“My Lord Baron, I cannot condone torture. It is a bestial practice, whatever the motives of those who employ it. I have never and will never take any role in its commission! Do I make myself clear?”
“I did but request, Physician,” grated Spiros, unaccustomed to noncooperation on the parts of persons of inferior rank and status. “This matter is of the gravest importance to the good of the Duchy, and too many lives may well hinge upon the information which this stubborn man can give us to cater to your likes and dislikes and whims. Therefore, I, Spiros, by grace of Sun and Wind, Vahrohnos of Taheerospolis and Subchief of Morguhn, do command your instant obedience to my wishes! Do I make myself clear, Physician?”
Ahlee drew himself up, squaring bis shoulders and setting his jaw. “Perfectly clear, My Lord Baron, you speak your language well. A pity that you cannot understand it so well. But, I will repeat: I-will-not-be-a- party-to-torture!”
Snarling, Spiros loosened his heavy dirk. “Why you impudent barbarian pig! How dare you to disobey my order? Are you then mad? Know you not how quickly I can have your hairless head on a spear?”
Bard Klairuhnz opened the door and strolled into the chamber. With no preamble, he inquired, “Kinsman, are you then unaware that Master Ahlee, like all members of his guild within the boundaries of the Confederation, practices under the auspices and personal protection of the Undying High Lord, Milo? It were senseless to threaten him, and it would be treasonable to harm him.”
To protect the Vahrohmos’s pride, be had employed mindspeak.
“Kinsman,” Spiros answered him silently. “You are unaware yourself, unaware of the extreme gravity of this case. Komees Djeen has told me much of you, and so I know that you fought hard and well to aid my House. For that reason, I’ll trust you. Know you the problem.” So saying he lowered his mindshield, baring the inmost recesses to Klairuhnz, that he might fully realize what had occurred and was presently occurring in the Duchy and thus better comprehend the dilemma.
And what Bard Klairuhnz learned was serious enough! The attack on Bili’s party had not been the first such. Indeed, no less than three poorly armed or virtually unarmed parties of Kindred had been butchered to the last person on the roads. Within the cities, most Kindred went armed and guarded by day and by night, in justified fear of the dagger or the strangling cord. Servants of Ehleen blood were become, with few exceptions, surly and secretive, while Ehleenoee peasants and free-farmers and tradesmen were proving ever harder to deal with. And these troubles were not something which had gradually built to the present intensity, but had sprung up full-grown, just after the Duchy’s last harvest.
“All right, Kinsman Spiros,” Klairuhnz beamed. “I was not aware that matters had progressed so far here. And I agree that you needs must have Master Ahlee’s aid. Your reasoning on that is quite sound. But he is a strongwilled man and quite stubborn on what he considers a matter of principle. Because of his protected status, you cannot physically force him to help you, and circumstances have rendered your patience too short to allow for diplomacy.
“So, it might be best, Kinsman, if you left the chamber and allowed me to attempt to reason with the physician.”
“Do you think you can truly bring him around, Kinsman?” Spiros, recognizing hard truth, would now grasp at any straw.
“I think so,” the Bard assured him.
Wordless, Spiros bowed stiffly toward the foreigner, nodded at Klairuhnz, spun on his heel, and stalked out.
Klairuhnz waited until the footfalls had faded into the distance, then mindspoke Master Ahlee. “You received both my mindspeak and his, then?”
Ahlee’s sudden start would have been imperceptible to one not watching for it. Just as quickly as he had reacted, however, he regained his composure, then frowned, saying, “Sir, I did not bid you enter. Nonetheless, I bid you welcome and peace. What matter brings you to this humble instrument of Ahlah?”
Throwing back his head, Klairuhnz gusted a laugh at the ceiling, then went on, still in mindspeak, “Master Humble Instrument, we are both of us too old to play games and there is no time to dissemble. Your mindspeak is known to be excellent and your receptivity even better. So states the Undying Lady Aldora, and she is never wrong about such talents!”