Stained Glass Monsters (33 page)

"Was the focus on her necklace always a
fake?"

"No. I researched that concealment for
her. Nothing to do with the Black Queen." Sebastian hunched his
shoulders. "She just, she was worried our Great-Uncle would...do
things to her."

The way the demon had touched her made
it pretty clear what he wanted. Rennyn had hated that he'd bitten
her. It was the most upset Kendall had ever seen her, outside when
she'd told the Kellian she owned them.

"If she dies, the Kellian will belong to
you."

"I'd inherit the ability to control
them. That's all." Frowning at the words, Sebastian worried his
trousers again. "Did they hate her for it?"

"Not...hate."

"She's dreaded telling them for years,
even before we knew them. Perhaps after all it would have been
better if we'd been able to stay hidden till we had to prepare the
Hall of Summoning. Easier to mark them over a month, of course, but
it was cruel that they grew to trust us."

"But that helped," Kendall protested.
"They hated the idea of it, and what the Black Queen would do to
them, but at least they knew what kind of person Rennyn was.
Is."

Sebastian gave her a dark look, then
said: "The kind of person who makes decisions for other people? Who
takes their choices away from them?"

Kendall fought a flush which left her
hot all over. "Well, she does."

"I know. You think she never asked
herself if she was doing the right thing? Hells, she wasn't even
sure it was right to kill Solace."

Soft-hearted. Not liking what she was
doing, but accepting she had to. What would have happened if the
two Claires had simply packed their bags and left Tyrland rather
than take on the Black Queen?

"I never thanked her."

“You went with her. She liked that.”
Sebastian leaned back, eyelids sagging. “She liked you for not
trusting her. It helped, just as saving you helped. All those
little choices which kept her someone she can live with being.” He
sighed deeply and fell asleep, head tipped awkwardly back. Days
enchanted in the Eferum didn’t add up to much rest.

Kendall sat listening to the noises from
the other room. The attendants clucked like hens, voices rising and
falling with each new excitement, making it hard to tell real
disaster from stupid fussing. Occasionally the healer's voice could
be heard, never hurried, not loud enough to make out any words.

"Lord Montjuste-Surclere."

The couch heaved under Kendall, and she
realised she'd been leaning on Sebastian's shoulder. Muzzily she
sat up, rubbing at her eyes. The tall healer was standing in front
of them.

"How is she?" Sebastian asked, his voice
small and tight.

"We have stabilised her," the healer
said, choosing her words with a judicious air. "Ordinarily I would
give her a fair chance of recovery."

"But?"

"There are two areas of concern. This
wound on her throat – I'm told it is an Eferum-Get bite?" Without
waiting for Sebastian to respond, she swept on. "There is some
property to the wound I cannot unravel. Perhaps a mild toxin which
is resisting removal. That may have an impact on her recovery.
There is a more immediate issue which I would appreciate your help
with."

"Anything."

"Your sister appears to have been
physically worn down before being injured, and then has suffered
major blood loss. Replacing the blood has exacerbated the
exhaustion. The major injuries – bruised organs, and badly broken
ribs piercing one of her lungs – have been caulded and she is no
longer bleeding internally. It is very important that she lie still
and rest as much as possible. And she will not."

"Ren's awake?"

"Not lucid. We removed the creature on
her wrist, of course, and immediately she began to resist our
enchantments. We even resorted to drugging her, a thing I would not
ordinarily approve with a subject in such a depressed physical
state, and this held her barely longer than the casting. She is
counteracting everything."

"Ren's casting in her sleep?"

The way Sebastian leapt to his feet,
almost shouting, told Kendall just how bad a thing this was. Even
the graceful healer looked disconcerted.

"Thus far we have seen no effects
outside her continued waking," she reassured him. "But I must ask
you to try and calm her. She is killing herself. If she can see
you, hear your voice, she may cease to fight against our
castings."

"Maybe she thinks it's the demon's
spell," Kendall said pragmatically, then pulled a face and followed
Sebastian as he ran into the next room.

The bed made Rennyn look small. Nor was
she moving about, but lay neatly tucked up and totally still.
Kendall could feel the itch of magic, but could not tell what was
the healer's work and what was Rennyn.

"Is she casting?"

Sebastian leaned close over his sister.
"I think so."

"That's bad because she might melt the
room, or something?"

"Yes. A Thought mage should never cast
except with absolute deliberation. You can't get drunk, or smoke
that Haze Weed. Fevers are best avoided, though I haven't heard of
sleep-casting before."

"Stay with her," said the healer. "Talk
to her. Even in sleep she will hear you and be reassured. Above
all, keep her still."

As the healer left the room, Sebastian
obediently picked up one of Rennyn's hands and began murmuring to
her. Kendall edged around the side of the bed for a closer look.
One side of Rennyn's face was a single, huge bruise with a scratch
through the centre. Her cheeks were sunken and her bones stood out
beneath the skin.

"She doesn't look like she's been healed
at all. What does 'caulded' mean?"

"Holding wounds or bones together. You
can't just fix a person with magic. Well, some healers have managed
it, but more have killed their patients trying. Even if this one
was arrogant enough to try, Ren's too weak to stand it."

"Patch her up and wait, huh?"

Sebastian looked up, then felt around in
his pockets and produced a square of crumpled, inky cloth. He was
just the sort who would carry a kerchief. Kendall ignored it,
wiping at her face.

Rennyn shifted on the bed. Kendall
watched her, then peered closer to see beads of sweat on her face,
though there was no flush to the skin. "She's waking up."

Sebastian had already noticed, squeezing
Rennyn's hand as if that would help. "Can you hear me, Ren? It's
me. It's over. We're safe. You can rest, it's all over."

Rennyn's head turned toward his voice,
her eyes opening to dark slits.

"Ren!" Sebastian said gladly.

But there was no recognition in Rennyn's
swollen face. Instead of being calmed by his words, she continued
to turn her head, then tried to sit up, barely managing to raise
her head.

"What's she looking for?"

"Ren? You're safe." Sebastian tried to
stop his sister from moving. "Lie back. It's over."

This didn't help at all. Even though she
didn't have the strength to lift herself, and trying obviously hurt
a lot, Rennyn kept struggling to move. Kendall looked about for the
one of the healers.

"Did she just say something?"

Sebastian leaned over his sister, but
when he lifted his head he just looked puzzled. "Liddan? Is that a
place, a person?"

Kendall shook her head. "Something
undone that's worrying her? If she knows you're alive, and that the
Black Queen is dead, is there anything she needs to do?"

"Our – Solace's second son," Sebastian
said reluctantly. "Not in our original plans, of course, but I
don't think we can leave him out there. We're going to have to deal
with him."

"His name's not Liddan."

"No. But there isn't anything else." He
tugged the blanket back toward Rennyn's chin. "She was looking
forward to that so much. To not
having
to study, to letting
herself indulge useless whims. To travel and read novels and sleep
in every day. To not have this huge duty sitting over her. She
doesn't want to be responsible for anything ever again, won't even
admit to worrying about the political consequences for the
Kellian."

"Are they going to be all right? Sukata
and the others who were there?"

He bit his lip. "They should be, since
they survived the end of the casting. But we had no way to test it,
no way to be sure if there would be any side-effects."

"And none of them are called Liddan
either," Kendall said, adding doubtfully: "Captain Faille's first
name is a bit like that. Lieutenant Danress told me it once."

"Really?" Sebastian blinked, then looked
worriedly back at his sister as she shifted and then caught her
breath. Broken ribs.

"Stay with her, will you?" Sebastian
said, and strode abruptly out of the room. Startled, Kendall could
hear him speaking to someone outside, and then one of the healer's
assistants came in, already chalking on his slate, and brushed
Kendall aside so he could cast some more spells.

"Even the pain suppressors are being
countered," the assistant said, clicking his tongue. Then he
noticed that Sebastian hadn't followed him back into the room, and
looked scandalised. Kendall pretended not to notice, and eventually
the assistant finished his spells and went off, no doubt to say
nasty things about heartless boys.

Rennyn was so still Kendall went back to
the bed to check her. She felt almost as tired as Rennyn looked,
and it made it worse that she had to lean close to be sure the
woman was even breathing. But the bruises didn't make her any less
the person who'd shown up at Kendall's door in Falk and told a pack
of lies to get Kendall to do what she wanted.

"Why should I thank you?" Kendall asked
softly. "It was all what you wanted. Saved my life to spare your
own feelings. Dragged me about the country to distract yourself.
None of it was about me."

There was no response, of course.
Kendall picked up one limp hand tentatively, then put it down
again. It felt like the kittens the Lippon cat had had too early,
cold little bundles of skin and bone too weak to live.

"A hair's-breath from death, and you're
still trying to get your way. Bossy to the end." Kendall wiped at
her face again impatiently. "Don't you understand? You mixed
yourself up in everyone's lives. Made yourself important to them.
It's not fair if you just go and die after all that."

Probably it was a good thing that
everyone showed up then. Everyone in the form of Lieutenant Danress
and three other Sentene mages, most of them battered around the
edges. A tiny, grey-haired lady followed them in, Sebastian tagging
at her elbow, with two of the healer's assistants trailing them
all, fussing away.

"If you would just wait until Magister
Sorathar returns," burbled one of the assistants. "I am sure she
will–"

"–agree that familiar surroundings will
soothe Lady Rennyn," said the old lady, who looked like she was
enjoying herself. "Even the smallest factor could make the
difference to her survival."

"But to move her–"

"A delicate business, I agree," said the
old lady cheerfully. "We'd best get it over with quickly."

While she'd been speaking, the Sentene
had opened out a canvas stretcher, and used the sheet from the bed
to transfer Rennyn. She'd been put into some kind of half-tied
robe, giving a clear view of bruises and bandaging all down her
front, but Sebastian was quick to cover her properly with a
blanket. They were out the door before the assistants had done more
than flap a few times and send someone running for their
mistress.

The old lady giggled like a girl as soon
as they were safely out in the corridor. "This is the first time
I've had to resort to kidnapping a patient. Sorathar will be
livid."

"Thank you for helping, Magister
Arandal," Sebastian said. "I didn't mean to make trouble for
you."

"Not at all. Sorathar does consider the
upper nobility her due, but the Lady Rennyn was originally my
patient. The Surclere title makes little difference."

Sebastian gave the old healer a sharp
look, but didn't act surprised. "They figured that out, did
they?"

"Ah, you knew, then?"

"Of course. Tiandel wasn't the sort
who'd give up all his titles. He had it set that he'd come back to
resume Surclere once Solace was dealt with, but of course that
never happened. Ren was hoping that the King's copy of the
arrangement had been lost. Being a Duchess doesn't suit her plan to
do absolutely nothing responsible or resembling work."

Duchess of Surclere. Fitting another
name to Rennyn's place in the world didn't put any colour back in
her cheeks. Having some title wasn't going to fix her.

The first thing Kendall saw when they
reached the Halls of Magic was Lieutenant Faral. The Kellian woman
had surely been told at least part of Sebastian's explanation, but
whether she was upset about it was impossible to guess. She just
nodded and led the way into the infirmary. A lot of the beds were
in use. The Sentene and Ferumguard had taken too many casualties
the past week. Even though it was nearly dawn, most of them were
awake, and watched through the open doors of the small rooms as
Rennyn was carried past. Kendall thought she saw Sukata, but they
passed on to a room where only three of the beds had occupants, and
settled Rennyn in the last. Everyone stepped back as if expecting
her to suddenly be better, except the old healer, who began
chalking on her slate.

"Are you certain about this Keste?"
Lieutenant Danress asked, looking doubtfully at the bed next to
Rennyn's. Captain Faille lay there, as grim in sleep as waking.

"Illidian told us early on that we could
not depend on his evaluation of Lady Rennyn," Lieutenant Faral
said. "We were sorry for him. But glad it proved not such a
hopeless case after all."