Cormyr_ a novel - Ed Greenwood [171]
He was halfway there when a page in the tabard of palace service hurried up to him, bowed, and said in a voice sharp with excitement, "Revered lord, Lord Aunadar Bleth would speak with you in the Flamedance Hall at your earliest convenience. He says the matter is of utmost urgency to the security of the realm."
"Of course it is," Vangerdahast said, almost soothingly, and added, inclining his head in dismissal, "My thanks. I shall attend Lord Bleth directly. If you have been charged to bring him a reply, you may inform him so. If not, spare yourself the run, I shall not keep him waiting long."
The page bowed and ran off toward the palace. Of course, thought Vangerdahast, and looked up and down the Hall of Honor to see if he was being observed. The page dwindled into the distance and turned down the east stair, there was no one else in sight. The wizard nodded in satisfaction, laid his hand on a particular inscription on the wall, and spoke a certain word. The block seemed unchanged, but his fingers sank into it as if it no longer existed. He reached in, plucked a certain ring, a pendant, and an armlet from the small cloth bag that he knew would be there, and drew them forth, speaking another word that made the stone solid again.
Donning the three items, he resumed his walk, heading not for Gemstars Hall any longer but for the palace and the soaring hearths of Flamedance Hall. The flames would be illusory during weather this warm, but their endless leapings were fascinating to watch nonetheless. It would be best to get this over with, now that he was protected against poisons, normal missiles, steel weapons of all sorts, and the effects of hostile gases. It would be most indecently hasty to try to strike down the Royal Magician of all Cormyr, leaving the land mageless once more, but then, these ambitious young nobles seemed to care not a whit for the safety of the realm nor for rules, courtesies, and conventions. Truly a wonderful future lay ahead for the kingdom.
Two belarjacks nodded to him respectfully at the threshold of Flamedance Hall and drew the doors wide. The old wizard strode in calmly to find only one figure waiting for him, with a decanter and two glasses. Vangerdahast smiled slightly as he heard the doors close softly behind him, and walked steadily forward.
"So this day finds you desirous of converse with the wise old mage of Cormyr, does it?" he asked cheerfully. "Well, then, speak! I bring both time and interest to hear you out."
Those piercing brown eyes locked with his, and the thin lips beneath the thinner mustache twisted slightly. "That is convenient, lord wizard, for I find I have matters of crucial import to the future of the realm to discuss with you."
Vangerdahast stopped a few paces away from the young noble and raised both of his bushy brows. "How so? A man who's spent so much of his time in recent years hunting boar and deer carries matters of crucial import about with him-and undiscussed?"
Aunadar poured himself a glass from the decanter, amber and sparkling-old, fine flamekiss, by the looks of it-and said almost wearily, "Whatever you may think of me, Lord Vangerdahast, I am no longer a boy but a man-moreover, one affianced to the future Queen of Cormyr. I have the ear of the crown princess and eyes quite able to see the future ahead of us all. Pray do me the courtesy of dispensing with the old-wise-one-patronizing-the-self-important-puppy act. It demeans you more than it does me."
"Speak, then," Vangerdahast said calmly, shaping something in the air behind him with one hand.
Aunadar laid a hand on the hilt of the court rapier he wore. "Casting spells