Except for Kantar, the magisters directed uncertain glances at Valera, showing Gavin who was behind their little excursion.
Gavin smiled, saying, “Hello, Valera. Is there something I can do for you?”
“We would like to sit in on your training session,” Valera said. “It’s all dreadfully improper, but can you imagine the flap if four magisters and the Curator of the Library asked to become apprentices?”
Kantar sighed, saying, “The fact is, Gavin, we all want to learn from you. No wizard born in the last three thousand years has been trained as a wizard, and every wizard on the Council would give quite a bit to know how you created that wall of silence that blurred the air. If I may ask, why did you do that? Blurring the air, I mean.”
“It’s possible to learn to read a person’s lips, so you can know what someone’s saying without hearing a word,” Gavin said. “When I said my words were for the Council alone, I meant it. As for ‘listening in,’ as you put it, I can’t say as I care all that much…just remember that the instruction is for them.” Gavin pointed over his shoulder with his thumb, indicating the apprentices.
Chapter 47
It was about two weeks after Tauron dispatched the Inquisitors that Declan entered Gavin’s suite in the early evening. Gavin and Kiri sat at the table, talking, and Gavin looked his way.
“You don’t bring good news.”
Declan shook his head. “They killed four of the Inquisitors and captured the last two. One of those captured is Mariana’s friend Reyna.”
“Damn. Does Tauron know yet?”
Declan scoffed. “How would he? The Inquisitors rode into an ambush.”
Gavin let his head rest against the high back of the chair. “Do you know where they’re being held?”
“They’re in the mercenary camp. As it happens, I also have a full report on that camp.”
“Can we extract the Inquisitors without anyone the wiser?”
“It would be difficult, but not impossible.”
“Okay. I want those Inquisitors freed as quietly as possible. Use however many people are necessary. I’ll find Valera, and we’ll call another session of the Council.” Declan turned to leave.
“Declan,” Gavin said, stopping the man at the door. “Don’t go yourself on the rescue job. I’ll want you here to deliver that report to the Conclave I’m fairly sure I’ll be calling.”
The next morning, Gavin entered the Chamber of the Council with Valera. The rest of the Council was already waiting.
“Good morning,” Valera said as she took her seat and sat. “Gavin brought me information last night that I felt we should discuss as soon as possible.”
“What now?” Tauron asked.
Valera gestured for Gavin to speak.
“My sources have informed me that your Inquisitors encountered an ambush,” Gavin said. “Four were killed, and two were captured.”
“How old is your information?” Kantar asked.
Gavin shrugged. “Three to four days.”
“I have not received any information to that effect,” Tauron said. “Are you proposing that we send another detachment without evidence of the need?”
Gavin sighed. “Tauron, I’m not proposing anything. I’m just trying to tell you four Inquisitors are dead and the other two are prisoners.”
Kiri and Lillian looked up when Gavin entered the suite.
“How was the meeting?” Lillian asked.
“Tauron stampeded the Council into inaction. He argued that there is no point to doing anything else until word comes in of the Inquisitors’ mission, and he seemed not to regard what I was saying as word of their fate. It’s a mess.”
Gavin sat in his favorite armchair and laid his head against its tall back.
Lillian and Kiri let silence rule the space for several moments. At last, Lillian said, “What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know,” Gavin said. “I-”
Someone knocked at the suite’s door.
Gavin shifted his head to look that way, saying, “I guess I’m going answer the door.”
Gavin walked over to the door and pulled it open. Sera, Valera’s assistant, stood just barely closer than arm’s length from the door. She held her head bowed, and she visibly trembled.
“Am I really that frightening, Sera?” Gavin asked.
Sera looked up and saw Gavin smiling. The trembling eased, and some of the tension left her body.
“People say we should be afraid of you,” Sera said, her voice barely above a whisper.
“Yes, well…the only people who should fear me are the people I want to fear me. I don’t want you to fear me, Sera.”
“Oh.”
A silence extended while Gavin watched Sera process this information. He gave her a few moments before he said, “Sera, I’m sure you’re here for a reason.”
Sera’s eyes shot wide, and she jumped. “Oh, my! Yes! The Magister would like to speak with you in the Restricted Section of the library. I am so sorry!”
Gavin smiled once more and nodded, saying, “It’s just fine, Sera. This’ll be our little secret. I’ll be there momentarily.”
Sera nodded once and scurried off toward the Grand Stair. Gavin turned back to his suite, closing the door behind him.
Both Kiri and Lillian faced him. The question of who had been at the door was not so subtly implied.
“It was Sera,” Gavin said. “Valera wants to see me. Would you mind gathering Declan, Braden, Wynn, and Mariana? As much as I would like to take the evening off and not think about this abysmal situation, I’m not sure we have that kind of time. I’ll see what Valera wants, and then, we can get started figuring a way out of this mess.”
They both nodded and followed Gavin out of the suite as he left to find Valera.
The Library of the College was a familiar sight to Gavin. Many the hour he had spent within the space, and as he expected, the area bustled with activity. Mostly students, but a few instructors, moved through the study spaces and bookshelves. Bella Roshan stood behind the circulation desk and smiled when she saw Gavin enter.
“Good evening, Gavin,” Bella said, a slight smile curling one corner of her mouth.
“Hello, Bella,” Gavin said. “I’ve come to spend some time in the Restricted Section.”
What Bella did next surprised Gavin. She handed him her key. “You know the way.”
Gavin accepted the key and traversed the space to the stairs leading up to the second floor of the library. It was a short walk through the bookshelves to the entrance of the Restricted Section, and Gavin was not at all surprised to find Sera sitting at a study table a few feet away from the door. She made no reaction whatsoever as Gavin passed, not even acknowledging his presence, which only added weight to Gavin’s conclusion about what this meeting was.
Gavin unlocked the door and stepped inside. His first sense was the smell of old books, but it wasn’t the musty smell of ill care. His next sense came from his skathos; two wizards awaited him. He stepped around a bookshelf to face the study table and saw four magisters: Valera, Kantar, and the married couple. These were the four who voted to act on the news Gavin presented. Valera leaned forward in her seat with her arms folded across a book; Gavin could not read the spine, since Valera’s sleeves were in the way. Kantar sat impassively straight, with his hands folded in his lap, and the married couple sat side by side, holding hands and leaning slightly toward each other.
“Well, well,” Gavin said as he approached the edge of the table, “do I detect a schism within the Council?”
“‘Schism’ is a very strong word, Gavin,” Valera said.
“We were discussing the situation,” Kantar said, “and how we feel the outcome of the session is less than ideal, and we decided to make certain you are aware of all the options available to you.”