Charmed despite himself as usual by her beauty and brazenness, Malark smiled back. 'You play a dangerous game, Saer.'
'As opposed to spying for you and Dmitra Flass?' Nephis turned back to the mirror and brushed blue pigment across the remaining eyelid. 'From time to time, I need the touch of a
'In fact, it makes you important. I assume you've kept abreast of recent events, the murders of two zulkirs, Szass Tam's failed bid for a regency, and all the rest of it, but what you don't know is that the lich is marching legions south to gain himself a throne by force of arms. Their intended route leads through Anhaurz on the way to Bezantur.'
She twisted back around. 'You aren't serious.'
'Yes, I am. The question is, how fast will His Omnipotence's host cover the distance? Fast enough to reach the coast all but unopposed, or slowly enough for his rivals to field an adequate force to intercept him?'
'The new bridge,' she said.
Malark nodded. 'Very good. If the autharch allows it to stand, Szass Tam's warriors can cross the Lapendrar quickly. If he knocks it down, they'll still get across eventually, but it will cost them precious time. From what you've told me of Ramas Ankhalab, I assume that once he learns of the northerners' approach, his inclination will be to demolish the span.'
'Yes,' Nephis said. 'The fool long ago gave his loyalty to Aznar Thrul and his faction and hasn't wavered since, but don't worry. He may spend the occasional night with another trollop-and thank Sune for that, or when would I scratch my own itches? — but he's still besotted with me. I can persuade him to do whatever I want.'
Malark hesitated for a heartbeat. 'I haven't instructed you to take any particular action as of yet.'
She snorted. 'Did you think you had to? Szass Tam saved my father's life and restored his honor. He helped my brother gain entry to the order of Necromancy and shielded So-Kehur when the other apprentices wanted to hurt him. I'd do anything to help him.'
He sighed. 'I knew you'd say that.' And it was a pity Szass Tam and Dmitra Flass no longer shared a common purpose. 'I'll say farewell then. Just be ready to counsel the autharch when he receives word of the northern army.'
She pouted. 'Must you go so soon? Why not linger a while and help me scratch my itches?'
'I wish I could, but I have another message to deliver. Good-bye, my friend.'
He crept back to her music room with its harp and lutes, then climbed out a window and down the wall. He slipped into a shadowy bower where he could stand and ponder unobserved.
The note he carried inside his tunic read:
If the lord of the city was as jealous and choleric as Nephis had always claimed, the message should serve to end her influence over him for good and all. The only question was how to deliver it without being noticed. Fortunately, such problems rarely stymied Malark for long, and after a few more breaths, the solution came to him.
The inn stood midway between two tax stations. Aoth suspected the proprietor had liked it that way, liked not having a publican looking over his shoulder every time he rented bed space or sold a mug of ale.
Cowering before armed intruders in the caravanserai's common room, doing his inadequate best to shield his wife and three children with his pudgy body, he didn't look as if he liked it anymore. To all appearances, he would have given almost anything for a garrison of legionnaire protectors close at hand.
The family's manifest terror gave Aoth a pang of guilt, for after all, they weren't enemy warriors and had nothing to do with Szass Tam and his ambitions. They just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. But war was made of such injustices.
'You have to clear out,' he said, 'and stay gone for a while.'
The innkeeper, whose round, dark face seemed made for jollity rather than dread, swallowed. 'Sir, please, I don't understand. This place is our home, and our living, too. It's all we have.'
A griffon rider lifted his sword and stepped forward. 'Fine, imbecile, you had your chance.'
'Halt!' Aoth snapped, and then, when the soldier obeyed, returned his attention to the innkeeper. 'You see how it is. You can take your coin with you, and anything else you can carry, but you must leave, and keep away till the end of the summer anyway. Believe me, you'll be safer that way.'
The innkeeper's wife whispered in his ear, and then he said, 'All right. We'll get our things.'
'Just be quick about it,' Aoth replied.
They were, and before long, they slunk out into the pounding rain that was almost unheard of in Thay, except for late at night. Aoth assumed the council's weather wizards were responsible. It was yet another ploy to slow the northerners' advance, in part by turning Lapendrar's roads to muck.
Unfortunately, the rain also made for cold flying with diminished visibility, but the Griffon Legion would simply have to cope. Aoth turned to his men and said, 'Let's get to it. Poison the beer barrels, and the well, too.'
The warrior who'd threatened the innkeeper cocked his head. 'You don't think finding the inn deserted will make the bastards suspicious?'
'Common folk often flee the approach of an army,' Aoth replied. 'If it makes the northerners leery enough to refrain from pilfering an unattended keg of ale, they're not like any soldiers I ever knew.'
Dmitra surveyed the zulkirs seated around the table. It seemed to her that every face betrayed worry, no matter how the mage lords tried to mask it, and why not? They all had plenty to worry about.
'Your Omnipotences,' she said, 'thank you for agreeing to meet with me.'
'You should thank us,' Samas Kul said, round face and fat neck a mottled red, 'for by the Golden Coin, I don't know why I came. Some of us listened to you before, and as a result we're at war with Szass Tam!'
'Whereas if we hadn't heeded,' Lallara snapped, waspish as ever, 'the lich would be king already.'
'That might be better than the alternative.'
'No,' said Nevron, glowering and smelling of sulfur, 'it's not. I will never bend my knee to Szass Tam. I'd sooner drown the entire realm in hellfire.'
Yaphyll's lips quirked into an impish smile. 'It would be nice if we could chart a middle course. A tactic that avoids both surrender and ash.'
'Your loyal servants in the Griffon Legion,' Dmitra said, 'are doing their best to hinder Szass Tam's advance. Unfortunately, a number of other companies are dawdling when they should be rushing to prepare for war. In some cases, they fear to take sides in a quarrel among zulkirs. In others, they're contemplating fighting for the lich.
'You have similar problems among the nobles and commoners,' she continued. 'Many are loath to exert themselves or make any sacrifices to assist the defense. Some merely await the opportunity to work against you as spies and saboteurs.'
'We already knew Szass Tam did an exemplary job of endearing himself to the masses,' Nevron growled. 'Do you have a remedy?'
'I hope so, Your Omnipotence,' Dmitra replied. 'You six must forsake the seeming security of your castles and speak directly with lesser folk: the captains, the lords, and whomever.'
Nevron glared at her. 'You mean plead for their help?'
'Of course not. You are their masters, now and forever. The problem is, so is Szass Tam. You need to loom as large in their thoughts as he does, so command them as always, but do it in person. Don't count on them to obey your deputies with the same diligence and alacrity they'd show to you.'
Samas Kul snorted. 'I don't have the proper physique for chasing frantically about the realm.'
'Perhaps you should consider turning into something leaner,' Yaphyll replied. 'That's what transmutation's all about, or so I'm told.'
'In truth, Your Omnipotence,' Dmitra said, 'I didn't envision
