Wartorn Obliteration

'You'll keep your voice down?'

Kumbat nodded, head bobbing a bit wildly.

Raven unknotted the gag. She poured water into a cup from a jug and held it to the wizard's lips. He drank eagerly.

'Will you untie the rest of me?' he pleaded.

'No,' Raven said. 'But we can have a little time to talk.'

The mage sighed, 'Very well.' He sounded defeated.

'Do you still deny the charges against you?' Raven asked.

'Yes,' Kumbat said emphatically. 'I am no traitor.'

'General Weisel thinks otherwise.'

'Weisel is—' he started, then bit down on the words. He visibly gathered himself and said more evenly, 'The general is mistaken. I serve the empire faithfully. I serve the emperor. Lord Matokin—'

'Lord Matokin is not the one accusing you of treason,' Raven said.

'I have done nothing to make General Weisel think I am in any way disloyal.'

'Perhaps you crossed him personally at some time?' Raven suggested. She had to find out why Weisel wanted to keep this mage in custody.

'Hardly,' Kumbat said.

'You're so certain?'

'I have done nothing to offend or displease the general, at any time,' the mage said. He added, in a grumble, 'Quite the contrary, I've been of important service to him.'

Raven took note of this last. 'What service was that?'

But Kumbat was shaking his head, looking upset. 'Raven, why are you doing this to me? I am the one responsible for your being among the living once more.'

'I realize that, Mage Kumbat.'

'Doesn't that earn me any favor or fidelity from you?' He was pleading once again. 'I gave you back life!'

'Lower your voice,' Raven warned, actually feeling a brief pang of guilt.

It was true of course that Kumbat had performed her resurrection. But he had only done so because Weisel had pressured Matokin into making it happen. Kumbat had merely been the tool.

'What service did you do for General Weisel?' she asked again.

The wizard pressed his lips together. 'I... cannot say.'

That interested Raven even more. 'Did you bungle this service, perhaps? Did Weisel order your arrest as revenge against you?'

Plainly, the mage was reluctant to talk. But Raven judged that he didn't possess an especially strong will.

After a moment, Kumbat said, 'General Weisel could have no complaints about the quality of my service.'

Raven stooped slightly and peered directly into Kumbat's fearful eyes.

'You do understand that as head of Military Security, I hold your life very literally in my hands?' As she asked this, she gently cupped his face in her hands. Then she bent even lower and mashed her lips hard against his.

When she broke the kiss Kumbat sputtered violently. She stepped back and smiled. The combination of threat and sexuality was a potent one. He gasped for breath.

'Very well...' he muttered finally. 'If I tell you what you want to know, what do I get in return?'

'You're hardly in a position to bargain.'

'Nevertheless, I will not divulge without some compensation.' He made a valiant effort to adopt a firm tone.

Raven shrugged. It was fair, after all.

'If you cooperate,' she said, 'I'll see that a message is relayed to Lord Matokin in Felk, one that says you are alive and well.'

Distrust and hope warred on Kumbat's face. He gazed at Raven and finally said, 'I want to trust you.'

'And I want to know what secret you carry about General Weisel. I suggest you trust me. Your options at the moment are markedly limited.'

Kumbat nodded grimly. It was patently true.

He gathered a long breath, then began, 'General Weisel isn't entirely who you think he is.' The tale the mage proceeded to tell was indeed a fascinating one.

* * *

Raven fairly wandered in a daze.

Those two Internal Security agents would never locate Kumbat on their own. The tent was one among hundreds, and the guards were from Weisel's personal squad. Neither would the agents have any luck interrogating the wizards who had supposedly Far Moved Kumbat back to Felk; they were loyal to Weisel and would never betray the deception.

These weren't the thoughts that preoccupied Raven. She was still quite stunned by what Kumbat had told her. Naturally, she questioned the veracity of the mage's claims. But she could find no plausible reason why he would make up something so outrageous. More, there was a great deal of sense in what he asserted.

Kumbat claimed that he himself had effected the resurrection of the ancient Northland war commander Dardas. The vessel for him was Lord Weisel, a Felk nobleman with military aspirations.

I now understand why Weisel wants Kumbat close at hand, Raven mused.

Why is that? Vadya asked, catching the clearly formed thought.

It's so that Weisel doesn't have to rely on Matokin for his rejuvenation spells, Raven said. Since the outset of this war my fath—Lord Matokin has deliberately kept the secrets of magic out of the general's reach. The very reason I was originally summoned from the Academy to serve Weisel was because he hoped to glean those secrets from me, not realizing that I knew little of the complex magic that interested him.

You believe Weisel invented this charge of treason against Kumbat? Vadya asked.

Yes, Raven said, matter-of-factly.

So do I.

But, Raven continued, I can understand his motives. I can even sympathize.

Vadya's surprise was strong enough that Raven could actually feel it.

I don't know if you can grasp it, Raven said. Existing as a... a passenger within the body of another person is very disconcerting.

But you have virtually free rein, Vadya protested. Is it not you controlling the movements of this body right now?

Raven was walking. She deliberately halted, and there was no resistance at all to the commands she was giving.

Even so, Raven said, the thought that my existence must be maintained from now on through the aid of magic is disturbing. I dread the eventuality of my first need for a rejuvenation spell.

Indeed, the thought alone made her shudder slightly.

Are you going to report this to Matokin? Vadya asked.

When she had finished with Kumbat, Raven had replaced his gag and promised him she would get word to Lord Matokin. But she hadn't promised when she would do so. However, she couldn't see how she could make any delay.

Telling Matokin, though, would mean betraying General Weisel. Only, he wasn't Weisel! By the madness of the gods, she had been the eager bed partner of a man who had been dead for more than two hundredwinters.

Raven shuddered again, this time for a different reason.