She glanced at a slim gold watch. “I only have half an hour.”
“Suits me.” I leant back on the chair. “Why don’t you tell me what you’re after?”
“I need—”
I held up my hand. “I was hoping you might introduce yourself first.”
There was a brief flash of irritation in her eyes, but it vanished quickly. “I’m Crystal.”
I already knew her name. In fact, I’d gone out of my way to find out quite a bit about Crystal in the two days since she’d contacted me to request a meeting. I knew she was a Light mage, one of the “nobility” with lots of connections. I knew she wasn’t a player in Council politics but had friends there. I knew the type of magic she could use, where in England she was based, and even roughly how old she was. What I didn’t know was what she wanted me for—but I was about to find out. “So what can I do for you?”
“I expect you know about the White Stone?”
“The tournament?”
Crystal nodded. “Isn’t it due to start soon?” I said.
“The opening ceremony will be this Friday,” Crystal said. “At Fountain Reach.”
“Okay.”
“Fountain Reach is my family home.”
My eyebrows went up at that. “Okay.”
“I want you to help manage the event,” Crystal said. “It’s very important that everything goes smoothly.”
“Manage how?”
“Providing additional protection. A diviner would be perfect for that.”
“Right,” I said. I’ve run into this a lot lately. People hear about my background and assume I must be a battle-mage. Now, it’s true that I’m a mage, and it’s true that I’ve fought battles, and it’s even true that I’ve fought battle-mages, but that doesn’t make me a battle-mage myself. “I’m not really a bodyguard.”
“I’m not expecting you to serve as a battle-mage,” Crystal said. “You’d be more of a … security consultant. Your job would be to warn me of any problems.”
“What sort of problems?”
“We’re expecting at least fifty mages for the tournament. Initiates and journeymen, possibly even Dark representatives as well.” Crystal clasped her hands. “There’ll be competition. It’s possible some of the participants will carry grudges off the piste.”
It sounded like a recipe for trouble. “And stopping them will be …”
“There’ll be Council battle-mages present. We’re well aware of the potential for trouble. There will be sufficient security. We just need to make sure the security is in the right place at the right time.”
“You haven’t received any warnings, or threats?”
“Nothing like that. There’s been no suggestion of trouble so far, and we’d like your help to make sure it stays that way.”
I thought about it. I’ve usually steered clear of Light tournaments in the past; Helikaon thought they were a waste of time, and I agreed with him. But if there were initiates there, that changed my feelings a bit. Trying to protect adult mages is a thankless task, but apprentices are another story. “What exactly would you be expecting me to do?”
“Just to keep an eye on the guests. Possibly some investigation if anything comes up. We’re particularly concerned about keeping the younger apprentices safe, so we’d been hoping you could help with that.”
I started to nod—and then stopped.
Crystal looked at me. “Is something wrong?”
I kept still for a second, then smiled at her. “No. Not at all. You mentioned investigation work?”
“Obviously, some mages are more likely to make trouble than others. We don’t have anybody we’re especially suspicious of, but it’s likely things will crop up to turn our attention to someone. When they do, it would be very helpful if you could find a few things out for us.”
“I assume the place is staffed?”
“Oh yes, the servants will handle all that. You’d be considered one of the guests.”
“And you said the opening ceremony was on Friday. The guests will be arriving by what, Thursday?”
“Exactly.” Crystal was relaxed now; the interview was going well. “We’re expecting the first guests by the afternoon before, although of course the sooner you can arrive the better.”
“And regarding payment?” I thought about cash, as soon as possible.
“Future service, as usual. Though if you’d prefer something more tangible, that’s perfectly acceptable.”
“When could you arrange payment by?”
“Immediately, of course.”
“Well.” I smiled at Crystal. “That settles that.”
“Excellent. Then you’ll be able to come?”
“No.”
The smile vanished from Crystal’s face. “I’m sorry?”
“Well, I’m afraid there are a couple of problems.” I leant forward casually, folding one hand over the other. “The first issue is that I’ve had a lot of approaches like yours over the past few months. And while they all looked good on the surface, the last couple of times I’ve said yes they’ve turned out to be … well, let’s just say I don’t feel like a repeat performance.”
“If you have a prior engagement, I’m sure we—”
“No, we couldn’t. Because the second problem is that you’ve been reading my thoughts ever since you sat down.”
Crystal went very still. “I’m afraid I don’t follow,” she said at last.
“Oh, you’re very subtle,” I said. “I’d guess most mages wouldn’t even notice.”
Crystal didn’t move, and I saw the futures whirl. Flight, combat, threats. “Relax,” I said. “If I was going to start a fight I wouldn’t have told you about it.”
The futures kept shifting for a moment longer—then settled, stable. “I’m sorry,” Crystal said. She brushed back her hair, looking remorseful. “I shouldn’t, I know. I was just so worried you’d say no.” She met my eyes, entreating. “We need someone as skilled as you. Please, won’t you help?”
I looked back at Crystal for a long second. “No,” I said at last. “I won’t. Good-bye, Crystal.”
Again the smile vanished from Crystal’s face, and this time it didn’t come back. She watched me expressionlessly for a long second, then rose in a single motion and stalked away, heels clicking on the floor.
I’d known Crystal was a mind mage, but even so I hadn’t noticed her spell. Active mind magic like suggestion is easy to spot if you know what to look for, but a mage who’s good with passive senses, reading the thoughts that others broadcast, is much harder to catch. The only thing that had tipped me off was that Crystal had been too neat. In a real conversation no one tells you exactly what you want to hear.
That last reaction had made me wonder, too. Between her magic and her looks, it occurred to me that Crystal probably wasn’t very used to not getting her own way. I’d better be careful around her if we met again.
I realised suddenly that everyone else in the shop was watching me. For a moment I wondered why, then smiled to myself as I understood what it must have looked like. I left my drink on the table and ran the gauntlet of stares as I walked down to the ground floor and out into the London streets.
I never used to get offers like these. This time last year, I could go weeks at a time without seeing another mage. In mage society I was an unknown, and all in all, that was how I liked it.
It’s hard to say what changed. I used to think it was because of that business with the fateweaver, but now, looking back, I get the feeling it was more to do with me. Maybe I was just tired of being alone. Whatever it was, I had gotten involved in the magical world again, and had started getting myself a reputation.
Although not necessarily a good reputation. I got the fateweaver against some stiff competition, making a couple of very powerful enemies in the process, one of which came back to bite me six months later. A Light battle-mage named Belthas was trying to get sole ownership of a very nasty ritual, and when I tried to stop him, it came down to a fight. When the dust settled, Belthas was gone.