S Farrell - A Magic of Nightfall

Allesandra turned to him finally. He towered over her like a green-clad bear. His dark eyes were on hers. Yes, he has eyes in which you could lose yourself. “You continue to give me these little intimations and hints, Archigos,” she said quietly. “Do you have more than that to offer, or are you trying to goad me into revealing myself? That won’t happen.”

Ca’Cellibrecca nodded slowly and leaned down to her. His mouth was close enough to her ear that she felt his warm breath. It made her shiver. “I have an offer, A’Hirzg. If this is something that interests you, I do indeed,” he whispered. Then he stood and applauded toward the meadow. “The cooks will have some fine venison steaks,” he said loudly, “and there will be new antlers to adorn the palais. We should go down and meet the brave hunters, A’Hirzg. What do you say?”

He offered her his arm.

She rose, and took it.

“ Where are you going?” Varina asked him.

Karl had spent the the first night after Ana’s death at Mika’s house, but despite the solicitude of Mika and his wife, Karl had found their house-with their children and now the first of their grand-children always coming in or out-too full of life and energy. He’d gone back to his own suite of rooms on the South Bank. It was Varina who came there every day, badgering his servants and generally making certain that he was fed and cared for. She left him alone with his grief; she was there when he needed to talk, or when he simply wanted the feel of another person in the room. She seemed to know when he needed silence, and she allowed him to have it. For that, he was grateful.

He remembered long ago when he’d first shown Ana what the Numetodo could do. That night, it had been Varina, a raw newcomer to the group, who Ana had seen demonstrating a spell. Varina had grown much since then; she was second now to Mika within the Numetodo here in the city, and there was no one at all who rivaled her dedication to research, nor her ability with the Scath Cumhacht. He had never quite understood how it was she had remained alone all these years: she had been particularly striking in her youth: hair the color of autumn wheat; wide, expressive eyes the color of ancient, varnished oak; a wonderful, engaging smile and laugh that always made others smile with her. She was still attractive even now in middle years, even if in the last few years she had seemed to age quickly. Yet… she seemed to take all the vitality and energy she possessed and put it solely into learning the intricacies of the Scath Cumhacht and the Second World, to find all the ways to bind that power. Even within the Numetodo, she rarely seemed to speak at length to anyone but Mika or Karl. As far as Karl knew, she had no other friends or lovers outside the group. She was an enigma, even to those closest to her.

He appreciated Varina’s presence now, even if he didn’t know how to express it.

He’d brooded on Ana’s death now for a week, turning it over and over in his mind like a sick, ugly compost. Someone had wanted her dead. Ana had been the target, the assassin waiting for her to come to the High Lectern; certainly Karl had seen the other teni at the service ascend the lectern to place the readings and the scroll with the Admonition that Ana had intended to read, and they had not triggered the explosion.

The more he contemplated that, the more there seemed to be only one answer. An answer he wanted verified.

Varina was leaning against an archway of the anteroom as Karl shrugged on his cloak, her arms folded. She didn’t repeat her query, only regarded him softly, as if concerned.

“I have an appointment,” he told her. She nodded. Still silent. Her eyes were wide and unblinking. “I have questions to ask.”

Another nod. “I’ll go with you,” she said. He hesitated. “I won’t interfere,” she told him. “If you’re going where I think you’re going, you may need the support. Am I right?”

“Get your cloak,” he told her. She smiled briefly-a flash of white teeth-and plucked her cloak from the peg on the wall.

The Ambassador from the Firenzcian Coalition, Andreas cu’Gorin, possessed a face as thin and angular as a falcon’s. As he rose from behind his desk, his heather-colored eyes regarded Karl and Varina as if the two were rabbits to be snatched up and devoured. The hawkish face was supplemented with a swordsman’s lean body. Karl could imagine that the man was more comfortable in armor than in the proper, conservative bashta he wore.

It made him wonder how effective he could be here.

“Ambassador ca’Vliomani, Vajica ci’Pallo, your visit is… unexpected,” cu’Gorin said. “What can I do for you?”

Karl glanced pointedly at the aide who occupied the smaller desk on the other side of the room. “Gerald, why don’t you see if you can find that proposal on the new border regulations?” cu’Gorin said. The aide, as burly and thick as cu’Gorin was slight, nodded and shuffled papers noisily for a breath before leaving the room.

Karl waited until he heard the door click shut behind him. “I’ve spent the last several days thinking about Archigos Ana’s murder, Ambassador,” he said. The words sounded almost casual, even to his ears. Varina shuffled her feet uneasily next to him. “You know, as much as I try to find reasons for someone doing that, I can’t think of anyone who would want her dead except the people you represent.”

Varina sucked in her breath audibly. A cloud passed over the heather eyes, deepening them to green. The muscles of the man’s face tightened and his right hand closed as if it were searching for a sword’s hilt. “You’re rather blunt and direct, Ambassador.”

“I’ve given up diplomacy for now,” he answered.

Cu’Gorin sniffed. “Indeed. Then I will be blunt as well. I find your accusation insulting. I’ll forgive you, knowing how…” His nose twitched, the eyes narrowed. “… close you were to the Archigos of Nessantico, but I also expect an immediate apology.”

“It’s been my experience that expectations are often disappointed,” Karl said.

“Karl…” Varina said softly. Her hand brushed his arm. “Perhaps…”

Her voice died, as if she knew he wasn’t listening. The anger burned in his gut. Karl wanted nothing more than for cu’Gorin to make a physical move or to blatantly insult him, anything to give him an excuse to use the Scath Cumhacht that was smoldering in his mind waiting for the release word. But cu’Gorin shook his head; he didn’t sit, but seemed to lounge behind the desk, unperturbed.

“I think, Ambassador ca’Vliomani, that you discount the possibility that the assassin may have been a rogue, or perhaps hired by someone who had a personal grudge against the Archigos-someone within the Holdings of Nessantico. There’s no reason to attach a conspiracy to this.” His eyebrows arched; the rest of his body remained still. “Unless, of course, you have evidence that you care to share with me? But no, if you had that, you would have gone to the Regent, wouldn’t you? The Commandant of the Garde Kralji would be standing here, not two Numetodo heretics.” Slowly, almost mockingly, he sat again. Long fingers toyed with the parchments scattered on the desk’s surface, and the hawk face returned, looking scornfully at Karl. “I think we’re done here, Ambassador. Firenzcia has no business to do with heretics, and we never will. We’re wasting each other’s time.”

The dismissal was a wind to his internal fire. “No!” Karl shouted. “We’re not done!” He gestured, speaking one of the release words he’d prepared before he’d come. Quick fire crawled over the papers on the Ambassador’s desk, consuming them in the instant it took cu’Gorin to react, jumping backward from his seat. A quick wind followed, blowing the papers past cu’Gorin and out the open window and whipping the Ambassador’s bashta-that had to be Varina. “That fire could have been directed to you as easily as those documents,” Karl told him. He heard the door crash open behind him and he lifted a hand warningly as he felt Varina turn to face the threat. “I didn’t come with only a single spell, Ambassador, and my friend is stronger than I am. Tell your people to stay back, or I guarantee that you-at least-won’t leave this room alive.”