“No, it’s not that. People are scared of ghosts. The sick man would have thought you were the spirit of death come to collect him.”
“True. But your folk also believe that we know a lot about healing, and we do. I trained long and hard to learn it. How could they not have a healer at that mine? We would have had one. That poor fellow had awful injuries, but easy to treat if you knew what you were doing. Anyway, just as I started to patch him up, the mine was attacked. Masked mages and a whole lot of men with crossbows.”
“Rogues. You get gangs of them in frontier lands.”
“One of the masked men was your cousin. And before you ask, I saw his face, as well as hearing his voice. One of the miners hid me under the floor of the room where I was operating. Your cousin took his mask off to wipe his brow and I saw his face through a gap in the floorboards. Just now I thought I knew his voice, so I took a look at him from under the bed.”
Illuminus did have a very distinctive voice. Some injury to his throat as a child made it low and husky. But why would Illuminus be helping rogues? He was a Lucheyart, for Lady’s sake! We owned most of the crystal mines in the country. It was the source of the family’s power. Why would he help destroy one of our own mines? Could the manager have offended him somehow? Or a bet? That seemed irresponsible, even for one of the mages.
“And before you ask how, I could see his reflection clearly in that mirror on the wall over there.” He shook his head. “Wilkhkje, wilkhkje, wilkhkje! He must suspect I am here.”
I could feel the tension in him. “Don’t worry, the place is full of mages who can protect you from him.”
“Yes. All his relatives.”
I laughed ruefully. “Just ’cause we’re family doesn’t mean we get along. Plenty of people here would happily see Illuminus disgraced. His own brother Scintillant, for a start. They fight all the time—proper punch-ups. Then Blazeann and he have some kind of feud going on, and Lucient would happily help us because he’s a sweetie. If you’re really certain it was him, we could take you out of here and show you to everyone and get you a real protector.”
I felt him relaxing.
“I know! Great Aunt Glisten is here. She’s one of the Council of Elders. No one goes against her. She’d be perfect.”
His arm tightened again.
“No, she would not. Djthlyer. She would be the worst.”
“Why...? Ah! The whole diplomatic incident thing.”
“We were not doing any harm. We wanted to find out how the crystal is getting out. Black market crystal is causing our government all kinds of problems...”
“But how do you know it comes from here?”
“There is not anywhere else.”
“Really?”
He sighed. “Is there any point in my telling this story if you don’t believe a word I say?”
“No, I believe you. I’m amazed. I didn’t realise.”
“That is how the Empire of Light has so much dominance in the world. They control all the crystal and most of the enhanced mages. If they wanted to run the whole planet they could. But I guess there is no point in conquering places when you’ve got such a hold over people. So tell me, can you do anything to stop him coming in and getting me?”
“No. All he’d get would be a lecture from Impi. Although killing would be more serious. He’d have to stand trial for that. Hey, why—?”
“I suppose that means he is not certain that I am here. Actually he might have been one of the people who searched this room this evening. In which case he might be almost sure I am not here. I suppose it would be safe enough to stay.”
“I still find it hard to believe that Illuminus would be smuggling crystal,” I said—gently, so as not to upset the ghost again. I was thinking aloud more than talking to him. “It’s treason and he’s undermining his birthright. Crystal is the basis of Lucheyart power. Shola’s pact centres around it.”
“Tell me how this Shola’s pact works, exactly.”
“Oh, you know. Well, I suppose you don’t, do you? Once upon a time there was war between mage and mundane. Rogue mages enslaved the mundanes, and peasants had to run away and hide in forests and hills. There was famine and uprising and also the hunting down and assassination of mages by bowmen. Shola was the first Empress, the one who brokered peace with the mundane leaders and killed off the rogue mages for them. Shola’s pact gives protection to mundanes, and any mage who doesn’t sign and uphold it has their crystal removed, loses their powers and is driven out as a rogue.”
“And this would happen to your cousin if caught smuggling crystal? Would he be punished?”
“He would certainly be stripped of nobility—that’s what happens when you lose your crystal.”
“Is that for good?”
“Not really. Most people get it back after a while if they behave themselves. But for treason—crystal smuggling—I don’t know. But the risks are huge, Shadow, and what for?”
“Money.”
“But...”
I shook myself. I was starting to believe him, although the suggestion was outrageous. All our lives we’d had it drummed into us how wrong it was to help rogue mages get crystal. Rogues did terrible damage: they ransacked farms, they killed people, some of them were just plain mad.
“It doesn’t make sense.”
“You are not going to run off and ask him, are you?”
“Oh, no. If his prick was under my foot, I’d stamp down hard.”
The ghost winced.
“Let the rat look after himself. I don’t care what happens to this family after Bright. They can burn for all I care.”
“So even if you doubt me, you will not tell anyone else? The fewer people involved in this, the better. All I want is to get back to my embassy in one piece.”
“Fair enough,” I said. “Though if Illuminus is searching for you, you’d be much safer with Lady Glisten guarding you.”
“Not Glisten Lucheyart. The political outfall would be terrible. No, Illuminus seems to be being discreet at the moment. He clearly does not want you to know about his activities. There is protection in that. And he cannot know that I know who he is. Ka ka, I am freezing.” He had been shivering for a while, even with me pressed against his side. Some of it must be fear.
“It’s a cold one, true enough. Are you going to come out and hop into bed? We can keep each other warm.”
I realised how that must sound only when he made one of his embarrassed noises. Curse it, I’d forgotten what an odd creature he was. I felt foolish at being so insensitive after our earlier conversation.
To cover it up, I said, “Mind, if you get a stiff prick in the morning, don’t expect me to help you sort it out.”
He laughed. After a moment he said, “No need to worry. I have taken it off for the night.”
“What? You mean... It’s detachable?”
He laughed softly. The sod was teasing me.
“You lying rat!” I hissed, smacking him and trying not to laugh. Soon we were both giggling helplessly.
“You people are so blunt,” he explained, when we’d got our breath back.
“You’re lucky I don’t insist on seeing it,” I said. “Come on. I promise not to interfere with you. I’m too tired.”