Mistress of the Night - Don Bassingthwaite [18]
"I'll see to it, father." She spread her hand speaking the words of a spell. Roderio's battered, unconscious body shuddered slightly, then rose up off the floor to about waist height. Malia gestured and Roderio glided down the hall toward the south wing. The watching servants parted before him. Strasus, Dagnalla, and Malia followed in his wake. Keph could hear his niece Adrey down the corridor, crying and asking what had happened to her uncle.
"Tymora's own luck," he breathed.
Keph wasn't quite sure how or why Strasus could come to conclude that what had happened was nothing more than an accident, but Keph wasn't going to question his good fortune! As his family followed Roderio's floating form and the crowd of servants dispersed, Keph ducked into the laboratory. His brother's familiar hissed at him.
"Quiet, you!" he hissed back, and darted to the rack of jars, hastily grabbing those that remained of the ones he had dusted with the magesbane. Tucking them carefully into the crook of his arm, he darted back to the door and peered along the hall.
The servants were gone, his parents and sister all apparently in Roderio's bedchamber keeping watch over his brother. The hall was empty except for Adrey's disembodied wailing. Keph trotted down the hall to his own bedchamber and closed the door softly behind himself.
"Kephi Hey, Keph!"
Keph halted his brisk pace and swung toward the sound of Jarull's voice so quickly he almost fell over. The big man was leaning back in the shadows of a stone wall, well out of the heat of the afternoon sun. He gestured for Keph to join him, but the friendly smile he offered faded after one look at the glower on Keph's face.
"Dark, Keph, what's wrong with you?"
Keph stalked over to him. "That damn magesbane almost killed my brother!" he spat quietly. Like Jarull, many Yhauntans were seeking shelter from the heat, but there were still some people out and about. As much as he felt like shouting at his friend, he didn't dare. He shook the satchel that he carried over one shoulder. "I'm getting rid of what's left!"
"Killed him?" Jarull's eyes went wide. "Keph, what did you do with it?"
Biting off each word in anger, Keph told him. When he was finished, Jarull stared at him for a moment-then started laughing.
"It isn't funny!" Keph snarled.
He threw a punch at the big man. Jarull's hand snapped up and caught his fist. The laughter vanished from his voice.
"It is funny, Keph," he said softly.
"Oh, really?" Keph tugged his fist free of Jarull's grip. "What was the magesbane supposed to do?"
Jarull shrugged. "Explode." A strangled sound found its way out of Keph's throat, and Jarull added hastily, "A little bit, Keph. Only a little bit!"
"You said it wouldn't do anything permanent!"
"In a house with five powerful wizards, how much is there that's really permanent?" He spread his hands and raised his eyebrows. "Besides, how much do you have to hate someone to do what you did, just to make sure they got a little punishment?"
Keph blinked. "What?"
"How much of the magesbane did you say you used, Keph? Half a bottle? Without really knowing what would happen?" Jarull's voice dropped even lower and he leaned forward. "Tell me you regret it."
Keph stared at his friend. By daylight, Jarull looked even paler than he had the night before, his eyes even brighter. Something was wrong with him, Keph realized. Something more had happened in Ravens Bluff than Jarull was saying.
"Jarull…" he said, starting to take a step back.
Jarull caught his arm. "Answer me, Keph. Do you regret what you did to Roderio? What was your first reaction when your father said he thought it was all just an accident?"
"I…" Keph opened his mouth-then shut it again. What had been his first reaction? Really?
Relief, he realized. Not regret for what he had done, nor dismay at what had happened to Roderio, but relief that he hadn't been caught. And more than that.
A sick feeling of elation had warmed him. He had knocked Roderio off his pedestal, not just physically, but in his father's eyes as well.