"Then how do you explain Chopstick and Turnkey?"
"They chose wisely," Sisska said adamantly. "I did not have much time to come to know the mage Phandebrass, but from what I have heard, he has a good heart and a kind soul. Do not let what you see on the outside cloud the truth within, Tarrin. It is a bad practice."
Tarrin nodded in agreement. He happened to agree with her. Phandebrass may seem a little odd, but he was actually a good friend and a good person. "Maybe they saw what was there when nobody else did," he offered.
"Drakes know," she said simply.
Miranda led him to a huge hall deep in the bowels of the Palace, a huge place with buntings hanging from vaulted walls, a domed ceiling from which hung several chandeliers, and at the far end was a raised platform about two spans high. It had a huge throne on it, and a banner with the crest of Wikuna hung from the wall behind it. Keritanima sat on that throne, wearing her royal robes, and the large numbers of Wikuni nobles gathered in the hall told him that this was a formal audience. Tarrin looked around, and saw the Vendari lining the walls, as well as a complement of armed Wikuni that surrounded the dais; those had to be the Royal Guard he'd heard about. Binter and Azakar stood at either side and slightly behind the throne, ready to defend the Royal Person from any attack. Binter had that massive, ugly war hammer with him, the head of it on the floor between his feet and the handle propped lightly with one hand. Keritanima looked almost smug on that throne, and as Miranda led him closer, through the crowd of nobles, to the front, he saw why.
There was a Wikuni chained by the wrists kneeling at the front of the crowd, that was a respectable distance from the prisoner, flanked by two Royal Guardsmen who both had swords drawn. He was a tall Wikuni, a lion, but his fur was scraggly and dirty and there was some dried blood in his mane. He wore a red waistcoat and black trousers, and they were dirty, bloody, and rather the worse for wear. Tarrin looked at him and realized that this was Damon Eram, Keritanima's father, and the cause of alot of irritation she'd felt as they came into the city. Keritanima had been talking when they came in, asking Damon Eram who had helped him escape.
"I had no help, traitor," he spat. "A crazy man couldn't escape from there, but a sane man could easily."
"Your mental condition went out the window the minute you tried to lead an armed party into the south fort and take it over, father," she said coldly. "You could be as sane as a cold stone right now, and it wouldn't help you. The punishment for treason doesn't make any allowances."
"Treason? Me?" he screamed. "You were the one that used your foul magic to make everything think I was crazy! You're the one that bull-rushed the noble houses into dethroning me! But I know that they're not very happy with that decision now, witch!" he laughed. "If I would have taken over that fort and sunk your ship, they wouldn't have executed me for assassination, they would have put the rightful king back on the throne!"
"You engineered your own destruction, father, not me," Keritanima said with flashing eyes. "Your need to punish me unhinged you. I can see now that it was a temporary insanity. Fortunately for me, your act of treason has made any kind of contest for the throne a moot point. You have committed high treason against the crown, father," she said in a nasty voice. "If you would have made a legal challenge, I'm sure you would have had a decent chance of abdicating me and regaining the throne, and I would have honored a legal decision without a fight. Doesn't it eat at you, father?" she said in a teasing tone. "To know that if you'd not bowed to your anger, again, you would have probably regained the crown? That temper of yours cost you the throne, and now it's going to cost you a whole lot more."
"Don't play with me, witch. Just be done with it," he hissed.
"Before I do that, I think you deserve to know who it was that turned on you, father," she said with a bright grin. "I don't want you to go on to your final reward without knowing the truth. Shan," she called.
Tarrin looked as a door opened on the side, and a Royal Guardsman escorted a young female Wikuni into the hall. She was a mink Wikuni, like Miranda, but her features were much sharper, and her eyes looked haunted. Tarrin remembered the description of this woman; this was Jenawalani, one of Keritanima's sisters.
"Jenawalani!" Damon Eram shouted angrily. "You did this? Two of my daughters betraying me?"
"I'm not a traitor," Jenawalani said in a haughty tone. "I'm the Baroness of Wildwater. I'm not an Eram anymore, and I'm not your daughter anymore. I am loyal to my Queen."
"Of anyone on this earth, I'd have thought you would be the last to side with Keritanima!"
"Things change, Damon," Jenawalani said calmly, crossing her arms between her breasts. "I'll never be Queen. I made a vow. And I knew that if you got back the throne, the first thing you'd do is have me killed to keep your plot a secret, or to keep me from trying to do to you what you did to Sabakimara. I'm doing nothing more than what you were going to do to me. I just did it first."
"You witch!" Damon Eram raged at her. "I'll make sure you don't survive to enjoy your victory, Jenawalani!"
"You can't touch me, father," Jenawalani hissed at him. "I knew everything, and I told Keritanima everything. I told her that House Bell was the one that freed you, and them and House Koramon were the ones behind the attacks. After all, I was right there in your planning sessions, wasn't I?" she added with a little smirk.
Damon Eram glared viciously at the mink.
"So you see, Damon, you are of absolutely no more use to me," Keritanima told him coldly. "House Bell and Koramon have both already been punished for what they did. I hear that there's nobody left." That explained to Tarrin why there were three plumes of smoke. While Damon Eram, House Bell, and House Koramon were attacking the south fort, Keritanima's forces were attacking their home bases. "In gratitude for Jenawalani's faithful service, I'm giving her all the assets of House Bell and House Koramon and granting her a noble charter. She's the matron of a new noble house, father, the house Chan, which, I'll admit, probably has more material worth than house Eram now. So in the end, you get nothing, and the children of the house of Eram prosper. I'm the queen, Veranika will be the matron of House Eram as soon as she finishes school, and Jenawalani will be the new matron of House Chan. And you get an unmarked grave."
Damon Eram gave out an indecipherable shout, and then struggled against his chains.
"You're the one who taught us the value of betrayal, father," Jenawalani said viciously. "You taught us well, didn't you?"
Damon Eram spat in Jenawalani's direction.
"Temper, temper," Keritanima teased. "I hereby decree that since you were caught in the act of high treason, that there is no need for trial. Do the noble houses assembled acclimate this fact?" There was a rumble of agreement. "Good. So, as being found guilty of high treason by acclimation of the noble houses and decree of the crown, I hereby sentence you to death by hanging, to be carried out immediately. Furthermore, your body will be buried in an unmarked grave, so that not even your body can be found to serve as a reminder of what you once were. It's a criminal's fate, father. Perfect for you, given what you did to our kingdom while you occupied the throne. Take him away," she commanded.
Screaming and kicking, Damon Eram was dragged from the audience hall, and there was silence as his screams died away. "Well then, now that that's settled, I'd like all of you to greet Jenawalani Chan, the new matron of the new noble house of Chan. Welcome back, sister," Keritanima said with a mysterious smile.
"It's good to be home, your Majesty, though I'll miss Wildwater," she replied with a nod.
"What just happened, Miranda?" Tarrin asked quietly.
"Well, I'll just elaborate on what you just saw," she replied as Keritanima read something a servant handed to her, and the nobles swarmed around Jenawalani. "When Keritanima took the throne, she forced her sisters to vow to abdicate their titles and never be queen. Instead of turning them out, Kerri gave Jenawalani a small barony in a remote part of our kingdom and sent Veranika to a merchant's school so she could be t
he matron of House Eram. Well, from what I've heard so far, Mardal Koramon and Pleris Bell concocted a scheme to free Damon Eram and overthrow Kerri, and they enlisted the aid of Jenawalani, because she was a princess. She knows alot of things that many nobles don't, about the Palace and the way things work where the nobles can't see them. Instead of siding with them, however, she accepted their offer and then immediately contacted Jervis. Jervis didn't tell Kerri what he was doing, because he wanted her reactions to be genuine, and that was important to keep house Bell and house Koramon believing that Kerri didn't know what they were up to. Jenawalani told Jervis everything, and Jervis arranged the little trap that caught Kerri's father earlier today."
"I thought Jenawalani hated Kerri," Tarrin said.
"She did, but I think she realized that she was safer with Kerri on the throne than her father. You heard what she said, and she was right. Damon wouldn't have blinked when he would have ordered his daughter killed. He assassinated Sabakimara, his eldest daughter, though everyone believed that Jenawalani did it."
"He killed his own daughter?" Tarrin gasped.
"Without shedding a tear," Miranda said bluntly. "Because she was getting to be too dangerous. Damon Eram took the throne by killing his own father. He didn't want history to repeat itself."
Tarrin was shocked. Damon Eram was absolutely heartless! If there was ever a man that deserved to die, it was Damon Eram. "And people call me a monster," Tarrin declared.
"There are monsters, and then there are monsters, Tarrin. Now I'm sure you understand completely why Kerri ran away."
He did. "Completely," he agreed. "Hanging isn't good enough for him. I wonder if Kerri would let me do it."
"No, in our society, being hanged is a criminal's death," she told him. "When Kerri ordered him hanged, she was taking away any shred of what little honor Damon Eram had or may have had with the nobles. He's going to die a criminal, not a king."
"That's suitable," Tarrin said with a nod. "The man deserves far worse, though."
"Pain wouldn't have mattered to him," she said. "This is the best way. Trust me."
"It matters to me."
"You're a savage," she teased.
"Then I'm a savage."
"Well, that about settles that," Miranda said with a smile. "Now that Keritanima's destroyed two noble houses for treason, both of them very rich and powerful, the rest won't even think of trying. In just a little bit, the only man in Wikuna that could challenge her throne will be buried in an unmarked grave. Kerri has the Vendari as allies, and Jenawalani's house, which is probably fourth or fifth in the new line of influence, will be just one of the top four or five houses that are Keritanima's allies. I'd say that Kerri's position is now totally secure."
"Good. Then nothing's standing in our way now."
"Not a thing," Miranda said with a cheeky grin. "At least from this side. Out there on the ocean, though, who's to say what's going to get in our way?"
Chapter 5
The demise of Damon Eram--or just Damon, since Keritanima had stripped him of his noble name--was carried out in complete anonymity. Tarrin was one of the people Keritanima had asked to witness the execution, as well as the heads of the twenty-eight remaining noble houses. Damon, to his credit, didn't blubber or beg or snivel. He accepted his fate with a quiet dignity that seemed strange after Tarrin had seen the infuriated, angry Wikuni in the throne room. After the sentence was carried out, the body was carted off and buried in an unmarked grave. That was the end of Damon, and nobody outside the thirty witnesses, eight guards, and four executioners knew that the former king of Wikuna was dead.
Tarrin's humanity thought it a bit ruthless that Keritanima would order her own father put to death, but the human in him couldn't argue with the very long list of crimes that Damon Eram had committed on the throne. The simple fact that he had killed one of his daughters, and attempted to kill Keritanima, was all even the human in him needed to justify the act. Damon Eram was an evil, ruthless man, and it was a service to the entire world that he be removed from it. Keritanima obviously had no love for her father, and Tarrin couldn't blame her. If his parents never showed him any love, never supported him, and then tried to kill him, he'd probably hate them too.
The execution of her father didn't show at all on Keritanima's face. She returned to the throne room with the witnesses, ordered that a feast and ball be held that night to celebrate her return, and then she ended the audience. Tarrin walked back in the general direction of his room with a servant guiding him, lost in thought about what he'd seen. He'd witnessed the worst of the Wikuni society in action, the infamous political chicanery that was famous throughout the civilized world. It really was as bad as people believed, but Tarrin could see an end to it in Keritanima. She was slowly but inexorably taking hold of things, either eliminating or wooing the opposition. She was using the same general tactics she had learned from her father and trying to use them to institute an alternative form of government, and he saw the paradox there. She had to have a lighter hand if she wanted people to embrace her new system, but she couldn't use a lighter hand against those who were using heavy hands against her. Keritanima was caught in a nasty little trap, being forced to ram a system that promoted peace and cooperation down the throats of the very people who were eventually going to be responsible for its maintenance.
The key here, he saw, were the commoners. If Keritanima wanted her new form of government to succeed, she had to bring the common man to her side. He was pretty sure that she probably had their support--the commoners were wildly loyal to Keritanima--but she had to get out there and tell them that she needed their help. The nobles would resist Keritanima, but if the commoners that worked for them stopped buying their goods, or stopped working for them, the nobles would buckle in short order. The way to get at the rich was to take away the luxuries and comforts that they had grown to depend upon. A rich man was a formidable opponent, but make him dress himself, cook for himself, and clean his palatial estate by himself, and he was a rich man on his knees.
Tarrin himself didn't entirely understand Keritanima's new system, and, like the Vendari, it would not suit him if he were inside it. Tarrin's instincts would make trying to operate in this Republic almost impossible for him. Then again, Tarrin knew he wouldn't operate well in any system where he had to bow to the authority of someone he didn't respect. Were-cats were never meant for organized society.
After returning to his room, he set Sapphire down by her water bowl, then sat down and decided that a surprise talk with Jesmind would be a good idea. She'd told him to tell her when he reached Wikuna, and besides, she was still a little peeved over his missed appointment. She'd appreciate him contacting her. He took hold of his amulet and called her name, and then waited. And waited, and waited a little longer. He called her name again, a little louder this time, and then got a rather muffled reply through the amulet.
"What's the matter with you?" Tarrin asked.
"I was asleep," she said, a little blearily. There was a pause, and she spoke more clearly. "Is there something wrong?"
"No, not at all. You wanted me to let you know as soon as I got to Wikuna. Well, we're here."
"That's good. Did you have any trouble?"
"Not since the last time I talked to you," he chuckled. "Kerri stuck me in these apartments that makes the one you have there look like a broom closet. I'm almost lost in here, love. It's too much space for one person."
"What about Kimmie?"
"What about her?" he asked. "She's not living with me, Jesmind. She just comes around whenever she wants attention, that's all."
"Oh. Ohhhh, alright," she said in a much happier tone. "You didn't tell me that."
"You kept getting bitchy every time I tried to bring it up," he countered.
"Well excuse me," she chuckled. "She was always in the room when you were about to stop talking to me. I thought she moved in."
"That's because she was coming into the room, Jesmind," he said patiently.
"Same as always, Jesmind," he told her. "I'm not sure how long we're going to be here in Wikuna. We have to be somewhere else very soon, so I doubt we'll be here longer than a couple of days. What's been happening over there?"
"Not much more than usual," she replied. "Jenna and Jula still spend almost all day together, and I'm trying to keep your daughter out of trouble. That's starting to get harder and harder, because she's started using her magic whenever the mood hits her."
"You need to stop her from doing that, love," he said seriously.
"I know, but your sister isn't helping," she grunted. "She's teaching Jasana magic, then sending her home and telling her not to do magic unless she's there with her. That's like telling the sun not to shine. Jasana tries to use magic any time she doesn't think I'm paying attention. It's good that it always makes that light, because she hasn't learned how to hide it the way you and Jenna and Jula do. I see that light, and I know what's going on."
"I'll have a talk with Jenna. She should know better than that," he said.
"I'd appreciate it." There was a sigh. "I miss you, beloved. When will you be coming back?"
"I have no idea yet, Jesmind," he replied. "I miss you too."
"You have Kimmie," she said dangerously.
"Kimmie and me are mates, Jesmind. You're my love. I enjoy the time with Kimmie, I won't deny it, but I still miss you."
"Well, it's good to know where a girl stands," Jesmind said with an almost kittenish quality to her voice. "Uh oh, mother's calling me. I'd better go see what she wants. I'll talk to you later, alright, Tarrin?"
"Tonight?"
"Tonight is fine with me. Just do me a favor and talk to Jenna for me, alright?"
"I will," he promised. He felt her break the contact from her side, probably by taking her paw off the amulet. He did need to talk to Jenna, but he felt that the best way to do that would be through the Weave. It would also be a good chance to teach Keritanima about joining the Weave, since he wasn't sure how long they were going to be stationary.
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