"You were my son. No longer. Take him away."
Two of the guards came forward with shackles. The boy looked ready to fight, but all his energy drained out of him before Naitachal's eyes. Once shackled, feet and hands, he walked out of the King's chamber with a loud rattle, his head down. Sir Jehan looked positively gleeful.
"Oh, and one more thing," the King said, address- ing Naitachal. "Any idea why Althea would be massing troops near our southern border?"
"Your Majesty? Are you sure about that?" Certainly there must be a mistake!
"Quite. I await your response."
"I know nothing of this, either," Naitachal said.
Someone must have lied to him.
The King smiled. "That is an unacceptable an Ambassador. Now, you were saying, Soren?"
The wizard trembled. "I need a relic. A possession of the secretary's, if I may."
The King waved at him. "Take what you need.
Jehan, you go with them. Ambassador, until we resolve this matter, I ask you to place yourself voluntarily under guard of Captain Lyam. If you resist, or try to return to Althea, you will share the dungeon with the former Prince Kainemonen, and a state of war will exist between our two kingdoms. It would seem by the actions of your own army that such a state may already exist. Do you understand the severity of this situa Ambassador?"
"Indeed I do," Naitachal replied. "I will assist you any way I can. I cannot explain why our forces are gathering on your borders, but I doubt they are con- sidering an invasion."
The King only smiled a little more, as if he had expected this answer; it pleased him. "Your lack of total conviction is disturbing, Ambassador. The only thing we would like you to do now is provide a posses- sion of the young man's to Soren, then confine yourself to your room. Captain Lyam will be person- ally responsible for your continued residency here."
"Then by all means," Naitachal said, "let's go and get what you need."
The grim procession of four to Naitachal's room attracted a great deal of unwanted attention. It looked for all the world like the group was on its way to an execution, and Naitachal was the guest of honor. Sev- eral of the palace guests stood and stared at the group, the news of the situation and the return of the Prince having spread quickly through the halls. This treat- ment was nothing new to Naitachal; the natives of this wretched, backwards kingdom gawked at him anyway.
The Dark Elf knew it wasn't time to direct blame.
He must remain calm and professional, and play along with whatever they wanted. They hadn't thrown him in prison ye Sir Jehan stayed behind them several paces, keeping a distance from Naitachal. The nobleman had made a habit of avoiding his eyes, perhaps because he knew what a Necromancer was.
In the old days we killed with a look, made all the easier if we made eye contact, Naitachal thought stormily as they approached the room. And I have a very good reason to kill you; you are the one behind all of this.
He berated himself for being so stupid He knew he should have concluded this long ago, but had not -- because it was too obvious? Naitachal hoped that was not the case . . . but feared it was. Oversubtlety was a character flaw of his, no doubt abo Naitachal noted with a kind of reluctant admir -- in the way that one admires the efficiency of a poi- son, or the potency of a snake's venom -- that Jehan had conveniently and convincingly accomplished both these deeds over a single evening. It would seem that somebody in the Kings circle of confidants would take notice, but evidently nobody did. Or else -- they were all in Jehan's pocket as well.
Do they know Sir Jehan patronizes the tavern dis- trict too? Perhaps not. The man is shrewd, to bring this off as far as he has. He planned all this from the beginning; my arrival was never more than a slight inconvenience. He's planning on my use of magic to save myself and Alaire. The question is, does he think his magicians are better than I am? Not only has he declared war on Althea, he's declared war on me.
He doubted Suinomen magicians were much of a challenge, at least the ones he'd seen already. Lyam said they dwelled in the Palace, but only Soren had appeared at this little meeting. Though Soren did seem like an incompetent, giving him a relic of Alaire's made Naitachal a little uneasy. Even amateur magi- cians can go far with relics....
When Captain Lyam opened the door for them, he winked at Naitachal, ever so subtly.
Erik cleaned the room, as promised. However, one thing was not as Erik had promised. Alaire's things were gone. Not a single stitch of fabric remained which belonged to the lad. Naitachal tried not to look surprised.
Instead, he pretended as if nothing was missing.
"It doesn't seem to be much," Sir Jehan noted.
"Which are his things, Ambassador?"
"This must be it," Captain Lyam said helpfully, picking up a saddlebag the elf didn't recognize. Inside were garments about Alaire's size, resembling what he had worn before. But they were not his; Naitachal was as sure of that as he was certain of his own name.
"A favorite piece of jewelry would be most benefi- cial," Soren said, his chest puffing out importantly.
"Does he have any such thing?"
"But of course," Naitachal said. He reached for a smaller bag belonging to himself, made a pretense of searching, and pulled out a shiny silver ring with a human skull, a death's head with tiny rubies for eyes.
"This was one of his most prized possessions."
"Charming, isn't it?" Soren said sarcastically t Jehan, holding it up to the light. "But if it belonged to him, it will be most helpful."
Without so much as a thank you, Sir Jeha Soren left. Captain Lyam stood with him for several moments, listening to their retreating footsteps. A moment or two later, when it was safe to talk, Lyam in- spected the hallway briefly then closed the door.
"So when did you have time to replace Alaire's pos- sessions with someone else's?" Naitachal asked, folding his arms over his chest. "I wish I'd known; I might have been able to do something useful."
"I didn't. Little Erik did. We can trust him, he's working for me. If I had more time to warn you, it wouldn't have been necessary to give him that ring,"
Lyam said, his face grim. "As for your predicament, I can arrange safe passage on a ship for you and Alaire.
It will have to be tonight, because tomorrow will be too late. They will have found the justification by then to put you in the dungeon with Kai."
The Dark Elf frowned. "I am more concerned with the state of affairs between Althea and Suinomen. If I leave, there will be war. My mission here was to pre- vent it."
Captain Lyam shook his head, and his expression grew even darker. "Your mission was doomed from the beginning. War with Althea is inevitable at this p I'm afraid Getting you two home is the only way Reynard will know that Sir Jehan is behind this sad folly."
Naitachal let out his breath in a sigh. At least there was one person still in a position of power that wa Jehan's man. "Do you know where Alaire is?"
"No, but Kai does," Lyam replied confidently.
"He'll tell me. And if you would like, I can recover that ring for you."
"Oh, don't bother. It wasn't Alaire's," Naitachal said, with a sly grin. "It belonged to my father. I do think the relic of a long-dead master Necromancer will muck up Soren's search spell in very interesting and entertaining ways. It will eventually find its way back to me, all by itself."