Rian sat beside the bed. It was a small bed, in the middle of a big room. The sun was rising, the light shining through the window on the other side of the bed. Halbert hadn’t woken up the night before, and Rian hadn’t moved from that spot. He watched the light of the sun getting higher. When he looked back at the bed, Halbert was watching him.
His eyes were a little less bloody than the day before, but not much. Eiva had cleaned the blood off his face, and so far no more had come. The fangs were still there, but they were short. Halbert said nothing, his eyes barely focusing on Rian. Rian wasn’t sure Halbert could see him, or hear him, any more than the day before. Rian hesitated, thinking of what the voices of the dead had told him. What if that was the only way?
“The dead spoke to me a while back,” Rian said. “Trivius left a part of himself in me. The magic of the Speaker of the Dead is still there, and it’s getting stronger. It’s blocked by what Quidvis did, but if I really tried, I think I could bring it to the surface.”
“No,” Halbert said, the word raspy and quiet, but he had definitely said it. “Don’t call on that magic.”
“What if it can help you?” Rian asked.
“We’ll find another way,” Halbert said.
“We still don’t know what Quidvis did,” Rian said. “We don’t know how long before it happens to me too, then I might not be able to help either of us.”
Halbert closed his eyes. “We’ll find another way,” he said quietly. He didn’t move or open his eyes. Maybe he was unconscious again.
Frustration gripped Rian. What could he do? What had Quidvis done? Later in the day, dark clouds had moved in again and it was raining hard. Eiva came to stand in the doorway of the room.
“You’ve been here all day,” Eiva said gently. “You should get up, move around. I suppose you don’t need food or sleep, but still.”
“What if he wakes up again?” Rian asked.
Eiva frowned. “You are the best person to wait with him. Ransey said it shouldn’t do any lasting harm for Halbert to accidentally drink from you, since you’re not technically alive.”
He was more than not technically alive. He was still undead, even with what Quidvis had done. So was Halbert.
“I’m sorry about yesterday,” Halbert said, his eyes barely open.
“You didn’t do it on purpose,” Eiva said, frowning hard. “Quidvis caused this.”
Halbert looked at Rian. “Maybe the graveyard will help.”
Rian thought of Halbert’s scream the day before. “It didn’t yesterday.”
“It’s worth another try,” Halbert said. “Something feels different, in a good way.”
Eiva helped Rian get Halbert off the bed and downstairs, then out of the castle and to the graveyard. The rain had slowed to a drizzle, but it was cold, and Rian couldn’t stop feeling the cold of it. Halbert flinched when he sat on the burial ground, but he stayed there. He buried his hands in the wet dirt, grimacing.
Eiva was shivering.
“You should go back to the castle,” Rian said. “I’ll stay with him.” The energy of the burial ground was still blocked from him.
“You’re shivering too,” Eiva said, then she sighed and left the graveyard.
Rian sat on the ground, but when he touched the dirt, the energy still couldn’t reach him. It was getting dark when Halbert opened his eyes. One was gone, leaving an empty socket. The area around it was only bone.
“It’s working?” Rian asked.
“Seems to be,” Halbert said. “I feel better than I have in a while.” His other eye was still bloody. “I’ll stay here tonight.” He frowned. “It’s not working for you.”
Rian hestiated.
“Maybe what happened to me has to happen to you before this will work,” Halbert said, looking worried.
Rian stood. “Maybe.” He was reluctant to leave the graveyard even if it wasn’t helping, but he couldn’t stop shivering. “Do you want me to stay?”
“I’ll be fine alone,” Halbert said. “You should go dry off. The cold is unpleasant. I still can’t turn off my senses, other than in the one eye. Where the eye was.”
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Rian went back to the castle, relieved Halbert was doing better. Hopefully the burial ground could entirely fight off what Quidvis had done. And hopefully there would be no need to call on the magic of the Speaker of the Dead, or the part of himself Trivius had left behind.
In the morning, Halbert was in the library when Rian got there. Eiva and Ransey were there as well. Halbert’s right hand, and all Rian could see of the arm it was attached to, had rotted away to the bone. He looked better that morning, more himself. His other eye was still bloody, but he looked fully conscious, and not about to attack.
“It’s still working?” Rian asked.
Halbert nodded. “It’s slow going, but what Quidvis did seems to be wearing off.”
“But it didn’t work for Rian?” Eiva asked. “All we can do is wait for what happened to you to happen to him?”
Halbert frowned. “I don’t know another way.”
“It’s time to leave for Virida,” Quidvis said, coming into the library.
Rian had tensed all over. He tried to relax, so that Quidvis wouldn’t notice. Quidvis pulled up a chair, joining the group. He frowned when he saw Halbert.
“Something happened while you were gone,” Eiva said, obviously choosing her words carefully.
“I see that,” Quidvis said. “What happened?” His expression stayed blank.
“You don’t know what happened?” Ransey asked.
Quidvis sighed. “I assure you, I mean none of you any harm. Please, tell me what happened.” The coldness in his eyes softened. “Perhaps I can help.”
“What you did to Halbert and Rian did something to Halbert,” Eiva said. “He…tried to take blood from me, then he did from Rian. Burial ground has helped.”
Quidvis frowned at Halbert again. “I see. That was not my intention. I will find a more stable way to suppress the curse.” He glanced at Rian. “I’ll do it as quickly as I can. Hopefully we can prevent the same thing from happening to you.” He smiled, but Rian didn’t find it reassuring.
“Where did you go?” Ransey asked.
“I have put an end to Amoris,” Quidvis said. “We now have one less god to deal with, and it sounds like the end of the Sancta is at hand.” He stood. “I will speak to the knights, see if there is any word on Percival’s whereabouts, then we will return to Virida.” He left the library, closing the door gently behind him.
Rian and the others waited until they were sure he was gone before saying anything.
“He killed Amoris in his own season,” Ransey said. “By himself.”
“We already knew he isn’t as he seems,” Halbert said, “but he was strong enough to kill Amoris, who was at his strongest, by himself. There’s no way Quidvis is as weakened as he said. He may not be weakened at all.”
Eiva frowned. “Do you think he lied about his motives for putting an end to the other gods and the Sancta?”
“He may have,” Halbert said. “For now, there is little we can do about it. Confronting him now would be dangerous.”
Ransey nodded. “He could easily kill us all, and I don’t doubt he would. All we can do is be prepared for him to turn against us. At least we’ll be expecting it when it happens. It is doubtful he’ll do it before the Sancta and the gods are defeated. I think he does want that, just not for the reasons he told you.”
“What about Rian and Halbert?” Eiva asked. “Do we just let him have his way with them?”
“For now, there is nothing we can do,” Ransey said.
Halbert looked at Rian, but said nothing. Was he thinking of what Rian had said about the magic of the Speaker of the Dead and the part of Trivius in him? Rian wasn’t prepared to call on that magic, and he doubted Halbert would suggest it. But could they find another way to free themselves of Quidvis?
Quidvis came back before long, joining them in the circle of chairs again, frowning hard. “There is still no word on Percival.”
“Do we have a plan?” Eiva asked. “Should we go out in search of him ourselves?”
“No,” Quidvis said, scowling. “He may have heard about Virida, Urvus, Haren, and the Ectu uniting against the Sancta. He could be hiding. Either way, he will be difficult to find. He could be anywhere in Ivrua.” He stared at Halbert for a moment. “I suggest you stop spending so much time on burial ground. The closer you are to fully undead, the harder it will be to help you.” He stood. “We should leave for Virida. We’ll return to Derwen.”
“This morning?” Eiva asked.
Quidvis’s only answer was to leave the library. Halbert went to talk to Ninette and Odell before meeting the rest of them out front the castle. Rian, Halbert, Eiva, Ransey, and Quidvis left Veron, starting back across the plains toward Acra. When they reached the forest between Virida and Acra, they stopped for the night. It was a warm night, with no breeze blowing through the forest.
“Did we pass burial ground on the way?” Quidvis asked.
Halbert’s other eye was gone now too, along with half of his face, his other arm, and probably other parts of him they didn’t see. “No,” he said. “This happened on its own.”
Quidvis sighed. “That is unfortunate. I do not know of a more stable way to suppress the curse yet.” He glanced at Rian.
“Any desire to drink our blood, Rian?” Eiva asked, laughing nervously.
“No,” Rian said. “Not yet.”
Quidvis frowned. “Good. Perhaps I will have time to figure things out before that happens. Just be careful when you’re alone with anyone living. I think the only reason things didn’t go much worse with Halbert is because he fed off you, and you’re not alive. If it had been one of the living…” He shook his head. “I’m working on this as fast as I can.”
Rian dreaded what Quidvis would do to supposedly fix this. Was Quidvis even planning on doing anything? For all they knew, what Quidvis hadn’t intended was for burial ground to help Halbert. Maybe he wanted to get rid of Rian and Halbert, get them out of his way.