wistfully. ‘You could have saved me months of time when I was studying
languages, you know.’
‘Your Majesty was keeping your studies a secret,’ Zalasta reminded him. ‘I
didn’t know you wanted to learn other tongues.’
‘Caught by my own cleverness then,’ Sarabian shrugged. ‘Oh, well. What
precisely are we planning?’
‘We’re going to winnow through your court, your Majesty,’ Vanion told him.
‘Your government’s compartmentalised, and your ministers keep secrets from
each other. That means that no one really has a grasp of the whole picture.
We’re going to fan out through the various compartments and gather up
everything we can find. When we put it all together, we might be able to
see some patterns starting to emerge.’ Sarabian made a sour face. ‘It’s my
own fault,’ he confessed. ‘Please don’t be cryptic, Sarabian,’ Ehlana told
him. The two monarchs were good friends by now, largely because the emperor
had simply pushed all formalities aside and had spoken directly and had
insisted that Ehlana do the same. ‘I blundered, Ehlana,’ he said ruefully.
‘Tamuli’s never faced a real crisis before. Our bureaucrats are more clever
than the subject peoples, and they have the Atans to back them up. The
imperial family’s always been more afraid of its own government than of
outsiders. We don’t encourage co-operation between the various ministries.
I seem to be reaping the fruit of a misguided policy. When this is all
over, I think I’ll fix it.’
‘my government doesn’t keep secrets from me,’ Ehlana told him smugly.
‘Please don’t rub it in,’ he said. ‘What exactly are we looking for, Lord
Vanion?’
‘We observed a number of phenomena on our way to Matherion. Our guess is
that we’re facing an alliance of some sort. We know – or at least we have
good evidence – about who one of the parties is. We need to concentrate on
the other now. We’re at a distinct disadvantage until we can identify him.
If it’s all right with you, your Majesty, Queen Ehlana and Prince Sparhawk
will be spending a great deal of time with you. That means that you’re
going to have to have a long talk with your prime minister, I’m afraid.
Pondia Subat’s starting to be inconvenient.’ Sarabian raised one eyebrow
questioningly. ‘He’s done everything he possibly can to make you
inaccessible to us, Sarabian,’ Ehlana explained. ‘He was told not to do
that,’ Sarabian said bleakly. ‘Apparently he didn’t listen, your Majesty,’
Sparhawk said. ‘We have to wade through his people whenever we get near the
main palace, and every time one of us so much as sticks his head out of a
window, whole platoons of spies start to form up to follow us. Your prime
minister doesn’t approve of us, I gather.’
‘It rather looks as if I’m going to have to explain some things to the
esteemed Pondia Subat,’ Sarabian said. ‘I think he’s forgotten the fact
that his office isn’t hereditary _ and that his head’s not so firmly
attached that I can’t have it removed if it starts to inconvenience me.’
What charges would you bring against him, Sarabian?’ Ehlana asked
curiously. ‘Charges? What on earth are you talking about, Ehlana? This is
Tamuli. I don’t need charges. I can have _his head chopped off if I decide
that I don’t like his harrcut. I’ll take care of Pondia Subat my friends. I
can promise his complete co-operation from now on – either his or that of
his successor. Please continue, Lord
Vanion.’ Vanion pushed on. ‘Patriarch Emban will concentrate his attention
on the prime minister,’ he said, ‘whoever he happens to be. Sir Bevier will
spend his time with the faculty of the university. Scholars pick up a great
deal of information, and governments tend to ignore their findings – until
it’s too late. Ulath, Kring and Tynian will observe the general staff of
the army – the Tamul high command rather than the Atans. Atan Engessa will
cover his own people. Milord Stragen and Talen will serve as liaison with
the thieves of Matherion, and Alcan and Khalad will circulate among the
palace servants. Sephrenia and Zalasta will talk with the local Styric
community and Melidere and Sir Berit will charm all the courtiers. ‘
‘isn’t Sir Berit just a bit young?’ Sarabian asked. ‘My courtiers are a
very sophisticated group of people.’
‘Sir Berit has some special qualifications, your Majesty.’ Melidere
smiled. ‘The younger women of your court – and some not quite so young will
do almost anything for him. He may have to sacrifice his virtue a few
times, but he’s a very dedicated young man, so I’m sure we can count on
him.’ Berit blushed. ‘Why do you always have to say things like that,
Baroness?’ he asked plaintively. ‘i’m only teasing’, Berit,’ she said
fondly. ‘It’s something that men don’t understand, your Majesty,’ Kalten
told the emperor. ‘Berit has a strange effect on young women for some
reason.’
‘Kalten and Mirtai will attend Sparhawk and the queen,’ Vanion continued.
‘We don’t know exactly how far our opponents might be willing to go, so
they’ll provide you with some additional protection.’
‘And you, Lord Vanion?’ the emperor asked.
‘Vanion and Oscagne are going to try to put it all together, Sarabian,’
Ehlana replied. ‘We’ll all bring everything we find directly to them.
They’ll sort through it all and isolate the gaps so that we’ll know where
to concentrate further efforts.’
‘You Elenes are a very methodical people,’ Sarabian noted. ‘It’s an
outgrowth of their dependency on logic, your Majesty,’ Sephrenia told him.
‘Their plodding search for corroboration is maddening sometimes, but it
does get results. A well-trained Elene will spend half a day making
observations before he’ll allow himself to admit that it’s raining.’
‘Ah,’ Emban said to her, ‘but when an Elene says that it’s raining, you
can be absolutely sure that he’s telling you the truth.’
‘And what about you, your Highness?’ Sarabian smiled down at the little
girl in his lap. ‘What part are you going to play in this grand scheme?’
‘i’m supposed to distract you so that you don’t ask too ‘many questions,
Sarabian,’ Danae replied quite calmly. ‘your new friends are going to do
things that aren’t really proper, so I’m supposed to keep you from
noticing.’
‘Danae.’ her mother exclaimed. ‘well, aren’t you? You’re going’ to lie to
people and ‘spy on them and probably kill anybody who gets in your way.
Isn’t that what you mean when you use the word ~politics’?’ Sarabian
laughed. ‘I think she’s got you there, ‘ ) )’Ehlana,’ he chortled. ‘Her
definition of politics is a little ‘ ))Nurrt, but it’s very close to the
mark. She’s going to ‘make an excellent queen.’
‘.’)~)’) Thank you, Sarabian,’ Danae said sweetly, kissing his cheek.
‘-)’~’.’ Then Sparhawk felt that sudden chill, and even though he knew it
was useless, his hand went to his sword-hilt as the flicker of darkness
tugged at the very corner of his vision. He started to swear – half in
Elenic and half in Tamul – as he realised that everything they had said had
just been revealed to the shadowy presence that had been dogging their
steps for all these months.
Chapter 26
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used to try to sneak around and spy on people. That’s why Martel had to
finally hire Krager.’
‘Who’s Adus?’ Sarabian asked. ‘A fellow we used to know, your Majesty,’
Kalten replied. ‘He wasn’t of much use as a spy. Everybody for a hundred
yards in any direction knew when Adus was around. He didn’t believe in
bathing, so he had a distinctive fragrance.’
‘is that at all possible?’ Vanion asked Sephrenia. ‘Could Kalten have
aCtUally come up with the right answer?’
‘Vanion.’ Kalten objected. ‘Sorry, Kalten. That didn’t come out exactly
the way I’d intended. Seriously though, Sephrenia, could our visitor be
unaware of the shadow he’s casting?’
‘Anything’s possible, I suppose, dear one.’
‘A visual stink?’ Ulath suggested incredulously. ‘I don’t know if I’d use
that exact term, but -‘ Sephrenia looked at Zalasta. ‘is it possible?’
‘It would explain the phenomenon,’ he ‘replied after pondering the notion
for a moment. ‘The Gods are remarkable – not only in the depth of their
understanding, but also in their limitations. It could very well be that
our visitor doesn’t know that we can smell him when he pays a call – if I
may borrow Sir Ulath’s metaphor. He may actually believe that he’s totally
invisible to us – that his spying is going unnoticed.’ Bevier was shaking
his head. ‘We always talk about it right after it happens,’ he disagreed.
‘He’d have heard us, so he has to know that he’s giving himself away.’
‘Not necessarily, Bevier,’ Kalten disagreed. ‘Adus didn’t know that he
smelled like a cesspool, and it’s not really the sort of thing one admits
to oneself. Maybe this shadow’s the same sort of thing – a kind of socially
unacceptable offensiveness, like bad breath or poor table-manners.’ . ‘