Martin Scott - Thraxas and the Dance of Death

“It might possibly be done by a very experienced practitioner,” mutters Lisutaris. “Though it would take an immense amount of skill. But who would do such a thing?”

I shrug.

“Look at the people who’ve been involved. Horm, Glixius. There’s no telling what their motives might be. Horm has been keen to discredit you from the start. Maybe he thought he could take the pendant back for Prince Amrag and still make you look foolish by leaving some counterfeits behind. Maybe he cunningly planned it so they’d all end up here and destroy your guests. Good way to get rid of Turai’s leaders. Whoever’s behind it we have to do something. You ought to know better than me that having this many sorcerous items together is highly dangerous. What if the copies are unstable? Either the magic space is going to invade your gardens or there’s going to be an almighty explosion.”

Last century, for reasons which were never clear, the great Simnian Sorcerer Balanius the Most Powerful made a duplicate of himself. By all accounts it was a perfect copy, but when he shook hands with himself there was an explosion which flattened his city. You can still see the crater in Simnia.

Lisutaris drags herself away from the mirror.

“We don’t know that there are any more in the vicinity. There might be only these three. I can contain them.”

“I feel that there are others.”

“How?”

“Intuition.”

Lisutaris is dubious about my intuition. She crosses to the window and gazes out at the gardens for a moment or two.

“You’re right, unfortunately. I can sense more of the pendants. I’m not sure how many. You may also be correct about their instability. Copying a sorcerous item of such power is almost impossible to get right.”

Lisutaris walks over to a painting on her wall. She speaks to it and the painting shifts to one side. Behind the painting there’s a safe. She mutters a rather long series of ancient words and it opens. From the safe she withdraws a bag.

“This is made of red Elvish cloth. If you put the pendants in here it should dampen the effect. But be careful not to let anyone see what you’re doing. It’s illegal for any private citizen, even me, to own this cloth. The King will be down on me like a bad spell if he knows I have it.”

I notice that Lisutaris seems to be talking about me doing the dirty work.

“You want me to gather up an unknown number of dangerous sorcerous pendants? I’ve been nervous enough carrying round one. Can’t you help?”

“I have a ball to host. What will people say if I’m scurrying round with a bag rather than mingling with my guests? And is this not what I hired you for? To protect my reputation? Do not let Consul Kalius discover what you’re doing. I’ve just managed to convince him I didn’t lose the original. Having fake gems turn up isn’t going to make me look good. Take this.”

Lisutaris hands me a copper bracelet.

“This will glow when in the vicinity of any sorcerous item.”

“It’s glowing right now.”

“That’s because my rooms are full of sorcerous items. It will help you to search in the gardens. I hope Makri managed to disperse the centaurs before they did much damage. If you find any more bodies, have my staff remove them discreetly.”

“I really don’t like this.”

“We have no choice. I will do my best to control any apparitions. I have to go. I’m due to lead off a dance with Prince Frisen-Akan.”

“Take care he doesn’t tread on your toes.”

“I expect he will.”

I step out into the corridor. I’m heading for the gardens but I hesitate. Avenaris’s private rooms are on the next floor. With no one around to observe me, I hurry upstairs to check them out. Lisutaris will fume if she catches me, but what is she going to do? She needs me to do her dirty work outside. I remember I forgot to ask about the other person in Orcish armour who I thought was Makri. Maybe it’s nothing. No, it’s something bad, I know it. Might it be Sarin? I’ll deal with it later.

Avenaris’s room is locked. I try a minor word of power, to no effect. I put my weight against the door and push. It gives slowly. It takes a good door to resist my bulk. Inside I find a suite of rooms decorated in a restrained and tasteful style. Nothing too bright or harsh on the eye. I get to work.

[Contents]

Chapter Nineteen

The gardens are a scene of great revelry. Apart from the music, dancing, costumes and fine provisions on offer, there are spectacular lighting effects and frequent appearances of otherworldly creatures. The genteel crowds, thinking these to be part of Lisutaris’s sorcerous entertainment, are enchanted.

It seems that only Makri and I realise the danger. Makri tries to prevent the creatures from doing too much damage, which leads to the odd sight of a woman in Orcish armour walking round the gardens being followed by a long line of centaurs and unicorns. Centaurs, lascivious creatures at the best of times, can’t help being attracted to Makri—I saw it happen in the Fairy Glade—and while Makri does her best to shoo them away, they continue to follow her until the magic which has produced them becomes unstable and they fade into space. As for the unicorns, I don’t know why they should take to her. It’s not like she’s pure of heart.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” says a wealthy-looking pirate to his companion as a rather harassed Makri jogs past with a long line of mythical beasts in close pursuit. “Lisutaris has really laid on the entertainment.”

A bolt of blue lightning cracks the sky overhead.

“She’s the best Sorcerer in the city!” enthuses the pirate.

Meanwhile I’m looking for pendants. This is not so easy because Lisutaris’s bracelet keeps lighting up any time a naiad or mermaid appears. With so many false alarms it’s difficult to concentrate. When I notice two Makris at opposite ends of the gardens, one with unicorns and one without, I sprint towards the lone figure. I have a feeling that Makri’s imitator has something to do with all this. Seeing my approach, the figure flees into the bushes and I follow. Immediately I step into the undergrowth my bracelet lights up. There’s a man in a bishop’s costume bending down in the shadows to pick something up. I leap for him and wrestle the object out of his hands.

“That’s mine!” says the bishop.

I shove the pendant into my bag. He lets go with some language very unsuitable for a man of the cloth.

“You’ll thank me later,” I say, and hurry on. Some success at least. I find another pendant in a fountain full of mermaids and another in the hands of a Palace official who, while talking wildly about the coup he is planning to stage, is at least not yet dead. I retrieve the pendant and leave him to sleep off his dreams of power. I now have three pendants, but from the way a comet is currently hovering over the gardens, I’d say there were still more to be collected.

“Why did they all end up here?” I say out loud, angry and puzzled.

“I’m partly responsible,” says an elegant voice at my shoulder. It’s Horm the Dead, dressed as a mythical King of the Depths, complete with trident.

“I figured you would be.”

“It wasn’t my original plan,” confesses Horm. “When I finally got my hands on the pendant I intended to leave the city. Unfortunately I then located a second pendant and realised that someone had been duplicating them. In the past day I’ve come across rather a lot of them.”

“So you sent them all to Lisutaris’s ball?”

“It seemed like the helpful thing to do.”

Horm laughs.

“I have always wished to see what would happen when so many unsuitable sorcerous elements were brought together. With luck we may all disappear in an explosion which will flatten the entire city. Look above. The stars are multiplying in the sky.”