I"d say it was his magic studies that displaced her in his heart. She has a bit of the Talent and tried to share the interest with him, but not being as single-minded she got left behind. Someone had to see to the running of the house, so she picked up the slack. The last few months they hardly saw each other, so her maid told the cook."
Who certainly told Shankey during their pillow-talk. "Months? Was he lurking in his Black Room all thattime?"
"Probably. He"d be around at evening meals and for the parties. I thought he was shut away in his study, but after seeing that chamber below-"
"And n.o.body noticed him running up and back from the bas.e.m.e.nt?"
"Well, if his lordship didn"t want to be seen he could manage easy enough. The house is big and there"s more than one way to get downstairs. Hardly anyone ever goes there. If he was up to something private, n.o.body would know about it."
Except Filima. d.a.m.n. It looked like I"d have to forgo a nap for a talk with her. With her going all ghosty every time her dead spouse was mentioned shehad to be hiding something. If it was just me and Terrin in the room with her she might share. Shankey would have to be out of the loop, which was too bad, as he struck me as being a good guy to have in your corner, but sometimes you can confide to a stranger things you"d never dump on family or friends. Or house guards.
I boosted to my feet. Water sheeted from my body. Shankey had been right about the wet cat thing.
"Hey," I said. "Hand me a towel, would ya?"
He pushed one through an opening in the tapestry.
"Thanks." I made a start on drying off. "Got any more?"
"Yeah. How many you need?"
I looked down. "All of them."
Terrin finally got rid of the flock of servants and lay out flat on the velvet bed, wiggling his bare toes. This was the life, what was left of it, anyway. The magical drain had slowed considerably, but he still felt its tug in the background. He had breathing s.p.a.ce, but sooner or later the protections around this museum would give out and the last of him would be sucked away, probably into that black fog.
From Myhr"s description of last night"s event the stuff was attracted to magic. Was it intelligent or a mindless thing, like an amoeba in search of food? Or was it under intelligent direction? And if so, who was directing it and why? And how had it come to this world? The hot money was on Botello Darmo being at the bottom of things what with the timing of his death. Terrin didn"t believe in coincidence, especially where magic was concerned.
Chances were the guy had been up to an oddball conjuring and released something way out of his league. No wonder his heart had given out. He"d probably opened up the wrong doorway and whammo-blammo, he"s on a slab. Oh, well, and too bad, one less fool in the gene pool, but what a load of chaos for the remaining swimmers.
Where had Myhr gotten to? Terrin wanted to see the secret chamber. And talk to her nibs. Filima the babe had hotfooted out way too quick after a squint at the T-shirt. If she"d once been some kind of wiggle-waggle dancer she should be used to the rougher side of life, so something else about it had spooked her.
Terrin groaned as he levered himself up and after a minute decided he"d be able to get to his backpackacross the room. It had taken some severe and sharp tones to convince the butler or valets or whatever they were not to unpack it for him. He had protections on the thing, and woe to anyone who dared to poke around in his stuff.
He padded slowly across a thick carpet to the pack, got it open, and rooted around. First, a fresh shirt.
Not that Myhr"s warning about respecting the lady of the house had anything to do with it; Terrin just wanted to put on something clean. The new T-shirt was just as loud with a card-playing maniacal clown gibbering from its cotton front. Each card in the deck was a joker. Yeah, that one would be suitably enigmatic for the ma.s.ses.
Pulling it on, he went to the window for a check on the darkening sky.
Nearly sunset.
From this height and angle he had a good view of the city and the tall towers of what looked like a fancy church or palace not too far distant. Filima sure had ritzy neighbors. Trees obscured a lot of the goings on, but he glimpsed people hurrying along, trying to make it indoors before the curfew began. Some overdressed maniac on a big white charger caught his attention, simply for going too fast in a street crowded with pedestrians. He was having trouble keeping the horse in check. It moved forward quick enough, but was torn between bolting and bucking. The rider kept jerking the bit around, stressing the animal even more. Twit. They should have a driving test for would-be horse people.
Then Terrin saw a kind of dark shimmering around the duet. The horse settled down and proceeded forward at a sensible trot. It soon vanished between the low buildings.
"You son of a b.i.t.c.h," Terrin murmured at the rider. "What areyou doing tossing control magic around like confetti when I"m up here starving?"
He wanted to have that jerk dragged in feetfirst so he could tap into his magical energy and then ask a few pointed questions. Like why the dude was apparently immune to being drained. And where could Terrin get a nice, loud purple-and-green cloak likethat one.
Too late, the man was gone. Another time then. Very shortly, if Myhr"s briefing had all the facts right, the black fog would be rolling in, hopefully bypa.s.sing this house. Terrin was not one to place too much trust in another wizard"s protection spells. He"d have to find Myhr and get to that bas.e.m.e.nt chamber, and see what sort of energy was lying around. There was likely to be one unholy mess down there waiting for a clean-up crew. Unpleasant, but to put it off might be fatal.
So far Terrin had camouflaged things with grins and flirting, but cutting him up inside was one h.e.l.l of a sharp edge of fear and desperation. He hated that feeling. The prospect of dropping dead at any given second nearly always interfered with his fun.
He usually tried to avoid trouble-unless he was its instigator-but if it got in his way then he preferred to be in the middle of the problem, kicking its sorry a.s.s. No way would he let some p.i.s.s-ant magical drain keep him from getting home again; he liked his techno raves too much.
In the Street Leading to the Palace Finally, he"d gotten thisb.l.o.o.d.y beast under control. Leave it to that idiot Cadmus to buy himself morehorse than anyone else could handle. For show, all for show, not a serious bone in his body, though it felt fit enough. It was good to have a body again, a real one. Botello worried that he"d not have full use of it, but Cadmus was either too cowed or catatonic to put up a fight. His feelings were there: abject terror mixed with outrage and fury. They gibbered in the background, nothing Botello couldn"t ignore.
He found he was also privy to some of Cadmus"s memories. From there Botello got the gratifying confirmation that Cadmus hadn"t slept with Filima yet. Ha! She didn"t want anything to do with him. Wise of her to still be faithful to her dead spouse. One less thing to deal with when next he saw her. He had quite enough to sort out with the treacherous b.i.t.c.h.
He kicked the horse to a trot, scattering the people on foot who were unwise enough to be in his path.
The sun was nearly gone; he had to get to the palace and quick.
He pa.s.sed some of the overduke"s volunteers on the way to their posts. They"d spend the night keeping an eye on the h.e.l.l-river cowering behind their protective shields. Fat lot of good they were. Blind watchmen, unable to see what wasreally swimming in the fog. Some of them waved at him in a friendly manner, one Talent to another. Talent. Humph. Squandering their skills on parlor entertainments, healings, or trying to influence people. Love spells, even. b.l.o.o.d.y amateurs.
The palace gate was a great cast iron thing that gave him a shiver even from a distance. He forced himself to smile at the gate guard. Smiles came easily to the likes of Cadmus. This one hurt. The guard nodded respectfully and pa.s.sed him in, shutting the gate behind. As Botello crossed into the overduke"s influence, he felt the smallest of tugs, indication of the layers of protective spells that had been woven into the fabric of the property over the years. They would keep out something as Otherside as the h.e.l.l-river, but not for long. Not after he"d finished with things.
At the palace entry someone hastened out to take his horse. He dismounted a little stiffly. The body was fit, but he"d never liked riding. Once off the horse the beast went into another panicked fit of stamping and snorting, nearly carrying away the stable lad. Other men rushed forward to help.
Botello indifferently left their hubbub behind, taking the steps up to the main door, which was already opening for him. One footman relieved him of his gaudy cape and another led the way to a receiving room. The overduke was already there with his latest fancy, Velma, enjoying a bit of sherry to judge by the shape of the stemmed gla.s.ses.
"Hallo, Cadmus," he said, nodding vaguely in his direction. "Good of you to come on such short notice."
"I was delighted to receive your invitation, my lord." He gave a formal bow, flashed a charming smile at Velma, and graciously accepted an offer of sherry from her.
Anton"s piercing blue eyes raked him, but Botello continued to smile ingenuously back, well aware of the overduke"s extreme nearsightedness. He was not liable to notice any changes in Cadmus, visible or otherwise. Anton had a good store of Talent, ironically for visions, but often forbore from using it. Had he truly focused on Cadmus he might have experienced a moment of doubt, then dismissed it as imagination.
There were dozens like him still left in the city, possessing Talent, yet never fully exploring or exploiting its limits.
So foolish of them.
But so ripe for the coming feast.
Chapter Ten.
Darmo House, just outside Filima"s Blue Room "Shouldn"t she be finished dressing bynow ?" I asked. After all,I was ready.
Shankey shrugged. "That"s ladies" stuff; I don"t know how long it takes them to change."
"Forever." Usually when there was a movie I was anxious to see so we"d miss the trailers or worse, opening credits. I knocked on Filima"s blue and gold-trimmed door again. Perhaps the first time I"d been too soft. Now I gave it several brisk wake-it-up, shake-it-up raps.
I really did have to use all the towels to dry off from the bath, but it had been worth it. My fur was all fluffed and shining, I had on fresh clothes, and some invisible servant had even polished my boots. Ready for most anything, I was impatient to get started on . . . on whatever came next. Sneaking suspicion told me that step one required I get Terrin and Filima together and let him take the lead. Having looked in on him I knew he was in a different shirt and able to at least walk.
In fact, he was ambling slowly down the hall toward us. Not his normal no-time-to-waste strut, but better than being flat on his back. He still didn"t look right.
"Wa.s.sup?" he said.
"Trying to see if Filima"s receiving." I knocked again.
He moved past and tried the door k.n.o.b. Yeah, it worked.
"I"d have done that next," I said.
"No you wouldn"t," said Shankey. "That"s my job."
"Then you go first."
He obligingly went first. "Lady Filima?"
The painted clouds on the high ceiling were muted this late in the day. Shadows filled the corners of the huge room, frowning at us. Incense hung heavy in the air, a really nasty, head-numbing brand that made my whiskers twitch. The place was no longer cheerful, but gloomy and cold.
And she"d not taken down that black pavilion thing.
"Oh, s.h.i.t." Suddenly flushed with foreboding, I made a beeline for it, pulling the curtain aside. Filima was slumped on the candlelit table within, her head on another scrying mirror. I picked her up and took her to the couch. "See," Terrin grumbled. "Heryou carry.Me you drag like a sack of potatoes."
Shankey sheered off to haul on the bell rope a few times. He grumbled as well, displaying a surprising store of gutter language, all of it terrifically appropriate for the situation. I felt like repeating some myself as I tried to bring her around.
"Terrin, can you do anything?" I called over my shoulder.
"She"ll be all right," he said, his attention on the black curtains. He must have spotted the aura of magic permeating them. He went inside.
A lot he knew. I lightly slapped her cheeks and wrists, the extent of my first aid for fainting. Feet up, that was another trick to try. I grabbed her ankles and did that elevation thing like you see in the emergency manuals. Maybe overdoing it.
"Hey," said Shankey, coming over quick. "What the h.e.l.l are you-"
"I"m copping a peek up her skirt. Here, you take "em." I put her feet into his startled hands and went to a table that held a carafe of water and other drinkables, returning with the water and something that smelled like brandy. I flicked one in her face and got her to take a sip of the other. She didn"t like it, but tough love and all that. "Come on, wake up, ya dizzy dame."
The matron lady entered. With her bottle of stinky stuff.
"Argh! Agh! Foo!" went Filima, waving and sneezing.
The matron lady left. With a satisfied expression. She herded out the other servants who had charged in.
You"d think they"d be used to this kind of riot by now.
Filima"s eyelids fluttered and peeled back. She stared at Shankey. "Captain? What are-?"
Shankey hastily dropped her feet and pointed at me. "He told me to do it. I didn"t look!"
"Yo," I said, drawing their combined attention. "End of emergency. It"s the rake-over-the-coals hour.
Filima, what the h.e.l.l were youthinking ? After what happened the last time-"
She waved some more to shut me up. "I know, but I had to have a look. Oh, my head."
"You"re lucky another one of those creepy-crawlies didn"t come through your mirror again."
"If that"s what was really there."
"It was there, all right."
"Regardless, whatever happened earlier began on its own. I"ve never had any trouble before. Anyway, nothing hurt me."
"Yeah, sure, except for pa.s.sing out cold again."
"That was my headache. Could you rub my neck . . . ?" I grumped and growled, one of my more effective vocalizations with all the cat inside me, but obliged, standing behind her to work on a few nerve cl.u.s.ters.
"Ohhh, that"s so much better."
And I thoughtI could purr. But I couldn"t let her moans of pleasure distract me. Not too d.a.m.n much. "
Whywere you messing around with the magic again?"
"I had to see what else was going on in the city."
"Again, why?"
"It"s what I do this time of day. If I study the initial manifestation of the h.e.l.l-river enough, it might provide a clue to getting rid of it."
"Excuse me? You"ve got a wizard right here. You can"t talk shop with him?"
"I had to see to this first," she insisted.
Terrin"s m.u.f.fled voice came from behind the black folds. "Never mind that, Myhr, she"s throwing out more fog than the river. Ask her why she freaked when she saw my shirt."
"What"s he doing in there?" She shifted from under my ma.s.sage and started for the pavilion. I caught her and made her stay put. Shankey might have objected to his boss being manhandled-or rather cathandled-but he"d pulled the velvet out of the way for a look inside himself.
"Terrin"s checking things out," I answered. "You got magic all around that thing. He"s going to go over it.
What about his shirt?"
"Shirt?"
"The one with the orange demon babes that you saw him in. Soon as you flashed on it, you split. I thought it was just a sign of your good taste, but . . ."
Filima squinched her face up, then shook her head, her shoulders slumping under my hands. "I"m so d.a.m.n tired."
"Uh-uh, no continued-next-week c.r.a.p. Talk, lady."