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."
„I still don't see... ."
„Consider everything that's happened in your lifetime. Back to the El Murid Wars. Sorcery, but nothing really startling. Come forward. Here, there, a bigger thing or two. Then Shinsan's war with Escalon. The biggest release of thaumaturgic energies since the Fall. Then the Great East ern Wars. Bigger still. And now this war with Matayanga. Even bigger. Part of it is increased know-how, but more is because spells are getting easier to cast. Less talented people are using the Power with greater effect.
„We're chewing holes in the fabric of reality. Our spells are like worms gnawing through timbers. Each one lets a little raw Power leak away and float free. Just like the air. Next time someone tries a magick, it's a hair easier, a hair stronger, and more Power leaks free. I think it's that free-floating energy that powers my Winterstorm. And Radeachar."
„Then he'd be getting stronger too, wouldn't he?"
„He is. That's what started me thinking."
„Is it important?" Ragnarson saw shadows. Black shad ows. More shadows that he did not want to see.
„It could be. I don't know. I hope it doesn't mean something is beginning to unravel. ... I don't know what it means." The wizard seemed to be talking to someone else, to be arguing. „There're too many distractions. I don't get time to think, to study, the way I once did. What I need is a year locked up in Fangdred."
„The older you get, the more the world closes in," Bragi observed, for want of a better response.
They were several blocks into the city. „Here's where I leave you," the wizard said. „Place is a couple blocks that way."
„Take care." Ragnarson resumed trying to invent an excuse that would impress the judges.
The wizard stood in the street with his eyes closed. Passers-by looked at him askance, recognized him, hastened away. Most made signs against the evil eye. Often as not, the sign was repeated, interposed between signer and palace. There was a distinct fear of the darknesses the King had enlisted as allies.
The wizard listened to his creature, Radeachar. He scanned the building with his own powers. He was a cautious man.
Nothing. No trap. But still he was nervous. Not a half mile away lay a castle filled with people he could not read. He prepared a bitter spell. Any ambusher would receive a nasty surprise.
He need not have wasted his time. Nothing moved inside save the ubiquitous roaches. The men who had occupied the flat would threaten no one ever again.
For a long time he could not look at the bodies. He had seen his horrors over the centuries, but... .