years Hulburg would be the richest city on the north shore. In ten you might eclipse Mulmaster and Hillsfar as well.”
“Few of our merchant costers would care to find Vaasan traders pushing them out of Hulburg,” Edelmark remarked. “Whatever we gained in new commerce, we’d lose from costers such as House Veruna or the Iron Ring. And Mulmaster’s fleet is a lot closer to Hulburg than promises of Vaasan assistance.”
Rhovann held up a hand, motioning Edelmark to silence. “I am not unaware of that, Captain. But it hurts nothing to hear Lord Terov out. What terms does Vaasa suggest, my lord?”
“In exchange for hosting a Vaasan trade concession, we can place a garrison of five hundred Vaasan soldiers at the harmach’s service. And, as I said, the harmach would be entitled to collect tolls on trade bound to and from Vaasa. I am sure the exact details of trade arrangements can be worked out. Do you agree in principle?”
“The final decision will be the harmach’s, of course. I must consult with him. As you have pointed out, agreements with Vaasa are not to be entered into lightly.” Rhovann shrugged. “It is a serious decision, and we must weigh your proposal with care.”
“As you wish. Take all the time to consider the question that you like.” The Vaasan lord’s lips twitched in a small smile at the notion of consultations with the harmach. Rhovann seemed to think that he could toy with him as long as he liked, dallying with Vaasa at his own convenience. Well, Terov was not accustomed to being ignored. He decided that the master mage of Hulburg could use a small reminder that he was not to be trifled with. “Of course, you will understand that if Harmach Maroth fails to come to an understanding with Vaasa in a timely manner, we will have no choice but to consider other alternatives. We are already engaged in certain preliminary steps to ensure that our interests are well looked after.”
Rhovann narrowed his eyes. “Such as the bungled assassination in Thentia?” The mage paused, studying the effect of his words; Edelmark scowled at Terov, but said nothing. “Yes, I am quite well informed about Vaasa’s machinations in Hulburg. You see, I have had several revealing conversations with High Prelate Valdarsel-well, his corpse-in the last tenday. I know now that he was a Vaasan agent who reported to you. And I know that he commissioned the attack on the Hulmasters in Thentia at your direction, a provocative act to say the least. So spare me your threats, Lord Terov.”
“You should not have left the Hulmasters alive in the first place,” Terov retorted. “I had no choice but to direct Valdarsel to eliminate the Hulmasters in exile. Any other Moonsea power-say, Melvaunt or Hillsfar-looking for an excuse to take control of Hulburg might do so under the pretense of ‘restoring’ the Hulmasters to their throne. Vaasa could not permit it.”
“My reasons for leaving the Hulmasters alive are my own,” Rhovann replied. “I wonder if you realize how much sympathy you created for the Hulmaster cause with your ill-considered attack.”
An angry reply came to Terov’s lips, but with iron effort he swallowed his annoyance. “Valdarsel’s failure was regrettable,” he admitted. “Had he succeeded, all the sympathy in the world wouldn’t have mattered for the Hulmasters. Unfortunately for both of us, the Hulmasters still live, and the possibility that some other kingdom might intervene on their behalf still exists. The best way to avert it is for the harmach to align himself with Vaasa- sooner rather than later. Your hold on power depends on it.”
Rhovann, on the other hand, frowned thoughtfully, weighing Terov’s point at length. “I am not so sure of that.” He stood, and gestured toward the door. “Accompany me for a moment, my lord. I want to show you something.”
“As you wish,” Terov replied. He rose to his feet and followed Rhovann; Saavi glided along a step behind him, and then Edelmark a few paces to the rear. The elf wizard led Terov through the castle halls to a broad staircase, descending to the floor below-halls and chambers built up around the living rock of Griffonwatch’s hilltop, if he had his bearings straight. They came to a long hallway with windows on one side looking out the sheer face of the crag. At the end of the hallway stood two towering, black-armored creatures whose faces were hidden behind grim iron visors. They guarded a door at the end of the hallway, halberds held motionless in their thick gray hands. Beneath their breastplates, their rune-marked flesh was sculpted into textureless slabs of claylike muscle.
Rhovann paused by the two guardians, turning to face the Vaasans again. “My runehelms,” he said, indicating the warriors with an absent wave. “Strong, fearless, nearly impossible to overwhelm through force of arms, and absolutely loyal to me. Very useful, as you might imagine.”
“We have observed your creatures garrisoning the town,” Terov replied. “As you say, a useful magic indeed. But a handful of battle constructs won’t deter Mulmaster or Melvaunt should they decide to land an army on your shores. They’d likely bring war machines of their own.”
“Not like these,” the wizard replied with a small smile. He motioned the runehelms aside, and murmured the words of a passage spell to unlock the door they guarded. The room inside had been converted from a small banquet hall into a great laboratory. Cluttered tables lined the walls, covered with a fortune in imported glassware and urns full of alchemical reagents. A row of leaded-glass windows across the room offered little in the way of a view, but was sufficient to illuminate the room. To the left, eight great copper vats were arranged in a row along the near wall. “Come, Bastion,” Rhovann said. “I need your assistance.”
A hulking creature even larger than the runehelms outside stirred and silently stood. “Yes,” it said in a deep, rumbling voice. Terov studied the creature with interest; he hadn’t ever seen a golem imbued with the power of speech, no matter how limited. Clearly Rhovann was quite skilled in the creation of such devices. At the mage’s gesture, the golem moved to the first of the copper vats, lifted its heavy lid, and began to pour a gray powder from a large wooden cask into the dark fluid inside.
“As much as I might like to create more servants such as Bastion, it simply isn’t practical,” Rhovann remarked as he observed the golem adding the powder to the vat. The hooded golem moved on to the next vat, opened it, and began to pour out more powder. “Instead, I devised my runehelms. As you can see, they are grown in these vessels.”
Terov looked into the vats as the wizard’s golem servant opened them one by one to add the reagents. In every one, the powerful form of a new runehelm floated in a bath of dark ichor, each progressively larger and more intact. The last was not animated yet, but it seemed to the Warlock Knight that it was otherwise complete, except for one detail: it possessed no facial features at all, only a blank visage of damp gray clay. “How long does it take you to grow one of your alchemical warriors?” he asked.
“Twelve days from start to finish. With eight vessels, I can manufacture twenty or so a month.” Rhovann briefly inspected the creatures taking shape in the vats, and nodded to Bastion. The hooded golem closed each vat one by one, locking the lid with a heavy bar.
Terov glanced to his bound sorceress. Saavi replied with an imperceptible shrug, admitting that this was something outside her experience. She glanced at the complicated equipment filling the room, and said, “Fashioning the bodies is one thing, Lord Rhovann, but I am curious as to how you instill them with the semblance of life. That is no simple enchantment.”
The elf laughed softly. “That is a professional secret, I fear. For now, all you need know is that animating the runehelms presents me with no great difficulties.” He motioned to the door. “I think we are done here for now.”
“I thank you for the interesting demonstration, Lord Rhovann,” Terov said. “However, I am not sure I understand why you shared this with me.”
“I want you to understand that I am very confident in the defenses I have woven around Hulburg, my lord Terov. You will have to offer me something more substantial than dark hints about foreign adventures if you wish me to support a Vaasan presence in Hulburg … something very substantial indeed if you intend to bring Hulburg entirely within Vaasa’s orbit.”
Terov’s eerily crimson eyes flickered, but he made no other show of disappointment. “I see. What sort of incentive do you have in mind?”
“For a start, I believe that the priests of Cyric and their Cinderfist allies have outlived their usefulness. They were helpful in the overthrow of the Hulmasters, but now they are something of a liability. Before the harmach agrees to any Vaasan concession, we would have to be guaranteed that no more Vaasan gold or arms will go toward our dissatisfied citizenry.”
Terov considered the question in silence for a long time. He had little liking for the elf, but he could not deny that Rhovann appeared to be very well entrenched in Hulburg. His best chance to bring Hulburg within Vaasa’s influence was most probably by working with Rhovann, and not against him. After all, Rhovann was the power currently in possession of Hulburg. The Warlock Knights would hardly need to throw gold and mercenaries at
