Magic Can Be Murder Read Online Free PDF

know her.
    "No one means to kill you," Nola said, and opened her mouth to weave a story about a time when an irate chatelaine had threatened—
    But her mother destroyed any possibility of excuses by saying, "Death stands by him."
    And Kirwyn, of course, picked that same moment to stop haranguing them, so that Nola's mother's words sounded loud and clear, like the clang of a leper's bell. There was no chance of anyone misunderstanding that.
    "What?" Kirwyn said. Then, even chough Nola's mother had snaked her arm around Nola and was clearly pointing at Kirwyn's father, he asked, "Who?"
    "You think you see Death standing by my side?" Innis asked, in a voice that was remarkably calm for the circumstances.
    "Of course not!" Nola's mother snapped. "I don't have second sight, do I?"
    "Then what—," Nola and at least two of the others in the room simultaneously started.
    "
Abbot Dinsmore
has second sight," Nolas mother said, obviously exasperated with all of them. "Abbot Dinsmore started saying the Mass of the Dead. For him." Again her finger shook in Innis's direction.
    Nola smacked her mother's hand away, hoping that she gave the appearance of only raising her own hand to reassuringly caress her mother's check.
Who in the world is Abbot Dinsmore?
she wondered. But even as she wondered she knew. She'd never heard the name before, but she knew.
Not a new voice, not now.
It was always worst when a new voice started: "They keep pushing and shoving for room," her mother would complain, smacking the side of her head. "Stop shouting in there—I can hear you perfectly well."
    Now, still trying to save the situation by covering it over with a babble of words, Nola said innocently, "Abbot Dinsmore? You mean that poor demented pilgrim we met along the way, who mumbled away in Latin half the time, and..."—she partially turned to address Innis—"he thought he was a priest, though I doubt he ever was, and he was saying snatches of novenas and—"
    "Nola!" her mother rebuked her. "We
never
met anyone like that. What gets into you?" And she sounded perfectly rational, except that she pointed to her head and said, "I'm talking about Abbot Dinsmore who lives in here with the rest of them, of course. And he gets glimpses into the future, and as soon as he saw che silversmith over there, he began to say the Mass of the Dead."
    And how could anyone cover up a statement like that?
    To Innis, Nola's mother said, "I'm
so
sorry to hear you're going to be dying soon."
    "Perhaps," Innis said, only somewhat shakily, "it would be best if you left—both of you."
    It was Alan who stood up for them. "She's just an old woman whose wits have begun to wander," he said.
    Nola nodded vigorously. "She means no harm."
    "I realize that," Innis said. "But practically on the eve of my wedding..." He shook his head. "Ir isn't lucky."
    How could she begin to argue with that?
    "But they've worked all morning." Now it was Brinna who protested. Brinna, who would once more be on her own to prepare the house for the new bride.
    Innis said, "They may eat before they go."
    Even Kirwyn, who had whined so of their hire, had a good word, of sorts. "How will Brinna ever manage on her own before Sulis arrives?"
    "I have spoken," Innis announced.
    And chat was the end of that job.
    ***
    B ESIDES GIVING them lunch, Brinna packed food for them to take. "I know what it is like to be hungry," she told them.
    So Nola and her mother once again walked all night-fall, and when they stopped they were in the town of Saint Erim Turi, which was bigger than four or five of Hay market.
    Nola liked big towns. People of wealth who were disinclined to hard work often congregated in such places, and it was usually possible to find someone to take them in.
    It was also easier, she comforted herself, to lose yourself and not have people notice you.
    She began to relax, confident at last that they were far enough away and in a big enough town chat no one would come cracking them down—not Innis, who