“Remarkable,” said the dynast.
All movement at the gaming table ceased, all eyes were fixed on Haplo’s hand.
There could be no doubt. The runes on the bones were far cruder in nature than the runes tattooed on the man’s skin — a child’s scrawl compared to the flowing script of a grown man — but they were the same.
The prince, after a moment’s involuntary fascination, wrenched his glance away and continued to work on his wall. Kleitus reached out his hand to Haplo’s, intending to seize it and study it closer.
“I wouldn’t do that, Sire.” Haplo said quietly, not moving his hand. He wasn’t making an overt threat, but a quality in the voice caused the dynast to pause. “Perhaps your man there told you.” Eyes flicked to Pons. “I don’t like to be touched.”
“He said that when you attacked the guard the marks on your skin glowed. By the way, may we apologize for that tragic incident? It is one that we deeply regret. We had no intention of harming your pet. The dead tend to … overreact.”
Pons, watching closely, saw Haplo’s jaw muscle twitch, the lips tighten. Otherwise, the face remained impassive.
His Majesty was continuing, “You attacked a soldier, he said, without a weapon in your hands, and yet you seemed confident of your ability to fight one armed with a sword. But you didn’t intend battling with bare hands, did you, sir? These marks”—the dynast did not touch, but pointed—”these sigla are magic. Magic was your intended weapon. I am certain you can understand that we are fascinated. Where did you come by these runes? How do they work?”
Haplo lifted another rune-bone, placed it beside the one he moved into position. Lifting another, he set it next to the first.
“We asked you a question,” said the dynast.
“We heard you,” replied Haplo, lips twisting in a smile.
The dynast flushed in anger at the mockery. Pons tensed. The prince glanced up from his building.
“Insolence!” Kleitus glowered. “You refuse to answer?”
“It’s not a question of refusing, Sire. I’ve taken a vow, an oath. I could no more tell you how my magic works than”—Haplo’s eyes flicked to the dynast, returned coolly to the game—”than you could tell me how your magic raises the dead.”
The dynast sat back in his chair, turning a game piece over and over in his hand. Pons relaxed, emitting a long breath, unconscious, until now, that he’d been holding it in.
“Well, well,” said Kleitus at last. “Chancellor, you are delaying the game. His Highness has almost completed his wall and even the novice, here, is ahead of you.”
“I beg your pardon, Sire,” said Pons humbly, knowing and understanding his role in this charade.
“This palace is old, isn’t it?” said Haplo, studying the room.
Pons, affecting to be absorbed in building his wall, eyed the man from beneath lowered lids. The question had an idle, making-polite-conversation sound to it, but this wasn’t the type of man who engaged in mindless chatter. What was he after? The chancellor, watching carefully, saw Haplo’s gaze stray to several partially obliterated rune markings on the walls.
Kleitus took it on himself to respond. “The old part of the palace was built out of a natural formation, a cavern within a cavern, one might say. It stands on one of the highest points of elevation in Kairn Necros. The rooms on the upper levels once provided a quite magnificent view of the Fire Sea, or so we’re led to believe by ancient report. That was, of course, before the sea withdrew.” He paused to take a drink of liquor, glanced at his chancellor.
“The palace was originally a fortress,” Pons obediently picked up the thread of the story, “and there is evidence that a vast number of people passed through here at one time, undoubtedly on their way to the more habitable upper regions.”
The prince frowned. His hand jerked, he knocked several pieces off his partially completed wall.
‘As you may have surmised,” Pons continued, “this room is in one of the older parts of the palace. Although, of course, we’ve made considerable modern improvements. The royal family’s living quarters are located back here; the air’s purer, don’t you agree? Official chambers and halls and ballrooms are to the front, near where you entered.”