“It’s enough, thank you, Leading Fox.” Rosamund took time for a drink of her beer. “Well, you all understand that you are entering an area that is under the protection of the Brotherhood of the Foresters. What you do not understand, I suspect, is why it is under our protection.”
“Well, ’cause you’re the sheriff,” Cody said, as if that was obvious. “You’re the law in these parts.”
“No,” Rosamund said sternly. “It is because this part of the world has seen four thousand years of continuous magic use . . . and I would say that at least half of that was magic in use by bad people. There are things living here. Bad things. Old things that were once gods, and half of those were gods of evil. There are pockets of bad magic. Elementals that, themselves, are evil. This is an ancient forest, it holds many things, and it is easy for them to hide here. Just by being here, you might attract them. Just by doing the wrong thing in the wrong place, you can awaken things that are sleeping. There are thousands of years of blood magic in this land. At least half of that was done purely for the purposes of raising power to harm and destroy, and I do not believe I need to tell you what that means . . .”
Giselle swallowed. Mother had warned her about such things. The forest around the abbey was full of dangerous creatures, made more dangerous by the practice of evil and blood magic in the distant past. Mother had speculated that this might have been why the abbey had been established there in the first place, as a bastion of light against the darkness.
The others, Kellermann and Cody, at least, nodded. Fox looked thoughtful. She wondered what he was thinking. Kellermann sat back in his chair and fired up a pipe; Cody poured himself another beer.
The serving girl came in then, and asked if they needed anything else. Rosamund paid for their feast and waited while she cleared things away, leaving behind only the beer.
“So, here is the situation I find myself in,” Rosamund continued, when she had gone. “I’m satisfied that your intentions are good, but intentions are just not enough to safeguard you or anyone else in the Schwarzwald. The problem that I have is, can I let you go on, deeper into the Schwarzwald without supervision, when you have no idea what you are likely to encounter? Or, more importantly, stir up?”
They all looked at each other, nonplussed. “We haven’t had any trouble so far,” Cody finally pointed out. “None of us have done much magic, other than that odd bit of Air stuff that Fox and Ellie do, an’ that’s only in the shows.”
Hmm, that’s a lie, Cody, and it’s not a good idea to lie when you are a magician, Giselle thought, her brows creasing. You know very well that all of us use our magic all the time. What’s more, she’s a Master, so she knows it too.
“Anyways, I don’ see any reason why anybody needs t’fret ’bout us,” Cody continued. “We’ll jest go on our tour, an’ take care not t’rile anything up, an’ that’ll be fine.”
Rosamund frowned at him. “Just from my point of view, I don’t think that is a good idea. I have only your word for it that what you do will have no effect on what’s already here.” She gave Cody a stern look, and to Giselle’s feeling of satisfaction, she saw Cody cringe just a little. “Moreover, you have no way of predicting what might decide to come at you, regardless of how careful you are. So I have a plan. I am coming with you.”
Giselle blinked. Well, that’s certainly . . . unexpected. The Captain stared. Kellermann shook his head, and Fox chuckled under his breath.
She wasn’t at all displeased by this demand. She already liked Rosamund, and she missed the company of another female who was also her countryman and a magician. And Rosamund might be able to teach her more about her own powers than Mother had been able to.
“This is a joke, right?” Cody said, after a moment.
“I have never been more serious,” the Hunt Master replied. “You might encounter nothing. But given how luck plays out . . . it is not that I am averse to having your rotting bodies discovered some time next spring. It is that I am averse