Patricia Briggs - Raven's Shadow

“Is he the one that you were worried about?” asked Seraph.

“Myrceria told me tonight that the Masters, the Path’s wizards, are organizing something they call the Disciplining.” He told them what he knew of it. “I don’t think that they’ll actually go after Kissel; he’s got friends in high places. I think they’ll take the boy that they tried to send Kissel after.”

He leaned his head back against the wall. “Seraph, you said that Bandor and the Master in Redern were shadowed.”

“Yes. Lehr and Jes both could see it.”

He inhaled. “When Phoran and I combined all the information that we had about the Path we came to some disturbing conclusions. That plague that swept through the Traveling clans twenty years ago also visited the noble houses of the Empire and when it was finished, the Emperor was dead, leaving only an infant on the throne. Also a high percentage of the followers of the Path found themselves Septs, though they might have been as many as eight or ten people away from the inheritance when the plague hit.”

“You think that there might be another one,” she said, cold chills tightening her spine. “Not just shadowed, but willingly shadowed like the Unnamed King. You think it might be this Telleridge?”

He nodded. “Phoran’s sent for my old commander, the Sept of Gerant. He’s on his way, now. With his military and tactical advice, Phoran hopes that he can break the Path. If we take them by surprise and Phoran is ruthless enough, he’ll be right.”

“But Gerant won’t be here in time to save your boy,” said Seraph softly.

“Probably not.”

“These Passerines of yours,” said Seraph thoughtfully. “They won’t willingly participate in hurting another boy.”

“I don’t think so,” said Tier. “Some of them, maybe, but most of them won’t.”

Seraph smiled. “Then the Masters will be straining to enforce their will upon them with their stolen Bardic Orders. Tell me, Tier, if all of the Path were in the same room together, how many would there be?”

“There are about sixty Passerines,” he said. “I don’t know exactly how many Raptors—I have the names of about a hundred. Perhaps double that.”

“And the wizards,” said Seraph. “You said there were five.”

“Five,” he agreed. “And a handful of apprentice and hedge-witch types.”

“We have an Owl, a Falcon, an Eagle, and two Ravens,” said Seraph. “I don’t know how many ordinary wizards the clan has, but they’ll come along. There are probably fifty Travelers who would love nothing more than an excuse to attack a bunch of solsenti who’ve been preying upon Travelers.”

“You are short one Owl,” said Tier. “They’ve done something so that my magic doesn’t work on them, remember?”

Seraph frowned. She didn’t like the mysterious magic that these Masters had been working on Tier. “That kind of thing works better on wizards than it does on Order-Bearers.” She tapped her fingers against her lips as she worked it out. “You said that it just keeps your magic from working on them, right?”

He nodded.

“That would be a very difficult and odd thing to do on purpose,” Seraph said. “They’d have to have something personal from everyone who is a follower to do that—blood or hair. It would be an incredibly complex spell and the power it would require…” She stopped when a better idea occurred to her. “I’ll ask Hennea to be certain, but it sounds to me that it is more likely that their spell is imperfect and erratic. Hennea told me that they don’t really know as much about the Orders as they think. Blocking the powers of an ordinary wizard would be simple if they had enough power. But in order to block the powers of an Order-Bearer they’d have to be very specific about everything they want to stop. I’ll bet that some of the odder magics still come to you without a problem. Because they didn’t get it right, their spell will be unraveling slowly.” She nodded because the explanation fit what she knew of magic and Tier’s experience here. “Your magic didn’t work on them, because they and you know it won’t work. But even that effect will fade with time.”

She smiled at him. “But even if it doesn’t fade, you have already made your contributions in the number of Passerines who will take your side. If we attack them during the Disciplining, we’ll have the Travelers, both warriors and wizards; our Order-Bearers; and most of the Passerines. You said that the Disciplining is mandatory for the Passerines, but not the Raptors.”

“That doesn’t mean that they won’t be there,” he said. “But I see where you’re going. They’ll all be there, the Masters who are the real danger. Once they are gone, Phoran can take his time to eliminate the rest. We’ll have to talk to Phoran, though. I’ll not bring a clan of Travelers into his palace without his permission if I can help it.”

A light knock sounded at the door, sending Tier to his feet, “A moment, a moment,” he said, glancing around the room, though he knew there weren’t any hiding places.

“Peace,” whispered Seraph. “He won’t see Jes, and—” She turned to Lehr, but couldn’t see him either. “I’m going to have a talk with Brewydd about what she’s teaching Lehr,” she murmured. “Go ahead and open the door, Tier. He won’t see me either, not unless he’s one of your wizards.” With a whisper of magic she ensured that she’d not attract any notice. Tier’s visitor would see her, but he would just ignore her presence unless something called her to his attention.

Tier’s eyebrows climbed and his mouth quirked with amusement—at himself, she thought. It was one thing to know everyone in your family could work magic; it was quite another to have them do it.

“Toarsen,” he said when he’d opened the door. “Come in.”

“I came as soon as I heard,” said Toarsen. “The rumor’s being passed all over the Eyrie. There’s going to be a Disciplining.”

“I heard,” said Tier. Seraph could see her husband weighing some decision.

“Toarsen,” he said, “if you needed to get in to see the emperor, could you? At this time of night?”

“I–I suppose I could,” Toarsen said, “but not without my brother Avar’s help.” He hesitated and thrust his chin up. “But I won’t do anything that will imperil my emperor—even if he’s a stupid sot more interested in the newest wine from Carek than in running his Empire.”

“Agreed,” said Tier. “What I’d like you to do is persuade your brother to get you in to see the Emperor—tell him it’s urgent that you do so. Then—” Tier paused and shook his head. “Then tell Phoran you have a message for him that you can’t give him in front of anyone except for Avar. The Emperor knows too much about you, my lad, to trust himself to you, but he trusts Avar. When the three of you are alone, you tell Phoran that his Bard would like an urgent word. Tell him that you and Avar will accompany him, if he doesn’t mind. Tell Phoran that I have a plan, but time is of the essence.”

Toarsen stared at him. “Phoran knows about you?”

The Bard grinned wickedly. “Don’t go dismissing your emperor out of hand, lad. I have a feeling that a lot of people have underestimated him, and they’re about to get a rude awakening.”

Toarsen nodded slowly. “All right. I’ll do it. If I can’t get in, I’ll come back alone.”

“Good, lad,” said Tier, patting his shoulder and shooing him out the door. He waited until the sound of Toarsen’s footsteps grew faint.

“That was Toarsen, the Sept of Leheigh’s younger brother,” he said, sitting back down beside Seraph. “He’ll find Phoran for us.”

“You know,” muttered Seraph, who’d been working through Tier’s story while he talked with the boy, “I knew that we were in trouble when all of our children were born Ordered. I should have resigned myself to fighting against another shadowed with the Emperor at my side years ago.”