Trial By Fire (Schooled in Magic Book 7) (44 page)

Emily paled. The demon couldn’t lie. If she allowed herself to die, here and now, she would save everyone in its clutches, but she would no longer be able to help the Allied Lands. It was manipulating her, she knew, and it wasn’t even
trying
to hide it. There was no
need
to keep her from recognizing the manipulation.

And if that is true
, she thought,
there must be a way to escape Master Grey...

She pushed the thought aside. “You see possibilities, not certainties,” she said. “What you predict
might
come to pass...”

“It will,” the demon said. “But in which reality?”

Cheat
, Emily thought.

“Of course,” the demon said, answering her thought. “We
always
cheat.”

Emily took a breath. “And that means that I may not save the Allied Lands anyway,” she snapped. It would be just like the demon to tempt her into abandoning her friends, after deciding that the good of the majority outweighed the good of the few, then manipulate events so that she lost anyway. She would betray her friends for nothing. “If I surrender myself to you, at least my friends and the other students will have a chance.”

“How true,” the demon agreed.

“Then I offer myself to you, in exchange for their freedom,” Emily said. She braced herself, and dropped to her knees. The demon loomed over her, seemingly larger than before. But then, it wasn’t human and it could present itself to her in any manner it chose. “Take me and leave this world.”

The demon reached down and stroked her hair, as someone might pet a dog. “Are you
sure
?”

“Get on with it,” Emily said. She knew she could expect nothing but endless torment. The demon would break her, body and soul. It wouldn’t matter, not if her friends were freed. “I am sure.”

“Very well,” the demon said. Its voice became a sneer. “I will remove my taint from those I lured into my clutches, my sweet, but they will still have to bear the memories of what I did to them. It will haunt them for the rest of their lives.”

“Take those memories,” Emily said.

“You have nothing else to bargain with,” the demon said. “You’re mine.”

“No,” a quiet voice said.

Emily’s head snapped up. The Grandmaster was standing there, looking younger than ever before. It took her a moment to realize that he wasn’t wearing his blindfold and he had both eyeballs. She stared at him in shock, unsure just what he was doing in Alassa’s mind. He couldn’t be here, could he? Was the demon playing games? Or...

“Well,” the demon said. “How
nice
to see you again.”

It reached down and gripped Emily by the shoulder. “I’m afraid it’s too late to save this young sweetheart from my clutches,” it said. “One more failure to add to a very long list.”

The Grandmaster kept his eyes fixed on the demon. “It is you, isn’t it? The demon we tried to summon, decades ago.”

“I could be,” the demon said. It smiled, cruelly. “I assure you that you will never
know
.”

Emily looked up. “How could you see him
again
if you hadn’t seen him for the first time?”

The demon pushed her forward until she was prostrating herself in front of it, then rested its foot on the back of her neck. “Silence,” it ordered. Emily grunted in pain as it pushed down, threatening to break bones. “You’re mine.”

“Not yet,” the Grandmaster said.

“I have released all I held in my thrall,” the demon said. “She made the deal, understanding and accepting the consequences. I can do anything to her.”

Emily screamed as it stamped down. Her neck broke...then snapped back together as the demon lifted its foot. Pain seared through her, burning every cell of her body, then faded away as she recoiled. It took her a long moment to realize that she was trapped in the demon’s mentality, that it could hurt her any way it wanted without actually killing her...and that it was waiting.

But waiting for what?

“Another failure,” the demon taunted, addressing the Grandmaster. “How many times have you failed?”

“Too many,” the Grandmaster said. “I offer you myself in exchange for her.”

“Oh,” the demon said. “And what makes you think I
want
you?”

“I think you and I have unfinished business,” the Grandmaster said. “And even if you’re
not
the demon we summoned, you could certainly trade me to it.”

“No,” Emily said. She’d accepted her own death - and worse - but she didn’t want to watch the Grandmaster die. Or have him surrender his own life for hers. “I...”

“She doesn’t want you to die,” the demon mocked. “Are you so willing to trade yourself for her?”

“Yes,” the Grandmaster said.

“Your death will make life harder for her,” the demon said. It clamped a hand over Emily’s mouth before she could protest again. “She may not even survive the week.”

“I know,” the Grandmaster said. “But she doesn’t deserve eternal torment.”

“Matter of opinion,” the demon said. “You people, blessed with the precious gift of free will, invariably become tainted. Emily was
never
an obedient child.”

I had no choice
, Emily thought.
What would I have become if I’d obeyed my stepfather
?

“I have yet to meet the person who was truly pure,” the Grandmaster pointed out. “Free will may allow us to make mistakes, to become tainted, but it also allows us to work to overcome and survive our errors.”

“It also allows you to make excuses,” the demon sneered. It threw Emily a sharp look, reminding her that it knew what she was thinking. “To justify bad behavior to yourself. I assure you that very few humans truly believe themselves to be evil, whatever society thinks.”

“Yes,” the Grandmaster said. He gave the demon a long look, then dropped to his knees. “I offer myself in exchange for her freedom.”

The demon tilted its head, then let go of Emily’s mouth. “And what do
you
think of that?”

“Don’t,” Emily pleaded. “The Allied Lands need you.”

“You
want
him to make the trade,” the demon said. “Whatever you may say, a few moments as my possession was enough to make you regret bargaining with me.”

Emily felt her cheeks burn. “That’s true,” she admitted. There was no point in trying to deny it. The demon could spend decades tormenting her for its own amusement. “But that doesn’t mean I’m right to ask him to make the trade himself.”

“Then you will have to live with the memory of him making the trade,” the demon said. It turned back to the Grandmaster. “I accept your offer. I’m afraid there’s no time to say goodbye.”

“No,” Emily said, desperately. “I...”

There was a flash of light. When it faded, she was back in her own body. Her hand felt wet, stained by the co-mingled blood, but she barely noticed. The Grandmaster had fallen off his chair and was lying on the floor, his face twisted in agony. She stumbled to her feet and knelt beside him, checking his heartbeat even though she knew it was already too late. The demon had accepted the Grandmaster’s offer and then reached out to claim him.

Then you will have to live with the memory of him making the trade
, it had said...

Alassa’s body jerked; she coughed, loudly, as she started to make her way back to herself. Emily heard bells ringing in the distance as monitoring spells alerted the Healers that their charges were waking up. She wanted to rise to her feet, to assist her friend, but the darkness welled up in her mind and swallowed her.

By the time they burst into the room, she was unconscious on the floor.

“Y
OU’RE BEING AN IDIOT,” LADY BARB
said. Emily barely heard her through a haze of pain that hung over her thoughts. “You’re risking everything for an unintended insult!”

It dawned on Emily slowly, very slowly, that
she
wasn’t the one who was being berated. Lady Barb was talking to someone else...and, even through the haze, she had a feeling she knew just who was being attacked. Who else could it be?

“You’re risking the wrath of a Lone Power, and all her friends and allies, and even the very safety of the Allied Lands,” Lady Barb thundered. “Why are you doing this?”

Emily coughed and opened her eyes. Her head hurt so badly she could barely think; her mouth was so dry she couldn’t speak. Lady Barb was standing at the edge of her bed, facing Master Grey. The two Mediators looked as though they were going to start fighting at any moment. Magic crackled around them threateningly.

“Water,” Emily croaked, as Lady Barb turned to face her. “Water, please.”

Master Grey picked a glass of water off the bedside table and held it out to her, holding it in place so she could drink her fill. His eyes were bright, either with suppressed amusement or anticipation; Emily eyed him darkly, then remembered the demon. There were worse things than Master Grey out there. Oddly, she no longer felt scared of him.

“The Grandmaster is dead,” Lady Barb said. “What happened?”

“He offered himself to the demon in exchange for me,” Emily said. She cursed inwardly as Master Grey withdrew the glass and refilled it. The demon had hurt her - she wanted to rub her neck to make sure it wasn’t broken - and she knew she was glad to escape, but she hadn’t wanted the Grandmaster to die. He must have planned it from the moment she’d told him what she had in mind. “He offered himself and the demon accepted.”

She coughed, again. “Have they awoken?”

“They’re starting to wake up,” Master Grey answered. “It will be some time before they recover completely, but they will return to the world.”

“Thank you,” Emily said, quietly.

Master Grey cleared his throat. “I’m afraid there is worse news,” he said. “The absence of the Grandmaster means that his edicts are now powerless. You will face me in a duel two days from now.”

Unless I choose to run
, Emily thought, bitterly. Cold hatred ran through her heart as she stared up at him.
You’d beat me either way
.

Lady Barb swung around to face him. “You’d face a bedridden girl?”

“She will recover,” Master Grey said, shortly. “And my reputation is not an issue here.”

He turned and swept out of the room. Emily watched him go, cursing the Grandmaster under her breath. She’d calculated that offering herself to the demon would not only save her friends, but save most of what she’d built. Now...either she fought or ran...and if she lost, everything she’d built would be at risk. No doubt Master Grey wouldn’t see value in the bank, either. Or understand what it meant for the long-term future of the Allied Lands.

“The Grandmaster was hoping to find a way to put pressure on him,” Lady Barb said. Her voice was so cold that Emily felt chills running down her spine. “He could have found something, if there had been time. Instead...there won’t be another Grandmaster until the end of the school year. The White Council will take that long to decide on a successor. By then...”

“The duel will have been fought,” Emily said. She sat upright, rubbing her forehead. The water had helped dull the pain, but she still felt unwell. No doubt the demon had left a parting gift, even though it had removed its taint. She’d have to spend the rest of her life knowing that the Grandmaster had traded himself for her. “And everything will come to an end.”

“Then run,” Lady Barb said. “Go now and don’t look back.”

Emily looked down at her hands. “I’ve been running all my life,” she said, bitterly. It was true. “I don’t want to run anymore.”

“You don’t have a choice,” Lady Barb said. “If you face him, you will die.”

Maybe not
, Emily thought. There were ideas, countless ideas, she’d dreamed up to use in a fight. She’d withheld them out of fear of what others could do with them, but now...she owed it to the Grandmaster to fight, to preserve what she’d built. He’d offered his life in exchange for hers.
If I surprised him...

Lady Barb gripped her shoulder. “I understand how you’re feeling,” she said. “But...you cannot win.”

“We’ll see,” Emily said. “Do we have time for some training? I need to know how a Mediator fights.”

“You’ve already seen him fight,” Lady Barb reminded her. She helped Emily to her feet, then threw open the cabinet to reveal a set of clean clothes. “But if you’re insistent on seeing just how hard it will be, I’ll do my best to help you.”

Emily nodded, shucked off the gown - someone had changed her clothes while she was asleep - and pulled on the clean set of clothes. The snake-bracelet hadn’t been removed from her wrist, thankfully; she stroked it gently, feeling the scaly pattern against her fingernails. Master Grey would be in for a very nasty surprise if he claimed it as part of his reward for beating her...

She pushed the thought aside. “How long was I out?”

“Nine hours,” Lady Barb said. “The Grandmaster’s body was removed to the crypt, where it will be held until burial. By tradition, it will be at least three weeks before he is cremated and placed in the ground.”

So he can’t rise again
, Emily thought. Zombies were a very real threat in the Nameless World, even though she’d never seen one. Death Magics had been a thoroughly horrifying class.
And the demon will have his soul forever
.

It was a bitter thought. None of the books had suggested any way to recover a soul, once the body had died. Demons held their prey closely, refusing to let them go. Even if she summoned the demon herself and offered the trade, it was quite possible the demon would refuse. She’d already traded herself, after all. She cursed under her breath before following Lady Barb out of the room and past a long row of occupied beds. The demon’s former victims were slowly fighting their way back to awareness.

They’ll have to live with what the demon whispered into their minds
, she thought, grimly.
It will overshadow the rest of their lives.

It wasn’t a pleasant thought. If their weaknesses had been enough to convince them to subconsciously lower their defenses and allow the demon into their souls, it had to be bad. Who knew what private dreams or petty guilt pervaded their minds? Or what insecurities weakened their defenses? There was no way to know. If the demon could play at being a Nightmare Hex, it could reach into their souls and drag out the very worst of their fears.