Pathspace
Page 38
Chapter 38
Aria: “You are a proper fool, I said.”
For a time she rode in silence, reviewing her actions, looking for the moment when she had gone wrong. Was it when she decided to ask the wizard for help? Or when she had settled for his apprentice? Perhaps her mother was right. She should have gone straight to the Governor and given her a chance to declare her opposition to any torture.
But that would not have prevented the prisoners from escaping, though it might have kept her from getting caught up in the jailbreak.
“Why are you doing this?” she asked.
“Isn't it obvious?” said Ludlow. “For a time now I might have thought that Xander would reconsider his decision and resume teaching me his secrets. But that's obviously not going to happen. He's found a more promising student.”
“But that's no excuse! Being a wizard isn't the only thing you can do.”
“It's the only thing I wanted to do,” he said. “Ever since he found me in Boulder. All he had to do was give me a little more time. But no, he was always in too much of a hurry to get his school started.”
The school is important to him,” Aria said.
“My life is important to me,” Ludlow replied. “Once he discontinued my instruction, what was left for me? To become some sort of minor official for your mother? Perhaps a filer of reports, a carrier of messages for more important advisers? I will be more than that.”
“Yes,” she said. “You will be a traitor, an abettor of criminals and a turncoat. Such a grand destiny you are stepping into. Do you really think the Honcho will welcome such a person into his entourage?”
“He will welcome the man who brings him the daughter of his enemy,” said Ludlow.
She considered that. “Are you so sure you'll make it to Texas?”
“It may not take long for them to discover the prisoners have escaped,” he allowed. “But we have a head start on them.”
“But you have only one crossbow,” she pointed out. “Two, if the other man rejoins you. The Governor will send an armed force. If you wait for the man you left behind to catch up, that will give them a chance to stop you.”
“All it took to get us away was one knife,” he said. “Besides, I expect Texas will be sending an armed escort to reinforce us. They won't risk our getting recaptured.”
“You are a fool. Taking me hostage won't change anything. My mother's not sentimental enough to surrender to the Honcho just to get me back.”
“This isn't about you,” he said. It might surprise you to hear this, but your inclusion in this enterprise is entirely an accident. I would have preferred to have slipped out more discretely, but I couldn't leave you behind to raise the alarm.”
“Then why am I still here? Why haven't you dropped me off somewhere along the way?”
“You might still turn out to be useful,” he said, “if they catch up to us before the escort from Texas gets here.”
“You are a proper fool, I said. There is no escort from Texas. The most they could know is that their scouts have not reported in. There is no way they could know where to meet you.”
“We will soon,” he said, “be catching them up on recent developments.”