Heroes at Odds (31 page)

“He was injured!” Cars objected.

“And if Source Karish had been the injured party, you would have me make the same decision?”

Cars opened his mouth, and I was dead sure he was going to lie. Fiona apparently was, too. She raised her eyebrows at him, daring him. He closed his mouth.

Heh.

“I know you’re supposed to conduct the final test tomorrow,” said Browne. “But I don’t advise you to. Maybe not for a few days, depending on what’s going on with your head.”

“We will wait until he is sound before proceeding to the final test,” Taro announced.

I held back a sigh. The challenge was supposed to require only three days. It was taking a couple of weeks, instead. That couldn’t be a good thing. Variation from a regular schedule rarely was.

Shortly after we returned to the manor, I learned that Marcus had a concussion, but that it wasn’t severe, and he needed to rest for only a few days. I was surprised at the strength of the relief I felt. It would have been awful if he’d died. Certainly, it would have made my life easier if he had, but he seemed to be a decent man, and the world could always stand to have more of those.

A little while later, I was beginning to wonder if I’d been the one to get hit on the head. The headache that developed over the course of the afternoon was piercing and brought on an intense level of nausea. Most alarming, when Taro touched me it subdued only a fraction of the pain. I still ended up throwing up, which made me feel like my skull was going to shatter.

“It’s that damn drug,” Taro groused.

“That doesn’t make sense. I was feeling better.”

“Drugs have unpredictable results. You said Nab told you what the effects were. Did she include vomiting?”

“No. And talking about vomiting is making it more likely that I’ll need to do it again.” I breathed shallowly through my nose.

“Could you Shield now, if you had to?”

“Of course.” I would have to, wouldn’t I?

Though, when I contemplated casting the spell, I found it very difficult to remember the words. That wasn’t good.

“I don’t believe you.”

I shrugged.

“I’m getting Nab.”

“It’s just a headache.”

“She caused it. She can alleviate it.” He kissed my forehead. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

I couldn’t even bear to lie down. I sat in a chair, holding my head in my hands, breathing carefully.

Returning as soon as he could wasn’t quite soon enough. I ended up throwing up again, and had to concede Taro might have been right.

It was a bizarre reaction. Maybe it had something to do with my being poisoned a few months before. My current symptoms felt similar to what I’d felt then. But I couldn’t believe something from the poison could have remained in my body for so long.

I seemed to get sick and injured a lot. It was annoying.

A horrible explosive noise ripped through the air and shattered in my mind. I clenched my teeth against a scream as I saw some weird sort of light flash up and flash away just outside the closest window. What the hell was that?

I moved closer to the window. Out of nowhere, an odd, contained clot of white light just appeared with another explosive crack. I’d never seen anything like it. Was it some kind of peculiar lightning?

But there was no rain. And the sound accompanying the light wasn’t anything like thunder.

I was so rattled by the light, in so much pain from my headache, that it took a few moments to become aware of the almost unpleasant shivery sensation just under my skin. Which meant someone was casting a spell. All right. What was the point of it? To scare people, I supposed. I imagined it would do a pretty good job.

Where were these people getting these spells?

Feeling dizzy, I stepped back and sat down. And this was fortunate, as the next flash of light hit the nearest window, smashing the glass and warping the ironwork. A second ball of light quickly appeared thereafter, this time developing on the floor just inside the window and leaving a scorch mark. I imagined I could feel the strength of it against my skin.

All right, now I was starting to get scared.

So were others in the house. I could hear shouts and screams and heavy and fast footsteps. And was that something burning?

I could hear the door to our suite being thrown open. “Shintaro!” Fiona called. “Shintaro!”

“In here!” I answered precisely in time to another flash of light. That was unnerving.

Fiona ran in. “What’s going on?” she demanded. “Where’s Shintaro? Why aren’t you doing something?”

“This is some kind of spell,” I told her. “This isn’t something a Pair can do anything about.”

“Can’t you do something? You can cast.”

“If there’s something that can be done with a cast, it’s beyond my knowledge and ability.”

“Where’s Shintaro?”

“There’s something wrong with me,” I admitted. “Taro’s gone to fetch Browne.”

“In this?”

“It wasn’t doing this when he left.”

“What’s wrong with you?”

“Don’t know exactly.”

“There has to be something you can do,” said Fiona. “Please, Dunleavy. It’s hitting the manor. We’ve got to stop this.”

“I honestly don’t know.”

“Damn it!” She left as quickly as she’d come.

I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate. Was there anything I could be doing? Was there a spell I could use, one that wasn’t an obvious choice but could be helpful with a little creative application?

Thoughts felt heavy, pressing hard against my headache.

Bailey was the next person to storm into my room, which shocked me almost as much as the light balls appearing out of thin air. “Please, Shield Mallorough,” he said. “Under any circumstances, I would never presume to disturb you, but the manor itself is being destroyed. There must be something you can do.”

Destroyed? “I’m sorry, but there isn’t.” I hated having to admit it.

“Where’s Source Karish?”

“He’s gone to visit Healer Browne.”

“I will fetch him back.”

“You can’t go out in that.”

“It’s barely safer in here.”

“There’s no point. Karish can’t do anything.”

Bailey shocked the hell out of me by not answering before dashing out of the room.

All right, this was enough. I opened the overmantel of the fireplace in our bedchamber. I pulled out a spell book and flipped through the pages, trying to find a spell that might be anywhere close to useful. But when I tried to actually read the words, it made my headache and my nausea more intense.

Anger bubbled up in my chest. Damned kyrra powder. Browne should have told me my reaction to it could be so severe. I wouldn’t have taken it. The circle probably hadn’t even needed me. I doubt the absence of one person would have made a real difference.

So I put everything back and sat on the end of the bed.

Not long after, I heard the door of the suite being flung open. “Lee!”

“In here.”

Taro strode in, followed by Browne.

“You’re crazy,” I accused him. “Running about in that . . . whatever it is.”

“We didn’t know it was focused around the manor until we got here. It seemed very far off at first.”

“It’s a cast,” I said.

“Aye,” Browne responded.

“Do you think it’s Kent?”

“Probably.”

So our attempt to warn him off had failed. Or had made him even more determined to act.

Browne flinched when the glass of another window was blown out. “Do you have any cave crystals?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

I frowned. “Why would I? I gave them all to you.”

Browne rooted around in her sack and retrieved a small bag. “I’ll be back soon.”

“You can’t leave Lee like this,” Taro objected.

“She can wait. I’m not sure the manor can.”

“You’re not leaving her like this.”

“Don’t you try that lord of the land demeanor with me, boy. You said you can’t do anything about the lights. I can.”

“There’s a tsunami coming.”

I looked at him. “What?” He hadn’t told me that.

“I felt it coming on the way back.” He turned to Browne. “She has to be able to Shield before it gets here.”

“One disaster at a time, Source.” And she left, ignoring Taro’s demands.

“She’s a healer, isn’t she?” Taro ranted. “That is her primary responsibility, is it not?”

“To Fiona and her people,” I said. “Maybe not us, so much.” Besides, I’d lasted this long, and it sounded like the manor was about to come down around our ears.

“It’s more important that you are at full strength. There is an event coming.”

“I can Shield if I have to.”

“It’s stupid to force you to do so when you’re at half strength, especially when a solution is currently walking about the manor.”

There was another explosion of light. Gods, it was loud. And the air felt sharp, almost painfully so.

It seemed to be making my headache worse.

Taro started pacing.

“Stay away from the window.” Getting hit by one of those spheres of light had to hurt like hell. If it wasn’t fatal. Was it fatal?

Taro sharply changed the direction of his pacing.

And then another ball appeared in another window. The timing was frightening.

“There’ll be no windows left in this damn place,” Taro complained.

Which would probably be interpreted as another sign of bad luck.

And all of a sudden, the air wasn’t so painful. “Ah,” I said.

“What?” Taro demanded.

“It’s working.”

“What’s working?”

“Whatever Browne’s doing.”

“There’s still light flashing about,” said Taro.

And people continued to shout and scream and run around, yet . . . “The air feels better.”

“What does that even mean?”

“Can’t you feel anything?”

He paused in his pacing, facing me, his hands clasped behind his back. “There is an odd crackling sensation against my skin. Is that what you mean?”

“Something like that.”

He resumed pacing. “She needs to hurry up. That tsunami is getting closer.”

The air changed again. There was something curving and almost smooth about it, like the shell of an empty egg. I lifted a finger to touch it, but there was nothing there. It confused me.

It was soothing, and my headache and nausea eased just a little.

“The lights aren’t hitting the manor anymore,” said Taro.

“I can hear them.”

“The lights are still playing about the sky. They’re just not reaching the roof or walls.” He leaned closer to the window.

“Stay away!” I said as loudly as I could manage.

He ignored me. “It’s bizarre. These balls of light appear, but only half of them actually form. It’s like they’re sheared into pieces. It’s fascinating.”

I didn’t care. It was insane to be hanging by the window right then. “Please.” To my worry and frustration, he refused to move.

The manor was still ringing with screams and shouts. I guessed no one else could feel the change in the air.

Fiona stormed back in. “You two all right?” she demanded.

“Where the hell is Nab?” Taro demanded. “Lee’s a wreck.”

“Are you?” Fiona asked me.

“No.”

“If she were dying, she would say she was fine,” Taro groused.

“I would not. I complain about things all the time.”

“I’ll see if I can find her. Right now I’m just trying to make sure no one’s dead.” And she was gone again.

In time, the lights faded out. The screams stopped, and the intensity of the footsteps pounding through the halls lessened. That soothed my headache as well.

“I think he’s given up,” said Taro. “Would his casters be able to feel whether the lights were getting through?”

I had no idea.

We waited. A long time, I felt. It was over. What was Browne doing?

Taro was pacing again, looking grim. He could feel the tsunami coming. I wondered if he was having to fight off channeling it. He was used to attacking events as soon as he felt them.

And finally, Browne came back. “Everything all right?”

“There’s a tsunami coming, damn it,” Taro snapped. “She has to be able to Shield.”

“Nice to see you’re so worried about her,” Browne muttered, blowing her bangs out of her face.

That wasn’t the issue right then; it wasn’t what was important.

Browne dug around her sack again, this time taking out a small box, longer than it was wide and deep. She opened it and took out a small, shiny dark blue leaf. She held it out to me. “Put this under your tongue.”

When I took the leaf from her, I realized it was hard, brittle, and sharp. That wasn’t going to be comfortable to be putting under my tongue. However, as soon as it was in place, it began to dissolve.

And as it dissolved, its flavor crept out from under my tongue, sliding over the sides of my mouth and crawling onto my tongue. I, to the best of my knowledge, had never eaten rancid meat, but I imagined this was somewhat what it tasted like. “Zaire!”

Browne put a hand under my chin and pushed up. “Keep your mouth shut.”

It was vile. Far worse than the kyrra powder.

“Swallow,” Browne ordered.

I closed my eyes instinctively. The leaf had dissolved completely: my mouth was filled with curdled saliva.

“Swallow.”

I swallowed. I couldn’t help screwing my face up with disgust. “Is this some form of entertainment for you? Concocting remedies that taste that bad?”

“Yes, it is,” Browne answered with sarcasm that was impossible to ignore. “That was for your head.” She held out a small dark orange bottle. “This is for your stomach.” She pulled out the cork. “It’s going to taste spectacularly awful.”