The Power and the Glory

Book 4 Chapter VIII: Haliran Escapes

"I don't like the sound of that," Abi said.

Ilaran gave her the sort of look that suggested he thought this was an understatement of incredible proportions and she was an idiot for saying it. "I don't think the telepathy is your fault. But I do think the possession was." Fair enough. "Therefore, I think whatever is happening now is also your fault."

Abi knew that was also fair enough, but she couldn't help feeling offended. "And? What do you expect me to do about it?"

Ilaran lay down again and went back to trying to send himself to sleep. "If I were you I'd make sure you didn't leave any more walking corpses wandering around."

"Don't be ridiculous. I only reanimated one." Abi paused, remembering this wasn't entirely accurate. "And the skeletons, but I un-reanimated them. Oh, and the mice, but they aren't a threat to anyone."

As soon as the words were out of her mouth she remembered the mouse jumping into Irímé's hand. On second thoughts, they very well might have been a threat if she'd continued raising them. But it had been ages since she even thought of reanimating anything!

"Are you sure you un-reanimated the skeletons? As I recall you have a poor track record with that."

Abi scowled. "Yes, I'm sure. Anyway, Kitri would have told me if there were still skeletons wandering around the town. It would be in all the news all over the planet by now."

~~~~

It took another half an hour before Abi finally fell asleep. When she woke up she was back in her own mind, in her own room, with Ilaran's presence only a faint whisper at the back of her mind. She strengthened her telepathic shields yet again. They wouldn't hold for long, she knew, but at least she would have some peace and quiet while they did.

She got dressed and went down to breakfast with the grim resignation of someone who was in for yet another ordeal. Surprisingly her aunt had nothing to criticise her for this time. Jiarlúr looked at the clock, saw that she couldn't complain about Abi being up too late, and said nothing beyond an ordinary greeting.

Abi was mildly disappointed to see that their hosts had provided Saoridhin food for breakfast. She'd never had a chance to try much Gengxinese food beyond the sweets Mirio brought home from his visits. Even though she hadn't eaten much yesterday she didn't feel particularly hungry. But she could just imagine what her aunt would say if she announced her intention to skip breakfast, so she helped herself to a bowl of porridge.

The pot was placed on a small magically-heated plate in the middle of the table to keep it warm. That was something she'd never seen before, and it was such a simple yet obvious thing that she couldn't understand why no one in either Seroyawa or Saoridhlém had thought of it yet. She spent several minutes examining the plate with interest, working out what spells powered it and how the pot didn't overheat.

"What are you doing?" Aunt Jiarlúr demanded suspiciously, as if she thought Abi might have a sinister reason for being so interested in the plate.

Abi quickly sat back and picked up her porridge. "Nothing."

It should have been easy to forget what Ilaran had suggested. For a while she did manage to forget it. But then it came back again and again. Every time it went out of her mind, something brought it back to her. Had she properly un-reanimated those skeletons? Were they still under her control, waiting for her to give them orders like the other corpse? And if so, would they attack innocent people like the other corpse did?

The thought preyed on her all day. It absorbed so much of her attention that she accompanied Aunt Jiarlúr to the princes' memorial ceremony without noticing anything about the ceremony. The main thing that stuck out in her mind was how the coffins were covered with white cloths instead of red[2].