Bookworm II: The Very Ugly Duckling (25 page)

“There is much to discuss,” Light Spinner said. She spoke quietly, but the magic of the room projected her voice for all to hear. “Yesterday, terrorists attacked innocent people in the Golden City. They were taken into custody and interrogated by the Inquisitors. We now know that their aim is to ensure that the mundanes remain firmly in their place.”

She clicked her fingers. Paper scrolls appeared in front of them. “In the two attacks they launched, nineteen people died and over a hundred were injured, directly or indirectly,” she added. “That includes people hurt by friends and family who were under the influence of compulsion spells. This behaviour is completely unacceptable. Unfortunately, as they have taken Oaths of Secrecy, they have been unable to divulge the names of their comrades who remain at large.”

Elaine scowled. An Oath of Secrecy literally prevented the oath keeper from giving up any information covered by the oath, no matter what their interrogators tried. Mind-raping spells, simple physical torture, even psychological trickery ... none of them would produce a morsel of information from the prisoners. Indeed, there were legal precedents that agreed that trying to force someone to break such an oath was thoroughly illegal.

Deferens leaned forward. “How many of them
are
there?”

Light Spinner’s face was hidden, but Elaine would have bet good money that she was sneering. “The largest group observed was ten,” she said. “If we assume that is all of them, there are three more to find. But we don’t dare make any such assumption.”

She placed her gloved fingertips together, looking directly at Duncan Conidian. “As you can see from the scrolls,” she continued, “all of them are scions of the aristocracy. And one of them is a Prime Heir.”

Heads turned to look at the Conidian, who looked uncomfortable.

“My son has clearly been misled,” the Conidian said, finally. “His conduct has not been in line with what I brought him up to consider acceptable. Should he be released to my custody, I will work to teach him better.”

“But you have already failed to teach him better,” Lady Lakeside said. Elaine barely knew her, although they sat on the same council. She had no idea which way Lady Lakeside would jump. “And his crimes are hardly
minor
.”

She turned to look at Light Spinner. “Grand Sorceress, this young man committed terrorist acts against citizens of the Empire,” she said. “He merits the strongest punishment.”

“They were committed against mundanes,” Deferens pointed out, sweetly. “The strong may do as they wish to the weak.”

“He also used a torture curse on the Lady Elaine,” Lady Lakeside pointed out, nodding towards Elaine. “
She
is a Privy Councillor.”

Elaine had to fight to remain seated upright as the rest of the table stared at her. “That is true,” she said, quietly. “I tried to stop them and they attacked me.”

“You weren’t wearing your robes,” Deferens said. “It is arguable that they didn’t
know
that they were attacking a Privy Councillor.”

Elaine kept her face as expressionless as possible, thinking hard. Deferens knew that she hadn’t been wearing her robes ... that probably meant that he had interrogated the eyewitnesses or, more likely, sent someone else to do it for him. And that meant ...

“There is a more important issue here,” Deferens said, confirming her worst fears. “
How
were they stopped?”

He knows about Johan
, Elaine thought, as Light Spinner quickly explained. She looked up and met the Conidian’s eyes, seeing a strange combination of relief, pride and fear.
What else does he know
?

“You should know the full story,” Light Spinner said. “Lady Elaine, if you would ...?”

It’s just like writing an essay
, Elaine told herself, frantically. “Until recently, Johan Conidian was believed to be a Powerless,” she said, out loud. There were a handful of gasps as several councillors realised that the rumours were true. “During the first attack, outside the palace, there was a stunningly powerful magic pulse that was sensed thousands of miles away from the city, centred on Johan. Since then, he has developed magic of a rather curious nature.”

She outlined the rest of the story, keeping the details to herself. If they didn’t pry too deeply, they would just see Johan as a normal magician, if one with significant power reserves. But she knew that the Privy Councillors were all experienced, with considerable knowledge about their powers. Johan, no matter how they looked at it, had become fantastically powerful in a very short space of time.

Lady Lakeside looked over at the Conidian. “It must be a relief to know that your son is not powerless,” she said. “However ... was he
truly
powerless?”

The Conidian gave Elaine a look that suggested that he wanted her dead. “My son was tested yearly by the druids,” he admitted, reluctantly. “Until now, they didn’t even find a
spark
of magic. He seemed to be a Powerless.”

“And to think that there were only ever rumours of his existence,” Deferens mused, mockingly. “How
could
you hide him from us?”

The Conidian swung round to glare at the younger man. “You know as well as I do that the life of a Powerless can be hellish,” he snapped. “I took steps to keep him safe.”

Elaine scowled. On the face of it, the Conidian had a point. Most families would have quietly arranged for a Powerless child to die in an ‘accident;’ perhaps, if the child was lucky, sending him or her to an orphanage once the child was legally dead. And, with the Conidian Family having only recently moved to the Golden City, it wouldn’t have been hard for them to conceal Johan’s existence completely.

“That’s as may be,” Deferens said. “However, if he really
was
Powerless ... we are looking at something that can give power to the powerless. Aren’t we?”

He swung round to look at Elaine. “
Aren’t
we?”

“Perhaps,” Elaine said, reluctantly.

“But my son comes from a strongly magical bloodline,” the Conidian protested. “He might just have sparked very late in life.”

“There is something very odd about his magic,” Deferens said. His gaze never left Elaine’s face, watching for the merest twitch that might help answer his questions. “No matter how strongly magical his bloodline, he represents a very odd puzzle. And something that can turn the world upside down.”

He looked over at Light Spinner. “Grand Sorceress,” he said, “I propose that this young man be put to death.”

Elaine had expected it. But it was still a shock.

“That young man is my son,” the Conidian said, through gritted teeth. “You cannot just execute him because you find his existence inconvenient.”

“We might just be executing another of your sons for his crimes,” Deferens pointed out, rudely.

“I will fight tooth and nail to prevent that from happening,” the Conidian snapped.

Light Spinner held up a hand and they fell silent. “Johan Conidian represents a fascinating puzzle,” she said. “It may even be a gift from the gods.”

“Or the demons,” Deferens said. “What happens when a magician gets a sudden boost in power?”

Elaine shivered, remembering a conversation she’d had with Dread in Ida. He’d assumed that
she’d
had a power boost and, fearing that it might have driven her mad, had probed gently to determine the truth. The hell of it was that Deferens was right. A sudden power boost tended to drive magicians insane, turning them into deadly threats to everyone else. It was all too easy to imagine Johan, mistreated and abused from a very young age, going that way.

But he has a good heart
, Elaine thought, grimly.

“We have moved away from the question at hand,” Light Spinner said. “How do we deal with these terrorists?”

“Try them,” Lady Lakeside said. “They can state their case in front of us; we will judge them.”

Elaine sighed and settled back to listen as the arguments started to rage. The Conidian wouldn’t want to sit in judgement of his eldest son; others, his political enemies, were only too keen to force him to serve as a judge. Whichever way he voted, they would find an excuse to condemn him. Elaine felt a moment of pity, which faded away as she remembered just how badly he had treated both of his eldest sons. One was a spoilt brat and a bully, the other had no interest in returning home.

She sighed inwardly, feeling her temples already starting to throb. It was going to be a long day.

Chapter Twenty-One

“I really don’t want to do this,” Johan muttered, as the carriage came to a stop outside the family home. “I really don’t want to ...”

He cursed his own cowardliness as he hopped down and looked up at the house. He’d never really had a chance to take a proper look at it from the outside, not when he’d had to sneak in or out whenever he’d wanted to escape his prison. It was solid stone, but ivy and other plants had grown up around the house, giving it a slightly wild appearance. The windows, he knew, were effectively illusions. Inside, the house was far bigger than it seemed on the outside.

I could walk away
, he told himself.
Go back to the library ... Elaine would understand
.

But her report of the meeting two days ago had made it clear that powerful factions within the Privy Council wanted him dead. If a Powerless could be turned into a magician, what would happen if someone discovered how to reproduce the technique upon demand? The very essence of the Empire’s society might be upended. Who knew what would happen if the Levellers actually acquired magic powers?

Bracing himself, he walked up to the door and knocked.

It should have opened as I passed through the wards,
he thought, resentfully. The door certainly
would
have opened for Jamal or Charity or any of his other siblings, but not for him. Clearly, the wards hadn’t been altered, no matter what his father said. He couldn’t blame him, not really, but it still rankled. A moment later, May opened the door and bowed low, exposing her impressive cleavage. She’d never done
that
for him before.

“Your family are waiting in the dining room, Sir Magician,” she said. “If you will come with me ...”

Sir Magician
, Johan thought, sourly. It
was
the standard title for an unattached magician, but not for a child of the household. Was his father making a subtle ploy or was he trying to be flattering? There was no way to tell, short of asking ... and that would have revealed far too much of his inner insecurities. Johan might not have had all the lessons Jamal had been given, but he’d heard enough to know how his father manipulated people, even his friends and allies, just to ensure that the family’s position was rock solid.

The dining room was brightly lit, revealing a single heavy wooden table surrounded by chairs. His father sat at the head of the table, as was his right; his mother sat facing him, her face dull and bored. Whatever interest his mother had once had in her children had faded over the years, unsurprisingly. Johan had heard enough arguments between his parents to understand that his powerlessness had damaged their relationship beyond repair.

Charity, flanked by her sisters, sat on one side of the table. Johan flashed her a genuine smile and was surprised by the oddly timid response. Charity had stood up to Jamal more than once, even though she’d never been his match in spell-casting. Had being transformed by him
damaged
her in some way? The gods knew that she’d been transfigured before and survived with nary a hint of damage.

Jay and Jolie sat facing Charity, with an empty seat between them. Johan suspected that
he
was meant to sit there, something that annoyed him; his younger brothers had never been quite as unpleasant as Jamal, but they’d certainly played enough tricks on him to earn his dislike, if not outright hatred. Normally, too, that would have been Jamal’s seat. The symbolism was obvious; the youngest in the family supported the eldest without reservation.

But he had never
felt
part of the family ...

His father rose to his feet. “Johan,” he said, gravely. “Welcome back.”

Traditionally, Johan knew, he was supposed to kneel to receive his father’s blessing. But he was damned if he was going to surrender
that
much. If his father wanted his forgiveness, if nothing else, he was going to have to work for it.

“Father,” he said, instead. “Thank you for the invitation.”

His father’s face flickered, just for a second, then returned to its normally expressionless mask. “Please, be seated,” he said. He waved to May to pull out Johan’s seat, as if he couldn’t have done it for himself. “The cooks have produced an excellent meal.”

They had, Johan admitted, as the first dishes were brought into the room and placed on the table. He’d always been fond of goulash, crammed with meat, potatoes and spices, although Jamal had disagreed ... and, as always, what Jamal wanted, Jamal got. Or didn’t get, in this case. Johan had had to beg the cooks for his favourite meals sometimes, or bribe Charity to do it for him. He hadn’t had to beg this time.

He couldn’t help feeling uncomfortable as they ate, despite the superb food. He’d spent most of his life being ignored, but that was better than having everyone staring at him as though he had suddenly become famous. His two brothers were glancing at him when they thought he wasn’t looking, his younger sisters were staring openly. Only Charity was refusing to even
look
at him, keeping her eyes on her food. It was really an astonishing change in her behaviour, one that worried him more than he wanted to admit. After all, Charity
hadn’t
been a total bitch to him.

“Tell me,” his father said, as the maids cleared away the dishes, “what you intend to do with your life.”

He was
trying
to be nice, Johan decided, but too much of his usual tone had slipped into his voice. “I intend to learn how to use my magic, then work as a magician,” he said. He had had other ambitions – he wanted to travel the world – but he didn’t want to mention that to his father. “And I want to prove myself.”

“You could prove yourself with your family’s assistance,” his father said, quietly. “We could offer you a great deal you could never obtain for yourself.”