“Is it safe?”
Hanner hesitated slightly; Kirris wasn’t sure everyone noticed. “I think so,” he said. “But we don’t really know. It’s magic. More specifically, it’s wizardry, and I’m sure most of you know that wizardry draws its power from chaos. We can’t be sure there aren’t various hazards in there. I can say, though, that I’ve visited the village and come back safely, and the other people who tried it all came back safely. It seems to be safe.” He straightened up. “Now, I’m sure most of you are tired and hungry. We’ve sent some supplies through the tapestry to the magical village, and there are still empty houses there, waiting for you. If you would follow me upstairs, I’ll show you the tapestry, and you can see what you think.”
Kirris was not eager to draw attention to herself, but stepping through a Transporting Tapestry into some miniature universe was not part of her plans. She joined the crowd, but as they climbed the stairs she maneuvered herself close to Hanner and murmured in his ear, “I don’t know about this tapestry thing. I don’t trust wizardry. Could I stay here in the house?”
Hanner glanced at her. “I can’t promise you a bed,” he said. “I won’t throw you out on the street, but Vond might.”
“I’ll risk it, if you don’t mind.”
“Please yourself, then, but do come take a look at the tapestry first. You might change your mind.”
Kirris didn’t argue, but let herself gradually fall behind the others as they made their way up three flights to the dusty bedroom where the magical tapestry hung. By the time they reached the room she was at the rear of the group, and stood in the doorway, not entering the chamber, as Hanner presented the tapestry.
Kirris had to admit the scene it depicted was beautiful – blue sky, green grass, bright sun. She was not tempted, though; she preferred the real world to some wizard’s fantasy. She listened as Hanner explained how each person had to step aside to make way for the next, because the spell probably wouldn’t work if the reality no longer matched the image, and watched as the first former warlock timidly reached out, touched the fabric, and vanished.
Then she slipped back out into the hallway, and hurried down the stairs, back to the second floor and to the carved door at the top of the grand staircase.
The door was closed, but she was a witch; ordinary physical barriers did not stop her. This room was supposed to be where Vond slept; she reached out, trying to sense him, to feel his thoughts.
It wasn’t hard. He was there, all right, and he was definitely not sleeping. His thoughts were clear, and focused on what he was doing.
Kirris had never really given much thought to the erotic possibilities in warlockry, but Vond obviously had. Magic that provided unlimited stamina, and allowed its wielder to move anything, exert pressure anywhere, heat or cool surfaces – Kirris wondered why she had never before heard stories about the amorous prowess of warlocks. Now that she observed it in action, it seemed obvious. She knew that some witches used sexual magic, she had dabbled in it herself a few times, but she had never heard of it in connection with warlocks.
Maybe the Calling had distracted normal warlocks, or concerns about being Called had kept them from experimenting freely. Vond, however, had no such concerns. The woman with him was happily exhausted, barely able to stay awake; they had clearly been at it for quite some time.
Kirris looked around. She could hear voices from downstairs – more homeless warlocks, perhaps? She could not just stay here at the door; sooner or later someone would see her and want to know what she was doing there. She would be too busy using her witchcraft elsewhere to maintain the spell that kept people from noticing her.
Ideally, she would slip into Vond’s bedchamber and hide in a wardrobe or closet, but she could not see how to manage that with the couple awake in there – they weren’t that intent on their activity, and if the door opened, they would notice. Or at least Vond would; that girl might not stay conscious much longer.
She might be able to hide her entrance with magic, but she was unsure how effective witchcraft would be against Vond. She preferred not to risk it. But the bed was against the west wall, and one of the guest bedrooms adjoined it. She crossed to that room’s door and tested the latch. The door swung open.
There were signs of recent occupancy, including several bundles of clothing and a stack of books on the floor by the bed, but no one was in the room. Kirris slipped in, and closed the door behind her. Kirris looked at the wall that separated this chamber from Vond’s, and was pleased to see a closet door. She quickly crossed the room.
The closet was empty, which was a little surprising at first, especially given the bundles by the bed, but then she remembered that most of the house was inhabited by refugees who had no clothing except what they had been wearing when they were Called. This room’s occupant had apparently acquired some garments somewhere, but probably hadn’t had time yet to put them in the closet.
She stepped into the closet and pulled the door shut behind her, then settled to the floor in the darkness, her back against the wall. She could have made a light, but it might show; instead she left the closet dark, and closed her eyes, using her magic to sense what lay beyond the wall behind her.
Vond was finally done, not because he was tired, but because his companion was unable to stay awake any longer. He slid off her, and started to get out of bed.
That was not what Kirris wanted. She reached out, and cast a whisper into the warlock’s mind. “A little sleep might be nice,” she thought. “Not needed, of course, but nice. Enjoy this lovely bed, and wake up next to this girl.”
She could feel him hesitate. She felt him turn and look at the sleeping woman.
“There’s no hurry,” she thought at him. “There’s all the time in the World. Everyone else is going to bed now; why shouldn’t you?”
She knew that her messages were reaching him, but she was not certain they were coming across as his own thoughts. She did not sense any real barrier from his own magic, but he was always wary – she could see that, could see that it was part of his nature.
She knew he had stopped, and was looking at his sleeping companion. Then he glanced around the room, at the burning lamps, at the marble statue of a woman and the little bronze on the bedside table, and at the white-and-gold bed-curtains.
Kirris waited, holding her breath. Then Vond lay back, let out a sigh, and closed his eyes. A moment later he was sound asleep.
Kirris still waited, crouching in the closet with her eyes closed, watching as the warlock – the last warlock – settled into a sound slumber. When she was certain that he was not going to awaken for at least a few minutes, she felt his mind, felt the shape of it. She could sense the structure in the brain that resonated with the magic that permeated the World.
She had studied that structure before, and she could tell immediately that Vond’s was slightly different. It was…bigger here, smaller there, shaped a little differently. It was sensitive not just to the magic that had formerly poured out of Aldagmor, but to the very different power that came from somewhere to the southeast – from the towers in Lumeth, presumably.
Kirris knew that normal warlocks could not be turned back into ordinary humans; once the brain had become attuned to it, it could not close out the Aldagmor source and continue to function. This other power, though, might be different. She might be able to shut down Vond’s magic, reducing him to just one more former warlock. She reached out…
And hit a barrier. She could magically see the inside of Vond’s head, but she could not touch it. It wasn’t that the structural changes couldn’t be reversed and the power shut out without destroying his mind, as was the case with an ordinary warlock, but that he had erected a protective barrier that somehow stayed in place even while he slept. She could not tell whether it was a permanent structure of some sort, or whether he had trained himself to maintain it even when unconscious, but it blocked her witchcraft quite effectively.