I said quietly, "You're going out on a limb for me, aren't you?"
He shrugged. "Some, maybe."
I felt the anger run hot in my belly, and I tightened the muscles of my jaw. But I made an effort to keep my voice even. Ebenezar had been more than my teacher. He'd been my mentor at a time when I hadn't had anything else left to me. He'd helped me when a lot of other people wanted to kick me while I was down - or, more accurately, decapitate me while I was down. I owed him my life in more than one sense.
It would be wrong for me to lose my temper, no matter how tired or hurt I was. Besides, the old man could probably kick my ass. So I managed to tone my answer down to, "What the hell do you think you're doing, sir? I am not your apprentice anymore. I can look out for myself."
He didn't miss the anger. Guess I'm not much of a poker player. He looked up at me and said, "I'm trying to help you, boy."
"I've got all the help I can stand already," I told him. "I've got vampires breathing down my neck, toads falling from the sky, I'm about to get evicted from everywhere, I'm late to the Council meeting, and I am not going to stand around out here and suck up to members of the Senior Council to lobby their vote."
Ebenezar thrust out his jaw, rapping his staff against the ground to emphasize his sentences. "Harry, this is not a game. The Wardens and the Merlin are dead set against you. They will move. Without support in the Senior Council you're in trouble, Hoss."
I shook my head and thought of Mab's glacial gaze. "It can't be much more than I'm in already."
"The hell it can't. They could make a sacrificial lamb of you."
"They will or they won't. Either way I'm not going to start brownnosing the Council now, Senior or otherwise."
"Harry, I'm not saying you need to get on your knees and beg, but if you would just - "
I rolled my eyes. "What? Offer a couple of favors? Sell my vote to one of the blocs? Fuck that. Pardon my French. I've got enough problems without - " I broke off abruptly, narrowing my eyes. "You're the last one I would expect to be telling me to get involved in Council politics."
Ebenezar scowled at me. "Oh?"
"Yeah. In fact, the last time I checked, you told me the whole swill-spouting pack of lollygagging skunkwallows could transform one another into clams, for all you cared."
"I did not say that."
"Did so."
Ebenezar's face turned red. "Boy. I ought to - "
"Save it," I told him. "Go ahead and punch me or whatever, but threats just aren't hitting me like they used to."
Ebenezar snorted at me and slammed his staff on the concrete once more before turning and stalking several paces away. He stood there for a minute, muttering to himself. Or I thought he was muttering. After a minute, the sound resolved itself into swallowed laughter.
I scowled at his back. "What?" I demanded. "Why are you laughing at me?"
Ebenezar turned out to an open parking space across the row and said, "There. Are you satisfied?"
I never felt a whisper of power, not a breath of magic stirring against me. Whatever veil had been used, it was beyond anything I could have even attempted. I'm not exactly a neurosurgeon when it comes to magic. I've had my moments, but mostly I muddle through by shoving a lot of energy into my spells until it doesn't matter if half of it is slopping out. Magically speaking, I'm a brawny thug, and noisy as hell.
This veil was good, almost perfect, completely silent. Way better than I would be able to do anytime in the next couple of decades. I stared in abrupt shock as it fell and two people I hadn't sensed at all simply flickered into existence in front of me.
The first was a woman better than six feet tall. She wore her grey hair coiled in a net at the base of her neck. She had already put on her robes of office, black silk nearly the same color as her skin, and her purple stole echoed the gems at her throat. Her eyebrows were still dark, and she had one of them arched as she regarded Ebenezar, then me, with a completely unamused expression. When she spoke, her voice was a low, rich alto. "Lollygagging skunkwallows?"
"Matty - " Ebenezar began, laughter still flavoring his words. "You know how I get when I'm talking about Council politics."
"Don't you 'Matty' me, Ebenezar McCoy," she snapped. She looked past my old mentor to focus on me. "Wizard Dresden, I am less than amused with your lack of respect toward the White Council."
I lifted my chin and glared down at the woman without meeting her eyes. It's a tough trick to learn, but if you're motivated enough you can do it. "That's a coincidence. I'm not terribly amused with you spying on me."
The black woman's eyes flashed, but Ebenezar cut in before either of us could gather any more steam. "Harry Dresden," he said dryly, "Meet Martha Liberty."
She shot him a look and said pointedly, "He's arrogant, Ebenezar. Dangerous."
I snorted. "That's every wizard ever."
Martha continued as if I hadn't spoken. "Bitter. Angry. Obsessive."
Ebenezar frowned. "Seems to me he has good reason to be. You and the rest of the Senior Council saw to that."
Martha shook her head. "You know what he was meant to be. He's too great a risk."
I snapped my fingers twice and hooked a thumb at my own chest. "Hey, lady. He's also right here."
Her eyes flashed at me. "Look at him, Ebenezar. He's a wreck. Look at the destruction he has caused."
Ebenezar took two quick, angry steps toward Martha. "By challenging the Red Court when they were going to kill that young woman? No, Matty. Hoss didn't cause what's happened since. They did. I've read his report. He stood up to them when they damn well needed standing up to."
Martha folded her arms, strong and brown against the front of her robes. "The Merlin says - "
"I know what he says," Ebenezar muttered. "By now I don't even need to hear him say it. And as usual, he's half right, half wrong, and all gutless."
Martha frowned at him for a long and silent moment. Then she looked at me and asked, "Do you remember me, Mister Dresden?"
I shook my head. "They had a hood on me all through the trial, and I missed the meeting Warden Morgan called a couple years back. They were taking a bullet out of my hip."
"I know. I never saw your face before today." She moved then, lifting a slender staff of some dark reddish wood, and walked toward me, the staff clicking with each step. I faced her, bracing myself, but she didn't try to meet my gaze. She studied my features for a long moment and then said, very quietly, "You have your mother's eyes."