The Raven Ring (35 page)

“It’s not just that.” Eleret frowned, trying to put into words something that all Cilhar understood in their blood and bones. “An army or a battle team can only have one commander, or it doesn’t work well. And you’re not just acting as if you’re the one in charge; you act as if you’re working entirely alone. I don’t know why—”

“I do,” said Karvonen.

Eleret looked at him, but his expression was serious and his voice did not have its usual mocking edge. “Why, then?”

“It’s because he’s so used to being my lord Daner Vallaniri, second heir to Lord Breann tir Vallaniri of Ciaron.”

“Bah!” said Daner. “That’s absurd. I don’t trade on my rank.”

“No,” Karvonen said, still seriously, “but you’re used to having it. When you ask about something, things get done your way, without argument. Most of the time, you don’t even have to ask. So you don’t think to find out how Eleret wants them done.”

“He’s probably right,” Eleret said. “And you’re going to have to stop. If it comes down to it, it’s my ring and my problem, not yours.”

Daner looked as if he had bitten into a sour apple. “This seems to be my day for lectures. Very well, I’ll try.”

“Good,” Eleret said. Daner looked at her in some surprise, and she smiled. “I want your help, so it’s nice to know I can have it.”

Daner returned her smile. “You’d have it in any case.”

“You don’t understand,” Karvonen said. “It’s not a matter of your willingness to help, it’s a matter of her willingness to have you. If you’d said you couldn’t accept her command, she’d act without you.”

Startled, Daner looked at Eleret, who nodded. “I see,” he said, and for a few minutes everyone ate in silence.

“I’m almost afraid to ask this,” Karvonen said to Eleret at last, “but do all these questions mean you’ve come up with a plan?”

“No,” Eleret said. “I’ve got the beginnings of an idea, that’s all. Daner, didn’t you say that now you can tell whether or not someone is the shapeshifter?”

“Not exactly. Adept Climeral has taught me a spell that will detect a shifter, but I can’t just walk out the door and cast it at the market crowd. It has to be directed at a specific person.”

“Mmm.” Eleret frowned. “It will have to do. Can you keep him from vanishing the way he did last night?”

“I think so.” Daner shook his head ruefully. “An hour ago, I’d have said yes without question, but if what Climeral says about shadow magic is true, I can’t be sure how long I’ll be able to hold him.”

“Assuming we can catch him,” Karvonen said.

“Assuming we can catch him.”

“That’s what this is all about,” Eleret told them. “Before I start setting traps, I want to know they’re strong enough to hold my game.”

“Traps?” Karvonen said in a wary tone. “I don’t like traps.”

“Climeral said my primary resource was surprise,” Eleret said. “And what I saw in the Three of Stones was an ambush.”
And a very effective one.
Eleret smiled slightly, remembering the glowing arrows winging out of the trees, and the monster falling.

Karvonen still looked doubtful. “It’s too easy for something to go wrong.”

“Things have been going wrong ever since I got to Ciaron,” Eleret said. “Besides, it would be silly to ask for Adept Climeral’s advice and then ignore it.”

“Well, I don’t like it.”

“You don’t like anything that has to do with magic,” Daner said.

“If you’ve got a better idea, I’d like to hear it,” Eleret said to Karvonen. “The only other thing I could think of is to wait for Mobrellan to attack again. The problem is, Mobrellan seems to like making other people do his work, while he skulks in the background. We have to make sure he doesn’t send more Syaski or people like Jonystra instead of coming himself, or we’ll never catch him.”

“Sounds to me like a mouse trying to catch a tomcat,” Karvonen muttered. “He’s got a line into a
Shadow-born,
Eleret. Can’t you just stay out of his way?”

“I haven’t had much luck avoiding him so far.”

“True.” Karvonen sighed. “All right, then, how do you plan to get him to show up himself, instead of sending some more henchmen?”

“The same way I make sure my snares catch rabbits and not weasels: use the right bait.” Eleret raised her hand and wiggled her forefinger, making light glint on the raven ring.

“It might work, if we can put it to him the right way,” Daner said thoughtfully.

“Yes, and how are you going to do that?” Karvonen said. “Send out a crier to shout your message on the street corners?”

Eleret smiled at him. “That’s your job.”

“My job? Look, I’m willing to help, I’ve told you that, but I’m not a wizard. I’ve been trying to find this guy since noon yesterday, and I haven’t had a whisper of luck.”

Eleret let her smile grow. “You won’t have to find him. He’ll find you.”

“I have a feeling I’m not going to like this idea much.” Karvonen sighed. “It’s what I get for getting mixed up with Cilhar wizards.”

“Eleret’s not a wizard,” Daner objected.

“Her umpty-great-grandmother was, wasn’t she? That’s good enough for me. Or bad enough. Well, what is it you want me to do?”

“Your family sells information, right?” Eleret said. “Offer to sell somebody information about where I’m going to be tomorrow afternoon. One way or another, that should draw him.”

Daner choked on a spoonful of stew. “Eleret, are you crazy?” he demanded as soon as he could speak again. “I thought you were planning to use the ring as bait, not yourself!”

“It’s the same thing,” Eleret said. “I’m not taking this ring off again, no matter what.”

“I knew I wasn’t going to like this,” Karvonen muttered.

“Eleret, you—” Daner stopped and closed his eyes as if he were in pain. After a moment, he opened them and looked at her. Eleret returned his gaze steadily, and at last he sighed. “I’m not going to be able to talk you out of this, am I?”

“No. You can refuse to cooperate, though.”

“And you’ll do something even crazier.”

“She can’t help it,” Karvonen put in sourly. “She’s a Cilhar.”

Daner gave Karvonen a dark look, and turned back to Eleret. “All right. We’ll do it your way. But how do you know this
thief
won’t sell Mobrellan the truth and wreck your trap?”

“He won’t.” Eleret could not explain why she was certain, any more than she could explain why she had claimed Karvonen as her knife-friend in front of Climeral, but she was as sure of the little thief as she was of Daner.
More sure,
whispered an unfamiliar corner of her mind.
You won’t ever catch
Karvonen
blocking your throwing lines…

“I may be a thief,” Karvonen said to Daner, “but I would never sell up a friend.” He paused, then shrugged. “In this case, there’s no point to it. I’ll get just as much money for what you want me to say, and as long as it’s true as far as it goes, the family reputation won’t suffer.”

“Then you’ll do it?” Eleret said.

“Under protest and against my better judgment,” Karvonen said. “Where do you want me to tell him you’ll be?”

“That could be tricky,” Daner said, frowning. “I doubt that he’d be foolish enough to come here; the Island of the Moon has too much of a reputation for magic. And after what happened last night, he knows we’ll be ready for him if he comes back to the house.”

“He won’t expect anyone to be particularly ready for him at the Broken Harp Inn,” Eleret said. “And I can’t think of any reason he’d be reluctant to go there.”

Daner nodded slowly. “It’s a good idea. From what I remember, none of the rooms is too large for me to cover with a blocking spell.”

“And there’s room to maneuver, if we need to.”

“I’ll send Bresc over earlier with a couple of men,” Daner went on, setting down his spoon to drum his fingers absently on the tabletop. “They can hide somewhere until Mobrellan shows up; that way, we won’t have to worry about whether he’s bringing some more of his hangers-on with him.” He straightened suddenly and looked across at Eleret. “If it’s all right with you, that is.”

“I have no objection to making sure he’s outnumbered,” Eleret said. “It’ll be a nice change.”

“I’m glad to see you’ve got
some
sense,” Karvonen said. “But I can hardly put out word that you’re going to be waiting at the Broken Harp with a gaggle of guards, hoping your shapeshifter will show up. I need a good story.”

“A story?” Daner raised his eyebrows.

“Some kind of reason why, after all that’s happened, you’ve decided to spend the afternoon at the inn instead of under heavy guard or running for your life like a sensible person,” Karvonen said. “What else would you call it?”

They spent the rest of the meal considering and discarding possible tales. At last they settled on one that everyone agreed was plausible: Jonystra had regained consciousness long enough to convey a piece or two of interesting information, and Eleret and Daner were returning to the inn to go through her belongings in hopes of finding out more.

“It’s not a bad idea, you know,” Daner said as the servers removed their empty plates. “We’re fairly close. Why don’t we head over there now, and—”

“No,” Eleret said firmly. “You and I can’t go anywhere near that inn until tomorrow afternoon. Mobrellan might have someone watching it, or us, and we don’t want to scare off the game.”

“I’ll take a look, if you like,” Karvonen offered. “It is rather more my line of work, after all.”

Eleret nodded. “Send us word if you find anything interesting, but don’t come yourself. You shouldn’t be seen with us until after Mobrellan’s got his teeth into the bait.”

“If that’s how you want to work it,” Karvonen said. “I won’t miss the kill, though. One way or another, I’ll meet you at the inn tomorrow. Where will you be in the meantime?”

“The headquarters of the Imperial Guards,” Eleret said. “Mobrellan won’t try anything there, not with half an army watching.”

“Are you sure? He’s a wizard and a shapeshifter, and whatever else he is, he’s not Cilhar. He won’t have your respect for uniforms and swords.”

Daner’s chin rose. “
Nobody
would risk an attack on the headquarters of the Imperial Guard of Ciaron.”

“Your shapeshifter doesn’t seem to go in for frontal assaults,” Karvonen said. “He’s more likely to try a sneak attack.”

Eleret shook her head. “Not with so many people around. Too many things could go wrong. He’s tricky; he’s not stupid.”

“If you say so,” Karvonen said with a shrug. “But wouldn’t it be safer to go back to the Vallaniri keep and wait?”

“Probably, but Daner and I were supposed to talk to Commander Weziral this morning—”

Daner’s expression turned apprehensive. “Ah…I hate to tell you this, but I sent a messenger to tell Weziral we wouldn’t be coming. Since I needed to be here and I, er, didn’t expect anyone else to be going out…”

“Somehow that doesn’t surprise me. I still want to talk to him, though. Will the spells you put on your home hold a while longer, or do you need to go straight back?”

“I think they’ll hold, but I’d feel safer if I made a few adjustments. Climeral showed me a more effective method of blocking, and if there are Shadow-born involved in this, I’d like my blocks as effective as I can make them.”

“So you’re taking Shadow-born seriously now,” Karvonen said in a tone that was half question, half comment.

“Adept Climeral was very convincing.”

“Good,” Eleret said. She thought for a moment. “Mobrellan probably doesn’t realize that I’ve left the house, so it will be best if I visit Commander Weziral before I go back. Why don’t you go strengthen the spells and then meet me at the Guard headquarters?”

Daner frowned. “I don’t like the idea of you running around Ciaron unprotected. I know you’re a competent fighter, but anyone can be taken down by superior numbers. If Mobrellan sends out another batch of Syaski…”

“If the news Karvonen brought this morning is correct, he can’t do that,” Eleret said, and explained briefly. “Syaski don’t like being ordered around by outsiders, any more than Cilhar do,” she finished. “I don’t think they’ll listen to Mobrellan any longer, and they won’t be quite as dangerous without him to direct them.”

“They’ll still be looking for you, though,” Daner said, his expression unchanged.

Eleret shrugged. “Syaski are always on the lookout for Cilhar. We’re used to it. Stop fussing and take care of your business. The sooner you’re done, the sooner you can meet me.”

Daner did not, of course, stop fussing at once. He argued all the way to the side door, and when he could not change Eleret’s mind, he offered to escort her to the Guard headquarters himself. Eleret pointed out that she had arrived at the school without him and without incident, and added a sharp remark about his duty to his family, and in the end, Daner agreed to do things her way.

“He’ll probably run all the way home,” Karvonen said as the door closed behind them. He sounded almost wistful. “I wish I could watch.”

“Daner’s not that foolish,” Eleret said as they turned toward the narrow, nearly empty backstreets.

“Foolish?”

“Running would attract a lot of attention.”

“I don’t think he’ll worry much about that. He’s got other things on his mind.” Karvonen gave Eleret another enigmatic, sidelong look. “Want to bet he gets to Weziral’s before we do?”

Eleret laughed. “Not when you’re my guide. The way you pick a path, you could take me twice round the mountain and I’d never be wiser.”

“Would I do that?” Karvonen gave her a look of totally spurious wide-eyed innocence.

“Probably. So I won’t tempt you.”

“As you wish. This way, Freelady.” Gesturing extravagantly, Karvonen steered Eleret toward a dark and unpleasantly smelly walkway between two buildings.

I’m going to have a time cleaning my boots tonight,
Eleret thought, picking her way over and around the larger pieces of garbage. But at least the alleys were all but deserted; if trouble headed for them, she had a good chance to see it coming.

The route Karvonen chose was even more circuitous than the one that had brought them to the school. It led past a half-broken courtyard wall, through a warped wooden gate to a dim storage area filled with broken barrels and out again by an unlocked door on the far side, along a slightly wider street to another narrow walk, and on to a maze of passageways that reminded Eleret of the Charileduk Caverns, only damper.