Shailiha smiled bravely as the two wizards entered her room. As always, she managed somehow to summon up the necessary courage to endure what the wizards said they needed to do to make her whole again. She drew strength from their concern for her, from Tristan’s love and support, and from the fact that she had a daughter to care for. Even now, Morganna could be heard cooing happily in her crib, just a few feet away.
“Your Highness,” Wigg said gently. “How are you feeling today?”
“Much better, Wigg, thank you.” Shailiha stood and walked across the room to the wizards, the silk of her pink, floor-length gown rustling with her steps. “I want to thank you both for your constant care,” she said then, her words almost a whisper. “Without you and Tristan, Morganna and I would surely have been lost forever.”
Wigg cleared his throat. “Are you ready?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said simply. She walked back to her chair and sat down, waiting for the wizards to begin.
Wigg drew up another chair, while Faegan wheeled his into place in front of the princess. She closed her eyes, just as she had done so many times before.
She has been through so much, Wigg thought. But it is almost over.
It had taken a great deal of insight, coupled with Faegan’s knowledge of the Vagaries, to finally unravel the secret to the incantation the Coven had used upon her. Shailiha’s torment at the hands of the sorceresses had proven more of a riddle than they had first thought. The spell had been treacherously seductive. Not only had it infused itself into her mind, but it had also taken command of her endowed, but still untrained blood.
The wizards had found an answer in the water of the Caves.
Untrained, endowed blood could be empowered—temporarily—by proximity to water from the Caves of the Paragon. The effect could either be painful or pleasurable. When Tristan had accidentally discovered the Caves, he had found the water irresistible. In Shailiha’s case, the closeness of the thick, red liquid had proven to be difficult to bear. However, the process was proving successful. The princess’ trials had been painful both in body and mind, but the wizards believed that she was near the end of her torment.
Wigg reached beneath his robe to retrieve a small pewter vial full of water from the Well of the Redoubt, where water from the caves was always kept. He watched as Faegan closed his eyes and began to call forth the spell that they hoped would banish yet more of the chaos from the princess’ mind. Shailiha sat completely still in her chair. The room was wrapped in total silence. Nothing stirred, not even the baby in her crib.
Slowly Faegan nodded his head. At this signal, Wigg removed the stopper from the top of the vial. Again Faegan nodded, and Wigg automatically responded by pouring a single drop of the fluid upon the open palm of the princess. The effect upon her was immediate, and far more startling than it had ever been before.
Shailiha screamed. Sweat began to soak through her gown in dark, ominous splotches. At the sound of her mother’s voice the baby immediately began crying. Shailiha’s entire body began to shake uncontrollably, her hazel eyes rolling grotesquely up into her head, leaving only the whites exposed. She tried to stand, but Wigg forced her back down, holding her in place. This time her strength was such that he was forced to use the craft to augment his own brawn, just to keep her in place. She tossed her head violently, sending long blond hair flying back and forth, and foam began bubbling from the corners of her mouth. It snaked wetly down her chin and onto her already soaked gown.
“Hold her!” Faegan shouted, his eyes still closed. “This is what we have been waiting for!”
With a last, earsplitting scream, the princess slumped forward in her chair, unconscious. Wigg barely caught her before she fell to the marble floor. Faegan opened his eyes, ending his spell. He examined Shailiha intently, looking for the sign he and Wigg hoped would prove the final banishment of the first mistress’s awful work.
From all about Shailiha now came the beginnings of a soft blue glow. It built in intensity until it had become one of the brightest ever seen by the two wizards. Then it began to coalesce, spinning into a maelstrom of swirling light that flew from her body and spun crazily around the chamber. Oil lamps crashed to the floor; the silk sheets from Shailiha’s great four-poster bed flew violently into the air. Furniture crashed and tumbled, noisily splintering against marble walls. Wigg quickly handed the inert princess to Faegan and ran to the baby’s crib, covering its open top protectively with his body.
And then, with a last, insane howl, the azure maelstrom rose to the top of the room, flattening out against the ceiling, where it dissipated into nothingness. The objects it had picked up in its whirling madness immediately fell, crashing and smashing down upon the marble floor. Bits of glass, cloth, and furniture were scattered everywhere. The shrieking of the wind ceased, and all that remained was the ordinary sound of a baby crying.
Shailiha, lying in Faegan’s arms, groaned softly and sleepily opened her eyes.
After calming the infant, Wigg returned to Faegan’s side. He gazed intently at the princess, and then a smile broke out across his long, creased face. “You’re finally well,” he said softly, a tear beginning to gather in the corner of one eye. “Free.”
She stood slowly, shakily. Reaching out, she hugged Wigg close, then bent over to embrace Faegan. But even this low level of exertion proved too much for her, and she started to fall. Wigg swept her up in his arms.
“The best thing for you now is sleep,” he said, smiling into her eyes. “The next time you wake up, you will be a new woman.” He turned her to face the crib, where Morganna lay. “A new woman with a new baby,” he added happily.
Then he laid her down upon the bed and covered her with blankets that had been caught up in the maelstrom. Faegan wheeled his chair over to look at her. Already, Shailiha was asleep, and for the first time the wizards could see in her face the true, rejuvenating sleep of the peaceful and the just.
Faegan reached one of his hands out and placed it upon the sleeping princess’ head, closing his eyes. He remained like that for several moments, then opened his eyes and smiled. “She is truly well,” he murmured gratefully. “We have done it, Wigg. I am proud to have been of service to her. I only wish I could have been here to help guide her and her brother all these years—and to witness their remarkable birth.”
Wigg was about to open his mouth to speak, but suddenly he felt something inside of him slip, and his body jolted a bit.
He turned to Faegan, wide-eyed, and saw that the elder wizard had obviously felt it, too. His face white, Faegan gripped the arms of his chair in an autonomic response to his panic. Neither one spoke, as if putting words to their suspicions would somehow, unbelievably, make them true.
Lifting the Paragon from his robe, Wigg held it to the light—to see what for three centuries had always been their greatest fear.
6
As he always did when being summoned by the child, Ragnar walked through the many labyrinthine halls quickly. Scrounge followed dutifully behind him. The blood stalker had indeed expected to see the youth this day, but earlier, rather than at such a late hour. His mind, busy with the possible reasons for his delayed but still required attendance, contemplated many answers—none of which readily fit.
He always liked going to the lower places, the farthest down and darkest of the many rooms here. He had been honored to watch the child use his already-immense powers to carve the great chambers out of living rock, creating the magnificent areas through which he now walked. But even the blood stalker Ragnar did not understand the full impact of what he was about to witness upon entering these, the deepest of all the chambers.
Finally standing with Scrounge before a door of black marble, Ragnar narrowed his eyes, calling upon the craft. Immediately the door turned itself silently upon its hinges, exposing the immense room that lay below. The many winding, marble steps went down several stories and took some time to navigate.