“I assume you’ve heard of the Council’s topics by now?” Pellalindra’s voice was casual, but Vinet heard the weight behind it.
Vinet smiled. “Indeed. I am certain we are all aware by now.”
Pellalindra raised an eyebrow. “I hardly need to ask what option you will argue for.”
She allowed herself a small smile. “My reputation precedes me.”
“Indeed.” Pellalindra sighed. “I am not a gambling woman, Lady Vinet. And an expedition like that would certainly be a gamble.”
Vinet felt her ears twitch. There hadn’t been a condemnation in that statement. “Everything is a gamble, Lady Pellalindra. The question is what has the potential for the most gain.”
Pellalindra sighed. “And I suppose you are prepared to gamble the safety of the kingdom for a chance at exploration?”
Vinet looked at Pellalindra sharply. “No,” she said. “But I have not heard anything to make me believe that that letter is anything more than bandits, which the Regulars stationed there should be taking care of.”
Pellalindra pursed her lips. “That is… a fair point. And your thoughts on the other matter? The dwarven armor and weaponry?”
Vinet barely concealed a snort. “That would require far more resources than funding an expedition, and even then, I’m certain that we would not be able to outfit the entire Regulars, and so what would be the point?”
Pellalindra’s eyebrows rose slightly. “Another fair point. You have a shrewd mind, Lady Vinet.”
Vinet bowed her head in acknowledgement of the compliment.
Pellalindra sighed. “I am still not convinced of the merits of the expedition, though. You speak of potential gain, but there is nothing that convinces me of that. What if this group are scoundrels, looking to fleece us?”
Vinet sat back in her chair and took a sip of her tea. “Perhaps we should investigate that?” she offered. “I could send my guard. It wouldn’t be too hard to discover where they’re staying.”
Pellalindra’s expression lightened. “I think that’s an excellent idea, Lady Vinet,” she said. “If you have no objections, I’ll send my personal bodyguard as well.”
That was as good of an opening as Vinet was going to get. “Would that be the elf we met in the hall?”
Pellalindra rolled her eyes. “Was Saihid there? I hope he didn’t make a scene.”
Vinet laughed. “No, not at all! He seemed very polite.”
Pellalindra’s expression smoothed into a smile. “He is.”
They sat in silence for a few moments, each sipping their tea.
Finally, Pellalindra broke the silence. “What are you prepared to gamble for this expedition?” she stared intensely at Vinet.
Vinet leaned back, thinking hard. What was she willing to gamble?
“A vote,” she said finally. She looked up to meet Pellalindra’s eyes. “This is an issue quite dear to me. If you come across such an issue, I would be willing to return the vote.”
Pellalindra sat up, a considering expression on her face. “I must admit, I was not expecting that.”
Vinet allowed herself a small smile. “Sometimes, when you trade, you have to gamble.”
Pellalindra didn’t appear to be convinced, but she nodded. “I will consider this,” she said. “I will depend on our guards’ report, after all.”
Vinet nodded in satisfaction. “I could ask no more.”
**********
Vinet read the report Gwyn handed her with increasing pleasure. The dwarf in charge of the expedition planning, Yderdochter, had done these kinds of things before. She had a good crew and was reliable and discrete. Gwyn had been impressed, and that was hard to do.
She hadn’t told Gwyn that she’d sent a quick note to Ellil. Inspired by a memory that the worship of Mazda was mostly confined to Saemar and the Duchy of Tigri, she’d sent a quick note to the high priest explaining that exploring new territories would be an opportunity to spread the worship of Mazda. She hadn’t wanted to bring that argument up in the Council.
She put the Gwyn’s report away as the other councilors started arriving. There would be time to bring it forward later.
Pellalindra swept into the chamber behind the rest of the councilors and almost immediately took charge. “Well, I’m sure we all have our various opinions about the options presented.”
Dannan sat down, his citron eye looking even more pronounced than usual. “Opinions,” he growled.
Vinet thought it was probably more prudent to remain silent than engage Dannan. He looked ready to bite someone’s head off.
“Opinions,” Pellalindra nodded decisively. “I’m sure we are all aware of some of each other’s?” Her eyes flickered to Vinet.
“I think that the expedition sounds like a fine idea,” Kamian declared with a smile. He looked around the table. “We need something new! Maybe they’ll find another civilization. Give us someone else to trade with.”
Vinet exchanged an approving glance with the young lord. Kamian’s opinion was hardly a surprise.
Dannan snorted. “Of course, you would care more about trade than children.” His head jerked to the side, and he started massaging his temples.
Pellalindra nodded. “The note from the south is worthy of our concern,” she said. “We should at least discuss it.” Her hands folded deliberately on the table in front of her. Vinet avoided meeting her gaze. The two of them had already decided their votes.
Kamian snorted. “What is there to discuss? An illiterate letter, that someone got handed to the Council? Such a concern is for the local Regulars, not the Council.”
“I think the dwarven weaponry has something to recommend itself,” Conn interjected. “It would be a good precaution in case there is something in the south.”
“In case!” Dannan’s eyes were wild. “In case! There is already something there!”
Vinet couldn’t keep silent anymore. “We are all concerned about the letter from the southeast, Lord Dannan, but we need to balance the benefits of all the options.”
“Balance?! Balance!! What will balance accomplish? While children might be abducted and precious crops burned and who knows what else, we sit here and simply talk about ‘balance’?” When has ‘balance’ ever gotten any of us anywhere?” Dannan stood up abruptly from his chair and started pacing.
Well, she had gotten herself into this. “Balance has gotten me quite far, Lord Dannan. Now, please, listen. If our worst nightmares about this message proves true, and there are abducted children and burned crops, that is one thing. If it is something made up by a frightened farmer, however, then a balanced judgment is certainly called for.”
Dannan’s pacing turned to prowling. Eerily, his citron eye seemed brighter than normal. “Balance, milady, or caution? A lady such as yourself, almost a spinster, would you consider your life as balanced? You have no husband, no children, no love in your life except what you borrow from an idiot sister’s child. You sit alone in your lands as a ruler, you have power, but what of love? Where is the balance in that?”
Vinet felt as if she had been slapped. She turned on Dannan, furious, but he had already turned his attention from her, his heterochromatic gaze falling on Ellil. “As for you, nephew of the Lord General, it is obvious where your loyalties lie. With strength and power,” he scoffed. “You pretend at balance while wearing a priest’s robes. But did such a noble thing as balance get you where you are now? Hardly.”
Ellil sat quietly, either unaffected or extremely self-disciplined, under Dannan’s accusations. Vinet watched in silent astonishment as he turned to Kamian. “And you. Your life has been a balance of whoring and adventure. You refused to take any responsibility as the heir until you were publicly insulted by your tutor and your favorite wine splashed in your face. Shame is what compelled you, boy. Not balance.”
Vinet winced. She had heard those rumors about Kamian before.
Dannan’s gaze turned to Pellalindra for a long moment, glaring. She refused to back down, and
to Vinet’s astonishment, he turned away from her and to Conn.
“But let us not forget you, Lord. Conn. MacTir.” As he paused, the torches and candles in the chambers started burning brighter. Vinet looked around in alarm. “What balance compelled you to kill your uncle and his family? Was it to balance the scales? Was their blood enough to satiate your own bloodlust? Was seeing his children dead enough to bring you balance?!”
Dannan’s citron eye practically glowed in the bright light of the torches. Vinet stared in horror, with the unshakable feeling that something terrible was about to happen.
Suddenly Dannan winced and groaned, bending in half over the council table. His hands reached up to grab his head, and he took several gasping, ragged breaths. The torches suddenly darkened, almost going out. Dannan jerked up, a look of panic in his eyes. Without saying another word, he turned and ran out of the council chamber.
Vinet stared after him, trying to process what she’d just seen and heard. For a moment, she couldn’t bear to look at any of the other councilors.
“The man’s not cursed,” Conn muttered. “He’s insane.”
Vinet forced herself to look at Conn. Though she’d never heard it stated in so many words, the rumors about the death of his uncle’s family had been following him since he had inherited Dunbarrow. The northern lord’s face was pale, but he looked otherwise composed.
Slowly, she managed to look around the table. No one wanted to meet anyone else’s eyes. Even Pellalindra, who for some reason had escaped Dannan’s accusations, looked pale. Vinet swallowed and looked down at her hands. They were clenched into fists. Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to relax them and place them flat on the table.
“Well, I hardly think he’s one to be lecturing us about balance,” she said, trying to make her voice light.
Her feeble attempt worked. Conn barked a laugh. “Indeed.”
Vinet took another breath. “Perhaps a short break in the session would be in order?”
Her suggestion was accepted with alacrity. Vinet exited the council chamber, still trying to hold back her anger. Gwyn raised an eyebrow when Vinet appeared but said nothing as she fell into step behind her. Vinet hardly cared where she went but was unsurprised that her footsteps led her to the palace garden. She had a knack for finding the gardens wherever she went.
“Lord Dannan came storming out,” Gwyn finally said in a low voice.
Vinet shook her head. “Not now,” she said. “Not here.”
Gwyn nodded in silent acquiescence.
She rolled her shoulders, trying to shake the tension of the council chamber out. “So, tell me about Saihid.”
Gwyn’s look was wry, but she answered without hesitation. “Well, he’s been in Lady Pellalindra’s service for over five years,” she began. “Doesn’t remember much of his origins. Was sold as a slave, bought and freed by Lady Pellalindra, stayed to become her personal bodyguard. He has a sister, too. Apparently, she’s Lady Pellalindra’s hunts-mistress.”
“Two elves?” Vinet was incredulous. “How?”
Gwyn raised an eyebrow. “They do come to Saemar occasionally. After all…” she let her voice hang.
Vinet gave her a sharp look. Gwyn knew better than to even reference that.
“It’s been twenty-six years since the last one was seen in Saemar that I’m aware of. And now Lady Pellalindra has two serving her.” She shook her head as she paced along the garden path. “I wish he remembered more of his heritage.”
Gwyn nodded sympathetically, but said nothing more, for which Vinet was grateful.
The two walked in silence for a little more. “Will they vote for the expedition?”
Vinet shrugged. “Dannan’s outburst… made that hard to predict. I think so. I hope so.”
Gwyn nodded. “What did he say?”
Vinet rolled her eyes. “Accused us of all the worst rumors he’d ever heard about any of us.”
Gwyn’s head jerked around. “What did he say?”
“Just the fact that I’m a spinster and my only family is my bastard niece.” Despite attempting to keep her voice casual, she could hear the bitterness in it.
Gwyn relaxed. “Well, at least he didn’t accuse you of anything worse. There are plenty of other things he could have said.”
Vinet sighed. “I should go back in soon,” she said. “I doubt Lord Dannan will be back, but we need to call a vote. And then we have a change of plans.”
Gwyn gave her a questioning look.
“We’re not staying here for Niara’s name-day,” Vinet said. “She likes travelling, so she should be delighted when I tell her we’re going to Kreutzer.” If Dannan was going to have outbursts regularly, she wanted to know more about him. His old home was the best place to do that.
Chapter 3: The Labyrinth
“So, the expedition is on its way, I hear.” Pellalindra took a sip of her tea and raised an eyebrow across the table. “I trust you’ll remember my contribution?”
Vinet smiled and raised her own tea in a small salute. “I wouldn’t dream of forgetting it,” she assured.
Pellalindra nodded in satisfaction.
They were at Vinet’s townhouse this time. In deference to the fact that Manyu’s Time was still upon them, they were not, as Vinet would have preferred, in the garden. They were in a small sitting room on the east side of the house. The curtains were pulled wide open, letting as much sunlight as possible stream in. A fire crackled in the fireplace, warm and welcoming.
Despite the sun and the fire, Pellalindra shivered. “It is cold today, isn’t it?” she asked.
Vinet suppressed a smile. She never had to wait long to be reminded that Pellalindra had no notion what a northern Manyu’s Time was like.
“The snow is still thick on the ground in Ilhelm,” she said instead of answering. “The children are delighting in it, although it does make for difficult travelling.”
Pellalindra nodded. “Niara must adore it.”
Vinet laughed. “Niara adores almost everything outside. She’s been having a fine time exploring the capital.”
Pellalindra smiled, a real, genuine smile. A mention of Niara was one of the few things that could bring it to her lips. “She will turn into a fine lady.”
Vinet nodded her thanks. She couldn’t keep a smile from her own face.
Pellalindra took another sip, then sighed and leaned back. “Much as I would enjoy talking about your niece and my son, I must admit there was something else I wanted to discuss when I asked to visit you.”
Vinet hadn’t doubted it. Pellalindra would not have arranged a meeting the day before the next council session if she didn’t have something political to discuss. She set her teacup down and looked at Pellalindra attentively.
Pellalindra fiddled with her napkin. “I didn’t… entirely leave the matter of the south alone,” she admitted. “I sent a scouting group there, hoping to find some information. They reported nothing particularly unusual, but one of them disappeared.”
Vinet tilted her head, confused. “Were they on the border of Tigri? There’s still border conflict there, as much as we try to claim it’s settled.”
Pellalindra shook her head. “They were, but… well, I never would have brought it up, assuming what you did,” she paused, “but she’s been found. Alive. Though not entirely… whole.”
Pellalindra’s tone of voice made Vinet’s ears twitch forward. “What do you mean?”
“She’s not conscious, for starters.” Pellalindra was now looking out the window. “And she has… marks. Scars on her neck that look like tattoos. And a tattoo on her ankle.”
There room seemed deathly quiet as Vinet waited for Pellalindra to continue.
“The tattoo was of a skull surrounded by eyes.” Pellalindra said.
Vinet’s heart skipped a beat. She’d seen that symbol before. Somewhere…and it had foul associations.
Pellalindra seemed uneasy, but uncertain as to why. “Have you seen such a symbol in any of your scho
larly pursuits, Lady Vinet?”
Vinet looked down at her forgotten cup of tea. She picked it up and took a long sip, even though it was now lukewarm.
“It sounds familiar,” she admitted. “I will have to do some research.”
Pellalindra nodded. She sighed again as she set her teacup down. “That is the other reason I’m here. The Duskryn and court healers have been unable to revive her. There is a specialist, apparently offering to cure her, but for an outrageous price. Something that would drain the kingdom’s treasury, I’m being given to understand. It will be put to the Council at the next meeting.”
Vinet raised an eyebrow. “You want me to vote to heal your scout?” she asked.
Pellalindra shook her head emphatically. “I cannot ask that of anyone,” she said. “It is a great risk. We may drain the treasury and find out all she can say is ‘I do not know.’ And I have heard that the other matters may be more pressing.”
Vinet raised an eyebrow. “Then you have heard more than I.” She took another sip of her tea. “Care to tell me more?”
Pellalindra frowned. “Have you not been in the capital the past two months? I would have thought you would have heard the same rumors as I.”
Vinet forced herself to shrug. “We’ve mostly kept to ourselves,” she said. If Pellalindra didn’t know about the trip to Kreutzer, then she did not intend to enlighten her.
Pellalindra shook her head, looking baffled. Still, she continued without commenting. “Well, there was a murder. Surely you’ve heard about that?”
Vinet’s head came up. “A murder? No! Who?”
Pellalindra sniffed. “The Venian ambassador. Murdered in his own chambers.”
Vinet sat back, her mind doing quick calculations. “The Jyrians.”
Pellalindra nodded. “It must be,” she said. “They’ve withdrawn almost everyone, and word is they’ve started a blockade of Venia’s harbor. The coalition has broken down.”
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