“God of Pity, Kade! You know I can’t control what the others may do!”
“But they usually accept your decisions, don’t they? Your judgment?”
The old man snorted. “Tell me what you want of me and then go.”
“Have you seen Master Rap?”
“Not since Gathmor’s funeral.” He stopped his aimless pacing and stared down bleakly at the open trunk for a moment. “Ah . . . you did not know? My apologies, ma’am.”
“I suspected,” Kade said sadly. On the journey from Arakkaran, she had developed a curious admiration for the rough sailor. He had possessed many admirable qualities. “Did his death have anything to do with Master Rap’s decision to fight Kalkor?”
“Everything.”
She sighed. She had known that the faun did not change his mind lightly. ”I am sorry. And glad that he is now avenged. And I wish you knew where Master Rap was! Well, perhaps you, can guess why he’s avoiding Inos?”
Sagorn stopped by the second-best chair and sat down again. “Avoiding her?” he repeated incredulously.
“Definitely. You know that he is now a full sorcerer? You have heard what he did, and that the wardens acquitted him?”
“There are more stories about the faun sorcerer running around Hub than there are rats in the sewers, but I think I have the gist, yes. West challenged him to duel, or vice versa. He vanished in flames and then returned victorious. He is the new warlock of the west.”
“No, he refused the honor.”
“Typical!” Sagorn muttered in disgust.
“It was Inos who saved him, but he has not spoken to her since that night. He healed Angilki as well as he was able, and Azak’s crippled retainer, also. He has been spending time with the prince and also with that young goblin. He reportedly went out of town, but he’s back. Yet he does not go near Inos!”
Sagorn leaned back without taking his eyes off Kadolan. He crossed his legs and then smiled his sinister smile. “And when did you see him?”
“This morning,” she admitted. “I was on my way to my room, and suddenly he came around a corner. He spoke to me, very briefly, and then he just wasn’t there!” She was trying not to show how upset she felt, but the old sage could read her well enough.
“What words did he speak very briefly?”
When she hesitated, Sagorn said, “I can’t advise you if you withhold information!”
“He said, `Tell her I do love her!’ That was all.” The old man frowned, very dark. “How did he seem?”
“Upset. Wild, even.”
“Mad as a shampooed cat, I expect,” Rap said, closing the door behind him. Kadolan started and looked accusingly at Sagorn, but he was obviously even more surprised than she was—frightened, even.
Rap put his hands on his hips and regarded Kadolan sourly. “Isn’t nice to repeat private conversations !”
“It isn’t nice to eavesdrop, either!”
He might be a powerful sorcerer, but he looked like a stablehand. And he still had a wild, jumpy look about him.
“Furthermore,” she snapped, “you may say you love her, but you are being extremely unkind to her. She is very upset.”
He scowled.
“At least you owe her an explanation!” Kade said. She wondered if he was ill. His face was drawn; he seemed feverish.
“Well, she isn’t going to get one.” Rap turned his gaze on Sagorn’s baggage and then on the scholar himself. “I came to keep my promise.”
The old man licked his thin, pale lips. His knuckles were white on the arms of his chair.
Rap chuckled meanly. “See? It isn’t the imperor he’s running from. Nor the wardens, either.”
“It’s you,” Kadolan said.
“Because he knew I would come. He knew I would keep my word. Suddenly he can get what he’s always wanted. And now he’s too old, aren’t you, Doctor? You’ve had a hundred years, and you could have had another hundred—on and off.” He laughed and turned to Kadolan. “And he dare not trust the others, because they’re all younger than him.”
“I think I should leave.” She began to rise.
“No, stay and watch!” Rap said. “This should be entertaining. I’m ready to operate, Doctor Sagorn.” He put his head on one side and seemed to squint for a moment. “Who left the sorcerer’s house?”
The old man had cowered down in his seat. “I did,” he said hoarsely.
“Stand up, please,” Rap said.
Sagorn rose stiffly, his face pale. He backed away as Rap approached, but the faun merely sat down on the roped trunk and stared at him as if he were a public notice. The old sage moved to the window and then turned at bay.
Rap shook his head sadly. “A beautiful piece of work! Rasha was right; it’s a shame to spoil it. Who disappeared last?”
Sagorn muttered, “Thinal,” as if his mouth hurt. “Close your eyes, Princess,” Rap said.
“I thought you told me to watch?”
“It’ll take me a moment to put some clothes on him.”
Kadolan said, “Oh!” and closed her eyes. “You can look now.”
She opened her eyes again. Thinal stood beside Sagorn, staring up at him wide-eyed. For once the little thief wore garments not too large for him. The old man was returning his gaze like a mirror. Almost a century since they had parted: Thinal the leader, and Sagorn the youngest boy in the gang.
Rap chuckled. “And how do you feel about this?”
“Fine, Rap.” Thinal pulled a sickly sort of smile. “Fine. Thank you.”
Again Rap chuckled. “No, you don’t!”
A sudden glint of hope came into Sagorn’s haggard face. Thinal’s teeth began to chatter, and he stuffed a knuckle in his mouth.
“The fairy asked you,” Rap said. “She wanted to know your greatest wish. But she didn’t believe what you said.”
Kadolan didn’t understand that, or know who the fairy was, but she did know that Rap was playing with the men, and the knowledge made her uncomfortable. It was not like him.
“Who went before you, Thinal?”
“Jalon, Rap.”
“Close your eyes, Princess . . .”
And then there were three. The little minstrel was pale as a corpse, gaping at Rap in horror.
Next came Andor. He hid his feelings better, holding a calm smile on his handsome face. “Hello, big brother!”
Thinal said, “Oh, bleeding offal!” He seemed ten years younger than Andor. He was shorter and ugly, yet somehow there was a ludicrous trace of family likeness.
And then the room was crowded. Darad glanced down at the other four and guffawed in triumph. His nose was still crooked and he still wore goblin tattoos like Rap’s, but he had all his teeth back. “I knew you’d do it, sir! I knew you’d free us!”
Rap snorted in disgust. “There they are, Highness. The whole gang, together at last. What do you think of them?”
She studied the five ill-assorted men. They were all staring at one another, ignoring both her and the sorcerer. “I think you should take a vote, Master Rap.”
He laughed coarsely. “They’ve gotten what they wanted,, haven’t they? A hundred years, almost, they’ve been searching for release. And now look at them!”
She wondered where his anger was coming from. Rap had not been like this on the journey from Zark. The five men were still gaping at one another, tongue-tied.
“I don’t need to take a vote,” Rap sneered. “They’ve got what they thought they wanted—and they don’t want it! They had the best of five worlds, each of them, and they didn’t know it!”
“Well,” he added, “I’ve kept my promise.” He rose and began walking to the door.
Darad’s wits had been churning along in their tortoise fashion. Now it was he who shouted, “Wait!”
“Something wrong?” Rap asked, halting.
Darad frowned hideously. “Sir . . . Sir, can we talk about this?”
“Talk about what?” Rap looked puzzled.
“You’ve made your point,” Sagorn said acidly. “All these years we’ve been deceiving ourselves. It wasn’t a curse, it was a blessing . . .”
“. . . at least,” Andor said, “once we gained a word of power it was.”
Jalon shouted, “Now you have shown us. We don’t want to be separated!”
The others were nodding.
“So you want me to put you back together again, I suppose?”
“We share memories,” Sagorn said . . .
“ . it means we’ve almost become . . .” Thinal added.
“ . . like one man,” Darad finished.
None of them seemed to realize how they had spoken; they were not trying to be funny.
“It wasn’t me who showed you,” Rap said. “I’m right, aren’t I, when I say that lately you’ve been switching back and forth a lot more than you used to?”
The five nodded in unison, without looking at him, still unable to take their eyes off one another. Their voices blended in a babble.
“That’s so,” Sagorn said, apparently to Andor. “Since we got caught up in his adventures, at least,” Jalon told both of them.