Scream of Stone

20

30 Eleint, the Year of the Unstrung Harp (1371 DR) The Canal Site

"It’s true then,” the Cormyrean said, and T’juyu, who listened, invisible and unmoving, from behind the canvas rear wall of the tent, sensed more relief than surprise in his voice.

“Warden Truesilver,” a man’s voice repliedit was the alchemist. T’juyu didn’t know his name. “To what do we owe this-?”

“My king is dead,” Truesilver interrupted. A silence followed and T’juyu had no idea how to interpret it. “Our king has fallen on the field of battle.”

The alchemist cleared his throat and said, “I’m… shocked to hear that, Warden. I’m sorry.”

“Devorast?” Truesilver asked.

“He was a good man,” Ivar Devorast said. “He was a fair and forthright king.”

“I suppose that will suffice as an outpouring of grief for the misery of your homeland,” the warden replied. T’juyu wasn’t sure if he was being sarcastic.

“Is that what you came here to tell us?” Devorast asked, and from his tone T’juyu could tell he didn’t think that was the case.

“Please, Warden, sit,” the alchemist said.

There came a rustling and shuffling of feet as the three men settled themselves in the cramped, dark tent. For a while the only sounds were the general murmur of the campnot too loud with Devorast’s tent so far removed from the othersand the croaking of unseen frogs hiding in the tall grass around them. The night sky was devoid of stars and the breeze from the west was cool and damp.

“I heard a rumor that you had returned,” the visiting Cormyrean said. “You have taken back your canal, then.”

There was another pause then the alchemist said, “Well… not precisely.”

“What do you mean?” asked Truesilver. “I’ve seen the progress. It’s remarkable. This is truly a feat that will be the envy of… well, everyone.”

“Horemkensi,” Devorast said, “is the master builder.”

“Whatever does that mean?”

“It means,” said the alchemist, “that as far as anyone who matters in Innarlith knows, Senator Horemkensi is directing the construction of the canal, not Ivar Devorast.”

“And I would prefer that that fiction remain in place,” Devorast said. “At least for now.”

There was another pause, but T’juyu could hear the warden breathing loudly. Finally the Cormyrean said, “That’s an outrage. The new ransar is so loyal to this Horemkensi that he wouldn’t hear your plea?”

If it was possible to hear someone shrug, T’juyu heard it, or at least sensed it from the alchemist.

“Have you even spoken to him?” Truesilver asked.

“Pristoleph?” the alchemist replied.

“No,” said Devorast.

“I’ve met with him,” Truesilver said. “I’ve just come from Innarlith and plan to ride the rest of the way north to Arrabar. A Cormyrean ship awaits me there so that I can return home… to a kingdom without” He stopped speaking and even T’juyu could sense the discomfort in the air.

A footstep startled her and she brushed up against the canvas. Feet shifted inside, but T’juyu looked up at the sound of another footstep outside, then another. A man carrying a short spear and wearing ring mail that looked at least a size too big for him passed. He looked and smelled drunkonly a littlebut he still seemed determined to make his rounds.

T’juyu held her breath. Of course she could kill the guard, but then there would be a dead or missing guard, and the canal site would be placed on watch. The men in the tent would suspect that it was an assassin that had brushed their tent, and they would only be partly mistaken.

“Is someone there?” the alchemist called.

“Ahoy there,” the guard called back, teetering a bit as he came to a stop not half a yard from the invisible T’juyu.

“Is that you, Reety?” the alchemist responded from inside the tent.

“Aye,” the guard, who must have been a sailor before hiring on to guard the canal site, said around an airy belch. “It’s just me.”

“On your way, then,” Devorast said, and Reety moved on.

T’juyu didn’t risk a sigh.

“So,” Truesilver continued. “You should speak to Ransar Pristoleph.”

“I don’t need Pristoleph’s permission to do what I’m doing,” Devorast said. “And besides, his wife would never allow it.”

“His?” the Cormyrean started.

“It’s complicated,” the alchemist covered. “I hope we can leave it at that.”

Truesilver sighed loudly and T’juyu sensed that the three of them would leave the conversation there, and so it was her cue to leave. As she made her way as quietly as she could away from the tent, she heard a shuffle of parchment or paper from within and Truesilver said, “These are interesting. The way the teeth on these wheels…”

Then his voice was lost to the night, and so was T’juyu.