She hurried down to dinner, to find that Eric was back, and deep in conversation with Sebastian. Disappointed that she wouldn’t be able to tell Sebastian her news right away, but not wanting to interrupt what looked and sounded important, she just gestured to the Spirit Elemental waiting at her place to serve her. She didn’t even notice what she was eating, she was waiting so impatiently for the two of them to end whatever their discussion was about.
“…does seem like a delicate situation,” Sebastian was saying with a frown.
Eric shrugged. “That’s what the Factor says. I’m not sure that delicate is the word I would use. The King and his Council are all sitting on the fence. The problem with being on the fence is that if you aren’t careful, you’ll get knocked off and trampled on.”
“And the Prince?” Sebastian asked. “I don’t remember him as being indecisive.”
“Wants to take the army to the border and present a united front against Waldenstein. Won’t move until his father says to, though. The King thinks sending some sort of diplomatic party to take the lay of the land is the better idea, and he’s not all that enthused about supporting Lorraine.” Eric’s lip twisted a little, but Bella couldn’t make out whether it was contempt for diplomacy or contempt for Lorraine. Maybe both.
“But Lorraine is our ally!” Sebastian objected, waving his fork wildly in the air. It was a good thing it was empty.
“So is Waldenstein,” Eric reminded him. “And Waldenstein has a bigger army.”
Sebastian rubbed his temples. “This is not good. Is the Godmother involved?”
“How would I know that? You tell me, you’re the magician,” Eric retorted. Then added, “I’d be surprised if she wasn’t, though.”
Sebastian muttered under his breath; Bella couldn’t make out what he was saying. Then he spoke louder. “What we need is a nice thaw along the border to make things mushy,” he said. “That would buy us time. Waldenstein has a lot of heavy cavalry, and they can’t move in the mush.”
“Why don’t you arrange that?” Eric’s tone made it clear he was joking, but Sebastian answered seriously.
“I just might be able to. I’m already the most powerful magician in this part of the country, and with Bella to help, it would be easier. Not easy, magic never is, but easier.”
Eric looked astonished. Probably as astonished as Bella felt. Sebastian was more or less assuming she would help with a major Work! That was incredible! She could scarcely believe he was trusting her with any part of something this big so early in her studies. Anytime you mucked about with weather, it was major. So many things to go wrong…so many things you could unbalance…
“I’ll have to consult with the Godmother first, of course. But if it’s a good idea, she will probably get others to join the effort…” Sebastian pushed away from the table, and Bella caught a flicker of satisfaction on Eric’s face.
It surprised her. Why would Eric be satisfied that Sebastian was going to undertake some major magic? This sort of thing needed days, weeks to set up in advance, and if you added more magicians to the mix, it would get even more complicated and add more time.
And he wouldn’t have any time to do anything else. This was, after all, a priority.
This might be another reason why Father has been looking so worried, and not just about me. War is never good for trade.
“Maybe you had better go back to the city and keep me informed,” Sebastian continued. “You’ve got my note making you my representative — that will get you access to the Court, or at least, the King’s officials. Take a lot more pigeons with you.”
Eric nodded. “I can do that. I’ve got ears everywhere.” He grinned. “Lots of them are attached to pretty little heads, too. There is nothing like a chambermaid for hearing what’s really going on.”
“You’ll need money for bribes and tips.” Sebastian pulled a small square of paper out of one of the capacious pockets of his over-robe, and took out one of his enchanted pens that made their own ink from a special holder on the left side of his chest. He wrote out something in tiny, meticulous letters, then waved the paper in the air to dry it. “Here. I’m authorizing the Factor to release as much as you need from the surplus.”
Eric folded it and put the paper into his pocket. “That will help. Palace servants aren’t cheap, only negotiable.”
“And accurate information is worth whatever you have to pay for it.” Sebastian stood up. “I need to go talk to the Godmother.”
“I’ll go pack for a longer trip.” Eric glanced over at Bella, and grinned. “And Abel will be the new Gamekeeper for a while, eh?”
Something about the way he said that, gave her an odd feeling. She couldn’t quite place what it was. A vague unease, but why?
“Don’t see why not,” she replied. “Have you spotted my collection of snares? I left them hanging in the barn on their own pegs so you would see them.”
He grinned. “I have. Keep up the good work.”
And with that, he pushed away from the table, leaving Bella to finish her dinner alone.
When she had, she went straight up to the workroom. She found Sebastian sitting in front of a mirror just about big enough to allow someone to walk through it if they stooped. Until they had consulted the Servant together the other day, it had been covered by a drape. At the moment, it was black.
He looked up at the sound of her footstep. “It seems the Godmother is already in the capitol consulting with the King. The Mirror Servant said that he would give her my message about using a thaw to make it difficult for Waldenstein to move its army on the border.” Then he frowned. “It’s odd. The Servant didn’t act as if the situation was as urgent as Eric thought.”
“Maybe the Godmother already has a solution in place,” she suggested. “Eric couldn’t possibly have known
