The Element of Fire Martha Wells

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didn't matter either.
Aviler rubbed his eyes, making his own chains jingle slightly. "Galen Dubell
really is the sorcerer Grandier, then. Denzil told me something of it when he
brought the Queen to me, but under the circumstances I don't place much
confidence in his word."
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"Dubell really is Grandier. He got a shape-changing magic from the fay, and he
killed Dubell and took his place." The stab wound in Thomas's left arm was
still bleeding sluggishly, though the pain of it hardly competed with that in
his head. The thinner sleeve leather of his buff coat had absorbed some of the
force but the blade had still penetrated a couple of inches at least. He tore
a strip of material from the tail of his shirt to use as a crude bandage. "Why
are you alive?"
"I don't know. No one's bothered to say. What's your opinion on the subject?"
"He wants to keep his options open. He can't stay Dubell forever."
As Aviler considered the unpleasant implication, Thomas tightened the rag
around his arm, taking malicious satisfaction in letting the other man in on
his private terror. He knew he had more to worry about on that score than the
High Minister did. Grandier hardly knew Aviler.
With Lucas dead he hesitated in tying off the makeshift bandage, wondering who
had done it, Dontane or some nameless hireling trooper there was no one but
Ravenna who knew him well enough to realize the deception immediately. He
didn't think anyone could find a way through the complexities of his
relationship with Ravenna, but that would only mean Grandier would have to
kill her the way he had coldly eliminated anyone who might have noticed that
Galen Dubell had changed more than time could account for.
Then diere was Kade.
Kade had done well enough leading her own erratic and dangerous life before
Thomas had dragged her into this, talked her into staying with tfiem past the
point at which she could have left safely. And made her vulnerable. The tittle
idiot trusts me. Lucas had been right. And he remembered that the last
conversation he'd had with his friend had been an argument; stupid thing to do
in a war, and he'd regret it the rest of his no doubt short life.
Kade was her own woman, and he was too old to bother lying to himself anymore
and too young not to want her. But
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any chance of anything between them was wasted, as point -lessly wasted as
Lucas, Vivan, and ail the other lives lost and destroyed by Denzil and
Grandier.
There was a stirring among the men in the anteroom, and after a moment Urbain
Grandier appeared in the doorway, carrying a candlelamp and a short stool.
He set the lamp down on the scuffed floorboards, and glanced once,
thoughtfully, at Aviler. Then he looked back to Thomas and said, "I felt I
owed you more of an explanation."
Thomas had a sudden impulse to delay whatever the sorcerer had come to say. He
said, "You have Dontane fooled. He thinks you're mad."
Grandier shook his head, put the stool he had brought just inside the doorway,
and sat down. "I give him what he expects." He sighed, and looked like a tired
old man. "He imagines himself to be subtle and dangerous, and I suppose he is,
but there are levels of complexity he fails to understand. Denzil, on the
other hand, is rather like an incompetent copyist's version of you."
As die clear gray eyes met his Thomas felt a stab of pure fear. Worry about it
later, he thought. Grandier had probably noticed it but there was no help for
that. He said, "Do they know what you're planning? And there is a plan, isn't
there?"
"Yes. I first conceived it in my cell in the Temple Prison at Bistrita. I had
to think about something besides the torturers, and the death by fire that
waited for me." He looked down at his hand and stretched die fingers,
contemplating the unbroken skin as if he did not quite recognize it as his
own.
Ami perhaps he doesn't, Thomas thought. Watching him, he remembered the
catalog of tortures the court documents had listed. The sorcerer was driven,
dangerous, and intelligent, but not insane. It was almost as if he had passed
into another phase of being that was not madness or sanity but some lawless
ground in between.
Across the room, Aviler shifted a little, breaking the silence with a faint
clink of chain, and Grandier said, "Then an emis-
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sary of the Unseelie Court appeared with their offer, which you know about
already. Part of a scheme on their part to suborn a human sorcerer, to make
the Host more powerful in our world. It's a contest they have with the Seelie
Court, their opposites in Fayre. Having a sorcerer at their beck and call
would be a coup of sorts." He shrugged. "They thought me a likely candidate."
Thomas realized he was trying to control the conversation out of panic, and
that Grandier was allowing him to do it. Try to be a little less transparent,
he told himself. You've helped the man enough already. Grandier seemed to
expect a comment, so he said only, "The more fools they."
"I thought so." Grandier smiled a little. "It's not entirely their fault, the
trusting creatures. They are accustomed to Fayre, which bends to their will.
The mortal world has sharp edges, bends to no man's will, and events occur
with fatal finality. Mistakes are not suffered. Evadne was pressing me to give
up this game and go on to something more entertaining. He was one of their
self-proclaimed leaders, a very annoying character. He's dead now, of course.
I rather thought someone might kill him eventually. And I meant to tell you,
Kade escaped through the ring and is presumably in Fayre, at the moment."
That's one mercy. He fought not to show relief and asked, "Why are you helping
Denzil?"
"The Duke has offered me what I want. A war with Bisra."
"We've had a war with Bisra. It didnTt turn out that well for anyone." But
things began to fall into place. Ravenna would never have agreed to another
war. They had been the victors of the last long conflict with their mortal
enemies to the south only by a bare margin. Even if Roland had supported such
a suicidal course, Aviler and the other High Lords and advisors would have
prevented it at any cost.
"There was a war," Grandier conceded. "But I was not involved. And I have the
Host."
Unbidden, the memory of the monstrous turmoil in the
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MARTHA WELLS
THE ELEMENT OF FIRE
321
cellar came to Thomas's mind. He said, "If you want to turn them loose on
Bisra, be my guest, but why do you have to destroy us in the process?"
"I have no intention of destroying Ue-Rien. But I will have to alter it
somewhat. Denzil needs the war to cement his position as usurper. When word
leaks out that the capital is under a virtual state of siege by creatures of
Fayre, Bisra will move to take advantage. They need He-Rien's wealth to [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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