Ril was so tiny. She could not have been more than two moons in age. She was angelic, lying there sucking her thumb as she slept, but Chihon sensed the wrongness about her. She reached down and touched the baby's cheek. It was as if a hot iron lay swaddled in the crib, so hot was Ril's fever. Chihon held her hand above Ril's head and probed for magic.
There was a hint of magic, ever so faint, but it was there. Muddy, mixed, and putrid. Just like the temple's magic.
Chihon straightened up. "Kimt, you were right. There's temple magic behind this. They've made it so that normal healing spells won't work."
Chihon turned to Sond. "Tell me...have the priests been around here lately?"
"They have." Sond cast her eyes on the cradle. "The rich pay them handsomely, and their children get healed. We can't afford the gold, so our daughter suffers. Many have already died among the poor and even among a few of the wealthy who refused to pay."
"Just children?" Chihon asked. She wondered what the priests had done that caused the sickness. They would have had to have contact with the infant for most of the spells Chihon knew.
"Mostly children," Sond said. "At first, it was babies below six moons in age, but now, it's older children too, and some grown-ups, mostly the older folks and the weak ones." Sond's face clouded over. "Can you help my baby?"
Ril coughed and squirmed in the crib. Sond reached down and comforted her daughter, patting her on the back.
"I think I can help," Chihon said. "But I'm not a healer like Kimt."
Chihon probed the spell that surrounded the baby. It was complex and intricate and had the flavor of putrefaction, but there was more. Something bound the decay and disease to the baby.
Chihon studied the spell carefully. She pulled at the threads of the magic, trying to break them, but they were too thick and too convoluted. She couldn't get hold of an end to start unraveling one. Slowly, she found parts of the spell that she could unravel, but soon her energy grew low, and she had to stop and rest. Sond and Kimt had left the room when Chihon started the healing. Chihon could smell the aroma of bark tea from behind the thick rug that separated the sleeping chamber and the kitchen.
She pulled the curtain aside and stepped into the kitchen, sweating with the effort and the heat. She dropped into a chair and let out a heavy sigh. Sond rushed to her with a questioning look.
"I think I'm making progress."
"Is she healed?" Sond glanced at the rug that separated the rooms.
"Not yet. I need a rest. I'm exhausted." Chihon knew she had made very little progress, but she didn't want to worry Sond until she had either succeeded or failed completely. While there was hope, she let Sond hold onto it.
"Here, have some tea." Sond poured a large mug full of steaming tea and handed it to Chihon.
Chihon tasted the tea. It had a sweet flavor and an aroma like lemon. It had a slight spicy aftertaste that calmed her down, quenched her thirst, and helped her relax for a renewed attack on the spell.
"How much longer will it take?" Kimt asked.
"I see how the spell was crafted but not yet how to break it. After I rest a bit, I'll try one more thing."
Chihon relaxed and listened to the two women talk. They spoke of babies and how special each new life was. Chihon had never had much experience with babies, but she recognized the typical conversation of a new mother with an experienced one. Finally, Chihon set the empty mug down and went back into the bedchamber to take up the healing work on the baby. She felt one of the threads that made up part of the spell and tugged at it. If it were the key spell, that might break the rest of the threads free. It was tough.
She yanked harder, and the baby screamed out in pain. Chihon quickly released the thread. Ril's breathing was labored and thick as she squealed in response to the pain Chihon caused her.
"What did you do?" Sond appeared in the room as if by magic.
"I thought I had the spell."
Sond reached into the cradle and lifted Ril out and into her arms. She tried to soothe the baby, but Ril continued to scream.
Chihon reached out her hand, but Sond twisted away from her with a scowl.
Chihon left the bedchamber and sat beside Kimt at the table in the kitchen.
"What happened?" Kimt asked.
"I don't know. I thought I had the key thread, but when I tried to remove it, the baby screamed. I may be over my head here. I think I need help."
Chihon was still angry with Lorit, but he had such a mastery of magic that if he couldn't break the spell, it couldn't be done. She wanted to reach out to him through their connection, but was ashamed about the way she had shut him out. She would have sought him out herself to ask his help, but she wanted to keep an eye on Ril. Maybe if Kimt went in her place it would be less awkward.
Chihon glanced up at the healer. "Can you get Lorit and bring him here? I don't want to leave in case Ril takes a turn for the worse."
Kimt nodded. "I'll fetch him right away."
Sond reappeared in the kitchen carrying a now-quieted Ril.
Kimt put her hand on Sond's shoulder. "Chihon is a good person and a healer. She would not do anything to hurt Ril."
Sond patted the baby on her back and made soothing noises. She gently swayed from side to side, looking at Chihon as if she'd intentionally hurt the child.
"I'm sorry. I thought I could break the spell." Chihon gestured to where Kimt had just vanished. "Lorit will know what to do."
"Obviously you're not a mother," Sond said turning her back on Chihon, taking Ril back into the closeness of the bedchamber.
Chihon felt her face grow hot. She had tried her best to save the child, and this was how the mother behaved? She may not be a mother herself, but she would never hurt a child out of carelessness. She was embarrassed by her failure and shocked that Sond thought she would intentionally hurt the baby. She wanted to cry.
Almost before she knew it, Lorit and Kimt appeared in the small kitchen. Lorit handed Kimt his staff, walked over to Chihon, knelt down, and put his arm around her. "It wasn't your fault, you know. You couldn't have known your magic would hurt her."
His words did little to salve her pain. Was she careless with the baby because she had none of her own? Was she jealous of Sond? She was ashamed that she'd hurt Ril and was glad Lorit was there to help.
Chihon leaned in to Lorit and whispered, "I'm glad to see you."
"When did this happen?" he asked.
"I'm not sure. Ril's been sick for a while, and Kimt and I are both unable to heal her. It feels like temple magic."
"This looks a lot like the magic we found in Talus. The temple is escalating." He hugged her again. "Don't worry."
Sond emerged from the bedchamber with Ril. The baby was quiet once again, but she squirmed in Sond's arms.
Lorit stood and examined the baby closely. "Hmmm..." He reached out his arms to take Ril from her mother.
Sond looked at Kimt, who nodded.
Lorit took the baby in his arms, cradling her as if he held a baby every day of his life. He gently held her head in one hand while the other one explored her tiny body. He leaned down, put his face close to hers, and pulled gently at her nose. "Who's a pretty baby?"
Ril snorted and smiled at his antics. He repeated it several times until the baby giggled and squealed with glee. Chihon had never seen Lorit with a baby before. She'd never thought of him as a father. He was so focused on his war against the temple and so quick to mete out his violent retribution against the priests, that she had never even imagined him cooing and giggling at an infant.
And he was more comfortable around babies than Chihon. She had very little contact with infants as her friends had been too young when she left home, and there were few women in Amedon and no babies at all.
Lorit turned to Sond. "I can feel it. It will take a while. Do you mind?" He gestured to the bedchamber.
"No. By all means."
Lorit slipped the rug open and entered the bedchamber. He lay on his back on the bed and p
laced Ril on his chest. He embraced the baby gently to him and started to hum. Chihon didn't recognize the tune, but she could see his magic start to work. He drew on her magic as he toiled at the spell that enmeshed the infant.
Chihon tried to follow along with what Lorit was doing, but it was foreign to her. He was using magic she had never felt before. It touched that deep lonely place in her where the memory of her mother lay hidden.
As Lorit hummed to Ril, Chihon felt the spell start to unravel. It was subtle at first, but the ends of the spell separated from the baby, loose ends poking out of the jumble of confused magic that wrapped her. Lorit grasped at them and gently unsnarled them.
Finally, Lorit gave a heavy sigh and several layers of the spell unraveled all at once. Chihon glanced at the floor, half expecting to see a jumble of threads laying there, but there was nothing. She looked back at Lorit. Something troubled him.
"What's wrong?" Chihon asked Lorit through their connection, so Sond would not hear their conversation.
"I can't unravel the spell completely, either. It's eating away at her, and the more I try, the tighter it gets."
"You have to try harder."
Lorit rocked the baby in his arms and hummed to her as he tried again. Chihon felt the power drain. She felt Lorit fight the spell and knew he had a measure of success, but was not able to remove it completely. Finally, Lorit gave up, unable to fully heal the girl.
Lorit sat up and handed the baby back to her mother.
Ril snorted and coughed once, but she was breathing easier. Ril arched her back, looking up at Sond.
"She's better," Lorit said.
Sond's eyes filled with tears. "Thank you so much. I will be forever in your debt."
"Don't thank me. You just take good care of this little girl." Lorit gently stroked Ril's hair. "You be a good girl for your mother. Don't give her any trouble, you hear?"
Ril smiled a broad toothless smile and gurgled.
Lorit took his staff back from Kimt. "We have to find the source of this disease or else the whole town will be afflicted. They've done something. They've put a spell on something in a place where everyone goes or something everyone touches."
"The well is the only place everyone goes," Sond explained. "There's only one well in this area of town and everyone uses it. Rich and poor alike."
"Do you know where it is?" Lorit looked at Kimt.
"I can take you there."
Chihon followed close behind, looking back at the young mother and baby one last time as Kimt led them down the street.
"She's not better," Chihon said. Lorit had reduced the effects of the spell, but the child was not free of the magic.
"No. She's not," Lorit said.
"The spell is too strong and tied too close to her life thread. It surrounds it and enmeshes it. I don't know how to defeat a spell like that without killing her," Kimt said.
"Is that why she cried out when I tried to break the thread?" Chihon was still feeling guilty over the way she had hurt the baby.
"Probably. It's tied so close to her life thread that you can't separate them," Kimt explained.
"What did you do then?" Chihon asked Lorit.
"I loosened the thread. I wanted to get them clear enough to sever, but I couldn't. I loosened them up, but they're still in place."
"So, she's not better." Chihon worried about the baby. What would happen to her now?
"She's not better. I'll come back and repeat the treatment until we find the answer."
Chihon rushed to keep up as Kimt led them into the open square where the community well was located. People and animals jammed the cobblestone streets. The scent of meat cooking and nuts roasting was almost overpowering. The three of them emerged into the square that was crowded with people pushing to get close to the single well.
The well was ringed by a short wall made of the same cobblestone as the streets and capped with an iron lid, which was currently folded open. A pair of boys lowered buckets into the water and retrieved them. They called out to the crowd as they labored, beckoning the next patron forward.
Chihon felt a slight imbalance in magic as she entered the square. Someone had put a spell on the well and the water supply, but the patrons paid it no heed.
"Lorit. Do you feel it?" Chihon asked.
"Yes. It's there, in the well." Lorit walked up to the well and addressed the boys. "May I have a look inside?"
"Don't bother us. We're busy." One boy poured a pail of water into the pot an elderly woman held. She dropped a copper into his hand and shuffled off.
Lorit tapped the boy on the shoulder with his staff. That was more like the Lorit Chihon knew. He leaned in and spoke to the boy, who quickly jumped up making room for Lorit to peer down the well.
Lorit raised his staff and a violet light shot out from it to illuminate the interior of the well as Lorit drew magic from Chihon to power the counter-spell.
Kimt took Chihon's hand and held it as Lorit drew power from both of them. Chihon expected the spell to break apart as it had with Ril, but it only grew more convoluted and tightened as Lorit struggled with it.
"Discédas ab his populus." Lorit commanded the spell depart from the townsfolk.
Once again Chihon felt the power draw from her, but the spell remained tightly bound to the water supply. Lorit slumped to the ground exhausted, but not triumphant.
The water still carried the taint of the spell. All those who drank from the water supply would eventually succumb to the illness. Chihon's heart sank. They couldn't even heal one child; how were they going to heal everyone in town? A lot of folk would die if they couldn't defeat the spell.
"Chihon." Lorit sat on the cold stone wall of the well, looking up at her with a look of horror. "Did you drink the water?"
Chapter 11
Tass struggled for breath in the darkness. She couldn't believe Sulrad had enough power to do this to her. Without warning, the constriction broke free. She had been spared. She gulped air, sweet clear air.
The sparkles faded from her vision, and her lungs burned. She panted while she caught her breath. Her surroundings slowly became visible as the stars in her vision dimmed. The walls around her were stone, but not so crudely cut or so inexpertly fit together as the ones that formed Sulrad's study, yet temple trappings decorated the walls. A tapestry depicting a priest healing a dying child hung next to the window where a morning bird sang. The ever-present smell of the sea was gone, and Tass knew she wasn't in Quineshua any longer.
Before she could make a move to pick herself off the floor, the door creaked open.
A priest stood in the doorway. He paused, his hand on the knob, taking in the sight. Ghall was but sixteen summers in age, yet he had an air of command about him. Tass was struck, as always, by the resemblance he had to his sister, Queen Ukina.
"What a pleasant surprise," Ghall said. He crossed the room and sat on the chair beside the neatly made bed.
"A surprise for both of us." Tass picked herself up and sat on the bed. "That son of a swine sent me here in the middle of an argument. I thought he was growing weak, but he had a source of power I didn't expect."
"I thought you had a way to block him from drawing power out of the temple. What happened?" Ghall asked.
"He has some other source of power. I never felt it before. I blocked the temple power from his use, but he drew from something else. Not a lot, but enough to overpower me."
Ghall reached for a chalice on the nightstand, poured it full of water, and handed it to Tass.
She took the chalice and drank deeply. "We need to find a way to eliminate Sulrad."
"We? That was your task." Ghall placed his feet flat on the floor and leaned toward her. "We agreed. I would take care of Veldwaite and my dear sister, and you would take care of Sulrad."
"I will, but I may need your help." Tass had known Ghall since he was a young boy. She had infiltrated the castle and served as Ukina's maid until Sulrad had sent her on that fool's errand to try and subvert
the sorceress Chihon.
She didn't want to get into past mistakes. "How is it going for you in Veldwaite?" She wasn't so sure Ghall was having any greater measure of success than she was.
"The nobility is getting in my way. I had a plan to use them to unseat my dear sister, but they have recently changed their attitude. I am not so sure that they're still completely on my side."
"Do you know what caused the change?"
"I heard of a talisman in the treasury. Something powerful and valuable. I sent the nobility to demand it from Ukina, but I fear now that they want it for themselves. I don't know much more than that yet. I have my spies in the castle. I expect to hear from them tonight."
"Do you know what it was, this talisman?"
"Not yet. It hardly matters. Ukina can't use it anyway. They're watching her closely to see if she uses magic. They're already leery of her relationship with Lorit. She can't make a move either way without getting herself into more trouble than she's already in."
Ghall righted his chair and sat back down. "Besides, the more insecure Ukina becomes, the more likely she is to call on Lorit to come rescue her. That will set the nobles against her. Ever since Lorit destroyed the temple and they had to pay to rebuild it, they've been out for his blood. Tying Ukina to Lorit will only make her life worse."
Tass cringed at the mention of the wizard. How an upstart young foundling could cause her so much trouble was beyond imagining. She had come so close to turning Chihon to the priesthood, only to have the opportunity snatched from her grasp in what should have been her final moment of triumph.
"That wizard has to go," Tass spat.
Ghall laughed. "You've had such success at that in the past. Have you found anything in your research that might help?"
"Not that comes to mind. Sulrad has had me researching the various ways to defeat long-term spells."
"Did he say why?"
"He never explains himself to anyone, but he seems obsessed with Lorit. He believes that Lorit is the cause of his troubles."
"And how do we take Lorit down?" Ghall asked. "He's way too powerful. A few moons ago, he appeared right here in the temple and snatched a boy right out from under Blakel's sacrificial knife.
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