on herfist. “What do you think, Books? I value your opinion.”
“I don’t think we’d have accomplished what wehave without your ideas. Don’t get rid of them, and don’t stopbeing…”
She waited for him to say “crazy.”
“Creative,” Books said.
Well, that was nicer than crazy.
“But…”
Amaranthe braced herself. She
“You lack prudence,” Books said. “I suspectit’s a combination of youth and the fact that, until recently, youlived your life under strict rules, first as a child obedient toyour father and your school teachers, and then as an enforcer,obedient to superiors and indeed in charge of enforcing lawsyourself. For the first time, you have utter freedom, and it’snatural for you to struggle to find a way that works. We all say wecrave freedom, but the truth is many people hang themselves withoutthe structure society imposes. Nobody’s done what you’re trying todo, so there’s no precedent, no guideline to follow.”
“That is true,” Amaranthe said.
“Since that’s the case, you should thinktwice and consider all possible outcomes before embarking on a planthat could get you, or someone else, captured.”
“It’s not as if that’s alwaysforeseeable.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Are you sure? Youhave a tendency to wander into the enemy camp to chat with the headvillain.”
“I don’t…” She stopped, since his eyebrowswere threatening to crawl up to the top of his scalp and leap forthe sky. Yes, she had done exactly that with Hollowcrest, thewizard Arbitan, and the shamans from Mangdoria. And now she hadsent Sicarius off to spy on what might be the head villain.
“You do,” Books said, “and I understand why.You get a lot of information from talking to people, and you’resmarter than average, so you probably believe you can get yourselfout of any trouble you get into. When I was a professor, I foundthat bright people sometimes make the worst students. They don’twant to simply do the assignment; they want to add creative flairand sophistication, and they make things so complicated that theyfail to finish on time.”
“What did you say to thosechallenged-by-their-own-creative-flair students?” Amaranthe asked.“How did you teach them more…prudence?” She smiled, thinking hewould appreciate that she used his word.
His face grew long though, and he shook hishead. “I couldn’t teach them that. Only experience could. There area lot of platitudes that suggest age makes us wise, but the truthis it’s
“I liked it better when you were justgrunting,” Amaranthe said.
“I’m sorry, but you asked-”
She lifted a hand. “I know. I did. Thank you.I’ll think about your words. And I hope they’re not prophetic. I’mnot ready to lose anything, especially not one of you.”
“Well,” Books said lightly, “if you
Amaranthe stared at him, stricken.
“Er.” This time he raised an apologetic hand.“Sorry. It was a joke. A poor joke.”
“He’s the only reason I’m alive, Books. Hesaves my life again and again, and I repay him by sending him offto be abducted or killed by whatever nefarious magic-hurlingzealots are swiping athletes from the Imperial Games. Who
While Books studied the note, she wondered ather own words.
If her theory were true, to what ends wouldsomeone want these people? To create some sort of mercenary army?An elite force? She curled her lip at the idea. That was her
“Any thoughts?” she asked Books.
“Horrible penmanship.”
“You better give me more than that if you’regoing to save me from doing something imprudent.” She smiled.
“Oh? You have an idea?”
“I was just ruminating on the common linkbetween the names I know. Superior athleticism.”
“Why don’t you let me go to the stadium withBasilard today? I’ll see if I can get a copy of the list ofentrants and match these two unknown names. If it turns out they,like Sicarius, are not athletes that might give us more to goon.”
“Agreed,” Amaranthe said. “If we can figureout exactly why these people were taken, we might be able to get abead on
“Huh, and I thought it was going to be alight work day,” Books said, but he smiled, and she suspected hewas happy for the chance to do research.
“I’ll take Maldynado and go back to theminer’s flat to see if the family is back or if anyone hasinformation on where those men meet. Maybe if we work this fromboth ends we can find the kidnappers’ lair somewhere in themiddle.”
“Assuming we are dealing with kidnappers andnot someone who merely wants to kill irritatingly gifted people,”Books said.
She stared at him. “This would be a case whena grunt or a nod would have been more appreciated.”
“Oh. Sorry.”
CHAPTER 8
Under the light of day, the brick buildingwhere Raydevk and his wife lived seemed poorer. Every few minutes,a train chugged through, shaking the ground. Surly men hunkered indoorways, drinking from ceramic applejack mugs stamped with theThree Legged Dog logo, a homely mark for the satrapy’s cheapestdistillery. Some said the outfit used the bruised worm-filledapples left in the orchard grass after the other distilleries hadtheir pick.
“Charming neighborhood,” Maldynado drawledafter a gaunt old man stepped out of an alley, buttoning his pants.Amaranthe hoped all he had been doing in there was peeing.
As she and Maldynado approached the building,they stayed near the wall, so the wife, Pella, would not see themcoming if she glanced out the window.
“This is the kind of place Sicarius takes youfor evenings out, eh?” Maldynado added.