Gerin tried to ignore him, though it wasn't easy. In theory, reversal spells were simple. Both the law of similarity and that of contagion applied and, since he'd just essayed the spell he wished to overturn, the links were temporally strong. On the other hand, given the sorcerous ineptitude he'd just demonstrated- He made himself not think about that. A magician needed to believe he'd succeed.
A magician also needs talent, part of him jeered. The rest of him made that part shut up. He plunged headlong into the first reversal spell he found. The more time he spent thinking about it, the more he' d hesitate later. If you fell out of a jouncing chariot, you needed to get back in and ride again.
By luck, most of the passes were for his left hand. He went through them with care, but not with confidence- he wondered when, if ever, he'd have confidence in his magic once more. Rihwin sat in the chair, arms folded, glaring stonily at him. Normally, having Rihwin keep quiet while he cast a spell would have been a blessing. As things were, it just disconcerted Gerin more.
He raced through the cantrip at a pace a practiced wizard would have hesitated to match. One way or another, he'd know soon. His fingers twisted through the last and hardest pass of the spell. 'Let all be as it was!' he yelled.
'Something happened,' Rihwin said. 'I felt it.' But he didn't raise his hand to discover exactly what it was. Maybe he was afraid. He asked Gerin, 'Did you deck me out with an octopus tentacle?'
'I haven't even seen octopus tentacles since that Sithonian eatery I used to frequent in the City of Elabon,' Gerin replied. He stared at the place where the donkey's ear had sprouted from Rihwin's head.
'That's not a responsive answer.' Rihwin sighed theatrically. ' Very well, since you won't tell me, I shall just have to find out for myself.' Slowly, he brought his left hand up to his head. His eyes grew as wide as Gerin's. 'It's my ear,' he whispered. Then, even more amazed, he added, 'And it's whole-isn't it?'
'It certainly looks that way,' Gerin said. 'Does it feel so, too?'
'By Dyaus, it does. How ever did you manage that?'
'If I knew, I would tell you.' Gerin cudgeled his wits for an explanation. At last, he said, 'The reversal spell must have undone your wound as well as my magic-that's all I can think of.'
Rihwin felt of his ear. 'There's the hole through which the hoop passed. You must be right, lord Gerin; like you, I can think of no other explanation that fits.' Now that his ear was restored, he started to laugh. 'My fellow Fox, you are the best bad magician I have ever known.'
'I'll take that for a compliment.' Suddenly Gerin started to laugh, too. Rihwin's elastic features showed curiosity. Gerin explained: 'If I could do on purpose what I did by accident, think of the demand I'd be in from wenches who wanted to frolic and yet be wed as maidens.'
Rihwin leered. 'Aye, and think of the fee you could charge, too.'
'I'm surprised women don't already have a magic like that,' Gerin said. 'Or maybe they do, and just don't let on to us men.'
'It could be so,' Rihwin agreed. He felt his ear again, as if not believing Gerin had, no matter how erratically, accomplished exactly what he'd said he'd do. 'Now I have to wait until Otes or another jeweler passes through, so I can have a new hoop made to replace the one I lost.'
'If you get your ear torn again on account of that foolish southron conceit, don't expect me to fix it for you,' Gerin said.
'If I come to you again to have my ear fixed, I deserve to wear a donkey's in its place,' Rihwin retorted. Gerin mimed taking an arrow in the ribs; Rihwin had won that exchange.
One of Gerin's warriors who held the Elabon Way open through Bevon's holding brought disquieting news back to Fox Keep. 'Lord prince, it's said Bevon and two of his sons have made common cause with Adiatunnus-and with the monsters from Ikos,' he said between swigs from a jack of ale.
'Said by whom?' Gerin demanded, not wanting to believe Elabonians could fall so low as to align themselves with the creatures.
'By Bevander, another of Bevon's sons,' the soldier answered. 'He came to us calling down curses on past enmity and saying he'd sooner cast his lot with you than with a bunch of things.'
'I wonder what he meant by that,' Gerin said, 'the monsters, or his father and brothers?' The warrior who'd brought word started, then snorted as he was swallowing, which made him choke and spray ale over the tabletop.
Gerin plucked distractedly at his beard. He'd reckoned Adiatunnus' embrace of the monsters a hideous aberration. If more and more lords proved willing to use the creatures to further their own ends, they would gain a permanent place in the northlands. He wondered which lord who favored them they'd first end up devouring.
'What will you do, lord Gerin?' the soldier answered.
'Do about what, Captain?' Van called from the stairway. He and Fand were coming down into the great hall hand in hand. By the foolish grins on their faces, Gerin had no trouble imagining what they'd been doing up on the second floor. Fand smirked at him, just in case he had had trouble. She wanted to make him jealous-her door stayed closed to him these days.
He knew a certain amount of annoyance at the way she flaunted what she was up to, but jealousy stayed dormant. He wondered what that was telling him. To keep from having to think about it, he turned to the trooper and said, 'Tell him what you just told me.'
The trooper obeyed. Van scowled and rubbed at the scar that creased his nose. Fand poked him in the ribs, indignant at being forgotten. He let go of her hand and slipped his arm around her waist. She molded herself against him, but most of his attention was still on what he'd just heard. 'Good question,' he said. 'What will you do, Fox?'
'I don't know yet,' Gerin answered. 'I begin to think I need allies myself. I wonder if the monsters have got to Schild's lands yet. If they have, he may be more likely to remember he's my vassal. And Ricolf will fight on my side, even if he isn't fond of me anymore.'
'The Trokmoi south of the Niffet will range themselves with Adiatunnus, sure and they will,' Fand said.
Gerin couldn't tell whether she was trying to be helpful or to goad him further. He gave her the benefit of the doubt. 'I wouldn't be surprised if you're right. All the more reason for me to look for those who will help me struggle against them.' He puckered his lips, as if at a sour taste. He hated having to rely on any power but his own. It left him too vulnerable by half. But he was already vulnerable, in a different way.
'Hagop son of Hovan-' Van began.
'-Is hardly worth having on my side, for he brings little force with him,' Gerin interrupted. 'I want to win this fight, not have it drag on forever.' As he spoke, one way to do that came to mind. 'If Grand Duke Aragis would make common cause with me, now-'
Van, Fand, and the trooper all stared at him. He didn't suppose he could blame them. Ever since Elabon abandoned the northlands and the Trokmoi entered them, he and Aragis had been most successful at building from the ruins of empire. He'd taken for granted that they would clash one day, and assumed Aragis had done the same-a notion their meeting at Ikos had only reinforced. But the monsters and the lords who would use them to augment their own power were a danger to Aragis no less than to Gerin.
At last Van said, 'You don't think small, Captain. That much I give you.'
The more Gerin looked at the idea, the more he liked it himself. ' I see two problems,' he said. 'One is making sure we stay allies with Aragis and don't end up his vassals. He'll have the same concern about us, no doubt. It could make working together ticklish.'
'Aye, I can see that one,' Van said with a sage nod. 'This setup of vassalage you Elabonians have makes you so sticky about rank and honor that it's a wonder you ever get anything done. What's the second?'
Gerin made a wry face. 'Simply getting a messenger from Fox Keep to the Castle of the Archer. With all the monsters loose on the land between what I hold and what belongs to Aragis, I really should send a good-sized fighting force just to see to it that he hears my offer and I hear his answer. But I can't afford to do that, not now, not with the monsters and the Trokmoi and now Bevon and his sons ganging together against me.'
'Send Rihwin,' Van suggested. 'Ever since you got him that one ear back, he's been talking both of mine off about-what does he call it?your natural talent as a mage, that's right.'
Remembering the near fiasco in the shack, the Fox said, 'That only proves he's not as smart as he thinks he
