Bill Roth stood there in browns and reds, looking like an aging condottiere.
“Bill!” I said, clasping his hand, arm, and shoulder and leading him in. “Good to see you. I’m just back from some troubles and about to take off after more. I didn’t know whether you were here in the palace now or what. I was going to look you up again as soon as things slowed a bit.”
He smiled and punched my shoulder lightly.
“I’ll be at dinner,” he replied, “and Hendon said you’d be there, too. I thought I’d come up and walk over with you, though, since those Begman people will be there.
“Oh? You got some news?”
“Yes. Any fresh word on Luke?”
“I was just talking to him. He says the vendetta’s off.”
“Any chance of his wanting to justify himself at that hearing you asked me about?”
“Not from the way he sounded.”
“Too bad. I’ve bean doing a lot of research, and there are some good precedents for the vendetta defense-like, there was your uncle Osric, who took on the whole House of Karen over the death of a relative on his mother’s side. Oberon was particularly friendly with Karen in those days, too, and Osric offed three of them. Oberon acquitted him at a hearing, though, basing his decision on earlier cases, and he even went further by stating a kind of general rule-“
“Oberon also sent him off to the front lines in a particularly nasty war,” I interrupted, “from which he did not return.”
“I wasn’t aware of that part,” Bill said, “but he did come off well in court.”
“I’ll have to mention it to Luke,” I said.
“Which part?” he asked.
“Both,” I answered.
“That wasn’t the main thing I came to tell you,” he went on. “There’s something going on at a military level.”
“What are you talking about?”
“It’s even easier to show you,” he explained. “It should only take a minute.”
“Okay. Let’s go,” I agreed, and I followed him out into the hall.
He led the way down the back stair and turned left at its foot. We moved on past the kitchen and followed another hallway which turned off toward the rear. As we did, I heard some rattling sounds from up ahead. I glanced at Bill, who nodded.
“That’s what I heard earlier,” he told me, “when I was passing by. That’s why I took a walk up this way. Everything around here makes me curious.”
I nodded, understanding the feeling. Especially when I knew that the sounds were coming from the main armory. Benedict stood in the midst of activity, peering at his thumbnail through a rifle barrel. He looked up immediately and our eyes met. Perhaps a dozen men moved about him, carrying weapons, cleaning weapons, stacking weapons.
“I thought you were in Kashfa,” I said.
“Was,” he replied.
I gave him a chance to continue, but nothing was forthcoming. Benedict has never been noted for loquacity.
“Looks like you’re getting ready for something close to home,” I remarked, knowing that gunpowder was useless here and that the special ammo we had only worked in the area of Amber and certain adjacent kingdoms.
“Always best to be safe,” he said.
“Would you care to elaborate on that?” I asked.
“Not now,” he answered, a reply twice as long as I’d anticipated and holding out hope of future enlightenment.
“Should we all be digging in?” I asked: “Fortifying the town? Arming ourselves? Raising-“
“It won’t come to that,” he said. “Just go on about your business.”
“But-“
He turned away. I’d a feeling the conversation was over. I was sure of it when he ignored my next several questions. I shrugged and turned back to Bill.
“Let’s go eat,” I said.
As we walked back up the hall, Bill said softly, “Any idea what it means?”
“Dalt’s in the neighborhood,” I told him.
“Benedict was in Begma with Random. Dalt could be causing trouble there.”
“I’ve a feeling he’s nearer.”
“If Dalt were to capture Random…”
“Impossible,” I said, feeling a slight chill at the idea.
“Random can trump back here anytime he wants. No. When I talked about defending Amber, and Benedict said, ‘It won’t come to that,’ I got the impression he was talking about something close at hand. Something he feels he can control.”