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I’d basically be asking her to kill herself. Other than the part where technically she’s already dead.
It also technically isn’t my problem, but that fact doesn’t diminish the uneasy twinge in my gut. So instead, once I’m weaving through less crowded streets, I bring up a different topic that’s been niggling at me.
“Why are you so suspicious of Wendos? What did he do that made you think he’s part of the conspiracy?”
The men she’s gathered to help her investigate seemed skeptical, so obviously Julita’s wariness was based on something they haven’t seen or don’t believe.
Julita stays silent for long enough that I might have wondered if she’s taken her leave of her own accord. But a faint tingle remains by the back of my skull, that I’m starting to recognize indicates her presence.
Finally, she sighs.He hasn’t done anything at the college that I’ve been able to uncover. But I know he has an interest in scourge sorcery. Before—he was close friends with my older brother growing up… A little while after their dedication ceremonies, he and Borys both got it into their heads that it would be exciting to expand their magic.
She doesn’t need to elaborate for a chill to run down my back.
A couple of teenage boys dabbling in the most brutal form of sorcery? That sounds like a recipe for a disaster.
Especially when I now have to ask: “How did you find out?”
Julita’s next silence stretches even longer.I’m not sure how far they actually went. I’m not aware of any human sacrifices, and probably they couldn’t have gotten away with that. There might have been animals. But they also experimented with mere blood-letting. And since I was younger and right there where my brother could exert his authority, I was the easiest subject for them to practice on.
The chill coils right around my gut. Blood-letting.
Only a sacrifice at a dedication ceremony can result in a permanent gift, but under certain circumstances, you can bargain flesh or blood for a temporary effect. It’s expected that you bargain yourownflesh or blood, though.
Julita’s brother and Wendos used her in whatever makeshift rituals they were able to cobble together based on the sketchy knowledge of scourge sorcery the average noble kid would be able to dig up. Cutting her. Spilling her blood in smaller sacrifices.
Hoping her pain would lend them power.
Julita’s voice turns more strident.It only lasted a couple of years. Then I dedicated myself and got my own gift, and I could put a stop to it. But it seems like it’d be an incredible coincidence if there’s scourge sorcery being practiced at the college right now and Wendosisn’ta part of it.
I can’t argue with her logic. “What about your brother? Is he attending the college too?”
He was supposed to, but he was either waylaid or ran off when traveling to Florian. I suspect the latter. Borys was never much for studying… I wouldn’t be surprised if he went off to join the infantry so he could see some action.
So there’s only Wendos at the college. A frown crosses my lips. “Are you sure that what you’ve seen is a whole conspiracy and not just Wendos continuing their old experiments?”
Julita shivers.I wish it were that simple. Even when he and my brother were dabbling together, the daimon on my estate never acted strangely. For them to be so disturbed at the college, it has to be a much larger effort.
It’s hard to argue her logic—both in that and that there’s a good chance of Wendos being involved. So why would the men doubt it? “Did you tell Stavros and the others what the two of them used to—”
No, Julita cuts in abruptly.Not the part about me being involved. Just that I could tell he and my brother were getting up to things. I saw some of the materials they used—like the dartling eggshell powder. That should be enough.
From her tone, I don’t think she’s very happy about having exposed that much of her harrowing childhood even to me.
My gut has twisted into a knot. She spent years getting tortured by hopeful scourge sorcerers, ran into more the second she left home, and then got murdered by one.
It’s hard to imagine that the little bit of information I was able to pass on to her friends is going to be enough to get her justice. And because she’s still here in her ghostly form, she’ll know that as well as I do.
My mouth moves before I’ve quite thought through the offer I’m about to make. “There’s a place I could ask around. See if anyone involved in black-market dealings has heard about your murder or whatever else to do with illegal sorcery.”
The tingle in the back of my head seems to perk up.
Really?Julita says, in a softer but eager tone.I guess those are the sorts of people you typically mingle with?
I make a face at her assumption, already feeling a twinge of regret. But the thought of going back on my suggestion now is more horrible than going through with it.
“Not if I can help it. I don’t really mingle withanyone‘typically.’ But I know how to find them when I need them.”
Dropping in on Crow’s Close will definitely require a costume change, though.
