“Kaspar is not given to patience. After you didn’t kill Duke Rodoski, I was sent on a mission, and I failed. Kaspar was not interested in my excuses, and here I am.”
Tal was silent for a moment, as if thinking, then said, “You were his senior officer, his Special Captain, Quint. You commanded his entire army. It must have been a critical mission.”
“It was. I took a company of men dressed as bandits into the Mountains of Aranor. Intelligence told us that the Prince and his family were en route to their palace at Lake Shenan, to enjoy spring in the mountains. We were supposed to fall on the camp, overpower the guards, and kill the royal family.”
“Why?” said Tal in surprise. “Phillip has always been Kaspar’s lapdog, and Kaspar keeps him on a short leash. He’s no threat. So why kill him?”
Quint shrugged, the gesture almost lost in the gloom. “I don’t know. Kaspar’s been doing unpredictable things as long as I’ve been in his service, but lately…they border on the insane. He spends more and more time with that wizard and…I don’t know.
“Somehow Aranor’s men knew we were coming, or they just decided at the last moment to send out a much larger company of guards, but for whatever reason, while Prince Phillip was killed, Princess Alena fled to safety, to Opast, then on to the Isles. Now she and her sons are in Rillanon and both the Isles and Roldem are threatening Kaspar.”
Tal was silent again. After he thought about it, he said, “Kaspar must have a traitor in his service, if they knew it was his men behind the attack.”
“I think so. Your man Amafi rose quickly after betraying you. Kaspar sent him out on one errand after another. At the start, I thought him a useful tool, but he is more than that.”
“Much more than a tool. He’s a practiced assassin.”
“Kaspar’s plan was simple at first: to put himself in line for the throne of Roldem, then engineer a tragedy that would end King Carol’s life along with his entire family at once; a ship sinking while they were all aboard would have been ideal.
“But things began to go wrong, starting with your failure to kill Duke Rodoski.”
Tal laughed. “That was Kaspar’s doing, didn’t you know?”
“No,” said Quint quietly. “I had no idea.”
Tal explained how he was to have been sacrificed while Prohaska carried out the actual murder. When he had finished, Havrevulen said, “We were told that you had been discovered and that you gave up Prohaska, and that’s why Kaspar sent you here.” Softly he added, “Prohaska was a friend; I would have happily murdered you myself when I heard you betrayed him, Tal.” He shook his head in the gloom. “To find out it was Kaspar…”
“Maybe not. In all of this, there’s another hand at play.”
“I see that now. In the last two years Kaspar has asked me to draw up plans for several contingencies. Each time, after reviewing them, he rejected my plans and adopted plans that can only be called…strange.”
Tal considered his options. He had no desire to see Quint live one moment longer than necessary, but he also recognized him as a potential ally, if only for the short term. He had just arrived, so he hadn’t suffered any debilitation from his imprisonment, and Tal knew he was a skilled swordsman, an experienced officer, and as cold-blooded as anyone he had met. He would be an asset during the escape. If he could be trusted.
Tal decided to explore a bit more.
“I suspect this Leso Varen’s hands may be on this.”
“Probably. Kaspar has been becoming increasingly dependent upon him, spending more and more time in that abattoir Varen calls home.” Quint was quiet for a moment, then he said, “I’m a soldier, Tal. I don’t claim to be a…deep thinker. I’m a very good soldier, which is why I rose so high, but this is all beyond anything I have ever seen…it’s beyond what I can imagine.
“I know we’ve never been…friends. I’ve sensed something between us since you first appeared. I even wondered if Campaneal’s death in the Tournament of Champions was an accident or if you meant for him to die. And I never liked the way Natalia took to you.
“I guess what it is I’m trying to say is that fate has put us here together, so I see no reason for us to be at odds. After all, we’re both going to be here a very long time, and neither of us needs more enemies.”
Tal stood up. “Not that long.”
“What do you mean?” asked Quint.
“Come with me,” said Tal, pushing open the door.
Quint followed him, and the two men moved quietly through the keep, past the guards’ room, where Kyle lay sleeping on the floor, rather than sitting at his post. Once they were in the bowels of the keep, Tal said, “Zirga counts on the island preventing our escape.”
“You’re planning an escape?”
“No, we’re escaping, right now.”
Reaching the armory, Tal found all but three of the prisoners waiting, and a moment later, Will, Masterson, and a man named Jenkins appeared with a single lantern. Tal spoke in a whisper. “I doubt anyone can hear us, but let’s err on the side of caution.”