Slorn stopped here, and Miranda watched nervously, unsure if she should offer comfort or simply wait for him to continue. Fortunately, Slorn made the choice for her.
“Because of this, to protect ourselves and our mountain, the Shapers have a law. Any wizard who vanishes is considered dead. Should they be seen again alive, they are to be given to the League as a demonseed. When Nivel vanished, I was prepared to mourn her. But then, suddenly, she came back.”
Slorn looked up, dark eyes flashing. “Do you know what it is like, Spiritualist? To see the dead walk again? I expected a monster, but she was the same Nivel I married, my best friend, the mother of my daughter.”
“She wasn’t taken by the mountain?” Miranda said.
Slorn shook his head. “No,” he said darkly. “You misunderstand me. She was what we feared, she was a demonseed. But what I had never been told, what I never prepared for, was that the person would remain unchanged. Nivel had always been strong, always forceful and determined. None of that had changed. She knew what had happened to her. She could feel the seed, but she did not want to give up, and I could not let them take her. So we did the only thing we could do: we ran. We fled the Shapers with our child, and for the last ten years we dedicated our lives to studying demonseeds, how to hide them, how to control them, and, ultimately, how to defeat them. Ten years, Spiritualist. Most seeds survive for one if they’re quiet, but through constant deals with the League, constant concessions, we held on. And we were making progress, learning so much. But then, a month ago, all of that was ruined. Sted, then just a defeated swordsman, snuck into the valley where my wife was hidden. She was deep in the seed’s trance and she could not fight back. He killed her and took her seed into his own body, becoming what before this I would have named impossible, a nonwizard demonseed.” Slorn stood up, walking over to gaze out the wagon’s tiny window. “I have been tracking him ever since.”
“I see,” Miranda said softly as his words faded. “You want revenge for your wife. But still, surely the League could help. That’s their job, isn’t it?”
Slorn began to chuckle, the sound horrible and out of place in his menacing mouth. “Again,” he said, turning to look at her, “you misunderstand me. If it was only revenge I desired, I could have had that long ago. I could have called the Lord of Storms down that very day, but it’s more complicated than that. Do you know what the League does with demonseeds?”
Miranda shook her head.
“First,” Slorn said, “the host body is killed. Demon-possessed spirits are fearsome combatants, which is why all League members must be excellent fighters, but after the fight is when the League’s true function becomes clear. When the host body has been defeated, the League member splits it open. Carves it straight down the middle, like a hunter gutting a deer, and takes the seed. Depending on how long the seed was active and how many spirits it ate, the seed can be anywhere from one inch to a foot in length.
“Demonseeds are the product of a seed being placed in a host,” Slorn continued. “The host can be killed, but the seeds themselves are not from our sphere and cannot be destroyed by any known method. The best the League can do is lock them away. They have a great vault in their headquarters, a storehouse of every seed they’ve ever purged. Once a seed enters their possession, it never comes out again.”
Slorn looked her straight in the eyes. “Nivel and I both knew it would end eventually,” he said. “Maybe not as it did, but still, no one can fight forever. However, the final stage of our research requires the seed itself. There is so much more it can tell us, so many questions to answer. If I let the League get ahold of Sted, then the seed inside him, Nivel’s seed, disappears forever into their vault, and ten years of the work my wife suffered for with it. That, Spiritualist, is why I needed Sara, why I needed you and Monpress and this whole farce. I’m fairly certain Sted, being spirit deaf, will never muster enough power to awaken the seed by himself. Already, not being a wizard, he can’t generate the kind of fear usually associated with demonseeds, so the League is searching blindly. That gives me a good chance, especially now that he’s stolen Monpress.”
Miranda started. “How did you know about that?”
Slorn gave her a look. “I told you, I’ve been watching everything. How else do you think I found you out here?”
Miranda knew she looked petulant, but she couldn’t help it. Lately, it seemed she was always the last to know anything.
“Don’t worry about your thief,” Slorn said, resting his elbows on the table. “Sted is a blunt man who lives only to beat the wielder of the Heart. He cares nothing for Eli’s bounty or his true power. He only took the thief to get a hand up on Izo. Now that the prize everybody’s after is safely in his possession, Sted is free to demand what he really wants, a rematch with Josef Liechten.”