Dayna a somewhat grimmer look. "We've got a lot to talk about."
"We certainly do," Dayna said. "I take it Jess mentioned that the new Council is blowing off my observations about the . . . incident."
He gave her a fleeting grin as they headed for the tack room. "Blowing off. Expression left over from Ohio?"
"Yes. And did she mention the stallion? Why we brought him?"
He led the way into the tack room, settling the saddle over the top of another on its rack and dropping the saddle cloth into a hamper of similarly dirty horse blankets; rows of empty saddle racks lined the wall, and he took the bridle from Dayna to place it on an unassigned bridle hook on the adjoining wall.
Thigh-high equipment trunks lined each wall beneath the racks and hooks of carefully cleaned leather accouterments—cruppers, chest bands, courier bags, hobbles—although as with the saddles and bridles, most of the spots were empty, the walls bare. "Why you brought him?" Seemingly without even looking, he took Jess's saddlebags from Suliya, leaving her her own. "It was the only way for you to get here, she said—something Garvin and I will deal with later—"
Impatiently, Dayna said, "I'd have waited another day to catch a different ride, if that was the only reason. But Jess said it best—he's the only one who saw what happened to the Council. The only one who lived through it. The only one who can tell us—"
" Tell you!" Suliya said, drawing both their startled attentions her way. She shifted under Dayna's sky blue gaze and Carey's appraising expression, but Dayna quickly picked up the conversation where she'd left it.
"If we can use a changespell . . ."
Carey gave a quick shake of his head. "It's checkspelled. You know that. You burning well ought to, after last summer!"
She shrugged. "There's raw magic—"
"That's crazy!" Suliya said. In her mind's eye she saw the development wizards at SpellForge, testing spell formulas, going over every element; more times than she could remember, they'd given her derisive warnings about the use of raw magic. How dangerous it was, how unpredictable, how horrible the consequences.
Dayna gave her a wicked little grin; Suliya hadn't seen that gleam in her eye before, and she wasn't sure she liked it now. "What do you think I do?" she said. "What do you think Second Siccawei is all about?"
"I grew up wandering the halls of SpellForge," Suliya said, taking a step back from Dayna but shaking her head with each word. "Raw magic is a fool's tool—and anyone who sticks around to watch is a fool, too!"
"You two get along well together, I see," Carey said dryly. "Ease off, Suliya. As it happens, I agree with you in this case—but it just might be that there's more to the world than you know."
"You don't think I can do it," Dayna said to him. "I expected more of you, after what you've seen."
"I've got an entire hold to think about," Carey said, and Suliya realized to her horror that he was truly tempted to let Dayna try. "And what I think is that we have too much at stake to make the wrong decision right now."
Dayna took his words in silence, a narrow-eyed kind of silence that looked like a thoughtful marshalling of more argument.
A sudden clap of sound rocked the stable; as one, they ducked, crouching close to the floor. Carey recovered first, bolting for the stalls; Dayna muttered a nonsensical phrase that sounded like, "Good God," and then very definitely, "Does this sort of thing always go on, or is it only when I'm here?" and then she, too, was out the door.
Suliya followed, but at the head of the long stall aisle, stopped to gape. Snow floated in the air, more thickly over the middle section, snow from nowhere. The air bit at her lungs and nose with a singed dryness, completely at odds with the existence of snow.
Carey glanced at the falling flakes, raked his gaze along the stalls, and finally snapped, "Report!" in a voice loud enough to make it down to the big double doors and back again. Suliya
"We certainly do," Dayna said. "I take it Jess mentioned that the new Council is blowing off my observations about the . . . incident."
He gave her a fleeting grin as they headed for the tack room. "Blowing off. Expression left over from Ohio?"
"Yes. And did she mention the stallion? Why we brought him?"
He led the way into the tack room, settling the saddle over the top of another on its rack and dropping the saddle cloth into a hamper of similarly dirty horse blankets; rows of empty saddle racks lined the wall, and he took the bridle from Dayna to place it on an unassigned bridle hook on the adjoining wall.
Thigh-high equipment trunks lined each wall beneath the racks and hooks of carefully cleaned leather accouterments—cruppers, chest bands, courier bags, hobbles—although as with the saddles and bridles, most of the spots were empty, the walls bare. "Why you brought him?" Seemingly without even looking, he took Jess's saddlebags from Suliya, leaving her her own. "It was the only way for you to get here, she said—something Garvin and I will deal with later—"
Impatiently, Dayna said, "I'd have waited another day to catch a different ride, if that was the only reason. But Jess said it best—he's the only one who saw what happened to the Council. The only one who lived through it. The only one who can tell us—"
" Tell you!" Suliya said, drawing both their startled attentions her way. She shifted under Dayna's sky blue gaze and Carey's appraising expression, but Dayna quickly picked up the conversation where she'd left it.
"If we can use a changespell . . ."
Carey gave a quick shake of his head. "It's checkspelled. You know that. You burning well ought to, after last summer!"
She shrugged. "There's raw magic—"
"That's crazy!" Suliya said. In her mind's eye she saw the development wizards at SpellForge, testing spell formulas, going over every element; more times than she could remember, they'd given her derisive warnings about the use of raw magic. How dangerous it was, how unpredictable, how horrible the consequences.
Dayna gave her a wicked little grin; Suliya hadn't seen that gleam in her eye before, and she wasn't sure she liked it now. "What do you think I do?" she said. "What do you think Second Siccawei is all about?"
"I grew up wandering the halls of SpellForge," Suliya said, taking a step back from Dayna but shaking her head with each word. "Raw magic is a fool's tool—and anyone who sticks around to watch is a fool, too!"
"You two get along well together, I see," Carey said dryly. "Ease off, Suliya. As it happens, I agree with you in this case—but it just might be that there's more to the world than you know."
"You don't think I can do it," Dayna said to him. "I expected more of you, after what you've seen."
"I've got an entire hold to think about," Carey said, and Suliya realized to her horror that he was truly tempted to let Dayna try. "And what I think is that we have too much at stake to make the wrong decision right now."
Dayna took his words in silence, a narrow-eyed kind of silence that looked like a thoughtful marshalling of more argument.
A sudden clap of sound rocked the stable; as one, they ducked, crouching close to the floor. Carey recovered first, bolting for the stalls; Dayna muttered a nonsensical phrase that sounded like, "Good God," and then very definitely, "Does this sort of thing always go on, or is it only when I'm here?" and then she, too, was out the door.
Suliya followed, but at the head of the long stall aisle, stopped to gape. Snow floated in the air, more thickly over the middle section, snow from nowhere. The air bit at her lungs and nose with a singed dryness, completely at odds with the existence of snow.
Carey glanced at the falling flakes, raked his gaze along the stalls, and finally snapped, "Report!" in a voice loud enough to make it down to the big double doors and back again. Suliya
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