The Palace (Bell Mountain Series #6) by Lee Duigon Read Free Book Online Page B

worried that a maid or a footman might try a bit of eavesdropping?” Aggo said. “My own servants are incorrigible in that respect.”
     
    “I insist on strict obedience,” said Merffin. “And I get it, too.”
     
    “At least you think you get it.”
     
    “I didn’t invite you here to argue, sir!”
     
    “Then let it pass,” said Aggo. And soon, when they were comfortably settled in their chairs, they got down to business.
     
    “The problem,” Merffin said, “is to remove two kings in such a way that our hand won’t be seen in it.”
     
    “But one of those boys is not the king,” Aggo said.
     
    “Oh, they’re both imposters, as far as I’m concerned! No one has any right to be king of Obann. But because one of them is more of an imposter than the other, that’s why they must both be removed from the chessboard at the same time,” Merffin said. “Unfortunately, both would seem to be out of our reach. Prester Jod protects the one in Durmurot, and the other hides in Lintum Forest with a Heathen army to protect him.”
     
    “Then they are indeed out of our reach,” Aggo said, sucking on his wispy beard. “There’s not much we can do.”
     
    “I am wondering if there might be a way to lure both of them back to the city.”
     
    Aggo sat up straighter and thought about that. Probably it had not occurred to him before.
     
    “We don’t know how the one wound up in Lintum Forest,” he said, thinking out loud. “Maybe he’s just a boy that those people set up to play the king. But the other would never have been brought all the way out to Durmurot unless someone—Jod, I would guess—thought the king would not be safe here, among us. Both, therefore, have good reason to stay away from Obann. Why should either of them ever come back?”
     
    “What would make you come back to Obann, Aggo, if you were one of them?”
     
    Aggo grinned—not a pleasant sight. “Nothing!” he said. “I know you too well, and I know myself too well, and I know it would be folly to trust either one of us.”
     
    “The king’s only a child,” Merffin said, “so of course his advisers and protectors will make the decision for him. So the question becomes, how do we tempt his guardians?”
     
    “If we can tempt them at all,” Aggo said. “But you must already have some plan in mind, or we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”
     
    Merffin shifted in his amply stuffed chair. It was his favorite chair, and he’d had many a good idea while sitting in it. He was proud of the hand-carved woodwork that decorated the walls of his office: not that Aggo was one to appreciate it.
     
    “As it happens,” Merffin said, “I do have the germ of an idea. But I wanted to discuss it with you before I mentioned it to any of the others. It’s only a germ, mind you—it’ll need refining.”
     
    “I am at your service, sir,” Aggo said. Merffin didn’t miss the sarcasm, but now was not the time to make an issue of it. He leaned closer to Aggo and lowered his voice.
     
    “How would it be,” he said, “if we offered the king a formal, public, splendid coronation—in the Palace?”
     
    The hint of mockery fled from Aggo’s face. He rocked back and sucked on his beard for a moment.
     
    “A coronation?” he said, after a long pause. “My dear Mord, I had no idea you were so subtle! How many people in this city even know what a coronation is? Whatever made you think of such a thing?”
     
    “Old stories, believe it or not—old stories that my nurse used to tell me when I was little more than a baby,” Merffin said. The thought of Merffin as a baby made Aggo smile. “Old stories from the Scriptures. I just happened to remember some verses about the great coronation they had for King Kai. And it set me to thinking.”
     
    “And what’s a king without a coronation!” Aggo said. “Yes, Mord, I salute you! But this requires a great deal of thought. What about the presters? Won’t the First Prester