She blinked in surprise. This was new. “What’s that?”
“Something the Traitors make. Something we may soon have. Instead of glass, these stones are crystals trained as they grow to do a magical task. A blocking stone prevents a mind-read and allows the wearer to project the thoughts they want a searcher to see.”
Cold shivered down Lilia’s spine. “Naki’s ring.”
He looked surprised, then apologetic. “I am sorry. I forgot that you had already encountered a blocking stone.”
She shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. What else can these stones do?”
“Anything a magician can do.”
“Even a black magician.”
“In that they can draw in and store power? Yes – but you must keep that to yourself for now.”
Lilia whistled quietly. “Tell me we’re making friends with these Traitors. They don’t sound like enemies we’d ever want.”
Kallen frowned. “We’re working towards that, hoping to trade for the knowledge of stone-making.” He waved a hand dismissively. “I’ll tell you more about that another time. The important thing is that stone-making requires black magic.”
She felt a thrill of excitement. “I’ll be learning to make these stones?” That would mean she’d be one of the first Guild magicians to be able to use this new magic.
“Perhaps.”
“Will I have to travel to Sachaka?”
“No.” But by the way he paused and looked thoughtful, she guessed that the answer was not that straightforward. He shook his head. “Well, that is all for this morning. Do you have any questions?”
Her heart skipped as she remembered Anyi’s question. “Yes. Would the Guild let Cery and his two bodyguards stay here?”
Kallen’s eyebrows lowered. “Has his situation grown worse?” he asked.
“Possibly. Would they?”
“I will have to get the agreement of the Higher Magicians, but it is likely they would grant it. When would he come here?”
“Soon.” Then, realising that could mean anything, she elaborated. “In a few days.”
He nodded. “I will let you know as soon as I can.” He smiled thinly. “We managed to get some seed from a perfume-maker, thanks to you. The plants aren’t big enough yet to confirm if they’re roet, but it will not be long. If Cery is still willing to help us catch Skellin, we may be able to do so soon.”
She nodded. There was that “soon” word again.
“He’ll be very willing,” she told him. “Of that I’m sure.”
As Anyi and Lilia disappeared into the darkness, heading back to the Magicians’ Quarters and Sonea’s rooms, Gol looked at Cery and raised his eyebrows.
“Yes,” Cery answered, keeping his voice low. “Tell me what you found out.”
Gol leaned forward. “Everything has changed. The rest of the Thieves... well, they don’t go calling themselves that any more. They call themselves ‘princes’. Skellin they call ‘king’.”
“Of course,” Cery rolled his eyes. “King of the Underworld. What do people on the street think?”
“That they’ve all got big-headed. But nobody says it aloud. They’re scared. They know Skellin is a rogue magician and his mother is the Thief Hunter. Both have done nasty things to people who wouldn’t do what they wanted.” Gol grimaced. “Good thing is, everyone hates him now.”
“What do they think of me?”
Gol shrugged. “They think you’re dead.”
“And if they knew I was hiding?”
“I suggested it, and a few said they hoped so. They said they hoped you were working out a way to get rid of Skellin.”
“No one thought I’d abandoned my workers?”
“No one said as much to me. Interesting thing is, in one bolhouse the people I got chatting to had an argument about whether you were hiding in the Guild or not. The one who doubted it said you couldn’t be, because the Guild is working with Skellin.”
Cery frowned. “That could just be a rumour.”
“One that would help keep people scared of Skellin.”
“If they knew it wasn’t true, they wouldn’t be as scared.”
Gol shook his head. “They’d still be too scared to do anything.”
Hooking his fingers around the edge of his seat, Cery drummed his fingers on the underside. “What about the supplier?”
“Saski’s still there. Still got the minefire. He’s been trying to sell a new tool that uses it. Some sort of blowpipe that people warned me was as likely to blow up as work. His most popular product is little packets that people throw into the fire to make a bang and a flash of light. People liked the bangers, but they couldn’t see much other use for minefire when magicians can do the same things it can do.”
“They don’t see that it could let ordinary people do things magicians can do?”
“Not the sort of things they want to do, like Heal or levitate or move things at a distance. Who needs to explode things here in the city? And Saski puts customers off with all his warnings about how dangerous and unpredictable it is. Magic sounds a lot safer.”
Cery nodded. “It does. It’s not just that minefire might explode when we don’t want it to, but that it might
“Mostly. Before, when I got friendly with Saski, he often described how minefire was used in the mines of the far north. We’ll be using the same method.”
“How are we going to buy it? Could we get a street kid to buy some of these bangers for us?”
Gol nodded. “That’d be wise. Saski doesn’t seem the type to run off and sell us to Skellin, but who knows? It’d be tempting. He can’t be making much money.”
“But we do need Skellin to find out where we are.”
“Not through Saski. Then Skellin would know that we’d bought minefire, and wonder what we were up to down here. Wouldn’t take much thinking to work out we were setting a trap.”
“True.” Cery looked around the room. “Well, you’re going to have to set things up here without Anyi suspecting something odd is going on.”
“Once I get the tubes into the walls, they won’t be all that noticeable, especially if we put them in the holes and hollows in the mortar.”
“But you’ll have to do it while she’s not here.”
“You don’t want to wait until they’re sure the plants are roet? Once we have the trap set up, there’s always going to be a danger it’ll go off before we’re ready.”
Cery shook his head. “Not after what Lilia said about the Higher Magicians being prepared to let us live in the Guild in the meantime. Anyi was too keen to do it. Too ready to argue with me about it.” He shook his head. “Something tells me her patience is running out. Or that she knows something that we don’t.”
“Like that the plants aren’t roet?”
“Maybe.”
Gol shrugged. “She’s right though. There’s no need for us to be uncomfortable or risk getting Lilia into trouble for hiding us here.”
“But if the rumours you heard were right and someone in the Guild is working with Skellin we could put ourselves right in their hands. They’ll make sure the Guild doesn’t work with us to catch Skellin, or make sure something goes wrong and we’re all killed. Otherwise we may expose their dirty little secret.”
Gol looked up at the roof. “Well, if Anyi is right and we’re under the gardens between the University and Magicians’ Quarters, our trap will definitely expose Skellin to the Guild.”
Cery smiled. “Yes. But let’s make sure it doesn’t kill us all in the process.”
