‘Oh, yes, and Danae’s stranger than most.
‘i’m glad I was able to catch the two of you alone,’ Stragen
said then. ‘There’s something I’d like to talk over with you before
I mention it to the others.’ Stragen was absently twiddling two
gold Elenic half-crowns in his right hand, ccarefully running one
fingertip across the milled edges and hefting them slightly as if
trying to determine their weight. Baroness Melidere’s confession
appeared to have unsettled him just a bit. ‘Zalasta’s little fit of
rage wasn’t quite as irrational as we thought it would be. Turning
the Trolls loose on northern Atan was the most disruptive
thing he could have done to us. We’ll have to deal with that, of
course, but I think we’d better start preparing for his next move.
Trolls don’t need much supervision once they’ve been pointed
in the right direction, so Zalasta’s free to work on something
else now, wouldn’t you say?’
‘Probably,’ Sparhawk agreed.
‘Now, I could be wrong…’
‘But you don’t think you are.’ Vanion completed his sentence
sardonicallly.
‘He’s in a touchy mood today, isn’t he,’ Stragen said to
Sparhawk.
‘He’s got a lot on his mind.’
“it’s my guess that whatever Zalasta comes up with next is
going to involve those conspirators Sarabian and Ehlana left in
place for lack of jail cells.’
“it could just as easily involve the armies Parok, Amador and
Elron have raised in western Tamuli,’ Vanion disagreed.
Stragen shook his head. ‘Those armies were raised to keep
the Church Knights off the continent, Lord Vanion, And they
were raised at Cyrgon’s specific orders. If Zalasta risked them
now, he’d have to answer to Cyrgon for it, and I don’t think
he’s that brave yet.’
‘Maybe you’re right,’ Vanion conceded. ‘All right, let’s say
that he wi’ll use those second-level conspirators. Sarabian and
Ehlana have already set things in motion to round them up.’
‘Why bother rounding them up at all, my Lord?’
‘To get them off the streets, for one thing. Then there’s also
the small detail of the fact that they’re guilty of high treason.
They need to be tried and punished.’
‘Why?’
‘As an example, you idiot!’ Vanion flared.
‘I’ll agree that getting them off the streets is important, Lord
Vanion, but there are more effective ways to make examples of
people – not only more effective, but more terrifyingly certain.
When you send policemen out to arrest people, it’s noisy, and
usually others hear the noise and manage to escape. There’s
also the fact that trials are tedious, expensive, and not absolutely
certain.’
‘You’ve got an alternative in mind, I gather,’ Sparhawk said.
‘Naturally. Why not have the executions first and the trials
later?’
They stared at him.
‘i’m sort of extending the idea I had the other day,’ Stragen
said. ‘Caalador and I have access to a number of non-squeamish
professionals who can carry out the executions privately.’
‘You’re talking about murder, Stragen,’ Vanion accused.
‘Why, yes, Lord Vanion, I believe that is the term some people
do use to describe it. The whole idea behind “examples” is to
frighten others so much that they won’t commit the same crime.
It doesn’t really work, because criminals know that their chances
of being caught and punished are very slim.’ he shrugged. “it’s
just one of the hazards of doing business. We professional criminals
break laws all the time. We don’t, however, break our own
rules. People in our society who break the rules aren’t afforded
the courtesy of being tried. They’re just killed. No acquittals, no
pardons, no last-minute jail-breaks. Dead. Period. Case closed.
The justice of regular society is slow and uncertain. Ours is just
the opposite. If you want to use terror to keep people honest,
use real terror.’
“it has got possibilities, Vanion,’ Sparhawk suggested tentatively.
‘You’re not seriously considering it, are you? There are thousands
of those people out there you’rE talking about the largest
mass murder in history!’
“it’s a way to get my name in the record books, anyway,’
Stragen shrugged. ‘Caalador and I are probably going to do this
anyway. We’re both impatient men. I wouldn’t have bothered
you about it, but I thought I’d like to get your views on the
subject. Should we tell Sarabian and Ehlana, or should we just
go ahead and not bother them? Discussions about relative morality
are so tedious, don’t you think? The point here is that we
need to come up with something that will unhinge Zalasta all
the more, and I think this might be it. If he wakes up some
morning in the not too distant future and finds himself absolutely
and totally alone, it might give him some second thoughts
about the wisdom of his course. Oh, incidentally, I’ve borrowed
Berit and Xanetia. They’re taking a stroll in the vicinity of the
Cynesgan embassy so that Xanetia can run that dip-net of hers
through the minds of the people inside. We’ve got quite a few
names, but I’m sure there are more.’
‘Doesn’t she have to be in the same room with somebody to
listen to his thoughts?’ Vanion asked.
‘She’s not really certain. She’s never had occasion to test the
limits of her gift. The expedition today is something in the nature
of an experiment. We’re hoping that she’ll be able to reach in
through the walls and pull out the names of the people inside.
If she can’t, I’ll find some way to get her inside so that she can
seine out what we need. Caalador and I want as much information
and as many names as we can get. Setting up the largest
mass murder in history is a very complicated business, and we
don’t want to have to do it twice.’
‘Because Caalador and I are going to use the information to
set that new world record I was telling you about yesterday.
Sarabian hasn’t authorized it yet, so let’s not upset him over
something he doesn’t need to know about – at least not until
we’ve stacked all the bodies in neat piles.’
Chapter 24
princess Danae fell ill the next day. It was nothing clearly definable.
There was no fever, no rash, and no cough involved – only
a kind of listless weakness. The princess seemed to have no
appetite, and it was difficult to wake her.
“It’s the same thing as it was last month,’ Mirtai assured the
little girl’s worried parents. ‘She needs a tonic, that’s all.’
Sparhawk, however, knew that Mirtai was wrong. Danae had
not really been ill the previous month. The Child Goddess made
light of her ability to be in two places at the same time, but her
father knew that when her attention was firmly fixed on what
was going on in one place, she would be semi-comatose in the
other. This illness was quite different somehow. ‘Why don’t you
go ahead and try a tonic, Ehlana?’ he suggested. ‘I’ll go talk
with Sephrenia. Maybe she can think of something else.’
He found Sephrenia sitting moodily in her room. She was
looking out the window, although it was fairly obvious that she
did not even see the view. ‘We’ve got a problem, little mother,’
Sparhawk said, closing the door behind him. ‘Danae’s sick.’
She turned sharply, her eyes startled. ‘That’s absurd, Sparhawk.
She doesn’t get sick. She can’t.’
“I didn’t think so myself, but she’s sick all the same. It’s nothing
really tangible, no overt symptoms or anything like that, but
she’s definitely not well.’
Sephrenia rose quickly. ‘i’d better go have a look,’ she said.
‘Maybe I can get her to tell me what’s wrong. Is she alone?’
‘No. Ehlana’s with her. I don’t think she’ll be willing to leave.
Won’t that complicate things?’
‘I’ll take care of it. Let’s get to the bottom of this before it goes
any further.’
Sephrenia’s obvious concern worried Sparhawk all the more.
He followed her back to the royal quarters with growing aprehension.
She was right about’ one thing. Aphrael was not in
any way susceptible to human illnesses, so this was no simple
miasmic fever or one of the innumerable childhood diseases that
humans catch, endure and get over. he dismissed out of
hand the notion that there could be such a thing as the sniffles
of the Gods.
Sephrenia was very business-like. She was muttering the
Styric spell before she even entered Danae’s room.
‘Thank God you’re here, Sephrenia!’ Ehlana exclaimed, half
rising from her chair beside the little girl’s bed. ‘I’ve been so…’
Sephrenia released the spell with a curious flick of her hand,
and Ehlana’s eyes went blank. She froze in place, half risen from
her chair and with one hand partially extended.
Sephrenia approached the bed, sat on the edge of it, and took
the little girl in her arms. ‘Aphrael,’ she said, ‘wake up. It’s me
Sephrenia. ‘
The Child Goddess opened her eyes and began to cry.
‘What is it?’ Sephrenia asked, holding her sister even more
tightly and rocking back and forth with her.