NaNoWriMo 2004, Chapter 2.

[bouteillebleu]

This chapter's long, about 8000 words or so. It just wouldn't end, and I'm not quite sure how I managed to get Kurt, Lillian and Alex to stop talking for long enough for me to put a chapter break in there. They do like to talk. And argue.


Chapter 2

By the time Anna returned to the meeting room, the meeting itself had long since finished, and Lucy was the only person still in the room. She smiled as she saw Anna, and came to meet her at the door.

"What happened?" Lucy asked. "Were you one of the people who found that archbishop?" She took Anna's hand and tugged gently at it, adding, "The captain told me where the army representatives have been given rooms, so I thought I'd better stay here to show you where they are."

As they left the meeting room and wandered through the almost maze-like corridors, Anna gave an answer to Lucy's question.

"I was following that monk - he said he was called Wilfred, I think. He's not had a lucky day. First the abbot of his monastery, and then the archbishop of the branch of the Church he belongs to."

Lucy winced. "That's... not good news. It did sound like the other three branches had decided on some way of making the negotiations fair, though, while they wait for the new archbishop to be appointed."

Anna shivered slightly as she recalled exactly where the decision had come from, and nodded a little. "I hope they know something about the Northern Church, rather than just being there to stop the other two branches from ganging up on a third. Every time in the past that branches of the Church have allied, it's usually been even worse when they fall out afterwards." Her eyes grew distant as she added, "They told us about some of the worst times when I was young. Men and women who'd devoted themselves to god plotting against each other because of their religion... and before the magic reforms, it was much worse."

They'd reached the room by this point, and Lucy let go of Anna's hand before rummaging around in a pocket and producing a key. "They've given the two of us this one," she said to Anna as she turned the key in the lock. "The rest of the army representatives are in the same wing of the building."

"Hmm." Anna followed Lucy into the room, and sat down on the edge of one of the beds. "Don't they have anyone on guard duty at all?"

Lucy shook her head. "Someone asked about that at the meeting. They said that it would be impossible to come up with guards that everybody involved would trust, and that enough of the people present could protect themselves to make it not worth it."

"Even after those two murders?" Anna replied incredulously. "Someone got an archbishop to drown himself in a fountain. An archbishop has to know something about casting spells, considering how long he'll have spent talking to god. So if he can't protect himself, who else can?" She looked at Lucy, who was looking more than a little worried by now, and tried to smile.

"So, what did I miss at the meeting?"

It didn't take Lucy too long to explain what Anna had missed, but the resulting discussions about the negotiations, the various parties in the discussion and events over the last few days lasted until the sun was starting to set. Anna was getting ready for bed as she finished explaining theological differences between two branches of the Church, and Lucy sighed once she was done.

"Are those the only differences, then?" she asked as Anna changed into her nightgown. Anna nodded in response.

"Some of them aren't quite as trivial as just differences in how they conduct services, though," Anna said, and winced as she moved her head and felt a tug. "I think my hair's caught on something. Could you help me with this?"

"Of course," Lucy replied, moving over to Anna and carefully tugging the hair out from where it had got caught under a strap. "What are the differences that aren't trivial?"

"There're a few arguments about interpretation of scriptures, that sort of thing. One of the big things they all disagree on is the significance of the catastrophe in Vennick, five hundred years ago."

Lucy looked at her, puzzled, and Anna smiled a little. "Didn't you go to those history lessons they taught at the palace?"

"I don't remember everything we learnt, you know..." Lucy said plaintively. In a more serious tone, she said, "I know that there was some sort of disaster, and that a council to keep track of magic was set up at around that time. Do you know anything more about it?"

"Not much more. I remember that there's a passage in the scriptures which could be read as foretelling the catastrophe, but then there are several passages after that which have wildly different interpretations depending on how you read them." She pulled the blankets back a little way and climbed into bed, curling up on one side of the mattress and tucking the blankets right up to under her chin. "That might be why they all disagree about it, but I'm not sure. Maybe there was argument about it at the time it happened, and the arguments got so bad that people formed their own churches."

"If it was all because of an argument about magic, maybe they all had their own ideas of how to use it safely, and that's what they disagreed on," Lucy suggested.

"You could be right," Anna replied, suppressing a yawn as she stretched a little. "Then again, they have the council to stop them from misusing it. Even though that doesn't stop the council themselves..."

"What do you mean?" asked Lucy, and Anna smiled wryly.

"Have you ever met anyone from the Council of Magic?" She frowned, and said, "Where in Alcine did you come from, actually? You never said."

"Mostly because you'd never say where in Perrehum you were from," Lucy said, teasing her. "South-East Alcine. Why?"

"Did you ever get people from the Council of Magic coming across the border to try to recruit people who were potentially good with magic?"

"I don't think we did. The border guards probably wouldn't have let them through."

Anna grimaced. "They wouldn't be able to argue, what with how powerful the council members are. Maybe they just didn't want to cause a fuss, and they could get enough people in Perrehum alone."

Lucy was quiet for a few moments, then asked, "They visited your home town, then? What did they do?"

"They never..." Anna's voice trailed off, then she continued, "They never visited it while I was there. But they came to another town while I was visiting a friend, so I remember what they look like. There's this really ornate embroidered pattern they have on their cloaks, and it's rather hard to mistake it for anything else. I can draw it for you, if you like." She sat up in bed, and Lucy groaned.

"It's okay, Anna, it's not worth it. Draw it in the morning."

"All right, all right..." With a resigned shrug, Anna lay down again. Lucy asked her quietly,

"So, have you ever met one of these Council people, or just seen them?"

"I, um..." Even though she was under layers of blankets, Anna still shivered slightly as she recalled what had happened earlier. "I've met one. He was here today. He... I recognised his cloak, and so I had to tell him why. And then I told him where this town was that I'd seen them, and he guessed where I came from."

"Is it that important a secret, this place where you used to live?"

"It's never really been in favour with the local branches of the Church," Anna said with a sigh. "It was on the boundary between the areas that two of them consider as their territory, so it got argued over a lot. It's also..."

"Also what?" Lucy repeated.

"The town's been there for longer than the Church has. Some people there liked to remind themselves of that, and the Church isn't - well, wasn't - very happy about it."

"That's the town's secret?" said Lucy, sounding a little surprised. "It can't be very secret if the Church knows about it, can it?"

Anna's mouth twisted into a half-smile. "The town's one of the few places in Perrehum that the Council didn't know how to find. At least, not while I lived there. There was something in the mountains that meant they didn't know where it was, and so the Council decided it was because the town was unholy in some way." Her smile faded once more. "I didn't say much about where I came from when I got to Alcine, because there are people there who also answer to the Council of Magic. It's hard to have a sensible conversation with someone if they're spitting 'heretic' at you all the time."

"Well, I'm not planning to call you a heretic any time soon," Lucy replied, grinning. "And nor is anyone else. It's nobody's concern where you used to-" She broke off, and frowned as she looked at Anna. "You're shivering. What's wrong?"

"You can tell?" Anna said.

"Of course I can tell. We shared a room for several years, didn't we?" Lucy gazed critically at her, and finally said, "This man you met earlier today. He said that to you."

Anna nodded silently. She was quiet for several seconds before she added, "He said that something had happened to my home town. That it had been 'dealt with'. And he told me that if I went to see what had happened, he'd let me know what happened to that friend of mine - the one who joined the Council, who I visited when I first saw them."

It was Lucy's turn to nod, though she wasn't silent this time. "Do you want to go there to find out?"

"I... I don't know. If something's happened, then the people I knew there may have moved to somewhere safer. Or, if that man was right, they might not have survived. Even without this promise of his, though..." Anna sighed. "I want to know what's happened, but there'll never be an opportunity for me to go. We have to complete the negotiations first, and then we'll probably be posted somewhere else."

"You never know. Emperor Fortenbrass - the second, I wouldn't forget that part - might be tired of conquering every country by now. And even if he isn't, the Church and our generals might agree that there should be Alcine clerks in Perrehum at all times, just to report back efficiently."

"You're just trying to cheer me up, aren't you?"

Lucy smiled. "Precisely. Now get to sleep, Anna. The negotiations start properly tomorrow."

Anna answered this with a tired smile, and rolled over to curl up more comfortably. Silence descended for several minutes, before Anna spoke again, her voice sounding blurry with tiredness.

"Lucy?"

"Mmm?"

"Move over. You're hogging the blankets."

There was a quiet laugh, and then a rustle of sheets and blankets. "Is that better?"

"Much better," replied Anna with a contented little sigh. "Thanks for listening to me earlier."

"About what?" Lucy said.

"About home, mostly. And the Church. And being a heretic."

Lucy chuckled. "It's okay. Now get to sleep, silly."

There was no reply apart from a murmur of agreement, and silence settled on the Alcine wing of the guild hall. Elsewhere was much the same. It was almost midnight, and thus most of those who were there for the negotiations had gone to sleep long ago. A few people were still awake, but quiet, and Wilfred was one of these. He'd followed the monks with Abbot Francis's coffin, and when they set it down in a small room next to a chapel he'd stayed behind to wait there. By now, the lights had been dimmed, but not completely extinguished. There was a bench along one wall, and he sat at the end, hunched over in concentration. In his palm was one of the honey bees that had died in the abbot's fatal stinging. He stared at it intently, and there was the hum of magic for a moment before the bee twitched its legs, and then its wings. It was another few seconds before it began to crawl around on his palm, its movements feeble. Wilfred stared at it for a while longer, and then said in a whisper,

"What happened to the abbot, then? Why did you sting him? Tell me." On 'me' he lifted his hand sharply, and the bee flew unsteadily through the air from where it was launched. It hovered for a moment or two, then moved through the air, flying this way and that in a pattern that Wilfred watched. He seemed to recognise the pattern after a short time, and sighed as he made a beckoning motion. The bee flew down and alighted on his palm, and crawled over to the centre, stumbling and then laying still. There was another hum of magic, much fainter this time and different in tone, and Wilfred smiled with one corner of his mouth.

"Thank you," he murmured to the bee, and laid it down on the bench next to him.

"May I come in?" someone asked from the door. Wilfred raised his head, to see a man peering round the door. The man took a step into the room, and Wilfred shrugged.

"If you like. The abbot won't be very good company, though."

"That's all right with me," the man replied, coming to sit down on the bench next to Wilfred, who carefully picked up the bee before it could be sat on, then glanced at the visitor as he looked up. The man was wearing a hooded cloak, with the hood raised so that it was difficult to tell anything more about his identity.

"What are you doing walking around this late? And why have you come to see the abbot?" Wilfred asked him shortly, and the man grinned.

"Actually, I came to talk to you, Brother Wilfred. Someone told me you'd be here."

Wilfred frowned. "Nobody else here knows me. What do you want?"

"Well, it's more of a business proposition, really. I heard about what you did before you joined your monastery." The man leant back against the wall, stretching his legs in front of him, and added, "And I was wondering if you could be persuaded to return to it."

"Hmm." Wilfred passed the bee he was holding from hand to hand as he thought. "Do you mean the necromancy, or the poisons?"

"Oh, the poisons, of course," the man replied rather airily. "No, necromancy wouldn't be much help. Certainly not for small animals, and you'd get your mind burnt to cinders if you tried anything larger."

"I haven't made any poisons for year," Wilfred said. "I might have forgotten the recipes."

"You don't know that unless you try."

Wilfred turned to look at him suspiciously. "Who are you, anyway?"

"A friend of an old customer of yours." The man paused, then said, "Do you remember making anything for a woman called Leah?"

"Let me think." Wilfred frowned, prodding absently at the bee still in his hand. "Did she buy a lot of poisons for food? I remember making a batch that tasted sweet."

The man nodded. "That's her. Why did you taste the poison, anyway?"

"Because you won't know if it's what you want unless you test it," Wilfred replied. "Besides, if you want me to make poisons for you, you should already know that. I make the antidotes as well, of course."

"You do?"

"Of course I do. It costs a fair bit more, though." He shrugged. "It's not my problem if someone thinks they're invincible and wants to save money because they don't need the antidote."

The hooded man looked at him, sounding sceptical as he said, "Isn't charging money for it violating that rule about monks not owning anything?"

"Yes, it is." Noticing after a few moments that the man was waiting for a longer response, Wilfred said, "And that's why I don't do it anymore. The abbot didn't approve of it, anyway."

"The abbot's dead, though. What will you do now, Wilfred?"

Wilfred shrugged in reply. "Go back to the monastery, look after the bees. Stop the stupider monks from annoying the bees and getting stung."

"You'd go back to the monastery?" the man asked. Wilfred nodded, and the man continued,

"Even if it was your fault that the abbot died?"

Wilfred stared at him, and said, "You do know he was stung to death, don't you?" The man nodded.

"Naturally. And which person here can command insects to do what he wants? The fact that you found the archbishop dead is also rather suspicious."

"There was a girl there as well. She found him first."

"Ah, of course. But she is from the Alcine army, and so if you'd arranged this with them in order to make the Church less stable for these negotiations, then..." The man's voice trailed off, and Wilfred continued to stare flatly at him.

"You're mad," he said.

The man was silent, and Wilfred look somewhat uncertain as he asked,

"Is someone saying that I did it, then? Who is it?"

Again, the man made no reply. WIlfred sighed with annoyance and stared down at his feet.

"Go away. I don't know who you are, and you're just getting irritating."

"I told you, I'm a friend of one of your old customers. She recommended you, and I'd like to hire you. There's a town in the north-east where you wouldn't be chased away as soon as people knew what you sold."

"I'm a beekeeper now, not an apothecary."

"Do you think they'll be all that happy to learn about your necromancy, either?"

"I don't know," Wilfred said with a shrug. "It's been years since I've read any scripture that mentions it. And a while since I've read any scripture at all."

"What exactly are you doing, then, being a monk?" the man asked sardonically. "Did you just come to Perrehum to escape from whoever chased you out of the last town?"

"Maybe I did," said Wilfred. "It's a lot easier being a monk, and nobody gets annoyed with me for doing what I'm good at."

"Well, wouldn't it be better if you could stay somewhere that let you do all the things you're good at?"

Once more, Wilfred shrugged, as he had done several times already during the conversation. "I don't care. I don't have to do something just because I'm good at it. And I like the bees more than poisons, anyway."

"Listen..." The hooded man pushed back the hood of his cloak, and ran his fingers slightly anxiously through his hair. "I'm offering you a chance to stay somewhere where you won't be forced to move once people find out what you like to do. And if you don't take it, then things might start going badly for you. Your abbot's already dead, as is the archbishop, and the Northern Church is going to be having problems with deciding who'll be elected. You might get sent to another monastery in the meantime, or even another country, and very few people will want to live in the same place as someone who can kill them all with just a few plants and a pestle and mortar."

"And beetles," Wilfred said, and the man snorted.

"All right, and beetles. Just remember what I said. If circumstances change, and you need somewhere to stay where you won't be thrown out, come to my town. It's in the mountain range in northeast Perrehum, near the northern border."

"What's it called?"

The man shook his head. "It doesn't have a name. Hasn't had one since the last time it was burnt to the ground. I can show you how to find it, though." He leant forward, his right hand extended, and touched his fingertips to Wilfred's forehead. There was a brief, bright flash of light, and Wilfred jerked his head back with a startled yell, blinking several times to try to clear his vision of afterimages. As his vision cleared, he found himself alone in the room once more. The man in the hooded cloak had disappeared somehow, and Wilfred stood up and walked unsteadily over to the coffin, leaning down to rest one hand on it for a few moments.

"Sorry about this, abbot, but I'd better go and get some rest," he murmured, and stood up again to stretch his back. "I'll be back here tomorrow."

Vennick was a quiet town at night, and this night was not much of an exception. The only activity in the town past around midnight was in the Council of Magic, whose windows were blocked with thick curtains at this time of night to prevent any light from waking other people in the town. Inside the council's Great Hall, however, the lights were as bright as they were during the day, and as usual there were fifty people seated at the chairs in the half-circle, though not precisely the same fifty people who had been seated there on the previous day. Only two of the ornate chairs at the front of the hall were filled - Lillian was looking quite alert and awake, though she occasionally closed her eyes in order to focus better on dealing with a particular spell, and Kurt was slouching back in his chair and looking rather bored. He appeared to be letting Lillian deal with most of the counterspells necessary, and it was only when she grimaced and clenched a fist that he murmured several words and placed one hand on top of her clenched one. She sagged back in her seat with a sigh of relief, and gave an embarrassed smile as she unclenched her fist and carefully pulled it away from his.

"I'm sorry about that, Master," she said. "I shouldn't have let a simple spell drag me in like that, even a spell gone wrong."

Kurt was frowning as he took his hand away from where he'd moved it. "That's very odd. It felt like it was a summoning spell for something small, but there were several twists and turns in the way it played out. What on earth was that person thinking when they cast it?"

"Maybe it was one of Alex's recurrent victims?" Lillian said with a touch of sarcasm, and Kurt smiled.

"Now, now, Lillian. Alex isn't quite that bad. Most of his victims never cast anything again that's powerful enough for us to need to stop it, after all."

There was a loud creak from the door to the hall as it swung open, and Kurt turned his head lazily to look, and then hastily stood up and bowed to the person who'd come in. She was a small young woman, with pale blonde hair mostly covered by a black hat, and was wearing an embroidered black dress similar in style to Lillian's. The embroidery was more complex than the designs on Kurt and Lillian's clothes, and was done in a dull grey thread that shone when the light hit it. Kurt moved away from his seat and offered it to her with a hand as she approached, but she smiled tiredly and said,

"It's fine, I'll sit in Alex's seat if he's not here. You sit back in your seat, brother."

"Very well, Rachel." When they were both standing up, Kurt was a full head taller than Rachel, and even when he took his seat he wasn't much shorter than she was. Rachel sat down in Alex's seat a few moments later, and rubbed at her eyes once she'd made herself comfortable.

"What have you been seeing recently?" Kurt asked her, and she sighed.

"Birth, life, death, just as usual. Two of the Fifty are likely to be dead before the end of the year. Master Alex is planning something and trying to twist someone's mind. And-" She broke off, clutching her stomach, and swallowed several times before she continued hoarsely, "And someone's casting spells that hurt. I try to see them, and it's like I'm pulled in and torn apart by whatever they're doing."

"Has there been anything recently that you've felt, Lillian?" said Kurt, turning to address her. Lillian shook her head, replying,

"There have been the usual mistakes and mangled spells, but nothing quite like that. One particularly badly done spell earlier almost caught me out, but..."

"You said that one was dragging you in, I believe," Kurt said with his eyebrows raised.

"It's not the same," Rachel said quietly. "I think I know the spell she means, and that one felt different. I could see much more after it passed, and it felt like... almost like the spell could have gone wrong, but Mistress Lillian managed to set it on the right course once more. It was quite painful after the spell was over, but it was interesting pain, at least. Not like those other spells." She leaned forward in her chair to peer around Kurt, and asked Lillian, "Where did that spell that you fixed come from, Mistress Lillian?"

"Somewhere in Thane, I believe," Lillian replied. "I don't quite understand what the person who cast it was trying to do, but it's a good thing that it was set right before it could get out of hand."

"I really like the way you dealt with it, though," added Rachel with a smile. "Master Alex stops spells so quickly that it gives me a headache to see what's happened, but you're a lot more careful with the consequences."

Lillian simply nodded slightly in reply, and Rachel sat back in her chair, sighing quietly. Kurt asked her, "Has Alan been taking care of you?" and she flushed slightly, and fiddled with the edge of her sleeve.

"Brother Alan's been very kind to me," she said. "He helped me with that illness I had, and he knows how to stop my head from aching so much. But he doesn't get enough rest, and he's always looking after me instead of doing things he'd enjoy..."

Kurt's smile was rather grim. "Alan knows how to take care of himself, and I'm sure he'll be fine. You, on the other hand, have an illness that means you have to-"

"It's not an illness, Kurt," she retorted. "It just hurts sometimes when I see or feel something I'm not used to. You're good at magic, but sometimes you come up against something that exhausts you. That's not an illness, is it?"

"Using magic does not mean I feel exhausted for most of the day, Rachel. And I've never come up against a spell so strong that it made me vomit."

Rachel glared at him, and said, "If it were an illness, it wouldn't have good effects, would it? I've warned you about things before."

"You've warned us about possibilities before."

"Because that's what I can see. I can't tell you about what's going to happen for certain unless... well, nothing's ever certain." Sitting back further in Alex's chair, she hugged her legs to her chest. "And I can't control it like you control your magic. Some days I don't see anything, other days I'm seeing it almost as soon as I wake up and by the time it stops the sun's already set."

The sympathetic smile on Kurt's face looked almost out of place, but he said in a kind tone of voice, "And that's why I'm worried about you. If you can't control it, then it's going to be controlling you instead, and that's just as bad as any illness. Don't get so worried about Alan's health that you don't take care of your own."

"I don't take care of my own, though," Rachel murmured. "Brother Alan cares for me most of the time."

"And speaking of Alan," Kurt said. "Why isn't he with you today? You're not supposed to wander around on your own too much - none of us have as much of an aptitude for healing as Alan does, and even he has problems keeping you well sometimes."

"He's, um..." Rachel twisted her hands nervously. "I think he went to his monastery for a few days. No, he didn't run off, I told him to take a few days of rest!" she added as Kurt's eyes narrowed and he raised one hand. "Please, it's not his fault. I asked him to, and it took a lot of persuading to get him to go."

"Master, please calm down. The Fifty will notice if you get overly agitated," Lillian said, quickly but quietly, from behind him. With a barely suppressed sigh, Kurt lowered his hand.

"I'm disappointed, Rachel. You really should know better. Alan works hard to keep you well, but he does it willingly. Would he have argued with you for so long if he didn't?"

Rachel looked down at her lap, still nervously twisting her hands together. "Please, don't punish him, Kurt. It's my fault he went."

Kurt sighed once more. "I'm not going to punish him. I am, however, going to send someone to collect him and bring him back here." More quietly, he added, "How on earth did you persuade him to leave you for even a day?"

"I, um, told him that you'd said it was all right," Rachel admitted in a voice that could barely be heard over the hum of magic in the room.

"That's all?"

"Well, he doesn't want to make you angry. Nobody does. So I told him that you'd decided it would be best if he took a few days to rest himself and make sure he'd do an even better job when he came back."

Kurt stared at her. "Surely he'd have seen through that."

"Maybe he did." Rachel made a slightly lopsided smile. "I don't think he wanted to be to blame if I was actually telling the truth, though. And I did stick to my story, so eventually he agreed to take a few days of rest. I've been feeling better today, after all, and I don't think he'll need to worry about me."

"Am I really that fearsome?" Kurt asked, and Rachel nodded.

"You are. I think some of the Fifty are quite scared of you."

"Surely you're not scared, though?"

"Not quite as much." Rachel untwined her fingers, and started to fiddle with the embroidery on the edge of her sleeve once again. "I sort of remember what you were like before you were the head of the Council, so you're not quite as scary."

"And you, Lillian?" He turned to look at Lillian with a hint of a smile on his lips. "Are you scared of me?"

Lillian's cheeks flushed red, but she held her head up and replied with a smile of her own. "Of course, Master. Your sister is right. You have incredible control over your magic, and it's why you're the head of the Council, after all."

"Alas, all are afraid of my power," Kurt said melodramatically, holding one hand to his forehead in a tragic gesture, and Rachel snickered.

"Not so much when you do that, Kurt. You're not so scary when you're-" Her voice cut off with a strangled gasp, as she clutched the arms of the chair tightly, her eyes wide but staring blankly into space.

"No, not now, not here..." Kurt muttered, standing up so that he could try to prise Rachel's hands from the chair. "Lillian, find Alex now. Get him to bring Alan back as fast as he can. Within the next hour." Lillian was about to voice a protest, but Kurt cut her off by adding, "I know that Alex can't do that on his own, so you'll have to find him and work with him. Get in contact with him, and find some way for the two of you to act at a distance to bring Alan back."

"Understood, Master," Lillian said quietly, then started to mutter several words under her breath, gesturing sharply. Her eyes grew slightly unfocused as she began to murmur a conversation to Alex through the spell she had just cast, and Kurt succeeded in prying one of Rachel's hands from the arm of the chair she'd had such a firm grip on. He attempted to dislodge the other, but when force failed, he whispered two words and pointed at Rachel's right hand, which relaxed almost instantly. Rachel herself almost tumbled forwards at this, and Kurt caught her, then scooped her up so that he was holding her in his arms, her head leaning over his shoulder.

"One more thing, Lillian. If Alex is in Vennick at the moment, he must return urgently. I'll be caring for Rachel until Brother Alan is back, and so you must watch over the Fifty on your own."

"I'll tell him, Master," replied Lillian, her voice as distant as her gaze. Rachel mumbled incomprehensibly as Kurt carried her towards the door, her gaze still blank and fixed over his shoulder. Her speech was almost garbled, the words still recognisable but jumbled up as her vision changed.

"The mountains and the fire, and she'll die soon but the fire was never there, and..."

Kurt steadied her head as she gasped again, almost choking on the breath she took, and stroked her hair gently as he backed through the door, pushing it open with his shoulder. "It's okay, Rachel," he murmured to her as he left the room. "Alan will be back soon, so just keep yourself calm."

Lillian was still sitting with her eyes distant as she talked to Alex, and from the expression of mild annoyance on her face it didn't appear to be going too well. Her conversation with Alex was, however, far more angry in tone than her face showed.

"What do you mean, he's lost?" she snapped at Alex through the spell link, and Alex's mental voice was weary when he replied.

"I don't know. His monastery haven't seen him in months, let alone in the last week. If you ask me, he took Rachel's suggestion as an invitation to see the sights of Vennick, or just to laze around for the next two days."

"I think you're confusing your brother with yourself," Lillian replied acidly.

Alex's reply was a flat, "What do you want me to do, then?" at which Lillian sighed.

"Can you heal, then?"

"Don't be ridiculous. I don't even know how blood flows, let alone how to heal someone's mind."

"Well, what about Alan's monastery? Is there anyone else there who knows how to heal?"

"They didn't say. They just seemed confused that I even thought he'd be there."

Lillian swore mentally, and then said to him, "For now, just get back to the Council hall. Master Kurt's looking after Rachel for the moment, and much as I detest your company..."

"You need me here?" Alex finished out loud as he took his seat. Startled, Lillian broke off their thought conversation and stared at him.

"Where were you, Alex? You haven't been in here since yesterday afternoon."

"Oh, here and there. Dealing with Council business in Vennick."

"And playing with someone's mind, so I hear."

It was Alex's turn to stare at Lillian, and she smiled sweetly in response.

"Rachel mentioned it before her latest attack. Sounds like you've been doing things you shouldn't."

"I assure you, that's Council business as well." He undid the clasp of his cloak and shrugged it off onto his chair. "Someone has to keep track of the heretics, after all."

"Surely catching heretics is the Church's job," Lillian murmured.

"We're part of the Church, Lillian," Alex said with exaggerated patience. "We just spend less time worshopping and more time praying for magic than most of them. Besides, these heretics are especially irritating. Do you remember that town that Kurt obliterated when he first became head of the Council?"

Lillian nodded, smiling as she recalled it. "It was one of the most impressive spells he's ever cast."

"Well, I came across someone yesterday, quite by accident, who used to live there. She'd left before we destroyed the town, but the talks between Alcine and the Church have brought her back here."

"How old is she?" Lillian asked. "Is she likely to have been involved with... what they were doing?"

Alex shrugged. "Twenty five or so, I'd guess. She can't have been too old at all when she left." He smirked, and added, "I told her what had been done to it. And she says she had a friend who ended up as a member of the Council, so I persuaded her to go back there in return for finding out what had happened to this friend of hers."

"You sent her back there? Why?"

"Well, I had the time and the opportunity to cast a few inobtrusive spells on her. I'll be able to follow her route and see what she's doing, and we can find out if destroying the town really did wipe out the heretics."

"And what if it hasn't?"

"Ah, that's the clever part. One of the spells I cast on her will be able to take over her mind for a few seconds. And a few seconds is all I need to force her to cast a spell to wipe out the town once more."

Lillian looked sceptical. "Wouldn't it be simpler just to destroy her and people around her rather messily? You could channel a spell of your own through her."

"Simpler, yes, but not as effective." He shook his head, and added, "What did you want me to do about Alan?"

"I don't suppose you keep a tracking spell on your own brother, do you?" Lillian said with a sigh. Alex looked unusually thoughtful.

"No, I don't, but I think Kurt said that he does," he replied after a few moments of thought. "Why didn't he find Alan himself? He's had to do it before..."

Lillian murmured the words of a spell and finished it with a tugging gesture, and closed her eyes in concentration for several seconds. When she opened her eyes, she sighed and looked at Alex.

"He wasn't too happy to be reminded of that," she said quietly. "But you were right, and he's summoning Alan back now."

"I have no idea where he went instead of the monastery," said Alex. "He's not too bright, but he also isn't the type to go running off to enjoy himself. Not that there's all that much to do in Vennick, other than see the shrine and try the restaurants."

"And drink," Lillian added. "Which you seem to enjoy at the end of every week."

"The joy of having to work with you, Lillian, makes me want to celebrate. Every week."

"With the strongest drink you can find," she said archly. Alex grinned at this.

"Well, of course. It wouldn't be a proper celebration unless I made that sort of effort."

"Could you at least try not to drink yourself into a stupor? I have to walk past your rooms in the evening, and I'd appreciate it if you 'celebrated' with a little less vomiting."

"For you, Lillian..." He sighed, and stared up at the ceiling. "I'm sure you'd rather I got drunk in my room than that I went out and caused a ruckus in the town, especially if it ended up with me losing control of my magic. And drinking on my own does mean that I don't get suddenly talkative and start telling a complete stranger what the Council does." Glancing back at Lillian, he said, "So, no, I'll stay in my rooms. Besides, I don't drink when I have a spell still active."

At this, Lillian smirked wickedly. "Then you won't be able to drink at the end of this week, will you? Not if you're keeping up the spells on this girl you've decided to watch."

Alex groaned at this, making Lillian smirk even more. "Oh, Alex, don't tell me you hadn't realised that until now."

"Stop gloating, Lillian. You've misjudged before. What about that time when you were one of the Fifty, and you almost got one of the others killed because-"

"Don't," Lillian hissed, her eyes hard. "There are places and times to discuss that, but now and here are neither. And you know as well as I that I've learnt from that mistake."

"It does you well to remember you're human," Alex replied rather airily, and then tapped his chin thoughtfully. "I wonder if I should check on my little heretic now?"

"It's the middle of the night. She's not likely to be awake," Lillian reminded him, but he shrugged.

"I might as well try. Her dreams might make interesting material to look at." He murmured the words of a spell, one that appeared to be longer than usual, and opened his palm to finish the incantation. For a second or two he stood staring blankly into space, and then his eyes widened and he clenched his fist to bring the spell to a close, blinking several times as it dissipated.

"Did you see anything useful?" Lillian said, and Alex shook his head, still blinking as if to clear his vision.

"She's still in Vennick. And I... well, I didn't realise two women could do that sort of thing."

Lillian laughed at this, as quietly as she could, and then replied, "The Church tends not to encourage it. But I'm surprised at your lack of knowledge about women. Or did you not realise that not every girl would find you as irresistable as you find yourself?"

An uncharacteristic blush touched Alex's face for a short time, and he said with forced calmness to Lillian, "I wasn't expecting it, that's all. And it would have been far more useful to see what she was dreaming about, than... well, than what I did see."

"Oh, I don't know," Lillian said thoughtfully. "It tells you that this young woman you're following has a lover, and one that's here in Vennick with her. Even you should be able to see how you can use that to our advantage."

"Have I told you recently how nauseating you can be when you think of something first, Lillian?" Alex replied with a touch of irritation in his voice. Lillian only smiled more widely.

"Several times, Alex. It's probably better for you than drinking too much, so you should learn to tolerate it." She sighed quietly, and looked at the empty seat between them. "Master Kurt would have realised it before I would, of course. Has he managed to call Alan back yet?"

"I'll ask him." It was the work of a few seconds for Alex to cast the spell, close his eyes as he talked to Kurt, and then dispel the magic and open his eyes. "Alan's at Rachel's side now. Kurt mentioned he wasn't going to punish Alan until Rachel had recovered from this last attack, and she could find out what happened when she sent him off for a few days."

"Does your brother have any enemies at all?" asked Lillian. "You said yourself he's not the type to go and carouse all night. It sounds like somebody might have done something to keep him away from here once he left."

"It may not even be enemies of his. Could just be people who dislike the Council," Alex said. "I'm not sure why they'd go for him, of all people. Apart from Rachel and some of the messengers, he's probably the least powerful person who lives and works here." With a frown he added, "At least he's back. You'll have to suggest to Kurt that some council members keep track of him, and to tell him what his orders are so that Rachel doesn't try to send him to the monastery yet again."

"Why do you want me to suggest it?" Lillian said with some surprise. "You always seem more confident when you're presenting an idea to him."

"That's true, of course. It's fun to watch you struggle when you talk to him. You're always so uncomfortable if he gives you even the slightest criticism." He tapped his chin once more, and sighed. "Plus, there's the small matter that he listens to you more closely. And it would be a bad idea to let this happen again - Alan leaving means that Kurt has to look after his sister when she has an attack, and that leaves the two of us having to talk like civilised people for hours on end."

"When we both know that we'd rather be carving pieces out of each other, very slowly and carefully," murmured Lillian.

"Precisely. As much as Kurt seems to think I'm too rash and overconfident-"

"And he's right."

"-as much as he seems to think I'm overconfident, I'd rather spend an afternoon watching over the Fifty with him than with you. At least he doesn't drive me to drink." With a sideways glance at Lillian, he said, "And I'm sure you'd far prefer spending time with Kurt. I've seen the way you look at him."

Lillian blushed, and said, "Master Kurt was there when I made that mistake you decided to mention. He saved me from hurting myself and killing my partner."

"That's not why you spend so much time with him, though. I've had to sort out your mistakes before, and it hasn't made you dislike me any less."

"What exactly do you have to say, Alex?" Lillian asked him, and he gave a shrug and a smile.

"Nothing in particular. I'm just making it clear that both of us would far rather not have to be in the same room for any longer than necessary. Kurt may be rather arrogant sometimes, but he's got the skill to back it up."

"I believe he mentioned I was a better sorceror than you, too," said Lillian, flexing her fingers idly. "You wouldn't want to test that statement any time soon, would you?"

Alex shook his head. "Not while I have this heretic to look after. Besides, you cheat."

"Cheat?" Lillian repeated, sounding innocent. "Why, what on earth could you mean, Alex?"

"You know what I mean. The last time I challenged you, there was no way you could have won fairly."

Lillian shrugged, and her innocent tone was somewhat at odds with the smug smile she was wearing. "It's not my fault if you didn't know how to protect against a paralysis spell. And I did teach it to you afterwards."

"Yes, by casting it on me hundreds of times to demonstrate it before you'd even say the words of the spell loud enough for me to hear. You are vicious, Lillian. Don't think Kurt hasn't noticed it, either."

"Are you sure?"

"Oh, I'm almost certain." He grimaced. "He probably finds it attractive."

"Speaking of Master Kurt... where is he?"

"He's still looking after Rachel," Alex said. "Alan should be able to stop her from being in so much pain, but Kurt still sounded worried about her. He's usually out here on duty when she has her attacks, and doesn't hear about them until they're over, so he just overreacted today."

"Will he be coming back here soon?" Lillian said quietly, to which Alex shrugged his shoulders.

"Depends on when Rachel's attack is over. He might not be back before morning." He stifled a yawn, and said, "I hope he's back soon, though. Not sleeping for a day or two does have its drawbacks."

"You're not starting to imagine things that aren't there again, are you?" said Lillian in a mocking tone.

"Not yet, my dear. And when I do, I'm sure it'll be something interesting like a monstrous beast that's trying to kill me and just happens to be whereever you're standing." He patted his hip, and Lillian's lip curled in distaste.

"I thought Master Kurt made you take that thing off when you were in the Council hall."

"He won't let me wear my sword, no," Alex said. "But I do have a nice, sharp dagger here, just next to where the sword goes. I'd love to introduce the two of you - I'm sure you'd get on very well together."

Lillian's sneer turned into a grimace. "I hope you don't have that to hand when you drink. Imagine the mishaps you could have if anyone let you near sharp objects."

Alex raised an eyebrow. "Fifteen years of training does mean that I know which end of a sword to hold, you know."

"Yes, that's true." Lillian's face was calm once more as she said, "Tell me again. Why was it you were expelled from the Holy Knights?"

"That, Lillian, is as irrelevant as that terrible mistake you made when you were first in the Council. Let's not get too over-excited about the silly things we did when we were young."

"Are you two arguing again?" Kurt said tiredly as he came in. Lillian asked, sounding concerned, "Is Rachel better yet, Master?"

Kurt took his seat, sitting down heavily. "She's not well, but the attack is over. She told me most of what she saw. Alex, I believe you have been manipulating someone without letting me know."

"A refugee from the heretic town in the north-east, Kurt. She wasn't there when you destroyed it, and I persuaded her to go and see whether it was still standing, and set some traps in the process." He cracked the knuckles on one hand, then the other, and said, "If there's anyone still living there, I'll be able to control her body for a few seconds in order to cast a spell and wipe them out."

"Well thought out, Alex," Kurt replied with a rather satisfied smile. "That would explain some of the possibilities Rachel saw. Something involving fire, I believe, and certainly a mountain range. And also a young woman dying." He added, in a drier tone, "I'm quite pleased she didn't see anything that involved the two of you trying to kill each other. Do try not to get too violent in front of the Fifty, as it tends to set a bad example."

"The Fifty aren't exactly children to be taught about good and bad," Alex replied lazily, and Kurt gave him a sharp glance.

"No, but if the leaders of the Council openly fight in the Council hall, then they'll believe that that's how it should be done. And then, when one of us dies somehow, there'll be open dissent and violence. We rule by committee here, rather than by who has the sharpest sword."

"Well, you are stronger than any of us, Master," Lillian murmured. "We do bow to your superior knowledge and experience."

"You may well do, Lillian, but I'm not sure that would stop Alex," said Kurt, smiling. "He's certainly never let it stop him when he's arguing with you."

"I'd certainly be handier with a sword than either of you," Alex said. "Most likely. You've never told us whether you had any training, Kurt."

"Letting you know that sort of thing would be unwise, Alex. Besides, you learnt those skills when you were younger, but you haven't trained for the last five years. Certainly not since you came to Perrehum."

With a grimace, Alex said, "First Lillian mentions it, now you do. Shouldn't we all discuss these things civilly, rather than dragging out each other's past misdemeanours?"

Kurt raised his eyebrows, and replied, "If it made you feel better, Alex, we could pretend that you actually came to Perrehum on pilgrimage, not because nobody in Alcine would let you near their town without throwing stones at you."

"You have a way of telling these stories that makes everyone involved enjoy them very little, Kurt."

"It's a gift," said Kurt. "You ought to be a little more thankful that you came here, though. You don't have to wear anything as heavy as all that armour, and you can still protect yourself just as well as before."

"Except when I decide to challenge Lillian, of course."

"As I've said, Alex, you should know better."

"She does tend to start these arguments, as you know-"

"Shhh," Lillian said a little more loudly than was necessary, her eyes closed in concentration. "I'm sorry, but there's a rather large spell being formed. I didn't want to interrupt you, Master, except I'm not sure that I'll be able to deal with it easily."

Kurt nodded, and placed a hand on hers as he quietly muttered the words to the spell necessary for listening to magic.

"I see what you mean, Lillian," he murmured as he sank into a similar state of concentration. "It does look like it's building up to something. Still, what would a necromantic spell be doing with that amount of power?"

"It's not quite the same as someone trying to raise a human, but the overall amount of power is similar," Lillian said, and next to them Alex spoke the spell and joined in with watching the flow and change in power.

"It looks like it could be lots of small lives," Alex said. "Perhaps it's... I think I know who it might be."

"Would you care to share this information?" Kurt said rather caustically, after a few seconds had passed in silence.

"I believe it's one of the monks at the negotiations here in Vennick. His abbot and archbishop were killed rather suddenly - and quite probably by sorcery - earlier today, and he seemed to have some familiarity with insects. He also appeared to be quite comfortable around dead bodies. I'd suspect he's the necromancer who's acting now."

Kurt was silent for a few moments, then asked Alex, with acid in his tone, "An abbot and an archbishop were murdered by sorcery today, and you just happened to forget to report this?"

"I hadn't been back at the Council hall until now, Kurt, and when I got here you were still looking after Rachel. I never had the opportunity to tell you."

"What a wonderful time for you to mention it," said Kurt, his tone still quite clearly acidic. "I'm sure it can wait until we've dealt with this minor problem, though. What is this necromancer raising, then?"

"It seems like lots of small animals of some sort. Probably insects, if what Alex says is true," Lillian said.

"Lots of insects..." Alex frowned, and said, "Well, there were several hundred honey bees that apparently died when they stung the abbot to death. He's probably raising them, then."

Kurt gave an almost imperceptible shrug. "What can he do with dead honey bees? If they died when they stung this abbot, they're not likely to sting again, and the spell won't last forever."

There was a shift in the tone in the air as the humming became slightly less intense than it had been, and Kurt smiled slightly.

"The spell seems to be nearing its end. Those dead bodies should be back to being dead very soon, and at least this necromancer seems competent enough not to completely mess up the incantations." The humming dropped in intensity once more, and with a sigh of relief Kurt broke the spell, then smiled more widely.

"That was an intriguing change from the incompetents we usually deal with," he said. "I almost wish we had more of those. Far more useful and interesting to chastise someone who knows what they're doing and why they shouldn't do it, than punishing people simply for being totally useless at casting spells."

"Not as enjoyable to stop, though," Alex remarked. Kurt sighed, and replied,

"Yes, Alex, but not all of us share your enthusiasm for needless mental harm. Try to exercise some restraint rather than burning out the minds of every minor sorcerer who crosses your path. Some people would be more useful with their minds left intact."

"I'm only trying to emulate you, Kurt, in the way you can use people's minds so well."

"I manipulate people. I don't turn them into mindless drooling idiots."

"If you say so." Alex shrugged and slouched back in his chair. "Well, now this necromancer has finished with whatever he was doing, would you like to hear about the latest crisis the Church is facing?"