Lord of Souls: An Elder Scrolls Novel by Greg Keyes Read Free Book Online

have a plan, a plan laid out in decades—I don’t see them rushing into some strange alliance with an Oblivion prince or what-have-you.”
    “Who then?”
    “Why not the An-Xileel?”
    “The lizards?” Marall’s voice dripped with contempt. “They’re entirely parochial. Even if they could muster the sort of arcane knowledge this would require, why would they bother? They’re content in their swamps.”
    “They invaded Morrowind.”
    “For revenge. They stopped their advance decades ago, and haven’t showed the slightest interest in doing anything since then.”
    “Except keeping the Empire from reclaiming their territory,” Colin pointed out.
    “To my knowledge, we’ve never tried to invade Black Marsh. Who wants it?”
    “I just think they might bear looking at,” Colin said. “After all, that’s where Umbriel first showed up.”
    Marall looked unconvinced, but then he nodded. “Very well,” he said. “I’ll make the appropriate reports available to you, and send any requests for whatever else you may need through my office. You were right about the Attrebus thing, after all. But—keep your head low, yes? I don’t need this getting back to Vel.”
    “Understood, sir.”
    He watched Marall go, and then returned his gaze to the papers, but he wasn’t really seeing them.
    The Intendant was probably right that the An-Xileel were not a threat. They were entirely nativistic in their views, interested only in purging the former colonial influences and returning Black Marsh to whatever state they imagined it had been in before it was ruled by foreign powers. And technically, of course, Umbriel had appeared somewhere out at sea, so one might just as well suspect the elusive Sload of having helped the flying city conjure its way into Tamriel. After all, they were supposed to be great sorcerers.
    He turned it around a few ways and didn’t get anything, so he directed his thoughts to his other “case.” There wasn’t much there either. Despite her dramatic recruitment of him, he hadn’t heard from Arese, and since he didn’t have anything to tell her, he didn’t see any point in risking contact with her.
    He got the intelligence from Black Marsh a few hours later. He started with the most recent stuff; both the College of Whispers and the Synod had collected intelligence remotely, but there were also a number of on-the-ground reports. A few had been relayed by riders, but most were also transmitted through sorcerous means. It was mostly information regarding the size and travel path of Umbriel, and the accounts of Stormhold and Gideon seemed somehow light. Feeling he was missing something, Colinturned to what little they had in the way of information regarding the An-Xileel.
    He found something very interesting indeed.

    It had rained, and Talos Plaza was awash in reflected torch and lamplight. The air still smelled clean as Colin stepped through the puddles. A troupe of Khajiit acrobats was performing nearby, gracefully tumbling, forming unlikely structures with their feline bodies, juggling sparkling torches. A crowd clapped and tossed coins at their feet. He passed through a group of kids enthusiastically swinging at one another with wooden swords, and felt stiffness in this throat. He’d been like them once. He remembered playing such games. But he couldn’t remember at all how it felt.
    A few steps to the right, and he stood in the near utter darkness of an alleyway. Here, a man could die—or kill—and those in the plaza with its light and merriment would never be the wiser.
    She noticed him too late. If he’d meant to end her, he could have, and she knew it. For the first time since he’d met her, Arese’s controlled expression cracked, and he saw something that looked very much like fear. He could almost hear her heart pounding.
    “Easy,” he said. “I needed to see you. I was afraid to send any sort of message.”
    She took a step back, swallowed, and the mask went back on.
    “How