‘This one?’ Dev picked out the piece Kheda had indicated with his nod. It was made of plaques of turtleshell joined by chased gold links.
And carefully adjusted to fit me, not Chazen Saril’s greater girth.
‘And anklets to finish the set?’ Dev held out two more pieces with faint derision.
Kheda settled the belt on his hips and secured the clasp before taking the anklets and snapping them around the hems of his trousers, drawing in the loose cloth. ‘You don’t reckon much to turtleshell, do you? Nor pearls, if you’re honest, not for more than they can buy you. Why is that?’
‘Probably because I’m an ignorant barbarian with no understanding of their talismanic value,’ said Dev smoothly,
Or is it because you are a wizard? The savage mages that came with the invaders, they spurned pearls and turtleshell alike, seeking only to loot our gemstones. You claim to have no idea why. Is that the truth? Kheda let that question pass unspoken and unanswered. ‘Whatever Rekha’s plotting, I don’t think we’ll need armoured guards at dinner but you should wear your swords if not your hauberk. Go and get them.’
‘Yes, my lord.’ Sarcasm and relief weighted Dev’s words in equal measure.
‘And now I had best go to see Itrac’ Kheda smoothed his hair and beard, already as good as dry with the heat of the day slow to fade till the sun was utterly set. So we can decide our strategy before we go to dine with Rekha.
Chapter Four
Kheda headed for the door leading from the bedchamber into the hall. Dev followed and slid away towards the rear of the building.
The stocky steward who had been waiting outside the pavilion stepped up smartly and bowed low. ‘It’s good to see you back, my lord.’
‘I’m happy to be back, Beyau,’ Kheda replied courteously. ‘Is everything in good order here? Please, walk with me to my lady Itrac’s pavilion.’
Would you tell me if things weren’t going smoothly or try to fix any problem before I discovered it, rather than come and seek my counsel? How am I ever going to be wholly at ease with this household or they with me? Daish slaves knew they were free to speak their minds at all times, but we’d known each other since I was a child, for the most part. I don’t feel I know anyone here. But never take your servants for granted, that’s what Daish Reik always said, or one day you ‘ll stretch out your hand for something and it’ll stay empty.
‘We’re managing well enough now we’ve a full complement of servants,’ the steward said slowly as they walked across the island into the fast-fading evening light. ‘Hopefuls wash up with every tide but I’m not letting them stay unless they were part of the household before—or unless they look as if they’d be handy with a sword.’ He hesitated, muscular hands clasped behind his stiff back as he walked. ‘I’ve nearly doubled the warriors in your retinue.’
‘Those you’re sending away, are they returning to their homes?’ Kheda glanced at the man as they reached the first bridge over the shimmering water. Beyau’s burly build was ill-suited to the elegantly cut silk of a household slave’s formal tunic and Kheda noted that he still affected the close-cropped hair and beard of a fighting man. ‘Are you giving them all you can to help them rebuild what they have lost?’
‘All we can spare, my lord,’ Beyau assured him fervently before hesitating again. ‘Touai, who is first among my lady Itrac’s attendants, she thinks we could spare more if we weren’t maintaining so many warriors in the residence.’
‘Do we have the same numbers of swords as in Chazen Saril’s day yet?’
Kheda nodded as Beyau shook his head. ‘Then you can take on every likely swordsman until we do. The domain must present a decent Show of force to our neighbours.’
Not that all the swords of the Archipelago could turn aside the magic of the savages, if they invade again. ‘And you’re right to encourage those who are coming back to return to their homes, to rebuild their villages,’ the warlord continued. We need all hands working the land, not outstretched for unearned food.’ Then Kheda hesitated in his turn. ‘All able hands, that is. Are there many coming back unable to make shift for themselves, out of injury to mind or body?’
Is that one of the mysteries we might solve in hunting down the last of the savages? Why did they imprison so many of our people and treat them so abominably?
Beyau looked grim, dark scowl gilded by the sun on the far horizon. ‘Those who were held captive by the savages mostly just come back to die, my lord, if they come back at all.’
Dying of despair as much as the injuries they suffered being starved and beaten and worked till they dropped.
‘Whereas you came back to take up your father’s role.’
Kheda paused to look the thickset man in the eye. ‘Don’t think I don’t appreciate that.’
‘We’ll be ready for them if they ever come again.’ Beyau looked away, out over the southern waters, sword hand straying to the crescent dagger at his belt.
‘We will,’ Kheda assured him.
As long as you keep Dev happy, and keep his true nature a secret, so you can meet sorcerous fire with sorcerous fire. Can you really afford to send him away once he’s satisfied his curiosity about the savages? But what will these people think if they ever uncover such a deception?
Kheda gestured towards one of the islands on the outer edge of the reef where long huts surrounded a pounded expanse of sandy soil. ‘I take it you’re drilling the swordsmen yourself?’
Beyau looked uncertain. ‘I know it’s not my place—’
‘We’re none of us in the places we held before the invaders came,’ Kheda said unguardedly. ‘Your father may have been the residence steward but you were rising fast in the ranks of the guard—Itrac told me as much. There’s no one better to train them, is there? Tell me honestly,’ he commanded, seeing the man’s reluctance.
The steward squared his impressively muscled shoulders. ‘Jevin just isn’t used to assuming command, my lord, and some of the older ones aren’t inclined to take orders from a lad as young as him. I thought it best to step in till you returned.’
‘Good. Then you can continue taking charge until you find someone fit to be raised to captain. Dev’s less experience of command than Jevin,’ Kheda said bluntly, ‘and there’s nothing a barbarian can teach an Archipelagan about swordplay’
No, my lord.’ Beyau’s voice was neutral but a grin plucked at the corners of his generous mouth. ‘Mind you,’ Kheda said thoughtfully, Rekha Daish’s body slave, Andit, he’s both experienced and old enough to command respect among your would-be warriors. Your younger boys could learn some useful tricks from him, if you invite him to share in the daily training sessions while he’s here. I take it Jevin has extended the usual courtesies to him?’
‘I wouldn’t know, my lord,’ said Beyau stolidly, but I was thinking I might breakfast with him and Andit tomorrow.’
So Jevin still needs a hint or two. Let’s hope Andit will know how to give a few tactful suggestions to a lad thrust into precedence over a residence guard with no elder body slave’s example to follow. That wouldn’t compromise his loyalty to Rekha Daish.
They walked across the islet to the next bridge in thoughtful silence.
‘Where are we dining tonight?’ Kheda asked as they crossed the gently flexing planks. ‘And who is dining with us, besides Rekha Daish?’
‘A banquet is to be served in my lady Itrac Chazen’s great hall.’ Beyau didn’t hide his unease. ‘With all the shipmasters invited.’ He waved a hand at the various galleys and triremes safely anchored around the reefs.
‘Whose idea was that?’ Kheda frowned as they reached a sandy nub of reef where walkways branched off in several directions across the corals.
‘I believe it was Rekha Daish’s suggestion,’ Beyau answered neutrally. ‘My lady Itrac agreed it would be a splendid way to celebrate the turn of the year.’
‘Then you must have a great deal to organise. Don’t let me keep you. Unless there’s anything else?’ No, my lord.’ B
eyau bowed low.
Kheda dismissed him with a nod and walked on alone.
So Rekha has some plan to show all the shipmasters—
what? That she and I still share the familiarity of husband and wife? That I still find her desirable? That Itrac has none of Rekha’s poise or her daunting experience in the complexities of trade? Itrac must want to make a fight of it, though, otherwise she’d have come up with some reason for the three of us to dine alone. Or would she have thought of that in time? I don’t think I need any omens to tell me this isn’t going to be a relaxing meal.
Seeing Chazen islanders on all sides as well as servants and slaves, Kheda went on his way with a calculatedly carefree expression, acknowledging dutiful obeisance with a smile. By the time he reached the wide island where the first wife of Chazen always dwelt, his face felt tense and his shoulders stiff under the heavy weight of the unspoken expectation he saw on every face.
The central pavilion was huge, a hollow square offering luxurious accommodation for the extended household customary for every noblewoman of an Archipelagan domain. Wings on either side would house her faithful retainers and those craftsmen she summoned from time to time to consult on the domain’s wealth and prospects. Lesser quarters for her countless servants and slaves were tucked discreetly away at the rear.
Kheda went up the broad, shallow steps and pushed open the wide double doors to enter the spacious hall that occupied one whole side of the building. The floor was tiled in soft green and the lofty walls were decorated with hangings of translucent silk painted with seascapes in countless shades of blue. There was room for Itrac to meet with every diver and polisher whose pearls and turtleshell she would trade for the good of the domain.
Two servants were unrolling a thick carpet of mottled-blue silk with white and silver fish darting through a pattern of green seaweed and a border of multicoloured squid. They froze at Kheda’s entrance, along with a waiting crowd of household slaves, their aims full of sapphire cushions. Outdoor servants in undyed cotton appeared at a side door carrying long, low tables and an indignant exclamation died away to nothing as whoever had uttered it realised that the warlord was among them.
‘Don’t let me inten-upt you.’ Waving away dutiful bows, Kheda walked across the hall and out through the tall doors on the far side into the enclosed garden beyond. It was hot and still, the mingled perfumes of vizail, jessamine and white basket flowers heavy in the air. Grey and scarlet shadow-finches were clustered in a corner of their aviary at the heart of the garden and barely chirruped as Kheda passed. Three different gaudy glory-birds in a spinefruit tree watched him without stining a feather.
Kheda walked slowly towards the steps leading to the central entrance to the fourth side of the pavilion’s hollow heart. Doors on either side stood closed and barred. The apartments for those children of the domain grown to an age of discretion and ready to learn all their complex duties from their first mother stood in echoing emptiness.
Even if Itrac invited me to her bed tonight and my seed took root, it would be many years before I had a son grown into his strength or a daughter grown to the wisdom needed to rule in her own right. I had sons and daughters in Daish and I loved them more than I thought possible. Could I ever love children born here in the same way?
Would Rekha come here as a Chazen wife? Janne would have no right to stop her bringing her younger children, the ones below the age of reason—Vida, little Mie and Noi.
You could see your daughters taught all they would need to know to rule Chazen. Vida could be promised to some lesser son of Ritsem or Redigal and the other two married to the heirs of those domains. Ritsem Caid and Redigal Coron were always your friends. Chazen would be more secure in its alliances than it has been for generations. Wouldn’t that be doing your duty by these people?
‘My lord Chazen Kheda.’ Jevin’s precipitate arrival beside him interrupted the perfidious notions that Kheda found so hard to shake off. The youthful slave opened the door with a smile of relief. ‘Your lady wife is pleased to see you.’
‘And Ito see her.’ Kheda recovered himself and went inside.
Itrac Chazen’s personal audience chamber was an airy room floored with the Ulla domain’s most prized lustre tiles. The sunrise-pink walls were hung with draperies of white silk painted with a riot of colourful birds flitting among nut palms and lilla trees. A low table of creamy marbled halda wood in the middle of the floor was surrounded by plum-coloured cushions. Kheda noted a litter of the thin silver cylinders that courier doves carried clasped to their scaly legs and slips of coiled paper fine as onion skin. Reed pens lay across an open inkwell in the midst of them.
‘I was glad to hear you’d returned safely. How fares our domain, my husband?’ Standing by the table, Itrac Chazen wore a gown of sunshine silk shot with a blush of pink, the whispering pleats of the full skirt belted close to her slim waist with a heavy golden chain. The modest bodice rose to a high neck, leaving her slender arms and shoulders bare. She wore a triple-stranded collar of lustrous pink conch pearls and bracelets of the same sea gems. More gleamed in the net of fine braids woven from her own long hair, holding the wealth of midnight locks off her face to cascade down her back to her waist. Subtle paints of gold and shell-pink made an exquisite mask of her eyes and mouth.
Well enough, my lady wife. I visited every major island and every group of lesser ones and the spokesmen brought me word of each village. There were few enough healers bringing illnesses or injuries for my advice and I didn’t need to sit in judgement on any disputes. Our people are busy rebuilding their homes and their lives and looking forward to a better future.’
Whereas you’re looking thinner than is good for you and even Jevin’s skilled hand with a cosmetic brush can’t hide your weariness and apprehension. Though I see determination in your eyes. That’s better than the grief and confusion when we first came here.
Kheda took her hands in his and kissed her chastely on one cheek. His skin was lighter than most in these southern reaches but Itrac’s was paler still, the colour of honey. With the much-mingled blood of the central domains, she was taller than most women hereabouts, with a sparer build. ‘I gather we’re to enjoy a dinner that will be a credit to the domain.’
‘As long as there are fish in the sea and fruit on the trees we won’t go hungry.’ Itrac’s taut smile faded a little. ‘Though I see us tightening our belts before the rains, even with us drying and pickling all the excess.
‘Daish must have some surplus, after Chazen labour helped to plant their sailer and reap their harvest last year,’ Kheda remarked with studied casualness. ‘You might like to propose some mutually beneficial exchange with Rekha.’
‘I gather she had hopes of some more personal exchange with you.’ Itrac’s hazel eyes searched Kheda’s green ones.
Now dashed, sadly for her.’ Kheda surprised Itrac with a grin and a nod at Jevin who was filling two crystal goblets with the pale wine of the Archipelago from a long-spouted ewer of gold embossed with silver sea birds. ‘As I hope Jevin told you. She seems very eager for me to interfere with your trading of the pearl harvest,’ he added sceptically.
‘I’ll bet she is.’ A smile lightened Itrac’s face, her teeth white and even.
Kheda narrowed his eyes as he accepted a goblet from Jevin. ‘That doesn’t sound like a wager I want to take.’ He sipped at the wine: refreshing without being intoxicating.
Because we want all our wits about us for dealings with Rekha. How can barbarians conduct their commerce or their warfare when they are so fuddled with alcohol?
‘I’ve been picking up the threads of the network that brought news to Olkai.’ Itrac’s voice wavered a little at the mention of the domain’s former first wife. ‘Some of her favoured craftsmen have only recently returned from Daish waters and they bring interesting news.’
‘Do they?’ Kheda couldn’t restrain a qualm at the notion of Daish concerns so blithely carried south. Itrac’s eyes shone with glee. ‘The pearl oys
ters have deserted the Daish reefs.’
‘A barren year?’ The shock left Kheda hollow.
What an appalling omen for Sirket’s first full year as warlord.
‘Which is why Rekha’s come looking for Chazen pearls to help them weather this calamity.’ Itrac’s tone didn’t bode well for the Daish woman.
‘Janne and Rekha are always prepared for a lean year,’ Kheda said slowly. ‘They will have pearls and nacre stockpiled, doubtless enough to settle trades already agreed with the Ritsem and Aedis domains.’
‘Then why is Rekha so desperate to get her hands on our harvest?’ Itrac challenged him. ‘And she is desperate, believe me.’
‘I know,’ Kheda assured her. He closed his eyes, the better to scour his memory as recollection teased him. ‘I think I have it. Rekha made a deal with Moni Redigal towards the end of the last dry season for a shipload of brassware. Redigal is owed a full eighth share in this oyster harvest as it leaves the sea.’
Itrac clicked her tongue. ‘Moth Redigal is always too ready to gamble. So Daish has its brassware in return for a cupful of pearls, if Moni’s lucky.’
‘Daish won’t relish such a bargain.’ Kheda drained his goblet. ‘How can they conceal this disaster, if Redigal boats are out on their reefs waiting for their share of the unopened oysters?’
‘Mori would want pearls equal to an eighth share of a fair harvest, at the very least, as the price of her silence.’ Itrac pursed her lips.
‘Which would seriously deplete Daish reserves.’ Kheda did his best to hide his concern. ‘And they would hardly want to trade the rest in case the reefs prove barren again next year.’
It happened in my grandsire ‘s time: a full seven years when the best reefs were bare and the lesser oyster beds offered only the poorest nacre.
What does this portend, when Chazen has the richest pearl harvest within living memory?
‘So Daish has a grave problem.’ Itrac looked closely at him. ‘And we have an interesting opportunity.’ And I am now of Chazen, not of Daish.
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