The Floodgate

"Well, that's cheery!"

"What would you rather have-a grim truth or a cheerful lie?"

"Hmm. Do you need the answer right now?"

"Yes, and so do you," he said, turning her half-hearted jest back on her. "Talk with Dhamari Exchelsor."

She was silent for a long moment. "You know what, Matteo? I really, really hate it when you're right."

"In that case," he said somberly but with a suspicious glint in his dark eyes, "you should reconcile yourself to constant irritation."

His teasing sent an irrational mixture of exasperation and delight sweeping through Tzigone. "Constant irritation, is it? Well, I suppose I can live with that if you can." Before he could respond, Tzigone upended her bucket of goat's milk over his head. While her friend sputtered and swore, she darted out of the kitchen gri

Yes, she concluded happily, there was definitely hope for Matteo.

Before leaving the city, Matteo visited Queen Beatrix once again. He did not relish the prospect of facing the royal madwoman, but neither could he leave without trying to make sense of her dire pronouncements.

The queen listened with an impassive face as he spoke of his plans to travel in search of knowledge important to the palace. Whether she cared or even understood, he could not say. It was getting harder and harder to enter the strange landscape of her mind. At last, he abandoned subtlety and reminded her that she'd predicted a coming war.

"Did I?" she said vaguely.

"Yes." He hesitated, then added, "I will be gone for quite some time. The Nath is a wild and dangerous place, and the paths are too rough for swift travel."

The Nath. Matteo felt cruel for mentioning the site of her great tragedy, but he needed to take some measure of her sanity. Perhaps she had spoken of some battle in the past, most likely the raid that had destroyed her family.

Matteo studied her face for the emotion this name might evoke. There was not even a flicker of recognition. The queen's detachment was chilling and nearly absolute.

He silently admitted failure but made one more request. "Before I leave, I must contact the headmaster of the Jordaini College. May I use the device that you employed to seek me out when I was last there?" The queen granted permission with an absent wave of her hand. "But I do not work magic," Matteo added, turning back suddenly. "I ca

"A wizard," Beatrix repeated. It seemed to Matteo that there was an ironic edge in her usually flat voice. "Touch the globe. That is all it requires."

Matteo went to the small scrying chamber and shut the door. Globes hung from elaborately knotted slings, rested on pedestals, or bobbed in the air with no apparent support. Hesitantly, he reached out to touch the smooth, floating moonstone globe that matched the one in Ferris Grail's study. The device glowed to life. After a few moments, the cloudy surface of the stone cleared to reveal the face of the jordaini headmaster.

The headmaster's jaw fell slack as he discerned the identity of his caller. Matteo wondered if that surprise was due to this infraction of jordaini rules or because Ferris Grail had assumed that he'd fallen to the icehouse thugs.

Matteo put this question squarely on the table. "You didn't expect to see me, Lord Ferris, and not just because of the order's restraints."

The wizard's dark brows pulled down into a stern V. "If you've a question, speak it. I haven't leisure for games and puzzles."

"No doubt you are a very busy man, with the demands of landlord added to your duties at the college," Matteo retorted. "Imagine my surprise when I learned that your name is inscribed on the deed to an icehouse in the king's city."

"What of it?" Ferris demanded. "Though I am headmaster of the college, I am a wizard, not a jordain. No laws forbid me to own property."

"That is sophistry."

"That is practicality," the headmaster countered. "Most of Halruaa's wizard-lords amass fortunes. A headmaster's wages are sufficient for my current needs, but what of the future? I make such purchases as I feel will increase in value, so that I may live comfortably once I leave the college. Not that I need explain my business to you."

"Actually, there is one small thing that does require explanation," the jordain shot back. "When thugs attacked me and a companion, why did they take us to your icehouse to dispatch us?"

The surprise on the wizard's face seemed too genuine for pretense. Perhaps, Matteo admitted, Ferris Grail didn't know about the attack. "Would you like to hear of it?" he asked in a milder voice.

"I think I'd better," the headmaster said grimly.

Matteo told the story in a few words. "You will no doubt receive a notice of my complaint from the city officials."

"If several men died in the icehouse, I will expect more than that! You know that if there is a legal inquiry into your actions, you will have to appear before the Disputation Table. For the third time this year, I might add."

"There will be no inquiry, as there were no bodies." Matteo described how their attackers, slain or injured, had simply faded away.

The headmaster's face turned nearly as pale as the moonstone globe. "The girl you were with-was she the same who fought with you in Akhlaur's Swamp?"

"Yes," Matteo said curtly, anticipating the now-familiar lecture.

Ferris sent him a long, speculative look. "You spend a considerable amount of time with this wench. More than is seemly for a jordain."

"Our paths seem destined to cross," he said shortly. "I should think you would be far more concerned about the magehound Kiva. What do you know of her?"

"The same as you, and no more," the headmaster said. "Yes, the Azuthan temple contacted me with word of her escape. I agreed that for now the jordaini order would hold this information in confidence. These are troubled times. It is important, especially in light of the raid upon the Lady's Mirror, that the Azuthans do not appear unduly vulnerable."

"I would argue that the times are troubled because of Kiva, and that the vulnerability is real."

Ferris scowled. "You give the elf woman too much credit."

"That is worthy of debate, but perhaps another time. I will answer your question about Tzigone. Let the Azuthans concern themselves with their good name, but the jordaini are pledged to serve the land. I accept the aid and friendship of those who are likewise pledged."

"Your duty is to serve your patron," Ferris reminded him, "not to take up personal quests."

"I have royal permission to do as I will and to use what resources I need."

"Yes, I know," the headmaster complained. "Themo left the college yesterday, riding faster than a flea off a fire-newt. It is not seemly to send a jordain into service who has not completed his training."

"Perhaps Themo should never complete his training. At heart he is a warrior, not a jordain. I wanted him released now, before receiving the rites and tests that end the final form." Matteo paused meaningfully, then added, "As some others have been."

Ferris Grail's eyes narrowed. "Why would you think one jordain's experience would differ from any other's? The jordaini are sworn to secrecy concerning the nature of these rituals."

"After the fact! By Mystra, what man would wish to boast of it!" he said heatedly. "This much I do know: This practice is wrong."

The wizard's face darkened. "Do you think to challenge the entire jordaini order? These rules might seem harsh, but they exist for good reason."

"When I know all these reasons, I will judge for myself."

"You are not meant to know everything, young jordain. You were trained as a counselor, not a judge!" snapped Ferris.

"In seeking truth, I am doing no more than I was trained to do. What I was bred to do," he added bitterly.