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Ah, Seraph thought ruefully, that’s where the wind came from.
Ri
Words of warning, long forgotten, came back to Seraph. To be a weather witch was always to long for the energies that coursed and strew themselves in tempestuous weather, always to be in danger of being so caught up that there was no way back.
“Ri
Her daughter stared blankly at her with incandescent eyes and the winds swirled and played. An inkwell flipped out of nowhere and caught Seraph painfully on the elbow.
“Ri
Ri
“How is it with you? Are you well?”
Ri
“Mother,” said Lehr, “What do you need to do with Uncle Bandor? I can’t hold him here forever.”
Bandor was shadowed. Her hand tightened on her knife—but before she could do more than rise back to her feet, He
Seraph stilled. “What?”
He
“Seraph? Bandor?” Alinath’s voice rang down the corridor.
If she and He
“Jes? Can you keep Alinath at bay without hurting her or yourself?” asked Seraph. “If we are working more magic tonight, we can’t have her interrupting us.”
“Yes,” said Jes, using the wall to get to his feet. He took a couple of half-drunken steps and came to the doorway. Alinath got there first, but stopped just short of Jes.
“We need to get this done,” said Seraph. “I think I could just possibly light a magelight. Do you have the magic, and can you concentrate well enough to use it?”
He
She limped over to Lehr and Bandor and spoke a word. Glowing lines circled Bandor’s wrists and ankles.
“Release him, please,” she said, and Lehr stepped away from him.
With the silvery threads of magic, He
He spat at her. “Shadowspawn Witch. You should burn in the fires of good rowan and oak.”
Ignoring him, He
He
“You can’t allow them to distract you,” she explained to Seraph in Traveler’s speech. “If you have to start again it’s twice as hard to grasp it.”
Once she had him unable to move she reached up to place a hand on his forehead. He struggled then, fighting the restraints like a madman—but He
“It’s hard to find—the shadowing. It’ll help if I’m more familiar with him. Tell me something of him—how the shadow caught him.”
“His name is Bandor,” said Seraph. “He is married to my husband’s sister. He has always been a man of even temperament, a fair man if a bit greedy.” But only a bit. The low price he’d given her for Jes’s honey had been out of character, she realized. With family, he’d always been inclined to be generous. “His parents were not Rederni and he was never really accepted until he married Alinath, my husband’s sister.”
He
“What does he want?” He
That was harder. “I don’t know,” Seraph said finally. “Reducing a man to a handful of words is no gift of mine.” She turned to her youngest, who knew him best.
“Ri
“Children,” said Ri
Seraph remembered that now; it hadn’t seemed important at the time.
One of the tendrils of He
“More,” said He
“He loves Aunt Alinath,” Ri
The rest of the tendrils snapped taut like the strings of a violin and emitted a sound as if an invisible musician plucked at the instrument.
“Envy,” murmured He
“Lehr,” said Seraph. “Come here and look. Does the net she’s woven encase the taint?”
Lehr examined his Uncle closely. “Missed something,” he said.
“He wants,” murmured Seraph. “He loves. He hates. He fears.”
“He’s afraid of you, Mother,” said Ri
He
“Done,” said Lehr.
“Mother,” said Jes.
Seraph turned and saw that Alinath had company in the doorway. Karadoc was with her. He’d managed to take a few steps forward, so he stood several paces in front of the door. But when Jes looked at him, he stilled once more.
“We’ll be done momentarily,” said He
“Like the Nameless King, the Shadowed,” said Seraph. “When he killed his sons first.”
“He allowed no Travelers within his realm,” said He
“What next?” said Seraph.
He
“Let me help,” said Seraph. “I’m all but done up, but you may freely take what magic I have left.” She followed her words with action, setting the blooded knife on the floor and placing her hands on He
He