‘Why are you really here, then?’
‘Porenn’s a little curious about your activities. Javelin’s got some spies in your palace, but you’re sneaky enough to hide what you’re doing from them. I thought I’d save some time and come right to the source.’
‘What makes you think I’ve been up to something?’
‘You usually are.’
Drosta laughed shrilly. ‘That’s true, I suppose, but why should I tell you?’
‘Because if you don’t, I’ll set up camp in the palace, and the Malloreans will think you’re crossing them.’
‘That’s blackmail, Yarblek,’ Drosta accused.
‘Some people call it that, yes.’
Drosta sighed. ‘All right, Yarblek,’ he said, ‘but this is for Porenn’s ears only, and I don’t want you and Silk taking advantage of it. I’ve been trying to mend my fences with Zakath. He was very angry when I switched sides at Thull Mardu. It’s only a question of time until he subdues all of Cthol Murgos, and I don’t want him to get the idea of coming north looking for me. I’ve been negotiating with Brador, the chief of his bureau of internal affairs, and we’ve almost reached an accommodation. I get to keep my skin if I allow Brador’s agents to pass through Gar og Nadrak to infiltrate the west. Zakath’s pragmatic enough to forgo the pleasure of having me skinned alive if I’m useful to him.’
Yarblek looked at him sceptically. ‘All right, Drosta, what else? That’s hardly enough to keep Zakath from peeling you like an apple.’
‘Sometimes you’re too smart for your own good, Yarblek.’
‘Give, Drosta. I don’t want to have to spend the next month here in Yar Nadrak being conspicuous.’
Drosta gave up. ‘I’ve cut the import duties on Mallorean carpets. Zakath needs tax revenue to continue the war in Cthol Murgos. If I cut those duties, Mallorean merchants can undersell you and Silk in the market places to the west. The whole plan is to make myself so indispensible to his Imperial Majesty that he’ll leave me alone.’
‘I was wondering why our profits in carpets have been falling off,’ Yarblek mused. ‘That’s all?’ he asked.
‘I swear it is, Yarblek.’
‘Your oaths tend to be a little worthless, my King.’
Drosta had been looking at Vella appreciatively. ‘Are you absolutely positive you don’t want to sell this girl?’ he asked.
‘You couldn’t really afford me, Your Majesty,’ Vella told him, ‘and sooner or later your appetite would get the better of you. I’d have to take steps at that point.’
‘You wouldn’t actually draw a knife on your own king, would you?’
‘Try me.’
‘Oh, one other thing, Drosta,’ Yarblek added. ‘From now on, Silk and I will be paying the same import duties you’re charging the Malloreans.’
Drosta’s eyes bulged even more. ‘That’s out of the question!’ he almost screamed. ‘What if Brador found out about it?’
‘We’ll just have to make sure he doesn’t, then, won’t we? That’s my price for keeping my mouth shut. If you don’t cut those fees, I’ll just have to let it be known that you have. You’ll stop being so indispensible to Zakath at that point, won’t you?’
‘You’re robbing me, Yarblek.’
‘Business is business, Drosta,’ Yarblek said blandly.
King Anheg of Cherek had journeyed to Tol Honeth to confer with Emperor Varana. When he had been admitted to the imperial apartments, he got right to the point. ‘We’ve got a problem, Varana,’ he said.
‘Oh?’
‘You know my cousin, the Earl of Trellheim?’
‘Barak? Of course.’
‘He hasn’t been seen for quite some time. He’s off with that oversized ship of his and he’s got some friends with him.’
‘It’s a free ocean, I suppose. Who are these friends?’
‘Cho-Hag’s son Hettar, that Mimbrate Mandorallen, and Lelldorin the Asturian. He also has his own son Unrak along and the Ulgo fanatic Relg.’
Varana frowned. ‘That’s a dangerous group,’ he noted.
‘I couldn’t agree more. It’s sort of like a natural disaster looking for a place to happen.’
‘Any ideas about what they’re doing?’
‘If I knew which way they’re going, I could make a few guesses.’
There was a polite tap on the door. ‘There’s a Cherek out here, your Imperial Majesty,’ one of the guards outside the door announced. ‘He’s a sailor, I think, and he says he needs to talk with King Anheg.’
‘Send him in,’ the emperor instructed.
It was Greldrik, and he was slightly drunk. ‘I think I’ve solved your problem, Anheg. After I dropped you off on that pier, I wandered around on the docks for a while to see what kind of information I could pick up.’
‘In taverns, I see.’
‘You don’t find sailors in tea-rooms. Anyway, I came across the captain of a Tolnedran merchantman. He’d picked up a cargo of Mallorean goods, and he was coming south across the Sea of the East toward the southern end of Cthol Murgos.’
‘That’s very interesting, but I don’t quite see the point.’
‘He saw a ship, and when I described Seabird to him, he agreed that it had been the ship he saw.’
‘That’s a start, anyway. Where’s Barak going?’
‘Where else? Mallorea, of course.’
After about a week’s voyage, the Seabird made port at Dal Zerba on the southwest coast of the Mallorean continent. Barak asked a few questions and then led his friends to the offices of Silk’s factor in the port city.
The factor was a very thin man, not so much undernourished as he was emaciated.
‘We’re trying to locate Prince Kheldar,’ Barak rumbled to him. ‘It’s a matter of some urgency, and we’d appreciate any information you might be able to give us as to his whereabouts.’
The factor frowned. ‘The last I heard was that he was in Melcene on the other side of the continent, but that was over a month ago, and Prince Kheldar moves around a great deal.’
‘That’s Silk, all right,’ Hettar murmured.
‘Do you have any guesses about where he might have gone from Melcene?’ Barak asked.
‘This office is fairly new,’ the factor said, ‘and I’m sort of at the tail-end of the route of any couriers.’ He made a sour face. ‘The factor up at Dal Finda was a bit put out when Kheldar and Yarblek set up this office. I guess he felt that I might be in competition with him. Sometimes he forgets to pass things on to me. His office has been well-established for some time, so the couriers always stop there. If anybody in this part of Dalasia knows anything about Kheldar’s location, he would.’