Blood of the Fold

Lunetta cast him a quick look over her shoulder. "He be different. I do not know why, but he be different. I have never felt magic like his before. I could not tell if he be telling every word true, or every word a He, but I think he be telling it true." She shook her head to herself in wonder. "I can get past blocks. I always can get past blocks. Any kind: air, water, earth, fire, ice, any kind. Even spirit. But his. .?"

Tobias smiled absently. It didn't matter. He didn't need her filthy taint to tell. He knew.

She mumbled on about the strange aspects of Lord Rahl's magic, and how she wanted away from it, away from this place, and how it made her skin itch like never before. He only half listened. She would have her wish to be away from Aydindril after he took care of a few matters.

"What are you sniffing at?" he growled.

"Midden, my lord general. Kitchen midden,"

Tobias gripped a fistful of her colored rags. "Midden? You left them at a midden heap?"

She grinned as she waddled along. "Yes, Lord General. You said you didn't want people around. I not be familiar with the city, and did not know a safe place I could send them, but I saw the midden heap on our way to the Confessors' Palace. No one will be there in the night."

Midden heap. Tobias harrurnphed. "Loony Lunetta," he muttered.

She lost a stride. "Please Tobias, do not call me — "

"Then where are they!"

She lifted her arm, pointing, and hurried her step. "This way, Lord General. You will see. This way. Not far."

He thought about it as he trudged through the drifts. It made sense. It did make sense; a midden heap was the perfect justice.

"Lunetta, you be telling me the truth about Lord Rahl, aren't you? If you lie to me about this, I will never forgive you."

She stopped and looked up at him. Tears welled in her eyes as she clutched her colored rags. "Yes, my lord general. Please. I be telling the truth. I tried everything. I tried my best."

Tobias stared at her a long moment as a tear ran down her plump cheek. It didn't matter; he knew.

He flicked his hand impatiently. "All right then, get going. You better not have lost them."

Suddenly beaming, she wiped her cheek, turned back to the way she had been going, and darted off. "This way, Lord General. You will see. I know where they be."

Sighing, Tobias started after her again. The snow was piling up, and at the rate it was coming down it looked like it was going to be a bad one. No matter, things were turning his way. Lord Rahl was a fool if he thought Lord General Tobias Brogan of the Blood of the Fold was going to surrender like a baneling under hot iron.

Lunetta was pointing. "Over here, Lord General. They be here."

Even with the wind howling at their backs, Tobias could smell the midden heap before he could see it. He shook the snow off his crimson cape when they reached the dark hump lit by the faint lights from palaces beyond the wall in the distance. The snow melted off in places as it fell on the steaming heap, leaving much of its dark shape devoid of even the pretense of purity.

He put his fists on his hips. "So? Where are they?"

Lunetta moved close to his side, hiding herself in his lee from the wind-driven snow, "Stand here, Lord General. They will come to you."

He looked down and saw a well trodden path. "A circle spell?"

She cackled softly as she pulled some scraps up around her red cheeks against the cold. "Yes, Lord General. You said you did not want them to get away, or you would be angry with me. I did not want you to be angry with Lunetta, so I cast them a circle spell. They cannot get away, now, no matter how fast they go."

Tobias smiled. Yes, the day was ending well after all. It had provided obstacles, but with the Creator's guidance he would overcome them. Now matters were in his command. Lord Rahl was going to find out that no one dictated to the Blood of the Fold.

Emerging from the darkness, he first saw the swish of her yellow skirts as her wrap was pulled open by a gust. Duchess Lumholtz, the duke a half step behind and to her side, trod purposefully toward him. When she saw who was standing beside the path, a glower darkened her painted face. She tugged closed her snow-encrusted wrap.

Tobias greeted her with a broad smile. "We meet again. A good evening to you, madam." He tilted his head in a slight nod. "And to you, too, Duke Lumholtz."

The duchess sniffed her disapproval and lifted her nose. The duke eyed them with a stern glare, as if he were placing a barrier he defied them to cross. Both marched past without a word, and off into the darkness. Tobias chuckled.

"You see, my lord general? As I promised, they wait for you."

Tobias hooked both thumbs in his belt as he straightened his shoulders, letting his crimson cape billow open in the wind. There was no need to pursue the pair.

"You did well, Lunetta," he murmured.