Well of the Damned

Chapter 11





Gavin stood at the window in the downstairs library where he usually went to read or ponder the problems people were faced with, most notably the rain. It tapped against the glass in the darkness, sometimes softly, sometimes heavily, but never letting up. It hadn’t just swollen the River Athra and the lake that fed it. It had flooded fields, making the upcoming autumn harvest impossible. How many people would be without grain or vegetables this winter? How many farmers would be unable to feed their livestock? Unless the rain stopped immediately, he would need to look to foreign merchants to feed his people and their livestock. Even if it stopped now, the ground was saturated. It would take weeks to evaporate the standing water, and in the meantime, the crops would rot.

Edan knocked and entered. “Sorry to interrupt. I found something you need to read.” He handed a piece of paper to Gavin. “This was among the messages I’ve been reading through.”

Though Gavin had been working on his reading skill the last three months, he often struggled with cursive writing. The message, however, had been written in a plain style and, although it took time to sound out some of the words, he managed to read it himself.



1 Julis 1624

To the warrant knight Gavin Kinshield:



Your claim to the throne is false. Thendylath has an heir to the crown, and his name is Brodas Canton, epithet Ravenkind. He is descended from King Ivam, and we have proof of it. It was Ronor Kinshield and the former Lordover Tern who conspired to keep our ancestor, the infant Oriann, from claiming her right to rule. It was they who wrote the law, proclaiming “whoever claims the king’s bloodstone shall rule as king.”

We demand you cancel this fraudulent coronation and restore the crown to its rightful heir. Do not, and this land shall be flooded by unceasing rain until you submit and acknowledge your wrongdoing.



Fabrice Canton, mother to the true King of Thendylath



“Today’s what?” Gavin asked. “The sixteenth of Renovare? This letter was written two and a half months ago. Why haven’t I seen this afore now?”

“Pryan took that message for the ranting of a madwoman and not a real threat,” Edan said. He’d hired the young man to help sort through the hundreds of messages that had begun poring in as soon as Gavin started cleaning out the palace in preparation for taking up residence. “He put it with the other messages deemed trivial. It was an understandable mistake. Do you know anything about this girl Oriann? Could she have passed down a legitimate claim to the throne?”

“No,” Gavin said. “She couldn’t pass down what she didn’t have. Her mother and father were siblings.”

“Ah, yes,” Edan said, “I remember reading about that in Mr. Surraent’s encyclopaedia, though he listed her name as Orlan.”

Gavin snapped his fingers, recalling a task he’d promised to see to. “Did you send the original encyclopaedia back to Ambryce?” He’d enlisted a team of scriveners working in shifts to copy the entire book in a plain script that he could read with his unpracticed eye. The museum curator would be glad to have his prized possession back in his arms.

“I did, a few days ago. He should have it soon.” Edan relaxed in the chair beside him. “Are the scribes finished writing the index?”

“Not yet, but they’re making good progress.”

Gavin’s blood stilled in his veins when a thought came to him. Magic ability was inherited, and Brodas Ravenkind had been a powerful mage with black hair and brilliant blue eyes, like the two women Adro had seen. Had Ravenkind’s mother been in his home? For what purpose? Looking for Brodas? For Gavin? “Those two women Adro saw — I wonder if this Fabrice Canton is one o’them.”

Edan blanched. “Perhaps she came to challenge you for the crown.”

“Then why wait until three weeks after the coronation?” Gavin asked. “She could have contested it at the time, in front of thousands.”

“What else could she want here?”

“Maybe she thinks we’re holding her son. Hell, if I’d seen this letter two months ago, I could’ve told her about Ravenkind’s death then and saved us all this rain.”

“If she brought it, maybe you could stop it.”

“If I knew how. Would you look for mentions o’rain brought by magic in the encyclopaedia? You’d find it faster than me.”

“You’d find it more quickly than I.”

“Huh? No, I wouldn’t.”

Edan smiled. “You said—”

“Awright, I get it.” Edan had recently picked up Daia’s habit of correcting his speech habits, as if talking with perfect grammar was as important as what he was saying. They understood what he meant, so their constant badgering to talk right was growing more annoying by the day. “If we don’t stop her, we’ll lose the crops.”

“You’ve already appointed a Supreme Councilor of Agriculture. Kollie’s ambitious and determined, and he knows plants. Let him worry about the crops.”

“I know, but it’s not a problem one person can manage. With all the rain, the fields are probably flooded. If there’s no harvest, there’s no grain or food crops for the winter. If there’s no grass, there’s nothing to feed our livestock. If our livestock starves, we have no meat. If we have no meat, grain or vegetables—”

“I get the idea,” Edan said. “What can you do that Kollie can’t?”

Gavin threw up his hands. “I don’t know, Edan. That’s why I’m asking the Supreme Councilor o’State. You’re my adviser. Tell me what I can do.”

“All right, calm yourself. Give me the book. I’ll start searching for magical rain tonight. In the morning, I’ll send some people out to find this Canton woman and arrange a meeting between Kollie and the scholars at the Institute of Science. Maybe they’ll have some ideas about how to evaporate the water more quickly. In the meantime, why don’t you try it?”

“Try it? How?”

“Start with a dish of water or something. I don’t know. You’re the mage. In a matter of a few months, you learned to read shadows, find people, back-travel, visit other realms of existence, summon a demon, move objects, shoot lightning out of your sword... Try it, Gavin. You might surprise yourself. If you can do it, surely other mages can, too. We can send teams of them to farms across the country to dry them out.”

Gavin felt foolish. Of course, his friend was right. He’d learned to use much of the magic King Arek had left him. If it were possible, he would learn to do it and teach others the skill. “They’re hazes, not shadows,” he grumbled.

“How’re you coming with a detection spell for the bridge?” Edan asked.

“It wasn’t difficult.” Gavin had found a reference to such a spell in the encyclopaedia, which gave him an idea for storing the spell in one of the gems he’d found in King Arek’s vault in the basement. He didn’t know how to make himself invisible as Ravenkind had done, but he’d borrowed the stable dog, cast a spell to double its size, and had the stable hand walk it over the bridge. The magic he’d put in the gem removed the size spell, and the dog had set feet on the island at its normal size. “I don’t know if it’ll reveal invisible women, but it’s a start.”