Rook

fighting. The weapons he carries change their form to suit the situation, and bullets are no longer an issue. If it turns out that Eckhart is the traitor, you’ll want to bludgeon him with a cricket bat, assuming he doesn’t kill you first. There’s a heavy marble paperweight on your desk if it’s ever necessary.
    After graduating from the Estate, Eckhart was placed in charge of seven other Pawns, and they operated all around the globe, troubleshooting. If a situation arose that a normal team could not deal with, Eckhart and his team were called in.
    In Greece, they rescued three British citizens who had been possessed by Spartan ghosts.
    In the Northern Territory of Australia, they suppressed a seam of sentient opal that had entombed an entire district.
    In Germany, they led a battalion of Pawns in a five-month campaign against the Foot Soldiers of the Nacht.
    In Tuscany, they acted as bodyguards to a defecting sorcerer. Aside from the inadvertent trampling of the sorcerer’s familiar, a rare and expensive type of iguana, the operation was a success.
    This sort of marvelous career went on for several years and culminated in Eckhart’s rising to the Court the same year that I graduated from the Estate. He was made a Chevalier, overseeing the international works of the organization.
    He’s been a member of the Court for seven years and remains the go-to guy for military expertise. Eckhart is not only a brilliant fighter but also probably the most skilled tactician in the Court. His experiences in the army and his studies at university have left him with an encyclopedic knowledge of military applications. Eckhart has masterminded operations on every scale.
    He inspires loyalty and affection and seems like a genuinely good man. I can’t help wishing that he’d been at the Estate when I was there. It might have made all the difference.
     
    Myfanwy was startled by a knock on the door and looked up. She glanced at her watch and put down her binder.
    “Rook Thomas? It’s your driver,” the man called diffidently.
    “Right, just one second,” she replied. She gathered up her things and said good-bye to Wolfgang.
    M orning, Ingrid. Has anything frightfully bizarre happened?”
    “No more so than usual, Rook Thomas,” replied her secretary. “Dr. Crisp is waiting in your office, and then your morning will probably be entirely taken up with this meeting of the Rooks and the Chevs. I’ve rescheduled the other appointments. Your afternoon is going to consist primarily of seeing those people who expected to see you in the morning.” She handed Myfanwy a cup of coffee and a large folder. “And here are the latest reports from around the Isles.”
    “Thanks. How long until the meeting? Oh, and are we holding it here?” Myfanwy asked, absentmindedly paging through the reports.
    “Yes, it’s here. You have half an hour.”
    Myfanwy nodded and wandered into her office, where Dr. Crisp was sitting awkwardly on one of the deliberately uncomfortable chairs.
    “Good morning, Dr. Crisp,” she said brightly.
    “Rook Thomas, I’m going to have to retract my apology,” he said firmly.
    “Huh?” she replied. She sounded like a complete twit, but Crisp was so focused on what he had to say that she could have had a seizure and he probably wouldn’t have noticed.
    “Yes, I’m sorry.”
    “You’re sorry for retracting your apology?” she asked bemusedly.
    “I didn’t kill Van Syoc,” said Crisp.
    “Okay,” said Myfanwy. She’d felt a little guilty interfering with the interrogation, but there was no way she was going to let someone be tortured in front of her. She suddenly wondered, with a twist in her stomach, whether she’d caused Van Syoc’s death by shoving her abilities into the mix.
    “Rook Thomas, I appreciate the confidence you have in me. Your intervention with Rook Gestalt after the interrogation meant the world to me, but I myself was doubtful. I thought I had made a mistake, inadvertently done something I hadn’t intended, but…” And here he paused, before saying the sweetest words Myfanwy had yet heard in her short life. “But that man’s death came from within himself. No external force could have killed him like that.”
    “What?” she asked in a shaky voice.
    “Rook Thomas, I’m not sure if you’re familiar with the details of what I do,” said Crisp carefully.
    “Dr. Crisp, I am sorry to admit I know practically nothing of what you do,” said Myfanwy. “But I can