Tamir - The Bone Doll's Twin Part 23

'But her price?" Arkoniel's chest tightened at the thought. He tried to believe it was purely revulsion.

lya's lips pressed into a thin line of disapproval. "Offer her something else."

'What if she refuses?"

'Arkoniel, I taught you what my master taught me; that celibacy preserves our power. I have practiced it since I undertook the craft. There are those who stray, however, and not all of them have been weakened by the experience. Many, but not all..."

Arkoniel felt as if the earth were opening up under his feet. "Why didn't you ever tell me this before?"

'Why would I? As a child you didn't need to know. And as a young man in your prime? It was too dangerous, the temptation too real. I was nearly as old as you are now when I began my training, and no virgin. The tides of the flesh are strong, make no mistake, and we all feel their pull. Once a wizard gets past the first life and feels his power strong in him, it becomes easier to bear. The carnal pleasures pale in comparison, I promise you."

'I will refuse her, lya."

'You will do what you will do, dear boy." lya took his hands between her own and looked into his face; her skin was cold as ivory. "There's so much more I'd hoped to teach you. Before Afra I imagined that we had the rest of my life together. You are my successor, Arkoniel, and the finest student I've ever had. We've known that for some time, Illior and I." She patted the bag hanging over her shoulder. "But Illior has other plans for you just now, as we've both seen. For the time being you must take what lessons you can find and make of them what you can. If Lhel can teach you, then learn from her. Barring all else, you must keep watch and learn if she has any ill intent toward the child."

'Your answer is no answer at all!" Arkoniel groaned, more confused than ever.

lya shrugged. "You're not a child anymore, or an apprentice. There comes a time when a wizard must learn to trust his own heart. You've been doing just that for some time now, though you don't seem to have noticed yet." Smiling, she tapped him on the chest. "Listen to this, my dear. I believe it to be a good, true guide."

Arkoniel felt a sudden chill of premonition. "That sounds almost like a farewell." lya smiled sadly. "It is, but only to the boy who was my student. The man who's stolen into his place needn't fear losing me. I like him too much for that, and we've a great deal of work to do together."

'But-" Arkoniel groped for words. "How will I know the right things to do, to help Tobin and protect him?"

'Do you think Illior would have sent you here unless you were worthy of the task? Now, then. Are you going to keep an old woman outdoors all night or may we go in now?"

'Old woman, eh? When did that happen?" Arkoniel asked, slipping his arm through hers as they walked up the hill.

'I've been wondering that myself."

"How long can you stay?"

'Not long, judging from the demon's reception. How has it treated you since it broke your arm?"

'Surprisingly well. It knocks the furniture around now and then, but Tobin appears to have some control over it. According to Nari, it has been much quieter since Ariani's death."

'Very odd. You'd think it would be just the opposite. In all my years, Arkoniel, I've never seen a spirit quite like this one. It makes one wonder..."

'What?"

'Whether it will surprise us again when we try to break its bond with Tobin." V,'hey returned to the keep, intending for lya to share Arkoniel's room for the night. As soon as they set foot inside the hall, however, they could feel the demon's malevolence closing in around them. The air thickened perceptibly and the hearth fire guttered and burned pale.

Nari and the others of the household gathered around the hearth looked up in alarm.

'Be careful, lya. There's no telling what it will do," Tharin warned.

The ominous weight of silence drew out, and then they heard something clatter loudly to the floor at the far end of the room near the high table. Another clatter followed and lya cast a light in the air, illuminating the room enough to see the silver plate being knocked from the shelves of the sideboard. One by one, platters and bowls slid off with a thud or clank onto the rushes. Each object moved by itself, but Arkoniel could easily imagine the wild, surly child he'd encountered at the bottom of the meadow, watching them over its shoulder and smiling spitefully as it reached for the next salver or cup.

The strange performance continued, and each successive dish flew a little further from the sideboard, veered a little more in their direction.

'That's quite enough of that!" lya muttered. Striding down the hall, she stopped just short of the sideboard and sketched a circle of white light on the air before her with her crystal wand.

'What's she doing?" asked Nari.

'I'm not certain," Arkoniel said, trying to read the sigils lya was inscribing into the circle. It looked something like a banis.h.i.+ng spell a drysian had tried to teach them, but the sigils taking shape in the circle were not what he recalled.

Perhaps lya was mistaken in her weaving, for just then a heavy silver platter flew from its shelf and collided with the circle. Pattern and wand exploded in a sudden burst of blue-white fire. lya cried out, clutching her hand to her side.

Blinking black spots from his vision, Arkoniel ran to her and pulled lya away as the demon scattered the remaining silver around the room, then began overturning benches. Arkoniel wrapped his arms around her and pulled her head down, trying to s.h.i.+eld her. Then Tharin was there, doing the same for both of them.

'Outside!" lya gasped, trying to push them off.

They staggered out into the courtyard with the rest of the frightened servants, then looked back in through the open doorway to see tapestries flying through the air. One landed on the open hearth.

'Fetch water!" Mynir shouted. "It means to set the house afire!"

'Go to the barracks. You can sleep there," Tharin ordered, then dashed back into the house to aid the others.

Arkoniel helped lya to the dark barracks house. A brazier stood just inside the door and he snapped a finger over it, kindling a small blaze. Narrow pallets lined the walls and lya sank down on the closest one.

Arkoniel gently took her wounded hand and examined it in the flickering light. A long red burn marked where the crystal wand had laid against her palm. Small cuts and fragments of the wand peppered her fingers and knuckles.

'It's not as bad as it looks," lya said, letting him pick out the shards of crystal.

'Yes, it is. Lie down. I'll go get a few things and come right back."

He ran back into the hall and found Cook and the others flailing at a smoking tapestry and kicking smoldering rushes onto the hearth.

'Douse!" Arkoniel ordered, clapping his hands sharply and spreading his palms over the floor. The last of the sparks fizzled out, leaving a stinking cloud in their wake, "lya's hurt. I need simples for a burn, and clean rags for binding."

Cook fetched what he needed, and Tharin followed him out to the barracks to oversee the binding of lya's hand.

'What happened?" the captain demanded. "What was it you were trying to do?" lya winced as Arkoniel bathed her hand in a basin. "Something rather unwise, it would seem."

Tharin waited, giving her the opportunity to elucidate. When she didn't, he nodded and said, "You'd best stay out here tonight. I'll sleep in the hall."

'Thank you." She looked up from Arkoniel's work. "What are you doing here, Tharin? Rhius is atAtyion, isn't he?"

'I'm Prince Tobin's swordmaster. I've stayed behind to continue his training." "Indeed, Tharin?"

Something in the way lya said this made Arkoniel pause and look up.

'I've known you since you and Rhius were boys together. Tell me how Rhius fares. I've been away too long and feel like a stranger."

Tharin rubbed a hand over his short beard. "He's had a rough time of it, as you might imagine. It was hard before, and losing Ariani in such a way-not just her death, but having her mad all those years after the birth, and hat ing him." He shook his head. "I can't for the life of me understand why she blamed him for that child dying, or why she took it so hard. I don't mean to speak ill of the dead, lya, but I think there was more of her mother in her than anyone ever guessed. Some say that's why the dead child haunts the living one, though I don't put any stock in that."

'What else do people say?"

'Oh, all sorts of things."

'For the sake of the child, tell me. You know it will go no further with us."

Tharin looked down at his scarred hands. "There are those who say that Rhius found out he wasn't the father and killed one of the babes before anyone could stop him; that that's why the dead child haunts, and why he keeps Tobin away from court."

'What nonsense! How is the duke managing at court?"

'The king keeps him close, as always. He calls Rhius 'brother,' but- Things have been a bit strained between them since she died, though a good deal of that seems to be on Rhius' side. He's cleared out of his rooms at the New Palace and gone back to Atyion. He can't even bear to be here anymore."

'That's not fair to the child."

Tharin looked up at them and, for the first time, Arkoniel saw a shadow of pain and guilt there. "I know that and I told him so. That's part of the reason I was sent back, if you must know. I haven't told anyone here at the keep, for fear it would get back to Tobin. It would break his heart and it's about broken mine." lya took his hand in her good one. "You've always spoken to Rhius like a brother, Tharin.

I can't imagine that you've fallen too far out of his graces. I'll speak to him about it when I meet him."

Tharin rose to go. "You don't need to. This will pa.s.s. Good night to you." lya watched him go, then shook her head. "I've often regretted not telling him."

Arkoniel nodded. "I feel it more strongly the longer I'm here."

'Let's leave things as they are for now." lya flexed her bandaged hand and winced. "I can ride with this.

I think I'll be off tomorrow. I want to see Ero again, and have a word with Rhius."

'Ero? That's walking into the wolves' own den. You're sure to meet with Harriers there."

'No doubt, but they need looking into. I wish Illior had given us a glimpse of them when this whole thing started. Don't fret, Arkoniel. I'll be careful."

'More careful than you were in the hall just now, I hope. What happened?"

'I don't know, exactly. When I first arrived tonight and it attacked I felt the circle of protection I'd cast bow like a tent wall in a high wind. Just now I thought something stronger was called for and attempted to push it from the room and seal the hall against it until morning." "Did you make an error in the pattern?"

"No, the spell was laid out properly. But it didn't work, as you saw. As I said earlier, this spirit is unlike anything I've ever encountered. I wish I had more time to study it, but as things stand it would be too disruptive for the children. I don't even dare go back in the house. I would like to see Tobin again before I go, though. Will you bring him to me in the morning? Alone, this time."

'Of course. But I wouldn't expect it to be a long conversation if I were you. He's not easily drawn." lya lay down on the pallet and chuckled. "I could see that much at a glance. By the Light, you do have your work cut out for you!"

~T7~i was at the open window when Tobin woke the next JLVmorning. He stood with his chin on one hand, picking absently at a patch of lichen on the sill with long, restless fingers. He looked younger in daylight, and sad.

'Do you miss your family?"

Ki's head jerked up. "You must be a wizard, too. You can read thoughts." But he smiled as he said it."It's awful quiet here, isn't it?"

Tobin sat up and stretched. "Father's men make a lot of noise when they're here. But they're all at Atyion now."

'I've been there." Ki hitched himself up on the sill, bare legs dangling under the hem of his s.h.i.+rt. "At least I've ridden past it on the way to the city. Your castle is the biggest in Skala, outside of Ero. How many rooms does it have?"

'I don't know. I've never been there." Seeing Ki's eyebrows shoot up, he added, "I've never been anywhere except here and Alestun. I was born at the Palace but I don't remember it."

'You don't go visiting? We have family all over the place and go guest with them. If my uncle were the king, I'd want to go to Ero all the time. There's music there, and dancing, and players in the street and-"

He broke off. "Oh, because of the demon?"

'I don't know. Mama didn't like to go anywhere. And Father says there's plague in the cities." It occurred to Tobin that Ki had survived his travels well enough. He shrugged. "I've always just been here."

Ki twisted around to look out the window. "Well, what do you do for fun? I bet you don't have to mend walls or tend pigs!"

Tobin grinned. "No, Father has tenants to do those things. I train with Tharin and go hunting in the forest. And I have a toy city my father made for me, but Arkoniel's in that room now so I'll have to show you later."

'All right then, let's go hunting." Ki slid off the sill and began looking under the bed for his clothes.

"Haw many hounds do you have? I didn't see any in the hall last night."

'Just a few old ones in the yard. But I don't hunt with them; dogs don't like me. But Tharin says I'm a fine archer. I'll ask if he can take us hunting."

Brown eyes peered at him over the edge of the bed. " Take us? You mean you don't go by yourself?"

'I'm not to go away from the keep alone."

Ki disappeared again and Tobin heard a sigh. "All right then. It's not too cold to swim, or we could fish. I saw a good spot at the bottom of the meadow."

'I've never fished," Tobin admitted, feeling very awkward. "And I can't swim."

Ki rose up and rested his elbows on the edge of the bed, regarding Tobin quizzically. "How old are you?"

'I'll be ten come the twentieth of Erasin."

'And they don't let you have any fun on your own? Why not?"

'I don't know, I-"

'You know what?"

Tobin shook his head.

'Before I left home, after lya bought me off my father, my sister told me she'd heard of you."

Tobin's heart turned to stone in his chest.

'She said that some folk at court say you're demon cursed, or simple in the head, and that that's why you live clear out here instead of in Ero or Atyion. You know what I think?"

This was it, then. Last night hadn't meant a thing after all. It was going to be just the way he'd feared.

Tobin kept his chin up and made himself look Ki in the eye. "No. What do you think?"

',' think the folks who say that have s.h.i.+t between their ears. And I think the folks raising you are the ones simple in the head if they won't let you outside on your own- not meaning any disrespect to Duke Rhius, mind you." Ki gave him a teasing grin that swept away every shadow and fear. "And I think it's well worth a beating to get out on a day as fair as this is making up to be."

'Do you, now?" asked Arkoniel, leaning against the door frame. Ki sat up, blus.h.i.+ng guiltily, but the wizard laughed. "So do I, and I don't think it has to come to beatings. I've been talking with Nari and Tharin. They agree that it's time Prince Tobin began following proper boy's pursuits. With you here to accompany him, I don't think any reasonable request will be refused so long as you don't stray too far."

Tobin stared at the man. He knew he ought to be grateful for this sudden change in the household rules, but he resented it coming from the wizard. Who was Arkoniel to make such decisions, as if he wasthe master of the house?

'Before you go off on any adventures, though, my prince, lya would like to speak with you," Arkoniel told him. "She's at the barracks. Ki, why don't you go see what Cook has to eat? I'll meet you in the hall, Tobin."