The Troll King (The Bowl of Souls Book 9) (40 page)

Tolynn had encouraged Tarah to put the rogue horse to work. This would keep her occupied and result in a spirit that was less troublesome. At the moment, Esmine was interacting with Tarah and Djeri, watching a group of Roo-Tan children at play, and observing Xedrion’s meeting.

“There’s a lot of pointless arguing going on between the houses,” Esmine reported. She shrugged. “Most of the treaty sounds pretty reasonable to me, but the Hoons and Fayns are arguing about water rights and the Tayls and Shuns are worried about losing grazing land for their cattle.”

Tarah repeated what she had said to Djeri and the dwarf asked. “What about Xedrion? What does he think?”

“He’s more worried about the armies and their ability to protect the villages if the Collective betrays them and invades.” The child looked up and tapped her lip as if thinking about it for a moment. “From what I can tell, he finds the treaty fairly satisfactory. He’s having the scribes make some adjustments to the maps to bring up at the treaty meeting.”

Once Tarah had told Djeri what Esmine had said, the dwarf replied, “It’s the treaty meeting itself that concerns me. One week from today is very little time to prepare. Where are they holding it?”

“At the proposed border. In the marshes at the edge of the swamps,” Tarah relayed.

It was old Roo custom that all important negotiations be made while ankle deep in the water. This was meant to guarantee the approval of the ancient gods of the swamps. It was a tradition that the Roo-Tan rarely stuck to anymore, but it appealed to Xedrion’s love of old Roo custom.

“In addition, each side is to bring twenty thousand troops. Wow, that is a lot of men,” Tarah said.

This was one of the points being argued in the meeting. Twenty thousand was half of Roo-Tan’s warriors, in fact. Many were debating that this was overkill, while others said that this was a number in their favor. The Roo-Tan were confident that every one of their warriors was worth three of their savage cousins.

“What about the gnome?” Djeri asked. “You know that turd sniffer’s somehow involved.”

“He hasn’t been mentioned,” Esmine said. “I think the meeting’s almost over now. They’re just going over the last page of the docu- . . . uh oh.”

“What?” Tarah said, concerned.

Tolynn’s thoughts interrupted, calling through the Jharro wristband Tarah wore.
Tarah, the protector asks that you come and join us. The council has questions
.

Yes, Tolynn
, Tarah replied. She stood and Djeri stood with her.

“What is it?” The dwarf asked. “What did you find out?”

“Tolynn just told me to come to the meeting,” Tarah said. “What’s going on, Esmine?”

“They’re saying that the treaty will be arbitrated by Scholar Aloysius. They are calling him an old friend of the merpeople and an ally of the Mer-Dan collective.” She cocked her head. “Their reading the last page now. It lists all of his accomplishments.”

“Does it mention hunting down rogue horses? Starting wars among his own people?” Tarah growled.

Djeri’s shoulder’s slumped. “I guess that means Aloysius is going to be there?”

“He sure is,” Tarah replied. She walked to the ladder at the back of the tower and began climbing down. “They are openly admitting that he is with them now, but they say it like he’s there to be some kind of impartial third party to the meeting. Xedrion’s got to know it’s a trick.”

Djeri followed her down as quickly as he could. “Hey, Tarah. Wait.” She stopped at the entrance to the range and he grasped her arm. The dwarf spun her around and cupped her face with both hands. “Now remember. These people aren’t your enemies. It won’t help to yell at them. Especially the protector.”

“I know that,” she said and would have frowned if not for the earnest look in his undwarf-like green eyes. “But I don’t know how else to talk to a room full of self-important men. I’ve never been good at being subtle.”

“You don’t have to be subtle. You’re Tarah Woodblade; best guide in the known lands,” he said, giving her a confident smile. “Guide them.”

Tarah couldn’t let that go without kissing him again. She made it a long one too, ending it with a gentle, but promising, bite on his lip. He gave her a breathless look as she turned and headed for the palace doors.

The halls of the palace were busier than normal. Scribes and messengers scurried this way and that carrying scrolls and papers and quills. These types of individuals usually gave Tarah a wide berth, but today they were so distracted that she was bumped and jostled several times on her way.

When Tarah arrived at the main corridor, she was met by a loud commotion. Two heavily muscled Roo-Tan men were carrying a stretcher. Laying on it was Jhonate’s mother, Jhandra bin Tayl, looking very pregnant and very put out. Several women chattered madly as they kept pace with the men, some of them trying to fan her, others just patting her legs and talking. Walking right behind them was Beth and she wore a scowl.

“Leave off her, you fools! She’s been through this before and she doesn’t need you sucking all the air!” Beth saw Tarah and stepped away from the others briefly. “She’s finally gone in labor. Of course, Jhandra’s not about to say anything. Not in an important meeting.” She shook her head. “If I hadn’t noticed that her water had broke, she’d have been pushing out a baby in front of all the house heads!”

“Oh,” said Tarah. “Then she’ll be okay?”

“I’ve seen it. She’ll be fine,” Beth said. Where Tarah had the gift to see bits of the past, Beth could sometimes see the future. “But I’d better stick with her just in case. Some of these Roo-Tan doctors have the oddest beliefs when it comes to birthing.”

“How is the meeting going?” Tarah asked.

Beth sighed. “I’m not so sure about that. Xedrion seems pretty set on attending this treaty meeting, but I have an awful feeling about it. Nothing specific like a vision or anything or I’d have told them. But something ain’t right. You make sure and tell them if you know something about this gnome that’ll help. You’re not the kind of woman to let a man intimidate you.”

“Uh, thanks, Beth,” Tarah said. The woman jogged to catch up to the stretcher and Tarah let out a slow breath. Djeri said to stay calm. Beth said to be bold. Tarah wasn’t sure she could be both of those things at once.

Esmine popped into existence in front of her. “You might want to hurry. The protector just asked Tolynn what was taking you so long.”

“Alright. I’m not that far from the door,” Tarah said. She turned the corner and the guards waved her in.

The Protector’s Conference Room, was packed full of people. The protector had separated the attendees into clusters to discuss different sections of the treaty. Each of the small groups were arguing one point of the treaty or another and when Tarah entered, her ears were met with a near chaotic jumble of voices.

Xedrion himself was standing at the head of the center table in the room, looking down at a large map. Sir Edge and Sir Hilt were standing at the table near him along with Jhonate, his oldest sons, and his first wife, Herlda.

Xedrion glanced up as she entered and motioned her over. “Tarah Woodblade, did Tolynn tell you why I wanted to see you?”

“She knows, Protector,” Tolynn assured him. The elf was aware that Esmine was monitoring the meeting, but knew that Xedrion might not like the idea that he was being eavesdropped on.

Thank you
, Tarah sent to her trainer through the wristband. She had almost told him the truth. There was one mistake averted. Tarah tried to take on a proper tone, thinking back to the many books she had read. “I understand that the Mer-Dan Collective claims that Aloysius will be at this treaty signing as an impartial arbiter?”

“That is how they are putting it,” he replied. “What do you think?”

“I would call it a lie, Protector,” Tarah said. “Aloysius plans to conquer the grove. That goal won’t be accomplished by impartial mediation.”

“So you have said before,” Xedrion said. “And I have no reason to doubt you. But I need proof of his intentions if I am going to act. Have you seen anything in the recent tracking you have done that would shed more light on his plans?”

The protector had sent her on several tracking runs over the last week, every time his scouts had reported signs of Mer-Dan incursion into their territory. Tarah shook her head slightly. “The soldiers that had left the tracks I found knew very little. Only that an army of powerful demons had come to bolster their ranks and that the leaders were meeting with some master tactician.”

“There were no thoughts of betrayal in their minds?” Xedrion asked.

“Not while they were making the tracks,” Tarah said. “But there wasn’t any sense that they hoped for peace, either. They expected a battle. Of all the tracks I have followed, only Elder Qelvyn and the messenger that came last night thought about the treaty at all.”

“That is a helpful insight,” said Xedrion, rubbing his chin. “Thank you, Miss Woodblade.”

“If I may, Protector, I have a question,” said Sir Edge, his eyes on Tarah.

“Go ahead,” Xedrion replied.

“Tarah, I have heard you describe the thoughts you found in the gnome warlord’s tracks several times and each time you used the same word,” Edge said. “You say he wants to ‘conquer’ the Jharro Grove.”

“Yes,” Tarah said. “Those were his thoughts.”

“Yes, but what was the meaning of that thought?” Edge pressed. “As a bonding wizard, I communicate with thoughts all the time. When a person writes a word on a page, the meaning of the word is open to interpretation. When a person thinks a word, the meaning is attached. When Aloysius thought about conquering the grove, what images or feelings were in his mind? Was he thinking of destroying the grove? Burning the trees?”

“No,” Tarah admitted. She had been keeping that particular aspect of the thought to herself up until now. She had felt that the Roo-Tan would be more likely to act if they thought he meant to destroy the grove.  “I didn’t necessarily sense that harming the grove was his goal. It was more that he wanted to possess it.”

Edge nodded. “Alright. Can you figure anything else out in the meaning? Was he thinking of going to battle and killing to get what he wanted?”

“No, but it was a short thought,” Tarah replied. “And I haven’t found any more of his tracks since. But I can tell you what I know about him from my prior experience. When Aloysius decides he wants something, he does what it takes to get it. He slaughtered Esmine to make his powerful sword more powerful. He left his homeland in flames just to root out a few enemies. If he wants the grove, he’ll do what he thinks is necessary to possess it. Aloysius doesn’t care about wrong or right.”

“Thank you, Tarah,” said Xedrion. “Please stay close by in case another question comes to mind.”

Tarah nodded and moved to stand by her trainer. Tolynn patted her on the arm and said through the wristband,
You did well
.

I feel like I accomplished nothing
, Tarah replied mentally.
He still seems as eager to go forward with this as befor
e.

No, child
, Tolynn replied.
Xedrion is a complicated man and he has many aspects to consider when he makes a decision. I saw the look in his eyes when you were speaking. You made a difference
.

“There’s something else about this that I don’t like,” Hilt said. He pointed down at the map. “Of all the places for this meeting to take place, why here?”

Xedrion had placed markers on the map to show where the proposed border would be between the two peoples. The meeting spot was located on this border line and the southernmost corner of the two territories at the bottom of a wide marsh valley.

“It’s the old wet-foot rule,” Xedrion said. “It has a wet base for us to stand in while the treaty is signed and the valley is large enough for both sides to bring the twenty thousand soldiers specified.”

“That’s what they said in the letter, yes. But there are other marshes along the border that are more centrally located if you wanted to stand in the water while signing the treaty,” Hilt pointed out. “Any of them would be easier for both sides to gather their people to.”

“It is closer to the merpeople stronghold, though,” said Herlda. “And since the ‘Dan don’t have large cities of their own, this could be where it’s easiest for them to gather.”