“Bluffing, wizard?” I teased.
“Something like that. An untrained sympathy can hamper itself; combined trials get around the problem.” Gilmarten looked around. “Does anyone know someone else who showed signs of magebirth?”
A thin girl with lank brown hair raised a bruised and dirty hand. “Castan did.”
We found this Castan at a hearth on the far side of the hollow, a no-nonsense woman with red-rimmed eyes. The notion that her previously disregarded magebirth might help protect her three young offspring set the fire raging beneath her cook pot. Gilmarten explained, we doused the conflagration and moved rapidly on to the next potential wizard.
By the time we returned to Usara, we had seven in tow. Sarachi was joined by a lad whose fuzz of a beard only showed where it caught the light and a tired-faced man in his middle years. Castan was leading three younger women, all smiling nervously and variously encouraged or teased by their friends. We left behind five others, some disgruntled, some relieved, when Gilmarten had pronounced them either never mage-born or with a sympathy so faint it could not be trained.
“Darni is one of those, an affinity too weak to work with,” I told the Soluran quietly as we left one disappointed man crossly poking his recalcitrant fire with a vindictive stick.
“I didn’t know that.” Gilmarten looked thoughtful. “Still, that means we can bespeak him with fire and metal if he’s elsewhere.”
“He doesn’t have to be an actual wizard for that? Just mage-born?” The next step was an obvious one.
Gilmarten made it. “No, and that means we could contact your friend Sorgrad, if he is willing to acknowledge his sympathy to that extent.”
“I’ll see if I can talk him into it.” Sorgrad might not want to be a mage on Hadrumal’s terms, but if he didn’t see advantages in having wizards keeping us informed about what they could scry out, he wasn’t the man I knew. Of course, there would be disadvantages as well, but we’d find ways around those.
Usara looked up from his bowl as we reached him. He eased his stiff shoulders, each giving a crack that made me wince. “Well?”
“Seven,” Gilmarten’s excitement was understandable. “One each with earth and air, three with fire, which is most unusual, and two with water.”
Usara’s tense face lightened considerably. “That’s two full nexus groups!”
Gilmarten tugged at his beard. “That’s not a way we are accustomed to work in Solura, but perhaps we can manage.”
“We could do without all this noise.”
Darni came over, parchments in hand, ’Gren and Sorgrad behind, heads close in conversation. The gentle song of a lute was blending with a pipe somewhere the far side of the dell, underscored with voices here and there. The melody swelled as everyone united in the same measure for a few moments and ebbed with descant and counterpoint floating in from different directions.
“I like it,” said ’Gren with simple honesty. A single clear voice lifted a new tune, others repeating it a few measures later, doubling and redoubling into a round song.
“If your countrymen have an ear for a tune, it’ll lead them straight to us,” pointed out Darni. I held my breath and my tongue.
“I can use air to cap it?” Gilmarten offered. “I’d be loath to forbid it since they do seem to find some healing in the music.”
Usara shot me a suspicious glance that I returned with a bland look of innocence. I wasn’t about to admit to a hand in this outbreak of singing, not until I had some way of judging whether my speculation was paying off.
Darni grunted. “So what have you found for us?” He smiled at the nervous would-be wizards with all the charm of a man-trap.
I moved to talk to Sorgrad and ’Gren as Gilmarten told his tale. “How’ve you been faring?”
“We’ve got some sound maps drawn up,” Sorgrad said neutrally.
“You agree we should make a play for this Ice Islander? Knock him off the board?” If Sorgrad reckoned this was folly, I’d have to abandon the idea.
“If we can find the bastard.” Sorgrad nodded. “It’s got to be the quickest way to put the mockers on this fighting. These Forest Folk might be getting hit with the shitty end of the privy stick for the present, but if the lowlanders get involved penny to a pack weight the Anyatimm will lose in the end.”
“That’s good enough for me,” said ’Gren, looking dangerous.
“Since when did you need an excuse?” Sorgrad gave his brother a genial shove.
I looked up, but Darni and Usara were still deep in conversation with Gilmarten. “This Ice Islander, he’s going to know plenty about this aetheric magic. That’s what we’ve been looking for, to turn into coin since we started this game. I’ve been thinking he might be worth more to us alive.”
“You’re still aiming to kidnap him?” Sorgrad looked at me sharply. “That’s a high-stakes game, my girl.”
“Long odds pay best,” I told him. “We don’t have a lot to show for half a year on the road so far, do we?”
“But Sandy said you mustn’t!” gasped ’Gren, wide-eyed in mockery.
“Since when did I answer to him?” I retorted with a grin.
“It’ll be cursed dangerous,” commented Sorgrad thoughtfully. “We’d have to make sure he can’t use any enchantments on us.”
“If we can’t work out a way to do it safely, then we just kill him,” I promised.
“Knock him hard enough on the head and he won’t be any trouble,” suggested ’Gren.
“Knock him too hard and he won’t be any use,” I countered.
“Sandy and the Bear won’t like it,” pointed out ’Gren with ill-concealed glee.
“By the time they work out what we’re up to, it’ll be too late.” I smiled. “They agreed we could take him out of the balance. I never said exactly how.”
“According to Darni, those mages will be able to bespeak me,” Sorgrad said dourly. “Whether I like it or not.”
“Couldn’t you suffer having Usara scry out our escape route and telling us if the way is clear? What are they going to do even if they see things they don’t like? They’re not going to be able to stop us.” I waved a dismissive hand.
“Over here!” We all turned our heads at Darni’s peremptory summons.
“He really does think he’s biggest toad in the pond,” murmured ’Gren.
“Let him play king of the log if he wants,” I advised. “We’re in this for ourselves. Yes, Darni, what now?”
Darni looking determined was an awesome sight. “Now I start drilling anyone and everyone capable of fighting. ’Sar and Gilmarten teach their new apprentices enough to keep the tail end here safe from harm. You three try to take this Ice Islander out of the game. The good news is this uprising looks limited to just three valleys. We need to nip it in the bud before it spreads, and the loss of their enchanter might just be enough to do it.”
“Fair enough.” Anticipation warred with misgivings inside me. But this time I’d have Sorgrad and ’Gren with me to tilt the odds my way, I reminded myself.
“If we’re going to tackle him, we need to know where he is,” Sorgrad said to Usara.
“He’s been sticking closer to her ladyship than her shift,” the mage replied. “In the Teyvafess.”
“Can you get these Folk to hold the line long enough for us to get there?” I demanded.
“Can’t Sandy do some magic to send us?” protested ’Gren. “It’s a cursed long walk.”
“A mage can only do that kind of thing to somewhere he’s already been,” I explained.
“One of you mages will have to bespeak me if she goes anywhere else.” Sorgrad looked at Darni. “You’ll have to spare us some bowmen, preferably ones who can handle a sword. It’ll just be the three of us going in, but we have to expect pursuit. They can wait half a day back, closer if the ground favors concealment.”
“I’m coming with you,” said Usara abruptly; his face was pale and set. “I cannot let you risk Elietimm enchantments without some real magic backing you up. We’ve all seen what these people are capable of and I am not going to be the one telling Planir I let you go without all the support I could offer.” He managed a strained smile. “Worrying as I find these Ice Islanders and their enchantments, I’m rather more afraid of our revered Archmage.”