The Perilous Sea (35 page)

“I don't know and neither did Icarus—though my guess was the Kalahari Realm. Mages from all over the world had settled there and intermarried. That sometimes produces a startling beauty in the children, different from anything else one is used to seeing.”

Mrs. Hancock sighed. “I met him when I was honored with a summer apprenticeship at Royalis.
14
Nowadays the Bane rarely leaves the Commander's Palace in the uplands, but that summer he happened to stay in the capital. And of course, wherever the Bane was, Icarus was never far away.

“The Bane asked him one question a month. It took Icarus two weeks to recover from a question and the Bane usually let him have two more weeks of—normalcy, I suppose. Of not being so exhausted he could scarcely move an eyelid.

“On days he was strong enough to get up and walk around, he would come into the library, where I worked. We became friends—very good friends. And that was all we were allowed to become. He could not do more than speak to a girl, for it was believed fleshly contacts would tarnish his gift.

“Part of me wishes that our story is only that of a pair of star-crossed lovers—my life would have been simpler. But no, we both happened to be in the midst of a crisis of faith, concerning our devotion to the Bane. And in that sense, I was the best and worst possible friend he could have made—and vice versa.

“It rather horrified me to learn that the Bane did not ask questions about the best direction for the realm, or the most qualified person to lead a given initiative. Instead, many of his questions ran along the lines of
Who will be my greatest threat in the next year?

“But my dismay was only beginning. When Icarus was a child, he had often become unconscious at the end of an oracular session, and would have no recollection of either the question or the answer he gave. As he grew older and gained greater control over his gift, however, he began to be able to recall what took place during his sessions with the Bane.

“At night, on his bed, he would silently say those names that he had given as answers over the years. He repeated the string of names to me, those hard weights on his conscience. And when he came to one particular name, I—”

Mrs. Hancock closed her eyes momentarily. “I heard my sister's name. My sister was seventeen when she disappeared on a camping trip with her friends. She was seen getting into her tent at night, but in the morning she was not there. Her friends searched and searched. My parents and I—and everyone we ever knew, plus a great many mages we never knew—we combed the entire place top to bottom, but there was no trace of her. The area had been known to have giant serpents in the past and no one in the family could bear to mention it, but we had each become convinced that my beautiful sister had become some terrible beast's supper, for there could be no other explanations.

“But now her name came up. I asked Icarus if he remembered the question. He did. The question was,
Who is the most potent elemental mage who has yet to attain adulthood?

“My sister was an elemental mage. And my mother used to say that my sister was the most powerful elemental mage she had ever come across. She ought to know—she had been a headmistress for many years.

“Icarus and I stared at each other, stunned, paralyzed almost, by the possible implications of our discovery. But how could we know whether it was a coincidence, her name passing his lips followed by her disappearance a week later, or whether there had been sinister forces at work?

“The idea was Icarus's. He was near the end of his month and the Bane would soon be making use of him. But in two weeks, when he had recovered his strength, he wanted me to ask him a question:
The next time the Bane asks about the most potent elemental mage who has yet to attain adulthood, what would happen to that elemental mage?

“We did as we planned. I asked the question, trembling all over, and he sank into a deep trance. After almost a quarter of an hour, he spoke in a deep, eerie voice: ‘That elemental mage will be used in sacrificial magic.' ”

Iolanthe felt as if she had been skewered through the chest. “But sacrificial magic—that is
taboo
.”

“No,” Kashkari muttered, as if to himself. “No. No. No.”

“You already think the worst of the Bane,” said Mrs. Hancock. “Can you imagine the force of the blow, upon two young people who had not yet become entirely disillusioned? It felt like an earthquake, the foundation of an entire life breaking apart.

“The next month I asked Icarus what the Bane would hope to achieve, the next time he performed sacrificial magic.
To prolong his life
was the answer we received. That made no sense. If the Bane were at the end of his life, perhaps one could understand the sordid desperation that drove him to sacrificial magic. But he was a man in his prime. So the next month we asked how old he would be on his next birthday. One hundred seventy-seven was the answer.

“I remember how nauseated I felt, how clammy. The very idea of it was repugnant and horrifying—that he had given himself this unnaturally long life by sacrificing young elemental mages like my sister.

“It was the last question I was able to ask Icarus, before he was whisked back to the Commander's Palace at the end of summer. But I had been offered a permanent position at the library and we made a pact to each find out as much as we could and meet again the next summer.

“When Icarus wasn't in oracular mode, people tended to regard him as something of an overgrown infant, because he was deliberately kept in a state of ignorance, allowed to read nature books and fairy tales, but not allowed any access to news, for fear knowledge of the actual world would pollute his answers. Icarus had always played to that. So during those ten months, he was able to use that perception—and the fact that he was one of the Bane's most prized possessions—to his advantage.

“And he found out that indeed, during the years of his tenure as the Bane's oracle, three elemental mages had had ‘private audiences' with the Bane. The guards he had spoken to were lower-level security and were almost as ignorant as he—only much less curious. They simply assumed that after the audiences, the young elemental mages had been whisked back to the capital via some sort of expedited means, which was why no one had seen them again.

“He also found out about the lowest levels of the Commander's Palace. He had thought that the palace had three levels belowground, but it actually had five. Only the Bane himself, and occasionally one of his most trusted lieutenants, were allowed in the secret levels.

“I searched for information on the other names that Icarus had given to the Bane over the years, those who were the Bane's threats. Most were names I'd never heard of. Some I found in archives of overseas newspapers we had at the library, mages from various other realms who had been arrested shortly after their names had been given and who were often subsequently executed on charges of murder, corruption, or even gross indecencies.

“Ten months we had to accustom ourselves to the Bane's monstrosity. But still, when we finally met again and exchanged all that we had learned, neither of us could stop shaking. That was when Icarus told me that he could no longer live like this. That even last summer he had thought of taking his own life.

“I begged him to think no more of it. The idea that in the afterlife his beautiful soul would not be able to soar with the Angels—I could not bear it. But his mind was made up. It was the only way, he said. But before that we must still ask him a few questions.

“The question he wanted me to ask frightened me so much I almost could not speak it aloud.
How will the Bane be killed?
The answer: ‘By venturing into the deepest level of the Commander's Palace and opening his crypt.'

“It was not a good answer for us. Besides his oracular powers, Icarus had no other training in any kind of magic. And I was a simple librarian far away in the capital. Icarus's despair almost threatened to tow both of us under, but I told him he must remain strong and appear normal, for I would ask a different question the next month.

“My question was,
How can I do my part to help kill the Bane?
It was the first time I had interjected myself into a question; tears of terror fell down my face even as I spoke. I remember his answer word for word. ‘When the great comet will have come and gone, the Bane will walk into Mrs. Dawlish's house at Eton College.'”

“The great comet has already come and gone,” said Kashkari, his voice unsteady.

Mage astronomers had first discovered the comet in August of the previous year. At its brightest, the comet almost rivaled the brilliance of the sun's corona, a beautiful, if also slightly ominous, portent that dominated the night sky and could even be seen during the day.

“I had to look up Eton College and Mrs. Dawlish's house. I found the former, but not the latter, and Icarus and I were both bewildered at why the Bane would deign to visit this impossibly insignificant nonmage school. Then we decided that it didn't matter. I would be there at Mrs. Dawlish's house at Eton College, ready and waiting, when the Bane walked in, whenever it would be.

“The Domain was still a wealthy realm with a relatively vigorous ruler and a centralized power structure—the Bane always saw it as a potential source of trouble. The crown princess of the Domain was expecting and the two most recent questions the Bane had asked of Icarus concerned the gender of the child and whether the child would someday take the throne. So we knew the future heir of the House of Elberon was most certainly on the Bane's mind.

“From time to time, he would ask Icarus what he should do as precautionary measures. Icarus was resolved that the next time he was asked the question, he would only pretend to sink into a trance—he had been so reliable for so long, the Bane no longer verified whether his trances were true trances—and tell the Bane that the heir of the House of Elberon should be sent to this nonmage school and I should be deployed as a special envoy of the Department of Overseas Administration to keep an eye on him.

“Icarus planned to go on as the Bane's oracle for another half year—so his words about Eton and me would not stand out. And then he would kill himself in such a way as to appear to have died of natural causes.”

Mrs. Hancock exhaled slowly. “That was the last time I saw or spoke to him. He returned to the Commander's Palace three days later and by the next spring he was dead. His death aroused no suspicions—everybody had always assumed he wouldn't live long; those powers seemed simply too miraculous to go on existing.

“I requested a transfer to the Department of Overseas Administration. In time I was sent to reconnoiter Eton. Mrs. Dawlish had just started her own residence house for the boys. I applied for a position. She took someone else first, but the woman turned out to be unsuitable. I managed to get in a few weeks before His Highness came to the house.

“Now it was just a matter of waiting. The comet came last year. The nonmages were just as excited about it as the mages. Their newspaper reported sightings until February of this year. I thought I was ready but still, when Fairfax came that April, the first evening I was so nervous I could scarcely say grace before dinner.”

Iolanthe was taken aback. “You thought I was the
Bane
?”

“I thought perhaps you were a scout. Then, this afternoon, West came.”

Titus sent Iolanthe a what-did-I-tell-you look.

“I have seen the Bane quite a few times in my life. When West walked into my office to sign the visitor registry, I thought my knees—and my heart, too—would give out. It was exactly as Icarus had said,
When the great comet will have come and gone, the Bane will walk into Mrs. Dawlish's house at Eton College.

“I watched him at cricket practice—to make sure I hadn't let some mistaken initial impression overwhelm my judgment. The more I stared at him, the more I was certain it had to be him. I decided that there was no point in waiting longer. I would proceed immediately.

“Imagine my surprise and dismay when I reached his house and found out that he had left only minutes ago—his father had sent for him because his mother was feeling poorly, according to the master of his house. I vaulted to all three of the nearest railway stations. He did not turn up anywhere. Not knowing what else to do, I stole into his room and searched through his possessions. The next thing I knew, Kashkari was in the room with me, a wand in his hand.”

“If the prince told you what I told him,” Kashkari said to Iolanthe, “then you already know that I came to Eton because of what someone said about Wintervale in one of my dreams. But I did not learn, until very recently, that the person who spoke was Mrs. Hancock.

“The prince was convinced that Mrs. Hancock was a loyal agent of Atlantis. I hoped it would be otherwise, but I had no evidence. Then today, Mrs. Hancock came to watch cricket practice, which I thought was odd, since she almost never left the house—”

“I didn't want to not be here when the Bane walked in,” said Mrs. Hancock.

“Then I saw her from my window, leaving again. I followed her, which led me to West's residence house. When she went inside West's room, I decided that I might as well confront her right there.”

“Kashkari said, ‘I am an enemy of the Bane. If you are too, say so now.' After I recovered from both my shock and fright, I demanded a truth pact.
15
With the truth pact in place, we proceeded rather swiftly. And when we dissolved the pact a quarter of an hour later, I recommended that we check school offices for West's record.

“His father is an Oxford University professor. Neither of us had been to Oxford so we couldn't vault. Kashkari volunteered his flying carpet. We gave some excuses, skipped supper, and flew to Oxford.

“The family was just sitting down to supper. We hid ourselves in the next room, but it was quite obvious Mrs. West was not in any kind of ill health. Then a girl asked whether her brother would be home for her birthday. And Professor West replied that he had received a letter from West today stating that indeed he would be home Saturday after next.