by Cindy Dees
He was stalling. Not good.
She could not hold her tongue one second longer. She blurted, “Bekkan, you and I have traveled together for weeks now. I would like to think you’ve seen a fair sampling of my character and of those who rescued you. We are decent people trying to do the right thing. We stand against an all-powerful foe, and we must move with extreme caution. You are the culmination of centuries’ worth of work.”
Bekkan looked a bit taken aback at that.
She pressed the point. “You may walk out of here and keep your secret. But understand this: there is no other opposition to Koth. We’re it. We are your only chance for help finding your king and setting him free before Tyviden finds him and destroys him.”
Bekkan’s frown deepened.
“If you choose not to trust us, which is, indeed, your right, I beg of you, do not abandon your quest. Please find a way to wake the Dwarven King and do so with all possible haste. Koth is strangling the life out of the people of Urth slowly but surely.”
The young man interjected, “Koth is strangling the life out of Urth itself. The Kothites have upset the balance of nature until it cannot recover from them. Urth is dying, and everyone upon it and within it, too.”
Bekkan looked stricken. “At the time I was encased, nobody gave me any instructions on who to tell what when I awoke. My transformation was performed in secret and in haste as Kothite forces literally banged on the doors of the chamber in which I was changed. My king told me only that he trusted me with his life to do the right thing.”
Again, a waiting silence fell between them. It was a momentous decision, and they could not rush the dwarf. Not to mention, if they pushed too hard, he would push back out of general principles. In her experience, dwarves and goats had that trait entirely in common.
Bekkan nodded abruptly, once, curtly. “So be it. I will tell you what I know of the fate of my king under one condition.”
“Which is?” Talissar asked quickly.
“You plan to send a party to Fireheart and free him, do you not?” Bekkan countered.
The young man answered, “That is correct.”
“I must have your word of honor that I will be part of the party sent to rescue him.”
“Of course!” Talissar and the young man exclaimed in unison.
Talissar added, “We would have it no other way.”
“Very well. When it became clear the Kothites were too powerful to stop and they would soon overrun the halls of the Mountain Kings, King Eitrik and a few of his most loyal followers fled to the south, across the Ice Bridge. There, they begged Hoardunn for protection. But even he was no match for the might of Koth. The best he could do was to encase my king in the magical metal we called septallum.”
“And did Hoardunn hide the Dwarven King there?” Talissar asked.
“I do not know,” Bekkan answered heavily. “I was encased myself before that decision was made.”
The young man said thoughtfully, “Tyviden has spent the past twenty years traversing the width and breadth of the Sea of Glass. If the Dwarven King’s entombed body was there to be found, my guess is he would have located it.”
Bekkan responded, “Hoardunn is a canny old goat. I do not believe he would hide the Dwarven King anywhere so obvious as his own refuge in the south. My guess is the giant had my king moved somewhere obscure, somewhere unexpected, and secreted him away where he would quickly be forgotten, safe from the prying eyes of Koth.”
Talissar and the young man traded looks of alarm. “So you do not know where the Dwarven King is hidden?”
“Nay,” the young man replied.
“What is it?” Bekkan asked forcefully. “Why do you look at each other like that?”
The young man answered, “That must be what Tyviden is setting out to find. The body of the Dwarven King.”
“To what end?” Bekkan asked sharply.
“To destroy him, of course.”
“We must find my king first!” Bekkan’s face creased in lines of dismay. “But I have no idea where to search. What are we to do?”
Talissar stood up. “We must move quickly.”
“When do we leave?” Bekkan asked. “I can be ready to go within the hour.”
The young one laughed. “It will not be quite as soon as that. First, we must attempt to discover what Tyviden brought back from the Sea of Glass that has Maximillian so excited and which is setting Tyviden on what I am certain is a hunt for the Dwarven King.”
Gabrielle wondered if the young man could read Tyviden’s mind. He sounded so sure of himself when he spoke of Tyviden’s goal.
“How shall we discover what Tyviden brought back?” Bekkan asked.
“Easy. We’ll break into the trophy room and find it.”
“You mean to break into the treasure trove of Maximillian himself?” Gabrielle blurted in amazement.
“Have you a better idea?”
She snorted. “Casting ourselves into the Eternal Flame sounds like a better idea than that. At least our permanent deaths would be swift.”
The young man merely said, “I have given this a great deal of thought, and unfortunately, I see no way to pull off a break-in without your help, Your Highness. You have already risked much, but I must ask you to risk even more. Will you help us find out what Tyviden brought back?”
She gulped. What was it Regalo always said of starting down the path of wrong? In for a copper, in for a gold. She added wryly to herself, And before long, in for a kingdom.
“I do not see how I can help. And if I were to be discovered, all would be lost.”
“All will be lost if we do not do this,” the young man said grimly. “The crisis is approaching quickly now. The stars are aligning, and in a matter of weeks or months, we will arrive at the crossroads. We will make our move to overthrow Maximillian, or he will become so powerful no one will ever dislodge him.”
“I cannot go back to court,” she wailed in a whisper. “I do not even dare go home.”
“You must go home. Even if you do not help with this heist, dark times are coming. Your husband, and the people of Haraland, will need your support as you all try to find an honorable path forward through what lies ahead.”
The young man’s words had a prophetic ring to them, and she did not like the dire undertones she sensed. She asked cautiously, “What lies ahead?”
“You do not think Maximillian will go down quietly, do you? He will die like a dragon, spewing fire and destruction in every direction. It will be a bloodbath when he falls.”
The iron band was back around her ribs once more, and no amount of calming breaths eased it this time.
CHAPTER
20
Bannockburn was a dusty frontier town with more shifty adventuring types in it than Will liked. He stuck close to Rosana’s side as they made their way through the generally ramshackle buildings toward the pier. He was surprised to spot a few guildhalls with peeling paint and derelict-looking members lounging about. The Imperial presence out here in the hinterlands was quite a bit more casual than it was nearer to Dupree.
“There’s the bell,” Rynn announced.
Eben picked up the hammer hanging from a chain beside the big brass bell and gave it a hefty blow. The sound rang out across the docks and vibrated through Will’s feet into the pier itself.
Someone had helpfully provided benches next to the bell, which didn’t bode well for a speedy response. But within a quarter turn of an hour, a blue-scaled Merr climbed the ladder beside the bell pole and said as dry as dust, “You rang?”
Will grinned, amused, as Rynn stepped forward to inquire after passage north along the coast to Lifton.
“Sure, if you’re willing to share passage,” the Merr responded. “Got a cargo vessel headed up that way on the outbound tide. Already has a few passengers. No covered quarters. You’d be camping on deck. Five silver a head all the way to Lifton. Paid in advance.”
“Food and drink provided?” Rynn asked.
“You’ll be nee
ding fresh water for the whole voyage?”
“Correct.”
“Silver apiece extra for food and fresh water,” the Merr said.
“Done.” Rynn fished out the necessary coins and handed them over.
“Tide goes out in six hours. The Karolus will dock at the end of this pier in a few hours. Don’t be late. She’ll sail with or without you.”
* * *
The dryads left Raina to wash the dishes after breakfast, which amused her. She was just finishing stacking their breakfast bowls when Kadir asked one of the green females, “Do you have a large basin, preferably a shiny one, that I could borrow for a little while?”
“Like a fortune-teller’s bowl?” the dryad Callisia replied.
“Exactly.”
Callisia giggled. “When we wish to gaze into the past or future, we use a pool over there.” She pointed to the far side of the grove. “In the morning, the sunlight hits it just so and makes a mirror of it.”
“Does the sun strike it just so now?” Kadir asked.
“Aye.”
Raina trailed after Kadir, Justin, and the dryads who led both men by the hands toward a little pool in the lee of a lovely rowan tree. The sun was, indeed, shining down upon it, turning its surface into a silvery, lightly rippling mirror.
Kadir knelt beside the pool and spread his hands out above the surface. Raina watched with interest as he drew magical energy and a pair of the runes on the backs of his hands began to glow.
“What’s he doing?” she muttered to Justin.
“No idea.”
“I’m scrying by another method,” Kadir answered. “I have marked several places within the Tower of Alchizzadon with a mark identical to this one on my arm. I can use my mark to look through those marks and see what transpires. Elfonse and his cronies will find them sooner or later, so I thought to check in now, before they’re discovered and erased.”
She’d heard of the art of seeing through ritual marks, of course, but she’d never seen it in action since the Heart did not make a common practice of spying on others.
A wavery image of an office formed on the surface of the pool. The view was from a perspective high in a corner of the room looking out and down across the space.
Raina exclaimed, “That’s High Proctor Albinus’s office!”
A shadow moved across the image, resolving after a moment into a man.
“Elfonse,” Kadir growled in disgust. “He’s probably bending Albinus’s ear and telling him all sorts of lies about how you asked to be spirit-bottled and how I am an evil schemer for stopping him from doing as you asked.”
Several more men moved across the office toward the fireplace. They bent down and among them lifted something heavy and lumpy. As they carried their burden toward the scrying mark, Kadir gasped first.
An instant later, Raina did the same. The men were carrying a body. An elderly, emaciated body wrapped in blue robes too big for it. Albinus.
“Surely, he’ll resurrect,” she said hopefully.
“He was very old and weak. He said for a while that his next death would be his last. Even if he still had the strength of spirit to resurrect, he had no desire to do so.”
Sadness swept over her. She’d liked him in spite of his order’s offenses against her. She became aware of Kadir’s shoulders bowing in grief, and she placed a sympathetic hand on one of them. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
Kadir said heavily, “Any chance I might have had at forgiveness, or at least for clemency, died with Albinus.” He looked up at Justin. “I’m sorry. You were just starting your journey in the order, and I’ve cut it short.”
“All I ever really wanted was to find Raina and make sure she was safe. I’ve done that. And as a bonus, now I can cast magic.”
He was putting a brave face on having had the bottled spirit of an ogre mage forced into him, and she was grateful for that.
In the scrying pool, Elfonse moved over to Albinus’s desk and ran his hands covetously over the surface. He sat down in the big desk chair, and a look of immense satisfaction crossed his features. Raina was surprised to actually hear his voice when his lips moved.
“Good riddance,” he muttered. “Old sack of bones didn’t think I had it in me to take him out. Hah!”
Raina’s jaw dropped. Elfonse had killed Albinus? Surely not! But there was no other way to interpret his words. A low rumble of rage emanated from Kadir. He was interpreting Elfonse’s words the same way she was.
Albinus’s office door opened, and a man Raina vaguely recognized as having hovered around Elfonse while she’d been at Alchizzadon stepped inside. “You summoned me, High Proctor?”
Raina gasped. Elfonse had not only killed Albinus but had usurped the older man’s position, too?
Kadir rose to his feet on a roar of fury. The surface of the pool rippled violently, and the view of Albinus’s office was shattered into a thousand ripples of disturbed water. “I’ll kill him!” he shouted.
She interrupted abruptly, pointing down at the water. “Look. Who’s that?”
Everyone turned back to face the pool. An image of a man was coming into view as the water in the seeing pool stilled. Albinus’s office was gone, replaced by this man. A jann based on the colored tamgas marking his skin. He wore a suit of pale armor and had a very impressive bearing. Like a noble or a knight.
Justin jolted. “He’s the one you sought earlier!”
“Who is he?” Raina asked.
“Why is the man you just scryed showing up again like this?” Justin asked.
Lakanos answered, “Apparently, someone really wants you to find this gentleman.”
Kadir frowned. “He visited Alchizzadon last year. I was shocked because we never allow outsiders to come into the tower.”
Lakanos retorted dryly, “So you were planning to kill me after all?”
Kadir snorted. “I was not personally planning to kill you, but no, you were never getting out of there alive.” He added curiously, “Did you discover where the tower is when you were brought there?”
“No. I was portaled in, same as the emissary.”
“Then mayhap they will let you live. Your colors will prove a thorn in their sides. Murdering a Heart knight is likely to provoke the sort of response they would rather avoid.”
“If, by that response, you mean all-out war upon Alchizzadon by the Heart, you would be correct,” Lakanos replied. “We may exist to serve others in peace, but we do not take kindly to the killing of our own. Only by responding forcefully to the murder of our members are the rest kept safe from harm.”
Although his words were delivered quietly, Raina was startled at the steel beneath them. This was clearly not a man to trifle with when it came to defending the Heart. She warmed to him even more as the residual terror of her narrow escape from permanent death last night receded a little further in the face of his protectiveness toward her and the Heart.
“Why is that jann in the pool?” Justin asked practically. “Is that vision meant for you or for our hostesses?”
The dryads leaned in, cooing over how manly and handsome the man in the pool was. But they also declared that they did not recognize him.
Kadir said, “He was at Alchizzadon to investigate ways to remove partial spirits from a person and store them.”
“Why?” Raina asked. “That’s a pretty obscure question.”
“My impression was that he was holding part of a spirit inside himself that he wished to be rid of. But he was also concerned that he not lose its power. He wanted it out of him but still wanted to control it.”
Raina asked, “Where does the image come from, then? And why?”
Callisia knelt beside the pool and passed her mint green hands over the surface without touching the water. “It is a gift,” she murmured. “From the faerie of the pool.”
“The who?” Raina asked. “What faerie?”
Callisia shrugged. “She does not wish to reveal herself. The seer is bidden to remember this face
and find this man. With him lies your fate, man of runes.”
Man of runes? Surely that meant Kadir.
Raina leaned in closer to stare at the jann in the pool. His skin was the palest blue, just shy of being white. “What’s his armor made of?”
“Ice,” the dryad answered promptly.
“Wouldn’t that shatter easily or, oh, freeze him?” Raina responded.
“Obviously not!” Callisia snapped, sounding miffed.
“What’s his name?” Kadir asked.
Callisia was more congenial with him and passed her hands over the image again. “No name has he. It was lost long ago. But he was a soldier … a leader … ah…” A long sigh. “He was a general in his day. But that was long ago.”
Raina stared. Surely not. “Does he have the feel of a Kothite to you, Callisia?”
The dryad hissed at the word but turned her attention back to the pool. “The stink of the Circle breakers clings to him … but also I sense anger in him toward his masters.”
“I think I know who that is,” Raina announced. Every gaze turned on her. “That’s General Tarses. I heard not long ago that he lives, and furthermore, that he roams the wild lands of Haelos.”
“For what purpose?” Lakanos asked sharply.
She shrugged. “Perhaps Kadir should follow the advice of the faerie of the pool and find the general to ask him what he’s up to.”
“Such was already my intent.” Kadir rose to his feet, and as he did so, the image of Tarses faded away, leaving behind a shallow pool with a few stray leaves floating idly on its surface.
“When you find him,” Raina added, “tell him his son and daughter live.”
Kadir’s eyebrows shot up. “Tarses has children? Where? Who?”
“I am not at liberty to reveal that. If Tarses wishes to speak with me directly, I will be happy to tell him where to find his family,” she replied.
Kadir nodded thoughtfully. “I will pass the message to him. Are you ready to go, Justin?”
Justin looked back and forth between her and his mentor in indecision. Raina said gamely, “You know you want to meet the great general who brought entire continents to their knees. I’m safe and under the able protection of Sir Lakanos. Don’t worry about me. Go, Justin.” They were the hardest two words she’d ever had to say.