Part 8 (2/2)
With that quiet murmur, Vainrence voiced the longtime fear of both men: that Shadovar wizards had killed and were now impersonating the heads of many powerful n.o.ble families of Cormyr, and doing the same with courtiers, so they'd soon gain control of the realm by stealth, without a sword being drawn or a spell hurled.
These dark thoughts had already made them suspicious of certain efforts, promoted by the War Wizard Baerold, to collect items of magic said to house the trapped essences of the Nine.
After all, Baerold just might be a Shadovar trying to use-and use up-the war wizards as his agents to get his hands on what three now-dead wizards had written of as the ”blueflame ghosts” the Nine had become, which could be commanded by one who held the items that contained them, and who knew how to compel them.
Might be, but might not be, either. Ganrahast and Vainrence were the most powerful of the current wizards of war, and their spells-that fell far short of the mind-reaming of old-could find no hint of Baerold being anything more than a young, ambitious, rather romantic mage of middling skills and training. So they watched him very closely and were careful not to advance his training with any sort of alacrity.
Like most Cormyreans with ears, Ganrahast and Vainrence had heard legends of the Nine, the legendary band of adventurers destroyed more than twoscore-and-a-hundred summers earlier, when Laeral Silverhand-later famous as the Lady Mage of Waterdeep, and consort of the Blackstaff, Khelben Arunsun-was possessed by the fell Crown of Horns.
Being war wizards, they knew a little more about the Nine. Most n.o.bles of Cormyr had heard rumors that some of the Nine still existed, trapped in magic items, and could be summoned forth from those items by those who held them-and knew how-to fight as the item-bearer's slaves.
Unless those three wizards, whose writings had been proven true in all other respects, had told the exact same lie, Ganrahast and Vainrence also knew the rumors of ”blueflame ghosts that could be commanded as deadly slaves” were true.
With two men trying to pace back and forth in it, the room near the top of the north turret suddenly seemed small and crowded.
Elminster was suddenly back in darkness, the only radiance a faint glow from the ghostly face bending over him. The dagger had melted away entirely, its magic spent; his mouth held only the taste of old iron, a tang like long-shed blood.
He was cold, d.a.m.nably cold...
The ghost of Alusair drew back from him. ”Still alive, El?”
”Still alive,” he mumbled through chattering teeth. ”At least they're not plotting against the king, those two.” Shaking his numbed arms to try to get some feeling back into them, he rolled over. ”What of our greedy young robber n.o.ble and his merry band?”
”I'm going after them,” Alusair announced, her eyes two dark holes in what was little more than a woman-shaped wisp of gray, a glow so faint it was barely there at all. ”I won't slay them-yet. I, too, want to know what they're up to, here in my home. Yet there is is something I must know, Old Mage.” something I must know, Old Mage.”
She drifted closer to Elminster, her eyes darker still.
”Are you on Cormyr's side in this? Or still playing your larger games across the Realms, using us all like p.a.w.ns on a chessboard?”
Elminster regarded her gravely. ”I have always always been on Cormyr's side, Princess. Yet, aye, I've always played those larger games, as ye put it, too. I must. There is no one else who can save the Realms.” been on Cormyr's side, Princess. Yet, aye, I've always played those larger games, as ye put it, too. I must. There is no one else who can save the Realms.”
”No one else you trust, you mean.”
Elminster stared at her, and there was a tired look in his eyes. Silence stretched.
”Yes,” he whispered at last. ”Ye've said it true. There's no one else I can trust to save the Realms. That's my doom, la.s.s.”
As if in comment on his words, there came a faint metallic crash from behind them. It sounded as if an armored man had been hurled violently to the stone floor, two or three rooms back along the way they'd come.
Without a word Alusair whirled around and sped away, heading for the sound like a streaking arrow.
”There was a time,” Elminster muttered a little testily, ”when the Weave let me send eyes wherever I desired...”
Aye, there had been a time.
Long gone, so he stood mute, one more pillar in dim silence, and waited.
Only to blink in genuine surprise at who appeared around the corner, walking beside the flickering shadow of Alusair like an old friend, to reach out long and shapely arms to him and offer her mouth for a kiss.
Elminster obliged, feeling as elated as he was surprised.
”I trust,” he said, when his lips were free to speak again, ”ye'll find time and will enough to tell me thy reasons for returning so swiftly, hey? I thought we'd agreed on a strategy.”
”We had,” Storm agreed, ”but matters changed.” Her smile died swiftly, and she held out something small and round. ”Behold one of the latest toys of the wizards of war.”
Elminster peered at it. ”An orb. Tell.”
”Upon command, it captures speech and can later be made to emit what it has, ah, recorded as often as desired, for the hearing of others. The mages use it when questioning those they're suspicious of.”
Elminster arched an eyebrow in the manner that meant it was a subst.i.tute for a mirthless smile. ”Some war wizard is now missing this, I presume?”
”He will be when he wakes up,” Storm replied, ”but that may be a day or so from now. I'm afraid I hit him rather hard.”
The look he went on giving her was both a silent question and the message that he wasn't in the mood for waiting much longer for answers, so she added, ”I dislike being surprised by someone I am unaware of, who has obviously been following me for some time. I dislike even more men who wait until I'm sitting relieving myself to attack me.”
Alusair's glow grew a little brighter. ”I fear our current Crown magelings share the poor manners of much of their generation,” she commented wryly.
”I doubt not thy justification for hitting a mage, nor decry thy wisdom in latching onto magic whenever possible,” Elminster said. ”I'm merely curious as to why ye're now back here, rather than a lot closer to Shadowdale.”
”I overheard something you should hear, too,” Storm replied, folding herself gracefully down onto the floor and murmuring something over the orb as she touched it. ”The awakening word's graven on its underside,” she announced. ”You'll hear two wizards of war who were unaware of my presence.”
The orb shook itself a little, and voices arose from it.
”Oho! Scared of the infamous Lady Dark Armor, are we?” A jovial, teasing man's voice.
”No, not her her. If she still exists-if she ever did-I've not seen her.” A younger, grimmer male voice.
”The Princess Alusair, then? Worth being scared of, that one, let me tell you!”
”No, it's the one called Elminster.”
”Ah, the infamous Elminster! He's been living in the haunted wing for some time, you know, hiding among its many ghosts-and posing with some old hag or other as the brother and sister Rhauligan.”
”Yes, yes. That's not what worries me. It's this trap they're talking about, that they've set up for him when next he shows his face in the palace. If we blunder into any part of it, it'll kill us us, they're saying!”
”So don't go atrysting in the haunted wing, dolt! Huh. Elminster. Some 'Great Old Mage,' that one! A doddering old fool, sharp-tongued and scared scared of using magic, by the Dragon! At least watching him has been a bit of a diversion. Just what he's seeking, I haven't an earthly idea, but if the old fool is witless enough to think he can find royal treasure and get out of the palace with it undetected, he of using magic, by the Dragon! At least watching him has been a bit of a diversion. Just what he's seeking, I haven't an earthly idea, but if the old fool is witless enough to think he can find royal treasure and get out of the palace with it undetected, he is is an utter dunderhead.” an utter dunderhead.”
”They...the word is he just killed a lot of us, and they're right out of patience with him. If he steps into the trap, it'll kill him-and it might hurl a good bit of the palace into the sky, just to make sure!”
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