Mayer Alan Brenner - Spell of Intrigue

“How know you extra help gave I not? Glad am I brought you that up. Significant more is question than realize you. Alluding are you to talents of magic mine?”

“You’re not going to tell me now that you ever gave any hint you were a sorcerer, too?”

“Not am sorcerer I,” said Haddo. “Not am sorcerer I in sense same as are sorcerer you. Did learn I not magic by study, work I not magic by symbol. Innate are talents. Magic of Haddo part is.”

Karlini glanced at Favored. “Am I hearing this right? Is Haddo really saying that that old common folklore wisdom stuff about you guys having natural magical abilities is true? I mean, sure, elves and such and useless forest magic, everybody knows about that, but magic that’s good for something?”

“Don’t spread it around,” said Favored, “but yeah, you big galoots don’t have a monopoly on magic users. Only you might as well know Haddo’s still not giving you the whole story.”

“On side which are anyway you?”

“On the side of not being a bug, pal. It’s like this, Karlini. Haddo here’d have you think he was born doing magic, that it’s built in, and I won’t lie to you, some of that’s true, but it’s not the whole deal at all. He’s studied, too, learned magic in the way it’s been set out and lined up by gods and you people, with all that symbolic logic and rigorous math you all’ve saddled it with. Stop sputtering at me, Haddo.”

“Not is public, this. Quiet this must keep.”

“You’re the one who thought it was time to tell some human, you wimp,” said Favored. “Karlini was your idea. If you don’t think he’s trustworthy enough, don’t you think it might have been a better idea to bring it up before all this?”

“Trust I Karlini,” said Haddo, “To do something have to, we, still agree I. Difficult to change habit is. Easier to cute be.”

“I think I missed something there,” Karlini said. “You want to translate?”

“We’re set up to feel like animals that broke out of a zoo, or’d do better to stay on some nature reserve,” said Favored, “but that does have its useful side. A tiger’s a threat because it can chew your leg off, not because it can beat your spell with one of its own, or because it can out-scheme your power play. Things with real human-type power aren’t cute, things that don’t threaten you can be. People think of folks like Haddo or me as scum dregs or, even worse, quaint little adorable darlings -” Favored made a disgusted face and spit toward the floor “- well, it may be annoying as hell, but it hasn’t necessarily been a total loss.”

“Protective coloration, isn’t that called?” Karlini said.

“Yeah, right.”

“So Haddo’s made a point of keeping his abilities under wraps,” said Karlini, “and you nonhuman folks need to be taken seriously, but you don’t want anybody to know it. That’s all very nice, but, again, why are you telling all this to me if you don’t want anyone to know about it, and why now?”

“If will patient be Karlini,” said Haddo, “get there we will. As have heard you, same goals share all we, and reasons for roughly same. Yet have differences means about, we. Thinks friend Favored, dangerous is work of Roni.”

“That’s right,” said Favored, directing a sharp stare at Karlini. “I do. I’ve never met your wife and I’m sure I don’t have anything against her, personally, at least no more than just because she’s one of you big oafs, but that’s beside the main point. The point is this stuff she’s working on. If it gets out of control, there’s no telling what could happen, and even if it doesn’t get out of control it may be more power than anybody knows how to wrestle.”

“But we’ve taken precautions.” Karlini said, “and -”

“I’m not finished. Take a look at Haddo over there. You ever seen him without that cloak? You ever seen anything under that hood but those two glowing red things? You think that’s natural ?”

“Pardon beg you I?”

“He may be too embarrassed to mention it,” Favored said, “but I’m not. He’s got magic woven into his makeup. You start tinkering with the roots of magic, you might stir up things that’re gonna be hazardous to his health. And it’s not just Haddo, either, it’s an awful lot of us. It may also be a lot of you people, too, even if you don’t realize it.

“And even that’s not all. For myself, I think that lot would be quite enough, frankly, thank you very much, but since I can tell you’re gonna be a hard sell, I’ll give you the clincher. None of that research your wife’s up to is even necessary. If we play things right and just do a lot of keeping quiet over on the sidelines, I think this political stuff going on with the gods will settle things our way. We’re not gonna have to fight them outright, we’re not gonna need this goddamned arms race you’re starting, all we’ve gotta do is be smart.”

“You think ,” said Karlini. “What if you’re wrong? If you’re wrong, we’ve got no fall-back position; we’re back at the beginning, or worse. Even if you’re right and we don’t need to use the new stuff to fight the gods or undermine them, it’s still new knowledge and it’s still valuable. There’ll be no end to the ways we’ll all think of to use it. We’ve got extra precautions coming out of our ears, I told you that: nothing’s going to get out of control. The research is moving so promisingly, too, it would be silly to stop it all now, which is what I presume you’d like us to do? I presume that’s finally the real subject of this little meeting?”

Favored-of-the-Gods sighed. “I’m not surprised that’s your reaction. I’ve been in enough contact with Haddo to know what you were likely to say. I also know you’ve only got Haddo to vouch for me: you’ve never seen me before and don’t know who or what I really am. I realize all that. I’d be happier if you quit your fooling around where you shouldn’t be, you understand that well enough, but I suppose you’re not going to do that just on my say-so. I’m a Fabricator, too - I know what it’s like not to want to give up a neat line of research just because somebody you’ve never met tells you to. I’ll even admit there’s something to what you say about not putting all the eggs under one hen.”

Favored scowled. “So I’m gonna be a wimp, too. Keep working on your own front, see if I care. But do me a favor? Do yourself a favor, do everybody a favor - go as slowly and as carefully, and as quietly, as you possibly can. And pay attention to what Haddo has to tell you.”

“Haddo?” said Karlini. “Of course I listen to Haddo’s input, when he says something that’s not a complaint or a contract grievance. If he’s got comments or suggestions, of course I’ll listen to them.”

Haddo snorted. He tilted his hood back and to the side, and his red eye-things combined to shoot Karlini an “oh, come on now” kind of look. “With subtleness been trying have I, to your impression of me change. Of time waste has been it. Blind even to obvious are you.”

“That’s not true!” said Karlini. “It’s not fair.”

“Think you of what say would Roni,” Haddo told him.

“Well,” Karlini said, “all right. Maybe. So why aren’t you talking to her instead of me?”

“Look,” said Favored. “Don’t change the subject. If your image of Haddo the faithful sidekick hadn’t been blown apart here, you’d still keep plugging him into the role you’d already carved out for him; he’d be a supporting character in your life with a no-negotiation predefined role. Right? Now you just take this and chew on it. Haddo represents himself and a whole bunch of us, too, and you’ve just got to accept that.”