Shade & Sorceress (The Last Days of Tian Di, #1)(7)

In spite of her fear and confusion, Eliza almost wanted to laugh. It was all such an absurd, hideous mistake, her being here. She was afraid of what he would do, but she said again, “I told you, I can nay do Magic! Trust me, I’ve tried! My best friend and I used to...” She trailed off, because he didn’t seem to be listening any more and likely wouldn’t be interested in the half-serious attempts she and Nell had made to mix potions.

“You are safe for the time being,” he muttered, looking past her. She wasn’t sure if he was talking to her, or to himself, or even to somebody else she couldn’t see. This last possibility gave her a little shiver of fright. Then he looked straight at her with those radiant eyes and she found she had to look away immediately.

“For many hundreds of generations, the Mancers have guarded and guided the Shang Sorceress from infancy to adulthood, until she bears a daughter fathered by a Mancer,” Kyreth pronounced, as if he were giving her a set speech. “Once she has a daughter and the line is secure, she can perform her duty as humankind’s champion. Since the separation of the worlds, her task has been to guard the Crossing and banish those who do not belong here. Your mother, Rea, was my daughter, Eliza, and so I am your grandfather.”

At this, Eliza almost choked on her last bit of waffle. It simply couldn’t be true. She rejected it absolutely, horrified.

“I hope you will not always feel that way,” he said softly, and she realized he knew what she was feeling. Ashamed and confused, she stared down at her plate.

“We had intended Obrad for your mother,” continued Kyreth. “The manipulator of earth has no seasonal ascendancy and so his power does not wax and wane as much as the others. He is strong and young and we hoped it would prove a good match. But your mother was difficult. I say this as her father and teacher and someone who loved her. She was remarkably gifted. Such power! We had not seen it for generations. She will be a legend, Eliza, like Zara who slew the Demon army in the Early Days, or Lahja who obtained the Gehemmis from the Horogarth. But Rea was willful. She kept secrets, and your father was one of them. Had she married Obrad, their child would have been born in our care, raised in full knowledge of her birthright. But she married your father in secret and hid you from us with Magic.” He looked down at the marble desktop for a moment, and Eliza felt the relief of being released from his gaze. “You are already twelve years old, untaught, entirely ignorant, fathered by an ordinary human. It remains to be seen whether you possess the full power of your foremothers, but nonetheless, you are the Shang Sorceress. It has taken us ten years since her death to find you, ten years during which agents and spies of that pythoness in her Arctic prison have also been searching for you. Our duty now is to protect you and to teach you what we can. That is why we have brought you here, Eliza.”

“Wait, do you mean the Xia Sorceress was looking for me?” asked Eliza, dumbstruck. The entire recitation had sent her mind reeling, but this last piece of information was just too much.

“We do not use that title for her here,” Kyreth said with an angry flash, and she knew then she never wanted to anger him again.

“But why would she be looking for me?”

“You are far more important to Di Shang than you realize,” said Kyreth, with another of his brief, crumbling smiles.

Eliza found this answer entirely unsatisfactory, but before she could say anything else there was a knock, and several Mancers entered the room. Each of them had the symbol of a white bear on their robes.

“These are manipulators of metal,” said Kyreth, rising. “They have something for you.”

“Miss Tok, if you would please wear this around your neck,” said one of the Mancers with a brief bow. Eliza jumped off the chair, feeling very small indeed among the towering Mancers. Their eyes cast her in a pool of bright light. The Mancer who had spoken was offering her a gold pendant shaped like a star with many points, hanging on a heavy gold chain.

“What is it?” she asked.

“It is a barrier star,” said Kyreth. “It will keep you safe. It has a great many powers and uses, but while you are wearing it within the Citadel walls you can neither be harmed nor removed from this place, and none can take it from you. Not even I could take it from you once you have put it on.”

“But I’ll be able to take it off, nay?” said Eliza, rather alarmed by this.

“Yes,” said Kyreth. “But you must not remove it until we are sure that it is safe to do so. This is very important, Eliza. Do you understand me?”

Eliza nodded. She took the pendant obediently and hung it around her neck. She half expected to feel something, a charge of some kind, an indication that this was not just any pendant. But she felt nothing. It was even heavier than it looked.

The manipulators of metal filed out, each one bowing to Kyreth as they left.

“I will join you in the Inner Sanctum,” he said to them. Then he turned towards Eliza again. “I have work to do, but we will speak more tomorrow. Today Missus Ash will show you the grounds.”

“When can I go home?” Eliza asked.

“Try to think of this as home for a while,” said Kyreth, and her heart sank.

Missus Ash appeared again and picked up Eliza’s empty tray, the little legs folding up neatly.

“Come on, lah,” she said. “Let’s get you washed and then have a stroll, shall we?”