The Simbul's gift - Lynn Abbey [29]
"A woman in Nethra. She let her guard down and drew unwanted attention, but everything's been taken care of, my lord. There'll be no repetition. The web wasn't compromised."
"Why tell me of your mistakes, woman?" Thrul's scowl took a cruel turn. "I'm not interested in mistakes."
"The woman was a fool, my lord, and we're well rid of her, but she was looking under a very interesting rock when the Tall One interrupted her."
"Tall One? You mean the Aerasume?" the zulkir's tone was frigid. "What trade do the Aerasume have in Nethra?"
"That is not known, my lord. The Tall One took ship immediately after the incident. We looked for his associates but… My lord, pursuing one of them is hardly worth the risk. Whatever his reason for visiting Nethra, he's gone now. I will tell you if he returns. That is not why I've come."
"Yes, and why, precisely, have you come?"
"We are not the only fishers with a net to fling over Aglarond."
Aznar Thrul, who shaved his scalp and beard daily but left his eyebrows intact, raised both of them to astonished heights. "Who else? Allies? Enemies?" He paused after each question, but his spy master did not respond. "Zulkirs?" he asked finally. "Who? Toward what ends?"
"Enchantment no longer relies on our advice. He's put his own hand on the map."
"Lauzoril," the zulkir drawled, wrapping his voice around the name as he considered his ally of convenience-inconvenience-against Szass Tam. The man gave lip service to the notions of Thay's imperial destiny, but he was an opportunist, a coward in his gut, like so many enchanters. What Lauzoril knew of strategy and tactics could be written on the back of a woman's hand, but he had a golden tongue. No gnolls and goblins, undead or unclever, for the Zulkir of Enchantment-the man could raise a human host and hold it together with words alone. He'd proved that last year in Gauros Gorge where he'd extracted his human legions safely from a battlefield rout and gained an undeserved reputation for martial genius. His popularity with the common folk-rare for a zulkir-made him useful… for now.
"Enchantment is an ally, a friend. I'm sure his spy gave a good account."
"The bastard unstrung himself, my lord."
Thrul sucked his teeth. The minions of Enchantment were uncommonly good at dying with their secrets intact. A more suspicious man than Aznar Thrul-if such a man were ever born-might suspect their zulkir of practicing forbidden magic or a bit of treachery with Szass Tam. In which case, woe to Necromancy-and Lauzoril was still more useful alive than destroyed.
"His schemes are known to us. Anyone else? My supper grows cold."
"Illusion has spies in Aglarond," the spy master said abruptly. "Mythrell'aa of the Serpent Tower."
Thrul lost his appetite. Lady Illusion had dwelt in Bezantur longer than him, but hadn't had the wit to leave when he claimed it. She'd locked herself in her obsidian tower and sealed the place with enough magic to make a god hesitate before knocking on her door.
Publicly, Mythrell'aa claimed she was no one's enemy, that Illusion had no ambition, and she wished only to follow her own path. Privately, Aznar Thrul knew her proclamations were trash. She'd declared for Szass Tam after last year's Rashemen Gorge rout, then undeclared when Tam himself was defeated in the spring. He believed the first declaration, not the second. Thrul was certain Lady Illusion had made new promises to Szass Tam; he had more than one spy master reporting to him. He was almost certain the two were conspiring against him directly.
Mythrell'aa wasn't useful, not at all. Thrul wanted her dead-if he could be certain death wouldn't simply make her even more dangerous. But…
"Mythrell'aa? She's got a grudge against the silver-eyed bitch, had it for years; no one knows why. But flinging out a net in greater Aglarond? That's hardly Illusion's style, woman, and you know it." Then another thought raced through the zulkir's mind. "Death's door-she's not spying on Aglarond, she's spying on us! If she's gotten wind of our web…"
The spy master nodded sagely. "We cannot not