Trebilcock had extended himself to create his nasty image.
Aral Dantice met him on the cobbled way linking the castle with the surrounding city. They turned their horses into the parkland encircling the palace. Cherries and plums were in bloom.
„Late start this morning," Michael observed. For years they had ridden the park when they could. Usually they shared the bridle trails with others from the castle. This morning they were alone with the drizzle.
„Would have been nastier earlier," Dantice replied.
They talked out old times and finished gossiping. Now they grew guarded.
Aral was a squat, wide man in his middle twenties. He looked more street thug than prominent merchant. Before his father's death he had been more the former than the latter. Since, he had turned his father's nearly bankrupt caravaneer outfittery around. He had become a major supplier of tack and animals to the Royal Army.
„I suppose." Trebilcock swung a hand. His gesture took in their surroundings. „I'd like to redesign this. At the Rebsamen I had this adviser. His hobby was landscaping. Whoever did this didn't have any imagination. It's nothing but a damned orchard."
Aral looked at him askance.
„I'd move all these fruit trees out. Scoop out a lake. Make a reflecting pool. Put a line of poplars down each side, yea and yea, to frame the castle. Maybe put some shrubs and flower plantings in front for spring and summer color. See what I mean?"
Aral smiled. „Be interesting to see what you could do." He scanned the castle. „You'd either have to knock down
Fiana's Tower or build another one over on the left. To give the palace balance."
Trebilcock looked puzzled. „Balance? What do you know about balance?"
„What's to know, Mike? Stands to reason, don't it? You don't want it to look lopsided. What did he want, anyway?" „What did who want?" „The King. When he had you stay behind." „You won't believe it. I still don't. He wants me to play side to his right point in the Guards' Captures game this afternoon."
Aral studied him, one cheek crinkling questioningly. „Really?" He laughed. „That's right. It's the Guards and Panthers today, isn't it? Battle of the undefeateds. The old fox is trying to sneak in some better players." Dantice leaned, punched Michael's biceps. „Put your money on the Panthers, Mike. Charygin Hall recruited the best men money can buy. Nobody will beat them for years." „What're the odds? Is there a spread?" „You can get five to one if you're stupid enough to bet Guards. Two goal spread. You can get ten to one if you bet the Guards to win."
They rode another fifty yards before Trebilcock mused, „Think I'll have my bankers cover a couple hundred nobles. On the Guards."
Dantice and Trebilcock went way back. It was Aral's opinion that Michael was a fool with money. „What the hell for? It's your money, and you've got more than you could throw away, but why the hell waste it?"
„Your class chauvinism is showing, Aral. The Guards are undefeated too. Remember who's on their team when you make your bets. The King don't believe in losing."
Michael felt Dantice studying him. He felt the question in his friend. Had he meant more than he had said? „Mike?" „Uhm?"
„You still messing around with those Throyens? I got the feeling he was sniping at you."
„Maybe he was. I keep in touch. I don't want to burn any bridges. Situations change. We might need them next year. What are you into, Aral?"
„Me? Nothing but the sutler business anymore. I'm not sure why he had me come."
Trebilcock nodded. This had become a duel of half-truths and outright evasions. „Maybe he wanted you to pass the real story to your friends. About the Gap maybe opening. So the rumors don't get too crazy."
„That's all I could figure. How long you going to be in town? I was thinking maybe we could get down to Arsen Street some night. Remember the Fat Man's? They've done the place over. Gone class. Got in some girls from the coast. We could go tear the joint up some night, like old times."
„I don't think I've got the energy to keep up anymore, Aral."
„Come on, hey? You can't live forever. Might as well have fun while you can. You've got to come out of the shadows sometime."
„I'll be around till Prataxis gets back. I'll let you know." They had ridden halfway round the palace. Michael said, „If you did it right, you could lay out lakes in each direction. Like the arms of a cross."
Dantice could be infuriatingly practical. He asked, „What are you going to do for fresh water? You'd have to run it in steady, wouldn't you? Else your lakes would go stagnant or dry up."
„Damned! I'm just dreaming out loud, Aral. You want to cut me down with practical, make me tell you who's going to pay the workmen."
„Hey! Mike. I was only joking."
„I know. I know. I'm too touchy. My people tell me all the time. I don't want to come here in the first place, then the King drafts me to play Captures. I hate Captures."
„Why didn't you beg off?"
Michael just looked at Dantice. That hadn't occurred to him. The King would not have asked had there been no need.
„What do you hear out of Hammad al Nakir, Mike? You got anybody reliable down there?"
The question sounded almost too casual. Trebilcock snap ped, „Why?"
„You are testy, aren't you? Because I've got a long-term arrangement for remounts with one of Megelin's generals.
Because I've been hearing whispers about El Murid maybe trying a comeback. They say Megelin hasn't turned out. They say he's getting more unpopular every day."
„Then your sources are better than mine. All I hear is how the honeymoon is still on. I've got to run. I want to get some bets down before I head for the woods. I'm staying at the palace. I'll be riding mornings. Send a message if you want me to wait on you."
Aral smiled. „Don't forget about the Fat Man's. I think you'll be surprised."
Michael brushed the rainwater off his forehead. He hated hats. Sometimes you had to pay for your quirks. „I'll think about it."
Ragnarson was crossing a courtyard to the stables when he spied Varthlokkur atop the castle wall. He shifted course.
The man was staring at the east as though it might bite. And he'd behaved strangely earlier. „Is it something you can talk about?"
„What? Not really. It's nothing concrete. Something in the east. Not entirely with the flavor of Shinsan."
„You didn't mention it this morning."
„Nepanthe. She's lost too much. I wouldn't want to crucify her with a false hope."
„Oh?"
„It's Ethrian. He might still be alive." Ethrian was Nepanthe's son by her first marriage, lost during the Great Eastern Wars.
„What? Where is he?" Ragnarson owed his godson a huge debt. A cruel fate had compelled him to slay the boy's father.
„It's just a touch of a feeling I get sometimes. I can't track it down."
Ragnarson babbled questions. The wizard didn't re spond. He thought Bragi overly romanticized his one-time friend, Mocker, and the events surrounding the man's death. Bragi had had no choice. It had been kill or be killed.
Ragnarson mused, „We never saw any proof that Ethrian died. Is there anything else?"
„Anything else?"
„Something you didn't want to bring up before. Everybody was hiding from everybody else. Your claim to be preoccupied was unconvincing."
Varthlokkur turned slightly, shifting his gaze from the distance to the man. The corners of his eyes crinkled in amusement. „You grow bold. I recall a younger Bragi who shook at the mention of my name."