Unclean

situation unscathed.

Yet here was the small man with the spot on his chin telling her secrets she was better off not knowing and almost certainly with the intent of enmeshing her in new dangers and ambiguities. She could have joyfully bashed in his skull with her mace and chucked the corpse out one of the casements.

Frowning, Milsantos fingered a rune on his armor. 'We didn't know all that, but it doesn't surprise me, because we have discovered that Red Wizards of Necromancy created and directed the raiders we've been fighting.'

Nymia wanted to bash him too. Why did you tell him that? she thought. It's bad enough that we know, worse to prattle about it to one of Dmitra's agents.

'That makes sense,' said Malark. 'Initially, it gave him another opportunity to play the savior, and after his fellow zulkirs rejected his proposal, it likewise served the next phase of his scheme.'

'You speak,' said Milsantos, 'as if you know what that is.'

'I do,' said Malark. 'After the vote, when it became clear Szass Tam was still playing his games, Tharchion Flass gave me the task of figuring out what his new purpose is. In time, it occurred to me that in the wake of their botched invasion of Rashemen, he likely commands the complete loyalty of Tharchions Kren and Odesseiron, and that reflection led to a rather alarming supposition. Employing an unnaturally swift steed, I rode far to learn if it could possibly be true. It is. I discovered the legions of Gauros and Surthay, newly augmented by a massive infusion of undead warriors, marching south.'

'You're telling us,' Milsantos said, 'that since his fellow zulkirs refused to vote Szass Tam a throne, he means to seize it by force of arms.'

'Yes, and now your army, which includes the Burning Braziers, is on the wrong side of the realm to oppose him.'

Milsantos rose and gestured to a map of Thay spread on one of the trestles tables. 'Show me the northerners' route.'

Malark advanced to the table, and nerves taut as bowstrings, Nymia reluctantly stood and approached for a better look as well.

Using his fingertip, the outlander traced a path along the vellum chart. 'As best I can reconstruct it, they swung west through the sparsely inhabited part of Eltabbar and have now headed south into Lapendrar.'

Milsantos nodded. 'In their place, I'd do the same. Pyras Autorian is loyal to Szass Tam, but it would still be arduous to drag an army up the Second Escarpment, across the peaks of the Thaymount, then down the cliffs once more. You'd be seen, too, by someone hostile to your intentions. Too many Red Wizards have estates in the highlands, and on the south half of the plateau, the fiefs and towns are packed in too close for a host to sneak through.'

'That's true,' Nymia said, 'but surely someone noticed them marching through Lapendrar. Hezass Nymar may not have a strong enough army to oppose them, but why didn't he warn the council of their coming? Why did one of Dmitra's agents have to venture forth and discover this for himself?'

'I can hazard a guess,' said Malark. 'Hezass Nymar dances to Szass Tam's piping as well, though maybe not to the point of lending his own relatively meager forces to the lich's scheme. That I simply couldn't tell, and Szass Tam may not want them anyway. Someone has to hold the Aglarondan border. But at least to the extent of granting free passage to Tharchions Odesseiron and Kren and keeping their progress a secret.' He smiled. 'The priest's probably glad he chose to govern from Escalant instead of residing in Lapendrar proper. If the necromancers fail, he can claim afterward that he didn't know what was going on.'

Milsantos grunted. 'If we're going to speculate, let's do it about something important. Where are Kren and Odesseiron headed? It can't be the capital, or they would have circled east instead of west. It has to be Bezantur. Take it and you pretty much control the whole south of the realm and all access to the sea. You've taken a giant step toward winning your war almost before it's begun.'

'Tharchion Flass agrees with you,' said Malark, 'particularly since the city and all Priador are in a vulnerable condition. Their tharchion is dead and I'm informed that now the commander of his legion and city guard is too. Apparently the Shadowmasters assassinated him. Szass Tam must have hired them.'

'What I want to know,' Nymia said, 'is why you, a servant of Dmitra Flass, have ridden all the way to the eastern edge of Thay to tell us these things. The last I heard, she too was Szass Tam's faithful follower.'

'Until recently, yes. She's since decided the prudent course is to cast her lot with six zulkirs rather than one.'

'Still,' said Milsantos, 'that doesn't quite explain what you're doing here.'

'If Priador can't defend itself, someone else has to.'

'Meaning us?' Nymia asked. 'You said it yourself: We're on the wrong side of the country.'

'But you're prepared to march and fight, seeing as how you've been doing it for tendays already. Your men know how to combat the undead. Your have the most formidable war priests in Thay at your disposal.

'In contrast, many another legion is still nestled in the garrison it's occupied more or less peacefully ever since the new trade policy began. After all Szass Tam has done to win their regard, many a soldier reveres or fears him and is reluctant to take up arms against him. Indeed, at this point, it's an open question just how many tharchions will stand with the council.'

Milsantos snorted. 'Your argument isn't as strong as you imagine. We fought hard to retake this fortress. We'd benefit greatly from a few more days of rest. On top of which, the fire priests are dead. The arms Szass Tam furnished turned against them.'

Malark smiled in apparent admiration. 'Thus depriving us of perhaps our most potent weapon against specters and the like.'

'Still,' the old man said, 'it may be that you've come to the right people. Let's assume that in time the council can field a sufficient force to oppose the northerners. The immediate task, then, is to slow down the enemy advance and keep them from reaching Bezantur before that happens. Nymia, your griffon riders have the mobility and skills required.'

'Damn it!' Nymia exploded, then caught herself. It was neither dignified nor prudent for two tharchions to argue in front of an inferior, particularly one who'd no doubt report the discussion word for word to one of their compatriots. 'Messenger, wait outside.'

'Of course.' Malark bowed, withdrew, and closed the door behind him.

'I take it,' Milsantos said, 'that you don't care for my suggestion.'

'How dare you assume,' she gritted, 'without a word of discussion between us, that I have any intention of fighting Szass Tam?'

'Ah,' he said. 'Perhaps that was presumptuous of me, and I apologize, but I think Dmitra Flass's notion is sound: Six zulkirs are stronger than one.'

'Even when the one is Szass Tam?'

'Well, we can hope so.'

'Even when we know for certain he already controls Gauros, Surthay, High Thay, and Lapendrar, and we don't know if any other tharchions except Dmitra-assuming we can even trust that duplicitous slut-mean to oppose him? What if we march against him, and it turns out we're the only ones?'

Milsantos smiled. 'It will be inconvenient to say the least. Still, we'll have the other six zulkirs and the orders of wizardry they command.'

'Until some of them deem it advantageous to switch sides. You know what they're like.'

'Yes. I do. So what's your thought?'

'It's not as if the outlander brought us actual orders from the council. Despite the airs she puts on, Dmitra is our peer, not our superior.'

'True. Apparently she begrudged the time it would have taken to palaver with the zulkirs.'

'That means we aren't obligated to do anything. We can stay put here in the east and let everybody else slaughter one another in Priador.'

Milsantos pulled a wry face. 'It's tempting. You and I have survived a long while by keeping our noses out of the zulkirs' squabbles, but I fear it's not possible anymore. The old rivalries have flared into actual war, and if you don't choose a side, both will regard you as an enemy.'

'Let's say you're right. In that case, I want to back the winning side. Just how certain are you it will be the council?'