Mage's Blood Read Online Free PDF

eventually massacred by vast hordes of the heathen – our greatest military disaster. In 916 your Majesty’ – he bowed to Constant – ‘exacted revenge for the massacre and strengthened our hold on Hebusalim, making milord Betillon his governor and bleeding the dark-skinned heathen white.’
    Betillon and Korion chuckled at this, and Gyle admitted,
You know how to play them, my friend
.
    ‘Now the Third Crusade is upon us: in one year’s time the Leviathan Bridge will rise from the sea and we will march once more. All of Kesh awaits us. The Amteh Convocation in Gatioch has recently declared shihad, Holy War, which obliges every man of the Amteh Faith to take up arms against us. The Third Crusade will be nothing like what has gone before; this will be vast, epoch-shaping.
    ‘We must face the fact that we have had setbacks. In the key kingdom of Javon, the Dorobon dynasty we installed has fallen, supplanted by the Nesti, who are of old Rimoni senatorial stock. Javon, which is peopled by both Rimoni and a branch of the Keshi called the Jhafi, lies to the northeast of Hebusalim and commands the hills above the Zhassi Valley. Control Javon and you have the keys to Hebusalim and to Kesh. To secure our advance, we must secure Javon. It is a complex place, and my colleague knows it well. Gurvon will now reveal our plans for Javon.’
    Gyle looked about him, licking his suddenly dry lips. Emperor Constant looked bored, but Lucia was leaning forward, her eyes fixed on him. Korion and Betillon were sullenly defensive and Dubrayle looked as if he’d sat on something spiky. Only Grand Prelate Wurther looked comfortable.
Ah, religion: balm for the soul
.
    Gyle cleared his throat and began, ‘Your Majesties, when the Javonesi overthrew the Dorobon six years ago, Olfuss Nesti was elected king. You will notice I said “elected”: Javon continues the old Rimoni tradition of elected rulers, but there is an added twist. You may be shocked to learn that a man cannot assume the throne unless he has
mixed
blood – Rimoni and Jhafi. This was agreed to forestall civil war when the Rimoni first settled in Javon. Olfuss has mixed parentage, and he has a Jhafi wife, the mother of his two sons andtwo daughters. Last year I contrived an accident that killed his elder son and heir. His daughters are presently aged seventeen and sixteen and the younger son is seven. There will be no more children. Were Olfuss to die, his eldest daughter would assume the regency until his seven-year-old son comes of age.’
    ‘Son and
heir
?’ Lucia asked, looking puzzled. ‘Would not a new king be elected?
    Gyle shook his head. ‘Javon is strange, as I said. If an elected king dies violently, his natural heirs inherit the throne – it is a mechanism intended to deter regicide.’
    Korion and Betillon sneered, as did the emperor – Constant had come to the throne after the mysterious deaths of his father and his elder sister.
    Gyle waited until he had their attention again. ‘In a few months Salim, the Sultan of Kesh, will present Olfuss with an ultimatum, demanding that Javon support the shihad. Olfuss will of course accede to Salim’s demands: he is half-Rimoni and half-Jhafi and both halves hate Rondelmar passionately. So we must arrange a coup in Javon and restore the Dorobon.’
    ‘What support do the Dorobon have in Javon?’ asked Kaltus Korion.
    ‘The Gorgio family are the second-largest Rimoni clan, and were powerbrokers during the Dorobon regime. They have been ostracised since the Nesti coup. They are well-moneyed, but less interbred with the Jhafi, so they have never been – and will never be – elected kings. They will be our prime allies in restoring the Dorobon.’
    ‘Who is the Dorobon heir?’ enquired Calan Dubrayle.
    ‘Francis Dorobon is the heir: he is in fact being schooled in Noros and is a classmate of your own son Seth, General Korion. His mother and sister live in Hebusalim, in the Governor’s Palace.’
    ‘Rid me of