Magic Rises

the sea.
    A minute passed. Another. The air grew thick with tension.
    We turned again and sped across the blue waves. Hugh’s fleet disappeared from view. They’d let us go. They must not have known what happened.
    Doolittle rolled into view. He sat in an old wheelchair. Did Saiman actually get it for him? How unlike him.
    Doolittle cleared his throat. “Someone tampered with the drums.”
    Curran set up. “What?”
    “Someone tampered with the panacea drums,” Doolittle said. “The seals are broken.”
    Barabas jerked the lid off the nearest drum, thrust his hand in, and recoiled. “Powdered silver.”
    “And arsenic,” Doolittle said.
    “All of it?” Curran asked.
    Doolittle’s eyes were ashen. “Every barrel.”
    God damn it, Hugh.
    “How?” Andrea asked. “How did they get on board? I thought you had checked the barrels after they were loaded.”
    “I did,” Doolittle said. “And I had personally sealed each one. Saiman had posted guards.”
    Saiman. Of course.
    Curran surged to his feet, grabbed Saiman by the throat, and jerked him up. Saiman’s feet left the deck.
    “You!” Curran snarled. “You let d’Ambray poison it.”
    Saiman made no move to resist.
    Curran hurled him across the deck. Saiman hit the cabin with his back and stood up. “Rage all you want,” he said. “I didn’t have a choice. The contract we signed obligates me to do everything in my power to maintain your safety. It was made abundantly clear to me that sacrificing the panacea was the only way to ensure your survival. Those ships would’ve never let us go. I did what I had to do so we could all go home.”
    Curran swayed on his feet, his eyes pure gold.
    “Let it go,” I said. “Let it go, honey. It’s over.”
    Curran closed his eyes and lay back down. He didn’t bother with threats and promises. They would do no good now.
    “So it’s all for nothing?” Andrea said, her voice too high. “Aunt B died for nothing?”
    Raphael smashed his fist into the drum, denting it. Eduardo swore. Keira screamed, a sound of pure frustration.
    I couldn’t take it. I covered my face.
    All for nothing. Aunt B would never see her grandchildren for nothing. Doolittle’s paralysis, George’s arm, Curran’s legs, all for nothing.
    Tears wet my fingers. I realized I finally was crying.
    “Mistress?” Cold fingers touched my hands, gently. “Mistress?”
    I forced my hands from my face. I couldn’t even talk.
    Christopher was looking at me, his face concerned. “Please don’t cry. Please.”
    I couldn’t help it. The tears just kept rolling.
    “Please don’t cry. Here.” He pulled the chalk from my spare belt hugging his waist and began drawing a complicated glyph on the deck. “I will make more. I will make more panacea right now.” He started pulling herbs out of the pouches. “I will make as much as you want. Just please don’t cry.”
    Two hours later we had our first batch of panacea. Doolittle tested it and said it was the strongest he had ever seen.

EPILOGUE

    The October night was warm, but the balcony from our living room at the top floor of the Keep was high enough for a nice cool breeze. I hid on the balcony. It’d been a long day. The new greenhouse was finally finished, and I’d spent the day digging in the dirt and planting the herbs required for panacea. It was cheaper than trying to buy them in large quantities. Learning to make it had proved to be a lot harder than expected. I had finally managed some passable results, but the two medmages Christopher was training had a hard time. We would get it. It just took time and practice.
    We still didn’t know exactly what Christopher had done for Hugh or how he’d ended up there. He maintained that he took care of Hugh’s books, but I’d seen him in a lab, and the way he handled herbs and equipment telegraphed years of practice. If he wasn’t in the lab, he was somewhere outside, usually high up. We finally persuaded him that he couldn’t fly, but he loved sitting on the walls in some sunny, hidden spot, reading a book.
    Below me in the Keep’s courtyard, music played and the teenage members of the Pack were doing their best to follow the beat. Somewhere in the crowd Maddie and Julie danced. Or rather Maddie danced and Julie played along, waiting to catch her friend if she fell down. The forced coma had wreaked havoc on Maddie’s musculature. It took two weeks after we administered the panacea before she could move. She still used a