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Wizards' Guild is not as benign as it would like to appear, but he was not inclined to believe me."
"So I see," Manrin said. "Well, in any case, it seems to me that if we, as both warlocks and wizards, want to
survive, we had best find some support. We can't keep our situation a secret forever-"
"Why not?" Hanner interrupted, startling everyone, including himself. He had just been thinking that in
Manrin's position he would simply never have admitted to being a warlock.
After all, he hadn't told anyone he was a warlock, and didn't intend to.
Manrin looked at him in surprise. "Because warlockry wants to be used! Hasn't anyone told you that, out of
all these warlocks? It's easy to use it quite unintentionally-we've both done it several times. One can even use
it inadvertently in one's sleep. Sooner or later we would slip somewhere we could be seen-and that's quite
aside from the fact that Ulpen's master Abdaran already knows that Ulpen is a warlock."
Lord Faran was nodding, and Hanner remembered that his uncle had, in fact, given away his own warlock
nature by accident. The possibility that Hanner would give away his own secret the way Manrin described
worried him, but just now he didn't see much he could do about it.
Manrin frowned. "And there's another factor, as well. It would seem that warlockry and wizardry do interfere
with each other to some extent. Most of my spells have been going wrong for the past two days, and it may
well get worse. I'm a Guildmaster-people expect me to use my magic every day. If I begin to refuse, or if my
spells begin to fail regularly, questions will arise."
"Oh," Hanner said. He glanced at his uncle.
Faran was looking thoughtfully at the wizards.
"Your spells don't work?" he said. "Then are you really still a wizard?"
Manrin sighed. "I'm afraid so," he said. "I can still work some spells, and besides, one can't stop being a
wizard, not really. I know a good many Guild secrets, including some that it's death for a nonwizard to know.
So if I'm still a wizard, then I must die for being a warlock; if I am no longer a wizard, then I must die for
knowing Guild secrets. Unless, that is, I can find some way to convince the Guild to relent."
"The Guild never relents, does it?" Ulpen asked. "Abdaran told me it didn't."
"Not unless it's forced to," Manrin agreed. "And that's why we've come here. I'm not sure just what you intend
with this group you're gathering, my lord, but whatever it is, we'd like to offer our services in exchange for
whatever protection you can give us."
"Your services," Faran said. "But you just said that your magic is damaged."
"My mind isn't," Manrin snapped. "And it's wizardry that's damaged; I'm still as much a warlock as any of
those others downstairs. And I'm also still a Guildmaster, until they find out what's happened to me-I really do
know secrets, and for now I am able to speak with Ithinia and Perinan about matters that an outsider would
never dare broach."
"That could indeed be valuable," Faran admitted. "I spoke to Ithinia yesterday and asked for an audience to
discuss the warlocks' situation; when you came to the door I thought you were here as her representative, to
deliver an ultimatum or escort me to a meeting or otherwise respond to my request. You obviously aren't her
representative-do you know why she hasn't responded? Has she met with the overlord, as he requested?"
"No, she hasn't," Manrin said. "I do know that much. She hasn't met with any of you because she's been
busy meeting with other wizards-the Guild wants to present a consistent response to the warlock problem,
throughout not just the Hegemony of the Three Ethshars, but the entire World. So the-"
He stopped abruptly in midsentence, glanced at Ulpen, then continued.
"I am about to break an oath," he said. "I think this is really a very minor point, compared to some, but I'm
going to tell you a Guild secret, and I have sworn never to reveal any of the Guild's secrets. If this is
unacceptable, tell me now-I do not want to be forsworn for nothing."
"Go on," Faran said. "If it's any comfort, I would guess you were about to say something about the Inner
Circle." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]