Chapter 24 #2
“The ones that didn’t take the loyalty oath, sure.” Gallmau had started the fire, and he added on more wood to provide some light and heat during the night. “Zhang Jue and Jacques’s father Odart are the only two witches in the Noviodunam who submitted to it.”
“Odart is bound by a loyalty curse to the Grimoard line?” Sinan had heard of Soissons’s version of the enchantment, which prevented the sorcerer from harming a member of the royal family.
From what he knew, it applied only to the lineage of the old Grimoard kings.
Queen Xiaolian wouldn’t be protected by it, but her daughter Rixende and even Gallmau, who wasn’t a legitimate heir, would be.
In other words, it was a blood spell. How like the royalty of Soissons to use necromantic magic when it suited their purposes.
“Odart is bound, yes.” Gallmau used a knife to divide the hard sausage and cheese into smaller pieces for everyone to eat, avoiding any eye contact with Meri. “So is Abarsam—but to the Sultana of Kush, not to the Grimoard line.”
Meri’s eyes were murderous now, and Sinan remembered the number of knives she carried on her. Maybe moving over to sit by Valentina would be a good idea.
“Jacques was scheduled to take the loyalty oath right before Rixende was abducted.” Valentina’s voice had a hitch in it now.
“He couldn’t afterward because he would have been weak for days or longer.
He told me his father tried to convince him not to do it.
Is there—any way Jacques could still be alive? ”
“What did you find at the site of the attack?” Sinan was curious about what had happened to Odart’s son. Granted, the incensor was likely dead, but this entire quest had made little sense since Karakoncolos had first received Queen Xiaolian’s threatening letter about her daughter’s abduction.
“Lots of burn marks and soaked grass,” Gallmau responded. “If Jacques took anyone out before they got him, his attackers took their dead with them.”
Sinan had all too clear a memory of the damage Jacques had inflicted upon his people and doubted the fire mage had been overwhelmed before killing some of his attackers.
The incensor had taken them all on to give Valentina a chance to live.
This shouldn’t matter to him, since the medica was technically as much his enemy as Jacques was, but somehow it did.
She deserved to know what had happened to Jacques, and if he had his Gift back, he could at least give her that comfort.
“Did you see an area with large bloodstains?” There was an uncomfortable silence, and Sinan reminded himself his companions might not be as comfortable discussing death as he was. “That would tell us if they harvested his relic there or took him away to do it later.”
Gallmau looked puzzled, even as Meri’s eyes hardened and Valentina paled. “Relics are—old bones of Saints and stuff like that. What are you talking about?”
Meri swung into an explosion of movement. She grabbed Sinan’s pack, rummaged through it, and threw a small bag at Gallmau.
The prince caught it out of the air, opened it, and examined the contents without any indication he understood what they were. “Are these marbles? Because you can’t roll them with that weird bump on them.”
“Sinan cut Cliona’s eyes out of her sockets and turned them into bone.” Meri was also comfortable talking about death and explaining hard truths to Gallmau. “He’s asking you if there was evidence they did that to Jacques before dragging his body off.”
“Actually.” Sinan hesitated, because Valentina had put her hand to her mouth as if she was about to retch. “It wouldn’t be his eyes.”
“His heart.” Valentina choked the words out.
Clearly, even though Jacques had broken their engagement to woo Rixende, she still had some fondness for the man.
After a deep breath, she continued in a more clinical tone.
“With a captured incensor a necromancer would want the heart. That would mean cracking open the chest, perhaps by sawing through the sternum. There would be significant evidence left behind.”
“I didn’t see that amount of blood.” Gallmau shook his head. “My guess is they left with Jacques as soon as they could, leaving one man behind to take out Valentina, because they didn’t think she’d be much of a threat.”
“That would make sense.” Sinan had been thinking along the same lines. “Harvesting the relic is best done right after death for optimal power, or better yet—starting the removal while the captive is still alive.”
There was another uncomfortable stretch of quiet before Gallmau stared at the white orbs in his hand with the blood-drop pupils and asked, “If these are magic, could Valentina use them to call for help from Naghwe? Not that I’m looking forward to seeing Sinan’s undead sex demon mother again.”
“No,” Valentina answered before Sinan could explain further. “I’ve already broken enough rules of my guild. I’m not experimenting with necromancy.”
Meri turned toward Gallmau. “Valentina and I aren’t willing to use Cliona’s eyeballs, but since you’re accusing Abarsam of treachery, maybe a member of royalty such as yourself should volunteer to try Sinan’s death magic.”
The prince paused as he was about to take a bite out of a chunk of cheese. He shook the relics in his hand, as if about to roll dice. “You want me to try to cast a spell with these?”
“I don’t think you’re the most likely choice to use a necromantic charm.” Sinan didn’t want to insult him, but the prince was in every way the opposite of the Blessed.
Gallmau considered the cheese in one hand and the eyeballs in the other. He furrowed his brow. “I could give it a try, I guess. It’s probably a mortal sin, but that’s what confession’s for. Maybe I could call up your little rat friend.”
“Ghost magic is especially difficult.” Sinan was about to continue, but Gallmau was already holding up the food and making kissing noises to call the undead animal to him. It was patently the worst first attempt at a necromantic spell Sinan had ever seen.
And yet, the damn ghost rat showed up seconds later, popping out of a shaded spot on the ground and ambling over to snatch the cheese out of Gallmau’s fingers as its blue eyes glowed in delight.
Sinan couldn’t use Cliona’s relics to even send a shadow letter, but the prince had somehow summoned a corpus animatum that should have been destroyed by the Amor Vitriol.
The rodent, perhaps to humiliate Sinan further, cast another stretch of shadow with no apparent effort and vanished again.
Gallmau sighed and put Cliona’s relics back into the pouch. “You asked me to try death magic, and I did. Maybe the little guy will go for help after he finishes the cheese.”
“What was that?” Valentina pointed at the spot where the ghost rat had vanished, then let her hand fall. “Never mind. I don’t want to know.”