Eye Spy

by Mercedes Lackey

  She snorted. “Hot honey-water. Like’s not he ain’t et since breakfast, if then.” Satisfied that the Mage was not going to die in her pub, she bustled back out again, looking remarkably like a busy hen.

  Abi and Steve took his mug, then helped him up into a sitting position on the bench.

  The crow hopped back onto his master’s shoulder and rubbed his beak against Korlak’s cheek, crooning.

  Korlak huddled in his seat, leaning on both elbows on the table, mug clasped in white-knuckled hands, sipping and shivering. One of the serving girls turned up at the table and slapped down a plate of stew with a fat chunk of bread and butter on the side in front of him. Abi paid for it without a second thought and began coaxing him to let go of the mug, pick up the spoon, and eat.

  The crow hopped down to the table and began helping himself, looking up at Korlak and helping himself to more, as if he were trying to show the Mage what to do. Finally the sight of his pet eating seemed to rouse him from his terrified stupor, and he did as Abi asked, slowly spooning stew into his mouth. Then he put down the half-empty mug of honey-water and tore off small bits of buttered bread to give to the crow, who looked anxiously into his face before devouring the tidbit.

  Stev sat down across from him, Abi next to him. That seemed to steady him more, too.

  “Better?” Abi asked.

  He took in a huge breath and let it out in a sigh. “Yes . . . and no.” He shivered again. “Do you suppose you could tell me why a party of fake Valdemarans would have someone along who conjures demons?”

  * * *

  • • •

  “. . . so we escorted him back to his shop, and I paid him a gold piece for his troubles,” Abi concluded. She cast a glance around the table. The other three Masters were sitting there with their spoons in the plates, staring at her, open-mouthed. Jicks’ jaw was set hard. Only Bret and Bart continued to eat, jaws moving in unison like a pair of munching horses.

  “Demons?” Master Vance sputtered incredulously.

  She nodded. “That’s what he said. One spell to pull the water into the mortar. One spell to invoke a demon with powers of heat and fire, one spell to invoke a demon with powers of cold and ice. He says he doesn’t know how they managed to control these things, or how they managed to keep them working on the wall without being seen, but he also says he couldn’t tell if the demons were also invisible, which is possible.”

  “Demons?” sputtered Master Vance.

  “I’ve heard of Mages that can call them up,” Jicks said, her jaw still set. “Never saw them myself, but plenty of people I know and trust have. But there’s one set of people I’ve heard of that can reliably call ’em up and make ’em dance that’s got a connection to you people, and if tales are true, a very powerful hate on for you.”

  “Us?” Master Padrick bleated, bewildered and alarmed.

  “Not you, specifically, Master,” Jicks amended. “You, Valdemarans.” She looked to Stev, who nodded grimly, and they spoke as one. “Karsite Priests of Vkandis.”

  16

  Karse, it seemed, wasn’t much more than a name to the three Masters, and “Vkandis” wasn’t even in their vocabulary. So they weren’t much help. They knew Karse was an enemy country, but that was about it.

  Then again, they were no hindrance either, as Stev, Jicks, and Abi tried to put what they knew together with what was happening down here. As Masters, they knew to listen when they were ignorant, because you cannot learn when your mouth is open.

  “I’ve never heard of Karsites coming this close to Valdemar outside of their own borders,” Jicks mused. “Then again, they haven’t made a major move in . . . years, if not decades.”

  Stev and Abi both grimaced. “Well, you wouldn’t,” Abi replied. “And it hasn’t happened in my lifetime, but there’ve been Karsite agents inside Haven in relatively recent memory,” Abi replied. “Not the Mage-priests, though. They can’t handle crossing the Border.”

  “Heard about that,” Jicks said laconically. “Makes you wonder what’ll happen to the Mages here if you people extend the Border the way you’re planning.”

  Abi grimaced, because that suddenly interrupted her line of reasoning. She hadn’t thought of that, and she knew it was something she should have. What would happen to Steen, Albemarle, Korlak, and Evelie? It didn’t seem at all fair that they’d find themselves driven out of their own homes and businesses because the Kingdom of Valdemar itself, and not the people of Valdemar, didn’t want them there.

  “It’s something we hadn’t considered, because we just don’t have Mages,” Stev admitted. “I’ll include that in my report tonight.” He didn’t add that it was difficult even to think of magic inside Valdemar, so it was going to be a bit difficult to get this properly seen to by the Council.

  And I’ll nag Kat about it, Abi decided. Kat wanted to solve problems for Valdemar? Here was a very perplexing one for her to solve. And Kat had been exposed to the concept of magic a lot, because of associating with Mags’ family, so she wouldn’t forget.

  “So I can think of plenty of reasons why Karse would want to discredit Valdemar,” Jicks continued. “And this is a good, cheap way to do it. Not only will it leave the people in this strip of land angry and disinclined to join your Kingdom, it’ll make your allies think twice about your promises. Karse doesn’t even need to move in here themselves. All they need to do is poison the well.”

  “But how did they find out we were here in the first place?” Stev wanted to know. “And find out fast enough to get agents here as soon as we did?”

  “It wasn’t a secret,” Abi pointed out. “We rode out openly, and plenty of people saw us go.”

  “But it wasn’t well known either.” Stev drummed his fingers on the table. “There’s something we’re missing. I just can’t put my finger on it.”

  “Karsite agents in Haven again?” Abi suggested. “All you need is one really good one and a network to relay information quickly.” And father will be turning the air blue with curses to think that he missed catching someone.

  “Possible,” Stev admitted grudgingly. “I’d like to think we’re better at winkling them out than that.”

  “I’d like to think so too, but let’s not let our vanity rule what we consider as likely.” Abi tried to think of something useful, but nothing sprang immediately to mind. “They’re going to keep doing these things,” she said. “Making things worse, wrecking things. That’s why they’re here in the first place. We need to catch them and stop them before they do something that gets someone killed.”

  “Better idea,” Jicks interrupted. “We need to send your Masters home before they get killed. This time it was just a wall, an inconvenience, and people were just annoyed at us. The next time, like you said, someone could get killed, and your Masters are going to find themselves dancing on the end of a rope before we can convince anyone that we’re innocent. Mobs are impossible to reason with.”

  Abi bit her lip. Stev nodded. “You’re right. And let’s not forget the fact that when we catch up with these imposters, one of them is a Mage who controls demons. The Masters can’t protect themselves, and I don’t want to see them turned into hostages.”

  “But what about fixing what these Karsites are breaking?” Abi retorted. “We need the others! If we don’t do that, we don’t fix Valdemar’s reputation!”

  “You’re a Master,” Jicks pointed out, and waited while she tried to think of a response to that.

  I am, but . . .

  She didn’t have the depth and breadth of experience the other three did. She hadn’t known how to make concrete, for instance!

  So you would have gotten them to cut and fit a stone slab for the new footings. There’s always more than one answer. Isn’t Valdemar built on that very premise?

  But there were so many things she didn’t know!

  So you improvise, using what you d
o know. You’re not Mags’ daughter if you can’t improvise. . . .

  “I . . . can try,” she said.

  “Good.” Jicks nodded her head. “So let’s figure out how we can convince your three Masters to go home, and head out on the track of these Karsites.” She looked ready to start right that very minute. It occurred to Abi that thus far Jicks’ life had been very tame. And while she might have enjoyed that for about a moon, clearly she was itching to bash something in the head again.

  “Wait—this isn’t what you signed up for,” Stev said, holding up a hand. “What do you mean by ‘we’?”

  Jicks just grinned. “What I said. You, me and Abi. When we track these bastards down and put a hole in the priest, there’s going to be a very big reward for me. A nice reward from your King, I’m sure, because your King is pretty generous, and an even nicer one from Menmellith, because they have a standing bounty on these Mage-priests. Between the two, I’ll have enough to buy that pub I want to retire to.”

  “Huh,” was all Stev said.

  She’s never going to retire—oh wait. A pub. Where she can have a nice bar fight every evening if she wants, just to remind her of old times.

  “All right, then,” Abi agreed. “So, we send the Masters back with your boys?”

  “And the caravan and one of the wagons.” Jicks nodded. “With only three of us we won’t need all the supplies, and the three of us can fit in the wagon to sleep.”

  Abi thought regretfully of that nice, comfortable bunk in the caravan, but had to agree. They didn’t need any of those things . . . And, oh, gods, I cannot believe I am about to say this but . . . “We don’t actually need the wagon either,” she said, cringing a little. “And we’d be faster without it. You remember what the Stablemaster said: the hinnies can eat just about anything. We could take all the riding hinnies, use two of them for pack animals, and . . .”

  “Personal opinion, bad idea,” Jicks countered. “One, that leaves someone with no experience driving a wagon. Two, I want the supplies. In fact, I want most of the supplies—Master Vance has money enough to buy meals at inns all the way back home. Three, thunderstorms around here can be deadly; I want something we can shelter in.”

  “I agree on all counts,” Stev said. “Remember, we may be encountering hostile locals, and I’d rather know we have food we can trust, and not eat a plate of mushrooms that has me curling up and rolling around like a hoop.”

  Abi gulped a little. She knew just enough about poisons to know he was absolutely right.

  “Right!” Stev continued. “Step one: Get the footings done, because we’ll never get them out of here until the Masters are happy with what they’re leaving behind. Step two: get them on their way.”

  “That’ll be a lot faster than getting down here,” Abi pointed out. “They’re used to riding all day now.”

  “Step three: figure out which way those bastards went. Step four: make sure we’re all outfitted as closely as possible to the locals. We’re going to say we’re from Ellistown from now on. Then—”

  “No plan survives contact with the enemy,” Jicks interrupted. “That’s good enough for now.”

  “I’ll go talk to Haven and tell them what’s happened and what we’ve decided,” Stev said. “They’ll argue with me, I expect, but they’re there and I’m here, and we’ve all already decided to go through with this, right?”

  Abi and Jicks both nodded, but Abi could only think of what her father and mother would . . .

  . . . or maybe not. She was older than Perry had been when he got caught up in a dangerous situation. She wasn’t alone—she was with a very experienced Herald, and an equally experienced fighter, and as much of a mercenary as Jicks was, Abi also had seen plenty of evidence that she was just as honorable. So . . . they’d worry, but they wouldn’t immediately demand that she come home.

  “You can go home too, you know,” Jicks said suddenly, looking at Abi. “I could bring one of the boys. You know how to drive and you’re good with the hinnies. You’re awfully young to go diving into danger like this.”

  For a moment, she was tempted. If she went home now, she’d be back in time for most of the bridge building. But after a moment of thought, she shook her head. They not only needed people to take out the Karsites, they needed someone to repair damage and Valdemar’s reputation with it. “How old were you when you first signed up with a Company?” she countered.

  Jicks grinned. “Fifteen. Point taken. And it seems you know what you’re getting into. I sure as hell had no idea when I first signed on.”

  “I’ll vouch for that,” said Stev.

  “All right then, you go commune with your horse. I’ll dig the boys out of the pub and tell them what’s going on. In the morning we tackle the Masters.”

  “No, after they pour the footings,” Abi corrected. “And then only if it goes well. Otherwise I am afraid we’ll have a Master-Vance-shaped tempest on our hands.”

  * * *

  • • •

  The mixing of the cement went well, with all four of the Masters examining the cement critically at every stage to see if it differed in any obvious ways from cement they’d poured in the past. The pouring went well. The form filled up nicely, the cement began to firm up almost as soon as it was poured, and by lunchtime, Master Vance decreed that they could all go to lunch, leaving two of the locals to keep guard over the curing concrete.

  “I don’t want to see so much as a bird footprint in my cement,” Master Vance growled before they all paraded back to the Town Hall. “If I do, there will be Consequences.” The two men nodded, and sat down, one at either end of the poured concrete, to keep a careful eye on it while they ate their own lunches.

  Jicks’ little talk with the innkeeper had only produced the result that they got extra bread and butter, and there was now more vegetables and shreds of meat than broth in their soup. Evidently the mayor’s parsimony weighed heavier in the scales than Jicks’s “persuasion.” But none of the Masters had time to comment on this minor change because Stev got right to the point of what was going on and what was going to happen as a result as soon as they all sat down.

  “There are four Karsite agents, one of them a Mage-priest who can invoke their demons, posing as the Valdemaran delegation,” he said bluntly. “We know this now. We know that while they haven’t hurt or killed anyone yet, given that they don’t care if they do, it’s only a matter of time before they will. And when that happens, the moment we set foot in that town, there will be a mob looking for our blood. By the time the mob is appeased, one or more of us is going to be hurt or dead, It’s too dangerous for you to be here now.” Stev paused. “And another thing. As soon as they find out you’re fixing what they destroyed, they’ll come for you themselves. You need to go back home.”

  They all looked up at him, blank-faced as they digested this. Abi half expected objections, but they didn’t make any; evidently they took what Stev said seriously. They looked at each other, then at Abi and Stev, then back to each other. Master Vance spoke first. “I don’t like to leave a job half done,” he said reluctantly.

  “You’ll like it even less leaving it in a coffin,” Jicks said dryly.

  Master Vance blanched. But Padrick and Beyrn nodded, as if this was what they had expected to hear. “Can we go straight north to the Border from here?” Beyrn asked anxiously.

  Jicks shook her head. “Too much rough ground for the wagons. Retracing your steps is the only way. You’ll have the caravan and one wagon and you can’t take those across country or on the little tracks you’d need to take. But you’ll go back faster because you won’t be stopping to solve problems.”

  “And we’re used to riding all day, so that will speed things up as well,” Vance mused, and then realized what she’d said. “Wait. One wagon? Are we leaving one here?”

  “No, we’re taking it, Abi, Jicks, and I,” said Stev. “We need
to hunt these men down and eliminate them before they destroy Valdemar’s reputation.”

  “Abi? I absolutely forbid—” Vance began.

  “You don’t get a choice, Master,” Abi interrupted. “You three and Bret and Bart are going home the fastest way possible. Jicks and Stev and I are tracking down these Karsites. I’ll be coming up with solutions to fix any problems they’ve caused, but we’re going incognito until we make sure no one’s been hurt, and only then offer to fix things. Three people and a wagon probably won’t attract attention, but eight people and three vehicles will. And when we catch up with the imposters, we’re going to stop them. That’s what’s going to happen.”

  “But—but—but—you’re nothing but a slip of a girl!” Vance protested. “Oh, I don’t doubt you can solve any problem the three of us could, but what about when you finally confront these villains?”

  “Haven’t you seen the girl practicing against me in the mornings?” Jicks asked quietly. “I’m not holding back, you know. Abi’s not some sheltered little scholar who doesn’t know which end of a sword to hold. She’s good. I’d have her at my back in any fight.”

  Master Vance stared at the mercenary for a long time.

  “Isn’t this the business of the Guard?” he said, finally.

  Stev actually smacked himself in the face with his palm. “Please tell me you’re not that naive,” he begged. “Send the Valdemaran Guard past our Border to hunt down Karsites? Not only would we never get another ally to trust us again, we’d never get any of these people to agree to—”

  They had been so intent on their conversation that not even Abi had noticed that a half dozen people had entered the Great Hall until the mayor cleared his throat ostentatiously. And they all jumped, turned in their seats, and stared.

  The Mage-smith elbowed the mayor, who also jumped. “Uhm . . . it has come to our attention . . . that . . . uhm . . . the vandals who broke our wall were agents of Karse,” the mayor said nervously. “There’s a standard bounty on agents of Karse posted by the Crown of Menmellith, which we honor here, especially the ones that can summon demons. I’ve been asked to give you authorization and deputization to find them and deal with them. If you will. You don’t have to. But—”