The Temple of Elemental Evil

7

Hedrack walked to one of the braziers that warmed his chambers. He pulled a burning taper from it, then crossed to the center of the room and dropped cross-legged atop a series of thick, plush carpets and cushions. Closing his eyes and uttering a few words of prayer to Iuz, he lit a single black candle in front of him and cast a spell. A moment later, the ghostly, vaporous image of Lareth appeared before him. As Hedrack made eye contact with his field commander, the apparition of the other man smiled and bowed.

“Most humble greetings, Mouth of Iuz,” Lareth intoned maintaining his bow.

Hedrack studied the figure for a moment, reminded with a tiny pang of envy how handsome he was considered to be. A mane of sandy blond hair framed a rugged face with compelling blue eyes. Lareth’s broad shoulders and devilish smile always turned the ladies’ heads, and the field commander knew it all too well. In fact, Lareth’s assessment of his own beauty had made him slightly insolent of late.

Always with the handsome ones, the high priest thought, there are aspirations to rise above station. Durbas, the author of Conquest, Obedience, and Command, maintained that the occasional reprimand was absolutely necessary to remind a servant of his actual worth, to avoid instilling a false notion of favoritism and thus the mistaken belief that the servant might some day replace the master. Lareth was certainly one for whom this might be necessary.

“Greetings, Commander Lareth,” Hedrack responded. “Rise and report.”

Lareth straightened himself and began. “I will send raiding parties in three directions this evening, Hedrack.” Hedrack frowned at the clerics familiarity with him. “However, last night, our raid on Hommlet did not fare as well as expected.”

Ah, thought Hedrack, the small failure I will exploit to remind him of his place.

“Yes?” The high priest said, furrowing his brow in displeasure for emphasis.

“A number of capable travelers stopping for the night in that village came to the sorry peasants’ aid.” Lareth sighed. “I lost fully half a dozen bugbears in the raid.”

“You disappoint me,” Hedrack said, glowering.

Lareth’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. He was clearly not used to being so openly rebuked.

“I have charged you with recruiting fresh troops and with filling our coffers through your raids. I don’t remember anything about having my army shrink through your mismanagement.”

“My lord, I beg pardon, but this was an unexpected and unavoidable situation. I withdrew the moment—”

“Unexpected and unavoidable? It is clear to me that you are not giving your duties the attention they deserve. A competent field commander always gains reliable intelligence before engaging the enemy, and he always has not one but two contingency plans for unexpected”—Hedrack emphasized Lareth’s own words back at him—“situations so that nothing becomes an ‘unavoidable’ mistake.”

“Of course, my lord,” Lareth answered. “I beg your forgiveness in this, and I assure you that I will redouble my precautions.”

Hedrack wasn’t sure if Lareth’s look of contrition was genuine or not, but he was convinced that the man had received the intended message loudly and clearly: Do not presume too much. A thought occurred to Hedrack.

“I have received warnings from Iuz himself that enemies move against us. Even now, agents of Cuthbert come this way. Perhaps these meddlers you mentioned are the very same?”

“I have reason to believe they are,” Lareth replied, causing Hedrack to raise his eyebrow.

“Oh? And how is that?”

“My spies in Hommlet report that there is a company, led by an agent of the king himself, who is preparing to explore the outpost. I am setting up plans to deal with them.”

Hedrack leveled his gaze at the other man. “Good. See that you do. And report to me when you have.” He waved the issue away and changed the subject. “What of fresh sacrifices? When will I receive more?”

Lareth’s charming smile returned in an instant. “I managed to snare a few last night, despite the unexpected opposition. I have sent a fresh batch of them to you this very day. I think you will be very pleased.”

“Good, good,” Hedrack said, nodding. “I look forward to examining them. Anything else to report?”

Lareth nodded his head. “I shall have no less than fifty new troops for you by the end of the month. And, if my reports are correct, another two hundred and fifty by the end of next.”

“Excellent,” Hedrack said, genuinely pleased. “We are ahead of schedule, then. Keep it up. And no more mishaps.”

“I hear and obey, my lord.”