Rhysa opened her eyes and reached for a glass without thinking. Her hand fell on a small egg-shaped glass. Something dredged from her mind said this was a sherry glass, and that sherry was usually served with dessert.
One by one she unstoppered the decanters and sniffed at the contents. She selected the one that smelled as if it would go well with something sweet and poured half a glass.
There were two more types of glasses. She started to reach for a stemmed glass, then changed her mind and grabbed a tumbler instead. There were two decanters with liquid that seemed to go with a tumbler. One had a heavy, sweet scent. The other had a slight spice to its sweetness.
She couldn’t decide which was the brandy. She started to reach for the one with the heavy, sweet scent; then she remembered the gleam of amusement in Lord Amonteus’ eyes. Surely someone like that would prefer something lighter. She poured from the decanter containing the sweet-yet-spicy liquid.
Rhysa felt she had taken a long time, but the three were just sitting down. She carried the glasses to the head of the table and placed the tumbler in front of Lord Amonteus and the smaller glass in front of Lady Kasteryn. Lady Kasteryn flashed her a smile; Rhysa barely suppressed a gasp of relief. Not knowing what to do next, she went to stand next to the decanters in case Lord Hermestus decided he wanted something after all.
“Now then,” said Lady Kasteryn, her voice still soft and resonant.
“Oh, knock it off, Amelia.” Lord Amonteus’ strong voice was harsh and loud in comparison. “We’re all friends, here. There’s no one to impress or throw off balance.”
Lady Kasteryn immediately dropped her intensity and said in her normal voice, “You’re right, Jayse. But I wanted to impress upon you two the situation is much more serious than we thought.”
Lord Hermestus raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”
Lady Kasteryn sipped her sherry, sighed, and leaned back in her chair. “Yes. It is. Did you know one of the Royals was at that auction in person?”
Both men sat bolt upright, their expressions showed shock and a little fear.
“Exactly. It was the prince himself who made it to the last round of bidding. I’m afraid he figured out I’d pooled with a couple other people.” The two men went pale. “No names were mentioned, though he’s probably figured it out.”
Lord Hermestus snorted. “I wouldn’t expect to fool him for long.”
“Well,” Lady Kasteryn went on, “he agreed with our reasons. He’s willing to overlook our methods this time—provided we create a timeshare plan equitable for all three of us. If, in his judgment, we fail to do so, he will assume control of Rhysa. We would follow the plan all the way through manumission. If we fail at any point, he will assume control of Rhysa.”
Lord Amonteus sighed. “It’s harsh, but fair—and more than I expected.”
Lord Hermestus nodded his agreement, but said nothing. For a while no one else said anything either. Lady Kasteryn glanced at Rhysa, then at the men. “Before we can determine what is ‘fair and equitable,’ we have a couple of mysteries to solve.”
Lord Amonteus looked puzzled, but Lord Hermestus looked thoughtful.
“We need to know why it would harm the realm for Lord Amilar to own Rhysa. It would be disastrous for Rhysa herself, but the realm?” The two men nodded and waited for her to continue. “The second mystery is Rhysa herself.”
Lord Hermestus’ eyes snapped to Rhysa as if he could find the answer on her face. Lord Amonteus merely continued to look puzzled.
“We all saw her use Sight during the auction, and she used it as if it were trained rather than a wild talent. Yet she doesn’t remember anything prior to the night she was captured.”
“Nothing?” asked Lord Amonteus.
“Nothing. What’s more, in the discussions I’ve had with her, it’s plain her mind is sharp and was taught to reason. You saw when we asked for drinks. You saw her freeze. You saw her master panic almost immediately. And you saw her figure out, not only the correct liquor, but also the correct glasses—especially since no brandy snifter was available. That kind of reasoning under pressure can only be trained.”
Rhysa felt a bit of a fraud when she heard Lady Kasteryn’s analysis. She hadn’t done much reasoning. Her first choice had been random. The rest were based on hunches, assumptions, and observed personality.
Lady Kasteryn turned to Lord Hermestus. “Bryn, that’s why I wanted to meet here. I was hoping you could help with the memory loss.”
Lord Hermestus grunted. “It would depend on why the memories were lost in the first place. As a mage yourself, you are quite aware there is no magic wand to wave.” Lady Kasteryn snorted her resigned agreement. “But I’ll see what can be done.”
“How long will it take?” asked Lord Amonteus.
Lord Hermestus shook his head. “There’s no way to know. Typically speaking, if memories can be directly recovered at all, it could be anywhere from a couple of weeks to a couple of months.”
“We don’t dare leave her unmarked for that long. She may be recaptured and end up in Lord Amilar’s grasp after all.”
Lady Kasteryn said nothing, only watched the discussion. Lord Hermestus, however, grunted as if punched in the gut. After letting his words sink in a bit, Lord Amonteus added, “I suggest we put her under House Kasteryn mark.”
Lord Hermestus met Lord Amonteus’ gaze and something seemed to pass between them. Lord Hermestus looked at Lady Kasteryn and nodded. “I agree.”
“Are you sure?”
Lord Amonteus said, “Absolutely.”
Lord Hermestus nodded. “You’re the one the records show as purchaser. If anyone other than one of the Royals investigates, we need to be sure the mark matches the name in the register.”
Lady Kasteryn relaxed. “I’d hoped you’d come to that conclusion yourself.”
It occurred to Rhysa as they talked, neither of the men were acting the way she’d seen others react to her. No hunger or desire burned in their eyes, no iron wall of discipline stood between them and her, they did not have the cold, slimy detachment most of the others at her auction possessed. Their postures and expressions were open, the way they would be around an ordinary young woman. To Rhysa, this came as a gift—an unlooked for reprieve. Maybe, just maybe, these were people she could relax around.
“…take her home; I’ll do a preliminary sweep.”
Overwhelmed by her realizations, Rhysa had missed the first part of what Lord Hermestus was saying.
Lady Kasteryn nodded, stood, and stretched. “Good. I promised Emylie I would have tea with her.” She looked at Rhysa.
“Go with Lord Hermestus. I’ll come get you when he’s done.”
Rhysa nodded and watched, with only a little trepidation, Lady Kasteryn leave the room.
“I’ll go get started on investigating Lord Amilar,” said Lord Amonteus as he followed Lady Kasteryn out of the room. Rhysa relaxed a little more, taking his easy departure as confirmation of her earlier realizations.
Rhysa turned back to Lord Hermestus only to find he was looking at her with the unblinking gaze of an owl—or maybe an eagle. There was something fierce in his eyes, as if she were an obstacle he meant to get past. If Rhysa hadn’t seen his kindness when she came in, she would have been scared. As it was, she was definitely uncomfortable under his scrutiny.
“Well, child,” he said at last, “let us get the basics out of the way. I am going to ask you a few questions. They may not make sense, or may seem silly. Go ahead and answer them anyway. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Very good. What is your name?”
“Rhysa.”
“No last name, patronymic, or matronymic?”
“Not that I can remember.”
“Please point to the sherry.”
Rhysa did so.
Lord Hermestus proceeded to ask her question after question. He asked about the painting outside the room, the sigils she’d seen, her auction, the trip to the city: he took her over everything she’d seen or heard since her capture. His gaze never faltered. Finally, he smiled and stood.
“Good enough. Come with me.”
Rhysa followed Lord Hermestus out of the room. This time she kept an eye out for patterns. He led her past a few more paintings of mountains before turning into a hall where the paintings seemed to be of cloudscapes. She saw wispy clouds and puffy clouds, clouds like blankets and clouds like cliffs. Lord Hermestus led her down a staircase to the ground floor, then through a corridor with a water theme. He stopped at a door, opened it, and gestured for Rhysa to enter.
The room was sparsely furnished: a single, simple chair stood in the center of the room, a desk stood against one wall with a chair next to it. That was it—three pieces of furniture. A design was etched into the stone floor encircling the chair in the center.
Lord Hermestus entered the room and closed the door behind him. He gestured to the chair in the center of the room. “Have a seat, Rhysa.” He sat in the chair next to the desk.
Rhysa walked hesitantly to the chair and gingerly sat.
“This next bit is going to feel a little funny. In a moment you will be surrounded by a wall of light; do not worry, it is just one of my tools. You will not be trapped. As you will see, you will be able to walk through it at will. Any questions?”
“What does it do?” Despite her best effort, her voice came out a little shaky.
“I use it to trace the connections between thoughts and memories. It does not actually read thoughts.”
Under the circumstances, Rhysa couldn’t be glad about anything, but she was grateful Lord Hermestus was taking the time to explain things. When Lord Hermestus stood and paced towards her, she was able to watch him with only the slightest quiver of nerves. He made some oddly precise gestures and said something in an echoing voice.
The words tugged at Rhysa, both as if she should know them, and as if they were inviting her to join in. The etchings in the floor began to fill with what appeared to be liquid light. Light slowly traveled through the etched channels as if some celestial hand were writing on the floor.
When the entire circle was illuminated, a wall of light following the lines of the circle flashed from floor to ceiling. Rhysa was a bit startled when Lord Hermestus walked through the wall of light. He gave her a slightly distracted smile, and traced a design on her forehead, murmuring something else she knew she should recognize. Then he turned and walked back through the wall of light. She could see him dimly through the wall, moving about.
Presently, she heard him say, “I am going to ask you some more questions. Some of them will be the same as before, some will be new. This is where you may start feeling funny. Are you ready?”
“Yes.”
He began asking questions. Now and then he would reach up to the wall and act as if he grabbed something and moved it. Every time he did this, she felt a tug and a shift in her mind. It had the feeling of a physician positioning his patient so he can see better.
The questioning seemed to go on forever and took on a surreal quality. She gave up trying to make sense of the questions and just answered. Answers came out automatically to questions she barely heard. She lost track of what she said. She barely recognized when she spoke.
Finally the wall of light came down and Lord Hermestus faced her with a small smile on his lips. Slowly, Rhysa came out of the trance she’d been in. She moved her arms and legs carefully, testing them with stretches. With each stretch she took a deep breath and gradually her mind began to wake up along with her body. Lord Hermestus waited patiently while Rhysa collected herself. When she was ready, she stood and Lord Hermestus led her out to meet with her other owners.
Agents of Ellendahl 