The High Lord

'Good ones, I hope,' Cery said, forcing himself to meet and hold Akkarin's gaze.

The High Lord's stare didn't waver. 'Yes. She was in no great danger.'

'Are you going to get her into any of this?'

'A little. Not in the way you fear, however. I need someone in the Guild to be aware of what I am doing.'

Cery forced out the next question. Just thinking about asking it brought difficult, contrary feelings. 'Will you bring her again?'

'No, I do not intend to.'

He breathed a short sigh of relief. 'Does she... does she know about me?'

'No.'

Cery felt a wistful disappointment. He wouldn't have minded showing off his success a little. He'd come a long way in the last few years. Though he knew she did not think too highly of Thieves...

'Is that all?' Akkarin asked. There was a hint of respect in his voice - or was it simply tolerance?

Cery nodded. 'Yes. Thank you.'

He watched the High Lord turn to the door and open it. Take care of her, he thought. Akkarin glanced back, nodded once, then strode away down the passage, his cloak flaring around his ankles.

Well, that went better than I expected, Cery mused.

Dannyl's rooms in the Guild House of Capia were large and luxurious. He had a bedroom, office and guestroom to himself, and he had only to ring one of many little bells around the place to attract a servant.

One had just brought a steaming cup of sumi when another entered the office to tell him he had a visitor.

'Tayend of Tremmelin is here to see you,' the servant informed him.

Dannyl put down his cup, surprised. Tayend rarely visited him here. They preferred the privacy of the Great Library, where they didn't have to worry about servants noticing anything in their behavior toward each other.

'Send him in.'

Tayend was dressed appropriately for a meeting with an important personage. Though Dannyl was growing used to the flamboyant court dress of Elyne, he still found it amusing. However, the tightly fitting clothes, which looked so ridiculous on older courtiers, were flattering on Tayend.

'Ambassador Dannyl,' Tayend said, bowing gracefully. 'I have been reading Dem Marane's book and it contains some very interesting information.'

Dannyl gestured to one of the chairs set before his desk. 'Please sit down. Just... give me a moment.' Tayend had reminded him of something. He took a fresh piece of paper and began composing a short letter.

'What are you writing?' Tayend,asked.

'A letter to Dem Marane expressing my deepest regrets that I cannot attend his dinner party tonight, due to some unexpected work that I must attend to without delay.'

'What about Farand?'

'He will survive. I do have work to sort out, but I also want to make them wait a little. Once I finish teaching Farand Control, they will no longer need me, and we might find our new friends have taken an unexpected journey abroad.'

'They'd be fools, then. Do they think all those years of training you went through are for nothing?'

'They can't appreciate the value of what they don't understand.'

'So you'll be arresting them as soon as Farand's ready?'

'I don't know. I haven't decided yet. It might be worth taking the risk that they'd disappear on us. I'm sure we haven't met everyone involved. If I wait, I might be introduced to more of the group.'

'Are you sure you don't need me to come with you to Kyralia once you've arrested them? The Guild might need another witness.'

'They don't need any more proof than Farand.' Dannyl looked up and shook a finger at the scholar. 'You just want to see the Guild for yourself. But when our new friends retaliate by spreading rumors about us, it won't help if we're seen together.'

'But we wouldn't be together all the time. I don't have to stay in the Guild. I have distant relatives in Imardin. And you said Akkarin would tell everyone it was all just a trick.'

Dannyl sighed. He didn't want to leave Tayend. Not even for a few weeks. If he was sure he could get away with returning to the Guild with the scholar in tow, he would make arrangements to take him. It might even help to disprove the rumors once and for all if they were seen to behave 'normally.' But he knew that it would take only a small hint of the truth to put ideas in suspicious minds - and he already knew there were plenty of those in the Guild.

'I'll be returning by sea,' he reminded Tayend. 'I would have thought you'd want to avoid that.'

Tayend's face clouded, but only for a moment. 'I'd put up with a little seasickness, if it came with good company.'

'Not this time,' Dannyl said firmly. 'One day we'll travel by carriage to Imardin. Then you'll be good company as well.' He smiled at Tayend's indignant glare, then signed the letter and put it aside. 'Now, what have you found?'

'Do you remember how the writing on the woman's tomb in the Tombs of White Tears said she performed 'high magic'?'

Dannyl nodded. The visit to Vin in search of evidence of ancient magic seemed so long ago now.

'The words 'high magic' were represented by a glyph containing a crescent moon and a hand,' Tayend opened the Dem's book and slid it across the desk toward Dannyl. 'This is a copy of a book written two centuries ago, when the Alliance was made and the law was laid down that all magicians must be taught and controlled by the Guild. Most magicians outside Kyralia were members of the Guild, but some weren't. This belonged to one who wasn't.'

Drawing the book to him, Dannyl saw that the top of the page bore the same glyph they had been puzzling over for a year. He began to read the text below it:

The term 'higher magic' encompasses several skills that were once in common use throughout the lands. Minor skills include the ability to create 'blood stones' or 'blood gems' which enhance the maker's ability to mind-speak with another person at a distance, and 'store stones ' or 'store gems ' which can hold and release magic in specific ways.

The main form of higher magic is acquisitive. If a magician has the knowledge, he may draw power from living things to increase his store of strength.

Dannyl caught his breath and stared at the page in horror. This was describing something similar to... A chill slowly spread down Dannyl's spine. His eyes continued to follow the words, drawn on as if by another's will.

To do this, the natural barrier which protects the creature or plant must be broken or lowered. This is done most simply by cutting the skin deep enough to draw blood or sap. Other means involve voluntary or involuntary lowering of the barrier. With practice, the natural barrier can be voluntarily withdrawn. During the height of sexual pleasure, the barrier tends to 'waver,' allowing a momentary opportunity for the drawing of power.

Dannyl had turned completely cold. In preparation for his position, he had been given information that was kept from ordinary magicians. Some of it was political; some of it magical. Included among the magical warning signs he was taught to recognize were those for black magic.

And here he was, holding a book containing instructions on its use. Just by reading it, he was breaking a law.

'Dannyl? Are you all right?'

He looked up at Tayend, but couldn't speak. Tayend stared back, frowning with concern.

'You've gone completely white. I thought... well... if this book is right, we've discovered what high magic is.'

Dannyl opened his mouth, then closed it again and looked down at the book. He stared at the glyph of the crescent moon and hand. Not a crescent moon, he realized. A blade. Higher magic was black magic.

Akkarin had been researching black magic.

No. He wouldn't have known. He didn't get this far, Dannyl reminded himself.