be far behind.
To say nothing of the rogue Blade back there.”
Triss, my eyes.
He uncovered them as I glanced back over my shoulder toward the high table.
A few yards behind me a stone dog tore at the corpse of a fallen baronet. Beyond,
I could see a half dozen Elite fanning out from around the throne. They were blasting
away with magic, though nowhere near as indiscriminately as the king’s order had called
for. In fact, the vast majority of their spells were falling on inanimate targets.
One of the mage soldiers started to step over a fallen clan leader. The apparent corpse
suddenly whipped his sword up and across the Elite’s lower belly, spilling her guts.
Before he could do more, a spear of black fire punched a fist-sized hole in his skull
and he fell again, this time truly dead instead of shamming.
A glance in the other direction showed the main doors clogged with panicking and heavily
armed nobles. More than a few bleeding bodies showed where they had slain one another
in their haste to escape. Mercifully, the Elite seemed to be avoiding the crowd with
their magical attacks. But there was no way to tell how long that might last, or how
much worse things could get. I had to get Maylien clear.
I pointed her toward the servant’s stairs and started nudging her along. “I’ll go
back for the papers, but not till you’re through that door. They won’t do anyone any
good if you’re too dead to use them, and without Triss to cover you, you wouldn’t
make it ten feet. I’ve a much better chance of managing this alone.”
She looked mighty unhappy, but crawled with me toward the broken door anyway. It was
a long distance to go on hands and knees, but with the green chain smashing this way
and that, it seemed the better choice. As soon as Maylien had spiraled up the stairs
and out of sight, I slipped back down to the door, crouching in the shadows there
while I surveyed the hall and planned my approach. Much had changed in just the few
minutes since my last look around.
Though the king remained on his throne, most of the madness had faded from his expression.
He was leaning back and to his left, and looking more bemused than anything. The numbers
of the Elite had climbed to a dozen or so now, the nearest of whom was attending to
the one who’d had her guts opened, while two or three stuck close by the king. Others
were taking command of the numerous Crown Guards who had started to arrive on the
scene as well. Either at the king’s orders, or on their own recognizance, the Elite
had stopped flinging spells around.
The jam of screaming and fighting chaos around the main doors was still going strong,
though some of those at the back had started moving away from the conflict as they
realized that the immediate danger had passed. Some had sheathed their weapons, but
more had not, and all were eyeing the Crown Guard and the Elite with more than a little
hostility. Barring active combat breaking out between those two groups, this was probably
my best chance to collect Maylien’s document. The calmer things got, the harder it
would become to approach the throne unseen, and with the room as well lit as it was,
the thing was going to be damned hard no matter what. I assumed full control of Triss
and started forward.
As I shadow-danced my way through the king’s guards, I briefly entertained the idea
of simply killing Thauvik now. Though I was supposed to be unarmed and had been carefully
searched by the Crown Guard before being allowed to follow Maylien into the council
room, I had managed to secrete one or two things about my person that would allow
me to do the job without actually having to get close enough to touch him. But until
Maylien’s claims to the Crown had been officially acknowledged or refuted, killing
the king would only make Maylien’s road to the throne more difficult.
I was perhaps fifteen feet away when I finally
To say nothing of the rogue Blade back there.”
Triss, my eyes.
He uncovered them as I glanced back over my shoulder toward the high table.
A few yards behind me a stone dog tore at the corpse of a fallen baronet. Beyond,
I could see a half dozen Elite fanning out from around the throne. They were blasting
away with magic, though nowhere near as indiscriminately as the king’s order had called
for. In fact, the vast majority of their spells were falling on inanimate targets.
One of the mage soldiers started to step over a fallen clan leader. The apparent corpse
suddenly whipped his sword up and across the Elite’s lower belly, spilling her guts.
Before he could do more, a spear of black fire punched a fist-sized hole in his skull
and he fell again, this time truly dead instead of shamming.
A glance in the other direction showed the main doors clogged with panicking and heavily
armed nobles. More than a few bleeding bodies showed where they had slain one another
in their haste to escape. Mercifully, the Elite seemed to be avoiding the crowd with
their magical attacks. But there was no way to tell how long that might last, or how
much worse things could get. I had to get Maylien clear.
I pointed her toward the servant’s stairs and started nudging her along. “I’ll go
back for the papers, but not till you’re through that door. They won’t do anyone any
good if you’re too dead to use them, and without Triss to cover you, you wouldn’t
make it ten feet. I’ve a much better chance of managing this alone.”
She looked mighty unhappy, but crawled with me toward the broken door anyway. It was
a long distance to go on hands and knees, but with the green chain smashing this way
and that, it seemed the better choice. As soon as Maylien had spiraled up the stairs
and out of sight, I slipped back down to the door, crouching in the shadows there
while I surveyed the hall and planned my approach. Much had changed in just the few
minutes since my last look around.
Though the king remained on his throne, most of the madness had faded from his expression.
He was leaning back and to his left, and looking more bemused than anything. The numbers
of the Elite had climbed to a dozen or so now, the nearest of whom was attending to
the one who’d had her guts opened, while two or three stuck close by the king. Others
were taking command of the numerous Crown Guards who had started to arrive on the
scene as well. Either at the king’s orders, or on their own recognizance, the Elite
had stopped flinging spells around.
The jam of screaming and fighting chaos around the main doors was still going strong,
though some of those at the back had started moving away from the conflict as they
realized that the immediate danger had passed. Some had sheathed their weapons, but
more had not, and all were eyeing the Crown Guard and the Elite with more than a little
hostility. Barring active combat breaking out between those two groups, this was probably
my best chance to collect Maylien’s document. The calmer things got, the harder it
would become to approach the throne unseen, and with the room as well lit as it was,
the thing was going to be damned hard no matter what. I assumed full control of Triss
and started forward.
As I shadow-danced my way through the king’s guards, I briefly entertained the idea
of simply killing Thauvik now. Though I was supposed to be unarmed and had been carefully
searched by the Crown Guard before being allowed to follow Maylien into the council
room, I had managed to secrete one or two things about my person that would allow
me to do the job without actually having to get close enough to touch him. But until
Maylien’s claims to the Crown had been officially acknowledged or refuted, killing
the king would only make Maylien’s road to the throne more difficult.
I was perhaps fifteen feet away when I finally
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