breathing loudly, eyes shut. As I watched, his eyes flickered, and his fists clenched. Not dead then, I thought gratefuly, as I took the jacket Joachim handed me.
“Look at this!” caled Hugo, who had gone back for a lantern of his own. “It’s the same bandits!”
Indeed it was the same bandits, their faces distorted by the shadows cast by a lantern at their feet Struggling unsuccessfuly against the binding spel, they glared at us silently.
“What was your intention?” the king asked them sternly. “We let you go today out of courtesy to other aristocrats, but what sort of honorable and aristocratic behavior is this? Were you going to take vengeance on us for humiliating you by slitting our throats while we slept?”
Dominic abruptly sat up, rubbing the back of his head. He tried to lurch to his feet, but Ascelin kept him seated with a hand on his shoulder.
“We weren’t going to slit anybody’s throat,” protested the leader.
I wasn’t at al sure I believed him. I was coming close to Hugos point of view, that the best thing to do might be to kil them.
“It’s the middle of the night,” said Ascelin. “Let’s leave them to learn some sense by standing bound by the wizard’s spels for a few hours. Then we can question them in the morning.”
“It would have been my watch soon anyway,” I said, “so I’l keep an eye on them while the rest of you get some sleep.” Hugo clearly would have preferred to do something spectacular and warlike, but he contented himself with rounding up the bandits’ horses and tying them to a branch. In a moment our party returned to the tents, Dominic assisted by Ascelin.
Watching the two princes in the flickering light of the lantern the king held for them, I thought that it was good to see them managing to get along with each other on this trip. When they had first met, nearly eight years ago, they had detested each other. But then Dominic, always a snob, had not known at the time that Ascelin was a prince.
Our camp became quiet again, and I added a few details to the binding spels that held the bandits. It is possible to break out of an improperly made binding spel, and I had puled the magic together very rapidly. I didn’t want to paralyze them, however, even if that would have held them more securely, because I wanted them to remember this experience.
They soon stopped struggling and gave up cursing me a snort time later when I did not answer. What was I going to do with them? The school made us swear enormously solemn oaths to help mankind, but it only taught us magic, when at the moment, what I felt I needed most to know was how to deal with people unlike any I knew in Yurt The moonlight made the stars pale in the center of the sky, but from where I was sitting, I could see the Hunter striding low over the horizon. Soon he would be gone from the sky for the summer.
We certainly couldn’t kil the bandits in cold blood, even if they had crept up on our tents planning to ldl us. We were stil in the orderly western kingdoms, not much more than three weeks away from Yurt, and there were legal methods for dealing with such things. But I didn’t like the idea of loading them onto the packhorses again, then trying to find a nearby castle that exercised high justice—other than the castle of the bandit leader himself.
The night dragged on. In a marginaly successful attempt to stay warm, I rekindled the fire over which we had cooked supper. I kept yawning, but I was shivering too much to doze. It would have been Joachim’s watch next, but I let him sleep, not wanting to leave him with the responsibility for guarding bandits restrained by magic. After a while, the eastern stars gradualy faded as the horizon grew gray.
I heard a rustle from the tents and looked up to see the king and his lantern approaching. He sat down next to me, puling his cloak around him.
“Go back to your tent, sire,” I said. “I won’t be making the morning tea for another hour.”
^
“Look at this!” caled Hugo, who had gone back for a lantern of his own. “It’s the same bandits!”
Indeed it was the same bandits, their faces distorted by the shadows cast by a lantern at their feet Struggling unsuccessfuly against the binding spel, they glared at us silently.
“What was your intention?” the king asked them sternly. “We let you go today out of courtesy to other aristocrats, but what sort of honorable and aristocratic behavior is this? Were you going to take vengeance on us for humiliating you by slitting our throats while we slept?”
Dominic abruptly sat up, rubbing the back of his head. He tried to lurch to his feet, but Ascelin kept him seated with a hand on his shoulder.
“We weren’t going to slit anybody’s throat,” protested the leader.
I wasn’t at al sure I believed him. I was coming close to Hugos point of view, that the best thing to do might be to kil them.
“It’s the middle of the night,” said Ascelin. “Let’s leave them to learn some sense by standing bound by the wizard’s spels for a few hours. Then we can question them in the morning.”
“It would have been my watch soon anyway,” I said, “so I’l keep an eye on them while the rest of you get some sleep.” Hugo clearly would have preferred to do something spectacular and warlike, but he contented himself with rounding up the bandits’ horses and tying them to a branch. In a moment our party returned to the tents, Dominic assisted by Ascelin.
Watching the two princes in the flickering light of the lantern the king held for them, I thought that it was good to see them managing to get along with each other on this trip. When they had first met, nearly eight years ago, they had detested each other. But then Dominic, always a snob, had not known at the time that Ascelin was a prince.
Our camp became quiet again, and I added a few details to the binding spels that held the bandits. It is possible to break out of an improperly made binding spel, and I had puled the magic together very rapidly. I didn’t want to paralyze them, however, even if that would have held them more securely, because I wanted them to remember this experience.
They soon stopped struggling and gave up cursing me a snort time later when I did not answer. What was I going to do with them? The school made us swear enormously solemn oaths to help mankind, but it only taught us magic, when at the moment, what I felt I needed most to know was how to deal with people unlike any I knew in Yurt The moonlight made the stars pale in the center of the sky, but from where I was sitting, I could see the Hunter striding low over the horizon. Soon he would be gone from the sky for the summer.
We certainly couldn’t kil the bandits in cold blood, even if they had crept up on our tents planning to ldl us. We were stil in the orderly western kingdoms, not much more than three weeks away from Yurt, and there were legal methods for dealing with such things. But I didn’t like the idea of loading them onto the packhorses again, then trying to find a nearby castle that exercised high justice—other than the castle of the bandit leader himself.
The night dragged on. In a marginaly successful attempt to stay warm, I rekindled the fire over which we had cooked supper. I kept yawning, but I was shivering too much to doze. It would have been Joachim’s watch next, but I let him sleep, not wanting to leave him with the responsibility for guarding bandits restrained by magic. After a while, the eastern stars gradualy faded as the horizon grew gray.
I heard a rustle from the tents and looked up to see the king and his lantern approaching. He sat down next to me, puling his cloak around him.
“Go back to your tent, sire,” I said. “I won’t be making the morning tea for another hour.”
^
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