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.On the west side of the house.Which he could use whenever he wanted without being noticed.This door, that he just went out, will put us in a hallway behind the outer face of the house.Designed with defense in mind, a long time ago, and entirely impractical today.It will have little glazed windows that, at noon, let in only enough light to prove that the staff don't keep the place up."Hecht and Heris awaited instructions.The Principate eyed them, then chuckled again."I can be a right bastard sometimes, can't I?""You said it, Grandfather," Heris said."I won't repeat it.""Ouch! Clever girl.He went that way so we'll check the outside hallway.He'll have left whatever clues he thinks we need.""Your Grace?" Hecht asked."Oh, do dispense with all that, Piper.Go.I'm right behind you.For what good that will do if the Ninth Unknown is in a bad mood."Hecht pushed through the doorway.The hallway beyond met Principate Delari's gloomy expectations.He asked, "Is there still some point to this? He can stay ahead as long as he wants.We have to be careful.He doesn't.You have sorcerer's skills.This would be a time to tap them."The itch under his amulet and the unease he felt when he peered into the clotted darkness led him to suggest that."He's the superior practitioner, Piper.He'd spank me.""Do something, Grandfather.Piper is right.We'll be at this all night, otherwise."The old man turned grim.And pale.The hallway lit up suddenly, bright as day.The man in brown, hair standing straight out, eyes bulging, lunged out of a doorway a dozen feet ahead.He croaked, "What have you done?"Delari said, "Come meet my grandchildren."The man in brown regained his aplomb."Took you long enough."From distress to calm to seriously irritated took scarcely a dozen seconds.Hecht growled, "Don't do that!" when he thought the man in brown was likely to respond unpleasantly.The man stopped, startled.Hecht asked, "Is this really Februaren?""It is.Looking pretty much the way he did the day I became his apprentice.I thought you were dead, Grandfather.""You were supposed to, Muno.Along with everyone else.""Why?""It's easier to roam around and stick your nose in when people think you're gone.So.You've found me out.Come on in.We'll talk about what needs doing."Hecht said, "Not everyone thinks you're dead.Principate Mongoz recognized you in the mob in the Closed Ground.""Hugo was born a pain in the ass.He was half the reason I went missing.He built his career on trying to reduce my funding.And it was all personal.He stopped being an asshole as soon as Humberto took over.""My father," Delari clarified."His son."If there was any truth to the lineage proclaimed tonight, Hecht was just the latest in a long line of bastards.At least he had avoided becoming an Episcopal priest.And a sorcerer.Thanks be to God and his mother, he supposed.Cloven Februaren led them into small but comfortable quarters with a lived-in look.There were no seats."I don't have company," he explained without being asked."And you wouldn't have caught on, Muno, if this boy didn't make it so damned hard to protect him.When some seriously deadly people want him dead.""Name two," Hecht challenged."And tell me why.""Er-Rashal al-Dhulquarnen.Why isn't clear, even with my insight.Something dark is stirring in Dreanger.Something neither Gordimer nor the Kaif are aware of." Hecht did not demur.That fit his own suspicions."Then you have Immaculate II, Anne of Menand, Duke Tormond in the Connec, and everyone else who'd prefer a Patriarchy with no power to enforce the Patriarchal will.You frighten people everywhere."Finally, there would be Rudenes Schneidel in Artecipea.Whose motives are as opaque as those of er-Rashal.He's hiding deep in the High Athaphile, at Arn Bedu, in country never completely tamed by the emperors.It's impossible to spy on him.While Schneidel's motives may be opaque, recall that sorcerers like Masant el-Seyhan and the woman Starkden also tried to dispatch you.""All right.I'm not sure I buy all that…""There are more.The queue seems endless.And none of the would-be killers know why you're needed dead." Februaren added, "For every attack that came close enough for you to notice I've foiled a dozen.""Why?""You're family.""Don't start…""Stop! That isn't all of it.But it's a big part.And none of your fabrications change a whit who you are."Principate Delari asked, "You're certain, Grandfather?""There is no doubt.Excepting in his own mind, possibly.Because he doesn't want it to be true."Delari asked, "Did they know who he was when they sent him over?""No.They still don't.They sent him because they wanted shut of him.Gordimer feared his popularity with the soldiers.Er-Rashal feared him because of what he knows [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]