“Sorry,” I muttered, lowering my voice as I sat down in the chair across from him. “Didn’t mean to startle you. You must’ve really been into that book.” That was the only explanation I could come up with – Fenris was a wolf shifter, and like me he had a heightened sense of smell and hearing. In his place I would have already known I was here before I’d spoken.
“Yes, well, it’s fascinating stuff.” Fenris closed the book gently, then pushed it to the side, spine facing away so that I couldn’t read the title. I wondered if he’d done that on purpose, but now was not the time to ask – I’d just draw myself off-track, and it wasn’t really my business anyway. “What are you doing back at the Palace? It’s not even eleven o’clock, and it’s not like you to be early.”
“Gee thanks.” I stuck my tongue out at Fenris, and he grinned a little. “Actually, I’m here because I was hoping you might be able to help me with the investigation the Chief Mage put me on earlier this week.”
“You mean about the bank loans being given out to shifters?” Interest lit Fenris’s dark eyes. “What can I do to help?”
“Well,” I said, propping my elbows on the table and folding my hands beneath my chin, “Inspector Lakin and I went to Sandin Federal today to question the bank manager about the loans, and he said that hundreds of shifters have been signing up every day. But when I thought about it, I realized that’s got to be a ridiculous amount of gold they’re giving out. From what Lakin’s heard around town the average loan amount is something like three hundred pieces of gold.”
“That would be astronomical.” Fenris’s thick, black brows shot up. “And at zero percent interest? That certainly doesn’t make any sense at all.”
“No, it doesn’t.” I sighed, relieved that Fenris agreed with me. Finances weren’t really my strong suit, and I’d been afraid I was just missing something. “So, where do you think they’re getting that gold from?” As far as I knew, the money in circulation was produced by the Mages Guilds of each individual Federation state. “Is someone siphoning money from the Guilds?”
“I don’t know how that would be possible.” Fenris drummed his fingers on the table in thought, earning more dirty looks from the mages. But this time he ignored them. “The Mages Guilds in each state are only allowed to transmute a certain amount of coin every year. The quantity varies from state to state depending upon the local economy as well as Federation regulations, but that doesn’t change the fact that there is a strict limit. If such large amounts of money were to go missing it would not go unnoticed.”
“But don’t you think it’s possible one or more of the mages in charge of transmuting the coin could be making extra and setting it aside?”
“That would be high treason indeed.” Fenris scowled. “The mage families have all pledged not to transmute gold, which is one of the laws laid down in the Great Accord, and in exchange they receive a handsome share of the year’s allotment.”
“Ugh. That is so unfair.” I rolled my eyes, disgusted at the amount of privilege mages got simply for being born. “So in exchange for not producing anything, mages get handouts?”
“Yes, but they are required to spend it, and are not allowed to hoard more than ten percent of their yearly allotment.”
“Oh, that makes me feel so much better.”
“Sunaya, I’m not here to have a political debate. I’m just stating the facts.”
“Right.” I sucked in a breath through my nostrils, and then let it go. There was no point in arguing about this – Fenris hadn’t made the law, after all, but I was surprised that he wasn’t as incensed about it as I was, being a shifter himself.
Maybe he’s just come to terms with it.
Huh. Well if that ever happened to me, I hoped someone did me a favor and put me out of my misery. I would never be okay with the current status quo.
“Fine,” I finally said. “I get it. The mages don’t want to risk losing their yearly allowance. But if they’re not doing this, then who is?”
“I might have an idea about that.” Fenris stood up, grabbing the book he’d been reading. “Here, let’s go somewhere more private.”
I followed him to a small table in the back, where no one else seemed to be sitting. Fenris settled into the chair across from me, then pulled a large money pouch from his belt. He emptied the pouch, sending gold, pandanum and bronze coins spilling across the table. I snagged one of them, envy twinging in my gut – clearly Fenris got way more of an allowance than I did. I guess it paid to be the Chief Mage’s right-hand shifter, instead of just a lowly apprentice.
“What are we looking for, exactly?”
“Traces of magical residue,” Fenris answered, picking up one of the coins and sniffing it. “These coins are all supposed to be transmuted by the Guild, and if that’s the case then they should all smell like any object that’s been changed by spellcraft.”
Nodding, I held the coin to my nose. Sure enough, I detected a faint whiff of magic. Fenris and I went through the others, and it wasn’t until I hit my tenth one that I noticed anything different.