Watt-Evans, Lawrence - Annals of the Chosen 01 (87 page)

"We've
only
trapped
two
so
far."

"The
dangerous
two."

'True
enough."

Breaker
heard
the
gurgle
of
wine
being
poured.
He
swallowed
bile.

"Was
it
hard,
keeping
up
the
pretense
for
so
long?"
the Wizard
Lord
asked.

"Sometimes.
But
they
were
all
so
very
sure
of
themselves—the
idea
that
one
of
the
Chosen
might
want
to
join
you
in
ruling
Barokan
doesn't
seem
to
have
ever
even occurred
to
them.
Even
when
I
kept
telling
them
not
to
make
any
plans,
not
to
make
any
sort
of
serious
preparations,
they
never
got
suspicious—you
probably
didn't
need
to
set
that stag
on
me
at
all."

"I
was
trying
for
the
Swordsman,"
the
other
said.
"But
then
I
couldn't
just
ignore
you.
If
I
had,
they
might
have
realized
something
was
wrong."

"I
know,
and
I'm
sure
it
removed
any
doubts
they
might have
had.
Later
I
was
a
bit
worried
that
the
Thief's
refusal
to accompany
us
might
get
them
thinking
in
unfortunate
directions,
but
apparently
it
never
did.
I
was
very
relieved
when she
didn't
come
along,
you
know—she
thought
differently
from
the
others,
more
sensibly,
not
all
caught
up
in
our
preordained
roles,
so
she
might
have
been
harder
to
fool,
and
of course
her
magic
would
make
her
hard
to
capture
and
hold. And
I
almost
couldn't
believe
our
luck
when
the
Seer
said she
wasn't
going
to
set
foot
in
the
tower—if
she'd
been
here I
couldn't
have
sent
them
down
into
the
cellars,
she'd
have
known
where
you
were."

"I
was
planning
to
shoot
her,
rather
than
the
Speaker,
for
exactly
that
reason,"
the
Wizard
Lord
replied.
"But
having them
both
out
of
the
way
was
even
better.
Though
you
know,
she
must
know
where
we
are,
that
the
two
of
us
are
up
here
and
the
others
are
downstairs—I
wonder
what
she
thinks
of
that?"

"She
probably
thinks
it's
all
part
of
some
grand
scheme
of mine,
some
ploy
to
convince
you
to
surrender."

The
Wizard
Lord
snorted
derisively.
"As
if
I
would
ever
give
up
any
of
my
magic!
It's
all
that
makes
life
worth
living."

"As
you
say.
I
always
wanted
to
be
a
wizard,
or
at
the
very
least
a
priest,
but
I
couldn't
find
any
wizards
to
train
me,
and the
ler
back
home
in
Deepwell
wouldn't
have
me.
Becoming one
of
the
Chosen
was
the
only
magic
I
could
get."

"You
could
do
worse.
After
all,
here
we
are!"

It
might
just
be
a
trick,
Breaker
told
himself.
This
might all
be
some
scheme
to
get
the
Wizard
Lord
to
lower
his
guard.
After
all,
the
Leader
knew
what
the
Wizard
Lord
had
done,
knew
about
the
deaths
and
disasters
he
had
caused.