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avevale_intelligencerIn the tiny kingdom of Tamland, sandwiched in a fold of the Pointy Mountains between the sprawling, decadent empire of Briom and the belligerent Witchrealm of Tsenesh, magic is the domain of Mordecai del Aguila, Court Magus to King Bran, and his apprentice Willibald Volebreath, who is in fact a runaway Tseneshi princess but prefers to appear as a boy. Tamland's peace and prosperity are safeguarded, not merely by wise rulership, but by a powerful magical artifact, the Panergodyne, which is in Mordecai's keeping; it sustains his magic, and he keeps it in balance.
Mordecai is justifiably perturbed, therefore, when the king's son, Varnak, enlists Mordecai to accompany him on a trip down the River Tam to the independent city of Freeport, to negotiate a trade deal with a people called the Chotani (or J'tahni) for a new substance which closely resembles what we know as rubber. He is even more distressed when, on the day before departure, Willibald is kidnapped, but the king and Varnak are implacable, and, disguised as a merchant and his clerk, the prince and the magician set out on the riverboat Pride of Tamland.
The boat is host to a diverse selection of passengers; a Tseneshi witch, an old enemy of Mordecai's; three young women, sisters travelling to the Briom city of Brokenbowes; a teacher and four riotous young students; a large man with a mysterious manner; and Dardash Parrunz, a dealer in swords, who carries no stock. Eight other passengers are never seen, believed to be confined to their rooms. No sooner has the boat passed beyond the borders of Tamland, into the no man's water between Briom and Tsenesh, than Master Parrunz is found stabbed to death, and as a noble of Tamland, Prince Varnak assumes the burden of investigation.
In the course of his enquiries, it emerges that the three sisters, sent to Tamland to find suitable husbands by their guardian uncle, are playing truant to attend a convention in Brokenbowes devoted to a series of adventure stories featuring the gallant Lord Clatterack, and believe the murder to be an entertainment devised to amuse the passengers. The students have embarked on this journey with their teacher, Aldro Stychel, because they believe him to be an adventuring hero in a similar style; in fact he is an unwilling part-time spy for the king of Briom, but between missions at the moment and simply being a teacher. Parrunz, on the other hand, was a member of the Exalted Order of the Penetrating Light (colloquially known as Pennies), one of Briom's numerous other investigative agencies. The large man, Hudge, is an Extricator; with the aid of his partner, Gudge, an Implicator, he is paid to remove evidence of someone's wrongdoing and plant it on some other person. Shortly after Parrunz's murder, he goes into hiding, emerging only when Gudge joins him on the boat, and almost immediately thereupon is attacked and falls into the water.
The situation is further complicated when one of the students, Driskil, is revealed to be addicted to at least one particularly potent drug. While questioning him, Mordecai uses a spell to remove the physical effects of the drug, and the sudden return to complete sobriety causes Driskil to collapse. The other students, Thavaar, Burlox and Gorol Felk, denounce Mordecai to Stychel, but the teacher finds no substance in their accusations. Meanwhile, Varnak's continuing enquiries, already impeded by his and Mordecai's complete lack of detective skill, are further hampered by the arrival on the boat of Master Churidang, another Penny, to investigate Parrunz's death. Varnak, shocked to discover that there is a flourishing trade in Chotani drugs operating through Tamland, vows to end it, and also decides that by the time the boat reaches Brokenbowes, he will have unmasked the murderer.
Churidang discovers that the two rooms theoretically occupied by eight unseen passengers are in fact empty, and Varnak, learning that food is nonetheless left outside the doors three times a day, decides that Mordecai should lie in wait and see who collects it. Mordecai does so, and sees a man with dead-white skin and a black moustache, wearing only a loincloth. The two surmise that this may be a Chotani, but are unable to fathom where he might have come from or where he has gone.
Back in Tamland, faced with the absence of both Willibald and Mordecai, King Bran and his cousin Gisel must find a temporary Magus. Only one candidate is available: Zivano, an old enemy, who in the role of Chancellor Shurath almost succeeded in killing Mordecai the previous year. Still consumed with hatred, and knowing he has the king over a barrel, Zivano takes the job, on the condition that Mordecai is never allowed to return to it. Bran has no choice but to accept. A few days in the job, though, using ordinary magic to help ordinary people, effects a peculiar change in Zivano; his adamantine self-absorption, cracked during the battle with Mordecai, falls away, and he finds himself becoming more open and responsive to the concerns and feelings of others. The king and Gisel note the change, at first with suspicion.
Zivano is invited to a meeting with the Lady Ralitz, a wealthy widow of a successful merchant, who, believing him to be in sympathy with her aims, reveals to him that she is the mastermind behind both the drug trade and Mordecai's and Willibald's absence. Her plan is to addict all of Tamland to Chotani drugs, to outlaw magic and religion (both of which the Chotani despise as weakness), and then to create an industrial, debt-based slave economy in Tamland. Zivano records the meeting magically and conveys the recording to Bran and Gisel; the king is utterly devastated by this revelation of evil.
And all this time, Willibald is being held prisoner in a small room by Prince Chaz of the Chotani and Zorn his adviser, who discover her true gender, interrogate her and systematically addict her to a drug which makes her compliant and will eventually kill her. Their original purpose was to use her as a bargaining tool to help them get a tighter grip on Tamland, but the sudden arrival and subsequent escape of another prisoner, Hudge, complicates matters, and eventually Chaz kills Zorn in a fit of rage, and informs Willibald that there is no more of the drug on which she is dependent. Intending to offer her a merciful death as an alternative, he half turns away from her...
Mordecai is justifiably perturbed, therefore, when the king's son, Varnak, enlists Mordecai to accompany him on a trip down the River Tam to the independent city of Freeport, to negotiate a trade deal with a people called the Chotani (or J'tahni) for a new substance which closely resembles what we know as rubber. He is even more distressed when, on the day before departure, Willibald is kidnapped, but the king and Varnak are implacable, and, disguised as a merchant and his clerk, the prince and the magician set out on the riverboat Pride of Tamland.
The boat is host to a diverse selection of passengers; a Tseneshi witch, an old enemy of Mordecai's; three young women, sisters travelling to the Briom city of Brokenbowes; a teacher and four riotous young students; a large man with a mysterious manner; and Dardash Parrunz, a dealer in swords, who carries no stock. Eight other passengers are never seen, believed to be confined to their rooms. No sooner has the boat passed beyond the borders of Tamland, into the no man's water between Briom and Tsenesh, than Master Parrunz is found stabbed to death, and as a noble of Tamland, Prince Varnak assumes the burden of investigation.
In the course of his enquiries, it emerges that the three sisters, sent to Tamland to find suitable husbands by their guardian uncle, are playing truant to attend a convention in Brokenbowes devoted to a series of adventure stories featuring the gallant Lord Clatterack, and believe the murder to be an entertainment devised to amuse the passengers. The students have embarked on this journey with their teacher, Aldro Stychel, because they believe him to be an adventuring hero in a similar style; in fact he is an unwilling part-time spy for the king of Briom, but between missions at the moment and simply being a teacher. Parrunz, on the other hand, was a member of the Exalted Order of the Penetrating Light (colloquially known as Pennies), one of Briom's numerous other investigative agencies. The large man, Hudge, is an Extricator; with the aid of his partner, Gudge, an Implicator, he is paid to remove evidence of someone's wrongdoing and plant it on some other person. Shortly after Parrunz's murder, he goes into hiding, emerging only when Gudge joins him on the boat, and almost immediately thereupon is attacked and falls into the water.
The situation is further complicated when one of the students, Driskil, is revealed to be addicted to at least one particularly potent drug. While questioning him, Mordecai uses a spell to remove the physical effects of the drug, and the sudden return to complete sobriety causes Driskil to collapse. The other students, Thavaar, Burlox and Gorol Felk, denounce Mordecai to Stychel, but the teacher finds no substance in their accusations. Meanwhile, Varnak's continuing enquiries, already impeded by his and Mordecai's complete lack of detective skill, are further hampered by the arrival on the boat of Master Churidang, another Penny, to investigate Parrunz's death. Varnak, shocked to discover that there is a flourishing trade in Chotani drugs operating through Tamland, vows to end it, and also decides that by the time the boat reaches Brokenbowes, he will have unmasked the murderer.
Churidang discovers that the two rooms theoretically occupied by eight unseen passengers are in fact empty, and Varnak, learning that food is nonetheless left outside the doors three times a day, decides that Mordecai should lie in wait and see who collects it. Mordecai does so, and sees a man with dead-white skin and a black moustache, wearing only a loincloth. The two surmise that this may be a Chotani, but are unable to fathom where he might have come from or where he has gone.
Back in Tamland, faced with the absence of both Willibald and Mordecai, King Bran and his cousin Gisel must find a temporary Magus. Only one candidate is available: Zivano, an old enemy, who in the role of Chancellor Shurath almost succeeded in killing Mordecai the previous year. Still consumed with hatred, and knowing he has the king over a barrel, Zivano takes the job, on the condition that Mordecai is never allowed to return to it. Bran has no choice but to accept. A few days in the job, though, using ordinary magic to help ordinary people, effects a peculiar change in Zivano; his adamantine self-absorption, cracked during the battle with Mordecai, falls away, and he finds himself becoming more open and responsive to the concerns and feelings of others. The king and Gisel note the change, at first with suspicion.
Zivano is invited to a meeting with the Lady Ralitz, a wealthy widow of a successful merchant, who, believing him to be in sympathy with her aims, reveals to him that she is the mastermind behind both the drug trade and Mordecai's and Willibald's absence. Her plan is to addict all of Tamland to Chotani drugs, to outlaw magic and religion (both of which the Chotani despise as weakness), and then to create an industrial, debt-based slave economy in Tamland. Zivano records the meeting magically and conveys the recording to Bran and Gisel; the king is utterly devastated by this revelation of evil.
And all this time, Willibald is being held prisoner in a small room by Prince Chaz of the Chotani and Zorn his adviser, who discover her true gender, interrogate her and systematically addict her to a drug which makes her compliant and will eventually kill her. Their original purpose was to use her as a bargaining tool to help them get a tighter grip on Tamland, but the sudden arrival and subsequent escape of another prisoner, Hudge, complicates matters, and eventually Chaz kills Zorn in a fit of rage, and informs Willibald that there is no more of the drug on which she is dependent. Intending to offer her a merciful death as an alternative, he half turns away from her...