“You’ll be escorted,” Gerocie said.
Quint smiled. “I’m amenable, ma’am.”
In a few minutes, Quint and three soldiers left the military intelligence building and began the walk to his flat. Quint took them along the alleyway that was a shortcut to his building and as they stepped into the backyard of his building, they were attacked by wizards.
The ambush was so unexpected, Quint was again put to sleep.
He woke bound much the same way he had been on his first abduction, but he was ungagged. The carriage was speeding through the countryside.
“Where are you taking me?” Quint asked, struggling briefly with his bonds, but they were too secure.
“You’ll find out soon enough,” one of his abductors said. The man held his hands out in front of him and Quint, without any kind of a shield, fell asleep again.
The next time Quint’s consciousness surfaced; he recognized his surroundings. They were approaching the city of Nornotta. Quint had been kidnapped by Pacci Colleto, the Emperor of the Gussellian Empire.
Quint’s shackles were removed as he exited the carriage. He was escorted through the familiar corridors of the Colleto’s palace, allowed to wash up and eat a quick meal in a set of rooms, before he was taken to the door to Colleto’s study where his escort knocked on the door and gently pushed Quint inside.
“We meet again,” Colleto said with a smile. It was a sinister smile in Quint’s eyes.
“I wasn’t prepared for such a long trip,” Quint said. He thought he’d be afraid, but curiously, he wasn’t.
Colleto laughed. “I don’t have much time. I’ve had my people monitoring your activities in Bocarre. It was clear you were headed to the chopping block, so they had standing orders to bring you here. It was only a matter of time before others in the Racellian government ran out of tolerance for a hubite.”
“I learned that General Baltacco was the one who spirited you away from the intelligence services. His daughter was involved?”
“She was,” Quint said.
“Naughty little girl. Are you still reluctant to serve me?” Colleto asked. “I did just rescue you from certain death.”
“I have my supporters,” Quint said.
“Let me guess. General Obellia and Colonel,” he looked down at some notes, “Gerocie. Baltacco ultimately has more influence, you know.” Colleto squinted at Quint. “But you don’t know that do you?”
“I only know they are rivals of a sort,” Quint said.
“You know more about what I’m doing than what’s happening in Racellia, right?”
Quint shrugged. Colleto could be setting him up talking about what Quint knew and what he didn’t.
“What are you going to do with me? You could have left me at the capital. They would do the killing for you.”
“If that is what I wanted, I’d probably do just that, but your portents remain, shall we say, interesting?”
“I’m not interested in serving you.”
“You don’t have to work for me to serve my interests, Captain Tirolo. I’m going to take you along on a quick tour of Vinellia and then to your home village.”
“Why?”
“I have something to show you. I read your report on my activities in Vinellia. I think your analyses have elements of seeing into the present, which is as important as seeing into the future. But just like portents, the vision of the present is dark and unexpectedly shifts.”
“You have access to my work for Colonel Gerocie?”
“I do, but I don’t have anyone in her office, but elsewhere.”
There had to be a spy in General Obellia’s organization, probably the same person who made sure Quint was a member of the border negotiation delegation.
“We will leave tomorrow morning. I will have clothes delivered to your rooms. It wouldn’t be advisable to have a Racellian wizard corps officer along for my tour.”
Quint was exceptionally uncomfortable riding behind Colleto. He knew where his minders were, and Quint didn’t see how he’d be able to break away to escape.
He’d never been to Vinellia, and it wasn’t that much different from Gussellia, except for the mountains.
Quint’s focus was to verify what he had picked up from the opinion journals he had read. Colleto said he was unconsciously able to see the present with his magic, but without strings, Quint couldn’t see how that could happen.
Colleto’s entourage took over a large inn at a mountain town in the middle of the country.
“You will begin your Masters trial,” Colleto said. “Go to the private room off the dining hall. I won’t be involved.” The emperor left the inn with a large group of retainers.
Quint found the room that had four wizards sitting at the table, facing the front of the room.
“Shall we get started?” one of the wizards, a woman, said.
Quint went through his string repertoire. A master could cast a minimum of fifty strings, and Quint knew more than that including the ones he picked up from Colleto’s journal.
As he demonstrated he could create the appropriate weaves for the strings, one of the evaluators called Quint out. “These aren’t in the emperor’s journal.”
