The Black Raven - Katharine Kerr [99]
“I bitterly regret leaving the casket with the princess,” Nevyn said. “But I didn’t know what else to do with the wretched thing. I couldn’t trust anyone else with it, and I could hardly take it with me on campaign.”
“I should think not, my lord!” Lilli said. “It might have got you killed.”
“Or the prince, worse yet.”
“Is that what’s made her so ill, the casket I mean?”
“It’s not. That’s quite another matter.”
A greenish-grey gnome climbed into Lilli’s lap like a cat. She stroked its nubby back and almost, it seemed, could hear it sigh in contentment. Nevyn walked over to the table and stood scowling at the casket as if he could force it to speak.
“My lord? You’ve never told me what’s in it,” Lilli said. “All I know is that I can’t bear to touch it.”
“And that’s a mystery in itself. I put so many dweomer seals on it that I doubt if the Kings of the Elements themselves could get through them, yet you felt the evil without half-trying.” He shook his head in irritation. “But what it’s hiding is at root simple: a curse tablet. Have you ever seen one of those?”
“I’ve not.”
“They’re strips of soft lead, hammered very thin—you engrave the words of your curse on it with a sharp bit of stick or suchlike.”
“What did this one say?”
“As this so that. Maryn king Maryn king Maryn. Death never dying. Aranrhodda rica rica lubo bubo.” He smiled briefly. “Are you any the wiser?”
“Well, everyone knows who Aranrhodda is, and the death part is clear enough.”
“Unfortunately. Tell me, did your mother ever talk of Aranrhodda?”
“Not that I remember. What I wonder about is the bit that says ‘as this so that.’ It bothers me. What’s the ‘this’?”
“Ah, here’s the nastiest thing of all. It had been buried in a box with the corpse of an infant boy.”
“They didn’t kill the child on purpose, did they, just for this spell?”
“I’m afraid they must have. He was badly mutilated, too. It takes a lot to shake me, but I was shaken, I’ll admit it.”
“How horrible.” Lilli felt on the edge of nausea. “The baby’s not in there, is it?”
“What? Of course not! I had the local priests bury the poor little fellow properly.”
“That gladdens my heart. How long have you had this casket?”
“Six years or so. I found it buried in Pyrdon, just before Maryn started his march to Cerrmor. The Lords of the Elements warned me that there was dark dweomer nearby, you see. They told me where the cursed little bastards had sheltered, and I found the child’s grave when I was poking around.”
“Dark dweomer? You mean like that retainer of my mother’s, the one my uncle killed?”
“Exactly. I’m guessing that it was the same man, in fact.”
The nausea rose with a taste of bile in her mouth. Six years ago. Olaen was but five summers old when he died, and he’d been betrothed to Abrwnna when he was newborn.
“Is somewhat wrong?” Nevyn said.
“I’m not sure. I’m trying to think—there’s a thing I heard-but I’m not sure when it happened.” She hesitated for a silent prayer that she might be wrong. “That child, the one buried with the tablet. How old was it?”
“Some weeks. I’m afraid it had been dead for some time, and I couldn’t be sure of its age. Lilli, you’ve gone pale as death! What’s so wrong?”
“I think the child was my brother.”
Nevyn goggled at her, his mouth slack.
“Abrwnna told me some gossip about my mother,” Lilli went on. “Abrwnna came to court about five years ago, but there was still talk of somewhat that had happened when my father—I mean, my mother’s husband—died, the year before she arrived. My mother left the court to give birth to a child. When she returned, she said the baby had died of a fever, just a few weeks after it was born.”
Nevyn shut his mouth with a snap. He left the table and half-sat, half-leaned on the windowsill. She had never known anyone who could turn as quiet as the old man could.
“We’ll need to find out more about this,” he said at last.
“If I’m right—” Lilli said. “Oh ych! It’s too disgusting!”
“Quite so.” Nevyn made a sour face. “Are you thinking that Merodda gave the child over