Modern Magick

Alchemy and Argent: 8

'There is no such person here,' said the queen, and that keen look was back in her eye. 'What is it that you are looking for?'

Now Jay looked to me, and well he might. What could I possibly say? How top secret was Milady's magickal-modulator project? She had welcomed a partnership with the Court at Mandridore; did that mean she was as happy to draw other fae courts into the scheme?

This was why I hadn't chosen to show our hand. All the awkward questions that follow.

Fine, well. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. And did not every fae court, and every magickal society, stand to gain if the Society could pull this off?

'We're after magickal silver,' I said. 'What you call moonsilver, or skysilver — at least, that's what they were calling it in Ygranyllon. We need it in quantity, and as you must know there isn't a great quantity of it to be had. So we're following some rumours. It's said here and there that the alchemists of the past may have sought to create it, and may have succeeded, but if they did they've been awfully quiet about it.'

'Such a project, were it successful, must be very lucrative,' said the queen, and I am sure I did not imagine the shade of disapproval in her tone.

'Very,' I said quickly. 'But that isn't why we want to make it.'

'I think you had better tell me the rest,' said the queen.

So we did. Not quite all of the rest, but a lot of it. I began with our first venture into lost Farringale, and ended with Torvaston's abandoned scheme to create a solution via magickal means. 'So if we are here as envoys,' I concluded, 'it is as members of the Society, not of my mother's court. And we are seeking help. To save magick. For everyone.'

It wasn't a bad speech, if I say so myself. Harder to say whether Queen Llirriallon was impressed by it or not; she sat very still, ruminating upon everything we had said, and I could not tell from her face what thoughts were passing through her mind.

Told all in a rush, the way Jay and I had just done, it sounded far-fetched. Crazy. Magickal parasites, lost royal houses, alternate Britains, mysteriously powerful artefacts and two ordinary magicians at the heart of it all: would she believe it? How much of everything we'd said did she already know?

At length, she spoke.

'At court, we have a store of moonsilver.'

My heart leapt, and began to race. Giddy gods, could it be that easy? Would she give her kingdom's store into the Society's care?

'It is not enough for your purpose, but perhaps some token of it may be of use to the Society. I am prepared to offer a loan, via the proper channels of course.'

Of course. She wouldn't just let us waltz off with it, which was fair.

But if it was a loan, she did not intend for it to be used in the creation of any magickal modulator. So, then...?

She read my questions in my face, for she smiled a little, and rang the tiny, silvery bell that stood on a corner of her desk. 'You wanted to speak to an archivist?' she said, and a moment later the door swung open.

'Please take Miss Vesper and Mr. Patel to see Hylldirion,' she said to the green-clad official who entered. 'He is our Lorekeeper,' she said to Jay and I. 'I believe you may find him useful to consult.'

Jay was laughing softly as we exited the queen of Aylligranir's salon.

'What?' I hissed, trailing after our taciturn guide at a distance of a few feet. He'd barely acknowledged us, offering us the scantest of bows before turning his back and walking off. Apparently we were to follow or not, he neither knew nor cared.