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 new.
"If that big oaf has the two ioun stones as you suggest, I can use them to complete the figure of power and control the Pool of Radiance and all that goes with it. As the legitimate First Councilman of Phlan and controller of the pool, I'll have authority and power over the living and the dead, humanoid and human alike!… And I'll be able to provide you with the precise environment you require to practice your art!
"Think of it!" Cadorna put on his best sales pitch. "You'll have first crack at any and all magical finds. That dagger I gave you and those spellbooks-they'll be only the beginning!" Cadorna drew up his hands like a young child seeing a present for the first time. "And… I'll be able to provide you with an unlimited supply of subjects for your experiments."
This last idea hadn't occurred to Gensor, and he beamed with genuine pleasure when Cadorna brought it up. "Yes! Truly outstanding. You do understand my needs, Councilman. But how do you expect to get the ioun stones, and how do you expect to defeat the Lord of the Ruins?" This was the part Gensor hadn't figured out yet, and he was looking for some of Cadorna's usual ingenuity to pull the whole thing off.
"The first part is simple… perfect, in fact." Cadorna strolled back to his desk, sat down, and motioned for Gensor to sit as well. "You haven't forgotten our old friend Yarash the sorcerer-the one whose magic pollutes the river?"
Gensor immediately knew the tack Cadorna's thoughts were taking. "What about him?" he asked eagerly.
"Well, there he is, an eccentric, obstinate wizard whose power and independence have been a thorn in the side of the Lord of the Ruins practically forever… I simply send word to the Lord of the Ruins that I've sent those three off on a death mission to deal with Yarash. Win or lose, the Lord of the Ruins is happy because he doesn't want Yarash alive any more than he wants the cleric, thief, and mage alive. You contact the sorcerer. Yarash, old fool that he is, won't care one whit about the ioun stones beyond their immediate monetary or exchange value. You can flatter him-tell him a partial truth-how we could think of no one else strong enough to defeat the mage woman…"
There was truth to that, Gensor thought, and he nodded and gestured for Cadorna to go on.
"Promise him a virtually unlimited supply of guinea pigs for his 'experiments.' "
"Same thing you promised me, eh?"
Cadorna flushed. "No! I didn't mean-"
Gensor waved a hand to silence him. "Merely a joke, Councilman. I understand the difference." While Gensor didn't trust Cadorna to tell the truth about the time of day, he knew the councilman was serious about providing an unfettered environment for his magic-at least, as long as it was convenient to do so. And once Gensor was powerful enough, he really wouldn't need Cadorna anymore…
"Uh, well, anyhow, as I was saying, I want you to enlist Yarash's aid. Meanwhile, I'll see that the three parties under discussion are arrested for something… maybe even the brawl last night." Cadorna sped ahead. "The council won't care about the details once I tell them that I propose to send the party upriver to find the source of its pollution and put a stop to it. Not even the First Councilman himself knows about Yarash. Can you believe it? But that won't stop me from telling the party something about the old wizard to pique their interest. Those three will bound off on this mission like lambs to slaughter when I tell them about the chance to stop the horrible devastation being done to the river… and when I mention that Yarash knew Denlor well…"
Gensor nodded in deference to Cadorna's insight, and Cadorna continued.
"If Yarash defeats them, I get the ioun stones. By the time they return- if they return, and I can't imagine how they'd manage it-I'll be First Councilman. I'll simply have the Black Watch arrest them at the city gates."
"On what grounds?"
"I don't know-treason, perhaps. It won't matter. No one will question my authority. Under completely legal auspices, the Black Watch guards will strip them of their weapons and magical items, including the ioun stones! And the beauty of it is that that's merely my contingency plan. I fully expect Yarash to turn all three of those bunglers into sea slime."
"You have a great mind, Councilman."
"Thank you, Gensor." Cadorna wagged a finger in the air. "And now for the second part of the question-the Lord of the Ruins. I know that he's a dragon-oddly enough, a bronze dragon. I can't imagine what would possess a good dragon to go quite so far afield, but I guess it must simply have sensed greater room for power in the control of humanoids…"
Gensor had heard other rumors, but he wasn't about to spoil Cadorna's fun. "Yes?"
"Well, any decently armed troop of warriors with a magic-user or two can defeat a dragon, and for whatever reason, the pool doesn't seem to give it control over humans. I'll lead a party there myself, confront the wyrm, kill it, and complete the figure of power for myself."