[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.They could have come from anywhere.”But the runes couldn’t have, Emily thought.Either they were necromantic blades that simply hadn’t been used before or they were fakes, intended to convince us that we were looking at necromantic work.Stone knives weren’t uncommon outside the nobility, she’d learned, when she’d been researching how magic interacted with materials.Professor Thande, in one of his many digressions, had explained that stone could soak up a surprising amount of magic, or channel it without turning to dust.Some metals allowed faster passage of magic, but they tended to decay rapidly.The necromancers used stone tools because metal knives would destroy themselves before they had finished draining every last drop of mana and life energy from the corpse.But there was no point in trying to ban stone knives.They were simply too common–and besides, iron was too expensive.Emily had actually managed to dig the formula for making steel out of her mind and pass it on to the blacksmiths, but they hadn’t managed to actually produce it yet.And aluminium was shockingly expensive.If Emily had been carrying a couple of cans of fizzy drink when she’d been yanked into the new world, she would have been set up for life.Aluminium hadn’t become commonplace on Earth until new techniques for producing it had been discovered.“Really,” Lady Barb said.She shot Emily a sharp glance, no doubt wishing to question her further on why she knew that the blades weren’t necromantic, then looked back at the Crown Prince.“I would like to interrogate the girl for myself.”“I’m afraid that won’t be possible,” the Court Wizard said.“I… broke her mind.”Lady Barb’s eyes glittered.“Your servant should have been under spells that made it impossible for her to lie to you,” she said, addressing the Crown Prince.“Why was it necessary to break her mind while questioning her?”There was a long uncomfortable pause.“She was not quite right in the head,” Dater said, finally.“Either because she fell in love with Hedrick”–he shot his brother a snide glance, which brought no visible response–“or because there was something wrong with the obedience spells.She just started to babble when we asked her questions.”“Or someone befuddled her,” Lady Barb pointed out.“Did you check for that before you started poking into her mind?”Emily shivered.A sorcerer could peer into someone’s mind, if they were prepared to commit what was effectively mental rape.But it had very real effects, including causing terrible pain and–perhaps–snapping someone into insanity.What would it do to a girl who was already under an obedience spell–and, perhaps, someone else’s spells too? She could easily see a necromancer pushing the first set of spells aside, then imposing his own…but why would they be so subtle? It wasn’t in their nature.But who else benefited from Alassa’s death?King Jorlem didn’t benefit at all.He would have risked war with Zangaria if the princess died while in his castle.And if Hedrick didn’t want to marry Alassa, he could have gotten out of it without threatening his father’s kingdom.And no one in Zangaria benefited.Without a clearly defined heir to the throne, there would be civil war once King Randor died.Such chaos in the north would suck in the neighboring nations, each one looking for its own advantage.Eventually, the necromancers might be able to take advantage of a weakened Allied Lands…maybe it was their work after all.But it was still oddly subtle.There was no reason why they couldn’t achieve the same results by attacking Castle Alluvia openly.Emily shook her head, tiredly.Maybe she was underestimating them.Or maybe she was missing something obvious.“So we are left with a mystery,” Lady Barb concluded.“A young maid who might have been so deeply in love that she risks a war between two countries, a young maid who has never been touched by the prince she loves.Or a young maid who was used as a tool by someone else in an attempt to assassinate Princess Alassa.I do not like mysteries.”“You go too far,” Dater snapped.“We handled this investigation as carefully as we could…”King Jorlem tapped the table sharply, silencing his son.“Her first priority is safeguarding Alassa,” he said.“Hedrick; did you know anything about this?”His son shook his head.“I never even looked at her,” he said
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]