Spellstorm Read Online Free Page A

by the latest schemes to put Erzoured
     on the throne, and how they might clash with that plot to restore King Baerovus,
and
the bids by certain bolder nobles we’ve been watching—”
    “
What
bids?” Glathra asked sharply.
    Vainrence looked at her, then transferred his gaze meaningfully to Tarn, but Glathra
     gave him a look of disgust and snapped, “Lord Lionmantle here is a wizard of war.
     One of us. Are we keeping secrets now from our own?
Really
?”
    Vainrence looked at Ganrahast, who seemed to quell a smile as he gestured that the
     Lord Warder should speak freely.
    Vainrence nodded gravely, then said to Glathra, “The bids made by various overbold
     lords to persuade Raedra Obarskyr to marry one of them so Cormyr can have a king again.”
    Glathra rolled her eyes. “And that king will be the winning bidder.”
    Vainrence nodded. “Whereupon they can strike down the new boldness of the common folk
     and either recruit we wizards of war to be their ruthless right arm—or see us all
     exterminated in favor of swords sworn to loyal nobles.”
    “Plunging Cormyr into some decades, perhaps centuries, of noble faction battling noble
     faction for the Dragon Throne, and bleeding the realm white in their strife,” Glathra
     said bitterly.
    Vainrence smiled wryly, nodded again, turned to Ganrahast, and concluded triumphantly,
     “And
that
was why I hadn’t bothered you with this matter until now. I judged, perhaps wrongly,
     that—”
    “There was plenty of time to burn down that bridge once we were standing on it,” Tarn
     Lionmantle told the ceiling, earning him a scowl from Vainrence but startled grins
     from Glathra and the Royal Magician of Cormyr.
    Ganrahast went so far as to chuckle before he asked the Lord Warder, “And this promenade
     of the magically mighty arriving at Halaunt’s country mansion; what did they do? Blast
     Oldspires to the ground? Plunder it? Or just spirit Halaunt away for a
real
mind reaming?”
    “Every one of them tried magics, openly but vainly, to force their way through a mysterious
     ‘storm of spells’ that now surrounds Oldspires. Literally, this is a swirling spell-chaos
     of unknown origin—one apparently well-known in local lore as appearing regularly,
     once a month, and enshrouding Oldspires for a tenday at a time.”
    It was Ganrahast’s turn to favor the ceiling with a comment. “And how is it that every
     last wizard of war neglected to inform the
Royal Magician of Cormyr
of the existence of this
minor
enchantment manifesting monthly for
years
, within our borders?”
    Vainrence and Glathra winced in unison. “I’ve checked the records,” Glathra said hurriedly,
     “and found instructions from Royal Magician Vangerdahast, who recorded it as a defensive
     enchantment of the building that’s to be left alone in case it proves useful in future.”
    Ganrahast nodded. “I’m unsurprised at that, just a little taken aback at not knowing
     of it. What else have you learned about it?”
    “Well, it’s not Halaunt’s doing, for neither he nor his father have ever been known
     to have any skill at the Art, nor to employ wizards—except when Halaunt’s father was
     dying, and hired a house wizard to seek remedies, almost certainly because that would
     have been cheaper than paying an independent mage by the day or tenday. Dismissing
     the man was one of the first things the current Lord Halaunt did, after his father
     perished.”
    Ganrahast nodded again. “Fair enough, but surely my—ah, old Vangey set down some specifics
     about it; he did for everything else!”
    Glathra inclined her head as she called up the memory, and recited in a singsong voice:
     “ ‘The storm of spells, as it is known locally, is a violently swirling opaque fog,
     having the appearance of the white smoke of a clean fire. It is no more than a navigational
     hazard to those who lack aptitude for the Art, but enfeebles the minds of all who
     have any ability to cast magic who try