Maker's Curse

by Trudi Canavan

  With Tyen occupied, Rielle had taken over the instruction of the Empress and those of her cohort of royal companions who had magical ability. They, in return, were teaching her the finer details of local etiquette. She’d had to, regretfully, decline lessons in decorative stitching and botanic painting, run by a group of women who had, having embraced the truth about creativity generating magic, started the Society of Magical Generation Through Handcraft and Art. Though all the women she’d met were stoic and confident on the surface, they felt the same tension everyone in Beltonia was enduring. Would their world’s isolation protect it from Kettin’s machines? How long before enough of Mig’s beetles were made to defend against an invasion? If this world was going to manufacture beetles to sell to other worlds, would it soon run out of metals? Could they import materials? How would selling beetles to worlds outside this one affect the value of local currency?

  Today’s lesson with the Empress would not begin until the afternoon, leaving Rielle a rare few hours of free time. Craving a little warmth on her skin too, Rielle headed for the courtyard Tarren used as a training ground, settling on a bench seat. He soon noticed her watching and decided it was time he gave the class a break.

  “I thought you’d be with Tyen,” he said as he sat beside her, a familiar glint entering his gaze.

  She patted the seat beside him. “I hardly see him, he’s so busy. And I have been too. I’m only here because the Empress had to cancel her magic lesson.”

  “How is that going?”

  Rielle shrugged. “Good, I think. I’ve never taught a raw beginner before. Any tips?”

  “Nothing was set alight?”

  “No.”

  “You’re doing fine.” He smiled. “She’s an Empress. What matters is whether she is pleased with her progress.”

  “Yes.”

  “Then you’re doing remarkably well.”

  Rielle chuckled. “How are the Academy sorcerers doing?”

  “Very well. They take their learning seriously, and since they never expected to be able to do much with their abilities, they are grateful for any guidance. Very different to the spoilt youngsters I so often have to deal with.” He raised an eyebrow at her.

  She ignored his attempt to tease her. “You’ve been teaching them world travelling. Didn’t Tyen want to avoid that for now?”

  “He changed his mind. We need sorcerers who can move beetles above the machines, and the fastest way to do that is through skimming.”

  “Which is why you’re teaching them to levitate today.” She pursed her lips. “Need any help?”

  He nodded. “I do, actually.” His gaze moved past her shoulder and he frowned. “But I think you’re wanted elsewhere.”

  She turned to see Qall approaching. As always, since his return a few days ago, he frowned as she met his gaze. He claimed not to be bothered about her transformation, just disappointed that she went against his wishes, but his manner spoke otherwise.

  “Rielle,” he said. “I wanted to speak to you before I left.”

  “I’ll leave you to it,” Tarren said. “Come join us when you can, Rielle.” He smiled, then rose and strode away.

  Rielle turned back to Qall and patted the bench. “No need to loom over me.”

  Qall hesitated, then folded himself down onto the bench. “Zeke says we need to lure Kettin into attacking us with all her forces. Once she knows about the beetles, she will have her inventors work on a defence against them, so it’s likely we’ll only get to use them in a few battles, possibly only one. He says it wouldn’t be difficult to modify the method of shielding on her machines to make it constant.” He grimaced. “We should assume we get one chance at this.”

  “Tyen and I came to much the same conclusion, though more because we need to weaken her and her followers enough that we can go on to destroy the remaining machines without much opposition.” She smiled as she saw Tarren herding reluctant students back into the courtyard to resume their lesson. “Do you have a world in mind for the confrontation?”

  His frown deepened. “Yes.”

  “And I am to be the bait?”

  “Yes, if you are willing.”

  “I am, but I have one condition: make sure it’s a world only linked to one other.”

  He stared at her without speaking for a long moment, then looked away. “I’d rather you didn’t even try it.”

  “I’d rather not have to, but we shouldn’t dismiss it as a possibility.”

  “A possibility not tested. What if you get it wrong and become trapped in that world? What if you destroy all the worlds, as Maker’s Curse warned?”

  She sighed. “The Ancients learned to do it without destroying all the worlds. I will too, Qall. It may as well be now, when we need it, than later, when we don’t. The only reason I haven’t left to try it yet is because the more trips made in and out of this world the greater the chance of drawing attention to it.”

  He nodded. “Then… when you do, could you test your powers as far away from the habitable worlds as possible?”

  “It took us half a cycle to reach the edge of the world last time, Qall. Do the worlds have that much time?” He shook his head. “If the only alternative means Kettin destroying the worlds anyway, I may as well try my luck.” She paused. “You know my senses have changed. That I perceive pattern in everything. I remember sensing pattern in stone when Dahli taught me pattern-shifting, but this is clearer, somehow. Changing those patterns seems…” She searched for a word, but the only one that came to her was not quite satisfactory. “Possible.”

  “No, I didn’t know that,” he said. “I can’t read your mind any more, Rielle.”

  It was her turn to stare.

  “What you just said terrifies me,” he added. “I don’t want it to seem possible to anyone to change the pattern in anything. Or the links between worlds. Not even you.”

  She heard what he said, but surprise had shifted to curiosity and she began to wonder… could she read his mind now? She blinked, then searched for his thoughts and found nothing. Then she looked at his pattern and…

  … wish I hadn’t suggested we flip over the record…

  She swallowed and looked away. What did this mean? Was she more powerful than Qall now? Or was she simply… different?

  “I’m the same person you knew before,” she told him. “I’ve not changed.”

  “The person who ignored me and went ahead with the transformation,” he pointed out. “I’m afraid that doesn’t reassure m—”

  “MACHINES! MACHINES IN THE SKY!”

  Qall jumped and Rielle’s heart lurched at the same time. They both looked up, then leapt to their feet as they saw a pattern of interconnected ellipses spreading across the sky. More shouts broke out as Tarren’s warning spread, then a bell began to ring, soon joined by others across the city.

  “No,” Qall muttered. “Not now.”

  Rielle extended her senses in time to feel all the magic of the world vanish, from a hundred paces above the ground to the furthest extent of it in the sky.

  “I hope that was part of Tyen’s plan,” Qall said, “and that sorcerers around the world haven’t suddenly found themselves unable to fight.”

  She looked down and found Qall regarding her with one eyebrow raised.

  “Of course it is,” she replied. “A few days ago Tyen sent a warning to sorcerers around the world telling them that it would happen if we were attacked, and they should hold a store of magic at all times.”

  “A few days ago? There can’t have been time for the messengers to reach all of them.”

  “Oh, Tyen has put it in the Leratian papers,” she assured him. “They spread faster than you’d expect. And he made a quick visit to the Far South.”

  Qall looked up. “What did he say to do next?”

  She followed his gaze. The pattern of linked machines was still expanding. She and Tyen had discussed whether one of them should push into the place between worlds and wrest control of the machines away from th
e sorcerer bringing them in, as Qall had done during the battle in Kettin’s world. It might gain them a little extra time but it had disadvantages – if Tyen did it he’d be separated from the fighters he needed to lead, and there wasn’t anywhere they could safely put the machines. Bringing them into this world partially within the ground risked killing people at the surface. Taking them to a neighbouring world would make an enemy, unnecessarily.

  Tackling the sorcerers might prevent more machines being delivered, however, and if they were brought into this world their minds could be read. It could be ascertained whether the invader knew this was Tyen’s world, or had arrived by chance.

  “Distribute beetles,” she replied, just as a familiar voice began to speak close by.

  “Take as many boxes as you can manipulate easily and skim up above the machines,” Tyen instructed. Rielle and Qall turned to find him standing behind them in front of a neatly stacked pile of boxes almost as large as the Grand Hall. He must have transported them to the courtyard so they could be more easily reached. He was talking to the closest of the crowd of sorcerers still flooding out of the Academy buildings. “When you’re in position, shake the box to activate the beetles, then open it and tip them out. Try to spread them around.”

  Sorcerers grabbed two or three boxes each, then stepped out of the way. Watching one, Rielle saw him pause, take a deep breath, then fade a little before shooting upwards. She moved over to Tyen.

  “Should I stay here or seek out the controller?”

  He looked at her, his gaze slightly distracted as he considered. “Find him. Or her. Come straight back here. Once we start fighting we’ll need your magic.”

  She took hold of a stack of five boxes, then pushed out of the world. As she did, her new senses tempted her with information she had never been able to see before. What came with her into the place between was controlled by her will and the same sense that detected the location of magic, otherwise she’d be trying to take the entire world with her. Until now she hadn’t grasped how that worked. When she extended her will, she made the boxes vibrate in tune with her own pattern. It was fascinating.

  But she had no time to study the phenomenon. She skimmed upwards. The machines were still within the place between worlds, so she had to weave through them and their linking cables to get higher. Once above them she paused to consider which way to move next.

  The invading sorcerer had most likely found one of the two paths in and out of this world: the one she and Tyen used in the Far South or the one Annad had made when he’d travelled here. Studying the movement of the machines, she saw that they were expanding from a point a considerable distance from Beltonia, but not in the Far South, suggesting they’d found Annad’s path.

  She skimmed away, high above the machines. As she increased her speed the world below her seem to spin. Tyen had suggested she memorise a globe replica of the world, though it included only a sketchy, inaccurate depiction of the Far South, paying most attention to the coastline and mountainous features. Using what she remembered, she managed to travel two-thirds around the world before the machines below her suddenly faded a little, telling her that they had arrived in the world.

  Which meant she was too late. The sorcerer who had brought the machines had arrived too. It was unlikely they’d stay long, since the machines would attack them as well. The likelihood of her finding their path was slim.

  She considered the boxes of beetles. While instructions for their creation had been sent to other cities around the world, and hopefully were being distributed as widely as possible, it was likely broad stretches of the world did not have any to deploy. If she abandoned searching for the sorcerer she could, at least, deliver them to a few places under attack.

  Hurrying on, she scanned the horizon for signs of battle. The machines guided her, reacting to the signals of machines further away that had sensed movement and heat. Soon she was hovering over a small town under siege.

  She stopped and emerged into the world. Taking the topmost box, she shook it vigorously, then opened it and scattered the beetles in all directions with magic. They buzzed as they activated, then headed for the nearest machines. Then she pushed out of the world a little, saving her strength as she watched to see what would happen.

  At first the machines seemed oblivious to the tiny invaders. They continued to attack the city, some falling as sorcerers below struck back at them. Then the nearest machines to Rielle began to behave strangely. Some stilled, a few began to spin on the spot, while others careened into their neighbours.

  Then they began to fall.

  Three more times she stopped and distributed beetles. Three more towns under attack had a small reprieve. Too small, she feared. How much difference would one box of beetles – maybe a few hundred – against thousands of machines? As she dumped the contents of her last box over the swarming machines above a small city, she pushed out of the world ready to skim back to Beltonia.

  A disturbance in the place between caught her attention. Focusing on it, she saw that the substance of it was moving.

  She had noticed the effect when she and Tyen had returned from the world in which she had transformed. Paths were like a hole pushed through very thick syrup that immediately began to shrink as the substance slowly seeped back to fill the gap. It was not unlike magic flowing back in to fill the void created when a sorcerer took it. The drift of that magic towards the void was detectable, and now she was sensing a drift in the substance of the place between. But towards what?

  She followed the drift. It quickened a little, then she sensed the sharp edges of a recently made path. She could even sense which direction the creator had been travelling in.

  It was not difficult to guess who had made it.

  Propelling along it, she stretched her senses before her. As she passed the midway point to the next world, she sensed a presence ahead. Concentrating, she found she could make out information that would normally be outside her grasp.

  It was a man, she saw with relief. Not Kettin, but one of her followers. He was wondering what Kettin would make of the world he’d just dropped machines into. A world that already contained machines, but had turned them to uses he hadn’t seen before. Transport, crop harvesting. Yet they looked old in design and make.

  Shock and surprise nearly made Rielle stop. I’m reading his mind! That should not be possible between worlds. But by focusing on his pattern, as she had done with Qall, she had seen and deciphered the workings of his mind.

  The man was now considering whether he should have ignored his orders – to seek magically powerful worlds and deposit cleansing spheres in them – and report this world to Kettin instead. She’d also said to keep an eye out for paths to worlds believed to be dead. He’d heard in a neighbouring world that the one he’d just visited was dead, so when he’d stumbled upon a recent path and found a world that wasn’t just strong, but full of machines, he’d been surprised.

  Rielle increased her speed, determined to catch up with him before he reached the next world. She could not let him escape. When he described Tyen’s world to Kettin she would guess that it was the original source of machines, and come to see what remained of it. Though that might be a good lure, Kettin was unlikely to bring all her forces with her, and Tyen’s world was not a good trap world. Even if Tyen wanted to have his world isolated from all others, it had several neighbours, giving Kettin an easy escape if she realised what was happening.

  The shadows of a new world were growing more distinct. The sorcerer’s presence snapped out of her senses as he arrived in it. She saw him standing in the arrival place for an instant before he blinked out of sight, heading down another path. She arrived, sought that new path, found it and followed.

  She was close enough that he sensed her. At once, her pursuit turned into a chase. He was fast, suggesting that he was powerful, but she was faster. She had nearly caught up with him when he reached the midpoint between worlds. Then two new presences entered the place between. They headed
towards the sorcerer and joined him. Rielle slowed and searched for their minds.

  A voice echoed in the place between worlds.

  “It’s her! The Maker!” one said.

  “Ah! The world I just came from had machines like the ones Tyen originally made.”

  “Scatter!” one of the others ordered. “One of us must tell Kettin!”

  They fled in three directions. Rielle cast about, cursing silently as she realised she couldn’t catch up and grab all three. If only she could reach out and stop them. Perhaps she could. She focused on one, reaching out through the place between and pulling.

  And the substance of it parted in a way entirely different to making a path.

  A gash opened between the men and the next world. It widened rapidly, like black lightning. A savage, patternless nothingness. The sorcerers’ eyes and mouths went wide with surprise and horror but their screams made no sound.

  Then the hole snapped outwards in all directions.

  The men disappeared.

  And something slammed into Rielle, propelling her backwards through the place between, faster than her senses could comprehend. She tumbled, but with no sense of gravity or direction. Then she was falling. Air filled her lungs. Realising she was within a world, she tried to create a platform of stilled air beneath her body, but wasn’t fast enough. Slamming into the ground, she felt the pain of breaking bones, then the instant fire of them healing.

  She lay there a moment, stunned. Then she pushed herself up onto her elbows and looked around. She was in the arrival place of the previous world. Her head throbbed with pain. The sunlight was too bright. The silence deafening. Balance, clarity and sound returned all too quickly as her body healed. She sat up, her quick breathing now only due to shock, as the memory returned of three men screaming as the darkness consumed them.

  I think I just killed them!

  She hadn’t meant to, which only made it more frightening. As did the realisation that she had no idea what she had done.

  No, that was a lie. She did have an idea, but she was struggling to believe it.