Dagger's Edge (Shadow series)

by Logston, Anne

  “Jael,” Shadow prompted, and Jael leaned a little closer, eager to catch every word.

  “It’s obvious that Jaellyn has some of the old wild blood,” Donya said wearily. “One look at her shows it. The elves see it as a sign from the Mother Forest that the elven influence in the city will grow with her as Heir. The humans see it as just another sign that their own influence is decreasing, and they want Jael bypassed as Heir and one of the twins—preferably Mera—chosen instead. It’s not without precedent; Sharl the Ninth passed over his two eldest.”

  “Oh, please,” Shadow groaned. “He did that because he had no choice; Rulia was barren and crippled, too, and Romal the Black never took anybody but stableboys and the occasional goat to his bed. Everybody in the city knows that.”

  “That’s not the point,” Donya told her. “Half the council wants Jael declared Heir immediately, and preferably betrothed even sooner, and the other half wants me to send her quietly off to some distant city to be fostered, wait a decent interval, and then choose one of the twins. Either way, somebody will be very, very upset. Every day I wait, they push a little harder. I was afraid to send Jael to the forest this summer, for fear either the elves or the humans would see it as significant.”

  “Well, it sounds to me as if the Temple of Baaros is the bellows that fans the fire,” Shadow speculated. “Don’t forget that anti-elven preachings mean Argent, and you, too, Doe. It could grow into covert or even open rebellion against the ruling line because of your elven blood. Do something about them, first.”

  “What should we do?” Donya asked helplessly. “We have no precedent for interfering with any temple’s doctrines when they aren’t actually breaking city law, and acting against the Temple of Baaros will be seen as taking the elves’ side against the humans. According to Ankaras, two days from now the Temple of Baaros will be holding their Lesser Summoning. That’s when Baaros himself will appear to instruct the faithful in the signs he’ll send prior to his manifestation at the Grand Summoning. It’s reaching a crisis point. I’ve sent messengers to other cities with elven and human populations to see if they’ve had any trouble with this particular temple, and how they’ve dealt with it. I still haven’t heard from a few, but most say the temple has caused no trouble. Our problem seems unique.”

  “Well, I have to admit that Jael doesn’t seem to have much of Argent in her,” Shadow said slowly. “Doe, has it ever occurred to you that—”

  “At least three times an hour,” Donya said miserably. “But how can I know? Argent has some Hidden Folk ancestry; so does my mother.”

  “That’s not exactly what I meant,” Shadow said gently.

  “I know.” Donya reached for a goblet of wine, and Jael saw, to her amazement, that her mother’s hands were shaking. “But it’s impossible, Shady. Just look at her. Her ears, her height—”

  “Her coloring,” Shadow said softly. “Her foot.”

  Jael leaned a little closer, careful not to rustle the ivy. This was getting interesting. What in the world were they talking about?

  “I tell you, it’s not possible,” Donya insisted. “I took that goldenroot potion every single day until the day of my wedding.”

  “But you had the plague,” Shadow persisted. “I’ve seen severe illness make the goldenroot ineffective. Not to mention all the healing potions Argent gave you, plus the potion that cured the plague, plus all the strange magic at that temple. Any of those things could have made a difference.”

  “Damn all, Shady, one toe doesn’t prove anything,” Donya exclaimed angrily. “It could just as likely have happened at that elven festival just a few days before.”

  “Have you talked to Jaellyn about any of this?” Shadow asked gently.

  “No, I haven’t, and I don’t want you to, either,” Donya said adamantly.

  “Don’t you think she’s got a right to know?” Shadow pressed. “Doe, she’s the one who’s being insulted—and she knows it, too, even if she doesn’t really understand.”

  “I said no, and I meant it,” Donya said stonily. “Not a word, Shady, not a hint.”

  “Well, what if it turns out that Argent isn’t really—”

  Jael leaned a little closer, just a little—

  —and her bracing foot slipped, and Jael teetered precariously for just a moment before she tumbled off her perch. One flailing hand barely caught the ivy, and for a few moments Jael hung there under the window, praying that just for once her luck would hold and that her mother hadn’t heard the noise.

  Once more her luck failed her; she could hear Donya’s quick footsteps toward the window. Just in time, Jael found a toehold in the stone and slid under the projection of the window. Donya leaned out the window, but overlooked Jael’s small form under the ledge in the darkness.

  “What’s the matter?” Shadow said, joining the High Lady at the window.

  “I thought I heard something,” Donya said. She leaned a little farther out, and Jael ground her teeth, wishing she could melt into the comfortable solidity of the stone wall.

  “You surely did,” Shadow said. “Look there. That’s a good storm building up to the north. I can already hear the thunder. I’d say no more than half an hour, maybe less, till it gets here.”

  Donya let Shadow coax her back from the window, and Jael allowed herself a silent sigh of relief, then climbed back to her perch as quietly and carefully as she could.

  “Have you asked Jael what she wants?” Shadow asked.

  “Oh, be reasonable, Shady,” Donya said irritably. “In truth, it just doesn’t matter what the children of nobility want, does it? I wouldn’t be here if it did. Jaellyn can’t sit still for half an hour, she can’t seem to master any of her lessons, and everything she touches either breaks or falls on her. She’d be utterly miserable as High Lady, probably even more miserable than me. Mera or Markus would be a better choice, there’s no avoiding it.”

  Jael barely stifled a huge sigh of relief. She’d been heartily dreading the day she would be declared Heir.

  “But if I pass Jaellyn over,” Donya continued, “the elves will complain, and the humans who have objected to her will feel that they’ve forced me to choose in their favor, and where will that end once it starts?”

  Shadow sighed exasperatedly.

  “Donya, just what did you want me to do?”

  “I don’t know,” Donya said, more softly. “I don’t know that there’s anything you can do. I just wanted your advice.”

  “Well, you don’t want to listen when I give it,” Shadow said impatiently. “Are you listening to yourself? I’ve heard about the Temple of Baaros, I’ve heard about the humans, I’ve heard about the elves. The city’s falling apart, the world’s a mess. This was all supposed to be about Jael, but you’ve talked to me about everything but her. I think you’re looking at this whole thing tail end first.”

  “What do you mean?” Donya asked suspiciously.

  “Start with the smaller problems first. I think first of all we need to get Celene to pay a visit,” Shadow said. “Your mother once said she thought there was magery in Jael. Let’s find out just what Jael’s trouble is. With that much wild blood in her, she’s more than likely barren, and then you’ll have to pass her by; even the elves will understand that. At least it gives you a place to start.”

  “Well, that’s sound enough,” Donya admitted cautiously.

  Jael ground her teeth with frustration. This wasn’t what she’d been wanting to hear, not at all.

  “And in the meantime,” Shadow said firmly, “let’s dig Argent out of council chambers, send for the children, and have supper.”

  “And stop thinking about it in the meantime, right?” Donya said sarcastically. “Just like pinching out a candle.”

  “Think about it all you like,” Shadow laughed. “Just don’t keep talking about it, or you’ll spoil our supper.”

  The two women turned toward the door, and Jael scrambled quickly back to her room. It took a little longer than she liked, a
nd she collided with the maid sent to summon her in the hall rather than meeting her at Jael’s room, but the servants were used to crashing into Jael in the halls anyway. Jael took only a moment to struggle into a clean tunic and rake a comb through her short, tangled bronze curls before she raced headlong down the halls and stairs to the dining hall.

  She stopped outside the dining hall and hesitated outside the door, hoping to hear something more, but at that moment the twins appeared and swept her through the door in a wave of giggles. Jael disgustedly took her seat, glowering at Markus and Mera, who blithely kept up a nonstop racket until Argent silenced them with a stern glance.

  Jael usually managed to dodge post-council family suppers. Mother and Father were invariably in a terrible mood, and Markus and Mera equally invariably filled the uncomfortable silence with irritating chatter. With Shadow present, however, supper became a game, Shadow’s lively stories of her adventures cheering Jael’s parents and keeping the twins silently enthralled. Jael ate ravenously, content to sit quietly and listen to Aunt Shadow spin stories of faraway lands, glad to see Mother lose her worried frown and Father his air of patient resignation. Even the servants lingered to hear the stories, refilling goblets a little more frequently than was really necessary; by the time supper was over, Mother and Father had had a little too much wine and were in a far more jovial mood.

  Jael, however, was feeling anything but jovial. The wine only made her feel dizzy and queasy, unlike everyone else she knew. Once more she had failed to find out exactly what about her so concerned her mother and the City Council, and now here she was at the dining table feeling sick and head-spun while Aunt Shadow and the family enjoyed themselves.

  Jael stared resolutely at the nearest light globe in its cup, the only object on the table that didn’t make her feel like spewing her supper. The light globes were simple magic but infinitely useful, and Allanmere had traded for the spell as soon as it had been developed in Northreach. They could be extinguished with a word and relit with another, and unlike candles, they didn’t drip wax into the food. She could feel their steady magic, quiet and unobtrusive, solid as stone. If Grandmother Celene was right and Jael had the makings of a mage, maybe one day she’d be able to create spells like the light globes. It would be pleasant to be around magic all day long; its presence started a rather pleasurable humming sensation somewhere under her breastbone—

  —and the globe exploded.

  Jael was under the table almost without thinking; she found Shadow there already. Argent and the twins followed quickly, Donya hesitating until Argent pulled her down. Before any of them had time to speak, however, there were six more loud pops, and glass and food rained down over the sides of the table. The six of them exchanged glances, waiting, but there was nothing further. Donya first, they peered cautiously over the tabletop.

  All seven light globes had exploded, littering the tabletop with sparkling shards of glass. Donya sighed and brushed a clear path through the debris on the floor with her foot, then helped the twins through the clear path and out of the glass-strewn area. She reached for Jael, but Jael had already jumped over the circle of sharp fragments.

  “Supper and entertainment,” Shadow said mildly, sighing over the glass in her wine goblet. “Argent, have you been underpaying your mages?”

  Argent chuckled weakly.

  “Celene did all the castle globes herself,” he said. “Is everyone all right?”

  They all were. The servants quietly cleared the ruined food and broken glass from the table. Donya, Argent, and Shadow retired to one of the smaller halls to talk, and the twins followed, eager to hear Shadow’s stories, but for once Jael had no desire to accompany them. Nothing important would be said in the twins’ presence, and she felt miserably ill, both from the wine and from knowing that the light globes had exploded because of her. Mother and Father had been too kind to say it, but such incidents were far from rare—when Jael was there, at least.

  Jael didn’t need to return to her room and open the shutters to know that the storm had started; the air had already grown noticeably damper and her breathing had thickened. She threw herself onto the cushions at the window nook and peered irritably through the shutters at the lightning.

  She didn’t like to admit it, but she was sorry she hadn’t gone to the forest this year. It wasn’t precisely that she wanted to go to the forest so much; it was just that she wanted to go somewhere that wasn’t here. She was always restless around the castle, and this summer she hadn’t even had the respite of a visit to the Heartwood. Sometimes she felt she couldn’t bear it another minute—

  “Enjoy the dark that much, sapling, or just afraid to light another globe?” Shadow said cheerfully, joining Jael on the window seat. She had a flagon of wine in her hand, and she drank directly from it, not bothering with a mug.

  “Isn’t everybody waiting for you?” Jael said sourly.

  “Actually the twins are rather tipsy and have gone to bed, and Argent thought you might need a friendly ear to fill.” Shadow pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around them. “Want to talk about it?”

  “Aunt Shadow, will you be going away again soon?” Jael asked.

  “Well, I don’t know about ‘soon,’” Shadow shrugged. Lightning silvered the edge of one pointed ear. “I don’t see that there’s all that much I can do here, but I’ll probably stay for a few days, anyway.”

  “When you go, would you take me with you?” Jael said suddenly, daringly.

  “I don’t think Doe’s going to agree to that, sapling,” Shadow said gently. “And your health’s a bit fragile, too. You’ve lived too soft for the kind of traveling I do. What’s the matter, little acorn, feeling rather bloody in the feet?”

  “The dagger’s edge gets sharper all the time,” Jael sighed. “But it’d just be easier on Mother and Father if I was gone. Then they could declare Markus or Mera Heir and be done with it, and the elves wouldn’t blame them if I’d run off on my own. Mother started traveling on her own when she was only fifteen years old, five years younger than I am now. As for my health, I get sick here, too, and I can buy healing potions to take with me. And I know as much about taking care of myself as Mist could teach me.”

  “Hmmm.” Shadow’s eyes narrowed. “You look so much like a half-grown fawn, sapling, that I forget sometimes you have two decades in that skinny body. Truth to tell, Jael, surviving in the Heartwood’s nothing like surviving in the human wilderness—foreign cities full of people you can’t trust, people who sometimes don’t even speak any language you can understand—”

  ‘Truth to tell, I’d be a weight around your feet,” Jael said bitterly. “That’s what you’re saying, isn’t it?”

  “I suppose I am.” Shadow laughed ruefully. “But the other part’s true, too. And your mother would never forgive me— and I do mean never, sapling. But I’ll make you a bargain, eh?”

  “What kind of bargain?” Jael said suspiciously.

  “It’s true that your mother set out when she was younger than you,” Shadow told her. “But she wasn’t Heir, she wasn’t leaving her city and her family in a mess, and she was one Fortune-be-damned good swordswoman. She’d been taking care of herself for a good many months before I met up with her, so I didn’t have to spend all my time looking out for her.

  “Now, here’s what I’ll do. You see your mother and father through this crisis. It won’t be long before they have to declare an Heir, either you or one of the twins. Behave yourself and apply yourself to your defense skills, at least. I’ll come back by your next birthday—not this midwinter, but the next—and if you haven’t been declared Heir and if you can prove to me that you can defend yourself, I’ll take you with me on my next trip if you want, whether your parents like it or not. All right?”

  Jael scowled.

  “Aunt Shady, I’ll make you a bargain. If I’m still here in the city on my birthday and you think I’m ready, I’ll go with you. But I won’t promise I’ll be here.”

  “Well,
I can’t protect you from your own foolishness,” Shadow sighed. “You’re your mother’s daughter, plain enough, and Fortune knows I’m no better example. Do what you want, Jaellyn. Just learn to use a sword or a dagger before you do it. A young girl—especially one who looks like a half-grown child—is an easy mark in a strange city.”

  Jael said nothing, but opened one shutter so she could watch the storm. She didn’t tell Shadow, but it wasn’t strange cities she was looking for. It was wild places she wanted to see, sweeping plains, tall mountains, maybe even the endless ocean Shadow had spoken of. She wanted to drink cold mountain water that didn’t taste of sulfur from the hot springs. She wanted to breathe air that wasn’t thick and wet and full of smells. Shadow, who loved busy cities with noisy taverns, soft beds, and hot supper with wine, would never understand. And Shadow was right about one thing: Jael couldn’t defend herself; she couldn’t even hunt. She could set traps and snares, but that wouldn’t protect her from brigands or hungry wolves.

  “So tell me,” Shadow said, changing the subject adroitly, “all about this Temple of Baaros.”

  Jael glanced sideways at the elf.

  “What makes you think I know anything about it?”

  “Oh, please,” Shadow grinned. “Telling you that you aren’t allowed in someplace is like issuing an invitation.”

  Jael laughed, her bad mood vanishing. Aunt Shadow always had that effect. In fact, Jael had been inside the Temple of Baaros twice now. Consulting the castle archives, Jael had found that the Temple of Baaros and the neighboring Temple of Learon the Twisted, now empty, had once been a single building, which had been divided to make room for two separate temples. The original cellars were, however, intact, although a wooden wall had been built to divide the two areas. Jael had had no difficulty cutting a small hole in the thin wooden wall, which was easily concealed by pushing some of the storage crates and barrels that the Temple of Baaros had in its cellars in front of the opening; the only difficulty had been avoiding the beggars and other indigents who made the abandoned temple their home.