Lhind the Spy by Smith Sherwood

Author:Smith, Sherwood [Smith, Sherwood]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: young adult, psychic powers, shape-shifters, fantasy & magic, adventure
ISBN: 9781611385205
Publisher: Book View Cafe
Published: 2015-06-08T16:00:00+00:00

SEVENTEEN

Next morning, sure enough, the summons of doom came.

I picked out a pretty yellow outfit and I even essayed the silk slippers. The only thing I ignored was the headdress, a sort of tiara affair that dangled gems on the brow coming to a point over the nose, echoing the V of the fais. If my hair lifted suddenly, something I could control most of the time unless something shocked me, the headdress might go flying off somewhere. Wasn’t certain how disastrous that might be.

Thus girded for the battle of wits I took myself to the Garden Chamber. When I saw Dhes-Andis I made the sort of bow Princess Elenderi would make, and I did it with a flourish. May as well begin my masquerade right, I thought to myself.

Dhes-Andis sat in his wing chair that kind of resembled a stylized lily, two outward petals arching above the armrests, and the central one rising to an oval with that odd triple crown embroidered beneath. On a beautiful golden stand at the right-hand side of his chair sat a crystal, perfectly round, the size of a child’s head. Three cats had joined him, one on his lap, one on the armrest, and one lying along the chair back to the right of the oval.

A wingchair had been set to face his, but on the floor below his dais. When he indicated with a nod in its direction that I was to sit down I thought this would be easy, he was just going to talk at me. I had only to practice my Lhind the Spy mask and continue to seek an escape. Right?

Wrong again.

“An adequate first effort at civilized behavior,” he said as he slowly stroked the cat on the armrest. Its eyes slitted but otherwise it was silent.

His other hand made a subtle gesture too quick to catch. “Now, let us explore your skills. I’ve lifted the wards against your magic—”

It was instinct, really. Not my plan. But the moment I heard ‘lifted the wards’ I focused on him, braced, and hurled a voice cast, because by now I knew that voice. I’d heard it in endless nightmares after those mental encounters the previous summer.

And he struck back without lifting a finger.

The voice cast splashed away harmlessly. I struggled to breathe. When the white lightning eased enough for me to get my shuddering ribs to expand, he said, “And one for stupidity.”

He burned me again.

When I came out of that one I knew why he’d had the chair set, so I wouldn’t fall flat on the ground again. That was not civilized.

“What have you just learned?” he said, still stroking the cat as if nothing had happened.

My mouth opened but no sound came out. That’s because I had enough wits left to choke off the first three or four responses I really wanted to make, all of which were absolutely guaranteed to net me another dose of his “correction.”

His voice didn’t lift in volume, but the consonants sharpened to precision.

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