Chapter One Babies First
As it brushed the river, the dawn breeze grabbed Reiffens cloak. Around him the blankets of the dead and dying fluttered. Those still alive coughed wetly, low and thick from bloody lungs.
He refused to look at them. Any of them. If even a single blanket fell aside from one of those wretched faces, he might have to notice what hed done. Already flies hovered, their hum thick and throbbing as a hives. A sweet stink clung to the air, though there hadnt been enough time yet for the dead to start rotting.
Knowing the smell would seek the low ground by the river, he climbed the bank in search of cleaner air. The rows of the dead stretched into the fog around him; after a few steps he no longer had any idea where he was. His feet kicked up cinders from the burnt earth until the air was as thick with charred dirt as it was with flies. The morning fog turned black.
A spotted glow rose from the ground. The dead had opened their eyes.
They didnt reach for him: Reiffens nightmare wasnt that simple. Reliving their last moments, his victims crouched on their knees and vomited at his feet. Blood and rheum spilled across his boots, soaking the earth like rain. His stomach churned. Other corpses appeared, sissit as well as men, crawling out of the fog to press against their fellows. Perhaps Reiffen could have forced his way through the hunched, crooked crowd, but, whether from pity or revulsion, he couldnt bring himself to touch them. The dead, too, kept their careful distance, crouching on hands and knees. Broken jaws retched rotting teeth; cracked lips oozed black blood. Spittle foamed at their chins.
He decided to flee, but found he couldnt. Though his boots had barely sunk halfway into the mud, the ground gripped them with frozen strength. His alarm increased as he struggled, but every attempt to get free only drove him deeper.
A young woman stumbled out of the mist, her dress tattered. "Help me," she cried.
Was it Ferris? Reiffens fear gripped his throat. But the woman was too thin, her hair too wild. Her eyes were blue instead of brown. The fog swallowed her like a leaping nokken as she ran away, her dress streaming behind her.
The Black Wizard followed, towering higher than the trees. Only the Wizard didnt charge angrily after the woman as Reiffen expected, but started toward Reiffen instead. Corpses of men and sissit burst in gouts of pus and pale skin at the giants every step. But his color lightened as he came closer, his robes turning from black to gray as the quickening wind flicked away the ash. Not Ossdonc, after all, but Fornoch. The one among the Three whom Reiffen hadnt been able to slay.
Gobbets of earth splashed around him as Reiffen scrabbled to pull himself free. He coughed at the taste of it, as foul as someone elses bile, and choked as he tried to breathe. The mud gulped him down, waist and chest and shoulders, till his eyes were at the level of the Wizards enormous ankle. Clean toes showed at the edge of a spotless sandal. Fingers reached down for Reiffens face.
"Take my hand," said the Wizard. "Your time has not yet come."
To be saved again by Fornoch was more than Reiffen could bear. And it felt so good to give up, to let his whole body relax and accept the sinking. To forget about all the things he was supposed to do, all the things his mother and everyone else expected from him. To leave the magic behind. He let his chin dip into the cold sludge. Mud and blood seeped between his lips. Soft paste swallowed his eyes.
The Gray Wizards thick fingernails gouged Reiffens scalp as he grabbed him by the hair.
"There is no escape," he warned, his words hammering down like pellets of lead. Reiffen was drawn out of the earth with a loud pop. "Not for you."
The Wizard paused. Reiffens fear sprouted like a licking flame.
"Nor for your daughter, either."
He woke with his heart pounding. Throwing off the blankets, he scrambled out of bed onto the cold dirt floor. Sandy, thinking it was time to play, pattered over to sniff his masters knees.
"Are you all right?" Ferris sat up in the bed, her voice cutting the darkness.
"Im fine," Reiffen said.
"You dont look fine. Was it the dream about Rimwich again?"
"Yes."
"Theres still some milk left from yesterday. Ill heat it for you."
"I said I was fine."
"Oh, please."
Though he could only see the outline of her face in the fire-glow, he caught Ferriss irritation easily enough. Which reassured him greatly. Some things never changed.
"If you think you can have a nightmare that bad without talking to me about it," she said, "then Im going home to Valing right now."
"You cant cast the traveling spell on your own."
"Im sure youre gentleman enough to take me, if I ask." She patted the empty spot on the bed. "Itll be easier for both of us if you come back and let me make you feel better."
Checking to make sure the owl he had set to stand watch in the woods outside had noticed nothing unusual, Reiffen allowed his wife to pull him back into the comfort of the covers. Already the late-summer nights in the northern forest were as cold as a Valing fall.
"Not you, Sandy." Ferris pushed the yellow dog back to the floor as it tried to scramble up beside them.
Wrapped in his wifes arms, Reiffen told her about his dream. Except for the part at the end, when Fornoch had mentioned a child.
"I wish Id never done any of it," he said.
Soft breath caressed his ear. "It was war. Ossdonc and his army would have killed us all if you hadnt stopped them."
"I know. But theres no honor in killing men, or sissit, in their sleep."
"As far as Im concerned, theres no honor in killing anyone, ever. Sometimes its just something you have to do. The Wizards wouldnt have thought twice about it."
"I didnt learn magic in order to be a Wizard."
"And you arent. A magician, maybe, but not a Wizard. Believe me, no one thinks less of you for what you did. Redburr told me he thought youd done it very cleverly."
"Redburr isnt human. He doesnt understand."
"That doesnt mean he isnt right."
"It doesnt mean he understands, either. You have no idea what that night was like. No one does. All those people, with no idea what was happening to them. I killed them all so easily. Sometimes I wish there was a way I could go back and undo everything. Too bad the traveling spell wont work for time as well as place."
"I know youd make everything better if you could, dear heart." Ferris kissed his cheek softly. "Its one of the reasons I love you, and why you shouldnt feel so guilty. But the main thing is no ones going to bother Banking and Wayland again any time soon. The Keeadini are back across the Westing, scared to death youre going to put the plague on them the way you did the Wizards army. And there was talk in Malmoret before I left that Cuspor has already pledged never to attack another Banking ship."
"Lovely." Bitterness edged Reiffens voice. "The worlds at peace because everyones afraid Ill kill them. Meanwhile Fornoch, whos the real danger, is still out there somewhere dreaming up who knows what wickedness. For all we know, hes found another child to teach everything he taught me."
"Then maybe we should get to work." Ferris threw the blanket off her shoulders and sat up. Her long hair danced free in the firelight, frosting her skin. "The quicker you teach me magic, the quicker there will be two of us to stand against them."
Laughing at the way she waved her hands while pretending to cast spells, Reiffen pulled her down beside him. He liked the way she never flinched at the touch of his thimbles. As he didnt flinch at hers.
"Be careful," he said, "or Ill think youre too eager. Magic is a sacred trust, not to be granted lightly."
"Fiddle." Ferris slapped her husbands chest playfully. "Id never have dragged you back to Valing for Father to marry us if I thought you werent going to teach me magic. After the way you held off Usseis all by yourself, Im sure the two of us will defeat Fornoch easily."
"In an open fight, yes. But fighting Fornoch in the open isnt what worries me. Thats exactly the sort of thing hell most avoid. More likely hell try to set us against each another."
"As if that could ever happen."
Later, after Ferris had finally driven the nightmare from his mind, she rested on her side while Reiffen snuggled behind her, his arm around her waist. Her belly felt warm and smooth beneath his fingers, except for the empty spot where the thimble covered the end of his pinky.
"Where shall we live, dear heart?" he asked.
"Is there any question?" she murmured. "Valing, of course."
"I dont think that would work at all."
She rolled around to face him. "You know perfectly well everyones forgiven you, now they know Skimmer and Rollby are safe. And Icers forgotten his burns completely."
"Only because hes moved in with Old Mortin on the lower dock. The two of them are starting to make Redburr look like an abstainer."
"Thats right." Ferris poked Reiffen gently on the nose with the tip of her finger. "You do have that to answer for, dearest."
"Yes, and Id like to keep nokken drunkenness the vilest thing I can be blamed for in Valing. Which might not be the case if we bring magic there. Our power is not always going to attract the best sort of people."
"Weve already discussed that. Were going to choose our apprentices only from people who want to do good. Even if we make mistakes, well weed out the bad ones."
"Id still rather establish ourselves somewhere where we hurt as few people as possible. Grangore, perhaps, where well be close to the Dwarves. And theres another thing."
Sitting up, Reiffen retrieved a small pouch from the pile of clothes at the foot of the bed. Sandys head poked up hopefully as a shadow before the fire.
"We have to discuss this as well." He poured a small, glowing stone out of the bag and into his hand. Not nearly as bright as a Dwarf lamp, the gem pulsed like Ferriss moonstone necklace. But the throbs of blue color that came from Reiffens stone were as regular as heartbeats, where the moonstones flickered wild as frightened birds. Each steady flash from Reiffens stone faded slowly, the light retreating. But even at its brightest the glow was only enough to cast a dark blue shadow on his hand.
"Ive been meaning to give you this for several days," he said.
"What is it?"
"Cant you guess?"
The stones throbbing quickened as Ferris reached for it. The color brightened, too. She drew her hand back, afraid shed done something wrong, and the pace of the throbbing ebbed. Reiffen grinned, the same way he had when they were children and hed just proven his cleverness by swiping cake from Herns kitchen.
"Is it something of Uhles?" she asked.
"Fashioning this is far beyond Uhles power. Or any other Dwarf s."
His wifes eyes narrowed as she realized what he was offering her, and sparked in time with the flashing jewel. "Is it...a Living Stone?"
He nodded. This time Ferris accepted the gem when he offered it. It glowed brighter than ever in her palm, its beating quick as her heart. Unlike the sharp facets of a Dwarf lamp, the Living Stone was like Durk, smooth as a river-rounded pebble. Its color was darker than a Dwarf lamp as well, perhaps because it put out less light.
"Did you make it?" she asked.
"No." Reiffen shook his head. "Fornoch made it."
Ferris handed the stone straight back to him. "I dont want it then."
"He made it for you. I asked him to."
"And you trust him?"
"He made my stone. And Giserres. It saved her life once, as mine saved me when Usseis broke my neck. They have never done anything but what Fornoch said they would."
"Giserre told me her monthlies stopped after you gave her one of those."
Reiffens brows arched. "Really? She never told me that."
"Its not the sort of thing you tell your son." With a firm gesture, Ferris folded Reiffens hand around his gift. Rock and thimble clicked together. "I havent married you just for your magic," she went on. "None of our parents will be happy if we make them wait for grandchildren. Nor will I. Hern is dying for someone to call her Mims."
"There will be plenty of time for that later, love. Once youre settled into your power, the risk will be less. It is painful, but the stone can be removed."
Ferris waggled her thimble in the air. "Less painful than this was?"
"Well, maybe not. A lot more painful, actually."
"Then Id rather not. Babies first, immortality after. For all you know, some of the things the Living Stone changes might last even when you remove it. In the meantime, well work on the other part of the deal. The sooner we have a child, the sooner Ill be ready to swallow your stone."
"As if we needed any fresh incentive."
True dawn was spilling around the edges of the blanket draped over the window when Ferris asked him another question. "I dont suppose you know how to make these things," she said, rolling the Living Stone across the quilts with her finger.
"Make one? Why would I want to do that?"
"For our children, of course."
Reiffen scowled. "I know how, but its not a spell I ever want to practice. Or teach. Nothing comes free in magic. The life in the stone has to come from somewhere. And someone."
Taking the gem from her, he cupped it in his hand, cradling the light. "No use wasting it, though, now we have it. Whats done is done."
"But what about our children? I dont want to live forever only to watch them grow old."
"Giserre told me shes going to give hers up the moment she gets a grandchild. She wants to look a proper grandmother as the child grows up."
"And our other children? You dont think were going to be happy with just one, do you?"
Reiffen rolled his eyes. "Lets not get too far ahead of ourselves, love."
He still hadnt told her what Fornoch had said to him in his dream. He wasnt sure he would, either. There was always the chance their first child wouldnt be a daughter at all.
Some months later, and many leagues to the south, Avender danced with Wellin in the Old Palace. Other couples swept around them in swirls of skirt and stockinged calf, but Avender saw only the woman in his arms, her laughing mouth and eyes, and felt only the grip of her fingers on his sleeve.
"So?" she asked, her voice gracing the air more merrily than the music. "Is it settled? Are you staying with Brizen in Malmoret?"
"Yes."
"And the rumors are true as well? King Brannis has presented you with an estate in Wayland to help you make up your mind?"
"The estate had nothing to do with it. I tried to refuse, but the king insisted. He says no one will take me seriously at court unless I own land. Its only a small place in East Wayland called Goose Rock."
"A charming name. Have you seen it?"
"Not yet. Want to come with me when I do?"
"The king would never approve."
She smiled, all promise and perfection, even as she glanced toward the dais at the end of the hall. Avender followed her gaze, though he had seen it all before. The garlanded columns, the musicians on the balcony above, King Brannis glowering at the dancers parading on the marble floor. Except that always before the kings displeasure had been directed at Ferris and his son. This time it was Avenders turn.
Before the dance flung them away, he saw the king gesture toward Brizen, who stood at the side of his fathers chair. The son bent amiably to listen to what Brannis said, but when the king was finished Brizen said one short, round word, and remained where he was. The kings scowl deepened.
"Youre right," said Avender. "If he doesnt like our dancing together, your coming to Goose Rock with me would make him even angrier."
"It would. But then, if you do not value the kings gifts, I suspect you care little for his displeasure either. Unless you have been dissembling about the value of your acquisition."
Had Avenders hands not been so pleasantly occupied with Wellins, he would have snapped his fingers. "Your company is worth far more than a dozen Goose Rocks, and a duchy beside."
She smiled. Her fair hair swirled around her shoulders as she spun in her partners hands. Avenders heart rose. Happily he admired her throat and the ring of bare arm that showed between the tops of her long gloves and her gowns puffed sleeves.
"If you flatter the king half so well as you flatter me," she told him, "I have no doubt you will soon have that duchy to go with your farm."
The music stopped. Wellin curtsied demurely; her partner answered with a bow. A dozen young men darted up from either side, all wanting to have the next dance with the most beautiful woman in Malmoret.
Brizen was not among them.
Wellin waved her prospective partners aside, though the warmth in her apologies enflamed them all the more. "Baron Lavinier, I know I promised you a second dance, but Avender has worn me out so completely, you must forgive me if I cannot fulfill my promise now. I really do need to catch my breath. Avender, if you would be so kind as to give me your arm. I think a pass through the garden is just what I need."
"But the cold, my lady," said Baron Lavinier. "Its as bad as Rimwich."
"At least let me fetch your shawl," said another.
"I shant need my shawl, Dosset, but thank you all the same. This dancing has heated me enough for a snowstorm in the Bavadars." Mustaches bristled as she rested her gloved fingers on Dossets arm, but the young men calmed back down when her hand returned to Avender. Everyone knew so beautiful and ambitious a young woman would never settle for the penniless master of Goose Rock, even if he was a hero.
Collecting a cup of hot punch along the way, Avender escorted his prize out to the garden. Low shrubbery shadowed them like shrunken crones as they strolled along the paths. Above them the dark walls of the empty palace rose up against the night, unlit upper windows darker than the sky. Except for the occasional ball, the Old Palace was never used at all.
"Are you sure you dont want a shawl?" Avender asked.
"Thank you, no. The cool will clear my head."
"Baron Lavinier is right." He rubbed his hands against the cold. "This weather does feel more like a Rimwich winter than Malmoret. When I came in, I heard a man say how, now Reiffen has renounced the throne and Branniss triumph is complete, hes even brought Waylands weather with him to Banking."
"Nonsense." Wellins arm tugged on his as she lifted her punch glass to her lips. Pungent spices floated past his nose. "The weather is just unusual, nothing more. Have you seen them lately? Ferris and Reiffen, that is?"
"Not since we were all in Valing for the wedding, but that was months ago. I havent been to the castle theyre building in Grangore yet." And was unlikely to go there any time soon, he thought. Let Ferris and Reiffen have Grangore; his life would be in Malmoret now. Malmoret had fewer regrets.
Wellin stopped and gazed up at the clear sky. The cold seemed to have chased away everything but the stars.
"They are very lucky," she said with a trace of what Avender thought might be wistfulness. "Everything worked out perfectly. True love overcoming all obstacles, just as the poets describe. It is too bad not everyone can be so lucky."
"It certainly is."
Wellin laughed, her voice joyful enough to make the spying shrubbery nearly turn away in shame. When she turned to face him, her dark eyes burned. "As if you would ever have any trouble on that score. Do you have any idea how marvelous it is, dancing with you? You are the handsomest man in the room."
Avenders heart quickened. Ferris had once told him that Wellin thought him handsome, but he had hardly expected to hear it from the woman herself. Especially now Brizen was back on the marriage market. But Avender wasnt someone who repeated his mistakes and, though he had never told Ferris how he felt, he had seen what had happened when Brizen had. How, despite Ferriss hating the prince the first time they met, she had almost ended up marrying him. And would have married him, too, had it not turned out that Reiffen was on their side all along in the fight against the Wizards.
Given the look in her eyes, Avender guessed he had more going for him with Wellin than Brizen had ever had with Ferris. "If Im the best-looking man in the room," he said, "youre easily the best-looking woman. In Malmoret. In Banking. In the entire world."
She met his glance steadily, her face a pale oval in the darkness. He laid his hand on her shoulder as he bent to kiss her and found her skin smoother than Skimmers fur. And warmer, too, despite the courtyards cold.
Tapping him sharply with her fan, she twirled away. "I thought you understood," she said.
"You mean I dont?"
"My cap is set for Brizen. You know that." She examined him straightforwardly with the same dark eyes that had smitten him a moment before, her fan now lying against the swell of her lower lip.
"But Brizen hasnt been paying any attention to you at all. And you seemed to enjoy my compliments as much as I enjoy yours."
"I have enjoyed your compliments. Very much. And Brizen has paid attention to no one. But that will change. He is only a man, after all, just like you. If you can get over Ferris, I am certain Prince Brizen can as well. When he does, I, for one, am certainly not going to let a second chance slip away."
Avenders hands suddenly felt cold. He pushed them into his pockets. "If youve been paying me compliments you dont mean, its cruel."
"Oh, I mean them."
Wellin smiled again, a sly, honest smile that Avender felt as keenly as the kiss he would have preferred. "I mean them very much. But I am not in love with you and, if you try too hard to make me so, I shall have to throw you over entirely. The temptation would be too much. In the meantime, I see no reason not to go on flirting with you more than anyone else—it is much more pleasant. Not to mention the fact that Brizen would not be the first man to notice a woman only after she has been noticed by someone else."
"Thats hardly fair to me."
"No. But you cannot accuse me of leading you on, as I have stated my intentions plainly. If you still wish to dance with me, and promenade in moonlit gardens—"
Raising his hands in frustration, Avender gestured at the empty sky. "What moon?"
Wellin laughed, accepting his small joke as a sign he had finished his sulk. "There will be other nights, I assure you, before Brizen gets over his broken heart. He is a good man, and loves truly. I doubt I could bring myself to marry him were he not. But, as I was saying, if you continue to flirt with me, which I would like very much, what happens to you is your responsibility, not mine. And who knows? I might even fail to catch Prince Brizens eye a second time, at which point I will require a great deal of consoling. Though by then I should not be at all surprised if you had moved on to someone less cruel."
"At least youre aware of the damage youre doing."
"Oh, I am quite aware." She gave him another cool glance, more intense than the first. "And of the damage to myself as well. I have meant every compliment I have given you as much as you have meant yours. I hope you will forgive me if I do not permit myself to go further."
She smiled again, a different sort of smile that revealed more of conspiratorial friendship than private desire. Then she laid her hand sweetly on his chest. "Now that we have that straightened out, I think it might be time to return to the ballroom. Even if Brizen fails to notice we went outside, Brannis and the rest of the room will not. I think they would all appreciate the sight of us dancing together again, now we have both cooled."
Bold as ever, Wellin swept her skirts loudly across the floor as she led Avender back into the Kings Hall. Every dowager turned to scowl at them, and Brannis showed his annoyance as well. But if Prince Brizen noticed the couples return, he didnt show it.
For the rest of that season Wellin offered Avender as much attention as she dared. Once she went so far as to share several quick, deep, kisses with him behind a willow on a spring afternoon when the Duchess of Winkling thought an outing with boats would be fun. Perhaps it was the kissing that did it, though Avender was certain no one had seen them, but it wasnt much later that Wellin had no time for anyone but the prince. And even though Avender had thought himself prepared, the loss still hurt.
Wellin, however, had no regrets. Her wedding was even grander than Ferriss had almost been the summer before: this time the king approved of the match as much as his son. Ferris and Reiffen were unable to attend, as Ferris was due that fall, but everyone else was present, from Valing to Issinlough. Avender watched it all from Brizens side, though he would much rather have been banished to the top of White Tooth in the Bavadars. For the last month he had been seriously considering throwing off his allegiance to the prince and seeking his fortune with the Dwarves. To have lost a second woman to a second friend seemed more than sufficient reason to vanish from the human portion of the world. But he soon discovered other advantages to serving at the royal court, especially once the other unmarried ladies understood Wellin no longer blocked their way to the handsomest man in Malmoret. And some of the married ones as well.
Excerpted from The Magicians Daughter by S.C. ButlerCopyright © 2009 by S.C. Butler.Published in May 2009 by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
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