Touched By Magic (The King's Wolf Saga)

by Doranna Durgin

  ~~~~~

  Kacey left the kitchen for the sickroom, Tanager trailing along after a day of persistent requests to visit Reandn. With Teayo and Farren out riding surgeon's rounds together, she'd been left alone with that trial; eventually, with an admonishment to watch his tongue and his place, she loaded him up with food trays and put him to work.

  She'd half expected the steamy odors to have alerted her patients of her approach, but they were both asleep. Braden, worn from the accident and the stress to his small frame, had succumbed completely to the weak draft she'd given him. Reandn looked like he'd been sitting, but at some point had slumped over into an uncomfortable arrangement.

  She considered him a moment, eyeing the strain on his face. She'd needed to create some distance between them, but now it had become counterproductive to her healing duties, making him confused and defensive. Kacey couldn't blame him—only from her vulnerable point of view did it make sense.

  Behind her, Tanager cleared his throat. "It's heavy!" he hissed.

  Kacey indicated the worktable. "Put it there," she said. "And sit down behind it. Give him time to wake up." She rubbed her kitchen-sweaty face against the shoulder of her tunic. Then, since Reandn hadn't woken and didn't seem liable to, she sat down on the edge of the bed and touched his shoulder.

  His eyes opened, yet befuddled. "Damn."

  He'd slept through her arrival again, she realized, and didn't like it. "It'll take time," she told him quietly. "I've brought the evening meal. Hungry?"

  In his drowsiness, he seemed to have forgotten they were barely on speaking terms. "Do I get sweet potato and...?"

  "Gingerbread," she supplied. "It's hard to make enough for just one, you know."

  He sat, grimaced, and stretched what he could. "Poor kid," he said, glancing over at Braden. "I don't think he's ever slept in a bed alone before."

  "With the size of his family, I imagine you're right," Kacey agreed. She hesitated, and added, " Thank you for making him feel more comfortable here."

  He shrugged. "He's a kid, and he's upset and hurting. He just needed someone to understand."

  She hadn't expected him to be good with children somehow—but instead of saying so, she nodded at Tanager to bring over the food.

  "No," Reandn said. "I'll eat at your workbench, if you don't mind." He didn't seem at all surprised at Tanager's movement, although she'd taken for granted that he wouldn't have been alert enough to notice the youth. Apparently he wasn't all that debilitated after all.

  Tanager moved aside for him, then hovered while Reandn played fumble and catch with his right hand—obviously a lefty, Kacey thought. Several annoyed glances from Reandn did nothing to warn Tanager off. He hovered even closer as he said, "I just wanted to see if you were feeling any better."

  "Yes, I am." Reandn's voice was hard and flat, another clue Tanager ignored.

  "Are you going on to the city?"

  A nod, a sideways glance at the boy. "You here to champion your grandfather again? How noble, how learned, how helpful?"

  Startled, Tanager drew back, then drew himself up to bristle. "If it wasn't for Pa-Farren—"

  "I wouldn't have been in a position to be ambushed," Reandn finished for him. "And I wouldn't have stayed long enough to take an arrow. So don't try to tell me how he saved my life."

  "You'd have run?" The surprise was enough to turn Tanager from his original purpose.

  "If I said no, you'd be talking to either a liar or an idiot." Reandn poked at the slab of ham on his plate, and turned instead to the gingerbread.

  Kacey gave herself a mental smack and reached over the table, teasing the shallow trencher closer so she could cut the meat. Men. Always too proud to ask. When she returned the plate, meat neatly cut, he speared a piece without comment, glancing a clear grey thank-you in her direction.

  "That scrape'll be healed soon," she said, looking at it.

  He ran his hand along the pink skin on his face, fingering the dark line of scab where the cut had gone deep. "Good. I might as well wear a sign on my back as march around with this."

  "It's an odd wound. How...?"

  "It doesn't make sense," Tanager interrupted, earning one of Kacey's scowls; it faded as she realized he wasn't really changing the subject. "You'd go up against a madman for a little boy but you wouldn't try to get the men that were after you?" He wore the frown of a young man chewing over unfathomable adult ways.

  "A madman, was it? Somehow I'm not surprised," Kacey snorted. But he'd done it for a child—and from the looks of it, nearly died as a result.

  She wished he'd gotten it in a tavern fight instead.

  Reandn closed his eyes with exaggerated patience. "One on one is something I can handle, Tanager. But when there's magic gathering, and you can't see the source, what is there to fight? This time it turned out to be men. Next time, I hope I won't be there to find out."

  Tanager was silent for a moment, though his face held a rising flush. His mouth twisted to one side. "You're always so certain there's magic around. I think you're just scared, and using magic as an excuse."

  Kacey winced. Reandn's ham halted mid-way to his mouth; he looked up from under dark brows as if to convince himself he'd heard right. "If you think I'm too weak to whip a senseless man-child, I'd think again."

  "What did I tell you when I said you could come in here?" Kacey said, her hand clamping over Tanager's arm, getting his attention and a surprised expression. "I surely didn't instruct you to start a fight!"

  "But—"

  "Tanager," Reandn said bluntly, pointing the short, split-ended eating knife uncomfortably close to the base of the youth's neck, "I'm sure you came in here to help your grandfather. But you're just making me mad. Quit worrying at me like some dumb pup. "

  Tanager stared wordlessly at the knife a moment, until Reandn set it on the edge of the plate and nibbled at the gingerbread.

  Kacey helped herself to a chunk of the fragrant bread. "Besides, Tanager, if you'd been paying any attention at all, you'd have heard that Reandn has what your grandfather calls an allergy to magic; Father thinks so, too. Which means he can tell when there's magic in use."

  "Imagine that," Reandn said. "Damn, this is good bread."

  Kacey silently absorbed the compliment, checking over her shoulder to see that Braden still slept soundly. "I'd never heard of such a thing—but who cares, when there's no magic around? Besides, Farren said it was very rare."

  "So I'm just lucky," Reandn said dryly; his expression darkened.

  "What?" Kacey said, when his attention remained inward and didn't seem liable to return to the conversation. She had the feeling that the answer would give her the key to this man, to understanding the depths of his reactions. "What's wrong?"

  He seemed to shake himself, then regarded her with a little frown. "If only I'd known," he said. "I'd have been able to figure out what was happening. If I'd been a little smarter...a little faster...."

  "Tell us, why don't you?" Farren invited from the doorway.

  Kacey cursed the old wizard's timing; Reandn's head snapped around, his expression gone cold and hostile. She sent Farren a glare he ignored, so she snatched the tray from the table and took it and Braden's meal over to the boy. As she woke him, reassured him, and showed him his favorite foods, she eavesdropped shamelessly.

  "You're pushy, Farren," Reandn said. "Suppose I tell you, right now, who this man is, and what he's done. What would you do about it?"

  Farren leaned against the door frame and scratched his beard. "To tell the truth, I've been working so hard at getting through to you that I never thought past it."

  "You could go get him," Tanager offered, as if he really believed it was that simple.

  "On whose authority?" Reandn asked.

  "I'm not unknown in the city," Farren offered slowly; Kacey thought it was the first time she'd heard him talk to Reandn, instead of trying to talk him into something. "But I can see I'd have to get some backing before I did anything. Of course, if th
is person truly has magic, it will be difficult to apprehend him regardless of legalities."

  "My grandfather was—is—important," Tanager said, his courage returned in the moments since he'd looked down the blade of the knife. Kacey, having settled Braden and gotten him started on his meal, eased into place behind Tanager, half expecting the words that followed. "If you think he can't get this man, why do you think anyone'll listen to you?"

  Farren raised his fine silvered eyebrows, inviting Reandn to answer, even as Kacey elicited a yelp from Tanager with her expert pinch. "Rude!"

  "You've said worse to him!" Tanager said, aggrieved.

  Reandn paid no attention to them. He grinned, an unusual expression that looked more like defiance than humor, and said, "Pack First has the right to mete Wolf's Justice."

  "So," Farren's breath escaped through pursed lips. "First. Savill was right about you—a Wolf with fangs."

  "By the time he knows I'm there it'll be too late. Can you say as much?"

  Farren shook his head. "This was my city, once. And I do know how to wield magic, which makes me the expert when it comes to predicting what your renegade might do—or even when it comes to telling what he is doing. I'll know where to find him, too. If you've made it to Pack First, you ought to know better than to refuse an advantage like that."

  "And him?" Reandn jerked his stubble covered chin at Tanager.

  "I go where he goes," Tanager said quickly.

  Farren gave his head one firm shake. "Not this time, son. You'll stay here until we're through."

  "I'm just as useful as a one-armed man!" Tanager cried.

  Kacey wasn't sure whether to admire the boy or just lose her temper. He never knew when to quit.

  For once, Farren seemed inclined to agree. "Tanager," he said, "I seem to remember a boy who rushed a stranger in our shop front and almost got himself killed. That same boy, only days ago, ran back into the thick of a sword fight, and again could have been killed—if, in fact, there had been anyone left to fight. Someday you'll have judgment, and then I'll take you into situations where you have to use it. Until then, you'll have to use mine, and it says you stay here."

  Instead of protesting, Tanager looked at Reandn's arm; Reandn raised an eyebrow at him, amusement in his grey eyes. Probably, Kacey thought, Tanager was remembering how close Reandn had come to death... and that he himself was just as mortal.

  Farren caught the direction of his gaze and interpreted it differently. "We'll be here, as well, until that arm heals. Believe it or not, sometimes your old grandfather can work these things out without your help."

  "Father invited you to stay," Kacey guessed.

  Farren smiled agreement. "As if he would ever turn anyone away."

  Kacey snorted. "You're right, there." She retrieved Braden's half finished mug of milk and took it to the workbench, elbowing Tanager aside to get at the sweet syrup. A careful measurement, a brisk stir, and Braden would sleep the night comfortably. The boy took the mug back with a wrinkled nose of suspicion, but, after a cautious sip, fell back to his gingerbread without comment.

  "There, see?" Kacey said. "You should have been as good a patient, Reandn."

  "Sorry," he said, with a quick grin, a real one this time. "I've been scrapping so long it happens all on its own."

  Maybe, Kacey thought, in the aftermath of that grin, it would be safer to go back to being obnoxious to him.

  Farren cleared his throat. "You may be Pack First—or, at least you were when you left King's Keep—but arriving unheralded in Solace with charges of magic may be more difficult to back up than you think. Don't cut yourself off from my help just because you don't like my motives. Think about it. There's time." Farren nodded at Tanager, who reluctantly followed his grandfather out of the room.

  "When can I go home?" Braden asked loudly in the silence that followed the wizard's departure. Kacey gave a short laugh.

  "You are persistent," she said. "Not for a few days, baby. Give yourself a little time to feel better."

  "I feel fine now. Thank you for the nice meal," he said in a clumsy afterthought.

  "You probably do. That's because I have some medicines here that your mother doesn't, and because I'm very good at giving them. That's why your parents brought you here."

  "I'm bored."

  This time Reandn laughed as well. "Give him a few moments," Kacey said quietly. "That sweet syrup'll send him back to sleep."

  "I don't doubt it," he said.

  "How about you? Would you like some more of the tea?"

  Reandn flexed his arm slightly, made a face at it. It was a goofy gesture, and Kacey stifled amusement. "I'll get you some," she said. "When there's both poison and caustic involved, it's no simple thing. You need to give it—"

  "Some time," he finished for her. "I know, I know. The problem is, I may not have the time."

  She didn't understand that; she didn't think she had to. Maybe later. "I'll be right back."

  The kettle sat on the cook stove as a matter of course, and it only took Kacey a moment to fetch it. She brought a candle lamp as well, with a mind to the impending darkness. When she returned to the sickroom, Braden had fallen asleep, and Reandn sat upon his bed, his eyes open but distant, and his dark brows drawn down.

  "Hurting?" Kacey guessed, and set down her goods to scrounge up the needed herbs.

  "Thinking," he said distantly. "Just between the two of us...this is one Wolf First who may have a little trouble calling on his influence. At least, until I get things straightened out. Although Farren probably knows that, considering his friendly relationship with Maurant's minor. And I can't afford to go to the Locals for help in finding Ronsin..."

  "You think Farren might be of some help to you, then."

  "Yes, dammit. "

  "My father is not in the habit of developing friendships with scoundrels," Kacey said dryly, pouring the steaming water.

  "People change over the years. And Farren has made no secret of the fact that he wants to talk to Ronsin—he wants to rediscover magic for everyone."

  "If this one person has found it, it does seem reasonable that there's more about," Kacey said, bringing him the mug. She sat down on the padded stool by his side. "You can't blame him for wanting it."

  He gave her a sharp look. "You sound like—" but broke off, taking a convenient sip of the tea, his eyes running from hers with such sudden pain that Kacey didn't think, just reacted.

  "What did he do to you, Reandn—this enemy of yours? Where did you get such a thirst for revenge?"

  For a moment he looked like he might answer. And then he looked like he wouldn't, sitting there, the pain in his eyes coming through so clearly Kacey was almost sorry she'd asked. Finally he said, very low, "Adela." He cleared his throat and added, only slightly louder, "My wife."

  "Oh, no," she said, just as softly.

  "Ronsin is the Keep wizard—a harmless old man. He started with a young fosterling," Reandn said, his face at first still and expressionless. "Then a boy from the kitchen. And Kavan, his own apprentice, and...someone I was very fond of. Then Elyn...all the time, my ears giving him away, and I didn't figure it out. Not until it was too late. I got there...he had her..." A muscle in his jaw twitched. "He took her away from me." His hand clenched around the ring on his small finger, and then, abruptly, he scrubbed his other hand roughly across his face. "Yeah, well," he shrugged. "I'm going to kill him."

  "I'm sorry," Kacey whispered, and it sounded worthless. She sat in silence for a moment, wanting to reach out to him. Instead, knowing better, she stood, resting her hand on his shoulder for the briefest moment. "The rest of the household'll be in the common room for a while. You should join us, when you feel up to it."

  He nodded without looking at her, and she left the sickroom, first returning the kettle to the kitchen and then wandering out toward the common room, through which was her own modest bedroom.

  Deep in thought, dividing her concern between Reandn and Rethia's prolonged absence, Kacey almos
t didn't notice that the conversation ceased when she walked through the short hall and into the main room. Tanager sat on the edge of a stool by his grandfather's chair, while Teayo resided in the stuffed chair by the cool stone hearth, and it was Tanager's guilty expression that piqued her suspicion.

  "Well?" she said, looking at her father.

  "Kacey," he greeted her. "We're just discussing some of Farren's alternatives. And I have to repeat, Farren, that I don't think you'll get any cooperation from this man, considering the grudge he's carrying around."

  Tanager looked more stricken with every word that was said, and Kacey watched him, growing more and more suspicious—he'd been up to something, even if she didn't know just what yet.

  "Maybe I should just go on into the City," Farren said thoughtfully. "Now that I'm fairly certain it's Ronsin who's caused all this trouble, I can make some discreet inquiries."

  "How'd you get his name?" Kacey asked in surprise.

  Tanager's guilty look suddenly made sense. Eavesdropper! Kacey advanced on him in a flurry of angry steps and hauled him up by the shirt. She didn't realize that her other hand was fisted behind her, not until Teayo rumbled her name in a surprised imperative. She gave the hand a brief, startled glance, and shoved the youth away instead of using it; he stumbled and sat heavily on the stool, and she stood over him, shouting in his face. "You were listening! You had no right! You creepy little sneak!"

  Farren straightened, bringing both his feet flat to the ground with a considerable thump; his face was stern. "You led us to believe you were in on this conversation, Tanager."

  "N-not exactly," Tanager said, suddenly facing the unpleasant prospect of his grandfather's anger. "I...heard it."

  "Sneak!" Kacey snapped.

  "Hush, girl," Teayo said, not without understanding.

  "I thought you had to know!" Tanager protested.

  Farren's voice was grim. "And are we ever to convince Reandn we are not the enemy if we don't treat him as a friend?"

  "What's more important?" Tanager cried. "Getting him on our side or getting the job done? You know he's going to do all he can to kill the magic when he finds it!"