Peril & Profit

by M. H. Johnson

  The king sighed at this point. "It keeps them occupied, out of trouble, and gives them a sense of importance. It is all to the better that many have an interest in trade as well. Far better for them to focus on wine and women, fashion and fencing, the more adventurous engaging in various trade ventures, than to give them pretext to focus on conquest, their neighbor's lands, or gods forfend, the throne itself.”

  The king took a contemplative sip from a crystal chalice by his side. "As you know, before the trouble with this insane Empire started, we were even considering formally establishing a horse racing track just outside the city walls. It would have been a great source of city income and entertainment both, bringing our neighbors in for entertainment and trade as well. And of course, we would have given the lords credit, granting them prestige as well as a share of the profits. Truly it would have been for the good of all."

  At this point the king's pale blue eyes, normally so mild and amused, gave his daughter a very direct stare that left her looking just a bit humbled to Sorn’s eyes.

  "You must remember this, though, dear. For all that we have managed to absorb the power of the lords, exchanging trinkets for steel, the fact of the matter is that more often than not our city's elite forces descend directly from the lineage of those nobles. Were they, for any reason, to come at odds with the Crown itself, the results could be disastrous.

  "The possibility of civil war, however minute it truly is, is a fearsome risk that neither of us, nor any of your own future descendants, will ever want to face. And the possibility of such occurring now, while we are under siege and our enemy is breathing on our very doorstep, ready to hurl destruction down upon us with their massive siege engines, is a thought too horrific to contemplate. It would be as if we were killing ourselves for the benefit of our enemies, they who would see us all enslaved and broken, no matter what our party affiliations."

  The king gave a frustrated shake of his head. "Even were nothing worse to occur than a drop in morale, this too could be disastrous under the present circumstances. At this time, more than any other in our city’s history, we must provide a united front!

  "One of the few powers we left the lord's council is the right to try matters of inquiry amongst themselves. Particularly in a situation wherein a commoner has wronged them, especially in the case of assault or attempted murder. This is a measure of defensive safety they had every right to insist upon, lest they worry about a king who could send assassins against them and pardon them with impunity, or at least arrange mock trials. It seems an outrageous thought now, but several hundred years ago it might, just might, mind you, have been a valid concern."

  The king paused, collecting himself. His daughter appeared crestfallen, unable to refute her father’s arguments. Her sad gaze remained fixed upon her feet, even as her father gave her an absentminded squeeze.

  "You have to understand, dear, Vorstice is a clever one, and immediately called all the lords old concerns into play, harping upon fears that had laid dormant, for good reason, for centuries. Think about it. He has painted Halence and Sorn both, as well as their companions, as good friends of the king, sent to kill him. And though the butchery that he claims occurred at his house is hard to believe without more concrete evidence, none can deny that he has himself suffered several brutal wounds. And his retainer, Hankro, he has been savaged most grievously indeed."

  Elissa shivered at those words. “By the gods, poor Hankro, the way he had been maimed. The healer doesn't think the man would even survive the shock to his system, had he not been called in time to intervene. Even so, his arms... ancient mercies, Father, he was a hideous sight.”

  Her father gave a sad shake of his head. “Yet when you consider Halence's stance, his demeanor, the little we saw before he was forcefully dragged away. It was not that of a sadist, nor did it wear the shame of a villain caught in his crimes. He wore the demeanor of a man triumphant and fierce, glaring at Vorstice and his henchmen as if they were the true villains.”

  Elissa swallowed but gave a hesitant nod. “It is as you say, Father. He wore the look of a man who had triumphed over his own demons. Yet what could justify such savagery against Vorstice, let alone make it righteous?”

  Her father grimly shook his head. “That, I would dearly love to know myself. But the moment Halence had approached the palace guards with Vorstice in tow, the lord had screamed so loudly for protection and lord's council that even we heard the man's cries. And of course, the nature of the accusations being what they were, the lords had jurisdiction and immediately locked away Halence and his men, refusing even to let one of my representatives speak to the captain without Vorstice's immediate consent. And for all the reasons I had mentioned, it would have been the highest folly to insist too heavily on seeing them.”

  "Father, what do you think of Vorstice's accusations, those that we have heard so far?"

  "That Halence, famous merchant captain who was just yesterday finessing my nobles out of a fortune in gold by playing on their fears and offering them passage to their safety, would be willing to give up all that wealth on the off chance that he might successfully assassinate someone who had already offered to pay a mind-boggling sum as one of his clients? It's ludicrous, daughter, we both know that."

  The king of Caverenoc looked reflective for a moment, staring of at the rafters. Sorn immediately ducked back behind the beam he had been peering at them from. "After all, if assassination had been his goal, common sense would dictate that Halence would have attempted to eliminate Vorstice at sea, where he would have had a loyal crew at his back, and complete power over whatever occurred on his ship. Once he reached port, he could simply say that Vorstice had tragically fallen overboard during a storm, answering a call of nature, or due to any number of mishaps, should anyone think to bring up the matter at all. Furthermore, he would have been out of our jurisdiction and beyond our reach, even if foul play were suspected.

  "It is absurd to assume that he would rather assault Vorstice in his own stronghold. And the idea that even though he and Sorn, whom Vorstice claims is some wizard assassin from the north, no less, managed to effortlessly decimated his men, that as opposed to quickly killing Vorstice and being done with it, instead brought him here to frame him for treachery? The whole supposition is ludicrous.

  "Were it not for his skill at playing upon the lords' fears and the fact that nerves are already tightly wound, I doubt even half the lords would buy what Vorstice is selling. As it is, however…" The king sighed, taking off his circlet and rubbing his brow.

  "I know, Father," Elissa said, giving her father's hand a squeeze.

  The king clasped his daughter's hand and sighed. "I'm sorry I can't do anything more than I have done, which is to insist upon a trial with sufficient time for all evidence to be heard, so that none may doubt the worthiness of 'good Vorstice's' arguments in historical hindsight. At least I would like to think I stopped an impromptu execution, but Vorstice seemed all to happy to let proper judicial procedure take effect with all the delays that implies. I tell you, my dear, I don't know what his game is, only that I am certain it is as foul as fish in the midden."

  The ruler of Caverenoc shook his head in frustration. "I feel as though I'm blind to half the pieces on a gameboard, and it drives me to distraction to know that I know so little about what is truly going on. Is it possible an enemy illusionist seeks to sow discord within my court? It would make sense if he knew that Halence was, at this point, our one source of grain, though I had doubts about being able to entice him to make a second run on our behalf. It's a chilling thought, to wonder if the enemies outside out gates could have this much knowledge of our weaknesses and contacts."

  Elissa gave a thoughtful nod at this scenario. "It's certainly a possibility, Father, and a frightening one. Indeed, we should put our wizards on it right away. So far they have told us to count our blessings that we have seen no evidence of enemy mages."

  Elissa gave a shudder with those words, her eyes troubled at the
thought of a force she had always been led to believe would, by long established laws and traditions among themselves, never engage in an aggressive military act, solely partaking in defensive protection of their own realms from criminals or invading forces. The thought of mages actively engaged in wars of conquest was a chilling one that brought to mind terrible accounts of battles fought between mages centuries ago. Tales her tutors had glossed over, but which she had taken particular delight in reading over in the palace library during more innocent times, when those terrible exploits had seemed safely wrapped in the quilt of ancient history.

  "Perhaps we should inform good mage Sorlin of the possibility,” Elissa suggested. “Perhaps the absence of more obvious war magics has been a ruse to entice us to drop our guard while an illusionist wreaks havoc upon our morale from within."

  The king nodded at this and smiled at his daughter. "I see we think alike, my little one. If I didn't know better, I would say we were related!" They shared a chuckle at this, before their expressions turned grave once more. "All right, daughter mine, tell the guard to bring us some more refreshments, and mage Sorlin as well. I, for my part, will pull out our warfare set, and perhaps you and I shall whittle away an hour or two with a few historic battles."

  "Oh Father," Elissa sighed, rolling her eyes but smiling.

  "Now, now, dear," the king said with a smile of his own, raising his finger for emphasis as she made her way to the doors of the receiving room to address the guard. "Better to make your mistakes on this battlefield than another. And if there is one lesson we are learning of late, it is that time is promised to no man, hence we shouldn't waste it. Instead, we should focus on enjoying, and learning, every moment we can."

  Sorn, with an idea or two of his own, darted out the moment Elissa cracked open the door to softly address the guard. He had come to the conclusion that for this next task, at least, the benefits of temporary invisibility outweighed the disadvantages after all. Some time later, considerably later than the bird in question had hoped it would take him to locate and make use of what he needed, a once again visible crow, looking quite irritated for a bird and carrying an object far too big for his beak, managed to squeeze his way past the imposing door once again and flap to where now three individuals were conversing.

  "Your suggestion is an interesting one," acknowledged the tall individual who had joined the company of the princess and king in Sorn's absence. He noted that the man was relatively lean of build, as evidenced by the man's posture and balance despite the loose cut of his elegant robe, pristine white in hue, complementing his silvery white mane quite nicely.

  "It is odd to think that an individual who is supposedly an assassin for hire would casually risk the fortune he has no doubt already accrued selling passage out of this city for the sake of a terribly risky hit. And in a noble's house, no less. So too, it is odd that by Vorstice's own admission, Halence supposedly met with him under the pretext of arranging passage out of Caverenoc, and at an exceedingly usurious fee, no less, amounting to thousands of royals per family securing passage."

  The king and princess's eyes both widened at hearing specifics in regards to the fees Halence was asking for passage out of the city.

  "Precisely," Sorlin said with a grim little smile. "If he is accruing this much wealth, what could possibly entice him to risk it all on some precarious assassination attempt? Especially when his own target was offering to pay him such a sum himself. Furthermore, if elimination had been the goal, why hadn't he simply accepted Vorstice's passage and disposed of him at sea? Not only would that have enabled him to assassinate Vorstice far more easily in his own ship, it would have also allowed him to pocket Vorstice's passage fee as a bonus. He could have then disposed of the man without a trace, and with no one the wiser regarding what had really happened."

  Sorlin took a sip from the glass he had been offered. "I agree with your assessment. The whole scenario as painted by Vorstice makes very little sense."

  The wizard gazed thoughtfully at the wall for a few moments, gathering his musings or so it seemed. It appeared that his audience was in no hurry, patient to await the man's ruminations.

  "Even if one chooses to ignore all the logical fallacies regarding Halence’s supposed motives for assassinating Vorstice in his own home, it still occurs to me that there is no ready reason for Halence to have brought Vorstice here, when he could so easily have disposed of him at any other time or place, if the rumors are true that Captain Halence and this Sorn had supposedly eliminated this man's entire personal guard."

  Sorlin shook his head at this. "There is just no logical reason for them to put themselves in jeopardy just to attempt to get Vorstice arrested on a false pretext, especially after having already committed themselves to extreme violence with the hypothetical butchery of all those men-at-arms. This hardly seems the work of a conventional assassination at all.

  “It seems most likely to me, Your Majesty, that Halence is sincere in his beliefs, whatever they may be, and that the subterfuge, if any, is solely on Vorstice's part. It is a shame that legal and social precedent prevent us from stepping in and taking the matter into our own hands."

  Sorlin waved his free hand in a placating gesture at the King's alarmed countenance. "No, no Your Majesty. I meant you taking matters into your own hands. Rest assured, we wizards have no intention of breaking our proscribed roles. We are all too well aware of the discomfort this could cause, and we have no desire to face fear-inspired backlashes that would lessen our own stability. You and I are much alike, if you will forgive my saying so, Your Majesty. Stability and comfort, not power, is our goal. The cost of the latter is too terribly high, particularly for members of our profession, as your precocious daughter's studies have no doubt taught her. And as history also teaches us, the value of the former is all too often discounted, to everyone's sorrow."

  Sorn couldn't help but note that the king and Elissa, though listening intently to Sorlin's counsel, appeared decidedly less comfortable around him than they had appeared in each other's company, lacking even the ease and familiarity with which they seemed to treat others they interacted with, even Halence and Sorn.

  Were wizards, then, such a terrible force in this land? Wielded by necessity but viewed with fear nonetheless? For all Elissa's benevolent words and studied insight regarding the value of wizards two nights prior, it seemed that when confronted with them directly, she wasn't nearly so sangfroid. It was a troubling observation for Sorn, for though the thought of earning Elissa's awe was a fantasy sweeter than honey, the image of her fearing him was a terrible one, filling his heart with sorrow.

  Sorlin continued to stare thoughtfully for a moment, seemingly unaware of the mild discomfort the royal family seemed to feel in his presence. Perhaps he was truly blind to it, or mayhap he was simply being polite, or perhaps he took it for granted that everyone would feel at least slightly discomfited by his person and no longer took it amiss. Sorn, however, wondered if deep down inside, where no one else could see, Sorlin was actually very hurt that those he served and aided actually feared him, despite all the good deeds that he had no doubt performed on their behalf over the years.

  "Of course, Your Majesty, it is always possible that the precise illogic of these allegations is part of some subtle ploy. The very unlikelihood of the crime and Halence's relationship with the royal family might be a convoluted gambit to put nobles and royalty at odds with itself and thus sow dissension within the ranks, so as to soften us up before the Empire prepares to crack us open like a nut."

  Sorlin said this dispassionately, as if all of the lives involved here, himself included, were merely pieces like those on the warfare board before them, to be traded or sacrificed as needed, dispassionately, like discussing the tactics of a game.

  The king nodded sagely. "You have stated some disturbing possibilities here, Sorlin, which way do you yourself lean?"

  "Had I only what I was told to go on, I would say, by the intent way that Vorstice is attempting to c
ontrol the lord's court, and the outrage he shows when anyone even suggests allowing Halence to speak to a legal counselor or anyone else, sighting ancient rights and legal precedent at will, that he is trying far too hard to control the situation for him to be anyone but the one pulling strings. And so I would surmise that he is, in fact, the one doing the maneuvering and that perhaps Halence and his sailors and that supposed wizard companion of his are simply patsies caught up in whatever scheme he is perpetrating."

  Sorlin sighed. "The most troubling thing, of course, is that it's an odds-on bet he's playing for time, but for what purpose, I couldn't for the life of me tell you without breaking some very serious vows of my own."

  20

  Sorn, knowing an opening when he heard one, and finding this far too ideal a time to pass up, chose that exact moment to make his presence known from the rafters above. Flapping his way down to the wargame board and displacing a number of carefully laid pieces while doing so, he plopped down the scrap of parchment rolled up and tied with twine that he had managed to hastily scribble in a scribe's quarters that he had found by sheer luck nearby.

  The wide-eyed looks Sorn got as all three reflexively pushed away from the table with slight gasps of surprise was a sight to behold, and Sorn would have smiled had his form allowed it. Rather, he settled for bumping the message with his head, rolling it toward the king and over several more hapless game pieces, before flapping off for the ceiling beams above.

  The head mage Sorlin, arms positioned in the characteristic brace of someone about to engage in a fast and furious arcane battle, slowly relaxed, his arms coming to rest against his sides once again, the contents of his now empty glass staining his formerly pristine attire quite thoroughly.

  His grim visage eased into one of cautious curiosity, his hand rising in a gesture of negation as the king reached for the scroll.

  "Please, Your Majesty," Sorlin said placatingly, "allow me to scan it for malign magics or poisons first."