How to Spell a Lie: Episode 2
Welcome to the second instalment of my fantasy novel How to Spell a Lie, the first book in the Tevni series.
To read How to Spell a Lie from the beginning, click on this link. Otherwise, enjoy!
Previously…
Apprentice sorcerer Raoul has been ordered by his mentor, Durege, to execute Eleni for stealing his coveted Unconjuring spell. But as he hesitates, the young thief strings him along until, unexpectedly, Raoul passes out.
He wakes to find his magic no longer at his command.
Episode 2
Shivering. I was not dressed for this, not for snowflakes falling out of a grey sky, one the same colour as her eyes, nor for a summit too high even for eagles. And she too had gone, before the snow closed in, a dancer on a cliff top, nimble as a mountain goat, leaving me to my fate. Broken, useless, like a crossbow without a string.
My heart began to race, yet I had to stay calm or would die here.
A long way down to the valley, and the light fading fast. But I was just able to make out a narrow trail.
And something moving along it.
I peered harder: a herd of small, brown and white goats, a few with bells round their necks. They had to belong to someone: a goatherd. Maybe he was close by, or if not, there might be a shelter of some kind.
‘Hello! Hello! Is anyone there?’
No, only echoes. A waste of breath and precious energy. Without help, I would not survive this mountain, so I stuck to the narrow trail left by the goats, but it was becoming more and more difficult to follow in the dying light.
A jolt. My numbed fingertips scraped against stone. A wall? A wall up on the mountain. And here a door, there a latch.
It opened.
I stumbled over the threshold. It had to be the herder's hut, but it was pitch black inside.
Stretching forwards, I advanced a pace. And another. Brushed against the back of a chair. No, the edge of a bed. So relieved, I laughed and cried.
Blankets. There were blankets too, scratchy and musty but who cared? Not me.
I collapsed face down, still clothed, still wearing my boots. Not enough strength remained to unlace them. But, oh, those bedclothes and that pillow were the most welcome of my life.
My troubles would wait until morning. The night could take me now.
*
‘Ah, you've woken up at last.’ A man leaned over me. Tangled, iron grey hair fell to his shoulders, where it mingled with an unkempt, bushy beard framing a long, weather beaten face. His eyes reminded me of Durege's, a vivid sea green, but the pupils were a little elongated, more like a those of a goat. He smiled down at me, surprising considering I had stolen his bed.
I pushed the blankets aside. ‘I hope you can forgive me for...’
‘That's all right, young man. My hut was here, and you were in need.’ He crossed the room to a fire blazing in the hearth. ‘Why not come over here where it's warmer?’ He lowered himself into one of a pair of ancient, sagging armchairs, reached down and lifted an earthenware mug from the floor beside him. ‘Drink this. It'll make you feel a whole lot better.’
Taking the other chair, I accepted the beverage. The warmth spreading into my fingers so soothing, but I sipped with caution: its flavour unfamiliar, not unpleasant but strange even so.
‘Don't fret, lad. I'm not trying to poison you. It's only goat's milk with honey and a pinch of herbs. Come on now. Drink up.’
One sip, and I felt so much better, the coldness driven from my aching bones.
‘Mount Corrola's a strange place to take a stroll in winter, and I don't think much of your choice of garb for mountaineering. Didn't you even consider bringing a warm cloak?’
‘I was lost.’ I couldn't think of any other way to explain my presence on the mountain. I did not think he would believe the truth.
‘I’d worked that out for myself. Yes, you were lost. One more idiot who scales Corrola but can't get down again.’
He continued to speak, but I was no longer listening, absorbed in watching as his hut began to reshape itself around us. A table draped in fine, white lace appeared in one corner, and a stew pot, which had not been there a moment earlier, hung in the fireplace. Above this, on a shelf sat a fresh loaf and half a roll of pure white goat's cheese.
No goatherd, this man had to be a sorcerer like me. But what would a sorcerer be doing all the way up this mountain, alone and so far from Tevni? I would have to tread with even more caution from now on. I had heard nothing but bad things about rogue spell casters who lived alone, away from the House of Sorcerers. What could this man have done to have been exiled?
‘Sir, you are a sorcerer.’ The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them.
He chuckled, flourished his fingers, and all pretence of a humble hut blew away like the morning fog on a windy day. ‘What do they call you, my young friend?’
‘Raoul, sir, and you?’
‘You may call me Garrion.’ He peered into my eyes as if expecting some reaction.
I'd never heard the name, but if this man was in hiding, suppose he didn't want to be found. Could I be in danger? I ought to get out of there while it was still possible. ‘Thank you, Master Garrion. I am in your debt but have invaded your privacy far too much already. It’s time to be on my way.’
‘Not so fast. I don't get much company up here. I won't count a night's rest and perhaps a bite to eat as a debt if you don't. As for “Master”, that's not my title any more. It hasn't been for a long time. Call me by my given name, and we'll get along fine. Besides, I'm curious. What made you chose Corrola for your romantic assignation.’
Ah, so he did know about Eleni. The heat in my face no longer came from the fire alone. I didn't even want to think about the events of the afternoon, let alone talk about them, but doubted I would be able to leave, pretty sure by that stage he was not going to let me.
‘What a ludicrous display. Waves of power rolling over the summit, half the riches of Tevni flying past my window. All for what? To impress some female who, to judge by the dress she left behind, was no better than she ought to have been.’
‘You saw all that?’
‘Oh no, no. I couldn't be bothered watching. There’s a Detect spell in place, that's all. I like to know who's on my mountain and what they're up to. This afternoon, there was an awful lot going on, though one bizarre event cut through everything: a flash of extreme potency, but I've no idea what the spell did.’
He was not giving me any option, so I might as well come clean. What more was there to lose? ‘That would be when my magical abilities were stolen.’
Peering deep into my eyes, his brow creased. ‘You poor boy. I had no idea such a thing could happen. Looking at you though... Yes, I knew you made no sense. You've got the eyes and hands of a trained sorcerer, yet there's no aura nor any smell of magic about you. Had your abilities stolen, eh?’
Garrion sank back into the chair. ‘Not good. Not good at all. Tell me. Tell me what led you to my mountain. Tell everything. Tell now.’
I recognised what he was doing: a Compel to Tell. One simple gesture, and the spell cascaded over me. Words gushed out of my mouth as if the breath were a fast-flowing river and he a consummate angler, reeling in flailing fishes from my defenceless depths with an invisible, enchanted line.
Oh, how the words tumbled from my lips, every one of them. The ill-fated expedition which ended with Eleni's theft of Durege's coveted Unconjuring spell, his command to execute her, and how I came round on the mountain bereft of my abilities.
Uttering the final sentences, my eyes overflowed. I couldn't help it. I was a sorcerer no longer. A thief and a stolen spell had destroyed me, and its effect would be permanent. When I began, I had not thought so, but having been compelled to speak the truth, not only to this strange sorcerer but to myself as well, I recognised the empty chasm she had opened up inside me. My essence had been torn away, rendering me as useless as a fire without a flame, and Eleni was responsible. Without my powers, I had become nothing. I no longer knew who I was nor had any hope of returning home to the House of Sorcerers.
Garrion had heard enough. He held out a glass of pale amber liquid to me with his left hand, while cancelling the spell with a gesture from his right. Before Eleni, I could have done that too.
‘So sorry, my boy. I regret how much that must have hurt but had to be sure you hadn't brought any threat to my mountain.’
The mead was warm, honey sweet, soothing and perhaps a little intoxicating. My aching body fell back in the chair, and my eyes closed for a brief moment.
‘I've never heard of this so called Unconjuring spell. I'm amazed anything so powerful could ever have been written down, even by Talfryn the Great himself. As to how it could be understood, let alone read out by a mere commoner girl...’ Garrion shook his head. ‘It wouldn't surprise me if Durege was behind this. He's an unpleasant and untrustworthy man, no friend of mine. And you were his apprentice?’
‘It's true. He's a hard mentor and not a nice man, but why would he harm me like this? It's not his doing. I was the one who slipped up. All the mistakes were mine, not his. He wanted the spell for his collection, and we took a lot of risks to get it. No, the thief stole it and...’ I lowered my eyes as my voice trailed to a whisper. ‘Used it against me.’
‘Believe me, young man. I do want to trust you, but I'm here on Corrola because of a quarrel with First Sorcerer Sorrell so can't help much beyond what I've already done. In the morning, you must leave, and I'll convey you wherever you wish to go. The wisest course would be to consider another town, Fahrenport or Bereston maybe, somewhere with fewer connections to sorcerers than Tevni. All you can do now is make a new life for yourself. Yes, that would be for the best.’
He didn't give me any opportunity to disagree; I had been dismissed. He raised his arms...
...and I lay in a high canopied bed in a warm room, which could never have been part of any goatherd's hut on a bleak mountainside.
Tossing and turning for hours, unable to sleep, my thoughts in turmoil. Yes, I had been a fool, but could there be a solution to this plight? Could the unconjuring be reversed?
At last, after several hours, I pushed aside my self pity, having finally made a decision. I was not about to run away to Fahrenport or some other place far from the capital as Garrion suggested.
Instead, I planned to return to Tevni. There, I would persuade Durege to help me locate Eleni and bring her to the House of Sorcerers. The words of Talfryn's spell, so strong they could not have been forgotten, even if it seemed to Elene they had, would have burrowed deep into her mind as she read them out, and like truffles hidden among tangled roots, could be extracted by those who had the skill.
I even knew of a sorcerer who possessed that ability. Indeed, he was Durege's best friend. With the words rediscovered, it must be possible for a skilled writer, such as First Sorcerer Sorrell, to craft a counter-spell. It was all so simple.
At first light, I would ask Garrion to convey me to Tevni.
To be continued…
I hope you enjoyed the extract. The next instalment will follow soon.
Published Books by Denarii Peters
Will You Walk into My Parlour The Reluctant Reaper