The Wizardwar - Elaine Cunningham [95]
The diviner agreed and strode to a door on the far side of the room.
Arcane light flared around the cracks, giving testament to a magic gate summoned. Dhamari slipped out the way Procopio had come in.
Tzigone gave him a moment, then followed him down a tree-shaded lane.
She scooted up a scarlet beech tree and ran lightly along one of its massive limbs, keeping just ahead of the wizard. There were few people about at this hour, for the sun was high and fiercely hot. Tzigone waited until there was no one in sight. She dropped from her perch, seizing Dhamari's tunic and dragging him into the narrow divide between two shops.
Seeking escape, he fumbled for his crystal. Tzigone was quicker. She seized his hand and gave it a sharp twist that brought him down to one knee.
Dhamari looked up at her and gasped in astonishment. Before he could let out his breath in a shout, Tzigone bent low and drove a fist into his belly. He folded, and a familiar glint of silver hung from his neck.
Her mother's talisman.
Tzigone lunged for it. The wizard slapped her hand away and seized her wrist with his other hand.
Sorcerous energy poured from the angry girl. To her astonishment, it merely collected in a circle on Dhamari's wrist.
He released her and rose to his feet, holding up one arm to display a copper bracer. "Your mother had a temper, too," he said smugly. "I collected some interesting wards, just in case."
Tzigone threw both hands high in a dramatic flourish of spell-casting.
Instinctively the wizard lifted his hands as if to ward off the attack. Instead, Tzigone stepped in and brought her knee up hard.
A high-pitched wheeze gusted from the wizard. For a moment he looked at her with undisguised hatred. Tzigone could almost see the gnomework gears turning in his mind as he sought the vilest curse possible, the most wounding words. Nothing could have prepared her for what he said.
"Your mother is alive."
He spoke with such certainty that Tzigone almost believed him. The world shifted weirdly beneath her feet.
"I would know if she were alive."
"How could you, when even she doesn't know?" Dhamari taunted. His gaze slid down her, and his lip curled in a sneer. "I must say, you are the most unlikely princess I have ever beheld."
Tzigone froze in the act of denying this. Beatrix-this was the name her unknown father had bestowed upon Keturah. Queen Beatrix?
"As you may have heard, the queen will be tried for treason in a few days."
Dhamari paused for a chilling smile. "The queen might be exonerated of the charge of treason by reason of her very apparent insanity, but the court will be less lenient if it becomes known that she has another, murderous identity."
"You killed that greenmage!" Tzigone threw back. "You killed her, and painted Keturah as the murderer!"
Dhamari looked nonplussed, "How do you-" He broke off abruptly, visibly gathered himself. "Why do you say that?"
She looked him over, then snatched a glove from his belt. "This is deerskin."
The wizard clucked softly. "My dear child, if you think that proves anything, you're as mad as your mother."
"You summoned the deer using one of Keturah's spells," Tzigone went on,
"and you held it trapped and helpless while you shot it. It took four arrows. You're not much of a marksman," she added as an aside, then resumed her telling. "The man who tanned the leather lives on the Exchelsor family estates. He has four fingers on his left hand and he wears an eye patch."
The color drained from Dhamari's face during this recitation. "What does this mean?"
"It means that I can divine the past rather than the future. In the dark fairies' realm, I spent a lot of time looking into Keturah's past. I can't tell you what a relief it was to learn that you could not possibly have been my father."
The wizard's pale face took on a dull red flush. "Let me remind you that a vision induced by dark fairies is hardly admissible testimony. Nor are you a credible witness. I suspect that you can't be magically tested for veracity-your resistance to magic is too strong."
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