David Weber - How firm a foundation

Irys leaned back, shaking her head slowly. Not in denial, but in surprise.

“Phylyp, I’m trying, but it’s a little hard to believe even you could be audacious enough to plant-what? A double agent?-on the Office of the Inquisition!”

“I did nothing of the sort, Your Highness! First, he’s not a double agent; technically he’s a triple agent,” Coris protested with a smile, raising both hands in an eloquent gesture of innocence. “Besides, I had nothing to do with his original recruitment by the Inquisition. Your father did… when he and Rhobair were both about your age, in fact.”

His smile disappeared, replaced by a far sadder expression.

“I learned a great deal from your father, Irys. I’d like to think he learned a few things from me in return, too. Yet the one lesson neither of us learned until it was too late is that some things in this world are genuinely more important than the ‘Great Game.’ The truth is, I don’t think your father ever did learn that, but watching what happened to him, seeing what’s happening to this entire world, has taught me there are. Your father made mistakes, Irys. Even the smartest man can do that, especially when he’s blinded by ambition, and-forgive me-he was. I speak with a certain degree of experience, because I helped him make a lot of those mistakes and shared a lot of those ambitions. But your father wasn’t simply my Prince. He was my friend, and that bastard in Zion had him and his son-my godson -butchered on the streets of his own capital just so he could blame it on someone else. And now he wants to murder Daivyn, too.”

“Daivyn?!” Irys gasped. She jerked up out of her chair, her face pale, and one hand rose to the base of her throat.

“That’s my ‘strong suggestive evidence,’ Irys. I’ve been sent orders to help clear the way for a party of assassins to murder Daivyn. What my orders don’t tell me is that after Daivyn is dead, I’m going to be killed, as well. That will both remove any unfortunate witnesses who might know a little too much about how the tragedy came to occur and allow Clyntahn to argue that-just like your cousin Anvil Rock and his friend Tartarian-I’ve betrayed Corisande in return for some promised reward from Cayleb and Sharleyan Ahrmahk. Unfortunately for Clyntahn, the man who’s been charged with denouncing me to King Zhames and the Inquisition is none other than my valet, who will-unfortunately-have become aware of my treasonous intentions just too late to prevent your brother’s murder. Oh, and as a crowning touch, the murderers-all of whom will either perish in the attempt or die under the Inquisition’s urgent interrogation-will be Charisians. Or, at least, all of them were born Charisians, although most of them have grown up and spent most of their lives here on the mainland. That’s a nice refinement, don’t you think?”

Irys sank slowly back into the chair, eyes huge, and Coris shrugged.

“I could be making all of this up, lying to you, but I think you know I’m not. And even though I can’t show you a written order from Clyntahn to have your father and young Hektor murdered, I think the pattern we’re seeing is clear enough, don’t you?”

“We can’t let him kill Daivyn, Phylyp!” For once, Irys Daykyn looked as young as her years, her eyes filling with tears. “ Please. He’s all I have left, all the family I have! And he’s such a little boy. He doesn’t deserve any of this!”

“I know.” He reached out and took her hand. “I know, Irys, and Rhobair and Tobys and I will do anything we can to protect him-and you. But we’re going to need help, and lots of it, or all we’ll be able to do is to die in your defense. And I hope you’ll forgive me for saying it,” he smiled a small, crooked smile, “but I’d really prefer not to do that. Especially not if there’s a chance of getting away alive in a way that will piss Zhaspahr Clyntahn off badly enough pure apoplexy might just kill the son-of-a-bitch. Pardon my language.”

“Help?” she repeated, ignoring the last three words, her expression confused. “Who’s going to be able to help us now?”

“Well, it happens that if you’re willing to let me ask for assistance, I have a… friend who might just be able to do a little something for us after all.”

“You’re joking!” Trahvys Ohlsyn said, looking back and forth between Merlin Athrawes and Bynzhamyn Raice. “Aren’t you?”

“Does he look like he’s joking?” Baron Wave Thunder demanded, jabbing a thumb in Merlin’s direction.

“No, but…” Earl Pine Hollow’s voice trailed off, and Wave Thunder chuckled.

“All this new information access takes some getting used to, doesn’t it?”

“You can say that again!” Pine Hollow shook his head. “And, to be honest, the fact that I’m still playing catch-up in so many areas doesn’t help. I haven’t had as much time to practice with this ‘com’ as I should have because I’m so busy discovering all the balls Earl Gray Harbor had in the air.” He shook his head again. “I always respected the Earl, but I hadn’t even begun to guess everything he’d been up to!”

“You do have a hard example to live up to, My Lord,” Merlin agreed soberly. “I think you’ll do well, though. And I hate to say it, but having you as a member of the inner circle’s going to help a great deal in the long run.”

“I’ll grant you that it’s not going to hurt any,” Pine Hollow said with an off-center smile. “I do wish I’d known about it while Nahrmahn was still alive, though. And I wish I could tell Baron Shandyr about it now.” The Emeraldian earl chuckled. “Hahl still hasn’t figured out why your counter-espionage efforts here in Old Charis were so damned effective!”

“Hopefully someday we’ll have the chance to explain that to him,” Merlin said with an answering smile. “For right now, though, there’s this other minor matter…?”

“Of course there is!” Pine Hollow gave himself a shake. “I’m still having a little trouble believing it, though!”

“Well, the messenger wyvern’s on its way right now.” Merlin shrugged. “The SNARC Owl has keeping an eye on Irys and Coris picked up on the key words ‘Charis,’ ‘Cayleb,’ ‘Clyntahn,’ and ‘assassination’ when they discussed what to do. That was enough to flag the entire conversation to me and Bynzhamyn. I’ll ask Owl to shoot the visual and the audio over to you later tonight, but the key point is that they’re asking for asylum. I don’t think Irys is quite prepared to promise she or Daivyn will swear fealty to Cayleb and Sharleyan or accept Corisande’s permanent incorporation into the Empire, but from what I can see she’s at least confident we won’t murder her baby brother. From her perspective, that’s a major step up from the situation they’re in.”

“I can see where that might be true,” Pine Hollow said feelingly. “The question is what we do about it.”

“I think the first order of business is probably to discuss it with Cayleb and Sharleyan,” Merlin replied. “On the other hand, I’ve discovered there are times when a little preparation work before you get around to the ‘ first order of business’ is indicated. Having a policy ready to suggest strikes me as an especially good idea in this case.”

“And you want me to do the suggesting. I see.” Pine Hollow smiled. “Do you really expect them to react that adversely?”

“On the contrary, I expect them to endorse the suggestion wholeheartedly. I just thought that as the Empire’s brand-new first councilor, with this opportunity to demonstrate your mettle coming along, you might want to take advantage of it.”

“That’s Merlin for you,” Wave Thunder snorted. “Always looking out for opportunities by which we can advance ourselves. Remind me to tell you about the first opportunity he gave me someday, My Lord.”