Ginn Hale - Lord of the White Hell book Two

"Rafie's bringing tea out for us," Kiram said as a way of announcing himself.

Alizadeh smiled just a little and Kiram sat down next to him.

"How are you feeling?" Kiram asked.

"Better by the day," Alizadeh replied. "And how have you been?"

"Me? I'm fine." Kiram gazed up at the violet and gold streaks that the setting sun had blazed across the sky. The sunsets had never been this brilliant at the Sagrada Academy and suddenly Kiram wondered what the sky was like over Rauma.

"Did you get my letters?"

"Yes, I did."

"And did you tell the Circle of Red Oaks about the Tornesal curse?"

Alizadeh closed his eyes and nodded.

"What did they say?" Kiram asked. "Will they help him?"

"Your handsome duke?" Alizadeh asked.

"You know who I mean."

"No, they won't interfere in the machinations of Cadeleonian noblemen." Alizadeh glanced to Kiram with a gentle expression. "But they will not bar me from doing what I will to protect you."

"What about Javier and Fedeles?"

Alizadeh cracked an eye. "I know about your Javier, but tell me about Fedeles."

Kiram explained everything he knew. Only a few sentences in, Rafie joined them. He poured tea and sat beside Alizadeh. Kiram described what he could of the mechanical cures and then the way the shadow curse had seemed to seep from Fedeles' body. Alizadeh leaned against Rafie and drank his tea.

"This happened the day the last mail delivery went out so I didn't have a chance to write you," Kiram ended.

"This boy, Fedeles," Alizadeh asked, "he is Javier's cousin?"

"Yes, but…" Kiram paused unsure if he should repeat a rumor, but then he decided that he should tell Alizadeh everything. "Nestor told me that Fedeles is probably Javier's brother. There was some kind of scandal about Javier's father sleeping with his own sister."

Rafie raised his brows. "Do they resemble each other closely?"

"They do," Kiram admitted. "More closely than Fedeles seems to resemble anyone on the Quemanor side of his family."

"So, let us say they are brothers. Who inherits from whom, do you know?" Alizadeh asked.

"I know that Javier has made Fedeles his heir but Fedeles would be declared unfit as things are now."

"And the title would then go to the church." Rafie refilled all their cups and offered Kiram a dish of pepper eggs, which he accepted. Briefly, he admired the deep red of the tiny egg before popping it into his mouth. The fiery spice and silky filling balanced his sweet tea nicely.

"The question that interests me is this,"Alizadeh said, "if the curse is truly hidden inside Fedeles, why is Fedeles still living?"

"Scholar Donamillo's mechanical cures," Kiram said.

"No mechanical cure that I've seen could do more than raise a man's hair and light a few sparks," Rafie replied.

"But Scholar Donamillo's are different." Kiram lowered his voice out of habit after so many months at the Sagrada Academy. "His has prayers etched into the metal."

"Prayers?" Alizadeh asked. "What kind?"

"All kinds. Some are Cadeleonian. Others looked like Bahiim invocations. There could be Mirogoth blessings as well." Kiram tried to recollect the prayers but there had been far too many for him to memorize, especially when his attention had been so focused on the purely mechanical aspects of the cure. "All I know is that they allow Donamillo to transfer his strength to Fedeles and that keeps the shadow curse from consuming Fedeles completely."

"A transference." Alizadeh considered the idea with a slight frown. "Depending upon the prayer invoked that could prove to be a dangerous proposition in itself. You're sure he didn't mention a particular prayer?"

"No." Kiram shook his head. "Scholar Donamillo told me that the source of the prayers didn't matter. Only their effect was important."

"Indeed?" Alizadeh looked skeptical and none too pleased. "Well, at least one of those prayers must come from the same source as the curse, otherwise it would not have any hold over it. I wish I could see this mechanical cure."

"I could write to Scholar Donamillo and ask him if he knows the sources of his prayers," Kiram suggested. "I think he would be happy for any help in treating Fedeles."

"Yes, write to him," Alizadeh agreed. "Ask him if he knows the names of the prayers that he's copied onto his machine. If not the names, then the texts from which they came."

Kiram nodded. He'd already written to Scholar Blasio and also to Javier, though he knew Javier's letter wouldn't arrive in Rauma for quite some time.

"What about the priest?" Rafie asked.

"Holy Father Habalan? He teaches history. And after I was attacked he told me not so subtly that I would be in danger if I went back to working on my engine."

"Did you go back to the work?" Rafie asked.

"Of course he did," Alizadeh replied. "You can tell from the smug way he's smiling."

Kiram felt his face flush. "I secretly rebuilt the engine in Scholar Donamillo's infirmary."

"Good choice. We Kir-Zakis aren't cowards, but we aren't idiots either, you know." Rafie grinned at Kiram and Alizadeh laughed.

"No, you certainly aren't." Alizadeh kissed Rafie's cheek and then returned his attention to Kiram. "How well do you think the priest knows his history?"

"I don't know. He taught everything as if the Cadeleonians had never done any wrong and all other cultures were backward and in need of conquering."

"Typical Cadeleonian priest then," Rafie replied.

"Yes, but could he have access to old texts? Things written during Nazaro's rule and perhaps a little after?"Alizadeh wondered aloud.

"The school does have a huge library of old texts," Kiram replied. "But what kind of texts?"

"It's hard to know." Alizadeh sipped his tea and then added a dash of pepper to it. "They would have been religious, dealing with Haldiim curses and perhaps shajdi."

"Yes!" Kiram almost dropped his cup in his excitement. "Scholar Donamillo told me that when he was younger the holy father collected all the texts dealing with Haldiim writings, claiming they were heresies. He even took one of Yassin Lif-Harun's notebooks and was going to burn it, but Scholar Donamillo stole it back."

"It's not every Cadeleonian scholar that would risk his livelihood like that." Rafie's expression was thoughtfully approving.

Kiram almost informed his uncle that Donamillo was of Haldiim descent, but he stopped himself. The revelation would only make less of Scholar Donamillo's actions and it couldn't hurt for Rafie to believe something good of a Cadeleonian.

"He's a brave man and a true scholar." Kiram couldn't help feeling proud. "He's the one who campaigned for my admittance into the academy."

"Ah, well, then he's surely a man of great reason and. impeccable taste. Alizadeh flashed a handsome, teasing smile but then his expression turned serious again. "So, all of this brings us back to the strong possibility that the holy father had access to all the resources he needed to create the shadow curse at the Sagrada Academy."

"That could have included notes from the confessions King Nazario tortured out of the Bahiim who were held there," Rafie suggested.

"Probably," Alizadeh agreed. His expression was grim. "So many men and women died in that place that the transcripts of their tortures would have filled a library of their own. I have no doubt that some papers would have remained on the school grounds long after Nazario's reign ended and the property's purpose was changed."

"So, what exactly would have been written in these texts?" Kiram asked.

"If I knew that, then I'd know how to destroy this shadow curse," Alizadeh replied. "As is, I can guess that it would be a perversion of the ritual for opening a shajdi."

"But that knowledge is lost, isn't it?" Kiram asked.

Alizadeh paused only briefly, but Kiram didn't miss his hesitation. "It is no longer taught. We cannot risk, rousing the avarice of another royal impaler like Nazario."