Stained Glass Monsters (8 page)

She reached out and picked up the clear
focus. "These are Solace Montjuste-Surclere's younger focuses."
Holding it up, she could see the faintest of outlines of three
further spheres inside the outer. "She left them with Tiandel both
because they worked at a slight cross-purpose to the Summoning she
was attempting, and because they offered a solution to a practical
difficulty."

"Which was?"

Slipping the focus into her skirt
pocket, Rennyn made an expansive gesture. "A focus the size of this
room. Focus stones operate when in contact with their owner. It's a
little hard to estimate just how large the result of the Grand
Summoning will be, but I'm fairly certain it won't, well, fit
through doors, for a start.

"Tiandel's role was to attune the
younger focus to the Grand Summoning. He could do this by touching
the edges of the power she was summoning, using the breaches the
power was causing. This would allow her to use the new focus even
at a distance. Unfortunately for Solace, it also gave Tiandel the
perfect tool. Just as the casting completed the final phase, but
before the compressing power could solidify into a focus, he used
the power to push his mother deep into the Eferum."

Rennyn began collecting the other items
lined up on the table: the half-empty box of chalk, her apartment
key, a small purse of money, the paintbrush. She left the note.

"Solace did not die, but it was ten
years before she returned, and as soon as she reached the correct
point in the Eferum, the Grand Summoning commenced again. Probably
she would be drawn back to that point no matter what her wishes,
for she is trapped in the spell, still constrained by the Sigillic
casting she established in the Hall of Summoning here."

Rennyn had to repress a shudder. Her
family pushed Solace back for good reason, but it was a cruel task.
The whole conversation was trying her nerves, but she went on as
dispassionately as she was able. These people had not grown up
reading Solace's working diaries, appreciating the mind if not the
person, and wouldn't share any sympathy at all for the Black
Queen.

"The White Ladies are a side-effect, a
manifestation of the uncompressed power the spell generates. They
have just enough substance, just enough connection to the actual
person, that she can be touched through them, and pushed back at
the beginning of the Summoning rather than at its conclusion. Each
time since, it has taken slightly longer for her to return, and
each time a Montjuste-Surclere has used the attuned focus to push
her back into the Eferum almost as soon as the spell began to
manifest."

"Until Loise."

It was the Kellian called Faille who had
spoken: the singularly humourless-looking man who had been so quick
with his sword.

"Yes. Until Loise, when someone killed
my great-grandfather just as Solace was pushed back. The – part of
the attunement was in a structure built around the focus, and that
was shattered. I don't know if this was deliberate, but it means
that we now merely have her younger focuses, not attuned to the
Grand Summoning. This time when she manifested there was nothing we
could do to push her back. So I'm reconstructing Tiandel's steps,
attuning the focus again so that she can be stopped at the final
moment rather than the first."

Councillor Vargas cleared his throat.
His colour had risen, turning him an interesting plummy shade,
though he showed no other sign of what she guessed to be highly
outraged indignation. "Would it not have been more responsible –
indeed, was it not your duty – to bring this to Council, to turn
over this focus and allow the matter to be properly dealt with? How
many died last night because we were not prepared?"

Rennyn blinked, but answered the first
point without rancour. "I wasn't clear. Tiandel could attune the
younger focus because he had a blood link to Queen Solace. Because
he was a Montjuste-Surclere, because he was her direct heir.
Currently, there are two Montjuste-Surcleres, one of whom is lying
in your infirmary after suffering a fit of heroics. And sixty years
ago, someone killed my great-grandfather.

"Hard as it is to credit the idea of a
kind of counterpart to my family, working toward Queen Solace's
return, I have to anticipate the same kind of attack. If Sebastian
– my brother – and I are killed, then the younger focuses cannot be
attuned, let alone used against Solace."

She picked up the note she had so
carefully prepared yesterday. "My task is set: to repeat Tiandel's
steps. It's not a difficult thing, but requires being in certain
places at certain times, and to not have someone kill me. The best
chance for success is to avoid notice, not allow people to know
where I am, and not involve myself in anything else. I only warned
of the incursion in Asentyr because it was inside the city's
protective circles, and I may not have done that if the Sentene had
not already become aware of my existence. I was weighing up what
additional harm there would be in providing a list of the incursion
locations, given that it is basically a map of where I'll be
going." She put the piece of paper down. "Last night changed
everything."

"That is something of an
understatement." Lady Weston rubbed her eyes, and Rennyn realised
the woman probably hadn't slept. "You were in the Eferum during the
incursion?"

"Yes. It's the only way to continue the
attunement. During the first incursion, I noticed that the breach
was very large and stayed open for a longer period than those
recorded by Tiandel. Last night – the breach was a similar size and
duration to the first, but the Eferum-Get – I could not tell if
they had been swept together by the force of the Summoning, or if
they had deliberately gathered to wait for it. Neither possibility
is pleasant."

"The Eferum-Get organising to exploit
the breaches, or Queen Solace deliberately thrusting them into
Tyrland." The Kellian mage, Illuma, was as expressionless as ever,
but had curled her hands into fists. She seemed to realise it, and
opened them, palm-up. She'd trimmed the dagger-points of her nails
on one hand, but the other palm was lightly cut. "Either way, a
war."

"Do you really believe that?" Councillor
Vargas asked, looking from Illuma to Lady Weston to Rennyn. "That
the Black Queen would go so far?"

"She has been in the Eferum an
unbearably long time," Lady Weston replied. "She may be mad, she
may be vengeful: we can do no more than speculate. Enough that we
could face the same number of Eferum-Get, or more, during the
coming breaches. You will work with us in combating this?"

Rennyn nodded. "The locations I presume
you read. The younger focuses can be used to identify the exact
point of an upcoming breach."

"And that makes a very large difference
indeed," Lady Weston said. "To know exactly when and where an
incursion will occur makes it possible to contain it. We will trap
the Eferum-Get even as they emerge. Am I right in believing that
there will be an increase in natural breaches during the
Summoning?"

"Yes. The effect of the casting is much
like a storm in the Eferum – it places strain on the boundaries
between the worlds."

"We must divide our resources. Lamprey,
you will have charge of the second and third squads, deployed to
the Sentene's regular duties. Illuma, Faille, the Hand will support
your squads in dealing with the major incursions and ensuring the
safety of the Montjuste-Surcleres. Fennis, I want you to revisit
the Loise investigation, and more generally try to uncover any hint
of who was behind the attack. Is there more you can tell us there,
Lady Montjuste-Surclere?"

"We abandoned the title. As for Loise –
my great-grandparents travelled there together, and arrived late in
the night. My great-grandmother had stayed with the horses, and
heard a cry, then the sound of someone running. She found her
husband and the focus' vessel in pieces. And yet, the focus was
still there. The locals camped near the site were attracted by the
light she conjured, and so she had to leave him. She became...very
determined to find a way to stop the Grand Summoning after that."
Rennyn looked down at her bandaged hands, and thought of all the
chances she'd had last night to die. "You see where the strategy of
keeping ourselves invisible comes from? If we can be found, we can
be killed. And the first expression was a place we were certain to
be."

"You will be well-guarded here," Lady
Weston began, but Rennyn shook her head.

"Guard my brother, by all means. I'll
limit my exposure to the actual periods of the incursions."

For the first time Lady Weston showed a
hint of frustration. "That may not be the wisest course," she
said.

"But it is the one I will take."

"Having demonstrated how capable you are
of hiding yourself," said Captain Faille.

This made Rennyn smile. "A fair point.
Still, it makes more sense for Seb and I not to be handily in the
same place."

"You don't trust us." The third of the
Sentene captains, Lamprey, was a human man with dark skin. Outrage
had broken through the professional mask. "You're not concerned
about our ability to protect you, but our opportunity to attack
you."

She hadn't realised she'd shown that,
and said carefully: "I'm tolerably certain that I wouldn't have
survived the night if I'd come close to anyone who wanted to kill
me. In this, it is simply as I said: staying here makes me too easy
to find. It's almost a moot point, since I'll be spending so much
time roaming about the countryside. And on that subject – the next
incursion is in three days, and not far from Asentyr, but there is
a stage of the attunement I must perform immediately after that.
The vessel for the focus needs to be constructed, and to do that I
must also visit the places Queen Solace summoned her younger
focuses. These– " She frowned. "These should not be incursion
points. No breach was recorded in the previous iteration, but like
the first expression, they are known places that I must visit."

"A place to expect attacks? Where are
they?"

"The first is her home. Surclere Manor,
or what little remains of it. The second is the palace's Hall of
Summoning, which at least is conveniently close." Rennyn stood up.
"I presume you want to establish at the next incursion site well
beforehand. I'll return the day after tomorrow, near midday."

They let her go. She had wondered if
they'd consider stopping her, but though they didn't like it there
were no further protests. An escort took her back down to check on
Seb, and then showed her the way out of the palace. Rennyn wasted a
few minutes losing the person set to follow her, and removing the
subtle little traces which had been 'chanted into her clothes, then
spent the remainder of the day ensuring there was nothing in the
apartment which would reveal too much. If they were persistent,
they would find the place eventually.

Then she took the old lady's advice and
slept.

"This is becoming intolerable."

As soon as she heard the deliberately
raised voice of Lydia Norandar, Kendall snapped her book shut and
sat up, straightening her stupid student smock. Just in time. The
door was jerked open and three girls clattered in, all braids and
exaggerated drama.

"Two hours," fumed Lydia to her
companions, thrusting her books back on their shelf. Tall and
golden, she'd be pretty but for a nose permanently elevated. "Two
hours they keep us sitting around, and then sent back without a
word of apology. My father will hear of this."

"Does he rank your education above the
defence of the realm?" asked Helena Renton, a droopy blonde
following the three into the dormitory they shared. "Surely it must
have occurred to you that every competent mage in Tyrland has
better things to do right now than prepare you for your
Summoning."

Since Helena topped Lydia on the social
scale that was Lydia's be-all and end-all, the girl only tossed her
head, then glared at the last student to enter the room.

"If they're so keen on defence, they're
being very lax," she said, with deep meaning. "If they're really
hunting for supporters of the Black Queen, why are they ignoring
the obvious?"

The obvious was the last of the students
who shared the room, a tall girl with fine but colourless hair and
daggers for nails. She didn't react to the pointed comment,
returning her books to their shelf and leaving the room without so
much as glancing at the other occupants.

"Truly, she makes my blood run cold,"
said plump Elsa, Lydia's chief crony. "Why are we forced to keep
company with a creature like that, particularly when the Black
Queen threatens us?"

"It shows a disregard for our safety,"
said Anaret, the second crony. "If you ask me, they should all be
locked away, at least until this crisis is over. I mean, you never
can be sure."

"Truly an excellent idea," Helena
drawled, propping herself on the mound of pillows which had found
their way to her bed. "With Tyrland suddenly plagued by the worst
nightmares out of the Eferum, we should throw half the Sentene in
prison. Because they're spooky."

"Because the Kellian were created by
Queen Solace," Lydia said sharply. "You can't escape that. It
doesn't matter what they've done in the past, how they've served
the Montjustes. They were
made
by Solace Montjuste-Surclere.
She's their creator, their god. Now that we know she's alive, how
can we trust them?"

Helena shrugged. "Well, if you think
Sukata Illuma is going to attack you in your bed, feel free to go
home. Somehow, I don't think you're her type."

"I may well do that." Lydia turned her
displeasure abruptly toward Kendall. "First the peasant, and now
cancelled lessons every day. What kind of–"

Kendall didn't bother to stay for the
rest. She'd heard more than enough about unlettered peasants being
allowed into the Arkathan. Things had turned out much as she'd
expected. Lady Weston had handed her over to the Head of the
Arkathan, the school which was one of the three branches of the
Houses of Magic, and had not been back. Kendall didn't blame her: a
stray potential mage was totally unimportant when people were being
killed, and there was all this talk about conspiracies to bring
back the Black Queen. Besides, Kendall had made her own choice to
try magery, and didn't want the Grand Magister treating Kendall as
her business.