Heroes Return (26 page)

“No,” I answered, a reflexive response. That was true, too. Taro was in danger of losing control of the events he was channeling in Flown Raven, and the regulars had felt tremors, but to date he had not failed to actually channel any event since coming to Flown Raven.

And the event he had stopped channeling in High Scape, we didn’t know if he couldn’t. He’d just stopped because I told him to.

Something told me I should be telling Kaagen about our difficulties. The only reason I didn’t was because I knew Taro would explode if I did. And that was so stupid. We could be sent somewhere else. He had to want that. All it would take was telling Kaagen.

Why would Taro care whether people knew he had difficulty channeling the events of his place of birth? It was no reflection on his abilities. It was expected.

Kaagen noticed my distraction. “Have you remembered something?”

“No, I was just checking. No incomplete channelings.”

I watched him write in silence.

“Now, tell me about the first time you channeled in High Scape.”

The rest of the morning was spent going over in painful detail Taro and my channeling history during our first few months. I didn’t have to lie or smooth out details much. I’d written reports for most of it, reports Kaagen had brought with him, and I’d been honest in them. There had been no reason to be anything but honest at that point.

When the light streaming through the windows announced it was past midday, Kaagen used the bellpull and asked the answering maid for refreshments for the both of us. It didn’t surprise me that we had more to discuss, but I was getting tired. I would have appreciated a chance to stretch my legs and to get away from a room that I’d once thought lovely but was now finding suffocating.

Then Kaagen got to Stevan Creol, and I began to feel even more uncomfortable. “Source Karish wrote in his report that Source Creol was able to use his abilities to create events.”

“Yes.”

“Why did Source Karish write that report? It is your task to write reports.”

“He wanted to do it.”

“Why?”

“I think he felt that as he had been abducted by Creol and had spent the most time with him, he would be better able to write an appropriate report.”

“I see.” He jotted something down. “How did Creol create events?”

“I don’t know.” That was the truth. I still had no real idea how Taro did it, really.

“But you believed him when he said he could do it.”

“He demonstrated he could do it.”

“How did he do that?”

“He caused a flood.”

“Did he? That’s not mentioned in Source Karish’s r eport.”

“Karish wasn’t there when the flood happened. I guess I forgot to mention it to him.”

“You forgot to tell him that Creol could cause events,” Kaagen said in a flat tone.

“He already knew Creol could create events by the time I found him. I guess that detail got lost in all the other things that were going on.”

“But how did you know Creol caused the event?”

“It was a conclusion I came to afterward, due to the timing of it. Also, I could feel it when I Shielded him.”

“You Shielded him?”

“Aye.”

“Why did you do that?”

“He wasn’t bonded. He said an event was coming. He asked me to Shield him, so I did.”

“And you were able to do so.”

“Yes.”

“Without difficulty.”

“With little difficulty.” It was always a little difficult to Shield a Source I wasn’t bonded to.

“That’s fairly unusual, wouldn’t you say?”

“It’s not unheard of.”

“Have you, since bonding, Shielded any other Source who was not Source Karish?”

“Yes, Source Tenneson. I happened to be there, so I Shielded him.”

“With no difficulty?”

“With little difficulty.”

He appeared annoyed by the qualification. I was merely being accurate, and someone of his experience should have better control over his expression.

“You never reported that unusual skill to the council.”

“I wasn’t on duty. It wasn’t my place to write a r eport.”

“That’s a specious excuse.”

“I assumed Shield Ogawa wrote a report. She and Tenneson were recalled shortly thereafter.”

“To my knowledge, no one has reported this little ability of yours to the council. You should have.”

“I see.” I wasn’t going to apologize. It wasn’t unheard of for Shields to be able to protect Sources not their own.

“Why did the timing of the flood alert you to the possibility that Source Creol was causing the event?”

I honestly couldn’t really remember. It had been a confusing time. “I think it was because Middle Reach is a fairly cold site, and he was talking about events, and all of a sudden one happened. It seemed a little too coincidental.”

“I see.” There was a long period of scribbling then. “Have you ever Shielded another Source who could cause events?”

“No.” There, that was a lie. And I hoped Taro was telling Pedulla the exact same thing.

But what if he didn’t? What did it matter? What would they do to us if we lied? I really had no idea. Could they send us to a cold site for that?

“Are you sure?” Kaagen asked.

Did he have to make me confirm every single answer? “Quite sure.”

The maid who had taken Kaagen’s request returned with a tray of water, bread, cheese and dried fruit. I wasn’t hungry, but I took a small portion anyway. It would help to keep my head clear.

“Now, did you see the report Source Karish wrote concerning his and your time in Middle Reach?” Kaagen asked after the painful silence of our meal.

“I did.”

“Did it not appear to be lacking in detail to you?”

“No. And we received no request for a follow-up from the council.”

“Do you have any idea how many reports we receive?” he demanded.

I’d never thought about it. “Meaning you don’t read them all.”

“Of course we do,” he blustered. “But it may take longer than we’d like to get to them.”

Ah.

“Source Karish’s report says that the two of you, as well as a handful of other Sources, were kept in a hole that Source Creol had created in the ground with this talent of his.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“And it was sealed over you?”

“Yes.”

“Then how did the two of you escape?”

Ah, hell. Think think think. “Creol left it open the last time,” I lied.

“Why would he do that?” Kaagen asked skeptically.

“I’m not sure,” I said, thinking frantically, drawing out my words to give myself time. “But I have a theory.”

“Please be so good as to share it.”

Pompous git. “There were a couple of things at play, I think. All of the Sources aside from Karish had been in the pit for several weeks. All of them, including Karish, were very weak. I think Creol felt we wouldn’t be able to escape the pit even if the top were open, and there was no one outside the pit willing to help us. So there would be no harm in leaving it open. As well, I believe that shifting the soil was very taxing, and the attack on High Scape would be even more so. He wanted to save his strength.”

“I see.”

I didn’t think he believed me. That wasn’t fair. That was a reasonable explanation, even if I was just making it up as I went along.

“So the Sources were able to garner the strength to get out?” Kaagen asked.

“One of Creol’s followers had earned his disfavor and was put in the pit when I was. With his help, Karish and I were able to get out. Eventually, after Creol died, we were able to arrange to get the others out.”

“And how exactly did Creol die?”

I’d killed him. Taro had felt him causing the event. Taro had fought him while I Shielded Taro. I’d been able to tamper with Creol’s Shield, so that the forces he was manipulating weren’t properly released. The pressure had, according to reports, caused him to literally explode. “I’m not sure.” My voice was strained to my ears. “Something went wrong.”

“Were you there when he died?”

“No.”

“You didn’t see it?”

“No.”

“You seem affected by it.”

“It’s one thing to hear stories of channeling going wrong. To know it actually happened is disturbing.”

“I see.” Kaagen put aside his paperwork. “This wasn’t in any report, per se, but we heard stories that Source Karish performed his own events while in Middle Reach.”

“No,” I said firmly. “He threatened to, to ensure our safety and the safety of the other Sources. They didn’t know the pit had been left open. He claimed to have opened it himself, and convinced them that he could do what Creol could. He can be very convincing when he wants.”

“No doubt,” Kaagen said sourly. “But the stories said he convinced them by demonstration.”

“He didn’t. I don’t know what else to tell you.”

“You are telling me that Shintaro Karish, touted as the most talented Source of his generation, cannot perform a skill a Source who couldn’t even bond could perform?”

“To my knowledge, there was no doubt about Creol’s skill, only his character.”

Kaagen shuffled through his papers for several moments. “Let’s move on a little.”

Gladly.

“High Scape suffered a period of highly unseasonal weather not too long ago.”

“Yes, the residents call it the Harsh Summer.”

“It was during that summer that rumors started about Source Karish having the ability to heal.”

“Aye, I know about those.”

“Can Source Karish heal?”

“Of course not.”

“Then how can you account for the rumors?”

“The regulars were angry with us for not normalizing the weather. In an attempt to garner goodwill, Karish visited ill and injured people in the hospital, where he would talk with them, flirt with them, fetch things for them. He made them feel better by giving them attention. That’s all.” I was proud of that answer. It seemed a particularly good one to me.

“And that was enough to have people lining up in front of your door last fall looking to be healed from that plague.”

Ah, that. I knew that would come back and bite us. “People lined up, but Karish couldn’t do anything for them.” And that was the truth.

“They don’t seem to feel that way. People who saw him said he made them better.”

How did he know? Who had he been talking to?

“He might have made them feel better. He has an excellent manner with people. But he couldn’t heal them.”

Kaagen sighed loudly, putting down his quill. “Shield Mallorough, all morning I have been dismayed to feel you have either been lying to me or omitting the truth in an attempt to mislead me.”

I suddenly felt ashamed, because that was true. But I didn’t speak as he was clearly waiting for me to do. I couldn’t give anything away.

“What has anyone in the Triple S done to make you feel you needed to be dishonest with us?”

Nothing, really. Except Taro was so afraid of them, and he didn’t scare easily. And I’d killed a man and I didn’t want to be punished for it. And I’d never heard from my cousin Caspian since he had been recalled to Shidonee’s Gap. And a dozen little things that made me think the council didn’t have the best interests of the individual members in mind.

“Have you nothing to say?” Kaagen prodded.

“No.”

Kaagen glared at me.

There was a knock on the door.

“Not now!” Kaagen snapped.

“It’s me,” his Source said through the door.

Kaagen went to the door and opened it just a little. “I’m in the middle of things.”

“I can’t deal with him anymore,” Pedulla hissed. “He’s making me crazy.”

“Keep your voice down!” Kaagen stepped out into the hall and closed the door behind him.

I grinned. I guessed Taro was engaging in his useless lordling routine, pretending to misunderstand questions and giving vapid answers. People did find it infuriating. I wished I could watch.

I sighed and laid my head against the table. I was getting a headache.

Chapter Twenty

Kaagen came back into the library and I sat up, embarrassed that he had seen me so weak. He picked up his notes. “Source Pedulla will be speaking with you for the rest of the day,” he told me.

“Oh,” I said. So now Kaagen was going to be driven crazy by Taro’s act. He totally deserved it.

Maybe I should take a leaf from Taro’s book. I could be convincing in behaving vapidly. I was sure of it.

Kaagen left, and in a few moments more, Pedulla came into the library. I noticed he had far fewer notes than Kaagen had had. He sat down in Kaagen’s seat.

“I would like to talk to you about your first visit to Erstwhile,” he said. “How did that come about?”

That seemed an abrupt change from what I’d been talking to Kaagen about. Did that mean anything? “We received a summons from the Empress.”

“What was the reason for the summons?”

“I believe she thought Karish had something to do with stopping Creol and his attacks on High Scape.”

“What made her think that?”

How was I supposed to know the mind of the Empress? “Nothing we said.”

“So other people were saying Shintaro stopped Creol?”

“I don’t know. They never said so to us.”

“What did Shintaro do to kill Creol?”

He really had very dark eyes. They made me want to stare into them. It was distracting, and if I was distracted, I would say something stupid. “Karish didn’t kill Creol.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“How can you be sure?”

Because I killed him. “He was with me when Creol died, and we weren’t anywhere near Creol.”

Pedulla leaned back in his chair and stared at me. I stared back, but it was hard. His stare had a weight to it that I wasn’t used to.