The Second God

by Pauline M. Ross

  I rather enjoyed seeing Ly in a forceful mood like this, his face set and his mind quite determined. The Clanfolk fell back at his approach, and many of them made the respectful gesture as he passed, touching the forehead with a little bow. For so long he had been diffident, acting the prisoner long after everyone else in Kingswell had stopped thinking of him that way. Now he had his power, and that gave him the confidence to be the leader he was destined to be. Without the blood-bonding, I might even have been a little afraid of him, but that was impossible now. I was joined to him – we were all three of us joined, no longer three people, but one.

  Ly turned onto a narrow street tightly packed with clava. Several had smoke emerging from a hole in the roof, and there were cooking smells wafting about that made my mouth water. Pay-hoom was in a smaller clava nestled amongst the larger ones like a duck in a flock of geese. Although it was mostly of wood, skin curtains served as doors and window coverings. They were all tied back in the evening warmth, and Ly ducked through the entrance without ceremony, Arran and I on his heels.

  There was no furniture inside, just a couple of rugs covering the bare earth, and some furs in the corner. Pay-hoom was bending over a young woman with a tiny baby. Both women glared at us as we marched in. I could detect Pay-hoom’s mind clearly, but not the woman’s. Another one with no bond, I guessed.

  “What is the meaning—”

  Ly raised a hand. “My apologies for intruding, mother, but I must speak to Elder Pay-hoom without delay.”

  Pay-hoom’s face changed. “Sho? You found him? Is anything wrong?”

  “I hope you can answer that question for me,” Ly said. “It is not Sho who concerns me, but his wife.”

  “Her! Pfft. She is no true wife. He is byan shar, he can’t marry someone like her. He can’t marry anyone at all, not yet. I will choose a suitable wife for him when the time comes.”

  “It may be too late for that,” Ly said. “Is it possible they are blood-bonded?”

  Surprisingly, she laughed at him. “Blood-bonded? No, impossible!” But her face changed, and even without deliberately looking into her mind, I felt the rush of horror. “No,” she whispered. “Surely he wouldn’t… would he?”

  23: Return To Kingswell

  We left the mother with her new baby, and followed Pay-hoom to the elders’ clava, where she summoned the other elders. Ly explained what we had observed, and the shocked faces around us told their own tale.

  “But what does it mean?” I said. “Why is it such a terrible thing?”

  Ly translated, and it was Pay-hoom who answered. “Sho’s power is still new and unstable. His blood is dangerous to others, but it is just as bad if he receives blood himself. In a byan shar the blood runs true, just as it did in the First Ancestor and the Four Sons. If it becomes contaminated by other blood… it may change Sho’s development fundamentally.”

  “But is it likely?” One of the other elders said. “Sho knows as well as anyone the dangers of blood-sharing before the right time. It can only be attempted when a byan shar reaches his full power, as Ly has done… although his choice of clavaia is not one I approve of.” He glanced with lowered brows at Arran and me.

  “What might be the outcome?” I said, and again Ly translated. Not for the first time, I wished I’d tried a little harder to learn the language.

  “Insanity is possible, though unlikely,” Pay-hoom answered. “Or Sho’s power may grow uncontrollably. At this stage in his life, it must be kept in check. But you know that all too well, byan shar.”

  Ly smiled ruefully. “True. I took us into war long before I was capable of it.”

  “Another possibility is that Sho’s wife may acquire his power,” said another elder.

  “I saw no sign of that,” I said. “There was no magic in her.”

  The elders seemed relieved when this was translated for them.

  “We know so little,” one grumbled. “It’s all guesswork and speculation. I have no memories of such a case.”

  “Your father is Wild Hunter Clan, isn’t he?” another one said to Ly. “They live so close to Dragon Mountain that they have many elders. There may be an elder there who remembers a previous byan shar who blood-bonded early. Some of them must have tried it or we wouldn’t know how dangerous it is.”

  “Do you know, Pay,” one of the other elders said, “I don’t believe Sho would do such a thing. He’s no fool, and he understands the rules. He sat here with us hour after hour, as we explained it all to him.”

  “That was before she got her claws into him,” Pay said. “His wife, indeed! The very idea!”

  “Oh, but they have known each other for years, surely?” Ly said. “So they told us, anyway.”

  “Years?” Pay said. “Nonsense. Sho had never met her until we came here after the Challenge. Jes-shafaa was in the clava of smiles, but she came to the castle and latched onto him and he was drawn in by her. But I shall deal with her. I’m his mother, he will listen to me.”

  “Clava of smiles?” I whispered to Ly. “Is that what I think it is?”

  He chuckled. “A brothel, yes. It is a common occupation here, for a woman who chooses not to have her three children, but not as respectable as Bennamore’s inn companions.”

  The talk went on for some time, and continued over the evening meal, but they went round and round the problem without coming up with any new ideas. The only answer anyone could suggest was that Pay-hoom would talk him round. While I approved of Pay-hoom’s confident tone, it seemed to me that Jes was equally confident, and Sho was very much under his wife’s spell. And perhaps it truly was a spell – some kind of magical hold she had over him, who could tell? If it had really happened so quickly, that seemed possible. It was worrying, but there was nothing more for us to do about it. We had to leave it to Pay, and hope that she could draw her son back from Jes’s unpredictable influence.

  We slept that night at the elders’ clava, and I had another opportunity to regret that we hadn’t stayed on Ly’s island for a peaceful night to ourselves. Ly fell asleep quickly, but Arran and I were wakeful, and then found ourselves made uncomfortable by the distinct sounds of coupling going on elsewhere in the clava.

  “Do you want to?” I whispered.

  “Not without Ly, no. It would not feel right.”

  But it was a long time before we fell asleep.

  ~~~~~

  After the morning meal, we summoned our eagles and prepared to depart.

  “Are you going to see Sho again?” his mother asked, seeing us preparing to fly.

  “No, we have to go back to Kingswell,” Ly said. “We must lay all this information before the Drashona.”

  “The Bennamore queen? What can she do?”

  “I hope she won’t need to do anything, but she should be aware that Sho’s behaviour may be unpredictable. She may wish to take precautions.”

  “I can deal with Sho,” Pay said quickly. “There won’t be any need for the queen to bestir herself on our account. We have no quarrel with Bennamore – you can tell her that.”

  Ly nodded. “If there is trouble, will you send word to me? A message left at the lake of growth, with one of the mages, will reach me. If Sho becomes… unstable, send for me, and I’ll help. My wife, also. She can extract all his magic.”

  Pay threw me a glance full of distaste. “I know what she can do. Such a skill won’t be necessary.”

  “Hmm. Perhaps not, but you never know when you might have a need for it.”

  And so we left, with a great deal of dislike on both sides. I nurtured a hope that we would never need to return to the Clanlands. Even if they were the friendliest people in the world, there was something alien about them, to my mind, and I felt very out of place there, neither fully accepted nor treated with honour as a guest. The prospect of returning to Bennamore filled me with joy, lightening my heart.

  We flew through rain, but even that didn’t dampen my spirits. Each marker we passed brought me nearer to home – the ruins of the
forward camp, the Imperial Road, Lakeside, calm in sunshine, the border fortress and then the northern road. The only troubling note was the sight of a long train of wagons and marching soldiers heading south from the border. Too many for a routine patrol, or a regular change of troops.

  But when we reached Kingswell, it looked the same as ever, the Keep massive in red stone, the sprawl of the city itself, its streets lined with trees heavy with fruit, all slumbering under summer’s warmth. And nestling in the arms of Candle Mountain, its walls gently glowing, the Imperial City, the magic of thousands of years ago preserving it just as it always was.

  We swept in to land on the roof of the Keep just before sunset, the watch guards running forward to greet us.

  “The Most Powerful will be so pleased to see you,” the commander said, and somehow that worried me more than anything else he could have said. The guards were usually phlegmatic, and never commented on the political goings on.

  “She is not ill?” I said.

  “No, no,” he said. “Just – a lot going on at the moment.”

  That sounded ominous. However, Yannassia would be at evening board, and we were tired and dusty, so we went straight to the apartment, startling the servants. They’d had a very pleasant time of it, no doubt, while we’d been away, so I didn’t feel guilty about setting them jumping to run baths and find clean clothes and wine – gods, but I needed a glass of wine.

  I had barely taken a sip when I heard voices in the outer rooms, then the inner door flew open and Yannassia ran in, literally ran. I’d never seen her move so fast before. She was wearing one of her most formal gowns, dripping with jewels, so I guessed she’d abandoned an official dinner to check on us.

  “Thank the gods! I have been so anxious about you all. Are you well? Drina, you look tired. And Arran – are you all right? We heard you had a seizure of some kind. And Ly – ah, it is so good to see you all again. Tell me everything, absolutely everything.”

  Torthran came in behind her, with the bodyguards. “Dearest, they have just this minute stepped off their eagles. I expect they would like to clean up and have a meal.”

  “They can bathe later. Steward!” She snapped her fingers. “Food, at once, if you please. Anything you have ready. The servants’ soup will do very well. Now, sit, the three of you, and tell me all about it, starting with this blood-bonding.”

  Ly did most of the talking. I sat and sipped my wine and watched the amber pendant glimmering at his throat. How far he had come in just a short time. How far we had all come. It was less than two moons since we’d left Kingswell, yet it felt oddly different to me now. The stone walls pressed in on me from all sides, and Yannassia’s gold-trimmed gown, her elaborate hair and sparkling jewels seemed ostentatious. I must appear like a rustic cousin, with my filthy flying clothes and dishevelled hair, and yet I was contented. I would have liked a bath, but that was all. Some Clan ways had seeped into me after all.

  The servants crept in to light the lamps. They brought small tables and placed dishes of this and that in front of us. I could barely eat it. After the simple, tasty meals in the Clanlands, the heavy stews and pastries with thick sauces sat like iron in my belly. I had a little soup, and a few pieces of bread, and drank the wine, and longed for Ly’s fish, fresh from the lake, stuffed with herbs and berries and glazed with wild honey.

  “So he will not bring war upon us, this Sho-heest?” Yannassia said, getting straight to the heart of the matter.

  “Unlikely,” Ly said. “The Clans do not have the stomach for another war, not against Bennamore. They have learned to respect your army. So long as we do nothing to provoke them, Bennamore should be safe.”

  “But what has been happening here?” I asked. “Are we also safe from the golden army?”

  “For the moment,” she said. “Rinnfarr Gap is settling back into some level of normality, and trade is flowing freely there. Greenstone Ford – I am concerned about Greenstone Ford, I will admit that. We had one report from our people inside, that they were in hiding but safe for the moment. So all is well, and sooner or later there will be an opportunity for them to escape. We have set up a watch post in the hills nearby, and Flenn is flying back and forth with messages.”

  “Any word from Lathran?”

  “He was the one who got word out to the watch post, but since then, nothing.”

  “This must have disrupted the new trade routes,” I said. “Shallack Gurshmonta will be gaining no benefit from his new licences.”

  “He is continuing as best he can,” she said. “Greenstone Ford is still accepting some goods, so there is money to be made. He also has the idea he might be useful to our people trapped inside the town, if they manage to escape.”

  “Better to keep well away,” I said in alarm. “They are safe, for the moment. Best not to interfere.” I glanced across at Arran, who was studying the pattern on the rug intently. We all remembered that his indiscretion had let slip to the Gurshmontas that we had spies within Greenstone Ford.

  It must have been after midnight when Yannassia finally left, for I’d heard the calls of the watch changing some time before. It was a relief to be alone together at last. Outside the door, the hordes of servants waited for orders, even at this hour, and our bodyguards waited to be called upon to defend our lives with their own, should assassins materialise out of the darkness and penetrate the unclimbable walls of the Keep. But within our sitting room, it was just the three of us. I nibbled a pastry and Arran refilled my wine glass for me.

  Ly stood up. “Well, there is no point attempting to see the children tonight, so I shall say good night. Sleep well.”

  “Wait, where are you going?” Arran said.

  “To my own rooms.” But his mind was full of longing. He rubbed his hands against his trousers.

  “No, no, no!” Arran said, crossing the room in three strides. “Absolutely not!” And he wrapped Ly in a bear hug.

  “But I do not want—” Ly began.

  “We stay together, always,” Arran said fiercely. “Tonight you sleep with us.”

  With one hand, he raised Ly’s face and bent to kiss him. Ly gave a small squeak and then leaned into the kiss. And because I was in their minds, I shared all their pleasure in the moment too.

  When they finally broke apart, laughing, I said, “I’m still planning to bathe first.” We’d eaten, but we were still wearing our flying gear, and my hair was still gritty with dust.

  “Good idea,” Arran said. “Ly has not yet enjoyed our big bathing tub.”

  I went to the door, and flung it open. The steward and half a dozen servants waited outside.

  “Is there still hot water?” I asked the steward.

  “Of course, Most Powerful,” she said, chin lifting in pride. Yes, naturally there was. I’d given orders for it hours since, and no doubt servants had been busy draining and refilling the tubs to ensure that it was there waiting for me, whenever I was ready. It was lucky, I suppose, that hot water flowed instantly from valves at the Keep. At least no one had been running back and forth with ewers of hot water, as they had to at Lakeside.

  “Is there enough for the big tub?”

  She licked her lips. “Yes, Most Powerful.” Behind her, a junior scuttled away to make sure of it.

  We spent an hour lounging in that tub, soaking away every last trace of grime. Then, in a fresh robe apiece, Arran and I each took one of Ly’s hands and led him through to our bedroom, and made slow, sweet love to him to welcome him to our bed.

  ~~~~~

  There was no gentle reintroduction to the high politics of Yannassia’s court. My steward woke me shortly after the first bell, with many apologies and trying not to stare at the two men in bed beside me.

  “The Most Powerful requests your immediate attendance,” she said, eyes demurely lowered.

  “Where?” I said, rolling out of bed and shrugging into the robe she was holding for me.

  “Her private morning parlour. There is a list of your meetings for this morning
on the dresser. Your secretaries are working on your afternoon and evening engagements, but the list is not ready yet. Your bathing tub is ready for you, and clothes are laid out in your dressing room, Highness.”

  I would like to say that I slipped instantly back into my role as Yannassia’s heir and political advisor, but I didn’t. I’ve never found it so hard to concentrate, to pick up the significant facts, to understand the nuances. There were urgent voices constantly making demands and reporting problems. The army was moving south and east to shore up our defences against the golden army, and there were a thousand issues to deal with. The merchants were panicking, the farmers were increasing prices, and in some places whole villages were abandoned as their inhabitants moved to safer parts of the realm. And that was just Bennamore. The Icthari were sending increasingly shrill demands for support, and even the phlegmatic Port Holdings were suggesting that some additional troops from Bennamore would be reassuring.

  To my surprise, Ly was quite happy to accompany me to all my meetings, to explain the state of affairs in the Clanlands and assure the frightened nobles that there was no immediate threat from there. He exuded confidence, and the nobles calmed at his words. Even Yannassia nodded approvingly. For myself, I gloried in him as leader, at last, a role which suited him very much better than it did me. Sometimes, he even explained things to me when I got confused. He had an excellent grasp on the complexities of the situation.

  Arran was thrilled to be back in the thick of things, too. As a mere drusse, he was excluded from all the formal meetings but he could now watch everything that went on through my eyes. Sometimes, when I was drifting off from boredom, his voice would pop into my head. “Can you turn your head a little, Drina?” Or he would say, “Who is that speaking? Show me!” And afterwards, he would be bubbling over with enthusiasm, wanting to discuss the details endlessly, and even meals were taken up with their debates. There were times when we went to bed, and the two of them ended up talking half the night about troop dispositions and grain supplies and the precise interpretation of a report from the border.