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themselves closer to the flame of power than their fellows, to whom they'd
pretend that they enjoyed the personal confidences of the Obarskyrs. At what
time had they lost their fear of guards, or for that matter, of swift-striding war
wizards?
"Good Lady-" one of them began, as he moved to block her path, his smile
almost a sneer.
"My lords," Laspeera interrupted, not slowing or moving aside, "have you
personal business with the queen? Or are you merely lost?"
"Ha ha," the courtier replied, in the eager, empty mirth that by its tone
announces that its utterer is about to say something important that should-nay,
must-be heeded. "Lady Laspeera," the other courtier said firmly, stepping directly
into her way, "it was actually you we came to see. It's a matter of some urgency
and delicacy ... ah ... involving authority over magic."
Laspeera called on the power of the ring that adorned the hand she kept low
and behind her-and marched straight into him.
Her shield, unseen and noticeable only as a faint, high singing sound, thrust
the man back, startling him into momentary silence. The tall, slender woman in
the dark gown was reputedly a powerful mage, yes, but he must weigh almost
twice what she did, and how by all the gods-
"Yes," the laughing courtier's voice sprang into the uneasy moment of his
fellow's stumbling retreat, "you see, we need to see the Royal Mage."
"I fear you have the wrong realm, gentlesirs," Laspeera told them over her
shoulder, as she strode on down the passage. "In Cormyr we have a Court
Wizard who is also our Royal Magician, also known as the 'Mage Royal.' We
have no 'Royal Mage.'"
"Oh, come, come," the laughing courtier demurred. "Lady, you know well to
whom we refer!"
Laspeera swung around, a warning in her eyes, and replied, "Yes, as it
happens, I do-and am therefore puzzled as to why you've come to me. The Mage
Royal grants audiences to all at times well known to you, and more private
appointments with her may be made through the clerks of the court. Their offices
lie considerably to the south of here."
She leveled a pointing finger through a handy window at the impressive bulk
of the Royal Court, then turned on her heel, and strode on.
"Lady!" the mirthful courtier protested, with a derisive little laugh. "We're not
children! We-"
"-have gotten lost to the extent of wandering across a wide courtyard into the
wrong building for some other reason, lords? Excessive drink, perhaps?" a new
voice said smoothly, as its owner stepped out of a doorway to block their pursuit.
He was a Ready Sword of the Palace Guard, and he was not alone.
In the space of a swiftly-drawn breath the two courtiers found themselves
ringed by unsmiling Purple Dragons. Guardsmen, in fact, who held weapons half-
drawn and looked like they had never in all their long, weather-beaten lives
known how to smile.
Laspeera allowed herself a satisfied grin at the alacrity of the response to the
song of her rising shield, which would have been very loud in that guardroom, but
kept it inside. Her face was its usual pleasant mask as she swept past another
courtier-a son of the Helmstone noble family, this one, with rather more right to
be on this floor of the palace-even before he could look up from the servant he
was snarling threats of dismissal at, and cry hastily, "Lady! Lady Wizard!"
Laspeera neither replied nor slowed, and so-of course-he came hopping
along in her wake.
"Lady Laspeera, I must speak with you!"
Not letting her sigh reach her tone of voice, she asked, "Must you, Lord?"
"Well, ah, yes, actually."
Laspeera turned a corner without slowing. "Then do so," she replied calmly.
"Here? In the middle of a hallway?"
"Why not, Lord? Do you find hallways somehow . . . tainted?"
"No, no, you misunderstand me, lady. Why, I almost fear you do so
deliberately. I-it's just that the matter I must speak with you about is, ahem,
regarding, ah, future actions of some delicacy involving the Lady Caladnei, and-"
"Lord Helmstone," the senior war wizard replied, "I fear discussing a
marriage proposal with anyone other than the lady you wish to become attached
to is less than prudent-as is considering anything at all of the sort without first
acquiring the approval of your rather formidable father."
"Wha-marriage? To such as her? Lady, you wound me deeply-"
"No, Lord, not yet," Laspeera murmured, passing through an archway and
rounding another corner. "Not yet."
The younger Lord Helmstone was bustling after her, still sputtering in
outrage. "Lady, I protest! Nobles of the realm are not to be trifled with, not even
by-"
Laspeera spun around so swiftly that he was forced to snatch at a
voluptuous statuette on a pedestal to slow himself, lest he crash into her. Seeing
what rondure he'd laid his hand on, he snatched his fingers away in cringing
haste.
Her voice was low and calm when she spoke, but it drained the high color
entirely from his face nonetheless.
"Young men of even less prudence than manners? I say again, Lord
Helmstone: before you open your mouth again in the palace, seek the wise
counsel of your father." The War Wizard turned on her heel, stepped through the
next archway-and discovered that it was her turn to come to a swift halt.
"He did," a deep voice said, in tones as challenging as a sword-thrust, "and
is now doing exactly what I bade him to. He is attempting, in his own way,
admittedly less direct than it could be, to tell you a plain truth. Lady Laspeera, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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