The Red wolf conspiracy

New Orders

N. R. Rose Captain

9 Vaqrin 941

Etherhorde

The Honorable Captain Theimat Rose

Northbeck Abbey, Mereldнn Isle, South Quezans

Dear Sir,

Warmest greetings to you and my cherished mother. Please accept a son's apologies for not having written these many days.

You will be happy to know that I have secured a commission that will erase all debts and secure future prosperity, not just for me but for all our surviving kin. The Chathrand sails on a task of such consequence that I dare not name it here, lest our enemies seize this letter and gain a mighty advantage. But I can tell you that His Supremacy has had no choice but to agree to my demands in full. He knows that I alone may be trusted to do as he commands with the Great Ship, and so has promised me lifetime governorship of the Quezans and the title of viscount. Additionally, I am to choose three unwed or purchasable girls of any price, with another of superior beauty sent every fifth year from the Accateo Lorgut.

Many thanks for your caution regarding poison. This is a delicate moment, for I know H.S. will insert spies among my crew-indeed, he promised no less, "for my own protection." The aged killer Sandor Ott is among them: he poses as one Shtel Nagan, commander of the honor guard attending Ambassador Isiq, his budding daughter and South Seas whore. But there has been no opportunity to speak to Ott. An unfortunate incident with the augrongs kept us from meeting ashore. Thus I have still to inform him that he must protect me not for mere show but like the crown jewels themselves: for should any ill befall me, the Emperor's foes will learn the whole story of his scheming within the year.

This morning I went ashore early, crossed the Plaza of the Palmeries and presented myself at the Keep of Five Domes. The rumors are perfectly true: the Emperor's men take you under the earth by a wide stair, and thence by tunnels dark and madly circuitous, such that when I ascended at last into a glorious salon I had no idea which of the five domes I had entered. There they searched me like an enemy, head to toe, and bade me sit before a little table. Scores of lackeys, soldiers, monks, doctors, astrologers and seers plied me with questions, three hours of questions, mostly pointless, while a slave-girl pushed chocolates under my nose and another washed my feet. Then Prince Misoq, H.S.'s blind son, was led in and sat beside me. He pawed at my face: to know whether I smiled or frowned, he said.

"You will sign and swear to this cause?" he asked.

"I will sign and swear, Your Majesty to our full agreement."

Then he snapped his fingers, and the room emptied, and a scroll was spread before us-a scroll that could see this Empire razed to ashes, Father, were its contents known. And I signed above my printed name.

With that we rose, the Prince clutched my arm and we left the salon by a side door and entered a corridor, the left wall of which let into some grander space through painted columns. "You may gaze upon the Throne if you wish," he said, and I saw that this hall was in fact a long balcony, looking down upon the marvel of the Chamber of Ametrine, with the great, glittering chair on its red dais standing in a pool of light. The throne was empty: candles twice a man's height burned in the stillness, and only the Imperial guard walked in their glow.

Then I heard footsteps at the end of the hall. Eight ugly brutes like armed boars marched toward me, clattering in their mail, followed by two other princes and a jester who drooled. After these came Magad himself. I dropped to my knees and kept my head bowed. Men passed around me, doors opened and boomed shut, and then His Supremacy touched my shoulder and bade me rise.

He is older than commonly thought. His body has gone to fat, he has the yellowed eyes of a deathsmoker, and some manner of disease has left red welts upon his neck. I saw a green jewel on his finger: taken by Magad I from a slain priest of the Mzithrin, so rumor tells. He studied me as you might an expensive horse. The jester held the Emperor's pipe, now and then sucking on it himself with a disagreeable slurp.

"You will dine with my sons, Captain," said Magad. "Do you like brandied quail?"

Nothing would he speak of but food and the hunt, and yet his eyes never ceased to probe me. At last he looked pointedly at the door at the end of the balcony, drew a deep breath and waved: "It is there. Go and see it." Then he departed with his entourage, and when I rose from my second bow the prince nudged me forward. I walked alone down the hallway and opened the door.

The room was about the size of my day-cabin. Torches blazed on the walls, and by their light I saw many great chests standing open. Within them-gold. Unimaginable gold. Perfect three-ounce cockles, and rods, and bricks emblazoned with the Magad seal. There were also whole chests of ivory and megrottoc horn, and four of red rubies alone-four times my weight in bloodstones, sir, I implore you to believe-and the last chest held pearls. One-third of the whole Imperial treasury is what the scroll claimed, and I doubt it not. Were I less a man than your son, my heart should have been quite faint.

"It will be taken aboard tonight," said the Prince when I returned, "and our hundred Turachs with it."

"Your Majesty," I said carefully, "the Turachs are your supreme father's most terrible warriors. Even the Imperial marines fear them. How shall I explain their presence to my crew?"

"They will be dressed and outfitted as marines-nothing more. It is not strange to arm a trade ship in those waters, Rose. Pirates swarm in Thуl like flies in a stable."

"But will they obey the captain of the vessel, in an emergency? The survival of the ship could depend on it, Your Majesty."

"They will obey Drellarek. Drellarek will obey you."

"And Sandor Ott?"

"Ott commands six spies. They can hardly afford you worry, Captain, if you have nothing to hide from the crown."

I had no choice: he was a prince, and could not be reasoned with. But I saw to it that he knew better than to dream of letting those killers dispose of Nilus Rose when his usefulness was done:

"Nothing whatsoever shall I hide, Sire: neither my fears, nor my sensible precautions. In the second category are letters dispatched months ago, to certain professionals outside the Empire. In the case of my demise they will be forwarded over a span of years to the lords of the Crownless Lands, and a number of your family's internal rivals."

"Where no doubt they would be read with astonishment," laughed the blind man. He was shaken and furious and wished none to see it. Probably he could think of little besides killing me, and yet realized (as you and I did long ago) that Arqual's treason can never be revealed, nor the exact number of those letters known, even should they extract my confession with hot iron and blades. Yet he might have threatened. He might even have had me dragged back to those tunnels and tortured for my insolence-for that I was ready. Nothing, however, prepared me for what he actually did: groping for my face again, he pulled me savagely by hair and beard, forcing his lips against my ear.

"I know these rivals you speak of," he whispered. "Some are banished, most are dead. The sons of Maisa are dead-we have their bodies in an ice chest. The astrologers have spoken; the dead stir and the living smell death. You cannot stop us-it is the hour of Arqual, you fool."

Then he released me and smiled. We dined, the royal sons insulted one another, and I left the Keep of Five Domes just in time to avert disaster with the augrongs.

All this I tell you, sir, knowing it will gladden your heart that a Rose met the Imperial Person and set sail with a third of his wealth. Did you not swear we would one day parley with kings, and even use them for ends of our own? Perhaps you will have forgotten the occasion, but I never shall: it was a summer on Littelcatch, when you caught me dawdling with hammer and chisel, simply wasting the day, laughing among the penniless boys of the isle. I had hacked a crude figure out of driftwood. "The purpose of this, Nilus, if you please?" you asked, and I had the cheek to reply that I would learn proper sculpture, and one day carve a goddess for the figurehead of your ship. How right you were to strap me! Nonsense must be cured with clarity, and there is nothing clearer than pain.

I must post this with the Imperial Mailguard, who even now is at my door. Please do not be silent, sir, nor Mother either.

I have the honor to remain your most obedient son,

N. R. ROSE