Read Online Lord of the Silent Kingdom by Glen Cook - Free Book Online

I want to convert.”
    “The Seven will explode! They won’t have anything to do with us anymore. They’ll blame us.” Selfishly, he added, We’ll be blinded.”
    Consent was not offended. “That will come eventually anyway, Captain-General. The Elders are beginning to question the benefit of continuing an alliance put together for the Calziran Crusade. Nor does the Patriarch see any need to keep on getting along with Deves or Dainshaus.”
    “Shortsighted of him.”
    “Indeed. Our moneylenders are the main financiers of his adventures. The Seven won’t lend Sublime a copper for a crusade against the Connec. We don’t have that many people there. The Seven think it will be easier and cheaper to protect them by just fixing it so the Patriarch can’t afford to hire soldiers.
    “I think they have blinders on. Sublime isn’t worried about money. Not nearly so much as he should be.
    He has something going, under the sheets. But the Elders won’t hear that. Apparently, the Elect is supposed to be seen but not heard.”
    Hecht was lost. “You mean it? This conversion?”
    “Of course. I don’t want to be anything special. I just want to take care of my family and do my job.
    Which is perfect for me. I love it and I’m good at it.”
    “I’m confused.”
    “I’m sorry. My fault for not being clear. You have no idea how stressful this is. This is the biggest thing I’m ever likely to face.”
    “Tabill Talab. How will he respond? His father …”
    “Is one of the Seven. Yes. That does worry me. But you’re going to lose him before long, anyway.”
    Not good, Hecht thought. Not good at all. The Devedian connection had made him look good.
    Honed by three decades lived in a city and land that had been old in the wiles of conspiracy before the beginning of time, Hecht started sniffing for a whiff of what Consent was really up to.
    They resumed moving because Titus was too nervous to stand still.
    An arrow, presumably from a longbow, removed Hecht’s hat. The shaft came from amongst the monuments. It missed Consent by a scant inch, too. It ricocheted off the pavements into the cold brown of the Teragi River. By-standers yelled and scattered. Ten thousand pigeons took wing in a flapping roar.
    “You see where that came from?” Hecht demanded.
    “No.” They crouched at the pediments of a small memorial arch. Consent held a dagger with a long, slim blade. Hecht had not realized that the Deve carried any weapon. He carried a short sword himself, more emblematic of his office than useful in a fight. “Only generally, that way. Because of where it went.”
    “Yeah. Who’s Galinis Andul?” Hecht tapped the inscription beside his head, so ancient that it was almost illegible.
    Startled, Consent said, “The man who designed the arch. Those guys grabbed the chance to make their names last. The memorial proclamation is up top. This one looks like it predates the Old Empire.
    Meaning it was moved here by Arember the Hairy.”
    Hecht wanted to ease Consent’s tension, not listen to a lecture. “Work from cover to cover and flank him from the left. I’ll move in from the right.”
    He did not expect to find the sniper. There had been no second shaft. Not that a lone archer could expect to take out a distant target who was alert.
    And the would-be assassin was gone. No one had seen an archer. There was no physical evidence. A sorcerer of exceptional weight might have found a trail. Hecht did not have one handy.
    His amulet had not warned him. The assassin would be nothing but a skilled archer.
    “It was a pretty good shot,” Hecht admitted. “At least a hundred fifty yards. On a breezy day. From in here where the wind would swirl.”
    “Yes.” There was no admiration in Consent’s tone. “Who was he after? Or would it matter, as long as he got someone from Central Staff?”
    “Sure you want to convert?”
    “Yes.”
    “If there’s a plot, wouldn’t Deves be more likely to ferret it out?”
    “No. The