The cursed towers 248
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the blindfold from her pocket and bound up the other woman's eyes, despite her exasperated protest,
and led her down the passage to the kitchen. Once the secret door was safely hidden behind the shelving
again, she untied the blindfold and let Maya sit.
"Meghan always said the craft is o' no use if ye do no' have the cunning," she said conversationally as she
lit the fire and put the kettle on.
Maya stiffened. "I do no' understand."
"Witchcraft is the use o' the One Power through spells, incantations and magical objects like your mirror.
Witch cunning is the use o' the One Power through will and desire. The spells and magical objects act as
conduits for the witch's own power. The more ye use them, the more magical they become so that in time
they can greatly enhance and focus the witch's inherent powers, and indeed they can become magical in
themselves. But if ye have no powers o' your own, they canna work. O' course, all people have some
Talent, most just never tap into it. This means anyone can get some use out o' objects that are deeply
saturated with magic. If their Talent is only minor, however, their use will only be minor."
Isabeau made the tea and poured it out into the cups and sat down opposite the Fairge. "So ye see, no
matter how potent the enchanted mirror was, ye could no' have used it if ye did no' have Talent o' your
own, and for it to have worked so well, you must have a lot o' power. Transforming people into animals
is no minor Talent, nor is maintaining for so long a glamourie which is so real that even powerful
sorceresses like Meghan o' the Beasts canna see through it."
"I was always careful to stay away from Meghan and Tabithas," Maya admitted, "and to keep my hands
and neck well covered."
Isabeau sipped her tea, refusing to be sidetracked. "Margrit would have known this even better than I. 0'
course, if ye are used to working magic through a particular object, ye may find it difficult to draw upon
the One Power without that crutch and it may take ye time before ye are as strong in it again. Meghan
always used to say ye should learn to work magic without any crutches at all, but most witches use
something, from circles o' power to crystals to their witch rings." She looked down at her own rings, pale
moonstone and bright dragoneye, then regarded Maya again with steady blue eyes. "So ye see, ye canna
have lost all your powers when the mirror was broken and I think ye ken that."
Maya shook her head, her mouth trembling a little. "Nay, I told ye . . ."
Isabeau's gaze did not falter, though her mouth compressed a little. "It has been nigh on three years since
the Samhain rebellion and ye have moved at will through the land in all that time without being
discovered? I think no'. Nay, ye must have found some way to cast a glam-ourie without the mirror."
Maya suddenly smiled, a rather cruel smile, and passed her hand over her face, which changed to the
pleasant, rather worn features of a middle-aged woman. Isabeau scrutinized her carefully. The glamourie
was not perfect. There was a vague wrongness about it. As the light flickered over her face Maya's own
features seemed to press out of the shadows and then sink back again. Then the Fairge swept her hand
over her face again. This time the glamourie was much stronger.
Isabeau knew the face well. It was the face that had been celebrated as the greatest beauty in the land,
the face of Isabeau's seashore friend Morag and of the Banrigh Maya the Blessed. Although she did not
know it, it v as also the face of the whore Majasma the Mysterious. The opalescent shimmer of the scales
was merely soft white skin, the lipless mouth merely thin, the flaring nostrils a mark of pride and temper.
The scars were gone and the gray that had wrinkled through the glossy black hair. Because these features
were much closer to Maya's own, and because she had worn the face for so long, it was almost
impossible to tell that it was a mask and not the real thing.
