The Child Prince (The Artifactor) (2 page)

 She froze, mind whirling at high speeds. Truly, the picture he painted scared even her. “And the king?”

“I doubt he’s even aware of what the Council has done,” Kip sighed, running a hand through his hair. “That man’s even more preoccupied with experimentation than you are.”

So the Council had taken control of the government entirely? All directions for the kingdom would come from that council of greedy fools? Sevana didn’t like the sound of this at all. She tried to ignore politics as much as possible, as it inevitably became too troublesome to deal with, but she couldn’t ignore it completely. As an Artifactor, she needed to be licensed on several levels in order to just do business. Because of her high rank, she required a Trade License, Operating License, Artifactor License, and a License for Unorthodox Substances. Without those, she wouldn’t be able to do anything—legally. But they all required a yearly trip to the capital city and the castle just to renew.

If those fools had carte blanche on everything, who
knew
what new hoops they would create for her to hop through. In fact, they might get it in their heads to make her their personal Artifactor or some such nonsense.

There were prices to pay for being the infamous Artifactor Prodigy.

The news troubled her enough that she could almost forgive Kip for his atrocious timing. Almost. She leveled a glare on him that would make a lesser man quake in his boots. He did gulp nervously, though, and his smile faltered for a moment. “If you help me clean up my lab, I’ll let you live,” she offered generously.

Placing a hand over his heart, he swept her a grand bow. “It will be my
pleasure
to assist you.”

Well, well. The man
did
have survival skills after all. She turned and waved him through, kicking the door shut behind him.

Kip made his way to the lab without any instruction on her part. Sevana paused to take in the atmosphere of the cave. She had been coming here since she was three, and living here since she turned fifteen, so she knew the feel of this place better than the back of her head. The smell of burned and melted things floated in the air, marring the usual pleasant smell of earth and running water. That she expected. But under that, she detected a sense of caution. Nothing about the sloping cave walls, the smooth pathways, or the condensation caused by the multitude of little springs in the cave indicated that Big might be a little nervous. She just instinctively felt it was so.

So she gave him a friendly pat on the wall as she turned and followed Kip into her workroom. And if she smiled a little when Big sent a small breeze to caress her cheek and ruffle her melted hair, well, Kip couldn’t see it with his back to her.

Kip had one of her never-ending trash bags open and was tossing anything melted or destroyed beyond recognition into it with commendable speed. Without a word, she picked up another bag and joined in. “You didn’t come here just to tell me the news, did you?”

“No, I would have waited for you in town tomorrow if it was just that,” he responded with a cautious look at her. “But I had a thought. Sev, have you ever looked at the Child Prince? I mean, did you ever try to figure out what curse was responsible for his situation?”

She looked at him wearily. Did she
ever
do work for other people unless he dragged her into it? Surely the man knew this by now. “No.”

“I thought as much. I think you should. Look at him, I mean. If you don’t figure out what’s wrong with him, or at least some way to reverse the spell he’s under, then this whole kingdom is doomed. The Council is already issuing some pretty oppressive laws.”

Well, he had a point, but…

“And it really is the ultimate challenge,” he added as if sensing her hesitation. “I mean I looked at the list of magicians that went to see him. There were some very recognizable names on that list. If even
they
couldn’t do it, then I imagine that this curse is hideously complex. You wouldn’t be bored for the next several months at least, I would think.”

She didn’t bother to ask how he managed to get his hands on such a list. This was Kip, after all. She paused in mid-motion, holding a bag open, and thought about it for a moment, running the ramifications through her mind. “But they’re not going to let me waltz in there and see him. The Council likely prefers him trapped in that eternal child’s body after all.”

“So?” he responded artlessly. “Kidnap him.”

She froze, hand reaching for something, and favored him with an exasperated look. “Tell me you’re not serious.”

“Perfectly serious.” Kip stopped putting things into the bag and braced both hands against the table so that he could lean closer to her, eyes intense. “Sev, that poor kid should be twenty-one years old now. He should be near my age, but he’s eternally stuck at eight. Worse, if we don’t help him, if we don’t find a way to put him on that throne, then you
know
what’s going to happen. Without someone to check them, the Council magistrates are going to go mad with power.”

She rocked back on her heels and thought about it for a moment. It sounded like a lot of trouble. Actually, the idea of breaking into that castle and kidnapping a prince sounded like more hassle than she cared to deal with. And that didn’t even include the fact that she would have to bring him back here, and he would have to live here for quite some time until she figured everything out. And who knew how long
that
would take. The only company that she could stand for any length of time was Big and Baby.

And neither of them were human.

Sevana blew out an irritable breath. Troublesome, troublesome. The whole situation reeked of trouble that she’d just as soon avoid. But if she did, a whole new set of trouble would land on her door, trouble that she couldn’t avoid. She only wavered toward the ‘helping’ side because of that interesting challenge tempting her.

“If you could break
my
spell, you can break his,” Kip implored. “
Please,
Sev.”

She wasn’t in the slightest moved by this plea. But an interesting thought popped into her mind. The prince, if turned king, would have the power to issue royal commands. “When that boy gets on the throne, I want him to issue me an eternal Artifactor’s License so I don’t have to renew the thing every year.
That
is my fee for helping him.”

Kip rolled those big blue eyes of his and said patiently, “I’m sure he’ll grant you one for your help. Now will you go already?”

Since he had caused this mess, she felt it only right that he got to clean it up. Alone. “This place needs to be spotless by the time I’m back. Just leave everything in stasis, I’ll deal with that later. And do
not
show up here tomorrow.”

“Err…” he looked nervous for some reason. “You sure that’s a good idea? I mean, he’s royalty. He’s not going to be used to that sharp tongue of yours.”

“He’d best adjust quickly, then.” Unconcerned, she dropped the bag and spun on one heel before exiting the room, heading for the storeroom next door. If she were to break into a castle and kidnap a prince, she’d need a few things.

“Shouldn’t you do something about your hair first?” Kip called after her.

Rats. She probably should, at that.

Sevana took an hour to grow out her hair and cut it, bathe, and change clothes before she started to prepare. At first, she’d only intended to just regrow the hair and cut it again, getting rid of the melted areas, but one look at the mirror had scared even her for a moment. A bath and a change of clothes had
definitely
been in order.

Satisfied, she went to her room of records and dug through the information in her files until she found what she needed. Her files had a very specific way of organization to them (one that made no sense to anyone else) and at first glance, it
did
look rather jumbled. The room had originally started with bookshelves all along the cave walls, but over the years, she’d added bookshelves to stand in the middle of the room, and a narrow desk squeezed in near the door. Everything had been sorted by the artifact made (as that’s where she started looking), then by area, and then by client.

She headed straight for the Clock Files.

Somewhere around age twelve, Sevana had hit upon the idea of creating a personal portal network in the kingdom. She disliked most means of travel (simply because they were slow) and frankly, with the weird jobs that Kip kept volunteering her for, she’d be constantly traveling and never get anything done. So, portals. It had taken her some time to think of a way to manage it, however. Most people didn’t like the idea of anyone having access to their home or business without a by-your-leave. So Sevana had to develop something that they wanted and would never suspect.

Grandfather clocks.

She had created a grandfather clock that never needed to be wound or maintained. They were expensive, of course, so only the nobility or a businessman could afford them. She didn’t mind this—she only needed a few in every city, after all. But for every one that she sold, she had its twin here, in a storeroom. When she activated her clock, it became an active portal to the other clock. All she had to do was open the glass door and step inside.

Now, if memory served she had about five or six clocks inside the palace. She’d mapped out where they came out, but she hadn’t needed to use them in well over a year, and people rearranged things periodically in that place. Sevana still pulled the file and gave a glance over at the map, just to refresh her memory. Yes, as she suspected, no clock existed in the prince’s wing. The best she could do was that foyer, which meant crossing down at least three hallways. Three hallways with guards.

Hmm. Too troublesome
.
Need my boots
.

She paused and really thought about it. She rarely carried passengers with her. Usually she stepped through the clock, did whatever she needed to do, and left alone. Would there be anything she needed? She’d never kidnapped a prince before, but she
had
snuck into a sorcerer’s tower and “borrowed” his familiar. Surely it would be similar?

In that case
…. Sevana replaced the file and went across the hall to her other storeroom. She’d need a few defense wands, a stasis crystal just in case things went
really
south, a seeking spell, and maybe an illusionist trick or two.
There, that should do it
.

She slung it all into the leather belt she had designed for this purpose. It went snuggly around her waist and could hold ten wands, three crystals, and four potion vials without strain. She rarely ever loaded it to capacity, though. Like now, she normally didn’t need more than a few things.

Alright, last thing
.
Where did I put those boots
?

Even on the best days, Sevana couldn’t be bothered to organize. It took grumbling noises from Big and several head-buts from Baby to make her sit down and organize. It had been quite some time since she had done anything with this particular room. The shelves and tables were stacked high with wands, crystals, and every possible article of clothing, potions, and a few other knick knacks she had created. The most she could claim was that she never mixed the products. All the wands were in one area, the potions in another, and so forth. So she went straight for the leather pile on the table and started digging.
Boots, boots, boots…no, not
those
boots. Aha
!

She held them up, looking them over carefully. To anyone’s eyes, these boots were designed with a forester in mind. They laced up over the ankle, made of dark brown leather that would blend in well with a wooded area. They did not look glamorous, but sturdy. They were a little bulky for her tastes, but sturdy things lasted longer, and putting the right magical design into boots had proven to be a
pain
. She didn’t want to do it again just because the boots wore out after a few years.

Alright, time to go kidnapping
.

Slipping out the door, she made her way further down the hallway, talking to Big as she went. “Big, I’m going out to fetch somebody. He’s going to be about eight, okay? So prepare a room for him. Make it somewhere near the kitchen, but make sure he doesn’t have easy access to my workshop.” She didn’t want to accidentally kill the kid the first few days he was here.

Somewhere in the mountain, rocks shifted against each other in a low rumble, Big’s version of a grunt of agreement. Nodding in satisfaction, she went into her clock room.

Big had expanded this room several times over the years. It was one of the few rooms that didn’t have a cluttered feel to it. For one thing, she couldn’t afford to jumble things together—she’d lose track of which clock went to which area if she did. And it made things difficult to step inside and outside of the clock if she had to dodge other clocks as well.

Let’s see…according to the map,
that
clock opened out into the foyer.

She pulled the master key out from the top, hidden compartment in the clock and wound it up. (She never left all of the clocks running. For one thing, doing so would keep the portals activated at all times which was a huge waste of energy. But for another, if she did, the sound in the room would be deafening.) When it wound up to speed, she set the time to what it would be in the palace (they were an hour ahead) and then opened the glass front. With one hand, she shifted the pendulum aside and stepped all the way through, going sideways a little to fit.