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, Laurie Marks Elemental Logic 02 Earth Logic 

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companion and the restless, grunting baby that he awkwardly dandled on his
knee?
The raven added, unnervingly, �Emil is sitting with Karis while she sleeps.
The
room is dark, like this one. Karis is asleep on the floor, near the fire. She
has hardly slept since Long Night, and he does not wish to wake her up. He
asks
that you speak with him instead of her. How can he win your confidence?�
�Who is Emil?�
The raven said, �Emil was commander of South Hill company for twenty years,
and
is now a General of Paladins, and a councilor of Shaftal.�
�He was the commander in South Hill?� Clement stared at the raven and
demanded,
irrationally, �What happened in South Hill? When that woman in our gaol, who
used to be a warrior of the Ashawala�i��
�Katrim,� corrected the raven.
�Katrim,� she said irritably. �She became a Paladin in South Hill, didn�t
she?
Under Emil�s command! And something happened there.�
�The storyteller�s name then was Zanja na�Tarwein. She came to South Hill
Company wanting to kill Sainnites. But she turned her back on this war, and
opened the way for others to follow her� Emil, and Medric, and Karis. Zanja
became a hinge of history, an opener of doors.�
�Well, she had better get some more doors opened quickly, for she is going to
be
executed tomorrow, at dawn.�
The raven said nothing at all.
Clement stumbled on, scarcely able to believe what she was doing, even as she
did it. �I�d like to save her, but I can�t. Perhaps there�s something you or
the
G�deon could do.�
The raven said, �Emil asks for your patience. This is a painful problem.�
Clement had been pacing the cold room, but now she sat down abruptly, in a
chair
near Gilly. �I make a traitor out of myself to a raven,� she muttered, �And I
get only silence in response. Who do I complain to?�
The raven finally spoke. �It is better that the storyteller be killed.�
�What? How could it be better?�
�It is difficult to explain. Zanja na�Tarwein is no longer alive, and the
storyteller�s death will be a gift to her.�
�Her separated spirit can be made whole by killing her?� said Gilly.
�Yes.�
�This makes sense to you?� Clement asked.
Gilly shrugged crookedly. �I believe it�s fire logic.�
�It is fire logic,� the raven said.
As the raven fluffed his feathers in the heat, Gabian watched the black bird
with fixed fascination. Clement finally said, �I want to come over the wall
tonight, and join the G�deon�s service.�
It was impossible to understand nuances in the raven�s inhuman voice. But the
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promptness of his reply suggested a lack of surprise. �Lieutenant-General
Clement, you will serve Shaftal best by remaining where you are.�
�Now I�m in disgrace, there�s nothing I can do except bring my son to safety
before your people attack.�
�There will be no attack. We are here to make peace.�
�But the G�deon said her offer of peace was Cadmar�s only chance.�
�She said she would make peace without him,� the raven said.
Something in the raven�s words gave Clement pause. Gilly said, �That is what
she
said.� He also paused.
�Oh, bloody hell,� Clement breathed. �Gilly, where is Cadmar?�
Gilly said sharply, �You�ve got to keep away from the general! If something
happens to him, you�ll be blamed! Clem, listen to me!�
�Look after the baby,� she said, and ran out the door.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Garland found the kitchen�s oven to be quite cantankerous, but he and his
fellow
cooks eventually managed to get it to produce a halfway decent tray of meat
turnovers. He brought one to the Paladin who sat writing a letter by
candlelight
as he kept watch outside the parlor door. He took another into the parlor to
give Emil. Emil, seated in an upholstered chair, flanked by a flock of
extremely
weary ravens, made a silencing gesture.
Karis, bolstered by feather pillows and wrapped in blankets, slept on the
floor.
Before J�han was half finished with her, she had fallen profoundly asleep:
oblivious as he stripped her to the skin, unconscious when several people lay
hands on her to help turn and arrange her nerveless form. Garland had taken
Karis�s clothing into the kitchen, but then lost custody of it to the people
who
could sew. The worn state of her relatively new clothing offered an appalling
measure of how hard Karis had been working.
Garland put the plate at Emil�s elbow, and then quietly added wood to the
fire.
Karis�s big hand was outspread on the floor, as though even in her sleep she
was
trying to hold the pieces of a broken thing together.
Emil said in a low voice, �Raven, tell me what is happening now.�
A raven spoke. �The Lucky Man has placed the baby in the basket. Now he
speaks:
�I see you are a subtle people.� His tone is ironic.�
The fire, rising in the fireplace, crackled softly.
�Tell the Lucky Man he can remind Clement that reluctance to take power is a
virtue here. Is he following her to see what�s become of the general?�
�Yes.�
�Tell him it�s not contagious.�
The raven said, �He seems nonplused. He has left the room now.�
�You birds have an astonishing vocabulary,� Emil muttered. He stood up
stiffly.
�Garland, the storyteller is to die at dawn. How can they kill her with all
their weapons broken?�
Garland felt a twist of sickness. �A heavy ax on the back of the neck.�
Emil flinched. Then he took a breath and said in an even voice, �Without a
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sharp
edge, the executioner�s going to need a good aim.�
�They don�t miss,� Garland said. �It�s a point of pride. But that won�t make
you
feel any better.�
�Nothing will. Not only did I have to kill her, but I have to keep killing
her.
My ethical training has rarely seemed so inadequate. All I can do is endure,
but
to endure such an awful thing seems impossible.�
Emil looked at Karis then, with a wrenching interlarding of compassion and
pride. �Must I awaken her?�
�Don�t you dare!�
�She has to be told.�
�You keep away from her! Sit down and eat your supper! Leave that poor woman
alone!� If Garland�s rolling pin had not been in the kitchen, he would have
made
himself ridiculous by brandishing it.
Emil sat down and picked up the plate from the table. He took a bite of the
turnover, and shook his head in amazement. �I don�t know how you do it.� Then
he
looked up, and smiled faintly at Garland�s face, which must have had a
strange
expression. �No, I don�t know how I do it either,� he said. �Are you going to
be
up all night?�
�Yes, Emil. I expect we all will. People are out there sewing Karis a new
undershirt, knitting new gloves, mending her boots, stitching up her popped
seams, and patching the holes in her breeches. Other people keep dropping by
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