Crusade - James Lowder [46]
A tense silence followed. Brak took a long sip of ale and wiped his mouth with the back of his callused hand. "The Trappers' Guild didn't have anything to do with the attack on the king," he grumbled. He met Ambrosius's steady gaze with his one good eye. "But we don't make no secret of the fact we oppose the crusade."
Ambrosius said nothing as he returned to his seat. Most of the patrons at the Black Rat turned back to their drinks and their private conversations, though a few still watched the trapper and the paladin. Azoun shook his head.
"You could have asked the same question without revealing me as the king's man," he said.
"As I said before, I have no use for spies. You get more by asking questions directly."
"I take it the trapper was telling the truth?"
"Of course," Ambrosius replied. "Brak knows me far too well to consider lying."
After talking with the paladin for a time, sipping on the inn's dark, bitter ale, the king stood and headed toward the door. Brak scowled slightly as Azoun passed, but the drunken trapper was quickly dragged back into an animated conversation about the Tuigan. Azoun heard someone say, "There's no way we can lose with the armies of Faerun brought together like that!" He offered a silent prayer that the man was right, then moved once more into the cold night air.
This chill is the last gasp of winter, Azoun decided as he hugged his cloak tighter around his shoulders. That means the Tuigan are probably on the move again in Thay. The armies of Faerun can gather none too soon now.
And from all that Azoun had learned that day, he was sure it was safe to proceed. The people of Suzail supported his crusade, despite the seemingly isolated unrest amongst a few of the guilds. Though the merchants grumbled about the taxes, the king knew that they rarely stopped complaining about such things. More importantly, the king felt secure that the would-be assassin was working alone.
Azoun shivered in the frosty air and pulled the worn cloak tighter still. The tattered disguise tore under the strength of his grasp. He looked at the ripped cloak and smiled.
On days when he had been in a good mood, Azoun's father had called his son's interest in the theater and costumes a waste of time. At times when the hawks refused to cooperate or the nobles were particularly fractious, King Rhigaerd II had given Prince Azoun's hobby a few less diplomatic titles. At that moment, as he made his way through Suzail, the king of Cormyr thanked the gods that he'd chosen the Black Rat to visit. He smiled with the knowledge that his penchant for disguises had indeed served him well.
6
The Goddess's Hand Azoun sat back in the cushioned chair and allowed himself to relax. It was the first time in two tendays he'd taken such a luxury.
"One day out, many more to go, eh Thom?" the king asked absently.
The bard sat at a steel-legged wooden table, taking notes for the crusade's annals. He finished a sentence or two, then looked up and nodded. "By the time we get to our destination, I should have the section on the crusade's organization completed."
Azoun closed his eyes and rested his head against the cabin wall. "Let's hope the battles don't prove any more difficult than raising the troops has."
Thom Reaverson didn't answer; it was obvious Azoun didn't expect one.
Within a few moments, the king had drifted off to sleep, lulled by the gentle rocking of the Cormyrian carrack as it made its way across the Lake of Dragons. The bard listened for a moment to the creaking of the ship and the sounds of the crew going about its business abovedeck. After a while, he turned back to his work.
Thom dipped his quill in a cup of water, then scratched it across a square of dried ink. After reading over the last sentence he'd completed, the bard continued his account of the twenty-one days between the assassination attempt and the departure of the king's ship for the east.
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