Blade was afraid the count would explode at the implication he was not telling the truth. However, he merely blinked, then nodded slowly. «Your bargaining would shame a heuda-dealer,» he said with a thin smile. «But I would not have it otherwise, if you are going to be a leader in this war against the Wizard. Very well, in two days' time.» He rose and left without another word.
Serana let out a sigh that made the candles flicker. «That old-! People always said there was more to him than met the eye, but I never dreamed of this! I don't much love Efrim, but by all the fates I hope Drago's lying about him!»
«And if he isn't?» said Blade quietly. He wanted to thrash the matter out with Serana now, in case they didn't see eye to eye. They would be wise to present a united front the next time they faced the count.
Serana sighed again «If he isn't, then he can have Morina, and much good may it do him! Yet-can there be so many people who might oppose us, that we need the count's support? Can anyone in Morina dream of supporting the Wizard, when they know they must fight him or die?»
«Yes,» said Blade wearily. «There will always be those who don't believe that's the choice. Even among those who do believe, many will hope to save their own skins by going on their knees to the Wizard. We could shout ourselves blue in the face and none of them would change. They may listen to the count.»
«It seems the fates have filled Morina with fools,» Serana growled.
«It is no worse than other cities,» said Blade. «And now, all this talk has made me thirsty.» He picked up the handbell and rang for a servant.
Chapter 20
During the next two days Blade and Serana sent out more than polite questions about the popularity of Duke Efrim and the House of Zotair. They refused to wait on Count Drago's ambitions.
They sent out messages to every important man in Morina, telling them that the city was doomed unless it rose against the Wizard. If Morina did rise, on the other hand it might lead all of Rentoro in a mighty war to end the Wizard's rule.
They sent other messages to every craftsman in Morina or within a day's ride of the city. They were to start making helmets, pikes, bows and arrows, and battleaxes, as fast as possible and as many as possible. When the Wolves came, the Morinans would probably be unarmored, but hopefully not unarmed.
They sent still more messages to Count Drago's grandson Zemun and the other officers of the city guards. They were to keep the gates absolutely closed all night. During the day, they were to search every man, woman, heuda, and wagon going in or out. Anyone caught with certain items was to be arrested and turned over to Blade and Serana.
Serana sent a short letter to her brother:
Brother Efrim,
By now you have doubtless learned that I am in Morina, and what I mean to do. I wish to remain at peace with you, if you permit it. But I shall not permit anyone to stand in the way of what I shall do for Morina. The decision is yours.
Your sister Serana
Serana sent an armed escort with the messenger who carried this letter to the ducal palace.
«Just in case my brother loses his temper so that the messenger's in danger of losing his head,» she said, with a grin. «Efrim's a hot-tempered man at times.»
«That letter won't cool him down,» said Blade.
«No. But I've always wanted a chance to write to him like that. Now I've got it.»
Finally Blade and Serana sent out the rebels' assassins against the Wizard's spies. The faster these men were dead or out of circulation, the better for Morina.
The Wizard's spies had received a message that there was a crisis at hand, but not that they themselves were in danger. The Wizard's lapse was fatal for his spies in Morina. Twenty of them were killed within a few hours, another dozen rounded up and questioned roughly but effectively before being killed. They revealed the names of many more spies, who were in turn rounded up and questioned.
By the time the dust settled, the Wizard had lost more than fifty men. Their severed heads were piled into a large basket and the basket hung from a fountain in the main square of Morina. To the basket a sign was pinned:
THESE MEN SERVED THE WIZARD. ALL WHO SERVE HIM WILL MEET THE SAME FATE.
Serana Zotair
«No doubt there are a good many more spies whose names we haven't learned,» said Serana. «But they may be less enthusiastic after seeing what happened to their comrades.»
«There's also the effect on your brother,» Blade said. «He may realize that daggers can strike down dukes as well as spies. That might frighten him into keeping quiet.»
«It may also frighten him into striking out like a madman,» Serana said grimly. «We shall see.»
If Duke Efrim did strike out, he was going to find it hard to do anything against Blade and Serana. They were no longer keeping their headquarters at Haymi's Fountain. Instead they were in a large room on the second floor of the town house of a merchant who was one of the rebel leaders. Mare than fifty armed men guarded the house and watched the streets around it. Blade and Serana wore chain mail under their clothes during the day and ate and drank nothing that hadn't been tasted for them. No handful of the Wizard's assassins would get through to them. It would take a small army and that meant Duke Efrim.
By sending that army the duke would be declaring war against his own people, as an ally of the Wizard. Then whatever happened to Morina, he would not live to see it. Blade, Serana, and the rebellion's leaders knew this. If Duke Efrim knew it as well, it might keep the peace in Morina.
One by one the messengers sent to ask about the future of the House of Zotair returned. One by one they reported. As they reported, Serana's face became steadily grimmer. She'd suspected Count Drago might be telling the truth, but it still hurt to have him confirmed by half the noblemen and great merchants of Morina.
«The House of Zotair has come to the end of its road,» she said with a weary sigh, «My brother could come out into the public streets and denounce the Wizard at the top of his lungs. He'd still be torn to bits before he could finish speaking. Never mind for the moment all he's done for the Wizard. He and his drinking companions have broken too many heads, raped too many women, burned or smashed too many shops. Even when they're only amusing themselves they behave like Wolves in a rebellious town.
«I myself am not hated. I am honored for what I have endured at the Wizard's hands, respected, even loved. No one in Morina wishes me harm, but no one wishes to see me in power if it means the Zotairs will still be ruling.»
«What about Efrim's sons?» asked Blade.
«What about them?» replied Serana with a shrug. «They are a little boy and a baby. A regency is the last thing Morina needs after all that will happen before the Wizard falls.»
Blade nodded, relieved. He'd only raised the point to make sure Serana herself was convinced that a regency was too dangerous. It was obvious such an arrangement could not provide Morina with the strong leadership it needed. Blade also suspected it could not stand against Serana's ambitions, if she chose to make trouble. She might be willing to put those ambitions aside for the time being; he found it hard to believe she could put them aside forever.
«I think it's time we sent for Count Drago,» Blade said.
Count Drago came, wearing an ancient coat of mail dug out of some secret closet. His face was pale and drawn, as if he'd been sleeping less than usual the past two nights.