Marked by Magic (The Baine Chronicles #4)(40)

“To further demoralize the enemy, we should take a few of the captured officers and set an example with public executions,” one of the mages declared. “It will make the citizens think twice about defecting to the other side.”

“That would be a terrible mistake,” I protested, and all eyes turned toward me. Director Chen pressed her lips together, and the mage who had spoken reddened, but I ignored their reactions. “Haven’t you guys learned from your mistakes yet? The council’s heavy-handed measures are what got us into this mess in the first place. More violence isn’t the answer.”

“Then what do you suggest we do?” the mage snapped. “Sit back and let the Resistance take the city? They are not shy about using violence against us – surely you, of all people, can’t be suggesting that we show weakness and leniency to them? Or are your loyalties divided, since so many of the Resistance are shifters?”

“That was out of line, Secretary Corwin,” Fenris said. “The Chief Mage has complete confidence in Miss Baine.”

“His apprentice may be loyal, but hardly objective, when she has one foot in either camp,” another mage objected. “How could she be? Anyway, I support Corwin’s proposal about public executions. These renegades understand no other language. Not to punish them with utmost severity would send the wrong message.”

“It is certainly an interesting proposal,” Director Chen said to the last speaker. “I have concerns about the timing, however.”

By Magorah. Was she f*cking serious? I couldn’t believe Director Chen was going along with this bullshit.

“No,” I said firmly, drawing all eyes toward my end of the table. “Obviously, we have to fight back – I’m not an idiot. But if you execute the prisoners while emotions are running so high, you’ll make them martyrs, and that will only rally their successors and bring even more people to their side out of sympathy. Sentence them to labor in the mines – it’s a better deterrent anyway – and find a different way to discourage the citizens from joining the Resistance. Maybe you could even start by convincing them why they should side with you in the first place,” I added with a sneer. “Why would they show the slightest loyalty to mages, the way you have been treating them all this time?”

“Preposterous!” the execution-happy mage roared, and the other mages at the table began to add their arguments as well. The words ‘ignorant’, ‘na?ve’, and ‘ungrateful’ were thrown around, and to my frustration, Director Chen did nothing to stop them. In fact, she was listening attentively to their asinine arguments. I tried to subdue the anger bubbling in my chest, but it was hopeless. It was obvious the mages didn’t understand why they needed to care about the views of stupid humans and shifters. In their eyes, the shorter-lived races were unable to understand their own best interests, and it would be a waste of time and sign of weakness for the Mages Guild to explain itself.

“This arrogant attitude toward humans and shifters is exactly the reason why we are in this current mess!” I shouted at them, but that only led to further argument. When the hell was Iannis coming back?

“Why don’t you say something?” I challenged Fenris with mindspeak.

“It would be useless – I’m a shifter in their eyes. And I half agree with them,” he responded, to my frustration. “Leave it to Iannis to deal with this.”

“Enough,” Director Chen said at last, raising her voice so she could be heard above the others. “This is a conference room, not a public house!” She turned her dark gaze in my direction, and I stiffened as I realized she blamed the controversy on me. “We’ll have a civilized discussion, or no discussion at all.”

“It’s obvious to me that it’s impossible to have a civilized discussion with you lot,” I snarled, shoving up from my chair. “Enjoy trying to solve the city’s problems with your heads up your asses. It’s not like I know anything about what the people actually want and what they might respond to.”

I shoved away from the table, then spun on my heel and stormed from the room. I was a fool to come to this meeting, to think they might be prepared to hear reason from the one person present who understood the other side’s grievances. Iannis might have wanted me there, but the rest of the mages were unwilling to listen to any outsider. It was becoming more and more obvious to me that there was no place for me in the Chief Mage’s life – that I would never be able to see eye to eye with these arrogant jerks who called themselves mages.





17





I left the Palace in the disguise of a brawny, but otherwise non-descript human male, with the intention of heading to Maintown. Apprehending more looters seemed like a good way to burn off some anger, and besides, I’d promised Gorden I would see to it that more enforcers were sent to his area. If that meant I was the enforcer being sent, then so be it. As a bulky male, I would look a lot less strange beating up criminals than I would as a woman or a teenager.

It took me a good hour to walk through the Mages Quarter and across the warded boundary into Rowanville, and the walk helped me blow off some steam and gave me room to think. Was there a way for me to mobilize the citizens myself, without the aid of the Mages Guild? It was becoming apparent to me that even if the Enforcers Guild was still resentful of me, and there were more than a few people around who were happy to take a shot at me on the Resistance’s behalf, there were others who had shown themselves to be allies. There was Forin, the human who lived in my old apartment building, and then Nimos Barakan, a son of the Tiger Clan. Lakin might even be able to help – he had to be released by now, along with my aunt Mafiela’s family. They were probably conferring even now about what to do next.