The Silvered

by Tanya Huff

  She had gold rings in her ears.

  “…the bloodlines die out. Abominations need to be bred back into the bloodlines of the mages in order for mage-craft to remain powerful. I guarantee you, Captain, that if we knew how to test for it, we’d find the abominations in the blood of these women as well as in their bodies.”

  The boy, Tomas, had a slight point to his ears. Reiter had known a man in the army with three balls. He knew what he thought was stranger.

  “Just think what I could accomplish if one of these five throw a mage of that caliber. Empires rise…”

  It took Reiter a moment of puzzled silence to realize the emperor had been quoting the Soothsayer’s prophecy. “Or fall, Majesty.”

  For the first time since he’d come into the tiny room, the emperor turned from the spyhole, his blue eyes narrowed. “What did you say, Captain?”

  “The prophecy, Majesty. Empires rise or empires fall.” Reiter could feel sweat beginning to bead along his spine. The emperor’s expression made him feel a certain kinship to the pelt they stood on. “If the Soothsayers are concerned…”

  And just like that, the bayonet was withdrawn and the emperor shook his head indulgently. “The Soothsayers aren’t so much concerned as they are open to all possibilities.” He pushed his hair back off his face and smiled. “It’s up to us, as reasoning people, to apply those possibilities. Thanks, in part, to you, I control five of the six possibilities and the sixth is on her way.”

  Reiter didn’t want the responsibility the emperor seemed willing to grant him.

  “Did you know that science keeps us alive fifteen years longer than in our grandfathers’ generation?”

  “No, Majesty.”

  “It does. I’ve been thinking, since I first read the scroll, what mage-craft strong enough to create a whole new species could do. If I controlled that mage, if that mage had been trained from birth to obey me, if I could trust their mage-craft, then I could live forever. I’d have the time I need to make the empire great. And when the abominations are gone, wiped out in the wild, mage-craft will die out in the wild. I will control the only remaining mages. Worth the losses in Aydori, don’t you think, Captain?”

  Fortunately, before Reiter could answer, before Reiter could decide what to answer, the emperor kept talking.

  “And now this new possibility of science and mage-craft working together…” He rubbed his hands together, rings whispering over each other, and grinned. “I can’t wait. If you could move back behind the rear draperies, Captain.”

  As the emperor settled into the chair, Reiter backed through the two panels of fabric, until he was suddenly teetering on the edge of the stairs. Weighing the chance of a fall against missing what was about to happen, he decided to balance right where he was. Shuffling left on the balls of his feet, heels suspended over nothing, lined him up with the narrow gap between the pieces of fabric. When the emperor reached down to the side of the chair, Reiter noticed a brass-bound lever built into the base.

  Long, pale fingers closed around the lever and shoved it forward. The floor vibrated and the front of the room opened, splitting in two and folding back. On the one hand, the emperor formed policy based on the insane ramblings of Soothsayers interpreted through bad poetry. On the other, his engineers were superb. The man was a mass of contradictions.

  Reiter was tall enough he could see the faces of the women around the table as they stood and turned to face the emperor. He didn’t know how the emperor saw it—it was all theory to the emperor, and he believed he’d proven his strength, so he probably saw it as respect—but Reiter thought they stood because it was a better position for fighting than sitting down.

  “It has occurred to me,” the emperor said, “that I have very little personal experience with mage-craft.” Reiter could hear the smile in his voice. “While I’m considering a certain proposal…” His tone was an unpleasant mix of coy and patronizing. “…I require more data points in order to make an informed decision. If the net were removed and you could give me one small demonstration of your power, what would it be?”

  The largest woman said something under her breath.

  “Ah, yes, you’re the one who speaks so little Imperial. Louder please, so it can be translated.”

  “She said she would make a rose bloom, Your Imperial Majesty.” It was the blonde who’d spoken on the road. Something about her tone reminded Reiter of Major Halyss’ father, and he wondered what the other woman had actually said.

  “Fascinating, but not very useful. You.”

  The youngest woman started, glanced at the blonde, who nodded. “I part water, Majestied.”

  “You’re part water…oh, you can part water.”

  She visibly relaxed when the emperor laughed—even kidnapped and imprisoned, that was the effect he had on people. Reiter found it one of the more disturbing things he’d ever seen.

  “A lot of water?” he asked. “Lakes? Rivers?”

  She shook her head. “Not know amount, Majestied.”

  “Oh.” She actually looked disappointed when he sounded disappointed. “No matter. I’m sure it’ll be fascinating discovering how much water you can part. Eventually, of course. You.”

  The tiny dark-haired woman stared at the finger pointing at her. “I send you smells.”

  “Not very useful, I’m afraid, although I could see sending smells away as being of some benefit. Still that’s what we have fans for. And you,” he pointed at the blonde, the other woman in blue, “you’d do the same. So what would you do?”

  Even frowning slightly, the redhead was gorgeous. Reiter hoped Sergeant Black had kept the men under control on the way back to Karis.

  “I’m a Healer, Majesty. If you want a demonstration, I’ll heal.”

  “Excellent.” He pulled the lever back.

  Reiter watched the women watching the emperor until the wall closed and he was grateful for the extra moment the fabric screening him provided when the emperor threw himself up out of the chair and turned.

  “I knew, of course, what each of my mages could do. I had Lieutenant Geurin courier me the color of their eyes as soon as he reached civilization, thus the color-coded clothing so each craft could be identified from a distance. I’ve researched each of the six crafts. You’re wondering why I asked then, aren’t you? I was curious,” he continued without giving Reiter a chance to answer. Reiter closed his mouth and moved aside, to give the emperor room to get past him and down the stairs. “Curiosity, according to my priest, is my greatest failing. I wanted to know if they’d lie. I can’t abide liars and, more importantly, I don’t trust liars. This kind of cooperation indicates they can be taught, and I’m so very pleased that they answered the question as asked instead of spouting foolish defiance.” He chuckled, a warm, almost fond sound. “I suspect that I’ll find when I read the translation that the first to speak wasn’t going to make the rosebush bloom, but rather do something rude with it.”

  Reiter suspected the same.

  “If there’s to be a test, I will, of course, use the Healer-mage. Easiest to control and absolutely safest for bystanders.” He turned and smiled as he reached the bottom of the stairs. “Given that I’d be one of the bystanders. I know I told you that I wear protections, but in all the years I’ve been searching, the best I’ve been able to find is a charm to protect against being put to sleep but nothing that protects from healing as a whole.” Reiter fell in behind his left shoulder and they walked toward the main corridor where Tavert would be waiting. “I’ve never found even so much as a scrap of writing that suggests such a thing exists. Do you know why, Captain?”

  The pause suggested that this time the emperor wanted an answer. “Because healing can’t be used to harm, Majesty?”

  “That’s it exactly. And, credit where credit is due, the Soothsayers spoke of the Aydori mages ten, no just over eleven years ago, so I’ve had plenty of time to prepare. In your report, didn’t you say you suspected your mage was healing herself, forcing the d
rug out of her system?”

  “Yes, Majesty.”

  “You must observe the experiment, then.” He seemed so energized by the prospect, Reiter had to hurry to keep up, in spite of his longer stride. “For comparison’s sake. Tavert!”

  She was waiting with half a dozen others when he emerged. “Majesty.”

  “Paper and pen!” He scribbled a note, smeared a little ink on his cuff, blew on the paper to dry it, folded it, and handed it back to her. “North wing.”

  Tavert handed it back over her shoulder where it seemed for an instant no one would take it. Finally, a skinny man Reiter thought was a distant Imperial cousin stepped forward and bowed.

  “It would be my pleasure to do your bidding, Majesty.”

  The emperor ignored him. “Captain, you’ll have just enough time to go back to the Archive and ask the Lord Warder for the fork.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  DANIKA HAD ASSUMED she was being taken from her cell for either another unnecessary session with the midwife—clearly designed to teach them they were livestock with no self-determination—or to another conversation with Leopald. When she saw Jesine already standing next to the examination table, she hid a smile.

  Leopald had taken the bait sooner than she’d anticipated. He was clearly used to getting what he wanted when he wanted it. She couldn’t influence him to do something he didn’t already want to do, so she should’ve assumed that once the idea of combining mage-craft and technology took hold, he’d immediately act on it. His questions had identified Jesine as a Healer-mage, the only craft with no aggressive potential, which made her the safest of the five were he to remove one of the nets.

  In order to escape, they needed to know how to get the nets off safely.

  Leopald was about to show them.

  Jesine held out her hands, and Danika walked into her embrace.

  The wall was already open, the emperor smiling down at them, apparently pleased to see them together, his foot still propped on the pelt of a father, brother, son. When Danika prayed to the Lord and Lady, and she prayed more frequently here than she ever had at home, she prayed for a few moments alone with Leopald as they left the palace. Just long enough to move the air from his lungs.

  “It has recently occurred to me that I’ve no need to wait until you’ve whelped before I begin doing simple tests.” Eyes gleaming, he leaned forward. His lips were dark enough that Danika wondered, not for the first time, if he stained them. “You…” He pointed at Jesine. “…will be freed from the suppression artifact and then you’ll be given an opportunity to use your mage-craft to heal a wound. Not a major wound, of course, but a wound serious enough that I’ll gain some idea of your ability. A baseline, as it were, that I can use to create further tests. You…” His pointing finger moved from Jesine to Danika. “…are here for two reasons. One, as the leader of this small Pack, it’s useful to me that you know what’s happening. That way, you’ll be able to explain my position in the face of uninformed reactions from the others and maintain the calm that’s so essential to your comfort. Two, it occurred to me that I needed a way to control the healing. To know that the maximum effort was being applied.”

  How would her presence control…

  Adeline closed one hand around her upper arm and reached across with the other, slashing the edge of a narrow blade across Danika’s chest just above the neckline of the dress. Danika had realized what was about to happen the moment Adeline’s fingers had dug in—not in time to move, or to try and defend herself, but in time to grit her teeth and refuse to scream.

  The edge must have been very sharp. For a moment nothing happened and all three of them stood frozen in place, staring at the path of the blade. Then the flesh separated and blood welled up and the pain hit.

  “Get her on the table.” Jesine’s voice had lost all languid and ladylike overtones. “And remove the net at once!”

  It hurt. It hurt. It hurt.

  The room spun. Then the fingers digging into her arm grounded her with a blunter pain and Danika managed to help lift herself up onto the table. Lying down hurt in a whole new way and the blood shifted, pouring back over her throat rather than down over her breasts. She felt careful hands opening the dress and moving it away and forced herself to focus. Leopald wanted a demonstration. The net would be coming off now.

  Adeline pulled something from her apron pocket, something small. She poked it into the mass of Jesine’s copper curls, and twisted. Jesine sucked back a pained cry. Danika kept her eyes locked on Adeline’s hand. When Adeline tugged and the first bit of net cleared Jesine’s hair, Danika could see pinched between the midwife’s fingers…

  Wood?

  A strand of the gold net was tangled around and between a double prong made of wood.

  Jesine spread her hands over the wound. The heat radiating from them was almost enough to burn. “Shh, it’s all right. It’ll be all right. Just a little pain and then it’ll be all over, you’ll see. I promise.”

  Adeline had shuffled to the left—Danika assumed to get a better look at what Jesine was doing, bringing the hand holding the artifact closer. Danika let her head drop to the side. This close, the new artifact looked like a small fork. She had forks at home with ivory handles that looked much the same. Adeline had no mage-craft so mage-craft wasn’t necessary to remove the net. Only the wooden fork…

  …snatched from her line of sight so quickly Danika thought Adeline might have realized she was staring. As a distraction, she screamed.

  Not only as a distraction.

  * * *

  “That was fascinating, wasn’t it, Captain?” The emperor started down the stairs without waiting for an answer. “You can read about mage-craft until your eyes bleed, but there’s nothing like seeing it work to remind you that science can’t explain everything. Well, not yet, anyway. Hard to believe I’d planned on waiting until they gave birth before I began testing. The healer can work right up until the whelp drops. Of course, the problem with Healer-mages, as I’m sure you’ve seen, is that at the level we were just shown there’s not a lot of gain to be made in combining their craft with technology. Now, if they can heal sickness as well as injuries, then that’s a different matter. As diagnostics improve and we learn more about diseases, then, with practice, Healer-mages alone could keep people alive indefinitely.”

  Practice. Reiter thought of blood pouring from a gaping wound in pale skin and wondered how the emperor would have the Healer-mage practice on disease.

  “My physician told me that going to a Healer-mage is equivalent to drinking one of the those vile herbal teas old women force on you. I believed him, of course, because he’s a man of science, but I now begin to think that’s just because he’s never seen an actual Healer-mage in action. I’d bring him in to see mine, but he’d most likely die of professional jealousy, unimaginative old coot.” He giggled and Reiter was glad to be behind the emperor’s shoulder because he really hated grown men who giggled and he doubted he’d survive the emperor seeing his expression. “What we need to do now is determine parameters…and I’m an idiot! I should have timed the healing! I don’t suppose you checked your watch as it began and ended?”

  Reiter schooled his expression as the emperor turned. “Sorry, Majesty, but no.”

  “I forgot, so I’m not surprised you did. Perhaps Adeline Curtin noted the time. She used to be the matron in Darkbin.”

  “The women’s prison?”

  “Yes, that’s the place. Horrible in there, they tell me, but then it’s a prison, so horrible is rather the point, I expect. The more relevant point is that she doesn’t want to go back which is good because it’s surprisingly difficult to find an Aydori-speaking midwife whose loyalty you can count on. Although, between you and me, I find her mildly disquieting.”

  She’d taken a scalpel and cut a woman under her care. Reiter found the idea of her as a midwife in a women’s prison more than mildly disquieting.

  “Ah, well, if we didn’t record a time today, we
have to make sure we record one the next time. And I’ve just now thought of a way we can use your background to our advantage. Write up a list for me, Captain, of all the various injuries you’ve seen on a battlefield.” At the tapestry, he waited for Reiter to lift the fabric, and murmured as he passed, “I wonder what would happen if we cut a finger off? Would a Healer-mage be able to regrow it?”

  “Majesty, a page brought this from the north wing.” Outside in the larger corridor, Tavert offered the emperor the fork. The emperor redirected it to Reiter.

  “See that gets put away safely, Captain.”

  “Yes, Majesty.” As he walked away, he heard Tavert reminding the emperor of a tailor’s appointment. Apparently Her Imperial Majesty wanted him in a new jacket for the upcoming public festival.

  It was funny how everything inside the palace was connected to everything else. Until today, Reiter had never realized that fresh blood soaking into blue fabric created Imperial purple.

  * * *

  Curled on the floor, pressed tight to the crack under her door, Danika rubbed at the thin scar on her chest and took long, careful breaths. Inhaled slowly. Exhaled slowly. Fought the urge to pant. To whine. To keep screaming. She knew she’d lived a fairly sheltered life. Everyone she knew had lived a fairly sheltered life. Before Aydori was attacked, even the soldiers in her family or among her extended acquaintance were more about showing off their uniforms for pretty girls than they were about danger and pain. Her brother had fallen off the roof when he was ten and broken his arm, and the more dominant members of the Pack had scars, but she’d gone from being a slightly bored schoolgirl, to excelling at the university, to a loving marriage without ever being hurt badly enough for her to remember it now.

  Kirstin had heard her scream. Her words on the air had not only been frantic but forceful enough to reach all of the others, and the net had clamped down. She was probably in more pain now than Danika, who had only the memory of pain.