There was no time for languorous bed-play that day, though. There was much still to do, and the servants were already creeping about the outer rooms, clearing away the remnants of our wine, bringing fruit and herbal drinks, towels and scented water for washing, and fresh clothes for me to wear.
“I’d better go back to my own room,” he said. “Have you a robe I can wear?”
“Try that box over there. Will we eat together?” I reached for his hand, but although he smiled, he slithered out of my grasp, striding across the room, giving me a fine view of his rear.
“Maybe later.” He lifted the lid of the box, pulling out garments until he found something suitable. “Here, you’d better put something on, too.” He tossed a sliver of brightly-coloured silk towards me, which unfurled like a butterfly on the edge of the bed and then slid to the floor.
“What’s the rush? I don’t want to let you go yet. You can eat your fruit with me, surely?” Something lurched inside me, my happiness clouded suddenly. “Tonight… you’ll be with me tonight, won’t you?”
His face was turned away from me, as he tied the robe around him. “I hope so.”
“You hope so! You make it sound as if you have no say in the matter.” I couldn’t understand him. Tears pricked at my lids, but I blinked them away sharply. I would not cry.
He turned to look at me then, his face… Demons, I didn’t want to check his mind, but I needed to know. I saw affection there, but sadness, too, and something else. A steely determination.
“You have to understand, Allandra, this is not about what I want. I must do as I am bid, for reasons more important than my own wishes or feelings. Sometimes my instructions are pleasant ones, as they were last night, but—”
“Your instructions! You were instructed to bed me, were you? Well, how charming! I’m so glad it was pleasant for you. Who gives you instructions?”
“Allandra…”
“Tell me who!”
“My mother. It was her idea. To keep you happy—”
I crossed the room in two strides, and slapped him so hard his head rocked. “Get out!”
“But I thought you enjoyed it.”
“Get out! Get out, get out, get out!”
He went, collecting his clothes on the way.
I hurled myself onto the bed and cried for an hour.
~~~~~
I had drifted, exhausted, into a half-sleep when I heard a scratching at the door. After a pause, it came again. Then whispering, followed by a brisk knocking. I ignored it. All I wanted was to be left alone to wallow in misery.
But as always I was denied any chance to do so. The door opened, and a servant marched straight across to my bed.
She bowed low. “Deepest apologies, Gracious Lady, but your presence is required in the blue receiving room immediately.”
“Is it a matter of life and death?”
A hesitation. “It might be, Gracious Lady.” Another, longer, pause. “There are three Honoured Saviours awaiting your attendance.”
That got my full attention. Tre’annatha? What could they possibly want with me? I couldn’t imagine, but I had a bad feeling about it, all the same.
“Very well.” I flung back the sheets, as she lowered her eyes to avoid my nakedness. “I shall need something to wear. Formal. The best you can find.”
“All prepared, Gracious Lady.”
She was right, too. In the dressing room, several girls were scurrying about with silks and slippers and scarves, tidying away the everyday outfits previously laid out for me, and replacing them with something more appropriate. I have never dressed so quickly in my life.
Now that I was fully awake, I realised who the servant was who had dared to disturb me: the Thrurghian girl with the almost white hair. She was smart, that one.
“Thank you,” I said to her as I left the room, and she bowed, her face impassive.
~~~~~
The three Tre’annatha could have been triplets, they were so alike. The same softly curling brown hair, the same honey-coloured skin, the same slightly oval eyes. They wore the standard clothes: leather jackets and boots, with linen shirts and wide-brimmed hats. One I thought was a little older than the others, but otherwise they were virtually identical. So many centuries of breeding only with each other had left the Tre’annatha with few distinguishing characteristics, and to outsiders they were impossible to tell apart.
Nevertheless, I recognised one of them at once.
“Xando? What is all this about?” I was puzzled, but his presence reassured me. Surely nothing bad could come from anything he was involved with. But he hung his head, and wouldn’t look me in the eye.
“They have papers, child.” The Keeper’s voice behind me was soft, full of sorrow. Two of the Protectors were there, as well as Zak’s father. Zak himself skulked in the shadows, shuffling his feet, avoiding my gaze. I wondered why he was there, for surely this was dangerous for him? If the Tre’annatha knew he’d escaped the Program, he would be arrested at once.
The older Tre’annatha cleared his throat. “You are the Gracious and Beneficent Lady Flethyssanya of the Most Noble Line of Dre’allussina?”
I made a small bow of acknowledgement.
“Then I must inform you that you are required to present yourself for examination for suitability to enter the Program of Aptitude Training, as required by law.”
Ah, that. “May I ask why?”
“Everyone must be tested, Lady.”
“Your records will show that I was tested at the age of five.”
His lips curled in disdain. “True, but we have reason to believe that our records are not accurate, in this case.”
I was so tempted to make a joke about that. The Tre’annatha were meticulous record-keepers, and many a legal dispute had been settled when one of them produced the relevant ledger. Any inaccuracy was a crime of the highest order.
I decided to be diplomatic. “Indeed?”
“Indeed.” He sniffed. “We have information that suggests… some deceit was involved.”
Information. Yes, and where did that come from? Originally from my own foolish mouth, but now – who else but Xando? So much for sharing names, and the bond of trust between us. The bond of the sacred spirit was supposed to be unbreakable, even in death. No wonder he wouldn’t look me in the eye.
Oh, Xando. What a way to treat someone you professed to love.
“What sort of information?”
“You confessed your crime, Lady, and that confession has now been reported to us.”
“I find it hard to believe…” My voice shook rather convincingly at this point. “I cannot believe that any such confession could be reported. For surely such a confession would be given only to one who was entirely trusted. There would have to be a special bond existing before anyone would admit to such a thing.”
The older man snapped his eyebrows together, but before he could speak, Xando lifted his head, eyes aflame. “I had to! You must understand, I cannot stand aside and let you do this. Surely you see?”
“You betrayed me to stop me marrying the prince?”
“To stop a war. What you plan to do will cause a war, Allandra, and I must and will do everything to prevent that.”
I stamped my foot, so angry I could hardly speak. As if there had never been wars before! How did he imagine the Empire was created, except through conquest? And sometimes it takes the darkness of war to make us value the beauty of the light.
But his betrayal must not be without cost. I could at least make his friends appreciate the enormity of what he had done.
“You betrayed me for that? To stop a war? Yet this war will happen anyway. It cannot be prevented, and you have betrayed me and destroyed your own integrity to no purpose, Hyi.”
Three shocked faces stared at me. They understood the meaning of my use of his Tre’annatha name. The other two turned and stared at Xando, their minds filled with disgust at one of their kind who had not only shared his name with an outsider, but
had then broken the sacred bond. Two crimes at once. What was the penalty for that, in their culture? I would have pitied him, if I hadn’t been so angry.
I took a deep breath. There was no time to gloat over Xando’s discomfiture. He had put me in a desperate position. One wrong move, and I would be swept into the Program, locked away from the world for ever. But there was still a chance of wriggling out of it.
“Let us get to the point,” I said. “I presume you have a Letter of Recall?” One of them reached into his sleeve, but I stopped him before he could produce it. “Which I will contest. Therefore you will have to take this matter through the courts.”
“Then we will do so.”
“You will have a problem. When fire destroyed my home in Caxangur last year, I was presumed dead and my family took the legal steps to have that confirmed. I no longer exist, Honoured Saviours. In the eyes of the law I am dead, and you will be unable to proceed until that matter is resolved, which could take some considerable time. You may leave. And take him with you.” I gestured towards Xando, who couldn’t meet my accusing eyes.
They recovered their composure remarkably quickly. Tre’annatha lived by rules and laws, and the fine detail of contracts and treaties. They understood the process, and would wait with endless patience for the courts to deliver me into their hands. However long it took, they would be waiting.
The older one bowed. “We understand. But there is the other matter…”
Demons, now what? I couldn’t miss the bolt of terror that shot through Zak and his parents. So they had come for him, too, had they? That was more difficult. For the first time, real fear made my heart race. My palms were damp with sweat.
“We wish also to talk to the Gracious and Beneficent Lord Sorthysszakkarvyn of the Most Noble Line of Dre’zindassyon.”
“What is your business with him?” I said, before Zak could move. I wasn’t sure if they knew who he was, but if they didn’t, we had some chance of getting out of this mess.
“We have an Order of the Imperial Court for his arrest, for unauthorised absence from the Program of Aptitude Training, as detailed in the Settlement Agreement between the Provisional Government of Mesanthia and—”
“Yes, yes, yes. We all know the agreement off by heart, I am sure. The paper, if you please?”
Meekly he handed it over. There was silence elsewhere in the room. The others were behind me, out of my vision, but I wondered if they had all stopped breathing.
I scanned the paper. It was lengthy, but it included every necessary clause, and I could find not a single error. Nothing to give me cause to reject it, anyway. But there was a slender hope, still.
“That seems to be in order.” I handed it back. “Now all you need to do is identify this man.”
They laughed, looking at Zak and back to me. “That will not be a problem, I think. We have already been introduced to Lord Sorthysszakkarvyn.”
“You have been introduced to a man calling himself that, it is true. But a man can give himself whatever name he wishes.”
“His mother can identify him, I believe. That is acceptable to us.”
Such discourtesy made me seethe with anger. To speak of the Keeper so casually! One of Xando’s great virtues was his respect for the Akk’ashara, but these people had all the traditional Tre’annatha arrogance. Well, they would soon be powerless, and they could be disrespectful to the Empress, if they dared.
“It may be acceptable to you, but it is not acceptable to the law. The only approved means of identification for those of Highest rank is by means of examination of ear tattoos, and you will need an Order from the Imperial Court for that.”
I held my breath. If they insisted on examining Zak here and now, it would be impossible to refuse. The Keeper could hardly be obstructive in such a matter. But I was gambling on the Tre’annatha’s preference for legal formality.
There was a long, long silence. Then two of them bowed, in synchrony. “We will return when we have the Order.”
They left, Xando trotting in their wake, head down.
Zak was the first to start laughing, then his mother. The rest smiled, and clapped him on the shoulder or hugged him. The Third Protector hugged me, too.
“That was amazing!” he said. “How did you learn these tricks?”
“It was her father, I expect,” the Keeper said. “Lyon was an expert at devious legal escapes. He made a fortune that way, as you will learn, child, as soon as you are no longer dead and have access to his wealth. He taught you well.”
“Indeed he did.” But there was no time to enjoy my triumph. “He also taught me not to linger after a success, in case the defeated party dreams up another scheme. We need to get Zak out of Mesanthia at once.”
41: Hurk Hranda
We left the Keeper’s Tower within the hour, hiding impatiently at the Imperial Barracks while hordes of minions scuttled round gathering everything we needed. We were on our way before dusk. The Keeper provided us with four large barges, the Third Protector and a hundred Keeper’s Guards to escort us, so we floated down the canal towards Graendar in some style.
I wasn’t speaking to Zak. I couldn’t forgive him. In some ways, his betrayal cut me more deeply than Xando’s, for at least I understood that. It was just politics, a desire to keep the world stable and at peace. That was the Tre’annatha way, to take no risks, to avoid bloodshed at all costs. Well, we would never agree on that. I was a daughter of the Empire, and the desire for battle – to win – echoed in every part of my body.
But Zak had seduced me and then told me openly that he acted only on the Keeper’s orders. It was humiliating, and I hated him for it. The worst of it was, he didn’t have the slightest idea what he’d done wrong. “I thought you enjoyed it,” he’d said in hurt tones when I’d screamed at him. Of course I had, I believed he’d finally come to love me, or at least to appreciate my love for him. It wasn’t so much the sex I’d enjoyed, as the deep pleasure of having him willingly in my bed at last, with no ulterior motive. Or so I’d thought.
Now all my dreams were shattered, and I sailed to my wedding wracked with grief for the man I loved, and also hated.
The one consolation in the whole sorry mess was that Xando was left behind at last. It was the only thing that brought a smile to my lips. So I could scarcely believe it, as we waited for permission to pass through Graendar, when a fast carriage rattled along the canal-side road and halted in a cloud of dust.
Out of it stepped Xando. And trailing behind, Renni. They had the correct permits to allow them to join us, too. The Third Protector raised a wry eyebrow to me.
“Well, they’re not coming on my barge!” I said.
His eyes twinkled and he led them away to some distant part of the convoy. I saw them only at meals, when we were surrounded by high-ranking officers and there was no need for any of us to talk to each other. If we had all been squeezed into Zak’s tiny barge, we would have killed each other within a day, I swear it. Well, I would certainly have killed Xando and Renni, and I was glad my self-control was never put to the test. Zak – I didn’t know. I wanted to hurt him, to make him pay for what he’d done, but no more than that. But how would he react if I tried? There was a ruthlessness in him that unsettled me. If it came to it, he would kill without a second thought.
~~~~~
The Hurk Hranda landing grounds were chaotic. Between the crumbling wharves where we left the barges and the stone ring of the city lake was a vast field covered with pavilions, smaller tents, wagons and carts, a small city in its own right, but without any regulation or order. It was both a market field, where river traders came to sell their goods, and a resting place for those coming and going.
There were no inns – no solid buildings at all – so we sought out a spare piece of ground and raised our pavilions in a neat square. The area had been recently vacated by vegetable traders, so the junior Guards and subordinates had to sweep it clean first. It could have been worse, I suppose. We might have been following the s
laughterer. At least the ground was dry, a mercy at this time of year.
Most of those sprawled over the landing grounds would stay for a few days, transact their business and then move on. Few were entering the city itself, as I was. There was only one entrance, for the stone-rimmed lake blocked all access apart from a narrow path. The entrance itself was heavily guarded, and even though I was expected, I was not allowed to pass through. Only a Hrandish warrior could admit visitors, and their concept of courtesy to guests was to treat them with contempt. Any degree of politeness was seen as weakness, and the more important the guest, the greater the insult extended. So the Third Protector left word of my arrival with the warriors at the entrance, and then we settled down to wait.
“There is still time to change your mind,” he said to me at third table that evening. “We can be packed up and away from here in an hour. Two, at most. We will protect you from them. This blood-price is barbarous.”
“I have made my choice,” I said. “There is no going back now.”
He grunted. “But if things go badly for you… you know how to contact Zakkarvyn?” I nodded. “He will stay until… well, as long as needed. I will come with you to the ceremony, but then I will have to leave, and the others, too.” He tilted his head towards Xando, lost in thought, and Renni, glowering at me across the table. Her greater tranquillity at Mesanthia had evaporated, and her mind was again a maelstrom of conflicting emotions, too complicated for me to disentangle. But I gave her little thought. I wasn’t sure why she had come on this journey, but she would soon be gone and I would never see her again.
That night, Zak followed me to my pavilion.
“Do you want company?” he said, his voice low.
The Magic Mines of Asharim Page 39
