Or maybe I was looking at this wrong — could Spiders be selected later in the year? Even if she hadn’t been a Spider at the beginning, could she have been tapped for that role later on?
That would have made it more plausible that she hadn’t told me, especially if she’d only been selected recently.
Anyone I wanted to share my information with would be a risk. But it was a greater risk if I shared with someone who I considered better at social games and manipulation than myself. Sera definitely fit that, more so than anyone else here.
That meant that in spite of feeling closest to her, she was the most dangerous person to confide in.
Was that risk worth the potential for her help?
I didn’t know.
How could I verify if she was a Spider or not? Or anyone else, for that matter?
The simple answer was that I needed to get ahold of everyone’s paperwork. They weren’t allowed to share, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t steal it.
There were a couple problems with that plan.
One, I wasn’t a trained thief. Basic tactics like doing it at night weren’t beyond me, but everyone would be on their guard here.
Two, if they were Spiders, they could have destroyed their orders or even altered them.
Three, their orders may not have ever contained anything to out them as spiders in the first place.
Those points made trying to search through everyone’s paperwork a risk that had a high potential for turning up nothing.
But it was still my best lead, at least for the moment.
What could I do to improve my odds?
I looked around, considering everyone present.
Was there anyone I could trust implicitly? No.
Was there anyone that would be extremely useful if I got them on my side for this activity?
It was the person my eyes never quite settled on — the person my mind seemed to be forcing me to ignore — that was the right answer.
If I hadn’t been deliberately going down the team list, I wasn’t certain I would have even thought to approach him.
The effects of the Mesmer attunement were subtle. It wasn’t like the brute force effects that we’d trained against.
I was able to resist the mental effect by deliberately purifying my mana and converting more of my mana into mental mana, but only once I was actively aware I was being influenced.
If I hadn’t been aware of Jin’s attunement, I wouldn’t have thought to do it at all. That made it terrifying.
It also meant he had a tremendous advantage in this exercise — if he was on my side.
I started to walk toward him uncertainly.
A hand settled on my arm, stopping me along the way.
I flinched at the sudden contact, turning to find Roland next to me.
He raised his hands in a gesture of apology. “Sorry, Corin. Didn’t mean to startle you. Can we talk a bit?”
I took a breath to calm myself. “Yeah. Sure. Talk.”
“In private?” Roland waved to a section of trees away from the path.
“Yeah. Sure.” I took another breath. Roland walked off the path, and I followed him.
My eyes scanned him again, my attunement activating instinctively.
Nothing on him was immediately alarming. No hidden magical weapons under his clothes.
Still, I couldn’t be too comfortable with him until I knew what his skills were.
Maybe now was the time to find that out.
We walked for just about a minute before he stopped. Even with that slight distance, we were deep enough in the trees that everyone else was out of sight.
I walked to stand a few paces away from him. Far enough that I judged I could easily draw my sword before he could reach me, unless he was even faster than my haste spell was.
I tried to sound casual, but my breath was ragged with nervousness. “What’d you want to talk about?”
Roland tightened his jaw, looking displeased. “I have a secondary assignment, but I can’t complete it alone.”
I raised an eyebrow at that. “And you’re asking me…why, exactly?”
He sighed. This clearly wasn’t a comfortable conversation for him, either. “Let’s just say I have a strong indication that you’d be the right one to help.”
“Unfortunately, ‘let’s just say’ isn’t going to be good enough for me right now. I have a secondary assignment, too.”
Roland nodded. “I suspected as much. This appears to be some sort of trust exercise.”
So, he’s got a piece of the puzzle, too, even if it’s not the same one.
I can work with that.
“I gleaned something similar from my own orders. Unfortunately, they also give me a disincentive to share information with people unless I know I can trust them.”
Roland raised an eyebrow at that. “You’ve known me since we were kids, Corin. Of course you can trust me.”
I shook my head. “I mean within the context of this exercise. Although, frankly speaking, I don’t know you very well anymore. We’ve barely spoken in years.”
“I…suppose I’m at fault for that, at least to some degree. We should definitely talk about that. But maybe not right now?” Roland shook his head. “Someone is going to get suspicious if we’re out here too long, and I have a feeling that conversation could take a while.”
“Agreed. For the moment, let’s focus on these assignments. Can you share anything with me about what your paperwork says?”
“Very little. I have a high number of restrictions on what I’m allowed to say and do.”
I frowned at that. It could easily imply that he was a Spider himself — and he was a good candidate for that, given how much he’d been missing throughout the year.
But it wasn’t the only explanation, and I wasn’t going to let myself get trapped in thinking about the first option I’d considered. “Okay. What can you tell me?”
“My orders told me to find the Enchanter with two attunements and discover their mission. I wasn’t aware you had two attunements, but I know you’re an Enchanter. There are other people who it could be, but I know you, so I’m starting with you.”
Dangerous to confirm that, but it’s common knowledge within my group. If he doesn’t learn from me, he’ll probably learn from someone else, unless I can communicate for them not to.
“I’m most likely the one you’re looking for. I’m not telling you my mission without some confirmation that it doesn’t interfere with mine, though.”
Roland nodded. “Understandable. Thank you for that, at least.” He turned to leave.
I blinked. That had been…abrupt. “Hold on. What’s your own attunement?”
He shrugged a shoulder. “Not allowed to say. But if you do happen to find out, I’m allowed to use it around you.”
That was an obvious nudge to figure it out on my own. Unfortunately, even with my own attunement active, I couldn’t see what his mark was. It was under his clothing somewhere. Most likely the center of his chest, from the glow I saw from that area — unless he was wearing something under his clothes.
His legs were glowing, too, though. That might have meant he had a Leg Mark, or maybe he was just wearing magic boots. The sheer number of auras on him made it hard for me to tell — and that was probably a deliberate effect.
“Can you tell me which attunements you don’t have?”
Roland smiled for the first time I could remember seeing in years. “That’s a very you question, Corin. But no, I’m not allowed to imply my attunement, either. Sorry. Wish I could make this easier for you.” He shook his head. “Let’s head back. The others will be wondering about us by now.”