Martin Scott - Thraxas at War

He's small for an Ore, and almost engulfed by his black cloak. He wears a black jewel on his forehead, the badge of his guild. I arrive in front of him at the same time as Makri, and we both aim blows. My sword smashes into some sort of invisible force and flies from my hand, leaving my arm numb. He's invoked a protective spell. A good one, from the way Hanama bounces off him seconds later. Tirini doesn't seem to be doing much in the way of offering resistance, either because she's been dazed by the Sorcerer's first assault or, more likely, because she's drunk so much klee she can't remember how to intone a spell.

The black-clad Sorcerer raises his hand. I brace myself for another journey through the air. He falls down dead in front of me. I look down at him, puzzled. Makri steps up and prods the body with her toe.

'I wasn't expecting that to happen,' she says.

'Me neither,' I admit.

'Maybe he had a weak heart?'

Lisutaris strides into the room.

'I killed him,' she says.

Another triumph,' says Makri, and sits down heavily beside Herminis.

'I came as soon as I got your message. What has been happening?' asks Lisutaris.

'These idiots brought Herminis to my office. Insane behaviour.'

'I meant, what has been happening with regard to this Sorcerer?'

A babble of intoxicated voices all seek to explain. Lisutaris listens intently to the tale, then kneels down to examine the body. She lays her hands on the Sorcerer's heart, then on the jewel on his forehead, before transferring her attention to the wand.

'This Sorcerer has been working continually in Turai for several months,' she announces, presumably having learned this by some sorcerous means. 'No wonder my own sorcery has been interfered with.'

A powerful enemy Sorcerer, right in our midst. It's a neat move by the Orcish Sorcerers Guild. Sneak a

Sorcerer into the city, and hide him in a room lined with Red Elvish Cloth so he can't be detected. All he had to do was leave the room for a moment, work some spell which would interfere with Turanian sorcery, then scuttle back to his hiding place before anyone noticed. The Sorcerers at Palace Security and the Abode of Justice scan the city every day for hostile sorcery, but even their sophisticated magic can't penetrate Red Elvish Cloth.

'He could have stayed there all through the war with no one noticing,' says Hanama.

'Lucky we flushed him out,' says Makri. 'You think the city might give the Association of Gentlewomen some sort of reward?'

'We can hardly let it be known in public,' says Hanama. 'We were breaking a condemned woman out of jail at the time.'

'It does make everything more awkward,' agrees Lisutaris. 'I should report this to the War Council immediately, but—'

She breaks off. Once the authorities know that an Orcish Sorcerer was hiding in the secret villa, they'll mount a full investigation, which will, of course, lead to the discovery of the Association's criminal enterprise.

'We have some major hiding sorcery to do,' says Lisutaris to Tirini Snake Smiter. 'We might be able to cover things up. Let them know about the Sorcerer without giving ourselves away. Tirini, are you listening?'

Tirini is slumbering gently on the couch. Lisutaris notices for the first time that her associates are somewhat the worse for wear.

'We were celebrating,' explains Makri.

'Quite normal after arduous combat,' adds Hanama.

'Appalling behaviour,' I say.

'Thraxas,' says Lisutaris. After the last war ended you were listed among the dead because no one could find you for a week. It wasn't till they started clearing the rubble and they dragged you protesting out of the Three Dragons' beer cellar that anyone realised you were still alive.'

I shrug this off.

'That was a real war. Not a minor skirmish with one hostile Sorcerer. I needed to recuperate.'

Lisutaris gets busy adding her considerable powers to the hiding spells already protecting us from discovery. Makri drifts off to sleep with a thazis stick still burning in her hand. Hanama removes it from her fingers and smokes the rest of it herself before also closing her eyes. Herminis yawns, and asks Lisutaris if it's safe for her to remain here.

'For now, yes. Providing Thraxas doesn't object.'

'I object.'

'He's fine with it,' says Lisutaris. 'Because he knows I'm about to do him a favour.'

'What favour?'

Lisutaris has completed the hiding spell. My office is now shielded securely from the prying eyes of Old Hasius the Brilliant, Lanius Suncatcher and any other nosy government Sorcerer. Not the first time my office has had to be protected in this way, I reflect.

'What's the favour?'

'That Sorcerer has been interfering with all sorcery in Turai. Very subtly. Too subtle to detect at the time. But now he's dead, I can feel a difference, I'm grateful for your help. Perhaps I might be able to find something new on the case you're investigating.'

Lisutaris takes a small phial from a pocket in her robe. Kuriya. I hand her a saucer and she pours in enough to make a small picture. She waves her hand over the saucer. I study the results. It's a lot clearer than before. Rittius, Kalius and Bevarius can be seen in the corridor as before. After they've departed, Lodius appears, next to a trolley of food. He picks up a pastry and puts it back on the trolley. I haven't seen that before. It doesn't look good. Another Senator appears, someone I don't recognise. Lodius talks to him for a while. Slightly furtively, it seems, though it's hard to be sure. The image fades.

'Wait,' says Lisutaris. 'There's a little more.'

As we watch, Consul Kalius reappears in the corridor. I haven't seen that before either. The same Senator who was talking to Lodius now meets the Consul and they confer. After this the pictures fade.

Any help?' asks the Mistress of the Sky.

'Maybe. A few things for me to think about.'

Who was that Senator? Why were Lodius and Kalius talking to him? And why has neither of them mentioned it before? Now I've seen Consul Kalius hanging around in the corridor next to the food trolleys. And Kalius's assistant Bevarius hired a man to kill me, if I can believe Kerinox, which I think I can. Everything points towards the Consul's office. That's going to be awkward for me.

Lisutaris wishes to remain here for the night. I leave them to it, and retire to my bedroom. As I leave, the Mistress of the Sky is rolling a stick of thazis from her own superior supply, and staring deeply into the fire, considering the matter of the Ores, and the rescue of Herminis, neither of which is over yet.

Chapter Eighteen

It's exactly a year since Deputy Consul Cicerius made me a Tribune. Today is my last day in office. Having spent the year using the powers of the tribunate as little as possible, I decide to go out in style. It's time to throw some official weight around. I want to speak with Consul Kalius and his assistant Bevarius, and I'm not about to be put off.

'Tribune Thraxas to see Consul Kalius.'

The guard at the gate tries to brush me off.

'Do you have an appointment?'

'Didn't you hear me?' I bark. 'I said Tribune Thraxas. As in Tribune of the People. As in a man with the power to have you arrested for interfering in official business if you don't open the gate this instant.'

I sweep my way imperiously past guards, clerks, minor officials and state Sorcerers on my way to Kalius's inner sanctum, stopping for nothing except a plateful of spicy yams. Once more they're excellent, and a credit to Erisox's talents. Outside the final door I'm confronted by an official in a toga.

'The Consul is busy.'

'Then unbusy him. This is Tribunes' business.'

He wants to resist. Unfortunately he knows the law.

'You may see the Consul after he has finished his business with Coranus—'