Mistress of the Night by Don Bassingthwaite, Dave Gross Read Free Book Online Page B

shriveling and turning black.
    Among the devastation on the bench lay the remains . of not one of the jars Keph had treated with the magesbane, but four. Of the two vessels he had treated, there was no sign. He could only guess that they had given birth to the shards of glass that littered the laboratory floor and pierced his brother's flesh.
    Beshaba's ivory arms, he cursed silently, what have you gotten me into, Jarull?
    Strasus was turning around in the midst of the chaos, examining everything but especially the ruined workbench. Keph's mouth was dry. He scarcely dared to breathe. His father was sure to find something; nothing escaped his sharp-eyed gaze. And if he detected the magesbane—
    But Strasus only grunted and stood up straight, stroking his gray beard as he turned away from the workbench. Keph's stomach twisted. He licked his lips, forcing moisture into his mouth again.
    "What happened?" he asked, cautious.
    The old wizard grimaced. "An accident," he said. "Roderio must have made some kind of mistake in his brewing."
    He held out his staff and murmured a spell. With a sound like the edges of a hundred knives drawn across slate, the broken glass and crockery that had been scattered across the laboratory scraped itself together into neat piles. He wiped his free hand through the air and the smoking puddles and droplets of acid hissed and vanished. Strasus lowered his staff slowly to the ground and paced out of the room with a sigh.
    Keph only barely managed to hold in a sigh of his own as his father stepped past him. An accident?
    Out in the hall, Strasus knelt beside Roderio. "How is he?" he asked.
    "Unconscious," said Dagnalla, "but I don't think he's getting any worse. A priest should arrive soon. We'll know better then."
    Her voice was thick with tension. Strasus reached out and patted her on the shoulder, then helped her to her feet.
    "It would be better if he were in his bed rather than lying on the floor," he said. "Malia—?"
    "I'll see to it, father." She spread her hand speaking the words of a spell. Roderio's battered, unconscious body shuddered slightly, then rose up off the floor to about waist height. Malia gestured and Roderio glided down the hall toward the south wing. The watching servants parted before him. Strasus, Dagnalla, and Malia followed in his wake. Keph could hear his niece Adrey down the corridor, crying and asking what had happened to her uncle.
    "Tymora's own luck," he breathed.
    Keph wasn't quite sure how or why Strasus could come
    to conclude that what had happened was nothing more than an accident, but Keph wasn't going to question his good fortune! As his family followed Roderio's floating form and the crowd of servants dispersed, Keph ducked into the laboratory. His brother's familiar hissed at him.
    "Quiet, you!" he hissed back, and darted to the rack of jars, hastily grabbing those that remained of the ones he had dusted with the magesbane. Tucking them carefully into the crook of his arm, he darted back to the door and peered along the hall.
    The servants were gone, his parents and sister all apparently in Roderio's bedchamber keeping watch over his brother. The hall was empty except for Adrey's disembodied wailing. Keph trotted down the hall to his own bedchamber and closed the door softly behind himself.
----
    "Kephi Hey, Keph!"
    Keph halted his brisk pace and swung toward the sound of Jarull's voice so quickly he almost fell over. The big man was leaning back in the shadows of a stone wall, well out of the heat of the afternoon sun. He gestured for Keph to join him, but the friendly smile he offered faded after one look at the glower on Keph's face.
    "Dark, Keph, what's wrong with you?"
    Keph stalked over to him. "That damn magesbane almost killed my brother!" he spat quietly. Like Jarull, many Yhauntans were seeking shelter from the heat, but there were still some people out and about. As much as he felt like shouting at his friend, he didn't dare. He shook the satchel that