Binding Spell (Tales of the Latter Kingdoms)

by Pope, Christine

  I supposed I should count myself lucky that he had not detected my magical abilities, but I had been careful, and his dubious energies had so far been directed elsewhere. His opinion of me was, I thought, quite low, as he seemed to consider me a shallow, empty-headed chit jealous of the time he spent with Kadar. As that opinion suited me at the moment, I had done nothing to alter it. If Maldis thought me a silly young woman not worthy of his attention, then he would continue to ignore me, a situation I thought could only be for the best.

  “I know, Beranne,” I said, and set down Tresi, as she had begun to wriggle so much I knew she was getting fine grey dog hair all over the bodice of my green gown. I brushed ineffectually at the fabric before adding, “It is just — something of some importance occurred to me, and I wanted to speak to him in private. And now I fear it will be too late before I have the chance to see him alone again.”

  Beranne somehow managed to appear both sympathetic and puzzled at the same time, no small feat. She said, “Ah, well, we will have to hope that it is not as you feared, and that there will still be time. Not that I don’t blame you for not wanting to speak in front of that — ” And she broke off abruptly, as if suddenly realizing she should not be speaking of her betters in such a manner.

  Of course I cared nothing for such niceties. Indeed, it heartened me a little to realize she had very little use for Maldis of Purth as well. “What is it, Beranne? Do not feel as if you must guard your tongue in front of me.”

  Her lips pursed and she glanced over her shoulder, almost as if she expected to see someone looking in on our conversation, even though the door was shut and the heavy draperies pulled closed as well, to ward off as many drafts as possible. “Well, although I know it is not proper to say such things, when the man is now right hand to the Mark, I cannot help but think he is a very poor sort of person. I’ve heard things…”

  “What?” I asked eagerly. Had Maldis slipped up somehow? To be sure, it must be difficult to hide such foul acts as he was committing to feed his own counterfeit magical abilities. Hope grew in me as I thought perhaps I could gather some proof to give Kadar that his counselor was perpetrating vile deeds within the boundaries of his capital city.

  Her mouth pursed in disapproval. “Not that I’ve seen anything myself, my lady, but several of the maids have whispered that he seems to consider them fair game. The pretty ones, of course, have complained the most about his roving hands. But it doesn’t seem to have gone much beyond that, thank goodness. I wouldn’t want to be the one to bring that to his lordship’s attention!”

  This intelligence took me aback. Of all the perfidy I had been expecting, groping the maids seemed a very commonplace evil. Not that this excused it, of course, but such a thing went on far too often in the great households, or so I had heard.

  Still, it was something. And better I should go to Kadar with this concern, rather than wild accusations of Maldis being a worker of dark magic. “I shall speak to his lordship of it.”

  “Oh, no, my lady!” Beranne said at once. “I do not think that is wise.”

  “Whyever not?”

  “Because it’s the ones who complain who end up being dismissed,” she said frankly. “Perhaps you have no experience of such things, but maids are easy enough to come by, and if one or even two should prove difficult, well, it’s a simple thing to replace them. You would not wish to bring such a hardship upon them, with winter here and no way of knowing whether they could find another position?”

  Of course I had not thought of that. Back home we had a girl come in to do the heavy scrubbing twice a week, and of course there were the seasonal workers who arrived for the harvest as regularly as the equinox itself, but we had no one who lived with us in our employ. Too chancy, with two workers of magic in the household. But because of this I did not really know how such things were ordered in the great houses. I had not thought that trying to protect those women might in fact lead to them being cast out.

  “Perhaps if I speak to Althan instead?” I suggested. “Not anything too direct, but only a suggestion that the plainer girls wait on Maldis. They have had no problems, have they?”

  Beranne shook her head. “Not that I have heard, my lady. Fancies himself an authority on ‘the female form,’ or so Narenna told me when she came to me about her problems with Maldis. Ill-favored sort that he is, I’m sure he’s trying to take advantage of his position here, for surely no woman would go to him purely for his looks.”

  Her vehemence surprised me, for although I certainly had the lowest opinion possible of Maldis, I thought there were many men who, feature for feature, were far uglier than the dark mage. My first impression of him was that he was merely ordinary in appearance, although now of course I found it hard to be objective.

  “I think you are right,” I said. “All the more reason for me to speak to Althan as soon as possible. Could you let him know that I wish to talk to him, and have him come here at his earliest convenience?”

  “Of course, my lady.” Beranne did not try to hide the relief that swept over her face as she bobbed a curtsey and went out, moving in greater haste than was usual for her.

  I wouldn’t say I was exactly relieved myself, although in an odd way it felt good for me to focus on something else besides what Kadar and Maldis might or might not have planned for either of the parties involved in that upcoming state wedding. My feelings told me that it was most likely the princess who would be their target, and not Emperor Torric. Not that I doubted Maldis’ — or Kadar’s — ambitions, no, far from it. However, my father had informed me once that the Imperial palace in Iselfex still bore powerful wards and sigils left over from the days of magic, spells buried in the very stones themselves to provide protection for the Emperor and indeed all who dwelt within those walls. It would have to be a very powerful sorcerer indeed who could pierce those defenses.

  As I waited for Althan, I thought on what Beranne had just told me. I did not know exactly why I should be surprised that Maldis would have a venial side such as this. After all, users of magic were not like the monks of far-off Damarkeen, who swore an oath at the age of ten to have no dealings with women ever after. My father had a family, of course. Even Ulias had loved once, and fathered a child…a child whose blood had come down to me all these hundreds of years later. No, Maldis had sworn no oath of celibacy in order to practice his powers, and I supposed it should be no great surprise that he would be as lacking in scruples in his dealings with women as he was in all other things.

  I realized then that my hasty search for Kadar earlier had made me quite thirsty, so I crossed the room to the table where Beranne made sure a pitcher of well water always sat. No sooner had I poured a measure into an earthenware goblet, however, than a knock sounded at the door, followed by Althan’s voice.

  “My lady?”

  “Do come in, Althan,” I called out, and he entered, expression polite as always, but with a certain lift to the brows that seemed to indicate his puzzlement at being summoned in such a way.

  It was true that I tried not to call on the steward any more than I absolutely had to, as I knew his day was full enough without me making further demands on his time. He had had the management of the household for many years. I was new to all of this, and so would not presume to tell him how he should run things.

  He bowed slightly. “Beranne said you wished to speak with me.”

  “Yes, I did.” I hesitated then, not knowing the best way to phrase my request. But Althan, being who he was, would know what I meant as soon as I said the words, even if I tried to couch them in innocuous terms. “Unfortunately, it has come to my attention that certain of the maids are being…approached…by Maldis of Purth in ways that make them uncomfortable. While it is true that the Mark has made Maldis a member of his staff, and therefore a part of this household as well, I do not think that gives the councilor the right to make our maids’ jobs more difficult for them. It appears it is the pretty girls who are most at risk, so I believe if you set
the plainer and older maids to these duties — ”

  “ — Then they should not be molested,” Althan finished for me.

  In truth, I had not expected him to speak so frankly, but I was glad to hear him do so. He, too, appeared to have taken Maldis’ measure, and found it wanting. So why, then, was it so difficult for Kadar to do the same?

  Because Maldis is promising Kadar something he wants. We are often blind when we desire something so very badly.

  Sometimes I wished that inner voice would not be so bald in its assertions, even when I knew it was right.

  Clearing my throat, I told Althan, “Yes, that is my hope. Thank you for understanding.”

  He bowed again. “Thank you, my lady.”

  “‘Thank you’?” I repeated. “For what?”

  “For taking an interest in the household, for being concerned enough that you would wish to protect even a maid.”

  “They are all members of this household, and so they should feel safe as they go about their duties, should they not?”

  “Yes, my lady, but…”

  “But?”

  For a second or two the mask of politeness slipped a little, and I saw something of the proud man beneath. “It is not my experience that those with a rank such as yourself would concern themselves with such things.”

  I couldn’t help letting out a weary laugh. “Well, Althan, perhaps you are right about that, since you probably have far more knowledge of such things than I. However, since I was not raised to be a great lady, no one ever told me it was not my place to worry about matters such as this.”

  “But that is where you are wrong, my lady.”

  I lifted an eyebrow.

  “All I mean to say is that you may not have been instructed in such things, but you are a great lady. I will see to this immediately.”

  He gave a final bow, then turned and left while I looked after him, dumbfounded. I had been called a number of things in my life, but certainly “great lady” was not one of them.

  Despite everything, I couldn’t help smiling a little as I turned to my neglected goblet of water and lifted it to my lips. Although of course they could do little to help me prevail against Maldis, it still cheered me to think I had allies in the household, that they counted me as one of them, and not some foreign interloper.

  Out of nowhere, a wave of black power washed over me. The water I had just swallowed seemed to lodge in my throat, and I fell to my knees, choking and coughing. At once Tresi came running over to me, whining, even as she nudged me with her nose.

  “I’m…all…right,” I gasped, trying to pull some air into my brutally constricted throat. All around me the atmosphere felt noisome and dank, heavy as if I crouched in some fetid swamp, and not in the comfortable chambers Kadar and I shared. Wheezing, I could only remain hunched over, palms flat on the floor, as I forced myself to breathe, to recall the exercises Ulias had taught me.

  For I knew this was no spell of his. The times I had felt his magic, even when it frightened me with its immense power, I had not experienced this sensation of evil, this cloying, heavy darkness that seemed to cling to me like the fumes from one of the factories in Iselfex, where I had heard the very air was poisoned by the smoke that belched from their chimneys. No, this could have only come from one person.

  Maldis.

  Somehow I managed to drag myself to my feet, poor Tresi still hunched in a little grey ball on the rug, her ears flat and her breathing coming shallow and fast. How she felt it, I did not know, but I supposed that animals had their own special senses when it came to danger.

  Clutching the edge of the table for support, I closed my eyes and forced myself past the black cloud that surrounded me, made myself recall the exercises Ulias had taught me. I would be a poor Protector indeed if I could only manage these spells when I was calm and unmolested, and not under duress.

  Unlike Ulias’ spells, which always seemed to shine in my mind like pure, molten silver, Maldis’ evil magic glowed dull red, like old blood. I could barely see it with that strange inward eye, only enough to sense that it somehow stretched out and away from the castle, moving almost due east.

  Due east…

  Toward Farendon, and, I supposed, the king’s unsuspecting daughter.

  My own breath coming in great gasps, I saw in my mind then a pale, pretty girl a few years younger than I, with wide dark eyes and soft, fawn-colored curls. And I saw her descending a staircase of dark green marble, polished, gleaming. And her foot slipped, and she fell, tumbling, as voices cried out around her, and she rolled, over and over, petticoats showing like white foam beneath her blue skirts, until at last she came to rest on a landing, neck at an angle that told anyone watching that it was broken. Those dark eyes stared, glassy and blank, at the ceiling, even as her poor broken body was surrounding by a crowd of wailing attendants.

  Choking back tears, my breath strangling in my throat, I tried to follow the darkly gleaming trail of magic back to its black source. Almost before I began I felt cold start to wash around me, as if Maldis had thrown out his own nets to catch whoever dared to track down the person who had cast that foul spell.

  And then Ulias’ voice in my mind. Stop now, Lark! Before he discovers you!

  My eyes fluttered open at once. Almost like snipping an embroidery thread, I cut off the part of my mind that had been following Maldis’ magic. It hurt, as if I had ripped away a piece of my own flesh, but I knew better than to ignore Ulias’ warning. Thank God he had been able to reach me.

  And the black tide of magic flowed away, disappearing to whence it had come. Tresi’s breathing quieted, but she looked up at me, dark kohl-circled eyes worried.

  I knelt beside her, buried my ice-cold fingers in her warm, thick fur. Her presence reassured me a little, although I knew it had been a close call.

  That was not the worst of it, though. I knew now what evil Maldis had just carried out.

  The only thing I didn’t know was whether my husband had anything to do with it.

  * * *

  When Kadar came to escort me down to dinner, I had more or less recovered my composure — mostly because I knew I had little choice but to maintain as calm an appearance as possible. Maldis could have guessed everything, or nothing. I would not give him any additional ammunition. And although I had tried to reach Ulias, stretching my thoughts out to where he waited in his cellar prison, he did not reply. This did not improve my mood, even though I tried to tell myself that he was only staying quiet so there would be no risk of Maldis learning of our secret communications.

  The Mark looked even grimmer than I felt, his mouth tight and his jaw set. He answered my half-hearted questions about his day with short, noncommittal answers, and said only, “Let us go.”

  I nodded meekly, knowing better than to spar with him when he was in such a mood. As we descended to the dining hall, I could not help wondering if his current black state was because Maldis’ evil spell had succeeded, and the Mark was now having second thoughts.

  There was no way to ask, of course. And I was not sure what to think when I saw Maldis seated already in his customary place at the high table, although he did rise with the rest of the company as Kadar and I mounted the dais and took our regular seats.

  There was also no way for me to scrutinize the dark mage for any signs of weariness, to discover if his spell-casting had taken its toll as such things usually did on me. At least there was little chance of Maldis misbehaving here, in front of the company; he was seated between Baron Trennhelm on one side and the mayor of Tarenmar on the other, and as neither of them were the sort to awake lecherous thoughts, I thought little harm would come from his presence. Indeed, better that we should sit at the same table. At least that way I could keep an eye on him.

  I also noted that the prettier of the serving girls had been assigned to the other tables, and I murmured a silent thanks to Althan for implementing my recommendations so speedily. Again, not that Maldis probably would have done much in sight of e
veryone present, but better that they should not even come close enough to invite his interest.

  We ate in silence for the most part, although Kadar did engage in a lengthy conversation with Lord Niel on his left, something about planning a hunting expedition for the next day if the weather cleared enough. I did not much care for the idea of Kadar venturing forth on such an outing, especially since I guessed Maldis probably would not accompany the group, not being much of one for exercise. However, because of the anger I sensed running just under the surface of Kadar’s brittle good humor, I guessed that protesting the expedition would only serve to irritate him further.

  No, I would just have to thank my stars that at least Maldis generally stayed far away from any of my haunts in the castle, so it would be easy enough to avoid him. Even so, I found myself praying that the storms would return on the morrow, and that bad weather would keep the men inside. Kadar would grumble and fuss, but I found as time went on that I didn’t mind so much.

  And even as I sat there, mind thrumming with the aftereffects of that hideous spell, I found myself trying to make sense of it, to come up with some way to absolve Kadar, to tell myself he must be innocent of this, that he would never stoop to the murder of an innocent. Foolish, I know, but one never wants to think the worst of those one holds dear. Despite everything, I found myself craving the sound of his voice, the brilliance of his smile. How I could want so much of him, and yet hate what he was doing with Maldis? Truly, the heart was a very unruly organ.