extract from you, even by using drugs. I don't think we need to fear Ancar sending agents in to kidnap any of you, but please remember that illusions work here now. He could get someone in to impersonate a servant, drug your food, and get you to babble anything you know, before leaving you to sleep it off. With the right drugs, you'd never even know it had happened.'
Talia paled, and rightly. Both she and Elspeth recalled how even when the magic-prohibitions had been in place, Hulda had managed to get in place as an assistant to Elspeth's nurse and drug that nurse so that it was Hulda who issued the orders.
Lady Kester blanched. 'You're not serious - ' she began, then took a second look at Kero's face. 'No. You are. Dear and precious gods. I never thought to see Valdemar in such a pass that Councillors could not be protected in Haven.'
'Nor did I,' Prince Daren sighed, 'But let me be the first to agree to such a spell being set upon me. We are many and the servants here are more numerous still. We have not enough mages to check for the presence of illusions at all times.' He raised an eyebrow at Darkwind, who bowed a little in response. 'I trust this little spell of yours will be limited in scope?'
'If I set it now, and lift it when the discussion is ended, it will be limited to that time period,' Darkwind replied. He looked around. 'There is this; if any of you feel truly that you cannot bear to have such a spell set upon you, there is always the option to leave and have no part in the decision.'
It was an option no one really wanted to take. In the face of Daren's acceptance, and Talia's, which followed immediately upon his, the other Councillors could do nothing else but accept. No one wanted to be left out of the decision, nor did they care for the idea of giving up any of their responsibilities.
Darkwind was exhausted, but he was also an Adept; he was not dependent on his own personal energies to set this spell. Elspeth sensed him fumbling a little in his attempt to find the nearest node; she solved his problem by linking him to it herself. His brief smile was all the thanks she needed.
It was a sad irony that coercive spells were some of the easiest to set. Darkwind was done before half of the Councillors even realized he had begun.
'There,' he said, letting his link to the node go and slumping back in his chair. 'Now, none of you will be able to speak of this outside the Council chamber, nor with anyone who is not of the Council.'
'We won't?' Father Ricard said wonderingly, touching his forehead. 'How odd - I don't feel any different - '
'Which is as it should be.' For the first time, Firesong, who was sitting behind Elspeth, spoke up. 'A coercive spell is an insidious thing. One set well should not be noticed at all. As none of you ever noticed that you could not speak of magic, nor remember its existence, except as an historical anomaly.' His lips curved in gentle irony as they started. 'Yes, indeed, speakers for k'Valdemar - your land has been under a coercive spell for long and long, and you had never noted it. Such is the usage of magic in skilled and powerful hands. You should be grateful that your last Herald-Mage was a man of deep integrity and great resourcefulness.'
Kero let out a long, deep sigh. 'Well, now that we've some assurance we can keep this out of Ancar's hands, we need to put together our team. Ordinarily - I beg your pardons, but ordinarily this is covert work, and none of you would ever hear about it, much less help me agree whom to send. You might have heard about the results, if Selenay, Daren, and I agreed that you needed the information. There have been a number of operations you've heard nothing of, and there will be more.'
The Lord Patriarch smiled, a little grimly. 'We had assumed that, my lady.'
Kero coughed. 'Well. I had hoped you had. But this time, I need that agreement from you, because if we are going to succeed, we must send mages against mages, and we'll be taking those mages away from the direct defense of Valdemar. They're going against Ancar, Hulda, and a mage we know is a dangerous Adept, and that means sending in the best we have. So we must accept Elspeth's offer.'
'Must we?' Talia asked, but without much hope.
'Speaking as a strategist,' the Lord Marshal said unhappily, 'I must agree. She has volunteered, and she is a Herald - she knows her duty. And again, it is the last move that Ancar would ever expect.'
'The last that Falconsbane would expect, as well,' Darkwind put in. 'He will be anticipating that every highborn that can will be fleeing to safety in Rethwellan. He cannot conceive of willing self-sacrifice. If he knows that Elspeth is here and not still in k'Sheyna, he will expect her to do the same as he would, to try to escape him and not fly into his reach. After all, she could seek asylum with her kin and be accepted gladly, and she has all the mage-power she needs to escape his minions easily.'
'If you send Elspeth, you must send Skif,' Lady Kester said firmly. 'Whether you will admit it or not, I am perfectly aware that he has done this sort of thing before. Send an experienced agent with her, one who has been working with her.'
'If I go,' Skif replied, from behind Darkwind, 'then Nyara comes as well. Cymry backs her to come along. She is clever and skilled, a trained fighter, she has a score of counts to settle with Falconsbane, and she knows him as no one else does.'
