Death of the Dragon - Ed Greenwood [22]
"Handled me, Mother?"
"Yes, Tanalasta, handled you." Filfaeril's voice had grown stern. "We are both women of the palace, and the time has come to acknowledge that. It doesn't mean that we don't love each other, or Azoun and Alusair-"
"Or even Vangey," Tanalasta added.
The queen's eyes darkened noticeably, but she nodded. "Even Vangerdahast-and he is the worst handler of any of us. We all have our own aims that inevitably set us against each other, and the only way to stay a family is to acknowledge the fact."
Tanalasta regarded her mother as though meeting her for the first time. "All right…"
"So what I am sorry about is misjudging you. I was frightened by the change in you after Huthduth, and I thought you weren't ready to be queen." Filfaeril paused to blink away the tears welling in her eyes, then continued, "I thought you never would be, and I told your father to name Alusair in your place. I did everything I could to persuade him, but Vangerdahast wouldn't have it."
"Vangerdahast?" Tanalasta began to wonder what her mother was playing at. Vangerdahast had made a living hell of her life over the last year, constantly trying to bully her into becoming the kind of queen he expected to sit on the throne of Cormyr. Finally, the situation had grown so bad that Tanalasta had rebelled and told him to take what she was or start bullying Alusair into shape. "You aren't saying that just because he's gone, are you?"
"No," Filfaeril said. She shook her head vehemently, and now the tears did begin to spill out of her eyes. "It's the truth. He never doubted you, but I did. I apologize."
"Don't," Tanalasta said. "There's no need to apologize. There was at least one time when you were right. When Gaspar and Aunadar tried to poison Father, I couldn't have been less ready. I'm far from sure if I am now, but that hardly matters at the moment. With the ghazneths running loose, Cormyr is on the verge of disaster."
"It is no longer on the verge, I fear." Filfaeril wiped her eyes dry, then rose to her feet, assuming her familiar regal air. "The blight has destroyed every crop in the north, and it's working its way south by the day. There are wildfires everywhere, whole villages are going mad, and others are dying of the plague, the orcs have massed in the north and…"
"And the Seven Scourges are upon us," said Tanalasta. "Blight, Madness, War, Pestilence, Fire, Swarms."
"That's only six."
"The seventh is 'soon to come,' and when he does…"
"'Out come the armies of the dead and the legions of the devil made by itself,' " Filfaeril finished, quoting Alaundo's ancient prophecy. "What then?"
Tanalasta could only shake her head. "We can't let it come to that." She threw her covers back and swung her legs out of bed, then looked toward the anteroom door and barked, "Korvarr!"
Filfaeril took Tanalasta's arm. "What are you doing?"
"I did something in Goblin Mountain that weakened Xanthon," she explained, all but dragging her mother to the wardrobe. "It may be that I've stumbled onto something."
"What?" Filfaeril asked.
"I don't know yet. It's going to take some research."
Tanalasta pulled her bed gown off and tossed it aside, then flung the wardrobe open-and discovered it to be empty.
The anteroom door slammed open, and Korvarr Rallyhorn, the lionar of her guards, burst into the room with a dozen men at his back. They all skidded to a halt, then nearly fell over each other in their rush to avert their eyes and retreat.
"I… I b-beg your forgiveness, Princess," stammered Korvarr. "We thought you called."
"I did."
Filfaeril snatched the bed gown off the floor and thrust it at Tanalasta.
"Find Alaphondar and tell him to meet me in the library," Tanalasta said, draping the bed gown more or less over her breasts. "And send me something to wear."
"As you command, Princess."
Korvarr did his best to escape the room without looking at Tanalasta.
As the door shut, Filfaeril