The Magic Council (The Herezoth Trilogy) (6 page)

“I
was thinking that,” said Bennie. “She’s a sorceress, so she could keep them
secure. Make sure they don’t get away, I mean. She could cast some spells at
Ursa’s mansion just as easily, but if she personally wanted to watch over them,
well, her own place would be best.”

“Where
is it?” asked Gratton.

“Arbora
does all right for herself. The Enchanted Fist brings her money, but I only found
one home attached to her name. It’s near Partsvale.”

“I’ve
never been to Partsvale,” said Zacry. “I can’t transport us there.”

“I
can,” said Vane. “My aunt took me there once, for vacation.”

“Good,”
said the king. “It’s lucky you’re here, Vane.”

Gratton
said, “If possible, we should know whether Dorane’s in Ursa’s mansion before we
act. We don’t want him there, for the boys’ sake.”

“I
agree,” said Hayden. “I agree completely. I was just about to say that.”

The
six of them spent four hours developing a plan, and at moments debate was
heated. Gratton wanted to slaughter Ursa’s bear straightaway. He could see no
way around it, but Zacry thought that would only alert the woman. He wanted
stealth. Gratton said to have stealth, they
had
to slay the bear; otherwise it would attack the lot of them while Zacry and
Vane searched the mansion for Ursa, who let the beast roam free. With Hayden’s
support, Gratton’s argument won out.

Gratton
was uncomfortable with sorcery. He proposed non-magic alternatives to
everything he could think of a non-magic alternative for: like the bear
problem. His stance did not shock Vane, but did offend him, and Zacry made no
attempt to hide his resentment. “If I’m not to use my magic, why am I here?” he
demanded. “Why did Rexson stall a month for me to come from Traigland?”

They
mashed a plan together despite the friction, a plan as finalized as possible
without knowing the mansion’s layout. When they finished, the king held Zacry
and Bendelof behind.

“How’s
Kora?” Rexson asked, sitting in the desk chair. Bennie sat on the bed, while
Zacry leaned against the wall. “Was her fourth a daughter? She thought it would
be.”

“It
was. And so’s the fifth, who’s a year now. They’re named Laskenay and Tressa.
Kora’s fine, Rexson. A little frustrated she couldn’t take part in this….”

“I
knew she would be.”

“But
Parker set her straight. He’s good for that. He’s sensible, takes things much
more in stride than she does. His composure rubs off on her.”

“Good,”
said the king. “Good….”

Bennie
asked, “How’d she feel about Vane leaving? I don’t imagine she liked it.”

Zacry
said, “She understands he’s of age. Kora’s all right. What’s wrong with you
two?”

Rexson
sighed, and changed the subject.

“Bennie,
I never intended to pull you into this. Now that Zacry and Vane are here, we
can manage without you. The Giver knows you’ve done more for my family through
the years than I have any right to ask.”

“I
took it on myself to get involved. And I’m sorry, again, for turning spy
against your back. I would have talked a move that drastic over with you, but
you were here, you had to be, and we were in Yangerton and…. Listen, Hayden
told me I should do it. He said you’d approve the move, that there was no other
way to find out where the boys might be. I hadn’t seen you in so long I thought
the best thing to do was trust his judgment. I know I took a horrendous risk. I
was so terrified the boys might suffer for it, I….” She swallowed. “I was sure
I had enough information to make the charade a success. Hayden agreed with me.”

“Bennie,
I’m nothing but grateful for what you did. That said, from this point out….”

The
right half of Bennie’s face pulled up in a wry grin. “I’ve been through worse
than this, Lanokas.” The king’s second middle name, which he had used as an
alias with the Crimson League. “What if things go badly, hmm? What if Dorane
ties up the sorcerers’ time, or takes them down, and the boys are magically
sealed away? Who’d get them out? I’d have to, with my picks.

“Look,
I realize I don’t have a glamorous life. I wash dishes at an inn, and I’m in no
way ashamed of that. It’s honest work. But I do have other skills you’ll need.
You taught me to fight with a sword, you yourself, and I didn’t forget how. I
keep a blade under my bed, in case someone from the old days who—well,
who didn’t like us much—should track me down. Besides,” her eyes grew
steely, “I know what it’s like to feel trapped and helpless. Man alive, I know
what those boys are going through, and….”

Bennie
stopped as the king turned ashen. She squeezed her fist in self-accusation, and
then rose to put a hand on Rexson’s shoulder. “I didn’t mean to…. Lanokas, your
sons are holding up. I know they are. You’re remembering what a mess I was after
Kora rescued me and Zac from, well, from this very building, wasn’t it?”

Her
voice shook but she plowed on, recalling the day Zalski had taken her and Zacry
captive: the boy to be a protégé, she a hostage. She had spent half a week as a
prisoner in the Northeast Tower.

“I
was alone when Zalski first locked me up. I was alone, and your sons aren’t.
They have each other. Then there’s the fact Zalski blinded me, which, well,
didn’t settle my nerves any.” She shuddered, though a trip to the Miracle Pool
in Partsvale had restored her sight years before. “They haven’t hurt your boys.
Arbora promised they’re not hurt, didn’t she? There isn’t so much as a scratch
on them, because they didn’t do something stupid when they came across Dorane.”

The
king buried his head in his arms on top the desk. Then he bolted up so quickly
Bennie gave a small hop back. He slammed a hand on the back of the chair,
nearly toppling it.

“I’ve
never hated anyone more than these bastards. By the Giver’s bloody harp, I
didn’t hate Zalski this much. Zalski at least had the decency to come after
me,
after
ME
, which is what Dorane would have done if he had any sense of
honor. Why, Bennie, why the hell did the blackguard…? Why
would he go after my children? What the cad’s done to Gracia you
have no idea. You can’t imagine how she’s changed. It makes me want to wring
his neck, his scrawny neck to remember how she used to be. All we have left’s
our daughter, six months old, and Gracia can’t even feed her. The woman’s so
distraught, so completely destroyed, she can’t feed the babe. And the boys,
my
boys…. What are they guilty of? Of
existing, that’s what. Of being born in this festering pit of a kingdom, and
they’re not even to blame for that.”

Rexson
lamented, “I never should have married. From the moment Gracia told me she
expected Valkin, I’ve feared this. I feared he might live what I lived all
those years ago. Now he has, his brothers with him, the difference being I
was twenty when Zalski struck. Valkin’s
the oldest, and he’s half that. My God, I’ll kill that sorcerer son of a bitch,
him and his accomplices. I don’t care if they’re women. If I had them here, I’d
kill them in blood so cold they’d be screaming for a funeral pyre just to warm
themselves.”

A
series of tremors shook Bennie’s bottom lip. Eyes glistening, she put Rexson
back in his chair and gave his arm a supportive squeeze. “We’ll get them back,”
she whispered. “Your boys, we’ll get them back.” She poured him a glass of
milk, which he proceeded to knock to the floor.

“Say
we do,” he said. “Say we get them back. What’s to stop this happening again?
What if my daughter were ten, or fifteen, and they abducted her for a month and
raped her routinely while they held her?”

Bennie
was crying silently now. “You listen to me, no one’ll harm Melinda, not ever.
You won’t let it happen, pure and simple, and these jokers won’t hurt her
brothers. You taught the boys too well, I know you did. You taught them to be
responsible, and that’s what’ll keep them safe until we rescue them. I know
what they’ll have learned from you, because I know the kind of person you are.
I hadn’t seen you in fourteen years, Lanokas. Fourteen years, and I came
running to help when I heard you needed me. You made that much of an impression
on my life.

“How
dare you be this unfair to yourself? I mean it, how dare you? Man alive, you’ll
knock it off this instant, and you’ll drink this second milk I’m about to pour
you, because you haven’t put a thing in your stomach all morning. I’ve been
watching. You have to care for yourself, you really do. Those boys don’t want
to come back after this much time to an ill father. Their mother’s ill already,
and that’s enough.”

All
the while the king was yelling and then as Bennie tried to comfort him, Zacry
kept his place against the wall, not stunned by the king’s ardor but unsure how
to respond. He could not indulge his first instinct: to express some rough
variety of empathy as a father himself. Now he said from where he stood,
“Bennie’s right. Pull yourself together. You have to if the queen’s fallen to
pieces. Your sons will be home tomorrow, and if we don’t make the guilty pay
then, I swear I’m not leaving Herezoth ‘til those lunatics see justice. If I
have to bring it to them myself, I will.”

Zacry’s
assurances calmed the king, or numbed him. Rexson squeezed Bennie’s hand and
told the sorcerer, his voice dull, distracted, “I apologize for Gratton. He’s
not a bad sort. He’s suspicious of magic, not of you. He has no problem with
you. He worries spells might backfire, have unintended consequences…. It’s a
legitimate concern.”

The
king went on, “He’s an excellent strategist, and a better swordsman than even
my old teacher, who was an undisputed master. And he’s loyal. He’d just joined
the army when Zalski had his coup, and he turned spy for us, though he was too
young to advance to a useful post. We lost contact with him after the assault
on our headquarters. Couldn’t waste time to track him down again. His oldest
brother, ironically enough, was one of the Fontferry militia who came to our
aid. He died when we took the Palace…. Did Kora ever mention the militia?”

Zacry
claimed, “Kora told me everything.”

The
king, vaguely interested now, leaned an elbow on the desk. “Everything? Even
about the chain?”

The
chain of red gold that had let Kora stalk Zalski from a distance, magically
attending his meetings, hearing his thoughts. “Even about that. Rexson, why do
you look surprised? Is there something I’m missing?”

Rexson’s
eyes had grown wider than was usual. He blinked to shrink them. “I don’t think
you’re missing anything. If Kora told you she revealed the whole truth, then….”

Zacry
protested, “There’s something she never mentioned, isn’t there? Let’s have it.
If she did leave something out….”

“If
she did, it’s not for me to speak.”

“Rexson,
I came to help you, and willingly. I’m not threatening to walk out if you keep
me in the dark. But if Kora hid something, it’s because that something involves
me. She told me how that chain worked, after all. She described how people
died, people I knew. If she’s holding something back, then the secret’s about
me, and I deserve to know what it is.”

Chin
in hand, the king considered Zacry’s argument, or tried to. His preoccupations
lay elsewhere.

“You
won’t tell her I betrayed her?”

“No
matter what you say, I won’t confront her. You have my word.”

“He
should know,” said Bennie. “You know what Kora kept back, if she kept back
anything. We both do, and it’s time he should know.”

Zacry’s
throat went dry. “So what happened? What did she do?”

The
king folded his arms and shifted his chair to face the sorcerer. “Do you
remember when Vane’s mother took Kora to negotiate with Zalski?”

A
fog of insecurity descended upon Zacry. It was not a sensation he deemed
familiar, and not one he knew how to combat. “That was after Kora saved me and
Bennie from Zalski’s tower. Laskenay wanted to discuss Vane’s future.”

“Laskenay
went to discuss her son, that’s accurate. The complete truth is, Kora went to
discuss you: to arrange your safety, amnesty until you came of age, because she
was scared you might try to be heroic. Zalski didn’t make that bargain for
nothing.”

“What
did she give him?”

“Information:
how she’d known where to find you. How she’d learned Zalski kept you in that
tower room.”

Zacry’s
stomach tied itself in knots. “He demanded that in exchange for leaving Vane
be.”

“No,”
said Rexson. “The condition was in exchange for your amnesty, and Kora took the
deal. She told him about the necklace and its power.”

“And
she knew full well, full well, he’d torture the sanity out of her for invading
his mind. Shit! Shit, she told me the deal was for Vane.”

“Zacry….”
began Bennie.

“Shit,”
Zacry said again. “I had no idea they discussed me that day, that she….”
Zacry’s head began to spin. He dropped on the bed. “I wanted revenge after
Zalski kidnapped me. I told Kora so, and I meant to have it. I’d have done
something stupid and gotten myself killed. After leaving that tower, I meant
every word I spoke against Zalski. My God…. My
God
, I didn’t mean to drive Kora to….”