Magic's Promise

after Van runnin' off with the boy. And if that ain't a pretty good reason for the Mavelans to kill off the Linean House and slap the blame on Tashir - who's Linean, even if he was disinherited - I don't know what would be.'

'Nor I,' Savil agreed grimly. “Very tidy little plot. Well, Van, you wanted a motive.'

'I certainly got one.' He returned to the window, and stared out of it. 'And I have an excellent reason for Vedric making himself so popular with the Lineans.' There was still some lingering sunset afterglow to make the sky a pearly light blue-and against it, the palace loomed ominously dark.

'Exactly. When everyone finally gets around to checking that treaty, Vedric will be the only Mavelan the Lineans will accept. And they might even do it with good grace, if he's done his job right.'

'Savil,' he said slowly, 'I think our very first order of business is going to be -'

'The palace,' she supplied.

'These seals were definitely tampered with,' Vanyel observed. 'A little more power behind the attacks and the shields might well have come down.'

Yfandes paced up beside him and extended her nose to the door, closing her eyes. :Blood- magic,: she judged :Faint, but there. Most of the energy traces are ordinary sorcery, but whoever set the spells is used to using blood-magic, and that will taint everything he does :

'Which means it's not Heraldic - which we figured. And probably not a local. Working mage-craft around here would get you into trouble with your neighbors quickly, but working blood-magic would get you caught and hung.' Vanyel licked his lips, and glanced around at the darkened courtyard. Acting on a hunch from Savil, they'd cleaned out their belongings from the inn and brought everything with them. Now he was glad they had. He raised his voice just a little. 'Conference - ' he called softly.

Four humans and three Companions made a huddle. Mekeal's stud was tethered as far away as possible. 'Whoever tried to break the shields used something tainted with blood-magic,' he said. 'Yfandes smelled it out. Now I have a problem of defense here. Jervis, Tashir, every time we pass the threshold we're going to weaken those shields further. I think maybe we'd better change our plans because I don't think those shields are going to take much more weakening, and the only way for me to reinforce them will be from inside.'

'That won't necessarily work either,' Savil observed. 'You'll just be patching. The weak spot will still be there.'

'Exactly,' Vanyel nodded. 'It isn't going to be pleasant, but what I'd like to do is to just cross once, to keep the strain to a minimum.'

His immediate answer was a silence in which the sound of dead leaves skittering across the cobbles was enough to set his nerves jumping. 'Set up in residence, until we figure out what happened, you mean?' Savil asked. He nodded. She pursed her lips, and gave a reluctant assent. 'I'm inclined to agree. Blood-magic will break shields the way nothing else can, and I'd rather this place wasn't left open to tampering. But what about the Companions?'

'They leave,' Vanyel said unhappily. Yfandes Sent a wordless burst of protest. 'I'm sorry, but I can't think of any place that's safe for them inside the city walls. The west gate stays open at night; but it's guarded. If I put a no-see, no-hear spell on them, they'll make it out all right. And if Vedric detects it, it won't matter; the stir I'm going to make by opening the shield ought to keep him thoroughly occupied.'

Jervis cleared his throat. ' 'Mother thing; we run into trouble, that way they're free t' run for help.'

Vanyel bit his lip thoughtfully. 'Good point. 'Fandes, I don't like it either, but -'

:I see no other recourse,: she answered, pawing the cobbles and radiating unwillingness.

'And you'll have to look after that damned stud.' :May I kick him if he won't behave?: she asked, raising her head and ears hopefully.

Vanyel grinned to himself. Other than Jervis, Yfandes had suffered the most from the stud's behavior; the beast kept trying to induce her to mate. 'As much as you have to. From here to Karse if necessary. Be my guest.'

:Then this is not altogether an unpleasant prospect. Kellan, Leshya - : She waited for the humans to remove their packs from the saddles, then trotted to the tethered stud and freed him with her strong white teeth. With heads high and eyes fixed on Vanyel with acute interest, they waited for him to cast the spell.

Since the four of them already knew that the four mounts were there, the spell had very little effect on the onlookers. But Vanyel could See them surrounded with a distorting shimmer that meant the cloaking was in effect. Yfandes Mindsent him a wordless wave of love and concern, and with the stud's reins still in