The Merchant’s War

The middle-aged duke rose to his feet and half-bowed, then followed as the young monarch walked towards the inner doors. Four bodyguards paced ahead of him, and two to the rear-the latter spending more time looking over their shoulders than observing their royal charge- with the courtiers Carlsen and Markus, and their attendant bodyguards, and Innsford's own retainers and guards taking up the tail end of the party. His majesty affected a scandalous disregard for propriety, dressing in exactly the same livery and chain mail jerkin as his escorts, distinguishable only by his chain of office-and even that was draped around his neck, almost completely hidden by his tunic. It was almost as if, the duke mused, his majesty was afraid of demonic assassins who might spring out of the thin air at any moment. As if. And now that the duke noticed it, even Egon's courtiers wore some variation on the royal livery...

"Markus, Carl, we go outside. I believe there is an orangery?"

"Certainly, sire." Carlsen-another overmuscled blond hopeful-looked slightly alarmed. "But snipers-"

"That's what our guards are for," Egon said dismis-sively. "The ones you don't see are more important than the ones you do. We are at greater risk in this ghastly haunted pile-from tinker witches sneaking back in from the shadowlands to slip a knife in my ribs-than in any garden. The less they know of our royal whereabouts, the happier I'll be."

"The land of shadows?" Innsford bit his tongue immediately, but surprise had caught him unawares: does he really believe they come from the domain of the damned? How much does he know?

The king glanced round and grinned at him lopsidedly, catching him unawares. It was a frighteningly intimate expression. "Where did you think they came from? They're the spawn of air and darkness. I've seen it myself: one moment they're there, the next..." He snapped his fingers. "They walk between worlds and return to this one loaded with eldritch treasure, weapons beyond the ken of our royal artificers and alchemists: they buy influence and insidiously but instinctively pollute the purity of our noble bloodlines with their changeling get!" His grin turned to a glare. "I learned of this from my grandmother, the old witch-luckily I did not inherit her bloodline, but my brother was another matter. Had Creon not been poisoned in his infancy there is no doubt that once he reached his majority I should shortly have met with an accident."

He paused for a minute while his guards opened the thick oak side door and checked the garden for threats. Then he turned and strode through into the light summer rain, his face upturned towards the sky.

The formal gardens in the grounds of the Thorold Palace had been a byword for splendor among the aristocracy of the Gruinmarkt for decades. The hugely rich clan of tinker families had spared no expense in building and furnishing their residence in the capital: individuals might dress to impress, but stone and rampart were the gowns of dynasties. Some might even think that Egon had brought his court to the captured palace because it was (in the aftermath of the fighting that had damaged the Summer Palace) the most fitting royal residence in the city of Niejwein. Rows of carefully cultivated trees marched alongside the high walls around the garden; rose beds, fantastically sculpted, blossomed before the windowed balconies fronting the noble house. A pool, surmounted by a grotesque fountain, squatted in the midst of a compass rose of gravel paths: beyond it, a low curved building glinted oddly through the falling rain. The walls were made of glass, huge slabs of it, unbelievably even in thickness and clear of hue, held in a framework of cast iron. Green vegetation shimmered beyond the windows, whole trees clearly visible like a glimpse into some fantastic tropical world. Egon strode towards it, not once glancing to either side, while his guards nervously paced alongside, eyes swiveling in every direction.

Innsford hurried to keep up with the royal personage. He cleared his throat: "Your Majesty, if the tinkers suspect you are making free with their former estate-

Egon rounded on him with a grimace. "It's not their estate," he snapped. "It's mine. And don't you forget it." He continued, moderating his tone, "Why do you think everyone around me dresses alike?" His ill-humor slipped away.

"Yes, they can send their assassins, but who is the assassin to shoot first? And besides, I will not stay here long."

They were at the orangery doors. "Where does your majesty wish his court to reside?" the duke inquired, almost casually.

"Right here." Egon flashed him a momentary grin. "While I play the King of Night and Mist." He glanced over his shoulder at Sir Markus. "I need a beater for the royal hunt. Would you fancy the title of general?"