Page 48 of The Magpie Lord
“Angry.” His voice rang with fury. “That was a vicious attack which was intended to be lethal. I will not tolerate it.”
“What, exactly, just happened?”
“Someone got hold of some of your hair. They set up an equivalency, a...connection through the air, as it were, from the hairthey hold, back to you. And they used the equivalency to multiply what they had, to create the hair that was choking you. I suppose you noticed it was identical to yours.”
“Someone wanted to choke me to death on my own hair?”
“Someone wanted to kill you in a way that would be very hard to stop. It’s a very old and powerful technique. The first attack would probably have killed you, but as it happens, I am good at equivalencies, so I broke it, and that should have been that. Except they set it up again in less than a minute, and they did it better and stronger and much harder the second time. And that’s very bad.”
“Why?”
“They have access to a lot of power,” said Stephen. “They are strong. They were able to use a quite different technique. I couldn’t even try to break the second channel as I did the first.”
“But you did break it?”
“No, I used it. Sent the flame back up the other way. Burned the hair they held, for a start. I really need to eat something.”
Merrick whisked out of the room. Crane put his clammy head in his hands. “What the hell is going on? Was that Lady Thwaite? Miss Bell?”
“If it was Miss Bell she is going to regret it very deeply, but not for very long. Or Aunt Annie— No. Lady Thwaite didn’t seem to have anything to offer when I got in her way earlier, and there was real skill behind that attack, but it could have been her. Goodness knows you upset her. Did anyone pick hair off you that you noticed?”
“I honestly couldn’t say.”
“No matter. I can just find out whose house burned down.”
Crane stared at him. “Are you serious?”
“Possibly. I did my level best to incinerate anyone at the other end of the channel. They were good but there will be evidence. Anything from scorched hair to a smouldering heap of wreckage.”
Merrick hurried in with a plate of Mrs. Mitching’s fruitcake. Stephen grimaced with resignation, but grabbed a thick slice and sankhis teeth into it. After a few mouthfuls, he said, “You need to sleep. I am going to set up some wards round you, keep you safe. I’ll keep watch—”
“You need to sleep more than I do,” Crane pointed out.
“I’m going to. We are going to get through the night, and in the morning we are taking the first train back to London, where you are going to stay under the eyes of some friends of mine, while I come back here with a team of justiciars and tear this place apart. Mr. Merrick, I am going to need a lot of candles.”
Chapter Fifteen
He set up the wards around Crane’s bed. To the unskilled eye, it looked simply like a ring of lit candlesticks, until Stephen suddenly looked up from five minutes’ intense concentration and all the flames simultaneously bent sideways, streaming out, as though in a circle of moving air.
“I’ll sleep in the chair,” he said.
“Your bed’s in the next room.” Crane was sitting up in bed, elbows on bent knees and head propped in hands, naked to the waist, magpies spread across his chest.
“There isno powerin this house.” Stephen tested the single armchair. It was predictably uncomfortable. “I want to be here.”
“I’m glad you’re here,” Crane said. “Although when I planned for you to spend the night in my bedroom, this was not what I envisaged.”
Stephen laughed, without much amusement. “This is definitely more what I’m used to. Try to sleep.”
“I’m too scared to sleep,” said Crane baldly. “I’m sorry to be a coward, but that was horrible. The thought it might happen again—”
“It won’t,” Stephen interrupted. “I’ve put up wards. They’ll keep you safe.”
“Candles. What do they do?”
“They’ll keep off any etheric movement for a while. Not completely, not as long or as effectively as they would if I had accessto power, which is why I’m staying here, but long enough that I’ll be able to get to you before they break, if something starts.”
“Get to me? You’re six feet away,” Crane said. “How long exactly—”
