Polgara the Sorceress (28 page)

He squinted. ‘Maybe,’ he conceded dubiously.

‘Trust me, father. Will you do it?’

‘Do what?’

‘Make that speech tomorrow morning?’

‘Why don’t you do it?’

‘You remember what I just said about domestic animals? This is Arendia, father. No Arendish man’s going to listen to anybody wearing a skirt. I’ve got to move on to Vo Mimbre, so I don’t have time to convince a crowd of half-drunk Asturian males that I’m not a poodle or a common house-cat. Look at it this way, father. If you make the speech, you get all the credit for what I’ve done – and you didn’t have to do any of the dirty work.’

‘I’ll think about it. Why do you let that silly girl call you “Polly”? If
I
tried that, you’d set fire to my beard.’

‘Yes, I would, so don’t even think about it. Actually, I wasn’t entirely sure of Asrana’s commitment until she called me “Polly”. Once she did that, I knew I had her in my pocket.’

‘Could you trot that past me again?’

‘She’s pushing, father. Asrana
always
pushes. I let her get away with it in order to keep her right where I want her.’

‘I will
never
understand women.’

‘Probably not, no. Oh, before you start composing your speech for tomorrow, would you do me a favor?’

‘More than likely. What did you need?’

‘Oldoran’s bodyguards are at supper right now. Do something to their wine. I want them all to be falling-down drunk before they go on duty.’

‘I thought you didn’t approve of drinking.’

This is a special occasion, father, and special occasions allow us to bend the rules just a little bit. I want to hold down the bloodshed as much as possible this evening. It’s important that Oldoran’s removal from his throne appears to be administrative rather than military.’

‘You’re very good at this, Pol.’

‘Thank you, father. Now, go to the guardroom and incapacitate the duke’s bodyguards. Then start working on your speech while I get on with overthrowing the government.’

Just after supper, a sturdy peasant with a diffident air about him approached me. ‘Lord Mangaran asked me to speak with you, my Lady,’ he said politely. ‘He said you wanted to send somebody a message. I’m supposed to deliver it for you. My name’s Lammer.’

It was a bit obscure – this
was
a conspiracy, after all – but I got his point. ‘Are you a good messenger?’ I asked him.

‘There’s none better in all Asturia, my Lady. Did you want a demonstration?’

‘I’ll take your word for it, Lammer. I want my message to reach his brain at a specific moment.’

‘I can manage that, my Lady.’ He squinted. ‘I’ll be up in the gallery on the right side of the throne-room,’ he advised me. ‘I’ll send the message on its way and be halfway back down the stairs that lead up to the gallery before it even arrives in his brain.’

‘Excellent fellow. I’m going to go change clothes now, and then I’ll go to the throne-room. Deliver my message as soon as I enter the room.’

‘Yes, my Lady.’ He paused. ‘Urn – ’ he said, ‘who? Who’s supposed to get the message, I mean?’

I told him and a flicker of a smile touched his lips. Then I went to Asrana’s set of rooms to change. I used the gown I’d worn at Beldaran’s wedding. It was striking enough to get everyone’s attention, certainly, and I was very familiar with it, since I’d watched Arell put in every stitch.

No, of
course
I hadn’t carried it to Arendia with me. It was still hanging in my wardrobe back in father’s tower. I
do
have certain advantages, after all.

Asrana came in just as I was touching up my hair. ‘My goodness, Polly!’ she said. ‘What a stupendous gown! But isn’t it just a trifle daring?’

‘It’s intended to be, Asrana,’ I told her. ‘All manner of things are going to happen when I walk into the throne-room,
and I want to be certain that everybody notices me.’

‘Oh, you can be sure that they will, Polly. It might disrupt the plan, though. Everybody’ll be so busy looking at you that they’ll forget to overthrow the government.’

‘Something’s going to happen that’ll remind them, dear,’ I assured her. ‘Now go get Mangaran for me. Send him here and then go to the throne-room. Circulate around and tell our people to get ready. Things are going to happen rather quickly once I enter the room.’

‘Could you be a little more specific?’

‘No, I don’t think so. I want to surprise everybody. Don’t you like surprises?’

‘Not when I’m in the middle of a plot, I don’t.’ She looked at the sideboard where several decanters stood.

‘No!’ I told her quite firmly. ‘Don’t even think about it! I want your head on straight tonight.’

‘My nerves are strung a little tight, Polly.’

‘Good. I want them to be. Don’t dull your edge, Asrana. Now scoot.’

She left, and Mangaran rapped on the door a few moments later. ‘You wanted to see me, my Lady?’

‘Yes. Come in and close the door.’

He did that.

‘Go directly to the throne-room from here, my Lord,’ I instructed. ‘Ease your way through the crowd until you’re about five feet from the throne. Oldoran
is
there, isn’t he?’

He nodded. ‘He sort of regained consciousness after supper, and his servants helped him to the throne. His eyes are open, but I doubt that very much is registering on his brain.’

‘Good. As soon as I enter the throne-room, something rather startling is going to happen. I’ll shout some instructions, and you’ll follow them. We’ll hustle the duke out of the throne-room. It’ll
look
as if it’s for his protection, but it’s really an excuse to get him on his way to that monastery. I’ll come into the room where you take him and give him a quick medical examination, and then we’ll come out to make the announcement that he’s going into seclusion “for reasons of health”. You’ll be taking over the government at that point. Try to sound regretful about it.’

‘Exactly
what
is going to happen, Lady Polgara?’

‘You don’t need to know that, my Lord. I want your reactions to be very genuine. If I surprise you, they will be. I’ll be giving you instructions, so just follow them. Under the circumstances, they’ll be completely rational, so nobody’s going to question you. Now go to the throne-room. I’ll be along in just a few moments, and that’s when things will start.’

I want you all to notice that I was very carefully keeping a great many details to myself. Arends have a tendency to want to be helpful, and I didn’t want anybody stepping in to lend a hand at exactly the wrong moment.

I paused for a long moment before leaving Asrana’s apartment, gathering a kind of calmness about me. There were a number of things I had to do in almost the same instant that Lammer’s message reached its mark. Very few in the throne-room were actually privy to our little scheme, and I was going to have to channel everyone else’s thinking in a specific direction. I wasn’t going to leave any openings for speculation. I wanted them all to interpret the event that was about to take place in one specific way.

Then I drew in a deep breath and went out into the corridor that led to the throne-room.

I paused in the shadowy doorway to the great hall to make certain that everyone was in place. Mangaran was near the left side of the throne. Oldoran, his eyes unfocused, sat in his accustomed place. The Murgo in the yellow Tolnedran mantle stood at the befuddled duke’s right elbow with a slightly bored expression on his face. His eyes, however, were moving constantly. I couldn’t see Lammer up in that shadowy gallery, but I wasn’t really supposed to. I sent out a quick, searching thought, and then I relaxed. Lammer was where he was supposed to be. The giddy Asrana was not far from the throne, and she absolutely sparkled. The tension of the moment had made her even more vivacious than usual.

Everything was in its proper place. We were ready.

I stepped into the doorway and paused, looking directly at the fellow in the Tolnedran mantle at the duke’s side.
Krachack had known me the instant he’d laid eyes on me, and I was hoping that
this
Murgo would as well.

Then, while his eyes were still starting out of their sockets, I went on into the plain view of everybody in the room. My gown had been designed to attract attention, and it still worked. Heads swivelled. People broke off what they were saying in mid-sentence to stare at me. Lammer’s bow-string twanged.

The steel-tipped arrow made a crunching sound as it drove directly into the Murgo’s forehead. The distance wasn’t really that great, and Lammer’s bow had strong limbs. The arrow plunged through the Murgo’s brain, and it protruded a foot or more out behind his head. He
did
look just a bit peculiar with the feathered fletching of the arrow decorating his forehead. His body stiffened as he jerked into an erect position.

‘Assassin!’
I shouted, augmenting my voice so that the sentries on the city wall probably heard me. ‘Get the duke to safety!’

And
that’s
how I overthrew the government of Asturia. One arrow, one shout, and it was done. The good ones are always simple.

Even as that pseudo Tolnedran slowly toppled backward, Mangaran was moving. ‘To the duke!’ he bellowed. ‘Shield him with your bodies!’

At first the startled courtiers hung back. There was always the possibility of more arrows, and very few in the room were
that
fond of Oldoran. But Mangaran had already hurled his own body on that of the confused duke, and others rushed forward to join him. Other courtiers were drawing their swords and looking around for somebody to stab.

Asrana was screaming in a masterful imitation of hysteria.

I moved quickly around the outskirts of the crowd to the door behind the throne. ‘This way, my Lord Mangaran!’ I shouted. ‘Bring the duke! The rest of you, guard this door! There’s treason afoot!’ I wanted to nail that down.

Then I cast a hideous illusion directly in front of the stupefied Oldoran’s bleary eyes, and
he
was the only one
who could see it. He began to scream and gibber in absolute terror, even as several courtiers picked him up bodily and followed Earl Mangaran to the doorway where I stood. I intensified the illusion before the duke’s eyes, and his screaming grew even louder as he struggled to free himself. I definitely wanted that screaming to continue.

‘Should I make the announcement?’ Mangaran muttered to me as he led the little cluster of men carrying the duke through the door.

‘Not yet,’ I replied quietly. ‘Let him scream for a while. I’ll be along in a few moments to examine him.’ I let them on through the doorway and then firmly shut the door and set my back against it. ‘Find that assassin!’ I commanded. ‘Hunt him down!’

That gave everyone who wasn’t busy guarding the door something to do. A quick search with my mind had revealed the fact that Lammer had already left the palace grounds and was sitting in a tavern several streets away. The searchers
did
find his bow and a quiver of arrows up in the gallery, however. Lammer, I noted, was a thoroughgoing professional.

Not
everyone
in the throne-room joined in that disorganized search for the mysterious bowman, though. About a half-dozen distraught-looking Asturian nobles were gathered around the dead Murgo’s body. Some of them were even wringing their hands, and one was openly weeping. I caught Asrana’s eye and crooked one finger at her.

She came to me immediately. ‘Yes, Polly?’ she said.

‘Wipe that silly grin off your face, Asrana,’
I told her, and I
didn’t
say it out loud.

‘How are you – ?’ she started.

‘Hush! Listen, don’t talk. Fix the names of those men around the body by the throne firmly in your mind. Those are the ones we’ll have to watch out for.’
Then I spoke aloud to her – just loud enough to be heard by the courtiers guarding the door. ‘Calm yourself, dear,’ I told her. “The duke’s safe, and the Earl Mangaran’s with him.’

‘Did he get hurt?’ she asked, wincing as Oldoran gave vent to a particularly piercing shriek.

‘He’s distraught, Asrana. The shock of this attempt on
his life has unsettled him just a bit, I think. Here. Take my place. If anyone tries to rush this door, give up your life to hold them off.’

She lifted her chin and assumed a heroic pose. ‘I
will
!’ she declared. ‘They’ll have to rip me to pieces and spill out all my blood. They
will
not pass!’

‘Brave girl,’ I murmured. Then I opened the door and went into the small antechamber where the duke was busy having hysterics. I drew Mangaran off to one side. ‘All right, my Lord,’ I murmured softly to him. ‘Part one is over. Now it’s time to move on to part two.’

‘Do you have any other surprises up your sleeve, Polgara?’ he murmured in reply. ‘I almost lost my grip when that Murgo’s forehead sprouted feathers.’

‘I rather thought you might like it. I’m going to examine the duke, and my diagnosis is going to be that he’s temporarily lost control of his senses.’

‘Temporarily?’

“That’s an interim diagnosis, Mangaran. It’ll serve as an excuse for us to transport him to the monastery. We’ll pull long faces and talk about lingering after effects later. You’re going to have to identify me when you make your announcement, my Lord. Introduce me, and I’ll advise the courtiers of my findings. My name’s known well enough that nobody’s going to argue with me. I’ll tell them that the duke needs a safe place for his recovery, and then
you
suggest the monastery. It’s a logical place – peace, quiet, security, and lots of monks around to see to his needs. We’d better get on with this, Earl Mangaran. I want him inside that monastery before the Marquis Torandin’s party breaks up. I don’t want any unrestrained creativity about alternatives cropping up. Once the duke’s safely tucked in that monastery, we can protest that it’s unsafe to move him.’

‘You’ve covered just about everything, haven’t you, Polgara?’

‘I’ve certainly tried. Look worried while I examine his Grace.’

‘Why should I worry? You’ve tied up all the loose ends.’

‘Simulate
worry, Mangaran. Let’s move right along here.’

Oldoran was still gaping at the illusion I’d set before his eyes and gibbering in terror as I leaned over to examine him. His breath was acrid, and his entire body exuded the foul reek of the confirmed drunkard. Getting that close to him wasn’t pleasant. Given his current condition, I didn’t have to be too subtle when I probed at his mind. There wasn’t very much of it left, as I recall. Then I continued to probe, moving systematically through his major organs. His liver, naturally, was almost in ruins, and his kidneys were right on the verge of shutting down completely. His arteries were almost clogged shut, and his heart was faltering. My original estimate that he had no more than six months to live might have been just a little optimistic.