Magebane (51 page)

Not bad for a few days' work
, he thought.
Not bad at all
.

Prince Karl had been the first to retire, as protocol demanded, and Falk had promised to come to his quarters later to provide him with a full briefing of everything that had happened in his absence.
It doesn't matter
, he told himself again.
It costs nothing to keep him thinking he's really the Heir for the short time he has left, and if it keeps him placated, it's worth the effort.

However humiliating it felt.

The other Councillors had left one by one after Karl's departure, most congratulating Falk on his success in finding the Prince and his ward, and hoping that Brenna would soon be up to social calls so that they could renew her acquaintance. Falk was polite but noncommittal on that point.

Finally, only Mother Northwind was left, ostensibly remaining behind to ease the pain of a strained shoulder “suffered pulling poor Tagaza from the Spellchamber,” Falk said, which earned him, he hoped, at least a couple of sympathy points from the one or two Councillors who had actually
liked
Tagaza.

Mother Northwind had gotten up from her chair while he was saying his farewells, and was staring into the fire when he returned. He studied her, wondering what her reaction would be to the evening's events. She had obviously known nothing about either Brenna or Karl being found, for all her vaunted connections among the Commoners. If their relationship were the chess game it sometimes felt like, he had just stolen a piece.

But when she turned to face him, she was smiling. “Well, my lord. That was a pleasant surprise, without a doubt. I'd made up my mind the whole lot of them was gone for good: Brenna, the Prince, and Anton. However did you find them?”

“Just luck,” Falk said. “A Mountie spotted Brenna and Anton on the ice of the Great Lake, riding dogsleds, no less. Seems they fell in with some savages who sold them to the Common Cause, probably for a handful of beads. He mounted a rescue.”

“What happened to the Commoners?”

“All dead,” Falk said. “Just the way I like them when they've been involved with something like this. It's amazing how much less trouble dead Commoners cause me than live ones.”

Mother Northwind turned her head suddenly toward the fire. “Then I suppose the same is true of the Commoners who held the Prince.”

Falk shrugged. “Most of them. One or two escaped. But as I said, we do have the woman who calls herself Goodwife Beth. She's in a cell awaiting my interrogation.”

“Hmmm.” Mother Northwind picked up the poker and stirred the coals of the fire. They flared briefly, but the wood was long gone and they quickly settled back to a red glow. “She may be quite high up in the Common Cause,” she said, as if thinking out loud. “Perhaps . . .” She looked up at him again. “Lord Falk, I feel badly for failing with Tagaza. Perhaps I can help with this woman's interrogation.”

“I can get information on my own, Mother Northwind,” Falk said softly. “As I believe the presence of the Prince, Brenna, and Anton in the Palace tonight demonstrates.”

“I never said you couldn't,” Mother Northwind said, voice cheerful. “Always said you were the best at what you do. But there are some kinds of information it takes a long time to get out of people
your
way. Like the other leaders of the Common Cause. Verdsmitt and Tagaza were the Patrons, sure enough, but just because you have the one and the other is dead, it doesn't mean the whole Cause will collapse. There will be other leaders. They'll be trying to regroup. Seems to me a true believer in the Common Cause like this Beth woman could stand quite a lot of your kind of interrogation before giving away that list of names. But if I were to go in there, give her an ‘examination,' just to be sure she hasn't been injured . . .”

“You can come out with the information within a couple of hours,” Falk finished for her. He felt an odd reluctance to take her up on her offer, but that made no sense. He knew what she could do—
had
done—for him. And certainly today he had reestablished his independence—and preeminence. Maybe this was her way of reassuring herself, and convincing him, that he still needed her.

He could afford to be magnanimous, he decided. He had made his point.

“Very well,” he said. “Please ‘examine' her at your convenience. And then . . . there's still the matter of Anton.”

“You still want him . . .” Mother Northwind smiled. “. . . Verdsmitted?”

Falk barked a laugh. “Ha! Verdsmitted. I like that. Yes, I think I do. But for a different reason than before. Now that we know this airship of his can fly, I've got a better idea for using him. I want to send him to the Outside as my emissary.”

“Isn't the sending of emissaries usually the prerogative of Kings?” Mother Northwind said, her voice dry.

“Which I will be by the time he returns,” said Falk, shrugging. “I'm only jumping the flag a little bit.”

“And what message will you send with this emissary of yours?”

Falk spread his hands. “That we are a peaceful people, that we mean no harm to anyone, that we look forward to a long and profitable trade relationship as equal partners . . . that sort of thing. I want them absolutely convinced that we are no threat to them . . .”

“Until you prove it otherwise.”

“Exactly. Think of it as softening up the battle space.”

“And magic? What will he say of that?”

“Magic?” Falk gave her a blank look. “There's no such thing as magic. The Great Barrier is a natural phenomenon our ancestors were unfortunate enough to be caught on the wrong side of, but our extensive studies of it over the years have convinced us it is weakening and will soon collapse altogether.”

Mother Northwind laughed. “Clever, Lord Falk. One might even call it, if one were a wholehearted believer in the myths surrounding the SkyMage, diabolical.”

Falk felt a flash of anger at that, and then another flash of anger at himself for letting her get to him so easily.
She's trying to regain lost ground in our little power struggle
, he thought. And so though he was on the verge of snapping at her, he instead limited himself to a mild, “I'm not the Dark One, Mother Northwind. Not even a minor demon.”

“Not sure the Commoners would agree with you,” Mother Northwind said, “but as they say, if you have to choose between being feared and being loved, it's always better to go with being feared.”

“In any event,” Falk said, seizing firm control of the conversation again (he hoped), “the sooner you sway young Anton fully to my side, the better. I'd like to send him Outside as soon as possible.”

“
Is
it possible?” Mother Northwind said. “The airshipthing has so far traveled only with the wind, and the wind will take it east, not west.”

“It is possible,” Falk said. “By the boy's own testimony. We need only provide the right kind of fuel for the . . . engine, I think he called it . . . and that burner-thing. Once he is twisted to my ends, he will be able to tell me how to find or create this fuel.” Time for a little dig. “You
can
still do it, can't you? Attempting to heal Tagaza seemed to take an awful lot out of—”

“I can still do it,” Mother Northwind snapped, and Falk smiled inwardly. “In fact, I'll do it right after I examine this Goodwife Beth person. That way I don't have to drag my poor old-woman's knees down those stairs to your damnable dungeon twice.”

“We don't call it a dungeon, Mother Northwind,” Falk said. “We call it the Center for Extended Detention.”

“I'm sure you do,” said Mother Northwind. She had hung her cane from the back of a chair while she poked at the fire; now she turned and picked it up. “Now, if there's nothing else, my lord, I am getting increasingly anxious to see my bed . . .”

“One more thing,” Falk said. “Brenna.”

Mother Northwind sighed. “You want me to interrogate
her
for you, too?”

Falk laughed. “Of course not. She's been a pawn in all of this; my pawn, admittedly, then Anton's, to help him escape—he took advantage of her more ways than one, I'd wager. She'd have no knowledge of any interest to me, unless one of my human servants has been stealing silverware. And there is still the risk that any . . . manipulations . . . of her by you could disrupt her status as Heir.”

“Then why do you mention her?”

“You know why.” Falk's eyes bore into Mother Northwind's. “Everything is in place, Mother Northwind. My man is in position within King Kravon's inner circle. I have Brenna. The mage who will replace Tagaza in carrying out the spell of transference is standing ready in Berriton—we'll collect him on our way to the Cauldron. So now I ask you, as one who has been involved in this great Plan from the very beginning, as one who in large part made it possible, by switching the Heir with our fake Princeling at birth, as one who has, in your own way, worked as hard toward its success as I have: is there any reason of which you are aware that I should not proceed?”

Mother Northwind was silent for a long moment. “This man of yours, in place to kill the King,” she said. “You trust him?”

“As much as any man can trust another, yes,” Falk said. “He has aged parents. They are currently living in a cottage on my demesne, under the protection of my men-at-arms.”

“Even so,” Mother Northwind said. “If there is a weak link in your plan, surely it is there, in this Commoner . . . I presume he's a Commoner?”

“Of course. Mageborn must account for their presence. Commoners . . . who notices the servants? And in any event, the King is well protected against magic. The assassination must be done by physical means.”

“Well. This Commoner. You cannot know if he has what it takes to strike down the King in cold blood until he does so.”

“If he does not, he knows what will happen,” Falk growled.

“But when the moment comes to strike the necessary blow, he may still falter. I would feel better if you would let me examine him—make sure he is the man for the job.”

Now that
, Falk thought,
is an excellent idea
. “Please do, Mother Northwind. I should have thought of it myself. I confess I, too, would rest easier knowing our assassin is absolutely reliable.”

“So,” said Mother Northwind. “Three ‘examinations' I must perform, not to mention this problem with your sprained shoulder.” She sidled closer. “If you'd just let me take a look at it, I'm sure—”

Falk, trying not to look as though he were in a hurry, stepped back. “Thank you, but I find it much improved.”

“It's a miracle,” Mother Northwind said. “Praise the SkyMage!” She laughed. “I'll show myself out.”

And after she was gone, Falk once more thought,
That went well
...

. . . although as always, after he'd spoken to Mother Northwind, his confidence was seasoned with the tiniest dash of doubt.

THE MORNING AFTER HER CHAT WITH FALK, Mother Northwind once more made the torturous descent to the please-don't-call-it-a-dungeon. She asked to be let into Goodwife Beth's cell first.

It was not a meeting she'd been looking forward to.

Beth, lying on the bed in Tagaza's former cell with her arm thrown over her eyes, moved her arm as the door opened, then scrambled to her feet as the door closed.

“Hello, Beth,” Mother Northwind said. “Long time since we were last both in the Palace together, isn't it?”

Beth blanched, and even put a finger to her lips, but Mother Northwind shook her head. “We are protected,” she said, holding up her left arm to show Verdsmitt's antieavesdropping bracelet, “while I wear this.”

And suddenly Beth relaxed. “If you say so . . . Patron.” And then her face clouded. “I failed you, Lila,” Beth said. It was the first time Mother Northwind had heard her birth name spoken in more than twenty years. She was quite surprised by the pang she felt in response. “You sent the Prince to me for safekeeping, and I—”

“Not your fault, Beth,” Mother Northwind said. “Jopps betrayed you.”

“Jopps?” Beth's brow furrowed. “He wasn't even . . . oh!” And then her face changed again, went hard. “If I get hold of him, his nuts are paste.”

Mother Northwind chuckled. “You always did have a way with words, Beth.”

She and Beth went back a long way. When she had been an anonymous Palace Healer, Beth had been a serving girl. Their schedules had overlapped so that they were often eating in the kitchen together, and they'd struck up a friendship, Mother Northwind hearing everything about Beth's family, about the young man she hoped to marry, about—