Wartorn Obliteration

Security agent, he did something curious.'

They were waiting to hear. 'What?' the Minstrel prompted him.

'Abraxis made a cut on my thumb,' Aquint said, 'and dabbed up the blood with a bit of cloth that he then put into... a bag.'

'I thought it was just the wizards from that Academy place who had to give samples of their blood,' Deo said. He had set down the crossbow with which he'd shot Abraxis in the back, before Radstac had finished him off.

Several heads turned toward the thin-faced one in the room Aquint didn't recognize, though he could now guess who he was. The man shrugged and said, 'That is my understanding of it. Luckily, my own sample was disposed of after it was presumed I was dead. That is the standard procedure.'

'It was Abraxis's measure,' Aquint said. 'His idea, to maintain discipline. Yes, all those magicians had to provide samples. But Abraxis told me that other, prominent figures throughout the empire were also included.'

'And you are prominent?' Ondak asked scornfully.

'I was an Internal Security agent on a very important assignment.'

'I like that you say 'was,' ' the Minstrel said.

Aquint gave him a stony look. 'What else would I say now?'

The Minstrel nodded. He considered, then said, gesturing, 'This man here is named Nievze. He is late of the Academy for magic in Felk. He's a deserter. He is also a skilled practitioner of blood magic. The whole point of today's operation, which cost us the life of our cherished colleague Tyber, was to secure Abraxis's bag of samples so that Nievze here could... make use of them.'

'I understand that,' Aquint said sharply. It had been explained to him. 'But before that happens, I need what's mine from this bag.'

Silence came again. They might choose to simply ignore what he wanted. Aquint knew full well the enormous potential that this bag contained. Would these rebels pause in their plans to accommodate him—he, who had until very recently been hunting this same group, meaning to turn them over to the Felk?

Aquint wished he'd had the chance to say goodbye to Cat before everything had gone so wrong.

The Minstrel looked to Nievze. 'Can you find his individual sample among all the others?'

'There'll be hundreds,' Nievze said, aghast.

'Answer my question.'

The wizard thought, finally scratched at his stubbly face, and said, 'It can be done. But—'

'Do it,' the Minstrel said, in a voice that brooked no defiance.

Aquint, still holding the bag by its strap, now handed it directly to the Minstrel. He, in turn, passed it to Nievze.

'I will need a fresh sample of his blood,' the wizard grumbled. 'Then I will have to match it to one of these in here. Oh, it'll be a bother.'

He opened the bag, and Aquint caught a glimpse of the many, many bits of blood-blotted cloth jammed inside. Doubtlessly Abraxis had had some magical means to quickly and accurately identify each and every sample in there. But Abraxis was gone. It was up to this deserter magician from Felk.

Aquint submitted to the new sample. Nievze took it unhappily and went off into the next room for privacy while he worked. Aquint sat down to wait. The Minstrel wordlessly pulled a chair near and sat with him. The others quietly retreated.

* * *

They heard the criers.

'What watch is it?' Aquint asked, glancing up. He had sunk into a dull reverie, wondering mostly about Cat and remembering their good times with maudlin hindsight.

These rooms had only a few windows, and those were shuttered up tight. But lines of daylight still showed around the edges.

'It's an early curfew,' the Minstrel said.

'That's not good,' someone muttered ominously.

'What did you expect?' Aquint said tartly. 'An important official from Felk, the number two man in this whole bleeding empire, was beheaded today just outside the Registry. Remember what happened after that one soldier was murdered?' He directed this poignantly at the Minstrel.

'I remember,' the Minstrel said, without inflection.

'I'll bet you do. Well, let's all try to imagine how the garrison is going to respond to this.' Aquint listened a moment to the criers outside calling for the clearing of the streets. 'Governor Jesile has no doubt contacted Felk by now. It's a safe guess that Matokin is none too happy.'

'It'll be worse than last time?' a youngish girl said, looking like she didn't quite grasp the whole situation.

Aquint gave her an offhand glance. The Minstrel had killed that garrison soldier, and for a while after that incident Callah had been subjected to the full brutality of the garrison. The Felk soldiers had entered homes randomly, assaulted citizens, seeking the murderer of one of their own, and doing a good deal of damage in the process.

'That's another safe guess,' Aquint finally said to the girl. She looked uneasy.

'Don't worry, Gelshiri,' the Minstrel said reassuringly.

The other members of the Circle had come back into this room, apparently rallying around their leader.

'But we should be worrying, shouldn't we?' Ondak said. 'There will be a citywide search—for you and you.' He pointed to Aquint and Radstac, respectively.

Radstac stood with her arms folded, no emotion on that scarred face. Aquint knew enough to realize she was the most dangerous one here. He wondered if the rest of these people knew it.

'The Felk will tear this city apart!' Ondak continued, voice rising.

'Calm yourself,' Deo said. He was avoiding looking Aquint in the eye. Aquint had certainly not forgotten that he had been the one to shoot Cat with that crossbow.

'We should have Nievze cast that blood magic spell right now, while we can,' somebody said.

'It's a very complicated spell,' the Minstrel said. 'It will take some while to perform it.'

'Then let's get it started!' said Ondak.

The Minstrel glanced toward the next room, where the wizard was still murmuring mysteriously over the contents of Abraxis's bag. 'Nievze hasn't yet found Aquint's blood sample.'

'It's too late for that!'

'I said, calm down, Ondak,' Deo said, more sharply.

The Minstrel nodded. He looked around the room. 'This man lured Abraxis here in the first place. Without him we wouldn't have that bag. If Nievze casts that spell with Aquint's sample still among...' He shook his head. 'No. Aquint has earned that much from us. I'll hear no more about it.'

They all quieted, the matter dropped. Aquint didn't quite give the Minstrel a grateful look, but he was impressed by the man's authority.

The wait continued.

A passing commotion was heard now and then, in the distance, as night fell. Tension mounted among the group. Finally one among them, asking the Minstrel's permission first, crept stealthily outside for a look around. He returned a moment later, somewhat white-faced.

'What did you see, Minst?' asked the girl, Gelshiri.

'There must be many more Felk soldiers in this city now than there have been since Callah's invasion,' the one named Minst said. 'I saw a company of them, several streets distant. It looked like hundreds.'

The Broken Circle members absorbed that with varying degrees of apprehension.

'Jesile probably had troops Far Moved in,' Aquint said. 'Or maybe Matokin ordered it.'

His eyes flickered around at the surrounding faces. Now that danger was looming, would they change their minds about waiting for Nievze to locate his sample among the contents of that bag?