“You must be Jemelya.” Kharl offered a pleasant smile.
“I am. You must be here to see Luryessa. She thought you might come by unannounced at some time. You are fortunate. She is here, in her study. If you would like to come in?”
″Thank you.″
Kharl followed her to the library, then to the open door to the private study.
Luryessa did not rise from the desk, but smiled. “Do come in. You might close the door for me.”
Kharl did and settled into a straight-backed chair across from her. “Jemelya said you were expecting me.”
“I thought you might come. You are inexperienced as an envoy, but most perceptive. If you came anywhere, it would likely be here.”
Kharl found he was neither surprised nor angered by her calm presumption. “I’m sorry to stop unannounced-″
“Don’t apologize. It’s better that you didn’t. Already, the word is out that you’re a minor mage.” A smile danced on Luryessa’s lips and in her hazel eyes.
“You had something to do with that?”
“Only the ′minor′ part.” The smile faded. “We will be returning to Sarron for consultations with the Tyrant. So we will be closing the residence, tomorrow or the next day, whenever our ships arrive.”
“Ships? Warships?” Then Kharl shook his head. “That’s to make sure that they arrive.”
Luryessa nodded.
“What else should I know? That you can tell me?”
The mischievous smile returned. “You have just met with Lord West and his eldest. You must know far more than a mere woman.”
Kharl snorted. “I am most certain that you have noticed that there are no regular armsmen in Brysta and that the patrollers loyal to Captain Egen effectively control the city. Doubtless you already know that their uniforms came from Hamor, and that the road leading to Surien has been designed by Hamorian engineers. It is a very good road, by the way.″
“Yes. You have a point?”
Kharl decided not to make it-not yet. “I am also quite sure that you know that Captain Egen controls-or influences strongly-the lord justicers and that they have been instructed to find any way possible to sentence those who commit minor offenses to the quarries or the road-buildingcrew. And that at least some wealthy factors who support Osten have left Brysta.”
“I suspected that, but I did not know that. Your point, Lord Kharl?″
“I don′t think that either Lord West or Osten understands what all that means. You do, if I understood the message about the late-summer rains.”
“You discovered this by some sort of magery?”
Kharl shook his head. “Just by talking and listening to Ostcrag and Osten. They also knew something about me, but I don′t think they understood what that meant, either.”
“You had best hope that they do not.”
“No … I’d best hope that Egen doesn’t. Or the Hamorians.”
“I am most certain that they do know. All of them. The Hamorians only have two or three, wizards here. At the moment.” Luryessa smiled sadly. “A fleet was being provisioned in Swartheld two eightdays ago. It was being readied to head northwest. With at least several more white wizards.”
Kharl couldn’t say that he was surprised. He would have been astonished if Luryessa had suggested that all was well. “Lord West suggested that he-and Austra-were being caught between Hamor and Recluce and needed to tread carefully. He believes that. So does Osten.”
“That is because Egen and the Hamorians have prepared the ground well.”
“How soon?” asked Kharl.
Luryessa shrugged. “Soon, but I cannot name a date. It is not likely this eightday, but not impossible. You have changed everything.”
“Me?”
“Oh … they do not know that. None of them do except Whetorak and his assistants, and Whetorak will say nothing until additional white wizards arrive. He has heard of your exploits in Austra, and he is most cautious. Otherwise, Egen would now be poised to take Brysta at the first true rains.”
Kharl had surmised as much, but it was still a double shock to hear Luryessa’s words-first, her casual revelation that she understood just who he was and, second, her confirmation that Egen and the Hamorians were indeed planning to topple Lord West.
“Egen feels his father is weak and that his brothers are little better …″ Luryessa noted.
“Whetorak is encouraging that, I would wager.”
“I won′t take that wager.” The Sarronnese smiled. “So what do you plan to do?”
Kharl really hadn’t thought that through.
“Will you just watch? Or throw your abilities behind Osten and Lord West, incompetent as they are?”
“What would you do?” he countered. “You’re a sorceress.”
“I’m not in your class, Lord Kharl. Few are. That’s why we’re leaving. We could assassinate Egen, but the Hamorians would know we had. They’d make certain that all the world knew. That’s why our departure will be soon and very public. I just hope that it’s soon enough.”
Kharl sat there for a time, silent. Once again, it seemed that he had created a bigger problem just by showing up and trying to find out what was happening. “A good envoy would have discovered all this without …″ He broke off. He wasn’t certain what he really meant.
“You’re acting like too many men,” Luryessa said dryly. “I expect better of you.”
“You might explain that,” Kharl replied, tartly.
“Oh … that’s simple enough. You’re here something like two eightdays, and you discover what it’s taken the best envoys seasons to figure out, and because you don’t have a ready solution, you’re acting like it’s all your fault. Men … you can’t stand it if you don’t have an answer.”
Kharl winced.
“Of course, you don’t have an answer. You can’t. No one could. You still don’t know everything. I don’t either.” She smiled sardonically. “I don’t have to have an answer. I just have to get my people out of here safely.”
“And I don’t?”
“Were you sent here to leave at the first sign of trouble?”
Kharl smiled wryly. “I wasn’t given any instructions at all in that way.”
“Exactly. Lord Hagen is counting on your sense of responsibility.”
“How large a fleet?”
“Not large. More like a flotilla. Six or seven vessels. Only one troop transport.”
“Is Lord Justicer Lurtedd still close to Osten?”
Luryessa frowned. “He will not cross Egen or Reynol.”
“Would he warn Osten?”
“I would doubt that. He understands that Egen holds more power.”
Kharl nodded slowly.
“I do not envy you, Lord Kharl. Anything you do will have adverse consequences.”
“Some acts less than others, I would hope.”
“That is always true. Do you have other questions that I can answer?”
Kharl knew he should have had scores, but he could think of few, although he knew he would come up with the most important ones only after Luryessa departed. “Where does Egen store his golds-the ones he uses to pay the patrollers?”
“I do not know that for certain, but a storehouse with barred windows and stone walls was erected in the post that serves the south road and the quarries. There is also an underground chamber in the main new barracks on the south side of the city.”
“Is Whetorak truly in command of the Hamorian forces here? Will he remain so?”
“No. Submarshal Teorak-he is the assistant envoy in name-controls all armsmen and lancers and probably will command any additional forces landed in Nordla.”
“Will this Hamorian flotilla try to conquer Surien as well?”
“They will not attempt anything unless there is no one with a claim to rule.”
Kharl wasn’t sure he liked that. The implication was that Osten or Vielam-or even Lord West-needed to survive, for any plan to block Hamorian control to be successful.
“I said that none of the choices would be good,” Luryessa said.