King of Foxes (21 page)

“But never in that time has one ruler demanded of another an oath of fealty.”

Lowering his voice, Tal said, “My master seeks stability. He sees a time when this region will come under the scrutiny of either the Isles or Kesh. Roldem’s navy can protect the region from Kesh to a point, should they honor their treaties with Aranor and Olasko, but who can protect Roskalon, Miskalon, and Salmater from the Isles if they decide to march? Roldem might challenge a Keshian war fleet in the Sea of Kingdoms, but they will not land troops on the mainland to lend support against the Isles.”

“The Isles have never sought eastern expansion. Her eyes have ever been turned to the west.”

“But who can say that has not changed?” Tal lowered his voice even more. “I do not say this lightly, but it is in all our interests that Salmater and Olasko remain good neighbors.” He glanced around. “I would hate to see this lovely palace reduced to rubble.” As Pasko would say, Tal _______________

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had just shown the mule the stick, now it was time to show him the carrot. “My lord is very generous with his friends.

He would appreciate any good work done by any member of the Privy Council in avoiding this war.”

Odeski looked as if he might say something, but he closed his mouth and remained silent for a moment. Then he said, “I will caution reason to Their Highnesses.”

“I shall keep in mind your good works when I report to my master.”

“Good day, Squire,” said the First Minister, leaving.

Tal realized Amafi’s reading of the older noble was correct. Odeski wouldn’t blatantly betray his Prince, but he would be willing to work on behalf of any peaceful settlement that kept him in his place of privilege.

And once the Princess was dead, the royal household would be in turmoil, and the Prince would be as unable to govern as a chicken in a thunderstorm. Odeski would almost certainly take charge of the council, and from that point on, Kaspar would have his way in Salmater.

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Tal stood alone on the deck of the ship. He was four days out from Opardum and by his calculations, Princess Svetlana should be dead. The concocted poison Amafi had blended for him was one he claimed would not take the Princess’s life for a full week after being administered, and would make it appear she had succumbed to heart problems. The beauty of the poison, said the former assassin, was that symptoms were misleading, looking like a fever, which would cause chirurgeons and healing priests to attempt cures that would avail them nothing. Death came quickly, so unless a healing priest of great power intervened swiftly, there was little chance of the Princess surviving.

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It had proven easy enough to administer, as Amafi had said it would. While she slept, Tal took out a slender silken cord and a tiny vial of the poison. He had slowly dripped the poison, one drop at a time, down the cord onto the Princess’s lips. As Amafi had predicted, she had licked them in her sleep, and when she stirred, Tal paused.

The poison had a sticky, sweet taste, and by the next morning what residue was left on her lips had been made harmless by being left to dry. Tal kissed her awake without fear. They had made love before dawn, Tal knowing that she was already dead by his hand.

Tal felt a stirring of remorse, and he pushed it down inside. Despite her charm, he knew Svetlana was as ruthless in her own way as Kaspar and that sex was but one of her many weapons, that her passion and the sweet things she whispered into his ear were meaningless, only part of the experience, and not to be taken seriously.

His mission was black, and he had already given up his soul to pursue it. Like the scorpion, Kaspar’s nature was betrayal, and eventually Tal would be betrayed, and then free from his oath and able to strike at the man responsible for the obliteration of his people. Even if he should die while taking Kaspar’s life, he would have done his duty to his ancestors.

But before Kaspar, one other had to die: Captain Quint Havrevulen, the man who personally oversaw the murder of Tal’s family. Yes, he would have to watch for an opportunity to destroy the Captain before Kaspar. If he survived, if he killed Quint and destroyed Kaspar, only then would Tal mourn the loss of his own soul.

If he survived.

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TEN

DISCOVERY

Tal waited.

Kaspar sat back reading a message and at last put it down and smiled. “Word just in from our agents in Micel’s Station. Princess Svetlana was unexpectedly taken by a sudden fever that cause her heart to stop beating.

Prince Janosh is beside himself with grief, and the Privy Council has declared him unfit to rule. Prince Serge has been named ruler, but as he is only a boy, Minister Odeski will rule as regent in his name until such time as he reaches his majority.” He put down the parchment. “Brilliant, Tal. How did you achieve such a perfect resolution?”

Tal spoke calmly. “My manservant, Amafi, knew of a particular poison that could be concocted from seemingly harmless ingredients—a few of them difficult to find—and visited several apothecaries in the city. He prepared _______________

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the poison, and I found means of administering it the night before my departure. The Princess should have died in a week’s time.”

“There is no clear connection between your visit and her death.” Kaspar positively beamed. “My boy, I am very happy with your work. I expect we’ll hear from the First Minister within days asking for some ‘clarification’ or another on my last message so that he can try to negotiate his way out of my demand.”

Tal said, “Will I return to Micel’s Station?”

“No,” said Kaspar. “My insistence on fealty will go away. I wanted Svetlana dead, though I will miss the old harridan.” He held up his hand, finger and thumb separated by only the tiniest margin. “You know I came that close to being wed to her? My father thought it a good match, but I persuaded him otherwise. One of us would have killed the other.” Suddenly Kaspar laughed and said,

“Well, one of us did!” He stood up. “I reward excellence, Tal, and for this you are now a baron of my court. I’ll have the patent drawn up and will find a useless piece of land to give you to go with the useless land you own in the Isles.

“But you will find other benefits awaiting you if you continue to serve me this well.”

“Thank you, Your Grace. I will always do my best.”

“Come, let us have some lunch and see what other mischief we can dream up for you.”

Tal followed Kaspar out to a balcony overlooking the harbor. The day was cold, as autumn was fully upon them, and both men wore heavy coats. Yet Tal found the chilly air invigorating as servants put food and wine on the table between them.

Kaspar motioned for the servants to withdraw, and when they were a discreet distance away, he said to Tal, “I _______________

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must say I was prepared to hear you had been arrested and executed, which would have given me an excuse to march down there and avenge you. Not that I needed an excuse, but you take my meaning.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

“Now I can probably wring concessions out of Minister Odeski and save myself the bother of a war.”

Tal said, “I was under the impression you wanted total subservience, Your Grace.”

“From Svetlana and her idiot husband, yes. If you failed in your mission. Remember, never rely on one plan, Tal. Always have two or more in place when you undertake something perilous. If the first one fails, go to the second plan. If the second plan fails, go to the third.”

“If the third plan fails, Your Grace?”

Kaspar laughed. “Then run like hell if you’re still alive.”

Tal laughed, though his heart wasn’t in it.

Kaspar said, “If I had gone to Svetlana with a reason-able demand, insisting Salmater stop working on behalf of my enemies, she would have insisted we talk, and by the time I left, I would have a concession from her that Salmater would stop working for my enemies every other week.

“By demanding fealty and a complete surrender to my rule, I knew they’d be so busy wondering what madness had taken possession of me, they wouldn’t give much thought to the possibility I had a different ambition.”

“To rid yourself of Princess Svetlana.”

Kaspar nodded. “Yes, as much as I regret it. She’s never had the resources to challenge me directly, Tal.

She’s always had to depend upon others to bolster her position. At various times she’s acted in concert with Roldem, the Isles, and this time it was Miskalon. She really never forgave me for refusing to marry her.”

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Tal sat back, his expression betraying his thoughts.

Kaspar said, “Yes, a lot of what passed between Svetlana and me was over my refusal to take her as my wife.

Not that she was in love with me, you understand.” He chuckled. “We were two of a kind, in many ways: ambitious, remorseless, unrelenting. Had she been a man, I’d have taken her for my first general without hesitation, then watched my back. But as a wife . . .” He shrugged.

“She needed a puppet like Janosh to control. But her most recent intransigencies were beyond forgiveness.

Working with Miskalon to take Olasko Gateway . . .

that was too much. It was the first time she’d attempted to abet a direct attack on Olasko soil, and that I could not tolerate.” He slapped the table with a grin. “But it is of no matter. She is gone, and soon I will have a new treaty with Salmater, and it might as well be Olasko’s southern province by the time I’m done with them.”

He sat back. “Now I can turn my attention to other matters.”

Tal said nothing, merely sipping his wine and taking a small bite of food.

Kaspar did likewise, then after swallowing said, “Do you discern any plan here, Tal? Any pattern that leads you to believe you understand what I’m trying to do?”

“In truth, Your Grace, I do not. I think there are some obvious things, such as securing your borders and making sure you’re protected from potential enemies, but beyond that, nothing obvious.”

“Good, because you are a very astute young man, and if you see nothing obvious, then there is nothing obvious to see.

“Now, about your next undertaking. I want you to rest and enjoy your new rank for a week or so. Then, when I tell you, I wish you to voyage to Salador. I have a variety _______________

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of errands and tasks for you in that city. But I want you established by the Midwinter Festival as a resident of that city.”

“That will be no difficulty, Your Grace. I have resided there before and can easily revive old friendships and establish myself again.”

“Good. Because Duke Varian Rodoski will be attending a festival hosted by the Duke of Salador. Do you know him?”

Tal said, “I have seen him and was briefly introduced to him once, but I do not claim to know him.”

“Do you know his importance to the throne of Roldem?”

“He is the King’s cousin, and in line for the crown after . . . Prince Matthew?”

“And Prince Michael, Constantine, and the Princesses and the Queen. In short, he stands sixth in line of succession. So, he is among Roldem’s most important dukes, if not among the more powerful.”

“So, Your Grace. I am in Salador and so is Duke Rodoski. What is your pleasure?”

“My pleasure, young Hawkins, is to see you leave Salador after the festival, while Prince Rodoski doesn’t.”

“You wish him not to return to Roldem?”

“Yes, exactly.”

“And how long do you wish the Duke to remain in Salador, Your Grace?”

“For the rest of his life, my friend,” said Kaspar. “As short as it may be.”

Tal said nothing for a moment, then said, “I will see what I can do, Your Grace.”

“I know you will not displease me, Baron Talwin,” said the Duke with a cruel, thin smile.

Tal sat back and watched the distant harbor. The cold _______________

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air caused his breath to steam as he exhaled, but for the first time since sitting down he felt the chill.

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Tal sat at the table three seats away from Lady Natalia.

With his elevation to the rank of court baron came his as-cension to the Duke’s head table at supper. To his immediate left sat another young baron, Evegeny Koldas, and between him and Natalia sat Captain Quint. Everyone had congratulated Tal on his new rank, though Tal could see Quint was only being polite. There was a distance between the two men that had existed from the moment they had met, and Tal did not know if it was caused by some sort of personal aversion, a rivalry for Natalia’s attention, or a sense of Tal’s ultimate hostility, however well masked it might be.

If fate permitted, Tal would see Quint and Kaspar dead, then . . .

Tal had no idea what he would do after that, if he survived. He realized he was dwelling on that overly long when Evegeny Koldas said, “Baron?”

“Sorry,” said Tal. “I’m just a little overcome by His Grace’s generosity, and my mind wandered. You were saying?”

“I was saying that should you have the time, I would enjoy taking you up the river, to the wilderness beyond the Broken Lands. Your reputation as a hunter makes me desire to see what I can learn from you.”

Tal judged Koldas a sincere sort, not given to empty flattery, so he smiled at the compliment. “If time permits, I think I would enjoy that.”

The supper went on in typical fashion; Tal had grown used to the tempo of the court in the months he had been _______________

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in residence. The Duke was an unusual ruler insofar as he didn’t require his courtiers to be in constant attendance.

A fair amount of Kaspar’s time was spent in the company of Leso Varen, who almost never left his quarters, but on those rare occasions he did, it was always in the Duke’s company.

Tal watched closely on those occasions, and attempted to learn as much about the man as he could on behalf of the Conclave. He decided that his best choice at first was to be entirely passive in the matter. He never brought up Leso’s name or asked about him. He merely listened if anyone else spoke of it.