Trumps of Doom. CHAPTER 7,8
CHAPTER 7
Random looked startled as the two of us came through into the library. He rose to his feet, which still left him shorter than either of us, and he shifted his attention to Bill.
“Merlin, who’s this?” he asked.
“Your attorney, Bill Roth,” I said. “You’ve always dealt with him through agents in the past. I thought you might like to-“
Bill began dropping to one knee, “Your Majesty,” on his lips, but Random caught him by the shoulders.
“Cut the crap,” he said. “We’re not in Court.” He clasped his hand, then said, “Call me Random. I’ve always intended to thank you personally for the work you did on that treaty. Never got around to it, though. Good to meet you.”
I’d never seen Bill at a loss for words before, but he just stared, at Random, at the room, out of the window at a distant tower.
Finally, “It’s real . . .” I heard him whisper moments later.
“Did I not see someone springing toward you?” Random said to me, running a hand through his unruly brown hair. ”And surely your last words back there were not addressed to me?”
“We were having a little problem,” I answered. “That’s the real reason I brought Bill along. You see, someone’s been trying to kill me, and-“
Random raised his hand. “Spare me the details for the moment. I’ll need them all later, but-but let it be later. There is more nastiness than usual afoot at the moment, and yours may well be a part of it. But I’ve got to breathe a bit.”
It was only then that some deepened lines in his naturally youthful face registered and I began to realize that he was under a strain.
“What’s the matter?” I asked.
“Caine is dead. Murdered,” he replied. “This morning.”
“How did it happen?”
“He was off in Shadow Deiga-a distant port with which we have commerce. He was with Gerard, to renegotiate an old trade agreement. He was shot, through the heart. Died instantly.”
“Did they catch the bowman?”
“Bowman, hell! It was a rifleman, on a rooftop. And he got away.”
“I thought gunpowder didn’t work around here.” He made a quick palms-up gesture.
“Deiga may be far enough off in Shadow for it to work. Nobody here can remember ever testing any there. For that matter, though, your father once came up with a compound that worked here.”
“True. I’d almost forgotten.”
“Anyway, the funeral is tomorrow-“
“Bill! Merlin!”
My aunt Flora-who had turned down Rossetti’s offers, one of them being to model for him-had entered the room. Tall, slim and burnished, she hurried forward and kissed Bill on the cheek. I had never seen him blush before. She repeated the act for me, too, but I-was less moved, recalling that she had once been my father’s warden.
“When did you get in?” Her voice was lovely, too.
“Just now,” I said.
She immediately linked arms with both of us and attempted to lead us off.
“We have so much to talk about,” she began.
“Flora!” This from Random.
“Yes, brother?”
“You may give Mr. Roth the full tour, but I require Merlin’s presence for a time.”
She pouted slightly for a moment, then released my arm. “Now you know what an absolute monarchy is,” she explained to Bill. “You can see how power corrupts.”
“I was corrupt before I had power,” Random said, “and rich is better. You have my leave to depart, sister.”
She sniffed and led Bill away.
“It’s always quieter around here when she fords a boyfriend off somewhere in Shadow,” Random observed. “Unfortunately, she’s been home for the better part of a year this time.”
I made a tsking sound.
He gestured toward a chair and I took it. He crossed to a cabinet then.
“Wine?” he asked.
“Don’t mind if I do.”
He poured two glasses, brought me one, and seated himself in a chair to my left, a small table between us. “Someone also took a shot at Bleys,” he said, “this afternoon, in another shadow. Hit him, too, but not bad. Gunman got away Bleys was just on a diplomatic mission to a friendly kingdom.”