‘I’m sure you’ll have all you need once you’re safe in Pwodente,’ Nessa replied. ‘Whatever happens we are going to survive. You’ve got to believe that.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Susan said, shaking her head as tears sprang to her eyes. ‘I’ll try, but I’m not as brave as you, Nessa. I’ll try to do better. I really will.’
It didn’t seem worth staying any longer – the sisters had little of interest to say to each other. Nessa tried to remain calm but, after Susan had complimented her on being brave, every time she started to speak, her bottom lip began to tremble as if it had a life of its own. When she finally did manage to utter a few sentences, all three sisters burst into tears and spent the rest of the time that remained to them sobbing and hugging each other tightly. It was all very futile.
I was sorry to be facing death. Now I would never attain my full potential. I needed at least a further century of study before I could complete my mastery of haizda magic and hone my fighting skills to their optimum level. It would also have been pleasing to learn that I had overcome the dangerous threat of skaiium, avoiding the weakness that afflicts some of our order. Now I would never know the outcome. However, I decided to make the best of what might well be the last day of my life in this world, so I went to my private room and snapped my fingers five times to summon Hom, a type of homunculus, who is perhaps the most interesting servant deployed in Valkarky by haizda mages. He is a gatherer of news and gossip, and his multiple shapes are specially formed for that task.
One, which is in the form of a rat, functions particularly well in the sewers, making it possible for his specially adapted ears to listen in to conversations all over the city; while submerged he can focus his hearing on a conversation despite many intervening skoya floors and walls.
Another of his selves has powerful wings and can soar far above the city to view its rooftops and thus see anyone approaching or leaving Valkarky.
The self that gives its reports takes the form of a very small figure not unlike a human male. Of course, it is covered with long brown fur in order to keep it warm, and always lives within our haizda quarters while its other industrious bodies roam far and wide. Once it had squeezed out of its hole, it clambered up onto the chair directly opposite my own.
‘Report on the progress of all other haizda mages!’ I commanded.
Never in the course of my visits to Valkarky had I found another haizda mage in residence here. Indeed, it was many years since I had encountered the last one while journeying along the edge of the human territories far to the southeast. We had spent a few hours together and exchanged little more than pleasantries – we were by nature secretive. But each haizda mage made a report to Hom before leaving the city, and that information was available to me now.
‘In addition to yourself, eleven others have visited and reported in the last thirty years,’ Hom said. ‘No doubt you will be interested to know that eighteen months ago Rasptail made what he believed might be his final visit here. He is now almost eight hundred years old and fears that his powers are beginning their slow decline. Once he becomes certain of it, he proposes to end his life.’
Hom was correct in his assumption that I would be interested in news of Rasptail. After all, he was the haizda who had trained me during my noviciate, the thirty-year period that begins the vocation. After that a haizda mage must study and develop alone. Rasptail had been a harsh but fair master, and I was saddened to hear that his powers were waning. It was the haizda way to take one’s life at that point. We chose death rather than a long decline.
Next he gave report of the last known status of the other ten mages. By the time he finished I was weary of it and demanded information about Valkarky and its inhabitants.
‘What would you like first, master – news or gossip?’ Hom asked in his thin reedy voice.
News is usually quite predictable – variations on events that have been repeated in our city over many centuries. For example, there is the rate at which Valkarky is expanding; some years growth is slower, and that always gives cause for concern to those who worry about such things. Then there are statistics on the execution of prisoners – usually criminals. I find most of that quite boring.
However, I like gossip; it occasionally has some foundation in fact.
‘Give me the most interesting gossip,’ I instructed, noting that Hom was looking rather bedraggled, his fur matted and tinged with grey. He was getting old, and would soon have to be replaced.
‘The thing most talked about, master, is that a large star-stone has fallen to earth not too far from the city. As it heated up, passing through the air, it took on the most interesting crimson hue, suggesting that it is composed of ore perfect for constructing blades. Many are out searching for it.’
Star-stone was very valuable, but it was likely that seeking it was a fools’ errand. It had probably burned up before impact – or maybe they had been mistaken about the colour. Such objects, with their spectacular pyrotechnic displays, were frequently seen but rarely found. It might even have been the same one I glimpsed to the north. But, if so, I had seen no hint of crimson.
‘Anything else?’ I demanded.
‘It is rumoured that a lone purra was in the area where the stone fell. She was taken prisoner, but at great cost to the Oussa. They say that she resisted and that at least four of them died.’
Now, this was very interesting, but most improbable. The Oussa were the guard who answered directly to the Triumvirate, which was composed of the three most powerful High Mages in the city. For one person to kill four of their elite guard was even more unlikely than my own feat of slaying a Shaiksa assassin. And, after all, I am a haizda mage, not a lone female.
Suddenly I felt a great surge of curiosity. ‘I would like to see her corpse,’ I said. ‘Do they talk of where it is to be found?’
‘They say that she was taken alive and is being held within one of the most secure of the Oussa dungeons.’
‘Taken alive?!’ I exclaimed. That was even more unlikely. ‘Investigate this further,’ I commanded. ‘Report back as soon as you are able. I want to know where the purra is being held.’
Hom scuttled back to his hole, while I busied myself making preparations for my battle against the Haggenbrood. I began with mental exercises in which I visualized the steps leading up to victory. Firstly I placed myself in the arena; next, in my mind’s eye, I watched the Haggenbrood haul its three ugly selves out of the pit. I concentrated until I could both see and smell the creature. Gradually I regulated my breathing, making the image sharper, but I had only completed the preliminary sequence, entering the first level of concentration, when Hom reappeared and took his place once more on the chair opposite me.