“Do you know why she doesn’t feel threatened by you?”
“She knows I’m not the one who’s going to kill her. I’m not one of her acolytes. My ambitions lie with the Protectorate. And I’ve finally found out why she invited me here in the first place. She wants me to do something for her.”
“What?”
“It’s another long story.”
Tevi yawned. “In that case it can wait until tomorrow.”
“Aren’t you curious?”
“Of course. But if it’s something really vital, I can’t imagine you’d have spent all this time talking about everything else.”
“And you don’t want to wait until Tevi’s too tired to do anything except sleep before you go to bed,” Klara said.
Jemeryl laughed and pushed the impertinent magpie off her lap.
*
The council chamber was on the ground floor of Bykoda’s keep. Tevi and Jemeryl stopped just inside the large double doorway and looked around. The room was about forty feet square. From the floor to the rafters was at least thirty. On the opposite side of the room, the morning sunlight fell through three tall, clear glass windows and lay in gleaming oblongs on the marble floor. The stone walls were bare of paintings, tapestries, or carvings.
The lack of furniture increased the feeling of austerity. Six wrought-iron chairs for the acolytes stood in a line to the right. Facing them was Bykoda’s throne. All the chairs were placed close to the walls, so that a clear thirty feet of tiled floor would separate Bykoda from her acolytes at meetings. A balcony ran the length of the room above the row of chairs. The only other items in the room were two large green crystals suspended by chains from the ceiling. They hung five feet in front of Bykoda’s throne and a little way out on either side.
Four thralls stood guard in the corners, unmoving. Their glazed faces showed no response to Tevi and Jemeryl’s arrival. Tevi looked at one, shivered, and looked away. Jemeryl advanced to the centre of the room.
Tevi joined her by one of the suspended crystals. “You said that Bykoda has herself well protected in here. Can I assume these crystals are part of her defence?”
“Yes. They project a shield in front of them.”
“Can you see through it?”
“Oh yes. It’s completely invisible. In fact, it’s in place at the moment.”
Tevi frowned and waved her hand back and forth through the space between the crystals. “It doesn’t seem terribly effective.”
Jemeryl smiled. “It’s actually rather sophisticated. Have you got a projectile to hand? A coin would do nicely.”
Tevi nodded and dug one out of the purse on her belt.
“Right. Now stand by Bykoda’s throne and pretend you’re her, throwing a weapon at one of the acolytes.”
Tevi obliged. The coin bounced off one of the central iron chairs. Tevi treated Jemeryl to a sideways look. “You’re not playing games with me, are you?”
“No. Now go and pretend you’re one of the acolytes throwing a weapon at Bykoda. And be ready to duck.”
Tevi walked a dozen paces across the tiled floor and bent to retrieve the coin. After another bemused frown at Jemeryl, she tossed the coin. Halfway across the room the coin hit a barrier and came hurling back, with three times the velocity that it had before. Tevi just managed to get out of its way.
“And it isn’t just ordinary missiles. The crystals would do the same to any sort of magical attack as well. I’m sure you won’t mind if I don’t demonstrate,” Jemeryl said cheerfully.
“So she can lob whatever she wants at her acolytes, and they can’t do anything to retaliate.”
“Uh-huh.”
“She doesn’t trust them, does she?”
“Well, one of them is going to murder her.”
“Is it possible to punch through the shield with enough force?”
“I couldn’t. Which means that none of the acolytes stand a chance.”
Tevi walked back to the throne. “So whoever hits her has to be standing in this end of the room.”
“Except Bykoda isn’t going to blithely sit here and let one of the acolytes walk through the shield to kill her. The assassin would be smoking ash before they’d taken five steps.”
Tevi studied the room thoughtfully. Only bare stone surrounded the throne. The door and all the windows were on the other side of the shield. “Could she be attacked between here and the door?”
“No. Because she gets safely in place before the acolytes are allowed in.”
“How about some sort of booby trap in the chair?”
Jemeryl tilted her head to one side, thinking. “I don’t know.”
Tevi lay down and examined the underside of the chair, but before her eyes had adjusted to the dark, Jemeryl spoke with a warning note in her voice. “Um...Tevi. Unless you have something definite in mind it might be a good idea to stop that.”
Tevi pulled back and glanced around. All of the thralls were staring in her direction, swords drawn. She stood up. “They didn’t like me doing that?”
“They certainly didn’t. If I hadn’t held them back, you’d currently have several rather serious perforations.”
Tevi took a deep breath and grimaced. “Right.”
“I’d guess that the possibility of a booby-trap has already occurred to Bykoda, and she’s set the thralls to respond to anyone who looks like they’re tinkering.”
“But you were able to restrain them. Couldn’t the acolytes do the same?”
“Not without alerting Bykoda. She will have felt me blocking the thralls just now. When we’ve finished here, I’ll find her and explain what we were doing and why.”
Once Tevi was standing away from the throne, the thralls went back to their original pose. Jemeryl stood in front of the nearest one, staring into the blank eyes.
“What are you thinking?” Tevi asked.
“I’m wondering just how comprehensive their instructions are. There are good and bad points to using thralls as guards. They don’t get distracted, or fall asleep, or lose concentration. However, they are limited to doing exactly what they’re told and nothing else.”
“The instructions wouldn’t need to be complex.”
“But it’s easy to leave holes. For example, these thralls might have been told to attack anyone they see tampering with the throne. Which means they would completely ignore someone who hid themself and the chair under a blanket before fitting the trap. Or if they’re supposed to monitor everyone who comes through the door, they wouldn’t bother with anyone who climbs through the window.” Jemeryl sighed. “They have no initiative whatsoever.”
Tevi’s lips twisted as she fought to control her disgust. “It’s immoral. They’re worse than slaves. It would be kinder to kill them.”
“I tend to agree with you. If it’s any consolation, it’s one of the things that Coven rules specifically forbid in the Protectorate.”
Tevi grunted, unconsoled. She had not before even considered the idea that the Coven would need to ban its members from enthralling citizens and was unhappy that Jemeryl did not seem to fully share her disgust at the barbarism. Partly to distract the uncomfortable thought, Tevi paced back to the acolyte’s chairs and turned around. “Does the shield go all the way across the room?”
“How do you mean?”
“I was wondering about using a ricochet to get around it.”
Jemeryl came to stand by Tevi and considered the crystals. “There’s a gap of a foot or two at either side, and a slightly smaller one at the top. It reaches the floor completely. It would be hard to bounce anything off with enough force to hurt her. Quite apart from being a very tricky shot.”
Tevi pointed up. “What about the chains? Could you hit them and bring the shield down?”
“Oh. There’s a thought.” Jemeryl stood on tiptoe, then on the seat of one of the iron chairs, and finally jumped up and down. “Maybe. But I think you’d need to be about ten feet in the air.”
“I don’t suppose Bykoda wo
uld be likely to overlook someone climbing a ladder in the middle of a council meeting.” Tevi sighed and looked up. “Or supposing they were standing up there.” She pointed to the balcony above the acolyte’s chairs. Without waiting for Jemeryl’s answer, Tevi headed for the door.
From the outside, Bykoda’s keep looked like a solid cube of stone. In fact, the middle was hollow. Tevi emerged into the enclosed central courtyard. Immediately to her left, a single flight of stairs ran up the side of the wall. Tevi climbed the steps and opened the door at the top. When she stepped through, she found herself back in the council chamber, looking down from the balcony. A few seconds later, she was joined by Jemeryl.
“What’s this balcony used for?”
“Various things. I’ve sat here to listen to the meeting, if it’s something Bykoda doesn’t mind me hearing.”
“I thought she trusted you.”
“Don’t be silly. Bykoda doesn’t trust anyone. However, I suspect that the bits she hides from me are the things that might trouble my conscience.”
“You aren’t tempted to find out what they are?”
“No. I want to sleep at night.” Jemeryl rested her shoulder against the wall and looked down on the chamber. “The other things this balcony is used for is when people other than the acolytes need to give reports. Or occasionally she has a prisoner up here when she’s using the council for a trial.”
Tevi was surprised. “Bykoda bothers with trials?”
“Very occasionally. Usually for ulterior motives.”
A bench ran along the wall at the back. Tevi sat down. “I don’t envy you having to spend so much time with her.”
“We get on all right. She’s not bad company as a person and...” Jemeryl frowned, choosing her words. “I respect her. She has phenomenal ability. She’s utterly ruthless, but she’d never have carved out her Empire if she wasn’t. You’ve seen the worst of it here at Tirakhalod, but for most of her realm, the ordinary people get on with their lives in safety. Her army keeps out trolls, bandits, and werewolves. Much of her magic goes to improving harvests, if only to feed the troops. When she dies, people around here will be a lot worse off until another strong sorcerer comes along to build the next empire. Bykoda can be cruel, but she never hurts people simply for amusement. The next emperor may have a different idea of entertainment.”
Tevi shrugged. She was not convinced, but rather than pursue the topic she pointed at the chains holding up the crystals. “So, could someone up here break the chains?”
“Not easily.”
“Why not?”
Jemeryl hauled Tevi to her feet and positioned her so she was looking along the length of the balcony rail. “There. Can you see the faint shimmering?”
“Oh yes.”
“It’s a good old-fashioned, let nothing through either way type elemental barrier. This one I could smash my way through. Mavek probably could as well, although I doubt any of the other acolytes would be up to it. But Mavek couldn’t break through if he’s sitting downstairs at the time.”
“Mavek’s adept at creating magical weapons. Couldn’t he make something for an accomplice to break the field and then the chains? Once it’s down he could hit Bykoda from below.”
“They wouldn’t have time. Even if the accomplice was able to break through from the balcony, Bykoda would have got them before they had a chance to launch a second attack on the chains. It’s a question of timing, it won’t—” Jemeryl broke off suddenly.
“What is it?”
“Thinking about timing. I’ve just remembered something Bykoda said. Her vision had her in pain and collapsing. But only after she’d hit the floor did she hear the crash of the crystals dropping. Which means she must initially be attacked while the shield is in place.”
Although Tevi could not understand the magic, she was able to pull a simple conclusion from what Jemeryl had told her. “The only option is that the chair is booby-trapped.”
Jemeryl shrugged. “The only other possibility is that one of the acolytes is pretending to be far weaker than they really are. But I don’t want to think about what sort of power it would take to punch through the crystal shield. I don’t know whether to be relieved or disappointed that we’ll be back in Lyremouth by then and may never find out.”
“I think I’ll settle for relieved.”
“That’s because you don’t have my professional curiosity on the subject.” Jemeryl smiled. “Come on. Let’s go. I need to explain to Bykoda about you, the throne, and the thralls.”
Chapter Three—An Antisocial Gathering
The room was lit by mage lights which had been adjusted to cast a warm hue. If the hope had been to engender a welcoming atmosphere, it was failing miserably. The twenty or so guests were emanating waves of frosty antagonism. The hall was large enough to have taken ten times the number with ease. This allowed the little groups to form like islands, with only glares crossing the gulfs between them.
Tapestries made the room less austere than others Tevi had seen in Bykoda’s keep. Dark wood panelling showed in the gaps between the hangings. The chairs dotted at the edges were elegantly carved, with velvet cushions, but none of them were currently in use, possibly because nobody wanted to be at the disadvantage of looking up at everyone else.
The social gathering held no prospect of being fun, and the presence of thralls did not help Tevi’s mood. Armed guards stood at strategic points around the walls in their solemn black armour. Their faces were lost in the shadow of their helmets, but Tevi imagined their lifeless eyes, watching the room but seeing nothing. A row of domestic thralls with platters of food and drink waited to one side.
Jemeryl and Tevi were among the last to join the gathering. Kharel, the steward, stood at the doorway to greet new arrivals. She was a tall, skeletally thin woman of about sixty. Like several other sorcerers Tevi had met, Kharel had the unsettling habit of never truly focusing on the person she was talking to. On the few occasions that Tevi had needed to speak with the steward, she’d had to fight the continual urge to look back over her shoulder to see what was going on behind her.
Kharel gave a small nod of greeting. “Jemeryl. Please allow me, on behalf of the Empress Bykoda, to welcome you to this gathering.” Her voice was stilted, as if she were quoting from a script.
“It was gracious of Bykoda to invite us.”
Tevi controlled a scowl that might have undermined Jemeryl’s tactful reply. Command would have been a better word than invite.
Kharel continued. “I’m sure you will excuse Bykoda for not being here in person.”
“Of course.”
“Food and drink are available. Bykoda hopes that you will enjoy yourself.”
“Thank you.”
“And I’m sure that you are eager to make merry with your fellow sorcerers.”
“Er...yes.” For a moment, Jemeryl looked lost for words.
Tevi decided that the steward’s last remark could be taken as terminating the conversation and, discreetly but firmly, towed her partner away. She suspected that Jemeryl had been fighting the urge either to laugh or indulge in blunt honesty, and neither would have been wise. At the best of times, the other sorcerers were not people who made you think of the word merry, and this was certainly not the best of times.
On a daily basis, the acolytes conspicuously avoided each other as much as their work would allow. Large social events were a rare occurrence in Tirakhalod. However, the army commanders, Anid and Yenneg, were at the castle for a briefing with Bykoda. Normally they were stationed at their regional headquarters many miles away. The Empress had decided to take advantage of their presence by holding a reception for all six acolytes.
Jemeryl and a few others had also received invitations, phrased in such a way as to let the recipient know that refusal was not an option. Although there had been no direct mention of Tevi, Jemeryl had been given permission to bring two associates with her. However, the prospect of the gathering had been so grim that Tevi required several ho
urs of pleading before she had agreed to keep Jemeryl company.
After helping themselves to wine, they wandered to a clear patch of floor. A few eyes tracked their movement, but the attention did not stay on them for long, and the hostile stares soon reverted to more deeply disliked, long-standing rivals. If looks could kill, the gathering would have been over in seconds with a total absence of survivors.
Tevi leaned closer to Jemeryl and whispered, “When do they break out the fiddle and start the barn dance?”
Jemeryl half choked on her wine. Once she had recovered, she grinned back at Tevi. “I’m so pleased you’re here. I wouldn’t want to be on my own. Thanks.”
“You could have brought Klara.”
“Talking to your familiar would be rather childish in a situation like this.”
“Do you think they view talking to me as any more mature?”
“Who cares? And if it all gets too much, we can just stand in a corner and suck face. And it really wouldn’t be acceptable if I did that with Klara.”
Tevi could not stop herself from laughing. “Well, just remember. You owe me for it.”
“I don’t want to be here any more than you do.”
“I think it says something that Bykoda herself isn’t showing up.”
“Oh, she’s probably here, just not in person.”
“In what way?”
Jemeryl nodded towards the guards. “I’d guess she’s mind-riding one of the thralls. That way she gets to eavesdrop but can’t be assassinated.”
Commander Ranenok left his two junior officers and came over to join them. Once the bland exchange of greetings was over, he turned more purposefully to Jemeryl. “I’d like to thank you for the use of Captain Tevirik’s services over these last two and a half years.”
“Nothing to thank me for. It was her decision.”
The Empress and the Acolyte Page 5
