(Continued from installment 76)

I heard the nine o'clock bell toll. * Cat, find the Regent, quick! *

I felt Cat's surprise and his curiosity but he found the Regent pacing in her sitting room as the staff moved out saturated furniture and bedding and brought dry furniture and bedding in. The Regent looked terrible and I was glad Willam wasn't magical enough to see through scrying. He may have condemned her actions in his head but at the end of the day, she was still his mother.

Through the crystal ball, we heard the great bells of the Temple Shrine of Mattadee finish tolling nine times. Then a higher-pitched set of bells began playing Princess Sophie's favorite piece on the carillon, "I have lost my way without you." It was a sad but lovely tune when sung; but on the carillon, where the lowest bell continuously tolled twice a measure, the melancholy tune was elevated into something eloquent, a cry of grieving love waiting for someone who would never return.

The beauty of the music was ruined by the frenzy of Griselda as she screamed, ripped her clothes, threw vases, smashed perfume bottles, flung decanters, and toppled chairs. Yelling to make the carillon stop, she threatened servants, punched and kicked, overturned tables, and acted no different from a spoiled toddler throwing a temper tantrum.

She started to strangle one of the dressing maids who survived the assault only because Magus Keleher ran in and dropped her into a magic-induced sleep. He put her down on a couch and then opened one of many umbrellas placed strategically around Griselda's sitting room. He positioned it so the snow would not fall on her face.

"There are only three of you today?" he looked around the chamber at the one lady-in-waiting and the two dressing maid. "Where is everyone else?"

"This is all that showed up for work this morning, Sir Mage," the lady-in-waiting replied apologetically. "I sent to the dormitories and houses of the queen's staff, sir. Barring the one girl whose arm was broken by the queen two days ago, everyone else has vacated their homes and vanished without leaving any forwarding addresses."

He glared at her, raised his hand to strike, and then dropped it in exasperation. "I can not find the spells or curses plaguing this palace and I am as frustrated as you are," he hung his head. "Do you know why the queen became enraged when the carillon started playing?"

"That was the deceased Princess Sophie's favorite song on the carillon, Sire Mage," one of the two dressing maids piped up in a tentative voice. "She would practice every day at nine in the morning and always played that song first."

Keleher grimaced, "is this the first time this has happened?"

"Yes, Sir Mage."

Keleher shook his head, "I will bring up a potion you can put into her wine that will keep her calm and sedated. I must thank you ladies for your loyalty and patience while the queen endures whatever curse this might be. Your labors will not go unrewarded, which is my promise to you. I will be back as soon as I make the potion."

"Thank you, Sir Mage."

Keleher left the Regent's chambers and walked down the long corridor to the king's apartments. The king's usual attendant opened the door to Keleher's knock sequence. I promptly memorized it.

"How is he today"

"He's been sleeping peacefully lately."

"And when he's awake?"

"He's like someone who has never seen the world before," the attendant replied. "This morning, he inspected his breakfast spoon as if he had never seen a spoon before. I think his mind is going if it isn't already gone. Too bad he doesn't have a balcony because I think we could walk him straight to the edge of one and push him over with no resistance. He would plummet to his death wondering at the strange sensation of falling."

"Any more convulsions?" Keleher frowned.

"None since two days ago. I think maybe the convulsions and this new baby-like behavior might be the result of some kind of stroke."

"Huh. That's worth thinking about. Well, so long as he gives you no trouble, it doesn't really matter. Keeping him alive and calm is all we need to do for now. We just need to persevere until Prince Willam returns. We'll frame Willam for Stephano's death, pop Aricia on the throne, bump off Stephano and Griselda, and we're home free."

"Magus, what about the rumor that Willam found Prince Andray?"

"I doubt it's true. I saw this supposed Prince Andray in the scrying stone of the mage I hired. He can't possibly be Andray. The boy has two eyes." Keleher laughed, "they are fools. I don't know what game the Duke and Prince are playing, but it will make it easier to remove them when we want to."

"Did you find your missing contract mage?"

"No, he's vanished as if he never existed. Even the cabin he used in the North Slope Wood vanished. I'm not sure what to think of it. I need his services right now to trace the origins of whatever these spells or curses are that plague the palace. If they are cast by another mage, they came from so far away that I can't follow them back."

The attendant gasped, "but that's impossible."

"I know but the only other plausible alternative is that the palace is both cursed and haunted. As a rational man, I don't believe in superstitions, but unless I find a better explanation, we may need to ask the archbishop for an exorcism."

"I still think you should remove Princess Aricia to somewhere away from the palace," the attendant frowned at the magus. "She hears the footsteps and the voice of Princess Sophie, both of which leave her too scared to sleep at night. And she hears her mother's screaming and raving, which leaves her too scared to nap or relax during the day. If you have any care at all for your future queen, Keleher, you should send her to her Uncle Sigurd in Osterius where she will be safe."

"Out of the question, and you know it. We can't take Aricia out of the city, not until we make her queen with the Regent still in place. The Nordweggian populace will not stand for it otherwise.