A Secret Atlas by Michael A. Stackpole Read Free Book Online

wild magic. He believed nothing he heard of it, but also endeavored to hear little. If he
    ever thought of it unbidden, he exiled his thoughts to far Ixyll itself and felt well rid of them.
    “Will you do this for me, Moraven Tolo?”
    “Master, I would lay siege to the Nine Hells for you. I shall leave immediately.”
    Jatan raised an empty hand, then extended his cup once more. “If you leave now, you will
    not see me during the Festival. Nor will we finish your fine wyrlu . This duty I charge you with is grave, but even the men involved in it will celebrate the Festival. So shall you.”
    “My Master is most kind.”
    “No, Moraven, far from it.” He raised the cup, then sipped. “I am sending you to save the
    world. Enjoy the Festival and remember the world at its best. It will not make you work
    harder, but it may bring you comfort when the task becomes impossible.”

Chapter Four
    36th day, Month of the Bat, Year of the Dog
    9th Year of Imperial Prince Cyron’s Court
    162nd Year of the Komyr Dynasty
    736th year since the Cataclysm
    Anturasikun, Moriande
    Nalenyr
    His Imperial Highness Prince Cyron patiently awaited Qiro Anturasi’s pleasure. The Prince
    had arrived at the cartographer’s tower with only a small retinue of his Keru bodyguard.
    They, in accord with a decree handed down by his father, waited inside the base of the
    tower but outside the gates that led to the core. Anturasikun was a labyrinth of public and
    private spaces, but few were allowed into the private chambers and workshop. Though the
    Keru had sworn their lives in Cyron’s service, even they would not be allowed past the
    golden gates.
    It did not matter that the tower had been fashioned by the nation’s greatest builders and
    decorated by the most celebrated artists, or that the halls housed wonders from around
    the world. It was a prison. Cyron’s father had explained to him, twenty years earlier, why
    Qiro Anturasi could not be allowed out of the tower. His skill at mapmaking and his
    knowledge of the world made him more valuable to Nalenyr than all the Nine Principalities’
    known treasures. Locked in Qiro’s head were the worldly details that allowed Nalenyr to
    prosper, so he, himself, had to be shut away.
    To lose him would be to lose everything. When the Empress had divided the Empire into
    the Nine Principalities, she installed the late Emperor’s wives and their families to rule
    each one. She made ambition counteract ambition and brought the most ambitious of the
    Princes with her on the Turasynd Campaign. While Nalenyr had not begun as the most
    powerful or prosperous of the Nine, the reopening of trade with the world filled its coffers.
    With that gold Cyron could buy troops to hold the lords of Deseirion at bay.
    Qiro has given us everything, and yet we take from him freedom. It had seemed then to
    the Prince as if this were the ultimate cruelty, but he soon grew to understand its
    necessity. Qiro Anturasi’s genius lay at the heart of his personality, and with it came an
    inability to tolerate stupidity or insubordination. This made Qiro abrupt, abrasive, and
    unpredictable. It even makes him think he can keep a prince waiting.
    Cyron laughed, because he knew he would wait. And wait.
    Waiting was part of life and Cyron cultivated patience, for it was unlikely to get one killed.
    His brother, Crown Prince Araylis, had been impatient to see the Desei forced back out of
    Helosunde and had paid for his impatience with his life. Reports had come back that
    Prince Pyrust—the man who led the Desei and who had even come south to celebrate the
    Festival in Moriande—had been the one who killed his brother. Though that act had won
    Cyron the throne, he felt disinclined to thank Pyrust, since Pyrust himself would be more
    than happy to kill all the Komyr and take the throne of Nalenyr for himself.
    And then Qiro would find himself well matched in temperament and obstinacy.
    Qiro had sent a request to the court to be allowed