Stolen Hearts

  Stolen Hearts

  Sasha L. Miller

  Mervyn is accustomed to the unusual and strange. People of all walks come to him with problems that only magic can solve. A wizard of no little skill, he enjoys the challenges that come with his job and that he can offer help to people who have nowhere else to go. Even fairies, long abused by wizards for the special energy they can provide, find their way to his door.

  But when Callisto, a terrified and maliciously attacked fairy, shows up to ask for his help, he presents a challenge that even Mervyn finds overwhelming. In place of his heart, Callisto has only a charm, and it will kill him in a matter of days if Mervyn does not find a solution.

  Book Details

  Stolen Hearts by Sasha L. Miller

  Published by Less Than Three Press

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission of the publisher, except for the purpose of reviews.

  Edited by Samantha Derr

  Cover designed by Megan Derr

  This book is a work of fiction and as such all characters and situations are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual people, places, or events is coincidental.

  First Edition January 2011

  Copyright © 2011 by Sasha L. Miller

  Printed in the United States of America

  ISBN 978-1-936202-64-5

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Book Details

  Part One

  Part Two

  Part Three

  Part Four

  Part Five

  Part Six

  Part Seven

  Part Eight

  Part Nine

  Part Ten

  Part Eleven

  About the Author

  Part One

  Mervyn was in his work room, putting the finishing touches on a three-way communication charm, when Evandie descended the basement stairs with loud, stomping steps. She bustled into the room, pausing just inside the "safe zone" around the doorway, and gave the cluttered work room a pinched, disapproving look.

  "You have a customer," she announced, voice stiff and as disapproving as her look. So perhaps it was the customer earning her disapproval and not the state of his work room. "I've put him in the salon. I suggest you hurry before he steals something."

  Definitely the customer then.

  "Yes, Evandie, I'll be right there. Bring us a tray of refreshments, please. Tea and some of those cakes," Mervyn said, waving dismissively at her. He turned back to his charm without waiting to see if she went. Evandie might be a stick in the mud, but she was good about doing what he asked and getting her work done.

  Mervyn finished the charm slowly, not willing to rush it and risk screwing up the entire morning's work to see what had Evandie in such a snit. All told, it was another half an hour before he was tucking the charms away into their black velvet boxes, labeling them neatly and putting them aside for delivery later.

  Then he brushed his dusty hands off on his pants and headed for the door. His work rooms were all in the basement, and each work room had a different purpose. Mervyn mostly did health-magic work, but he also played around with communication charms and a handful of other different types of magic. Shutting the work room's door behind him, Mervyn absently activated the lock charm on the door before heading up the stairs.

  He wasn't entirely presentable, but then he rarely had customers who took offense to that sort of thing, so he wasn't too worried about it. If this customer was stuffy, he'd just refer them to a different charm master.

  The receiving salon was at the front of the house, bathed in early afternoon sunlight by the huge windows that faced the street. Mervyn let himself in quietly, taking in his latest customer and immediately seeing why Evandie disapproved.

  The young man was pale, with dark shadows beneath pale eyes. He was dressed in a number of layers, but it seemed to be to combat a chill rather than because he had to wear everything he owned. His fingers twitched and fidgeted, apparently unable to hold still, and he was probably after a health charm.

  "Hello, I'm Mervyn," Mervyn greeted, keeping his voice soft and cheerful as he spoke. "I'm sorry I kept you waiting so long."

  "It's okay," the young man said softly, his voice deeper than Mervyn had expected. "Um, my name's Callisto."

  "What can I do for you, Callisto?" Mervyn asked, pouring tea for them both before sitting down. Callisto didn't move to take the second cup, so perhaps the jitters in his hands were part of his illness and not nerves?

  "I need … can you modify charms?" Callisto asked, obviously nervous. And with good reason—it wasn't precisely illegal to modify another wizard's charms, but it was highly frowned upon unless the original wizard was dead. "It—it's not yours, I know, but there's nowhere else—" Callisto cut himself off, his lips thinning as he grimaced, his right shoulder jerking up and back for no reason that Mervyn could immediately tell.

  Callisto took a deep breath, and Mervyn waited patiently, not willing to make any judgments until he had more details. Still, this was looking to be more complicated than a health charm.

  "You—" Callisto glanced towards the front windows, where the curtains were pulled back to show the garden in the front of the house. He dropped his voice, saying quietly, "You have fairy lights."

  "I do," Mervyn said, a little surprised. Despite the fairy lights, he rarely got any fairies who admitted what they were. Only fairies could see fairy lights; Mervyn had them in front of his house because he'd helped a fairy with a complicated piece of magic a few years ago, and had had—but ignored—the opportunity to bind him.

  "You were charmed by another wizard? Not a binding?" Mervyn asked, wondering why a wizard would do that. Charms were as difficult to lay as bindings, but not as restricting. They also couldn't do the one thing a binding could—give the wizard access to the fairy's magical energy.

  "Yes," Callisto said, looking even more upset by that.

  "May I see it?" Mervyn asked, since that would be easier than asking Callisto to try to explain all the intricacies of the charm to him. It really was strange—why charm, but not bind? Unless the wizard hadn't known that Callisto was a fairy, which was a possibility since there was no easy way to distinguish a fairy from a wizard, unless one cast a spell.

  Callisto nodded, his fingers fumbling at the buttons of the jacket he wore. It took him several minutes to remove all of the layers he was wearing with the way his fingers were shaking, but Mervyn didn't offer to help, sure that would only make Callisto more tense.

  It was a fine chest, when it was finally revealed, but Mervyn was completely distracted from that thought by the square metal panel affixed directly above Callisto's heart. It was smooth and unmarked, and the skin around it was red and inflamed, meaning it had only recently been put in place.

  Mervyn frowned, patting his pockets until he found his spectacles. Putting aside his half-finished tea, he put on his spectacles and stood.

  "May I?" Mervyn asked, gesturing to the charm. Callisto gave him a short, jerky nod, and Mervyn stepped forward, completely focused on the panel. The spell had to be on the inside of the panel, since it didn't show on this side. It also had to be affixed magically, since there was nothing obvious holding it in place, but what was the purpose of it? He'd have to do a transpose spell in order to see the other side of the panel and the spell marks.

  "I need to do a transpose spell," Mervyn said, glancing up and meeting Callisto's eyes. They were closer than Mervyn had realized, but he tried not to let it ruffle his composure. He'd been close to customers before, without getting flustered. This was no different.

  "What does that do?" Callisto asked, one hand straying towards the metal plate slightly before dropping back t
o the armrest of the chair. "It won't turn it off, will it?"

  "No, it doesn't change anything," Mervyn reassured, curious all over again. Callisto wanted it modified, he'd said, not completely removed. "It simply gives me a representation of the other side, so I can see the spell marks for the charm. It doesn't touch or interfere with the spell at all."

  "Okay," Callisto said, and Mervyn would be willing to bet Callisto didn't know much of wizard magic. A transpose spell was simple and oft-used by wizards. But then, Callisto was a fairy, so he had a fairly good reason to avoid wizards.

  "Hold on a moment," Mervyn said, crossing the room to the little writing desk in the corner. Evandie was always complaining about it and how it didn't belong, but Mervyn liked the accessibility of it; it was much better than having to run downstairs for a notebook.

  Unlocking the center drawer, Mervyn pulled out a thick notebook and then shut and relocked the drawer. One of his more clever charms was spelled into this notebook: anything he wrote here was copied into a duplicate notebook he kept in his main work room.

  "Who was the wizard who did this?" Mervyn asked, despite knowing it was probably a sore spot. After all, if Callisto trusted the wizard who'd done the charm in the first place, he'd be getting it modified by him. Still, knowing who the wizard was could prove useful in modifying the spell, if Mervyn was familiar with his work.

  "I don't know," Callisto said, looking even more wretched. His shoulder twitched back and up again, and Callisto shook his head, as though denying something. "I never saw him."

  "Okay, that's okay," Mervyn said, more convinced than ever something strange and probably illegal was going on here. Perhaps he could get a read on the wizard based on the spell, though Mervyn had never been that good at picking out a wizard's signature based on spell marks. "The transpose spell won't hurt. You shouldn't feel anything when I cast it. What it will do is give me an image of what's on the other side of the panel, so I can see the spell work and see what it does and if I can modify it."

  "Okay," Callisto said, not looking very reassured. Mervyn didn't really blame him, not after an encounter with an unknown wizard had left him with a strange charm that was possibly causing the physical symptoms Mervyn was seeing. He'd have to get the whole story out of Callisto later, if he could.

  "Here goes," Mervyn said, trying to give Callisto as much warning as he could. Murmuring the words to the transpose spell softly, he frowned at the silvery, flickering image as it coalesced in the air in front of Callisto's chest. It wasn't just a metal plate, as Mervyn had originally surmised, but a small, metal contraption the size of his two fists pressed together. It fit neatly, obviously, which meant—

  "He took your heart?" Mervyn blurted out, dropping his notebook and losing his hold on the transpose spell at the same time. The image flickered and then disappeared, even as Callisto flinched.

  "I don't know why," Callisto said, biting his lip briefly. "It—this—" Callisto touched the edge of the metal contraption. "It lets him take my energy, and I can't—if I take it out, I have no heart and I die."

  "Which is why you need it modified," Mervyn said faintly, stooping to retrieve his notebook. "God, why would—" Except that was a stupid question. Fairy energy did wonders for wizard spells; it was twice as effective as regular wizard energy, but a wizard could only get it if a fairy was bound to him. Add to that, a wizard could only be bound to a single fairy at a time… and a charm, that wasn't the same as a binding at all. A charm like this could be used on as many fairies as a wizard wanted, with none of the restrictions of a binding.

  "We'll fix this," Mervyn said, furious and worried at the same time. It was bad enough many wizards simply forced the binding of a fairy; this was a thousand times worse. If he ever got his hands on the wizard who'd done this, well, he had a few dozen particularly nasty curse charms hidden away that could be put to good use.

  "I hope so," Callisto said, not looking at all confident. Probably because he was missing his heart.

  "The first step will be the hardest," Mervyn mused, pulling one of the nearby chairs closer to where Callisto was still sitting. "We have to keep that—" Mervyn gestured to the heart charm, "—alive, while taking away the wizard's ability to pull energy from you. To be safe, we should probably completely replace the charm …"

  Mervyn jotted down a few notes, frowning thoughtfully. He'd never done a replacement heart charm, though a few of the more practiced surgeon-wizards at the hospital had. He was sure to have at least one reference book to help.

  "The wizard who did this may have your actual heart alive. If we can find him—"

  "Why would he keep it alive?" Callisto interrupted, his brow furrowing in confusion. "Since I have this?"

  "If I read the spell correctly," Mervyn said, and he'd only gotten a brief look so it was possible he was mistaken, "the wizard needs a … piece of you, to be able to draw energy from you. It could be he took a lock of hair or something, but why bother when he already took your heart? Also, he probably thinks it's a good bit of insurance for him. Even if I fix this, you'd go searching for him, yes?"

  "I hadn't thought past this," Callisto said, sinking in his chair a little, and Mervyn actually believed that. In Callisto's place, he'd be furious, but Callisto was obviously more upset than angry. "Will you be able to fix it?"

  "Definitely. Even if I have to copy what he did, you'll be free of the drain. Though I think I can do it more simply, without any of the energy hooks," Mervyn added hastily, when he saw a bit of suspicion flash across Callisto's face. "Since the majority of the spell work he did is to pull energy from you, and my only goal is to simulate your heart."

  "Okay," Callisto said, looking weary and completely worn out. Obviously the heart part of the charm was working much less efficiently than Callisto's original heart had. Not surprising, since the only goal for the wizard would be to get as much energy from Callisto as he could without killing him.

  "Unfortunately, working out the charm will take a few days," Mervyn said, leaning back in his seat thoughtfully. He'd also have to get Denzil's help—there was no way he could perform the operation to replace the heart charm on his own. "I don't want to rush it and screw something simple up, and I need to consult with someone familiar with fairy anatomy to make sure I'm not overlooking something with your physiology. You can meet him, too. He's the fairy who gave them the lights out front."

  "Okay," Callisto said again, not sounding too thrilled about that, but Mervyn did want to give him that reassurance, at least.

  "Is it all right if I cast the transpose spell again?" Mervyn asked, shifting to the edge of his seat. "I didn't get as close a look as I'd liked before I fumbled it."

  "Sure," Callisto said then winced, his face turning an alarming gray color. "Sorry, wait—" Callisto stammered, one trembling hand pressing against the heart charm in his chest.

  Mervyn winced, wondering what—but it was probably the wizard draining some of Callisto's energy. If he was cruel enough to carve the heart from a fairy's chest, there was no reason he'd try to ease any pain the transfer caused.

  Unsure what to do—relatively sure any words of comfort wouldn't be comforting—Mervyn sketched out a brief image of what the heart charm had looked like, making small notes on his thoughts for what each curve, ridge, and edge was for.

  "Okay, it should be good," Callisto said, his voice a little shaky. Mervyn nodded, frowning a little as he scrutinized Callisto. Callisto looked even worse than before, and Mervyn hoped the wizard pulling from him wasn't stupid enough to drain Callisto completely.

  "Just hold still," Mervyn said, as soothingly as he could. He didn't wait for a reply, just started the transpose spell again. It still took him aback, seeing the heart charm, but Mervyn didn't let it distract him, focusing instead on fleshing out his sketch and drawing out the spell marks. It was a complicated charm, as Mervyn had expected, and he really didn't want to think about how the wizard had come up with and refined the spell work functioning in place of Callisto'
s heart.

  "I can work with this," Mervyn muttered as he let the transpose spell dissipate. He made a few more notes before flipping to a fresh page and pausing. "Can you tell me what you remember about the casting of it? Anything you can remember may help."

  "I don't remember much," Callisto said quietly, pulling together the first of his layers. Mervyn made a note to dig up a warming charm for Callisto and another to ask about the other side-effects he was suffering as a result of the heart charm. Mervyn could probably alleviate most of them with various supplementary charms. "It was … a few nights ago. I was looking for an inn or something to stay in …" Callisto hesitated, but didn't go into more detail on that point. "I asked someone."

  Mervyn nodded encouragingly, not pressing, but letting Callisto speak at his own pace.

  "I went down an alley," Callisto said, his brow furrowing as he thought. "It was dark, and I remember—I thought the person I'd asked directions of was setting me up to be mugged."

  Mervyn made a note of that—perhaps there was more than one person involved in this. Likely, actually, since it had to be difficult to replace a heart.

  "I heard something behind me, and I turned to look," Callisto said, shaking his head. "Then nothing."

  "Were you hit? Physically or magically?" Mervyn asked, though it sounded like the latter. It never hurt to be thorough, however.

  "Magically, I think? There was no pain," Callisto said. "I don't remember any, though I don't think that means much. I don't remember a lot."

  "Okay," Mervyn said, making another few notes. "And when you woke up?"

  "I was still there, in the alley," Callisto said, and he clenched his hands into fists, temporarily stilling their trembling. "My chest hurt, but I didn't understand—not until the first time the wizard pulled my energy."

  "Did he leave anything with you? Could you find the alley again?" Mervyn asked, though it was probably a moot point now. If the wizard had taken that much care to keep hidden, he'd be careful to not leave any clues that pointed to him.