Here was all the opulence the manor's exterior eschewed. Fine paintings hung in gilded frames; recessed niches held golden candelabra. More braziers filled the air with a subtle incense, a little cloying for Corvis's tastes but not overwhelming. Even a few of the windows, which had appeared mundane from the outside, showed themselves to be ornate stained glass when viewed from within. Through several of those, Corvis caught glimpses of movement-trees, perhaps, or low-hanging fog-that didn't remotely match the terrain of the estate outside. He wondered where in the world those windows looked. Then he wondered onto which world those windows looked, and then he decided to stop wondering.
Assuming that their host would let them know if they chose wrong, Corvis ignored the various closed doors and smaller side passages to either side of the hall, continuing straight until it opened up into a great room. Bookshelves stood like soldiers at attention along one wall, while a large staircase occupied another. The rest of the chamber boasted plush sofas and small reading tables. A balcony loomed above, and the man staring down at them could only have been Nenavar himself.
He looked, to Corvis, like a vulture masquerading as a man.
'I'm sorry, Nenavar,' Salia began. 'I didn't really have any-'
He waved a hand in arrogant dismissal. 'What's this nonsense about Khanda, Rebaine? My creatures cannot harm me, and I'd certainly never release him from his bonds!'
'If you're so certain of that,' Jassion murmured, 'why did you let us in?'
'He can't harm you with his magics,' Corvis corrected, ignoring the baron (as usual). 'But Khanda's picked up some human sorcery along the way. You've no protection from that.'
'Perhaps,' he admitted grudgingly, 'but there's no magic he could master potent enough to defeat me before I could cripple him.'
Corvis tapped a finger against his own head. 'Not even one of Selakrian's own incantations, Nenavar?'
Even from where he stood, he saw the blood drain from the wizard's face, saw his hands clench on the railing. 'You kept one?'
'I did.'
'Then perhaps the solution, Rebaine, is to kill you.'
'You could try.' The old warlord smiled. 'Of course, Khanda's already ripped most of it from my mind. You sure me being dead would stop him from getting the rest out of me?'
Nenavar disappeared from the balcony, whether via teleportation or simply stepping back into the shadows, Corvis couldn't guess. He reappeared a moment later through one of the room's sundry doors.
'We've much work to do,' he said simply. 'I'll require your help in setting up; it'll go much faster than if I do it myself.'
'That's it?' Jassion asked incredulously from behind. 'No oaths, no threats of what'll happen if we try to harm you, no safeguards? Just 'we have work to do'?'
Nenavar offered an uneven, sickly smile. 'Would you like to have a demon roving about our world unchecked, my lord?'
'Not especially.'
'Oddly enough, neither would I. Now be silent and either assist or get out of our way.'
For half an hour and more, Corvis and Nenavar mixed powders and herbs, drew ornate sigils across the great stone-floored cellar beneath the house. Irrial, Salia, and Jassion pounded constantly up and down the steps, fetching and carrying at Nenavar's decree-some with greater alacrity than others.
'I think,' the old wizard told Corvis as the Guildmistress stomped away once more, 'that Mavere still does not entirely believe you are telling the truth.'
'Why do you?' Corvis couldn't help but ask.
'Because you have not attacked me. Because I do not think you would have revealed that you possess one of Selakrian's invocations just to run a bluff. And because the notion you've raised is horrifying enough that I cannot afford to risk it.'
'Perhaps you ought to have considered that before you bloody well summoned Khanda in the first place!'
Nenavar smiled, then winced as he knelt to expand the sigil, his old joints popping loudly in the quiet. 'It's what I do, Rebaine. I'm a conjurer. I've never had any difficulties before.'
'And you've summoned demons before, have you?'
'A time or two. You've actually encountered my work yourself, you know.'
Corvis froze a moment, then continued crushing dried leaves in a small iron pestle. 'Have I?'
'Indeed.' But he refused to elaborate.
'Why are you even a part of this, Nenavar? What's it all about?'
'Money. A lot of money, and a promise of continued employment in the new order.'
'Heh. That's never a good phrase. Tell me.'
'Nenavar!' It was Mavere, returned to the cellar with an armload of supplies. 'Keep silent!'
But the old wizard, perhaps rattled by his guests' revelations and reluctant to alienate those who stood between him and his errant minion, ignored her command. 'What do you think, Rebaine? I'm sure you've got most of it puzzled out already.'
Corvis nodded and handed over the powder, watching as Nenavar sprinkled it throughout the corners of the room. 'I know it involves Cephira and some of Imphallion's Guilds,' he said. 'And I know you got Khanda's name from Ellowaine.'
'Right… A bit more of this, if you would.'
Returning to the worktable and spilling out more leaves, Corvis continued. 'It's a power play, obviously. It always is, where the Guilds are concerned. But I'm tired, I hurt, and I'm just a bit worried about Khanda right now.' He mashed down on the leaves with more force than necessary, practically bending the iron in which they lay. 'So you tell me.'
'Nenavar…,' Salia warned. Again, he chose not to listen.
'I know not who first came up with the idea, whether it was General Rhykus or an Imphallian Guildmaster. Cephira would conquer the eastern reaches of Imphallion, and the Guilds wouldn't interfere. Most of the eastern provinces are still strongholds of the nobility, so their power would be substantially weakened. Once done, only then would the Guilds move, fielding their own armies to 'prevent' the invaders from moving any farther, perhaps driving them back-but only partway to the border. Cephira annexes new territories, since the eventual treaty would allow them to keep what they'd taken. The Guilds get to be the heroes who saved the rest of Imphallion from Cephiran conquest. Between their new public support and the further weakening of the noble Houses, they would squelch the political infighting between Guilds and aristocracy once and for all, transforming Imphallion into a true mercantile empire.'
Corvis was certain he was driving his teeth back through his gums, so tightly was his jaw clenched, and Salia physically recoiled from his fury. He noticed only then than Irrial and Jassion stood upon the stairs as well, having paused in their errands to hear the wizard's revelations.
'Let me see,' Corvis growled darkly, 'if I can fill in the rest, then. The Guilds had to eliminate several nobles who weren't based in the east, but were too entrenched to ignore. And they needed an excuse to explain why they didn't react to the invasion sooner. So here comes 'Corvis Rebaine,' whose murders accomplish both right nicely.' He took a step toward the stairs, his fists trembling. 'I am so bloody sick of being used!'
'But it wasn't just nobles,' Irrial noted from atop the stairs. ' 'Rebaine' butchered Guildsmen, too.'
'Oh, I can answer that, too,' Corvis told her. 'Only a few Guildmasters would be in on this scheme-and some of them probably decided it was too treasonous even for them to swallow. So they had to go, before they could talk. And that also nicely covered up the fact that most of the intended victims were nobles.
'None of which answers my main question: Why Khanda?'
Salia said nothing, her face stiff.
'Because he knew you well enough to make the murders truly convincing,' Nenavar answered in her stead. 'Because he possessed enough power to reach the targets no matter what precautions they took, and because it put a neutral third party-that would be me, since I was technically working for both sides-in position to force either the Guilds or the Cephirans to abide by the terms of the agreement, should one or the other attempt to renege. Although any demon would have done for those latter purposes, of course.'
'And me?' Jassion's voice shook, making his words almost unintelligible. 'Where do I fit in?'
