permission or knowledge.”
“Are yousure of that?” the white-haired man demanded.
Hanner hesitated. He wanted to say yes, but he couldn’t honestly. He admitted, “No, I’m not sure. We believe so, but there might be people we can’t change. We can certainly change most people.”
The wizard nodded. “Good enough,” he said. “Then whyhaven’t you? Why not turn all the World to warlocks?”
“I’m not eager to do something irreversible when we don’t know what the results will be,” Hanner said. “Besides, it’s not as if most of us have found warlockry an unmixed blessing.”
“But if you turned your enemies to warlocks-”
“They might still be our enemies-and they might be more powerful than us.”
“But you have more experience.”
“And we’re closer to the Calling. We aren’t in any hurry to go see what’s in Aldagmor. If wedid turn everyone to warlocks, and the Calling took us all, we might destroy the entire World. We don’t want that any more than you do.”
“Go on,” Ithinia said.
Hanner sighed.
“That’s most of it,” he said. “If you do declare war upon us, we will fight, and we will fight with any means at our disposal. Wizards will die of heart failure, die in their sleep, die as they walk down the street. Wizards will find themselves transformed into warlocks, their familiar magic suddenly unreliable. Warlocks will appear throughout the city, throughout the World, anywhere we can get within a few yards of some unsuspecting innocent for a moment. You might win in the end, you might exterminate us or drive us all to the Calling, but would it be worth the cost?”
“What alternative do you offer?” the white-haired wizard asked.
“The Council of Warlocks,” Hanner said eagerly. “We propose to organize all the warlocks, as they’re discovered, and bind them by our rules. The warlocks who accept the Council’s authority will obey the laws of whatever land they live in-here in Ethshar-”
“You aren’t in Ethshar here,” a beautiful woman who had not previously spoken interrupted. “In fact, you aren’t even in the World.”
“I’m sorry,” Hanner said. “In Ethshar, then, they will obey the laws of the Hegemony and the commands of the three overlords. In the Small Kingdoms they will obey the laws of the various kings and queens. In Sardiron they will obey the barons. Whatever the law is, warlocks will be bound by it, and other warlocks will cooperate, free of charge, in bringing to trial any warlock who does not. Council warlocks will operate openly, not in secret-we will distinguish ourselves by wearing black tunics, as you wizards wear your traditional robes. We will transform others to warlocks only as properly sworn apprentices, as other magicians do. We will regulate our members, like any guild-and two or more warlocks working together can overcome a single more powerful warlock, where other magic might encounter that interference you’ve noticed. We will require that no warlock use any other magic.”
“And what do you expect in return?” the white-haired wizard asked.
“Very little,” Hanner asked. “We ask that we be treated as magicians, not monsters. We ask that the Wizards’ Guild not kill us, nor drive us into exile, nor aid others in doing so. And one more thing.” He had almost forgotten it and shuddered at the possibility. Convincing the Wizards’ Guild to leave warlocks alone was important, but it would hardly solveall their problems while warlocks were blamed for other crimes.
The wizards were waiting in expectant silence. He swallowed, then continued.
“All those people who vanished on the Night of Madness,” Hanner said. “They were warlocks who heard the Calling, we’re sure of it.”
“So are we,” the white-haired wizard said.
That statement was a pleasant surprise, and Hanner struggled not to react to it.
“But most people thinkwe made them disappear,” he said. “If the Wizards’ Guild, and perhaps the other magicians, could tell everyone that we aren’t responsible, that Uncle Kelder or Aunt Sarai was not kidnapped or eaten by warlocks, butwas a warlock— that would be what we need to fit in peacefully, which is all we want.”
“Warlocksdid loot and burn and kill on the Night of Madness,” Ithinia pointed out.
“Yes, they did,” Hanner admitted. “And we’re very sorry about that and will be glad to turn over for trial anyindividual who can be shown to have committed any such crimes. We’ve already done that, where we could-I personally delivered four warlocks to the Lord Magistrate of the Old Merchants’ Quarter, who had them flogged.”
“He speaks the truth,” the white-haired wizard said. “The spell is still in effect.”
“We can see that,” the woman who had corrected Hanner’s reference to Ethshar snapped.
“Is that it?” Ithinia asked. “Have you finished your speech?”
“Almost,” Hanner said. “Just one more thing.”
“Didn’t he say that before?” a wizard muttered. Hanner ignored it.
“I’ve told you what we want of the Guild,” he said. “To be left in peace and to have the truth about the disappearances told. I’ve told you what we offer in exchange-warlocks will be kept in order by the Council of Warlocks. I’ve explained why warlocks are not the threat some initially believed, in that the Calling limits us, and I’ve explained that neither are we harmless and easily obliterated, so that the peace we offer is reasonable. There’s just one more thing to add. It’s not a fact, but only a possibility, a consequence thatmight happen if you do refuse my offer and try to stamp us out.”
“What is it?” Ithinia asked.
“You know that hundreds, maybe thousands of people flew off to Aldagmor on the Night of Madness. You know the most powerful warlocks have followed them. But there are things wedon’t know about warlockry. We don’t know what causes it, how long it will last, or any of dozens of other things. So ask yourselves, when you consider declaring warlocks to be a menace to be stopped-what happens if the Callingstops?” He looked at the wizards and spread his arms dramatically. “What happens if all those warlocks come back from Aldag-mor and find out you’ve slaughtered their fellows?” he asked.
He knew that was something they hadn’t considered; he knew he’d said the right thing. He looked at them, trying not to grin.
The wizards stared at him in silence.
Chapter Forty-three
The sound of a chair’s legs grating on stone broke the silence. “I think I’ll send you home now,” Ithinia said as she rose.
Hanner bowed. “As you please,” he said. “I’ve said what I came to say.”
“And we’ll consider it all carefully,” Ithinia replied as she walked up and took his arm. She stooped and picked up the velvet hood Hanner had dropped. “Put this on,” she said, holding it out.
Reluctantly Hanner obeyed, plunging himself into darkness.
Someone-probably Ithinia, though he had no way to be certain-took hold of his arm, turned him to the left, and led him away. He walked for what seemed a goodly distance, perhaps thirty or forty yards, with the grip on his arm guiding him.
Then his guide stopped.
“Put out your hand,” she said-Ithinia’s voice, as he had expected. He obediently raised one arm and held it out before him.
“Now step forward,” she said, releasing her hold.
He stepped forward-and sensation flooded over him.
Light was seeping up beneath the mask; he was somewhere brighter than that gloomy pillared hall. He could hear the distant buzz of a city. And his warlockry had returned; he could sense his surroundings, feel the structure and patterns of the air and space around him.
He snatched off the hood again. He was standing in a pleasant little room, one he didn’t recognize- definitelynot the bare little chamber the carpet had delivered him to. This room had broad windows on two sides,
