Elminster's Daughter - Ed Greenwood [120]
Narnra frowned, closed her eyes, and sat back, shaking her head slightly.
"Got those?" Rhauligan asked. When she nodded, he added, "Good," and drew a much-folded square of vellum from his sleeve. It opened out into an incredibly detailed map of Suzail that made Narnra lean forward in awe to peer at the little dots that denoted every last building in the city. The Harper put a finger on one dot and said, "This is a tavern called The Downed Falcon, a favorite haunt of Flamegallow and Ostramarr. And this down here is the-"
Narnra chuckled despite herself, looked slyly over at Caladnei, and asked lightly, "No mental images of taprooms and ladies' privy-chambers? You disappoint me!"
Laspeera closed the door of the Dragonwing Chamber and turned to give Caladnei an expressionless nod. Narnra had departed, presumably soon to creep about on local balconies and rooftops, listening and peering at certain War Wizards.
Caladnei gave Rhauligan a mirthless smile. "You know your task?"
"Shadow her."
The Mage Royal nodded. "Let yourself be seen only to prevent Crown treason on her part or to save her life. Otherwise… just watch. Unless we've been very lax, none of those twelve is a traitor, but they've all met with Rightful Conspirators recently. I want to see how some of them react if they happen to notice a stranger lurking and watching them. If Narnra does spot you, tell her we decided we were unfairly sending her forth without a proper grounding in our politics-and offer to tell and show her more."
"Of course," the Highknight replied, rising.
"Some of those coins bear tracer-spells?" she asked him, nodding at the door Narnra had left by.
He smiled. "All of them." With a wave of his hand to Laspeera and Caladnei that was more of a salute than a farewell, Glarasteer Rhauligan strode to the nearest wall, did something deft to its paneling, and departed through a secret door neither woman had thought he knew anything about.
"There goes a good man," Laspeera murmured.
The Mage Royal nodded. "Let's hope I don't get him killed," she sighed bitterly. "I… I truly wish Vangerdahast was still irritating half of Cormyr by running things in his usual capable fashion. He'd handle things so much better than I do."
Laspeera smiled and hugged Caladnei. "Keep feeling that way and I'll know you're doing a gods-damned good job of being Mage Royal. It's folk who think they're doing just fine because they're so brilliant and masterly at magecraft who scare the backbone out of me!"
* * * * *
Rauthur blinked in surprise and peered in all directions. By the sunlight and the smells, he was still in Suzail-but in some narrow alleyway in the poorer, westerly part of the city, not in a passage outside the Dragonwing Chamber.
"Thisisn't the Palace!" he protested.
"Indeed it's not," Harnrim Starangh agreed-in the instant before something boiled up inside the War Wizard and blew apart.
"Sucha suspicious War Wizard," he murmured as he surveyed the bloody bones and smoke that had been Huldyl Rauthur a moment earlier. "Gone missing just after so many deaths and disruptions at the sanctum-who would have thought he was a traitor? It just goes to show…"
He smiled as the plume of bloody smoke wafted away, leaving only a messy pile of dog-gnaw bones for the next cur-or starving citizen of Suzail looking for something to fill a stewpot-to find.
"I'm so sorry, Rauthur," he addressed them. "I fear I may have neglected to mention a few details of that linking spell. Or this other magic, for that matter."
He made a swift gesture. The skull rose, dripping, from the rest of the tangle and floated