decide until we have a better idea of what he’s willing to do, but I want to keep our options open in that respect.”
Salgahn nodded, and if he looked less than delighted by the prospect, Varnaythus found that understandable enough.
“In the meantime,” the wizard went on, “I’ve maintained my contacts with Cassan, and he’s been kind enough to provide me with an introduction to Yeraghor, as well. Needless to say, neither of them is the least bit happy over what Tellian’s up to, although I’m not positive Yeraghor truly realizes how close to finished that damned tunnel is. Or how profoundly the entire project-assuming it succeeds, of course-is going to change this part of Norfressa, for that matter.”
“How close are they?” Sahrdohr asked, and Varnaythus shrugged irritably.
“I was just watching that unmitigated little pain Chanharsa.” He gestured at the gramerhain. “She’s putting in a forty or fifty-yard section every day or so now, and she’s only got about another three-quarters of a mile to go. That’s only another two months. And the locks in the Balthar are already finished-they’ve had barges hauling construction materials all the way from from Hurgrum to The Gullet for two months now. The Derm Canal’s taking longer, but I expect it to be finished by next spring, even allowing for construction shutting down over the winter months. In fact, they might even get it done before first snowfall, if the weather favors them over the summer.”
Sahrdohr pursed his lips in a silent whistle, but Salgahn shook his head.
“That’s all well and good,” he pointed out, “but they’ve still got the River Brigands and the Ghoul Moor to worry about. As you just pointed out, Arthnar isn’t going to take Bahnak’s and Tellian’s plans very cheerfully.”
“Neither are the Purple Lords,” Varnaythus agreed. “But exactly how do you think they’re going to discourage a trio like Tellian, Kilthan, and Bahnak? Unless we-by which I’m afraid I really mean you, this time around-can convince Arthnar to try to kill them…and he succeeds, of course.”
Salghan snorted in acknowledgment, but he also shook his head again.
“I’m just saying it’s going to be a little more complicated than simply building a couple of canals and digging a tunnel,” he said.
“And that’s exactly what Yeraghor’s been counting on-and Cassan, too, I suspect.” Varnaythus shrugged. “Which, frankly, is…shortsighted of them, to say the least. Given the success rate Tellian and Bahnak-and Kilthan; let’s not forget him-have demonstrated to date, how likely do you think it is that they won’t succeed this time, as well?”
It was Salgahn’s turn to shrug, conceding the point.
“As it happens, the Ghoul Moor is going to figure rather more prominently in our plans than I’d thought it was,” Varnaythus continued. “I don’t know that it’s going to give us everything we want, although the chance that it might is actually better than I expected before She told me what resources we’ll have there. Even if it doesn’t work as well as expected”-he grimaced, and the others joined him as they recalled other plans which had failled to work exactly as the people who’d made them had expected-“it’s still going to hurt them badly. It may actually stop the canal project completely, although I expect it’s more likely just to slow them up for a year or two. More to the point, it ought to both draw attention to the foot of the Escarpment and away from what we’re really after on top of it. It may well fan the fire under Cassan and Yeraghor, as well, and whether it does or not, nothing that goes wrong for them on the Ghoul Moor is going to suggest any special interference on our part.”
“Ah?” Sahrdohr cocked an eyebrow, and Varnaythus smiled unpleasantly.
“I don’t have all the details yet, myself, but apparently the Ghouls are going to be receiving just a bit of a reinforcement. Quite a sizeable one, actually-possibly even enough of one to give one of those damned champions of Tomanak pause. And since the Ghoul Moor’s always been a…chancy proposition for the other side, let’s say, no one’s likely to be very surprised if this year’s expedition suffers an accident or two, even if the accident is rather more spectacular than most.”
The younger wizard nodded, and Varnaythus nodded back, then leaned back in his chair.
“The only downside in helping the ghouls slow them up is that if it does slow them up, it’s likely to undercut the sense of urgency we’ve been trying to encourage among Tellian’s opponents. One of my jobs is going to be keeping that urgency alive, and that means convincing Yeraghor and Cassan of just how close to success they are at court. Cassan’s had too much personal experience with the ghouls to expect them to stop Tellian’s and Bahzell’s plans unless they succeed a lot more spectacularly than I expect, but Yeraghor will probably tend to overestimate their chances, and even Cassan’s likely to see it as a reprieve. He’ll expect it to give him more time to build opposition in Sothofalas and on the Great Council, and he may figure the losses Tellian’s about to take will help his own arguments that the entire idea is going to cost more than it’s likely to be worth to the Kingdom in the long run. I need to knock both of those notions on the head, and for that I’m going to want access to Tellian’s correspondence with Macebearer and Shaftmaster. Can you get it for me, Malahk?”
“I don’t know.” Sahrdohr frowned thoughtfully. “Shaftmaster’s, yes. I’ll have to be careful, but I can get to it without too much difficulty. If it will be all right to use a capture spell on it, that is?”
It was Varnaythus’ turn to frown. A capture spell was a very minor working, one even one of those accursed magi probably wouldn’t notice unless he was right on top of it at the moment it was triggered. It required the use of a very small gramerhain, however, and if that was found on Sahrdohr’s person…
“You’re not concerned about carrying the stone with you?”
“I didn’t say I wasn’t concerned, but I think the risk would be manageable.” The younger wizard smiled crookedly and held out his left hand, then tapped the ring on his second finger with his right index finger. It was an obviously old piece, set with a rather cheap looking opal. “I’ve been wearing this ever since I got here just for a moment like this one,” Sahrdohr continued. “Everyone knows it has great sentimental value to me, despite the poor quality of the stone-it was a gift from my grandmother to my grandfather-so nobody thinks anything more about it. But-”
He touched the opal itself and it flashed into sudden clarity, like water-clear quartz. It stayed that way until he took his finger away again, when it turned just as quickly back into the milky stone it had been to begin with.
“Very nice,” Varnaythus said sincerely.
The fact that Sahrdohr had put the ring into place so long ago was yet another demonstration of his basic intelligence and foresight. And even at this short range, even after having had the glamour concealing the gramerhain demonstrated to him, Varnaythus could detect barely a whisper of the spell. If that was a sample of Sahrdohr’s craftsmanship, he was further along towards the rank of master than Varnaythus had thought.
“All right, if you’re comfortable using a capture spell, I’ll leave that in your hands. But what about Macebearer?”
“That’s going to be a lot harder,” Sahrdohr replied. “I’ve at least got an excuse to be in Shaftmaster’s office. I work for the man, after all. But I’m not high enough in the Exchequer to be wandering into the Prime Councilor’s office and examining his personal correspondence with Baron Tellian.”
“I really want to get our hands on those letters,” Varnaythus said. “Shaftmaster’s estimates will help- probably a lot-but Cassan’s still keeping his head down, even without our gingering up the ghouls. I need proof of how much ground Tellian is gaining with Macebearer and Markhos to get him stirred back up again.”
“Why don’t we just forge it?” Sahrdohr asked. “It wouldn’t be difficult-I can at least get samples of Macebearer’s signature and his personal secretary’s handwriting, and we already have samples of Tellian’s. We could create correspondence that said whatever we needed it to say, then mix it in with genuine correspondence between Tellian and Shaftmaster.”
“Tempting,” Varnaythus conceded. “Unfortunately, Cassan’s almost as good at this game as he thinks he is. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out he’s managed to get someone of his own inside Macebearer’s staff. Probably not someone with the kind of access he’d like to have, but he might well have enough access to realize we’re feeding him doctored documents.”
“I might have a solution,” Salgahn offered, and shrugged when both wizards looked at him. “I have a couple of men of my own inside the Palace. One of them’s covered as a stable hand, but the other’s on the housekeeping staff. He happens to be quite a good burglar, as a matter of fact.”
“Does he, now?” Varnaythus considered the other man thoughtfully.
Like most dog brothers, Salgahn was officially a follower of Sharna, although he was scarcely very devout. In fact, Varnaythus doubted Salgahn had ever seen one of Sharna’s actual rituals. It wasn’t the sort of thing which
