to extirpate it. The information wil be hidden in a thousand places, to be found by some fool who can build on it, toward a more successful outcome.”
The man opposite the Old Man moved a piece on the shogi board. “Were I himself and inclined to spy, this tower would be a favorite target.”
“You would need to know it exists.”
Ragnarson noted the subtlest of changes in Lord Ssu-ma.
The man had regained respect for his empress, but something disturbing had occurred to him. He beckoned the Candidate, Lein She, to him, breathed into the man’s ear. Lein She turned pale, nodded, limped out.
Mist continued, “Until today no one came here except by transfer.” She watched Lord Ssu-ma and the Candidate, constrained a frown. “Most of you prisoners are dead to the world outside. Unless he cares about a handful of local criminals left over from before we took over… Lord Ssuma, what?”
“That may, in fact, be true, Il ustrious. I asked Lein She to consult the records, to see if any of those men were involved in the Pracchia conspiracy.”
Ragnarson saw the red flags. The Star Rider might know about the tower already. He might have initiated that attack.
The Unborn’s several visits would not have gone unnoticed either.
Mist said, “That possibility hadn’t occurred to me. It’s certainly plausible. The raiders’ true purpose might have been to plant spying talismans.” She began to think out loud. “That would be something smal and easily overlooked. So he wouldn’t be watching directly, himself.
He would get reports from someone here in the city. Those would be slow, infrequent, and unreliable. Magden Norath may have been the last dependable friend he had.” Lord Yuan invited himself to leave without asking permission.
No one said anything. Ragnarson thought the slapped-together character of the gathering was about to assert itself. Chaos might be afoot, particularly if Old Meddler was watching.
He considered Varthlokkur. The wizard would have been the most difficult to locate and get to attend—had ridden the Unborn into a halfass conspiracy in ful view of thousands.
Old Meddler might stil be several steps ahead.
Questions, questions. The wizard had come from Kavelin.
Mist must stil have transfer access there. Why, then, would Varthlokkur show himself getting here? He could have made a transfer and remained invisible.
Mist said, “We here share a treasure house of knowledge.
Especial y…” She indicated the Old Man, who flinched, for the first time demonstrating any awareness of his situation.
“There are others I wish could be here. The Disciple and the Deliverer would be especial y valuable.” That caused a stir. It surprised Ragnarson, for sure. But neither of those two had more than a couple toes anchored in this world. Right?
Lord Yuan returned. “Lord Ssu-ma’s intuition was correct.
Monitors are parasited onto the transfer portals, presumably about the time of that raid, but only big enough to report usages, not who is coming and going. They’re not sophisticated. It wil take time to wring out the details.
Il ustrious, you should consider how best to profit from the opportunity.”
Might Varthlokkur have suspected and so have avoided using the portals? Probably not.
Once there had been talk of a dread monster that lurked inside the transfer streams, preying on travelers. But that had been dealt with during the war with the Deliverer. Had it not?
Maybe there was something else.
Everything seemed to have an underground, secret side.
Ragnarson enjoyed an intuitive moment.
Mist wanted to pul the relevant secrets into a single pot so she could cook up something unique. Though chaotic at this moment, this was no spur of the moment gathering.
She asked, “Are any of you opposed to what I’m proposing? On any grounds but degree of difficulty?”
...
The Old Man turned, peered at Mist directly, entirely present and ful y engaged. A remarkable change, if real.
He did not speak.
“No one? It’s a good thing I mean to do? It could risk this entire empire.”
Wen-chin said, “It may be too altruistic for most, Il ustrious.” Was there a caution buried there? A subtle admonition that this was not a path her ancestors would have chosen to walk without first having seen a major chance to aggrandize themselves?
She shrugged. Whatever she did, some Tervola would suspect a darker intent. That was the nature of the beast.
Such men viewed the world through the lenses of their own characters.
“I see no objections. Gentlemen, I do mean this.” Despite the terrible fright Lords Yuan and Ssu-ma had just delivered. “I wil take the Empire to war against that wicked entity. There’l be no getting out after this.” She proposed an adventure that had begun a thousand times before.
She looked round. She had, indirectly, pol ed each one earlier. Lords Yuan and Shih-ka’i would be reluctant. They had no skin in the game— though Lord Yuan could be captivated by the technical chal enge of implications that had emerged during the contest with the Deliverer.
He had remained invisible throughout that struggle, behind the scenes, fixated on maximizing the carrying capacity of the transfer portals. The success of the eastern legions had depended entirely on transfer logistics. Tactical and operational stresses had been extreme, too. Lord Yuan had not had time to examine al of the temporal anomalies and philosophical conundrums that had arisen. But he was getting excited now.
The pig farmer’s son, then. She needed his stabilizing support. But how to make him a believer?
That would be a chal enge. She was no fanatic herself.
She wanted to do this. She saw it as worthy work that could change the world. But she did not want to become a martyr to her cause.
“Stil no one?” She looked at Shih-ka’i directly. He did not respond. “Very wel . Some questions, then.” She meant that not as a cal for questions but as a prelude to presenting several topics. But Michael Trebilcock spoke quickly. “Here’s one. Why am I here?”
“The question intrigues me as wel . Consult the wizard. I didn’t invite you. Of this gathering you’re the man I know the least and trust the least, but it’s too late to evict you. I won’t rail against what I can’t change, though I suppose I could always kil you. I would caution you but I do know you wel enough to understand that that would be pointless. You thrive on danger. You seek it the way the Disciple seeks opium.”
Varthlokkur volunteered, “I brought Michael because he has unique intel igence resources and can provide priceless support if you do return the King to Kavelin. I thought it would be useful if Michael understood what is going on and why.”
Mist nodded. That exposed a problem sure to rear up again. Some of these men were used to thinking for themselves. They would do what they thought needed doing without asking.
This would be the hardest thing she had done yet. She might be doomed to fail simply for having made the choice to try.
Old Meddler had survived forever. No doubt he smel ed this taking shape. Given his oft-demonstrated talent for suborning even those with everything to lose by assisting him, she would not be amazed to discover that someone here was his agent already.
The Old Man? He and the Old Meddler had worked together for ages. Their fal ing out might be more apparent than real.
Or it could be Michael Trebilcock, just for the thril ? Michael loved complex conspiracies.
Someone said, “Il ustrious?”
Varthlokkur said, “Gentlemen, our leader just underwent a severe paranoia spasm.”
Mist glared as he continued, “That’s his most insidious strength. He makes you waste time looking over your shoulder. Your own class relies heavily on the same power.” She forced a smile. “Wel . You haven’t declared
