“Not something I'd normally do, but…” I gave a little shrug and winced as pain shot the length of my left arm. My fingertips began to tingle with pins and needles.
“Why?” he asked.
“Did you see what happened?” I asked.
“Just that you suddenly closed and stabbed him.”
I chuckled. “There was… a little more to it than that.”
“He did something with magic,” Freda said.
Aber stared at her. “What?”
“I… do not know. I was looking at him through the Logrus as they fought. I thought I might learn something about Ulyanash from it.”
“Did you?” I asked.
“Almost. He was using magic even before you fought. He had a faint red glow all over. Then, when you killed him, you suddenly glowed a brilliant white. I have never seen anything like it before. What did you do?”
“I shape-shifted, too,” I said.
“To what?” Aber demanded.
“I think I'll keep that part to myself,” I said. If no one had seen what I'd done, I didn't want word of it to get out. I might have to use that trick again someday.
Freda began to mumble something as she applied the salve. I felt better almost immediately. When I glanced back down to see what she had done, I realized she had applied the salve to the knife rather than to me. And, bubbling and frothing, the metal dissolved as I watched. Blood ran freely now, washing a few bits of steel from my wound. Even the leather handle fell off and bounced across the tiled floor, coming to rest against Aber's boots.
“Neat trick,” I said. I wished we'd had that salve in Ilerium.
“It is the best way,” she said. “Sewing the wound shut will hurt more. But I have a salve for the pain.”
She began sewing the wound closed. Her stitches were quick and precise.
Aber said, “Ulyanash shouldn't have forced the duel on you. Nobody fights to the death anymore. It's… frowned upon.”
“Why?”
“It's too easy for such fights to escape control.”
I shrugged, winced.
“Sit still,” Freda said. She had almost finished.
I continued, “I didn't want to kill him, but if I hadn't, he would have killed me.”
“Yes.” Aber's gaze was distant. “He had two chances to call the fight over, but he wouldn't. He had second blood, so there wouldn't have been any lost honor. It's clearly his own fault. No one who saw it will blame you.”
“Good.”
“His family, though… You're likely to have a blood feud on your hands. We all are.”
“Done,” Freda, tying up the wound with a length of bandage. “No more fighting tonight, Oberon. Promise me.”
I rose. “I'll try not to,” I said.
Aber said, “That trick aside… honestly, I don't think you should have been able to kill him.”
I raised my eyebrows. “I'm pretty good with a blade, you know.”
“He was a Lord of Chaos. A full-blooded lord. You don't know what that means.”
“We are not as powerful as once we were,” Freda said. “You know that.”
Aber sighed. “Not that again…”
I looked from one to another. “Will someone tell me what you're talking about?”
“There are a lot of important people at this party,” Freda said. “I have been talking and listening. I believe I know what has happened to Father.”
I faced her. “What?”
“It is about the Shadows. King Uthor says they have weakened Chaos and everyone here. He wants them destroyed.”
I looked from one to another. “What does that have to do with Dad?”
She hesitated. “There are forces in the universe that are equal and opposite to Chaos and the Logrus. They work to strengthen themselves and undermine our power. King Uthor's investigation into the cause of the Shadows' appearance has somehow focused on Dad. They think he's responsible.”
“How?” I demanded.
“Nobody quite knows. But if he somehow allied himself with another power, something different from the Logrus, he may have found a way. He was arrested when he reached King Uthor's palace two days ago. Somehow, he… simply vanished from his cell. It should not have been possible. The Logrus sealed him inside, without access to magic.”
Something different from the Logrus… I thought of the Pattern within me and swallowed hard.
Suddenly, it all began to make sense.
“If King Uthor is behind the attacks on our family, we must flee into Shadow!” Aber said. “I'm going now, before we're arrested next!”
Freda gave him a withering stare. “Nothing has been proved about Father,” she said. “He is merely suspected. We are not—because we have done nothing wrong. We may fall under scrutiny, but we have nothing to hide. If you run, they will assume you are guilty and take action accordingly.”
“Someone else knows about Dad,” I said, frowning. Rising, I paced the room. “That's why we have all been targets. Someone other than King Uthor is trying to kill us for what Dad did.”
“Then you're saying it's true—” Aber began.
“Yes! I… feel it.” I swallowed, the image of the Pattern rising in my mind. Whatever deal our father had made with this thing, this power that was not the Logrus, I saw now that it involved me. Somehow, it had to do with the Pattern within me. If anyone else realized what I knew, what I could draw upon, I would be marked for death.
Aber sat heavily. “I… hoped it was all a mistake,” he said. “Someone pursuing a blood feud against Dad. But if he has betrayed us… betrayed King Uthor and the Logrus…”