Read Online From a High Tower by Mercedes Lackey - Free Book Online

and an iron-framed bed just visible behind a folding screen. Two of the soldiers shoved her against the wall opposite the desk and left, closing the door behind them. The captain sat himself down behind the desk and opened another book, taking a pen out of an inkpot, as the soldiers closed the door.
    Well, this is a fine fix.
She was more irritated than angry at the moment. It wasn’t as if she didn’t have a perfectly good way to get out of this mess. It would just mean she’d never be able to come back here as Gunther and take part in shooting contests. That was annoying. She’d probably have to find an entirely new district and make up a new name, perhaps even dye her hair.
    â€œCaptain—” she began.
    â€œQuiet!” the captain barked. “You’re being enrolled in the Army, boy, and from this moment you’ll only speak when questioned! Now. Full name.”
    Giselle sighed theatrically, and he looked up at her sharply, anger written all over his face at her presumed insolence. “My name is Giselle Schnittel,” she replied flatly. “And you are going to find a difficult time explaining why you inducted a woman into the Army.”
    At first, his mouth dropped open and his piggy eyes bulged in shock. Then his face reddened with even deeper anger. “What do you take me for, boy?” he shouted. “Do I look like a fool to you?”
    She allowed her voice to drift up into a girlish lilt. “And do I sound like a boy to you?” she retorted. “I’m poor. I need money. Shooting contests are an honorable way to get it, but they would never let a girl enter. So I became ‘Gunther,’ and I won them fairly and rightfully.”
    His eyes narrowed, and . . . something in his expression made her blood run cold. This was not going as she had thought it would . . .
    But she was not fourteen anymore, and she was not defenseless anymore either. She felt steel settle into her spine. She was not going to be a victim this time; she concentrated a moment on summoning her allies of Air.
    Within moments she had a half a dozen, all what she called “night-sylphs”—creatures that looked much like her childhood friends but were . . . more capricious. Not openly malicious, but their humor was darker, and a little cruel, and they were far more curious than the sylphs that came by day. They circled around the room a moment, then settled on the rafters. They were semitransparent, though of course they were completely invisible to anyone not an Elemental Magician; all had batwings and long, thick, dark hair, long enough that it dangled far past their feet and they were virtually clothed in it. Like her hair, when she didn’t cut it frequently. They stared down at the Captain and Giselle, waiting, with a look of keen expectation on their faces. Unlike the sylphs of the day, the night-sylphs thrived on high emotion, and there was plenty of that here.
    â€œWell,” the Captain said, his voice boiling over with menace. “We’ll just see how much of a woman you are. And if you are lying to me, the first thing I’ll do when you’re inducted is to have you beaten within an inch of your life.”
    He doesn’t care which I am now, because either way he’s going to get something he wants . . . he thinks.
    He got up, moving far more quickly than she had expected for such a fat man, and straight-armed her into the wall, knocking the breath out of her.
    And she knew what was coming next. He’d yank open her coat and vest, and tear open her shirt, expecting to prove she wasn’t a woman. And as soon as he saw she was—well, there she was, a woman in man’s clothing, who presumably had no men to protect her, and all alone with him. And what proper woman would be cavorting about in men’s clothing anyway? Only loose ones, like that notorious writer, George Sand! Even people who were