Heart of Gold by Michael Pryor Page B

as pain rolled around inside his skull. 'Notice
how they're not strolling, hands behind their back, as is
the wont of the Lutetian police? They're much more
businesslike.'
    'Quite right, too. Ghastly affair.'
    Aubrey put a hand to his temple.
    'Not well, old man?' George asked.
    Aubrey shrugged. Then, while George turned his
attention to his breakfast, he used his magical senses to
take stock of his condition.
    He closed his eyes and probed. It didn't take long
before he realised that things were not good. The balance
he'd painstakingly achieved over the months since the
experiment was no more. His soul had been jolted loose.
    With growing pessimism, he tested himself by leaning
back in his chair and stretching. Sharp pain in his shoulders
and elbows made him clench his jaw. The joint pain
and the excessive weariness were further signs.
    He opened his eyes. 'The anger spell.'
    'What?'
    'Last night. The spell. I've been knocked around by it.'
    'I didn't see you get angry.'
    'No, it's affected me at a deeper level. My soul's
coming loose again.'
    'I see.' George made a face. 'That would mean you're
not sleeping well, then. And it would explain why you've
gone off your food.' He gestured at the untouched roll on
Aubrey's plate.
    Aubrey gave a wry smile. George noticed much more
than people gave him credit for. 'It means I may have to
reconsider my priorities. Locating the Faculty of Magic
at the university is rather more important than it was.'
    'How so?'
    'I was hoping to find some help there for my condition.'
He drummed his fingers on the table. 'It's difficult,
George, trying to do the right thing for so many people.'
    'I know, old man. Duty and all that.' He pointed his
butter knife at Aubrey. 'Perhaps this is a time to be selfish.
You won't be much good to others if you're . . . well
. . . severely inconvenienced, as it were.'
    '"Severely inconvenienced". I like that. Makes it sound
eminently manageable. Like a bout of indigestion. Thank
you, George.'
    'Any time, old man. Now, you told me about the
errands you've been asked to run, but I didn't catch the
details. Care to share them now?'
    Aubrey glanced around. The only other diner was an
old man with a startling amount of grey hair sticking
out from under a flat, black cap. He was reading a book
and absently feeding pieces of bread to a small dog in
his lap.
    Aubrey doubted that the old man was making an effort
to overhear their conversation, but he felt particularly
cautious. He took a spell he'd prepared earlier, an application
of the Law of Entanglement, and confined it to
aural phenomena. It was a well-tested and refined spell
and he rolled out the short series of Akkadian syllables
under his breath.
    He was taken aback, however, by how drained he was
after casting the simple spell. He felt as if he'd run a
serious cross-country race.
    'Aubrey? What have you done?'
    He gathered himself. 'I've just muffled our conversation.
If anyone is more than a foot or so away, they won't
be able to make out anything at all.'
    'Good,' George said, but his expression was sceptical.
'I've checked under our table so we should be safe.'
    'It seems as if much is happening in Gallian politics.
The fiasco last night would suggest that there are forces
arranged against the Marchmaine Independence League.'
    'Well, the government would be, for a start.'
    'But the government wouldn't set off a spell like that.
The only reason to use such a thing would be so the
authorities would blame the Marchmainers for the
violence, while the Marchmainers would be certain it
was the police who started it all.'
    'Governments have done worse in the past,' George
said darkly.
    'When did you develop such a cynical streak, George?
What happened to the sunny, open-faced country lad
I used to know?'
    'I started associating with you, I suppose. Since you
dragged me into this politics business, helping your father
win the election and all, I think I've begun to understand
how far people can stoop in order to achieve