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Chapter 19

Deveren looked down at the unconscious Maladie, and tutted.

“Poor Maladie. That is going to smart in the morning. I’ll have to procure him more of that swill he enjoys drinking.”

“It’s…it’s you,” Gwen stammered. “You’re the one behind all of this.”

“Obviously,” Deveren said. “Maladie could not come up with anything resembling a plan.”

“He’s been with you?” Gwen asked. “All this time? Since you attacked us?”

“Since I attacked you?” Deveren laughed. “Maladie has been my pawn since we orchestrated my pathetic father into trying to extend our lands at the pathetic fool’s holdings.”

“What?”

Deveren sighed. “Right. I am surrounded by peasants and other idiots. I must explain using small words.” He held up his hands. “I, convinced my father, to attack Maladie. Thus having him declared unfit to be count, and paving the way to my eventual takeover.”

What an insufferable fool. Monologuing, now of all times.

Deveren smiled. “I was ready to assume my father’s lands, and finally get rid of that doddering idiot. Maladie would be compensated in several months, and I would take my rightful place in High Society.”

You understand the fallacy in his logic, Student.

Gwen closed her eyes, wincing. Great, now that Voice was butting in.

The count chuckled. “And then you broke in, killed my father, and gave me license to take not just my father’s lands, but Everwynn’s as well. Nothing like a hostile takeover to really start your time in the nobility.”

Even your pathetic wisdom should be enough to carry the day against this inferior noble.

“What do you want with me?” Gwen shouted.

“What do I want?” Deveren asked. He pointed at Gwen. “I want everything. And you, my little darling assassin, gave me just the pretext I needed to justify this to the nobles. All I really want to know is why? Why did you kill my father?”

“I didn’t,” Gwen said.

“Seriously. Just tell me why, and I might be inclined to take you and the rest of Everwynn’s little charges under my wing.”

He lies. You cannot be this dense.

“I know that’s a lie!” Gwen shouted.

Deveren looked around. “Was there a need to shout?”

Gwen groaned. She had voices in her head. And for some reason Deveren couldn’t hear this annoying ghost, but she could and it needed to go away! she needed to focus.

Yes, you do. You need to focus on your magic, Student. You need to escape.

“I don’t have any magic,” Gwen said. “I can’t stop him.”

“Finally, some clear thinking,” Deveren said. “And contrary to popular belief, I can be merciful, if given enough incentive. Just let me know where Everwynn is hiding, and I will spare your friend. The cute little prostitute, right?”

Gwen’s head snapped up.

Excellent. Utilize that rage. Bring your power to the fore. Unleash your potential.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Gwen shouted up into the air. “I want to stop this idiot, but I don’t have my own magic!”

Deveren looked at the crazy girl, and shook his head. “I thought I would be able to talk with you, but clearly you’ve gone insane.”

You are a Student!

“You keep saying that!”

Then learn another’s magic and USE IT!

What?

“Guards!” Deveren called out. The door opened. The soldiers walked through, and looked at Gwen and the count. “I believe that takeover should happen now. Please make it so.”

Learn another’s magic? How could she possibly learn someone else’s magic? It was theirs, not hers.

But she had been able to use Rosamund’s flames. And she understood Doramont’s plant magic. She could see Indearie’s in her mind’s eye. She knew how they worked.

But most importantly, she could see Maladie’s. And she knew how his magic worked.

She waved her hand, and stepped into a space that wasn’t there. She felt a soft pull, and was across the manse, standing in the greenhouse.

Gwen held her head, and groaned. That felt…slimy. Like she had just passed through three month’s worth of spoilt jam instead of the glass and space around her. No matter how useful this magic was, she couldn’t imagine herself using it except when absolutely necessary.

But she could use it. Gwen trembled with excitement. She could use magic. Not just a spark, or someone else’s. she understood how someone could do magic, and then replicated it. She was a student!

“Study Magic!” Gwen shouted. “I’m not just a damn thief, I’m the greatest thief in the world. I steal people’s magic!”

The trees murmured angrily, and moved forward. They recognized Gwen, and were not happy to see her. The shifting roots flowed towards her.

Gwen held her hands up, defensive. “Hey, hey, hey!” she shouted. “I’m not here to start a fight, I’m trying to talk!”

They didn’t believe her. The Thief, the bad seed. It had hurt the Sunman, and tried to hurt them as well. Break her up, kill her. Bring more nutrients for the long winter.

Gwen grimaced. She could feel all of the rage being directed at her. Plants didn’t seem to feel to anyone else, and they were wrong. The emotional weight pressing down on her was the entire greenhouse. Every tree wanted to bury her beneath their roots. The grass was ready to sit atop her bones. And the flowers, they just imagined how pretty their petals would look to Doramont when they were watered by her blood.

“Hey!” Gwen shouted. “No one is using my blood for a damn pigment enhancement!”

She pointed at the roses, snarling. “I don’t care how pretty you think it’s going to be.”

The fauna stirred, cautious. The thief understood them? There was another who could reckon with their pain?

“Look, I’m not here to fight,” Gwen said. Though if the roses started looking at her funny again she’d just go ballistic. “But the manse is under attack, and we need Doramont. He’s one of our main powerhouses and…”

The trees turned and stomped off, followed by the rest of the greenery. They curled over the stone entrance, sealing it shut. And then they stood still.

“No, no no.” Gwen waved her hands. “See, we need Doramont out here. See, in there he can’t help us stop the bad guys that are taking over. That make sense?”

The plants did not move.

Gwen groaned. “Right! Because who cares about the rest of us meatbags? You just want to make sure Doramont the Sunman doesn’t get a little papercut!”

They didn’t care for her threats. And they could sense her feelings as much as she could theirs. The fauna knew of Deveren and his plans. And they despised his fire magic as much as they appreciated Everwynn and his kindness.

But Doramont was their protector. Worth more than a thousand lives, or this strange house of the living departed. The plants would not move.

“You all suck!” Gwen shouted.

They understood her rage, and so let her walk out without incident.

“By the way, if someone wants to let Doramont know that Deveren is planning on killing the duke,” Gwen said. “That might be something he wants to know.”

Vegetation. Always thinks it knows what’s best for all living things.

Gwen motioned once, and, suppressing an urge to retch, used Maladie’s spatial magic again. She stepped out of the greenhouse, and then on top of the North Wing. She sat down, and looked out over the lawns.

The guards swarmed out of the Wing. They ran in all directions, partnered up.

“Let go of me! Let go!”

Gwen looked out. Right next to the tree line a pack of soldiers were piled on top of a single figure. A guard yelled, and was thrown fifteen feet into the air. He was shortly followed by a second.

“That’s right!” Drake flew up, shaking a fist. His clothes were torn, and hat a bruised lip, but his eyes were still alight with mischief. “Don’t you dare think that you can come into an Everwynn home and get off with just a warning.”

“What are you doing?” Deveren shouted. He strode out of the Wing, flames trailing in his wake. “I said to capture the felons!”

“Don’t blame them, your ponceness,” Drake said. “They just can’t catch what they can’t follow.”

Deveren flung a green fireball at the boy. Drake cartwheeled, shaking his head.

“Come on, Deveren!” He called out, you can do better than that!”

“Kill him!”

He gave a one-fingered salute. “Well, I’d love to stay and chat. But now that I know it’s you who is in charge of this little takeover, I’ll be sure to not stick around. I’m off to go find out if the nobles actually agree with your coup.”

Drake flew off whooping and hollering.

Deveren howled, and turned to his guards. “Find him! If he gets a hold of someone who matters, this will all be ruined!

“And tear this place apart. I want every secret laid bare. We are going to find Everwynn, and have him hand us that little wench on a silver platter. Go! Go!”

Gwen laid her head on the roof, and closed her eyes. The sounds of the soldiers running to and fro faded into the distance. Soon there was only the night breeze.

Think, think. Where was she going next? How far was Maladie’s range? Did he need to be familiar with where he was going or sending someone? How familiar, and how recent was it?

Gwen winced. She could already feel her hold of Maladie’s magic slipping. She only had a glimpse of what it truly was made of, and now that she was questioning it, she was losing what little she had.

Have you discovered your pathetic lack of competence?

Gwen shuddered, and looked around. Finding nothing, she relaxed. “Right, the annoying Voice that insists on talking my head off.”

This nuisance led you out of a certain death.

Gwen snorted. She didn’t want to let it know just how right it was.

And now the Gardener has decided to tend to his fauna instead of the living, whilst the Whelp has run off to Gods know where.

“Tell me something I don’t know.”

Very well. Your friend has been captured.

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Dead by the Book

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I didn't ask for a destiny.

Especially one that says that I'm supposed to destroy every god in existence.

It made the name William Creed a curse. Made me turn tail and run from the only home I knew. Left my friend, my favorite ghost, and hoped that the gods would just forget about me.

But now I'm back. Chasing the one good paycheck I've seen in years. Chasing some kid who's in way over his head, searching for a book that could break reality.

I'll have to take on dragons, the undead, a whole cosmos of deities, and my own mother.

Welcome to God Street. Where miracles become realities.

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