Страница 80 из 83
"No! "shouted Telurinon. "Mereth, I forbid it! Stop and think what you're proposing! The overlord's palace, dead to wizardry? The Guild could no longer…"
He stopped, abruptly, looking about wildly, as if realizing that he was about to say far too much in front of far too many people. Then he shouted, "No! We'll try the Black Dagger, and if that doesn't work we can evacuate the city…"
Lady Sarai, moving as quickly as she could without her cat abilities-rabbits were quick, but not as fast in their reactions as cats-stepped up and, with her left hand, grabbed the front of Telurinon's robe. The Black Dagger, in her right hand, pressed against his chest.
"Listen to me, Guildmaster," she said. "You and your stupid spells are destroying the overlord's palace-and maybe the rest of the city, maybe the rest of the World-and you're worrying about saving your Guild's secrets, your Guild's power? You're worried that maybe you won't be able to eavesdrop any more, won't be able to threaten the overlord with your spells and curses? That you might have to really give up meddling in politics? Well, I've got a real worry for you, Telurinon-this dagger. I don't intend to try it on the Seething Death, Telurinon-I intend to use it on you. It'll eat your soul, you know-it sucks the essence right out of you, doesn't even leave a ghost."
She didn't know whether this was truth or lie-but right now, she didn't care. She pressed the point harder against the old wizard's chest, piercing the fabric of his robe.
Telurinon gaped at her. "You can't do this!" he said. "The Guild…"
"The Seething Death is going to kill us all anyway if we stay here," Sarai told him. "And besides, I don't think your Guild is on your side in this one. Has anyone tried to stop me?"
Telurinon turned and looked.
Tobas and Mereth and Heremon were standing there, unmoving; Heremon at least had the grace to look somewhat abashed, and Algarin had turned away rather than watch. Further back, the other magicians were watching, but showed no signs of helping the Guildmaster. The soldiers were obviously ready to cheer Lady Sarai on.
"I don't know what spells you people are talking about," a soldier called, "but I've about had my fill of the Wizards' Guild here. If anyone harms Lady Sarai, he'll answer to me!"
Several growls of agreement, not all from soldiers, were enough to convince Telurinon.
"Very well," he said, "very well. We'll try the Spell of Omniscient Vision, as Mereth said, and if we can find Ellran's forbidden spell we'll try that. But if it doesn't work, Lady Sarai, then we'll try the Black Dagger!"
"Agreed," Sarai said, stepping back and releasing the Guild-master's robe.
"I need my scrying stone for the Spell of Omniscient Vision," Mereth said, "and I left the stone at home. Besides, I need a totally dark room, and I don't know of any in the palace."
"Then go home and do it there," Sarai said. "I'll come with you," Tobas offered, "to write down Ellran's spell. Besides, I want to see this."
Telurinon started to say something, but before he could speak, Sarai said, "And I think it would be best if Guildmaster Telurinon returned to the Guildhouse, wouldn't it, to see how things stand there?"
He glared at her, then looked over the crowd of magicians and decided not to argue.
Sarai knew she had made an enemy for life of Telurinon, but just now she really didn't care. As Mereth and Tobas headed down one corridor, circling around toward the northwest gate, while Telurinon and Heremon headed out toward the northeast and the others scattered in various directions, she just wanted to find somewhere to rest. She wondered whether her old room was safe; the Seething Death was nowhere near the southeast wing yet, where her family's apartments were, but it seemed to be spreading quickly.
Someplace nearer a door would be better. She stopped into one of the little waiting rooms along the northeast corridor, where petitioners could prepare for their audience before the overlord.
The place was a mess; she stared around in dismay, unable to decide whether someone had lived here during Tabaea's brief reign, or whether it had been used as a garbage dump.
Karanissa appeared behind her. "What are you doing, Lady Sarai?" she asked.
"I wanted to… oh, just look at this place, Karanissa!" She waved a hand at the disaster. The two little silk-upholstered benches had lost their legs and become crude beds; the pink silk itself was slashed and stained several places. The gilded tea table was on its side. Three rotting blankets were heaped on the floor, amid orange peels, eggshells, chicken bones, and other detritus.
Karanissa looked and found nothing to say.
Sarai picked up one of the blankets, holding it between two fingers, then used it to sweep a pile of trash out into the corridor.
"You shouldn't bother with that, Sarai," Karanissa said. "For one thing, the Seething Death may eat this room before we stop it."
"Before the wizards stop it," Sarai snapped, flinging the blanket aside. "Those idiots who started it in the first place! Wizards who showed Tabaea how to make the Black Dagger, wizards who started the Seething Death, wizards who wouldn't help my father…"
"Wizards like my husband," Karanissa replied gently. "And your friend Mereth."
"Oh, I know," Sarai said, peevishly. "Most of the wizards I've known have been good people, really. But sometimes they don't know what they're doing, and it can be so dangerous! And they talk about these stupid rules about not meddling in politics, and then that old fool Telurinon practically admitted they spy on the overlord…" She sat down abruptly, on the floor of the passage.
Karanissa settled down beside her, and for a time the two women simply sat, side by side. In the distance Sarai could hear footsteps and voices-and the hissing of the Seething Death. She looked down at the Black Dagger, which was still in her hand, and noticed a tiny drop of Telurinon's blood on the point. She shuddered.
"I think I really would have killed him," she said.
"Probably," Karanissa said. "Something we all knew during the Great War was that anybody can kill, under the right circumstances. Anybody can be dangerous."
"Even a harmless little nobody like Tabaea the Thief," Sarai said. "With this knife in her hand, she was empress of Ethshar." She shuddered. "Maybe I should have tried it on the Seething Death-at least then we'd be rid of it."
"Why didn't you?" Karanissa asked.
"Oh, I don't know," Sarai replied. "It just seemed like such a waste. You have no idea what it's like, Karanissa-being able to smell everything, to practically see with your nose. And seeing in the dark, like a cat, or hearing all those sounds we can't hear; being strong and fast…"
"Are you going to do it again, then? Kill more animals?"
Sarai hesitated.
"No," she said at last. "I don't need to, with Tabaea gone, and I don't like killing anything. I don't want to like killing."
"Then what will you do with it?"
"I don't know," Sarai replied slowly. "I'll have to think about it." She stared at the dagger for a moment longer, men looked up at Karanissa and asked, "What's it like, being a witch?"
Karanissa tried to explain, without much success; from there, the conversation turned to what it was like to be married to a wizard, then what it was like to share a husband, and how she had come to marry Tobas, and how Alorria had come to marry him, as well. Some of this Sarai already knew, of course; me two women had talked during the long walk down the mountains, but only now did Sarai feel able to ask the questions that really interested her.
At last, though, the conversation ran down. The daylight was starting to fade, and the hissing of the Seething Death seemed significantly closer.
"I'm hungry, and you look tired," Karanissa said. "Would you like to come back to the i