I now understand why Weisel wants Kumbat close at hand, Raven mused.
Why is that? Vadya asked, catching the clearly formed thought.
It's so that Weisel doesn't have to rely on Matokin for his rejuvenation spells, Raven said. Since the outset of this war my fath—Lord Matokin has deliberately kept the secrets of magic out of the general's reach. The very reason I was originally summoned from the Academy to serve Weisel was because he hoped to glean those secrets from me, not realizing that I knew little of the complex magic that interested him.
You believe Weisel invented this charge of treason against Kumbat? Vadya asked.
Yes, Raven said, matter-of-factly.
So do I.
But, Raven continued, I can understand his motives. I can even sympathize.
Vadya's surprise was strong enough that Raven could actually feel it.
I don't know if you can grasp it, Raven said. Existing as a... a passenger within the body of another person is very disconcerting.
But you have virtually free rein, Vadya protested. Is it not you controlling the movements of this body right now?
Raven was walking. She deliberately halted, and there was no resistance at all to the commands she was giving.
Even so, Raven said, the thought that my existence must be maintained from now on through the aid of magic is disturbing. I dread the eventuality of my first need for a rejuvenation spell.
Indeed, the thought alone made her shudder slightly.
Are you going to report this to Matokin? Vadya asked.
When she had finished with Kumbat, Raven had replaced his gag and promised him she would get word to Lord Matokin. But she hadn't promised when she would do so. However, she couldn't see how she could make any delay.
Telling Matokin, though, would mean betraying General Weisel. Only, he wasn't Weisel! By the madness of the gods, she had been the eager bed partner of a man who had been dead for more than two hundredwinters.
Raven shuddered again, this time for a different reason.
Perhaps she should feel a kindredness with Dardas/Weisel. After all, she was in effect Raven/Vadya. And the general, whoever he actually was, had in fact shown her much trust and attention and fondness.
It was very confusing.
What's going on? Vadya asked.
Raven focused. It seemed there was a mounting activity around her. She frowned. It was widespread. She saw the troops stirring, heard the rumble of voices.
What's going on? Raven repeated Vadya's question.
After a few moments, it became clear. The horns sounded. The camp was being struck. The army was mobilizing. She guessed they were going to move against Ompellus Prime to the east.
Raven caught a soldier hurrying past.
"You there! Are we off to invade Ompellus Prime?"
The soldier shook his head. He looked excited and afraid all at once.
"No, the scouts have reported a force organizing to our south!"
Raven frowned again.
"There's another army coming to meet us! They say it's a big one!"
RADSTAC (4)
She was prepared to kill Nievze if the situation called for it. In fact, she had been ready to do so from the first moment he had appeared in their lives, knocking at their door after curfew, the same night the rebels had painted their emblem so conspicuously on the wall of the Registry.
Radstac had also been prepared to turn the renegade Felk magician over to Aquint. He was, after all, most certainly the type of individual who would interest the Internal Security Corps. What Nievze was not, however, was a rebel in good standing with the local Broken Circle underground here in Callah, who were the only rebels that interested Radstac.
Deo's position on the matter was something entirely different.
"You were encouraged to turn your fellow students in as traitors?" he asked the wizard with that same note of excited incredulity.
Nievze made a small rasp of a laugh. He tossed the gnawed rabbit bone onto his plate and proceeded to lick his fingers clean. "More like we were obliged to do so. I can barely describe the pressure we were under. Your loyalty was always suspect, no matter what you did, however true your allegiance to Matokin was. We took oaths, swearing our eternal devotion, and the next day we'd do the same thing all over again. It was a constant testing and affirming. It was brutal."
"This Academy of yours sounds like a dreadful place," Deo said. It was, by Radstac's count, the third time he'd said it.
She let out a short breath. "Then stop making him tell these horror stories."
Deo gave her a flat glance. Plainly he was enthralled by all this. Nievze was a figure of wonder and mystery to him. He was a Felk wizard who had fabricated his own death and deserted his post before this war had even gotten under way. That he had fled to Callah was, in Radstac's opinion, a tactical error. But perhaps this unfaithful Felk magician had been unable to imagine the rapid success of his home state's military adventures. Callah had fallen to the Felk army less than a lune after he'd smuggled himself into the neighboring city.
Nievze guzzled down another cup of wine. Deo filled it without making him ask.
She and Deo—entirely at Deo's insistence—were paying this hostel's proprietress the fee for the room in which Nievze was now staying. The wizard's plans for escape had apparently not included setting aside enough funds to live comfortably once he reached his destination. Laina, the old woman who ran this house, was happy to receive the money.
It irked Radstac. They were paying for this deserter's lodging and board out of the money that Aquint was paying them to act as Internal Security agents. The money didn't quite stretch that far, particularly since Nievze was consuming enough food and wine to fill the bellies of three men.
Granted, he did appear half-starved. His gaunt face was trimmed with greying stubble, and his eyes bulged from his skull. He was perhaps four tenwinters old, but looked older. He had a slight frame and wasn't especially tall. He was a man one wouldn't normally notice and a man who evidently didn't want to be noticed.
Nievze's deceptions had been successful. When his fellow Felk had invaded this city-state, Nievze wasn't recognized. To the occupiers he was just one more Callahan who was too old to absorb into the army. He had blended in with Callah's poorer inhabitants, eating scraps when he had to, sleeping where he could. This last hadn't been so bad during the summer, but as autumn deepened, it had grown more and more problematical.
Nievze was very grateful for the room. He was also grateful for the food. And the wine. Deo seemed to be enjoying the man's perpetual expressions of gratitude as much as his stories of the inner workings of the Academy, which was some school for magic training in the city of Felk.
"So, you deserted because you were ill-treated at your school," Radstac said, putting a slight but hard edge to it. "I've got that right, don't I?"
"Radstac—" Deo started. But she returned him that same flat look, and he quieted with a shake of his head.
Nievze took a more measured swallow of wine this time. He was aware of Radstac's animosity but was hardly in a position to take offense at it.
"Actually," he said, his tone civil, "it was after I had graduated."