Part 57 (1/2)
”And of making yourself agreeable?”
”Yes. I'll be very agreeable. I'll be so agreeable that he'll fancy himself the most fascinating, witty, irresistible monarch ever to grace a throne. I'll be so agreeable that he'll think he's tumbled into a vat of treacle. So agreeable that his teeth start to rot from the sheer sweetness of it all. Is that agreeable enough?”
”Perhaps too much so. You deal with a jaded royal palate, remember. Insipid amiability is unlikely to engage His Majesty's interest. Nor is it in keeping with your own character. You might do better to be more yourself.”
And if I were, then I wouldn't offer Miltzin IX of the Low Hetz anything beyond a polite curtsy. She said nothing. She said nothing.
Vo Rouvignac eyed her at length and finally asked, ”You are willing to proceed with this project, Miss Devaire?”
”Project. An interesting term. I've given my word, haven't I? Of course I'll perform as promised. I will take advantage of tonight's private audience to secure King Miltzin's promise to sell the secret of the Sentient Fire to Vonahr, at a very handsome price. I am authorized to offer as much as twenty-five million New-rekkoes-”
”That has changed, as of today. You may now go as high as forty.”
”Forty. How did that happen?”
”Circ.u.mstances press.”
”I see.” She resumed the recitation, ”I will use any and every persuasive means at my command to sway His Majesty in Vonahr's favor.”
”Should you fail, however-”
”Then I will do my best, at the very least, to discover the location of the clever Master Nevenskoi's secret workroom. There now, Deputy Underminister. Satisfied?”
”That you have learned your lessons by rote? Quite.” Vo Rouvignac studied her perfectly painted face. ”But memorization is not the key to success. Nor is pure determination, although it helps. Allow me to observe that the reluctance, tension, and resentment that you presently project in nearly tangible waves are hardly apt to win His Majesty's favor.”
”Nearly tangible?”
”I a.s.sure you.”
”Well, don't worry. By the time I come face-to-face with the king, everything will be fine.”
”I wonder. His Majesty's susceptibility to beauty is proverbial, and yet he is not altogether devoid of perception. It is possible, however, that you might reconcile yourself the better to your task if you would pause to recall exactly why you have undertaken it.”
Freedom, Luzelle thought. Fortune, fame, success, independence. Fortune, fame, success, independence.
”Personal reasons, selfish reasons,” she answered slowly. After a moment she added, ”All along I've thought of nothing but winning the race. I never considered what must follow, never stopped to remember what you explained so clearly the first day we met-that you and the ministry regard my success as purely a means to an end. I knew it, but always managed to ignore it. And now the debt has fallen due.”
”Indeed. But if you recall that day in Sherreen, you will remember that I told you of the Grewzian threat to Vonahr. You speak of a debt falling due? Vonahr's long debt of willful ignorance, political misjudgment, and procrastination is falling due with a vengeance. You are aware that we stand upon the verge of ceding Eulence Province to Haereste?”
”I've read that the president and Congress are considering the matter.”
”There is little to consider. The Grewzian troops stand ready at the border. We are unfit to resist them, we've neither the manpower nor the weaponry. Submission to the Haerestian demand purchases a little time. It will not be long, however-no more than weeks at best, probably less-before another concession, bribe, or tribute is demanded, one so exorbitant that we shall find ourselves genuinely unable to pay it. Citing our defiance, the Grewzians will seize the pretext to launch their invasion, and there is an end. You've pa.s.sed through many nations currently in thrall to the Imperium. What impressions have you formed?”
”I've seen more than I wanted. I've seen terrible things,” she admitted unwillingly. ”I wish I could forget some of them, but I never will.”
”Soon those scenes you would prefer to forget will repeat themselves in Sherreen, and in the provincial capitals, and throughout Vonahr. The brutality that you have glimpsed briefly in pa.s.sing will become our daily reality. The Imperium will expand until there is no place left in the world to hide from it.”
”I know.”
”You know, but you do not let yourself think of it, just as Vonahr has not allowed herself to think of it these past fifteen years-or perhaps twenty-or more, if you want to take the larger view. But I ask you to think of it now. I also ask you to think of what you might do to alter the prospect.”
”You've made your point, Deputy Underminister.”
”Should you succeed with the Hetzian king tonight, you are in a position to make a difference, perhaps crucial. Do you believe that?”
”I know it's not impossible. But not probable, either.”
”Forget probability, it means nothing. You overcame all obstacles to win the Grand Ellipse. That was improbable. You will similarly overcome the king's resistance to win the Sentient Fire for Vonahr tonight, should you choose. I do not doubt that you are capable of doing this. The real question is, are you willing?”
”Yes.” She met his eyes. ”You've reminded me how much is at stake, and I won't forget again. I promise to put forth my best efforts. I'll do everything I can.”
”That is all I can hope for. Maintain that resolve and you will triumph.”
Vo Rouvignac's own powers of persuasion were considerable. At that moment she believed him.
There was a knock at the door, and the maid answered. A moment later she stepped into the sitting room to report the arrival of the royal carriage sent to carry the Grand Ellipse victor to the reception.
”May I escort you to your conveyance, Miss Devaire?”
”Should I be seen in the company of a ministry official?”
”After tonight it no longer matters.”
He offered his arm. She took it, they exited the suite, and proceeded along the corridor to the red-carpeted stairway, for she did not dare risk her gown in the hugely popular lift.
Halfway down the stairs he remarked, ”I nearly forgot. You asked some days ago for news of Mesq'r Zavune, and I've received some. He has recovered his health but remains in UlFoudh, evidently uninterested in completing the Grand Ellipse course.”
”I'm surprised he doesn't just go home, then.”
”He would find life uncomfortable there. Debtors' prison awaits him in Aennorve. His financial obligations are relatively minor, but he cannot meet them, and the Aennorvi law is unforgiving.”
She digested this in silence, then observed carelessly, ”I'd quite like to help the poor fellow. Any chance that the ministry would advance me a small loan against the profits from the sale of that Hetzian manor house I've won?”
”Perhaps that is possible.” He favored her with a keen glance. ”a.s.suming a happy outcome, the service you render this evening places a grateful ministry in your debt.”
”Bribery, Deputy Underminister?”
”Motivation, Miss Devaire.”
Neither spoke again as he walked her through the lobby and out the front door to the street, where her carriage waited-a royal carriage, big and ornate, blazoned with the arms of Hetzia's monarch.
People on the street were staring. She did not know whether to wave and smile, or to ignore them. She compromised with a dignified nod or two. A grandly liveried attendant a.s.sisted her into the carriage and closed the door behind her. She looked out the window to see the Deputy Minister vo Rouvignac's nondescript figure standing motionless before the hotel entrance, and then the carriage moved and he was gone.
The drive to the Waterwitch was not brief, for the palace stood well beyond the city limits of Toltz. Luzelle watched as the cobbled streets lined with tall buildings of brick and stone gave way to unpaved avenues and wooden houses, which in turn yielded to dark stretches of uninhabited marshland. The road-winding through shadowy groves studded with standing pools separated by stretches of increasingly boggy ground-presently became a causeway traversing otherwise impa.s.sable terrain.
The carriage reached the first of the three great drawbridges guarding the way to secluded Waterwitch Island. This construction, flanked with fanciful sandstone towers, seemed frivolous enough, yet the winch and chains designed to raise and lower the bridge were obviously functional. Farther along the road the second bridge, spanning an expanse of inky water, was similarly ornate but utilitarian. And the third, connecting the roadway with Waterwitch Island itself, could be lifted to s.h.i.+eld the gateway in the high wall of white stone girdling the palace.
This location and design, evidently appealing to His Majesty's sense of whimsy, in fact provide excellent defense. Luzelle remembered vo Rouvignac's description. Luzelle remembered vo Rouvignac's description.
His Majesty's sense of whimsy. The Waterwitch almost stank of whimsy with its quaint turrets, cupolas, and spires, its crenellations and flying b.u.t.tresses, its stained gla.s.s and rampant gargoyles. No doubt the place was equipped with camouflaged sliding panels and secret pa.s.sageways as well. Not to mention a hidden workroom.