"Lady Natalie Francine Daria Harigold, of the House Harigold, daughter of Duke Matthew Harigold, you are under arrest by order of the King and the Queen, the Royal College of Magisters, the High Court of the Council, and numerous jurisdictions and principalities. You are known to be a sorceress and as such any move you make must be interpreted as hostile. Stand down and do not resist secure transport."

  Not like I'm going anywhere. I can feel it now, the way the air is hardened around me. Someone with an affinity for the air is putting their force into hardening the atmosphere around me. Sorcery is gripping the air by my skin, locking me in as if encased in concrete. One of the other sorcerers. I pull up the Status menu and glance at them, but I can't get a lock on any individual sorcerer or guardsman. Instead, I can just see the Strength level of the encounter. It's 20. I checked my own scores. Yep. Still a 4. I'm not going to resist this even if I wanted and tried.

  Fortunately the sorcerer encasing me in iron-hard air had left my head and neck clear. I blinked the lights out of my eyes, looked around at all the assembled guards, and nodded in acceptance. "Can I see my brother before I go?"

  The head guardsman glanced at a robed figure to his side. The robed woman shrugged. "We cannot know what is a trick and what is not," she said. "I don't think we can afford to give up any advantage we have." She had magister's robes, I noticed only after the fact. From the Royal College no doubt, the same group that Nukhail had retired from. She had deep gray hair and a surprisingly youthful face. Not that I'm in a position to talk about that.

  There was somebody behind me, brushing my hair away from my neck. It itched, they were doing it wrong. And then cold hard iron pressed to one side of my neck, then the other, and with a click they were joined.

  A lot of the tension went out of the assembled soldiers when that happened. And after that, the lead guardsman made a gesture, and a surprisingly efficient process was begun. The aeromancer who held me still gestured me up into the air, and I hovered helplessly as a wooden platform was wheeled over beneath me. He set me down there, but did not relax his grip on my movements. Workmen ran up out of the crowd of soldiers, each team of four carrying a large cast-iron grate. They came at me from all sides, and raised the grates into place, vertically.

  Bars. They built a cage around me. Another sorcerer gestured, and the iron melded together, welding solidly at room temperature. The sorcerer with the wind powers started to ease off of me some, gave me some room to move, while other workers were hitching horses to my wagon, and fitting a wooden roof on top. The wood below me, and the bars around me, were marked with line after line of scrivening spells. I could not see it, but I was quite positive that the collar bolted around my neck was similarly appointed.

  "This seems a little extreme, even for a sorceress," I pointed out.

  The head guard was relaxed enough now to laugh. "Gods I hope so," he said, strolling closer. "But I don't think we'll know for sure until I've delivered you to Hearstcliff. You are difficult to judge, my lady. By all the information given to me, you're almost uniquely hard to apprehend. Able to disappear in an instant, travel far across the world. Granted massive weapons of unknown capacity. Capable of moving too fast to be seen, stunning a soldier with only a light touch. But, a mana-poor child barely able to defeat trained soldiers in a fight. Normally when bringing in vast powers and frightening weapons, my tactic is to move quickly, strike hard, and secure them after they are defeated. But to do that in this case would kill you instantly. So I need my gentlest touch, against a sorceress that can, and I quote, 'utterly obliviate people or buildings'. Add to which, you are vastly intelligent and learned, and we have no way to know what you would or would not already know. I'm assured that your mastery of sorcery, baffling and impossible as it is, is dwarfed still further by your knowledge of mechanisms, crafts, the properties of materials and how to manipulate them in surprising ways. I can take nothing for granted and I'm still only half-sure this is enough."

  He walked closer, and raised a hand to lay it on the bars near me. The closer he got, the lower his voice, he was not bellowing for all to hear. Only the last couple workmen buzzing around could make out his next words. "The only things that I have been told that I can count on, is that you are a genuinely kind and gentle soul, charitable and self-sacrificing to a fault, and that you care for your family, staff, citizens and friends to a degree that beggars imagination. And that you have suffered tragedy and dark days."

  In the last few years, the family has been struck by repeated tragedy, and their lands have suffered several misfortunes. Dark days in Meadowtam, and Harigold House.

  "You could say that," I sighed. The bars were bolted to the roof and floor, the workmen moved back fast. They were scared of me. I recognized the look of someone earning hazard pay when I see them. The sorcerer holding me imprisoned by air finally relaxed, and I could stand on my feet. "By the way, I shall need clothing shortly," I said. "Most of what I wear is conjured, and will dispel in a few hours if I'm not permitted to reinforce it."

  He paused, made a startled face. "Ah," he said. "I'll arrange some items brought. It may be simpler fare than you are used to, my lady, but most prisoners are issued smocks that cannot hold any concealed weapons or tools of escape."

  I sighed, and sat down. With the platform raised on wheels, I was basically face-to-face with him through the bars. He was a good-looking fellow. Could use a haircut. Sort of a classic-Hollywood handsome, but I don't know the names to compare him to. I pulled my knees up, and wrapped my arms over them. "I suppose we all play our parts as we must," I sighed. "You've had my name, and you have the advantage of me sir."

  He paused, glanced over his shoulder to the magister representative. The mage's representative gave a tiny shake of her head. "I've been advised against that course," he said. "But instead call me Chomas."

  "Advised not to tell me your name?" I was aghast. "Am I a bogeyman?!"

  "Not to press the point, your ladyship," he said, patting the bars that separated us, "I've been told that bogeymen have bogeymen, and those bogeymen have you."

  Sir Chomas of the Royal Cavalry Guard had a very dramatic concept of what I was capable of, but he was not cruel. He stayed nearby to talk to me while the caravan rumbled down the road, and he kept an eye on me while I ate and drank. He gave me a simple smock of comfortable fabrics, and I put it on before I released my leather armor.

  I really expected myself to fall asleep right away, because apparently I'd been charging hard for twenty-four hours now and had almost no mana or stamina left at all. But being arrested really had me wired and restless. Chomas passed me a couple of thick cushions that were sized to slip through the bars. They were well-padded, and not too scratchy, but they had no visible seams and even a very strong man would have had a hard time pulling them apart for any kind of escape plan.

  An hour into our ride, I sighed. "Okay, I have to try just because it'll bug me if I don't," and I gestured for a spell. Nothing at all, I was completely blocked. "Yeah, that's what I thought," I said, and sat back.

  "What is that word?" he asked me.

  "What word?"

  "Oh-que."

  I froze. Okay. Shit. "It's just a sort of filler word. Like um, ah, or 'all right'. I've been using it for ages and I think I picked it up from a book."

  He nodded along. "Do you know how good I am at discerning a fib, my lady?"

  "Far better than I am at hiding them," I answered, chagrined. I lay down on the padded mats.

  He shrugged. "I'm either much, much better at detecting subterfuge than you are at deceiving others, or I'm much much worse at it. One or the other. I'm inclined to trust in my abilities. I think that you are extremely guileless, and that's one of your best qualities."

  "I'm sure you say that to all the captives," I quipped.

  He barked a laugh. "Hah! You, m'lady, have a hard time even telling the truth in a way you know it will be misconstrued. Sincerity is easy for you. But, you only ever speak a small fraction of your thoughts. I think that you are one of those people who simply doesn't say what she does not wish to say, and hopes that nobody will ask."

  "That's an interesting idea you have," I said.

  "Almost like you are filtering all your thoughts to guard what you are saying. Most people probably think it comes off as refined and thoughtful. I should say it sounds exhausting."

  "I'd imagine anyone can get used to anything after twelve years, Sir Chomas."

  "For example: What is your earliest memory, my lady?"

  I froze. This guy was not just reading me, he had me down cold, much more than I had thought anyone ever would. Alarm bells were ringing loudly in my brain. "I would prefer not to say," I finally admitted.

  "See, most people don't panic when they hear a question like that, Lady Natalie," Sir Chomas said, shaking his head.

  "Sir Chomas?"

  "Yes?"

  "How did you and your people get here so fast and bring all this equipment?" I gestured around. There were three horse-drawn carts plus my wheeled cage. Most of them were full of traveling supplies, one was half-full because it had held the components of my cage. Dozens of knights were riding at a walking pace. Sorcerers alternately rode in wagons or patrolled around propelled by their own magic. I was jealous. They could fly.

  He was quiet long enough that I could tell he was deciding how much to tell me, and he was okay with me knowing that. "We were just a few miles down the road," he said. "We were renting the barn at the Dordin farm."

  I processed that. "My father did not mention Royal Cavalry Guard stationed nearby."

  "Your father did not know," Sir Chomas admitted.

  I rolled over onto my front on the thick bedroll, with my face pillowed on my folded arm. "Argh," I groaned. "A few miles away, already briefed, with this cage ready to assemble. You've been waiting for a while."

  "It's not quite like that," he assured me. "But, it is a little like that. We were mostly taking in information and forwarding reports. We had the containment equipment in case it was needed, but not with the expectation that it would be needed. As soon as we saw the fire in the distance, we started getting ready. We have been helping out for the past week, you know. Tents, gear, supplies, mounts, searching for survivors. We just left a tarp on that one wagon with this cage in it, and we just did not tell anyone why we were so close. Everyone was too grateful to ask us those kinds of questions. But when you woke up, and disappeared... I had a bad feeling. You've had a history of being a little more impetuous than the rest of your kinfolk. And you've become accustomed to being able to solve problems with sorcery."

  "You make me sound so easy to read," I complained to my captor.

  He shrugged. "Maybe I could call it 'unsophisticated', but I doubt that would help you feel better. Before the fire broke out, I thought the information we were gathering was going to be used to help recruit you, not contain you."

  Unsophisticated again. The same word that the lich used to describe me. If the dead man and the captain of the guard had the same read on me, maybe I should just accept that about myself.

  "Kind of you to say, Sir Chomas," I said, rolling over onto my back again. I stared at the top of my cell, and laced my fingers over my stomach. "Was it really necessary to haul me off without at least saying goodbye?"

  "I'm sorry, but yes," he admitted. "It seemed cruel, but our orders were to not take any chances, but keep you alive if possible. Our magister support told us that it was possible you had some prepared effects that you might trigger even in containment. Such measures were most likely to be within the house, or on the persons of your family members. We could not be sure that you could not speak a codeword and teleport yourself back to Byeview again or something."

  I started to speak to that exactly, but held back. He was pressing me for information about Byeview. Whether I'd been there before, what I'd done. I closed my mouth. I thought a little more. "Sir Chomas?"

  "Lady."

  "When you mentioned how unpredictable I could be, and how hard that made it to capture me, you also mentioned a few things about me that you could count on, that made it easier to track and contain me," I said. "They were very gracious and complimentary."

  "You're welcome, Lady Natalie.

  "Not yet. One of them was that I would do anything to protect my family. But when you had me surrounded, to capture me, they were nowhere around. And I've still not seen them. Sir Chomas, did you have my family hostage for my good behavior?"

  I think the tone of my voice let him know that this was a question surrounded by landmines. He was careful answering. "No, lady. Your family and friends were never harmed or held, save only to clear the space we believed you would reappear. We had plans to make you think they were being held hostage, if we needed to. But the deception of that would serve us just as well as actually doing it, so there was no need for us to insult the duke or his family in such a way."

  I paused for a bit.

  "You're a very ruthless man, Sir Chomas."

  "By necessity."

  "I'm sure you have told me the truth here Sir Chomas, and that I will never learn different."

  "My honor."

  "Honor of a ruthless man. I don't believe that you think these bars and collars will hold me forever, Sir Chomas. I think you believe that it's a matter of time before I do escape."

  "An interesting idea."

  "So if I do escape, Sir Chomas, by any means. At any time. It is good that you did not actually hurt or frighten my family."

  "My lady."

  "Thank you," I said. I rolled onto my side, propped my cheek with my palm. "So, we're not actually going all the way to Hearstcliff like this, are we? That'll take weeks with these carts."

  "I regret that we will be spending those weeks in close company, my lady. You are to have no less than two guards watching you at all times, and never be out of the line of sight of at least two sorcerers. Taking you by ship would be too unpredictable, too many variables. The Cavalry Guard can secure and clear the roads and guarantee the journey, so we do this the slow and safe way."

  "I would literally rather ferry you all to Hearstcliff myself using my powers. Even if it's just to find me a jail cell that doesn't have wheels."

  "I'm afraid not, my lady."

  I pouted. "You can trust me with this. I wouldn't run, I just would rather not sit in this cage for three weeks. Honestly, the comfort and convenience alone would be worth it."

  "I'm not tempted by your offer, Lady Natalie," he said. He smiled. Just to let me know that he was lying a little bit.

  "I'm trying not to be bitter about the fact that you got here in time to arrest me, but not to help with the fire," I sighed.

  "I could say the same," he said, his voice carefully neutral. He was covering regrets of his own. "Had our orders been different, my cadre here could have been invaluable if we had reached the house before the fire was done."

  Before the fire was done destroying everything and killing everyone. I let my eyes prickle with tears.

  A distraction. I should distract myself.

  "The wagons here, these traces and yokes are for oxen. A good choice for a long haul. But you're pulling them with riding horses. I presume there's adequate reason to annoy these fine animals in such a way?"

  "Our intention had been to purchase oxen to pull the wagons, but it proved impossible."

  "How so?"

  "None of the people of your lands would sell us oxen when they learned what we were doing. And the message not to sell us any oxen traveled faster than our riders did."

  I blurted a sob and a laugh together. Good people. They were watching out for me however they could.

  "Sir Chomas?"

  "Lady."

  "I'll likely need a bucket sometime soon, and I presume some provisions are already in place."

  "We will not unfortunately be able to offer you a sheet for privacy, but the smock you're wearing- "

  "I get it," I said, inviting him to not explain further.

  That was the end of conversation for a while. I cried myself to sleep. It was overdue. This was the longest I'd been away from Nathan since I was born.