The Invisible Hands - Part 1: Gambit by Andrew Ashling

commencing major operations before spring. Not in these parts. Even then it remains to be seen whether those operations will be directed against us. You see? No reason at all to panic just yet.”

    8
“It will be nice to have everyone together, though,” Hemarchidas
    mused.
    “Won’t it just?” Anaxantis concurred, throwing a twig in the river and following it with his eyes.
    “All relaxed, no emergency, nothing to do, just—”
    “Ah… I was thinking of trying to arrange some minor things, while I have everyone together.”
    “I knew it,” the Cheridonian laughed. “I knew it.”
    Anaxantis grinned sheepishly.
    Bruonnt descended from his horse and handed the rains to a waiting soldier. He entered the hut without knocking.
    “And?” the young man, who had been warming his hands at the fire in the hearth, asked.
    “He’s almost unrecognizable. Not a pretty sight, and I don’t seem to be able to get rid of the smell in my nose.”
    “The other thing?”
    8
“Taken care of. A little bit of money goes a long way in these parts,
    but we knew that already. If anybody checks, they will find everything as they would expect to find it.”
    “What are the chances anybody will?”
    “Slim to none, but you never know. This way, even if they’re thorough, they won’t suspect a thing. You were born and raised here, as far as the records are concerned. So was I.”
    “You’re sure the scribe won’t betray us?”
    “He disappeared. He won’t be found. Dead men don’t speak.”
    “Was that really necessary?”
    “We can’t take risks.”
    “No, I suppose not,” the young man said, turning his face back to the fire.
    “Another thing. The letter arrived. Those messengers are all the same. They just dump them with the public clerk. It makes sense, I suppose. A lot of people are illiterate, so they need him anyway to have it read out to them. Not to mention that it saves the messenger a lot of grief by not having to look around.”
    “And us it saves a lot of trouble. Did he ask for identification?”
    “No. I just gave him the name and asked if there was a letter for me. People come and go, and besides, the clerk can’t know everybody.
    Certainly not if you live, like I told him I did, outside the walls. Anyway, I doubt he was interested.”
    The young man looked down.
    “It is arranged then?”
    Bruonnt hesitated.

    8
“Yes, as far as it goes,” he said. “We’ve got an appointment.” He
    hesitated. ”Listen, we don’t have to go through with this. We could—”
    “We’ve been over this. Again and again. We’re doing it.”
    It had sounded testy, angry almost.
    “I’m doing this,” he repeated, more softly.
    Bruonnt sighed.
    The young man looked up and smiled faintly.
    “Master Dram,” Emelasuntha greeted the head of the Ormidonian chapter of the Tribe of Mekthona. “You here? In person? And you travel in style, these days. I counted a least forty companions.”
    “Oh, yes, My Lady,” Ffindall Dram replied, “believe me, it was necessary. There are about ten couriers, should we need them and five living letters. The rest of them are for protection.”
    The queen indicated a seat.
    “Please, sit down and let us have your news.”
    She herself sat down next to Sobrathi, right across from him.
    8
Ffindall Dram scraped his throat.
    “We found out some disquieting news, My Lady. Found out is saying much, because they’re not exactly keeping it much of a secret. Your husband is sending almost half of his troops to Ormidon.”
    Emelasuntha said nothing, her face impassive while she digested the news. Sobrathi knew better than to ask questions before her friend did.
    “Won’t that weaken the southern border in an almost fatal way?”
    the queen asked.
    “Not necessarily, My Lady,” Ffindall Dram replied. “Our agents report that the border defenses are up to par. All forts are repaired, some new ones were erected, and there is always Fort Nira of course. Impregnable, or so they tell