The Ambassador's Mission

activity is a crime,” Lord Erayk said.

“The king might not appreciate you calling his laws ‘ambiguous’,” Lord Peakin pointed out, chuckling. “His laws clearly state what is a crime.”

“I agree that certain activities need to be defined,” Lady Vinara said. “As the laws stand, it is difficult for us to prevent criminals taking advantage of magicians when those magicians are in their pleasure houses – whether by luring them into debt through gambling, addling their minds with drink, rewarding them with free whores or poisoning them with roet. If I had my way, roet selling would be a crime.”

“Why roet?” Lord Telano asked. “It is little different to drink, and I’m sure none of us would like wine to be declared illegal.” He glanced around, smiling and getting many nods in reply.

“Roet does far more harm,” Vinara told him.

“How so?”

She opened her mouth, then shook her head as a gong rang out. “Come to the Healer’s Quarters – or Black Magician Sonea’s hospices – and you will see the truth of it.”

Sonea’s heart skipped. Had Vinara investigated the effects of roet since Sonea told her of them? She looked at Vinara, but the woman’s attention was on Telano. He had turned away, scowling. I wonder why he is so bothered by Vinara’s position. And surely, as a Healer, he’s seen the effect of roet on its victims – even if he hasn’t realised it could be permanent. I must have a closer look at our Head of Healing Studies and talk to Lady Vinara again.

Administrator Osen announced the end of discussion time, and all returned to their seats. “Does anybody have anything they wish to say on this subject that has not been raised yet?” he asked.

A few magicians raised their hands. They were called to the floor. The first suggested that magicians should be subject to the same laws as ordinary Kyralians and there be no Guild rules at all. His proposal was met with a rumble of disagreement from all sides. The second magician declared that the rule should be changed, but his suggestion was that the rule should forbid magicians from involvement in or benefiting from criminal activity. This roused a thoughtful murmur. The last magician said only that the decision should be the king’s.

“The king knows and has acknowledged that Guild rules, as opposed to laws, are for the Guild to make,” Osen assured them all. He turned to the front. “Do any of the Higher Magicians have anything further to add?”

Nobody had suggested the simple change of removing “unsavoury characters” from the rule yet. Sonea drew in a deep breath and braced her feet, ready to rise.

“I do,” High Lord Balkan said. Sonea glanced at him, then relaxed. He stood up. “A small change can make a great difference. I propose that we change the wording of the rule, leaving out the reference to unsavoury characters, since it is ambiguous and open to unfair interpretation.”

Osen nodded. “Thank you.” He turned back to the hall. “Unless there is majority disagreement, we have four viable choices: abolish the rule in its entirety, leave it as it is, change it to remove reference to unsavoury characters, or change ‘associating with criminals and unsavoury characters’ to ‘involvement in and benefiting from criminal activity’. If we have a vote for change we will all vote again for our preference of the two choices. Form your globe lights now and move them into position.”

Concentrating a little power, Sonea created a globe of light and sent it up, with the small cloud of globe lights belonging to the Higher Magicians, to float near the Guildhall ceiling. Hundreds of other lights joined it. The effect was dazzling.

“Those in favour of abolition change your light to blue,” Osen ordered. “Those in favour of changing the rule make your light go green. Those favouring no change at all change to red.”

The dazzling whiteness shifted to a brilliant mix of colours. Sonea squinted at the globe lights. There aren’t many red ones. A few more blue than red. But there are clearly more green than any other colour. She felt her heart lift with hope.

“Now, those in favour of removing ‘unsavoury characters’ from the rule move your light to the front end of the hall, those in favour of changing it to forbid magicians from involvement in or benefiting from criminal activity move to the back.”

Balls of light surged in different directions. There was a long pause while Osen stared upward, his lips moving as he counted. Then he turned to the Higher Magicians.

“How many of each do you count?”

“Seventy-five to the back, sixty-nine to the front,” Lord Telano replied.

Sonea felt her breath catch in her throat. But that means...

Osen nodded. “My count agrees with Lord Telano’s.” He turned to face the hall. “The vote is cast. We will change the rule so that it forbids magicians to ‘be involved in or benefit from criminal activity’.”

Staring up at the globe lights, Sonea watched them flicker out of existence until one was left. Hers. She extinguished it, then looked down at Regin. His expression matched what she felt. Surprise. Perplexity. They chose an option introduced at the last moment, which changed the rule completely. Which both weakened and yet narrowed the focus of it. Magicians and novices can no longer be punished for indulging themselves in pleasure houses, because they’re no longer forbidden to associate with criminals. But at least they can’t be lured into criminal activity, which is what the rule was meant to prevent in the first place.

Regin looked up at her and raised his eyebrows slightly. She lifted her shoulders a little and let them drop. He looked away and she followed the direction of his gaze to Pendel. The young man was smiling and waving at his supporters.

It’s all the same to him, Sonea thought. He’s gained a better result than he was hoping for. But Regin looks worried now. Oh dear. I can’t believe I’m actually eager to meet with him again and find out what he thinks about this.

But she’d also never thought she’d ever consult and plot with him. I guess it’s the price you pay for getting involved in Guild politics. Suddenly you have to be civil to old enemies. Well, thankfully it’s all decided now. I don’t have to talk to Regin again if I don’t want to.

She looked down at him a second time. He definitely looked worried. She sighed.

I guess one more chat wouldn’t hurt.

Chapter 15 Late-Night Visitors

The room’s walls were round, like the inside of a sphere. Like the Dome at the Guild, Lorkin thought. Are we home already?

A large rock lay on the floor, at the lowest point of the curved surface. It was about the size of a small child curled up, but when he reached out to it he found it was small enough to fit into his palm. As he cupped it in his hand, it shrank rapidly, then vanished.

Oh, no! I found the storestone, but I’ve lost it again. I’ve destroyed it. When the Sachakans find out they’re going to be furious! They’ll kill me and Dannyl...

Yet the feeling of fear faded quickly. Instead he felt good. No, he felt very good. As if the sheets on his bed were moving across his skin, and getting rather personal in a nice way with parts of him that—

Suddenly he was wide awake.

And someone else was there, very, very close to him. Crouched on top of him. Smooth skin brushed against his. A pleasant scent filled his nostrils. The sound of breathing caressed his ear. He could see nothing. It was utterly dark in the room. But the sound of breathing was somehow recognisable as coming from a woman’s throat.

Tyvara!

He could feel that she was naked. And she now let her weight settle onto his body. He ought to be dismayed – to push her off – but instead a rush of interest went through him. She chose that moment to take advantage of his arousal and he gasped at the unexpected pleasure of her body and his locking together. Traitor, he admonished his body. I should stop her. But he