The (sort of) Dark Mage (Waldo Rabbit) (33 page)

“Sygor Wormwood, who is the third son of Gawreth and his third wife Ellen is to marry Tasha Wormwood, daughter of Adam Wormwood and his wife Natalia.”

Lilith recognized none of the names. Gawreth was just marrying off another of his sons to some girl in one of the branch families. If you were a member of one of the Seven Great Families you either married someone from your own extended family or someone from one of the other houses. That was one of the ways the Great Families kept exclusive control over everything. If you were not born into one of the houses there was almost no chance of ever gaining entry. The exception was if you could use magic, in which case you could expect to be adopted into one of the seven.

Lilith thought for a moment about her son and his pretty little succubus. Except for the Blooddrinkers, it was rare for an heir to marry a monster. They were obsessed with breeding though, and followed their own traditions. She laughed to herself just imagining the uproar it would cause among some of the more conservative families. It might be worth doing just for that.

Her laughter caused Hollister to look at her questioningly; he did not however ask her about it.

“There was a cave in at gold mine six last night. The entire work force was likely lost. Early estimates are that it will take at least twelve months to restore production.”

Lilith frowned. The loss of the workers meant nothing to her. All the mines used undead; they could stand up to the conditions far better than living men and worked without rest. For simple physical labor like mining, the dead were always much better than the living. (Work that involved any sort of judgment or skill was best left to the living.) It was not even the loss of the gold production that annoyed her. She owned many other mines and Corpselover was far and away the wealthiest of the seven houses.

“That’s the mine Poisondagger has been trying to lay claim to.”

“It is Mistress.”

“That little worm did this, Dante. He’s been trying to get me to share the rights. This is his doing.”

“There is no proof of that Mistress.”

“I didn’t think there would be, he is a competent little fuck.”

“Do you intend to respond Mistress?”

One of the few drawbacks to how things worked in Alteroth was that if she did want to respond it would mean acting on her own and perhaps intensifying the feud between Corpselover and Poisondagger.

Alteroth was less a country than it was the private property of the Seven Great Families. They were the only authority, and the law was whatever they said it was. It was meant to apply to those beneath them, not to those who ruled. When it came to disputes among the families themselves there was no authority they could turn to. The uninvolved houses did not like to intervene, so as to keep their own freedom of action as well as avoid making an enemy. So what wound up happening was that whenever two or more families had a dispute they were left to solve it on their own.

This tended to turn any problem into the cause for a long simmering vendetta. The families did not war on each other openly; that would lead to civil war and complete ruin. They would instead snipe at each other from the shadows. There would be smear campaigns, thefts, destruction, sabotage, and even assassinations. Often these feuds would stretch out for years.

Knowing what was scheduled later today Lilith let a faint smile cross her face. “I already know what to do. I am going to get my pound of flesh from Poisondagger.”

Hollister looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

“I mean that figuratively.”

Her steward nodded. “I would also remind you Mistress that your cousin Andris Corpselover will be coming to dinner tonight.”

“Good, I need to talk to him about an important matter.”

XXX

In the courtyard a hundred armed skeletons waited. They moved in answer to her will. When the drawbridge was lowered they shuffled out ahead of her. Undead surrounded her, matching her pace as she set off for the Council’s Hall.

The sky was the color of ash, and though it was mid-morning it was no brighter than twilight. As always the sun was hidden by an iron sky. As she walked Lilith breathed in the air, ripe with the scent of fresh sulfur. You had to try and notice it, it was a constant that people grew used to and ignored. As she and her escort traveled the people in the street very quickly cleared out of the way. Lilith saw their scurrying forms and smiled.

When she arrived at the Hall the ten skeletons nearest the front entered with her while the rest waited where they were. Each council member was allowed to bring in ten guards, which was what they had all agreed to.

Inside the guards from the other houses all stood apart. There was always tension when the Council of Seven came together, suspicions were plain on every living face. Among the other guards were mages, ogres, trolls, a vampire, and a half dragon. At the first sign of any sort of trouble they would tear into each other without mercy.

When Lilith arrived with her escort all the others focused on her. Having only brought skeletons her force was easily the weakest of those assembled. The eyes being directed at her were cautious, not because of her guards, but because they all new she could summon hundreds more in an instant. Her wand was tucked into a hidden pocket, where it was in easy reach. A second was in a stocking beneath her robes. Even without bothering with a wand she could recite the necessary spell in just seconds. One always had to be prepared.

She pushed open the doors to the inner chamber and then shut them after entering.

XXX

Five of the seven seats at the round table were already occupied. Elven maidens were busy serving wine and the quiet conversations were momentarily disrupted as attention was turned towards the door. Lilith noted immediately that Dante Poisondagger was at his regular place. The despicable, shrunken, old man with rotten teeth grinned at her and lifted his goblet in a mock salute. He felt safe to slight her because they were here inside the Hall. To strike at him here would be to attack openly and begin a war between Corpselover and Poisondagger.

The day would come when blood would be spilled here in the inner chamber. Lilith was certain of it. They were all enemies, only their fear of the outside world held them together in their tenuous alliance. There was too much hate, too much distrust, too much anger for it not to happen one day.

It would not be today though. Lilith returned Dante’s gesture with a wave and a false smile before taking her usual seat. She motioned to one of the elves and a goblet of red wine was immediately brought to her. Lilith looked about at the faces at the table.

“I see Lothas is running late today. A little odd, usually Blackwater is among the early ones.”

“Are you jealous that you’re not the last one to arrive for once?” Poisondagger asked.

“I’m willing to concede the honor from time to time.” She answered.

“I heard there was an accident at one of your mines last night. Quite catastrophic, if what I’m told is right, it will take a long while to reopen, a great shame.” Dante said.

“Your sources are surprisingly well informed. It’s nothing more than a very minor inconvenience. My vault is bursting with gold and silver. It’s not as if my house is short of funds. Now that would be rather sad, don’t you think?”

Poisondagger had a sour expression as he muttered. “Certainly.”

Among the seven families it was common knowledge that Poisondagger was the poorest. They owned none of the mines near the Forge and the incomes from their lands and skilled workers never came close to being enough. This was because the family head had a taste for the expensive and the exquisite. His castle was filled with rare books, marble statues, paintings, pieces of art imported from all over the Shattered Lands, and only the most beautiful and delectable slaves. Dante was perpetually in search of more revenue. It was no secret that his support was always available to the highest bidder.

A large reason for the hard feelings between Poisondagger and Corpselover was that Lilith had never felt any need to buy him off, despite having vast sums. Lilith had never thought him worth a single copper knuckle. Dante had always resented her for that, and over the years their conflict had grown only more bitter and acrimonious.

As she waited for the arrival of Lothas Blackwater, Lilith listened to the side conversations going on around her.

Xilos Soulbreaker was trying to convince Baldwin Blooddrinker to sell him a particular seamstress. Apparently one of Xilos’s silver smiths had fallen in love with the girl and wanted to marry her. Skilled workers were valuable, and depending on who owned the mother the children would either become smiths or textile workers. Xilos was offering five gold skulls for the girl, but Baldwin was demanding twenty. He was however willing to allow the silversmith to marry her, as the children would be his property. Xilos was unwilling to agree to that.

It looked like the poor silversmith was going to have to find someone else to marry.

Gawreth Wormwood was complaining about the harassment his merchants were suffering in Lothas and the other northern kingdoms. He felt they were treated with suspicion and forced to pay higher prices.

“They expect anyone from Alteroth to be a murderer or a thief!”

“Shocking,” Lilith said in a sympathetic tone. “Clearly those northerners don’t know us at all.”

“Just so.”

If they really understood us they’d build a wall along the border and kill anyone who tried to cross it
.

“It’s because of those damn White Mages stirring things up!” Darius Heartless shouted, loudly adding his opinion. “They go around everywhere spreading their lies and building their conspiracies against us! All the suspicions we face are because of the secret plots being hatched in Avalon! We’ll never be safe until every last White Mage is dead!”

Lilith and the others all turned annoyed faces his way. This was a
very
familiar refrain. Avalon was Darius’s personal hate, and everything that was wrong with the world could somehow be blamed on the Misty Isle. He argued constantly that all their problems could be solved by laying waste to the island and putting every last White Mage at the sharp end of a pike. Never mind that Avalon was far away and Alteroth had no shoreline. Never mind that the White Mages had a massive fleet and were a great power. Never mind that openly attacking them would likely bring many nations into the conflict on Avalon’s side.

No one denied the White Mages were a problem, or that they would have to be dealt with. It was just that they were not the sort of problem that could be solved directly. They needed to be opposed with subtlety. The best way to defeat them was to damage their credibility and reputation.

When Lilith thought that she also thought of her son and what he was up to. She smiled slightly, what a wonderful justification this would make for his going about in white.

“Oh give it up Darius,” Gawreth Wormwood said snidely. “You’re the only one here stupid enough to talk about war with Avalon seriously.”

The two men openly glared at one another. Wormwood and Heartless were in the middle of a long running vendetta. It was the sort of blatant hostility that kept everyone on edge at every meeting.

“Did I say we should declare war on Avalon? If we can’t strike at them directly let’s instead bring down one of their puppets! Let’s invade and conquer Dregal!”

Five faces stared at him blankly.

“You really are an idiot.” Gawreth chided.

Before Darius could yell some reply Xilos also spoke. “War in the north would be too costly.”

“I agree,” Lilith added. “If we invade Dregal the other northern kingdoms will come in against us.”

“So what? Let them! We’ll crush all three and take all their lands!” Darius looked around the table hoping for any backing.

“I think it is an interesting proposal.” Dante said in a voice that oozed sympathy and understanding. “We should discuss it.”