Free Heroes at Odds by Moira J. Moore Page A

were being used in the area. Surely a group of casters holding regular meetings would be easier to spot?
    “You appear to have some skill at it,” said Browne. “You may be a very powerful caster. And if that’s the case, you shouldn’t be left free to stumble around on your own.”
    I wouldn’t call what I was doing stumbling around. There was a certain amount of trial and error, of course, but that was to be expected in learning any kind of skill. “I really don’t think that’s necessary.”
    “You are a Shield. Are there not certain rules and ethics about what you do?”
    “Of course.”
    “Yet you do not think casting requires similar rules?”
    Well, actually, I did. Not everyone could cast, but those who could were left free to do whatever they could manage. I didn’t trust the common sense of the average person. I knew that was arrogant, but I’d seen too many people do too many stupid things.
    But I didn’t need to be watched. I knew enough to be careful. However, I couldn’t say that without revealing my arrogance.
    “Besides, it is a wonderful forum for learning. We share difficulties and new ideas. And gossip.”
    I had to grin at that. If others were going to talk about me, it was only fair that I talk about them. “All right.”
    “Good. Come here first. I’ll take you to Sonal Snow’s homestead. That’s where the meeting will be held this month.”
    “Excellent. Thank you.” I set my empty mug on the table and shifted to rise to my feet.
    “Just one more matter,” said Browne.
    I settled back on the chair.
    “You will recall that the first time you came to me for assistance, we came to an understanding that I would provide you with supplies and advice, and in exchange you would help me when I asked for it.”
    “Aye,” I said uneasily. I hadn’t been thrilled with the agreement when we’d made it. I wasn’t even sure why I was driven to make it. I had found the idea of casting interesting, but not essential. I hadn’t known at the time how helpful being able to cast would prove to be. Yet I had made the agreement. I couldn’t renege.
    Browne rose to her feet and took a small bag from a shelf. “This was found on the shore.” In the bag was a small rock, about the size of the last joint of my pinky. It was a translucent blue. “You’ve seen something like this before,” she guessed. Possibly from my lack of reaction.
    “I might have,” I said.
    She chuckled. “You might have. How convincing. The rumor is that there is a whole cave full of stones like these.”
    There was. I had been to that cave. I’d been stuck in that cave, with Fiona, in the dark, for hours. Academic Reid had explored the cave as well. I wondered if he had been the source of the rumor. I doubted Fiona would have told anyone—she’d been determined to keep it a secret—or Dane, and I knew I hadn’t. Well, other than Taro. That didn’t count.
    “There is also a rumor that you and Her Grace spent some time in that cave.”
    Really, why did people talk about us so much? “Half the ridge collapsed. The cave might not even exist anymore.”
    “If you look for it and can’t find it, then of course nothing more can be done.”
    “And if I find this cave?”
    Browne pulled another bag from the shelf, this one the size of a person’s head. “I want you to collect some more rocks for me.”
    “I can’t do that,” I objected. “Everything in that cave belongs to Her Grace. I refuse to steal for you.”
    “This is not a precious stone. If the others in the cave are like this, they’re of no value to Her Grace.”
    “How do you know whether it’s a precious stone or not?” Fiona didn’t even know that.
    “I just do.”
    What an irritating response, but if I asked her again, she would probably just give the same answer. I disliked conversational circles. “Then what do you want them for?”
    “Look.” She blew on the stone, and then she whistled at it, a long, low, single note.
    To my utter