Part 42 (2/2)
How much did I drink last night? He made an effort to sit up but dropped back, groaning, s.h.i.+elding his eyes against the painful brightness. Even though he lay still, the room seemed to be moving. There was a foul taste in his mouth and his tongue was furred and dry. He craved water. He rolled onto his side, trying to reach the floor. If he couldn't stand, he would crawl... He made an effort to sit up but dropped back, groaning, s.h.i.+elding his eyes against the painful brightness. Even though he lay still, the room seemed to be moving. There was a foul taste in his mouth and his tongue was furred and dry. He craved water. He rolled onto his side, trying to reach the floor. If he couldn't stand, he would crawl...
But even the floor was s.h.i.+fting beneath his hands and knees, slowly rising and falling with the regular motion of a s.h.i.+p under sail.
Under sail? He tried to focus his bleary eyes on his surroundings. This wasn't his room in Mirom. He could hear the slos.h.i.+ng slap of water against the wooden walls. Looking up to the single source of daylight, he saw a porthole. It took him several attempts to stand upright for long enough to peer out. What he saw made him swear under his breath.
The s.h.i.+p was moving slowly away from the quay and the tavern where he had taken that fateful drink with Kilian was already receding into the distance.
”d.a.m.n it all.” He tottered toward the cabin door and tried the handle, but it was securely locked.
Exhausted by his efforts, he dropped to his knees again, pounding his fists against the wood. ”Kilian!” he yelled. ”Let me out!” But no one came.
They were heading toward the Nieva Estuary. Each fresh gust of wind filling the sails was taking him farther away from Mirom-and Celestine.
CHAPTER 4.
Celestine began to sing softly to herself as she moved about the room, collecting her belongings, and realized that the persistent melody was the opening phrase of Jagu's Vesper Prayer. She stopped, smiling to herself, still delighting in this unexpected discovery: Jagu had a real gift for writing music.
He must have absorbed something of your skill, Henri, she thought fondly as she placed the score of the Vesper Prayer carefully on top of the folded dresses in her traveling bag with her father's gri-moire. she thought fondly as she placed the score of the Vesper Prayer carefully on top of the folded dresses in her traveling bag with her father's gri-moire.
And then she sensed that she was not alone; there was someone else in the room. All too late, the Faie woke within her, whispering, ”Kaspar Linnaius. ”Kaspar Linnaius.”
The Magus stood on the threshold. ”I bring an invitation from the Emperor,” he said and held out a sealed letter.
Her mind went blank with panic. He must have come to take his revenge. And she was trapped, with no means of escape. ”You're alive?”
”So it seems. Please, take the letter.”
”F-from the Emperor?”
”Signed and sealed by his imperial highness himself,” he said, showing her the Rossiyan imperial seal. It looked authentic enough, yet a magus of Linnaius's skill and ingenuity could easily have faked it.
She took it from him and, breaking the purple wax, hastily read the contents. It was an invitation for Celestine de Joyeuse and her accompanist to perform at Swanholm, with a letter of safe pa.s.sage enclosed, signed and authorized by the Emperor's personal secretary.
”What does this mean?” She was still shaken by his unexpected appearance. ”Why would the Emperor invite me to Tielen? Especially when I've caused him so much trouble?”
”There are others at the court in Tielen who are eager to see you again, Celestine,” he said enigmatically. Celestine could not read what lay behind those chill silver eyes.
”But the singer known as Celestine de Joyeuse is dead. She had to die.”
”That's all well and good as long as your guardian spirit is able to disguise your ident.i.ty. But she's growing weaker, isn't she?”
How could he tell? Celestine stared at the Magus, forgetting her earlier caution. His incisive gaze pierced through her, penetrating deep into her mind. She gasped-and at the same moment sensed the Faie repel the Magus's invasion. He staggered, his eyes clouding, one wrinkled hand rising to protect himself. Celestine stared at the Magus, forgetting her earlier caution. His incisive gaze pierced through her, penetrating deep into her mind. She gasped-and at the same moment sensed the Faie repel the Magus's invasion. He staggered, his eyes clouding, one wrinkled hand rising to protect himself.
”Weaker, but not so weak yet that she can't still defend herself against an inquisitive old magus,” he said wryly. ”All these years you've been hiding her. And now she's become too much a part of you for you to let her go. Or... is it the other way, perhaps, Lady Azilis?”
Celestine was so surprised by the blatant challenge that she could not reply.
”You might as well reveal yourself fully to me, my lady.” Ice-silver eyes gleamed in the dim light.
”You mustn't trust him,” whispered the Faie. whispered the Faie. ”He's come to take me from you. ”He's come to take me from you.”
”I give you my word that I won't attempt to steal you again.” Linnaius was staring at Celestine so intently that she realized he was looking not at her, but through her, his chill gaze penetrating her disguise to where the Faie had concealed herself. ”But I beg you, Lady Azilis, to consider returning to Ondhessar. The balance between this world and the next is slowly disintegrating. Revenants have been seen-lost souls who have drifted back to this world because they can't find their path to the Ways Beyond.”
”Revenants,” Celestine echoed, remembering the sad, lost shadow of her first love that had returned to haunt her. ”If my Faie is Azilis, then I have no right to keep her all to myself.”
”I cannot return. I'm bound to protect Celestine.”
”You were bound to protect this child... yet you may be using up too much of her life force to replenish your own failing powers.”
”I cannot break that bond.”
”But you can break it at any time, can't you, Celestine?”
Celestine did not reply. Thoughts were chasing through her mind. It would take only one drop of her blood to break the contract...
”The Emperor is offering you protection of a different kind. A full pardon, his patronage, and a new life in Tielen. The Empress is very fond of you, you know.”
”The Emperor is most generous.” Celestine felt herself wavering, genuinely tempted. She and Jagu had not planned where to go once they left Muscobar, but with the Emperor's protection, they would be able to start a new life in Tielen, far from the clutches of the Inquisition.
”This safe pa.s.sage is all you'll need. Believe me, Celestine, if you could only bring yourself to put your trust in me...”
”Trust you, Kaspar Linnaius? A week ago, I'd have laughed at such a suggestion. Now I don't know whom to trust anymore.”
”I would tell you more, but his imperial highness has sworn me to secrecy.”
Celestine still could not look directly into those chill silver eyes; every time she tried, she felt as if she were standing alone on a bare hilltop, surrounded by racing stormclouds, buffeted by fierce winds that stripped away all her defenses.
”If you're ready to leave now, I can take you to Swanholm.”
”Or Ondhessar?” she said.
”Ondhessar?” the Magus repeated in surprised tones.
”Celestine...” whispered the Faie. ”Please let me stay with you a little longer. ”Please let me stay with you a little longer.”
”I understand now, Faie,” she said. ”The souls of the dead need you to sing for them. They need you so much more than I do. Can you take us to Ondhessar, Magus?”
A strange smile pa.s.sed fleetingly across his face. ”Yes. Although I still have enemies in Ondhessar. I need a little time to plan my strategy.”
”I need time to make arrangements too. I can't just disappear without telling Jagu.”
<script>