Chương 27: Chapter-27

"It is too dark in here. Light the room so that I may read," Regina said calmly, touching her ring. The air itself obeyed her command, filling the room with a soft, white, diffused light. Magic was quite convenient, she thought, as she continued to read the missives she'd received with the evening post. She had until morning before the next post arrived and had until then to read and respond to anything important. A servant came into the room, then blinked in surprise.

"My lady," she said.

"What-what-what is this?"

"Have you never seen magic before?" Regina asked with a pleasant smile upon her face.

"This sort of power is commonplace in the palace of Tal-sha-shenk. I thought it might be commonplace here as well, since it seems to work the same." She touched the ring again.

"This room is too hot. Cool it until it is like autumn." The temperature dropped considerably. The servant's eyes widened even further, then she dashed out of the room. Regina smiled. Such a simple display, although she could only do it with the ring. She had no idea how magic truly worked, but the ring interpreted her stated will and made such things easy. A gift from her husband. It worked on nobody else's hand but her, she had tested that. She was one of very few entrusted with this power.

She had been nervous that it wouldn't work in Weqlan, but it worked exactly the same. It was nothing like the courtly magic of her father's magicians. They could conjure fire and make water clean, but it was a difficult casting of hard to say words and complex hand motions. She could do the same with the phrase "I wish to drink this water," or "Make this water suitable for bathing." The world itself would bend reality to her will. And it cost her nothing, she thought. It was impossibly easy.

She could even kill with it, she thought, smiling. She had tested that too. The air began to smell of ozone, and unfortunately she had to open a window to clear it of that. The two magic effects remained in place even as the air of the room circulated. She returned to reading her mail. Once she had finished, she penned two letters, then prepared for bed.

"I do not have time for bathing, please clean my body," she asked the magic of the world. She felt a faint tingling sensation, and then she felt refreshed. She smelled under her arms and found that the smell of her perspiration had been replaced with a pleasant floral scent. She liked it. She had tried to find a perfume of the same scent and hadn't been able to. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. Perhaps she would on this quest, she thought.

The door opened, and a middle aged man came in. He was perhaps ten years older than her. She was, herself, in her early thirties.

"Yes?" she asked. He was the man that was watching her warily. He smelled the air, looking around.

"You are my honor guard, but that does not mean you have unlimited access to my bedroom," she said impatiently.

"Make your needs known or begone."

"I was told you were performing witchcraft," he said.

"What magick is this?"

"The common sort," she said.

"It's hardly witchcraft. Anyone can do it if they know how." A bold faced lie. Only those who had been given an artifact by her husband had the power to make their spoken will manifest like this. She longed for the crown of Huberlin the third, who could manifest magic with thought alone. He said that the crown told him secrets of the world, and it was from him that much of the magic she knew came from.

"Witchcraft is illegal in Ilsandi," he said.

"I am a diplomat on a diplomatic mission. With. Diplomatic. Immunity." She said patiently. He looked at her for a long moment. Then stepped outside and closed the door behind him. She smiled and slid into bed.

"I am going to sleep. Make it dark, but keep the room cool." The world obeyed her will. Yes, she thought. Magic was addicting, and even as she got used to the convenience, she would never stop enjoying the expressions on the faces of the peasants who had never even seen it before. She was drifting off to sleep when the room was washed in violet light. She sat up abruptly, looking at the skull on the desk.

"Husband," she said.

"I was not expecting you. I apologize—""You have nothing to apologize for, I did not schedule this meeting. I wanted to ask you something. You were the one who appointed lord Ubernackle, correct?"

"Yes. Why?"

"I murdered him today." She swallowed.

"Corruption?"

"Inefficiency," he said.

"Was he corrupt?"

"Yes. But he had been warned that his life was on the line. He vowed to serve faithfully and—""He was not murdered for corruption, and I do not care if he was corrupt now that he is dead. The example has been set." She swallowed.

"I see."

"You have been using your ring copiously," he informed her.

"Is that a problem?"

"I am aware of every action you take with it. Or I can be. It does not forget how it is used. Its memory stretches back to the second it was crafted," he informed her.

"I do not care if it used for petty things like washing or darkening the room. But I am curious why you murdered a serf." She swallowed. Damn.

"To test the power of the ring," she admitted.

"I see," he said.

"That is not why I came. Why did you select that serf to test the power of the ring?"

"Because he was poor, had no family, and would not be missed," she said.

"I see," he repeated.

"I can murder you here and now. And wherever you go. As long as I am your husband." She believed him. The violet in the skulls eyes and the mark on its forehead slowly faded away, returning the room to darkness. She had been so close to going to sleep before, but now, she knew, she would lie awake for the rest of the night. * Reaching across the ocean was difficult. Sending my wife, and the ring she carried, helped. And Po. I reached out through the web, narrow that it was, and reached out and reached out.

I found a rat. It had just died of poison. I became that rat. That rat found a cat. The cat thought to play with the rat, and the rat bit its jugular. When the cat had bled out, the cat went hunting. It found more rats. I became those rats. I began to spread. Until I found a beggar alone in an alley. The rats sank their teeth into his flesh. He screamed as he died. I became that beggar. That beggar found a knife.

Before the congress of Weqlan had even begun discussing how to deal with my eventual conquest, I had already begun establishing my army in their lands. Just as it had in Elup. One corpse at a time.