‘I would tend to agree,’ a second man said. With silver hair and a lined face, Bahamus is only missing a beard to look exactly like the popular image of a wizard. He has a measured way of speaking, and I’ve never seen him lose his temper. He’s the closest thing I’ve got to an ally on the Senior Council, though I’m careful not to push it. ‘Councillor Verus is clearly an interested party. I would be interested to learn the reasons for this … oversight as regards his notification.’
A couple of mages shot glances at the man sitting at the end of the table, but it was Sal Sarque who answered. ‘I don’t care who didn’t inform him. He shouldn’t be here.’
‘I’m afraid I have to side with Sarque,’ the woman sitting opposite from him said. Her name was Alma, and after Levistus, she’s probably the member of the Council I’m most wary of. She has brown and grey hair that falls a little past her shoulders, and regular features that might be handsome but for a certain hardness to her eyes. ‘Verus’s suitability to sit upon the Council is precisely the issue in question. Until it is settled, I think it would be appropriate for him to remain outside.’
There was a snort of laughter from the man to Alma’s right. He was big in every dimension with a thick beard, heavily muscled but running to fat, and his name was Druss the Red. ‘Issue in question?’ he said. ‘You mean he,’ he nodded at the man at the end of the table, ‘is still trying to get rid of Verus, and you, for God only knows what reason, do what he tells you.’
‘Given the security considerations—’
‘Bullshit.’
‘Regardless,’ Bahamus said, ‘Councillor Verus is still a member of this Council, and as such, has the right to be present. Unless anyone has an alternative interpretation of the law?’
There was silence. Futures flickered in which several Council members spoke up, but as I watched they faded. ‘Fine,’ Sal Sarque growled. ‘Let’s get on with it.’ He nodded at Alma.
‘As I was saying,’ Alma said, turning to the rest of the Senior Council, ‘I think, with hindsight, it is safe to say that elevating Morden to the Council was a mistake. It is now time to correct that mistake. Despite our usual reluctance to overturn an existing resolution, I believe that the decision to allocate a Junior Council seat to a Dark mage has proved unwise.’
‘Morden has not yet been found guilty,’ Bahamus said.
‘Oh, come on,’ Sal Sarque said angrily. ‘Are you having a fucking joke?’
‘You know perfectly well that I am no friend of Morden,’ Bahamus said levelly. ‘However, at present, he has been accused of a crime, rather than convicted. Until that changes, we cannot and should not reassign his office.’
‘We’ve all seen the evidence against Morden,’ Alma told Bahamus. ‘His conviction is a formality.’
‘Perhaps so,’ Bahamus said. ‘However, justice must not only be done, but be seen to be done. Taking this step before his conviction will clearly signal that we have no intention of abiding by the decision of the court.’ Bahamus cocked his head. ‘Besides. If the evidence is so overwhelming – which I do not dispute – then why the hurry? Morden has already been suspended from office.’
‘Hmph,’ Druss said. ‘Not much of a mystery there. It’s so that he,’ he nodded at the end of the table, ‘can get rid of him.’ He nodded at me. ‘This isn’t about Morden.’
‘So?’ Sarque demanded. ‘I call it cleaning up your mistakes. I told you Morden was a bad idea and you didn’t listen. Now you want to keep his apprentice around to carry on where he left off?’
‘Are you even paying attention to what’s happening right now?’ Druss demanded. ‘We’ve got a hundred imbued items tearing this country apart, and you want to be doing a purge?’
‘He’s the reason we’ve got those items tearing the country apart!’ Sarque snapped, pointing at me. ‘He helped steal them!’
‘Councillor Verus’s presence at the Vault was authorised by us,’ Bahamus said calmly. ‘As you should remember, since you were there. You should also remember that Councillor Verus gave us multiple warnings that our defence of the War Rooms was a mispositioning of forces. Given that your reconnaissance team singularly failed to prevent the theft – a team that you took personal responsibility for – I don’t think you are in a position to cast blame.’
Sal Sarque glared at me from across the table, and I met his gaze calmly. That ‘reconnaissance team’ had been led by a mage called Jarnaff, Sal Sarque’s personal aide. Officially, they’d been there to secure the Vault from hostile attack and recover any stolen items. Unofficially, once we ran into each other, Jarnaff had decided to score some bonus points with his boss by getting rid of me, and he would have done exactly that if the same thing hadn’t happened to him first.
The ironic thing was that I was being blamed for something I hadn’t done. I hadn’t killed Jarnaff. But it wasn’t as though Sarque would believe me if I told him, and given the things I had done, coming clean wasn’t exactly an option. The problem from Sal Sarque’s point of view was that while he could expose me, he couldn’t do so without revealing the fact that his ‘reconnaissance team’ had broken the law first, and he had more to lose than I did. So he just sat there and stared at me in silent rage.
‘It seems to me,’ Bahamus said, ‘that we are discussing the issue without hearing from the one most directly affected by it.’
‘Because it isn’t his decision,’ Alma said.
‘Nevertheless, I feel that his input could be useful,’ Bahamus said. ‘Councillor Verus?’
All of the other faces in the room turned to me. I paused for a moment, looking back at them. Some looked hostile; most neutral. None were friendly. I knew that trying to argue was pointless. Debates in the Council rarely change the votes: those are bought and sold before the meeting takes place, and generally speaking, no one brings a proposal unless they know they can pass it. But it was a chance to make the rest of the Council listen, and that doesn’t happen often. Besides, I still had one card to play. I just needed to lay some groundwork.
‘Let me ask a question to all the members of the Council,’ I said. ‘Ever since the attack on the Vault, we’ve been tracking down imbued items and sending out teams to retrieve them. How many of those missions have you each led?’
‘I don’t see how that’s relevant,’ Alma said coldly.
‘It’s a simple question.’
‘It doesn’t matter who’s leading the missions,’ Sal Sarque said, a little too quickly. ‘What matters—’
Druss laughed. ‘He’s got you there, Sarque.’
‘As far as I know, the number is three,’ I said. ‘All of which were led by Druss.’ I looked at Sal Sarque. ‘Though maybe you know better? I know that going after Dark mages is something of a special interest of yours.’
Sal Sarque flushed. ‘I’m a Council member,’ he snapped. ‘Not some … adventurer.’
‘I have to agree,’ Alma said, cutting in. ‘Verus, while your enthusiasm may be commendable, we on the Council are directors, not soldiers. Perhaps your lack of experience is showing. Our role is to give orders; that of the Keepers is to carry those orders out.’
‘I think you misunderstand,’ I said. ‘I wasn’t casting aspersions on your courage.’ I didn’t look at Sal Sarque, but I paused for just a second before going on. ‘Instead, I would like to make the point that since the start of the year, I’ve led ten item retrieval missions. Nine were successful. That means that, counting tonight, I’ve been responsible for slightly over twenty-five per cent of the imbued items recovered.’