Foundation

“It is one thing to pull pranks on people, Barrett. I find some of your antics rather amusing. The circles in the corn fields now, that was inspiring. Very clever, to use boards to press the crops down, and a little sight on your hat to keep the lines straight.”

Barrett gaped at him. “You ... knew ...”

“And using the string to make your circles perfect was a very good use of your geometry class,” Nikolas continued, oblivious to the stunned looks on the pranksters’ faces. “But when it comes to misusing your Gifts ... no. We have to draw the line.”

Barrett stared down at his hands.

Nikolas cleared his throat, causing Barrett to look up. The King’s Own crooked his finger.

“All of you, come with me now,” he said, with a deadpan expression. “We are going to have a conference with some interested parties about this.”

Without a backward look, Nikolas led them all out of the stable, leaving Mags behind.

:Rolan says to tell you that Nikolas says good work.: There was definitely a feeling of pride about that statement behind Dallen’s words. :Now, I think it would be time to get back to your sums. Yes?:

Mags sighed. :Aye,: he replied, and trudged back to his room.

__________________________

The King’s Own Herald was definitely amused.

He sat at Mags’ table, sipping hot tea, and for once there was a smile on his face. It transformed him from forgettable to rather remarkable; there was a liveliness about him that suggested that, back in his past, he might well have been as much of a prankster as Barrett.

“Mags, I must congratulate you and Dallen. You succeeded in solving the ‘haunting,’ you caught the perpetrators red-handed, and you did it in a way that neither revealed your interest in our foreign visitors, nor compromised your connection to me.” Nikolas drank the last of the tea, and set the cup down on the table with a chuckle. “And as a consequence you have managed to allow me to recruit them to my own purposes.”

Mags blinked in sleepy satisfaction. “Gonna let ’em keep hauntin’?” he asked.

“I believe so. A bit more to the purpose, however, and with a great deal more art. We don’t want any more servants terrified. That is not fair to them.” Nikolas turned the cup around and around on the table. “With their Gifted fellow incapacitated, they are, we think, inclined to believe that there are spirits here leagued against them. We’d like to encourage that thinking, but more specifically than Barrett and his gang were originally managing to produce.”

Mags scratched his head. “’Scuse me, sir, but ... I thought they was here t’ make an alliance? How come now ye wanta scare ’em?”

“Because I do not believe they came here to make an alliance,” Nikolas replied firmly. “This was urged on the King by members of the Court whose lands border on Dosteland and Karse, and who would much prefer to see an alliance with these folk against Karse. I was ... less than enthusiastic about this plan.”

Mags nodded. Now this was getting into realms he truly did not understand, and didn’t think he ever would.

“At some point, I will explain all of this,” Nikolas promised. “But the long and the short of it is that I’ve modified my stand on this. I think we can make a very useful, temporary alliance with them, if they think we command some very powerful abilities. So long as they are afraid of us, they will be honest with us. The King is inclined to give this approach a trial. So—” he spread his hands wide. “There you have it. Your friends and fellow Trainees are hereby given leave to prank them all you like.”

Mags laughed. “On’y prank I did on ’em was t’ use that slip-away stuff when they tried t’ get me alone t’ beat on.”

“Well, should they try again, use it again. Only this time, see if you can’t—make it more—showy?” Nikolas suggested. “Make it seem as if some spirit is assisting you.”

Mags’ brow creased. “Well ... all right. Doubt they’ll mess with me again, though.”

“Ah, probably not, but it was a thought. Certainly you’ve done more than enough on that head already.” Nikolas snapped his fingers. “Ah! That reminds me. I’ve arranged for all three of you to get access to the Guard records, with no subterfuge needed. There is no reason why you shouldn’t try to find out about your parents, Mags. No reason to hide behind some other excuse. Your little Bard friend will probably find something in there that is useful to her, and Bardic Trainees have traditionally gotten access there anyway, and as for Bear the Healer, being one of the first truly outstanding herb Healers we’ve had here, he should be given a chance to go through those records to see if there is anything there he can translate into medicines. Caelen was exceptionally impressed with how you handled things tonight, Lena and Bear are certainly more than responsible enough to have gotten passes long ago, so there will be permanent passes for all three of you in the morning. Just turn up at the archives, your names will all be on the allowed list from now on.”

Mags stared at Nikolas, absolutely speechless. Nikolas seemed to understand that he was speechless with gratitude, and smiled.

“There is something else that you accomplished tonight, quite inadvertently, Mags,” he continued. “You and Barrett. There has been some ... strain in the relationships among the members of the three Collegia over all this building. Everyone has his own ideas about priorities, and everyone is watching jealously to see how much effort is spent on what.” He paused. “I think you got some sense of that with what went on around Herald Jakyr—although a good part of the strain between Jakyr and certain Bards has more to do with personal issues than the building. Thanks to Barrett’s gang, we had members of all three Collegia working together, as it should be—and tonight the heads of all three Collegia had a completely cordial meeting, deciding what to do about the young rogues. Frankly, this was only aided by the fact that you made Barrett feel so ashamed of himself that he took the whole of the blame on his own shoulders. Very fruitful. I think we went a long way in mending things.” He stood up and stretched. “And that is enough work for one night, I believe. I’ll let myself out.”

Mags was so astonished by the results of the evening that he stared at the closed door long after Nikolas was gone.

The next morning, as promised, when Mags met Bear and Lena for breakfast, the other two told him with