Prophecy (16 page)

“Good,” Kambil said with a smile of approval. “I knew we’d find
some
secretaries and assistants who knew what they were doing. Just make sure that that army is adequately supplied, otherwise they might begin to live off the countryside. That sort of thing is fine in someone else’s country, but if we allow it to happen here we’ll have delegations of our former peers screaming for blood. And don’t forget that some of the countryside they’ll be passing through now belongs to
us
. What about the last guard expedition sent West?”

“That’s something
I
was looking into,” Homin said, his expression and the disturbance in his emotions telling Kambil most of the story. “They stopped communicating with us as abruptly as all the others, but this time there were independent watchers sent secretly after them. The watchers reported that instead of being destroyed, they’ve been … taken over in some way by our adversaries and are now working only for them. And that town they’reall in was attacked, but not by Astindan forces. The attackers were former members of our own army, without commanders and therefore uncontrolled. Our adversaries gained control over them as well, and ended the attack almost before it began. Now all the townspeople and farmers are getting ready to run away, obviously wanting to be gone before any other attackers appear.”

“Chaos take them!” Kambil growled, more than simply annoyed. “We needed the shipments of food they would have sent right up to the time the Astindan forces appeared, and now we’ll have to do without them. If those interfering fools hadn’t stopped to warn them… Make sure that the new Advisor in charge of the farms in that area is made aware of the situation, so he can coordinate provisioning Gan Garee from other areas. And tell someone to keep an eye open in case an opportunity to punish those farmers comes along. If we let them get away with leaving their farms—for any reason—then others of the peasants will try to do the same. Who’s next?”

“I am,” Selendi replied, her thoughts even more annoyed than they had been. “I’ve been receiving reports from Rimen Howser on that matter of hostages against the adversaries, and he’s really done an incredible job. In addition to that gardener he showed us who’s supposed to be a good friend of the Earth magic user, the parents of the Fire magic user, and the fiancé of the Water magic user and
her
parents, he now also has the former sponsor of the Spirit magic user. The sponsor had been sent to one of the deep mines because of an attempt to kidnap the Spirit magic user, but Rimen brought her back here anyway. The Spirit magic user was supposed to have been really broken up at the sentence given her former sponsor, and now can be expected to feel all sorts of guilt—especially when she sees what the mines have done to the woman.”

“And we have the mother of the Air magic user, in the person of Lady Hallina Mardimil,” Kambil said with a certain amount of brightening. “Yes, Lord Rimen
has
done a good job, which we’ll certainly have to reward him for. Or has he already begun to receive part of his reward?”

“I’ve given him the first part,” Selendi said with a shrug that was nevertheless filled with satisfaction. “The rest of it, naming him a High Lord, is for you to do. I’m sure you know that that’s what he’s after, and it isn’t his fault that Lady Hallina is not in the best condition possible. She
is
still alive, although she’s making the most awful fuss. You’d think that what happened to her was something to get upset about.”

“Something happened to her?” Kambil asked, his interest piqued. “What a terrible, awful shame. Was it something painful, I hope?”

“
She
claims so,” Selendi replied with a sniff of disdain, and then she grinned. “She went to the Glowflower Inn, that place that caters to those with … different tastes in entertainment, and ended up getting raped by three men. She refuses to say why she was there or how she came to be in the rooms the three men took, but has demanded of the guard that the three be found and arrested and executed. She took to her bed immediately and has had a physician in attendance, but no one is taking her wailing seriously. She’s always wailing about
something
, and after all, how serious can it be? It was only three men, for pity’s sake.”

“Have they found any trace of the men?” Kambil asked, more amused by Selendi’s reactions than by the story. Despite all the adjustments he’d made in her personality, Selendi would have enjoyed being the one who had had that … experience with the three men. She’d probably never admit it aloud unless ordered to, but her emotions made the matter perfectly clear to Kambil.

“No, the men have apparently disappeared off the face of the world,” Selendi replied. “And they wore masks, so even Lady Hallina can’t give a full description of them. Of course, she
should
be able to tell everyone what their bodies were like, and then the guard could go around making the peasants strip down for inspection.”

Everyone laughed at that, everyone, that is, except for Delin. He sat in his place as silent and fumingly angry as ever, a good sign as far as Kambil was concerned. He’d been afraid Delin’s mind would begin to crumble to uselessness, but so far it hadn’t. If only he, Kambil, could have some luck in finding another High talent in Earth magic, he’d never have to waste time thinking about Delin again…

“But there
is
some bad news,” Selendi added, quieting the laughter. “Lord Grall Razas, that man you had such high hopes for us to make use of, is dead. He died at night, I was told, and when a physician was summoned the next morning by Lord Grall’s staff, it was far too late to do anything for him. They think it must have been a seizure of some kind, as there wasn’t the least indication of foul play.”

“Are they absolutely sure?” Kambil asked, once again back to being extremely displeased. “With the former Lady Eltrina in the same house, how can they be so certain?”

“They’recertain partially because she
wasn’t
in the house,” Selendi replied at once with a headshake. “She must have charmed or paid someone on the staff to free her from the chains Lord Grall had her locked up in, and as soon as she was free she disappeared from the house. Investigation showed that she went to an inn she’d frequented many times before, easily producing the gold to pay for her accommodations. She also seemed to be … under the weather, the investigators were told, as she asked for and got two of the inn’s ladies’ maids to sit with her all night. The maids reported that her sleep was interrupted with moans of pain and various nightmares causing her to cry out, but she never left the rooms.”

“So she couldn’t have gone back and somehow murdered him,” Kambil grumbled, knowing any investigator would have Spirit magic enough to be aware of when he was being lied to. If the maids’ story was accepted, then they hadn’t been lying. “But I think I know where she got the gold to pay for her night’s stay. It’s probable that Lord Grall neglected to speak to his bank about cutting her off, so they gave her whatever amount she asked for. Well, have her arrested and returned to that house in chains again, this time under the care of someone
I’ll
appoint. I don’t want her to be running around loose—”

“Kambil, I’ve already tried that,” Selendi interrupted, now looking and feeling annoyed. “I knew you didn’t want her free so I sent a contingent of guardsmen to arrest her, but she’d already left the inn. That was after the management told her her husband was dead, and she did go back to the house. But she stayed only long enough to have some of her clothing and belongings packed, and then she left again. Where she is now, no one seems to know.”

“I’ll give you odds that wherever it is, she stopped at the bank again on the way,” Kambil growled, beginning to be really furious. “If Grall never bothered to cut her off from his funds, it’s certain that he also never went through the process of disinheriting her. Since they never had any children, she’s now his sole heir and entitled to do as she pleases with his gold and property. What she most likely pleased was to carry away as much gold as she could conveniently handle.”

“You have to admit it took nerve if she did that,” Homin said, his chuckle showing how impressed he was with that sort of behavior. “She must have known she was in danger of being arrested again otherwise she never would have disappeared, and yet she stopped on the way to complete freedom to collect her belongings and pick up spending money. We could make good use of audacity like that, especially if we make it clear that serving us loyally will let her keep Grall’s estate.”

“But I don’t
want
her to keep Grall’s estate,” Kambil said slowly and clearly, so that Homin would have no doubts about how he felt. “Grall and his multitude of connections would have been of much more use to us, and I seriously doubt if that Eltrina piece could ever be trusted. She won’t inherit his business ability and his lines into all those closed groups even
we
don’t have access to, so what good would she be to us? Brazen, mindless nerve can be found anywhere, so I want the guard to be on the alert for her. And when she’s found, I want her brought here, to the palace, not put in another place she’ll have no trouble getting out of.”

Selendi nodded to show that she’d take care of it, both she and Bron ignoring the way Homin now tried to pretend that he’d never said anything to anger Kambil. If Homin had known women a bit better, he’d never have suggested anything that ludicrous to begin with…

“And, finally, we come to Embisson Ruhl,” Selendi said as though there hadn’t been any interruptions. “The man is slowly mending, or at least his body is. I’m told that his mind is rather shaky now that he’s no longer even an ordinary lord, not to mention a High Lord. He’s suffering just the way you want him to, and his son has been visiting him more and more often, in an attempt to get him to pull out of his funk. Dom Ruhl, however, has been resisting all attempts, and it’s been suggested that he may eventually even turn to suicide.”

“Good,” Kambil pronounced, leaning back in his chair. “If he does kill himself, make sure I hear about it right away. I’m thinking about having his body hung up in front of the palace, to show people what happens to those who work against our best interests. It’s time we—Yes, what is it?”

That last was for the servant who had knocked quietly and then entered the room, one of Kambil’s trusted servants. The man was completely under control, of course, which was why he was so trusted. And he also knew better than to interrupt a meeting of the Five without good reason…

“Excellence, please excuse the interruption, but a note sent by your father has been delivered,” the man said with a bow, holding up an envelope. “The servant delivering it said it was most urgent.”

“All right, bring it here,” Kambil directed, wondering what his father could want. Nothing of importance was going on which would involve
him
, so what could be so urgent? The envelope was brought over to Kambil and he opened it at once, and then he nearly fell unconscious after reading those terrible words. The room swirled around and around and voices sounded from very far off, and then it was Bron, Selendi, and Homin who were clustered around his chair and speaking all at once.

“Kambil, what’s wrong?” Bron’s voice broke through the others, worry making it sharp. “You almost went off the chair and onto the floor! What does the letter say?”

“It … it says that … that Grammi is … is dead,” Kambil forced out, not believing the words even as he spoke them, the room still turning a bit. “It can’t be … it isn’t true … I know it isn’t … I have to go home…”

“Of course you do,” Homin said, his tone and mind filled with sympathetic understanding. “We’ll send for your private guard, and they’ll take you home. Do you want the rest of us to go with you?”

“No … no…” Kambil said, pushing them out of his way so that he could get to his feet. He swayed unsteadily for a moment, and then his servant had taken his arm to support him, which let him stumble toward the door. He wanted nothing of the presence of his groupmates, they who were such … blatant tributes to Grammi’s work. Just in case it was true … which it couldn’t be, please, don’t let it be…

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

High Lord Embisson Ruhl—still a High Lord despite the attempted actions of rude young interlopers—sat in his study all alone. He wore the shabbiest clothing he had, and spoke little or not at all to his household staff. Everyone professed to be deeply concerned about his “depression,” a part of the plan which was his own contribution. He knew well enough that he was being watched, and common sense dictated that he give the watchers something other than planning and machinations to observe. A cup of cooling tea sat on a table near his elbow, but his slumped posture changed not at all until Edmin was shown in and the door closed behind him.

“Please, Father, you really must pull out of this,” Edmin said in a fairly loud voice, to satisfy the ear which was certainly at the door. “If you don’t, you’ll surely make yourself ill.”

Embisson said nothing to that, as should have been expected, and a moment later Edmin turned his attention from the door and nodded.

“He’s gone now,” Edmin said in his usual, sober way. “Off to tell whomever he tells that nothing seems to have changed. How are you really feeling, Father?”

“Quite well, actually,” Embisson replied as he stood and took the opportunity to stretch. “The main drawback of this charade is the way I must slouch around, ruining my back. Let me get you a cup of tea while you tell me what brings you here at this unscheduled time.”

“I came to tell you that our plans for tonight have to be delayed,” Edmin replied, causing Embisson to stop short on the way to the tea service. “That celebration dinner the Five had planned for tonight has been canceled.”

“They became suspicious?” Embisson asked sharply, the first reason for such a disappointment to come to him. “How could that possibly have happened?”

“It wasn’t suspicion,” Edmin hastily soothed him, one hand held up. “It seems that Arstin received word of his grandmother’s passing, and he hurried to his father’s house to join the man in grieving. Quite a few people are grieving, as the woman was a renowned poet.”