9.3

Dirk Blackpool finished adding Zyrdicia's name to his list of enemies and snapped the book shut. Her name was the final entry in the final volume of a set of books he kept which recorded the names of all the people who had earned his hatred. He had expected the act to relieve him of some of the bitterness he felt toward her. It did not.

He opened the door to his private balcony and inhaled the late-summer night's air. For two weeks he had vacillated between moments of rage and confusion.

He couldn't get her out of his mind. The scent of her had lingered on the leather of his armor for days. He had sent it to be cleaned just to rid himself of it. He had the unpleasant sensation that she had toyed with him, teasing him as she played one of her irritating games. She had clearly won the game, and that thought infuriated him. The point of the endeavor had been to seduce her and keep control of her destructive power. Yet she had turned it to her own purposes, taunting him.

In more lucid moments, his ego suggested that there had to be more to it. He believed that her eyes hid nothing, and he was sure he had seen yearning in them. It was perplexing. He had run through his memories of it again and again, searching for some clue to her departure. The encounter was, admittedly, feral. He was normally much more reserved, much more calculating when he wanted to seduce a woman. He moved faster and more aggressively with her physically than he probably should have. But her body language had given him every indication that it was what she wanted. Given her past behavior, he couldn't imagine that she possibly could be offended.

He had never been so summarily rejected by a woman. Women routinely swooned over him. They doted on his every caress and charming compliment. They did not disappear in order to escape his embrace. The apparent dismissal was particularly difficult to bear after the intensity of the psychic link she had created between them. She had not merely spurned a vapid physical encounter. She had purposefully turned away after sharing with him a level of mental connection mortals rarely ever know. That, more than anything, served to feed his anger.

The wreckage she left behind in Aparans was only now starting to become apparent. In one of his more frustrated moments last week, he had disregarded her warning about waiting for the plague to run its course before invading Baaldorf. She had been adamant that he should wait at least two weeks after the last known case of the plague. He was certain it had been long enough and was impatient to conquer his remaining enemies.

The regiment he sent in had found village after village totally lifeless. They had obeyed his orders perfectly in cleansing the areas with fire. Somehow, however, en route to Baaldorf Castle, disaster struck. A diseased peasant had approached a scout, begging for medical supplies for his dying family. A day later the scout had broken out in fever, and soon the entire regiment was afflicted. He blamed her for this, too.

A knock at the door to his chambers interrupted his thoughts. "Come!"

Vector entered with Sir Cai. Both bowed. From their grim expressions, the prince knew they brought him no good tidings. "What?" the prince asked harshly. He had been in a foul mood since Zyrdicia's departure. His advisors were well aware of the danger, given the number of guards and servants he had executed this week.

Cai began, "As you ordered, we are receiving no more messengers until the plague passes. There have been no outbreaks in the North yet but--"

"But what?!"

Vector continued the seneschal's sentence, "Four more of your regiments in Tronin are infected. I am observing them in the viewscope. A messenger from one of them was permitted to report to the main force by your half-witted brother. The messenger apparently carried the plague and didn't know it. It is only a matter of time now. I've sent them a supply of the elixir for the commanding personnel. There isn't much left of it."

Dirk's fist slammed into the stone of the balcony railing. The disease could wipe out his entire army. It had already taken a heavy toll. There was no way to raise another army of this size in the foreseeable future. Most of the able-bodied men in the North had already been drafted into service. "Do something with your magic to stop its spread," he whispered menacingly.

"I have tried. Without my monocle, my magic is ineffective against this plague. We did quarantine the messenger and everyone he had contact with, including your brother."

Cai inhaled deeply, fearing to make matters worse. "There's more. The funds from the slave sale are going quickly. The cost to supply the army spread throughout Tronin is immense. As you know, they took the Tronin treasury out through the tunnels to Baaldorf. We lost that anticipated source of revenue. By autumn, our coffers will be empty again. We should make contingency plans now..."

"I will deal with that in autumn," the prince answered irritably. Cai nodded deferentially.

"Is that all?"

Cai looked at Vector nervously then stared at the floor. He had no intention of telling the prince the last bit of news when he was in such a mood. He wanted Vector to do it.

Vector sighed. "Your father, my lord."

"What about him?"

"He stirred today. One of the nurses said he spoke for a few moments, then appeared to go back to sleep."

"Well, what did he say?"

"He was having an imaginary conversation with your mother. It was about..." Vector stopped. "Most of it was indecipherable. But he was quite animated for a few minutes."

Dirk frowned darkly. "What was the subject of this indecipherable conversation?"

"You, my lord."

Dirk's facial expression was fixed like stone. "Thank you for telling me."

"Need I remind you, if he actually awakens your status as..."

"I need no reminders about the status of my power from you, Vector!" the prince hissed angrily.

When Dirk was alone again, his grim mood had worsened considerably. The elation of his initial victory in Tronin now collapsed into disaster. And he was certain it was all entirely her fault. She bred misfortune and spawned chaos through her mere existence.