Part 57 (1/2)

”AH right, all right, have it your way,” the leader grudged, hating taking orders from a subordinate but'clearly having no choice. ”Let the girl through, and the others can. . .”

”No,” I interrupted, totally out of patience and not about to be pushed around by a worm with connections. I looked at the small, smug man in the uniform I had such fond childhood memories of, pointed at him, then spoke a spell. He yelped as five leather pouches materialized out of the air and dropped on his head, then paled when he looked back at me to see the palmful of blue fire I now held.

”You wanted five more pouches, now you have five more pouches,” 1 told him, pinning him with the touchi- ness in my stare. ”Either you say all of us are allowed through the gate, or 1*11 ask someone else for permission- after you're no longer able to lodge any complaints. Give me your answer fast.”

”Yes, yes, all of you can come in!” the man babbled, backing away and nearly tripping over one of the pouches

THE PAR SIDE OF FOREVER.

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I'd dumped on him. ”On my responsibility, please, on my responsibility!”

I closed my hand on the blue fire, making it disappear, then urged my gray forward with a touch of my heel. The people still outside the gate were laughing and sounding catcalls, making me need to raise my voice a little as I pa.s.sed the group leader.

”If I were you, I'd report him for disobeying orders,” I advised, watching him fight to keep from laughing like everyone else. ”If he stays on the street in uniform, he won't live longer than a couple of weeks.”

I was beyond the man by then with my companions following, so he had no chance to answer even if he'd wanted to- Whether he took my advice or left his a.s.sistant right where he was, depended on whether or not he would be blamed for the smaller man's certain death. It was none of my business, though, and I had enough to concern me that certainly was.

”Don't know why you didn't just break that gate down,”

Su said as she drew her horse up beside mine, an uncharac- teristic annoyance in her. ”Places all gated and walled never did feel right to me.”

”1 would have loved to, btft I couldn't,” I answered, more than sharing her annoyance. ”Magic users take an oath when they begin their studies, to obey the laws of the city and defer to its officials. If you want to be technical my oath is now a little bent, but not without reason. I think you'd better pa.s.s the word back to everyone to be ready for anything.”

She looked at me with startled surprise, but didn't waste any time asking questions 1 wasn't yet prepared to answer.

Or, possibly, couldn't yet answer- There were a number of things bothering me. odd incidents and unbalanced hap- penings, and the last part of our journey wasn't going as smoothly as I'd thought it would. I needed to get to the question-answering time that would come after the balance stone was back in place, but I had the distinct feeling there were still a number of incidents between me and that long-awaited time.

The streets of the city were as crowded as they usually were, but not in the usual way. People moved along

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carrying bundles or riding carts, obviously on their way to one of the city gates, mutters rising among them every time a tremor shook me cobbles under them- Those who stood around talking or arguing went silent at the tremors.

and afterward looked even more worried than before. La- borers and clerks and apprentice craftsmen might be free to take their families and leave, but men who had businesses or were responsible for some vital city function didn't yet have that option. The tremors didn't yet seem strong enough to have shaken down any of the heavy stone buildings of which most of me city was constructed, so all they could do was wait-and hope things got better before they got worse.

The deeper we rode into me city, the more me crowds thinned-and the more the number of Guardsmen increased.

Most of them had groups of people in chains, street people who had been incautious enough to drift over to the wealth- ier part of the city in antic.i.p.ation of disaster they could take advantage of. They were being rounded up as fast as they showed themselves, but that still left me ones who weren't stupid enough or careless enough to show them- selves. My own party drew a few narrow-eyed stares, but none of the patrols made any attempt to stop us; we were well-mounted and well-armed, and looters and sneak thieves were rarely either.

Graythor's city house wasn't really his, but belonged to the Guardian of the Tears, whoever that happened to be. It stood in a square in the middle of a quiet residential area, surrounded by high-walled houses belonging to the city's wealthy and well-placed, an area that was now even qui- eter than it usually was- Heavy wood and metal gates closed off access to the neighboring houses, and when we rode into the wizard's courtyard, I found that everyone was looking around as carefully as Rik.

”I really don't like the way mis place feels,” he said, looking as though he were trying to see through the stone and plaster around us. ”Are you absolutely sure the wizard is here?”

”I tied to his trace as soon as we came through me gate,” I answered, dismounting with a frown for roe heavy,

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brooding silence. ”He's here, all right, but 1 don't under- stand why his servants aren't ...”

A sudden shout interrupted me, and then there were men coming at us from all directions, men armed with swords.