“Assuming all of this was going to work half as well as Cassan seems to be expecting, why does he need me? I’d sooner not go wading around in a Sothoii swamp. They tend to be full of snakes with horse bows and lots of nasty, pointy arrows. And that notion of something unfortunate happening to Markhos and Yurokhas…why do I have the feeling Cassan thinks I might be stupid enough to provide it?”
“It’s not so much that he needs you to provide it,” Varnaythus said, “as that he needs someone besides himself to provide it. He can scarcely assassinate the King and the Prince and then expect to be named regent, now can he?”
“And there’s some reason you think the Sothoii wouldn’t burn Krelik and Palan even flatter than Bahnak and Tellian if it happened they thought I’d had anything to do with killing their King?” Arthnar snorted harshly. “No, thank you, Master Talthar. There are simpler and less messy ways of committing suicide!”
“I didn’t say he needed it to be you,” Varnaythus said patiently. “But it does have to be someone from outside the Kingdom. Actually, he’s thinking in terms of a double feint, as it were.”
“Overly clever idiots always make me nervous,” Arthnar grunted, and Varnaythus nodded in agreement.
“Oh, you’re right about that,” he said. “But what Cassan really needs from you is for you to act as…a broker, or perhaps an expediter. Very much the way you did in that attempt on Tellian earlier this summer.”
Their eyes met across the table, and Varnaythus smiled faintly.
“I’m afraid Cassan was just a bit miffed when he realized how cleverly you’d managed to suggest he was the one behind the attack. Personally, I rather enjoyed the irony, since he was the one who’d paid for it, after all. He didn’t quite see it that way, though.” The wizard shrugged. “But after he’d thought about it for a while, it suggested another possibility to him. He wants you to recruit the manpower he’s going to need-hire as many Spearman mercenaries as you can in the time you have, and see who you can pick up from the Border Kingdoms, as well. But you could still fill out the numbers with your own River Brigands…as long as none of them know you’re the one hiring them.”
“And who would actually be hiring them? Officially, I mean?” Arthnar’s eyes had narrowed and he was frowning intensely.
“Why, the Purple Lords, of course!” Varnaythus smiled more broadly. “Obviously, they’ve decided the King is going to support Tellian after all, and they’ve taken steps to prevent the destruction-the total destruction, when you come down to it-of their trade monopoly. Not hard to understand why they might feel that way, given that their entire economy depends on that monopoly, now is it? Of course, after Cassan-the new Regent, I mean, whoever he happens to be-discovers who was behind it, the knowledge will only make him even more determined to push the canal through and see that it operates under the Crown’s aegis as a way to crush the Purple Lords completely.”
“That might work.” Arthnar stroked his beard again, brown eyes half-shut while the brain behind them raced through the possibilities. “Assuming he could actually sell the notion that the Purple Lords were behind it, of course. And,” the Fire Oar added grudgingly, “it would actually make a kind of sense, I suppose. But you said he was thinking about a double feint.”
“Oh, indeed I did.” This time Varnaythus’ smile was positively beatific. “That’s why we have to put this entire operation together so quickly. Tellian’s placed his hunting lodge at Chergor at the King’s disposal, and Markhos will be taking himself off to spend some time there in another few weeks. After how hectic the spring session’s been in Sothofalas, he wants to keep things as simple as possible, too, so he’s taking only his personal guard and a handful of his senior advisors, like Macebearer and Shaftmaster. He’s planning on staying there for quite some time, hiding from all those damned courtiers, so we’ll know where to find him for-oh, at least two months or so. And, of course, Chergor’s in the West Riding, now isn’t it?”
“Yes, it is,” Arthnar acknowledged slowly.
“Well, at this moment Tellian and the others believe Markhos is going to approve their operation and grant the canal a Crown charter on their terms. It’s all supposed to be a secret, of course, but you know how secrets have a way of leaking at court. Especially when someone makes it his business to get behind the effort and encourage the leaks. I’m afraid, however, that Cassan’s come into possession of a draft charter-one in the handwriting of the King’s personal secretary, not the Prime Councilor’s-which actually happens to establish exactly the sort of arrangement I was just discussing with you a few moments ago. Now, clearly Tellian would be horribly upset to discover the King had reached that decision when the good Baron had been confidently expecting to get everything he wanted. Why, he might actually be upset enough to decide to murder the King-and blame it on the Purple Lords, of course-and to substitute a forged charter more in line with all of those rumors. In fact, it might turn out he’d planted those rumors himself expressly so he could substitute that forgery of his and have people accept it. And as part of his despicable plot, he generously offered to loan his hunting lodge to the King in order to get him into a comfortable spot to be assassinated. It might be a little risky of him to have it all happen on his own lands, but he’d know he could control the situation there…and he’d undoubtedly be counting on how his long friendship with Prince Yurokhas-and Yurokhas’ known antipathy for Cassan-would lead Yurokhas to accept his version of what happened. Under the King’s will, Yurokhas would become Norandhor’s regent, so if Tellian was able to convince Yurokhas the Purple Lords-or even, perhaps, Baron Cassan — had been behind it, he’d undoubtedly get everything he wanted all along.”
“No one who actually knows Tellian would believe that for a moment,” Arthnar said, but his tone was thoughtful, not an objection.
“Perhaps not, but how many people do actually know him?” Varnaythus riposted. “And the gods know ambition can make a man do strange things. For that matter, Tellian’s used up a huge amount of his credit with the more conservative lords warden over this business with Bahnak and his friendship with Prince Bahzell. None of the conservatives are happy with that, and they’re going to be even less happy when the word finally leaks out to the Kingdom as a whole that Tellian’s daughter is actually sleeping with Bahzell!”
“She’s what? ” Arthnar blinked in astonishment, and Varnaythus allowed himself a laugh.
“That’s exactly what she’s doing, and when the real conservatives find out, they’re probably going to think she should’ve gone ahead and bedded a donkey, instead. It certainly wouldn’t have been any worse, by their way of thinking, and given the way diehard Sothoii think, the insult and ‘perversion’ involved in that is far more likely to generate disgust and revulsion than any mere matter of high treason and murder! And the political infighting in Sothofalas this year’s been the bitterest anyone can remember, Arthnar. Tellian’s opponents are going to be more than ready to believe the worst, especially if believing it-however ridiculous it might be-lets them knock him out of the saddle. For that matter, given the nastiness of the fight, even some of Tellian’s supporters are likely to find themselves wondering how far he might be willing to go to win, especially given that charter Cassan will ‘find.’ After all, if he’s discovered that the King’s been playing him along all the while-that he’s actually decided to support Cassan and only pretended to be favoring Tellian to put him off guard-who knows how he might have reacted? All of that’s going to be running through the backs of their brains, whether they think it’s likely or not. However you look at it, tensions are going to run high, suspicion is going to be everywhere, and fingers are going to be pointing in every imaginable direction while people look for enemies and try to square old accounts. If the North Riding throws its support to Cassan and Yeraghor on the Great Council, that should be enough to carry the day at least long enough to get one of them named Regent. And once one of them is named Regent, Tellian is done.”