Tellyth sealed the last correspondence for the day, glad to be done with the work. There were few that he trusted with his orders; by the King's insistence, many of his lieutenants were picked from the ranks of the nobility, sons and daughters of tribal chiefs sent to show their loyalty or ascertain the strength of the Ulluthani. Incompetents, many of them, more interested in raising their own position and status than actually performing their necessary duties.
Part of the cost of encouraging peace through diplomacy, which even he admitted was better than the alternative. Their presence and nominal cooperation prevented the tribes from acting too aggressively, lest they start an inadvertent blood feud with another. Still, he was old enough to remember when the royal guard was a truly elite fighting force, when that was necessary.
A rapid knocking at his office door interrupted his reminiscence. Growling in frustration at the extra work this no doubt indicated, he rose and opened it. To his surprise, he found the new Seer on the other side, who pushed past him into the room with an almost rudely short greeting and stood there, waiting.
Closing the door slowly, he turned fully towards her, considering his words. Liriel's arrival at the palace had been an unpleasant surprise. There had been quite a few courtiers who were sure that she would only return to wreak bloody vengeance on the place, especially given the naked antipathy that Anathan had held toward most people here. Tellyth hadn't seen much proof of it himself, finding the old Seer's advice generally trustworthy, but other acquaintances - he was wise enough to know that there were no real friends among the circles he moved in - had told of the old aeldar's intense animosity.
There was little of that in how Liriel acted, at least in what he had seen, but again the same rumours had circulated. Not helped, of course, by her all but assaulting the King soon after arriving. Thankfully, she had not done anything quite so drastic in the months since, so Tellyth had not had to take action against her himself.
He had reached out to her initially to gauge how accurate those rumours truly were, and to see whether she may actually be an agent for one of the factions he suspected were trying to subvert and topple the current ruling order on the planet. Never something he enjoyed thinking about, but it was part of his duty to be alert for such things. The aeldar, unusually for her calling, was about as subtle as a brick in her intentions, and he had written her off as an actual political threat. A few strange beliefs regarding prophecies and doom were a small price to pay if she could actually supply evidence of treachery in the court.
Tellyth made arweh and dolloped the vosin sap in generously. He told himself it was to be welcoming and friendly. Besides, it was the only way to make arweh tolerable. He presented the cups at his desk and indicated for Liriel to sit. She did so, remaining jittery.
He bowed his head to her. It was only helpful to be polite, and he had retained a small hope of her actually proving valuable as part of the royal guards' defensive plans. A warrior of her calibre was a rare and precious find. "I trust the evening finds you well, honoured Seer. To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?"
Liriel's tehra was askew, the pleats and braids of the fabric uneven and clearly hastily formed, and her face and hair bore the clear marks of too little sleep on too many desks; dark circles ringed her eyes, stray strands of hair drifted out of the bands meant to hold them in place, and the faintest tracery of red hinted at where parchment had pressed against her. She quickly began to sip the steaming arweh, and grimaced - visibly! blatantly! - at the taste. Had there been an audience for their meeting, he would have been forced to duel her for the insult.
It was a wonder, he thought, that she had gone through Anathan's training while retaining such child-like simplicity in her mannerisms. The Seers he had known had always tried to maintain themselves as the epitome of tranquil dignity. Liriel, on the other hand… even standing in his office in full formal tehra, she reminded him of nothing more than a wild animal brought as an exotic "pet" by some unthinking noble to the palace, inevitably to go crazy in the confines of the building and attack someone.
The cup had hardly made it back to the table, empty, before she spoke. "You asked me for your assistance in finding treachery," she said in a breathless rush, and judgment of her appearance vanished from his mind.
Motioning for silence, he returned to the door and locked it. Walking around the room, he shut the windows carefully, cutting off the soft sighing of the wind outside, and drew the blinds. Satisfied that his office was as proof against eavesdroppers as he could make it quickly, he returned to his desk and said, "What have you found?"
"The Mayanar and Sillinstreed have built up their armed forces. They may have as many as a thousand warriors each, including megadon riders and infantry both. They are planning on attacking Polassi, capturing the most vital food source for the Ulluthani tribe and their allies just ahead of the spring harvest."
Tellyth stared at her, agog. He had expected evidence of corruption, perhaps a noble lining his pockets or fudging records. This was…
She noticed his disbelief, and drew herself up. "I have it on good authority from a… source with direct links to their attack force. I performed a scrying myself on their tribes."
"And you saw this attacking force? You saw that they would take control of Polassi lands?"
"No I-" she seemed to lose her certainty for a moment, then barreled onward, words tumbling forth, "Scrying does not provide a window into the future, it allows one to read the course of fates, understand the future as gleaned from hints in the differences in vectors-"
Tellyth slowly lost his understanding as she further explained the mechanics of a Seer's duties, and he interrupted her at last, saying "So you don't have certainty that they are truly planning a coup?"
"I cannot have certainty because I had already resolved to inform you before I began to scry. That means anything I learn, I will act on, making it impossible to gain insight into their true activities," she summarized irately. Under her breath, she added, "This is why Seers make no promises."
"So what did you actually find?"
"You asked me to help you find evidence of treachery. I learned from other sources that the Mayanar and Sillinstreed are going to try to overthrow the King. I investigated this, and learned that if you were to reconnoitre their tribes, they would soon cease to exist. Following back from that event-" she was losing him again. The specifics of Warpcraft had never truly interested him. "Scrying involves traveling back and forth along fate lines, seeing how they alter in response to certain events, and what the likelihood of those events are. If I know an event - like the elimination of these tribes - is going to occur, and find it, I can follow those fate lines backwards to find the decisions that led to it. I know that the King will order the destruction of the Mayanar and Sillinstreed after you send out a reconnaissance force."
Tellyth still hesitated. The word of a Seer was strong, but there was something about the situation that did not sit right with him. He suspected a trick of some kind, but could detect no malice or deception in her words. Playing for time, he probed further, "How have they managed to build such an army? From what I understood, both tribes are relatively weak."
A flash of anger crossed Liriel's face. "Raiding border villages. The little marginal places that obey no one lord, but are prey to all. They've taken prisoners, kept them in the wild lands. They have large camps there, mines and manufacturing centres for weaponry. They're able to recruit soldiers from the enslaved at leisure, and replenish their stores by draining others."
Tellyth raised his brows before arresting the expression, trying to maintain his neutrality in the face of the damning accusation. "You know that this is true?"
Liriel nodded. "The reports in the records confirm it. The loss of villages in the areas around their territories is much higher than in other regions, with violence usually found by Polassi scouts and tax collectors. It was commonly blamed on animals attacks or inter-village feuds, but my source names the Mayanar and Sillinstreed as the cause."
"Hmm," Tellyth murmured noncommittally. The Polassi had been complaining of raids on their outlying villages for generations, often blaming every other tribe they could. The assertions were denied, of course, and to send a force from the Ulluthani to investigate would risk instigating a conflict with any tribe so accused - it would be the only way to defend their honour against the royal family entertaining such an accusation.
Independent confirmation, from a source as high as a Seer, was a different matter. "Perhaps… a small force of our troops, sent on extended patrol to their lands. Call it a training exercise to avoid the risk of offense." The plan started to form in his mind, routes and schedules taking shape, before a Liriel interjected.
"They need to arrive before the spring equinox."
"Two weeks? The journey alone will take longer than that," Tellyth pointed out.
"If they go through the main roads, yes. If they do that, the whole journey is pointless. Let me show you. Do you have a map?"
Tellyth stood and walked to the scrollcase at the side of his office. He pulled out a large map of relevant regions and hung it on the wall. Liriel followed him, in her creepy, silent fashion. He felt the uncomfortable tingle of having a predator at one's back, but tried to ignore the sensation. It was not, he told himself, her fault that she acted like that, though he had hoped that adapting to civilization would have cured her of the habit.
Liriel pointed at a spot on the map, deep in Sillinstreed territory. "That is where I saw the troops heading." She traced a line backwards, following the trade roads used by caravans from the outer tribes. "If they pass along the normal routes, pickets and scouts will inform the chiefs of the tribes of their arrival. They'll never see anything. They need to cut across Ghira's Folly." Tellyth grimaced at the name of that damned valley. He would prefer never to allow anyone to set foot there again. She did not notice. "That cuts out the winding path through the mountain passes; one straight shot and you'll be at the meeting place in time."
Tellyth looked at the map in contemplation. A single week and he would have confirmation of treachery, one way or another. The risk would be minimal; it was unusual to send a troop on so long an expedition away from the capital, but that could work to his advantage. He would have to send troops not aligned with the Mayanar or Sillinstreed, but that too shouldn't be a problem; a force formed purely of Ulluthani warriors, to maintain the image of their neutrality.
And it would be good training for them. Lhivan was proving to be an excellent lieutenant, but had little field experience. It would be a good experience for her to command troops in the field. The more he turned the idea over in his mind, the smaller the risks looked.
He spared Liriel a sidelong glance. It would also be an opportunity to truly test her allegiance. Whether this proved to be a red herring or not, he would finally have confirmation of her intentions. Still, it wouldn't hurt to send a larger force than she recommended and remain in the palace himself lest she attempt some mischief while a good portion of his most loyal troops were away.
"It will be done."
The small satisfied smile she grew lit her entire face. He turned away, embarrassed for her.
5
