Stan Nicholls - Quicksilver Rising

‘I thought magicians were constrained by secrecy anyway.’

‘True. Though I’m not sure how reliable some of the licensed ones are.’ Kutch jabbed a thumb at the hovel. ‘But he can be trusted.’

‘So why did they go in for mutilation?’

‘It was extra insurance. Some of the older practitioners think it was a good thing and should be brought back. Maybe they’ve got a point. It seemed to work.’

‘You wouldn’t have minded your master doing it to you then?’

‘Well …’

They continued in silence.

After a few minutes, Kutch ventured, ‘You don’t seem disappointed. About him not being able to help, I mean.’

‘I’ve learnt not to be.’

‘There are other seers I can recommend.’

‘Maybe provincial sorcerers aren’t up to what I need.’

‘A lot of them are as good as any you’ll find,’ Kutch replied indignantly. ‘They just prefer the solitude of the countryside. They’re less likely to get harassed by the authorities too.’

‘Like Domex? All right, low blow. Sorry. But the fact is there’s more money and status in the cities, and that tends to attract the best talent. Perhaps that’s where I’ll find the right magician. If there are any left I haven’t already tried.’

‘Come on, Reeth, there must be thousands of them.’

‘I’ve been searching longer than you know.’

Kutch didn’t expect any expansion on that and was proved right. Silence descended again. They reached the foot of the hill and struck out for the house. A gentle wind ruffled the trees.

The quiet was broken only by distant birdsong.

At length, Caldason said, ‘So, how far advanced in magic are you?’

After yesterday’s display with the homunculi, Kutch reckoned his companion already knew the answer to that. It was Caldason’s way of changing the subject, or being polite. But he played along with it. ‘Fourth level, going on fifth.’

‘Sounds impressive. Out of how many?’

‘Sixty-two.’

‘Right.’

‘Mind you,’ Kutch quickly added, ‘anything above twenty-three’s considered pretty rarefied.’

‘I think I must need the highest possible level.’

Caldason’s expression was inscrutable. It was difficult to tell if he was serious or making an uncommon attempt at humour.

‘I may have a way to go in my practical studies,’ Kutch admitted, ‘but I do understand something about occult philosophy. Whatever ails you should have a magical remedy. It’s just a case of finding it.’

‘I’m not so sure of that.’

‘Let me tell you about one of the Craft’s basic principles.’

‘Careful, you don’t want to lose your tongue.’

‘It’s not really giving anything away. We’re taught that magic is energy, and energy can’t be destroyed. It can only be converted into something else.’

‘That much I’ve heard.’

‘Then you’ll know that spells vary in quality and durability.’

‘Of course. That’s what determines their price.’

‘I’m not talking about their coin value. I’m referring to their strength. For example, there’s no reason why a building couldn’t be a glamour, and last forever. But creating and maintaining it would be incredibly expensive.’ He pointed to a boulder at the side of the track. ‘That rock could be a glamour. It would only take a simple spell. Except nobody would bother. What would be the point?’

‘What are you getting at?’

‘I’m guessing that what’s wrong with you is magical in origin.’ Caldason gave no hint that Kutch was right. The youth carried on. ‘If you are under some kind of enchantment, it should be possible to convert its energy from malignant positive to benign negative. In the same way that the rock could become non-rock or the building cease to be and rejoin the energy pool. At least, that’s the theory.’

Caldason looked thoughtful. ‘You put it better than most other magicians I’ve spoken to, Kutch. But why haven’t any of them been able to do it?’

Kutch felt a glow at the compliment. He also took the Qalochian’s words as tacit confirmation that his problem was magical. ‘I don’t know. Maybe the spell, if it is a spell we’re talking about, is especially powerful. Or the result of some really esoteric branch of the Craft. There are many different disciplines, you know.’

‘Something rare enough to be unknown to most sorcerers, you mean?’

‘It might be. Or it could be a question of balance.’

‘Balance?’

‘Another cardinal law of magic. The Craft has rules just like the mundane world, as we call it. For instance, drop a stone and it falls to the ground. It’s obeying a rule. A glamour looking like a stone might fall upwards, or fly, or mutate into something else. But it would still be following a rule; one dictated by the type of spell governing it.’

‘I don’t see where balance comes in.’

‘My master would have said that a real stone falls because of the balance between our expectation and experience. We expect the stone to fall. Stones have always fallen. So the stone falls. In magic the balance is between reality and unreality. There has to be symmetry for the spell to work. The same way the military and magical balance between Rintarah and Gath Tampoor stops one empire overcoming the other.’

‘I think I almost understand that,’ Caldason said. ‘But how does it apply to me?’

‘Maybe you’re caught too tightly between the real and the unreal. As if you were in a clamp.’

‘Like Bhealfa.’

Kutch smiled. ‘Yes. Or it could be that the balance is out of kilter, blocking rescue.’

‘Neither seems a comforting thought.’ If Caldason resented learning from someone so much younger, he had the grace not to show it. ‘Ironic that it should take a humble fourth level …’

‘Nearly a fifth.’

‘… practically a fifth level apprentice to make it clear to me.’

‘I’ve not told you anything you couldn’t have found out for yourself. You look for a solution in magic, Reeth, but take little interest in its workings.’

‘I see it as a malevolent force.’

‘It’s the foundation of our culture.’

‘Yours, not mine. Not Qalochian. For you, magic is a needful, benevolent thing. To me it’s deceiving and pernicious. It helps maintain injustice.’

To Kutch that seemed close to blasphemous. ‘My master always said that magic has no morality, any more than the weather does. The people who command it decide if it’s light or dark, as suits their purpose. Your argument should be with them.’

Caldason’s severity mellowed a little. ‘I grant there’s wisdom in that. But if there was no magic the temptation wouldn’t exist.’

‘I intend using my skills only for good.’

‘I don’t doubt it. And when you speak on the subject you show more passion and insight than you do about anything else. You shed the half-child and talk more like a man.’

The youth’s cheeks coloured, underlining the point.

‘I can see magic’s your calling,’ Caldason added. ‘But who can say what enticements the future might bring?’

Kutch tried steering back to the issue he thought more important. ‘Tell me what’s wrong. I’m not advanced enough to help, I know that, but I’d be better armed to find you somebody who could.’

‘What I suffer from tends to … trouble people.’

‘It wouldn’t vex me. Together, we could –’

‘ No . I don’t form attachments. I’ve no need of them. Anyway, I have to move on, you know that.’

Kutch was disappointed, but knew the futility of arguing with the man. ‘You’ll not go before my master’s funeral?’

‘I promised you I wouldn’t. But let’s make haste, I want to be out of these parts today.’