Page 81 of Valdemar

“Hawkbrothers do not have anything to do with Elementals,” she said flatly. “We were rather shocked by all the vrondi you had with you! We leave them strictly alone. And as for Pebble and his mother . . . well, to our minds, their intervention was practically as much an act of the gods as the Companions are! So . . .” She blinked several times. “Assume she was watching the Vale. She saw us preparing to hand the territory over to you. She certainly did see the attack of the Red Forest and the intervention of Pebble’s mother, but . . . her interpretation might not have been the correct one. She might have assumed the only reason Pebble’s mother intervened was because Pebble was threatened. Or she might have thought it was a predator-prey situation, that Pebble’s mother attacked the forest because it was the sort of prey that she lives on.”

“Hope for the best . . . but assume she knows the truth,” Kordas corrected. “So . . . what we need to do now is hide Pebble when he gets back here.”

“You certainly are not going to ask that child to—” Jonaton began indignantly.

“Of course not,” Kordas snapped. “I am not going to ask Pebble to join our defenses. I just don’t want Cloudfall to think that Pebble’s mother is going to show up again and in anticipation of that prepare—say—a barrage of what hit us during the coronation. We are unlikely to get divine intervention a second time. We need her to think that we are unprepared for her. We need to somehow hide our preparations for her to take over our Gate. We want her to be as under-prepared as possible.”

“And we hope that what she wants out of us is something to conquer and keep, not destroy,” the Lord Martial added. “We hope that she has discarded fully lethal options. It is true that the fact she is raising an army suggests that is the case.”

“How, if there’s an ordinary spy among us?” Restil objected.

“Ah . . . the spy might be ordinary, but the means of communicating with her won’t be,” Sai said, perking up. “The rest of the Old Men and I can start combing the Palace and Haven looking for a device or traces of magic. Jonaton and all the youngsters can start working on defenses.”

“We trickled the guards in . . . we can trickle some of them back out again,” the Lord Martial mused. “I’m loath to pull them all back, because she just might just put up her own Gate within an easy march of our border, but we can bring some back—”

:We can help with looking for spies,: said Darshay at last. :Don’t waste the mages’ time. There are more of us than there are of them, and all the unpartnered Companions have time to waste. We are very sensitive to the use of magic of any kind. All we need to do is “listen” for magic where no magic should be.:

Restil was about to relay that, but his father beat him to it.

:No, we are not going to be listening to everyone’s thoughts. Not only would that be unethical when there is no cause to suspect an individual, but trying to sift through all the thoughts of everyone in Haven and the Palace would probably drive us mad. You humans have—issues that frustrate us. There is only so much drama we can endure.:

That last had a tinge of humor to it, but given what Darshay had said about madness earlier . . . there just might be a grain of truth in it.

“I just can’t believe we were so blind,” Jonaton said bitterly. “Or was it stupid?”

“Why not both?” said Sai sarcastically, then altered his tone. “We’re in a new place, with new rules and new hazards. We can’t anticipate everything. And when the Companions, a literal gift from the gods, arrived, we were blinded by wonder and awe. And maybe a touch of naivete. After all, the gods themselves had just blessed us with these incredible helpers, and I think in the back of my mind, at least, was the thought, ‘Why would anyone sane want to challenge someone who just got divine intervention to save them?’ And, of course, we’ve been assuming the Adept was sane.” He poked a finger toward Jonaton, who replied by sticking his tongue out at his elder. Sai shook his head. “It’s very difficult not to make assumptions. We are often forced to do so when there is not enough information.” Now he patted Jonaton on the shoulder. “We’re fallible, flawed creatures. I didn’t think of anything like this either, and I should have. I’m older than you, and I lived in the Empire most of my life. I should have known better.”

It was Starbird who interrupted all of this. “I believe that we are all best served by dealing with now. We can trade tales of why we are to blame when we have all survived this.”

The King and the Lord Martial both nodded. Kordas sighed. “All right. Let’s get the people we think we need in here, and start planning.”

• • •

“We need to talk to Koto and Rothas together,” Starbird told Restil when they were finally released so that other people could fit into the room. “Well, Koto first. He is the one doing the research into breaking their curse, yes?”

“He is,” Restil confirmed. “And I think we can catch him before he gets hauled into that consultation.” He rubbed the back of his head. “Why, though?”

“Because those two deserve to know what is happening, and if it will affect their plan,” she replied. “They’ve earned it at this point. I think so, at least.”

“Then let’s talk to Koto.” Almost as one, they both sped up to a trot. “You know what is the most frustrating right now?” he added.

“That we were only consulted because we were immediately affected, and now we’ve been told to ‘run along and don’t worry about it’?” She gave him a sideways look, and smiled.

“Well, yes.” He sighed. “But our Companions will at least tell us what is going on. So we have that much going for us.”

:Why yes, I will. I thought you’d never ask.:

He rolled his eyes, and she caught it. “What?” she asked.

“I have a Companion with a somewhat sarcastic vein.”

:It’s not a vein. It’s an entire mine. Nice of you to notice.:

When they reached Koto’s dwelling, however, Rothas was already with him, brow knotted, talking over some tricky business about his Gift. Or at least, that was what Restil assumed he was talking about. Something about “threads,” “strands,” and “bits.”

Koto held up his hand to get Rothas to pause. “Whatever brings you here at this early hour cannot be good,” he declared. “Spit it out.”

Restil waited until both of them had a chance to establish wards against scrying, then made very short work of describing what the meeting had been about, and Koto nodded all the way through the explanation. Then he sighed. But before he could say anything, Rothas spoke up.