Vega Jane and the Secrets of Sorcery

by David Baldacci

His eyes narrowed, but his smile remained. ‘There is strength here,’ he replied as he held up a massive arm and flexed. I saw a muscle pull hard against the confines of his robes. ‘And there is strength here,’ he continued, touching his chest. ‘You have a great deal of strength, I think, here, which is where true power resides.’

  I said nothing but continued to stare at him curiously.

  He added, ‘One more victory and you battle for the right to be champion.’

  ‘And a thousand coins,’ I added.

  He waved his hand dismissively. ‘What does coin really have to do with it? I fought in many Duelums and never was coin part of the prize. I think—’

  Here he broke off and I think I know why. His gaze was taking in how thin I was. How dirty my cloak was. How old my brogans were. And how filthy was my skin.

  He looked down for a moment. ‘As I was saying, I think that a prize of coins is a good thing, actually. It can help Wugs . . . and their families.’

  ‘Yes, it can,’ I said. ‘But I come to you on another matter.’

  ‘Oh?’ he said expectantly, seeming relieved with the change in topic.

  ‘Duf Delphia?’

  He nodded. ‘I saw him at Hospital before he was moved to the Care. It is quite tragic.’

  I was surprised that he had visited. Delph hadn’t said. But then again, Delph had a lot to think about now.

  ‘Morrigone said that Duf would be taken care of by Council.’

  ‘That is quite correct. He was struck down while on Council work on the Wall. He will receive life wages and timbertoes at our cost.’

  ‘That is very generous,’ I said. ‘But what of his occupation?’

  ‘You mean as a beast trainer? I have never seen a finer one in all my sessions – but now, with no legs? You can well see the difficulty.’

  ‘I can. But if he is paired with another Wug who has an interest in beast training? Duf could teach him. The Wug could act as Duf’s legs while he is properly trained up.’

  Thansius added, ‘And that way Mr Delphia could have not just coin with which to live on, but a proper purpose for his remaining sessions?’

  ‘Yes,’ I replied.

  I saw his eyes crinkle and his mouth widen into a smile. ‘I think it a sound idea. I will make preparations for doing just as you advise. Did you have anyone in mind?’

  I gave him the name of a Wug who I thought would be a fine beast trainer. He turned to take up his ink stick and put on his specs to write the name down. As he did so, my hand shot out and scooped up a blank piece of parchment with Thansius’s name and the official seal of Council at the top of it. By the time Thansius turned back around, the parchment was safely in my pocket.

  I watched closely as he wrote the name in a particularly stiff hand, so unlike the flourish with which I had seen Morrigone write. I thanked Thansius and left.

  Going down the steps, I patted my pocket where the official parchment sat.

  I was going to write a letter.

  45

  VEGA AFTER ALL

  I walked directly back to my digs, where Harry Two was waiting not so patiently for me. I pulled the chair over to my table, took out my ink stick, filled it and then set to my task with the parchment. I had to see out of one eye, but I knew what I wanted to write.

  I had once seen Morrigone write on a report that a Wug working on the Wall had given her. Thus, I’d had a good look at her handwriting, and I knew now that all the instructions for finishing my items that I’d been given at Stacks for two long sessions had been written in her hand. I did not think my fury at the female could have increased, but it had. She had me work my fingers to the bone for low wages, and all the objects had ended up in a hole at Stacks. Except for the candleholders I’d ripped off her walls.

  Yet it was not Morrigone’s handwriting that I would be replicating this light. It was Thansius’s. And I had seen several examples of Thansius’s penmanship on his desk. The letter was composed slowly as I took great pains to make it look like it had come from the Chief of Council, using words that I had heard him employ many times.

  I set the parchment aside after it was completed. My stomach was rumbling and I looked in my larder, which, unfortunately, was empty. As I stared at the barren space, I put my hand in my pocket and fingered the coins that I had won from Litches McGee. I started to head out, but then I looked down at myself. I was battered, bloody and filthy.

  I went to the back of my digs with a bit of suds, took off all my clothes, and spent ten slivers rubbing the dirt off with water from the pipes. I dried off and went back inside. My hair was wet but clean and I could stand the smell of myself for once in a great while. I again looked at the coins in my hand and a thought occurred to me.

  It was an impossibly silly idea, but I thought, Why not?

  I quickly got dressed and set out.

  There was a shop on the high street called Fancy Frocks that sold female clothing. I had passed it often with never a thought to going inside. When I opened the door, a bell tinkled and a shop assistant, a plump female about forty sessions old, quite nattily attired, came out from the back. She looked at me with a severe eye.

  ‘Can I help you?’ she asked in a way that told me she believed me beyond assistance.

  I was suddenly tongue-tied and my confidence, shaky at best in situations like this, vanished. I mumbled, ‘I was hoping for some new things.’

  ‘What was that?’ she said in a loud voice.

  ‘Some new things,’ I said half-heartedly. I had about made up my mind to turn and walk back out. Wugs like me just didn’t do things like this. Our clothes came as hand-me-downs when they came at all.

  ‘Well, why didn’t you say so, dear?’ she said. ‘I suppose you’ve got coin?’ she added inquisitively. I held out a palmful for her to see. Her face brightened. ‘More than enough.’ She put on a pair of thick specs. ‘Now let me look at you.’ Her eyes behind the glasses widened. ‘Why, you’re that lass in the Duelum. Vega Jane.’

  ‘Yes, I am.’

  She looked me up and down. ‘You’re tall and slender and you’ve nice wide shoulders and long legs. Clothes will hang very well on you, my dear.’

  ‘They will?’ I said in a perplexed tone. Clothes ‘hanging well’ was something I knew nothing about.

  ‘Now, let me just bring some things out and we’ll see what we’ll see, shan’t we?’

  Many slivers later and many garments tried on, some discarded and others settled upon, she had packaged my new clothes while I now wore the outfit she had fitted me with because, well, I fancied it the best. The clothes I had come in with went directly into the dustbin.

  Now I wore a blue dress and shoes that had heels on them.

  She gazed in admiration at her handiwork. ‘I knew there was something under there, dear. We just had to dig for it, didn’t we?’

  ‘I guess so,’ I said in a half-whisper.

  ‘Now what about your hair, my dear?’ said the kindly if exuberant Wug, who had long before introduced herself as Darla Gunn.

  There was a looking glass mounted on the wall. I stared at myself in it.

  ‘What about my hair?’ I asked.

  Darla eyed it with what I thought was a professional appraisal. ‘Well, it needs a bit of sorting out. Tidying up, like. Maybe a cut or two or three, if you know what I mean. Nothing too drastic – well, maybe just a wee bit drastic.’ She sighed and added in an apologetic tone, ‘It does need some work, dear. And seeing as how you’ve surely spent a good many coins this light, I’ll throw the tidying up in for free.’

  I smiled and thanked her.

  She said, ‘Saw you best Non, Vega. Cheered like a mad female, I did. Just didn’t want to go on about it when I recognized you. You’re, well, famous now, aren’t you?’

  I flushed at these words.

  ‘But your poor face. Well, I’ll see what I can do to tidy you up till you heal good and proper.’

  She was as true as her word. The things she did to my hair and how she
doctored my face were totally foreign to me. When she was done and had laced a white ribbon with a bow through my newly done hair, I looked in the glass and caught my breath. It seemed that I had disappeared and been replaced by another female.

  She took out a little bottle with a tiny hose attached to it and a round inflated part at one end. She squeezed on the inflated part and some liquid misted on my neck and cheek. I flinched and she just laughed.

  ‘Take a wee sniff, Vega,’ she said.

  I did so and the most wonderful aroma entered my nostrils. ‘Lavender,’ I said.

  ‘With just a touch of honeysuckle. Made it myself.’ Darla gazed at me, and her face crinkled into a smile. ‘Very nice, Vega. Very nice indeed. Now, once your face heals up proper-like, what a stunner you’ll be, my dear.’

  I paid over my coin and took my packages and walked out of the shop, feeling things I had never felt before.

  A stunner?

  As I came out, two Wugs I knew were passing by. One was a young Tiller named Rufus, the other was Newton Tilt, the Dactyl at Stacks who had congratulated me after beating Cletus Loon. Rufus gaped and ran into a post supporting the roof over the walkway and knocked himself to the cobblestones. Newton simply stood there looking at me with a silly grin on his face.

  ‘Vega, is that really you?’ said Newton.

  I hurried on, my face reddening.

  I had one more shop to go to and one more item to purchase. I paid my coin and had it wrapped in pretty paper and then hurried on. I had shopped more this light than I ever had before. Which wasn’t saying much because I had never really shopped before.

  I got back to my digs and threw Harry Two for a loop. It seemed that at first my canine didn’t know me, and his hackles rose and he bared his teeth. But after he’d sniffed around me for a bit, he seemed satisfied I was actually his mistress after all.

  I found a scrap of looking glass that had once belonged to my mother. I managed to angle it so that I could see my face and hair. I again shook my head in disbelief. But my eyes were still swollen and the skin blackened, my nose broken and my cheek bruised and swollen as well. It sort of ruined everything.

  I sighed and then a wistful desire crept into my head.

  I found my hand going into my pocket and pulling out the Adder Stone. I held it in front of my face and thought good thoughts and the blemishes instantly vanished. My eyes were normal, the swelling and bruises were gone and I could feel my nose reset and mend immediately. I slowly put the Stone away and then set off.

  I checked the falling sun and believed the time to be right. I walked quickly, for my energy had returned with my physical transformation.

  The trip to Morrigone’s went quickly and I was able to sneak up to the front door and push the parchment through the slit there. I knew that Morrigone would not be home yet, nor would John. But I was certain the ever-faithful William would ensure that Madam Morrigone would receive it.

  That errand complete, I hurried on to my next destination. The Care.

  46

  A SPECIAL NIGHT

  After leaving Harry Two to wait outside, I spoke with a Care Nurse I found in the corridor. A coin was passed after I told her what I wanted. As I thought, Delph was perched on his dad’s cot. He looked up when I opened the door.

  ‘Vega Jane? What are you doing here again?’

  ‘I’ve arranged for a Nurse to sit with Duf.’

  ‘What?’ he said, looking puzzled.

  ‘When was the last time you had a proper meal, Delph?’

  As I came fully into the light provided in each room, I could see Delph’s eyes widen in amazement.

  ‘Vega Jane, whatta ya . . . whatta ya done to yourself?’ he sputtered.

  ‘Just . . . just tidied up a bit,’ I said shyly.

  He rose and walked over to me. ‘Tidying up? Is that what you call it?’

  ‘What would you call it, Delph?’ I asked bluntly, and then wondered why I had.

  This query caught him off guard. He scratched his head, looked unsure.

  ‘Uh, I think I’d call it . . . Well, you do look quite tidy, now that you mention it. Quite tidy indeed.’

  I smiled. ‘I’m here to take you to have a meal. Just as you did for me.’

  He started to say something but then shook his head. ‘Dunno, Vega Jane – just dunno.’ He looked over at Duf. ‘What ’bout me dad?’

  ‘That’s why the Nurse is coming.’

  ‘You look so, well, you look so, you know and . . . and I don’t.’ He ran his gaze down his dirty self.

  I hooked my arm through his. ‘I think you look perfectly respectable. And I’m going to eat a meal at the Starving Tove and I want you to come with me.’

  He suddenly grinned. ‘What’s the occasion?’

  I decided to just tell him. ‘It’s my birthlight. I’m fifteen sessions old, Delph.’

  He looked dumbstruck. ‘But I ain’t done nothin’ . . . I mean, with my dad and all, I forgot . . .’

  ‘There’s no need for you to do anything other than accept my offer to join me for a meal to celebrate.’

  With one more anxious glance at his dad, which was relieved when the Nurse I’d paid walked in and announced herself ready to look after Duf, we set off.

  Wugs watched goggle-eyed as we passed by on the high street, Harry Two bringing up the rear. Delph wasn’t dressed as fancy as me, but I had caught him wetting his hand with his tongue and using it to drive his wild hair a bit into place. And he had stopped at the pipes outside the Care to wash his face and arms and rinse some of the grime off his clothes.

  ‘Been meaning to do it for some lights,’ he explained sheepishly. ‘Just ain’t got round to it is all.’

  We were seated at a table not in the back this time but up near the front.

  Delph said, ‘Every Wug’s watching you, Vega. Har.’

  ‘Well, they’ll get over it. Can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.’

  He gazed at me blankly. ‘Do ya hear yourself? Sow’s ear, my eye. You’re . . . you’re . . .’ He took a deep, shuddering breath. ‘You’re beautiful, Vega Jane.’

  Now he turned so very red in the face that I thought he was choking.

  ‘Thank you, Delph,’ I said, although I was also blushing. The only Wugs to ever call me beautiful were my parents and my grandparents, and I had always believed they had done so out of a sense of duty.

  We ordered and had the best meal I had ever had. Later, our bellies so full I could not pack one more thing inside mine, I managed to do so anyway. It was a bit of cake that we ate together as Delph wished me a light and night of happiness.

  ‘I am happy, Delph,’ I said. ‘Very happy you came this night.’

  He tried to stop me, but I paid for the meal with my coin.

  ‘I should be giving you something,’ he protested. ‘Not the other way round.’

  I reached over and gripped his hand. ‘You’ve given me the pleasure of your company on a very special light.’

  He smiled bashfully and squeezed my hand back. ‘Wouldn’t want to be no other place, Vega Jane.’ He paused and his lips quivered. ‘’Cept maybe with me dad.’

  ‘I know,’ I said quietly.

  Delph and I walked back to the Care together and I left him there with Duf.

  Then I looked to the sky and calculated how much time I had for my plan. I made it back to my digs, changed into my new trousers, jumper and boots. I picked up Destin, wrapping it around my waist and under my new cloak. I also pocketed the Elemental and the package wrapped with pretty paper, that I’d purchased earlier, and then I set off.

  I reached my planned hiding place at the exact sliver I’d wanted. The carriage rattled out from Morrigone’s home two slivers later. I knew Morrigone was inside. I knew she was going to meet with Thansius at the south portion of the Wall near Stacks. I knew this because I had written that request in Thansius’s hand on his official stationery. I had chosen the south side of the Wall because it was the furthest away from Morrig
one’s home and would give me the most time to complete my task.

  When the carriage was well past, I hurried up not to the front door but to the back. I took out my tools and soon the lock gave way and I slipped into the house. I looked around quickly for any sign of William or the maid I knew also worked here.

  En route to my planned destination on the second floor, I changed direction on impulse and poked my head into the library. I saw that the mess I had created had been tidied up and the smashed mirror replaced with another. I continued on and silently mounted the stairs. On a previous visit, John had pointed out his bedroom door to me, though he had not shown me into the space. I reached his door and knocked quietly. I stepped back as footsteps came.

  The door opened and there John was. He seemed to have grown a bit taller and his frame had continued to fill out. His clothes were beautiful, but this time so were mine. And I would wager coin that this night I was as clean and smelt as nice as he did.

  He looked at me curiously and I suddenly realized he didn’t fully recognize me.

  ‘John, it’s me, Vega.’

  His mouth fell open slightly.

  ‘Have I changed that much?’ I said in amusement.

  ‘What happened to you?’ he asked.

  ‘Some new odds and ends.’

  ‘What are you doing here?’

  I felt my face pale. There was no warmth in that query. There was only suspicion tinged with impatience. ‘I came to visit you.’

  ‘Morrigone has told me what took place between you. She saved your life before Council. Your life, Vega! And you repay her kindness with betrayal.’

  ‘You did not say this when we were at the Care. When you were crying your eyes out over our parents being gone. You were glad I told you. You said so.’

  He waved this away. ‘I have had more time to think of it. Yes, I needed to know about our parents. But you still betrayed Morrigone.’ He stopped and stared darkly at me. ‘What do you want, Vega? I have much to do this night still.’

  I collected my composure and said in a softer tone, ‘I came to visit. I wanted to before now, but I’ve been so busy. And I know you have been too with the Wall.’