"It's simple enough," she said. "The Wizards' Guild guards the Towers, and the enmity between Vond and Lumeth threatens them. Therefore, the Guild will put an end to that enmity, even if it means wiping out every living soul on both sides."
Emmis's mouth fell open.
"Come downstairs now. We have an ultimatum to deliver." She opened the door and stood waiting for him.
Chapter Twenty-Five
The preparations took longer than Ithinia's words had led Emmis to expect – and probably longer than Ithinia herself had expected.
The afternoon's meetings with Lar and Ildirin went smoothly, so far as Emmis could tell; he was sent off while they were taking place, and did as Ithinia had suggested, packing a bag for a few days' trip to the Small Kingdoms.
Or rather, what he thought might be appropriate. He had never been to the Small Kingdoms. He had never wanted to visit the Small Kingdoms. Ithinia, however, did not offer him a choice. "You started this," she said. "You're coming."
When Lar returned to the house on Through Street that evening, accompanied by four guardsmen, Emmis met him at the door. "What happened?" he asked.
"We're going to Lumeth," Lar replied, bemused. "Ithinia insists. She says that if Lord Ildirin wants the assassination attempts to stop, they must be stopped at the source. She's planning to leave in a day or two."
"That's… interesting," Emmis said. "Do you think she knows anything about…" He glanced at the guards. "…about who's behind the assassins?"
"We'll talk upstairs," Lar said.
A few minutes later, after posting the guards at the doors, they did exactly that, taking seats in the ambassador's study.
"Did you ask the Guildmaster about the source of the hum?" Emmis asked.
Lar shook his head. "No," he said. "I don't think I want her to know anything about it; she frightens me. She isn't anyone's hireling; she has her own goals, and they may not match ours. But Lord Ildirin has brought her in to stop the assassination attempts and keep peace between Vond and Lumeth, and I think she can help with that."
"I see," Emmis said, hiding his unhappiness. He had hoped that the ambassador had brought Ithinia into his confidence; it would have simplified matters.
"Lord Ildirin had that man Kelder questioned this morning, by a magistrate and two witches," Lar continued. "He'll hang tomorrow, but in exchange for his cooperation Lord Ildirin let a warlock heal his arm, and the witches calmed him. He'll be burned on a proper pyre, not left to rot."
Emmis shuddered.
"He named his partner, Tithi Salman's son," Lar added. "Ildirin has magicians and soldiers tracking him down now, as well as those three Lumethans and the Ashthasan merchant."
"That's good," Emmis said. "Isn't it?"
"I think so," Lar said. "But Lumeth and Ashthasa are going to be our neighbors for a long time; we need to be careful how they see us."
Emmis nodded.
After a moment, Lar asked, "That theurgist you visited – the one who told you about Fendel's Assassin. Did he tell you where the hum came from?"
Emmis hesitated. "Not exactly," he said. "He said the Towers are gigantic sorcerous talismans, so it might be from those, but he didn't say definitely."
"The Towers." Lar nodded. "I thought so. Sorcery, is it? That might be it. Interesting."
Emmis waited for Lar to ask the next question, to give him a chance to say more, to explain about the Towers and why he had spoken to Ithinia, but the ambassador said nothing more.
And then the moment had passed, and Emmis couldn't bring himself to say anything more about it. The rest of the evening was uncomfortable; Emmis had to watch everything he said, lest he reveal some part of his conversation with Ithinia best left unspoken. He went to bed early, claiming to still be tired from the previous night's adventures.
And in the morning there was Zhol's funeral, which Emmis and Lar attended as Lord Ildirin's guests. Because Zhol had served honorably in Lord Ildirin's escort the ceremony was held not in Camptown, as most city guard funerals were, but on a terrace overlooking the Grand Canal, between the Palace and the Old City. The pyre was built right on the edge, where the flames reflected in the murky water of the canal, and the event was well attended – not only were dozens of guards present, and a score of Zhol's kin, but much of the city's ruling elite; Lord Ildirin had seen to that. The overlord himself, Azrad VII, plunged the torch into the waiting kindling to light the blaze that would free the dead man's soul to ascend to Heaven.
Emmis did not dare approach Azrad, but he did take a good look at him. The overlord was a heavily-built man in late middle age, his hair gray and thinning, but his face still relatively smooth, his stance still strong and upright. Although he must have weighed fifty pounds more than the slender Ildirin, the family resemblance was plain.
"I didn't expect to see him here," Emmis whispered to Lar, as they watched the flames spread across the pyre. "Even if Zhol was chosen for Lord Ildirin's escort, he was still just a guardsman, after all."
Lord Ildirin, on Lar's other side, heard; he leaned over and replied, "The man served honorably, and died performing that service. His family deserves to see that my family respects him for it. My nephew understands that."
Chastised, Emmis said nothing more.
And that afternoon there was the hanging. Emmis talked his way out of attending that, but Lar and Ildirin did not. That left Emmis sitting alone in the makeshift embassy on Through Street, and he busied himself cleaning and straightening – though he wasn't entirely sure why he was bothering. He was fairly sure that after this planned trip to Lumeth, if it happened, he would no longer be Lar's aide and guide. The truth would come out, that he had given Ithinia the hints she needed to guess Lar's secrets.
Still, hauling furniture around was a good way to keep himself occupied.
Once again, the evening was uncomfortable. Emmis found Lar giving him puzzled looks every so often during the awkward silences, as if wondering why his aide had suddenly turned sullen and uncommunicative.
Emmis wished he could just tell Lar everything, but he couldn't bring himself to begin. If Lar had asked questions Emmis thought he would have eventually worked his way around to a confession, but the Vondishman did not seem to have any questions to ask.
The following day Emmis removed himself from the house at the first opportunity and spent every daylight hour roaming the city and talking to tradespeople, seeing that the Vondish embassy would be properly furnished and the kitchen well-stocked. He resisted the temptation to visit the Wizards' Quarter or Camptown; he had passed that responsibility on to Ithinia.
Of course, Corinal probably still had several answers to questions that were purely personal, but Emmis was in no mood to deal with those, not when the Guildmaster intended to ship him off to the Small Kingdoms at any moment,
That night Emmis dreamed he was back in Ithinia's home, where the wizard instructed him, "This is the Spell of Invaded Dreams. You and your master are to be at my door by noon tomorrow; if you aren't here on time, I will send my gargoyles to fetch you, which will not be pleasant."
He awoke with a start, unsure whether the dream had really been a magical message or not. At breakfast, though, Lar said, "Did you have a dream about Ithinia last night?"
"Yes," Emmis admitted.
"Her door at noon?"
"Yes." He was relieved; if they had both dreamt it, then it had been a sending.
"She could have just paid a messenger two bits."
Emmis turned up a palm. "She's a wizard," he said.
Lar nodded, and took another bite of cheese.
Noon found the pair turning the corner from Arena onto Lower Street, with the guards Ildirin had posted surrounding them. Emmis had expected to see the street much as usual, with a handful of people going about their business, but instead he found a throng already waiting at Ithinia's door.