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wore gloves. In her case, delicate silk gloves, sheathing her slim wrists and long tapering fingers.  I hear
you ve been moving in elevated circles these days.
He could not help but hear envy in her voice. Of the mages leaders, she was the one who aspired to
recognition from society, while her brother advocated separatism. Ish was quite certain that she would
not have seduced him if he d been a nobody from the provinces.
He didn t begrudge her her ambitions, and at times like this he regretted that he d never be respectable
enough to host a house party and let her inspect the nobility for herself.
 Aye, he said.  Lord Vladimer s done some smoothing of my way, and I ve been minding myself.
 No shooting out the shrubbery, she teased. A pause.  You have that air about you that tells me you
haven t come to socialize, she said.  We ve a problem.
 Why we ? he said after a moment.
She gave him a mischievous smile.  Ishmael, Ishmael. As long as I ve known you, you ve thought it your
prerogative to keep your troubles to yourself. Sometimes unwisely so. So, if you re bringing me a
problem, it s one that s shared.
 You have the right o it, he said.  Has Magistra Hearne spoken to you?
 Olivede? No . . .
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  I d think she might, eventually, he said, as she showed him into her receiving room. In this huge,
haphazard house it was a model of taste and fashion, an expression of her aspirations. She, in her jacket
and trousers, might have inhabited a set in an avant-garde comedy.  But there s more parts to the matter
that have come to me since. He sat down on an elegantly designed and decidedly uncomfortable chair.
 There s been sorcery worked on a highborn lady, causing her t compromise herself. There may be
trouble over it; there may not, since she s bent on keeping it to herself. I ve touch-read her, and since
she s no mage herself, she had no sense of magic. But her thrall to her lover was unnaturally powerful,
maybe, and she believes he came t her through the day. And I could take no impression of his face.
 Touch-read her unwilling and unwitting, she said, without expression.
 At the time I thought her more villain than victim. There s a kidnapped child that s part of all this, and a
man near beaten t death. He paused.  I think you need to hear the whole of it.
 I think I do.
He began, once again, with Vladimer s instructions to him which she greeted with some dismay and
his arriving on Balthasar Hearne s doorstep to be met by the stroke of a sap, a felled physician, and
Floria White Hand s extraordinary account. He continued through to the interview with Tercelle, and his
mandate to Guillaume. He omitted, of course, all mention of Telmaine s magic. There d surely be
consequences if she misused her magic again, but he found he simply could not expose her.
She tapped silk-clad fingertips against her teeth.  Sighted children . . . she said, with a dread that only
now, having walked through the garden, did he understand. There had been early efforts to restore sight
to the Darkborn, all failures, and nowadays the manipulation of tissue, other than for healing, was
sorcery. Manipulation of plant life was itself barely acceptable. He had not thought of that possibility
before.  Oh, Ishmael, you have brought me an ugly one. She leaned forward suddenly.  Promise me
you ll carry this no farther. Speak of these children nowhere else. If a mage is responsible, it s worth our
peace, everything we ve built, maybe even our lives to have it known.
 I cannot promise, he said after a moment.  I don t know where this investigation is bound; I don t
know how much of it may need t be taken to Lord Vladimer. The best I can promise is t delay if I can,
t let you find the one responsible if it is a mage.
 Sweet Imogene, what else could it be? This woman, Tercelle Amberley, will she lay accusations?
 Not unless it would cost her less t lay them than to keep still. She d be as much ruined by it as by
th other. But y need to hold it close. For your own sake, as much as hers.
 I will, believe me. Her face went briefly still.  I ve called in my brother, and two or three others.
 I ll leave you to t then, Ish said, rising.  Y know where to find me.
 Coward, she murmured sardonically.
He shook his head.  Your brother won t believe me; he ll want me touch-read. I ll not allow that. I ve
told you what I know; you d best confirm it with others, Magistra Olivede first. I ve my own errands to
pursue. One thing, though: Florilinde Hearne. I d be grateful if one or other of you higher-rankers gave a
thought to finding her. Magistra Olivede would likely be asking for herself.
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  Where are you bound now?
 Magistra Olivede s clinic. They tried t set on her yesterday, and failed.
 Take care, she said.  You ve nowhere near the power to match yourself against a mage who could
alter a child in the womb, and anyone that perverted will not hesitate at murder.
 Nor will I, Ish said.  And I ve been hunting perversions these twenty-five years. Good day, Magistra.
 Is it? she said sourly. With a hand on his arm, she stayed him at the door.  I mean it when I say  take
care, Ishmael. I ve heard about the way you overspend yourself. Mages die doing that. Or their magic
never recovers.
He stooped to lift her hand and kiss it, which spared him from having to answer. He knew she was right;
he also knew he could be no other way.
He passed Phineas Broome on the stairs. The other ruling mage, being no relative of Phoebe s, was her
physical opposite: compact, broad, and muscled, with a face as sculptedly male as hers was delicately
female. He was a trained acrobat and dancer, and moved with a compact, springy agility. His sonn was
harsh; he scowled as he recognized Ish, but did not speak. He was ferociously republican in his politics.
Shortly after Ish had arrived, Phineas had made an attempt to drive him away that had left Ish
unconscious for a day and Phineas, to his horror, afflicted by an echo of the Call. His peers had
considered that just punishment and imposed no other. Phineas had not left Minhorne since.
No, Ish thought, he d sooner be out of range before the shouting audible and otherwise began.
Back in the old Darkborn section of the Rivermarch, he began his inquiries at Olivede Hearne s clinic,
where the abortive attack on her had taken place. Amongst people familiar with mages, he could also ask
to receive touch-impressions and swiftly compiled descriptions of the men involved. He didn t know
them, but he had little doubt he, or Gil, would find them.
No sooner had he left the clinic than he was accosted by a lanky young rogue who he was sure would
have sapped him in a back alley as soon as fulfill his charge.
 I ve been half the night finding you, the youth said sullenly.
Ish doubted that; this appearance was much too convenient. But,  Good, he said,  I d hate to think I
was becoming predictable. To what end? [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]