The Fire Dragon. Katharine Kerr

was, and he cursed near killed me. I told him about it, too, I did, every year after.’

      Despite the cook’s fears, the birth went fast. Bellyra’s labour had begun just after dawn, and not long after noon a triumphant Elyssa hurried down the staircase. She paused about halfway and called out, ‘Another healthy son for the prince! Our lady fares well.’ Everyone answered with cheers and loud good wishes. Elyssa paused for a moment, smiling at them, then came down to the floor of the hall. She hurried over to the table where Lilli was sitting.

      ‘Lilli?’ Elyssa said. ‘Could you spare me a moment?’

      ‘Of course.’ Lilli jumped up and curtsied. ‘What shall I do?’

      ‘Just come walk with me a while.’

      Elyssa led her outside to the main ward. In the hot spring sun flies hovered, jewel-bright as they darted back and forth. Over by the watering trough a groom curried a dun palfrey, who stamped a lazy hoof and flicked his tail whenever a fly tried to land upon him. Otherwise the dun seemed wrapped in silence like some enchanted fortress. For a moment Elyssa stood staring at the cobbles; then she looked up with a little shrug.

      ‘I see no reason to mince words,’ Elyssa said. ‘Are you minded to forgive the princess her fit of temper?’

      ‘Me forgive her?’ Lilli heard her voice crack. ‘I’m the one who’s done her harm.’

      ‘You’re not. It’s Maryn who’s paid her the hurt she feels. In her worst moments she’s blamed you, certainly, but when she’s herself again she knows where the fault lies.’

      ‘Truly?’

      ‘Truly.’ Elyssa gave a firm little nod. ‘Now, you know about the awful sadness that takes her after she’s given birth.’

      ‘I do. Is it happening again?’

      ‘Not yet. The other two times, at least, she’s done well for the first few days.’ Elyssa looked away, frowning. ‘I wish the midwife understood it. Neither she nor the herbwoman can say aught but “it passes, it passes.” So it always does, but ye gods! the cost it takes while it lies upon her!’

      ‘It’s terrible, indeed.’

      ‘So, I was wondering somewhat. Bellyra told me about that brooch of your mother’s, the one that had some sort of evil spell upon it. Nevyn said that a thief would feel uneasy or suchlike from the handling of it. Is there such a thing as a spell that would cheer someone up, like, rather than cursing them?’

      ‘There is.’ Lilli thought for a moment. ‘I wonder if I could make such a thing? I think I know how, but I’m not sure I have the skill. I’m but an apprentice.’

      ‘I know, but I thought mayhap you’d try.’ Elyssa reached into the folds of her kirtle and drew out a small silver ring brooch. ‘This belongs to her.’

      ‘I’ll gladly try.’ Lilli took the brooch and clasped it in her hand. ‘The worst I can do is naught. You can’t curse someone by accident or suchlike.’

      ‘I did wonder about that.’ Elyssa suddenly smiled. ‘It’s good to talk with you again. If the princess’s grief comes upon her, it would be a splendid thing if you’d come to the women’s hall. Any distraction would be a boon.’

      ‘Even her getting enraged at me?’

      ‘Even that, but I doubt me it would happen.’ Elyssa paused, glancing at the sky, when the sun had started its slide towards evening. ‘Is it too late in the day to send the messengers off?’

      ‘To the prince, you mean?’

      ‘Just that. You know the lay of the land around Dun Deverry. Is there a dun nearby that would shelter them for the night?’

      ‘A good day’s ride east. Most of the duns near the city have been razed and gone for years.’

      ‘That’s what I was afraid of. Very well. I’ll have the scribe compose the messages today, and we’ll get the men on the road tomorrow at dawn.’

      They walked inside together and climbed the staircase, but when Elyssa went to the women’s hall, Lilli returned to her chamber. She laid the little brooch upon her table beside the book and for a moment gloated over the task ahead of her. She too needed a distraction from her worrying over Branoic and the prince both. It did occur to her to wonder if Nevyn would approve this independent foray into dweomerwork, but since he wasn’t there to ask, she went ahead with the job.

      Nevyn’s dweomer book devoted a page to the process of charging a talisman, and Lilli had seen Nevyn work its opposite twice now as well. She would need to cleanse the brooch first of any and all evil influences it might have been exposed to over the years. That very evening, by candlelight she drew a magic circle around her table and chair to mark it as her place of working. The brooch she laid in the centre of the round table. Next, she sat down and meditated upon the Light to clear her own mind of troubled thoughts. That done, she rose and stood as she’d seen Nevyn stand, one hand in the air.

      ‘Lords of Light,’ she called out. ‘May my work be true.’

      In her mind she visualized the Light, streaming across the starry sky. She imagined light pouring down like water to drench her, light swirling round her upraised arm, light gathering at her fingertips. With a snap she brought her arm down and washed the little brooch in a beam of silver light.

      ‘Begone!’

      To her altered sight the brooch gleamed, as bright as molten silver from the jeweller’s ladle. The light flickered, then vanished. She broke the magic circle with a ceremonious stamp of her foot.

      ‘And any spirits trapped by this ceremony, go free!’

      The chamber once again was an ordinary room, lit only by dim candlelight. She stamped again to earth herself with the feel of solid things, then let out her breath in a long sigh. She was trembling and sweaty, she realized. When she took a step, she nearly stumbled; she had to catch the back of the chair to steady herself, an effort that left her gasping for breath. There will be plenty of time, she told herself. You’ll simply have to work slowly, in stages. She wrapped the newly-purified brooch up in a bit of cloth to protect it, then went to bed.

      Over the next few days Lilli worked on the talisman, stopping often to rest. The work was making her so tired, in fact, that she thought of leaving it undone, but she couldn’t bear to disappoint Elyssa. She saw the servingwoman often, generally in the great hall, where Elyssa would always stop to chat and let her know how the princess fared. Finally, on the morning that she finished the talisman, Elyssa told her the news they’d both been dreading.

      ‘When the princess woke this morning,’ Elyssa said, ‘she wasn’t herself. She wept so piteously that it wrung my heart.’

      ‘Ah ye gods! It aches my heart just to hear of it,’ Lilli said. ‘Her brooch is finished, by the by. Come up to my chamber with me, and I’ll give it to you.’

      Wrapped in cloth, the brooch lay on Lilli’s table by the window. Lilli took it out and handed to Elyssa.

      ‘Well, this is a pretty thing!’ Elyssa said, smiling. ‘Did you have Otho polish it, too?’

      ‘I didn’t.’

      ‘But see how it glitters in the sun! I don’t remember it being so lovely.’

      Lilli knew then that her working had succeeded. Elyssa took the brooch and hurried off to the women’s hall to give it to the princess. Lilli sat down to her studies, but her mind kept wandering to Bellyra’s plight and the brooch. Finally, when the morning was well advanced, Elyssa returned to the chamber.

      ‘How does she fare?’ Lilli blurted.

      ‘A bit better, though the sadness still grips her,’ Elyssa said. ‘The brooch did please her, though. She pinned it to her dress and swore she’d wear it always.’

      ‘That gladdens my heart!’ Lilli tapped the book with her fingers.