Night of Madness

by Lawrence Watt-Evans

  "Go on," Ithinia said.

  "You had to put an artificial limit on your own power," Hanner said, "because there is no natural limit-wizards can live forever, learning more and more magic. If two of your mightiest members went to war, you could probably lay waste to the entire World."

  "As the demons did to the eastern provinces, and the gods did to the Northern Empire's heartland," a gray-robed man said, startling Hanner. "They, too, have bound themselves now."

  "Yes," Hanner said. "Yes, exactly. So you want warlocks removed, lest we become equally dangerous. But we can't. We do have a natural limit."

  "The Calling, as you've named it," Ithinia said.

  "Yes," Hanner said. "Exactly."

  A white-haired man stirred in his seat and said, "We do not bother ourselves about witches, whose magic is limited to the energy of their own bodies, nor with sorcerers, whose talismans are not sufficiently powerful or long-lasting to seriously concern us. You warlocks, though, can reach a frightening level of power before the Calling takes you. Your Rudhira demonstrated that."

  "Frightening, yes," Hanner admitted. "But still limited, and your own people can wreak considerable havoc before drawing the Guild's attention. I don't know whether the legendary Tower of Flame in the Small Kingdoms is real-"

  "It is," the white-haired man interrupted. "It still burns."

  "You see? The World is full of dangerous magic, yet it survives. And a powerful warlock who goes rogue can easily be handled."

  Some of the wizards exchanged glances.

  "Not so easily," Ithinia said. "Warlocks resist wizardry. It's as if you all bear powerful protective spells at all times. We have had some unfortunate incidents already. You know of one of them; the spell we used on your uncle, Lord Faran, was the strongest petrifaction spell we know, and should be utterly instantaneous, yet it took a second or two to work, and he had time to retaliate. And Lord Faran was not a terribly powerful warlock, nowhere near Rudhira's level."

  "It was not Faran who stopped his killer's heart," Hanner said. "I was able to see that, using a warlock's added senses. I hope you'll understand if I don't tell you who did perform the deed."

  That created a stir, but before anyone could speak Hanner continued, "But that wasn't what I meant, in any case. Yes, you could destroy powerful warlocks with your spells, at some risk to yourself-but you could also slit their throats while they sleep. Manrin knew you far better than my uncle did, yet he didn't manage to take anyone with him."

  Hanner paused for breath and heard someone mutter, "Elken, too."

  He ignored that, and continued. "Even that isn't what I meant, though. Don't you see? You can use the Calling to do your work for you!"

  Again, his words triggered unrest; the wizards shifted in their seats and looked at one another.

  "If you keep throwing things at a dangerous warlock, it doesn't matter whether any of your attacks succeed," Manner said. "He'll use his magic to defend himself. The more magic he uses, the more powerful he becomes. And the more powerful he becomes, the stronger the Calling becomes. Rudhira destroyed herself by lifting those ships-after she did that, the Calling was always there for her, growing steadily stronger."

  For a moment the place was silent; then Ithinia said, "An interesting point."

  Hanner knew he had said the right thing, finally. He was swaying them.

  "That's one side," he continued. "Warlocks cannot cause the same level of destruction you fear, so there's no real need to destroy us. But there's another side. We can make any attempt to destroy us very costly."

  "Go on," Ithinia said.

  Hanner knew he had to phrase this carefully. He did not want to anger these people by seeming disrespectful or by threatening them openly. "You know we can kill you without touching you. You've seen us be obvious, smashing doors and so on, but we can be subtle. We can hide. We don't need to look like anything but ordinary people-did you know I was a warlock before this morning?"

  "No," Ithinia said, "but we do have ways of finding out."

  "And if a wizard's heart suddenly stops in the street one day, can you find out which of the dozens of people in the area is responsible?"

  Ithinia frowned and glanced around at the others. "Go on," she said.

  Hanner thought he heard someone whisper something faintly. He ignored that, as he had the earlier muttering, and went on. "You may think that there are only so many warlocks, and that once you've disposed of us all you're rid of the problem-but we can make others into warlocks. It's very easy, very subtle-the person altered wouldn't necessarily even know it at first."

  "Wait a minute," the white-haired wizard said. He drew a dagger and placed it on the table, then fumbled with a pouch on his belt.

  "What are you doing?" Ithinia asked.

  "The Spell of Truth," the other replied. He mumbled something, gestured with the dagger, and did something Hanner couldn't see with his other hand. Then he pointed the knife at Hanner and said, "Repeat what you just told us."

  "I said that we can make more warlocks. We can make anyone a warlock, easily, with or without their permission or knowledge."

  "Are you sure of that?" the white-haired man demanded.

  Hanner hesitated. He wanted to say yes, but he couldn't honestly. He admitted, "No, I'm not sure. We believe so, but there might be people we can't change. We can certainly change most people."

  The wizard nodded. "Good enough," he said. "Then why haven't you? Why not turn all the World to warlocks?"

  "I'm not eager to do something irreversible when we don't know what the results will be," Hanner said. "Besides, it's not as if most of us have found warlockry an unmixed blessing."

  "But if you turned your enemies to warlocks-"

  "They might still be our enemies-and they might be more powerful than us."

  "But you have more experience."

  "And we're closer to the Calling. We aren't in any hurry to go see what's in Aldagmor. If we did turn everyone to warlocks, and the Calling took us all, we might destroy the entire World. We don't want that any more than you do."

  "Go on," Ithinia said.

  Hanner sighed.

  "That's most of it," he said. "If you do declare war upon us, we will fight, and we will fight with any means at our disposal. Wizards will die of heart failure, die in their sleep, die as they walk down the street. Wizards will find themselves transformed into warlocks, their familiar magic suddenly unreliable. Warlocks will appear throughout the city, throughout the World, anywhere we can get within a few yards of some unsuspecting innocent for a moment. You might win in the end, you might exterminate us or drive us all to the Calling, but would it be worth the cost?"

  "What alternative do you offer?" the white-haired wizard asked.

  "The Council of Warlocks," Hanner said eagerly. "We propose to organize all the warlocks, as they're discovered, and bind them by our rules. The warlocks who accept the Council's authority will obey the laws of whatever land they live in-here in Ethshar-"

  "You aren't in Ethshar here," a beautiful woman who had not previously spoken interrupted. "In fact, you aren't even in the World."

  "I'm sorry," Hanner said. "In Ethshar, then, they will obey the laws of the Hegemony and the commands of the three overlords. In the Small Kingdoms they will obey the laws of the various kings and queens. In Sardiron they will obey the barons. Whatever the law is, warlocks will be bound by it, and other warlocks will cooperate, free of charge, in bringing to trial any warlock who does not. Council warlocks will operate openly, not in secret-we will distinguish ourselves by wearing black tunics, as you wizards wear your traditional robes. We will transform others to warlocks only as properly sworn apprentices, as other magicians do. We will regulate our members, like any guild-and two or more warlocks working together can overcome a single more powerful warlock, where other magic might encounter that interference you've noticed. We will require that no warlock use any other magic."

  "And what do you expect in return?" the white-haired w
izard asked.

  "Very little," Hanner asked. "We ask that we be treated as magicians, not monsters. We ask that the Wizards' Guild not kill us, nor drive us into exile, nor aid others in doing so. And one more thing." He had almost forgotten it and shuddered at the possibility. Convincing the Wizards' Guild to leave warlocks alone was important, but it would hardly solve all their problems while warlocks were blamed for other crimes.

  The wizards were waiting in expectant silence. He swallowed, then continued.

  "All those people who vanished on the Night of Madness," Hanner said. "They were warlocks who heard the Calling, we're sure of it."

  "So are we," the white-haired wizard said.

  That statement was a pleasant surprise, and Hanner struggled not to react to it.

  "But most people think we made them disappear," he said. "If the Wizards' Guild, and perhaps the other magicians, could tell everyone that we aren't responsible, that Uncle Kelder or Aunt Sarai was not kidnapped or eaten by warlocks, but was a warlock- that would be what we need to fit in peacefully, which is all we want."

  "Warlocks did loot and burn and kill on the Night of Madness," Ithinia pointed out.

  "Yes, they did," Hanner admitted. "And we're very sorry about that and will be glad to turn over for trial any individual who can be shown to have committed any such crimes. We've already done that, where we could-I personally delivered four warlocks to the Lord Magistrate of the Old Merchants' Quarter, who had them flogged."

  "He speaks the truth," the white-haired wizard said. "The spell is still in effect."

  "We can see that," the woman who had corrected Hanner's reference to Ethshar snapped.

  "Is that it?" Ithinia asked. "Have you finished your speech?"

  "Almost," Hanner said. "Just one more thing."

  "Didn't he say that before?" a wizard muttered. Hanner ignored it.

  "I've told you what we want of the Guild," he said. "To be left in peace and to have the truth about the disappearances told. I've told you what we offer in exchange-warlocks will be kept in order by the Council of Warlocks. I've explained why warlocks are not the threat some initially believed, in that the Calling limits us, and I've explained that neither are we harmless and easily obliterated, so that the peace we offer is reasonable. There's just one more thing to add. It's not a fact, but only a possibility, a consequence that might happen if you do refuse my offer and try to stamp us out."

  "What is it?" Ithinia asked.

  "You know that hundreds, maybe thousands of people flew off to Aldagmor on the Night of Madness. You know the most powerful warlocks have followed them. But there are things we don't know about warlockry. We don't know what causes it, how long it will last, or any of dozens of other things. So ask yourselves, when you consider declaring warlocks to be a menace to be stopped-what happens if the Calling stops?" He looked at the wizards and spread his arms dramatically.

  "What happens if all those warlocks come back from Aldag-mor and find out you've slaughtered their fellows?" he asked.

  He knew that was something they hadn't considered; he knew he'd said the right thing. He looked at them, trying not to grin.

  The wizards stared at him in silence.

  Chapter Forty-three

  The sound of a chair's legs grating on stone broke the silence. "I think I'll send you home now," Ithinia said as she rose.

  Hanner bowed. "As you please," he said. "I've said what I came to say."

  "And we'll consider it all carefully," Ithinia replied as she walked up and took his arm. She stooped and picked up the velvet hood Hanner had dropped. "Put this on," she said, holding it out.

  Reluctantly Hanner obeyed, plunging himself into darkness.

  Someone-probably Ithinia, though he had no way to be certain-took hold of his arm, turned him to the left, and led him away. He walked for what seemed a goodly distance, perhaps thirty or forty yards, with the grip on his arm guiding him.

  Then his guide stopped.

  "Put out your hand," she said-Ithinia's voice, as he had expected. He obediently raised one arm and held it out before him.

  "Now step forward," she said, releasing her hold.

  He stepped forward-and sensation flooded over him.

  Light was seeping up beneath the mask; he was somewhere brighter than that gloomy pillared hall. He could hear the distant buzz of a city. And his warlockry had returned; he could sense his surroundings, feel the structure and patterns of the air and space around him.

  He snatched off the hood again.

  He was standing in a pleasant little room, one he didn't recognize-definitely not the bare little chamber the carpet had delivered him to. This room had broad windows on two sides, hung with lace curtains; steeply slanting sunlight was pouring in. The walls were plastered and painted white, brightening the room even more. A wicker divan stood to one side, and half a dozen little tables were scattered about. There were two doors-one in a windowed wall, presumably leading outside, and one in a solid wall, presumably leading to another room.

  Hanner stepped over to a window and looked out, and saw a lush garden. Chrysanthemums lined a brick walk that wound between flowerbeds and neatly trimmed hedges.

  He didn't recognize it.

  He could be almost anywhere, he thought. This might be in Ethshar, or at some wizard's country estate, or a castle garden in the Small Kingdoms. He wasn't sure what was expected of him, or why he had been sent here-hadn't Ithinia said she was sending him home?

  This wasn't any room he recognized in Uncle Faran's house, nor did the visible portion of the garden look familiar, but wizardry was capable of infinite surprises. He tried the interior door and found it locked.

  He could have opened it-he was a warlock again, after all- but he decided to try the other door first.

  The door to the garden opened readily, and he stepped outside, blinking in the bright sun. It was low in the west, just barely clearing walls and rooftops to his right.

  He heard a creak and looked up to see a gargoyle looking down at him.

  "Who are you?" the gargoyle demanded in a voice like stones grating together-which was probably produced, Hanner realized, by stones grating together.

  Hanner glanced along the stone facade of the house from which he had just emerged and saw half a dozen other gargoyles, most of which appeared to be animate.

  "I'm Hanner the Warlock," Hanner said. "Where am I?"

  "You're in the garden of Ithinia of the Isle," the gargoyle replied. It had trouble pronouncing the name, saying something resembling "Ishinia."

  Suddenly his presence here made sense to Hanner; naturally, Ithinia would have some means of getting home quickly from that mysterious place where he had spoken to her. It was most likely a Transporting Tapestry, he guessed, which would always deliver a person to the exact same location, no matter who it was or where he started. She had directed it to the little room on the back of her house.

  "The house on Lower Street, in Ethshar of the Spices?" he asked the gargoyle.

  "Yes," it said.

  "Ah! Your mistress said she would send me home, and she almost has-I live quite near here. Could you direct me to the street?"

  "To your right," the gargoyle said-it had no hands to point with, just claws and wings unsuited to the task. "There's a path to the front of the house. Latch the gate behind you."

  "Thank you," Hanner said. He started to bow, then stopped, feeling foolish; bowing to a chunk of magically animated stone seemed silly. To cover his confusion he turned as directed and hurried away.

  A moment later he was on Lower Street. Twenty minutes later he was at the front door of Warlock House, on High Street; Kirsha had been waiting at a window and had provided him with magical protection from the watchers in the street so that he could enter safely.

  "What happened?" she said as he stepped inside. "What did the wizards say?"

  "That's a little hard to explain," Hanner said as half a dozen of the others appeared to hear what he had to report. "They haven't
made a final decision yet, but I'm optimistic that they'll see our point of view and decide to let us remain."

  "Is there anything we should do to help?" Yorn asked from the parlor doorway.

  "Yes," Hanner said. "I said that the Council of Warlocks would take responsibility for all the warlocks in Ethshar. That means we need to find them all and convince them to accept our authority. I want all of you who feel able to go out and find warlocks. We know who some of them are, since they were here before, but there must be others. Find them and tell them that the Council of Warlocks requires them to agree to abide by our rules."

  "Could it wait until after supper?" Bern asked from the door of the dining room.

  Hanner suddenly realized he was indeed hungry.

  "I think so," he said.

  In fact, it waited until morning. The evening was spent reviewing just what Hanner had committed his Council to and planning out who would go where. Hanner had hoped that word would come quickly of the Guild's decision, but that didn't happen.

  However, there was a sudden disturbance upstairs midway through the evening; Hanner hurried to see what was responsible for the thumping and rushing he heard.

  The sound came from the master bedroom; Hanner flung the door wide.

  The windows overlooking the garden were open, and a warm wind was rustling the bed curtains. Manrin's body, along with the bedclothes that had been wrapped around it, was gone.

  That was one less thing to worry about-and it meant that the Guild was acting on one part of Hanner's requests, at any rate. Hanner closed the windows carefully, then went back downstairs to continue the planning session.

  Hanner did not sleep in Faran's bed that night; the memory of Manrin's corpse was too fresh. Instead he slept in one of the other rooms, where his sleep was interrupted twice by Desset's nightmares.

  After the second, as they stood in the hallway outside her room, he told her sternly, "No more magic! Not even little things. You're very close to being Called."