Cursor's Fury (Codex Alera #3)(91)

Amara arched an eyebrow at him. "Then you do not trust Lady Aquitaine."

"I trust her to bury a knife in my back at her earliest opportunity," Gaius replied. "But I suspect her contempt for Kalarus is genuine, as is her desire to recover the abducted members of the League-and her aid could be priceless. She is quite capable, Amara."

The Cursor shook her head. "And the busier she is with me, the less time she has to plot against you."

"Essentially," Gaius said, a smile toying at the corners of his mouth, "yes. Make whatever use of her you can and recover those hostages."

Amara shook her head. "He can't possibly be holding them nearby. Not someone as powerful as Placidus Aria. He'd need to have her within his own lands-probably at his citadel."

"I agree," Gaius said. "There has been much movement in the upper air over the past day, but I am sure that at least some travelers have departed for Kalare. You need to decide upon your course of action and leave before the sun is fairly risen tomorrow."

Amara frowned. "Why, sire?"

"You may note," Gaius said, "how the recent discussion avoided one particular subject most scrupulously."

"Yes. The stars," Amara said quietly. "What happened to them."

Gaius shrugged. "I've nothing but suspicions, at this point."

"I don't even have that much," Amara said.

"I believe," Gaius said, "that it is some working of the Canim. The change came from the west and spread over toward the east. I suspect that it is some kind of very high, very fine cloud, that colors the light of the stars as they shine down."

"A cloud?" Amara murmured. "Can you not simply examine it?"

Gaius frowned faintly. "In fact, no. I've sent dozens of furies up to investigate. They did not return."

Amara blinked. "Something... damaged them?"

"So it would seem," Gaius said.

"But... I did not think the Canim could do such an enormous thing. I know their rituals give them some kind of rude parallel to Aleran furycraft, but I never thought that they could manage something on this scale."

"They never have," Gaius replied. "But the remarkable thing about this working of theirs is that it has had some far-reaching effects I have never encountered before. I have been unable to observe activities and events passing in the Realm beyond perhaps a hundred miles of Alera Imperia. I suspect that the other High Lords have been similarly blinded."

Amara frowned. "How could the Canim have done such a thing?"

Gaius shook his head. "I've no way of knowing. But whatever they have done, the upper air groans with it. Travel has become quite dangerous in only a few hours. I suspect that it will only become worse as time passes. Which is why I must take my leave at once. I have a great many things to do, and if air travel becomes as difficult as I suspect it might, then I must set out at once-and so must you."

Amara felt her eyes widen. "Do you mean to say... sire, is Kalarus conspiring with the Canim?"

"It would seem a rather large coincidence that he would be in position to attack in so many places, with such precision, and just at the moment when the most powerful furycrafters in his path would have been disabled-just precisely at the same time the Canim released this working."

"A signal," Amara said. "The stars were a signal for him to begin."

"Probably," Gaius replied.

"But... sire, no one has ever found common ground with the Canim. No Aleran would ever..." She broke off and bit her lip. "Mmm. But the facts suggest that one has. I sound like Senator Arnos."