“I’m not qualified to check half of it,” Cat said. He turned and winked at her. “You do realize I nearly flunked Advanced Charms?”
“I think I would have been happier if you hadn’t told me that,” Emily said. Advanced Charms led directly to Enchantment, Wardcrafting and a dozen other disciplines she wished she’d had a chance to study in more detail. “We really need some more help.”
Cat nodded. “But who do we ask?”
Emily sighed. She didn’t know. Lady Barb and the other teachers wouldn’t get involved, not when they didn’t have a personal stake in the outcome. Aloha was…somewhere with her master, no doubt already midway through a brilliant apprenticeship. And everyone else she knew would come with too much baggage. MageMaster Zed and his staff were bound by the Compact, while Yodel would insist on being able to use what she showed him. He’d change the world…
…And the consequences of that were unimaginable.
“No one I know will be willing or able to help,” she said. “What about you?”
“Likewise,” Cat said. “We really need to recruit a few more magicians.”
“Which will be hard as long as we’re trapped in the city,” Emily said. They could get out at any time, she was sure–the wards wouldn’t be enough to keep them from teleporting out–but Randor would tighten the defenses to make sure they couldn’t get back in again. The female disguise wouldn’t work twice. “We’re on our own.”
She met his eyes, then nodded to the ring. “Are you ready?”
“Barely,” Cat said. He walked over to the battery and looked down. “Do we have to do this?”
Emily nodded. She understood his concern, better–perhaps–than he realized. Draining so much of his magic into the battery was dangerous, even at the best of times. Now, with the ever-present threat of discovery looming over them, he didn’t want to weaken his magic to the point he was helpless. Cat was a good swordsman–brilliant, even–but Randor would happily spend his men like water if it brought his enemies down.
“Fine.” Cat sat down beside the battery and concentrated. “I was always told that two people’s magic could never mingle, not outside a ritual. Were they wrong?”
“There’s nothing in a ritual that changes the magic,” Emily pointed out. She could sense the flow of magic as Cat channelled power into the battery. “All it does is harness power towards a common goal.”
Cat snorted. “They even said that male and female magics were incompatible,” he added, after a moment. His voice was harsh–and tired. “Why did they lie to us?”
“You’re funnelling raw magic into the battery, not powering a spell that can only be cast by one gender,” Emily said. There were a number of spells that were sex-specific, but almost all of them could be easily rewritten to allow the other sex to cast them. She had the feeling they’d been created back before the first magicians had started to put together a unified theory of spellwork. “Your magic and mine are, at base, the same thing.”
“My parents would disagree,” Cat said. He sagged, just for a second, then jerked back. His body flopped back into the chair. “They…they wouldn’t say anything of the sort.”
Emily rested a hand on his shoulder, ready to catch him if he slipped off the chair and fell. It wasn’t easy to channel magic into a battery, not without shaping it into a spell. There was a very real risk of a magician draining himself completely. Jade seemed to be picking it up quicker than Cat, but it was hard to be sure. She’d only taught them the trick a couple of days ago.
“I feel sick,” Cat announced. “Is that normal?”
“It might be normal for you,” Emily said. Cat’s face was very pale. The human body reacted oddly, when it was drained of magic. “Or you might have eaten something that was bad for you.”
Cat sniffed. They’d bought up as much food as they could, sticking it under preservation spells, but by the time they’d realized there was a problem it was already too late to avoid the rush. Randor had slapped price controls on the stores, yet–as Emily had anticipated–it hadn’t been any use. Prices would go up and up, no matter what the king said. She had a feeling that Nightingale and his ilk were already buying food and stockpiling it for resale later, when people were desperate. The poor were already going hungry.
But we can use that, she told herself, as she gently squeezed his shoulder. It’s not going to be easy to keep the population quiet if their children are screaming for food.
She studied him for a long moment, then walked into the kitchen and removed one of the cheese sandwiches she’d made earlier from the preservation spells. It wasn’t much, but Cat needed something to eat. He could make himself something more elaborate later if he wished. Emily suspected he’d be grateful just to have someone pass him a sandwich. He was in no state to be complaining about the food.
“Thank you,” Cat said, when she gave him the sandwich. He had to struggle to lift it to his mouth and take a bite. “This is good.”
Emily’s lips twitched. “You’re welcome,” she said, dryly. He must have drained himself more than she’d realized. The cheese sandwich was very simple. “How are you feeling now?”
“Tired,” Cat said. “How long until the batteries are full?”
“In theory, they can be charged indefinitely,” Emily said. “In practice, it’s better to have a handful of batteries than place all our eggs in one basket.”
“Good thinking,” Cat told her. He stood as soon as he finished the sandwich, even though his legs were clearly still wobbly. “I need to get back to Jade.”
“Not like that, you don’t,” Emily said, flatly. She understood the urge to get out of the townhouse and just walk around outside, but Cat was in no state for anything. He would be in real trouble if the guards picked him up for drunkenness. “Stay a while…”
“I have to go,” Cat said. His knees buckled. “I…I think I need to sit down.”
Emily rolled her eyes. She was more annoyed than worried. Cat wouldn’t admit weakness unless he was on the verge of total collapse. Jade was just the same, even though the sergeants had told him there was no shame in weakness. Being injured, being ill…no one would think any less of them for admitting it. And no one doubted their bravery.
“Sit down.” She put as much command into her voice as she could. “What’s going on outside?”
Cat sat, without further argument. Emily frowned. That was too quick a surrender. He had to have drained himself worse than he’d thought. Magic wasn’t physical energy–she thought–but it was linked to a person’s body. A weakened magician wouldn’t be able to cast spells or walk. She’d even heard horror stories about magicians who’d drained themselves so completely, their powers never came back.
“We’re setting up more and more cells,” Cat said. His face twitched into something that resembled a smile, if one felt charitable. “Each one has a weak link to the others, enough to take orders but not enough to betray us if they’re broken. And Flower is telling her superiors soothing lies.”
Emily nodded, stiffly. “Is she under close watch?”
“Yeah,” Cat said. “And we made sure she couldn’t betray us.”
“As long as she isn’t asked to find Tam’s exact location,” Emily said. A smart government would allow a handful of cells to continue to operate, just so they could keep tabs on people who were likely to be real trouble. But she didn’t know if Randor had the patience to allow Tam and his friends to remain free. “What happens if they do ask her for information we can’t let them have?”
“Then Flower has a little accident,” Cat said, firmly. “We can’t risk betraying our people just to ensure Flower’s superiors continue to trust her.”