you see fit.”
“As well you may! But I see fit to pardon you, young outlaw. As a matter of fact, I myself have spent more than a few years with a price on my head. It’s good to have it lifted, is it not?”
Blayne allowed himself to smile for the first time, it seemed, in many weeks. “Yes, Excellency,” he agreed. “Yes it is.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Jaymes went to see Selinda in her rooms. There were several large trunks standing open, partially filled with clothes, while a pair of maids were busy gathering dresses from the wardrobes and carefully packing them away. When the emperor entered, the maids scurried out, leaving him alone with his wife.
“I’m leaving for the High Clerist’s Tower,” he said. “Coryn just returned with confirmation: not only did the Nightmaster and your father go there, but so did Ankhar-and a large number of his ogres. I’m going to end this once and for all.”
“They can’t be allowed to stay there, I know,” Selinda replied. “I only pray this battle brings the war-all the wars-to an end.”
He nodded with real sincerity. “I do too. It’s been too long, too much fighting. I want to rule an empire at peace.” Jaymes cleared his throat, looking at his wife awkwardly. “I will try to protect your father, if I can.”
“Do what you must,” she said curtly. “I now understand what I was to him, and that knowledge has hardened my heart.” She looked more puzzled than angry. “He served the Prince of Lies! All of it, his whole life, was a lie! I’m glad to be free of him.”
The emperor looked around, as if noticing the trunks, the empty wardrobes, for the first time. “I’ll be back when this is over. It may take some time, a month or two, but I will come home before winter to this place… I hope I can come home to you, as well.”
Selinda sighed, going over to the window and looking out over the city’s central plaza. People were walking back and forth on the great square. A pair of musicians played a lute and pipe, trying to collect tips. The temples were busy, worshipers coming and going. The little stalls of the farmers’ market were doing brisk business. It was a hot summer day, and children splashed in several of the great fountains around the square, while a few men-at- arms of the city guard ambled around, amiably watching the activities of the citizenry. She took it all in for a moment then turned back to her husband.
“This city is a good place to live in again. And so much of that is due to you. You have made mistakes-some of which are hard to forgive-but you have learned from those mistakes and grown stronger, greater.”
“Won’t you let me come back to you? Let me prove to you how I have changed?”
She shook her head. “No. I cannot.”
He gestured to the trunks. “But where will you go?” he asked.
“I’m going to the Temple of Kiri-Jolith. There is plenty of room for me there, and I will be with Melissa. I have to do a lot of thinking, and talking to her helps me clear my mind.”
The emperor winced almost as though he were in pain. When he spoke, his tone, his words, were uncharacteristically hesitant. “If… after that… after I come back… perhaps we could try again. I would like to have you at my side.”
Selinda raised her head. The sunlight coming through the windows outlined her golden hair, rendering a shimmering corona around her scalp. “I will have our baby,” she said, touching the subtle mound of her belly. “And you will have this child, as well.”
Her voice hardened. “But you will never again have me. I know my destiny, and it is not to be merely a woman of the city. My fate is tied into the fate of the nation, and yours is to forge this nation, and the others of Solamnia, into an empire. I accept that destiny and will do what I can to help you hold this empire together.
“But I will not live in your house… or share your bed.”
He nodded slowly, hiding his emotions well-except for a slight narrowing of his eyes. But he made no argument. For a few moments, he stood still then slowly turned toward the door.
“Good-bye,” he said quietly. “May all the gods watch over you.”
“And good luck to you,” she answered. “I know you will have Coryn’s help, and Dram’s, and of course all your armies. But be careful.”
“I will.” Still he hesitated.
“I think she loves you. Did you know that?” Selinda almost whispered the words.
He looked at her, puzzled, not knowing how to respond.
“Coryn. I think she’s been in love with you for years. Just… watch over her, too, will you?”
He nodded, finally opening the door. “I will do that,” he said and slowly walked away.
The High Lookout on the High Clerist’s Tower was host to a meeting of a number of eminent figures, a weighty enough gathering to justify the name of the platform not just in altitude, but in soaring rank. Ankhar the Truth was there, as was the Thorn Knight Hoarst. The former lord regent of Palanthas, Bakkard du Chagne, and the black-masked Nightmaster of Hiddukel, who had brought du Chagne there from the city, were also present.
The ogress Pond-Lily was also up on the parapet-she never strayed far from Ankhar, fearing she would get lost in the labyrinthine corridors of the great fortress-but she hung back near the door to the tower and looked fearfully at the four stern males, who paced and cursed as they argued among themselves.
The lookout was a ring-shaped space. Rising from the center of the platform was the narrow spire that supported the highest perch, called the Nest of the Kingfisher. There was one door leading from the lookout to the interior of the tower, which was merely a landing for the narrow flight of stairs spiraling up to the Kingfisher’s platform, and a much wider set of steps curling downward to the many rooms, apartments, and other rooms of the interior.
The fortress sprawling hundreds of feet below the lookout was well-patrolled. Dark Knights were visible from above, posted on the parapets of the curtain wall and the gatehouses. Ogres lolled in the courtyards. To the northeast, on the tenuous road that Blackgaard’s men had carved, a procession of soldiers bore heavy packs laden with grain and fruit from the farms in the secret valley.
“Why we hide here?” demanded Ankhar, his ham-sized hands on his hips as he glared accusingly at the others. “Inside walls? This is not how ogres fight! This is not how I fight.”
“These walls are all that is going to keep you alive,” Hoarst replied pointedly. “And the spell that brought you here saved your life, you might recall. The town of dwarves didn’t give you any walls, and your ogres were dying by the score!”
“Bah!” The half-giant didn’t want to hear it. But neither could he come up with a witty riposte, probably because the wizard spoke the truth. The defeat at New Compound still confounded, dismayed, and enraged the half-giant. How could it have gone so wrong when everything had started out so right? His brilliant battle plan- wasted! He growled deep in his chest, smashing his fist down onto the rampart, which knocked a piece of stone loose and bruised his flesh. He watched sullenly as the chip of stone tumbled down for a long time, finally shattering in the courtyard next to a very startled ogre.
“Look,” the Thorn Knight said, striving for a reasonable tone. “We have a very strong position here. A thousand Dark Knights and a thousand ogres can hold this place for a very long time-perhaps forever. Nothing can move across the pass, and so we have cut Solamnia in two. Here, too, we control access to the secret valley to the north; the farms and herds there will give us all the food we need to stay holed up here for years if need be.”
“For years! But what will happen when the emperor brings his army up from the plains!” du Chagne declared harshly.
“I am not afraid of the emperor!” Ankhar roared, the force of his voice sending du Chagne retreating behind the Nightmaster.
“We are not here because we fear the emperor,” the priest stated coldly, “but because we can give him a battle to our advantage here. I myself will take command of the south gatehouse-that’s the most likely place for him to come against us.”
