"I was a boy. The truth can be ugly."

She sighed. "I know that, Sumto, I am not a fool and I wish you would give me some credit. I knew you were wrong, but I also thought you were right, And it got me thinking, and also thinking about the kind of man I wanted for myself. One who valued truth, I reasoned, would at least not try and enslave me with lies."

It was a phrase I could have used and I said so.

She nodded, smiling. "Good. Now, can we talk about how to get you out of there?"

"No. So you decided that I was the kind of man you wanted so you had better come get me?"

"Basically, yes. Done embarra.s.sing me now?"

I smiled. I liked her. Well, I always had but now I saw why. "I'm glad, though I think you have made a bit of a bad bargain. Throwing away your place in society for someone who may not live to continue life as a bad drunk."

For a second I thought she would slap me, but that would be pointless of course. "Stop it. You are better than that. You will find a way or I will find a way, and with your reputation what matters it that mine is in tatters?"

I grinned. "Not much," I agreed.

"That's what I thought. Now, how are we going to get you free?"

"Did you think about illusory spell forms?"

"What are you talking about now?"

I sighed in exasperation, running my hand over my face. "I told you about this."

"What's that?"

"What?"

She pointed to my forehead, coming closer. "In your forehead? What is it? A stone?"

"Yes. Mine or yours. They can use it to find me. And there are dogs; enhanced. I can hear them when they growl or bark or howl, but otherwise I forget it's there."

"It's mine," she said. "Can you use it?"

"Does it matter? Now, about illusory spell forms. I told you. It was an idea I had. Pay attention," she was still looking at my forehead. "Spirits can see them and..."

I snapped awake. Someone was standing over me, shaking me. I slapped them away and sat up.

"Awake now? Good." Larner had stepped back from the bed. "So, about teaching. Ready to start? I can't wait to find out what you know. Maybe learn a thing or two. I must admit I was surprised to be told you had your own loupe. Never would have thought it. With your reputation I suspected you were a waster; an idle, drunken waster at that. But all the time you were learning. What college?"

"Go away." I told him.

"Well, I could, I suppose. But I brought you a present." He pulled a hip flask out of his pocket and waved it enticingly just out of reach. "Want some? Just a sip in here but better than nothing, eh? Now tell me something useful and you can have a drop..."

I refused. He talked some more, pressing me. I got angry, impatient for him to go and leave me alone. Eventually he did and I was left to my miserable, drink-free existence.

Thinking was difficult. Well, no. Thinking was easy, my brain would not stop, but concentration and focus were entirely lacking from the process. My mind jumped from one memory to the next, to wanting a drink, to hating my captives, to hating my father, to resenting myself for putting myself in this position. Settling on anything concrete and using reason to move forward was impossible, yet something good came of the day. Remembering Jocasta's question I cast a cantrip, removing foreign matter from my teeth. It worked. So I had eight useless cantrips up my sleeve, and clean teeth. Wonderful. I didn't know a single useful spell and the stone in my forehead was no good for much more than what little I did know. There was no doubt about it, my father was right. I was useless.

The last person I expected to step into the room was Sapphire. I'd been having problems with illusions but I knew the difference. They sneaked into your awareness out of the corner of your eye, and turned into something innocuous like a pen when you focused on them. I had not looked up at the sharp cries and thumps outside my door. I had not been able to muster the interest. But Sapphire was large as life and bold as bra.s.s. He had my attention just by existing. There was a vitality about him that glowed brighter than a bonfire. He moved quickly but without seeming to hurry. Wearing just a pair of trousers and holding a knife, he turned and shut the door behind him. His body was a ma.s.s of cuts and bruises, some of them days old. As he walked toward me I could see through the spattering of blood on his face that his nose had been broken recently, a day or two ago I judged. His eyes were blackened, his lip split, he had a gash on his cheek that had scabbed over, part of one ear was missing. He was smiling and I could see that a couple of teeth had been pulled.

"What the h.e.l.l are you doing here?"

"Playing," he said cheerfully. "If they want me they had best know what they are getting, right?"

I had no idea how to respond to that.

He crossed the room, heading for the balcony.

"Did you escape?" It was a stupid question.

"Not yet. You coming?"

I pointed to the stone in my forehead. "They can follow me."

He nodded once, dismissing the matter of my company entirely. It was plain, like the decision was written on his face. It was the most animated I had ever seen him. He looked like he was enjoying himself, a boy playing at chase. I wondered if the world had always been mad and I had just never noticed.

"If I see anyone who needs to know I'll tell them," he said.

I was on my feet. I'd been lying on the bed when he appeared and had stayed there but that just didn't seem right. I was dizzy and walking was hard. He was hurt yet moved like a panther on the prowl.

"What are you trying to achieve?"

"Good question," he tossed over his shoulder as he pa.s.sed out of sight. "What are you trying to achieve?"

Nothing.

I followed him, stopping short of the ward. He had not triggered it and so I had learned something. The ward was keyed to the stone in my head. Only I would trigger it.

He turned around and looked up. A shout came from the courtyard below. He'd been seen.

"How long will you stay free?"

He grinned. "We'll see."

He started to climb the wall, moving easily.

"Good luck," I said.

"Luck has nothing to do with it. They had better send bigger groups of men or I'll kill them all and we will take our ease for a while and then walk out of here at our leisure!"

I stood there a moment, shaking my head. He sounded like he believed it. A second later he was out of sight. I considered walking out onto the balcony. Good idea? Bad idea? It would trigger the alarm, they had already seen him, some of the soldiers would come at the alarm. It might help. With a shrug I walked through fire and out onto the balcony. I barely winced and all of a sudden I understood. The pain didn't matter. Sapphire had it. Knew it. And now I did. I smiled. It was a revelation. I was tempted to climb after him but I was still shaky. They had taken to feeding me, but not much, and my body was in rebellion for booze. I was nauseous most of the time. I forced the food down and often as not threw it back up again. I was too weak to climb. I'd fall for sure. But if it hadn't been for that I would have followed, laughing at the pain just as he was.

The guards were already in the courtyard when the alarm went off. Some were heading for the doors and hesitated, turned back and looked up. Mission accomplished, I gave them a cheery wave and went back inside. I'd thought of something else I could do.

I crossed the room fast, slipped into the hallway and glanced about. Two barbarian guards lay dead in the hall. There was some blood but I wasn't looking to see how they had died. One had a knife still in the sheath. There were the sounds of running feet and shouts coming closer. Fast as I could, I s.n.a.t.c.hed the knife and slipped back into my room. They would a.s.sume Sapphire had taken the knife, I was sure.

Now, where to hide it?

The army was on the move.

I was out on the balcony. I'd got in the habit of going out there and the guards had gotten used to it. They still rushed out but not with the same air of expectation. It irritated them. It hurt but I didn't care anymore. They always waited till I went in, and I guess they went back to their other duties as soon as I was out of sight. Maybe just waiting for me to trigger the alarm, who knew? Who cared?

The sweat was evaporating in a cool breeze, chilling me. I was in h.e.l.l. I needed a drink and there was none.

It had taken a while before I noticed the army. The guards were entertaining me well enough for a minute or so. Then I looked up to take in the view, and there they were, silent from this distance, slowly drifting away from me, thirty thousand or more men pa.s.sing before the town. I looked to the right, found the head of the march after a moment. They were heading south, heading off to another battle. Heading for the Kingdom of Wherrel and whoever was coming north to meet them. I wondered what had happened to Orthand. Was he still alive? Was his army still in the field or had it been crushed already? Were his mages in captivity here? Or were they elsewhere? Or still fighting? I shrugged. It didn't matter to me right now and there was no sense speculating. I looked left.

For a second I didn't know what I was seeing, then I did. Another army was coming up behind them, easily as many men again. The north had risen. Who knew how far the unrest spread? There were more tribes to the east, and the kingdom of Rancik to the west. That kingdom had been free of our influence for the last century or so but we were on good terms as these things are measured. We had an amba.s.sador there and they had one in the city. There was trading, peaceful borders. Our roads ran through their country and onward to others in the north west. There were no problems, but I wondered if the Necromancers' ambitions of subversion ran so far that they had Turned the king, or his barons to ferment civil war. Who knew what they were capable of?

Sapphire had killed Alendi spies in our army. He knew of the Necromancers, or had rumors of their doings; I now believed that they had been Necromancer spies, Alendi under the influence of Kukran Epthel or his kind. And how many where there? I'd said nothing exists in a vacuum but still had no clue how many Necromancers there were. I guessed not so many. If you dilute your knowledge amongst too many there is bound to be dissent. They ruled by fear and intimidation. They did not need to be many. I shrugged it off; I doubted Kukran would tell me, even if I had the opportunity to ask. But the more I thought about it the more it made sense. Sometime I would have to cross the mountains and take a look about Battling Plain and track them down to the last man. If I could get out of here alive.

It was too cold to stay on the balcony. I was shivering, though I knew not all of that was due to the cold. I needed a drink like I had never needed anything in my life. I went back inside and paced the room.

I had taken to going outside several times a day and the guards hated me. Which was good.

I paced around the room, giving them enough time to relax, then went back through the ward. The pain was good. I liked it. It took my mind off the rest of it for a moment or two. I watched the guards stroll casually outside, less of them, and look up at me. I grinned. Shrugged. Looked at the view. Watched the army leave. At least we wouldn't have an army on our doorstep any more, leaving maybe only a thousand or two to worry about. Much better. I began to shiver uncontrollably. It would be impossible for me to express how desperately I wanted a drink. I would have killed for one.

I staggered back into the room and climbed in to the bed clumsily, wrapping myself in the eiderdown and shivering, suddenly drenched in sweat though I was freezing cold. I was going to crack, I knew it. Any time now. The next person who offered me a drink could have my soul. Everything had become disjointed. Time had stopped meaning anything to me. I knew that the shivers would stop, the sweat dry, the nausea would pa.s.s, I'd feel a little better, but it didn't matter, the moment stretched into an eternity of need.

It would never go away until I had a drink.

I must have fallen asleep because I was suddenly back in the mist. It didn't happen every time, not by a wide margin, and I had begun to lose the ability to tell the difference between sleeping and waking. Unless I was here, in the mist that cleared to show me Jocasta, and my thoughts became more lucid.

"Where are we?"

"Empty warehouse," she said succinctly. "There are plenty of them. You are going to be moved soon. The order came to prepare to move out."

"Where to?"

"Meran hasn't been told, just to prepare. They will leave a small garrison here and move on but we don't know where yet. The army is already on the move. It could be any time."

"Where are the others?"

"They are over there but you won't be able to see them. I'm not really here. I'm over there in the corner, lying on a cot. It's dusty and smelly and I don't like it very much, but there you are. We are working on your idea but there are problems. Illusory spell forms, that was clever. It took me a while to understand but then I got it when I understood why you had mentioned spirits. You can make a form and then change it and they can tell you what it will do."

"That's it exactly! I think that what they do is just magic by another name. After all, what is magic?"

"It's a good question. One with many answers, depending on who you read or talk to. But I think you are right. There are problems, though."

"Tell me."

"Spirits are difficult to understand." Her brow was wrinkled in thought.

"So Dubaku explained to me."

"They are cooperating. Dubaku has good relationships with his ancestors. They all have a specialty they have developed to help him but I can't learn what they know, they have no way of showing me."

"But you are making progress?"

"Yes, yes. It's just hard, and slow. I can't understand their explanations so I'm guessing all the time and they just say no, or yes, but yes isn't always right because if I check by asking the question a different way it's no. Then they explain and I don't understand. It's frustrating. It's not that I don't understand what they are saying but they mean something else and it's obvious that they do mean something else."

I thought for a while and she let me. I was worried. I wondered if it wouldn't be better if she took this knowledge far away from here. If Kukran got hold of this idea he would abuse it ruthlessly. I already knew what he would do to a spirit to achieve his objective. If he started working on this he would make better progress. I said as much and she started to pace.

"You're right. It's dangerous. I don't think I could hold out under torture but he would have to ask me about it and he doesn't know what to ask. It's almost the same problem with the spirits. They don't understand why I don't understand. It's as though they have forgotten what it is like to be alive, forgotten our perceptions." She laughed. "It would probably all be so simple to understand if I were dead."

"Please don't say that."

"Sorry. I'll try and stay alive. And free. I promise."

I smiled for her. "And I will try and get free. I might need help though."

"We are working on it. If they move you we will follow, at a distance."

"Be careful."

"And you. I mean..."

"I know what you mean, it's all right. That's a lie. Sorry. It's not all right. I'll be an addict for life even if I do get free. Sure you want to live with that? And the stone," I touched my forehead. "I keep forgetting the stone. They'll find me."

"Not if we kill them."

I nodded, not thinking that I was endorsing a plan. "I need something to teach them. If I crack, I mean. When I crack."

"I... here." She hesitated for only a moment before a spell form appeared in the air between us. "An illusory spell form. Brilliant. Why didn't anyone think of it before?"

"Why did anyone not think of anything before?" I said as I studied the shape and movement of it.

"Why not cast the spell several times to teach it? It's what we always did. It works. I only thought of it because, well because I wanted to be sure a spirit would be able to see it. I was just looking at things differently."

The mists suddenly swirled round me and I was gone, back to dreams that didn't enchant me with their beauty.

"Did you catch him?"

I couldn't muster much enthusiasm for the question. I didn't have much enthusiasm for anything. I recognized that I was depressed. Knowing what it was and why didn't help much. Just as I was sometimes restless, agitated, anxious, or suffered from insomnia; I knew why and that a shot or two of booze would fix it. That was the problem. Sometimes the sweating and tremors would make me think I was ill, sometimes I believed it, but I wasn't ill, I was in withdrawal, so I knew it wasn't true. Rationally I knew that they had somehow enhanced the effects; there was no way I had been drinking for long enough to cause this acute a reaction to the absence of alcohol. Enhancing something that's real already, one way or another, is the easiest kind of magic. I guessed they had enhanced the alcohol they had fed me to hasten the changes in my brain, making the withdrawal that much harder.

Larner didn't answer, he never did. But his silence was instructive, the dissatisfaction in it told me they had not. That must burn. I imagined Sapphire appearing from nowhere, killing one or two of them and fading back into the woodwork. He clearly had no intention of going anywhere, if that was the case. I tried to guess at the body count, at how close he had come to any serious targets. I also wondered at how he managed to do it, what his training was and where he came from. The basic question there was; who was Sapphire? Who was he that he could wander around killing people at will and never get caught?

"Ready for a drink?"