“Two sorcerers. All this time I’ve been traveling in the company of two sorcerers.” Turning, he confronted Hunkapa Aub, whose eyes had become suddenly wise as well as blue. “As many days and nights as I have spent in your company, as many evils and dangers as we fought side by side, and I never suspected. I never would have suspected.”
Hunkapa Aub’s smile widened slightly. “Not all wizards look alike, good swordsman. Not everything in life appears as one imagines it to be. And it is not required that one be human to be a master of the thaumaturgic arts.”
Simna could only stare and shake his head in lingering disbelief. “Why? Why the sham and the continuing charade? Why did you let the people of Netherbrae keep you in a cage and throw food at you and torment you with insults and curses?”
Clasping both immoderately hairy hands behind his back, the hulking wizard considered Simna’s flurry of questions. “You would not understand, good swordsman. Even a sorcerer needs to learn by experience. I was traveling through that part of the world when I was accosted by the simple, shallow folk of that otherwise charming mountain town. I could easily have avoided capture, or freed myself at any time. But I was, and am always, curious as to what would motivate otherwise apparently intelligent and compassionate people to act in such a shameful fashion toward another of their fellow beings who had done them no harm. One can learn much about one’s peers by spending time in a cage.
“Then you appeared in Netherbrae, and freed me. Finding you more interesting than anything else that tempted to engage me at that time, I chose to accompany you on your journey. It promised much of interest and elucidation. Suffice to say, I have not been disappointed.”