why Lord Falk should have reacted with such equanimity to the news of Tagaza’s death. These things happen? What kind of way was that to respond to the death of your oldest friend… not to mention the architect and planned-for-executor of a major component of your two-decade-old plan to seize the Kingdom and destroy the Great Barrier?
Mother Northwind had been prepared for consternation, fury, accusations of incompetence… anything, really, except for this calm, almost jovial acceptance.
She reviewed what she knew. Prince Karl was safely ensconced at Goodwife Beth’s. Brenna and Anton by now had been retrieved by the dog teams sent north from Foam River. They would soon be delivered to a rocky bay, safe from prying eyes, on Foam River’s outskirts, and from there taken to join Karl.
The only thing… the only thing… she could think of that might have made Falk so accepting of Tagaza’s death was the speech Verdsmitt had been expected to deliver. He must have done himself proud, Mother Northwind thought. People forget he can act as well as he can write. And it must have been difficult for him to portray himself as suddenly rejecting the claims and ideology of the Common Cause.
Well, she thought, the Common Cause had always been a sideshow for him, really. Verdsmitt’s true driving purpose had always been revenge on his ex-lover, King Kravon… not surprising, since when she had touched him on the night she enlisted him, she had ensured that time would do nothing to dim the bright, shining pain caused by Kravon’s betrayal, or Verdsmitt’s burning desire to retaliate.
That must be it, she thought. Verdsmitt’s speech had gone so well that even Tagaza’s death could not shake Falk’s renewed confidence. Perhaps he had already resigned himself to not being able to use Tagaza to find Brenna, assuming he would eventually find her through nonmagical means.
She paused for a moment as she climbed the stairs one floor to the level of her apartment. She did feel fatigued; she hadn’t been lying about that. Healing a man was tiring, but killing one was exhausting. ..
… especially when you first had to systematically search for and destroy his memories so that no other Healer could reach inside and find some fading evidence of his complete innocence. Not that it hadn’t been interesting to rummage in Tagaza’s mind, especially those parts that had to do with the Great Barrier. Tagaza really did believe that magic would fail on its own in a few years if the Barriers were not brought down. More, though he had never told Falk-and now never would, Mother Northwind thought with relish-he believed that Falk’s dreams of conquest were futile, since the farther Falk’s forces got from the lode of magic on which Evrenfels was built, the weaker their magic would become, until it didn’t work at all.
He was never really on Falk’s side, either, Mother Northwind thought. Three of us working to bring down the Barriers, and none of us for the same reason.
And if I fail, and Falk succeeds, little good will it do him if Tagaza was right. He will never be able to expand his kingdom, and when the weapons Commoners have created in the Outside that I saw in Anton’s mind are brought to bear, I doubt he will even hold Evrenfels.
She did not expect to fail. But she took some comfort in the thought that, even if she did, the MageLords would still be destroyed.
Breath coming a little easier, she finished climbing the stairs and headed to her room for what she felt was a welldeserved rest.
Two hours later, Falk finally went down to the Blue Lounge. The two Royal guards at the door saluted and held it open for him.
The man seated at the head of the long table of dark wood beneath the blue walls had not only drunk all of the wine provided him, he was well into a second flagon. He stood up when the door opened, but Falk noted with satisfaction that he put out a hand to steady himself.
Falk studied the man without saying anything for a moment. For his part, the man stood with his head cast down, that one steadying hand still on the table. He was breathing unusually hard, as though he had just been running instead of seated in a comfortable chair enjoying cheese and bread and lamb-stuffed pastries. He was also one of the most nondescript men Falk had ever seen, round and somehow soft around the edges, as though only half-formed.
“I am Lord Falk, Minister of Public Safety to His Majesty King Kravon, Keeper of the Keys and the Kingdom,” Falk said at last. “I hope you found the wine and food to your liking.”
“Yes, my lord. Thank you, my lord,” said the man.
Falk sat down at the far end of the long table from the Commoner. “And your name is…?”
“They call me Jopps, my lord,” he said, his face glistening with perspiration, though the room was cool.
“Not your real name?” Falk said.
Jopps said nothing.
Falk shrugged. “No matter. Very well, Jopps. You told my Captain of the guard that you know where Prince Karl is.”
“I do,” Jopps said. “My lord. But I want some guarantees before I tell you.”
Lord Falk’s eyebrows rose. “I am not in the habit of negotiating with those who hold information it is their duty as loyal subjects of King Kravon to share,” he said.
Jopps shook his head. “Don’t care. No guarantees, you get nothing from me. My lord.”
Mother Northwind could get it from you, Falk thought, and immediately rejected the thought. It was too easy to rely on her for gathering intelligence-and that was dangerous. For one thing, she was old, and he wouldn’t have her skills to draw on forever. For another, relying too much on her would mean his own not-inconsiderable skills at acquiring information could wither. And for a third, he preferred to keep some secrets for himself.
“What guarantees?” Falk said.
“My parents, my lord,” Jopps said hoarsely. “They lost their home, and the shop, when you destroyed the Courthouse. They need a place to live. They need money.” He licked his lips. “And Healers. They’re sick, Mom especially. You promise to look after them properly, like they… like they were Mageborn… and I’ll tell you where Prince Karl is.”
Falk studied him. “You want nothing for yourself?”
“No, my lord,” Jopps said. “Nothing.”
How unusual, Falk thought. And refreshingly straightforward. He shrugged mentally. Well, why not? It would cost next to nothing. And if the man’s information turned out to be bogus… well, it would give him a lever to use to pry the truth out of him. “Agreed. Where is the Prince?”
Jopps took a deep, shaky breath. He looks, Falk thought, like he’s going to be sick. But though it might have been close, Jopps did not spew the contents of his stomach across the shiny surface of the table. Instead he said, “Goodwife Beth’s, my lord.”
Falk cocked his head. “Goodwife Beth,” he said carefully, letting a little sharpened steel show in his voice, “is a character in a Verdsmitt play.”
“Also the name of a woman… very tough woman… high in the Cause,” Jopps said. All of a sudden words came rushing out of him, a different kind of spew as though, now that he had begun to talk, he might not be able to stop. “I don’t know where she came from originally. She puts on this whole ‘Goodwife Beth’ act but underneath she’s hard as nails. Slice your throat in a second if she thought you deserved it. She’s got this farmhouse, well, that’s what it looks like from the outside, out in a little valley west of New Cabora-closest town is a place called Quillhill. I can show you the exact spot. Thing is, it’s not really a farmhouse… or I guess it is, but it’s set into the hill… and there’s more house inside the hill than you see on the outside. Got a secret exit up on the hilltop. Got to know that if you’re going to go after the Prince. They’ll try to take him out that way. I can show you where that is, too.”
He stopped, suddenly; either he was out of breath or a second thought had finally chased down his runaway first one.
“Very complete,” Falk said. “Perhaps you could show us on a map. ..?”
Jopps nodded.
“And how do you know this, Jopps?” Falk said softly. “Why should I believe you?”
“Been in the Cause a long time,” Jopps muttered, not meeting Falk’s eyes. “Verdsmitt’s doing. Heard him speak once, secret meeting
… convinced me we had to fight back, had to try to make things better for Commoners, that King Kravon doesn’t care about us, people freezing to death in the streets of the city every winter… it’s obscene.
“Anyway, I joined up. Did odd jobs, nothing major. Then I met this girl called Jenna. Beautiful, young… I think
