[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
reached home safely. Adria's spies reported back to her as soon as the pair entered their own gates.
That was when Adria had sent for Ware, determined to at least ruin this potential rival to the point of
bankruptcy and exile, if nothing else. She conceived a plan; to wait until Xylina had been in her home
for a few hours and thought herself safe, then to set a fire at the front of the house. Hopefully the fire
would cut off escape; and she would make certain that it was a fire that would be fierce and hot enough
to burn everything in its path.
For that, she needed a demon. She could not conjure fire; no woman could, any more than she could call
a wind or a storm. A woman's magic created only inanimate things. Fire, though not alive, was a process
rather than a thing. But Ware, like any demon, could call fire-and Ware could insinuate his power past
locked gates and closed doors to do so, setting it on the roof to burn downward.
With Xylina and her injured slave asleep, there would be ample opportunity for the fire to take hold.
a
a
T
T
n
n
s
s
F
F
f
f
o
o
D
D
r
r
P
P
m
m
Y
Y
e
e
Y
Y
r
r
B
B
2
2
.
.
B
B
A
A
Click here to buy
Click here to buy
w
w
m
m
w
w
o
o
w
w
c
c
.
.
.
.
A
A
Y
Y
B
B
Y
Y
B
B
r r
Then once the fire had been set and had burned a hole in the roof, she could conjure enough oil and pitch
to soak everything in the room below. That would keep the fire burning with an intensity that would
destroy everything in its path, and make it spread as quickly as a thought.
So she and Ware had gone to the street outside Xylina's home, and the plan had been made reality. She
had come in a plain, unornamented litter, carried by four mute slaves who could neither read nor write.
He had walked beside the litter, wrapped in a cloak, looking like nothing more than a shadow.
She had hoped that Xylina had gone to bed; it would really have been best if the girl had been asleep.
Then she would have gone up with house and slave, since Ware had set the fire directly over the master
bed-chamber.
But somehow they escaped; Adria knew that as soon as another hand began conjuring torrents of water
in an attempt to douse the flames.
That was why she had determined to feed the fire with oil. Oil floated upon water; oil would not yield to
water. And Adria knew that if she stoked the fire until it burned even the paint from the walls, the flames
would turn the water to harmless steam before there was any chance of the water accomplishing
anything. So Adria stretched her abilities to the limit, conjuring as much or more oil than Xylina could
conjure water. She had kept the flames fed and sent them higher and higher.
Finally the girl must have given up, no matter where she was; water ceased to pour into the blazing
building and the fire roared on, no longer opposed. That had been enough; no matter what else
happened, Xylina was financially ruined.
Adria knew she could stop at that point. She fell back upon the cushions of her litter, drew the curtains,
and directed her slaves to bear her back to the palace. The demon disappeared somewhere; she never
saw him go. In fact, she really didn't remember him being there once she had begun her own
conjurations. Perhaps he had gone as soon as he had set the fire at her direction. It did not matter,
particularly; he had done his work, and done it well.
She returned home, to the palace, coming in by a side entrance, and dismissing her litter and the slaves.
The palace had been silent, for she had sent everyone to their quarters except for her own personal
guards-all slaves, and as mute as the litter-bearers. This was not the first time she had undertaken
something that her fellow Mazonites would not have approved of, and it probably would not be the last.
Mute guards could be trusted not to reveal what they had seen.
Once she entered the palace, she returned openly to her bed-chamber, secure in the fact that no one who
saw her would even think to question her whereabouts, or reveal her absence to others who might. She
longed, desperately, for sleep. She had not felt this worn out in many long years. Not since the last
challenge, in fact.
Yet there would be no sleep for her yet, not while there was work to be done.
Once she reached her bed-chamber, she cast a longing look at her bed, but sat down instead at a small
desk in the corner of the room. She drew up instructions for the tax-collector, called another slave, and
had the directive sent to the tax-collector's office in the palace. In the morning, when the woman arrived
at her office, she would find them waiting for her with the Queens seal upon them. The rationale for the
change in the law was a simple one, and she congratulated herself for thinking of it.
a
a
T
T
n
n
s
s
F
F
f
f
o
o
D
D
r
r
P
P
m
m
Y
Y
e
e
Y
Y
r
r
B
B
2
2
.
.
B
B
A
A
Click here to buy
Click here to buy
w
w
m
m
w
w
o
o
w
w
c
c
.
.
.
.
A
A
Y
Y
B
B
Y
Y
B
B
r r
There had been too many cases of arson in the city, when a property owner could not be rid of a house
but wished to be relieved of paying the tax upon it, her edict stated. Therefore, unless it could be proved
that a fire was completely accidental, when a house burned the owner must pay the same sales tax upon
it that she would if she had sold it.
There would be no one who would connect this edict with Xylina-for how could Adria have known that
Xylina's house had burned? And since it would be impossible to prove that the fire was accidental,
Xylina's financial ruin would be assured.
For the first time since she had seen Xylina win her woman-trial, Adria felt peace descend on her soul.
She undressed quickly, dropping the garments she had worn into the privy, and took a quick bath to
remove the last traces of smoke. She then allowed herself to seek her bed and fall into a deep and
dreamless sleep.
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]