„Maybe that's my mother's witch blood."
„Maybe it's saying there's still something wrong."
„In Ravelin?" Stop pushing, woman. Don't make me face these thoughts. You might be sorry. „I don't need witch blood to know that. I'm bailing a goddamned sinking boat. Sharks are chomping holes in the bottom while the rats squabble among themselves. My friends may be more dangerous than my enemies. I've been too successful.
Kavelin isn't in any imminent peril. People are grinding their own axes. I'm halfway tempted to ride away. If I had somebody like Mocker or Haroun to go with, I'd be gone."
„Don't be silly. You can't. Too many people are depen dent on you."
„That's one of my worries. Another is I can't depend on anybody. Like the palace ... I feed people, clothe them, pay them, give them important work, and what's my re ward? One becomes an agent for Lord Hsung. Others try to kill Liakopulos, Abaca, and Gjerdrum. Your people. It just baffles me. I can't figure why they'd do it."
„What do you mean, my people?"
He told her about Gales and the stonecutter and the assassin who had died in the park.
„I'll talk to him," she said. „He's been with me since I was little. Sort of my personal bodyguard. He saved me from getting raped once."
„What?"
„I was fifteen. Pretty romantic. A band of brigands were hiding in the forest near our manor. My father told me not to go riding till they were hunted down. Being young and stupid, I naturally disobeyed. I went looking for them. I had the idea they would be romantic foresters. They turned out to be ... it was bad. Josiah nearly died of his wounds, but he got me out before they hurt me. I owe him... . He's embarrassed to be around me now because they had me unclothed before he saved me. He's a dear, sweet man, Bragi. He wouldn't do anything to hurt me."
„I never said he would. We're talking about what he might do to me. Or maybe not him. But somebody from Itaskia."
„I'll find out. I don't like it, but if you say it, it's true. You don't talk till you know." She continued rubbing his shoul ders. He began to relax. After a pause, she said, „This really bothers me. If we can't trust them, who can we trust?"
He closed his eyes momentarily, controlling his tongue. „I count their names on my fingers. And I don't know if they'll be trustworthy tomorrow."
She laughed.
„I'm serious."
„I had a vision of you and me here, holding off the world.
And doing it, because you're so damned stubborn. We weren't fighting with swords. We were using ideas. Ours were better than theirs, and, oh, how they were howling! Like the Panthers when you beat them."
„I didn't know you'd noticed. Thought you hated Cap tures."
„I do. That doesn't stop me from betting. I won two hundred nobles that day."
„Well, son of a bitch. What do you know about that?"
Outside, the mists had begun to clear. Mist. Best double-check that woman. Have Varthlokkur sniff out her backtrail. „Damn!"
„What now?"
„Nothing. Just seeing enemies under every bed." And in a few, too. He strolled to the nursery door. A startled nurse faced him when he stepped through. He did not visit often.
Fulk lay on his stomach with his knees drawn up. Beauti ful. Precious little things, babies. Made a man philosophi cal. „We all started this way," he told Inger. „Ever think about that?"
„What do you mean?"
„That's everybody, a long time ago. You. Me. Magden Norath. Varthlokkur. High lords of the Dread Empire. All helpless like Fulk. All cuddle, giggle, wet, and squall. What happens? How come we start cutting each other's throats when we get up on our hind legs?"
„You are in a mood, aren't you? Take that one to Derel. It's beyond me."
„Uhm." Ragnarson bent, kissed his son. Fulk opened one eye, closed it again. „Better get to work. Still got to clean up after ourselves." Sherilee crossed his mind. Business would take him out Lieneke Lane, wouldn't it?
His breakfast consisted of scrambled eggs and fried chicken. Chicken again. Idly, he wondered if his enemies weren't attacking through his palate.
First order of business? he wondered, leaning against the table.
Slugbait wandered through without noticing his mon arch. He was arguing with another Guardsman. „We got to come up with a gimmick. Can't let this match go. After yesterday, we could win a fortune."
„Could, Slug. That's the problem. We ain't going to beat the Panthers again."
„I say we can, if we got the King and we don't have to go against them for a couple weeks."
„How you going to get the match delayed? No. No way I'm going to lose any money on you guys."
„Well, shit. Be that way. More for the rest of us."
Ragnarson ignored the rest. He had found a place to start his day. He would see the judges. How could he get the match with the Panthers set back?
He encountered Varthlokkur at the stables. „Headed for town too?" The wizard grunted affirmatively. „How's Nepanthe?"
„Fine."
„The baby? Decided on a name?"
„Perfect. No."
„Something bothering you?"
The wizard looked at him as if noticing him for the first time. „Oh. Still thinking about Norath's assassins. Radeachar winnowed the castle last night. The Itaskians are all shielded."
Ragnarson stared at a sentry atop the wall. „All?"
„Every one."
It came up like a fist to the solar plexus. He grunted, faked a stumble to cover his distress. „Anyone besides the dowrymen?"
„A few. Mostly wives and children."
„Babies? Even the babies?"
„Even the babies. Babies can hear. It's not as bad as it looks. It's mostly smoke screen."
„Smoke screen." Ragnarson looked back at the citadel. „Smoke screen." One lay between himself and the wizard. They were avoiding what they had tucked into the backs of their minds. „What's in town, anyway?"
„I had Radeachar search the city. He found the place where Norath's killers hid out."
„Need help?"
Varthlokkur shook his head.
„Might still be a couple around. We never accounted for all of them that attacked Liakopulos."
„I'll be all right. What're you up to?"
Bragi explained about having to delay the match with the Panthers. Varthlokkur gave him an odd look. It asked why he was fiddling with trivialities. Bragi did not justify him self.
They departed the castle in silence. Finally, Bragi said, „These shieldings. Those people were checked before. How come we're just noticing now?"
„They weren't shielded before, possibly. Or we didn't notice because we weren't looking for it."
„Or the plot's growing?"
„Uhm."
„Can't you just break through?"
„There was a time... . The shields are too strong."
Bragi sped the wizard a puzzled look. „How come?"
„Not sure I can explain. Not sure I understand myself. Negative entropy."
„Huh?"
„Know what entropy is? The tendency of a system to run down, like a fire burning out?"
„You can always throw more wood on a fire."
„Only till you run out of wood. The wise believe the universe itself is a woodpile that will be gone one day."
„What's that got to do with shielded minds?"
„The classical view of sorcery has been that the Power is entropic. That there's only so much. Each time a spell is cast, a little is used up. When it's gone, it's gone. I now believe recent events have proven that viewpoint false."