Magic's price

by Mercedes Lackey

  “Well,” she said, dusting her hands off on her tunic, “what kind of an entrance do you want to make?”

  “Your pardon?” Starwind replied, puzzled by her turn of phrase.

  “Do you want things to stay as quiet as possible?” she asked. “Would you prefer we kept your presence at Forst Reach a secret? It'd be hard, and frankly, we'd waste a lot of magic doing it, but we could, if that's what you want.”

  Starwind exchanged glances - and probably thoughts - with Moondance. He bit his lower lip, and looked at her measuringly before replying.

  “I am of two minds,” he said. “And the first thought is that it would be worth any effort to keep our presence unknown. Yet if we were to do that, we would be unable to accomplish many things that I would like. Moondance wishes to have speech of Vanyel's father, for one. If we are to do such a thing, we must be here openly.”

  Savil did her best to keep her surprise from showing. “I can't imagine why you'd want to talk to Withen, but - all right. So what's your choice?”

  “Open,” Moondance said promptly. “With as much drama as we may. If we are to break Tayledras silence, then I say we should leave your folk with a memory that will follow them all their days.”

  “You'll do more than that, my lad,” Savil muttered, but nodded anyway. “However you want,” she said a little louder. “I'd like you to look at Treesa first, if you would. Van can wait a little, and I'd rather get her on her feet before Withen comes home and has hysterics.”

  Starwind nodded. “Lead the way, Wingsister. We will follow your lead.”

  I doubt that, she thought, but didn't say it.

  It was worth every odd look she'd ever collected from the members of her family to see their faces as she sailed into Treesa's sickroom, followed by the two Tayledras. They certainly knew how to time things for a particularly dramatic entrance, she gave them that. She shoved open the doors first, then made a half-turn to see if they were still coming - then, just before the doors swung completely shut, they flowed through, side by side, and paused to look around.

  There were roughly half a dozen people in the room, all told. The only two Savil recognized were the Healer and Father Tyler, both of whom stared at the exotic Adepts with their mouths slowly falling open.

  The rest drew back as far as they could get; years of being told as children to “be good, or the Hawkbrothers will get you” were bound to have an effect. And no one could doubt for a moment that these two were a pair of the fabled out-landers-for their birds were still perched calmly on their shoulders, as if they passed through Gates and were carried around strange keeps every day of the month.

  Both birds were stark white now, though when Savil had last seen him, Starwind's bondbird, the younger of the pair, was still marked with gray where the darker colorations hadn't yet bleached out. She found herself marveling anew at the birds' calm; no falcon in the Ashkevron mews would sit unjessed and unhooded on a human's shoulder, nor tolerate being taken all over the keep. But then, these birds were to ordinary raptors what Shin'a'in warsteeds were to horses. Bred for centuries to be the partners of those they bonded with, their intelligence was a little unnerving. Just now Starwind's bird was watching Savil with a quiet, knowing look in its eyes, and Moondance's was watching the priest with what had to be an expression of wicked amusement.

  Moondance himself strode toward the bed where Treesa had been placed. Those at her bedside melted out of his way without a single word. He held his hand briefly above her forehead, frowned for a moment, and then announced without turning around, “You were correct, Wingsister. It is simple mage-shock from being too near a blast. I can bring her out, if you'd like. It makes no difference to her recovery if she is awakened now or later.”

  “Do it now,” Savil advised, “before Withen comes crashing in here like a bull with its tail on fire.”

  Moondance took both of Treesa's hands in his, and held them for a moment with his eyes closed. Treesa began to stir, muttering unintelligibly under her breath. Moondance waited for a moment, then opened his eyes and called her name, once.

  “Treesa,” he breathed. Only that, but somehow the name took on the flavoring of everything she was, and things Savil hadn't guessed she could be.

  Treesa's eyes fluttered open, and the first thing she focused on was Moondance.

  “Oh -” she said, weakly. “My.” She gulped, and blinked at the Tayledras as if she could not look away from him, though he dazzled her. “Am - am I dead? Are - are you an angel?”

  Starwind was too polite to burst out laughing, but Savil could tell by his too-calm expression and the creases around his twinkling eyes that he was doing his very best not to laugh at the notion of Moondance as an angel.

  Moondance is never going to hear the last of this, Savil thought, holding back a smile that twitched the corners of her mouth despite the seriousness of the overall situation.

  “No, my lady,” Moondance said haltingly in the tongue of Valdemar. “I am only a friend of your son. We came here to help him, and you as well.”

  “To help -” All the color drained from Treesa's face. “Van - how badly is he hurt? Dear gods -”

  She struggled to sit up, but the Healer prevented her from moving by holding her down with one hand on her shoulder. Moondance put his hand atop the Healer's, eliciting a gasp from both the Healer and Treesa.

  “We go to him now, my lady,” Moondance said, and smiled sweetly. “Be at ease; all will be well.”

  And with that, he turned and swept out of the room, Starwind joining him so that they left as they had entered, together. Savil smiled at Treesa, as reassuringly as she could, and followed them.

  “Where is young Vanyel?” asked Starwind as soon as they were all in the stone-walled corridor.

  “Up a flight and over a bit,” Savil told him, taking the lead again, and moving as quickly as her aching hip would permit. “I should warn you about something. Seems he's lifebonded again, this time to a young Bard about half his age -”

  Starwind exchanged a wry glance with Moondance. “Indeed? And where have I heard that tale before?”

  “I would have no idea,” Savil replied, her tone heavy with irony. “Just because you were near thirty and Moondance was all of sixteen ... At any rate, the boy's with him. Don't frighten him; he's had a bad few hours, and he's part of the reason why I haven't been frantic to get you here.”

  Moondance looked puzzled, but Starwind nodded knowingly. “Ah. The blade feeds on both of them. I had wondered why you were so calm about all this.”

  “So long as you didn't take a week to make up your minds, I reckoned we had time.” She paused outside Vanyel's door. “Here. And remember what I told you.”

  This time Starwind held the door open for her, and followed her inside with no dramatics at all. Stefen, whitefaced, was absorbed in Van - so completely that he didn't even notice they were there until Starwind laid a gentle hand on his shoulder.

  Stefen jumped; he looked up at the Tayledras Adept, and his eyes grew very large, and very round. His mouth opened, but he couldn't seem to make a sound.

  “We are here to help young Vanyel, little one,” Starwind said kindly. “But for us to do so, you must move away from him.”

  Stefen lurched to his feet, knocking over the chair he'd been sitting on, and backed away, tripping over it in the process. Moondance caught him before he fell, and Savil wondered for a moment if the poor boy was going to faint on the spot. He recovered, and edged over to Savil, standing slightly behind her, his eyes never once leaving the Tayledras.

  Starwind held one finger near to the leech-blade, but did not touch it. “A nasty piece of work, that,” he said in his own tongue to Savil. “More than ordinary malice went into its making.”

  “But can you get rid of it?” Savil asked anxiously.

  “Oh, aye. Not easily, but it is by no means the hardest task I have ever undertaken. Ashke -”

  Moondance nodded, and moved to stand immediately behind him, with one hand
resting lightly on his shoulder. Starwind ripped part of the ornamental silk from his sleeve; the cloth parted with a sound like the snarl of a hunting cat. He wrapped the bit of silk around his hand, and only then grasped the hilt of the leech-blade.

  “Now we give it something else to seek after,” he murmured, and held his other hand a few thumblengths away from the wicked little knife. Invoking Mage-Sight, Savil Saw that his hand glowed with life-force; far more than Vanyel possessed, even at the core of him. And she Saw how the blade loosened its hold on the Herald-Mage; how it turned in Starwind's hand, and lurched out of the wound like a hunger-maddened weasel.

  “Not this time, I think,” Starwind said aloud, pulling his unprotected hand away before the writhing blade could strike it. “Now, ashke -”

  Moondance made an arc of pure power between his two hands, and Starwind brought the blade down into it.

  The thing shrieked.

  Stefen screamed, and clasped his hands over his ears. Savil very nearly did the same. The only reason she didn't try to block her ears was because she knew it wouldn't do any good. That hideous screaming was purely mental.

  The scream of the blade continued for four or five breaths, then, as suddenly as it had begun, the thing fell silent. Moondance damped the power-arc, and when Savil's eyes and Mage-Sight recovered from the dazzle, she saw that Starwind held only a hilt. The blade itself was gone, and the air reeked of charred silk.

  “And that,” the Tayledras said with satisfaction, turning the blackened hilt over in his hand, and examining it carefully, “is that.” He looked up at Savil. “And now, dearest Wingsister, we four can all join to bring our brother back to us.”

  She was placing her hands over Moondance's when she realized what he'd said.

  Four? Huh. Well, why not?

  “Come here, lad,” she said over her shoulder to Stefen, who was hovering worriedly in the background. “They won't bite you.”

  “Much,” Moondance said, in her tongue, with a sly grin for Stefen. Oddly enough, that seemed to relax him.

  “What can I do?” he asked, taking his place at Savil's side.

  “I have no idea,” she admitted. “But he knows. So let's both find out.”

  Starwind smiled, and placed his hands atop theirs.

  Savil took a long, deep breath and looked quickly down at Vanyel. He was breathing normally, deeply asleep, and his color was back. He'll probably wake up in a candlemark or so. 'Fandes will be out about as long.

  “What happened?” Stef asked, dazedly. “What did we do?”

  “Sit, Singer,” Moondance said, pushing him down onto the bed. “We gave young Vanyel a path back to himself, and the strength to return upon it. But that strength came from us, you most particularly, and you should now rest.” He nodded at the bed. “There is plenty of room there, and Vanyel would feel comforted by your presence.”

  “He would?” The youngster looked on his last legs, but was stubbornly refusing to admit his weariness. “Well - if you think so -”

  “I think so.” Moondance threw a light blanket over the Bard's shoulders. “Rest. You do not hasten his recovery by fretting.”

  “If you -” he stifled a yawn “- say so.”

  Moondance shook his head at Starwind. “Children. Was I that stubborn-minded?” he asked in Tayledras.

  “Oh, you were worse.” Starwind grinned, and took Savil by the elbow. “Kindly show us where we will be staying, Wingsister. I think we will have to remain here some few days more, else Vanyel will foolishly exert himself and it will be all to do again.”

  :And just what do you have up your sleeve?: she asked him. :You're right, of course, but there's more that you aren't telling the boy.:

  :Perceptive as always,: he replied. :I wish you to hear this from Moondance, however.:

  She nodded at Moondance, who joined them at the door. “Sleep, Stefen,” he ordered as he closed it. An indistinct mumble came from the general direction of the bed. It sounded like agreement.

  “In the absence of anyone else I guess I'll make the decision of where to put you two,” Savil said. “And because I don't know where else, I guess you might as well take the room next to Van's.”

  She opened the door to the next guest room, which looked about the same as Vanyel's in the dim light; with Forst Reach entertaining as many as a hundred visitors during the course of a year, no room ever sat long enough to take on an air of disuse. The only real sign that it was not occupied was the fact that the shutters were closed, and what light there was leaked in through the cracks.

  “So, now, what was it you wanted to tell me about?” Savil asked Starwind, closing the door behind him. The older Tayledras went directly to the window and threw the shutters open.

  “Not I,” he said, “but Moondance.” He sat on the window ledge and leaned out, looking with interest-though real or feigned, Savil couldn't tell which-at the grounds below.

  “Well?” she asked impatiently of Moondance. The Healing-Adept looked very uncomfortable.

  “I do not know how much you give credence to our beliefs,” he said doubtfully.

  “Depends on which one,” she replied, sitting on the edge of the bed. “If it's the one about how people should live in trees, I still think you're out of your mind.”

  He ignored the sally. “We think - and have proved, insofar as such a thing is possible to prove - that souls are reborn, sometimes even crossing species' boundaries. Rebirth into something of like intelligence, a hertasi perhaps being reborn as a kyree, or a kyree as a human -”

  “Must make things interesting at dinnertime,” Savil jibed.

  He glared at her. She gave him a sardonic stare right back.

  “This is all very fascinating philosophy, but I don't see what it has to do with Van,” she pointed out, tilting her head a little.

  Moondance shook his head. “Not with Vanyel - with the Singer.”

  “Stef?” she exclaimed incredulously. “Why on earth Stefen? And why is it important?”

  “Because my shay'kreth'ashke believes - as do I - that your Stefen is, or was, the young one called Tylendel,” Starwind called from the window.

  Savil's first reaction was surprise, then skepticism. “What, just because they lifebonded? Really, isn't that a little too neat, too pat? It makes a very nice tale, but -” She shrugged.

  “No,” Moondance said, walking to the window to stand beside Starwind. “No, it is not because of the lifebond, or not primarily. There are other things-memory traces of Vanyel many years ago, ties other than the lifebond.” He paused, and looked up at the ceiling as if gathering his thoughts. “And there are reasons, pressing reasons, for this to have happened. The bond between Tylendel and Vanyel was strong, stronger even than most lifebonds I have seen. There is a debt owed to Vanyel because of what happened. There is unfinished business because Tylendel failed as a Herald.” He looked at her expectantly for a moment, then shrugged. “I could go on at length, but that would only bore you.”

  “I doubt it,” Savil replied, fascinated in spite of her skepticism. “But I can't see what relevance it has to the current situation, either.”

  Starwind left the window. “Only that the past has bearing on the present, and will color what happens in the present.”

  “So, should I tell them about this speculation of yours?” she asked curiously.

  “Ah.” Starwind clasped his hands behind his back, and gave his lifebonded a wry smile. “That is where we differ. I think perhaps yes, but I do not feel at all as strongly as Moondance, and am willing to be overruled.”

  “And I think that on no account should you tell them,” Moondance said adamantly, leaning his back against the windowframe. “But our reasons for our feelings are much the same.”

  “We feel,” Starwind took up the thread of conversation, “that this relationship should be permitted to develop without the baggage of the previous one. It is not the same set of circumstances at all, their meeting and bonding; nor are their relative status or ages t
he same. Therefore I think they should be told so that they may avoid misunderstandings that echoes of the past may bring.”

  “And I think that being told will only bring problems; that Vanyel will cease to react to Stefen as he has become, and that he will begin behaving in ways that will warp the relationship out of all recognition and health.” Moondance crossed his arms over his chest, and looked very stubbornly at Savil.

  “I can think of one problem right off,” she said slowly. “If Van thinks Stef's his old love, he's likely to do one of two things - pay more attention to Stef's opinions and advice, or less. Neither is healthy. Stefs got a good head on those shoulders, but he also has a lot of growing up to do yet. Right now Van's giving him about the same amount of slack he'd give any lad his age, and listening to him when he makes sense -”

  “Which is the way it should remain,” Moondance concluded.

  She shook her head at Starwind. “Sorry, old friend, but my vote goes with Moondance.”

  He shrugged. “I had already told you I did not feel that strongly; I am content to be overruled.”

  “To change the topic, how long do you want to stay?” she asked. “I'll have to tell Withen something when he gets back.”

  “Three days, perhaps five. No more, certainly.” Starwind shook his hair back. “Two days to keep Vanyel from overexerting, then however long it takes to unravel who did this thing, and why.”

  “If we can,” Moondance said with resignation. “It is by no means certain. But with four Adepts at work, the odds are that what can be uncovered, will be.”

  “Which brings me to a request, dearest Wingsister,” Starwind grinned. “Do you think this place is capable of producing garments of a suitable size for us? It seems that we forgot to pack. ...”

  “Oh, probably nothing good enough for you, you preening snow-birds,” Savil grinned wryly, “but we may be able to rummage up something.”

  Twelve

  Yet another of Treesa's ladies had Savil and the elder Tayledras trapped in a conversation, this time just outside the keep as Starwind sent his falcon up for some exercise. There was no reason for this one-sided discourse; she'd done it purely for an excuse to gawk at the exotic. Savil closed her eyes for a moment, and wished that the chattering child-woman would come to the point. “This,” said Starwind under his breath, in his own language, “is not a family, it is a small army. And half of them are mad.” He nodded to the young woman, smiled, and tried to interject a single word. “It -”