Our next stop was in the open area, near the stairs leading to the alchemist's tower, where the indoor well was located. I thought we were going to climb the stairs, but instead we went to the well.
"Here—touch here." Lilloh stabbed a finger on a dark spot marring the well's rim.
"No! I have had enough of this. I'm returning to my rooms." Before I could make a move to leave, Lilloh seized my hand and pressed it on the dark spot.
A sharp jolt of energy shot through my arm at the speed of a lightning bolt.
"Aaaah!" I shouted and jumped back in shock. I rubbed my arm, trying to chase away the tingling sensation left behind by the jolt. "What was that?"
Khuan indicated the dark spot. "We found this Point of Power several weeks ago."
"What! If you knew it was here, why did you waste my time by dragging me all over the place?"
Khuan sighed. "We had to make sure that you were truly able to sense magic. For this, we had to test you on empty points first. Some people try too hard and will often declare sensing something where there is nothing."
Lilloh snickered sarcastically. "He tries too little, I say."
"Woman, your remarks and persistence aggravate me," I said as I approached the well. I was still a few steps away from its edge when the tingling reappeared in my extremities. "You call this a Point of Power?"
"Yes—" a feminine voice blew near my ear. I flinched; Lilloh had once again sneaked up on me. I sensed her body pressing against mine. Then I felt her breath warming my ear. "When point gets strong . . . bad things happen to princess."
I swallowed hard. "It's strong now."
"Very strong."
I cringed, wishing she had not agreed. I backed away from the well and from Lilloh's disturbing closeness, and looked up at the stairs. This was the path to Isabo's room. For a moment, I debated if I should share my knowledge of her potion-making with them. Yes, I decided, and told them all I knew. Khuan listened with great interest.
"See, if it wasn't for the digitalis, I would almost be tempted to believe that she's innocent. But poison is poison no matter how I put it."
"Di-gi-ta-lis?" Khuan frowned. "Describe the plant to me."
I did.
"AH—chi'gotank!" they both exclaimed simultaneously.
"You know this plant?"
"Yes. A powerful heart remedy."
"It's poison!"
"Most medicine if given in too large a dose can be poisonous. Some far more than others. Chi'gotank, or digitalis as you call it, belongs to these and has very strict usage rules. Two drops you live, three you die, that's the rule."
"Two drops . . . that's exactly what goes in the queen's tonic. So Isabo wasn't poisoning anyone after all. Well, that complicates things. Because now I have absolutely no suspects." I looked at Khuan. He appeared to be lost in his thoughts. Apparently, they were of an unpleasant nature because his forehead and brow were deeply furrowed. With his hands joined behind his back, he began pacing around while mumbling in his native tongue.
"He thinks hard now," Lilloh commented. "Men have harder time thinking than women."
"Pardon!" I said in a vexed tone.
Lilloh produced a half-pout, half-smirk smile. "Khuan," she called. "We have suspect. The student innocent . . . but teacher—the teacher can be guilty."
"Yes!" he said, coming to a sudden halt. "That could be the solution."
Well, now I was lost. And by the dazed look on Milo's face, so was he. "What are you talking about? What teacher?"
Lilloh pressed herself against me and in a purring voice said, "The teacher of potions."
"Yes! That's it!" I exclaimed! Putting some space between me and Lilloh—the woman was again too close to me for my taste—I pondered over this new development. I came to a quick decision. We should search for the person who taught Isabo how to make those elaborate remedies. I figured she might have an accomplice. Why didn't I think of it before? It annoyed me that I had not thought of it, but it annoyed me even more that it was Lilloh who had figured it out first. It was then that a sudden and rather disquieting realization dawned on me.
From the beginning, I had assumed that Khuan was the smarter of the two. Now, I thought that maybe he was just the most reasonable one, and that made Lilloh . . . well, far more dangerous than she already was, which was a lot. However, there was one detail she failed to mention. I folded my arms and asked. "And how are we going to find that teacher?"
"We could ask Isabo," suggested Milo.
Khuan shook his head. "We tried seeing her after she was arrested but were denied access to her cell."
"Unfortunately, I don't see who else could help us besides her."
The pair exchanged glances, and although their eyes only made contact for the space of a few breaths, I had the feeling that they had had a long conversation. Those two shared a strong bond. They possessed a complicity only achieved through years of companionship.
Khuan hugged himself and stayed in that position for a long period. Then his arms fell to his sides and, as if it pained him to do so, he said in a grim voice, "There is someone else that might be able to help us . . . or at the very least answer some of our questions."
"Who?" I asked.
"The ghoul."
Chapter Nineteen
From the couch of my receiving room, I watched the sun go down with growing apprehension. After Khuan, Lilloh, and I had made the decision to go looking for the castle's ghoul, it was also decided that nighttime would be best to conduct this affair. According to Khuan, ghouls were notoriously shy during the day and tended to hide.
Milo approached the couch. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"
"I thought you wanted me to chase monsters," I replied with humor.
"I'm not questioning that part, my lord. I meant going out at night with those two. I don't mind Sir Khuan. The woman . . . that's a different story. You've seen how many weapons she carries. Worse, one cannot tell she has that many on herself."
"True. She conceals them rather well." I watched Milo fidget beside the couch. Obviously, something else was on his mind. "Speak."
"Hm . . . I was thinking that maybe we too should carry concealed weapons of our own . . . just in case."
"Forget it, Milo. I'm not giving you a sword. You'll be in more danger carrying one than without. Think of what would happen to you if you get caught with a sword."
Milo's shoulder sagged and his chin lowered to his chest. "Yes, my lord," he said in a disheartened voice.
I sighed, feeling sorry for Milo. "Listen. If it were my choice, I would gladly give you a sword. You're more useful to me with one. But I cannot take that risk here, though. Don't worry, Milo, you will carry a sword again, I promise."
Milo nodded. Yet I could tell by his long face that he placed little faith in my promise. Maybe it was for the best. I shouldn't have made that promise in the first place, because I had no way of keeping it, and it wasn't fair to him.
Three sharp knocks sounded at the door.
"They're here," I said, pulling myself to my feet.
Grabbing our coats, Milo and I hurried to join the pair in the corridor. Both wore pointy fur-rimmed hats, heavy leather capes, and fur boots.
"Where shall we go first?" I asked Khuan.
Baring an enigmatic expression, he answered, "I don't know, you decide."
"I thought you knew where the ghoul was?"
"I know where it is. But I want to see if you can find the ghoul."
"Me?"
Khuan nodded. "For all we know, you may have both gifts. I think we should verify if that is the case."
I shrugged. "Fine."
As I had been assigned the chore of searching for the ghoul, I took the lead. In my opinion, this exercise was meaningless. First, everybody knew that ghouls roamed cemeteries—as they fed on corpses—no need being a shal-galt or a seeker to figure that out. Second, how could we trust a ghoul to give us reliable information? Those were vile, deceitful creatures. Frankly, I wouldn't be
lieve a word coming out of a ghoul's foul mouth.
As we made our way through the castle's corridors, an upsetting detail floated to the top of my mind. I stopped and glared at the pair, and said in an accusing tone, "Lars! Lars was dead. And you . . . you beat him back to life. What sorcery was that?" Uneasy, I distanced myself from them.
In a soft, calm voice, Khuan began explaining the technique he had used to revive Lars. The whole process consisted of emptying his lungs of fluid then filling them with air, while pounding on his chest to awaken his heart.
"And that works?" I said, skeptic. This technique sounded complicated and, to be perfectly honest, far fetched, yet plausible too . . . in a bizarre way.
"Perfectly!" said Khuan. "I'm surprised that no one here knows about this ancient technique."
"Pf . . . " sneered Lilloh. "And they say we savages."
I smiled. "And they call us savages, you should say."
Lilloh became very serious.
Mmm, that was a mistake. I bowed to her. "I apologize, Emissary Lilloh. I shouldn't have corrected you."
Lilloh grinned, and then she gripped her throat with both hands as if she wanted to strangle herself. That wasn't the reaction I had expected from my apology. "Er . . . I don't understand that."
"Lars," she said, "Lars . . . green grass . . . squeeze throat. I ripped off . . . help breathe."
I scratched my head. "Green grass? Oh—algae! There were algae wrapped around his neck."
"Yes. Yes. Long, long . . . like." Lilloh grabbed a handful of her long, silky black hair. "Long," she repeated.
"Yes," I said, "like long hair." I remembered seeing something like that when I was underwater; it was tangled around a fish—and here I thought I had seen a hairy fish. Apparently these algae were wrapped around Lars's neck too. I could comprehend that ripping these green strings from Lars's neck could help him breathe. That made perfect sense to me . . . certainly more than Khuan's story about that old technique he told us earlier. What a fable that was.
Now that my question had been answered, and this matter had been settled, we continued our search. When we reached the courtyard door, I stopped at the guards' station located at its entrance to borrow four torches. Then we set out from the castle.
The sky was clear, the moon and stars shone brightly, the air painfully icy and dry. It stung my cheeks and made breathing as painful as if I had glass shards in my lungs.
Covering my mouth and nose with my glove, to warm the air entering my nostrils, I stopped a moment to orient myself. Then with the snow squeaking under my boots, I walked toward the cemetery. The others followed without question. In no time, we had reached the edge of the cemetery. I stopped and scanned the area. There was nothing here but dark shadows, snow, and tombstones. Still, I decided to inspect every alley regardless.
After having zigzagged across the entire cemetery, I came to the conclusion that there was no ghoul here. If this was another stupid test, where I wasn't supposed to feel anything, I would not take it lightly. We were wasting too much time, far too much, and it was freezing cold outside.
As I turned to ask Khuan about that, a cold shiver ran along my spine that I knew had nothing to do with the ambient temperature. No. This icy sensation on my skin was caused by the sudden eerie feeling that something abnormal was nearby, a presence, and a very peculiar one at that. I had felt it once before, today actually, at the queen's funeral. To my surprise, it didn't emanate from the cemetery or any of its crypts, but seemed to be coming from the castle itself.
Raising my torch, I slowly advanced in that direction. Immediately, the feeling of having cold fingers dancing along my spine intensified. I hurried to the castle and began following its dark stone wall. Within moments, goose bumps covered my entire body. I was near, very near. Just then I saw what I was looking for, the door of a cold cellar dug in the ground nearby the castle's foundation.
Placing a foot on the door, I sensed something unpleasant beyond it. The feeling was so repulsive that it brought to mind the image of maggots feasting on a corpse. I shuddered and turned to Khuan. "The ghoul is in there, isn't it?"
He and Lilloh exchanged forlorn looks. Nodding, Khuan let out a heavy sigh. "So you are doubly cursed." His voice sounded too chagrined for my taste.
"Do you care to explain why you're so saddened by this?"
"It's difficult enough to live a normal life with one gift, to do so with two is nearly impossible. People possessing both sights, especially untrained ones, have difficulty coping with the many visions their gifts impose on them. Many choose to end their lives, or go mad. Being doubly gifted is generally a family curse, one that is passed along through generations. Often in those families more than one person at a time are affected by it."
My thoughts turned to Jafer. "A few of my brothers were mad. Thinking about it now, some might have had that double curse too. At least one did, of that I'm certain."
"You are—rarity," Lilloh said.
I frowned.
Khuan smiled. "Doubly gifted individuals are not that rare. However, untrained ones who remain sane, at your age, and with your level of sensitivity are almost never seen. If you wish, I would gladly share some of my knowledge—"
I raised my hand, stopping him. "No. I appreciate the offer, but I'm not interested." The last thing I needed was to be trained to seek ghosts and demons with more efficiency. In my opinion, the sooner I would forget about this, the better it would be. I didn't care much for the looks they were giving me either, like I was some exotic creature brought in for study.
Kneeling down, I grabbed the cellar latch and opened the door. A stench of death and decay hit me right in the face. Staggering backward, it took me a moment to regain my composure and move in.
Torches in hand, Milo and I were first to descend the couple steps leading into the cellar. A long, narrow space with a dirt floor and a low ceiling, the cellar stunk of cabbage and vinegar. It was more spacious than I thought and also darker than I liked. Fortunately the darkness didn't last. Because when Lilloh and Khuan joined us, adding their torches to ours, the entire place lit up. The first things I saw were the corpses of the guards and servants killed by the bears. They were all lined up on the floor ahead of us. Then I saw the ghoul at the end of the line.
Crouched over the body of a guard, the creature was too busy gorging itself on the putrefied flesh to notice our presence. The ghoul, I observed, had a basic human form, but there ended the resemblance. This foul apparition was covered with scars, boils, and sores. Even its bald head was a raw mass of oozing sores and red-crusted wounds . . . unless they're leftovers from previous feasts. Utterly disgusted, I brandished my torch toward the ghoul. "Stop, vile monster!"
Stupefied to have been caught in the act of gnawing on a body, the ghoul raised bloody clawed hands, shielding his narrow red eyes, and hissed aggressively at us.
His face wasn't as I had expected. Beastly was how I had imagined it would be. But instead it was, to my dismay, like the face of an old man, wrinkled, twisted, and nearly toothless. Quite frankly, I found it far more disturbing than if it had been beastly looking.
Pulling to my side, Milo lowered his torch toward the creature. The ghoul shrieked, exposing a mouth dripping with blood and smeared with half-chewed chunks of maggot-infested flesh.
"OH—ghastly!" Milo exclaimed just before he bent over and emptied his stomach at my feet. "Pardon me, my lord," he said, rising. "I . . . I couldn't . . . "
"Shhh!" I hushed, moving forward.
The ghoul growled and hissed in a threatening manner. Yet it failed to frighten or intimidate me. By the way the ghoul's narrow eyes were anxiously darting around in search of a way out, it was evident that the ghoul was more scared than anything else. Suddenly, the creature's eyes settled on a point behind me. The ghoul's physiognomy changed. From scared it became terrified. Curling up in the corner of the cellar, the ghoul began whimpering like a beaten dog. I peeked over my shoulder to see what could cause such a reaction in the
ghoul: Lilloh. She was slapping the flat side of a short blade in the palm of her hand, muted plop, plop, plop sounds accompanied the gestures.
"Good! It remembers me," she said with a proud smirk.
"You've met this creature before?"
Khuan nodded.
"I don't understand. If you've questioned it already, why are we here?"
"Then we thought the ghoul guilty of these crimes. We didn't know as much as now. We didn't ask the right questions. Evil does not volunteer information. One must be clever and precise in his questioning to get the right answers."
"I'll ask." Lilloh advanced toward the ghoul.
The creature reacted by letting out a bloodcurdling shriek and clawing the air in desperation. I must admit that, for the space of a heartbeat, I felt some pity for the screaming ghoul.
Covering my ears, I turned to Khuan. "There must be a better way of dealing with this horrid being."
Khuan aimed patient eyes at me, and I was glad to see that his wise gaze harbored no cruelty whatsoever, only a hint of concern. "This is the proper way, Amir," said Khuan. "Sadly, ghouls need incentives to cooperate; otherwise it would lie to us. Pain, or the fear of pain, is usually what works best."
"Call her back then. This ghoul is clearly ready to talk."
After giving a nod in my direction, Khuan spoke briefly to Lilloh in his native tongue. She cast him a dark resentful look, and then her somber stare switched to me. With her full lips pushed forward in a sign of disapproval, she shook her head. "Too much kindness . . . bad! Can hurt you. Evil does best work through kind people."
"I agree with her, my lord," Milo snorted. "Let her beat that creature. Better yet, let me do it."
Lilloh bowed to Milo, and before I could tell the young eunuch to quiet down, Khuan squeezed my elbow. "Do not reprimand your valet in front of this creature," he whispered. "When confronting evil, even an entity as weak as a ghoul, always, and I mean always, show a united front."
The King's Daughters Page 21
