Scream of Stone w-3

by Philip Athans

  Why, he asked himself, would any of these people be afraid of me?

  “Senator?” Willem said, touching Meykhati’s elbow.

  The senior senator flinched as though Willem’s touch had burned him. The younger man he’d been speaking with took a full step backward and only just barely stopped himself from putting both hands up to fend Willem off. When Meykhati turned, he spoke to Willem’s chest, not his eyes, and his face was tense.

  “Please don’t wait for me, Senator,” he said.

  Willem paused. It appeared Meykhati had more to say, but instead he turned back to the junior senator and a spirited discussion of the uniformly gray and rainy winter weather.

  With a sigh, Willem stepped down the aisle, walking slowly to give himself time both to consider Meykhati’s strange manner and to simply soak in the air of the place. He had always been intimidated, even afraid of the senate chamber, but coming back to it after having been away for so long, he realized how much he missed it.

  That thought made him pull up short. Another senator brushed behind him, then scurried into one of the rows of seats muttering the starts to half a dozen different apologies. It was another man Willem didn’t recognize.

  He shook his head, not sure why he’d stopped walking. Was it something about missing the senate chamber? But he would have had to have been conscious of where he was and what he’d been doing for the last three years to really miss a place. But still Willem either couldn’t, or on some level he couldn’t control in himself, wouldn’t think about that.

  “Willem Korvan,” a woman’s voice came from behind him. He turned to see a woman with her right eye covered by a silk patch, staring up at him with her left. Her white hair was thinning, and the lines in her face were deeper than Willem remembered. “Is that really you?”

  “Senator Nyla,” Willem said, holding out his hand. “It’s always a pleasure to see you.”

  Nyla looked down at his hand and leaned back just a little. “Forgive me,” she said, “but I’ve been sneezing all day, and….”

  “Quite all right,” Willem said, just so the uncomfortable moment would pass.

  “Is it true, what they say?” she asked.

  “I’m sorry?”

  She squirmed a little in her own skin just then, and Willem almost gasped at the sight of it.

  She cleared her throat and said, “You’ve been gone too long.”

  He nodded, hoping she would say more, but instead she scanned the room as if looking for an escape route.

  “What do they say, Senator?” Willem pressed, but at that moment wasn’t sure he wanted to know.

  “Think nothing of it,” she said. “I shouldn’t have said anything. Forgive me?”

  “I’m certain there’s nothing to forgive,” he said, “but-”

  “We should take our seats,” she interrupted, then walked away from him a little too quickly.

  “She’s right,” Meykhati said. Willem wasn’t quite startled, but he hadn’t been aware of the senator’s approach. “You know which way the vote is to go, then?”

  “Yes,” Willem said, once again trying to engage Meykhati in eye contact but failing. “I mean, I think so. What are we debating?”

  Willem knew full well what the session had been called to vote on, but he found himself compelled to make further conversation with the man who’d been his sponsor for so long, but who couldn’t or wouldn’t look him in the eye.

  “We’re here to vote for the purchase of wands that will allow the gate guards to detect the presence of magical radiations and dweomers,” Meykhati said, his eyes lazily scanning the room, but steadfastly not looking at Willem. “Once those are in place we can begin to assign a tax on any magical items brought into the city by non-citizens.”

  “Why?” Willem asked.

  “Why the tax?” Meykhati responded. When Willem nodded he said, “To help defer the cost of the wands.”

  “And we are for this?” Willem clarified.

  “Yes,” Meykhati replied. “Please, take your seat.”

  Willem nodded and watched Meykhati pass other senators who tried to stop him to chat. The senior senator found his chair and all but fell into it. He put his face in his hands and breathed hard, wiping sweat from his brow and upper lip. He took a deep breath, held it, then seemed to sense that Willem was still looking at him. He turned, still holding the breath, and when their eyes finally met, Willem’s skin went cold and his own breath caught in his throat.

  He’s terrified of me, Willem thought.

  He turned his head so Meykhati wouldn’t have to look him in the eye anymore, then Willem took his seat and prepared to vote for another purposeless tax.

  32

  28 Hammer, the Year of Rogue Dragons (1373 DR)

  PRISTAL TOWERS, INNARLITH

  Marek Rymut took a deep breath and held it. He’d just been told by the ransar something he already knew: Ivar Devorast had once again taken charge of the canal. Marek scanned the room, taking a mental inventory of all the expensive gewgaws and whatnots that crowded the space. He stopped counting when he reached ten thousand gold pieces and had examined barely a tenth of the room’s contents.

  Behind him stood Insithryllax, in his human form, with his arms crossed over his chest. Marek thought his old friend looked more tense that usual, but the black dragon had refused to tell him what was wrong, though Marek had asked repeatedly in the coach from the Second Quarter.

  “And if I were to advise you against that course of action?” the Red Wizard asked the ransar.

  Pristoleph cracked a smile in return and said, “It’s already done. Ivar Devorast has my full confidence.”

  “He will be master builder, then?” the dragon asked, and Marek could hear the irritation in his voice.

  “Insithryllax, please,” Marek cautioned. “I apologize, Ransar, but my companion has asked an interesting question, and one that begs an answer. The city-state has been without a master builder since the unfortunate murder of Senator Horemkensi.”

  “You know,” Pristoleph replied, his tone artificially conversational, “I asked him about that. I offered him the position, in fact, with a rather generous stipend-more than was given to Inthelph, even-and he accepted on the spot with rather gracious thanks.”

  Marek pursed his lips and let a breath hiss out through his nose. He heard a similar sound escape Insithryllax.

  “I had a quill in my hand to sign the proclamation, not a heartbeat later,” Pristoleph went on, “and he grabbed it off my desk and tore it in half. He shouted at me, actually. It’s the only time I’ve ever heard him shout. People have told me they’ve known him for years and never heard him raise his voice. He told me he didn’t want a title and didn’t want any part of running the city-state. He didn’t want to work for me or for anyone, and certainly not for what he called a ‘meaningless collective.’ I’m still puzzling over what he meant by that, precisely.”

  Marek said, “You will excuse my ignorance, Ransar, but I don’t think I understand. He refused the appointment?”

  “In no uncertain terms.”

  “And yet still he commands the army of workers that continue to build this canal of his?” the Red Wizard said.

  “Yes … well,” the ransar hesitated, “not all of the workers.”

  Marek raised an eyebrow and leaned back against the soft leather cushion behind him. The chair was comfortable, but still the Thayan felt ill at ease. He could feel the black dragon standing behind him as though Insithryllax loomed in his true, draconic form. With the genasi in front of him, Marek felt trapped. He began to sweat.

  “He will need you to give him control of the zombies,” Pristoleph said.

  “No,” the dragon in human form said. “Don’t help him, for-”

  “It will be costly,” Marek said, cutting the dragon off.

  Pristoleph shrugged and Marek was left to ponder how much he’d grown to hate that gesture, though only a few scant months ago, he’d loved it more than anything. The genasi�
��s seemingly bottomless purse was responsible for nearly four out of every ten gold pieces the enclave brought in. Marek knew there wasn’t another suitable candidate for ransar that would even begin to make up for that.

  “What’s a few zombies here and there between friends?” Marek said with a smile he knew would look as false as it was.

  “I have a list,” Pristoleph said. “He requires other items.”

  Marek swallowed again and said, “If I have it or if it can be made, I will be delighted to arrange it for you.”

  “Not for me,” Pristoleph said with a smile Marek longed to wipe from his face with a fireball-no, not a fireball against a fire genasi, but an ice storm.

  Yes, the Red Wizard thought, a blast of tiny daggers of glasslike ice-or acid.

  “I beg your pardon, Ransar?” Marek said through stiff jaws.

  “The items are not for me,” the ransar clarified, “but for Ivar Devorast.”

  Insithryllax stormed around the sofa and stood over Pristoleph. The ransar didn’t move, but Marek could feel him growing hotter.

  “Insithryllax!” the Thayan barked.

  Insithryllax didn’t turn, but growled at the ransar, “I cannot be compelled to help this man. You are not my master.”

  Marek scuffled to his feet and though he knew it wasn’t allowed, he barked out the words to a spell when he saw that Insithryllax was beginning to transform. It was likely that Pristoleph was unable to detect any change in the dark-skinned, black-clad man who everyone thought was simply Marek Rymut’s bodyguard, but Marek had known Insithryllax too long, and he could tell.

  With the aid of the calming spell, Marek said, “Insithryllax, please. The ransar has always been a valued customer of the Thayan Enclave. If he has a list, we know he has the means.”

  Insithryllax relaxed, but only enough to forestall his transformation-a physical change that would have burst the little parlor at its seams. If Pristal Towers was built strong enough, the dragon would have succeeded only in crushing himself and the ransar. Marek’s various contingency spells would have spirited him away, but what a mess he would have left to explain.

  Truly, though, the question wasn’t what would happen if the dragon did transform and attack, but why he almost had.

  “Insithryllax, please,” Marek said once more, and finally the dragon withdrew, cursing under his breath in Draconic.

  When Marek once again returned his attention to the ransar, he was amazed how calm the genasi was. Pristoleph didn’t frighten easily, and that made Marek wonder what it would take to frighten him.

  “They can be delivered directly to Devorast,” Pristoleph said, “at the canal site.”

  “Of course they can,” Marek replied. “Ransar, I would be remiss in my duty to you and to the city-state of Innarlith if I did not advise you not to trust this man Devorast.”

  “And why wouldn’t I trust a man who has only ever done everything he’s promised to do?” the ransar asked.

  “Ransar, I-”

  “I’m not finished, Marek,” Pristoleph said, and his use of the familiar while Marek called him “Ransar,” rankled the Red Wizard to no end. “Ivar Devorast summoned this canal unbidden from his own imagination. No one who has been put in charge of it since has used anything but his original drawings. He has not sought to enrich himself. He has refused power and influence. He is no threat to anyone, including you. Why is it you seem to despise him so?”

  Marek rubbed his face with both hands and spent a long time thinking about how to respond. Insithryllax put a hand on his shoulder and began to squeeze.

  “Please,” the Red Wizard whispered over his shoulder to the dragon.

  Marek found himself more curious as to the source of Insithryllax’s anger than a suitably cunning response to the ransar’s question. He’d known the dragon for many years and had come to respect his often unpredictable temper, but Insithryllax had always seemed personally ambivalent toward the canal and didn’t ever seem to give Ivar Devorast much thought. He made a mental note to ask the dragon about all that in greater detail once they returned to the enclave.

  “I don’t hate him,” Marek said to Pristoleph. “I hate what he’s doing and how he’s doing it. I hate how he misuses you and those who have held the office of ransar since and including Osorkon.”

  “You hate that the canal will make your teleport-” “I profit from the canal,” the Thayan interrupted, perhaps just a bit too loudly. He cleared his throat, felt a wave of heat wash over him from the genasi, and in a calmer, quieter voice, went on. “I profit from the canal in many ways, Ransar, and I will continue to do just that, even after its construction is complete … should that actually ever come to pass.”

  “Then what do you care who digs the damned thing?” Pristoleph asked, letting some of his anger at having been interrupted in his own house show in his smoldering eyes.

  Marek’s skin crawled, but not from the ransar’s disapproving stare. The Red Wizard could sense the rage building once more from the more-than-human figure behind him. The spell should have made him as tranquil as a nursing baby, but instead the dragon seemed to have brushed it off.

  Forced to concede the ransar’s point, Marek said his good-byes as quickly as he could without being overly rude and got the dragon out of there before-and it seemed to be just before-anyone was killed.

  33

  25 Alturiak, the Year of Rogue Dragons (1373 DR)

  PRISTAL TOWERS, INNARLITH

  Fifteen people, including Wenefir, sat on various chairs and sofas in the enormous office of Ransar Pristoleph. Some of them were mages, six were black firedrakes, and the rest were advisors and hangers on, or part-time spies. A few of them read through journal books and ledgers, occasionally making notes. Two of them played a long, half-hearted game of sava. The rest stared at one or another of a score of crystal balls that had been arranged on stands around the room. From those enchanted devices, Pristoleph was able to look in on the comings and goings of friends and enemies alike.

  A small group of men stood around one crystal ball, leering and giggling at the magically conjured image of the wife of a senator they all knew well who was engaged in an illicit dalliance with her upstairs maid. The senator himself appeared in another of the crystal balls, taking tea with two other senators in an opulent sitting room elsewhere in the Second Quarter.

  Pristoleph sighed and propped his head in his hands, his elbows on the gigantic desktop in front of him.

  “Oh, my!” exclaimed one of the men looking into the crystal ball at the senator’s wife and her maid.

  Pristoleph looked up, noticing the sudden change in mood. The men around the crystal ball stared at the image with shock and concern, all leering gone. The crystal ball showed that the senator’s wife’s maid was not a maid at all.

  One of the mages passed a hand over the crystal ball and the group of men dispersed, all looking vaguely embarrassed. None of them looked at the image of the senator still enjoying his tea and gossip, unaware of how bizarre a cuckold he was.

  Pristoleph heaved another sigh, louder and deeper.

  “Is something the matter, Ransar?” Wenefir asked.

  Pristoleph shook his head.

  “Is there anything I can get you, my lord?” one of the advisors inquired.

  Pristoleph ignored him and sifted through the parchment, paper, and vellum on his desk. There were letters, account ledgers, writs, and requests, and they all bored him to tears. He’d fallen behind with all the reading and signing, signing and reading, and the more he tried to force himself to get caught up, the less work he actually did. The advisors had gone from tolerant to testy to insistent and back to tolerant again, having lost interest in the fact that he’d lost interest.

  As the bulk of the people in the room watched the sava game, none of them really interested in it, Pristoleph quickly skimmed one sheet after another, sliding them off the desktop as he read them. He signed one, a request for the release of a man held in the dungeons for stealing
a chicken. The request had been entered by the man’s wife nearly a year before, and the man had been in the dungeon for two years before that. A letter from a senator he knew had since died of a particularly nasty strain of social disease no priest in the city was able to cure was sent off the edge of the desk only partially read. And that went on for a long time.

  When one of the black firedrakes announced Ivar Devorast, he stopped.

  “Everyone out,” Pristoleph said as Devorast was shown into the room.

  Devorast glanced sideways at the crystal balls but didn’t stop until he reached one of the chairs that faced the ransar’s desk.

  “Everyone, Ransar?” Wenefir asked, eyeing Devorast with a dangerous scowl.

  Pristoleph clapped the priest on the shoulder and said, “I will be quite all right, my old friend. Please.”

  Wenefir made a point of bowing low before he followed the others out of the room.

  “Sit,” Pristoleph said to Devorast when they were finally alone.

  “You’re busy,” Devorast said, but Pristoleph could tell the man had no intention of volunteering to leave.

  He motioned to the chair and they both sat. Pristoleph let out a long sigh.

  “I’m relieved to see you, Ivar,” Pristoleph said. “May I call you Ivar?”

  Devorast answered with a gesture that was half nod and half shrug. Pristoleph instantly decided to learn how to do that.

  “The Thayan didn’t deliver everything on the list,” Devorast said.

  Pristoleph sighed again and said, “I’m not surprised.”

  “He wasn’t paid?”

  “Oh, he was paid,” said Pristoleph. “He just doesn’t like you.”

  Devorast scowled. “What could that matter?”

  “To me?” Pristoleph replied. “Nothing at all, but the Thayan is a bit … odd. He has to like you, or at least he has to think you like him.”