The Diamond Throne

  ‘Does Platime control the whole city?’

  ‘Only the underside of it. Annias runs the top half.’

  ‘Are you going in with me?’

  Talen shook his head. ‘Shanda’s got a twisted sense of morality She doesn’t allow children inside—not male ones, anyway.’

  ‘Shanda?’

  ‘The madame of this place.’

  ‘I probably should have guessed. Krager’s mistress is named Shanda thin woman?’

  Talen nodded. ‘With a very sour mouth?’

  ‘That’s her.’

  ‘Does she know you?’

  ‘We met once about twelve years ago.’

  ‘The bandage hides most of your face, and the light inside isn’t too good. You should be able to get by if you change your voice a bit. Go on in. I’ll stay out here and keep watch. I know every policeman and spy in Cimmura by sight.’

  ‘All right.’

  ‘Have you got the price for a girl? I can lend you some if you need it. Shanda won’t let you see any of her whores unless you pay her first.’

  ‘I can manage it—unless you’ve picked my pocket again.’

  ‘Would I do that, my Lord?’

  ‘Probably, yes. I might be in there for a while.’

  ‘Enjoy yourself. Naween’s very frisky—or so I’ve been told.’

  Sparhawk ignored that. He opened the red-painted door and went inside.

  The hallway he entered was dim and filled with the cloyingly sweet scent of cheap perfume. Maintaining his pose as a blind man, Sparhawk swung his stick from side to side, tapping the walls. ‘Hello,’ he called in a squeaky voice ‘Is anybody here?’

  The door at the far end of the hall opened, and a thin woman in a yellow velvet dress emerged. She had limp, dirty-blonde hair, a disapproving expression, and eyes as hard as agates. ‘What do you want?’ she demanded. ‘You can’t beg in here.’

  ‘I’m not here to beg,’ Sparhawk replied. ‘I’m here to buy or at least rent.’

  ‘Have you got money?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Let’s see it.’

  Sparhawk reached inside his ragged cloak and took several coins out of a pocket. He held them out on the palm of his hand.

  The thin woman’s eyes narrowed shrewdly.

  ‘Don’t even think about it,’ he told her.

  ‘You’re not blind,’ she accused him.

  ‘You noticed.’

  ‘What’s your pleasure, then?’ she asked.

  ‘A friend told me to ask for Naween.’

  ‘Ah, Naween. She’s been very popular lately I’ll send for her just as soon as you pay.’

  ‘How much?’

  ‘Ten coppers—or a silver half-crown.’

  Sparhawk gave her a small silver coin, and she went back through the door She came back a moment later with a buxom brunette girl of about twenty ‘This is Naween,’ Shanda said. ‘I hope you enjoy yourselves.’ She simpered briefly at Sparhawk, then the smile seemed to drain off her face She turned and went back into the room at the end of the hall.

  ‘You’re not really blind, are you?’ Naween asked coquettishly. She was wrapped in a sleazy-looking dressing gown of bright red, and her cheeks were dimpled.

  ‘No,’ Sparhawk admitted, ‘not really.’

  ‘Good. I’ve never done a blind man before, so I wouldn’t know what to expect. Let’s go upstairs, shall we?’ She led him to a stairway that climbed into the upper parts of the house ‘Anything in particular that you’d like?’ she asked, smiling back over her shoulder at him.

  ‘At the moment, I’d like to listen,’ he told her.

  ‘Listen? To what?’

  ‘Platime sent me Shanda’s got a friend staying here a fellow named Krager.’

  ‘Mousy-looking little man with bad eyes?’

  ‘That’s him. A nobleman dressed in green velvet just came in here, and I think that he and Krager might be talking. I’d like to hear what they’re saying. Can you arrange it?’ He reached up and took the bandage off his eyes.

  ‘Then you don’t really want to?’ She left it hanging, and her generous lower lip took on a slight pout.

  ‘Not today, little sister,’ he told her ‘I’ve got other things on my mind.’

  She sighed. ‘I like your looks, friend,’ she said. ‘We could have had a very nice time.’

  ‘Some other day, maybe Can you take me someplace where I can hear what Krager and his friend are saying?’

  She sighed again. ‘I suppose so,’ she said. ‘It’s on up the stairs. We can use Feather’s room. She’s visiting her mother.’

  ‘Her mother?’

  ‘Whores have mothers, too, you know. Feather’s room is right next to the one where Shanda’s friend is staying. If you put your ear to the wall, you should be able to hear what’s going on.’

  ‘Good. Let’s go. I don’t want to miss anything.’

  The room near the far end of the upper hallway was small, and its furnishings were sparse A single candle burned on the table Naween closed the door, then she removed the dressing gown and lay down on the bed. ‘Just for the sake of appearances,’ she whispered archly, ‘in case someone looks in on us. Or in case you change your mind later.’ She gave him a suggestive little leer.

  ‘Which wall is it?’ he asked in a low voice.

  ‘That one’ She pointed.

  He crossed the room and put the side of his head to the wall’s grimy surface.

  ‘to my Lord Martel,’ a familiar voice was saying. ‘I need something that proves that you’re really from Annias and that what you tell me comes from him.’

  It was Krager Sparhawk grinned exultantly and continued to listen.

  Chapter 7

  ‘The primate said that you might be a little suspicious,’ Harparin said in his effeminate voice.

  ‘There’s a price on my head here in Cimmura, Baron,’ Krager told him. ‘Under those circumstances, a certain amount of caution seems to be in order.’

  ‘Would you recognize the primate’s signature—and his seal—if you saw them?’

  ‘I would,’ Krager replied.

  ‘Good. Here’s a note from him that will identify me. Destroy it after you’ve read it.’

  ‘I don’t think so. Martel might want to see the proof with his own eyes.’ Krager paused. ‘Why didn’t Annias just write down his instructions?’

  ‘Be sensible, Krager,’ Harparin said. ‘A message can fall into unfriendly hands.’

  ‘So can a messenger. Have you ever seen what the Pandions do to people who have information they want?’

  ‘We would assume that you’d take steps to keep yourself from being questioned.’

  Krager laughed derisively. ‘Not a chance, Harparin,’ he said in a slightly slurred voice. ‘My life isn’t all that much, but it’s all I’ve got.’

  ‘You’re a coward.’

  ‘And you’re—whatever it is that you are. Let me see that note.’

  Sparhawk heard paper rustling. ‘All right,’ Krager’s mush-sounding voice said. ‘This is the primate’s seal, I’ll agree.’

  ‘Have you been drinking?’

  ‘Naturally What else is there to do in Cimmura? Unless you have other entertainments—like some I could name.’

  ‘I don’t like you very much, Krager.’

  ‘I’m not fond of you either, Harparin, but we can both live with that, can’t we? Just give me the message and go away That perfume you’re wearing is beginning to turn my stomach.’

  There was a stiff silence, and then the Baron spoke very precisely, as if to a child or a simpleton. ‘This is what the Primate Annias wants you to say to Martel: Tell him to gather up as many men as he’ll need and to dress them all in black armour They are to carry the banners of the Pandion Knights—any seamstress can counterfeit them for you, and Martel knows what they look like. They are then to ride with great show to the castle of Count Radun, uncle of King Dregos of Arcium. Do you know the place?’

  ‘It’s on the ro
ad between Darra and Sarrinium, isn’t it?’

  ‘Precisely Count Radun is a pious man and he’ll admit the Church Knights without question. Once Martel is inside the walls, his men are to kill the inhabitants. There shouldn’t be much resistance, because Radun doesn’t maintain a large garrison. He has a wife and a number of unmarried daughters. Annias wants them all repeatedly raped.’

  Krager laughed. ‘Adus would do that anyway.’

  ‘Good, but tell him not to be self-conscious about it. Radun has several churchmen in his castle. We want them to witness it all. After Adus and the others finish with the women, cut their throats. Radun is to be tortured and then beheaded. Take his head with you when you leave, but leave enough personal jewellery and clothing on the body so that it can be identified. Butcher everybody else in the castle, except for the churchmen. After they’ve witnessed everything, let them go.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘To report the outrage to King Dregos at Larium.’ The idea then is that Dregos will declare war on the Pandions?’

  ‘Not quite, no—although that’s possible, too. As soon as the business is finished, dispatch a man on a fast horse to me here in Cimmura to tell me that it’s been done.’

  Krager laughed again. ‘Only an idiot would carry that kind of message. He’d have a dozen knives in him as soon as he finished talking.’

  ‘You are suspicious, aren’t you, Krager?’

  ‘Better suspicious than dead, and the people Martel will hire are likely all to feel pretty much the same way. You’d better tell me a little more about this scheme, Harparin.’

  ‘You don’t need to know any more.’

  ‘Martel will. He won’t be a cat’s-paw for anybody.’

  Harparin muttered an oath. ‘All right then. The Pandions have been interfering with the primate’s activities. This atrocity will give him an excuse to confine them in their motherhouse at Demos again. Then he will personally carry a report of the affair to Chyrellos to lay before the Church Hierocracy and the Archprelate himself. They will have no choice but to disband the Pandion Order. The leaders—Vanion, Sparhawk, and the others—will be imprisoned in the dungeons beneath the Basilica of Chyrellos. No man has ever come out of those dungeons alive.’

  ‘Martel will like that idea.’

  ‘Annias thought that he might. The Styric woman, Sephrenia, will be burned as a witch, of course.’

  ‘We’ll be well rid of her.’ There was another pause. ‘There’s more, isn’t there?’ Krager added.

  Harparin did not answer.

  ‘Don’t be coy, Harparin,’ Krager told him. ‘If I can see through all this, you can be sure that Martel will, too. Let’s have the rest of it.’

  ‘All right.’ Harparin’s voice was sullen. ‘The Pandions are likely to resist confinement and they’ll certainly try to protect their leaders. At that point, the army will move against them. That will give Annias and the Royal Council an excuse to declare a state of emergency and to suspend certain laws.’

  ‘Which laws are those?’

  ‘The ones having to do with the succession to the throne. Elenia will technically be in a state of war, and Ehlana is obviously in no condition to deal with that. She’ll abdicate in favour of her cousin, the Prince Regent Lycheas.’

  ‘Arissa’s bastard—the sniveller?’

  ‘Legitimacy can be bestowed by a decree of the council, and I’d really watch what I say about Lycheas, Krager. Disrespect for the King is high treason, and it can be made retroactive, you know.’

  There was an apprehensive silence. ‘Wait a minute,’ Krager said then. ‘I’ve heard that Ehlana’s unconscious—and sealed in some kind of crystal.’

  ‘That’s no particular problem.’

  ‘How can she sign the instrument of abdication?’

  Harparin laughed. ‘There’s a monk at the monastery near Lenda. He’s been practising the Queen’s signature for a month now. He’s very good.’

  ‘Clever. What happens to her after she abdicates?’

  ‘As soon as Lycheas is crowned King, we’ll give her a splendid funeral.’

  ‘But she’s still alive, isn’t she?’

  ‘So? If need be, we’ll entomb her throne and all.’

  ‘There’s only one problem then, isn’t there?’

  ‘I don’t see any problem.’

  ‘That’s because you’re not looking, Harparin. The primate is going to have to move very fast. If the Pandions find out about this before he can get to the Hierocracy in Chyrellos, they’ll take steps to counter his accusations.’

  ‘We’re aware of that. That’s why you have to send the message to me as soon as the count and his people are dead.’

  ‘The message would never reach you. Any man we send will realize that he’ll be killed as soon as he delivers it and he’ll find an excuse to go to Lamorkand or Pelosia instead.’ Krager paused. ‘Let me see that ring of yours,’ he said.

  ‘My ring? Why?’

  ‘It’s a signet, isn’t it?’

  ‘Yes, with the coat of arms of my family.’

  ‘All noblemen have rings like that, don’t they?’

  ‘Of course.’

  ‘Good. Tell Annias to pay close attention to the collection plate in the cathedral of Cimmura here. One of these days a ring will show up among the pennies. The ring will bear the coat of arms of Count Radun’s family. He’ll understand the message, and the messenger can slip away unharmed.’

  ‘I don’t think Annias will like that.’

  ‘He doesn’t have to like it. All right, how much?’

  ‘How much what?’

  ‘Money What is Annias willing to pay Martel for his assistance? He’s getting the crown for Lycheas and absolute control of Elenia for himself. What’s it worth to him?’

  ‘He told me to mention the sum of ten thousand gold crowns.’

  Krager laughed. ‘I think Martel might want to negotiate that point just a bit.’

  ‘Time is important here, Krager.’

  ‘Then Annias probably won’t be too stubborn about the price, will he? Why don’t you go back to the palace and suggest to him that a bit more generosity might be in order? I could wind up spending the whole winter riding back and forth between Annias and Martel carrying proposals and counterproposals.’

  ‘There’s only so much money in the treasury Krager.’

  ‘Simplicity in itself, my dear Baron. Just increase taxes or have Annias dip into church funds.’

  ‘Where is Martel now?’

  ‘I’m not at liberty to say.’

  Sparhawk swore under his breath and took his ear away from the wall.

  ‘Was it interesting?’ Naween asked. She still lounged on the bed.

  ‘Very.’

  She stretched voluptuously ‘Are you sure that you won’t change your mind?’ she asked. ‘Now that you’ve taken care of your business?’

  ‘Sorry, little sister,’ Sparhawk declined. ‘I’ve got a great deal left to do today Besides, I’ve already paid Shanda your price Why work if you don’t have to?’

  ‘Professional ethics, I suppose Besides, I sort of like you, my big broken-nosed friend.’

  ‘I’m flattered.’ He reached into his pocket, took out a gold coin, and gave it to her. She stared at him in amazed gratitude. ‘I’ll slip out of the front door before Krager’s friend gets ready to leave,’ he told her. He went to the door.

  ‘Come back sometime when your mind’s not so occupied,’ she whispered.

  ‘I’ll think about it,’ he promised. He tied the bandage over his eyes again, opened the door, and stepped quietly into the hall. Then he went on down into the dimly lit lower hall and back out to the street.

  Talen was leaning against the wall beside the door, trying to stay out of the rain. ‘Did you have fun?’ he asked.

  ‘I found out what I needed to know.’

  ‘That’s not what I meant. Naween’s supposed to be the best in Cimmura.’

  ‘I really wouldn’t know about that. I
was there on business.’

  ‘I’m disappointed in you, Sparhawk.’ Talen grinned impudently ‘But probably not nearly so much as Naween was. They say that she’s a girl who likes her work.’

  ‘You’ve got a nasty mind, Talen.’

  ‘I know, and you’ve got no idea how much I enjoy it.’ His young face grew serious, and he looked around cautiously. ‘Sparhawk,’ he said, ‘is somebody following you?’

  ‘It’s possible, I suppose.’

  ‘I’m not talking about a church soldier. There was a man at the far end of the street—at least I think it was a man. He was wearing a monk’s habit, and the hood covered his face, so I couldn’t be sure.’

  ‘There are a lot of monks in Cimmura.’

  ‘Not like this one. It made me cold all over just to look at him.’

  Sparhawk looked at him sharply ‘Have you ever had this kind of feeling before, Talen?’

  ‘Once Platime had sent me to the west gate to meet somebody Some Styrics were coming into the city, and after they passed, I couldn’t even keep my mind on what I was supposed to be doing. It was two days before I could shake off the feeling.’

  There was not really any point in telling the boy the truth about the matter. Many people were sensitives, and it seldom went any further. ‘I wouldn’t worry about it,’ Sparhawk advised. ‘We all get these peculiar feelings now and then.’

  ‘Maybe,’ Talen said dubiously.

  ‘We’re finished here,’ Sparhawk said. ‘Let’s go back to Platime’s place.’

  The rainy streets of Cimmura were a bit more crowded now, filled with nobles wearing brightly coloured cloaks and with workmen dressed in plain brown or grey. Sparhawk was obliged to grope his way along, swinging his blindman’s stick in front of him to avoid suspicion. It was noon by the time he and Talen descended the steps into the cellar again.

  ‘Why didn’t you wake me up?’ Kalten demanded crossly. He was sitting on the edge of his cot holding a bowl of thick stew.

  ‘You needed your rest.’ Sparhawk untied the bandage from his eyes. ‘Besides, it’s raining out there.’

  ‘Did you see Krager?’

  ‘No, but I heard him, which is just as good.’ Sparhawk went on around the fire pit to where Platime sat. ‘Can you get me a wagon and a driver?’ he asked.