Daughter of Magic - Wizard of Yurt - 5 (38 page)

“But I used to be able to do things!” cried Cyrus. “Good things! I helped children! I rebuilt the high street of Caelrhon, and they loved me for it! And now,” his voice cracking, “the angels won’t listen to me, and my demon is gone, and I can’t do anything]”

Let the demon explain it to him, I thought, trying to take deep breaths to steady myself. The poisonous fumes floating across the room didn’t help.

“You wizards realy are difficult to deal with,” said the demon, sounding irritated. “You always try to pin us down with specious protocols and bargains you have no intention of keeping, and then make ridiculous demands. Can’t you understand that the demon who used to help you is no longer here?”

I was barely listening, trying instead to raly what little strength I had left. No more of this nonbinding conversation, in which a demon might blithely offer anything. I would force him to accept binding negotiations, in which he would swear by Satan’s name to release Antonia in return for my immediate death and the reception of my soul in hel.

IV

There was a step behind me, and I whirled to see Theodora striding determinedly toward the chapel. She saw me but didn’t stop until I wrapped my arms around her.

“Please, Daimbert,” she said in a very smal voice. The bishop thinks I’m here to talk you out of it. My courage is going to evaporate in about thirty seconds. Let me go.” I knew immediately what she meant. “Joachim told you? But you can’t! You don’t know the terms for binding negotiations!”

“Then tel me,” she said against my chest, “and tel me quickly. If one of us has to die to save Antonia, it has to be me.”

“No, I can’t let you!” I whispered. “Theodora, my last happy thought before descending into eternal torment is going to be knowing that you and Antonia are safe. I couldn’t go on living if I knew that either of you was in hel.”

“And you think I could if you were there?” she said, almost angrily but also in a low voice. ‘The demon may be satisfied with my life and not insist on my soul. The bishop and Elerius told me that this demon already knows and distrusts you, but he’s never met me. And listen,” wiggling an arm out of my embrace to cover my mouth, “even in this world you’re a lot more important than I am. I’ve thought al this through, so don’t argue. The whole kingdom of Yurt needs you. The only person who needs me is Antonia, but she can live with you. The king might stil be uneasy about a married wizard, but he’d be happy with the wizard’s daughter.”

She didn’t want me to argue so I didn’t, but there was no possible way I could agree. I held her so close that for a moment I imagined we might fuse into a single person. Life, even in a dark and fetid passage, seemed at the moment almost unbearably sweet “I’ve loved you ever since I met you,” I murmured. “In six years you’ve given me more delight than most people experience in their whole lives. I do wish we might have been married, just so I could say before God and al our friends how much I love you, but it’s stil al been worth it.” She tried to struggle but not very convincingly, and she couldn’t speak with my mouth on hers. In the chapel, Cyrus and the demon were stil talking. “Wel, maybe there is something you could offer,” the demon said cunningly. “I could at least consider giving you al the powers of black magic again, but first you have to let me out of this pentagram.” I spun around so fast that I knocked Theodora bruisingly against the doorframe. She gave a brief cry, but the sudden terror in her eyes was not of me. Stil holding on to her, I plunged into the chapel.

It was too late. As I raced across the floor Cyrus finished rubbing out one of the main chalk lines. “I have indeed ‘considered’ giving you your powers back,” said the demon to him with a leer that showed al his razor-sharp teeth, “and I have decided not to!” And with a white flash and a smel of brimstone, he vanished.

Cyrus gave a heart-wrenching cry as daylight reasserted itself in the room. No demon in the pentagram meant that the miasma of evil was rapidly draining away from here—and going wherever the demon was hiding now.

I advanced toward Cyrus, slowly now. He was huddled on the floor, his face on his arms, but he looked up as I reached him. I must have looked even worse than I felt for he gave a screech and fled up the passageway.

Theodora and I colapsed where we stood. She rubbed her shoulder absently. “I’m sorry if I hurt you,” I said. It seemed so inadequate a comment that she didn’t even respond.

“Does this mean—” she asked instead, not daring to hope.

I shook my head. “It only means we have to have this whole discussion over. Now that the demon is loose there are al sorts of evil tricks it may try—and doubtless wil—and it stil has Antonia’s soul. We’l have to negotiate again once we corner it.” As I spoke I wondered if I would have the energy for anything, much less chasing a demon, but I didn’t have much choice. “If it doesn’t want to talk to us that could take days. We’d better get everybody else safely out of here as fast as we can and cal for the demonology experts from the school.” We walked slowly, hand in hand, up the passageway. The demonology experts would never let Theodora in on the negotiations, I thought. It was the single bright point.

Voices reached us as we walked up the passage, excited and cheerful; I wondered vaguely if I myself had ever felt that way. Only Elerius sat against the wal, his face in his hands. I wondered if he was regretting not taking the demon up on his offer of the leadership of the wizards’ school. But everyone else seemed fuly occupied.

The second load of children was gone, and the twins and their parents were busy trying to keep the rest together until the carpet returned for its final trip. Theodora took Antonia aside and held her in her arms, not speaking, until the girl started to become restless and wanted to join the other children in running around, but stil Theodora held her. “Some of these youngsters are almost as rambunctious as you two were,” said the duchess to her daughters.

They stil didn’t realize what was happening in the chapel, and I had no intention of teling them. “Prince Ascelin,” I said, my voice coming out indescribably weary, “could you do me a favor?” He looked up, extremely weary himself, but nodded.

“Somewhere, probably down in the lower, darker parts of the castle, there’s an ensorceled frog. Find him. But if you start to smel brimstone at any point or hear bones clattering, get right back here and tel me. The frog may have started turning back into a wizard, so he could be dangerous. I sent Evrard to find him—you remember Evrard, the redheaded wizard of Caelrhon—but he’s not returned.”

“I’l go, Father,” said Hildegarde, jumping up. “You did al the tracking but I haven’t done anything yet this trip.” She hurried happily away before either Ascelin or I could say anything. He took two steps after her but then turned back with a smile. “I think Hildegarde can manage a frog on her own, even an ensorceled one.” Joachim lifted his eyebrows at me from across the room, where he stood a little distance away from the rest. I walked slowly over to him. Cyrus lay on his face at the bishop’s feet.

“Al I ever wanted to do,” the Dog-Man choked out between sobs, “was to be recognized and admired for doing wel. When I realized how evil my master was I decided to break away from him and help little children to make up for kiling Daimbert, which of course I had promised my master to do. I didn’t mean to do magic in the guise of religion. That’s why originaly I avoided you when the people of Caelrhon started to talk of my doing miracles. But when I finaly met you and realized that if I became as pure as you I realy could do real miracles, and when the angels told me I had restored the burned street—”

“You have sinned, my son,” said Joachim gravely, “and sinned grievously. You have falen through your pride and false belief that you can become truly good through your own, unaided human efforts. But

—”

“I’l say he’s sinned,” I growled, not caring if I was interrupting a confession. “He’s just let a demon loose. And it’s stil got Antonia’s soul.”

“But God always listens to the prayers of a contrite heart,” the bishop continued as though he had not heard me. “He who sent His own Son to die for our sins wil not forget us, if we are truly penitent and seek the redemption He offers.” I decided not to mention that Joachim himself had once told me that someone who sold his soul to the devil would not be saved until the devil himself was redeemed, at the end of time.

“I want to make restitution for al of it,” Cyrus babbled. “For kidnapping the children, for my pride, for attacking Daimbert—even if he did have it coming!—for endangering sweet Antonia, the dearest of little girls.” I didn’t like the way it sounded on his tongue, even though I agreed with the sentiment “If I can only become worthy of you again, Holy Father—”

“Do not try to be worthy of me,” said the bishop sternly, “a sinning mortal like yourself. Prepare yourself rather to accept God’s grace, which He brings to al of us though none of us are deserving.” I turned away in despair and disgust as Cyrus began kissing the bishop’s ring in abject gratitude. “Elerius,” I said. “We’ve got a new problem. The demon’s loose. I don’t think I could fly a hundred yards, so we’ve got to wait for the carpet. But when we get everybody out of here and back to Caelrhon, you’re going to cal the demonology experts at the school. You’re the one who plans to be in charge over them, so you can just find a way to persuade them that after they catch the demon again, they’ve got to negotiate for Antonia’s soul before sending it back to hel.” He glanced up, looking disoriented. ‘That sounds like a good idea,” he said without any conviction.

“Unless you and I and Evrard can catch it first,” I said with even less conviction.

“Where is Evrard?” he asked.

Maybe I should look for him while waiting for the carpet. I pushed away from the wal, against which I had slumped, and headed for the stairs. I realized I probably hadn’t eaten in twenty-four hours, so part of the holowness in my bely might be hunger—but most of it was fear. My feet felt encased in lead, and I didn’t even have the wil left to keep going, only an inertial movement that wouldn’t let me stop.

But I hadn’t even left the room before Evrard himself staggered in.

He was covered with mud and trembling. But he managed a grin. “Who did you say transformed that wizard into a frog? You sure it wasn’t you, Daimbert? Because I remember that mess you made way back in Zahlfast’s exam, and this looks like your work. He must have gotten himself at least halfway turned back into a man.” Just what we needed: Vlad at large in the castle again when the demon was already loose. Evrard settled himself gingerly next to Elerius and me. His good humor had not yet deserted him. “A pretty sorry spectacle we make,” he commented, “for three Royal Wizards.”

He had found the damp prints of a frog on stairs going down to the storage celars and folowed them, finding his way through the dark passages by repeated spels of light. When his spels suddenly wouldn’t work he knew that Vlad must have recovered enough of his powers to be able to block them. He never actualy saw him, having quite sensibly retreated, but in the darkness he had become lost and at one point thoroughly mired in what must once have been the castle’s cess pit. He had not seen Hildegarde.

Elerius and I looked at each other. “We can’t wait for the demonology experts,” I said. “We’ve got to find Vlad at once, now, before he finishes breaking out of Antonia’s spel and gets his own weather spels working again. If we have to deal with him and a loose demon at the same time .. . Light’s the only advantage we have. Torches might do: not damp ones kept alight by fire magic, but clear-burning ordinary torches.”

‘There are some dead pines growing out of the ruins lower down,” said Evrard. “Some of the wood should have been protected from the rain. I’d have thought of that myself, but I didn’t realize I’d need a torch until it was too late.”

I put a hand to my aching head, trying to plan. If I could just put everything in the right order, it might make sense. First get the final carpet-load of children out of here, along with the bishop and the duchess with her family. Then go after Vlad. Three western wizards ought to be able to catch him, even three as weary as we were, as long as any of Antonia’s spel held. Then contact the demonology experts and, with luck, have the demon back in the pentagram by tomorrow. Then make the bargain for Antonia’s soul that Elerius had kept me from making today.

So I stil had a day to live. Instead of feeling grateful for the reprieve, I just felt at this point that I wanted to get it over.

Or maybe we should look for Vlad first, even before the carpet returned from Caelrhon. And we had to find Hildegarde. I shook my head. My thoughts felt so fuzzy—

Antonia trotted over. “Is Vlad that bad person I turned into a frog? I can help you catch him. The demon said he could do things for me, so I’l make him do it. He has to obey me because I’m Mistress of the Pentagrams.”

“Antonia, no!” Elerius and I shouted together.

“I would just have him do it as a demonstration,” she said, puzzled.

Theodora lifted her up. “Remember, you yourself said a demon can’t be someone’s friend,” she said sternly. “Don’t even think of talking to him again.” At the moment we stil had some hope of saving Antonia. But at this rate, I thought grimly, the best negotiators from the school wouldn’t be able to save her—if they even cared to try.

“Vlad first,” I said to Evrard and Elerius, managing to get back on my feet after only a brief struggle. “Come on.”

“Where has Cyrus gone?” asked Elerius, looking around. The bishop was by himself now, standing by the window with his back to the room, his head bowed. “He must have been listening to our entire conversation with the demon.”

“He’s probably off in a comer somewhere vainly praying for forgiveness,” I said with supreme indifference. “Evrard, once we have the torches you’l have to lead us, as wel as you can, to where the magic of light failed you.”

But we had gone only a short distance when Hildegarde came toward us at a dead run. She didn’t even slow down as she passed, blond hair flying out behind her. In one hand she held a naked sword, streaked black with blood.