enough to overwhelm him. He hadn’t set up spells to tame and store wild magic...

  Kane screamed as the two types of magic clashed together. Elaine heard – or felt – someone else scream in rage as Kane’s mind shattered under the impact, the magic he’d stored demanding release. It poured through the network of influence that the Witch-King had constructed, bursting out into the minds of those who had listened to his whispers and tried to claim his power. Elaine had a sense – a very brief sense – that it might have killed the Witch-King h
imself, but he was a lich. A lich could be very hard to kill.

  There was a brief moment of relief as Kane’s magic field flickered and died, followed by a grim awareness that the wild magic was now free to burn through her mind. The ground came up to slam into her face and Elaine felt darkness enveloping her...

  ...And someone was whispering to her in the darkness. “We’re free,” the voice said. It was one voice that seemed to be hundreds of voices, all blended together. “And we thank you...”

  And then there was nothing.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Elaine slowly came back to herself, climbing out of a darkness that had threatened to overwhelm her mind. She had an odd sense of déjà vu as she opened her eyes, realising that she was in a hospital bed. A pair of druids were bending over her, one pulling a wand away from her forehead. The other passed her a thin tube and inserted it into her mouth. Elaine sipped it gratefully, and then tried to sit up. They held her down gently and held up a mirror in front of her face. Her brown eyes were gone, replaced by two fiery red orbs that seemed almost demonic. Elaine recoiled in shock. How could anyone look at her any longer?

  “Wild magic always extracts a price,” the druid said. It was no surprise that she recognised him. “Compared to some of the others, you were lucky. Very lucky.”

  Elaine sorted through her memories until she remembered what had happened. “The Blight?”

  “Gone, it seems,” the druid said. “You’re going to be a very rich young lady, once the Council gets back together and pays you what they promised. And they probably owe you one hell of a reward for saving the Golden City, perhaps the entire world.”

  He smiled. “But rest for the moment,” he said. “There are a great many people who want to talk to you, I’m afraid.”

  ***

  The next time Elaine opened her eyes, she saw Lady Light Spinner standing beside her bed, looking down at her from behind the veil. Elaine had lost track of what had happened to her after Kane had lashed out at both her and Mentor, but she’d clearly survived...and prospered. The robes she wore were those of the Grand Sorcerer, granted to her by default. She’d been the only one of the original contestants to remain in the contest and survive.

  “You won,” she said, through a mouth that felt as if she’d been slapped a dozen times. Her entire body felt numb. “Congratulations.”

  “Thanks to you,” Lady Light Spinner said. She sounded oddly amused. “You saved my life.”

  We all make mistakes, Elaine thought, before realising that maybe it hadn’t been a mistake. Even if Lady Light Spinner had been as bad as Millicent, she wouldn’t have been insane – and besides, her warped body would keep her in check. And the Witch-King...it was impossible to tell if he was still alive, if one could call a lich alive in the first place. He might have been destroyed in the final backwash of wild magic.

  “You’re welcome,” she said, finally. “How is the city?”

  “Nine thousand dead, including many of the senior wizards,” the Lady said, flatly. Elaine blanched. Apart from the Second Necromantic War, there had never been so many deaths among the magical community. The whole system for selecting and upholding a Grand Sorcerer was designed to prevent magical fratricide. “About a hundred Inquisitors were killed as well, most of them trying to stop Kane before it was too late.”

  She hesitated. “Your friend Dread survived, somehow,” she added. “The druids finally managed to stun him and work on healing the damage he took while he was unconscious. I don’t think he was too happy.”

  Elaine had to smile. That sounded like Dread.

  “But overall it will take years to recover from what Kane did to us,” Lady Light Spinner added, grimly. “We’ve already had to put off dealing with Ida until we’ve managed to sort out the wreckage Kane left in his wake. Far too many other monarchs are wondering if they can declare independence while the Empire is crippled.”

  She shook her head. “But that wasn’t what I came in here to talk about,” she said, changing the subject. “There have been a great many discussions recently.”

  “Concerning me,” Elaine said. She’d expected as much. Her relationship to Kane might not have come out, although Daria or another werewolf might have realised the truth, but everyone had just had a harsh lesson in the dangers of forbidden knowledge being used. Those who didn’t know that the Witch-King was still alive – which was almost everyone – would wonder if Elaine would go the same way. They would want to condemn her on the grounds that it would be better safe than sorry. “When will I be executed?”

  “Some of the remaining senior wizards voted to kill you,” Lady Light Spinner said, dryly. “But I am Grand Sorceress and I had the deciding vote. We...agreed to offer you a compromise, as we owed you our lives. Killing you might rebound upon us in some subtle way.”

  Elaine shrugged. Magic’s laws were not – had never been – as well understood as the physical science that powered the iron dragons. Breaking an oath could be disastrous, as could striking down someone to whom you owed a debt. It was commonly believed that the gods arbitrated such actions, but no one knew for sure. The information on the gods that had been shifted into Elaine’s head was more questions than answers. Even glancing at some of the titles was considered blasphemy by most of the major religions.

  “The Great Library needs a Head Librarian,” Lady Light Spinner said. “That person will have to be bound to the Library’s service, someone who won’t mind spending the rest of their life within the Library. Miss Prim, I’m told, was something of a special case.”

  She leaned forward. “Would you consider taking up the position?”

  Elaine hesitated. It was what she had once wanted, a responsible position working with books, including ones that only existed in the Great Library itself. And no one could accuse her of secretly opening the Black Vault when all the knowledge inside the vault was already in her head. She could happily walk into the Great Library and let the rest of the world pass her by.

  And yet her life had expanded after Duke Gama’s spell had changed her. She wanted to spend time with Daria, chasing boys; she wanted to be involved with Dread and the other Inquisitors as they tried to track down and destroy the Witch-King. It was something she would have shied away from before the accident. Did she really want to accept the oaths and obligations that came with being the Great Librarian?

  She rubbed her eyes. Was she imagining it, or were her eyes burning?

  “The other option is probably having you restrained in some way,” Lady Light Spinner admitted, carefully. “I don’t want to have to turn on you, but...”

  “I understand,” Elaine said. It wasn’t her fault. If she’d become Grand Sorcerer after so much destruction, Elaine would have wanted to clamp down on any other possible sources of disruption in the Golden City. Forbidden knowledge had been forbidden for a reason. “How long do I have to think about it?”

  “Several days, at least,” Lady Light Spinner said. “The Great Library didn’t get destroyed in the battle, but there was enough damage to the surrounding buildings to make it difficult to get inside. After that...”

  She smiled. “Take some time to think about it,” she added, “but don’t try to kill yourself. It is possible to live after being warped.”

  It took Elaine a moment to realise what she was talking about. Red eyes, even ones that looked like hot coals, were nothing compared to what had been inflicted on the veiled woman in front of her. Of course Lady Light Spinner would have considered suicide when she realised that no power in the universe could change her back into a normal person. Her bloodline was as illustrious as any other, but that wouldn’t have saved her if High Society had realised what had happened to her body. Even a Grand Sorcerer might not be able to remain in office if everyone knew that she had been warped.

  “Thank you,” Elaine said. She hesitated before asking the next question. “How is Millicent?”

  “Shocked,” Lady Light Spinner said, shortly. No one would be able t
o face compulsion on such a scale and escape unscathed. A taste of what it felt like to be a slave would be good for Millicent, Elaine decided, even though she would probably blot most of it from her mind. The human memory didn’t like to remember pain. “She’ll be fine. She grew up a great deal in the last few days.”

  Elaine shrugged. Millicent didn’t seem to matter anymore. Maybe she too had grown up over the past few days.

  ***

  Elaine was amused to discover, when entering the private room that had been set aside for Inquisitor Dread, that Princess Sacharissa had taken over his care. She’d organised him into eating properly, relaxing as much as he could and trying to forget about what had happened to the city. The glamour that normally made Dread’s face unrecognisable seemed to have faded slightly, revealing a face that was almost a frozen mask. Even when he smiled, he still seemed to have a face of stone.

  “I understand that we owe you everything,” Dread said, without preamble. Elaine took it in her stride. With so many Inquisitors dead, Dread had to feel that he should be out on the streets with the remainder of his fellows. How many Inquisitors were even left alive? “And that you’re a hero.”

  “They should have made you Grand Sorceress,” Princess Sacharissa said, from where she was sitting beside Dread. “You saved the entire world.”

  Elaine shook her head, numbly. Her magic seemed to have been...tainted somehow, perhaps by the moment wild magic had bypassed her defences and struck directly at her soul. Red eyes could be the merest sign of a corruption that had spread through her body. It still seemed to be ready for her to call upon when necessary, but now it rolled and seethed inside her mind. Who knew what would happen when she tried to work her next magic spell?

  “I trust that you will assume the position the Grand Sorceress suggested,” Dread said, gruffly. “You would be automatically considered one of the senior wizards, one of the people who could serve on the Regency Council. You’d do better at that position than many of the ones who died in the fighting.”