“Thank you,” I said. “Will there be any issues of allegiance?”
“You mean as regards Drakh?”
“I’m fairly sure that I’m not Richard’s favourite person at the moment.”
“Drakh and I may be allies, but I am not accountable to him for my every action,” Morden said. “If he confronts me on the issue, I will tell him that I believe that your success would be in my, and his, best interests, which is entirely true. Should he choose to press the matter, however, I will not stand in his way. I suspect it will not be long before you have to resolve your issues with Drakh directly.”
“Oh, I’ve been expecting that for a while,” I said. We’d come most of the way around in a circle and were approaching the house once again. “Your new apprentices didn’t back off all that far, by the way.”
“They can be somewhat reckless,” Morden said with a glance back at where the four of them were hidden. “Still, an excess of spirit is better than an excess of caution.”
“I didn’t know that adepts were your type.”
“Perhaps I’ve learned from you,” Morden said with a slight smile. “In any case, if there’s nothing else, I have other business. I’ll be in touch.”
* * *
—
The image of those four adepts nagged at me on my way home, and midway through the journey I realised why. Two girls, two boys, living in the mansion of a Dark mage. They’d been a couple of years older than I was when I’d joined Richard, but the parallels were uncomfortably close. I wondered if they’d end up on the same path as Morden’s last Chosen.
There was another realisation too, something that was harder to explain. I had the feeling that Morden was going to survive all this. He wasn’t aiming to settle grudges and wasn’t seeking the crown, and because of that everyone else would always have someone they wanted dead more badly than him. When this was over he was going to be walking away, back to the forests and streams of his shadow realm and to his new group of disciples. The same wasn’t likely to be true for me.
chapter 4
I warned you this could happen,” Klara said.
“I know.”
It was the next day and I was sitting in my cottage in the Hollow. I’d taken off my shirt, and Klara was bent over my right arm, her eyes studying it intently. Klara is a German life mage, thin and unsmiling. I didn’t really know her well enough to trust her, but with Anne gone, Klara was the best I was going to get.
“If we had amputated immediately, you would have only lost a hand,” Klara said. Her fingers pressed lightly on the not-quite-flesh where the fateweaver had replaced my skin, a faint green light spreading from the fingertips. “Now, you will lose the forearm as well. Continue to wait, and it will be the shoulder.”
“Is that still what you’re recommending?”
Klara sighed and sat back, the light at her hand fading. “No. The item has tied into your pattern and nervous system. I do not know if it could be safely removed, not without a better understanding of its workings.”
“What about the stiffness?”
“Your elbow cartilage is being converted.” Klara nodded down at my right elbow. “The item has finished transmuting your radius and ulna and is spreading to the humerus. I expect within another day or so the process will be completed and your elbow will return to full functionality.”
“So it’s fine?”
“Apart from the fact that it’s replacing your arm one part at a time, yes. I would not consider that ‘fine.’”
“Fair point,” I said, getting to my feet. “How fast is it spreading?”
“At exactly the same rate as before.”
“So that spell you tried didn’t help.”
Klara shook her head. “No effect whatsoever. At this point, the only treatments I can think of carry the risk of so much potential damage that I am hesitant even to try.”
I pulled my shirt over my head and tucked it in. “Well, I appreciate the help.”
“I don’t know why you’re thanking me. I have done nothing.” Klara looked at me. “Once again, I recommend that you seek treatment at a dedicated facility. I believe it would still be possible to remove this item with further study.”
“I understand, but that’s not an option.”
“Is being dead an option?”
I paused. “How long?”
“Half a year at the maximum. Probably no more than three months.” Klara nodded at my arm. “The item is overwriting your pattern incrementally, replacing your skin, flesh, bones, and nerves with synthetic material. You are extremely lucky that these materials have so far proven compatible with your physiology. For now at least, your body and your new arm are functioning in symbiosis. The problems will come once it finishes with your arm and starts on your torso.”
“So you think it’ll keep going.”
“There are some indications of negative feedback,” Klara said. “I think it may not spread to replace your entire body. But it will almost certainly spread through your shoulder to your head and chest.”
“What happens if it starts replacing my brain?”
“That is an excellent question. It is also irrelevant.”
“Why?”
“The item has successfully transmuted your arm,” Klara said. “Somehow, your body has managed to integrate these changes into your physiology. However, the more of your body that is replaced, the greater the strain. Your transmuted arm is fully functional, and will remain so. For various reasons, I can predict almost certainly that the same will not be true for your internal organs.”
“So you’re saying . . .”
“Your right lung will be transmuted, followed by your heart,” Klara said. “This will cause them both to shut down. The process is permanent, and once started, irreversible. Your only chance of survival is to have the growth halted before that happens.”
“Which would mean losing access to the fateweaver.”
“Yes. In fact, you should be doing that anyway. I strongly suspect that use of that item’s powers is accelerating the material’s spread.”
“Those powers are the only reason I’m still alive,” I said. “I understand what you’re saying, but right now, I need them.”
“Yes, well, the thing that’s keeping you alive is also killing you,” Klara said. “You will have to choose.”