Chapter Twelve #2
Sebastian left his desk and began pacing, which for him was the equivalent of someone else jumping up and down. Unlike Cyrus and me, he liked this idea. He liked it a lot.
“She called, and they answered, people who didn’t know her, who had no loyalty to her. Quite the contrary, as she was dressed as a war mage, whom the people in Tartarus have long had reason to fear and dislike. Yet they fought for her nonetheless—”
“They were angry,” Ulmer put in, frowning. “The Black Circle bastards had rounded them up like animals and put ‘em in cages—and roughed many of them up in the process. They had reason to want some payback.”
“Yet before that call, most of them had not been fighting,” Sebastian countered. “From the reports I received, the majority ran, as one might expect. That is what people do in such cases, especially vargulfs, who have learned to avoid conflict with no clan to back them up.
“But when Lia called, they turned around, some from a considerable distance. They were safe, they were free; the last thing they should have wanted was to return to a dire situation! But return they did.
“What if it wasn’t a choice?”
“What are you saying?” Cyrus asked.
“I’m saying that some of those who returned might have even had run-ins with the Corps—in fact, many of them might! And those had little reason to see much difference between Lia and the Black Circle’s mages. Yet they fought for her.
“What if Rand might do the same? What if her ability allows her to steal the servants of the enemy, rally his own army against him—”
“That’s ridiculous!”
“Is it? The old records are spotty at best, and oral tradition is contradictory. No one alive has seen an úlfhe?dinn, who died out centuries ago. But if that potion truly brought back such a gift—”
“It didn’t,” I said. “Not like that, anyway. They rallied to me, but because they wanted to.”
“And you know this how?”
I heard it in their blood, I didn’t say, because people were already looking at me like I might be crazy.
“They’d been alone for so long,” I said instead.
“Alone and helpless, as no wolf should ever be. It was why they were taken so easily by the dark. Until we showed up and set them free, and offered them a chance to unite, to fight back, and in a pack again—”
“You offered them nothing,” Ulmer growled. “You didn’t have a chance to. You called; they came. Don’t make it more than it was.”
“I’m not making it anything,” I said, trying to keep my temper.
“But we were already fighting, other wolves included, some of those Jen had released. Others would have liked to join in, but they didn’t have a leader or anyone to help them.
So they ran—until I called and they realized that maybe they finally did have a way to fight back. ”
But Sebastian didn’t look convinced.
“Those vargulfs had no reason to trust you, be loyal to you, much less to die for you—”
“Die?” I repeated.
“—yet they did. The Black Circle’s mages didn’t go down without a fight, even being outnumbered. And many more of the Weres you summoned were wounded, some badly—”
“Sebastian!” Cyrus’s voice cracked like a whip. “We will not discuss this now!”
“If not now, when? We are at war. I am sorry for your mate’s tenderness on this subject, but many more may fall if we do not find an advantage. One we may now have!”
“We don’t need help in killing our own kind,” Sienna said, speaking up for the first time while I sat there stunned. “In a civil war, every death weakens us; every life lost is one of our own. We need another solution—”
“Such as? And don’t say Bleddyn,” Sebastian added sourly. “He’s vanished off the face of the Earth.”
“Vanished?”
“I have my best trackers on it, but so far, he is well hidden. That is not surprising, as he planned this. He must have had a hideaway waiting in case things went badly yesterday.”
“Bleddyn,” Ulmer scoffed. “He didn’t plan anything. You know damned well who is behind this—”
“Yes, in all likelihood, but we can’t find him, either—”
“Him who?” Sienna asked.
“That bastard Farkas,” Ulmer snarled. “Bleddyn never planned anything in his life. He’s a fool—”
“A well-hidden one,” Sebastian said. “And wherever he is, Farkas is likely with him, whispering in his ear. My people have orders to apprehend either on sight, but so far—”
“How many?” I said, my numb lips finally managing to get the words out.
“How many what?” Sebastian said. “Clans arrayed against us? That depends a great deal on the meeting I have this afternoon with the council—one your new vargulf army will not help me with! I had no idea how to explain that, but if I have something to counter it, such as a massive advantage in battle—”
“You can’t promise that!” Cyrus said angrily. “You’ll put a target on Lia’s back!”
“After today, I would say that’s the case no matter what we do.” It was dry. “Better that people fear her than resent all of us for—”
“They’re not an army,” I said.
“What?”
“The people in the basement. You called them an army. They’re not.”
“Which makes what happened even more impressive. They acted as one on your call—”
“Sebastian!” Cyrus snapped.
“—meaning that perhaps Rand’s soldiers might do the same, or become so confused by your power that—”
“Sebastian!”
“—it could give us a significant advantage, especially if we have enough of these vargulfs to—”
“They aren’t an army!” I hadn’t consciously moved, and yet I was suddenly in his face.
And in Were form, something that alone brought his guards running, feeling the Change, and only Sienna and Cyrus throwing themselves in front of them kept me from being attacked.
I barely noticed, being too busy backing Sebastian into the wall.
“How many died?” It came out as a growl, and a menacing one. Yet he kept human form; I have no idea how. Most wolves surprised like that wouldn’t have been able to.
He also answered. “I don’t know.”
“You didn’t bother to count them?”
“Our people are still there, coordinating clean-up with the Corps,” he said, making some kind of hand gesture to his guards. I didn’t know what it meant, but they moved back slightly. “I will have the number later today, but there will be no clan to bury them, no one to claim them—”
“I claim them!” It was a roar that time, one that had the guards suddenly crowding me, orders or no. And being flung across the room by a spell I didn’t bother uttering, because I was having to do everything I could not to tear my bardric’s face off. “They are mine!”
“They are yours,” he agreed evenly. “If you wish to take on that burden. Cyrus will see to it.”
We held each other’s eyes for a beat, and unlike those of the guard in the limo, his did not drop. Neither did mine, but I came back to myself slightly after his words sank in, and it staggered me. And then glanced around the room, wondering what the hell I was doing?
“Cyrus, perhaps you could take Lia back to your suite?” Sebastian said. “She is a bit… overwrought… from the events of today.”
“Yes,” Cyrus said, coming forward, sounding a bit breathless. “Yes. Lia. Come, you need to lie down.”
“I—I have things…”
“Later. We’ll get to all of that later. I promise. But come with me now, all right?”
I went with him. He had an arm around me, which was just as well, as the room kept telescoping in and out. I felt weird—dizzy, unsteady on my feet, and just… not myself. Like, what the hell had that been?
Sebastian would have been within his rights to kill me! So would his guards. Was I going nuts?
It felt kind of like I was going nuts.
“I want a healer to see her,” Cyrus said, speaking softly, but not to me. “Arrange it.”
“Yes, of course.” That was Dave, following us out. “We have a number here at the moment, tending to the wounded. Or if you have one of your own who you’d prefer?”
“No. Just… get someone good, all right?”
“Cyrus!” That was Laura, puffing up behind us as we staggered down the hall. “Is Lia alright? Can I help?”
“No, we’re fine. She’s just… tired,” Cyrus said tightly, which was the worst lie I’d ever heard. “She needs to rest.”
“Did the mages spell her with something? Is she unwell—”
“No! She just needs rest!” He scooped me up into his arms, probably because I was weaving all over the hallway. My feet kept trying to trip me up, because I was supposed to have four but only had two. Why did I only have two?
“Here,” Laura said, draping something around me. “You need to buy some caftans.”
“We’ll keep it in mind,” Cyrus said, and then we were back in our suite, and he was shutting the door in her face.