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tunic open, then tilted his chin up so that Gel could see his slave-collar
clearly. It wasn't the seal of Lyon Lord Kyn-dreth there, but that of the
deceased and, as Kaeth had said, unlamented Lord Dyran.
Things were beginning to add up.
The noble Lord Dyran, who trained all manner of slaves inskills best
left unexamined.. . and whose estate was broken upand divided among his
relatives, with what was left going to auction. And thatwas where I saw
another assassin!
That seal couldn't possibly be counterfeited, either. The factthat
he was still wearing Dyran's collar meant that he'd beenclaimed after Dyran's
death otherwise the new master wouldinsist on having the old collar removed
and his own put on. Gel backed up, giving him a little more space.
"Interesting."
"My beloved former master," Kaeth said, with a touch ofironic
inflection on the word "beloved" that did not escapeGel's notice, "Was not the
sort of Elvenlord to forget the tradi-tions of his Ancestors."
"Including assassination?" Gel replied evenly.
Kaeth nodded with a dignity that impressed Gel in spite ofhimself.
"Even so. I was trained from childhood, having shown unusual ability for
getting into and out of supposedly guarded spaces and places without being
caught. Whether or not youchoose to believe me, I will say that my training
was never em-ployed against Elvenlords...."
"Not that Dyran would have hesitated if he'd thought he
could get away with it," Gel interjected. Again, Kaeth nodded, this
time with a shrug.
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"Be that as it may, myusual tasks were to act as his intelli-gence
agent, which is how I was employed at the time of his de-mise. And, not
knowing any better, that is how my talents wereadvertised when the estate was
broken up and the slaves wentto auction, as an agent and bodyguard." Kaeth
turned his palmsup, and shrugged his shoulders again.
"And you, of course, were under no compulsion to enlightenthe
auctioneers. Gel felt a reluctant smile creeping over hislips; if this story
was true, Kaeth was a very clever fellow in-deed.Hardly likely he 'd tell
them, when it was a lot more likelythat the other Elvenlords would order him
destroyed ratherthan take the chance of one of their number getting his
handson a trained assassin. "I don't suppose it ever occurred to youto bolt?"
"Of course it did," Kaeth replied, and sat down on the bench,
indicating to Gel that he should do the same. "Oh, don't worry about anyone
overhearing us. If there had been anyone listen-ing or watching, they'd have
been in here the moment you wentfor my throat. I cost Kyndreth avery pretty
penny, and he'dtake it personally if someone deprived him of my services."
And this could be a set-up, but it's getting rather too unlikely and
complicated no, I think I'll go with my instincts and takehim at his word.
"Naturally, it occurred to me to flee to the Wizards and theWild
Humans," he repeated, "But well, 1 learned a few thingsabout these collars
that I wasn't supposed to. Only Dyran couldcompel me magically, and once he
was dead, no other Elven-lord can harm me through this collar, unless he is
Dyran's equalor better in power. That was a reason to run. But Dyran was as
clever a bastard as his reputation claimed I can still be tracedand pursued
through the collar, and any attempt to take it offwill deprive me of my head.
That was Dyran's little fail-safe in case anyone ever decided to subvert me."
Gel winced; that tookpowerful magic, and it took a particu- larly
cruel mind to think of it.
"So, on the whole, it seemed better for everyone that I turn myself
in as one of Dyran's slaves and go up for auction with the rest," Kaeth
concluded with a lazy smile. "After all, I stillhad the option to bolt if my
new master proved unbearable, and I'd be able to plan my escape so that I'd
have a decent chance to get so far away before they discovered I was missing
that itwouldn't be worth pursuit. At the time of Dyran's death I was in a
position where that wasn't a possibility."
"What if Kyndreth ever finds out from another of Dyran's slaves "
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