“They got the warning fast. Real fast. Let’s do some checking.” “It’s late, wizard.”
“As they say, we can sleep al we want after we’re dead.” There were fewer than forty people resident in, or even part of the
commuting staff of, Castle Krief. It took only minutes to determine that neither Toby nor Dr. Wachtel had left. Only three people had gone since Babeltausque’s initial discussion with Nathan Wolf. Colonel Gales, under orders from Her Majesty, had gone for yet another visit to the Thing hal . Inger’s attendant Garyline had gone home to her mother for the night. The mother was dying. Garyline helped two married sisters care for the woman. Final y, there was Freider Fletcher, a Wesson soldier so dim he had trouble remembering how to tie his bootlaces, had gone off duty and had, presumably, pursued his habit of visiting the Twisted Wrench. He was there now, soaking up ale he could afford because smal arrears payments had been given the men out of early tax returns coming in because of the Thingmeet.
“Must be sorcery,” Wolf said.
“You might think. Or maybe somebody is lying.”
“You think? We’l find out. You wil find out. I’m sure you wil .”
“Right. Though I’m beginning to wonder why we bother.”
“Because we don’t have anything else. We can’t go home. The family enemies in Itaskia have fixed it so we can’t.”
“There is that. Wel . Our devoted associate Rhys passed along one more interesting nugget. We should look at that since we can’t catch my favorite girl.” The sorcerer shivered. He had seen Haida Heltkler just that once, for just a few seconds. She was too old. But stil she could get into his head for hours, haunting every thought, like a snatch of song getting stuck in his mind.
“And what would that be?” Nathan interrupted the developing train of obsession.
“Aral Dantice is back, too. He came in with the delegates from Sedlmayr.”
“The gangster.”
“Purported. And smuggler, and probably a lot more besides, including being a known associate of Michael Trebilcock and, probably, Trebilcock’s designated successor.”
“Shal I arrest him?”
“For what? Not to mention, he’l have ten friends handy for every one we do. And ours are friends only because everyone else is their enemy.”
“Just checking.” Wolf made the slightest head gesture toward the doorway.
More attentive than he had been, Babeltausque knew about the eavesdropper. He felt Toby’s fluttering heartbeat. He said, “I’ve had al the adventure I can stand today. I’m going to turn in.”
Wolf winked. “Good idea. The vil ains wil stil be there tomorrow. And we should be fresh for the Queen’s business.”
There was a faint, hasty scurry outside as Wolf headed for the door.
Toby was getting sloppy. He had to be used up before he did something so blatant that Babeltausque would no longer be able not to take notice. Toby and the old doctor had their share of guts, keeping up their espionage after being told outright that their treason was no secret.
...
Like the Blodgett girl, Aral Dantice vanished with no one seeing him go. He reappeared around midnight, Blodgett in tow. He was so exhausted he could barely argue rational y with the gatekeeper. He had several friends. He was smooth enough to get the gateman to show him to quarters set aside for him. He was a resource Ozora Mundwil er wanted kept close to hand. Friends could crowd in with him—and the girl could find herself a place on the floor in the servants’ quarters. Ozora had made no arrangements for her.
She got that much consideration because Bight had a special interest and he was a kid folks could not help but like, including that gateman.
The girl chose to stick with the old men. Made no difference to her that the gateman considered that unseemly.
The gateman never reported their arrival. It was just another event late in a bust day. They went unnoticed til the crowd gathered for breakfast.
Chapter Twenty-Four:
Varthlokkur hugged Nepanthe long and hard and whispered a suggestion that she be prepared for a busy night. Then he hugged the children, one and al . Ethrian seemed surprised. He sounded honestly puzzled when he asked, “Where Sahmaman?”
“What is with you, Varth?” Nepanthe asked. “What happened?”
“Yeah,” Scalza and Ekaterina chorused as though they had practiced to sync their timing. The girl startled everyone by demanding, “What did you do with that old sourpuss we sent off a couple months ago?”
Varthlokkur smiled broadly. “Presents are on the way.
And treats. And fresh fruits and vegetables.” Then he frowned. “Months?”
Yes. Months. She was right. Autumn was wel along. “Oh, my!”
“Time and having fun?” Nepanthe proposed. “We’l do our own catching up while you’re tel ing us about the mischief you’ve been into.”
The Unborn had gone after delivering Varthlokkur.
Ekaterina was visibly disappointed. The wizard scowled, then told her, “It had to go get the presents.” And a quarter ton of fresh foodstuffs that would be appreciated by everyone. “I’l rest him after that.” Though there was much more work that needed doing, quickly. “Beloved, we need to talk about a new hope that I’ve found for Ethrian.” On hearing his name, the boy asked, “Where is Sahmaman?” He made the question sound like an ordinary expression of curiosity.
Varthlokkur experimented. “She got lost, Ethrian, and we can’t find her.”
Ethrian’s moment did not last long enough to let him process the wizard’s response.
“What was that?” Nepanthe demanded.
“Me testing a hypothesis. I didn’t get the response I hoped for. But any response is an outcome. As I said, some good did come from my absence. Mist is wil ing to have her mind experts help bring Ethrian back.”
Nepanthe waited for the other shoe to drop.
“Of course. She’s no altruist. She wants whatever Ethrian knows about… She is determined to go to war with…” He made swooping gestures.
Scalza got it instantly. He started to name the Star Rider, thinking it was a game. His sister snapped, “Quiet, Worm.
We don’t name that name anymore. Right, Uncle Varth?”
“Exactly right. How clever you are to grasp that so quickly, on so little evidence, Eka.”
The girl was not embarrassed. Rather, the wizard got the impression that she was irked because she had let too much of her real self show.
That left him a little uncomfortable. It reminded him of a boy of long ago, who had seen his mother burned for having talents legal y reserved to men.
There was one critical, dramatic difference. There was no trauma in Ekaterina’s background to twist her into becoming a tormentor of the world.
Varthlokkur’s life proceeded domestical y, quietly, for an hour. He enjoyed a family meal. He wound down from the stresses of the world outside. He listened to the relatively minor concerns that stood in the stead of life and death issues here, proving that human beings would get worked up about something and that could be a runny nose if nothing of more consequence could be unearthed.
The children, Scalza in particular, had self-limited patience for obligations familial. The boy broke the rhythm
