Pitrick. 'Increase both the number and the quality of the troops we have there.'
'Specifically?'
'The Thane's Guard,' Pitrick supplied quickly. 'They are the most reliable of your troops, and they will perform the task alertly. I'll need two dozen of your guard and a good captain…'
The thane squinted. 'You would have a captain in mind, of course?'
Pitrick smiled thinly. 'Indeed, Excellency. I believe Perian
Cyprium is just the officer for the task.'
'There wouldn't be another reason you have selected her?' asked the thane.
Pitrick coughed again, bowing his head modestly. Staring at his adviser's bristling yellow hair, the thane pondered for a moment. Perian was a good, loyal captain, one of his best.
Both of her parents had served him well before their deaths.
She would not be happy with the assignment — her disgust for the adviser was as well known as Pitrick's lust for her.
The thane himself found Pitrick distasteful, but he keenly appreciated the savant's power and insight.
Besides which, Pitrick was the architect of the arrange ment with Sanction. His diplomatic and magical skills could prove the key to all of the Theiwar's future grandeur. The thane considered him indispensable if the nation was to achieve the glory that was its rightful destiny. Thus it was that Realgar had no real difficulty assessing Pitrick's re quest.
'Very well. I shall put Captain Cyprium under your or ders, effective immediately. We will double the guard, for now.
'And as for Hillhome,' concluded the thane, 'that will re quire some thought. The hill dwarves' ungrateful attitude and perpetual greed are beginning to annoy me.'
Pitrick bowed to conceal his smile.
Perian marched purposefully through the second level of the city, preparing to climb to the third level, where she knew she would find Pitrick, the thane's hunchbacked ad viser. In her gut she fought a crawling sensation that threat ened to overwhelm her with disgust.
She had been fending off Pitrick's odious advances for several years a summons that required her to call upon the adviser in his apartments put her at a distinct disadvan tage. Still, the thane had ordered her to see the adviser, and her duty was to obey.
The only child of her generation in a long line of dwarven warriors, Perian had buckled on armor and taken up the sword when it was her turn to follow in the family tradition.
Her father, mother — until Perian's birth — and uncles had all served with merit in the thane's House Guard. That elite le gion, dedicated to the racial supremacy of the derro, com prised the most trusted of the Theiwar troops.
Perian had proven adept both at the physical aspects of combat and at the mental challenges of command, rising quickly through the ranks of the thane's personal body guard. Now she commanded the House Guard, proudly taking her place with the four or five highest ranking offi cers in the thane's service.
Thane Realgar, she knew, was the most powerful king in all Thorbardin, mainly because the magical abilities many
Theiwar possessed gave him an edge. Vicariously, she ought to take some pride in that status. Instead, she admitted only to herself, she felt a slight tinge of guilt and discomfort.
Perhaps it was because, unlike most of the Theiwar dwarves — the inhabitants of Thane Realgar's two cities — she was only half derro. Full derro always found a savage glee in the dark side of things. But the other half of her dwar ven ancestry could be traced to the Hylar dwarves, and Per ian often wondered if that aspect did not dominate her private personality.
She was innately distrustful of magic, and Pitrick was the most powerful savant, or mage, among the Theiwar: gro tesque, malicious, and deceitful. His undeniable magic power was just the surface manifestation of many unpleas ant features. There was also the matter of his leering and rude sexual proposals, stopping just short of brute force.
Unfortunately, she could not afford to be entirely indif ferent to him. She reflected, with her usual frustration, on the tangled hold Pitrick had over her life.
Perian's father and mother had also been loyal, decorated soldiers in the thane's troop of Huscarles, or House Guards.
When Perian was born, her mother retired from active duty and devoted herself to raising her only child. She had been indulgent to Perian, and often wistful around the child. Per ian's father, on the other hand, had been emotionally distant from both of them — a proper dwarf soldier, Perian had al ways thought. Given her family, she had encountered no difficulty joining the House Guard — about ten percent of its troopers were female — or rising quickly to the rank of ser geant. That was when Pitrick, the oily adviser to the thane, had first entered her life.
He had confronted her with evidence of her true origin, in the form of letters from her mother to a Hylar soldier — her mother's secret lover. According to Pitrick, that illicit union had produced Perian. As far as she was aware, no one but her, her mother, and Pitrick knew that she was neither a full blooded derro nor the daughter of the bold warrior whose reputation was known far and wide. It was true that Perian's ruddy skin and auburn hair were slightly unusual for a full blooded derro. It was equally true that the House Guard of the Theiwar required its members to be racially pure. Perian dreaded the day Pitrick would use his information as the ul timate blackmail. Perian had no way to confirm her circum stances of birth. But she had to admit the sample of her mother's handwriting was genuine and, as the rank of cap tain loomed before her, this information had placed her in Pitrick's power. So far, she had always managed to call the adviser's bluff without goading him into action, but he was too unstable and dangerous to be taken for granted.
Many times Perian had wondered whether her father was naturally distant, or whether he had suspected the truth.
She wished her mother had never written those letters, had not been so foolish, just as she often pondered how power ful an emotion love could be, to make someone like her mother risk everything.
Eventually she reached the lift that would take her into the noble's quarters, high in the upper level of the city. Pit rick was no noble by birth, but as adviser to the thane he was considered the second most important dwarf in the Theiwar city. An iron cage descended to meet her now, and she stepped inside. With a steady clanking, the chain-and pulley mechanism carried her up for a hundred feet through a hollow column in the mountain.
When it stopped she stepped onto the terrace of the no ble's plaza. Perian ignored the view over the wall, where much of the underground Theiwar city could be seen in its splendor — the neatly squared streets, high walls, thick columns, houses and shops, blanketing the floor of the ca vern. She strode to the doors and was instantly admitted.
She was greeted by a disfigured, cloaked servant, but his master quickly came into the antechamber and viciously sent the servant scurrying away. As always, the hunch back's stare discomforted her.
'Good news,' said Pitrick, clapping his hands delightedly together. 'You are assigned to me, now — I am your commander!'
Perian felt a chill of apprehension shiver along her spine.
'In what capacity?' she asked, forcing her voice to remain level.
'We are increasing the guards at the mouth of the wagon tunnel! Come now, don't pretend surprise. You know of its existence. You will be placed in command.' Pitrick's sparse beard could not hide his leer. The hump on his back forced him to bend forward, and thus he was always looking up at her.
'I prefer to remain with my old billet, the training of the guard,' she objected.
Pitrick leaned closer, his dank breath moist against her face. 'I grow tired of your game, my dear. Keep in mind that I could have you ruined with a single word!'
'Then do it!' Perian shot back.
With a sneer, Pitrick stepped away and looked her up and down. 'You know me too well, dear girl. Still, perhaps I shall, someday. Perhaps I shall, if you continue baiting me this way,' Perian noted, his hand clasping the iron amulet that always hung from his neck. Blue light began seeping be tween his fingers.
'You will do good work for me,' the hunchback said softly. Perian's head grew light, and she was surprised
