“Do not be so quick to dismiss the thought,” Bellimar said. “The rich grow increasingly frantic for their safety, between the spreading darkness outside the city walls and their rivals gathering personal armies within. Sil’ath reputation at arms being what it is, your friends could amass a fortune here. As could you and Valkarr.”
“That was not their purpose,” Amric insisted.
“How can you be so certain?”
“Because the Sil’ath care little for such things, and I share that sentiment. And I know their purpose because I sent them here, to Keldrin’s Landing. No, they would not abandon their task. If their goals coincided with Morland’s, a common purpose or at least mutual benefit was responsible. As I have mentioned, the Sil’ath are pragmatic; if they struck an accord with the likes of this Morland, he represented the best path they could find toward completing their task.”
“And that task was…?” Bellimar prodded.
“For now, suffice it to say they were to gather information to aid our people, information we believe is only available here. More detail will have to await our leisure, but it seems their search led them to the east.”
“Perhaps,” Bellimar said, tilting his head in thought. “But your thinking might be too linear on this, swordsman. If Morland had information they required but he refused to disclose, would your friends have bartered their effort in exchange?”
“Aye, that is possible,” Amric admitted.
“Then they may still have departed on a task not directly related to their goal, effectively in the employ of the merchant.”
“I cannot argue the logic,” Amric said with a sigh. “Tell me of Morland.”
“From all I hear,” Bellimar said, “he finds the truth very malleable. Be aware that he is avaricious and calculating to the core, and if he is putting aside his public need for vengeance-even for a time-it is because he is after a greater prize. When I discovered he was behind the bounty, I made conciliatory advances through third parties to see how he would respond, and to my surprise found them well received. This public show followed by quick agreement suggests to me that we might have been steered to him.”
“Or it is a trap,” Halthak put in.
“It could be a trap,” Bellimar agreed. “Though if it is, I do not know why he should bother to open his doors to us. Why not just let the bounty do its work?”
Amric gave a slow nod. “Let us discover what he wanted of my men, and what he wants now of us.”
Bellimar inclined his head, then moved to the gates and reached for the bronze bell affixed to them, but it proved unnecessary. Two pairs of burly guards in studded leather armor stepped in from their posts on either side, long spears in their fists.
“Your master is expecting us,” Bellimar said, exuding a haughty air of impatience.
“Names?” came the gruff query. Bellimar supplied all three.
“There were to be four,” the same guard responded, peering past them. “Where is the other?”
Amric smiled without warmth. “Regrettably, he is otherwise occupied, and could not accept the invitation. It will be the three of us.”
The guard gave him a long look, and finally grunted. “Wait here.” He moved to the side of the gate, took a torch from the wall, and waved it high over his head several times before returning it to its sconce. It was long minutes later that a carriage rumbled up the estate drive and into the ring of torchlight, drawn by large draft horses and surrounded by ten mounted soldiers. The gates swung inward with a heavy groan, and the door to the carriage opened. Amric exchanged an amused look with Bellimar, and gave Halthak a squeeze on the shoulder. Even in the poor light, he could see the Half-Ork had gone almost white, but he was at Amric’s heels as the swordsman strode forward and climbed into the carriage. Bellimar followed, and the carriage was moving before the door had shut behind him.
Amric scanned the darkness through the open windows, but could see little of the estate grounds. Members of their escort carried torches ahead of and behind the coach, but they penetrated the darkness only enough to reveal a broad tree-lined lane carved deep with wagon wheel ruts. Amric felt a touch of awe steal over him. Judging by the carriage’s rate of travel and the length of time it took to cross the estate grounds, he had seen many towns of not inconsequential size that could be contained entirely within the walls of this place.
“Because he can,” Bellimar said from the velvet seat across from him.
Amric swiveled his head to look at him. “What?”
“In answer to the question you were just musing over, why would any man claim so much for himself, more than he could use in a thousand lifetimes? Because he can.”
Amric laughed. “Was it so obvious? Or do you read minds, old man?”
Bellimar smiled and shook his head. “No, but it is a rational reaction to this much excess. More importantly, I want you to understand something of this man before you meet him. He has long since shed any need for rationality; he does not question whether he has enough or whether an agreement is equitable. For him, there is only the next conquest. If he can take something, or profit from it, or if he can eliminate an obstacle with no more than acceptable risk to himself, he will do it simply because he can.”
“Is Morland the wealthiest and most powerful in the city?” Halthak asked.
“I am not certain. He is climbing the ladder, if not yet at its top rung. From our vantage as the mice in the fable, however, all the elephants are interchangeable.” Bellimar’s features creased in a wicked smile before he continued. “Of one thing I have no doubt: Morland’s plans extend beyond this city. For all its recent growth, it is still a weed at the remote edge of civilization when compared to the great cities of the east like Tar Mora and Hyaxus. There is wealth to be gained here, but wealth alone will not be enough for Morland forever. I suspect he plans to buy his way into nobility and rule.”
Amric returned to contemplating the darkness outside the carriage. He had spent most of his life beneath the open sky, or in forests or on battlefields; Sil’ath tribes built modest structures, and tended toward nomadic behavior. He had spent time in human cities, certainly, to learn of his own kind and to supplement his education in ways the Sil’ath could not. He had thought himself prepared for a city larger than he had yet seen, but the immensity of Keldrin’s Landing had been bewildering. To discover there were still larger cities dwarfing Keldrin’s Landing was sobering indeed.
“Ah,” said Bellimar, interrupting his reverie. “We approach the manor at last.”
Amric craned his neck forward and beheld a veritable fortress looming ahead. Tiny flames bobbed along the high battlements and peeked through the crenellations atop the towers, marking the patrols. Torches set in sconces at ground level cast a lurid amber glow and sent long black shadows crawling up the walls, giving the appearance of a great bonfire of stone set stark against the night.
The carriage and its escort clattered across a bridge and under the raised portcullis, into a well-lit courtyard. They drew to a halt, and the carriage door was opened. Amric stepped out, followed by his companions. The carriage trundled away, and the ten soldiers formed around them and ushered them into the manor proper. They passed through stout outer doors and into a large marble antechamber where the elaborate engravings almost fully concealed the archer slits in the walls, and on again into a more opulent grand entry. Broad marble stairways and ornate balustrades curved up and away on either hand, but they were marched straight through to another set of brass-bound double doors.
The guard in the lead signaled for a halt and gave a respectful rap to the door with one studded fist. A moment’s pause, and then the doors were opened from within to reveal a new set of guards in finer garb than their current escort. Crisp and professional, the interior guards motioned them inward and shut the doors, leaving their erstwhile attendants outside the room.