The Vondish Ambassador

by Lawrence Watt-Evans

  "Thank you," Emmis said.

  Corinal glanced at his papers.

  "Hagai of Lumeth was able to locate Lar Samber's son at any time, and in fact can still locate Lar at any time, by means of a blessing bestowed upon him by the god Aibem. It would seem this Hagai is a moderately-accomplished theurgist himself, though I flatter myself that I'm his better at the art. At any rate, as long as the blessing lasts Hagai can see an unnatural glow in the sky above Lar, no matter how near or far he might be, and he can simply follow this glow to locate our dear Vondish ambassador, at any time of day or night."

  "I... he can do that?" Emmis asked.

  "So it would seem. It's a good stunt, really; I've never encountered it before. I suspect someone in the Small Kingdoms only recently stumbled upon the idea." He cleared his throat. "On all your questions concerning Azradelle of Shiphaven, Unniel refers you to the goddess Mazhom. Since Mazhom is the goddess of courtship, I think you can guess what the tenor of those answers is likely to be."

  Emmis felt himself blushing.

  "On the subject of warlockry, Unniel declines to say anything useful at all, except that she knows of nothing in Lumeth that has any connection with warlocks. In every other question on your list that relates to warlockry, she insists that there is some great misunderstanding of what's happening, one so profound that she cannot explain the truth to humans in an even remotely intelligible fashion. People have been trying to get the gods to explain warlockry ever since the Night of Madness, and it just isn't coming across."

  "That seems strange," Emmis remarked.

  "Yes, doesn't it? Nonetheless, it's so, and the gap in understanding is so great that Unniel can't even suggest another god we might consult on the subject." Corinal shook his head. "Even the gods have their limits."

  "And the other questions...?"

  "Well, Unniel has no idea where any of the foreigners can be found; she suggests consulting Aibem, who is obviously capable of locating specific individuals, as Hagai's little spell demonstrates." He shuffled the top sheet of paper to the bottom and peered at the next page. "She did know how the three Lumethans got to Ethshar so quickly, though – by means of a spell called Hallin's Transporting Fissure. That took them from Lumeth to Ethshar in a matter of minutes."

  "I never heard of it," Emmis said. He glanced at Ahan.

  "Neither have I," the guardsman said. "I have little to do with magic."

  "If it got them here that fast, it must be powerful magic," Emmis remarked. "Is it wizardry?"

  "Probably. Unniel offered no details; you'd best ask a wizard if you want to know more about it." Corinal glanced at the papers. "Annis the Merchant was already in the city, and was contacted by means of the Greater Spell of Invaded Dreams."

  "More wizardry?"

  "That one I am familiar with; yes, it's wizardry." He turned to the next paper. "You asked what in Lumeth is guarded by protective spells; she reports that the list is relatively short. Several rooms in the government fortress they call the New Castle have wards and protections of one sort or another, the castle itself has a few spells on it, and the various entrances to a miles-long tunnel used by the Cult of Demerchan are all booby-trapped in various ways. Of course the famous Towers themselves are massively guarded by every sort of magic, dozens of spells, on all three of them, and a few assorted diaries, spell-books, lock-boxes, and the like have protective runes, wardings, and such."

  "A tunnel used by the Cult of Demerchan?" That was interesting; Lar had mentioned them. They were assassins – and they were active in Lumeth. Did that mean anything?

  "So she said. She gave no further information."

  Emmis nodded, and considered the rest of the list. Spell-books and important government offices, yes, but...

  "Why the towers? Why do they have so many protective spells? They aren't just pre-war ruins, then?"

  "As it happens, you asked what the towers are, and Unniel answered, after a fashion, and that might give us a clue. She said that the towers are sorcerous talismans, the oldest and greatest sorcery in the World."

  Emmis blinked. "Sorcery?"

  "So the goddess tells me, and it's our understanding that the gods cannot lie. Their answers are sometimes misleading, but they don't actually lie."

  "They're talismans?"

  "So she says."

  "But... they're towers. Fifty or sixty feet high, aren't they?"

  "Three hundred feet high, actually. You asked that, too."

  "Nothing is three hundred feet high," Emmis protested.

  "The towers of Lumeth are."

  Emmis had trouble comprehending that. He knew that the big towers in Westgate were no more than sixty feet, and they were huge. The lighthouse at the end of the eastern breakwater was perhaps ninety feet, and the Seacorner watchtower was said to be a hundred or more, and that was so tall that it took a brave man to climb it. Courage aside, Emmis had heard that some of the largest soldiers were excused from serving there for fear their weight would cause it to collapse.

  And the Lumeth towers were three times that height?

  Of course, they might be much, much larger at the base; they would have to be. But that made the other point all the more unbelievable. "And they're talismans?"

  "So she says."

  "But – talismans are mostly little things, things a person can carry. I've seen a few on the docks, and none were too big for a man to lift. Unniel says there are three of them three hundred feet high?"

  "Indeed she does. I must confess, Emmis, I hadn't realized you were so interested in this particular subject; you didn't seem to emphasize it on your list."

  "I hadn't realized I was, either," Emmis said. "Not until you told me they were sorcerous. So are there sorcerers guarding them?"

  "Not that Unniel mentioned; she said they have many powerful protective spells, but they were mostly put there by wizards, not sorcerers."

  "Why would wizards be guarding sorcery?"

  "I have no idea, and Unniel did not happen to volunteer any information on the subject. Perhaps you should ask a wizard."

  "Perhaps I should," Emmis agreed. "Or a sorcerer. What do the towers do? I mean, a sorcerer's ordinary talismans can find things, or talk to people far away, or knock down buildings, or answer questions, or a dozen other things – they're magic, and they're all small enough to carry. What kind of magic could possibly call for a talisman three hundred feet high?"

  "According to Unniel, they keep out poisons."

  Emmis blinked, and stared at Corinal. "They do what?"

  "She says they keep out poisons, poisons that surround the entire World."

  "What poisons?"

  "I have no idea. She did not trouble herself to explain further, and at that point I was simply trying to get through your list before my eardrums burst, or I choked on my own blood, so I did not ask for more details. I thought perhaps you would know."

  "Me? I'm a dockworker. I don't know anything about sorcery or poisons or any of this!"

  "That's unfortunate."

  Emmis grimaced, then glanced at Ahan, but he had already turned up an empty palm, signifying ignorance. Emmis turned back to Corinal.

  "It seems as if there's a lot of wizardry in Lumeth," he said. "That transporting whatever-it-is, and the protective spells on the towers, and all that. Isn't that more than most of the Small Kingdoms?"

  "I wouldn't really know," Corinal said. "I agree, though, that it does not accord well with the popular image."

  "And where does that tunnel go? Why are there assassins there?"

  "That was not on your list of questions; shall we start compiling a new list, to present to Aibem or Bellab or Mazhom?"

  Emmis considered that for a moment.

  He certainly had plenty of questions – Unniel's responses had raised almost as many as she had answered. On the other hand, Corinal said none of the gods would give useful answers about warlockry, and that was the topic Lar most urgently wanted addressed. Consulting Mazhom at all would be a wast
e of time; Emmis knew that Azradelle was no longer any of his business, and nothing could come of asking a god to confirm that. This Aibem might be useful in locating the assassins before they could make another attempt...

  "Wait a minute," he said. "Didn't I ask whether there would be further attempts on the Vondish ambassador's life?"

  "Ah, yes, thank you for reminding me!" Corinal shuffled through his papers. "You did indeed ask that, and Unniel denied any foreknowledge on the subject; she claims to be unable to see the future except when it's inevitable, and this is not such a case. However, she also said that there had been two assassination attempts, rather than the one you mentioned; the second involved a wizard's spell called Fendel's Assassin, which was performed earlier today." He looked up from the scribbled notes. "I'm sorry, I really should have mentioned that one sooner, shouldn't I?"

  Emmis stared at him. "Yes, you should!" he said. He snatched up his purse and started toward the door.

  A heavy hand fell on his shoulder.

  "Pay the magician," Ahan said.

  "But he said..."

  "I heard him. But the ambassador may already be dead, or the spell may have failed, or it may not strike for days, and not paying a magician is a very bad idea."

  Emmis stared at Corinal. "Do you know anything about this Fendel's Assassin?" He fumbled with his purse as he spoke.

  "Not a thing," Corinal said. "Assassination is something I try to avoid. Perhaps..."

  "...I should ask a wizard. Yes. Thank you." He finally found the coins he wanted, and thrust them at Corinal.

  "Thank you," the theurgist said, accepting the handful of silver. "And I wish you the best of luck in dealing with... well, whatever it is you're dealing with."

  "Thank you," Emmis said, as he pulled tight the drawstring on his purse and ran for the door. "If you know a good deity to pray to for me, I would appreciate it."

  He was outside the shop by the time he finished the sentence.

  Ahan was close on his heels, and the two men sprinted up Priest Street together.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Emmis's breath gave out two blocks north of the Arena, and he slowed to a trot. This was the second time he had gone running across the city to warn Lar of an assassination attempt; he really hadn't expected it to become a habit.

  Ahan slowed beside him. Emmis threw him a glance. "I don't suppose you could run on ahead?" he asked.

  "I was ordered to accompany you."

  "You don't think this situation might justify bending those orders a little?"

  Ahan looked at him, then turned his attention to the street ahead again. "If I were still just another guardsman, it certainly would justify some reinterpretation, but I'm not. I'm one of Lord Ildirin's elite escort, and we have very strict instructions – we are to obey Lord Ildirin exactly, unless doing so would endanger Lord Ildirin or the overlord himself. No one else. We get a very generous bonus every sixnight, and stretching my orders in the slightest would probably mean losing that. I have three younger sisters and a widowed mother living on my pay, and I'm sure you know that an ordinary guardsman's pay is not going to support the five of us comfortably."

  Emmis did indeed know that. Guards generally slept in a barracks free of rent, and were fed at the city's expense, not to mention being provided with their uniforms, but their actual pay, while steady, wasn't all that much. An unmarried soldier, with no one to look after but himself, could live on it well enough and even save up a tidy sum, but add a family and everything changed. They couldn't sleep in the barracks, or charge their meals against an innkeeper's taxes. That was why most guards didn't marry, or found other work when they wed.

  He considered asking why Ahan's mother and sisters didn't have any other means of support – even if none of them could find paid employment, didn't any of the girls have apprenticeships or husbands?

  But that was really none of his business. Perhaps they were ill, or crippled, or under a curse. If Ahan thought he had to wait hand and foot on Lord Ildirin to keep his family out of the Hundred-Foot Field, it wasn't Emmis's place to argue.

  "Oh," he said. He sighed, and picked up his own pace.

  Ahan matched him, and the two ran on, drawing stares from the crowds on Arena Street.

  Emmis was panting by the time they rounded the bend on Through Street and came in sight of the yellow house. Two guardsmen were standing on either side of the front door; they straightened, suddenly alert, at the sight of Emmis and Ahan.

  "Any trouble?" Ahan called.

  "No," one of them replied. "Why?"

  "The theurgist..." Emmis had to stop and catch his breath; he gulped air, then said, "The theurgist told us that an assassination spell has been cast on the Vondish ambassador."

  The door guards exchanged glances.

  "You'd better go in," one of them said, reaching for the latch.

  A moment later Emmis and Ahan were in the parlor, where Lar and Lord Ildirin were seated comfortably on either side of a small table, drinking tea. The two officials looked up.

  "And what brings you two back here, looking so concerned?" Lord Ildirin asked.

  "I talked to a theurgist, my lord," Emmis said. "Corinal, by name. On Priest Street. He consulted a goddess called Unniel the Discerning, and she said that someone had cast a spell called Fendel's Assassin on the ambassador."

  Lar went pale.

  Lord Ildirin's eyebrows rose. "Did he, indeed?" He glanced at Ahan.

  "Yes, my lord," the guardsman said. "Exactly as Emmis says."

  "Did the theurgist inform you of the method Fendel's Assassin intends to use?"

  Emmis blinked at him. "What?"

  Ildirin sighed. "Fendel's Assassin is a well-known spell; it summons or creates an invisible being that will make one attempt to kill the intended target, and only one attempt, using a method specified by the wizard who cast the spell. Strangling is the most common means chosen, since it requires no special weaponry – the creature's claws are strong enough to do the job. Sometimes other methods are specified to make it look like suicide, or to cast blame in a particular direction, but the need to smuggle in weapons can be very inconvenient. The assassin itself can apparently pass through solid walls, while weapons cannot." He shook his head. "The spell hasn't been used in years, to the best of my knowledge, but it's a common way for the Wizards' Guild to dispose of its enemies."

  "How can we stop it?" Emmis demanded. Lar turned his full attention to Lord Ildirin, obviously just as interested in the answer as was Emmis.

  "Well, it would help if we knew the method," Ildirin replied. "And the time and place, if the wizard specified those. We need merely prevent the one attack from succeeding, and the assassin will dissipate, vanish from the World without a trace. Suppose the spell was cast with instructions to strangle my friend Lar in his bed at midnight tonight; well, we need merely ensure that he is not in his bed at midnight, but here in this room, and at a minute past the hour the creature will cease to exist."

  "I think I see."

  "And if the creature was instructed to whack Lar's head off with an axe, but we ensure no axes are available, or if we somehow turn the blow aside..."

  Lar shuddered, and Emmis interrupted, "Yes, I understand, but how do we know...?"

  "Your theurgist gave you no clue? No mention of anything?"

  "I didn't give him time," Emmis admitted. "The moment I knew a death-spell had been cast I came running back to warn you."

  Ildirin nodded. "A natural reaction, but perhaps unfortunate in this instance." He turned to Lar. "Is there any particular method of assassination preferred by the people of Lumeth?"

  "There is, but I don't know the word in Ethsharitic," Lar said, a bit unsteadily. "Nagrop – a... a thin cord around the neck."

  "A garotte," Ildirin said. "Charming. And easily improvised, if they haven't just told the beast to use its claws."

  "How fast does the creature move?" Emmis asked. "How soon could it be here?"

  "Oh, it probably is here,"
Ildirin said. "It could be in the room with us right now, listening. It's far faster than any human."

  Emmis stared around the room – and noticed Lar and Ahan doing the same, though Ildirin did not. Lord Ildirin obviously recognized the foolishness of looking for something you know is invisible, but Emmis had still hoped to see some sign.

  "If it's already here, why hasn't it made its attempt?" Emmis asked.

  "I couldn't say," Ildirin replied. "I presume some condition has not been met. Either a time has not yet come, or His Excellency is in the wrong place, or perhaps the creature was told to attack him when he's alone, and he's been in my company for most of the afternoon."

  "Well, is there any way we can find out which it is?"

  "In fact, there is," Ildirin said thoughtfully. "If I could just remember..."

  "Remember what? A spell? A warding?"

  "The creature has its own appetites," Ildirin said. "I believe there's a way to bribe it."

  Emmis felt a wave of relief, but then recalled that just because a way existed, that didn't mean they would be able to use it in time. "Do we need a wizard?" he asked.

  "No." Lord Ildirin frowned, and stroked his beard. "I knew this; Lorret the Mage mentioned it to me years ago, after Lord Habuk used Fendel's Assassin to kill Lady Asseyr. It's... something sweet. The creature likes something sweet."

  "Honey?"

  "I believe so, yes."

  "We don't have any," Emmis said. "I bought a few things for the pantry, but no honey."

  Ahan cleared his throat.

  Lord Ildirin looked at him. "Yes?"

  "Zhol generally keeps a bag of honey drops handy," Ahan said. "He likes to suck on them while standing guard."

  "Go fetch him, then!"

  Ahan turned, then hesitated. "Am I done escorting Emmis, then?"