The Assassin's Curse

  "Yeah, it's me," I said. "I told him he didn't have to, but–"

  "Well, it's a curse," Eirnin said blandly. "He can't help it." Then, to Naji: "What happens if you don't keep her safe?"

  "It hurts me."

  "Care to be more specific?"

  "A headache, or a pain in my chest or my joints. It depends on the level of the threat."

  I thought about meeting with Echo in the woods, about the cold curling mist.

  Eirnin nodded.

  "So can you help me?" Naji twisted around and the expression on his face was so desperate that, for a moment, my stomach twisted up in empathy.

  "No," said Eirnin.

  All the air went out of the room.

  "What?" said Naji, and his voice was cold and dangerous, like the blade of his knife.

  Eirnin didn't do nothing, though, didn't shrink back, didn't even act like he was scared. "What did you expect, Jadorr'a? It's an impossible curse. You know that. Even that one knows it." He tilted his head at me.

  Naji's face twisted up with rage.

  "I do know that woman, though, that ice-woman. She's quite traditional. Always casts her spells in the old northern style." Eirnin paused. His eyes flashed again. "The north is different from the hot civilized places of the world. We have different understandings of things. Of words."

  No one spoke. The house pulsed twice with the manic energy of magic. I realized I was holding my breath.

  "What the magicians of the Empire call an impossible curse is not what we call an impossible curse. A northern curse is not impossible in the sense that is incurable."

  Naji leapt to his feet, his body hard and tense beneath his clean clothes. The sword gleamed at his side. "Then why did you say you couldn't help me?"

  "It's not my place to cure your curse." Eirnin leaned back in his chair and pressed the tips of fingers together. "If you want to break one of the old north's impossible curses, you have to complete three impossible tasks."

  The energy that crackled through the house like lightning died away. But Naji kept his eyes on Eirnin, his gaze strong and sure.

  "Do you at least know what they are?" Naji said.

  "I do. Smelled them on you the minute you walked through the door." Eirnin smiled but didn't say anything more.

  Naji glared at him. "Well?" he asked. "What are they?"

  "Impossible," Eirnin said.

  I figured by this point it was taking all of Naji's willpower not to launch at the guy the way he had Ataño. I figured Eirnin knew it, too. You could see how he'd have gotten along with Leila.

  "Perhaps you'd like to write them down," Eirnin said. "I have parchment around here–"

  "No," said Naji. "I don't."

  Eirnin smiled. I wanted to hit him myself. "Alright. First one: Find the princess' starstones and hold them, skin against stone."

  Well. I'd no idea what a starstone was, but I didn't think that sounded too bad. Lots of princesses around. Naji just kept on staring at Eirnin, though.

  "Second one. Create life out of an act of violence."

  Naji's face darkened. "Are you talking about rape?"

  "I'm afraid it's not that specific."

  Naji pressed his hands against the side of the mug, his face all twisted up in anger. I waited for the mug to shatter.

  "You want to hear the third one?" Eirnin asked.

  "You know that I do."

  Eirnin smiled. "The third task," he said, "is to experience true love's kiss."

  "Seriously?" Naji asked.

  "Quite. You'll have to find someone who loves you for who you are." He paused. "And good luck with that, murderer."

  Something brightened in my heart, like the first star coming out at night. But then Naji opened his mouth.

  "Leila," he said. "She's the only one…"

  The light blinked out. I got real hot and looked down at my hands.

  "Leila!" Eirnin roared with laughter. "That woman has never loved another human being in her entire life, and never will. I wouldn't put all my eggs in that particular basket, if I were you. Which, fortunately, I'm not."

  Naji stood up and hurled his mug against the wall. I jumped at the sound of breaking porcelain and twisted my hands up in my dress. I wanted a way to get out of that house without anyone knowing why. And to get away from Naji, the Otherworld be damned.

  Naji stalked out the front door and slammed it so hard the foundation shuddered.

  "Looks like it's just you and me," the Wizard Eirnin said.

  I stood up and straightened out my skirts. Worthless, this old man was. What a waste getting blown out here, away from civilization and people who could actually help us, to some place that used to belong to a nightmare world.

  "The stories are true. This place did spawn itself from the Mists." Eirnin leaned forward. He was so pale he looked like a ghost. "They won't hurt you, you know. Not if they think you can help them. Remember that, my dear, the next time Echo comes calling. That's what she called herself today, isn't it?"

  I stumbled backward at the sound of her name. "I should go." I hesitated, knowing that you never want to cross a wizard the wrong way. "Thank you for the clothes and the…" I waved my hand at the mug. "And for helping Naji. I mean, I wish you could have done more–"

  "I'm sure you do." He gave me this weird knowing look that I didn't like one bit. "You be careful out there, little pirate. Things come out of those woods that know how to get at you. The Mist's not the only thing you need to worry about."

  I stared at him. "I ain't little."

  Eirnin gri

  I hadn't been walking long when Naji stepped out of the shadow of a pine tree. I shrieked so loud my voice echoed through the woods. I'd been mired in my own thoughts. Cause I was trying not to think about Echo and the mists, I thought about Naji instead, and the thing I learned in the Wizard Eirnin's house. I'd handed my heart over to him, a damned blood-magic assassin, without even realizing it.