Free The Enemy Within by Richard Lee Byers - (ebook by Undead) Page B

glad
the god hasn’t got around to changing you yet. If he had, I never would have met
you, and besides that, I like your face the way it is.”
    Jarla blushed. Dieter wondered how best to follow up on his
flattery, and then the door groaned open. Mama Solveig doddered through, looked
at her two acolytes sitting opposite one another, and smiled.
    “Dieter,” she said, “awake at last.”
    “Yes.” He pondered how to speak to her and decided that at
least a little resentment was in order. Any other reaction might seem unnatural
and accordingly suspicious. “I appreciate Jarla staying with me, but you’re the
healer. Why weren’t you trying to help me?”
    “Because you weren’t sick,” Mama said, hobbling closer. “The
Changer’s touch is a blessing, not an illness. What did you dream?”
    He hesitated. “A world where everything kept changing. Armies
of daemons.”
    “And it was all wonderful and beautiful, wasn’t it?”
    “Well… yes.” In a bizarre way, it had been. He’d just been
too frightened to realise until now.
    “Yet there you sit complaining, just because you had to go to
sleep to see it. Don’t you realise you’re being foolish?”
    “Maybe, but I never had a seizure before.”
    “And in your place, I’m sure I’d be concerned, too. But I
doubt you’ll have any more. As I said, it’s not that you’ve fallen sick. You’ve
become one of the elect, and since that was what you wanted, I hope you can
forgive me for giving it to you.”
    He sighed. “Well, I suppose. Why not, considering that I came
out of it all right.” The tender spot on his forehead gave him a twinge.
    Mama Solveig smiled. “I’m so glad. I’d hate to think we were
mistaken about you, and you’d end up regretting it if I did. Do you feel well
enough to talk a while longer, or would you like to rest?”
    “We can talk.”
    “Good.” The old woman turned to Jarla. “Why don’t you go down
by the barracks, dear? Earn some money and see what you can learn.”
    Jarla pouted as if she found the suggestion uncongenial. But
she merely said, “Yes, Mama,” and took her leave.
    “She’s a sweet girl,” Mama said as Jarla pulled the door shut
behind her, “but Adolph could make a nasty enemy.”
    Dieter hesitated. “I don’t want enemies. I want to fit in and
serve the cause.”
    “Of course you do, and that’s one of the nice things about
joining the coven. Perhaps the rest of the world is against you, but you have a
family now, brothers and sisters who look after their own. For instance, Jarla
told me you’ve been slaving away for pennies catching vermin, and sleeping in a
hostel for beggars and tramps. We can do better than that. For the time being,
you can live here and be my helper in the healing trade.”
    So she could keep an eye on him and try to make sure he was a
genuine convert? Maybe, but conversely, it ought to facilitate the process of
spying on her. “I’d like that. Thank you.”
    “You’re very welcome. It will be nice to have company in this
gloomy old hole. But I’m sure you understand, a family doesn’t work if people
only take. They need to give back, also.”
    “I can see that.”
    “I knew you would. So the coven has to consider what each new
recruit can contribute, to his newfound kindred and the cause we serve, and in
your case, the answer is plain: your magic.”
    His forehead throbbed. “What about it?”
    Mama hesitated as though calculating precisely how much she
wanted to share with a new recruit. “When we talked before, I mentioned that the
Red Crown supports those who seek to topple the Empire by force of arms.”
    “Specifically, someone named Leopold and his comrades in the
forest.”
    She stared at him. “And how do you know that?”
    “Jarla mentioned them.”
    The old woman sighed. “She’s a good girl, but too chatty.
Apparently I need to remind her that it’s for me to decide what you learn and
when. But since she’s already blathered