Siege of Pailtar (19 page)

“Those mages from my past, Keyon informed me that members of that order have been spotted in Venecia.”

“Are they looking for you?” asked Kiana.

“It has been a long time since I fled the order. I doubt they are looking for me, but whatever they are doing it will not be good. The order is dangerous and if they come to Pailtar we must be careful. They are very powerful mages. You will not be able to defend yourself without magic.”

“So that is why I need the bloodstone ring.”

“Yes, I don’t know if the mages are connected with the rumors of Morthon preparing to attack us, but we need to be prepared.”

“What can I do?” asked Kiana.

“Keep at your studies. You and I will work more on defensive spells at night.”
 

20

Balta

VERIN WALKED INTO THE KING’S study. Brisson Bayson, his brother-in-law was sitting at the king's desk. Verin ignore the man walked over to the window. The view was tremendous, looking out over the city and into the fields and forest beyond the city walls.

“Shouldn’t you be out in forest somewhere?” asked Brisson, his voice dripping with contempt. Brisson had always considered rangers to be of a lesser importance than the kingdom’s sailors.

Verin ignored the verbal jab and continued looking out the window. After a long silence, he started talking. “This was Verbon’s favorite place. He liked to stand here and just watch. Watch the people moving around the city. Watch the farmers in the fields. He would watch the sky and wonder how the rains and sun would affect the year’s crops. He was a good king.”

“He was a fool. I told him this would happen. He has been too soft, just like your father was. Balta needs a strong leader. One who will command respect, one who will regain the power your family so readily gave up.”

“Is that king you?”

“No, I’m a sailor. You know that, Verin. I wouldn’t have the time to rule a kingdom.”

“Ah yes, I forgot. You truly love the sea. I recall your pleading with my brother to expand our fleet. What were you words? With a stronger fleet, Balta can rule the seas. Yes, that sounds familiar.”

“I stand by those words. We could build a fleet of warships that would create an empire. But no, Verbon would not raise taxes or use slave labor. Such a waste.”

“It that why you started spying for King Ganus? You wanted to build an empire.”

“King Ganus has ambition, he doesn’t cater to the whims of his people. He rules with an iron fist and one day soon he will rule this entire continent. To oppose him is foolish.”

“So you let him kill Verbon?”

“Verbon could’ve stepped down at any time. I warned him we didn’t have the military strength to defeat King Ganus but he refused to listen. His death is not on my hands, he chose this.”

“You fool. Tell me brother by marriage, how do you expect to survive this.”

“Don’t give me that ‘brother’ stuff,” Brisson snarled. “I married that bitch sister of yours for power, not love. What good did that do me? Besides, who is going to stop me? Even if you jail me for these alleged crimes, no one will believe you. They will see you as grasping for power, and by the time anyone knows the truth it will be too late. King Ganus will be coming, and Balta will fall.”

Verin felt his stomach knot up. When Nathan mentioned the second note from Duke Evollan it made Verin take stock of who knew about the first note. Avera, Verbon, Balthazar, and Brisson were the only people outside of himself with knowledge of the note. Avera was not the type to betray her family and Verbon and Balthazar perished in the attack, that left one man who knew about the note: Brisson Bayson, husband of Verin’s sister Anya, and leader of the royal fleet.

Verin turned from the window and stared at Brisson. “There will be no trial. You betrayed our family. You are going to die.”

Brisson laughed, “Who is going to kill me? You? A ranger defeat the greatest swordsman on the sea? I will carve your heart out.” Brisson drew his sword and started across the room.

“Brisson, you win duels with pirates. You haven’t been in a real fight in years.”

“We shall see, won’t we, Brother?” said Brisson in a mocking tone.

Verin drew his sword, the black steel blade that Nathan had forged for him. Stronger and lighter that any normal sword, it was a beautiful weapon.

“The Stoneblood boy made you a sword? No matter, I will take it. Such a fine weapon doesn’t belong in the hands of a mere ranger.”

Verin ignored the insult. Brisson had always been a loud and boastful man. Verin had never realized how power hungry the man had been until now.

Slashing down with a mighty blow, Brisson attacked Verin. The sound of metal striking metal filled the room as Brisson continued his ferocious attack. Verin blocked and parried all of Brisson’s strikes. Brisson was almost as good a swordsman as he claimed to be.

However, the arrogant sea captain severely underrated the sword skills of Verin. Verin continued to block each attack, studying his opponent as they exchanged strikes. Brisson had a flaw in his form. He would dip his left shoulder just before lunging. The next time Brisson’s shoulder dipped, Verin stepped to his right and twisted. As Brisson lunged forward, his blade pierced the air where Verin had been standing before. Verin brought his blade up, sliding it into Brisson’s exposed ribs.

Brisson gasped as the sharp black steel penetrated his ribs and slid into his chest. It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. His expression was more of disbelief than pain. Verin should not have been able to figure out that he was the spy, and he certainly should not have been able to defeat him in combat. All his plans, all his dreams being in charge of the world’s greatest fleet were draining out with the blood the left his wound.

“You fool,” said Brisson. “You are going to lose. King Ganus is too powerful for you. Balta is going to fall.”

“Has anyone ever told you that you talk too much?” asked Verin as he turned his sword. The blade scraped against Brisson’s rib, causing him more pain. Verin then plunged the weapon the rest of the way into Brisson, killing his traitorous brother-in-law.

Pulling his sword from Brisson’s body, Verin thought about Brisson. He had been a good looking young sea captain when he met Anya. He had wooed her and she had fallen madly for him. Verin and Verbon had thought he was a strong warrior, but Avera had always been cautious toward Brisson. Once again, Avera’s instincts had proven to be right.

Now that the traitor had been dealt with, Verin needed to sit down with Avera. The kingdom was without a king, a scenario that could only last so long before chaos took over. With war looming, they could not afford to prolong a decision.

21

Pailtar

“YOU SHOULD BUY ME A DRINK,” said the stranger.

Everet looked up at the man from his seat at the bar table. The strange was muscular with scars covering his forearms, neck and half of his face. One scar went from his hairline down to his chin. This was a man who had seen more of his share of battle. Everet lifted his foot and pushed the chair across from him back, offering it to the stranger. “Have a seat, join us.”

Everet signaled the barmaid to bring them drinks.

The scarred stranger sat down and said nothing.

The barmaid brought Everet and Severa two more ales and the stranger a glass of wine.

The stranger accepted his wine and took a sip. “I hope you don’t mind paying a little extra for the wine, I have an aversion to cheap ale.”

Everet shook his head, “Not at all.”

“Do you know me?” asked the stranger.

“I’m afraid not,” replied Everet. “Should I?”

“No, but I know you. I remember you from the last time you were in Pailtar,” said the stranger.

“Ah,” said Everet. “That was so long ago, a lifetime.”

“Not so long, actually only a few months, but I do understand your meaning. The bartender says you answer to Everet now.”

“It is my name, I like it.”

“No titles?” asked the stranger.

“No, I left my titles in that old life. I find titles give people the wrong impression.”

The stranger laughed and drank another sip of his wine. “They also make disappearing harder. People tend to remember such things. Tell me, Everet, are you still in the business of selling women?”

“No,” replied Everet. “And truth be told, I never was truly in the business. The last time I was here, the young ladies in question were part of an elaborate revenge scheme, but that didn’t go quite the way I planned.”

“Yes, a young northerner and his friends killed all your men and rescued the girls.”

“Indeed,” said Everet. This man was very well informed.

“Now you are back in Pailtar and for three days you have sat here drinking and then retiring to your room in the Inn. What is it that you are waiting for, Everet?”

“I like this pub. Have you tried the chicken? It is rather good.”

“The food is as bad as the wine,” replied the stranger.

“Maybe, but I needed some place to sit and learn about Pailtar. I also am in need of information.”

“For a man looking for information you don’t ask a lot of questions.”

“You can learn a lot by just sitting and observing. Take for instance, the man at the table in the corner with the red shirt. He is a local merchant who has been buying stolen goods from pirates. Normally, not a big deal, but the pirates he deals with haven’t been paying their dues to the Guild. The lady at the second table has assassinated two men in the three days we have been sitting here, but she is rather talented, I doubt anyone else noticed her. Your companion in the grey cloak has been watching us for a day and a half, he eats too much garlic and when he sneaks past our room at the Inn I can smell him.”

The stranger looked amused. “Impressive. I assume you have been expecting my visit then?”

“I expected a visitor. I didn’t expect one who would have such knowledge of my last visit to Pailtar.”

The stranger shrugged, “You are not the only one who can be observant. It is only by chance that I know so much about you.”

Everet grinned, “That I doubt.”

“It matters not, I care little about what your business was here before. I’m more interested in your current visit. You recently arrived from Morthon, yes?”

“Yes, we were in Meron,” replied Everet.

“And how would you describe the climate in Meron?”

“Volatile. Meron is a dangerous place these days.”

“I think you will find the entire continent is dangerous these days,” said the stranger.

Everet nodded. The big man with all his scars was no ordinary mercenary or thug. The conversation with him was like a sword fight each jabbing and probing, looking for weaknesses in the other’s defense. The man knew about his previous exploits, and likely much more. Everet was at a severe disadvantage, not knowing anything about the man other than what he could gauge from appearance and their conversation. This man would be a dangerous opponent, but to get information from him, Everet would have to give something back. “How would the Guild feel about Pailtar falling under control of King Ganus?”

“I can only assume that would be an undesirable outcome for all of Pailtar,” said the stranger.

“Not all,” corrected Everet. “There are some in Pailtar who are very friendly to King Ganus. In fact, King Ganus receives weekly reports on Pailtar.”

“We were not aware of that,” said the stranger. “That is concerning.”

Everet nodded in agreement, “Yes, I too thought it was concerning. I’ve heard rumors that King Ganus knows of four Guild storehouses in the city as well as the city guard rotations. It would appear the King has plans for Pailtar.”

“We appreciate your candor, Everet. This is valuable information to the Guild. We are in debt to you. Is there anything we can help you with?”

“Not at the moment,” said Everet. The guild owing him a favor was a huge first step. Everet would wait for the right opportunity to use it.

“When you would like to speak to me again, come back to this bar and order a Venecian wine. I’ll know soon enough, and get back to you.”

“It was a pleasure meeting you.”

The scarred stranger stood and walked away from the table.

Severa, who had been perfectly quiet during the meeting, finally spoke. “We have been sitting here for three days and you didn’t even get his name. Yet you told him all about King Ganus having spies in Venecia.”

“Names are not important and the Guild now owes us a favor. That is everything we needed to accomplish for now. Besides, they knew King Ganus has spies here. But I do not believe they knew the position of their storage warehouse was compromised.”

“So what do we do now?” asked Severa.

“We wait. If Nathan Stoneblood received my note, we should hear a reply any day. What happens in Balta will dictate our next moves.”

22

Balta

“BRISSON BAYSON WAS THE TRAITOR.”

Avera and Nathan sat at the table and listened to Verin tell about his encounter with the traitorous Brisson.

“How did you figure it out?” asked Avera.

“Nathan’s notes from Duke Evollan were the key. We only told family and a few key advisors like Balthazar about the note. When Nathan received the second note, I knew it had to be one of us.”

“And with Balthazar dead, you were able to narrow it down to me, Brisson, Plavicus, and Gilford,” said Avera.

“Yes, and Plavicus has been on extended patron for weeks. He could not be the one who snuck the mages into Balta. Gilford was a possibility, but what would he gain?”

“So you confronted Brisson, why?” asked Nathan.

“Brisson Bayson has always been a braggart. If he was involved, I knew he would have a hard time denying it. He also fancied himself a swordsmen of the first class. He wasn’t worried that I would find out. He intended to kill me once I asked him why he betrayed us.”