result in the sack of the city and the loss of a tremendous amount of House Veruna property? As well as no small risk to our own lives?”
“It might, except that we now have a powerful ally who can repel the orc horde whenever he likes: Aesperus. The King in Copper owes us a great boon, and fearsome though he may be, he’s a man-so to speak-of his word.”
Darsi stood and motioned for her ladies and attendants. One hurried forward to drape an expensive stole around her lovely shoulders, while the men-at-arms-resplendent in light shirts of gleaming mail with surcoats of green and white-began to clear the rest of the departing crowd from her path. She lowered her voice and leaned close to murmur in his ear. “Speaking of Aesperus, my men report that he took the trinket he wanted right out of your cousin’s hands. Geran will soon report to the harmach that the lich has the book and that armsmen of House Veruna gave it to him.”
The ambitious lord scowled. “It would’ve been better if your men had killed him in the Highfells, so that he wouldn’t carry tales back to my uncle.”
Darsi ran her nails softly across Sergen’s chin. “I think I am glad that I’m no kin of yours, my dear. Do you really hate them all so much?”
Sergen’s expression darkened even more. “The Hulmasters wronged my father grievously, Darsi. Whatever befalls any of them is nothing compared to the humiliation they heaped upon him. They will make amends for their perfidy. I’ve sworn to it.” He paused for a moment, collecting himself, and then found the sardonic smile he habitually affected. “In any event… yes, you’re right, Kara will no doubt demand an explanation from you within an hour of Geran’s return. An attempt on the life of a Hulmaster, even a rootless vagabond like Geran, will no doubt fill her with righteous wrath. You’ll have to make a show of surrendering those responsible.”
They made their way out of the private box and strolled slowly down the carpeted stairs to the foyer. Veruna men kept the rest of the crowd at a comfortable distance, earning a few resentful glances that Darsi ignored. “My men are loyal and well paid, but I doubt that they’ll confess to an attack against the Harmach’s own nephew simply because it’s convenient for me if they do.”
“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Sergen answered. “Your men are protected by the laws of concession. I can argue that it’s an affair for the Council Watch, not the Shieldsworn, and I’ll make sure that my dear stepsister remembers that. Of course, I’ll have to thoroughly investigate the entire matter… very thoroughly. By the time I’m forced to move, it should all be moot.”
He accompanied Darsi outside to where the Veruna men had already drawn up her coach, and joined her inside when she graciously invited him to. He dismissed his own driver and coach, and they drove away from the Crown and Shield through the cold fog blanketing the streets.
After a long silence, Darsi spoke again. “I think you may be too confident of your cleverness, Sergen,” she said. “Your wayward cousin has exposed House Veruna’s efforts to scour the Highfells for Aesperus’s book. And he must certainly suspect our involvement in Jarad Erstenwold’s death. The harmach may not be a decisive man, but this isn’t something he will let lie. Geran is dangerous to us. We need to find a way to neutralize him.”
“Leave him alone. He’ll soon grow bored,” Sergen replied. Darsi shot him a dubious look, and after a moment he sighed and met her eyes. “Or he might not. Very well, what do you propose?”
“We can’t move directly against him,” Darsi said, idly examining the exquisite rings that graced her hands. “It would lend far too much credence to any accusations he makes against my House.” She thought for a moment, looking out the coach window at the glowing halos the streetlights carved from the drifting mist. “Ideally, we would find a way to encourage Geran to neutralize himself, something that might encourage him to abandon Hulburg again or discredit him in the eyes of the harmach. Perhaps he can be lured into drawing steel against us. If we’re seen to be simply defending ourselves from an unwarranted attack, well, that would be acceptable.”
Sergen nodded in agreement. Darsi Veruna was so beautiful, so sophisticated in her decadence, that he sometimes overlooked the sharpness of her mind. She was right, of course, but how to encourage Geran to foil himself? He closed his eyes, summoning to mind everything he knew of his stepcousin… and something occurred to him. “Ah, I think I’ve got it,” he said. “The key to Geran is Mirya Erstenwold. If I know him at all, you’ll find that he will go to great lengths to protect her, great lengths indeed.” He smiled coldly. “Why, with the proper motivation, he might even do something rash.”
SIXTEEN
27 Ches, the Year of the Ageless One
As it turned out, Geran and Hamil did not reach Rosestone until almost noon, hungry and exhausted. The monks were happy to provide them with a good meal and allowed the two travelers to rest in their hostel. By the time Geran and Hamil rested and told the story of the tomb of Terlannis and the appearance of Aesperus to the Initiate Mother, the afternoon was waning, so Geran reluctantly decided to spend the night at Rosestone. It was noon of the second day after their fight at the barrow when the two companions trudged wearily up the causeway of Griffonwatch and climbed to the Harmach’s Tower, footsore and fairly well soaked from a long morning’s walk in the warm spring showers that had settled over Hulburg during the previous night.
“Look! Look! Hamil and Geran are back!” Kirr and Natali were at their lessons in the family’s great room but cast aside their primers and crowded close to the weary travelers, shouting a dozen questions at once. “Where have you been? You’ve been gone for days! Did you fight any monsters? Did you find any gold?”
Geran looked down in surprise at the top of Natali’s head as she threw her arms around his waist and hugged him. He shrugged his rucksack off his shoulder and patted her back with his other arm. Strange how quickly children decide you’re family, he mused. They’ve known us only for a tenday, but I can’t remember the last time someone was so happy just to see me walk in a door. Maybe it was still the novelty of someone new under the same roof. “One question at a time, you two,” he said. “We’ve been out on the Highfells, riding all over the moors. And yes, we met some fearsome monsters, and no, we didn’t find any gold, and then our horses ran off so we had to walk all the way home.”
“Did you see the orc army?” Kirr asked. “Do you think there’s going to be a battle?”
“Orc army? What orc army?” Geran asked.
“Bloody Skull orcs came to Griffonwatch while you were gone,” Natali explained breathlessly. “We weren’t supposed to watch, but we did. We crept into the Great Hall and listened to them talk to Grandfather and all the other important people like Kara and Sergen and the rest. They seemed very angry, and they threatened Grandfather. They said that if he didn’t give them five wagons full of gold they’d burn Hulburg.” She looked up at Geran, a trace of uncertainty in her eyes. “Do you think the orcs will really come here?”
“I doubt it, Natali,” Geran said. “The orcs of Thar haven’t mounted a serious attack against Hulburg since before I was born. We’ll have to watch out for raiding parties, though.” The Bloody Skulls? he wondered. They’d never troubled Hulburg before.
It seems that a lot has happened in five days, Hamil said silently to Geran. I wonder what all this is about? For Kirr, he smiled and set his hands on his hips. “We didn’t see any orcs, General Kirr. But we did see a big black ghost-panther that hunted us for days, and we barely escaped from bloodthirsty ghosts who chased us through fog and shadow. We defeated a sphinx made out of bronze, and finally we met the King in Copper himself and lived to tell the tale. So what do you think of that?”
Kirr’s mouth dropped open in astonishment. He stared up at Hamil and simply said, “Ohhhhh.”
“Better not say too much more, Hamil,” Geran said. “Erna will give us an earful if we fill them with stories that keep them up all night.”
“Tell us! Tell us!” Natali said. “We won’t tell Ma.”
Geran shook his head. “Maybe later, but only if your mother says I can. Now, I need to put on some dry clothes.”
He left the young Hulmasters downstairs and went up to his room to change, taking his battered rucksack with him. He took a few moments to wash his face and towel off, found a clean change of clothes in the trunk at the foot of his bed, and trotted back down the stairs to the great room, settling his baldric and scabbard over a much drier tunic. But at the foot of the steps he found Kara waiting for him, her face taut with worry.
“The Shieldsworn told me you’d returned,” she said. “I’m glad you’re here, Geran. A lot’s happened in the last
