'
And the pleasure flooded through her powerfully, intense enough to burn red shadows across her closed eyelids. When she'd finished, she put a foot to his shoulder, pushed him away, crawled up the bed, and fell into a deep satisfied sleep.
AQUINT (2)
'I have to trust my instincts... to a point.'
'And this isn't
'Cat, when Abraxis appointed me to this position he showed a certain amount of faith in me. Maybe you could—'
Cat cut him off. 'I was afraid all this would go to your head, in the end. You really think you are an Internal Security Corps agent.' The boy sounded incredulous.
Aquint was getting annoyed. 'By the madness of the gods, lad, I
When Aquint had accepted this assignment from Lord Abraxis, the Felk mage had made a cut on Aquint's thumb and taken a drop of his blood. Abraxis had blotted it onto a piece of cloth, and put it into a red bag that he said remained on his person at all times.
Abraxis had claimed that with that blood sample he could administer disciplinary actions without needing to track Aquint down. That faraway threat was nagging and unsettling. Aquint didn't have any reason to doubt Abraxis's powers. The wizard had also said that similar samples had been taken from every student at that Academy in Felk, where magicians were trained, and from anyone in the empire who held a position of power.
Aquint wondered if that meant that Abraxis had a sample of General Weisel's blood.
'You told me about Abraxis,' Cat said, sounding uncharacteristically sullen.
'Then what's the problem?' Aquint asked, trying not to let his irritation show.
They were in their apartment. Cat had been dutifully trying to locate the rebels' new retreat, to no avail. Maybe the boy was just frustrated, Aquint thought. Cat had at least learned that the group was being called by a specific name now. The rebels were the Broken Circle, so went the whispers on the street. A fitting name, thought Aquint, recalling the symbol of the circle with the vertical line through it.
'I just don't know about that pair you recruited,' Cat said, shaking his head. 'Something about those two...'
He was talking about Deo and Radstac. Aquint admitted he had acted somewhat impulsively in hiring the two on as Internal Security agents, but he had that privilege. Besides, like he'd told Cat earlier, he had to trust his instincts.
'What is it about them you don't like?' Aquint asked, seriously interested. The boy had a nose for trouble.
'Well, for one thing, I hope you don't believe that horseshit about them being ordered through the portals without traveling orders.'
Aquint blinked. It was very unlike his young, somewhat prudish friend to use obscenities.
'Of course not,' Aquint said.
'They're on the run from something.'
'Like the war?'
'Maybe something more,' Cat said.
'You have any ideas?' Aquint asked.
Cat shook his head.
'Then what're you...' Aquint started, and trailed off. Could it be that his young associate was jealous? Was that possible? He and Cat had had a partnership since before this war broke out. By now, they had covered a lot of territory together, literally and figuratively. Maybe the boy simply didn't like the idea of anybody else intruding on their association.
Aquint of course didn't voice any of these thoughts. It would only embarrass Cat.
'I wouldn't worry about our two new recruits, Cat,' he said, adopting a jollier tone. 'We'll keep an eye on them. If they give us any trouble, I can just have them arrested. They're under my direct authority, after all.'
'That's good,' Cat nodded.
'Besides, I'm only going to use them as bait anyway.'
'All right.' Cat suddenly shook himself and hopped nimbly to his feet from where he was sitting. 'I better get back out there.'
Without another word, he slipped out of the apartment, off to roam Callah's streets and alleys, looking for any hint of the rebels.
Aquint sighed. As if he didn't have enough to deal with, now he had to be sensitive to Cat's feelings. Sometimes people and the strange complexities of their emotions could surprise you.
He shrugged and went to grab his coat and arm sling. Cat, whatever else he was, was also Aquint's friend, though their relationship was certainly an unconventional one. If he had to make allowances for the boy's unexpected moods, so be it.
Aquint did in fact have an idea of using Radstac and Deo as bait. He could circulate them through Callah's marketplaces and taverns, posing as people eager to join the Broken Circle's rebel underground. It might work. It was also possible that those rebels, if they got wind of it, might just come down on the two of them, suspecting a trap. But that would at least draw the rebels out.
It struck Aquint, however, that such a plan was a waste of potential talent. He had been favorably impressed by those two. The female, in particular, moved like a fighter of much experience. And they had both somehow finagled their way into being illegally transported to Callah. That took sharp wits and cunning.
Suddenly Aquint came up with another plan, a way to use those two new agents as something more than the meat you laid out in the meadow to entice your prey into range of your bow.
He smiled to himself and exited the apartment.
Callah's new taxes had been officially announced. From the grumbles Aquint overheard as he made his way, they were being received about as enthusiastically as he'd expected.
The panic that had erupted the day Callah's water turned inexplicably into 'blood' had died down. For that day, though, a great unease had come over the city's inhabitants, native and Felk alike. Some people called it a sign from the gods, though exactly
Colonel Jesile had grudgingly set his mages onto the problem. They had determined, using the same divining magic that had uncovered the counterfeiting ring, that the water was perfectly safe to drink, despite its unwholesome appearance.
The water supplies had since been refreshed and guards put around the reservoirs, but during those first days it had taken some courage to swallow that thick, red water. Aquint had stuck mostly to wine.
The sights and sounds and ambience of Callah were still a great pleasure to him. This grand city held memories for him in almost every quarter. As a youth, younger even than Cat, he had spent his days running errands for his father. Aquint's father had been a man given to extremes of behavior. When he was happy, which was usually when he had money, he could make everyone around him deliriously happy as well. When he was angry, he was a great storm of rage, fearsome and dangerous.
Aquint had started in the freight-hauling business as just another strong back moving cargo on and off wagons. He wasn't as big as some of the other workers, but he never shirked, never missed a day of work for any reason. That fact impressed the owners of the business. They gave him a little more responsibility, and he proved
