Shadowblade (28 page)

Cannath was at first wary of the gift and had considered refusing it in light of the strings that had already been attached to the help he had already received. But one look at an open chest full of glittering emerald and ruby coins and gems and Cannath forgot all of his objections. There was enough wealth there to renovate the castle and run his kingdom for five years!

The renovations to the castle had been conducted very quickly with artisans and laborers imported from Old Nashia across the sea. These strange folk were nice enough, but the influence of the strange architecture of their homeland was apparent in their work. Nevertheless Cannath did not mind. Hybrand City had been decorated and a great festival held in honor of Hybrandese independence from Arnathia. The Cklathish Games had been reinstated in their traditional fashion and Nashian settlers introduced a new event to the Games, the jousting tournament. It was incredibly popular, and people from all over Hybrand came to participate in the games held in honor of the new thayne’s coming coronation.

Cannath had been pleased to see how well the Nashian artisans and craftsmen had been blending in with his Cklathish countrymen so far. The arrival of King Ognadrog the Merciless and his retinue brought a fair amount of displeasure from the Hybrandese, but Cannath had been able to assure his people of the necessity of having the Hurkin nation on their side.

When legions of the Hurkin Horde began to arrive and offload onto the docks of Hybrand City, the people of Hybrand became restless. But the hurkin soldiers were remarkably disciplined and well behaved, which shocked and surprised all the citizens of Hybrand. And though the hurkin race possessed a reputation for being brutal savages, most of the people who passed those rumors had never actually seen or met a hurkin. Soon hurkin soldiers began to frequent the establishments in Hybrand City and the natural fear of their somewhat ungainly appearance began to wear off.

The hurkin people were not very appealing in a physical sense. Most were very tall with thick bodies and limbs. Their hair was always dark, whether it was brown or black or red, and their eyes were always yellow. The males had canine tusks that protruded slightly from their mouths, giving them the appearance of a perpetual sneer, while the well-endowed females did not bear tusks and appeared much more human-like. Both sexes bore the gently upturned nose that gave them a slightly piggish appearance and the ill-deserved reputation for stupidity and stubbornness. In reality, the hurkin people were all very strong and intelligent and possessed a cadre of very capable magic-wielders.

The event that shocked Cannath and his people the most was when an engineering battalion of the Hurkin Horde arrived and began rebuilding the village of Hyrum. At first the engineers had been viewed with suspicion by the people of the village when they showed up with their equipment and began surveying the land and taking measurements. But when the shipments of timber and stone began to arrive, and the hurkin began constructing new homes and buildings, the sentiment quickly changed.

It seemed the Horde was not the infamous haphazard mob of savage and brutal barbarians that everyone thought it to be, but an army of professional soldiers whose heritage reached back thousands of years.

Cannath smiled as he thought of all these things, sitting in his private chambers in Castle Hybrand, awaiting the moment of his destiny. The pre-coronation festivities in the grand ballroom were being concluded and the preparations for his crowning were being made. In moments the royal page would arrive and knock on his door and he would be escorted downstairs to the ballroom where the ceremonies would begin. He instructed the elderly high-priest of Ilian Nah to conduct the majority of his sermon before Cannath arrived, so that he would be spared from listening to the drivel. To his surprise, the old cleric agreed. More festivities would begin after the coronation and another jousting tournament was scheduled for the afternoon, this one would feature participants from Old Nashia and the Hurkin Horde.

Finally the knock on the door that he had been expecting came.

“Your Majesty,” called the page. “Your presence in the coronation room is requested.”

Cannath did not answer but rose from his resting place on the couch. He walked over to the mirror and surveyed himself. His ceremonial armor had been polished and his great sword gleamed from its sheath on his back. He wanted to be viewed as a warrior-king, and it seemed to him that his image had been crafted well.

When he stepped out into the hallway, Gavinos and Erriagabyn were there waiting for him with a squad of the men he had once cursed as murderers and thieves. At the urging and cajoling of Cannath’s old friend, Gavinos, the Spiders became a legitimized militia whose loyalty had been formally given to the Thayne of Hybrand. Cannath had not been happy about granting that concession, but he did believe that the Spiders had done their part in the liberation and deserved to be rewarded for it. But something else made him stop in his tracks.

“Gavinos, what are
they
doing here?” he demanded, nodding his head sideways at a group of four highly decorated warriors of the Hurkin Horde.

“My liege,” began the elf placatingly, “they are the honor guard of King Ognadrog, of course.”

“I see that, Gavinos,” said the monarch, testily. “But why are they here, now? Why do they not honor their own monarch?”

“The king sent these men as a gift of his gratitude for the invitation. You cannot refuse them, Your Majesty. It would be a great dishonor to our guest.”

“Guests?” he said harshly. “Why is it I
must
or
must not
do anything if these are my
guests
? I get the feeling, Gavinos, that there is more going on which you are not telling me. I will not ask you now what more surprises lay in store for me, simply because I do not care to know of the things I can do nothing about at this moment.

“But when I am Thayne Cannath, you may be sure that I will be looking into the legality and necessity of these alliances and treaties very closely. I will not repeat the mistakes of my ancestors.”

Gavinos nodded, but said nothing, which only made Cannath more suspicious. But he pushed the matter from his mind for he knew that he could do nothing about these things now. He only hoped that when he truly was in the position to look into these matters, that more surprises would not be thrust upon him.

Indeed,
he thought wryly.
How will the people look upon me if I cast out the Hurkin Horde engineers who are helping them rebuild their city? Will they understand that this help comes with a price?

Prince Cannath entered the grand ballroom to a roaring of applause and shouting and his pride was soothed. He saw the gathering of his Cklathish generals, high ranking Nashian nobility and military advisors; all were applauding him. Even King Ognadrog himself, ironically resplendent in his own black and crimson royal regalia and wearing his crown jewels. It was a good feeling. His moment had in fact come. He was finally getting the respect and power he deserved. No longer would he be known as
Cannath
, a mere lord of the Arnathian Empire.

He would forever more be known as
Thayne Cannath I,
Thayne and ruler of Hybrand!

C H A P T E R

13

Power.

Zach had indeed found a new apartment near the waterfront. His room was on the second floor, and his balcony overlooked the main entrance to the building. He lived under the identity of Levius, an Arnathian merchant who spent weeks at a time in the city of Powyss. When he wasn’t sleeping in his apartment, he would sometimes get a room in an inn elsewhere in the city where he hoped
Morloth w
ould give him a clue to the location of Harfour’s heir. And while he was at it, he never missed an opportunity to indulge his blade and test out its powers upon the witless Red Dragons.

Zach was at the waterfront again this night, having just finished throwing the bodies of a pair of Red Dragons into the frigid waters, and replaced
Morloth
inside his coat as he walked back up the pier to the waterfront road. The late hour and the power of his dagger to cloak him in shadows had ensured that no one saw him commit his dark deeds.

Strangely,
Morloth
had not picked up the trail of Harfour’s heir again. He wondered whether he had simply been misreading the weapon’s agitation, or if perhaps having its thirst abated quenched its interest. In any case, the blade was back to normal now and he was no closer to breaking the lich’s curse.

He found himself visiting
The Siren’s Call
more and more. After the harrowing events of the past few days, he was looking forward to talking with Siren in a quiet room; even if he had to pay her for that talk. He always pretended to take one of the girls back into a room and paid her, but he never indulged in any of the services of the brothel. He was there for appearances and to collect information. And though only the invisible voice would admit it aloud, he really enjoyed the time he spent with Siren.

“And why not?” the voice would always say. “Look what she does for a living!” But that did not bother Zach, and neither did the crudeness of the voice’s comments. Though he found it oddly amusing that the voice was no longer referring to her as a “snitch.” The ever-present voice began to snicker in his ear, suggesting that Zach was soft. He scowled as he walked, ignoring the odd looks from passersby. He wondered how it was that other people seemed to hear the voice when it spoke but attributed it to him.

Siren was in fact a very beautiful woman and she was about his age. She was wise, too, and had her finger on the pulse of what was happening in the big port city. But Zach dared not let himself get too close to her. He could not afford to get attached to place or person. Not now, not when he was so close to embarking on the journey that would bring him the power he always wanted. And so Zach, much to the chagrin of his annoying companion, kept the woman at arm’s length even as she pulled him in with her mesmerizing eyes and tantalizing figure. It was clear that Siren enjoyed Zach’s presence too and the two would spend a good deal of time talking while Zach was supposed to be with a girl.

While Siren did not actually know for certain that Zach was the Shadowblade, it was clear that she seemed to understand that it was him. But Siren never mentioned she knew this, and Zach was grateful. He knew it was probably time to move on to another information source, but he was simply enjoying himself too much. He just hoped that the Red Dragons wouldn’t make the connection between him and the Shadowblade and make Siren pay for his actions.

Zach decided to stop in a bakery to pick up a dozen “hole-cakes” as a present for the girls at the
Call.
When he first overheard the patrons in the bakery marveling over the baker’s latest invention, he couldn’t understand what was so great about a cake with a hole in it. There were times when folks stood in line outside the bakery, rich merchants mostly, just to buy some. Then he saw the variety of these cakes and began to understand. As a child, Zach always had a fondness for sweets and was enticed by the sight and smells of these delicious looking treats. The baker had several shelves lined with the little cakes made from differing ingredients and with different toppings. Some had a pasty sugar topping, others were glazed with fruit and the most popular variety had a brown syrupy topping the baker called
sheeohclaid.
Whatever it was, the baker couldn’t make enough of it.