Tanalasta's eyes narrowed. "And if they are all freed? Disaster?"
"Grudges pursued, for those who can still think coherently. The others would be like mad dogs, unleashed to wander. I almost lost my life not very long ago, rebinding them all."
Tanalasta shuddered. "You were reversing this Unbinding, then?" "I was."
"How?" Alusair snapped.
"Forgive me, Princesses, but revealing to you the details of the spells would be both foolish-someone who caught you unawares with the right magic could compel you to speak of them-and unhelpful. Neither of you possesses the Art ro work such magics."
"We are both aware of that, Vangey," Alusair said coldly. "What I was trying to ask was how you managed the rebinding, alone, after shooing Laspeera and everyone else out of the place. An important war wizard traitor, or so you have given us to believe, somehow escaped while you were busy in the Lost Palace. It is conceivable that in the future you might again be busy ot dead when the need recurs. So consider telling us what you did vital to the security of the realm. As an Obarskyr, and therefore someone you are supposed ro obey without question or reservation, I order you to tell me. Now."
Tanalasta gave her younger sister a pained look, but Alusair merely lofted her eyebrows and told her, "If I'm polite to the man, he glibly dances around telling us things we want to know and calmly maintains his 'I will decide what is good for you to know' superiority. That has to be wiped away, as of about six seasons ago. If I'm old enough to bear royal heirs or end up warming the Dragon Throne if calamity strikes our family, I'm old enough to be told such secrets." She aimed her chin back at the Royal Magician and added, "So tell us. Plainly and completely. And while you're ar it, try to make me believe that Obarskyr king after king-and queen after queen, too-knew of this and approved of it down the years."
Vangerdahast sighed, looked down at his hands for a moment, then said, "Some of them never knew of it. The Royal Magicians always have, but-"
"My, my," Alusair said, her tone dripping with acid, "such deep and abiding loyalty to the Dragon Throne!"
Vangerdahast muttered a curse, drew in a deep breath, put a bright smile on his face, and said heartily, "Well, now, where ro begin?"
"What's that?" Doust hissed, leaning forward to listen intently.
Florin held up a hand for silence and did the same thing. The faint rustling moved southeast through the brush below, before it was too far away to hear.
"Something small," the ranger said calmly. "Probably a rat. All that noise, the scuttling… nothing to worry over."
"Among our larger worries?"
"They're only worries if you let them be. Think of something else."
The priest sat staring out into the night for another long breath before asking almost reluctantly, "Such as…?"
Florin gave his anxious friend a grin. "Women you haven't met yet, waiting in Shadowdale?"
"Florin! I'm a priest, stlarn it!"
"Doesn't Tymota regard holiness as boldly taking chances?" "Well, yes, but-"
"So for once inexperience will serve you well. Blunder here, stumble there, please Lady Luck no end!"
"Thank you," Doust said. "I think." A long breath later, he added a chuckle.
"Hmm?" Florin asked.
"It shouldn't be too bad-the blundering, I mean. I'll just watch what Stoop says and does and do the opposite."
The ranger nodded but said gravely, "Tymora's going to be disappointed."
Doust gave him a gentle shove and chuckled again.
"No," Vangerdahast said, "that was no leak at all. I intended that the Princess Alusair be the one to warn all Cormyr of Ruldroun's escape and so alert folk to watch for him."
"To spare you having to announce a failure on the part of the Wizards of War," Tanalasta said.
"Not at all. In my judgment, citizens will be swifter to aid and please their youngest, most vulnerable princess than help the hated Royal Magician with his latest blunder. If Alusair cries warning, they'll see the problem as the kingdoms'-and so, theirs. If I do, they will growl that I should clean up my own problems. More importantly, it was time to begin to establish your sister's image and role in the eyes of the citizenry."
"Oh?" Tanalasta snapped. "And when do you start to establish my image and role?"
"Your image and role were set at your birth, because you are the heir. Alusair's is the one the Crown must establish-lest some foe establish it, where we have left silence."
"Andyou, wizard, are the Crown?"
"I am. Not the king, nor any challenge ro him, but the Crown. I serve, defend, and maintain the Crown-the image the ruling Obarskyr dons, just like the literal circlet on his or her brow, every morning."
"And if I happen to believe differently?" Tanalasta asked very quietly, in the voice both her sister and the Royal Magician had learned meant trouble.
Vangerdahasr leaned forward to meet her gaze directly and said, "To borrow a phrase from the Sage of Shadowdale, that's a btidge we'll burn when we're both standing on it. If I am still Royal Magician or Court Wizard when you ascend to rule this land, we will talk more of this."
"Talk!" Tanalasta spat. "Talk and more talk and change nothing!"
"Not so! The Royal Magician and the ruler of the realm must agree on who does what to helm Cormyr and where they are trying to take it. What the Crown is and how it works must always change until that agreement is reached."
"Point taken," Alusait said, and she held up a staying hand. "We could sit here arguing the future of the realm until it is the future of the realm. Let's get back to this Ruldroun and what's besetting us now." She waeeed a finger at Vangerdahast and added, "And don't forget to explain to us about the archwizard Ondel, and Sundraer the She-dragon, and this burning barn I've heard about."
Vangerdahast blinked at her, astonishment clear on his face.
"Oh, yes, Royal Magician," the younger princess said, "where you somehow neglect to mentipn things to me, certain Harpers who stop by the Palace from time to time tell me far more. They seem to have this odd notion that the royal family of Cormyr just might have the tight-and the need-to be infotmed about matters of the realm, rather than being kept in the dark by courtiers. Who by doing so, wizards or not, are arguably guilty of a quaint little something called 'treason.' And before you bluster, bear in mind that I'm merely reporting their common notion. One that I happen to share."
"As do I," Tanalasta said.
Silence fell, and neither princess rushed to break it. They were too busy sitting in silent fascination, watching the Royal Magician wince-then blush a deep, rich scarlet.
Andaero Hardtower was not in a good mood. Why did the Brotherhood persist in allowing such dolts into their ranks? And why did they all end up in his lap?
"Hearken," he said to the sullen mageling standing in front of him, "and hearken well. When you are given a specific and detailed order by a member of our Brotherhood who outranks you-"
The glowering mageling's face changed, eyes lighting up in interest that swiftly became alarm as they stared over Hardtower's shoulder, resentment giving way to astonishment.
Hardtower sighed, irritation flaring. "The oldest tricks not only don't fool us, young Galaeren, using them shames you-or should. Why, we-"
A merry chime sounded right behind Hardtower's back. It was the last thing he ever heard.
He had time to identify it as his own shielding warning him and to wonder what could possibly breach a five-layered magical shield so swiftly and quietly, before the Sword That Never Sleeps burst through him.