„Hope he makes tenant farmers out of them."
„Vindictive today, aren't we?" Prataxis said, with far more meaning than his employer caught.
„Merciless." A guard brought a whispered message. „Let him in. Mundwiller's here, men."
„Now it starts," Derel said. „You'll never sell what you did. It wasn't an acceptable risk."
„We won, didn't we?"
„That's all that'll save you. In the end, you'll find the loss of trust more important than the monetary gain... ."
„Enough. Just damned well enough, Derel."
„Derel is right," Mundwiller said. „That's what I came over to tell you. Your friends in the Thing are about to skedaddle like a flushed covey. They're asking if you've lost touch with your sense of responsibility."
„They'll get over it. Nothing succeeds like success."
„Last bag, sir," one of the porters told Prataxis.
„Come on," Bragi said. Inside, „Humph. The pile is smaller than I thought. Hell. Watch this. Something I've always wanted to do." He dived in head first.
Inger met Sergeant Gales well away from her apartment. Shadows masked their identities. „What's their temper, Josiah?"
„Pure rage, My Lady. They think they've been robbed."
„Have they?"
„Not really. They walked in with their eyes open."
„They just resent not being the robbers, eh?"
„You might say."
„It doesn't matter if the anger is righteous. It's useful. I think it's time you summoned our friends from back home."
Gales nodded. „I think so. He's not likely to get much weaker."
Ragnarson kept sitting in the money pile while Kavelin's readily available creditors received what the Crown owed them. He made a mockery of the process. He once laughed outright when Aral Dantice and his thugs collected immedi ately after a payment.
Dahl Haas found him there. The adjutant was a tired man. He had not slept all night. „They're safely off, Sire. I rode with them as far as Tewsbury. Should I have someone go bring them back now?"
Ragnarson eyed the grim-faced Nordmen baron accept ing repayment of a loan. He was not as blind as he pretended. „Give it a few weeks. Let's see what crawls out if the rocks roll over."
„Sir Gjerdrum told me where to find you. He said to tell you that that Habibullah who used to be El Murid's ambassador is here. He won't talk to anybody but you."
Ragnarson's malicious humor evaporated completely. „I'll be there in half an hour." He rose from the dwindling pile. „Get somebody to wrap it up here, Derel. Make the right kind of apologies for me. Tell them I was off my oats, or something. Then collect Michael and wait in the War Room till you hear from me."
What does Yasmid have in mind? he wondered. Will there be a respite? Will there be time for me to put my own house in order before we start on hers?
This being King wasn't all it was cracked up to be.
18
Year 1016 AFE; Tightening Screws
Habibullah awaited ragnarson in the chamber where so many conferences had taken place recently. Bragi stepped in, quickly noted, „You may think you're dressed local, but you won't fool anyone."
Habibullah shrugged. „Speed was of more essence than secrecy. I received the material from Trebilcock. I speak for the Lady Yasmid as well as myself when I express my gratitude."
„Glad to help."
„A cunning maneuver, that Captures match. I expect it will be more appreciated outside Kavelin, though."
Bragi was having his own second and third thoughts. Somehow, in winning, he had lost something, and he just didn't understand what or why. If some Nordmen baron had pulled the same stunt, nobody would have thought anything about it. There would have been no whining in the streets if the Panthers had won.
Was he supposed to be too good for that kind of stuff? Was it because he'd dipped his hands into too many strongboxes? Or did he just have a thin skin?
He shrugged. „I guess congratulations are due, Habibullah. That whipping you gave the Throyens. That was beautiful. I split a side laughing."
„A grand victory, but more symbolic than practical. It wakened our enemies. They won't underestimate us again."
Soberly, Bragi observed, „You're probably right."
„Megelin is pressing us from the desert side. He's using a lot of sorcery. We can't stand up to the savan dalage. And the Faithful in Throyes say Lord Hsung is preparing a major push into the littoral. He'll use the legions from Throyes and Gog-Ahlan to give his Throyen puppets backbone. That means thirty to thirty-five thousand invaders, twelve thousand of them soldiers of the Dread Empire. Too much for us to handle."
Bragi sat quietly for half a minute. „Mind if I bring Prataxis and Trebilcock in here?"
„Do you really need to?"
„I think so. They're familiar with more aspects of the situation." He rose, stepped into the corridor, looked around. He saw no one but the guard. „Get Prataxis and Captain Trebilcock. They're waiting down in the War Room."
„Yes, Sire. But who'll stand watch?"
„I'll be all right. Go on."
„Yes, Sire."
Rather than return to Habibullah, Bragi poked around the corridor. Curiosity took him to the door of the room he'd seen Gales exit. He stepped inside, looked around. The room appeared as innocent as ever.
What the devil had Gales been doing that day? He started looking around. Minutes tripped past. „Here. What's this?" He fingered a scratch in the wainscotting below hip level on the wall facing the conference chamber. A decorative boar's head was loose. It had been moved often enough to have gouged the paneling. He fiddled with it.
Something clicked. The next panel left eased back an inch. He prodded it with a toe. It swung back. He hunkered down, scrambled through, found himself in one of the innumerable hidden passageways which networked the pal ace. „I thought I knew them all," he muttered.
A moment later he was looking through a peephole at Habibullah, who was waiting patiently, arms folded and eyes halfway closed. He looked older and more tired when he didn't know he was being observed. Trebilcock and Prataxis entered the room. Michael asked, „Where's the King?"
Bragi didn't stay for Habibullah's answer. He returned the way he had come, muttering, „Gales, you belong to Michael now." He couldn't put it off any longer. No matter what Michael uncovered.
A part of him wanted to cry. He had tried hard to convince himself that he was wrong, but his intuition had scored again. He glanced in the direction of his wife's apartment. „I guess blood will tell."
His expression was bland, mild, and friendly when he returned to the conference room. „So. They beat me back. Michael, Habibullah has been telling me some things. I want you and Derel to hear him out, then add anything you can."
Habibullah started over. When he mentioned Hsung's intentions, Michael added, „My contacts say he can't take Mist seriously because she's a woman. He's treating West ern Army's area of operations like it was his own personal empire. He seems to think Mist can't touch him before the Matayangan crisis is settled."
Prataxis said, „Sire, he's one of your worst enemies among the Tervola. Breaking you is an obsession with some of them."
„So Mist kept telling me."
„He respected Lord Kuo's wishes, but I suspect he never intended to honor the commitments we made during our negotiations. He may have been playing me along to keep his superiors happy. Lately, his treatment of our caravan people has been more indicative of his thinking than anything he's said."