Sethra Lavode (Viscount of Adrilankha) Read Online Free PDF Page B

invasion.”
    “How, will there not? But what is to prevent you from turning on us as soon as you have your Empire secure?”
    “We are prepared to give you guarantees in the form of treaties.”
    “Well, that is something, to be sure. What next?”
    “Of course, this has no effect on the Crown, but it will please some of your subjects, no doubt, that, during the inevitable confusion, it will be possible for them to continue the coastal raids they have been enjoying for the last two hundreds of years—although we should askthat Adrilankha be exempted from these raids, as that is where we should like to establish the new palace.”
    “Very well, sir. Go on. What next?”
    “Shipping, Your Majesty.”
    “Shipping! Now there is a subject that touches me very closely.”
    “Then let us speak of it, Your Majesty.”
    “Yes, indeed, let us speak of it. What do you say of shipping?”
    “That we will give up our monopoly on trade with Greenaere.”
    “You will give up trade with Greenaere?”
    “Oh, no, Your Majesty. Only the monopoly.”
    “Ah, so then, we will compete?”
    “Exactly. Ships from Elde to Greenaere will no longer be interfered with in any way.”
    “I do not deny that what you offer is a powerful inducement.”
    “And so?”
    “But there is a matter that still requires the utmost consideration.”
    “If Your Majesty would condescend to tell me what this matter is, well, I will address it if I can. And, if I cannot—”
    “Yes, if you cannot?”
    “I will send back to His Majesty Kâna for instructions.”
    “That seems reasonable enough. I will tell you.”
    “Your Majesty perceives that you have my entire attention.”
    “If I send you this army, what is to prevent it from being handled as easily as your own army was handled? I am not without eyes; I know what happened near Dzur Mountain.”
    “Ah, Your Majesty is aware of this?”
    “I am tolerably well informed.”
    “So much the better. Then you know that we faced a necromancer who raised the dead and sent them against us?”
    “I do.”
    “And Eastern witches who summoned animals to attack us?”
    “Yes.”
    “Well, we have a way of neutralizing these forces.”
    “How, you do?”
    “Entirely. And even a way to neutralize the Imperial Orb. And, moreover—”
    “Yes?”
    “Your army has never experienced the Orb, and so, fighting againstit would not impair your army’s morale. Many in our army are old enough to remember the Orb, and they are not pleased to be fighting it.”
    “Yes, I understand that.”
    “And, even after all that happened, we still have more than twenty thousands of troops, and they will be there, as well.”
    “A tolerably round number.”
    “Yes, Majesty.”
    “Very well. Let me consider the matter. Is there anything else?”
    “There is, Majesty. A small matter, but which, nevertheless, I am required to raise.”
    “Go on, then.”
    “It concerns a certain Lady Illista.”
    “Illista? Why yes, I know the lady of whom you speak. She came here some hundreds of years ago. What of her?”
    “This is a difficult matter for me to bring up, Your Majesty.”
    “Do your best.”
    “I shall.”
    “Well?”
    “It concerns her treatment by Your Majesty’s court.”
    “Her treatment?”
    “Exactly.”
    “But, we did exactly what the Emperor, Tortaalik, wished of us. That is, she was permitted to live in peace, provided with the small pension supplied by the Empire, and not permitted at court. In fact, we did more, because after the Disaster, we continued the pension out of our own public funds.”
    “This was the request of His Majesty Tortaalik?”
    “Exactly. It was so recorded by my illustrious predecessor, Queen Legranthë, and I have seen no reason to change it. Is there now a reason?”
    “Well, after a fashion.”
    “Explain your meaning, sir.”
    “In the first place, Illista is no longer on Elde, but has returned to the mainland.”
    “How, she has? By whose authority was this