A Life for Kregen by Alan Burt Akers Read Free Book Online

here in the imperial palace of Vondium. By Vox! I’d been flung down here before the throne in a much worse condition and stinking far higher. He shook the clattering morntarch, softly, as though to remind me of his powers.
    Yet, despite those vaunted powers — and how real they were I did not fully know — which he shared as an initiate in the Brotherhood of the Sorcerers of Murcroinim, he wore a gaudy gold and emerald belt from which swung empty scabbards.
    Malervo Norgoth, the ambassador, was winding up the preliminary terms of his offer.
    Listening, I tried to understand why Jhansi would have sent these particular people and what they could bring to the deputation. Jhansi was a rogue, well enough, and had proved it; but he was shrewd. He liked to work through other people and, as in the case of Ashti Melekhi, when they failed him he would unhesitatingly destroy them.
    “Falinur,” I interrupted. “How stands Falinur in this?”
    Norgoth smirked, very supercilious. “The Falinurese stand with Kov Layco.”
    That seemed likely. The two provinces marched, the east of Vennar and the west of Falinur sharing a common boundary. The Falinurese had detested their new kov, my staunch comrade, Seg Segutorio, because he had tried to stamp out slavery. The people of Falinur would have been happy to throw in their lot with Jhansi. Well, that plot had failed and the attempt to seize power by force in the descent on the capital had gone awry when Phu-Si-Yantong’s puppets had appeared on the scene. But the current situation was new and I had to learn what I could. So we talked for a space and then I told them I would consider the matter, as I had told the embassy from the Racters.
    Norgoth shook his head.
    “That is not good enough! We must carry an answer back today — within the bur, for you have kept us waiting long enough as it is.”
    I stared at him.
    He stood his ground, whereat I was pleased, for that meant I was keeping my temper and my face must appear bland and indifferent.
    “There are people — nobles and pallans — with whom the matter must be discussed.”
    This was not true; but it sounded genuine enough and would be accepted as normal conduct.
    Again Norgoth shook his head.
    “Not so. You may be a nithing, as all men believe; but I do know you would take this matter into your own hands.”
    “Believe it. And reck that when I say I will think on this and tell you my answer, that is what I mean.”
    The woman opened her mouth to speak, and Ralton Dwa-Erentor, that canny sleeth racer, butted in swiftly. He clearly wished to pacify the rising passions here.
    “Surely, Tarek Malervo — two burs will not make all that difference?”
    Ralton glanced at me as he spoke, so that I understood his genuine desire to help. But his words were wholly wrong.
    “Two burs!” shouted Norgoth. ‘Two burs! We must have the answer, here and now.”
    And, of course, Ralton Dwa-Erentor should have seen that I, had I been your ordinary run of emperors, would never have stood still for any kind of time limit. Two burs or instantly. But he tried to help, and that forgave him much. A fleeting thought of Thelda, Seg’s wife, the lady kovneva, crossed my mind. She was always trying to help and making a mess of things. She’d been sorcerously flung back to her home in Evir, far in the north of Vallia, and what had happened to her since then Opaz alone knew. I fancied that Seg had gone looking for her. That would explain his absence even though he had been sent off to his home in Erthyrdrin at the northern tip of Loh.
    By Zair! What I wouldn’t give to have Seg and Inch and Balass and Turko and Oby and all the others with me, here and now, ready to face the perils that lay ahead!
    And my family, scattered every which way, each one busy about his or her pursuits — I would really have to talk seriously to Delia and see about rounding them up. Although that would not be the way I’d phrase it, by Vox.
    So I looked at Norgoth, this