The Tainted City by Courtney Schafer Page B

the door to the house stood open, a warm golden glow from the oil lanterns spilling out onto the lawn.
    “Where’s Kiran?” I asked. Last I’d seen, he’d been pacing between the redbud trees behind the fountain, his shoulders up around his ears, but he wasn’t there now. If he’d gone inside, I thought it odd Lena hadn’t followed. I’d never seen a mage on guard duty let him get more than a room away.
    “When Talmaddis came out to relieve me, Kiran said he was tired and went in. I thought I’d stay and enjoy the sunset.” Her smile involved her eyes more than her mouth. “I also enjoyed the climbing demonstration. You make it look so easy.”
    “Ha. That’s because you don’t have anything hard, here.” I flexed my hands backward, one after the other. Coal hauling had helped me regain the strength in my back and biceps, but the small muscles of my wrists and forearms were sorely out of shape after two months without serious climbing. I had a feeling I’d need all my skills in Ninavel.
    “And Ninavel does.”
    “Ninavel has buildings more than three stories tall. And towers.” Not that I’d ever climbed one of the slender, soaring spires that formed Ninavel’s highest districts, though I’d given them more than a few longing looks. But the high towers were the province of mages, and every streetsider in Ninavel knew better than to piss off a mage.
    Hard to believe I’d soon see Ninavel’s familiar skyline again. Martennan had said the Watch would have the translocation spell ready by tomorrow night. Kiran had tried to hide his dismay, but it was clear he felt that was horribly soon.
    For me, the trip couldn’t come soon enough. I prayed the Council didn’t balk at releasing Kiran’s binding. The more I thought on Kiran’s plan for Melly, the more badly I wanted the chance to try it. Besides, anybody could see Kiran wanted his magic back as bad as a Tainter just past their Change.
    If only getting the Taint back was so easy. I arched over in a stretch and asked Lena, casual as I could, “Hey, whatever happened to that Taint charm of Simon’s, the one that fucked me up so bad?”
    Her face had grown indistinct in the twilight, and I couldn’t tell if the question surprised her. She said, “The charm was destroyed on the Council’s orders not long after Kiran’s trial, along with all the other charms of Simon’s that were determined to have deadly effects.”
    Her answer hit me like a crossbow bolt to the gut. Damn it, damn it…I turned aside to stare at the shadowed bulk of the fountain, struggling to weather a black wave of loss. Stupid, to think I could ever have the Taint back. To have that dead void in my mind alive again, to feel whole, even if only for a few moments at a time…that was all I could have dared to wear the charm lest it rip my insides to shreds again, but to have even that chance vanish…
    “I’m surprised Kiran didn’t tell you,” Lena said. “He asked about Simon’s other charms some weeks ago. He was…quite upset, to hear the answer. It’s the only time I’ve ever seen him shout at Marten. He said we should have waited to destroy them; that studying them might have given him more insight into Simon’s methods of design, and helped him to decipher the border charm faster. I believed that at the time, but now…he wanted that charm for your sake, didn’t he?”
    Damn. She might not have Martennan’s skill at manipulation, but clearly she shared his cleverness. I shrugged. “Not likely. Kiran said I’d be a fool to even touch the charm again.” But I had to wonder. Maybe he’d thought he could find a way to make it safe to use—I stomped that thought flat, as pain lanced my heart. The charm was gone. No point in mooning over it.
    “He was right. You couldn’t possibly use that charm safely without an entire group of mages casting continuously to heal you.” Lena shifted forward on the bench. “You miss the Taint so badly, then? Even though it meant