Lawrence Watt-Evans - Relics of War

“We usually say ‘ingredients,’” Ellador corrected him. “And all it takes is a knife, a wizard, and the blood of the person being enchanted.”

“That’s wonderful!” Garander said, smiling broadly.

“Who did you want it cast on?” Ellador asked. “I’m afraid Azlia had not yet told me that, or why an apparent death would keep these young fools from fighting one another.”

Garander had thought it was obvious, but he was tactful enough to stop himself before saying that aloud. “The shatra ,” he said.

Ellador blinked, and sucked a wisp of mustache into his mouth. “Hmm,” he said. “You think that its death would mean there was nothing to fight over?”

Garander nodded.

“An interesting thought. It might work. But I’m not sure the Sanguinary Deception will work on a shatra -aren’t they supposed to be as much demon as man?”

“They’re part demon,” Garander conceded. “But Tesk says his blood is red, not black like a demon’s, so…well, does that mean it would work?”

“It might,” Ellador said, stroking his beard. “It might. I can’t say for sure.”

“It’s worth a try , isn’t it?”

“I don’t see how it can make matters worse,” Ellador agreed. “What did you have in mind?”

Garander had refined his original plan somewhat. “Tesk-the shatra -is going to be back to talk to Lord Dakkar and Lady Shasha soon, to hear their final offers. Then he’ll tell them that he’ll give them a decision in the morning, but in the morning I’ll tell each group that he decided he would rather die than serve his ancient enemies, and I’ll lead them to his ‘body.’ Which you’ll have enchanted. The spell makes the body look really horrible , right? So they won’t want to inspect it and make sure he’s really dead by cutting off his head or something.”

“Well, I can’t be sure they won’t decide to be thorough, but he’ll look very dead indeed,” Ellador said. “If it works on a shatra in the first place.”

“And there’s no way to see through it, and tell it’s an illusion?”

“Oh, I didn’t say that ,” the wizard replied. “But it would take magic. A witch could probably tell, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s some talisman a sorcerer could use to test it. But no one could see through it without magic.”

That was not quite as impenetrable as Garander had hoped, but he thought it would probably be enough. “And it won’t wear off suddenly, or anything?”

“Well, yes, it does wear off. It starts to fade a day after the spell is cast. But it will last at least a full day.”

“Can he move during that day?” The idea of Tesk being trapped, motionless, for an entire day had some obvious drawbacks.

“Oh, he can move just fine. He’ll look dead, and won’t breathe, his heart won’t beat, and sometimes it makes the enchanted person smell dead, though that part doesn’t always work, but from his point of view he’ll be perfectly normal. No pain or discomfort. Oh, except that if he coughs, he’ll spew blood.” He grimaced. “It’s pretty ugly.”

“I don’t think that’s a problem,” Garander said.

Ellador turned up a palm. “Then I’m willing to give it a try.”

Garander grabbed the wizard’s hand. “Thank you!” he said, with sincere gratitude.

“I’m still not clear what you think you’ll accomplish, but then, I haven’t really followed everything that’s been going on.” He glanced at Azlia. “Your friend here probably thinks I’m a fool, but I agreed to come along in case Lady Shasha needed some sort of wizardry that Zendalir couldn’t manage, and didn’t really pay attention to any of the details. I just do what they pay me to do.” He smiled. “I thought I would mostly be working communication spells, to keep her in touch with Lord Edaran and his advisors back in Ethshar, not dredging up old-fashioned disguise spells from my army days!”

Garander’s heart dropped at the mention of payment. “I…can’t pay you much,” he said.

Ellador waved that away. “Don’t worry about it. I’m doing this as a courtesy to Azlia. It’s an easy spell. I haven’t used it for twenty years…no, not that long; I forgot, we used it as a prank once, about fifteen or sixteen years ago. But not since then.”

“Are you sure you remember it?” Azlia asked.

“Oh, yes. I did it dozens of times during the war.”

Garander did not find that as reassuring as Ellador apparently intended it to be, but he did not say anything about that. “Can you meet me tonight, after dark?” he asked. “I’ll take you to the shatra , and you can enchant him.”

“Well, I can try,” Ellador said. “I told you, I can’t be sure it will work on a shatra .”

“We’ll see,” Garander said. “Shall we meet here?”

“All right. After dark.”

“And if anyone asks what we were discussing here,” Azlia interjected, “Ellador and I have been trading spells, and we were talking to you about buying ingredients for them-herbs and feathers and bones.”

“Oh,” Garander said. “That’s a good idea.” He looked to the west; the sun was touching the treetops of the windbreak around Felder’s dooryard. “We should go; Tesk will be coming to talk to the nobles soon.”

“Indeed,” Ellador said. “Does he know what you’re planning?”

“Not exactly,” Garander admitted. “But I’ll tell him.” Then he turned and hurried back toward the meeting point in the west field.

He found Velnira waiting, and a glance back over his shoulder showed him Lady Shasha approaching, as well. He wondered whether she had been able to contact Lord Edaran with one of her wizards not present; perhaps that was something Zendalir could handle by himself, or perhaps one of the other magicians knew some sort of communication magic.

“Well?” Velnira demanded, as Garander ambled up to her. “Where is the shatra ?”

“How should I know?” Garander asked, startled. “I’m his friend, not his keeper.”

Velnira did not look satisfied by this, but had no immediate answer. She simply glared at the farmer’s son.

Annoyed by this, Garander asked, “Where is Lord Dakkar?”

“In his tent,” Velnira replied. “I am to speak for him.”

Garander could not say why, but that made him slightly uneasy. Wouldn’t the baron want to bask in his success, if he made Tesk a winning offer?

But maybe he knew his best offer was not good enough, and did not want to see it rejected. Garander grimaced, and turned to watch Lady Shasha march up, accompanied by Zendalir and a plump woman Garander did not recognize but assumed to be another magician of some sort.

The aristocrat curtsied to Velnira and Garander, then ostentatiously scanned her surroundings, making a silent point of Tesk’s absence.

“I’m sure he’ll be here soon,” Garander said.

“Of course,” Lady Shasha said, with a significant glance to the west. The sun was below the horizon now, and the clouds above were outlined in brilliant orange.

Garander looked around, to see whether the shatra was visible. He did not see Tesk, but he saw that his father and sisters had emerged from the house and were watching. His mother was not in sight.

And then he did see Tesk, emerging from the shadows between his father and the barn. The shatra paused and said something to Grondar, startling him; he paused to ruffle Ishta’s hair, then strode on toward the waiting emissaries.

Garander glanced at the two women, gauging their reactions. Lady Shasha seemed imperturbable as ever, but Velnira looked distinctly nervous, and Garander’s suspicion that Lord Dakkar’s offer was embarrassingly inadequate grew stronger.