"By what you described, he's a mage," Leesil said. "We've run into such among the undead before."
Wynn caught Leesil's glance toward her. Obviously Magiere was not the only one to recall that moment in Bela's sewers.
"Could he do this to himself?" Leesil asked her. "Raise himself from the dead?"
Wynn shook her head. "I don't know. At my homeland guild, we study many things to prepare for becoming journeyman sages. Domin il'Samaud was my instructor for arcane arts, but I never heard mention of anything like this. There was talk of life-theory, and how some conjurors focus on spirit work. A few to the extent of reanimating the dead."
There was one small detail of Lord Stefan's tale that surfaced in Wynn's thoughts.
"You mentioned that Vordana wore something around his neck."
Stefan nodded. "A small brass vial on a chain. A token of some kind, I assumed."
"Some conjurors use brass containers," Wynn continued, "to trap conjured or summoned elemental material, including that of spirit-even a human spirit. But to do so as preparation against one's own death, or to reconjure one's own spirit back from death… It would be impossible."
Wynn felt Chap pawing at her leg. The dog snatched the rolled hide sitting on the bench and pulled it to the floor. She reached down and finished unrolling it, and Chap began tapping upon it with his paw.
"What is he doing?" Elena asked.
"It's a bit much to explain," answered Leesil.
Wynn followed his movements until he stopped and looked up at her.
"Tolealhan "… will-craft?" she asked in puzzlement.
At first it made no sense, but when clarity struck, she wished it had not.
"Sorcery," Wynn whispered. Chap barked once to confirm it before she continued. "I know what was done. Vordana placed a has upon Lord Stefan."
"Sorcery is outlawed," Leesil said. "And what do you mean?… What's this has?"
"It is Numanese, my language," she answered. "I do not know a Belaskian word for it. Tolealhan' is Elvish and could refer to a mage of the mental realm. That is sorcery, just as the arcane of the physical realm is thaumaturgy, and that of the spiritual is conjury. In the Elvish of my continent, has translates to gyeas. It is a task set so deeply into one's mind that the victim would 'will' its own death rather than fail to accomplish it."
She looked at Stefan, and though there was twisted justice here for what he had done to keep his position, she pitied him.
"Magic does not hold a gyeas in place," she said to Stefan. "It becomes part of you, your thoughts, like a hidden memory you refuse to forget. Deep inside, you believe beyond doubt what will happen if you fail to obey. Only a countering gyeas might break this."
"And that would require a sorcerer, like Vordana," Stefan replied, his gaze distant.
There was nothing more Wynn could offer, and the following silence bore down on her. Leesil finally changed subjects.
"Your replacement was sent by the prince's man," he said to Stefan. "Why didn't someone come to investigate when you never reported for your new duties?"
"Perhaps it was all a lie, and Baron Buscan didn't know. " Stefan pulled the blanket tighter, shaking his head. "And all I did was for nothing but fear."
"That seems unlikely," Magiere said. "Anyway, all that matters is what we can fight."
"Sorcery is not just used upon victims," Wynn cautioned.
"It can be used to expand the powers of the sorcerer's mind. It is the most insidious of the three magics, but it is not what brought Vordana back. To do this, he would also have to be a master of conjury, with power I have never read of. Even in studies with Domin il'Samaud, there were few legends of individuals who mastered and combined all three magics into what is called 'wizardry. "
"Oh, lovely," Leesil groaned. 'Then there's someone else who did this for him."
Magiere's expression hardened as she paced once before the hearth's expanse, tossing her head toward Stefan.
"So, now we decide… whether or not we help a murderer."
Wynn's own surprise at such harsh words was broken as Elena spat back with equal venom.
"How dare you? You've no idea what he's suffered. Will you help our people or not?" Her tiny hand remained protectively on her lord's shoulder.
Stefan raised his one hand to cover hers. "Enough. It's all right."
Wynn stared up at Magiere. "It is the people here who need our help."
"We need to discuss this ourselves," Magiere said bluntly. "Alone."
Stefan nodded and stood, heading for the archway. Elena followed him with Geza close behind.
Until leaving Bela on this journey, Wynn had always lived with the sages and worn simple gray robes. For a moment, watching Elena with her lord, she wondered what it would be like to have a mass of wheat-gold hair, to wear a dress, and to have a man grasp her hand. She pushed such thoughts away.
"Magiere, you know we can't refuse," she insisted. "Vordana may take his time in torturing Lord Stefan, but he does so through the people of this fief. Sooner or later, he will kill everything here and perhaps move on to another settlement."
"I'm not so sure… about moving on," Magiere said. "And we have no way to find this Vordana. I've sensed nothing since we docked here, and Leesil's topaz has shown no sign."
"Perhaps Vordana is too far off, somewhere else," Wynn argued.
"No, he's close," Leesil answered. "With what this lord has told us and what we've seen, he's near enough."
"Could Chap track this thing?" Magiere asked.
The dog barked three times.
"That means maybe, so he is uncertain," Wynn said. "But he might not need to. I am not a mage, but there may be something I can try… a small mantic trick. Connections exist between all things, especially the living. If Vordana sustains himself by absorbing life energies around him, I might be able to see it happen, as it affects the layer of Spirit in this place. I could find him."
Leesil shook his head. "Wynn, this sounds like-"
"It would be like watching the surface of a lake," she cut in, "when a trough has been gouged somewhere along its shore. The whole surface shows signs of movement in the direction of drainage-in the direction of Vordana. I have some notes from my studies, and I think I can do this much. We have to try. Is this not what you do? Hunt the undead?"
Wynn fell silent. Once, in Bela, she had tried to focus her own life energies to speed the healing of Leesil's flash-blinded sight. It had seemed to work, but she was forthright in stating that she was no mage. What she proposed was more than bolstering the natural processes of life. But what choice did they have? She could not believe Magiere was ready to walk away from this on the moral grounds that Stefan was to blame, even if he had murdered two innocent guards.
Magiere closed her eyes in resignation and nodded. That was enough answer for Leesil.
"We'll try it your way, Wynn. " Leesil reached out to pat her hand. "We'll try it your way. But there's one more thing. By Stefan's tale, Vordana said he was here to watch. But for what and why?"
"I caught that, as well," Magiere said, "but I'm not certain what it means."
Elbows on knees, Leesil folded his hands and leaned his forehead upon them. "A spy… perhaps a scout, someone preparing a foothold for war."
Wynn sat up straight and spoke out too loudly. "That makes no sense. Belaski is prosperous, and Stravina is on constant guard from the provinces in what you call the War-lands. Who would invade?"