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He actually expected the infamous Triana to put in an ap-pearance
before too very much longer. He couldn't see how she could possibly resist
trying to pry into his affairs in person. She
would probably also try to seduce him; that was her pattern in the
past. He had heard, even from Moth, that shewas a greatbeauty, and not a
passive, statuesque creature either, but lively, witty, aggressive, and not
afraid to show her intelligence. Sucha woman had learned how to turn her looks
and fascination into a weapon long ago. She might even have approached Lord
Kyndreth as well as Aelmarkin, prepared to use anyone and anything in her
quest for personal power. If that was the case,she might well have met her
match in Lord Kyndreth, who had been playing deep games for far longer than
little Lady Triana.
Ancestors I've turned into such a cynic
There were times when he longed for what he had been when the worst
of his worries was working out little battle-plans and conspiring with Lydiell
to keep Aelmarkin at adistance. To think that he had actually looked up to
people like Lord Kyndreth!
Well, I know better now.
It hadn't just been his own experiences that had enlightenedhim, nor
the night-long, acid-washed "frank talk" that Mothhad had with him when he
first arrived. It was the testament of these very manuscripts beneath his
hands, that outlined the machinations and betrayals, the abuse of power and
the use ofit, from the point of view of those that the powerful consideredtoo
insignificant to monitor. Mind, some ofthem were noprizes, either, acting like
chickens in the hen yard, turning, when pecked, to hammer on those
beneaththem. But it had been an enlightening, if distasteful education, wading
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through the pages they probably thought no one else would ever read.
Is it any better among the Wizards and free humans, I won-der?With
most of his illusions gone, he had to guess that it wasprobably more a matter
of degree. The Great Lords weresopowerful and those who aspired to their power
wereso fixated on achieving it, that the very power they all held or craved
cor-rupted them. It was inevitable unless, like Moth, they wereacutely aware
of just how dangerous that much power was. The fact that they lived such very
long lives only meant that the cor- ruption and selfishness was etched deeper
than it could ever possibly go with a mere human.
But there are the others. Like Moth, Lydiell and myself, Ihope. Power
didn't have to corrupt, if you knew just how dan-gerous it was, and were well
aware that it came burdened withincredible responsibilities. He hoped that
there were thoseamong the Wizards and free humans who knew that.
Perhaps that was the key to those among the Elvenlords who did treat
the humans who had come under their protection withthe same consideration that
they would have given an elven un-derling; and those elven underlings who
treated humans asequals. They were the ones who had felt the boot of the
Evelonoverlords on their backs, and hadlearned from the experience or who, at
least, had determined never to treat one with less power as they themselves
had been treated. And those Ances-tors, in their turn, had passed their
attitude down to their off-spring.
Were there more such households as his.and Lady Moth's?Possibly for a
moment, he dared to hope that there were,hiding their nature just as he and
his father and grandfatherhad. They were probably just like his
family remaining quietly,self-sufficiently in the background, permitting the
Great Lords tobelieve that they were hopelessly provincial and not worth trou-
bling with. Ancestors knew that if Aelmarkin hadn't been such a thorn in their
side,their household would never have comeunder the scrutiny of Kyndreth,
andhe would never have beenforced into the "open" to find himself recruited as
a military ex-pert.
He realized at that moment that he'd been staring at the same page
for quite some time, and hadn't deciphered a word of it.
Gah. I'm a scholar, not a philosopher!He bent over the
closely-written page again.
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