Read The Invisible Hands - Part 1: Gambit for Free Online Page A

soon enough, once his father entered the
    4
senate. Meanwhile it wasn't easy for him, although he didn't complain.
    Maybe a sort of younger brother, a demi-sibling who could never become a rival, who would have everything to thank his adoptive kinship for, would alleviate some of those dark moods Yorn seemed to sink into once in a while.
    She pondered all this, and many other factors some more, until finally her mind was made up.
    It could do no harm to investigate the matter further, could it? No, it couldn't, she decided. She would send an invitation, accompanied by a modest, a very modest sum of travel money, to this Antybion and his grandfather to visit her, here in Rhonoma.
    When Tomar entered the war room he found Anaxantis studying a map as usual.
    “Looking at our borders?” he asked.
    “No,” the prince answered. “Here, look for yourself, and tell me what you think.”
    He shoved the parchment across the table. It was titled Lorseth Harbor in bright crimson letters.
    4
“You're having a harbor built? Without consulting me? Do you
    know by how much that will set us back?”
    Anaxantis grinned.
    “Oh, you'll find the money somewhere, and look, it's not much of a harbor anyway. It's basically just a breakwater, a pier to moor a ship and a wharf. And a road between it and the castle. That's it really.”
    “That's it, is it?”
    “Well, obviously, I'll need a ship as well.”
    “A ship. Obviously, he'll need a ship as well,” Tomar said, rolling his eyes. “One is tempted to inquire why you need all that.”
    “Is one? Then one is entitled to an answer, isn't one? Because it's faster. We're having part of the army digging out the silted-up harbor of Renuvia, by way of peacetime duty and to keep them fit. By the time they're finished I will be able to travel from Lorseth to Renuvia in a few days, at most, by ship, instead of almost two weeks on horseback.
    From Renuvia I can take a tow barge to the great bridge that is being built over the Mirax.”
    “You're planning to travel a lot, then?”
    “Not if I can help it, but it can't hurt that I will be able to manage great distances very fast if I have to. The crossing place of the Mirax is more or less in the center. Usually that's a good place to be to keep an eye on things, and in time it will be. For the moment I think I'd better stay here, in the Highlands, not too far away from our southern border.”
    “I see. Let me think it over. I'm sure we'll find a way to build you your little harbor.”
    “I know Timishi is building his. Rodomesh found him a place on their coast that is almost a natural harbor. It has hills in a crescent formation, jutting out into the sea, gently sloping down to a calm 4
beach. They just have to build some wharves and they're good to go. I
    understand he wants his people to go into the trading and transporting business. So, I need Renuvia to be operational before he monopol— izes the southern trade. I'm not letting the Mukthar king get away with all the good contracts.”
    “I'm so glad you're not forgetting that we need to have money coming in as well.”
    Anaxantis nodded, ignoring the sarcasm in his voice.
    “Anyway,” Tomar continued, “that's not why you called me in, is it?
    Could it have anything to do with your father's troop movements?”
    “Yes, but not exclusively so. Thinking it over, it struck me that we have no reliable sources of information in the capital of Ximerion.
    Ehandar still has some contacts, but he reckons they could be turned by now. You yourself said your own sources are drying up. We have to do something about that situation. There is a way to get more trustworthy intelligence, but it would put me in a very awkward position.”
    “How so?”
    Anaxantis sighed.
    “Mother. She has her own little private army annex spy service, the Tribe of Mekthona. I'm sure they keep tabs on what's happening all over Ximerion.”
    “Well, that's simple enough then. Just ask her to investigate the