Morgan lay on the bedroll where I’d left him, unconscious or asleep, and Molly sat cross-legged on the floor beside him, holding the quartz crystal in both hands. It shimmered with a calm white light that illuminated the interior of the cottage much more thoroughly than the fire did, and a perfectly circular dome of light the size of a small camping tent enclosed both Morgan and my apprentice in a bubble of defensive energy.
“Hey,” I said to Molly.
“Hey,” she said back.
“I guess it worked, huh?”
Her eyes widened. “You didn’t know if it would?”
“The design was sound,” I said. “I’d just never had the chance to field-test it.”
“Oh,” Molly said. “Um. It worked.”
I grunted. Then I looked up at Ebenezar. “Sir.”
“Hoss,” he said. “Glad you could join us.”
“We waste time,” Ancient Mai said. She looked at me and said, “Tell your apprentice to drop the shield at once.”
“In a minute.”
Her eyes narrowed, and the Wardens beside her looked a little more alert.
I ignored her and asked Molly, “Where’s Thomas?”
“With his family,” said a calm voice.
I looked over my shoulder to see Lara Raith standing in the doorway, a slender shape wrapped in one of the blankets from a bunk on the Water Beetle. She looked as pale and lovely as ever, though her hair had been burned down close to her scalp. Without it to frame her face, there was a greater sense of sharp, angular gauntness to her features, and her grey eyes seemed even larger and more distinct. “Don’t worry, Dresden. Your cat’s-paw will live to be manipulated another day. My people are taking care of him.”
I tried to find something in her face that would tell me anything else about Thomas. It wasn’t there. She just watched me coolly.
“There, vampire,” Ancient Mai said politely. “You have seen him and spoken to him. What follows is Council business.”
Lara smiled faintly at Ancient Mai and turned to me. “One more thing before I go, Harry. Do you mind if I borrow the blanket?”
“What if I do?” I asked.
She let it slip off of one pale shoulder. “I’d give it back, of course.”
The image of the swollen, bruised, burned creature that had kissed Madeline Raith as it pulled out her entrails returned to my thoughts, vividly.
“Keep it,” I told her.
She smiled again, this time showing teeth, and bowed her head. Then she turned and left. I idly followed her progress down to the shore, where she walked out onto the floating dock and was gone.
I looked at Ebenezar. “What happened?”
He grunted. “Whoever came through the Nevernever opened a gate about a hundred yards back in the trees,” he said. “And he brought about a hundred big old shaggy spiders with him.”
I blinked, and frowned. “Spiders?”
Ebenezar nodded. “Not conjured forms, either. They were the real thing, from Faerie, maybe. Gave us a real hard time. Some of them started webbing the trees while the others kept us busy, trying to trap us in.”
“Didn’t want us getting behind them to whoever opened the gate,” Listens-to-Wind said.
“Didn’t want anyone to see who it was, more likely,” I said. “That was our perp. That was the killer.”
“Maybe,” Ebenezar said quietly, nodding. “As soon as those trees and the webbing came down, we started pushing the spiders back. He ran. And once he was gone, the spiders scattered, too.”
“Dammit,” I said quietly.
“That’s what all this was about,” Ebenezar said. “There was no informant, no testimony.”
I nodded. “I told you that to draw the real killer out. To force him to act. And he did. You saw it with your own eyes. That should be proof enough that Morgan is innocent.”
Ancient Mai shook her head. “The only thing that proves is that someone else is willing to betray the Council and has something to hide. It doesn’t mean that Morgan couldn’t have killed LaFortier. At best, it suggests that he did not act alone.”
Ebenezar gave her a steady look. Then he said, “So there is a conspiracy now—is what you’re saying? What was that you were saying earlier about simplicity?”
Mai glanced away from him, and shrugged her shoulders. “Dresden’s theory is, admittedly, a simpler and more likely explanation.” She sighed. “It is, however, insufficient to the situation.”
Ebenezar scowled. “Someone’s got to hang?”
Mai turned her eyes back to him and held steady. “That is precisely correct. It is plausible that Morgan was involved. The hard evidence universally suggests that he is guilty. And the White Council will not show weakness in the face of this act. We cannot afford to allow LaFortier’s death to pass without retribution.”
“Retribution,” Ebenezar said. “Not justice.”
“Justice is not what keeps the various powers in this world from destroying the White Council and having their way with humanity,” Ancient Mai responded. “Fear does that. Power does that. They must know that if they strike us, there will be deadly consequences. I am aware how reprehensible an act it would be to sentence an innocent man to death—and one who has repeatedly demonstrated his dedication to the well-being of the Council, to boot. But on the whole, it is less destructive and less irresponsible than allowing our enemies to perceive weakness.”
Ebenezar put his elbows on his knees and looked at his hands. He shook his head once, and then said nothing.
“Now,” Ancient Mai said, turning her focus back to me. “You will instruct your apprentice to lower the shield, or I will tear it down.”
“Might want to take a few steps back before you do,” I said. “If anything but the proper sequence takes it apart, it explodes. It’ll take out the cottage. And the tower. And the top of the hill. The kid and Morgan should be fine, though.”
Molly made a choking sound.
“Hngh. Finally made that idea work, did you?” Ebenezar said.
I shrugged. “After those zombies turned up and just hammered their way through my defenses, I wanted something that would give me some options.”
“How long did it take you to make?”
“Nights and weekends for three months,” I sighed. “It was a real pain in the ass.”
“Sounds it,” Ebenezar agreed.
“Wizard McCoy,” Mai said sharply. “I remind you that Dresden and his apprentice aided and abetted a fugitive from justice.”
From behind me, Listens-to-Wind said, “Mai. That’s enough.”
She turned her eyes to him and stared hard.
“Enough,” Listens-to-Wind repeated. “The hour is dark enough without trying to paint more people with the same brush we’re going to be forced to use on Morgan. One death is necessary. Adding two more innocents to the count would be callous, pointless, and evil. The Council will interpret Dresden’s actions as ultimately to the support of the Laws of Magic and the White Council. And that will be the end of it.”
There was no expression on Mai’s face—absolutely none. I couldn’t have told you a darn thing about what was going on behind that mask. She stared at the two older wizards for a time, then at me. “The Merlin will not be pleased.”
“That is good,” Listens-to-Wind said. “No one should be pleased with this day’s outcome.”
“I’ll take Morgan into custody, Mai,” Ebenezar said. “Why don’t you take the Wardens back to the city in the boat? It should give you less trouble without me and Injun Joe on it. We’ll follow along in the other boat.”