fatal.
No more lies, he reminded himself, thinking of the man he'd been when he strode out of the Labyrinth.
He held his hands out from his body, away from his own sword. 'I'm Aunn,' he said. 'Haunderk.' He changed his face to match the name, which was how Thuel knew him. 'Everything I just told you is true. You're right that Kelas was plotting behind your back with Baron Jorlanna and Arcanist Wheldren.' He decided not to bring Nara's name into the discussion-not yet. 'Kelas was plotting against the queen, and I believe Jorlanna still has her eyes on the throne.'
'Kelas is dead, then?'
'Yes.' He felt a surge of anger, remembering the dead body on the lip of the canyon.
'At your hand.' It wasn't an accusation, but a statement of the obvious. 'Yes.'
'And the world's well rid of him. The question is: What do I do with you?'
'Let me continue what I'm doing. Please.'
'So far, you haven't convinced me that you have the situation in hand. After I had the baron screaming in my halls this morning, demanding Kelas's head, I have to wonder how useful it is to pretend Kelas is still alive.'
'She'll talk to me. Kelas was part of her plot. No one else has her confidence.'
'Then I should find another changeling to become Kelas-one who won't get caught.'
'No one knows Kelas as well as I do.' He wondered if that were true, remembering the other changeling he'd found in Kelas's house. An acrid taste like blood soured his mouth.
The point of Thuel's sword dipped slightly. 'Show me,' he said.
Aunn drew a steadying breath and changed again, hiding himself behind Kelas's arrogant smile. Thuel stepped closer, lowering his sword point to the floor. He peered at Aunn's face, scrutinizing the details, staring into his eyes. Aunn didn't meet his gaze, just as Kelas wouldn't. Thuel made a slow circle around him, examining every detail.
'Kelas always said you were the best,' Thuel said from behind him.
He heard the rustle of Thuel's coat and a soft intake of breath, then Aunn twisted around and away as Thuel thrust his blade forward. The rapier's point cut through Aunn's coat and shirt to scrape across his back as he whirled to face Thuel. His hand fumbled at his belt where he usually kept a mace.
'Don't,' he said. He reached for the hilt of his sword, at the other side of his belt, and yanked it from its sheath.
Thuel took a dueling stance-sword arm forward, body turned to the side, and his off hand thrust behind him. 'I'm sorry, Haunderk, but I can't let you run free any longer.' He stepped forward, and Aunn scurried back away from his blade. 'Kelas should have kept you on a tighter leash.'
Aunn gripped the short sword's hilt and held the blade clumsily in front of him. 'I'm not his dog,' he said.
'No, you're his changeling, which is worse. You know too much, and your assessment of your own importance is greatly inflated.' Thuel punctuated his words with a quick lunge that Aunn beat aside.
Aunn felt rage wash through him like poison in his veins. He was trapped, he knew. Even if he managed to defeat Thuel-an expert swordsman-while he fumbled with an unfamiliar weapon, he would never get out of the Tower of Eyes alive. His only hope lay in convincing Thuel that his knowledge was valuable.
'I know more than you think,' he said.
Thuel apparently wasn't convinced, as he launched a fierce barrage of jabs and cuts with his rapier. Aunn fended off as many as he could, but the blade nicked an arm and both legs. Stepping back with a smirk, Thuel said, 'You talk too much.'
'I can give you details of the conspiracy,' Aunn said. 'Help you save the queen.'
'You don't know anything I don't already know, or have agents finding out.' Thuel lunged again, and Aunn's awkward parry only managed to deflect the blade to scrape across his stomach instead of piercing it.
Aunn had no choice but to play his best card and hope it was enough. 'So you know that Kelas was reporting to Nara?'
'Nara?'
It worked-Thuel went wide-eyed and lowered his guard. Swinging the short sword with both hands, Aunn knocked Thuel's rapier from his grip and sidestepped to plant a foot on the blade where it lay.
'I spoke to her yesterday, and I expect to hear from her again today. Do you have another agent in her confidence?'
Thuel's look of bewilderment and anger melted into laughter. 'Well played, changeling. You're probably lying, but you've bought yourself a few more hours, at least. Why don't you put that sword away and have a seat? Then we'll talk this over.'
Warily, Aunn crouched to pick up Thuel's sword. Gripping its hilt, he slid Kelas's sword back into the sheath at his belt. He kept the rapier pointed at Thuel as the Spy Master walked around one of the chairs by the fire and took a seat, then he settled himself in the other chair. He kept the rapier in his hand, resting its point on the floor.
'So how is my dear predecessor?' Thuel said. His tone was light, completely out of line with both the circumstances and the subject of the conversation. 'You say you spoke to her yesterday?'
'Yes. She contacted me-well, she tried to contact Kelas.' Aunn's heart was racing. As he ran through his conversation with Nara ir'Galanatyr the night before in his mind, he realized how little he actually knew, and how little he wanted to share with Thuel, particularly after their duel.
'How?'
'Kelas had a crystal orb, which I took after his death. She spoke through that.'
'And you saw her? Her face appeared in the orb?'
'Yes.'
'You're sure it was her?'
'She looked more or less as I remembered her. It hasn't been that long.' It was a subtle jab, reminding Thuel that up until just a few years ago, the office they were sitting in had belonged to Nara. Aunn saw it register on Thuel's face, his brow crinkling in distaste.
'And why was she trying to contact Kelas?'
'She had been expecting word from him and she was concerned.'
'And he didn't contact her because-'
Aunn finished his sentence. 'Because he was dead, yes.'
'So Kelas was acting on her command?'
'Definitely.'
'Did she give you any new orders?'
Aunn thought for a moment-Nara had told him to lock Gaven away, to send Janna Tolden and Arcanist Wheldren back to clean up the Dragon Forge, and… 'Just to move ahead with the next stage of the plan.'
'What's that?'
'I don't know,' Aunn admitted.
Thuel tapped his fingertips together and sighed. 'Very well, Haunderk,' he said. 'Either you're not telling me everything you know, or you're even more useless to me than I first thought. So here's what's going to happen. You're going to back up, start at the beginning of the story, and tell me every scrap of information you can dredge up from your memory, whether you think it's useful or not, and we're going to put a stop to whatever Nara and Jorlanna are planning. If you fail to cooperate, you will die. Is that clear?'
Aunn fingered the hilt of Kelas's rapier, hesitating.
'You hold my rapier,' Thuel said, noting the motion. 'And you hold information that might prove important to the queen. That is all you hold. You are not in a position to negotiate, or to fight. You are in the seat of my power, and you do not want to learn the full extent of that power.'
Aunn closed his eyes and changed. He felt Kelas's suspicious and scheming thoughts clutching at his mind even as Kelas's clothes pulled at his body, but he shed them and put on his new face, the proud visage he dared to call by his own name. He was a Royal Eye of Aundair, a servant of the queen-and so was Thuel. There was no reason to mistrust him.
He nodded, shifted his grip to the blade of Thuel's sword, and handed the weapon back to the Spy Master. 'My life is in the service of the queen,' he said. 'Let's get started.'
