It took some searching, but they finally found them.
The mother was unconscious, her tongue removed and her belly slit open from breastbone to groin, and it was very unlikely she would survive or even wake before she passed. Her baby, a boy, lay beside her. Though his skin was still warm to the touch, he was gone.
It all moved quickly from there. The High Mage sent Enari back to her own room while he, Jex, Antilles, and Perimos examined the bodies. Perimos requested to see the rooms where the other bodies had been found, and in the order they’d been discovered.
“So this is where the boy was found?” he asked the High Mage.
Antilles walked slowly around the tiny room, eyes wide and unfocused as he used his Second Sight. He’d been a little slow to start, having been drug from his bed by a very insistent Jex less than half an hour ago.
“Yes.”
“What did he look like?”
“Does it matter?”
Antilles spoke up then, back turned to the door. “It might, Eryk. A lot of ritual sacrifices must resemble the target to some extent or have a connection to them in some way. Tell us everything you remember. I’ve heard it already, but Peri needs to know, and maybe you’ll remember something new.”
“He was ten, his mother said. Black hair, green eyes, pale complexion. She said he never stopped talking and was always getting into mischief. He was about to begin training to be a smith.”
Antilles shared a glance with Perimos. “Remind you of anyone we know?”
Perimos snorted. “Other than the age.”
“Even the age some days,” the other joked, “although in all seriousness, I have a suspicion that it’s really the only thing that saved him. Lucky bastard.”
Eryk watched the discussion with a silent frown beetling his brows.
“What else?” Antilles prompted.
Eryk closed his eyes and began to speak slowly, “His mother told me that the last time she saw him, she’d set him out on the kitchen steps as a punishment.”
“For what?”
“For talking back to her when she’d asked him to do something.”
The two younger mages exchanged another meaningful look. Antilles came back to stand beside them, rubbing at his temples where the inevitable headache was beginning.
“How many times as a boy did Jex get punished for mouthing off or not following instructions?” He waved a hand as Eryk started to answer. “Sorry, rhetorical question. I’m not sure any of us can count that high. Anyway, I had a chat with him the night I arrived, after you’d told me how sick he’d been,”
Perimos snickered and the other man’s face reddened a little, but he continued, “I Looked at him, and I could see the stains.”
“Stains?” Eryk asked. Each mage gifted with the ability to See interpreted things differently and he’d never been entirely clear on how Antilles Saw. For some reason, he always thought of dirty laundry when he heard it described.
The dark-haired man grimaced, trying for the hundredth time to clarify his visions. “I See the touch of magic on another like a…well, a painting, I suppose. That’s closer than the pile of soiled clothes you seem to picture. Different colors for different practitioners, different brush strokes for different techniques, and different mediums depending on the intent. Someone with raw talent, but little practical experience in wielding it, touched Jex with black power and the only way I can explain it is that he looked like a canvas a child touched with greasy fingers. Then over the top of that, someone or something else—probably the demon he told you about—placed marks that indicated much more experience and finesse. They left psychic stains on him that manifested themselves as sores, scratches, and the like.”
“What about the others?” Eryk asked.
He’d thought there was something unnatural about Jex’s prolonged illness, and the way it resolved itself had been the most disturbing aspect of the entire odd affair. Though he’d been vague about the encounter, likely on purpose, Enari had been persuaded to provide more detail.
He still shuddered when he remembered the drawing she’d made of the foul thing and its mark. They’d burned the parchment immediately afterwards, just to be safe. She’d also shown him Pasusabael’s sigil in the Treatise Maldicta. He didn’t understand how the second Greater fit and Enari had been unable to tell him.
Unable rather than unwilling, he was fairly sure.
Perimos shrugged. “We can only go on what you and others tell us, as we arrived too late to inspect the bodies themselves. I would very much like to have examined the tor, for instance.”
“Wait!” Antilles snapped his fingers. “That girl, the one who cared for Jex, Goddess bless her patient heart. Enari, yes?”
“What about her?” Eryk could almost see the gears turning behind the man’s eyes.
“Did she see the other bodies?”
“Well, that depends on your definition, I suppose. I get the impression from Jex that she saw them in dreams or visions or something of the like.”
“No matter, this might still work. I’d like to speak with her, if I may.”
* * *
“Enari?”
She turned at the sound of her name to find the High Mage standing in the doorway to her bedroom. She caught sight of Antilles behind him and he winked knowingly back at her. Perimos simply inclined his head in greeting.
“Novice Namelum, may I speak with you?” Antilles asked.
When she nodded, he beckoned her out into the sitting room. Jex and Vasi were at opposite ends of the chamber, ostensibly ignoring one another. Eryk pulled out a chair and she sat, uncomfortable under the weight of so many eyes.
Antilles set a stack of parchment and a quill in front of her, then took a seat across the table, folding his hands before him and leaning towards her.
“I think you’ve seen— well, Seen— some things during your time here and perhaps before that as well.”
Vasi stiffened. “Adept Denier, I don’t think—”
He put up a hand, but his eyes never left Enari. She didn’t confirm or deny his suspicion, merely took up the quill and began to draw. The room remained silent until she sat back and pushed the paper in front of Antilles. He beckoned Perimos and together they studied the drawing.
“Jex, High Mage Alycon, would you take a look at this please?” Perimos waved them over and the two joined him in a cluster around Antilles’ chair.
Jex reacted first.
After studying the page for only a few seconds, his eyes snapped up to Enari. “This is perfect, Nani.”
“How do you know?” Antilles asked.
Jex hesitated, glancing at Eryk uncertainly.
“Go ahead,” Vasi prompted, “Tell them how.” Her gaze was unwavering as she stared him down.
He squirmed a bit before finally answering. “I…she showed me.”
“Showed you?”
He tapped his temple.
Eryk whirled on him. “Jex, you know better! Using psychomancy is—”
“—forbidden,” he finished impatiently, “Yes, yes. Go ahead and punish me if you like, but it’s already done. She’s actually quite gifted.”
“We will discuss this later.” Eryk growled.
Perimos pursed his lips, choosing to ignore the moral squabble. He’d never understood the rationale behind the prohibition on psychomancy. It was in truth a rather practical skill, and one his people employed with great reverence. He himself had made use of it on occasion, although he’d never gotten caught.
“It is exactly what you saw in the cellar? There are no differences, discrepancies?” he asked.
They shook their heads, but then Jex reached down and picked up the parchment. He brought it closer to his eyes and then took it to the window, holding it up to let the light shine through.
“There is something different. What’s this in the corner?”
“Bring it back, dolt, and let us look,” Antilles held out a hand and made a come-hither gesture..
Jex returned to Enari’s side and tapped the drawing. “Here, this faint bit in the corner. I didn’t see anything here before.”
She sketched a mark on a fresh page and handed it to him. Three ovals overlaid one another at different angles, forming a sort of six-lobed flower with an infinity symbol where the center should be.
“Andehai?”
Enari nodded, then shook her head, looking frustrated..
“His soul,” Vasi explained after a brief glance, “Dusan is there to collect his soul.”
“I suppose that makes sense,” Perimos mused, chewing on his thumbnail as he considered. Eryk absently reached over and pulled his hand away before he could bite the nail to the quick.
“I’d like to try something else,” Antilles announced, rising to his feet. “Novice Namelum, will you draw the other bodies you’ve Seen for me please? I’ll be right back.”
He returned awhile later, carrying a box in one hand and a fistful of brushes.
“What are you doing, Antilles?” Jex moaned.
“Testing another theory,” he replied cheerfully, setting the box on the table in front of Enari and removing the lid to reveal a dozen small jars of paint.
Without hesitation, she dipped three fingers in an oily-looking black and pressed them lightly to a picture of Jex that none of them had seen her drawing. She smudged them in a very deliberate fashion and Antilles let out a low whistle.
“I—Goddess, Jex. That’s exactly how you seemed to me. Remarkable.”
Jex said nothing, but he looked a little nauseated. Turning away, he strode back to the window and stood looking out, saying nothing. Enari watched him with apprehension until Antilles touched her arm.
“Don’t mind him,” he murmured in her ear, “He’s not much of a morning person, as I’m sure you’ve discovered by now. Can you do the others as well?”
She went quickly, adding color to each drawing in turn. In the end, there were four sets lined up on the table. The picture of Jex was paired with the dark-haired little boy, both smudged with black fingerprints as Antilles had described. Councilors Porcus, Le’Quar, and Wastrel were grouped together, stained a sickly yellow-green, and Tor Brinon was placed next to Secretary Fin. They, too, were marked with black.
But it was the fourth set that garnered the most violent reactions.
A very pregnant Aelani was drawn in exquisite detail, down to the haunting sorrow in her tear-filled eyes. Her hands cupped her swollen belly protectively. Beside that was a drawing of the woman who’d been found eviscerated that very morning. The body of her infant son lay beside her.
“Thank you for your assistance, Novice.” Antilles closed the box of paints and offered her a handkerchief for her dirty fingers. “I think this is exactly what we needed.”
Enari rose from the table and went to stand by Jex. She put a tentative hand on his bicep and he slid an arm absently around her waist. Eryk stepped sideways as if to get a better look at the drawings, and in the process, blocked Vasi’s line of sight to her apprentice. She seemed not to notice.
“I think, High Mage, we four need to speak in private,” Antilles said.
“It will have to wait a bit. I promised my sister that Jordin and I would make the funeral arrangements for Brinon.”
He nodded solemnly. “We can make a start of it on our own. Perimos? Jex?”
Jex gave an acknowledging wave and bent to whisper to Enari. “I’ll come to you tonight, after Vasi’s in bed. Wait up for me?”
She squeezed his hand in assent and he followed the other men from the room.
* * *
“That girl of yours is brilliant,” Antilles observed as he closed the door to Eryk’s study.
Jex elbowed him and scowled. Perimos blithely ignored them and crossed to a cabinet on the far wall, removing several glasses and a decanter of amber liquid.
“Well, she is! I don’t know that I would’ve made some of those connections without her.”
Jex began to fidget. “She isn’t—”
“Oh Goddess!” Perimos exclaimed, “Everyone knows you’re bedding her at every opportunity, so save your breath.”
Jex shot a dirty look at Antilles.
“I didn’t tell him anything of the sort!” his friend insisted.
“I don’t believe you for a second, Antilles Denier.”
“You’re simply too predictable.” Perimos said, pouring them each a measure of brandy. “And even if you weren’t, it would only be a matter of time before you tried. Anyone who knows you knows that you can’t help yourself.”
“Since Vasi hasn’t poisoned me or killed me in my sleep, I’m not as obvious as you two seem to think,” Jex muttered, accepting his glass and settling into a chair.
“So,” Antilles said, changing the subject. “Did anyone else pick up on the significance of her drawings?”
“Possibly, but I’m sure you’re going to enlighten us anyway, Sir Know-It-All,” Perimos joked, taking a healthy swallow of his drink. “This is certainly higher quality than what he keeps in his study at home.”
“One of the many luxuries afforded by life in the Imperial Palace,” Jex said, knocking back the alcohol and reaching for the decanter.
“So how much trouble do you think you’ll be in for using psychomancy on her?” Perimos asked.
Jex looked him over shrewdly. “I suppose it depends on what kind of shape the observatory is in when he gets back. I might get off easy.”
It was Perimos’ turn to glare at Antilles.
“Sorry,” he said sheepishly, looking down at the glass he was turning around and around. He wasn’t a drinker, and with good reason, but at least it gave him something to do with his hands.
“You, my friend, are the worst secret-keeper I’ve ever met. Consorts forbid the enemy ever gets hold of you.”
Antilles bristled and pointed at Jex. “It’s only him I can’t keep secrets from! He just looks at me, exactly like he’s doing now, and—”
Perimos shuddered and held up his hands. “Stop. I don’t want to know how he gets the information out of you. I’ve nightmares enough without that mental image.”
“Hey!” Jex protested.
“Anyway,” Antilles pressed, desperate to move on from the uncomfortable topic. “Did you notice anything unusual about her drawings?”
“Other than the fact that an eighteen-year-old girl just drew us a pile of pictures one might find in a torture manual, not really,” Jex answered.
“You weren’t paying enough attention then,” Perimos told him. His eyes returned to Antilles. “She used two different colors and her technique was markedly different with each.”
“Exactly!”
“Which means?” Jex prompted.
“Which means, we’re either dealing with two different practitioners or two different demons. Or both, I suppose.”
“Well, that’s just bloody brilliant,” Jex sighed. “Not only have we been unable to learn a scrap of information about the first summoner, but now we might have two? You’re just full of encouraging news this morning.”
“Thanks to Enari, we still have more information now than we’ve ever had. There’s still a chance to stop the next murder, or possibly, murders plural, before they happen.”
Jex’s eyes turned dark as he looked down at the portrait of the heartbroken tora. Rage filled him at the thought of all that had befallen her family in this last week. Losing Brinon had been horrible enough, but now someone was threatening not only her life, but the life of her unborn child.
“How do we stop it?” he asked through clenched teeth.
“We’ll need a little time—a few days at least—to prepare, but now that we’ve a sense of the summoner’s aura, there’s a counter-ritual that can be used to send the curse rebounding upon its caster,” Antilles explained earnestly, “but this has to be timed very carefully.”
He was shuffling the parchments over and over in absentminded agitation as he spoke and Jex finally snatched them away and set them out of reach. Antilles reached for his glass, but Jex took that as well, swallowing the contents and returning it to the sideboard.
“What’s the catch?” Perimos asked, “There’s always a catch with these things.”
“Well,” Antilles hesitated, “the supplies we’ll need are rather hard to get outside the Tower.”
“I can take care of that,” Jex declared, “You can get anything in this city if you know the right people. Just give me a list of what we need.”
“Excellent. Once we have them, I’ll line the ritual out in more detail and we’ll get set up. Is there a place I can work without servants and the like stumbling all over what I’m doing?”
“I’m sure our Master Librarian would be glad to lend you one of his storage rooms. They aren’t large, but they’re out of the way and no one ever bothers with them except the occasional assistant.”
“Perfect.”
“Anything else?”
“Yes. One of us will need to be ready to spring the trap at a moment’s notice. I fear the trigger for this curse is the birth of the tora’s child.”
“She’s not due for eight weeks yet, or so Vasi says,” Jex told them, “So unless your preparations will take longer than that, we should be safe enough in that regard.”