The Witch Watch by Shamus Young Page A

jostle my line of thought, it is already precariously balanced,” she said, “I will come back to that question. As I said, an unliving wizard is a lich. There have been three documented cases in history, as well as many others which may be fiction or embellished. A lich is frightfully difficult to destroy, generally requiring small armies. Many malignant wizards aspire to lichdom. Perhaps they all do. The only thing saving us from being overrun with them is that a wizard must die and trust in compatriots to revive him. Their own cowardice, isolation, and mutual treachery keeps them from attaining it. That, and it’s frightfully complicated business. I often wonder how many wizards simply off themselves and accidentally stay dead without us ever having to deal with them.”
    Gilbert had heard of liches, but the stories about them were generally confused and contradictory. He had assumed they were just fictional creatures, like dragons. “So, if I had been a wizard in life, I would now be a lich?”
    “Yes. It was very close. It was only their blunder of bringing back the wrong corpse that saved us from that terror.”
    “But what’s to stop them from collecting more vigor and trying again to raise him? Assuming they find his body, I mean,” Gilbert asked.
    “Because they believe - incorrectly, I think - that they can only do so with royal blood. You have Sophie’s vigor, and members of the royal family are generally not available for kidnapping. Now, you are determined to steer my line of thought aground. Please stop interrupting. Where was I? Yes. Not all of the Viscount’s work was based on attaining lichdom. A great deal of this book is still mysterious to me. It also seems like he was being scientific about his learning.”
    “This is surprising?” asked Gilbert.
    “Shocking, in fact. Most wizards are in a great hurry to unleash their schemes. I study magic out of curiosity, but they study it simply as a means to an end. They don’t care how it works, as long as it does.”
    “I am sympathetic to this point of view,” admitted Gilbert.
    “You told me you were a soldier, so I am not surprised. How can I explain this to you? A rifle is a useful object, is it not?”
    “When the alternative is waving a sword as I charge into a line of muskets, I must say I am very fond of my rifle.”
    “Imagine they were unknown in warfare, and you obtained one. A soldier will see it as a means to an end. He will investigate only as much as is needed to discover how to use it. When it runs out of ammunition, he will conclude that his treasure is ‘broken’. Confused, he will return to his sword. But a scientist will study the rifle and determine how it works, and why. A scientist would rather learn how to make her own rifle, and her own ammunition. In time, she will improve upon it.”
    “That makes wizards sound sort of brutish and simple. I’d always imagined them as intellectuals.”
    “I suppose they are intellectual when compared to other sorts of villains. But Lord Mordaunt is not ‘brutish’, as you put it. His book is old. This was not an abrupt or hasty undertaking. No fit of passion led him to these things. I imagine he’s been working on this since before I was born. His studies have been careful and thorough, and his writings contain much that is new and original. Or at least, much that does not appear in any other of our many confiscated books. His aim was clearly to become a lich, but there are many pages here that do not contribute to that purpose at all, but are simply essays in grotesque knowledge and a salve for profane curiosity.”
    “What about Sophie? Have you discovered a cure for her?”
    She yawned. “No, I have not unwound that secret yet. And if I spend all of our time answering your questions I will never see to my own.”

     
    Alice sat upright with a jolt. A furious banging had awoken her, and now her mind was groping for purchase. She had apparently fallen asleep in the library,