The Seven Towers Read online

There was a gentle cough behind him, and Eltiron turned. The castle steward and four footmen stood there, stiffly erect, as if they were waiting for something. Vandaris brought up the rear; as Eltiron looked at her, she jerked her head toward Marreth’s body, which was still lying almost at Eltiron’s feet. Eltiron gulped and gestured to the steward to proceed. The men bowed and stepped forward to lift the body.

  “Hold!” cried a voice from the end of the table.

  The footmen stopped. Eltiron’s head jerked around. Terrel stood posed dramatically at the far end of the table, with Salentor behind him; he appeared to be completely recovered from the initial shock of Marreth’s death. As Eltiron looked at them, the two men bowed.

  “Your Majesty,” Terrel said in a much calmer voice, “I fear you are about to make a grave mistake, and I must advise you against it. The body of His late Majesty should not be given into the hands of the Lady Vandaris until a thorough investigation has been made.”

  “What do you mean?” Eltiron demanded. He glanced quickly around the room and breathed an inconspicuous sigh of relief. The hall was now nearly empty; even Marreth’s woman had stopped weeping and was moving slowly toward the door. Whatever mischief Terrel had in mind, very few besides the royal family would hear it.

  “Why, only that His Majesty’s demise under such circumstances as these may give rise to unwelcome speculation. Lady Vandaris appears to have sufficient reason to wish King Marreth’s death. It might be best to assure that no further questions can be asked.”

  “I think you’re forgetting that you are—you were—my father’s adviser, not mine,” Eltiron said coldly. “And I still don’t see what you’re talking about.”

  “His Majesty was clearly in good health; his participation in the sword games this afternoon proves it. Such a sudden death, and such a public one, is certain to raise questions in people’s minds. It seems . . . unnatural.”

  “Yes, yes; and people are certain to be upset at such a time,” Salentor put in. Terrel gave him a murderous look, and he stopped speaking.

  “Just what are you implying, weasel face?” Vandaris said, ignoring Salentor. “Poison?”

  “I would never accuse a member of the royal family of such an unworthy weapon, Your Highness,” Terrel said, bowing.

  “That is one of the silliest things I’ve ever heard,” Crystalorn broke in. “You wiggle around until someone else says it, then you say you’d never bring it up yourself and sound virtuous about it! You’re as bad as Salentor.”

  “Probably worse,” Vandaris agreed, ignoring Salentor’s somewhat garbled protest. She eyed Terrel critically as she fingered the hilt of one of her daggers. “If I were you, I’d be careful not to start any unfortunate rumors. It might be very dangerous.”

  “Besides, I trust Vandaris,” Eltiron said hastily. Much as he would have liked to see Vandaris demolish Terrel in a duel, he did not relish the idea of drawing the ring on the floor of the banquet hall, and Vandaris might well demand it if Terrel kept on with his insinuations. There would be more than enough rumors running through the streets of Leshiya without adding stories of a duel between the late King’s Chief Adviser and his sister.

  Terrel bowed. “Then, Your Majesty, I sincerely hope your trust is not misplaced.”

  “Do you really?” said a new voice from the rear of the hall. “I don’t think I believe you at all, though of course it would be quite improper for you to say anything else, besides being most unwise, which is most unfortunate for them, though not always for other people.”

  “Amberglas! Where have you been?” Crystalorn said. “You won’t believe what’s been happening.”

  “That’s extremely unlikely. Of course, a great many things are—unlikely, I mean—snow on Midsummer’s Eve, for instance, and green sunsets, and those extremely improbable headdresses people used to wear in Bar-Zienar, which must have been exceedingly awkward as well as uncomfortable.”

  As she spoke, Amberglas came forward to join them. She smiled in Eltiron’s general direction; he thought she looked a little tired. She nodded absently at Vandaris, totally ignoring Terrel and Salentor, and looked at Marreth’s body for a long moment. She turned back to Crystalorn and continued, “Not that this isn’t quite as awkward, though not in precisely the same way, even if it does look nearly as odd. So it’s very difficult to be certain until you’ve told me.”

  Crystalorn began giving Amberglas a summary of the events of the evening. Eltiron glanced back at Terrel and Salentor and almost laughed aloud at their bewildered expressions. Eltiron turned away so that they would not notice his amusement and nearly bumped into the castle steward, who was still waiting patiently beside Marreth’s body with the footmen.

  “May we continue, Your Majesty?” the steward said, bowing as if he had not noticed Eltiron’s awkward recovery.

  “Yes, of course,” Eltiron said. He thought of adding instructions not to speak of Terrel’s hints, but one look at the stiff little nod the steward bestowed on Terrel convinced him that such a warning would be unnecessary. He turned away as the impassive footmen lifted Marreth’s body and carried it out of the hall. After a moment, he heard the doors close behind them with a soft thud, and he let out a long breath just as Crystalorn said, “... and then Lord Lassond started hinting that Vandaris poisoned King Marreth.”

  “I must beg to differ with your interpretation, Your Highness,” Terrel put in smoothly. “I would not dream of doing such a thing.”

  Crystalorn looked at him. Amberglas smiled in his general direction, looking even vaguer than usual. “Then you must be Terrel Lassond, which certainly explains a number of things, though most of them aren’t particularly useful. But then, a great many people aren’t at all useful, so it’s not in the least unusual, even if it’s not precisely the same thing. Still, it does make for rather a busy evening. What exactly did you say?”

  Terrel blinked. “I said only that His Majesty’s sudden death might cause unpleasant rumors.”

  “I shouldn’t be at all surprised,” Amberglas said. “Though people do occasionally say more than they intend to, which frequently causes a great deal of difficulty for everyone. Like that extremely foolish king who accidentally ordered his daughter dyed blue, which wasn’t at all what he’d meant, besides being quite awkward at court. But then, a great many things are unusually awkward at courts—eating dinner with people who dislike each other, for instance, and wearing formal clothes, and telling the truth, which makes it quite understandable that people misunderstood.”

  Terrel looked at Amberglas with a wary expression, as if he were certain she had insulted him but couldn’t untangle exactly how she had done it. Salentor looked from Terrel to Amberglas and back, then cleared his throat uncertainly. Vandaris chuckled, and Terrel turned to look at her speculatively. “I am amazed, Your Highness, that you can find humor at so sad a time.”

  “Look, onion brain—”

  “Wait a minute,” Eltiron interrupted. He looked at Amberglas. “What did you mean a moment ago, about telling the truth and people misunderstanding?”

  “I said it was frequently an awkward thing to do at court,” Amberglas said calmly. “Which might explain why Terrel did such an extremely poor job of it, though of course it might be just that he hasn’t practiced very much.”

  The others looked from Eltiron to Amberglas in astonishment; Eltiron ignored them. “Are you saying Terrel’s right? Vandaris really did poison my father? That’s impossible!”

  “Not exactly, though I suppose you could look at it that way. Of course, there aren’t many things that are completely impossible, though I believe a few exist. Touching one’s chin to the back of one’s neck, for instance, and picking up a hole, and giving orders to a cat. At least, one could give the orders, but it’s very unlikely that the cat would follow them. Still, I doubt very much that Vandaris is the person who was poisoning King Marreth.”

  There was a brief stunned silence; then Vandaris said, “You’re sure he was poisoned, Amberglas? It l
ooked more like too much wine and too much temper to me.”

  “And I don’t see how anyone could have done it,” Crystalorn said. “I’ve been sitting next to him since he got here, and everyone at the table drank the same wine he did.”

  “Just not as much,” Vandaris muttered.

  Terrel looked at Crystalorn and bowed slightly. “Barinash has always watched Sevairn with great interest.”

  An angry flush rose in Crystalorn’s face, and Eltiron felt his own temper fraying. Crystalorn was certainly not responsible for any of the “border incidents” that kept a constant friction between the two countries! Or was Terrel trying to imply that Crystalorn was the one who had poisoned . . .?

  “Under the circumstances,” Eltiron heard himself say coldly, “I do not find it odd that the Princess of Barinash should wish to observe her prospective father-in-law closely. And I will remind you again, Lord Lassond, that you were my father’s adviser, not mine. I think you had better leave us.”

  Terrel’s eyes flickered. “As Your Majesty wishes.” He bowed and turned to leave.

  “Not so fast,” Vandaris said. “Eltiron, I hate to say it, but you can’t let him leave. If he starts telling people that Marreth died of poisoning . . .”

  “He would be quite wrong,” Amberglas said firmly. “Of course, he might not mind being wrong, though people generally do, which I suppose could be rather unpleasant for you.”

  “But Amberglas!” Crystalorn’s voice was sharp with irritation. “You said just a minute ago that King Marreth was poisoned!”

  “I didn’t say he died of poison,” Amberglas corrected her gently. “I said he was being poisoned, which is not at all the same thing, though it would have been if he hadn’t died of something else first. Of course, it wasn’t exactly something else; he probably wouldn’t have collapsed at all if someone hadn’t been giving him herrilseed.”

  Eltiron stared. Herrilseed was a rare poison with unique effects: a large dose killed quickly, painfully, and obviously, but a series of smaller doses was just as certain, and nearly undetectable until death came. In addition, such small doses could be given years apart and still have the same effects. Eltiron felt sick; he’d eaten the same things as Marreth. Had he been poisoned as well?

  Vandaris gave a low whistle. “Herrilseed! You’re sure?”

  “Quite sure. There was the odor of lilacs, for instance, which are quite out of season just now, though not by much, and that unpleasant blue tinge in his fingernails. And of course herrilseed does tend to make one’s temper extremely uncertain, though I understand Marreth’s temper wasn’t particularly certain to begin with, so it may not matter.”

  “It would certainly explain a lot,” Vandaris said thoughtfully. “We’ll have to have someone take a closer look at him. How long do you suppose it’s been going on?”

  “Probably two or three months, though of course it’s very difficult to say for certain; herrilseed is so very unpredictable. That is, unless one knows exactly how strong it is and how much someone has been eating, which is quite difficult to do if one isn’t the person who’s been giving it to someone.”

  Terrel was watching Amberglas narrowly, and as she finished speaking he smiled. “And how long have you known of this, my lady? Or is that, too, an awkward thing to say to a citizen of the country that is the source of herrilseed?”

  “Dear me, what an extremely odd idea,” Amberglas said, tilting her head to one side and studying the air three feet in front of Terrel’s head with mild curiosity. “Whatever made you think I am a citizen of Barinash?”

  Terrel’s eyes moved from Amberglas to Crystalorn, and then to Salentor. “It was a natural assumption, my lady,” he said without looking back at Amberglas.

  “How very interesting,” Amberglas murmured. “And which one of you made that assumption?”

  Terrel’s attention came back to her with a jerk, but before he could respond Crystalorn frowned and said, “Well, if somebody really was poisoning King Marreth, I think you’re the one who did it! Nobody thought of poison until you started accusing people of things.”

  “King Marreth was my friend and patron, Your Highness; I would never have done anything to harm him. Besides, if I had been poisoning the King it would be foolish indeed for me to mention poison when no one else was looking for it.”

  Crystalorn eyed him for a moment. “I’m not so sure. You have the slinkiest mind I’ve ever seen; I’ll bet you could come up with a good reason.”

  Terrel’s eyes narrowed, but as he started to speak a dull knock echoed through the hall. He stopped short as the doors swung open and Tarilane appeared, followed closely by the tall figure of Wendril Anareme, commander of Sevairn’s armies. They came forward, and Wendril bowed. “Your Majesty, Your Highnesses, my lords and ladies.”

  “Took you long enough to get here,” Vandaris said, looking at Tarilane.

  “I had trouble finding her in the crowd,” Tarilane said crossly, “and then everyone we passed wanted to know what was happening in here.”

  “Well, now you can go find Lord Farris, Lord Reistron, and Lord Hensel,” Vandaris said without sympathy. “And while you’re looking for them, you might listen for anyone suggesting that Marreth’s death wasn’t natural. It’d be useful to know whether there are any rumors, and if so, who’s spreading them. Oh, and do try to be a little more inconspicuous.”

  Tarilane scowled as she left, and Vandaris turned to talk to Wendril. Eltiron hardly noticed. He was too busy watching Terrel and Salentor watch Amberglas. If he could only get rid of Terrel, and Salentor along with him! But Vandaris was right; they would only cause trouble if they weren’t watched. Eltiron frowned and looked at Wendril, and inspiration struck.

  “Commander Anareme,” he said, “you’re just the person I need. Could you find one or two trustworthy men to escort Lord Lassond and Lord Parel to their rooms? For their own protection, of course; I don’t want someone to mistakenly blame one of them for the unfortunate events this evening.”

  A ghost of a smile touched Wendril’s lips as she bowed again. “Of course, Your Majesty.” She went to the door and exchanged a word or two with the guards outside. A moment later she returned with two large guards, who politely but firmly escorted Terrel and Salentor from the hall.

  Eltiron watched them go with feelings of profound relief. It was only when he looked back at his companions that he realized they were all staring at him. “I wanted to get rid of them,” he said defensively.

  “So did we, numb wit,” Vandaris said. “I wasn’t criticizing; I was just surprised you picked that way of doing it.”

  “If you had a better idea, why didn’t you do something?” Crystalorn said.

  “Does it matter now?” Vandaris transferred her attention to Wendril. “There’s one other thing, though; make sure those guards don’t let either of those two out of their rooms until tomorrow morning.”

  Wendril raised an eyebrow. “Won’t that start a lot of rumors?”

  Vandaris shrugged. “Would you rather have rumors of poison running all over the city? We can decide what to do with them when we’ve had a chance to talk.”

  “Poison? But I thought—I mean, everyone knows that Darinhal’s been warning Marreth about his heart for years; I thought it was obvious what happened.”

  “It’s more complicated than that,” Vandaris said. “Someone was giving Marreth herrilseed; I’ll explain more when the Council is over.”

  “I would think you ought to discuss it with the lords Farris, Reistron, and Hensel as well.”

  “Not tonight; we’d have to give too many explanations. I’ll tell Darinhal to take a close look at the body, and he can make the discovery. Then we’ll have another Council and a formal announcement. We need all the time we can get.”

  Wendril inclined her head, then looked at Eltiron. It was a moment before he realized that she was waiting for his approval; then he nodded. Wendril went to the door to pass the orders on to her guards.

  “I stil
l think Terrel was the one poisoning Marreth,” Crystalorn said as Wendril left.

  “He has the temperament for it,” Vandaris agreed. “But I doubt that he’s behind this.”

  “Why?”

  “The only reason Terrel Lassond has for doing anything is that it benefits Terrel Lassond. He wouldn’t gain a thing by poisoning Marreth; he’d lose. He’s not enough of an idiot to think Eltiron will let him run the kingdom the way Marreth did.”

  Wendril rejoined them, and a moment later Tarilane returned with the three lords. Vandaris immediately began enumerating the decisions to be made. By the time she finished, Eltiron was profoundly depressed. There seemed to be an enormous number of things to be done, most of them in an impossibly short time. Funeral arrangements had to be made as soon as possible, and plans for Eltiron’s coronation. The wedding would have to be delayed; it simply could not be held until after the funeral, and Eltiron would probably want to wait until after the coronation. In the meantime, formal messages and apologies must be sent to the ambassadors and lords who had come so far for the wedding.

  Then there was the matter of the army, which still had not departed for the southern part of the kingdom. The lords Farris and Hensel disagreed strongly over where the army ought to go; Lord Reistron did not think it ought to leave Leshiya at all until after the coronation. At first, Eltiron had difficulty keeping his temper; by the time the discussion was over, he was having difficulty staying awake.

  At last the conference ended. A few of the most pressing issues—notably the funeral arrangements and the postponement of the wedding—had been dealt with enough to allow others to begin work. The remaining decisions had been put off until a more formal meeting could be called. Eltiron groaned inwardly, foreseeing more days spent in interminable meetings. As soon as the conference was over, Vandaris hauled Eltiron off to the Long Hall to make reassuring comments to whatever guests still remained. Not until the last of the nobles had left was Eltiron able to go to his rooms and consider all the implications of his sudden change in status.