Elminster in Myth Drannor - Ed Greenwood [101]
"Whatever we pursue," a deep voice said despairingly, "won't bring my son back. The human did it; the Coronal brought the human into the realm-so, the human being dead already, the Coronal must die, that my Aerendyl be avenged."
"I lost a son, too, Lord Tassarion," said another new voice, "but it does not follow that the death of my Leayonadas must needs be paid for by the blood of the ruler of Cormanthor. If Eltargrim must die, let it be a reasoned decision made for the future of Cormanthor, and not a blood evening."
"House Starym knows better than many the pain of loss and the weight of blood price," the thin voice of Llombaerth Starym, Lord Speaker of his House, came again. "We have no desire to belittle the pain of a loss felt by others, and we hear the deep-and undeniable-call for justice. Yet we, too, believe that the matter of the Coronal's continued rule must be treated as an affair of state. The misruler must pay for his shocking ideas and his failure to guide Cormanthor capably, regardless of how many or how few brave sons of the realm have died from his mistakes."
"May I propose," a lisping voice put in, "that we resolve and work toward the slaying of the Coronal? With that as a commonly held goal, those of us who see revenge as part of this-myself, Lord Yeschant, Lord Tassarion, and Lord Ortaure-can agree among ourselves who shall have a hand in the actual killing, so that honor may be satisfied. That in turn allows House Starym and others who'd rather not be part of actual bloodshed to work toward our common goal with hands that remain clean of all but the work of loyally defending Cormanthor."
"Well said, My Lord Bellas," Lord Maendellyn agreed. "Are we then agreed that the Coronal must die?"
"We are," came the rough chorus.
"And are we agreed on when, how, and whom shall ascend to the throne of Coronal after Eltargrim?"
There was a little silence, and then everyone started to speak at once. El could see them, now: the five heads of Houses and the Starym envoy, sitting around a polished table with goblets and bottles between them, the slowly revolving flashes of an anti-poison field winking among those vessels.
"Pray silence!" Lord Yeschant said sharply, after a few moments of babble. "It is clear that we are not agreed on these things. I suspect that the matter of who shall be our next Coronal is the issue of most contention, and should be dealt with last-though I must stress, lords, that we do Cormanthor a grave disservice if we do not, before striking, choose a new Coronal and support him with the same united resolve we show in removing the old one. None of us benefits from a realm in chaos." He paused, and then asked in a quiet voice, "My Lord Maendellyn?"
"My thanks, Lord Yeschant-and, may I say, how swiftly and ably spoken. Is the 'how' we remove the Coronal easiest to decide among ourselves, as I judge it?"
"It must be some way that lets us strike him down personally," Lord Tassarion said quickly.
"Yet 'twould be best," the lord speaker of the Starym put in, "if it not be a formal audience or other appointment for which a suspicious Coronal could assemble a formidable defensive force, and thereby increase our losses and personal danger as he delays our success and places the realm in jeopardy of the very war and uncertainty we are all so rightly concerned about."
"How then to trick him into meeting with us?"
"Adopt disguises, so as to come to him as his advisors: those six sorceresses he dallies with, for instance?"
Lord Yeschant and Lord Tassarion frowned in unison. "I dislike the thought of involving such extra complications in what we do," said Yeschant. "Should one of them observe us, she'll be sure to attack, and we'll have a spell battle far greater than what we'll face if we can catch Eltargrim alone."
"Bah! As Coronal, he can call and summon a number of things,"