Elminster Must Die_ The Sage of Shadowdale - Ed Greenwood [91]
How that could be done, or by whom, they did not know—or, again, said they did not. Marlin knew he had no way of catching them in falsehoods until it was too late … and he was beginning to fervently wish they’d stop smiling.
Relve Langral had been the rogue among the Nine and was far more talkative than Halonter. According to him, the dark god Myrkul had corrupted them; they were now ruthless and uncaring, gleefully enjoying killing and any chance to do harm. “We are insane and beyond death,” Relve had announced calmly. Smiling that terrible smile all the while.
They had been awakened from their imprisonments before, and had then heard themselves termed “blueflame ghosts,” but said they were nothing like the real ghosts they’d met and fought when the Nine were adventuring.
They’d said more, too. “We cannot and will not destroy each other, nor will we attempt to. It’s one of the few commandments you can give us that we must ignore.”
“And the others are?”
“Still unknown to us—and, I gather, to you, too,” Relve had replied promptly—and, of course, smilingly.
Marlin drew in another breath and wiped his dripping forehead with the back of his hand. “Then hear my first command to you. Somewhere in this city around you—we stand in the palace in Suzail, Cormyr—there is a man by the name of Seszgar Huntcrown. The one I seek is nobly born and the heir of House Huntcrown, in the unlikely event you find someone else by that name. You are to go forth from here—through the walls—to find him without delay, slay him, and return to me. I will not then be here but in my home, not far from here in this same city. Go. Go now.”
In smiling silence, the two flaming men—or ghosts, or whatever they were—drew their swords, slashed the air around them a time or two as if working stiffness from their limbs, and started toward him.
Marlin watched them come, mouth dry, and it was only when they were a mere stride away that he retreated, clutching at his belt dagger and trying in terror to remember what in all the odd powers of the various rings he wore might save him against two ruthless slayers who could suck the life out of him with a mere touch.
He was still stumbling back, trying to think of something to stammer to keep them at bay, when they strode past him with their fierce smiles, cold contempt for him in their eyes, and … through the nearest wall, as softly as any maiden’s whisper.
And the blue flames were gone from the Dragonskull Chamber, leaving Marlin Stormserpent whimpering and shaking.
Farruking Tempus forfend! So he could control them … or were they merely humoring him?
Stlarn. He swallowed hard, his mouth as dry as he imagined any howling desert to be, and tried to quell his shaking.
He had to get out of there, notes and chalice and all, and back home before some sneering fool of a war wizard found him.
Home, to await a horrible doom—was there anything in the family vaults he could protect himself with? Anything?—or to learn that this little test had become a success, and he was rid of a longtime foe.
Not that Seszgar Huntcrown was one whit as important as Seszgar Huntcrown believed himself to be. However, he’d hated Seszgar because the Huntcrown heir had bullied and humiliated him when they were both young, and still sneered at him.
Moreover, Seszgar would be no loss to anyone. And, overconfident as he was, he was all too apt to trust in his formidable skill with a blade and go swaggering out alone, dismissing his bodyguards, and so could more easily be caught alone than most other nobles.
The two ghosts of the Nine scared Marlin, but they might know almost nothing about Suzail—and all they knew about their quarry was his name, his nobility, and that he was probably carousing somewhere in Suzail. Marlin didn’t want to lose these useful weapons before they accomplished anything at all, by setting them a task that would keep them scouring the city until every last war wizard in the realm descended on them hurling blasting spells.
Smiling, they’d marched right out, wreathed