Delver Magic III: Balance of Fate by Jeff Inlo (best free e reader TXT) 📖

of puzzlement. Normally, the serp gained a keen insight simply by looking at a person. He could judge their character, their honesty or lack thereof, and their personality within the first few moments, and he would usually be fairly accurate in his assessment. He already knew a bit about this man, however, and what he knew didn’t fit with what he saw.

He knew that Edward Consprite gained the favor of a powerful vampire. He also knew that at one time this man was the mayor of the city the serp now occupied. This should indicate the human had guile, savvy, as well as strong leadership qualities. Further, Consprite’s association with the vampire would have made Sazar bet most of his goblin army that the man was gifted with a great deal of charisma; that Consprite would have filled any room he entered with a great presence of personality. Sazar would have lost that bet.

Consprite had made his appearance known by simply walking out into the open. He had moved directly to a goblin in the streets as if walking up to a town guard to ask for directions. This particular goblin was under orders to assess the human occupation of an undamaged dwelling close to the city’s western border. The ex-mayor stepped in front of the diminutive monster and grumbled that he was Edward Consprite and wanted to see Sazar. The goblin almost made the dreadful mistake of plunging a short sword into the man’s belly. This would have certainly caused unnecessary conflict with Janindise. Luckily, however, Sazar caught the exchange in his mind and commanded the goblin to send the human forward before any damage was done.

Consprite had walked through the streets with a determined pace, but his legs appeared stiff and his feet shuffled across the ground. With clothes that appeared far too large for his frame and a slouch in his shoulders, he appeared more of a transient hobo than a man that once held the position of leadership in this city. And though his appearance would seem to indicate a severe lack of self-confidence, in absolute opposition to this, he walked by shags and packs of goblins with utter disregard.

Sazar had kept an active mental link to the minions that watched Consprite pass through the streets. The images he captured contrasted greatly with what he anticipated. When Consprite had reached his final destination, a large merchant’s home that the serp now called home, he saw the man enter without fanfare or grace, but with all the dignity of a pauper entering a soup kitchen. Sazar could not fathom how this man gained the favor of a vampire, and with Consprite now standing right before him, the concept was even more bizarre.

Consprite appeared more of an empty shell than a vibrant living being. The skin around his eyes and cheeks hung heavy with many wrinkles as it did around his neck and hands. This loose skin along with a gray pallor made the human look like a man that had been lost at sea for days on end. What was left of his hair hung long and loose about his head as if long ago he decided not to bother cutting or combing it.

Truly, this was not what Sazar expected, and the serp gained another surprise when he looked in the man’s eyes. He did not see the bubbling spark of life there, or charisma of any type. This was not a man that could hypnotize you with his eyes and thus didn’t worry about the rest of his appearance. What Sazar saw in the eyes of this man was a single-minded focus, a disregard for everything else that went on around him. Consprite was here to talk to Sazar and anything else was simply irrelevant. Sazar acknowledged the man before him with caution as well as curiosity.

“Good day, Mr. Consprite. As you must already know, I am Sazar. As I am also sure you already know I have met your friend. She told me you have the idea that you might be of some assistance to me. I must be brutally honest, I’m not quite sure of what someone like you can do for me.”

“What I can do for you all depends on what you want,” Consprite spewed his words with gruffness.

“What I want I am well on my way to achieving. The city is mine.”

“Yes, it seems to be,” Consprite replied with almost a tone of sarcasm. “You have them surrounded, you have taken the outer limits, but you have not yet moved into the inner portions of the city. Why not?”

Sazar seemed a bit taken aback by Consprite’s question. First, when the ex-mayor spoke of ‘them’, he clearly differentiated himself from the rest of the citizens of Connel. Second, he appeared to be questioning Sazar almost as if the serp was a subordinate. That, the serp did not like.

“Are you in some rush?” Sazar asked.

“How long it takes is irrelevant to me, but when you say the city is yours you need to be a bit more specific. You said you weren’t sure what I could do for you. I am quite sure I can offer you something. The problem is I don’t know what you really want. I know the people of this city. I know how they will react.”

“Then you know if I simply rush my army into the center of the city, it will only create panic. I’m not looking to do that, panic is messy, and it lacks control.”

Consprite squinted at the serp, mumbled something incoherently and then began to pace around the room.

“So you don’t want to just kill them all,” Consprite said as he continued to move about. “If you did, you wouldn’t care how messy it was. Actually, I’m guessing the goblins you have at your beck and call would enjoy it more if it was very messy.”

“That’s very perceptive of you,” the serp hummed.

“And don’t bother trying to compliment me. I really don’t care what you think of me.”

“Is that so? It is you that came to me,” the serp pointed out. “You are the one that said you can help me. If I don’t think highly of you, why would I trust you to help me?”

“Because I know I can help you,” Consprite replied brusquely. “It’s just a matter of figuring out how. If you did want to kill everyone here, I’m sure you can handle that on your own, but if you want to know where they keep their most valuable supplies, wouldn’t it be easier if I simply told you rather than have your goblins waste time searching for it.”

“Yes I suppose it would.”

“Is that what you want? Do you want to claim this town’s most valuable possessions?”

“That is certainly part of it,” Sazar confirmed, “and perhaps you can help me with that. There is, however, more to it than simply taking the material items of value.”

“What else are you looking for?”

Sazar saw no true danger in making it very clear what he wanted, and so he spoke without hesitation.

“I am going to take everything this city has to offer me, both substantial and insubstantial. I will not be leaving it in the foreseeable future. It will become the center of my operations as I focus on growing my army. When my forces become stronger, which now they certainly will, I will begin to move eastward. I do not limit my ambitions to the borders of Connel.”

“I see, and what do you plan to do with the humans that live here now?”

“I plan to have them serve me. They will grow my food, mine my metals, and fashion my weapons.”

“If they resist?” Consprite asked but showed no true concern.

“They will die most unpleasantly. I have already made an example of one of them, their mayor, a human named Flisher. Do you know of her?”

“I do,” Consprite grunted. “She’s dead?”

“Most painfully, I assure you.”

In truth, Consprite hated Flisher, though there were others he hated more. Still, he wondered aloud if it was such a good idea to remove her so quickly. “If you plan to keep the inhabitants of the city under your control was it such a good idea to kill their leader? She wasn’t a real threat to you and she could have been used to keep order.”

“I did not like her,” Sazar admitted. “While she appeared to understand the situation, I don’t think she would have effectively conveyed the seriousness of the situation to her followers. By dying as she did, she served my purposes much more efficiently.”

“So who’s going to keep the people in line now that she’s gone?”

“Are you volunteering?” Sazar asked with an almost challenging tone.

“Absolutely not,” Consprite replied resolutely. “While I still believe I can help you, I’m sure it wouldn’t be in that way. These people mean nothing to me any more and they know it. They wouldn’t listen to me any more than they would listen to one of your goblins.”

“Very good,” the serp nodded. “At the very least, I can see you have a grasp of the situation and do not waste my time in making promises you obviously couldn’t keep. As it stands, I have someone that I will use to keep the people in line, as you put it. I already have utilized your Captain Tevor to carry my message to the humans. He will be much more convincing when he explains to them what they face and what they must do. He will also keep his men in check, at least for a while until he realizes there really is no hope left for them. Then I will probably have to throw him to the bloat spiders as well. By then, I will have taken full control of the city and it will no longer matter.”

It was Sazar’s turn to pace across the floor, and as he did his tail swayed back and forth with his own thoughts. He considered what he just learned of Consprite. Here was a human that did not like the people of Connel, and they probably shared no love for him. Consprite developed a close relationship with a vampire and showed no reservations in dealing with shags, goblins, or even a serp. In every way, this human appeared to be acting in a very non-human way. This consideration brought to mind one of Sazar’s more immediate problems.

While Sazar needed Captain Tevor to keep the humans in check, at least for the immediate future, he also needed someone to help him in another area. For Captain Tevor to remain useful to Sazar he needed to be respected and, even more so, trusted by the humans that the serp wished to control. This other role that Sazar required necessitated characteristics of just the opposite. Sazar believed that Consprite offered him exactly what he needed, and he offered up his considerations freely in order to judge if his estimation was correct.

“Actually, Edward Consprite, there is something that you might be able to do for me. I have one problem that I am somewhat concerned about. You see, some of the people of this town must be, oh how shall I put it, perhaps sacrificed is the proper word. I made an agreement with a sorceress in the Lacobian Desert. My part of the agreement requires that I supply her with subjects so that she may test her spells. I clearly plan to send some of these humans to her, but I have not yet figured out the best way to do this. I wish to maintain control here, and I want the humans to believe that they will ultimately be allowed to live even if it is under my rule. As long as they believe the life I