Twilight of Kerberos - [Shadowmage 01-03] - The Shadowmage Trilogy (Shadowmage; Night's Haunting; Legacy's Price) (91 page)

“My compliments to your lords,” the baron began, his voice echoing across the hall. “You are to depart immediately. Tell your masters our time is finally here. The artefact is with us.

“I humbly request their presence, and that of their armies and allies, to fulfil the next, glorious stage of our design. I bid you Godspeed on your journeys home.”

Bowing, the messengers turned and trotted out of the hall. De Sousse smiled. Within minutes, they would be on their horses and riding hard to rejoin Count Fournier and the rest of his little cabal. A few short days thereafter, Pontaine knights, men-at-arms and militia would be heading towards Turnitia, a force so large as to be unstoppable. Turning to leave the hall, de Sousse noticed the worried look on Tellmore’s face.

“Okay, Tellmore, out with it. What’s wrong?”

“My Lord Baron, as you please.”

“Oh, get on with it, man!”

“I feel you are moving prematurely. I am not sure I have impressed upon you just how difficult – and thus time-consuming – activating the Guardian Starlight may be. And even then, we still don’t know the real effects of the artefact. You may have to adjust your plans to fit in with what it can actually do.”

“Tellmore, Tellmore, Tellmore,” the baron said, putting his arm around the wizard. “My respect for your magical knowledge and abilities is boundless, it really is. But strategy is my skill, remember? You think just any baron of Pontaine could choose the perfect time to march into this city and take it from under the noses of the Vos Empire? I know what I am doing!”

“Granted, my Baron, but your plan hinges on using the Guardian Starlight, does it not?”

“One plan does, certainly.”

“One plan?”

“Did you learn nothing about me in the Anclas Territories? I do try so very, very hard not to rely on just one shot of the bow.”

Tellmore looked a little crestfallen. “Is my Baron beginning to lose confidence in my work? After all, you sent Lucius after me.”

“I swear I am talking to myself at times. Were you not listening earlier? I have the utmost confidence in your work. Believe me, I would not pay the gold I do if I did not!”

“Then...’

“I also know how difficult magic can be, Tellmore. I may not know all the ins and outs, I may not be any sort of practitioner myself, but I have eyes, and I have seen magic is a complicated thing that does not always obey the wishes of its masters. That is just the nature of the beast.”

“So you always had another plan in case there was a problem with the Guardian Starlight?”

“Now you are catching on! Yes, Tellmore, I have another plan working in the background.

“And this plan has come to fruition?”

“Political bridges, Tellmore, alliances – that’s the key.”

Tellmore frowned. “I don’t follow, my Baron.”

“Court Fournier was always the core of my design. If I could bring him over to my way of thinking, I figured it would be much easier to get the visiting barons to come with him. However, the noble families of Pontaine create a vast network, Tellmore. Vast. If you start tugging on one string, others will move as well.”

“And with the strings of the count and barons, you could tug several at once?”

De Sousse smiled. “You follow the metaphor, that’s a good sign! Yes, with the right word in the right ear, it became inevitable that more families would throw their lot in with us, especially with the prize on offer – the fall of the Vos Empire. The Knights of Angue have pledged their allegiance to our cause, along with the Verte Rangers. Count Fournier has persuaded Baron du Fillimont to levy a new militia from the towns along the Sardenne, bringing another two thousand spears to the army.”

“That’s... clever, my Baron.”

“Not yet it isn’t – but it will be! You see, the tugging does not stop there. Our invasion of Vos territory will be another tug on the web of Pontaine noble families, and a few more will join us. Give them a victory, and yet more will follow. We keep tugging, and gradually we will pull the whole weight of Pontaine behind us. Vos will not be able to stand!”

“So the Guardian Starlight is, what, no longer needed?”

“Of course it is! It is another tug on that web, Tellmore, and a bloody big one too.”

“How so?”

“It becomes like a banner. An outward sign that the path we are on is irresistible destiny. We will persuade any dissenters that our way is the only way for Pontaine. Even if the artefact does not work, even if we cannot figure out how to use it, it still has great value. We have a powerful elven artefact in our possession! Few are going to argue against that.”

“And no doubt the Guardian Starlight will be of use in the later stages of the war you are planning, or perhaps when the war is done and you need its magic to rule.”

“Just so.”

“It just seems you are moving too far, too soon and too quickly, my Baron. Things threaten to spin out of control.”

“For heaven’s sake, Tellmore,” the baron said. “Please remind me, are you growing into an old man or an old woman?”

Lowering his head, Tellmore did not answer. The baron looked at him for a while, then sighed.

“I know your concerns, and I have taken note. However, a bit of chaos, a bit of disruption to the old order is exactly what is needed right now.

“It is our time at last, Tellmore. Do try to find it within yourself to enjoy it.”

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

L
UCIUS ARRIVED BACK
in the city in late afternoon, and Turnitia bustled as it always did at this time, with merchants and craftsmen pursuing their trades, even as beggars and thieves chased theirs. Resolved to hand over the Guardian Starlight to the baron as agreed, he nonetheless wanted to see what had been happening in the city since his departure. The baron had waited this long for the artefact, a few hours more would not hurt him.

Presuming his guildhouse would be watched by the baron’s men, he stuck to the alleyways of the city, only venturing out when he could hide in a large crowd, outside a general store that had just received a new shipment of goods from the far side of Pontaine, or surrounding a troupe of street performers. It was on the outskirts of one of these crowds he found what he was looking for.

An aged woman, crippled by long years on the streets, tightened her ragged beige shawl as he approached. Looking up at him with an age-creased face, she revealed large gaps in her teeth as she smiled and raised a ceramic bowl.

“Copper for an old lady, good sir?”

“You know who I am?” he asked.

“A generous soul is what I am hoping, good sir.”

“I need to speak to Grennar, immediately.”

“Oh, I am not sure I know any Grennar, not round these parts,” the woman said, and pointedly slid her bowl along the ground towards him.

Lucius fished in his belt pouch and threw two coins into the bowl.

“So, where can I find her?”

“Find who, dearee?” the woman said, cupping a hand to an ear. “You’ll have to forgive me, quite deaf you know.”

Lucius sighed in exasperation, and reached into his pouch to deposit another two coins into her bowl.

“Ah, you mean young Grennar. Ring Street, near the second market. Look for a path next to the cobblers. You’ll find her there.”

Nodding his gratitude, Lucius stood and made his way to Ring Street, using the crowds and alleyways to veil his journey.

Nearing Ring Street, he sighted the cobblers the beggar woman had described, and headed down a narrow alley next to it. There, among a dozen discarded wooden crates stacked against the wall of the cobblers’ place, he found Grennar.

Wearing a thin smock that had seen better days, her exposed skin was covered in muck and filth. Surrounding her were more beggars, of all ages, equally filthy.

“We need to talk,” Grennar said, pre-empting Lucius. “Leave us, all of you.” And with that, her street comrades scattered. “You have been away a little longer than I expected,” she said, turning to Lucius.

“Complications.”

“Isn’t that always the way?” She swept dirt off an upturned crate next to her and gestured for Lucius to sit. “If such things were easy, of course, everyone would be doing them.”

“So I keep telling myself.”

“Were you successful?”

Lucius drew back his cloak so that Grennar could see the Guardian Starlight. She gave a low whistle.

“Looks pretty. I hope it is worth the trouble it will bring you.”

“What have you heard?”

“I am not certain the baron has been entirely straight with you.”

“You mean he intends to renege on our deal?”

“Oh, I am sure he will fulfil whatever concessions you asked of him.”

“Then what?”

“Our glorious baron has been receiving visitors of high rank for quite some time now. At first, we thought it had little to do with us, presuming it was merely an extension of Pontaine politics.

“But when you consider the large orders that have been placed and paid for with the city’s weapons and armoursmiths, the tanners and bowyers, it becomes clear what is happening. More men-at-arms are arriving from his estate in Pontaine – large numbers of them. We estimate his military force here in Turnitia has doubled and is still growing.”

“An army? You think this is leading to a new war with Vos?”

Grennar nodded. “And your artefact there is a central part of their plan.”

“Great, so I deliver my commission, and it sets off a war between Pontaine and Vos!”

“I don’t believe it is quite as easy as that. Vos and Pontaine have been spoiling for war ever since the day the last one ended.”

“It will still aid their course, though.”

“Possession of an artefact of great and ancient magical power likely tipped the baron towards this course of action, yes.”

For a long moment, Lucius just sat on the battered crate within the dirty alley. Finally he stood and turned to face her.

“Grennar... I must go.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know yet. I... don’t know.”

“Lucius... Where is Adrianna?”

“I left her in the Territories.”

“You mean you ran from her?”

“Yes. This thing, so close to her,” he said, touching his belt, “it was driving her mad. She was becoming dangerous again.”

“Like before?”

“Just like before.”

“By the heavens, Lucius. She will tear this city apart trying to find you.”

“I can feel her approaching, even now.

“For what it is worth, I am sorry, Grennar. Thank you, though. Thank you for everything you have done for me.”

With that, he turned and walked away, not even seeing the beggars at the end of the alley as he pushed past them. He thought furiously as he walked through the back streets of the city.

Above all else, he wanted things to be simple again. Why did everything these days have to get complicated?

He cursed. He was feeling sorry for himself, and that was not going to help anyone. Even if it did feel like the weight of the whole city was now on his shoulders. He had a nasty thought that the decision he was about to make had been decided before he had even returned to the city.

His own professional pride aside, it felt like Pontaine was about to open a door it would find very hard to close again. The last war had almost broken both nations, and it had not just been the people of the Anclas Territories that had paid the price. Turnitia had always been pivotal between Vos and Pontaine. The latter was now ascendant, though the city had prospered under its fairer rule. But what would be the cost when war arrived? Any response from Vos could easily devastate the city and break everything that had been achieved in the past few months. That included the work he had done, building the thieves’ guild into something he was surprised to find he was quite proud of.

That was odd. He had never really wanted the power or responsibility of guildmastery, and he had certainly not actively sought it. As Lucius looked back at his time in Turnitia, it seemed remarkable that the choices he had made just seemed to follow a natural conclusion to him being a master of thieves.

What was even stranger was that he might enjoy the position. For all its irritations, the guild posed him not only suitable challenges but also great compensations. Though he rarely gave the matter much thought, he had become a very wealthy man.

Then there was Adrianna. Grennar had been right when she said the Shadowmage would tear the city apart to find him and the Guardian Starlight.

He did briefly consider handing the Guardian Starlight over to the baron as he had planned, and letting him fight Adrianna for it. It was almost a very neat ploy, getting both sides to destroy one another. The end result would be a shattered Pontaine force that had its energy spent before it could even consider starting another war, and a Shadowmage that might be... what? Killed?

As much as he hated the thought of Adrianna dead, if it were a choice between that and everyone else in the city, then what kind of choice was it anyway?

However, this was all foolish thinking. Even if Adrianna attacked the baron, one of them would survive, and they would have the Guardian Starlight in their possession. At that point, either the war would start or Adrianna, if she were the survivor, would begin whatever reign of terror she was planning.