King of Foxes (26 page)

“You’re too kind, sir. I entered once, when I was young, and was ceded the thirty-second place,” said the Duke as he toweled himself off. “That was due to rank, I’m afraid, and they did me no service. I was humbled quickly by the first opponent I faced. I think it would have been better to let me struggle in the earlier, open competition.”

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“It is a better way to learn than being quickly ousted,”

agreed Tal as he handed his towel back to Amafi.

“If you are not hurrying off, perhaps you’d join me for a cup of wine across the street, Squire. There’s something I wish to discuss with you.”

Tal looked at Amafi, and said, “Fetch my clothing.” To the Duke he said, “My honor, Your Grace.”

“Say half an hour?”

“I will be there.”

Tal changed and found his way across the street to an inn called the Cutting Edge. It was a favorite of many of those who were members of the House of Blades. He found that a private room in the rear had been secured for the Duke’s use, and had been there only a few minutes when Duke Varian arrived.

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The Duke made small talk while the wine was served, then sent his servants outside. He inclined his head toward Amafi, and Tal nodded to Amafi that he was to wait outside, as well.

When they were alone, Duke Rodoski said, “So, did Kaspar send you here to kill me, Squire?”

Tal kept his face immobile, then feigned shock. “Your Grace, is this some sort of dark jest?”

“Hardly,” said Rodoski. He sipped his wine. “Don’t be so confoundedly proud of yourself, Talwin. Your master is not the only one with agents crawling over every port and city of significance in the region. Roldem has arrangements with several other nations to share information when it’s mutually beneficial. Your visit with Prince Janosh was just a little too timely relative to the demise of Princess Svetlana. I’m not sure how you did it, but . . .”

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He shrugged. “While I had no enmity with her, I also don’t particularly miss her.”

“Why in the world would you presume I had a hand in it?”

“Because it is exactly Kaspar’s style, Squire. And because I know what Kaspar is really up to, and I suspect you do not.”

Tal sat back, interested. He had studied Kaspar’s ambition, and most of what he did made little sense in terms of a larger picture. The assassination of Princess Svetlana did make sense from a tactical point of view, since it secured a stable border for Kaspar as he turned his attentions elsewhere, but why Kaspar wanted Rodoski dead still made no sense to Tal.

“Let me draw you a map,” said the Duke, sticking his finger in the wine. On the table he drew a rough outline of the Sea of Kingdoms, then a line from Roldem to Aranor. Then from Aranor to Opardum. “It is only six short steps from Olasko to Roldem. Now do you understand?”

For a moment, Tal didn’t. What did the Duke mean by six short steps? Then it dawned on him. Softly he said,

“Kaspar means to be King of Roldem.”

“You’re a bit brighter than most,” said Rodoski. “Kaspar is a more than competent general, an extremely talented administrator, and a charismatic leader who can get idiots to die for him. He’d make a wonderful King of Roldem, except for the fact that I’m rather fond of my family—even that idiot Matthew—and along with seeing them stay alive, I also would like to see a ripe old age. Hence, I must frustrate Kaspar’s plans.”

Tal wanted to deflect attention from himself for a moment longer while he scrambled to devise a story to keep himself out of harm’s way, if possible. “If what you say is true, why all the military activity in the north? Kaspar _______________

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wiped out the Orosini, brought Latagore to heel, and is moving against Farinda.”

“Kaspar wants to put his army on the border of the Kingdom in a place where King Ryan has no choice but to respond by marching an army from Ran and Rodez up there to meet him. To protect Ran and Rodez, he will need to dispatch troops from Dolth; to protect Dolth, soldiers from Euper, and so on until the garrison from Salador is on the move.

“Kaspar won’t need an army to seize control of Roldem. He’ll have wrung concessions out of his cousin, Prince Phillip of Aranor, and he’ll have disposed of the other six claimants to the throne before him. In short, he will arrive in Roldem with little opposition and a great deal of support, not only from agents within the King’s court already loyal to him, but from others anxious for an orderly transition in government.

“King Ryan will quickly recognize the finality of things and acknowledge Kaspar’s legitimate claim to the throne. He might even consent to marry the lovely Natalia as part of the bargain. The Isles recognition of Kaspar’s reign will keep Kesh at bay.

“It’s really quite a wonderful plan, except for the fact it will not be allowed to happen.”

Tal sat back. Something didn’t make sense to him. “It sounds marvelous, very complex and subtle and the like, but it seems to me that if you were certain of this plot, you wouldn’t be sitting here drinking wine with me, Your Grace. I’d be dead already.”

The Duke knocked loudly on the table. The door flew open, and a pair of crossbow men entered with their weapons leveled at Tal. “Don’t try to draw your sword, Squire. You might just reach me, but I doubt it.”

Over the shoulders of the two guards, Tal could see _______________

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Amafi being held tightly by two men, one with his hand clamped over the manservant’s mouth, while another held a dagger at his throat. Tal sat back, slowly raising his hands above the table.

“You’re right, Squire. If I wanted you dead, you’d be dead.” He paused. “You are a goat.”

“Sir?”

“To capture a tiger, you stake out a goat and wait.

Don’t you consider it odd that Kaspar would send you to this city, for this festival, so soon after your debacle with my cousin, and so soon after your visit to the court of Salmater? Could it be any more obvious?”

“You still have no proof,” said Tal.

The Duke laughed. “I need none. If I wish, you’ll be found floating in the harbor at dawn, and the strongest reaction that will come from Duke Duncan will possibility be a note of condolence to your cousin the Baron.

“But I will not kill you. I will send you back to Kaspar in chains and let him decide what do to with you. For you failed him utterly, Squire.

“You see, you were not supposed to kill me. I was supposed to kill you, while the real assassin found me after I was convinced I was safe.”

“Real assassin?”

The Duke snapped his fingers, and from outside a man was carried in. He had obviously been beaten to the point of insensibility and was hanging limply between two more guards. “Do you recognize this man?”

Tal struggled to put a name to the man, but couldn’t.

But he did look familiar.

“He’s an officer in Kaspar’s garrison.”

“Prohaska!” Tal whispered.

“So, you do know him.”

Tal sat back. “Not well, but I recognize him.”

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“Like yourself, he is a man of many guises. While in Salador, he was calling himself Coshenski, a trader from Olasko Gateway. Very influential friends got him an invitation to the Duke’s gala on Midwinter’s Day.”

Tal said, “You obviously have good agents in Olasko if you knew he was coming.”

“Yes,” agreed the Duke. “But you were a gift.”

“What do you mean?” asked Tal.

Duke Varian said, “We were supposed to find and kill you, Talwin. You were given up to us so that I would be caught off guard when your compatriot Prohaska killed me at the gala.”

“I was given up? By whom?”

Rodoski laughed. “You still don’t see? You were given up by Kaspar. He uses people just like you use towels after a bath. Kaspar let our agents know you were coming to kill me. Kaspar wants you out of the way. The Lady Natalia is a little too fond of you, and you’ve already made enemies in his court by your rapid rise. Kaspar may even see you as a threat, for without heirs, if something happens to him and you wed his sister, who else is there to rule in Opardum? You were the goat. Do you see?”

It all made sense to Tal. He sat back. “If you know all this, why not move directly against Kaspar?”

Varian said, “I need no proof to dump you in the harbor. And I need no proof to have someone slit Kaspar’s throat in the dead of night. But we can’t get anyone that close, for reasons you know all too well.”

“Leso Varen.”

“Yes. That evil wizard is too dangerous, so we’re content to let Kaspar play his games, as long as they don’t become too deadly. And we block him where we can. But one day he’ll go too far—and this attempt on me is as close to the limit as King Carol is willing to per-

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mit. When that day comes, we will sail our fleet to Opardum and unload soldiers from Kesh and let them destroy Kaspar.”

Tal sat back. “So why let me live?”

“Because I need to send a message to Kaspar he can’t ignore or pretend to misunderstand. I will have the body of Prohaska delivered to him and yourself bound up in chains, and the conclusion he comes to should be clear.”

The Duke stood up. “And I’ll leave you to Kaspar’s tender mercies. The day may come when you wish I had killed you. Oh, if you do survive, understand that you will be killed on sight if you set foot on Roldem again.” To the guards, he said, “Take him.”

Tal was grabbed by two soldiers who quickly disarmed him and bound his arms behind him. One stepped behind him and suddenly pain exploded behind his eyes, and he slipped into unconsciousness.

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Tal awoke in the dark and quickly realized he was chained inside the hold of a ship. The rocking motion told him they were already out of the harbor and at sea. Amafi groaned next to him, and Tal said, “Are you awake?”

After a moment came a choked groan, then Amafi said, “I am here, Magnificence.”

“We have been betrayed,” said Tal.

“So it seems.”

Tal tried to make himself as comfortable as he could, for he knew it would be a long, cold, wet journey. After some hours a sailor came down the companionway, bearing two bowls of food, a mix of boiled grain, dried fruit, and a piece of salted pork, mostly fat. “Eat,” he said, handing each man a bowl. “It’s all you get until tomorrow.”

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Tal took the food and began to eat. It tasted salty and bland, but it filled him and he knew he would need as much strength as he could muster.

The voyage passed slowly, a seemingly endless succession of days spent in rocking darkness, interrupted only by a daily visit by a sailor who brought the same meal. On the forty-first or -second day, Tal noticed they no longer got the salt pork.

Some ten days later, the ship shuddered, and Tal realized they were making the final reach for Opardum. Before another day was out, they’d be hauled up before Kaspar.

A thought ran through Tal’s mind over and over again.

He had been betrayed. The king of foxes had shown he was really a scorpion, and being true to his nature, he had stung.

Tal was freed of his obligation. He could now kill Kaspar without betraying his oath.

If he survived.

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They had been taken straightaway to the castle. Tal had hoped perhaps he might be unchained and allowed to clean up before being dragged before Kaspar, but that hope proved to be in vain.

He was brought before Kaspar, who sat alone in his great hall, with only soldiers around him: no Lady Natalia, no courtiers. “So, Baron Talwin,” said Kaspar without preamble, “you’ve failed.”

Tal decided there was no benefit to feigning ignorance of events. “As I was apparently destined to, Your Grace.”

Kaspar laughed. “Well, you obviously didn’t get yourself killed, so I assume Duke Rodoski had other plans, such as rubbing my nose in my failure.”

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“Something like that. He did say you have now come as close to the line as King Carol will permit. One more infraction and a Roldemish fleet will be delivering companies of Keshian Dog Soldiers to Opardum.”

“Oh, he said that, did he?” Kaspar chuckled. “Games within games, Baron. There is another level of play under way that even one so highly placed as Duke Varian is un-aware of.

“Still,” he added with a wave of his hand, “that is a matter which no longer concerns you. You’ve failed me, Baron. You not only didn’t kill Rodoski, as I ordered, you didn’t have the good grace to get yourself killed in the attempt. So, in a sense, you’ve failed me twice, which is one more failure than I usually permit. Still, you’ve been an earnest young fellow and have given me some amusement. For that sake, I will have your death be quick and painless.” To the guards he said, “Take him away.”

As the guards seized Tal’s arms, Tal shouted, “You owe me your life!”

Kaspar sat back and motioned for the guards to stop.

“Damn me, but you’re right,” said Kaspar. He shook his head. “Very well, I will not be bound in life by a debt not paid. I will give you your life, Squire—I’m rescinding your office of baron—but you will wish before I’m done I hadn’t.” He then looked at Amafi, and said, “What am I to do with you?”

Amafi said, “You could start by removing the chains, Your Grace.”

The Duke motioned and guards freed him. After Amafi was out of his chains, he bowed and said, “I hope the Squire’s failure does not taint my service, Your Grace.”

“No, not in the least, Amafi. You are the perfect tool.

You do exactly what I bid you to do, no more, no less.”

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Tal looked at his manservant and said, “You?”

“Someone had to carry word to the Duke’s agents in Salador that you were sent to kill him, Squire,” said Kaspar. “I certainly couldn’t depend on Roldemish agents here to get word back to the Duke in time. Bribing your man to betray you was a far more elegant solution. I told him how to contact one of my agents in Salador, who in turn put him in touch with a member of Duke Duncan’s staff, and from there it was but one step to Duke Rodoski.”