The biggest problem was that they wanted me to teach magic and I didn't have any to teach. I knew exactly eight spells. I remembered learning them, a loupe tucked firmly into one eye socket as I watched them cast by a sorcerer. This to make a light, this to warm a layer of air close to your skin, this to keep you dry if it's raining, this to make a flame. They were simple spells, easy spells, they were nothing. There cannot be a noble alive who didn't know them. If I cooperated they would soon learn that I knew nothing worth teaching, nothing they wanted to know. Then they would begin asking questions about the loupe; why did I have it? Where did I get it? And I didn't know what to tell them. They would not believe I'd stolen it.
I say that was my biggest problem. I'm not sure it's true. They'd let me keep my stone, after a fashion.
“We didn't think you could climb down. Didn't think you had it in you, frankly,” Ferrian told me when I was safely ensconced in my room, my cell. “I guess your dangerous-looking friend killed the guards. He'll be an asset, I'm sure, one way or another.”
I didn't see the point in responding.
“Larner put a ward over the window, so no going out there. It'll hurt and we will know.”
So Larner had been Turned. I'd started to think of it in that way, like a title. The Turned.
“He'll be along to see you later; talk to you, see what you know. We won't be seeing much of each other, I'm afraid. I have other duties. But I'm sure Larner will look after you admirably; he has one or two ideas.”
I didn't respond. Why bother? They would do what they would do and I would endure as best I could. Jocasta was safe, for now, and free. That mattered. It didn't much matter what happened to me. I was, after all, pretty useless.
He went to the door. “Relax,” he said, “take a drink,” and was gone.
I did. A small brandy. I sipped it slowly and fantasized murder.
Larner strode through the door some time Later. “Ah, our lost lamb returned to the fold. How are you feeling?”
I was sitting up on the bed, still imagining new ways to kill Ferrian. I didn't respond.
“Not very friendly, Sumto.” He crossed the room to stand by the bed, too close for my liking. “Here, I have a present for you.” He pressed his hand against my forehead, too quick for me to react, and there was a near invisible flash of light. I slapped my hand to my forehead as he stepped rapidly back. “There, perfect. Now we will always be able to find you.”
I probed at my forehead. There was something there, something small and hard and warm. A stone. The stone Jocasta had given me, or mine, it didn't matter which.
“It's embedded in your skull. I suppose you could cut it out. Well…” he thought a moment. “Yes, I think you do have it in you to do that, so…” He leaned in again and I made a fist, waiting. “I could always bring the guards in here to hold you down. What do you think?”
No. I couldn't win this battle. No point in fighting it. I dropped my hand to my lap and relaxed.
He touched my forehead and there was another flash and pain, sudden flaring pain that was fading even before I could cry out. “Now if you remove it you will burst several blood vessels in your brain. Not a healthy thing to have happen.”
“What did they do to you?”
He shrugged, face suddenly bitter and angry. “Changed my mind. Opened my eyes, as they will open yours one way or another. It is easier to obey…” he trailed off, then suddenly came to himself. “Now, I have another present for you. Want to see?”
I shrugged. “Do I have a choice?”
“Not really, no.” He crossed to the window, waved his hand to disable the ward and stepped onto the balcony. I could still see him when he turned back. “Come along, then.”
I followed him. They'd broken him. Somehow. He was not the man I knew, that was for sure. This crazy old man had nothing in common with the Larner I had known in the camp. His false cheer was grating, unnatural. I decided I didn't want to know what had Turned him. Some horrors it's better not to contemplate.
“There, good,” he said as I joined him. He took my arm and led me to the balcony edge. Once there he pointed into the courtyard. I looked down.
They might have been dogs, once. But the gods alone knew what they were now. They were in the hands of two handlers, and pulled at their leashes. Their fur had gone gray. Terror will do that to you. They strained toward me, snarling and barking madly, jaws spraying spit, muzzles wrinkled. Their handlers were having a hard time holding them back, and they were both big men.
“They don't like you much. Sorry there are only two of them. I suppose I could make more, but I think two will do, don't you?”
I nodded dumbly.
“They can smell the stone, you see. Smell it anywhere, no matter how far away you are they will come after you. You will hear them coming, the sound vibrating from the stone, into your skull and then to your ears. A reminder that they are out there, coming for you. So,” he said sweetly, “no running away it is then, okay?”
I just stared at them.
“Good,” he said as though I had agreed with him. “Inside now, and I'll see you tomorrow.”
I went inside. He restored the ward and left.
He took the brandy with him