“The man is a brave soldier,” he said. “His deeds won commendation from Lord Azaar himself.”
“On my estate half-breed children are exposed on the mountainsides.”
Sardec smiled just as coldly as Jaderac. “So there are half-breeds on your estates, Lord Jaderac? I can see you come from a family with strong appetites.”
Tamara coughed. Lady Asea covered her mouth with her hand.
“What exactly are you implying, Prince?” Jaderac was using his title now. Such formality was usually a precursor to a challenge.
There was silence among them for a moment. The summer rain tapped lightly on the windows.
“Someone must be breeding such children- or are you implying that your neighbours are sneaking onto your estates and abusing your thralls? I have heard such things happen in the East.” Sardec kept his tone light and lazy.
“You have heard incorrectly.”
“Then it is members of your house that you must blame, I fear.” Sardec was now being deliberately obtuse.
“I think this is rather an indelicate subject,” said Tamara.
“Please forgive me then, Lady Tamara. I apologise for my boorishness.”
Seeing Jaderac’s look Sardec felt like he had just had a close escape from a duel. He wondered why Lady Tamara had thrown him the rescue line. If their mission here had been to provoke a fight she had just defeated the purpose of it.
“I understand some of your men claim to have encountered a Serpent Man in the woods,” said Tamara. “Is this true?”
This pair seemed extraordinarily well informed. He wondered which of his men has been gossiping. Perhaps he should issue a warning against that.
“It seems unlikely,” said Asea. “Perhaps they are telling tales inspired by the old stories. Soldiers can be a very superstitious lot.”
“Perhaps they are less superstitious than you believe, milady. This is not the first tale of such I have heard since coming here. If you listen to some of the locals, Serpent Men or their ghosts stalk the streets by night, carrying off babies and killing late night strollers.”
“I doubt Serpent Men would do such things,” said Asea. “They are carnivores but they do not like the taste of human flesh. Just more tales, most likely.”
“Or perhaps Lord Ilmarec has used the necromantic arts to conjure up the shades of the Elder Race.”
“If I did not know better, my Lord, I would say you were trying to frighten me.”
“What has one of the First to fear from mere ghosts, Lady Asea?” said Jaderac gallantly. “I am merely seeking your opinion as an acknowledged expert on the supernatural.”
“We both know that ghosts usually only appear at places of power. Sometimes the death of a powerful sorcerer will imprint his presence on the aura of the place where he fell but such events are rare. The death has to be particularly traumatic.”
“The Serpent Men are known to be powerful sorcerers.”
“I think if their ghosts were going to appear they would have done so before now, Lord Jaderac. They have had several millennia to do so and no one seems to have spotted them in those long centuries.”
“Not unless their spirits were disturbed by something. Or they are guardians or harbingers.”
“You are suggesting that Lord Ilmarec may have unleashed something that was best left undisturbed.”
“Precisely. We do not know what guardians the Serpent Men may have left behind to protect their secrets.”
Asea looked thoughtful for a moment. “You may be right,” she said. “But these are gloomy thoughts. Surely there must be something lighter we can talk of?”
“I fear all conversational avenues lead in distressing directions,” said Jaderac. “However I will do my best. Have you heard what befell Lord Belezar in Askander?”
He went on to tell a long droll incident concerning a famous old rake in the Eastern capital and how he was bilked of a small fortune by scheming sorcerers who claimed to have the secret of transforming lead into gold. Sardec had to admit the story was well told. Asea followed it with a similar tale set at the Amber Palace, and for a short while it felt like a normal Terrarch gathering, full of amiably spiteful gossip and sardonic wit. Under the influence of the wine he found it was almost possible to forget that Jaderac and Tamara were enemies.
Sardec noticed that Asea was looking at the windows. When he looked closer he could see why. A thin green glow leaked into the room through the gap in the curtains.
“What is it, milady?” he asked. Asea frowned.
“Lieutenant, I would be obliged if you would open the curtains.”
Sardec rose to obey. He opened first the curtains and then the shutters. As he did so a baleful green glow filled the room, dimming the light of the glowgems into insignificance. He looked up at the Tower of the Serpent. It glistened greenly in the rain, the tower top vanishing into the low clouds. Where it pierced them, the clouds were saturated with green light, like a lantern glow seen through mist, although on a far larger scale.
“It seems Lord Ilmarec is engaging in more experiments,” said Lady Asea. “Has this happened before?”
Even Jaderac seemed abashed. “No. Not since we arrived and not before unless I miss my guess?”
Silence slowly filled the room. The rest of the meal was subdued. All the Terrarchs present seemed lost in their own thoughts. Sardec would have bet gold that they were all thinking about the same thing. The presence of that titanic Elder World structure above them made them all seem like insects. Its brooding presence filled the night with hints of awesome, unspeakable power.
His way illuminated by the eerie greenish glow, Rik staggered past the night sentry and through the postern gate just in time to see the Easterners and their escort assemble in the courtyard. Lord Jaderac had turned to say goodnight in the most flowery way possible to Lady Asea. Beside him, garbed in a hooded nightcloak, was a tall slender Terrarch woman. At that exact moment, she turned her head and looked in Rik’s direction. Their gazes met and he felt a faint thrill, almost of recognition, although he was certain he had never seen her before. Then the Lady looked away and made a curtsey to Lady Asea.
Rik felt the Barbarian’s massive hand descend on his shoulder and drag him into the shadows on the far side of the courtyard.
“Don’t spoil His Nibs big exit or it will go worse for us,” he said. “You know what their Lordships are like about such stuff. Bastard’s probably run you down if you stand there. Why you looking so thunderstruck anyway, we can’t have drunk that much. Not more than fifteen or twenty beers.”
Rik watched as the gates were opened and the Easterners coach thundered through and vanished into the night. He felt a strange sense of emptiness once it was gone. He knew that something important had happened here, but he could not for the life of him put his finger on what.
“That went better than I thought,” said Sardec. He lounged comfortably on his chair in the dining room. He felt somewhat less than sober but he did not care. At that moment, even the Lady Asea looked less than intimidating. She smiled coldly, and he realised suddenly that she was not drunk. For most of the evening she had drank from her water glass. He wondered if the others had done the same, and if he had made a fool of himself. He suddenly felt very young and very gauche.
“They are quite a pair,” she said. “What did you think of them?”
“I am much too well bred to possibly comment on two such august Terrarchs,” said Sardec. Yes, indeed, he was drunk.
“I am sure you are well-bred but I would still appreciate your opinion nonetheless.”
“Then I shall give you it, dear Lady,” he said in his best impression of Lord Jaderac’s manner. “I think he is an arrogant popinjay, and she is the spoiled daughter of a great magnate.”