A magician in blue robes stood waiting at the far end of the room. The Administrator. This was a different man to the one Cery remembered wearing those robes long ago, before the Ichani Invasion. He was older than that man had been.
Behind the Administrator were more tiered seats. The Higher Magicians. Cery examined the faces. Some looked familiar, some did not. He recognised Rothen, the magician who had guided Sonea through her early years in the University. The old man met Cery’s gaze and nodded once.
Two women stood before the Higher Magicians. Cery recognised Forlie, who looked frightened out of her wits. The other woman turned to see who was approaching and Cery felt his heart skip.
Yes, that’s her.
As she glared at him, Cery’s blood went cold. In the dim light of the pawnshop attic, he hadn’t seen her too clearly, though enough to recognise her when he saw her the next time. And when he’d seen her in the street outside the shop, it had been at a distance. But here, under the bright glow of many magical globe lights, he noticed something he’d not had the opportunity to see before.
She had the same strange eyes as Skellin’s. They were of the same race.
That’s not something the Guild needs to know, he decided. Skellin would not appreciate me directing the Guild’s attention in his direction. Though I doubt Sonea failed to notice the similarity. She probably hasn’t told anyone because that would mean revealing she had enlisted the help of a Thief…
As Sonea stopped before the Higher Magicians, Cery, Anyi and Gol bowed. She introduced him and his bodyguards and explained that Cery was the friend she had spoken of, who had first seen the foreign rogue and brought the matter to her attention. As she finished, the Administrator looked at Cery.
“Firstly, the Guild offers its thanks for your assistance in capturing these rogue magicians,” he said. “Secondly, we thank you for helping us today.” He gestured to the two women. “Do you recognise either of these women?”
Cery turned to Forlie. “I had not seen Forlie until a few days ago, when she was caught.” He gestured to the other woman. “This one I saw a few months ago. Gol and I were after a murderer, and the clues we’d got led us to spy on a shop owner and his customer – this woman. We saw her use magic to open a safebox.”
The rogue was still staring at him, and as his gaze shifted to her she narrowed her eyes.
“Do you think this woman is the murderer you sought?”
Cery shrugged. “I don’t know. Magic was used in the murder. She has magic. But I have no proof that it was her.”
The Administrator’s attention moved to Gol. “You were there the night your employer spied on this woman.”
Gol nodded. “I was.”
“Was it as he described? Were there any details you noticed that he didn’t?”
“He got it straight,” the big man said.
Now the Administrator looked at Anyi. “And were you there?”
“No,” she replied.
“Have you observed this woman performing magic?”
“Yes. I first put eyes on her an hour or so before S-… Black Magician Sonea caught her. She was watching Forlie being caught. I thought it a bit odd. Then I saw her using magic to kill some birds that were making so much noise fighting they might’ve drawn attention to her. I knew she had to be a rogue, too, so I went to get Black Magician Sonea.”
The Administrator looked thoughtful, then regarded Cery, Anyi and Gol in turn. “Is there anything else you can tell us about either of these women?”
“No,” Cery replied. He glanced at his daughter and bodyguard. They were shaking their heads.
The Administrator turned to regard the Higher Magicians. “Any questions?”
“I have one,” the magician in white robes said. He must be the High Lord, Cery recalled. Sonea had told him the High Lord’s robes had been changed to white after it was decided the Black Magicians should, logically, wear black. “Have you ever seen anyone with the same physical characteristics as this woman?” The man gestured toward the rogue. “Aside from her gender, of course.”
“Maybe once or twice,” Cery replied.
“Do you know where those people came from?”
Cery shook his head. “No.”
The magician nodded, then waved a hand at the Administrator to indicate he had no more questions. Relieved, Cery found he was looking forward to leaving this place. He might be a powerful man in the city’s underworld, but he was not used to being scrutinised by so many people. A Thief works best unnoticed. Better to be known by reputation than by being the centre of attention.
“Thank you for your assistance, Cery of Northside, Anyi and Gol,” the Administrator said. “You may now leave.”
Sonea ushered them out again. Once the Guildhall doors had closed behind them, Cery let out a sigh of relief.
“Did that help?” Anyi asked.
Sonea nodded. “I think it will. They now have witness accounts of the woman breaking the law. The only magic she used within sight of magicians was arguably in her defence, when I captured her and took her to the Guild.”
“So if she has broken the law it is excusable to read her mind?”
“It was already.” Sonea smiled grimly. “But now they won’t feel so bad about it.”
“Will you do it?” Cery asked.
Her smile vanished. “It’ll either be me or Kallen. I suspect they’ll choose Kallen, since he’s had much less involvement in the search and hasn’t been disobeying rules.”
Cery frowned. “Are they going to give you trouble for that?”
“I don’t think so,” she said, her brow creasing with worry. “Kallen doesn’t seem too pleased. He hasn’t had the time to raise the matter so far, but he will eventually. Nobody else has brought it up, but I’m sure someone will.” She sighed and took a step back toward the hall. “I had better return. I’ll let you know what happens.” She paused, then smiled. “Oh, and Lorkin contacted me. He’s alive and well. I’ll tell you all about it another time.”
“Great news!” Cery said. “See you then.”
She waved, then pushed one of the doors open wide enough to slip through. Cery looked from Anyi to Gol. “Let’s see if the carriage is waiting for us.”
They grinned, and followed as he set off back to the front of the University.
When Achati, Dannyl, the other Ashaki and Unh reached the road, they found that the slaves they had sent ahead had the carriage and horses ready and waiting for them. The Ashaki helpers turned to face Dannyl and bid him farewell.
“You have our sympathy,” one of them said. “It must be annoying to have your assistant seduced away from you.”
“Yes,” Dannyl replied. “But at least I know he went willingly and is in no danger – or doesn’t believe himself to be. And… I apologise for his behaviour again. He led you all into danger unnecessarily.”
Another shrugged. “It was worth it for the chance to finally attempt to do something about them, or find their base, even if it led to nothing.”
“But… surely you could not have followed the Traitors much further without them being forced to kill you,” Dannyl said.
The Ashaki exchanged glances, and suddenly Dannyl understood their apparent lack of concern. They did not want to admit that they had been hopelessly outnumbered, or had failed in their task, so they pretended otherwise. In truth they had been well aware and fearful of the risk they had been taking. It would be rude to make them say so aloud, however.
“Well, Ashaki Achati tells me we got further into their territory than anyone has managed to go before,” he said, putting pride and admiration into his tone.
The Ashaki smiled and nodded.
“If you change your mind about retrieving your assistant, let us know,” the more talkative of them told him. “The king would not have much trouble gathering together a small army for the purpose. We are always looking for an excuse to weed them out.”