Read Faces for Free Online

you,” the Lady said. “I felt your distress last night as the nightmares took hold. I took a little magic from you—just a little—and linked it to Whiteblaze. Then I severed my own link with him. He is yours now as completely as the others are mine. One day you will be able to look through his eyes as I do through the eyes of his fellows.”
    Mara blinked. “Really?” Then she blinked again. “Wait. You took magic from me? But I didn’t feel . . .”
    â€œOnly a little,” the Lady said. “And let the fact you did not feel any distress from that reassure you as to how little distress I cause my followers.” She rubbed Whiteblaze under his chin, and his tail thumped. “These wolves, which I have bred and magically modified for many of their generations, are . . . black lodestone with legs, if you like. Not only can you learn to draw magic from Whiteblaze, he can draw from you the magic that causes your nightmares, magic polluted with what I call the ‘soulprint’—the imprint left by a living soul, like the imprint left in a blob of wax by a signet ring. When you kill with magic or are near someone who dies violently, that soulprint pours into you along with the magic they contain. It’s as if the person has become a vengeful ghost haunting your mind. But Whiteblaze takes those ghosts into himself.”
    â€œWhiteblaze will dream my nightmares every night?” Mara said. She glanced down at him. “Sorry, boy.”
    The Lady laughed. “They are meaningless to him. And over time, they fade, until even without Whiteblaze, they would not return. Though, of course, without him you would be subject to new ones if you were once again exposed to violent death. And note that although he can help prevent the nightmares, he does not prevent the soulprint from making its mark on your mind.”
    Mara nodded, fascinated. “What about the potion Grelda showed me how to brew? How does it help?”
    â€œThe wolves drain away the nightmares. The potion only blocks them,” the Lady said. “It contains, among various other substances, black lodestone dust. You are fortunate anyone at the Secret City had the recipe . . . and the ingredients. But as you know, once your body has eliminated it, the nightmares return, unless you continue to dose yourself with it.” She shook her head. “Not a good idea. It contains substances that I think would gradually poison you if you used it for an extended period of time.” A flicker of a smile crossed her lips. “There’s a reason it smells so awful to the unGifted.” She glanced at Whiteblaze again. “Your friend here will keep you free of nightmares whenever he is with you. And since I have turned his mind so that he is now devoted to you, as well as magically linked, that will be all the time, unless you send him elsewhere.”
    â€œTurned his mind?” Mara dropped her hand onto the wolf’s head protectively. “You can do that?”
    â€œA wolf’s mind is a simple thing,” the Lady said.
    â€œWhat about a man’s?” The question emerged from Mara’s mouth before she’d fully thought it through. The Lady’s eyes narrowed.
    â€œA much more difficult undertaking,” she said. “But, yes, it is possible. The soulprint . . . the essence of a person . . . is inextricably bound up in the magic which all living things produce. Modify the magic, and you can modify the soulprint: modify the
person
.”
    â€œIf you can do that,” Mara said, “then . . . can the Autarch? Can he also influence others? Make them do things they wouldn’t otherwise do?”
    â€œProbably,” the Lady said. “Though his ability depends always on the Masks.”
    â€œEveryone wearing Masks?” Mara said. “He can control them all?”
    The Lady shook his head.