"Your warrior brother, confronting someone who is sly, subtle, and underhanded?" Catharine said.
Magnus saw her point but protested, "He would be quite stern with any criminal, once he was sure of the man's ill will."
"If he did not discover it by finding a knife in his heart," Catharine said darkly.
"More to the point, he would give himself, away by his anger," Tuan said, "the moment he witnessed an act of treachery."
"You underestimate him," Magnus claimed, though more out of loyalty than a desire for accuracy. "However, you cannot deny that Cordelia is subtle enough."
"True," said Catharine, "but she would tell Alain straightaway, and he would go to confront the man openly—and take a knife in his back for his pains." The mother's worry underscored her words.
"Besides, though your sister is capable of being subtle, she is also apt to explode into anger if she discovers treachery," Tuan said, "or kill the fellow out of hand when more might be learned from him. You, however, are both devious and patient."
Magnus couldn't deny it—but he stalled. "How can you speak so of my qualities, Majesties? It has been ten long years since you have seen me!"
"We knew you well enough as a boy," Catharine said, "and you comported yourself well in several demanding situations. Your father's boasting makes it clear that those sterling qualities have only grown."
"Scarcely sterling," Magnus said. "Perhaps pewter— but I must admit I have honed my skills. Very well, Majesties, I will set inquiries in motion, though you will understand I cannot make them myself."
"You would be somewhat conspicuous," Tuan said with a smile of amusement.
"Yes, the penalty of standing nearly seven feet tall," Magnus admitted. "I do hope, though, that you will not expect me to command my sibs simply because I am the eldest. They have made it clear they will not stand for my lording it over them."
"We would not expect any such thing," Tuan said, this time with a straight face.
"Of course not," said Catharine, "but if there is indeed a rebellion brewing, you might mention it to your brother Geoffrey when the time for action is ripe—without making it an outright order."
"I think Sir Magnus is tactful enough for that," Tuan agreed.
"No, Majesty, devious," Magnus said. "You had the right of it the first time."
Twenty
MAGNUS WAS WAITING WHEN ALEA CAME BACK to their suite, and he held up a basket. "If you haven't had too much of the outdoors, we might try a picnic."
Alea stared for a moment, then laughed. "As though you and I had not eaten by a campfire more often than not! Growing restless indoors, are you, Gar?"
"It's good to hear that name again," Magnus said with a smile. He stooped to go out the door. "You're as insightful as ever, Alea. In fact, I begin to grow weary of towns, not merely the insides of houses! Let us find some honest trees to shade us."
Alea waited until they were out of the gate and halfway across the meadow before she asked, "Was the chat with parents' old friends so bad as that?" Magnus's face twisted for a moment. "Simply a matter their wanting me to check up on some intelligence recs they've had—because I'm devious enough."
"I wouldn't have put it that way," Alea said slowly, "but I suppose they're right. You certainly have presented yourself as things you aren't."
"Yes, a knight passing himself off as a trooper," Magnus said wryly, "or a madman, or a sage."
"Or a wanderer who took a wounded lass under his care." Alea touched his hand. "And never imposed on her, even when she wished it."
Magnus darted a look of astonishment at her. Alea laughed, perhaps a little too quickly, and took her hand away. "Still, you've usually worked alone, Gar, or with only one companion. Can you truly adapt to becoming a spymaster?"
"That's not so much of a problem. We have a host of spies here on Gramarye, all of whom owe allegiance to my family. They'll report soon enough, I'm sure." Magnus paused under an oak and looked around. "Will this spot do?"
"Perfectly." Alea took the cloth from the basket, shook it open, and laid it on the ground.
Magnus helped her to straighten it, then to lay out the food. "How was your walk?"
"Very refreshing; the woods always are." Alea sat and took out her dagger to slice the bread. "I let my mind wander and let the cares fall away—no promises to keep, no lists of things needing doing. It was a pleasant morning." She frowned, pausing as she turned to slice the meat. "Though somewhere on the way, I overheard someone talking about a young couple in trouble." Her brow furrowed. "Now, who could have been saying that?"
"You relaxed your mind?" Magnus asked.
"Oh, yes! That was the most refreshing part of it—not having to keep on my public face for the people I met, not having to guard my tongue—or my thoughts."
Magnus nodded. "Then your mind was open and receptive. You probably overheard the thoughts of some cottagers nearby as they gossiped—or of a merchant on a nearby road. What troubled this young couple?"
"He'd been caught poaching, and she was on her way to his hanging," Alea said slowly.
"The forest laws!" Magnus said angrily. "Well, I'll have to establish some influence here before I can work for their removal. It's obscene that a peasant should be hanged for shooting a partridge!"
"Not a peasant." Alea's brow creased with the effort to remember details. "He's a squire—and it wasn't a partridge he poached, but a deer. Several deer."
"A squire!" Magnus's eyes widened. "He could have wriggled his way out of shooting a partridge—but not a deer! He's probably completely law-abiding except for that! I've half a mind to do something about that now! Where is this young man?"
'To the south," Alea said slowly, the details swimming up from the hidden part of her mind. "His wife has to go to Castle Loguire to see him hanged."
Something in the word "Loguire" rang an alarm in Magnus's mind. "Alain's brother Diarmid is duke there— by his right as son of the king."
Alea looked up, frowning. "Who did he displace?"
"His uncle," Magnus said, "who was attainted for treason—but he's Tuan's older brother, so Tuan interceded for him with Catharine. This was before they married, but Tuan had just led an army of peasants to help her soldiers defeat a rebellion, so she spared his brother's life, though not his title. Tuan appointed a steward to administer the estates until Diarmid came of age."
"While you were gone, of course."
"Yes." Magnus frowned. "I have missed a lot, haven't I?"
"Oh, you've found a lot, too," Alea said casually.
"Yes." Magnus smiled, gazing at her. "I have indeed."
Alea smiled back at him, then felt her face grow hot and looked back down at the meat she was placing between two thick slices of bread. "Here." She handed it to him. "Add some cheese to that and you'll have a meal. I'll have some cheese, too, if you don't mind."
Magnus was laying the yellow slice on her bread when a voice said, "How now, wizard!"
"I'll let you know when I find out." Magnus looked up with a smile, then saw Alea's dumbfounded stare. "Alea, may I introduce you to the real spy-master here? His name is Robin Goodfellow, but he goes by Puck."
Alea looked away, abashed, then back to Puck with a smile. "Pleased to meet you, Puck. Excuse my stares; you reminded me of someone I knew."
"Several someones, actually." Magnus caught the image of the dwarves of her homeworld that rose in her mind, then sank again.