Elminster in Myth Drannor - Ed Greenwood [84]
"Yes, Uldreiyn: Glarald of the easy smiles. Do you know how he hoped to defeat us and deceive us in the first place? He took one of the forbidden enchantments from the tomb of Felaern Starym, and altered it to control not merely wands and scepters from afar-such as your own storm scepter, which I'm afraid was destroyed in our dispute-but minds. The minds of two unicorns and one young sorceress of House Dree."
Lord Starym's face was ashen now. "I-I can scarce believe… his beloved, Alais?"
"I doubt his affections for her ran all that deep," the Srinshee told him dryly, "but he did dally with her long enough to work a blood spell-another forbidden magic, of course-and so enthrall her to cast spells at his bidding. The Lady Aubaudameira Dree, or 'Alais,' as you know her, attacked the Lord Earynspieir in the midst of our investigation."
The Starym lord shook his head in dumbfounded disbelief. The Coronal and Naeryndam both nodded silent confirmation of the words of the sorceress.
"Her spells were formidable," the Srinshee continued. "Our High Court Mage owes his life to my magic. As does Glarald, for Alais wasn't pleased with him after I broke his thrall. 'Twas the unicorns that did it; once my spells shook him, he couldn't control their restive natures, and his entire linkage collapsed. So it was that the Coronal gained a new Lady Herald."
"That was Alais?" Lord Uldreiyn breathed, shaking his head and gesturing at the door whence the Herald had departed. "But she was much more-ah…"
"Lushly curved than our Lady Herald?" the Srinshee finished his question crisply. "Indeed. You saw her when she was already in thrall, and had been forced to change her body to please Glarald's tastes."
The Starym lord closed his eyes and shook his head again, as if to will away this unwelcome news. "Does Glarald yet live?" he asked slowly.
"He does," the Coronal said gravely. "Though wounded deeply in his wits. The unicorns were not gentle, and he seized upon one of the scepters when his control was already failing, and sought to turn it on them; they hurled its effects back upon him. He is currently in hiding, wrestling with his shame, at Thurdan's Tree at the southern edge of the realm."
"But you've not told me of this!" Lord Uldreiyn snapped. "Wh-"
"Hold!" the Srinshee snapped, just as fiercely. His mouth dropped open in surprise.
"I've had quite enough, Lord," she told him in controlled tones, "of the great Houses of the realm snarling about their rights-in this case, privacy of minds and of the doings of their individuals-whenever Coronal or Court require something of them… and then expecting us to break those rights whenever it personally suits them. So we are not to pry into your doings, my lord, or those of your warriors or steeds or cats-but we are to reveal the doings of another of your House to you? He's not your son or heir, and if he chooses not to confide in you himself, that-as you and speakers from House Echorn and House Waelvor have so cuttingly reminded us, on several occasions-is none of our affair."
Uldreiyn sat staring at her, stunned.
"You," the Srinshee went on, "have been almost panting to ask me about the disappearance of my wrinkles since first we met this even, and cudgeling your wits for a way to politely slide a query into our converse, so that you don't have to ask me directly. You know it is none of your affair. You respect the rule, and expect us to respect it, too, until our observance inconveniences you, whereupon you demand we break it. And yet you wonder why the Court regards the three senior Houses in particular, and all of the important Houses en masse, as foes."
The Starym lord blinked at her, sighed, and sat back. "I-I cannot discount your words, nor parry them," he said heavily. "In this, we are guilty."
"As for Glarald's schemes-in particular, his ambitious, creative, and wholly forbidden use of magic," the Srinshee went on inexorably, "this is the sort of thing our young bloods are up to, My Lord Uldreiyn, while you and your kith sit around decrying our dreams