The Black Raven - Katharine Kerr [159]
“In the name of the Great Ones!”
Nevyn swung his arms down and thrust the spear of light deep into the talisman. It shrieked like a live thing, or so he heard it, and twisted round the point. White light drowned it and boiled; it seemed he could see red steam rise and hear it hiss. He could feel the light flow down his arms, flow through him and out his fingertips while the tablet writhed. It might have melted, had only Nevyn possessed another spear of light, but all the power he had gathered, he had already spent.
Nevyn staggered back, let his arms fall to his sides, and caught himself just before he collapsed onto the floor. He could summon no more power, could physically bear to channel no more light than what he had already gathered, but still the tablet sat on the tabletop, a dull grey strip, gleaming with oily light.
“Blast it!” Nevyn whispered. “Wretched thing!”
Lilli grabbed his arm and guided him to the chair. He sank gratefully onto it and listened to his breathing, hard and ragged in his chest.
“The curse is weakened,” Lilli said. “But it’s not gone.”
“I know.”
“For a moment you were winning.” She sounded on the edge of tears. “The light-it was so beautiful, I thought it had to win, and the lead seemed to be melting, just for a moment.”
“Win? That’s an odd word to use, but truly, I suppose it was a battle of sorts.” Nevyn glanced around the chamber, which still glowed and shifted like flames to his dweomer-touched eyes. “Get me some water, child.”
Drinking the water, icy cold from a metal flagon he’d set on the windowsill earlier, brought him firmly back to his body and its normal perceptions. He banished the etheric fire from his magical diagram and scattered the grains of charcoal, returning the table to its normal self as well. The curse tablet went back into its box, and the box back into its hiding place.
“I wonder what went wrong?” Nevyn said. “It felt as if I simply weren’t strong enough, and that may be, but when the power of the Light came upon me, I thought it was potent enough to wipe away all manner of evil things.”
“Just so.” Lilli frowned in thought. “When you fashioned the spear, my lord, I had the oddest feeling. It was rather like you’d missed your mark, but that didn’t make sense, because the white light covered the whole tablet.”
“So I thought at the time. But, here, that’s an interesting thought. Would you say I’d not found the heart of the tablet?”
“Somewhat like that. It’s so hard to find words for this kind of thing.”
“It is, indeed. Huh.” Nevyn fell silent, remembering as best he could the downpouring of the Light and its rush through his mortal flesh. “There’s somewhat about this wretched tablet that I’ve overlooked, perhaps. I’ve simply never had much affinity for it. That’s been a problem from the very first.”
“But I do.”
“True spoken, but you’ve not had the training to do this sort of work. Don’t you even think of trying such a working! Do you understand me?”
“I do, my lord.” Lilli managed a faint smile. “I’m just as glad, to be honest. I know that I’m but an apprentice.”
“Good. Someday, perhaps, if you work hard, you’ll be able to channel the Light through your blood and bone, but that’s years away. And I sincerely hope we’ve destroyed this wretched thing before then.”
“Will you try again, my lord? Is there some other spell you can cast?”
“I doubt it, unfortunately. I’ve spent many a long night thinking about it, and this was the best I could come up with. But we can change the conditions around the working. Perhaps it’s the astral tides that are wrong. They run so low this time of year. Perhaps in the spring they’ll be stronger and me with them.”
But even as he spoke, he doubted it.
The first snow melted quickly, and the weather turned dry if achingly cold. Princess Bellyra bundled herself up in two cloaks and started a new part of her researches, a catalogue of the various towers and outbuildings scattered around the main broch complex. It struck Maddyn as an odd thing to do, but since it made her happy, he was