Defiant Peaks (The Hadrumal Crisis) by Juliet E. McKenna

Author:Juliet E. McKenna [McKenna, Juliet E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy
Publisher: Solaris
Published: 2012-11-24T19:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Halferan Manor, Caladhria

32nd of Aft-Winter

JILSETH RETURNED THE silver-gilt plate to the chest. It was embossed with a dramatic hunting scene where Archipelagans in small boats harried a monstrous sea serpent with spears and harpoons. It was no more imbued with magic than the table the chest stood on.

She closed the lid and rolled her head from side to side to ease her stiff shoulders. Her back ached from constantly stooping and standing up again. Though she was only physically weary; as far as wizardry went, the day’s work had been more protracted than demanding. Her mage senses readily identified pieces with magic within them even if the precise nature of such spells was a more complex puzzle.

Twenty-seven strongboxes had been brought up from the iron-gated cellar to this narrow-windowed muniment room. They ranged from chests large enough to carry half an Aldabreshi noblewoman’s wardrobe to nail-studded coffers with intricate locks, small enough to rest on two outstretched hands. Each one had been crammed with jewellery and ornaments though this could be barely a fraction of the Khusro domain’s treasury.

Jilseth had diligently examined every piece. She turned to the white-clad Archipelagan standing silently inside the door opening from the barony’s audience chamber. ‘Do you know why these particular things were selected? Was there some reason to suspect magic’s contamination?’

He didn’t answer or even meet her gaze to acknowledge that she had spoken. As he stared intently at the array of items which she had set aside on the table Jilseth guessed that he was committing every one to memory, to tell his mistresses what this voyage had cost them, to free themselves from lurking sorcery.

A belt made up of four strands of plaited leather threaded through gold roundels, each one with a different bird’s head in its centre. A long cylindrical whetstone with a silver finial shaped like a dolphin. Four narrow plaques of different lengths, cast in bronze and each one showing a violent battle scene. Jilseth guessed these were part of a swordsman’s gear.

An alabaster statue of an eagle-headed woman holding a shallow dish. A bronze bowl engraved with ducks splashing among tufts of reeds. A gold cup embossed with enamelled feathers. Spoons, cast from bronze and copper or carved from horn or dense black wood and inlaid with chips of bone and coloured stone. A tall, narrow-necked ewer and a pair of enamelled copper candlesticks. Would these have spells imbued within them for unsuspected domestic purposes?

An array of silver and gold brooches shaped into flowers and sprigs of leaves, bright with precious stones. A pair of intricate ivory earrings studded with turquoise. Three anklets; one of braided copper, one of dull brown agates set in dark iron and one of silver bells.

Conferring some more personal magic, Jilseth guessed, but she hadn’t tried any piece on to discover precisely what spells it held. Not with this daunting quantity of boxes to be opened and searched through, when Velindre and the Archmage had insisted that this task must be completed as swiftly as possible.

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