Murder in Cormyr - Chet Williamson [79]
"And the ghost appeared," I said, "when Grodoveth was staying in Ghars."
"That's right. And the trade information that he possessed would be invaluable to the Iron Throne."
I tried to work it out with words, but it was difficult. "So Grodoveth told Tobald, and Tobald told Dovo, and Dovo told the Iron Throne agents with lantern signals. But that's pretty much what you said last night."
"Yes, but you've just added a middle man. Tobald."
"But… but he was in on it, wasn't he? I mean, you proved that last night."
"Yes, he was. But you see, Tobald didn't have to tell Dovo. Can you see why?"
Then I had it. "Because Grodoveth told Dovo." I pulled back on Jenkus's reins and stared at Benelaius, who also reined in. "You mean… they were in it together?"
"Of course they were," my master said. "Can we continue, please? This is a day for answers, not for standing still and chatting in the rain." And we rode on.
35
"There was a bond between the two," Benelaius said, "far deeper than that of master and student. They were both familiar with disgrace. You already know about Grodoveth's displeasing the king with his lechery in Suzail, but did it never occur to you that Tobald's leaving the university when he did was mildly suspicious?
"Most university masters remain there for their whole lives, writing when they tire of teaching. But Tobald left in what one would imagine to be the prime of his academic life, at an age when others would not only be highly acclaimed professors but would also have established themselves as scholars in their fields, beginning to create bodies of literary work. Yet Tobald left Suzail and came to little Ghars, where he immediately became a large fish in a tiny pond.
"We may never know what exactly it was that caused the university to dismiss him. It might have been something as simple as sloth. But it really doesn't matter. What matters is his response, which was the same as Grodoveth's. They felt no disgrace, only dishonor. In their own eyes, they had not done wrong; the wrongs had been done to them by those more powerful than they. In Tobald's case, the university, and in Grodoveth's, King Azoun himself. And so?" Benelaius said, suggesting that I continue.
"And so they brooded," I said, trying to imagine what went on in these two men's minds. "They grew angry, and eventually they wanted revenge."
"Mmm. Revenge on the universities, on their king, on their country itself. Enough of a motive for the overthrow of Cormyr, by military… or economic means."
"So when someone from the Iron Throne approached Grodoveth," I ventured, "he was ripe for the picking. He had probably found a sympathetic ear in Tobald from the start, and shared the plot with him." I looked sharply at Benelaius. "What do you think the Iron Throne promised them in exchange for their betrayal of their country?"
My master shrugged. "Riches, undoubtedly. The Iron Throne and Sembia would realize great wealth as a result of Cormyr's economic woes. Perhaps Grodoveth and Tobald even looked forward to the possibility of an eventual Sembian invasion of Cormyr, depending on how much damage was done to the kingdom. Then-a puppet throne for Grodoveth, and Tobald's revenge on those in the university system who he felt had wronged him. We'll never know what they had in mind, but we can be grateful it did not come to fruition."
By now, we were passing the Swamp Rat, and Benelaius nodded toward it. "Feel a need to take the damp out of your bones?"
"Not in there," I said, thinking of the weak ale and the pickled eggs. Then I happened to remember something. "But Grodoveth did, though, didn't he?"
"Did he?" the wizard asked slyly.
"Of course. When he spent the night there, he knew exactly what room to go to without asking, because he had done so before. The Swamp Rat was their base of operations, wasn't it?"
Benelaius only smiled, and returned my question with another. "If it was, do you think Hesketh Pratt, the good proprietor,