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.“The soldiers will scream for help from the castle.I think the duke will have to send out additional soldiers to back them up, or risk losing his men to us.”“Drawing down the defenses of the castle,” Paren said.“And how do you plan to sneak in through the wards? There’s only one way into the castle.”That settled one thing that had been bothering Emily; Paren didn’t know about the tunnel network running under the city.She’d considered using it to sneak into the castle, perhaps leading a small assault force, but the wards would make that difficult.Lady Barb’s warnings rang in her ears.It would be quite possible for them to walk in and lose themselves in the catacombs, never to be seen again.“I’ve had an idea,” Emily assured him.She didn’t go into details.“But the fewer guards in the castle, the better.”“I can enchant some mirrors to allow us to communicate,” Imaiqah said.“They won’t last for more than a few hours, but we’d be able to coordinate our actions.”Paren nodded.“But tell me,” he said, “what do you intend to do once you’re inside the castle?”“Rescue Alassa,” Emily said, simply.“And then try and take down the wards, allowing you to walk into the castle.”“The wards aren’t the only defenses,” Paren reminded her.“Do you think we can take out enough soldiers to allow us to break into the castle, even without the wards?”Emily frowned.“How many magicians do you have who are willing to help?”“Not many,” Paren admitted.“Most mages stay out of politics here.They don’t entirely trust the council.”Emily looked at Imaiqah, who shrugged.“There was an accusation that a magician who specialized in mental magic had used magic to convince people to vote for him,” Paren said.There was a dark tone in his voice.“The magician eventually had to withdraw from the council chamber, which didn’t sit well with the other magicians.Most of them are likely to side against the council if they have to make a choice.”“Even a handful of magicians could make the difference between success and failure if the wards were completely gone,” Emily pointed out.She looked over at a large grandfather clock perched against one wall.“How long will it take you to get organized?”“Perhaps an hour or two,” Paren said.“Night will have fallen by then, Lady Emily…”“Good,” Emily said.She tried to project a confidence she didn’t feel into her words.“It will make it easier to remain unseen.”“I’ll have food brought in for the pair of you,” Paren said, standing up.“And I’ll let you know when we are ready.”He left the room, followed rapidly by the other councilors.Imaiqah cast a privacy ward in the air as soon as the door had closed behind them.“Are you sure that you can get into the castle?”“Yes,” Emily said, and prayed that her friend wouldn’t ask for details.“I think I can.”“Most of the magicians they have seem to need to use wands,” Imaiqah said.“But the crow-faced magician who took Alassa didn’t need one.Do you think he’s a full-fledged sorcerer?”“More experienced than me,” Emily muttered.The bird-magician hadn’t felt as powerful as Void or the grandmaster, but he could easily have been concealing his magic.But then, if he was that powerful, all three of them could have been taken prisoner easily.“And I don’t think he will be holding back the next time.”“If he was,” Imaiqah reminded her.“He came very close to killing me.”Emily nodded, silently promising herself that the bird-magician was going to pay for that.“I could come with you,” Imaiqah offered.“Or surely there must be someone else…?”“No one we can call,” Emily admitted.“If we had Jade here…”She thought–again–about trying to contact the grandmaster and asking him to pass a message to Void, but it wouldn’t be fair to him.And besides, it would take time for the message to reach her guardian even if the grandmaster forwarded it without hesitation.It was just another reminder that instant communications were very rare in the Allied Lands.“You should have accepted his offer,” Imaiqah said.She stuck out her tongue at Emily’s expression.“If he’d been engaged to you, he might well have come with you to Zangaria, just to make sure that a handsome prince didn’t sweep you off your feet [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.“The soldiers will scream for help from the castle.I think the duke will have to send out additional soldiers to back them up, or risk losing his men to us.”“Drawing down the defenses of the castle,” Paren said.“And how do you plan to sneak in through the wards? There’s only one way into the castle.”That settled one thing that had been bothering Emily; Paren didn’t know about the tunnel network running under the city.She’d considered using it to sneak into the castle, perhaps leading a small assault force, but the wards would make that difficult.Lady Barb’s warnings rang in her ears.It would be quite possible for them to walk in and lose themselves in the catacombs, never to be seen again.“I’ve had an idea,” Emily assured him.She didn’t go into details.“But the fewer guards in the castle, the better.”“I can enchant some mirrors to allow us to communicate,” Imaiqah said.“They won’t last for more than a few hours, but we’d be able to coordinate our actions.”Paren nodded.“But tell me,” he said, “what do you intend to do once you’re inside the castle?”“Rescue Alassa,” Emily said, simply.“And then try and take down the wards, allowing you to walk into the castle.”“The wards aren’t the only defenses,” Paren reminded her.“Do you think we can take out enough soldiers to allow us to break into the castle, even without the wards?”Emily frowned.“How many magicians do you have who are willing to help?”“Not many,” Paren admitted.“Most mages stay out of politics here.They don’t entirely trust the council.”Emily looked at Imaiqah, who shrugged.“There was an accusation that a magician who specialized in mental magic had used magic to convince people to vote for him,” Paren said.There was a dark tone in his voice.“The magician eventually had to withdraw from the council chamber, which didn’t sit well with the other magicians.Most of them are likely to side against the council if they have to make a choice.”“Even a handful of magicians could make the difference between success and failure if the wards were completely gone,” Emily pointed out.She looked over at a large grandfather clock perched against one wall.“How long will it take you to get organized?”“Perhaps an hour or two,” Paren said.“Night will have fallen by then, Lady Emily…”“Good,” Emily said.She tried to project a confidence she didn’t feel into her words.“It will make it easier to remain unseen.”“I’ll have food brought in for the pair of you,” Paren said, standing up.“And I’ll let you know when we are ready.”He left the room, followed rapidly by the other councilors.Imaiqah cast a privacy ward in the air as soon as the door had closed behind them.“Are you sure that you can get into the castle?”“Yes,” Emily said, and prayed that her friend wouldn’t ask for details.“I think I can.”“Most of the magicians they have seem to need to use wands,” Imaiqah said.“But the crow-faced magician who took Alassa didn’t need one.Do you think he’s a full-fledged sorcerer?”“More experienced than me,” Emily muttered.The bird-magician hadn’t felt as powerful as Void or the grandmaster, but he could easily have been concealing his magic.But then, if he was that powerful, all three of them could have been taken prisoner easily.“And I don’t think he will be holding back the next time.”“If he was,” Imaiqah reminded her.“He came very close to killing me.”Emily nodded, silently promising herself that the bird-magician was going to pay for that.“I could come with you,” Imaiqah offered.“Or surely there must be someone else…?”“No one we can call,” Emily admitted.“If we had Jade here…”She thought–again–about trying to contact the grandmaster and asking him to pass a message to Void, but it wouldn’t be fair to him.And besides, it would take time for the message to reach her guardian even if the grandmaster forwarded it without hesitation.It was just another reminder that instant communications were very rare in the Allied Lands.“You should have accepted his offer,” Imaiqah said.She stuck out her tongue at Emily’s expression.“If he’d been engaged to you, he might well have come with you to Zangaria, just to make sure that a handsome prince didn’t sweep you off your feet [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]