Chapter 20

During the next two days Blade and Serana sent out more than polite questions about the popularity of Duke Efrim and the House of Zotair. They refused to wait on Count Drago's ambitions.

They sent out messages to every important man in Morina, telling them that the city was doomed unless it rose against the Wizard. If Morina did rise, on the other hand it might lead all of Rentoro in a mighty war to end the Wizard's rule.

They sent other messages to every craftsman in Morina or within a day's ride of the city. They were to start making helmets, pikes, bows and arrows, and battleaxes, as fast as possible and as many as possible. When the Wolves came, the Morinans would probably be unarmored, but hopefully not unarmed.

They sent still more messages to Count Drago's grandson Zemun and the other officers of the city guards. They were to keep the gates absolutely closed all night. During the day, they were to search every man, woman, heuda, and wagon going in or out. Anyone caught with certain items was to be arrested and turned over to Blade and Serana.

Serana sent a short letter to her brother:

Brother Efrim,

By now you have doubtless learned that I am in Morina, and what I mean to do. I wish to remain at peace with you, if you permit it. But I shall not permit anyone to stand in the way of what I shall do for Morina. The decision is yours.

Your sister Serana

Serana sent an armed escort with the messenger who carried this letter to the ducal palace.

«Just in case my brother loses his temper so that the messenger's in danger of losing his head,» she said, with a grin. «Efrim's a hot-tempered man at times.»

«That letter won't cool him down,» said Blade.

«No. But I've always wanted a chance to write to him like that. Now I've got it.»

Finally Blade and Serana sent out the rebels' assassins against the Wizard's spies. The faster these men were dead or out of circulation, the better for Morina.

The Wizard's spies had received a message that there was a crisis at hand, but not that they themselves were in danger. The Wizard's lapse was fatal for his spies in Morina. Twenty of them were killed within a few hours, another dozen rounded up and questioned roughly but effectively before being killed. They revealed the names of many more spies, who were in turn rounded up and questioned.

By the time the dust settled, the Wizard had lost more than fifty men. Their severed heads were piled into a large basket and the basket hung from a fountain in the main square of Morina. To the basket a sign was pinned:

THESE MEN SERVED THE WIZARD. ALL WHO SERVE HIM WILL MEET THE SAME FATE.

Serana Zotair

«No doubt there are a good many more spies whose names we haven't learned,» said Serana. «But they may be less enthusiastic after seeing what happened to their comrades.»

«There's also the effect on your brother,» Blade said. «He may realize that daggers can strike down dukes as well as spies. That might frighten him into keeping quiet.»

«It may also frighten him into striking out like a madman,» Serana said grimly. «We shall see.»

If Duke Efrim did strike out, he was going to find it hard to do anything against Blade and Serana. They were no longer keeping their headquarters at Haymi's Fountain. Instead they were in a large room on the second floor of the town house of a merchant who was one of the rebel leaders. Mare than fifty armed men guarded the house and watched the streets around it. Blade and Serana wore chain mail under their clothes during the day and ate and drank nothing that hadn't been tasted for them. No handful of the Wizard's assassins would get through to them. It would take a small army and that meant Duke Efrim.

By sending that army the duke would be declaring war against his own people, as an ally of the Wizard. Then whatever happened to Morina, he would not live to see it. Blade, Serana, and the rebellion's leaders knew this. If Duke Efrim knew it as well, it might keep the peace in Morina.

One by one the messengers sent to ask about the future of the House of Zotair returned. One by one they reported. As they reported, Serana's face became steadily grimmer. She'd suspected Count Drago might be telling the truth, but it still hurt to have him confirmed by half the noblemen and great merchants of Morina.

«The House of Zotair has come to the end of its road,» she said with a weary sigh, «My brother could come out into the public streets and denounce the Wizard at the top of his lungs. He'd still be torn to bits before he could finish speaking. Never mind for the moment all he's done for the Wizard. He and his drinking companions have broken too many heads, raped too many women, burned or smashed too many shops. Even when they're only amusing themselves they behave like Wolves in a rebellious town.

«I myself am not hated. I am honored for what I have endured at the Wizard's hands, respected, even loved. No one in Morina wishes me harm, but no one wishes to see me in power if it means the Zotairs will still be ruling.»

«What about Efrim's sons?» asked Blade.

«What about them?» replied Serana with a shrug. «They are a little boy and a baby. A regency is the last thing Morina needs after all that will happen before the Wizard falls.»

Blade nodded, relieved. He'd only raised the point to make sure Serana herself was convinced that a regency was too dangerous. It was obvious such an arrangement could not provide Morina with the strong leadership it needed. Blade also suspected it could not stand against Serana's ambitions, if she chose to make trouble. She might be willing to put those ambitions aside for the time being; he found it hard to believe she could put them aside forever.

«I think it's time we sent for Count Drago,» Blade said.

Count Drago came, wearing an ancient coat of mail dug out of some secret closet. His face was pale and drawn, as if he'd been sleeping less than usual the past two nights.

«You look like a ghost,» said Serana. «Sit down and have some wine and cake. You want to live to see Morina free, don't you?»

Count Drago smiled, but there was no amusement in his voice as he replied. «I am a ghost, in a way. Or at least I feel there are ghosts with me and in me.» He sipped at his wine.

«Last night I dreamed of a procession of the dead, Morina's dead in a hundred years of warfare against the Wizard. My father led the procession, with his shield upon his shoulder and his skull gaping open as it did when they found his body. He spoke to me, though I do not remember what he said. Then he gave me his shield, and after that I awoke.»

In spite of this voice from the past, the count was as ruthless and unsentimental as ever when it came to deciding the future of Morina. The bargaining went on all day and only came to an end over a late supper. In the end they worked out the following agreement:

(1) The Bossirs should be declared the true and proper heirs to the ducal throne by the Assembly of Morina as soon as it could lawfully meet.

(2) Count Drago would renounce any claim to the throne for himself.

(3) His surviving grandson Zemun would be proclaimed Duke of Morina upon the deposition or death of Duke Efrim.

(4) If Zemun Bossir did not survive the coming battles, Zemun's own son by his dead wife would be proclaimed heir.

(5) If Zemun's son succeeded, Count Drago would be sole Regent as long as he lived. After that there would be a Council of Regency, drawn from the Assembly and other notables.

(6) Serana would marry Zemun Bossir after the war, and become Duchess of Morina. She would also be a member of the Council of Regency if one became necessary.

There were also several dozen minor clauses, dividing up the Zotair estates, awarding this or that office, etc., with repeated references to the count's will. Serana's dowery rights, and much else. By the time every point was covered; the agreement spread across several large sheets of parchment. By the time it was all drawn up with proper calligraphy and in proper legal language, it would be the size of a small book.