The Vacant Throne - Ed Greenwood [112]
The Tersept of Tarlagar and two of the mages flushed visibly, and something that wasn't quite allowed to become a smile passed over the face of one of the silent armored statues that the bodyguards had become.
"I did not ride all this way," the Baron of Adeln replied crisply, "to fence with you, Ithclammert. We are gathered here to invite you to join us in what will very soon become a direct and open action regarding the throne of Aglirta."
"A conspiracy against the man who calls himself the Risen King?" the Baron of Cardassa asked, calmly writing something on the parchment before him.
"Not to put too fine a point on it," the mage Caladash snapped in his nasal, sneering voice, "yes."
The baron regarded him calmly from behind the table. "And is this all of you? Or, if I throw my lot in with you, am I joining also with others I do not now see?"
"No," Baron Eldagh Ornentar began, the flesh around his eyes and mouth strangely blue, "th-"
Adeln stepped in front of him, and asked loudly, "What do you mean?" As if attached to him by strings, several of the bodyguards leaned forward too, staring in hard-eyed unison at the Lord of Cardassa.
"I mean," Ithclammert Cardassa explained calmly, spreading his hands, "that I expected to see here with you the man who has led many of your more private moots: Bodemmon Sarr."
Several of the mages stiffened, and Caladash started to snap something that Adeln quelled with a direct glare before turning back to the master of Tathcaladorn and saying shortly, "Bodemmon Sarr has, it seems, vanished from Aglirta-or at least from where in the realm he has customarily been found. I know not how it is that you presume to know anything of private moots or who attended them, but it is true that he has been part of our councils, yes… and in sentiments stands firmly with us."
There was more than a little derision in Cardassa's smile as he inclined his head politely and replied, "Indeed."
"You seem more than idly hostile," the Tersept of Tarlagar snapped, stepping forward and crossing his arms across his breast. "Tell us plainly, Cardassa: what is your position?"
The Baron of Cardassa looked up at him, still writing, and asked softly, "And how is it, Ilisker Baerund, that you think to claim a barony and so abuse the courtesies and traditions of Aglirta? I am host here, you one of many self-invited guests, and yet you cannot wait to demand things of me until I am finished replying to the weighty inquiry of our Lord of Adeln?"
The tersept's face darkened, and he snarled, "You seemed done-or to have had time enough and more to be done, if you desired so. Bodemmon Sarr is not here, aye: so much all who have eyes know-so what part of your answer remains unspoken?"
"My reluctance to side with anyone in Aglirta, however fair their aims and faces, who consort with the Serpent," the Lord of Cardassa said flatly.
"What?" the tersept and the wizard Mauveiron both snapped.
"What talk's this?" the mage Talasorn asked, on their heels.
The baron behind the table gestured up at his two fellow barons and replied, "See you how silent Adeln stands? He knows, as I do, why our Lord of Ornentar wears a face so blue. The venom of the Serpent rages in him, and he must do the bidding of the Cowled Priests or die when they refuse him the drinks that keep the poison from doing its slow and burning work. So anyone who stands with Ornentar stands with the Serpent-and my dealings with the Fanged Faithful thus far have led me to the conclusion that they love no baron, no wizard… and no realm called Aglirta."
"What tale is this?" Caladash sneered, not looking to where Ornentar swayed, silent but with eyes blazing in fury. "You think we'll believe such a clumsy attempt to split our ranks?"
Cardassa shrugged. "If poison seems so far-fetched, why is it that none of you partakes of my wine?"
"Enough of this," Esculph Adeln snapped. "I've no time for clever-tongue fencing this night, Ithclammert. It seems