Alutar: The Great Demon (4 page)

“He was,” confirmed the general, “but he was not Ertakan. He is a Spinoan sergeant who regularly visits the palace. His face is known to the palace guards.”

“Yet he was wearing an Ertakan patch,” frowned Lord Zachary. “Why?”

The general ignored the question. “How many guards were present in the sitting room when you were with Queen Samir?”

“None,” replied the Alcean spymaster. “She intentionally dismissed the guards as we were discussing things that were best kept in confidence.”

“The planning for a wedding is hardly a sensitive matter,” retorted General Vladin. “What were you discussing that would cause the queen to forgo her security?”

“If Queen Samir wanted you to know her business,” Lord Zachary began angrily. Suddenly, he halted and sighed deeply. “I am sorry, General. I guess her secrets hardly matter now. Samir was afraid that her daughters would learn the true nature of the wedding arrangements before it was announced. It is to be a royal wedding.”

“A royal wedding?” echoed the general. “That is impossible. Prince Samuel was removed from the line of succession years ago. Princess Anadale is to be queen.”

“Not so,” retorted Lord Zachary. “Queen Samir changed the line of succession last fall. She may have done it quietly, but she did so irrevocably. I have a copy of the writ on me if you would care to look at it.”

The general took the offered paper, but he called for a guard before he even glanced at it. He penned a note and folded it before handing it to the guard.

“Deliver that to the archives and wait for a response,” instructed the general.

As soon as the guard had left, the general read the proclamation. He sighed as he handed the paper back to Lord Zachary.

“You do realize that this proclamation does not look well in regards to the timing of Queen Samir’s death, Lord Zachary,” stated the general. “Some might think that you were in league with Sergeant Batt to advance the station of your daughter.”

“I truly hope that you are not one of those people, General,” the Vinaforan lord countered sternly. “I am sure that you would not care to look like a fool.”

“A fool?” questioned the general. “How do you mean?”

“Have your men not bothered to gather the papers that Queen Samir had on her table in the sitting room?” asked Zack. The general stared blankly and Zack continued, “The fact is, General, that Samir and I were agreed on a long rule for Queen Samir. Our contract calls for delaying Samuel’s ascension to the throne until Samir felt she could no longer handle the task. I will be blunt, General. Queen Samir and I had an agreement in which she traded a crown for my money. I wanted my daughter to be a princess, but we all know that Samuel is ill-suited to be a king. Oh, he would eventually take over when Samir became too old to function, but by that time, Samir would have taught my daughter all she would need to know to run the country. That way Samuel would never be able to destroy Spino with his crazy thoughts about the gods punishing us.”

General Vladin nodded in understanding. Suddenly, everything about the queen’s actions throughout the winter began to make sense. She had begun to move away from her daughters, and she had demanded that a search for Samuel be instituted. She had recently grown quite angry when that search had not produced results. As he opened his mouth to apologize to the Vinaforan lord, the door opened and three soldiers marched into the room and placed papers on the general’s desk. The general sat silently for several minutes as he read the papers. Finally, he tossed them on his desk and glanced up at Lord Zachary.

“I apologize,” the general said sincerely. “It is my nature to be suspicious, but the papers from Queen Samir’s sitting room vouch for your story. The proclamation regarding the line of succession is also registered in the archives. Forgive me for my suspicions.”

Lord Zachary nodded sympathetically as he tried to glance at the third set of papers that the general had tossed on his desk. He knew one set was from the archives, and he recognized the second set as being from the queen’s sitting room, but he could not read the third set. He decided to take a stab at guessing what they might be.

“Being suspicious is a great trait for an investigator,” Zack said. “What does your suspicious nature tell you about a Spinoan soldier who dresses as an Ertakan to assassinate his own queen?”

The general was taken aback at the sudden change in conversation, and he was tempted to have the Vinaforan escorted out of his office, but he quickly realized that Lord Zachary was soon to be the father of the queen. To start off on the wrong foot would mean the end of his career, and he had just narrowly escaped making that fatal mistake.

“I am not sure,” the general admitted. “My first reaction was that someone was trying to instigate a war between Spino and Ertak.”

“A likely scenario,” nodded Lord Zachary, “but you indicate that you are moving away from such a thought. Why?”

“The assassin has been interrogated,” answered the general. “His use of an Ertakan patch was an aid to his escape plan. He had hoped that someone would see an Ertakan solider running through the corridors before the queen’s body was discovered, but his attack was clumsy. The queen cried out while he was still in the room.”

“So the Ertakan patch was merely a decoy?”

“Yes,” sighed the general, “but there is more. During the interrogation, he admitted that three Ertakan soldiers hired him to assassinate the queen. One of the Ertakans was a sergeant of the 15
^th
Corps on special detail to the Royal Palace in Farmin. He did not know the sergeant’s name, but he knows of other Spinoan soldiers who have met the Ertakan in the taverns of Valdo. My men verified that information. The Ertakan sergeant has been a regular visitor to Valdo for some time. It is said that he works in intelligence and makes monthly trips to Despair. One corporal even knew that the Ertakan grew up in the Bloodwood close to the Spino border.”

“You did hear about the deaths of King Harowin’s sons, did you not?” asked Zack. “I understand that the assassin wore a Spinoan uniform.”

“But that was the doing of General Montero’s men,” balked the general. “Even King Harowin saw through that ruse.”

“Did he?” questioned Lord Zachary. “Perhaps General Montero came up with a plausible explanation of why it couldn’t have been his men. I do know that King Harowin forced Emperor Jaar to open the portals to get to his son, and I haven’t heard any reports about the hanging of General Montero. It would appear that things are better between the two of them.”

“Curses!” snarled the general. “We had nothing to do with the deaths of those princes. If King Harowin is behind this vile deed, I will shove the entire 16
^th
Corps through his face.”

“I would advise against that,” Zack said in a quiet conspiratorial tone. “Do not take the 16
^th
Corps out of Valdo.”

“Why not?” the general asked suspiciously.

“Queen Samir had ill feelings about General Kartacus and the 35
^th
Corps,” explained Zack. “She felt as if the 35
^th
Corps was stationed in Valdo to be used against us. If the 16
^th
Corps leaves the city, it may not be admitted back in.”

General Vladin’s jaw dropped as he stared at Lord Zachary. “Jaar wouldn’t dare.”

“It is rumored that Emperor Jaar is no longer in control of the Federation,” whispered Lord Zachary. “Grand General Kyrga is calling the shots now.”

“He would dare,” snarled General Vladin. “It would be just like Kyrga to elevate himself by making the armies responsible only to him. I have to get a message to Emperor Jaar before Kyrga causes more trouble.”

“That cannot be done,” declared the Vinaforan noble. “All messages go through Grand General Kyrga. I tried to see Emperor Jaar during the celebration, and I was told to schedule a meeting through Kyrga. It is time, general, to stop worrying about the Federation and start looking after the needs of Spino.”

“The needs of Spino are to punish the people responsible for Queen Samir’s death,” scowled the general. “If I cannot take my army out of the city, how am I to take our revenge?”

“There are people who handle such things,” suggested Lord Zachary.

“The Badgers?” gasped the general.

“Why not?” shrugged Zack. “It will exact our revenge, and it cannot possibly be traced back to us. Do you know how to contact them?”

“I have heard stories,” the general nodded. “It is said that one needs to send an emissary into the seedier taverns of any major city. The emissary will make a point of paying for ale with a coin that is mutilated by boring a hole through its center. No one will pay any attention to the emissary in the taverns, but a Badger will contact the emissary during the night.”

“Why an emissary?” asked Zack.

“Anyone who purchases the services of the Badgers would not want it known to anyone else,” answered the general. “The use of an obscure emissary hides the identity of the purchaser, but the Badgers will not accept jobs from just anyone, so the emissary must carry a sealed envelope with another mutilated coin inside. The envelope must be sealed with an official seal or the Badgers will refuse the job.”

“That does not sound difficult,” stated Zack. “Are they usually successful?”

“I have never heard of a failure,” shrugged the general, “but it hardly matters. There is no man that I would trust to make contact with the Badgers, and I couldn’t afford it in any event. I have to imagine that they would charge a hefty sum for the assassination of a royal, and they require half up front. I only have access to the funds for my army and that would be insufficient. The king or queen would have to allot me the funds for such an expenditure, and right now, Spino has neither a king nor a queen.”

“I may be able to help,” Lord Zachary smiled conspiratorially. “I may be well known in the finer inns of Valdo, but no one would recognize me in the seedier taverns of the city. I could be your emissary. As for the funds, I will put up the initial deposit. It is the least I can do to help you avenge Queen Samir’s murder. Besides, it would probably take a long time for them to plan a royal assassination and by then Samuel will have been found and coronated.”

General Vladin sighed heavily and nodded. He looked at Lord Zachary with a hint of camaraderie in his weak smile. “It must be done,” he said, “and the fewer people who know about it the better.”

The two men spent the next hour in seclusion as they mutilated coins. General Vladin took one of the coins and placed it in an envelope. He sealed the envelope with his seal and handed it to Lord Zachary.

“Do not let anyone see that envelope,” the general said worryingly.

“You can count on me, General Vladin,” promised the Vinaforan noble. “We shall have our revenge, and only we will have the satisfaction of knowing the truth about it.”

The general nodded as Lord Zachary slid a dozen mutilated coins into his purse and left the office. The Vinaforan noble headed for the taverns in the seedier part of the city and began purchasing ale. He bought only one ale in each tavern, but he spent enough time sipping it to let others see him. By the time he purchased the ale in the twelfth tavern the hour was late, and Lord Zachary made his way back to his room at the expensive Greystone Inn to wait for the contact to arrive. He knew something was wrong before he even entered his suite. The subtle trap he had left on the door to his suite had been disturbed. Someone had been in his room. A knife slid into Zack’s hand as he unlocked the door and used his foot to swing the door open. The suite was dark, every lantern extinguished. Zack stared into the dark room trying to determine if anyone waited for him in the darkness.

“Come in, Lord Zachary,” a soft voice commanded from deeper in the room. “You have been expecting me.”

A lantern suddenly flared to life and Zack saw two men in the room. Both of them were Badgers. One sat casually on the couch, and the other stood near the lantern that had just been lit.

“Leave us,” the man on the couch commanded the other man. “Lord Zachary will pose no threat to me.”

The subordinate Badger nodded wordlessly and stealthily moved towards the doorway that Lord Zachary was blocking. The Alcea spymaster stepped into the room to allow the man to leave, but not before admiring the stealth of the assassin as he crossed the room. The Badger walked past Zack and closed the door behind him. Zack crossed the room and sat in a chair opposite the Badger leader, sheathing his knife as he did so. The Badger noticed the move and smiled appreciatively.

“You have courage,” remarked the Badger. “That is good. I can’t stand working for weak-kneed clients. How may the Badgers serve you?”

“I represent a client who desires the removal of a highly placed person in Farmin,” stated Lord Zachary.

The Badger nodded knowingly, and a slight smile spread his lips. “King Harowin?”

Zack merely nodded.

“And you represent General Vladin?”

“How did you know?” asked Lord Zachary.

“The whole city knows about the death of Queen Samir at the hand of an Ertakan soldier,” stated the Badger. “Every one of my men were touring the taverns this night waiting for someone to make contact. You could have stopped drinking ale after the first tavern. I have been waiting hours for you to arrive. May I have the envelope please?”

Lord Zachary extracted the envelope from his pouch and handed it to the Badger leader. The assassin examined the seal and nodded with approval. He pushed it into his own pouch and returned his gaze to Lord Zachary.

“The price will be four-hundred-thousand,” stated the Badger. “Two-hundred-thousand in gold will be left in this room when you depart in the morning. The contract will not be accepted until we have that gold. Understood?”

“I understand,” frowned Lord Zachary. “How long will it take?”

“You cannot just assassinate a royal easily,” replied the Badger. “It will get done when it gets done.”

“Speed is important to the general,” countered Zack.

“Haste is dangerous,” the assassin shook his head. “We are not amateurs, Lord Zachary. The task will be done efficiently, but we will not be pushed in our schedule.”