Lupi 08 - Death Magic

act until it’s triggered, but then the action is immediate and complete. With a charm, part of the spell remains suspended even when the charm is activated. If it didn’t, the charm would work only for a split second.” He glanced at her as they started for the house. “Spells act in the now. In the moment. Charms can act over a period of hours or days or weeks, depending on the skill and intent of their maker.”
    “Weeks? The sleep charms you made last month lasted a couple hours.”
    “I made those in a hurry, and they needed to knock someone out immediately. I’ve got sleep charms that would keep someone asleep for a week, but they’d doze off gradually, which was not what we needed at the time.”
    True. “What’s the upper limit on how long a charm can work?”
    “Theoretically there isn’t one. Practically, it depends on what kind of charm you’re making, how it’s powered, and how good you are. But for reasons we don’t understand, charms don’t last beyond a single moon cycle. You’d have to be an adept to make one that lasted longer, and then what you’d have would be called an artifact.”
    Startled, she paused just short of the deck Rule had added at the back of the house before Lily met him. “So an artifact is like a charm on steroids?”
    “Pretty much, yeah. Or so I think. Since no one knows how to make an artifact anymore, I can’t prove it.”
    “You’ll get a peek at the dagger used on Bixton this afternoon. Will you be able to tell right away if it’s an artifact or a . . . I guess a charm, though that doesn’t sound right when its purpose was death.”
    “A charm that kills or wounds is often called a curse, but that’s poor nomenclature. Curses can also be spoken spells. I prefer to call a cursed object a maluuni . That’s from Swahili, though the original derivation is Arabic, and it means—”
    “Back to my question,” she said firmly, stepping onto the deck.
    “One glance will tell me that much. If I don’t see the spell and can’t call it up into my vision, then it’s an artifact.”
    “Wait a minute. What does that mean? If you don’t see it—”
    “I’ve got a spell that brings up the details of other spells so I can see them.”
    “Your magnifying spell, yeah.”
    “It doesn’t work on artifacts. At least not the ones I’ve seen. I’ve seen five objects we’d call magical artifacts. With four of them, the details of the spell—the construction of it, the girders and wiring and plumbing—were hidden when it wasn’t being used. The only part that showed was the trigger, the part designed to interact with the user. Adepts didn’t like to give away their tricks, and they knew how to hide what they wanted hidden. And no, I don’t know how they did it.” He brooded on that a moment. “If I ever get that damn elfstone figured out, I’ll be able to tell you more.”
    “The gem you snatched off Rethna, you mean? It’s an artifact?” It had made bullets bounce off the elf lord. Or maybe they’d poofed out of existence. She didn’t know how the gem worked, but she knew it worked. She’d shot Rethna several times at close range. Didn’t hit him once.
    “Oh, yeah. Tricky bugger. I haven’t figured out how to activate it or get the rest of the spell to show, but the trigger shows, and I can see the power, so I know the charm didn’t evaporate with Rethna’s death.”
    “Which makes it an artifact.” She opened the back door. No one in the kitchen, but Rule was upstairs. Maybe the Leidolf Rhej was with him. “And the fifth magical artifact you’ve seen? What about it?”
    “With that one, nothing showed but power, even when it was used.” He followed her inside. “Which ought to be impossible, because the trigger has to show. Otherwise there’s nothing for the user to connect with.”
    “But you’re sure it was an artifact?”
    He slid her a grim smile. “Oh, yeah. But that one wasn’t an adept’s work. That was the staff she made.”
     
     
    ALL Rhejes were Gifted, but their Gifts varied. Two were healers. The Leidolf Rhej was one of those two, a statuesque woman with skin the color of hot chocolate made with plenty of milk. Her hair was a tight cap of mixed gray and black that showed off a high, round forehead and the pair of huge gold hoops in her ears. Lily didn’t know her name. It was custom to not refer to a Rhej by name unless the Rhej gifted you with her name personally.
    “No need to cram your lunch down so