Page 22 of Witchcraft and Fury (Chronicles of the Divided Isle #1)

‘Now, about your daughter,’ Gib began. ‘Have you begun to consider who might be a suitable match for her?’

Within a week, Gib and Miss Baker were exchanging wedding rings.

And Gib was in love. There was no mistaking the sincerity of his memory.

But he’d also made a bitter discovery: that love, no matter how persistently sought, how frequently demanded, was one thing that Azure Euphoria could not secure.

It became devastatingly clear that his wife’s loyalty would always lie with her father, not with him, regardless of how much potion he made her consume.

And so he resolved to ask Mr Baker for one more thing: his life.

It had required the strongest concentration of Azure Euphoria that he had yet brewed, but it had worked.

Solar continued to browse Gib’s memories, horror and fascination building within her in equal measure.

She watched him demand the life of his uncle, Lombur Knight, and the deeds to the local silver mine he had owned.

She saw how he had slowly become addicted to the particular flavour of power that demanding the lives of others conferred.

How he had meted out justice to Sal Sumac, caught stealing from his newly inherited mine.

How a group of travellers passing through the town had failed to address him with sufficient respect – and paid the ultimate price.

But how? Solar thought to herself, remembering Pingot’s earlier question at the graveyard. How do you poison an entire town?

The moment the question crossed her mind, the relevant scenes from Gib’s memories played out; scenes showing Gib strategically poisoning Scree and Torrin, landlord and landlady of The Cantankerous Mule, before bidding them to contaminate their ale casks with potion and offer it, free of charge if necessary, to all who entered their doors.

The townsfolk had come flocking, of course, and Gib soon repeated the process at other inns across the town.

And then, as swiftly as Solar had launched her attack, Gib rallied himself and threw her from his mind with a force that was almost physical. Whether intentional or not, she felt Gib’s consciousness leave her own head at the same time.

Back in her own body, Solar was immobilised with shock. She had performed mind raiding! But how? She had no training, no knowledge of the theory behind it. She had nothing.

And yet she had done it, and with a finesse greater than anything Gib had managed.

She sat there, breath coming as raggedly as if she had just been sprinting, feeling as if she barely knew herself after her display of power, and fearing Gib now knew her better than she would like even her closest friends to.

She waited for whatever Gib would say or do next, too stunned to make the first move. Did he know what she had seen? Had she been just as obvious with her choice of memories as he had with hers?

After a long moment of regarding each other silently, Gib spoke.

‘The things a mind trained in magic can perform when placed in the direst of straits. To think you instinctively launched your own counterassault, even when under the influence of Azure Euphoria. Loveday really is crafting you into a lethal little weapon, isn’t he? ’

Solar sat still, heart pounding, not daring to move a muscle. Gib still thinks I drank the beer?

Gib looked outside at the afternoon sun.

‘I would like to quiz you more – see for myself just what an education in an official magic encampment can achieve, a luxury I was never offered. But our time is up. I have to begin making a fresh batch of potion, so that it will be ready to simmer at sunset for optimum efficacy.’

The potion brewer raised his voice towards the bar. ‘Scree!’ he snapped. ‘Give me these youths as prisoners with their hands tied behind their backs, all except tall, strong Cal here.’

The scraggly-haired landlord hurried over with rope retrieved from a store cupboard behind the bar.

He cast Gib a look that, on the face of an undrugged man, would have appeared positively placid.

Solar, however, recognised the fleeting shadow of a quizzical expression, and Gib evidently did too, for he said in a teacher-like tone, ‘Yes, yes, they’ve drunk the potion, but they’re a troop of magicians. Doesn’t hurt to take precautions.’

Solar’s companions smiled docilely as they were tied up, and Solar had no choice but to do the same. She couldn’t fight them all at once – Cal and the others would surely defend Gib if asked. Not revealing that she hadn’t drunk any of the beer was her only advantage.

‘It’s been a pleasure to be of service, Gib, as always,’ Scree said, once he had tied the final knot. He gave a low bow and retreated back to the bar.

‘Well, Solar, it’s here that I say my farewells,’ Gib said. ‘I can’t let you live, of course, not now that you know the truth. Such a shame – you seem so much more interesting than these blue-blooded dolts you keep company with.’ He cuffed Oswald and Wyman hard in turn.

‘Can I have some more ale?’ Wyman asked Gib, a hopeful smile on his face. ‘I am thirsty.’

‘Cal!’ Gib barked, ignoring Wyman, his voice cracking like a whip.

Cal looked up, woken from his Happy Potion-induced reverie.

‘Cal, I want you to give me your friends’ lives, and then, once that is done, your own. You can use these.’ He produced six vials of viscous yellow potion from within his cloak and slid them across the table to the apprentice. White flecks floated in them like curdled milk.

Solar almost cried out in horror. Frantically, she began to try to free herself from her bonds, her hands hidden behind her back, desperate to help the other trainees.

Cal leapt to his feet in obedience. He rammed the poison down the throats of the trainees one by one.

None of them stirred to protect themselves.

Finally, he reached Solar, who was still trying to untie the rope around her wrists.

He gripped her under the chin. Bizarrely, in that terrible moment, Solar noticed how the skin on his hands was rough and calloused from hours of swordplay.

Then she spat in his face, before giving him a vicious kick to the shin.

He backed off, surprise etched on his face.

She made to headbutt him in the chest, but he caught her by the hair and yanked her head back.

The fingers of his other hand prised open her mouth and she bit down hard.

He roared in pain and slapped her across the face.

Solar tasted blood in her mouth. Stars spun in front of her eyes and a high-pitched noise whistled in her ear. The next thing she knew, Cal was pouring the poison down her throat, and it was all she could do to stop from choking.

Finally he let her go, and she collapsed back onto her chair, gasping for breath.

Cal coolly uncorked the final vial and downed it in one swift swallow. ‘We are glad to gift our lives to you, Gib,’ he said.

‘You didn’t drink the ale, did you?’ Gib asked Solar quietly, ignoring Cal.

She shook her head, tears brimming in her eyes.

‘You really are a cut above the average magical trainee, Miss Carpenter. No matter – the poison will kill you all the same. The lot of you have until – let me see – sundown, I imagine. Four hours. The first will pass by without symptoms. Then, I am told, you will experience a series of sharp, agonising pains in your stomach. Come the third hour your head will feel like it is about to split in two, and soon after you will begin to lose your sense of sight. When you fall unconscious just minutes later you will consider it a mercy, and finally you will be ready for death’s embrace. ’

He rose and stood behind Wyman. Seizing the corners of the boy’s mouth, he pulled them up in an exaggerated grin.

‘Azure Euphoria will continue to work on your bodies after death, ensuring you boys go to Thywal Twiggery with a smile,’ he sniggered.

‘I’ll be interested to see the expression on your face, Solar. Racked with pain, I presume.’

‘You bastard!’ shouted Solar. ‘You disgust me! Sir Gaderian! Sir Dirk! Help us!’

Her cries were cut short as Gib grabbed a cloth from the counter, wound it round her mouth and fastened it with a tight knot.

‘You think your magic instructor, were he able to hear your cries, would help you? Come, come, Solar, you are cleverer than that. The wizard has dark plans for you. I have looked into his eyes and heart, and seen a kindred spirit. He took a great risk enrolling you into his encampment, but not for the reasons you think.’

‘Liar!’ Solar tried to spit through her gag, but it came out as a muted grunt. Gib ignored her. He relieved each of the students of their weapons, and Solar felt naked when her sword, Fury, was taken.

‘Cal, give me the lives of the wizard and master-at-arms please. Then find me in the storeroom behind the bar,’ he said, handing the apprentice two more vials of the foul yellow potion.

Cal ran upstairs obediently to where the two men were presumably still unconscious.

Gib dragged Solar, kicking wildly, behind the bar, opened a door and threw her down a steep flight of steps into the dim room below.

The only light came from a tiny, dusty window just above head height.

Then Gib ordered the other trainees to traipse in after her, and a moment later Cal reappeared.

He walked down the steps, and Solar saw that the two vials in his hand were empty.

Gib didn’t think to bind his hands. Though given how completely Cal is under his influence, that will likely hinder our escape, not help it.

She looked up to see Gib silhouetted in the doorway.

‘Goodbye, Solar Carpenter,’ he said, and closed the door.

She heard a key turn in the lock and Gib command: ‘Give these young magical students privacy please, Scree, Torrin. Let no one disturb them.’

And then there was silence.