“When Icarus wasn’t in oracular mode, people tended to regard him as something of an overgrown infant, because he was deliberately kept in a state of ignorance, allowed to read nature books and fairy tales, but not allowed any access to news, for fear knowledge of the actual world would pollute his answers. Icarus had always played to that. So during those ten months, he was able to use that perception—and the fact that he was one of the Bane’s most prized possessions—to his advantage.
“And he found out that indeed, during the years of his tenure as the Bane’s oracle, three elemental mages had had ‘private audiences’ with the Bane. The guards he had spoken to were lower-level security and were almost as ignorant as he—only much less curious. They simply assumed that after the audiences, the young elemental mages had been whisked back to the capital via some sort of expedited means, which was why no one had seen them again.
“He also found out about the lowest levels of the Commander’s Palace. He had thought that the palace had three levels belowground, but it actually had five. Only the Bane himself, and occasionally one of his most trusted lieutenants, was allowed in the secret levels.
“I searched for information on the other names that Icarus had given to the Bane over the years, those who were the Bane’s threats. Most were names I’d never heard of. Some of them I found in archives of overseas newspapers we had at the library, mages from various other realms who had been arrested shortly after their names had been given and who were often subsequently executed on charges of murder, corruption, or even gross indecencies.”
“Ten months we had to accustom ourselves to the Bane’s monstrosity. But still, when we finally met again and exchanged all that we had learned, neither of us could stop shaking. That was when he told me that he could no longer live like this. That even last summer he had thought of taking his own life.
“I begged him to think no more of it. The idea that in the afterlife his beautiful soul would not be able to soar with the Angels—I could not bear it. But his mind was made up. It was the only way, he said. But before that we must still ask him a few questions.
“The question he wanted me to ask frightened me so much I almost could not speak it aloud. How will the Bane be killed? The answer: ‘By venturing into the deepest level of the Commander’s Palace and accessing his crypt.’”
“It was not a good answer for us. Besides his oracular powers, Icarus had no other training in any kind of magic. And I was a simple librarian far away in the capital. Icarus’s despair almost threatened to tow both of us under, but I told him he must remain strong and appear normal, for I would ask a different question the next month.”
“My question was, How can I do my part to help kill the Bane? It was the first time I had interjected myself into a question; tears of terror fell down my face even as I spoke. I remember his answer word for word. ‘When the great comet will have come and gone, the Bane will walk into Mrs. Dawlish’s house at Eton College.’”
“The great comet has already come and gone,” said Kashkari, his voice unsteady.
Mage astronomers had first discovered the comet in August of the previous year. At its brightest, the comet almost rivaled the brilliance of the sun’s corona, a beautiful, if also slightly ominous, portent that dominated the night sky and could even be seen during the day.
“I had to look up Eton College and Mrs. Dawlish’s house. I found the former, but not the latter, and Icarus and I were both bewildered at why the Bane would deign to visit this impossibly insignificant nonmage school. Then we decided that it didn’t matter. I would be there at Mrs. Dawlish’s house at Eton College, ready and waiting, when the Bane walked in, whenever it would be.
“The Domain was still a wealthy realm with a relatively vigorous ruler and a centralized power structure—the Bane always saw it as a potential source of trouble. The crown princess of the Domain was expecting and the two most recent questions the Bane had asked of Icarus concerned the gender of the child and whether the child would someday take the throne. So we knew the future heir of the House of Elberon was most certainly on the Bane’s mind.
“From time to time, he would ask Icarus what he should do as precautionary measures. Icarus was resolved that the next time he was asked the question, he would only pretend to sink into a trance—he had been so reliable for so long, the Bane no longer verified whether his trances were true trances—and tell the Bane that the heir of the House of Elberon should be sent to this nonmage school and I should be deployed as a special envoy of the Department of Overseas Administration to keep an eye on him.
“Icarus planned to go on as the Bane’s oracle for another half year—so his oracular words about Eton and me would not stand out. And then he would kill himself in such a way as to appear to have died of natural causes.”
Mrs. Hancock exhaled slowly. “That was the last time I saw or spoke to him. He returned to the Commander’s Palace three days later and by next spring he was dead. His death aroused no suspicions—everybody had always assumed he wouldn’t live long; those powers seemed simply too miraculous to go on existing.
“I requested a transfer to the Department of Overseas Administration. In time I was sent to reconnoiter Eton. Mrs. Dawlish had just started her own residence house for the boys. I applied for a position. She took someone else first, but the woman turned out to be unsuitable. A few weeks after His Highness came to the house, I also got in.
“Now it was just a matter of waiting. The comet came last year. The nonmages were just as excited about it as the mages. Their newspaper reported sightings until February of this year. I thought I was ready but still, when Fairfax came that April, the first evening I was so nervous I could scarcely say grace before dinner.”
Iolanthe was taken aback. “You thought I was the Bane?”
“I thought perhaps you were a scout. Then, this afternoon, West came.”
Titus sent Iolanthe a what-did-I-tell-you look.
“I have seen the Bane quite a few times in my life. When West walked into my office to sign the visitor registry, I thought my knees—and my heart, too—would give out. It was exactly as Icarus had said, When the great comet will have come and gone, the Bane will walk into Mrs. Dawlish’s house at Eton College.
“I watched him at cricket practice—to make sure I hadn’t let some mistaken initial impression overwhelm my judgment. The more I stared at him, the more I was certain it had to be him. I decided that there was no point in waiting longer. I would proceed immediately.
“Imagine my surprise and dismay when I reached his house and found out that he had left only minutes ago—his father had sent for him because his mother was feeling poorly, according to the master of his house. I vaulted to the two railway stations in Windsor and the one in Slough. He did not turn up anywhere. Not knowing what else to do, I stole into West’s room and searched through his possessions. Then I turned around and Kashkari was in the room with me.”
“If the prince told you what I told him,” Kashkari said to Iolanthe, “then you probably know that I came to Eton because of what someone said about Wintervale in one of my dreams. But I did not learn, until very recently, that the person who spoke was Mrs. Hancock.
“The prince was convinced that Mrs. Hancock was a loyal agent of Atlantis. I hoped it would be otherwise, but I had no evidence. Then today, Mrs. Hancock came to watch cricket practice, which I thought was odd, since she almost never left the house—”
“I didn’t want to not be here when the Bane walked in,” said Mrs. Hancock.
“Then I saw her from my window, leaving again. I followed her, which led me to West’s residence house. When she went inside West’s room, I decided that I might as well confront her right there.”
“Kashkari said, ‘I am an enemy of the Bane. If you are too, say so now.’ After I recovered from both my shock and fright, I demanded a truth pact. With the truth pact in place, we proceeded rather swiftly. And when we dissolved the pact a quarter of an hour later, I recommended that we
check school offices for West’s record.
“His father is an Oxford University professor. Neither of us had been to Oxford so we couldn’t vault. Kashkari volunteered his flying carpet. We gave some excuses, skipped supper, and flew to Oxford.
“The family was just sitting down to supper. We hid ourselves in the next room, but it was quite obvious Mrs. West was not in any kind of ill health. Then a girl asked whether her brother would be home for her birthday. And Professor West replied that he had received a letter from West today stating that indeed he would be home Saturday after next.
“Nothing made sense anymore. Why did West disappear? Did someone abduct him on false premises? And if he isn’t the Bane, then what had Icarus meant, exactly, when he said the Bane would walk into Mrs. Dawlish’s house?”
“I felt we ought to speak to you, prince,” said Kashkari. “Mrs. Hancock agreed, because she had heard that your late mother was a seer. If Her Highness left any visions that can be of help to us, please let us know.”
Iolanthe could have predicted to a word what Titus would say and he did not deviate from form.
“Before I help you, I will need a blood oath from the two of you that you are speaking the truth and do not seek to harm Fairfax or me in any sense, now or ever.”
Kashkari nodded. Mrs. Hancock swallowed before she gave a jerky nod. Titus called forth the green flame of veracity and administered the oath. “We will disperse for now and meet back here fifteen minutes after lights-out.”
Fifteen minutes after lights-out, when Mrs. Hancock and Kashkari vaulted back into Fairfax’s room, Titus laid the Crucible on the desk. “My mother’s diary, which holds the record of all her visions, did not show me anything regarding either West or the Bane. But I can take you to see the Oracle of Still Waters.”
The Oracle’s garden was quite different from when Titus had last seen it, at the height of spring. That too had been at night, but it had been fragrant with the scent of blooming flowers and lively with the sound of amorous insects. Now the light of the lanterns shone upon bare branches and fallen leaves crunched underfoot.
“You can only ask a question that will help someone else,” he told Kashkari and Mrs. Hancock.
“Can we each pose a question?” asked Kashkari.
“No. She will answer one question a week, if it is a good question. And you can only have one question answered by her in your lifetime. Although sometimes she might tell you a little extra, if she likes you.”
“I’d like to ask a question,” said Mrs. Hancock. She climbed up the steps and looked into the pool, but then turned back to the others. “I have no idea what to ask that would conform to the Oracle’s requirements. Every night I think of the dead, all the dead—my sister, Icarus, and everyone else the Bane has murdered and tortured along the way. The need for justice has driven me all these years. I’m not sure I can honestly say that I am trying to help anyone living.
Before any of the mages present could say anything, the Oracle laughed softly in her silvery voice. “Gaia Archimedes, also known as Mrs. Hancock, welcome. I have not encountered a great deal of honesty like yours. At least you understand your motive is vengeance for the dead.”
“Thank you, Oracle. But it does not help me with a question, does it?”
“What is it you seek to understand?”
“I want to know if Icarus was correct. If the Bane has come to Mrs. Dawlish’s house. And how I can seize the opportunity to make a difference. I have devoted most of my adult life to the endeavor and I do not want to fail myself or the dead who are counting on me.”
“I am sure there is at least one living soul who would benefit from it,” said the Oracle kindly.
“I think the entire mage world would benefit from it. But I am at a loss to name one particular person.”
“What about West?” asked Fairfax. “If we find out who is behind his abduction, that could help him.”
Mrs. Hancock’s face scrunched with agonized indecision. Titus understood her reluctance—if she only had one question, West seemed too peripheral a participant in these events to be featured in so central a role.
“Here is another option,” he told Mrs. Hancock. “Ask the Oracle how you can help the one who needs your help the most.”
This had been Fairfax’s question last spring. He had thought then she had asked about her guardian; only later had she told him what her question had been.
Help me help the one who needs it the most.
And the answer she had been given had saved him.
Mrs. Hancock hesitated another minute. Finally, her jaw set, she said to the Oracle, “There has to be someone I can help in particular, even if I cannot name him or her. Tell me how I can help.”
The water of the pond turned mirror bright. When the Oracle spoke again, if was as if the syllables issued from the very soil beneath their feet, gritty and resonant. “Destroy what remains of the Bane, if you wish to save the spares.”
Mrs. Hancock looked back, incomprehension written all over her face.
Thank her, Titus mouthed.
Mrs. Hancock did so, her tone subdued.
The water hissed and burbled before quieting to that of a placid pool again. Wearily, the Oracle said, “Good-bye, Gaia Archimedes. And yes, you have seen it before.”
“What did the Oracle mean by ‘you have seen it before’?” asked Iolanthe, after they came back into her room.
“This book, I think,” answered Mrs. Hancock. “But of course I have seen it many times; the prince kept it in his room for years and I am required to check his room periodically, both as part of my duties in Mrs. Dawlish’s house and as part of my role as Atlantis’s eyes on him.”
“What remains of the Bane,” mused Kashkari. “What remains of the Bane. What is missing from the Bane?”
“His soul,” Mrs. Hancock answered, not a question, but a statement. “A person who engages in sacrificial magic is said to have no soul left.”
“The Bane doesn’t seem to care too much about his soul, does he?” said Iolanthe
“Or maybe he does. Maybe he began to care about his soul when it was already too late,” said Titus. “Maybe that is why he is dead set on prolonging his life by any means possible, so he does not have to find out what happens after death to someone with no soul left.”
Sometimes Iolanthe forgot that he had thought a great deal of life and death.
“And what do you suppose she meant by spares?” asked Mrs. Hancock. “And why would we want to save them?”
“I don’t know why,” said Kashkari, “but I am thinking of that book about Dr. Frankenstein—have any of you read it?”
Everyone else shook their heads. Iolanthe remembered that Kashkari had the book with him the day Wintervale had spun the maelstrom.
“It’s about this scientist who assembled a monster from spare human parts,” Kashkari continued.
Iolanthe felt as if a cog in her brain suddenly engaged. “West is going to be cannibalized for parts?”
Titus stared at her. “You think ‘spares’ refers to West?”
“It makes sense, doesn’t it? If you wanted spares, wouldn’t you want spares that looked like you, instead of someone el . . .” She was struck by wonder and horror alike and had to grip the edge of her mantel before she could speak again. “Spares. Spares. Fortune shield me—do you think this is how he—how he—”
Titus looked equally overwhelmed. “Yes, it must be.”
“Must be what?” asked Mrs. Hancock, her tone barely above a whisper.
“This must be how he resurrects.”
Kashkari fell into a chair. “We have heard rumors, but I had never believed them.”
“I have never even heard such rumors,” Mrs. Hancock said, dazedly. “Why have I never heard such rumors?”
“I imagine the Bane did his best to make sure his own people never heard of the rumors—anything remotely connected to sacrificial magic would undermine the legitimacy of his rule.”
Iolanthe
found her voice again. “That’s why West was taken away. Not to cannibalize for parts, but to use as a whole.” She turned to Titus. “You remember what they said at the Citadel when the Bane resurrected last summer? They said he returned looking younger and more robust than before.”
“Because he came back in a different, but similar-looking body,” Titus concurred. “And that was how, even though they had blown out his brains in the Caucasus, he was still able to come back the next day, looking no worse for wear.”
“Taking over another body entirely—it is a frightful power. Have you ever heard of another instance of it?” asked Mrs. Hancock, her voice weak.
Kashkari shook his head. “Only in stories.”
“So it is not the first time West walked into Mrs. Dawlish’s that we should worry about. It is the next time,” said Iolanthe.
“What do you mean?” asked Mrs. Hancock.
“Next time we see him, it might very well be the Bane using West’s body.”
Silence fell.
“I wonder how long it takes the Bane to ready a body for use,” murmured Kashkari.
“Something like that has to be contact requisite,” said Iolanthe. “Seventy-two hours, at least.”
“Let us assume the worst,” said Titus. “Let us assume that he will be back tomorrow.”
Mrs. Hancock made a sound like the whimper of a wounded animal. “What can we do? Do we attack him directly?”
Titus shook his head. “No use. We all know now that the Bane cannot be killed except in his own lair, where his original body is kept. Unless what I know of sacrificial magic is completely wrong, when he sacrifices another mage, the Bane must also sacrifice something of himself. That is why he always wants the most powerful elemental mage available—since he must sacrifice a part of himself no matter what, he would want to get as much out of each sacrifice as possible. And I would guess that what he gets from the sacrifice of a truly phenomenal elemental mage must be orders of magnitude greater than what he could achieve with a more ordinary one.”
The Perilous Sea Page 26
