Atera did not return until evening. She did not explain or apologize for her absence. That night, when I went to her chamber door, I found it locked.
"If that's the way you wish it, stay in there!" I bellowed through the door. I ordered the servants to bar it so she could not leave. After overseeing the work, I went to my library. There I fell asleep trying to make sense out of some old and incomplete instructions for turning copper into gold.
A strange rustling woke me, as if the pages of the books on the shelves around me had somehow come alive. Even the closed book on which my head rested vibrated at my touch. Fearful of what I might find, I opened it.
Bookworms! A dozen of them feasted on the pages of the text, their tiny bodies the same parchment shade as their meal. I shook them to the floor. Their color hastily changed to that of the flagstones, and they scattered as I stomped on them. When I'd killed as many as I could find, I moved to the shelves where hundreds were devouring my other texts. I shook them free of each text, stomping them as soon as they hit the floor. Soon the flags were slimy with crushed bodies. Yet the hungry horde continued its destruction.
Words gone. Knowledge gone. The power of that knowledge gone! Mere wealth could not repair my loss.
"Raven!" I screamed. "Raven come here!"
As I turned back to the shelf nearest the wall, I glanced out the window and saw smoke rising from the stables, servants rushing to beat out the blaze. They were too late. When the doors opened, the fire flared. I heard the whinnies of the horses, the pounding of their hooves against their paddock doors, the cries of the stablehands. If I hadn't problems enough in the library, I would have gone to help.
As Raven and I labored to save the books, I saw Lord Romul's note lying on the floor. When I picked it up, it crumbled in my hand.
"Could he have sent bookworm eggs?" I asked Raven.
The wizard nodded. Hours later, after we had salvaged what we could, I went outside to see the ruins of my stables. Only three mounts had managed to escape the fire. Atera's bay mare was one of them.
"Quite a coincidence, don't you think?" I asked Raven as we examined the burns on the horse's left flank. I spoke coldly, finally convinced that all my suspicions were true.
"The mare was lucky," Raven responded. "I'm glad for Atera's sake."
"But suppose it wasn't luck. Suppose Atera is a part of the plot and would not let her mount be harmed," I insisted.
He paused before speaking, weighing his words carefully, "Atera loves you. Yet, there are ways in which she could be made unfaithful against her will," he said.
"Ensorceled! Yes, that must be it. She certainly hasn't been herself since we returned to Espar." I felt suddenly glad I had guards at her door. "Raven, what can I do to end these plots?" I thought of the pockmarked merchants and felt a thrill of excitement I hadn't experienced since Saer-loon.
His words disappointed me. "I am not certain. Let me consider it," he said. "In the meantime, write Lord Romul and tell him you accept his invitation."
"Of course! I must go see firsthand if he is gloating over my loss."
I penned a cordial reply, then took it to Atera. As she read my words, I told her that jealousy had turned me into an idiot. "I could never really doubt you," I said. "Forgive me."
Tears came to her beautiful eyes. She embraced me. Our reconciliation was long and satisfying.
The visit to Lord Romul accomplished everything I'd hoped for. He and his wife had arranged a magnificent meal, even hired some local musicians to play through the dinner. I tried to appear relaxed as I waited for some clue as to why the nobleman had become my enemy.
I discovered the cause after the meal, when he took me aside to speak to me privately. "Before your brother died, we had discussed the sale of your north fields that border my own grazing area. Since your livestock is so decimated and you have no interest in rebuilding the herd, I thought you might want to sell it to me," he explained.
Decimated livestock! Yes, he'd seen to that! "My father always said land is more precious than gold," I noted evenly.
He looked at me oddly. "So it is. But land is a tool like any other. It has to be used to be of any real value."
"I'll keep it," I responded, my tone convincing him I would not reconsider. "Now, if you don't mind, I think Atera and I should leave."
"I meant no offense, Sharven. I'm sorry if you misunderstood me."
"No offense was taken. It's just such a long ride back," I responded as pleasantly as I was able.
I hid my anger from Atera as well as I had from Lord Romul, venting it only when I was safely in Raven's chambers. "It's my land Romul wants," I told him.
Raven's long black robe brushed the floor as he paced. I'd never seen him so animated. "That's hardly a surprise. Now, we must determine what to do about his schemes."
We read well into the night. Eventually I suggested a plan so audacious that no one in Espar would ever suspect my hand in it I went to Atera and instructed her to send word to all our neighbors that we were holding a feast and wanted everyone to attend.
"Sharven, thank you!" she exclaimed and kissed me.
Atera penned invitations all evening and sent the servants out with them in the morning. Most of the estates sent immediate acceptances.
While Atera worked with the seamstresses, the cooks, and the house servants, Raven and I read through our remaining books, preparing everything I needed for my revenge. Now we are prepared, and the party is at hand.
I have written what I can. Later, after I have dealt with my foes and my woes are over, I will finish this account.
It is difficult now to write, though the memories of my carefully orchestrated vengeance still burn clearly in my mind. And though it will take some time for me to capture all the events on paper, I will do so____________________
The pigs and fowl for our feast were turning slowly on their spits when I knocked on Raven's door. Inside his room, with its scrolls and ancient tomes, its vials of herbs and exotic incense, I claimed the magic he had prepared.
I pocketed the love potion for Atera, then held out my hand for the other, darker magic we had discussed. He gave me a tiny blood-red egg, so light it seemed hollow. I looked doubtfully at it. "Are you certain?"
"Swallow it whole, as I instructed," he said. "The shell will dissolve inside of you, and the creature will merge with your body."
Now that I was actually going to eat the thing, I found myself more concerned about its nature. "What precisely is it?" I asked.
"A dark spirit summoned here from the nether-realms to do exactly what you requested: destroy your worst enemy."
"A dark spirit." What little I knew about supernatural creatures made me less certain I should go through with this.
"Your victim will feel his life slowly drained by a force he cannot see."
Exactly the sort of end for Romul that I'd demanded! I swallowed the egg with great care, then sat and waited.
For some minutes I felt nothing. However just as I was about to voice my disappointment, something lurched deep within me, and the terrible power of the creature I had consumed exploded in my body. I bellowed in an inhuman voice, then lifted a massive oak chair with my weak arm and flung it against the wall. The wood splintered. The pieces scattered. My sight became keener, my hearing painfully acute. A rage such as I had never felt before took hold of me. I, and the monster within me, were ready for the kill.
The potency of the dark spirit made me uneasy. "If anyone in Espar detects sorcery, I will be an outcast in my own land," I reminded Raven, astonished at the force and strange hollowness of my voice.