Pool of Radiance - James M. Ward [99]
"You think the stone belongs to him?"
It was Gensor's impatience that showed now. He leaned almost nose to nose with Cadorna. "Yes… and he has two boots!"
Cadorna's eyes widened. "You mean-"
A cloud of ocher-colored smoke puffed into the room right alongside Cadorna and Gensor. Both moved away from it, but Cadorna moved twice as far and twice as fast as Gensor. A sulfurous smell burned the nostrils of both men, and then a faint hum sounded as a short, spry, almost elflike wizard appeared in the room, his yellow-gold cape billowing with the last puffs of smoke.
"A messenger from the Lord of the Ruins," said Gensor.
"Yes…" Cadorna acknowledged. "We've met."
The messenger wasted no time. "I am here concerning a certain party of three, Councilman. You warned the Lord of the Ruins before they went to Sokol Keep, and he's tried since to have them killed. In fact, only last night an assassin assigned to either gain their services or kill them was smashed to a pulp by the mage woman's horse. The Lord of the Ruins wants those three dead."
Gensor licked his thin, dry lips and swallowed. He'd had his own run-in with the horse shortly after he'd taken the jewelry and armor from the woman's room at the inn. He had been startled at the time to find the horse loose in the streets. He figured the familiar must have bolted from the building after trampling the assassin.
The messenger went on. "Rumor has already spread that one of the three made use of an ioun stone in public. The Lord of the Ruins wants that ioun stone. He offers any item in his immense treasury in exchange for it."
"Why so much fuss over a gemstone?" Cadorna asked coyly.
"The Pool of Radiance, of course," said the messenger. "He needs two more stones to complete the figure of power." The wizard hesitated a moment when he saw Cadorna's twisted expression, but not knowing what to make of it, he continued. "At any rate, Councilman, he knows you have worked with these three before, and he would pay dearly for their heads, particularly if they were accompanied by an ioun stone. Have I made myself clear?"
"Quite clear. My thanks for the message."
The wizard exited in the same manner as he had come, and Cadorna bit his lip in a twisted smile, his eyes gleaming with his calculations. After a moment, he let his eyes meet Gensor's and began to speak quietly and deliberately. "Gensor… I'm sure, quite sure, I know the answer to this, but I still need to ask. What… motivates you? You've made no secret of riding my coattails to some private end of your own. Just what is it that you're after?"
Gensor didn't pause for even a moment before responding. "I know you know the answer, Councilman. The nature of your rewards for my services demonstrates your understanding. To practice magic to its fullest requires a great deal of money, not to mention incredible resources of other kinds. Who has time to go running off to the desert every time he needs the juice from a euphorbia or a special cactus needle? There are also, of course, many people who have a certain distaste for the byproducts of magical experimentation. To create, a person must also be allowed to make occasional mistakes."
"Yes? So what are you saying?" Cadorna thrust his head a little closer to Gensor as he waited for him to continue.
"The ideal I seek is to practice my art-completely unfettered by monetary constraints, limits of materials, or government interference. In lieu of that, I take the increasing freedom you provide as you make your rise to power."
"Exactly! It's perfect!" Cadorna could barely contain himself, so impressed was he with his own brilliance. "Only a few more hours and a Black Watch mercenary's well-aimed arrow stand between me and the First Councilman's seat. But with your news of the ioun stones, you may just have provided me with the exact knowledge I need to go even beyond that position."
Gensor's scheming was way ahead of Cadorna's, but he contained his impatience and let the councilman think he was presenting ideas that were completely