Crusade - James Lowder [109]
One such cleric of Tymora was leaving Vangerdahast's tent as the king approached it. The dark-haired priest exuded exhaustion as he shuffled, shoulders stooped, away from Azoun.
"Just a minute," the king said, running a few steps to catch the Tymorite.
"How is the royal magician?"
The cleric, when he saw Azoun, bowed deeply. He straightened his clean brown robe and turned his blue eyes on the king. "He is no longer delirious, Your Highness, but I fear he will not be ready to fight today."
Something about the cleric tugged at Azoun's memory, but the troubling news about Vangerdahast quickly displaced the thought. The king sighed.
"Have you been caring for Vangerdahast since we arrived last night?" he asked, noting the redness rimming the cleric's blue eyes.
"I have had some experience with mages made sick by magic-dead areas," the cleric responded. "As Your Highness certainly knows, Cormyr holds an area or two like the one the Tuigan camped in, caused by the Time of Troubles. That is why I was assigned-"
"Yes, of course," the king said distractedly. "I would like you to come back and see to the royal magician during the battle."
The king left the cleric bowing and entered Vangerdahast's tent. His thoughts lightened a little when he saw how much the orderly tent resembled the wizard's workshop back in Suzail-even to the live hedgehog Vangerdahast kept in a glass. The king had always assumed the bristly little creature was part of a spell, but he wasn't sure. Perhaps it's Vangerdahast's idea of a pet, he mused.
The wizard himself was stretched out on a cot, snoring lightly. A votive candle, rimmed with silver, burned fitfully on a table near the wizard's head.
The cleric had no doubt left it there, Azoun decided, for silver was a metal favored by Tymora's priests.
The candle's flickering flame did little to brighten the tent, but it did reveal another man sleeping in the shadows. Thom Reaverson, the king's bard, lay curled on the ground next to one of Vangerdahast's bookshelves. The bard hugged himself tightly and shivered a little in the cool morning air. Smiling, the king lifted a robe from the wizard's trunk and spread it over Thom. Then, as quietly as he could, he left the tent.
Once outside, Azoun ordered a guard to wake Thom in an hour, at which time the bard was to begin packing Vangerdahast's belongings. Since the wizard's tent would be behind the Alliance's lines, the king decided not to have the unconscious royal mage moved. For now, at least.
Actually, what to do with Vangerdahast during the battle was the least of Azoun's problems. A more pressing dilemma was the command of the War Wizards, which would now have to be given to another mage. The king knew the choice would not be difficult to make, for the War Wizards had a strict hierarchy. The next ranking mage would simply take over as commander.
However, Azoun had no idea if this other wizard knew of Vangerdahast's plan for the battle.
It was likely that the plans had not been shared. Vangerdahast was secretive, and he tended to reveal only a little about his projects, even to Azoun. That tendency was the source of the king's other big dilemma, as well.
With Vangerdahast unable to cast any spells, Azoun had no way to contact Queen Filfaeril or Princess Alusair. The royal mage had made it very clear that only he knew how to home in on the Obarskyr family's signet rings.
Vangerdahast always claimed that this insured no one could abuse the tracking devices, but Azoun now cursed himself for not demanding some other way to contact his family quickly.
With these problems weighing heavily on his mind, the king returned to his pavilion and met with the generals. Farl, Brunthar, and Lord Harcourt were sitting around the large table