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"Guildmaster?" the voice from the talisman asked.
"I'm here," she said, opening her eyes but keeping her hand where it was. "I was just thinking." She sighed.
"Very well, my lord-did you wish to meet with me or shall we simply converse as we are, over this forbidden
apparatus you have intruded into my garden?"
"Guildmaster, I am no longer a part of Lord Azrad's government. I do not believe that sorcery is still forbidden
to me."
"Fine," Ithinia said. "We can argue about it later, if necessary. Shall we meet?"
"It's not necessary, but whatever pleases you. It might be more convenient."
"It might. For now, though, let's just talk as we are."
"As you wish."
"So tell me what the overlord intends."
"He intends, Guildmaster, to outlaw warlockry and order the extermination of all warlocks within the walls,
guilty or innocent, lest they disturb the city's peace. He further intends to place all responsibility for this
decision and these actions on the Wizards' Guild, the self-appointed authority in all matters magical. Need I
say what this will do to the Guild's standing in the public's estimation when the initial panic has subsided,
and the knowledge that hundreds of innocents have been slaughtered registers?"
Ithinia closed her eyes again.
"No," she said. "I can imagine."
"Last night, Guildmaster, as you may have heard, some of the new-made warlocks did not join in the night's
madness, the looting and mayhem, but instead acted to limit the damage and tried to put themselves at the
overlord's disposal. In his confusion, Lord Azrad forbade them entry to the Palace. I have now taken this
group in hand, at a location known only to a few, and am speaking to you on their behalf. We see no reason
we should be penalized for last night's misbehavior-we did not participate in it and did what we could to
restrain it, even turning four of our fellow warlocks over to the Lord Magistrate of the Old Merchants' Quarter.
While we won't defend the lawlessness some warlocks displayed, we are innocent of any wrongdoing-yet
Lord Azrad has made clear to me that he intends to seek our deaths, along with those of the criminals. I am
speaking to you now, Guildmaster, to ask the Wizards' Guild to refuse any part in this appalling injustice. I
am asking all of you to come to the aid of your fellow magicians ..."
"You aren't magicians," Ithinia interrupted angrily. "You aren't trained, you never apprenticed, you aren't any
recognized school. You're people with some strange new spell on you; that doesn't make you magicians."
"Not magicians, then, but people involved with magic, through no fault of their own."
"Yes, quite," Ithinia said. "I see your point."
Unfortunately, she could also see the overlord's view, if Faran had presented it accurately. She had seen the
corpses of a dozen people killed by rampaging warlocks. She had seen one poor boy who had had dozens of
shards of glass embedded in his flesh by a warlock; a priestess had been trying to invoke Blukros to heal the
child, and a witch had been suppressing the pain, but even if the god answered and restored the boy to
perfect health nothing would ever make up for the terror and suffering he had been through.
She didn't want to talk to Faran anymore-his voice, as relayed by the talisman, was smooth and calm, but
suddenly she found it intensely irritating.
"I will need to talk to others," she said. "If you're no longer at the Palace, how can we contact you? I assume
you'd prefer something other than the Spell of Invaded Dreams, and would rather we did not track down your
location known only to a few."
"I could hardly expect to keep my location secret from the Guild," Faran said, "but rather than put you to any
trouble, let me suggest that you take this talisman and place it somewhere safe. When you wish to speak to
me, pick it up, and the warmth of your hand will activate it and alert me."
"Clever," Ithinia said. Ordinarily she didn't think much of sorcery, which had a tendency to have peculiar
limitations and to fail spectacularly at inopportune times, but this particular device-assuming it worked as
advertised-could be rather convenient.
"It may be a few moments before I can respond, of course," Faran said.
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