If it had been just the Unity Bloc versus the Guardians and Crusaders, the Unity Bloc wouldn’t have a chance. But increasingly the Unity Bloc was coming into favour with the Centrists, and the Centrists had more members than the Guardians and the Crusaders put together. And now Morden was making a push not only to get Dark mages recognised, but to get a Dark seat on the Light Council itself. It hadn’t yet come to an open contest, but if things kept going the way they had been, that was where it was headed.
Morden’s actions had given Talisid a second reason to be interested in Richard. As far as most Light mages knew, Talisid was just a mid-level Council functionary, but for several years now I’d been pretty sure that he was one of the Guardian faction’s black-ops guys. The Guardians did not want Morden on the Council, and if Talisid could prove that Richard was up to something and link him to Morden, that would kill Morden’s proposal stone dead. Unfortunately for Talisid, he hadn’t found anything. Unfortunately for us, that had caused him to take increasing risks with our missions in the hope that we’d find him something he could use. But while we’d found out plenty about Richard’s activities, we hadn’t found anything much that we could do about it, to the point where it had become almost like checking the weather forecast. Yes, that tornado’s moving in your direction, and yes, it’s going to be a bad one, and isn’t it going to suck if it decides to hit your house?
“Okay,” Luna said. She’d had long enough to calm down, now. “If no one else is going to say it, I will. Should we still be working for Talisid?”
“He can still get us in with the Council,” Variam said.
“Not really,” Luna said. “Hardly anyone knows about what we’re doing. It’s all under-the-table stuff.”
“Yeah, and it’s going to stay that way,” I said. “Talisid still hasn’t given up on getting me to go spy on Richard as a double agent.”
“Which is frigging insane, by the way,” Variam said.
“No kidding,” I said. Talisid hadn’t tried to sell it to me again, but I knew he hadn’t forgotten about it. “But as long as he thinks he can use us as plants, he’s not going to want us to get any recognition. He wants to stop Richard. Keeping us alive is an optional extra.”
“But that’s going to screw us over, isn’t it?” Luna said. “People are talking about Morden’s new proposal. I see it in my classes. All the Light mages who’ve got an axe to grind with the Dark ones, they’re all coming out of the woodwork. They’re going to be looking for someone to take it out on, and we’re right in the crosshairs. Well, I guess Vari isn’t, but . . .”
“Yeah, it’s not that easy, you know,” Variam said. “Just because I’m a Keeper apprentice doesn’t mean they don’t give me shit over Sagash and Jagadev.”
“They’re still not going to go after you. But they might go after Alex.”
“The Council’s never liked me,” I said. “That’s nothing new.”
“We know Richard’s going to make a move sooner or later, right?” Luna said. “If that happens and the Council are after us as well, we’re going to be totally and utterly screwed.”
“Thanks, Luna, I figured that out already.” I still had no idea how we were ever going to stand up to Richard. He was one of the most feared mages in the country. And the Council was the most powerful faction in the country. The thought of trying to fight either of them was insane. Fighting both at once . . .
“Is there anything we could do to stop that?” Anne said. Anne tends to be the quietest one in our discussions—quiet enough that it’s easy to forget she’s there—but she pays attention.
“Okay, what if we just go public with the whole thing?” Variam said. “We take everything we’ve figured out about Richard and shout it as loud as we can. People’ll listen.”
“We’ll also be painting a giant target on our backs,” I said. “You seriously think Richard and Morden are going to take that lying down?”
“Um,” Anne said. “I don’t really like that plan.”
“Nobody likes that plan,” Luna said.
“I don’t mind a fight,” Variam said.
“That’s because you’re an idiot.”
“Oh, stop being—”
“Guys,” I said. “Not helping.”
“Fine,” Variam said. “You just want to hurt Morden and Richard? We take what we’ve found and leak it anonymously.”
“No,” I said. “First, we haven’t found out anything important enough to make any real impact. Unless we have solid proof that Morden’s working with Richard, it’ll just be another rumour. Second, it won’t stay anonymous for long. They’ll figure out where it came from. And third, it doesn’t actually do anything to make it less likely that we’ll end up fighting both Richard and the Council.”
“It’s not as though Richard can afford to focus on us, either,” Variam said. “His big problems are going to be other Dark mages. They’re not going to be happy taking orders from him.”
I nodded. “But he’s going to get around to us eventually.”
“Okay,” Luna said, “so if we can’t do anything about Richard, what about the Council?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, the reason they won’t go after Vari is that he joined the Keepers, right?” Luna said. “Talisid can get us work, but he won’t get us what Vari has. So why don’t you join the Keepers too?”
Anne, Variam, and I are all quite different people from who we were three years ago, but out of the four of us, it’s probably Luna who’s changed the most. When I first met Luna she was lonely and depressed, smiling rarely and laughing not at all. Nowadays when you look at her the first thing you notice is her confidence. Being an adept in mage society isn’t easy, but Luna’s managed to take that and turn it into a strength; it gives her a different perspective and she’s often the one to come up with ideas that don’t occur to the rest of us.
Anne, Variam, and I all turned to stare at Luna. “What?” Luna said.
“The Council are—” Anne began, and stopped. She’d been about to say our enemies. The Council haven’t given me many reasons to like them; the treatment Anne’s received from them has been worse. “They’re not our friends.”
“Yeah, no shit,” Luna said. “I don’t like them either, but we might as well use them.”
“It doesn’t matter,” I said. “Keepers recruit from apprentices or from Light mages. No way in hell they’d take me.”
“Well . . .” Variam said. “Kind of.”
Luna looked at him.
“You couldn’t actually be a Keeper,” Variam said. “Not without spending years and years. But you could be sanctioned.”
“What does that mean?”
“Means you count as an auxiliary and they can recruit you for jobs. Some of those guys spend as much time in the station as the Keepers do . . . well, it’s halfway there, I guess. It doesn’t make you a member of the club, but it’s next best.”
“Which order, though?”
“Probably Order of the Star. Order of the Shield only takes battle-mages and the Order of the Cloak spend all their time dealing with normals.”
“I dunno, that could work if—”
“Hey,” I interrupted. “Can you two stop talking as though I’ve agreed to this?”
“You’ve basically told us that sooner or later, we’re going to be fighting Richard,” Luna said. “If you’re tied in with the Council, that’ll make it harder for him, right?”
“That doesn’t matter. The Council don’t like me either. Have you forgotten about Levistus?”
“If Levistus wants to get us, then if we’re split off from the Council without any friends in the Keepers, that’ll make it easier,” Luna said. “Not harder.”