Spells of the Curtain Volume One

by Tim Niederriter

  When they had all been deposited on the stones, the emperor led the way into the center of the high, star and candle lighted pavilion. A table awaited there, set with a small feast.

  “Sit. We have only a little business, but I want you to enjoy this.”

  Edmath, Razili, and Tusami all took their seats around the table, with Haddishal Rumenha at its head. The food was much as Edmath expected, like a school feast but better. Most noticeable to Edmath was the large amount of meat that was clearly not oyster flesh. The emperor noticed his lingering gaze and caught Edmath’s eye.

  “I think you’ve noticed my taste in foreign meats, beef in particular.”

  Edmath lifted a piece of the strange meat on his fork. “Of course, Excellency, imported from across the sea?”

  “Indeed.” Haddishal Rumenha gave a small smile as he reached for a platter of meat cuts. “We of the bear tribe often favor our traditional prey, but many foreign animals have their advantages. In this case, taste.”

  “I see Excellency. What manner of creature does beef come from?” Tusami cautiously dished up a long slice of meat.

  “Beyond the sea, there lives a beast known as the cow. They are fascinating creatures, much like our elk, but larger and more powerfully built.” The emperor smiled at Tusami. “I have not yet studied them thoroughly, but my plans involve more plants than animals, as always.”

  Tusami bowed her head and started at her plate. The four of them ate with the gentle swaying of the floor from the movements of the Orpus trees. Edmath tasted the beef and found it salty and with a flavor completely unlike that of the oysters he usually ate. The rest of the food was local, bread from the Naren peninsula and the nearby Hearth Nation of Hessiom along with white-pine fruits from the nearby Moth Nation of Wesser. The conversation broke off as they ate. True to the Bear Tribe’s reputation, the Saale Emperor ate hugely and thoroughly. Edmath watched him from the corner of his eye after finishing his own plate.

  To avoid being caught and seeming rude, he gave Razili a look, raising his mostly empty cup of wine from the table and swirling the dregs within it.

  “How is your brother? I did not have the opportunity to see him after the ceremony back at Lexine Park.”

  She lowered her own cup from her lips.

  “He is well. Earlier today he officially entered the employment of the War Empress.”

  He set his cup back on the table. Razili always spoke well of her brother, though Edmath suspected they didn’t always get along. Years ago, when he had first met them, he’d seen her argue with Oresso with anger that surprised him. Normally so calm, Razili had objected to Oresso’s posturing. They had only been teenagers then. Edmath remembered the fierce black goatee and boiling blue eyes of Razili’s twin with sudden unease.

  “He is very pleased, I suppose, as of course, this role suits him.” Edmath knew how Oresso Nane loved to fight, to come within an inch of killing with his magic. Obviously, the work the War Empress’s service would be to his liking.

  “Indeed, he is. I was surprised to hear he may be working with Chelka Benisar as well when he returns from his first journey to the north. I suppose her finding a seat at this court is hardly a surprise, though.”

  Edmath had known Chelka would be seeking employment with one of the emperors, but she hadn’t spoken certainly of which one. As the first Saale of her class, she practically had her pick, perhaps even the possibility of working independently. He would not have guessed she would so quickly join the War Empress’ service, especially when so far away in Sizali. She had not told him how she planned to live as she worked there. The nature of her work struck him as an odd secret for her to keep at that moment.

  “Like father, like daughter, then?” Edmath said, trying to hide his discomfort behind the question.

  “Perhaps that’s it.” Haddishal Rumenha set his fork on his empty plate. “I would have expected her here. Her father, I mean, Hearth Emperor Benisar would have been pleased if she had joined his court, but she must have less interest in domestic research than even her father.”

  A servant went about the table, refilling everyone’s wine. Edmath picked his cup back up to drink. Of all things today, discussing Chelka came as surprise. He drank his second cup too fast. A trickle of the wine overflowed and he wiped his mouth with two fingers.

  “Of course, Excellency, she likely is interested in research, but she is also very definitely a Benisar.” Edmath wiped his fingers on a napkin and felt Tusami’s eyes upon him.

  Her cold expression full of Serpent Tribe venom as well as the beauty that came with her tribe moved only slightly. Still, Edmath felt she might have detected something off in his voice. How easy could one pick out his relationship with Chelka? For her part, Tusami gave him no clues.

  “War Empress Marnaia Hayel is most likely worried about Roshi, especially given recent tensions at the border.” Tusami gave a nod to the emperor but kept her eyes averted. “If I may say, she probably wants as many fighting Saale under her command as she can get, Excellency.”

  “Insight is a wonderful thing, is it not?” Haddishal Rumenha smiled at Tusami. The platform tilted slightly as the Orpus trees swayed. “I think we shall adjourn, however. Forgive me, but it is too late for my staff to prepare your rooms tonight. Find lodgings and return tomorrow.”

  Tusami bowed her head.

  “Yes, Excellency. Thank you.”

  Razili and Edmath nodded to him. Razili raised her eyebrows at Edmath. True, perhaps he should have bowed too. He was not a royal after all, and far from a member of a ruling family.

  They all rose from their seats. The emperor motioned for the tables to be cleared and swept past the table, leading the three Saale’s to the far side of the Ordinon. Looking out over the city, the shadow of a late-arriving sky levoth crossed the star-and-torch-lit city. Edmath felt weary, but he still had business tonight. He thought of Brosk and the dead boy from the voyage. Orpus roots climbed over the platform and wrapped around each of them, then carried them to the courtyard below.

  “Go with the blessing of the creator,” the emperor said when they had all landed.

  “You are too kind, too kind to all of us, Excellency.” Razili bowed her head.

  “We are unworthy.” Tusami closed her eyes and fell to one knee. Edmath wondered if she was overdoing it, but as he did, his opportunity to join the two of them passed.

  “Rise and go Lady Gesa. This is no time to be scraping, I already approve of you, all of you.” Haddishal Rumenha turned his back on them and strode toward the other end of the courtyard. “The servants will show you out. Goodnight my new Saales.”

  Edmath, Razili, and Tusami walked together until they reached the outer gate of the palace, but there they parted. Razili waved goodbye as she turned in the direction of her family’s local mansion. Edmath did not want to walk with Tusami and he guessed she would be returning to the Serpent Hostel.

  He needed to find Brosk. The death on their way to Diar was not the sort of business that should wait till morning. He turned at the gate and headed for the docks down a different road from Tusami. The walk was long and Edmath did not like it, having too often used Orpus Strodusial for travel back at Lexine Park. It took him over an hour to reach the docks where he guessed the Whale Tribe’s guest houses were located.

  Walking down the street, he kept his eyes out for other people. A cluster of beggars, the first he had seen in the city, the like of which were not common in the town of Lexine, gathered around a lighted doorway near a pier. A levoth slumbered at the walkway’s deep end. He approached cautiously, reaching into his pocket for a striker and wishing that he had a bundle of torite to store magic in, like the Hesiatic monks. A gravelly voice spoke from within the light.

  “Sir, I’m just happy to have something to see by.”

  “We have the stars,” said a balding man who Edmath saw with a roiling of his stomach, had only one arm. “I couldn’t think of anything better to see by.”

  “You are a str
ange one, Loyo. I bet you’ve eaten a few too many bad oysters already. Am I right?”

  “I’m lucky to have any oysters at all.” Loyo laughed in a high-pitched, almost girlish way.

  Approaching the cluster of men, Edmath bowed his head as they looked in his direction. Loyo waved his one arm.

  “Greetings, sir. Where are you headed?”

  “Somewhere I must reach very quickly. Of course, if you can assist me in finding the Whale Tribe’s estate I will be grateful enough to reward you.”

  “Well, well then, follow me,” Loyo said. “I’m a man of that place. The night air does me good, is all.” Breaking away from the group, the one-armed man led Edmath down the street. “It’s right in this direction. I’ll take you there for a coin.”

  “Of course, thank you.” Edmath followed the man, warily. He had heard stories of thieves and thugs that dwelt in cities. He kept a hand on the whalebone striker in his pocket as he fell into step behind Loyo.

  Loyo led Edmath to a dark building that stood on stilts over the water, molded to resemble the jagged stones of Zung, roofed with a giant white seashell. He pointed up at a window on the second story. His empty sleeve flapped in the breeze blowing in from the sea.

  “That’s probably where your friend is staying if he’s a royal anyway.”

  Edmath tried not to think of what had happened to Loyo’s arm to maim him. He dropped an imperial silver into the man’s palm.

  “Thank you, sir. I trust the money is in order with you?”

  “Sure enough.” Loyo turned and started off down the street. “Good luck with your business.”

  Edmath watched him go, wondering about him for a moment. The man could have been a soldier, one who had fought in the last war with Roshi, maybe. Maybe his severed arm had been lost in battle, and here he was on the street. Edmath knew there was no use dwelling on it. The man might just as easily have been a fisherman or even a criminal who had run out of luck in a brawl. The idea of walking these streets alone once again filled him with dread.

  He knocked at the outer gate more than was polite before a plump woman opened it from the other side. She peered out, her round face dark, cheeks wobbling.

  “Traveler, eh?” she said. “Looking for a room? I heard a levoth pass a moment ago.”

  “No thank you, my lady. I am looking to meet with a guest here.”

  “Very well, sir. Do you have a name for this guest?”

  “Of course, of course. His name is Brosk Naopaor, the Whale King’s son.”

  “Ah, yes. He came in late this afternoon and mentioned he was waiting for a friend. I believe he is in the study.”

  “Not sleeping then? Good.”

  Edmath bowed to the woman, an extravagant gesture perhaps, given the circumstances. She let the door open the rest of the way. “Thank you.” He walked past her, crossed the small courtyard between the door and the main building and walked up the stairs to the high-stilted porch. The whale tribe’s estates would mostly be beyond this out at sea. Brosk had told him once that the royals usually stayed partially underwater in their tosh’s when convenient.

  Passing through the doorway, Edmath looked down the wooden corridor to where a lamplight shone, burning across a small table. Brosk sat in the chair, legs folded beneath him, with a book in his hands. He looked up as Edmath approached him and set the book on his legs. He touched the long brown hair on his head and held a finger to his lips. Edmath moved quietly into the room and sat down in a chair opposite Brosk. His friend’s face was grim in the shadows.

  “It’s late. I wasn’t sure you’d make it, Ed.”

  “Of course I made it.” Edmath kept his voice soft. “The Saale Emperor’s trials took time, that is all.”

  “Indeed? How did it go?”

  Edmath smiled. “He accepted me, as well as Razili Nane, and another. All is well there.”

  “Good. I also received a job, working for Chelka’s father.”

  “Good news indeed.”

  “Yes, but that is the last of it for the moment.”

  A breath caught in Edmath’s throat and he put a hand to his lips to cover the sound.

  “About the boy with the protean sphere. Who was he?”

  Brosk closed his eyes and put his hands together over the book he’d been reading. When he opened his eyes again, there were tears in them. Edmath felt like the darkness had closed in a little with that look, though Brosk did not make another sound for a moment. After this strange day, he wished for more clues, more hints to act. Brosk opened his eyes and they glittered in the dark.

  “He was a countryman, a boy of the Worm Tribe who lost both his parents in the aftermath of the last war. The augury told me that the Roshi did something horrible to him when they sacked his village near the border.”

  Edmath’s mouth went dry. The Roshi nation was not known for its cruelty, at least, not usually, despite being the empire’s nearest foe. “What village was that?”

  “Beliu, South and West of Dreamwater. The augury told me that it was at the very edge of the Sphere’s influence. It is no longer inhabited.”

  “Wiped out?”

  “The inhabitants disappeared in a single night. I asked the priestess who assisted the augury, to give me the list of all those who lived there. It is strange, I tell you. There were no fewer than five-hundred men, women, and children there, none escaped, even with the lake right there, and a Zelian stronghold just across the Dreamwater.”

  “Strange? That deserves to be called disturbing. How did the boy come to be on that levoth?”

  “Yes, the boy, forgive me. His name was Yot, but the augury did not favor me with much of his motions in the world. He was not a royal, but a soldier’s son. His body bears the scars of torture all over the back, and the hands, and...” Brosk trailed off, voice breaking as tears ran down his face. “No more. Not now. This horror, he died of it.”

  Edmath felt the need to reach out to the creator, to seek comfort, though he rarely heeded it. He touched his forehead with his thumb.

  “He was bonded to that protean sphere.”

  “It’s too terrible. Too terrible.” Brosk hung his head, wiping tears from his eyes. “Someone put a shard of it inside him and let it grow for years.”

  “Years?”

  “At least four.”

  “Some time since the last war, then.” Edmath bit his lip. This development was as bad as any could be. The boy hated Saale’s, but a Saale could not have killed him, because protean spheres were toxic to them. That was a clue, perhaps.

  “Yes. Someone was pulling his strings, probably the same person who made the sphere kill him.”

  The humid air pressed down on Edmath. He felt its weight like drenching rain.

  “No matter how much the boy hated Saales then, his puppeteer could not have been one of us. Taking his life would have damaged the wielder even if he could somehow control the sphere. I know no one who would do that.”

  “He died because of the thing inside him.” Brosk’s voice was deadened. “I cannot bear it, Ed. The boy was torn apart inside because he tried to fight that evil sphere.”

  “Magic cannot be evil.” Edmath gritted his teeth as Brosk looked up at him. He was certain he’d said something wrong already. His friend’s face shifted from sorrow to rage, silent and cold.

  Brosk shook his head.

  “Anyone or anything that would do this to a child is evil, Ed. Give your philosophy a rest, will you?”

  Edmath closed his eyes.

  “Of course. Forgive me.”

  “Go get some sleep, my friend.” Brosk unfolded his legs and climbed to his feet. “I, for my part, will try to avoid nightmares.”

  Edmath returned to the serpent hostel by the seaside road, watching the crescent moon sink away behind the horizon as he walked. He kept his eyes on its silver light to stop himself from looking into the shadows where his mind would place protean spheres and village-children torn apart from within.

  Brosk had not cried when th
e boy had fallen, but he cried now and Edmath knew why. His friend had always been horrified by careless control both in the magic they wielded but also in the politics of the world.

  This event spoke clearly of both. Someone had thrown that boys life away without even thinking about it. As he lay in his bed, having tossed his sandals to the floor, Edmath felt fear mingle with his weariness. He drifted off to sleep and dreams filled with drifting bodies, floating tendrils of red flesh, and blood oozing from open mouths.

  He and Zuria returned to the palace the next day, taking Augo Vassma’s moth carriage in the morning. Zuria beamed and talked happily about her confidence in both of them when Edmath told her about his and Razili’s acceptance. For his part, Augo laughed as he ordered the moths to carry them higher, seeming pleased to be working for them again. Sampheli and Zuria had ridden a greater serpent back to the hostel the previous day but decided that the moth carriage was more comfortable, if less traditional.

  Augo thanked them for the business and let them off at the palace gates. Though he wondered how many more flights like this they could afford them unless Sampheli started teaching again, Edmath headed immediately for the division of the Saale Emperor. Zuria wished him luck as she strode toward the gate to the second division where she was meeting the War Empress, Marnaia Hayel, to confirm her new position.

  The Saales of Lexine Park were among the most valued in Zel. Edmath didn’t believe he and his friends had received their positions through coincidence alone. The other three major Saale Parks did not focus on youth and progress the same way as Lexine, though he had never visited them.

  Haddishal Rumenha met Edmath, Razili, and Tusami in his throne room. They spent the better part of an hour alone with him, taking time to tell him their interests and ambitions so that he could assign them a job among the Saales he commanded. Razili wanted to help in administration more than in research while Tusami sought old knowledge more than new.

  Edmath told the emperor about his desire to perform research, to work further on plant creations and perhaps even find a way to draw life from stone. Emperor Rumenha seemed convinced by the plant research, at least, but his eyebrows went up slightly when Edmath mentioned drawing life energy from stones. He gave Edmath exactly what he had asked for when the four of them had all gathered again. In exchange for the research grants and supplies, the emperor set forth the court services for each of them to perform while they lived at the palace. Edmath had known it was coming and it was all things he had expected.