'Most of all, I cannot go Eastward,' he continued, his voice resuming a normal volume, but taking on an edge of bitterness. 'The Eastern Empire is large enough to swallow Hardorn and never notice; the Eastern mages are as good or better than any I can hire, and their armies are vast...and well-paid. And they are watching me. I know it.'
That frightened him; Falconsbane had no trouble at all in reading his fear, it was clear in the widening of his eyes, in the tense muscles of his neck and shoulders, in the rigidity of his posture.
'At the moment, they seem to feel that Hardorn is not worth the fight it would take to conquer it. They had a treaty with my father, which they have left in place, but the Emperor has not actually signed a treaty with my regime. Emperor Charliss has not even sent an envoy until very recently. I believe they are watching me, assessing me. But if I fail to take Valdemar, they will assume that I am weak enough to conquer.' He grimaced. 'My father had treaties of mutual defense with Valdemar and Iftel to protect him. I do not have those. I had not thought I would need them.'
'Then do not attempt Valdemar a third time,' Falconsbane suggested mildly.
Ancar's jaw clenched. 'If I do not, the result will be the same. The Emperor Charliss will assume I am too weak to try. They have sent their ambassador here, and an entourage with him, as if they were planning on signing the treaty soon, but they have not deceived me. These people are not here to make treaties, they are here to spy on me. There are spies all over Hardorn by now. I have found some - '
'I trust you left them in place,' Mornelithe said automatically.
He snorted. 'Of course I did, I am not that big a fool. The best spy is the one you know! But I am also not so foolish as to think that I have found them all.' He rose and began pacing in front of the fire, still talking. 'One of the reasons I am sure that I have been unable to attract mages of any great ability is that the Emperor can afford to pay them far more than I can offer. I am fairly certain that the mages I have are not creatures of his, but there is no way of telling if he has placed mages as spies in my court and outside of it. So long as they practiced their mage- craft secretly, how would I ever know what they were?'
Falconsbane refrained from pointing out that he had just told the boy how he would know, that disturbances in the energy-fields would tell him. Perhaps neither he nor his mages were sensitive to those fields. It was not unheard of, though such mages rarely rose above Master. Perhaps he was sensitive, but only when in trance. If so, that was the fault of his teacher.
Ancar abruptly turned and strode back to the window, standing with his back to Falconsbane and the room, staring at the rapidly-clearing clouds.
'This is something I had not seen before,' he said, as if to himself. 'And I had not known that magic could wreck such inadvertent and accidental havoc. It would be an excellent weapon....'
Falconsbane snorted softly. It had taken the boy long enough to figure that out.
'Men calling themselves 'weather-wizards' have come to me, seeking employment,' he continued. 'I had thought them little better than herb-witches and charm-makers. They didn't present themselves well enough for me to believe them. I shall have to go about collecting them now.'
'That would be wise,' Falconsbane said mildly, hiding his contempt.
Ancar turned again and walked back into the room, this time heading for the door, but paused halfway to that portal to gaze back at Falconsbane.
'Is there anything else you need?' he asked.
Falconsbane was quite sure that if he asked for what he really wanted - his freedom - he would not get it. Ancar was not yet sure enough of him, or of himself. Rightly so. The moment he had that freedom, Falconsbane would squash the upstart like an insect.
But perhaps - perhaps it was time to ask for something else, something nearly as important.
'Send me someone you wish eliminated,' he said. 'Permanently eliminated, I mean. Male or female, it does not matter.'
He halfway expected more questions - why he wanted such a captive, and what he expected to do with such a sacrificial victim when he had one. But Ancar's eyes narrowed; he smiled, slowly, and there was a dark and sardonic humor about the expression that told Falconsbane that Ancar didn't care why he wanted a victim. He nodded, slowly and deliberately. His eyes locked with Falconsbane's, and the Adept once again saw in Ancar's eyes a spirit kindred to his own.
Which made Ancar all the more dangerous. There was no room in the world for two like Falconsbane.
He left without another word, but no more than half a candlemark later, two guards arrived. Between them they held a battered, terrified man, so bound with chains he could scarcely move. When Falconsbane rose, one of them silently handed him the keys to the man's bindings.
The guards backed out, closing the door behind them.
