eyes narrowed.
Pevan leaned forward. "We knew Quilo wasn't going to help us rescue Taslin anyway. Rel, did you See anything useful?"
"I found Taslin." His face tightened. "Well, I found a Warding Hall - I'm pretty sure it's Ilbertin's - with a special hook by the dais and the Stable Rods spinning like whirlpools. If it's not Taslin, it's some other high-powered Wilder human-shaped enough to be cuffed."
"How sure are you that it's Ilbertin?" She tried to keep her voice neutral. It was a step in the right direction that Rel admitted the possibility of having misjudged, but if she knew him at all, he'd be understating the risk.
He frowned. "I managed to track the path from there to Af, it looked like it was in about the right place. Have you been to Ilbertin?"
"Yeah." Once, with Temmer, in training. One of hundreds of small, northern towns. "I can't remember much about the place, though. Not to recognise it, anyway."
"Hmm." Rel's lips twitched, until he caught the lower between his teeth. "Everything we know suggests Ilbertin. The Separatists were going to be coming here anyway to recruit Soan."
That was an assumption, but Soan, as the best Clearseer in the First Realm after Rel, was probably their next target. Pevan nodded, looked quickly around the circle. "At very least, it's probably the best place to start looking. Do we assume the whole town's against us?"
"I didn't see any evidence that the Gifted were keeping Taslin a secret." Rel paused. "And I couldn't find any sign of Soan at all. If the Separatists have recruited him, they've hurried him off somewhere."
"That's a good thing, right?" Chag's voice wavered. "I mean, all the other Gifted at Ilbertin are new after..." He left the disaster unspoken, but a chill went down Pevan's spine all the same. From the way Atla shifted on his haunches, even he felt it. A Ragehound had blindsided the town while Soan was away at the height of the previous summer. The town's entire squad of Gifted had given their lives to keep the Wilder away, and even then four civilians had died.
Rel was the first one to put the memory aside, though his face stayed hard as he spoke. "The squad there now might be new, but they were the best available. Soan's never been an easy one with praise, but he's said some very positive things about Horvin."
"Still sore, huh?" Pevan knew she shouldn't needle, but they needed to get their minds off the various disasters and focussed back on solutions. That meant not letting Rel brood over the fact that he'd been banned from training new Clearseers until the situation with his own training was worked out.
For the first time ever, though, he didn't get angry. "We can worry about that another time. For now, we need to work out what to do. What do we know about the rest of the squad?"
"They don't have a Witness," Chag cut in while Pevan was still trying to dredge up the identity of Ilbertin's Gatemaker. The little man's voice and face fell, though, as he finished, "I guess that doesn't help us much."
"One less body in the way." Rel's tone could have cut mountains. Atla's head snapped up to stare at him, face slack with shock. Pevan caught the boy's eye and shook her head. Rel wasn't suggesting they kill their way to Taslin. He was just clumsily trying to reassure Chag. That, too, was a step in the right direction, in its own way.
Best to move on quickly. Pevan said, "Chaiya came to Federas to study with Temmer for a week or two, I think, early in her training. Very tall, willowy." She glanced at Rel. "I think you were still away..."
"I don't remember her." He almost hid the frown that crossed his face. At least he'd learned some remorse over the end of his training. He went on, "What did Temmer make of her?"
"Not as powerful as Valren had suggested, I think." Pevan held her tone steady, trying not to let Dora's judgement cloud her own. Chaiya had rubbed the Four Knot the wrong way from the start. "Decent range, but a little bit sluggish from Gate to Gate. She's probably better now than she was back then."
Rel nodded, a single sharp jerk of his neck, then turned to Atla. "Their Guide?"
"I, uh..." Atla swallowed, looked up at the group and then down again. "I can't remember. Uh, I'm sorry. I guess I'm not much use again."
"You were plenty useful yesterday, kiddo." Pevan spoke before Rel could get angry. Atla looked up, face half-desolate, half-hopeful. She smiled at him as best she could. "When we get you back to Vessit, I'm going to recommend to Bersh that your practical training is complete."
His eyes lit up. "Really? But I-"
"Just make sure you learn the rest." She kept her voice light, wanting the rebuke to stick with him without stinging. Then she turned her attention back to Rel. "Do we have any idea about the Four Knot or Warder?"
He shook his head. "If it comes to a fight, they aren't likely to be much more of a threat than civvies."
Chag and Atla both started to speak, outraged, at the same time as Pevan, but she overrode them. "Who said anything about fighting them?"
"I said 'if', didn't I?" Rel had the grace to sound a little apologetic, but the hint of a wheedle in his tone was at least as much petulant. "If we can't sneak in, or we get caught trying, then we have to assume they'll try to stop us by force."
"Wait, wait." Chag seemed to be struggling to breathe, his voice thin and harsh. "We're not going to talk to them first?"
"They've captured a Gift-Giver and illegally imprisoned her." There was a fire in Rel's eyes that had every appearance of real anger. Had he really become so attached to Taslin? "I don't think they'll be talked back from that. Not the whole town, certainly. And even if they could be, I don't think they'd listen to us."
Chag's face pinched into a tight frown. "Who better? We're the only humans who know the truth about the Separatists."
"Yes, but you're Chag Van Raighan," Rel snapped. "And I doubt I'm terribly popular after Vessit. The Separatists are sure to have mentioned that. Maybe even blamed Pevan for whatever happened to the Court yesterday. I don't think we've much hope of restoring our reputations until we've rescued Taslin, anyway."
He finished by turning to her for support, while both Atla and Chag stared at him in slack-faced horror. She didn't feel much better herself. She couldn't exactly shirk blame for what had happened to the Court, but what if the Separatists did start telling everyone? It took her a couple of attempts to clear her throat enough to speak. "Let's not be too dramatic. We should at least try to do this in a way that won't get us into more trouble."
"Such as?" Rel glared at her.
She rolled her eyes. "I have to do all the planning now, do I? The townspeople are operating in open breach of the treaty. All we have to do is approach it so that we can say we're upholding the treaty against them."
"Well, yes, but how?" Rel waved his hands to encompass the group. "We're not exactly in a position to have much call on public trust anymore."
"They don't have a Witness." Chag spoke quietly, but Pevan still cringed inside. Would Rel take the suggestion for arrogance? From the way Chag hunched, he certainly wasn't being arrogant.
She said, "What's your thought?"
"Just, y'know... if I can see how they're holding Taslin or something." His eyes went to Rel. "You think we'll be able to sneak in?"
"Wouldn't count on it. Horvin will have seen anything that obvious coming. They've got the Warding Hall well-guarded."
"Gate me in? I wouldn't need long for a look, at least. You could go in to rescue her with that as your justification."
Pevan shook her head. "Not without line of sight. I might have been in there once, but not to remember. Even with line of sight, I'd probably only be able to get you just inside the door."
"They'll be watching for that." Rel's tone was sullen, half-defeated.
"We'll think of something else then." She put an edge on the words, not wanting to let Rel slump. "We're the best Gifted in the Realm. They aren't."
The silence that followed wasn't encouraging. Atla kept his attention focussed on the grass. Chag watched her attentively, while Rel picked at his fingernails, meeting no-one's eyes. They needed a plan, and soon, or th
eir collective morale would collapse. What could they do to prove themselves good guys?
"Do you think the Separatists might have left a Wilder here to watch over things?" Pevan addressed the question to Atla. As a Guide, he would have at least a chance of sensing the distortion of a Wilder's presence. He didn't seem to notice she was talking to him, though.
Slowly, Rel said, "It's possible."
"Wouldn't be near the Warding Hall." Chag's voice was stiff. "They hate Wards more than most Wildren."
"Maybe patrolling around the boundaries of the Ward, then." Rel turned to her, eyes narrow. "What do you have in mind?"
"Find the Separatist. Try to drive it off." Pevan gave a grim smile. "See if they come to its aid."
She could see Rel liked the idea. His eyes stayed narrow, but his lips pulled back from his teeth in a wolfish expression that an inexperienced observer might even have called a smile. He said, "This is going to take some careful choreographing."
"Wait, wait." Chag cut in, eyes darting around the circle. "What if it doesn't attack? It just goes?"
"That really would be one less body to worry about." Rel's face softened for a moment as he shrugged. "We'll just come back here and make a new plan. I don't think it's that likely, though."
"But what if they're waiting for us?" There was a high, almost plaintive, edge to Atla's voice. "Like, they see us coming?"
Pevan's heart started to sink, but Rel spoke first. "That's what we want, isn't it?"
"No, uh, I
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