The king didn't reply. His chair creaked alarmingly as he leaned back, scowling into the distance. Doranei began to wonder what state Cetess' wine cellar was in. All he could think about was spending what was left of the night in the loving embrace of a bottle.
'Come,' the king said at last, and made for the door. 'We should speak to Endine and Cetarn. I think they will have to provide our first lead.' He opened the door and stopped, his hand wrapped around the brass handle.
For a moment Doranei saw his king as a weary old man, embittered and burdened. The brilliant blue of Emin's eyes looked dampened by age, and his hair in the weak light looked momentarily grey.
'Don't let me make this about revenge,' Emin whispered. Doranei almost reeled in shock at the sudden show of weakness, but the king was lost in his thoughts and did not even notice. 'Promise me that when it comes to it, you'll stay my hand.'
'I-you don't mean to kill Ilumene?' Doranei asked in confusion.
'That's not what I meant. Ilumene is now a valuable servant for Azaer, there can be no doubt about that, but that was not the only reason he was turned. It was one betrayal I could not stand, the one 11 in would cloud my judgment. When the time comes you might have i" remind me that our true goal is not revenge. Azaer grows stronger now – the twilight reign may soon be upon us, especially given that We believe the prophecy mentions this city, and then there will be no time for petty vengeance.'
Doranei's eyes widened. 'And Coran? He'll kill me if I get between him and Ilumene.'
'Let me worry about Coran; our bond is strong enough to restrain him. We must find Ilumene and the minstrel, and work out what they are doing. Revenge will have to wait.'
'In that case, I will be there to remind you.'
'Thank you.' The king straightened his back and stepped through the doorway. 'But first, we have to find them.'
The two mages they had smuggled over the wall into Scree while
Doranei led most of the guards away were an unusual pair. No doubt
there had been a good few jokes about getting Shile Cetarn's bulk over the wall, though they all knew it was Tomal Endine who would cause the most problems – Mage Endine looked like a sickly child, with thin arms and pale, squinting eyes. He barely reached his colleague's chest, but though he looked continually wary of being crushed by Cetarn's bulk, be could usually be found in the larger man's lee. If he had to run more than twenty yards, he would probably expire in a wheezing fit.
As weakness produced a constant nervousness in Endine, so Cetarn was infuriatingly cheerful, and as was often the case with close col' leagues, the pair bickered and squabbled like an old married couple. Despite his physical frailties, Endine was also a fair battle-mage, and both bad a grasp of the subtleties of magic that made them invalu¬able,
Doranei and the king found the pair at last in the attic, a dusty c‹ ›r ridor runnining the length of the peaked roof and piled with discarded furniture, where they stood glaring at each other over a sheet-draped table that bad been placed in the middle.
Gentlemen,' the king said, a note of warning in his voice, 'we will not be having an argument at this time of night. Cur presence here is supposed to be secret. There will he no repeal of last year's incident at
the queen's birthday celebration.'
Cetarn's head snapped up. 'If you think I'm going to let him get away with-'
'You fat lying oaf,' squeaked Endine furiously, pounding his fist on the table.
'I said enough! the king barked, cutting both men off. 'We have more important things to do than dwell on past squabbles. I asked you to discover what magic has been used in this house; have you discovered anything?'
The pair eyed each other warily until, with a shrug, Cetarn stepped away from the table.
'If there was magic done here, it was not recent enough to detect. Considering the time period you mentioned, and the subtlety I would expect from the spell, that is hardly surprising.'
'But what we can tell you,' Endine joined in, 'is that there is a great deal of magic in this city; enough that my ears were fair ringing before we'd even got over the wall. Scree has no College of Magic, so either there just happens to be a lot of mages conducting research here, or something else is going on. There are a number of quite distinct flavours in the air.'
'Can you tell them apart, identify their nature?'
'Certainly, given time,' Endine said with a nod. 'Tonight we will prepare this place and make it secure. I shall give Tremal a list of our needs and the Brotherhood can secure them tomorrow for us.' Endine gave a nervy grin; he was a compulsive thief himself, and he was much attached to Harlo Tremal, a man who could steal almost anything. 'Then half a day of rituals will ward this house in the normal way, and another half'day will suffice to consult our daemon-guides and begin the process of unravelling the weaves in this city.'
'Good. You should know before you start that process that Doranei here spent the evening with Zhia Vukotic'
Endine blanched.
'I do not believe she poses a threat to us,' the king continued, 'but I hope I don't have to remind you that all vampires tend to be touchy, and Zhia possesses a Crystal Skull. Steer clear of her.'
'Yes, your Majesty,' Cetarn replied, nudging Endine, who, looking like he was about to be sick, nodded. Suddenly, Cetarn looked thought¬ful. 'That would explain some things. Are you likely to see her again?'
Doranei felt a prickle run down his neck as they all turned to him with expectant expressions. 'I- ah, well, perhaps I could.'
'Excellent. Try to find out how much she is using it.'
'How do you propose I do that?' Doranei asked, aghast.
'I don't care how.' Cetarn's plump lips widened in a smile. 'However you can – my point is that the sheer scale of magic being used in the city could be largely explained by her use of the Skull, though 1 would be disappointed by her inelegance.' He paused, lost in his thoughts, and frowned at the floor. 'But the situation may have demanded it, I suppose.'
'And you should know, your Majesty,' Endine continued as his col¬league trailed off into silence, 'that there is a necromancer in the city.'
Emin glanced at Doranei. 'Could that be Zhia?'
'Certainly,' replied Endine, as Doranei said 'no'. The King's Man hadn't intended to speak and felt a flush of embarrassment as soon as the word escaped his lips. Emin gave him an inscrutable look that lasted longer than Doranei would have liked, but eventually decided not to comment.
'I would expect an immortal vampire to be more than proficient in necromancy. That is logical. Whether she would bother with it is less certain – the discipline may be beneath a mage of her skill.' Endine's tone was one of professional admiration. It reminded Doranei of how the king had spoken of his first meeting with Zhia on the streets of Narkang. 'I would not expect her to lower her skills to that level often, and the activity we have felt is on a much larger scale, done by someone with great skill and strength, who does not fear detection.
'Of course,' Endine continued with a preening expression, 'we would not expect much of Scree's mages, or those left within the White Circle. I doubt they are as accomplished as Cetarn or I, so it might just be that the necromancer has a healthy contempt for the city's mages.'
'Let us hope so,' said Emin. 'Well, Doranei, it looks like we will have to find you something more suitable to wear to the theatre next time. Gentlemen, finding this necromancer is your first priority. I sus¬pect there will be few coincidences over the coming weeks, perhaps even this damned heat is part of it all. Azaer's games are complicated, usually obscure, but never lacking in purpose. That there is a powerful necromancer in the city will be part of that game; I want him or her found. The more of this puzzle we uncover, the better our chances of stopping whatever Azaer intends for Scree. I suspect this will be the shadow's boldest venture yet and I intend to spoil it.'