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Horde Thief
Chapter 28
I've only seen a handful of Soulgazes from the outside, and all of them have had Molly on one end. At least this time the person on the other wasn't a hungry incubus, or the spirit of a centuries-old necromancer who'd used mind magic to body jump her way out of the way of death all that time. At least this time, I knew what she was going into, and I was far more certain that it wouldn't hurt her. The world seemed to bend between the two from where they were sat on opposite ends of the living room, and I saw Viserys's fingers tighten on the arms of his chair a moment before both of them wrenched their gazes away from the other. They were breathing hard, almost shakily, and before I could move Karrin was on her feet, moving into the kitchen. I heard the fridge open, the clinking of glasses, and then she was back again, a bottle of water and two tall glasses in her hands. She set them down on the small table in front of the sofa and poured, offering one to me and nodding towards Molly. I took the glass and moved.
My former apprentice was breathing hard, her eyelids flickering as if in deep slumber. I reached out to put my hand on her shoulder, and her eyes slammed open and up to find mine. I saw her lips begin to move, forming the first syllable of a word of power…and then she recognised me. The reaction stopped, and I looked back quickly at Viserys, worried suddenly for Karrin, only to see him taking the glass with a steady hand and bringing it to his lips. I turned swiftly back to Molly. "You alright, there, Molls?" I asked, offering the glass of water. She took it and emptied the full glass in one long sip before answering.
"So much," she whispered, then shook her head, more words clearly taking time to come into focus. I took a step back to the table and grabbed the bottle to refill her glass. She only half drained it this time, before giving you a weak smile. "Thanks Harry," her voice was stronger, and a look back at Viserys showed him fully recovered, with Karrin back on the sofa. "Just, a lot to take in." She looked across at the young man in the chair, the glass in his hand almost totally empty. "He's so young to be so old." She sounded almost sad.
"When the world is falling around you," Viserys said conversationally, as if Molly had been speaking to the entire room. "Age does not protect you. Power does." I winced, remembering what I'd seen in my Soulgaze. "You know a little of that, I think, Lady Molly."
"Yes," she replied with a small nod. "I do. But," she took a breath, calming herself.
"You didn't choose it," Viserys spoke through her pause. "You've come to accept it, I think. But you didn't choose to become what you are." He growled something under his breath, syllables that I didn't understand but that I also could tell held no power beyond heartfelt emotion. "Of course."
"And you did?" Molly asked, her voice very gentle. "I Saw you, Dragon King. What you have lost, what you have gained, and what you seek. You made a choice, yes, but was it really so different from mine?" The silence that followed could have been cut with a knife. Come on Harry, don't lose it here. But my usual defence to awkward silences was snark, and the generator just wasn't putting out any power right now.
"It was mine to make," Viserys said at last. "I could have chosen otherwise, if you saw anything, you would have seen that." Resting his elbows on his knees, he leant forward, not shying from eye contact in the least. There was no reason to now, of course, not that he had before. "I can say truthfully that my path has been my own, and any bargains made have not bartered my nature away."
I heard the hiss of breath from Molly as the words hit home, and raised a hand before she could reply. "Be that as it may, Viserys," and how was I to know, anyway. "You both clearly distrusted the other before the Soulgaze. Has it settled this?" I looked to the dragon, then back at Molly. He spoke first.
"It has." There was no Power behind the words, but they held weight. "You are no enemy of mine, Lady Molly." My head turned back to him from sheer surprise, which must have shown on my face. "I have had few pleasant encounters with those bound to Winter, Ser Harry. You are in fact the first. But I have met one who did not choose to become part of it before, and they have been a stalwart ally." He chuckled at the look Molly shot him. "Not your Winter, Lady."
"How does that even make sense," she muttered, shaking her head. "But yes, Harry. This settles my distrust in this, at least. I do have many more questions, though."
"Most do," Viserys's voice was droll.
"Perhaps not the same ones another would ask." She smiled thinly, but her voice was firm and cold. "We have Seen each other now, what do you plan to do with what knowledge you have gained?"
"I'm not sure you'd believe me if I told you," Viserys answered pleasantly. "But nothing that would cause you harm. That I will pledge you, and willingly." Again that same weight resonated in the air.
"No cost for such a generous gift?" Molly's tone made it clear she didn't believe him.
"Why should there be?" He asked in way of response. "I have choice, I choose to grant you privacy. If you are Ser Harry's apprentice, I see little need to ask you to do the same." That wasn't an answer I'd expected, and I was pretty sure Molly hadn't either. After all the years of teaching her, I knew her tells. Eighteen months of being the Winter Lady hadn't changed that. Viserys just smiled, in a way that was entirely real. "We Saw each other, Lady Molly. You saw what I am. You know what my word means. Would you truly question it?"
"No," she said quickly, something flickering behind her eyes, an image that I couldn't see. What had she seen in her Soulgaze? No, that didn't matter right now matter. We almost have something approaching peaceful resolution here Harry, don't blow it on that! "I wouldn't."
"Alright then," I said cautiously, trying hard not to sound to grateful that things had become polite at last. "This is good. Progress." The last word was not dumb, and I'll thank you not to say so.
"Indeed," Viserys chuckled, and rose from his chair. Molly matched the movement, eyes still a little wary, but she wasn't instantly moving into a warding gesture. Definitely progress, see! "We taken our measures, Lady, and if it would put your mind at ease, I have no plans on causing Ser Harry here to vanish from your sense again for a while, at least. I believe it will take the White Council some time to respond to your report of completion of the task they gave me as price."
"Um, yeah. It will," I said, adding: "I'll do my best to ram it through channels, but we're going to need the formal oath of Truce or Surrender before they'll talk to you."
"You're talking to the Council again?" Molly asked, her lips twitching with disgust.
"They reinstated me," I shrugged. I wisely didn't mention the whole grey cloak matter. I somehow doubted that Mab would take that well, especially after I'd worn it a few times already.
"And I wish to meet them," Viserys adjoined, "I have no small amount of things to discuss with their recent record of keeping to their self-appointed task."
Molly looked a question at me, to which I nodded, and she started chuckling. "You'll need all the help you can get, then."
"Are you offering?" The question was matter-of-fact, but Molly ruined it by choking out a laugh.
"I'm quite sure that I literally can't. But please Harry, you have to tell me all about how this…meeting goes."
"Oh, it promises to be a good one, I'm sure. If I could, I'd take along a camera to record it all," I shrugged helplessly, holding up my hands. "Alas, Wizard."
"I'm sure you can give her a good description, Ser Harry." Viserys told me, moving across the room, carefully giving Molly some space. "But for now, I have that to prepare for."
"You aren't staying?" Molly asked abruptly. "I had more questions!" She sounded almost crestfallen.
"Do you have something to trade?" Viserys asked. Molly swore.
"Nothing I can tell you. It's not just you." The eyes of my short-term ally sharpened suddenly. He was too smart for Fae geas to be so pressing, surely?
"One more before I go, then." He offered. What had he just figured out? I tried to pass the question to Molly, but she had her own ideas, it seemed.
"What I saw," Molly said, a seriousness drifting into her tone like a chill wind, "the natures I sensed. Which was true?"
Viserys looked at her, then shook his head. It was damn convincing, I could almost believe that he was crestfallen. He gave all three of us a brilliant smile from the door, and gave his answer.
"Why, all of them." He nodded to me. "You know how to contact me, Ser." We heard the door open, close again, and my eyes turned to the front window to watch him walk to the sidewalk. Then he made a gesture, his mouth moved in a word, and he was gone. Molly gaped at the suddenly empty space. I couldn't resist.
"That is not very respectful of you," she told me, aping a conversation months before.
"Can't help it," I did not giggle, I chuckled. There's a difference.
"How did he," she began, then shook her head, realising. "No, if you knew, you'd have told me. You've got no idea either, do you." A true smile crept onto her face, the one I knew from before Demonreach, over a year before.
"Not a clue," I carolled cheerfully, but quietly. There was a standing rule there. Whoever woke the kids got to put them back to sleep again. And using magic wasn't allowed. "He just does it!" Finally, the giggles faded, and I leant over to squeeze her shoulder. There are advantages to long arms. "But I am sorry, Molly. I didn't mean to worry you like I must have."
"You're okay," she said, reaching up to rest her hand on mine for a moment. "That's what matters. I'm used to you being inconvenient at this point."
"Well, you know," I broke off suddenly as the concentration I'd been holding to try and stop the two far more powerful individuals than me from sniping with more than words broke, and the connotations of what she'd just said caught up with me. Mab hated inconveniences. Hell's bells, Harry. Piss off an archangel next time, why don't you? At least that would be over quickly.
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