by Jaye McKenna
He dreamed and woke, and still Dani wasn’t there.
And then he was.
A hand slipped under his neck and gently lifted his aching head. A spout was pressed to his lips, and cool, sweet water trickled into his mouth and soothed his parched throat.
“That’s it. Drink all you can.” The voice was dry and rasping, and didn’t sound at all like Dani. Rio pried open sticky eyes to see morning light and Bajhan’s cold stare.
“What… where’s Dani?” Rio struggled to sit up, but Bajhan pushed him back down.
“Looks like Danakho left you for dead,” Bajhan said. “Hardly surprising. Did you really think he’d want you? His mother is sister-in-law to High Lord Tyvirion of Altan, you know. I’ll warrant that’s where you were heading. Did he promise you safety if you helped him escape? Or perhaps undying love?” Bajhan shook his head. “And you believed him. How sad.”
Rio didn’t answer. Hot, sharp cramps ripped through his belly, and he drew in his breath sharply and curled on his side, clenching his teeth against the pain.
“I’ll get a fire started, make you some blackseed tea,” Bajhan said. “That’ll help with the pain.”
“Why?” Rio managed to gasp out. “Why… help?”
“So you survive to face Khalshir justice.” Bajhan’s ruined voice was flat, emotionless.
Rio squeezed his eyes shut. So much for blood ties. Had he really thought of this man as a father? Clearly the sentiment didn’t run both ways, for would a father truly deliver his son to certain death?
Dani’s father had. And Coryn’s father wouldn’t have lost any sleep over it, either.
Coryn.
Rio’s eyes flew open, but he saw no sign of his sworn brother.
“Coryn,” he whispered. “Where…?”
Bajhan’s expression grew even colder. “None of your concern.”
“He’s… he’s my… brother…” Rio protested.
“Maybe so, but your first loyalty is to the Guild. Always. I told you that when you apprenticed yourself to me.” Bajhan didn’t bother to hide the disappointment in his voice.
Another wave of pain gripped him, and Rio let out a whimper.
Bajhan rose. “I’ll pack the wound with herbs to draw out the poison, then get you dosed with blackseed tea. Looks like Danakho left us a pony, so if you can’t walk, you’ll ride. We’ll be on our way by noon, and out of the pass by dark.”
Rio didn’t even have the strength to protest.
* * *
Dani stopped to catch his breath and focused on the lights of the village. There weren’t many — just a few twinkles at the bottom of the pass. Lanterns burning outside the inn, he guessed. Assuming there was an inn. Not that it mattered. All Dani cared about was finding the healer and getting back to Rio.
Having his goal in sight had helped him during the long night while he’d picked his way down the steep mountain path. Rio was depending on him, and that kept him going when he might otherwise have given up. He hated himself for leaving Rio when he was so sick, but he hated himself more for not being able to make a fire so he could use the herbs that might ease Rio’s pain.
When he was ready to continue, he pulled the anzaria and the stimulant from his pocket and swallowed a measure of each, silently thanking Coryn for acquiring them.
By the time he reached the guard post at the foot of the pass, the drugs were working and the sun had risen. Two men wearing Altan’s black-and-silver uniforms manned the small guardhouse. One of them waved Dani over. Dani approached slowly, stomach twisting in knots.
“Welcome to Altan, sir. I’ll need your name and your business, for my records.”
“I’m Danakho Jherek,” he said. “Mother Kitra in Greenhill said I might find a healer in the village.”
The guardsman’s head snapped up and his eyes widened. “You’re expected, Master Danakho. If you’ll just come with me, I’ll be happy to escort you to the inn, where Lord Antarion awaits your arrival.”
“He’s here?” Dani gaped. “Cousin Tari is here?”
“Ai, sir. His party arrived in the village last night. Our orders are to keep an eye out for you and escort you to him the moment you arrive.”
“But… but how did he know I’d be here?”
“I couldn’t say sir, but he was convinced you would be.”
Dani followed the guardsman into the village, where folk were already moving about, gathering at the well in the center of town, or heading out to the fields surrounding the village.
The inn occupied one whole side of the town square, and seemed far too large for the size of the town, though Dani supposed it had to be large enough to house parties of travelers coming over the pass to trade.
In the common room of the inn, a party of at least eight took up much of the space, headed up by a tall man in his mid-twenties who was barking orders at a group of men dressed in Altan’s black and silver.
Dani’s heart leapt as he recognized his cousin. “Tari!” he called. “What are you doing here?”
Antarion’s head jerked in Dani’s direction and his eyes widened. “Dani!” He pushed past one of his men and covered the space between them in three long strides. “Aio’s teeth, Cousin, are you all right? Aunt Sileyna’s been worried sick about you. Well, we all have. But what’s happened? You look a fright!”
“I’m fine, but my — I mean, Rio’s not. I left him up in the pass. He’s wounded, and he needs a healer.”
“Rio? Your bodyguard?”
“Ai, but how did you know?”
Antarion shrugged. “Aunt Sileyna mentioned his name.”
“Mother did? How would she—? No, never mind, we haven’t time. Please, Tari, can we talk about it later? Rio might be dying. He was stabbed. Here” —Dani indicated his own belly— “and he was burning with fever and raving when I left him. There’s supposed to be a healer here in the village, and—”
“Soren!” Antarion called.
“Soren’s here?” Dani’s spirits rose even higher. The mythe-weaver he’d known since childhood was the one who’d healed Dani and Antarion when they’d gotten into scrapes. If anyone could help Rio, Soren could.
“Ai, he’s the one who sensed you approaching. He’s been tracking you ever since Aunt Sileyna had word from her contact in Jakhar that you’d disappeared.”
Dani blinked. “Mother had someone watching me?”
“Of course.” Antarion frowned at him. “Did you think she’d just leave you to Larrad? Aio’s teeth, no. Pendrin’s been sending her regular reports. She and my father have been arguing about you ever since she arrived a few weeks ago. Once she had word you’d left the city, she had Soren scouring the mythe for any sign of you. My father wouldn’t allow us to go after you. He said his relations with Cathan and Tallin aren’t good enough to justify sending an armed party across the border to either kingdom. We planned to wait for you here, but we’ve only just arrived ourselves.”
A moment later, Soren, High Lord Tyvirion’s personal mythe-weaver, joined them. He was the only member of the party who was unarmed, though he was dressed for travel like the rest of them. Soren was a slender man in his early fifties, with bone-white hair tied back in a long tail and violet eyes, which unfocused as he studied Dani closely.
“This boy is exhausted,” he announced. “He’s half-starved and dosed with anzaria and… something else. A stimulant?”
Dani scowled. “I’m hardly a boy, Soren. And we don’t have time for lectures. If I hadn’t taken the anzaria, I’d be a whimpering puddle, if I’d even managed to get this far. And if I hadn’t taken the stimulant, I’d have been too woozy to make sense. My bodyguard is up near the top of the pass, and he’s badly hurt. Will you come?” Soren looked to Antarion, and Dani added, “He saved my life. Father paid for assassins to kill me.”
Antarion muttered a vile curse. “Of course we’ll come. If Rio saved Dani’s life, we owe him a debt.”
“We will indeed.” Soren nodded. “And once we’re back here and the
anzaria has worn off, I will teach Danakho the shielding patterns Sileyna could not. If you were all right at your father’s estate, you probably won’t need it here, but you had no way of knowing that.” He patted Dani’s arm. “It was a sensible precaution.”
Dani’s tension melted away. “I’d appreciate the help, Soren. I can’t imagine Tirion being any more comfortable than Jakhar was. It’s been quite an ordeal trying to hide it from Father.”
“I can only imagine,” Soren said grimly. “Your mother has been most concerned.”
“Skasha!”
Dani whipped around to see Vadri, Altan’s ice-blond weapon master, coming toward him, his craggy face alight with a wide smile, colorless eyes crinkling at the corners.
“Is good to see you whole,” Vadri said in his broken, oddly accented Aeia. “Your mother, nipping at your uncle like little bug, she has been.” The weapon master towered over Dani, standing taller than anyone he’d ever met. Ordinarily, Dani would have found such a big man intimidating, but he’d known Vadri since childhood, and underneath his fierce, shaggy countenance was a gentle soul. Vadri might have taught Antarion to kill, but he’d also helped Dani nurse an injured bird back to health one summer.
Dani reached out to clasp the weapon master’s extended arm in greeting. “It’s good to see you, too, Vadri.”
“Vadri, you’re just in time to gather the men,” Antarion said, and quickly explained the situation. The two of them questioned Dani about the state of the pass, and then Vadri started barking orders at the armsmen.
With Rio’s fate in Antarion’s capable hands, Dani finally allowed himself to feel the tiniest glimmer of hope. The only thing he feared now was not reaching Rio in time.
* * *
With his belly full of the hot breakfast Antarion had insisted he bolt down while Vadri gathered and briefed the men, Dani felt a lot better than he had when he’d arrived. The stimulant still burned in his blood, giving him energy he knew he’d pay for later. Soren watched him closely, and Dani guessed the mythe-weaver knew exactly what would happen once the drug wore off.
Now, at the entrance to the pass, Dani eyed the steep path with growing impatience. The trek up would be considerably harder and longer than the journey down. Not knowing if Rio had survived the night was almost more than Dani could bear, so when Soren stopped and stared up the path with narrowed eyes, Dani almost shouted at him.
“What is it, Soren?” Antarion asked quietly.
“Khalshir,” Soren said flatly. “In the pass. No question. They mark their own in ways that can only be detected by the most sensitive of mythe-weavers.”
Dani’s heart stuttered. Did Soren mean he could sense the Guild tattoos? But Rio’s was gone…
Bajhan.
“We have to hurry!” Dani said, starting forward.
Antarion grabbed hold of his arm and pulled him back. “Wait!” He turned to Soren. “Khalshir? Coming here? They haven’t dared send an operative over the border in years.”
“No, they have not.” Soren’s voice was grim. His eerie violet eyes shifted to Dani. “The man who saved you… he is Khalshir?”
Dani swallowed as Antarion and Vadri both pinned him with hard stares. “He… I mean, he was.”
“When were you planning to share that information?” Antarion’s voice was dangerously quiet.
“He renounced them,” Dani said, fear making his voice high and shaky. What if they refused to help? What if they didn’t believe Rio truly had renounced the Khalshir?
With an effort, Dani brought his voice down to a more reasonable tone and tried to explain. “My… my father hired him and another man from the Khalshir Guild as bodyguards. When I learned Father was dealing in slaves, I stormed out of one of his business meetings. I think he realized then I’d never be able to replace Haiden, and he’d be better off without me as his successor. Shortly after that, Rio received orders to kill me and make it look like my father’s business partner was to blame. He could have done it. It would have been so easy… but instead, he helped me escape.” Dani shook his head emphatically. “There shouldn’t be any mark. The other bodyguard, Rio’s partner, Coryn, destroyed it. If you’re sensing Khalshir in the mythe, it has to be Bajhan, Rio’s mentor. He’s been chasing us for days. He intends to capture Rio and bring him back to face the Guild Master. They’ll kill him if he goes back there. I told him he’d be safe in Altan. I… I planned to ask Uncle Ty to grant him sanctuary.”
Antarion and Soren exchanged a grim look, and Antarion said in a low voice, “The man told you he was an assassin and you trusted him?”
“It’s not like that!” Dani protested.
“If he’s Khalshir, he’d say anything, do anything, to get close to his target,” Soren said. “The Khalshir are highly skilled actors and manipulators. I’m sorry, Danakho, but helping you escape was a convenient way for him to remain close to you. He was biding his time, choosing his moment.”
“No, he wasn’t,” Dani insisted. He had to make them see; Rio’s very life depended on it. “If he planned to kill me, why bother escorting me all the way through Tallin and across Cathan? He received the order over a week ago, and we’ve been together almost every moment since. Why come all this way? And why face his mentor in a fight that nearly killed him if he wasn’t committed to helping me? Please, Antarion, we must help him! If Bajhan takes him back to his Guild, he’ll be killed!”
“I cannot advise that course of action, Antarion,” Soren said.
“I fear that with Soren, I must agree,” Vadri said softly.
Antarion’s gaze shifted from Soren to Dani and back again.
Facing the three men who would determine Rio’s fate, Dani’s courage waned. Hot, bitter tears filled his eyes. “Antarion, please. I… I love him.”
Antarion searched Dani’s face, his expression grave. Finally, he said slowly, “Soren, you can use the mythe to discern the truth of a man’s words.”
The mythe-weaver huffed out his breath, and his lips pursed in disapproval. “Ai, m’lord.”
“Then I propose we rescue this Rio, heal his wounds, and once he is well enough to speak, Soren can question him. If he is truly the man Dani believes him to be, he can accompany us to Tirion as a free man, and I will support Dani’s request that my father grant him sanctuary. If he’s lying, we’ll take him back to Tirion in chains, and he will face the same fate as any other Khalshir who dares cross our border. Would that suit you both?”
“Yes!” Dani said quickly.
Soren shot Dani a pitying glance. “Ai, it would suit me, though I cannot speak for your father, Antarion.”
“I’m quite prepared to take full responsibility,” Antarion said.
“Thank you, Tari,” Dani whispered. “Can we please go now? Rio could be dying.”
“Better for all of us if he does,” Soren muttered.
Dani ignored him. All that mattered was reaching Rio before Bajhan could hurt him.
He’d worry about the rest of it later. Assuming Rio had a later.
* * *
When they reached the relatively level ground just beyond the top of the pass, Dani wanted nothing more than to forge ahead, but Vadri ordered both him and Antarion to the back of the line. Soren, too, was told to hang back unless called for. Scowling, Dani fell back to walk beside Antarion, struggling to see past the six broad-shouldered men in front of him.
Antarion put a companionable hand on his shoulder. “Easy, Cousin. If there is an assassin of some sort waiting for us, he’ll be more skilled with a blade than both of us put together. Best let Vadri and the others go ahead. They’re much better equipped to deal with him.”
The men halted suddenly. Vadri and three of his men continued forward, the remaining three forming a protective wall of steel and muscle in front of Dani and Antarion.
Dani craned his neck to see past the soldiers, but couldn’t see around the slight bend in the path. He half expected to hear shouts and the cold ring of steel on steel, but instead, he heard conv
ersation conducted in terse tones. He couldn’t make out the words, but it sounded like a negotiation; Bajhan was apparently pragmatic enough to realize he was badly outnumbered.
“Danakho!” Vadri called. “You come here.”
Dani tried to edge past the men-at-arms, but instead of parting to let him through, they moved forward, keeping their own bodies between himself and whatever lay ahead.
As they rounded the bend in the pass, Dani’s eyes sought the overhang where he and Rio had taken shelter, but in the midday sun, the little niche in the rock wall was in shadow. Bajhan stood in the middle of the path, hands on his head, flanked by two of the armsmen.
“This man, he wishes words with you, Danakho,” Vadri said.
Bajhan’s dark eyes held all the warmth of a frigid night as they fixed on Dani. “Well played, Danakho Jherek,” he said in his raspy, broken voice. He jerked his chin toward the overhang. “If he survives, tell him Iyana will be watching. If he crosses back into the Middle Kingdoms, his life is mine. No one leaves the Guild.”
“Enough,” Vadri barked at Bajhan, then turned to Antarion. “What would you have me do with him?”
Antarion glanced at Soren, then pushed past the armsmen. The mythe-weaver followed him. “Your kind is not welcome in the Tovashi Domains, Khalshir. If you should venture into the Domain of Altan, you can expect the same fate as those who came before you: a swift execution. We do not suffer the Khalshir to walk freely in our lands.”
Bajhan spat on the ground. “Then you won’t want him, either,” he said, glancing toward the shelter of the overhang where Dani had left Rio. “He’s as much Khalshir as I am. A trained assassin and a master manipulator.”
Soren stepped forward and addressed Bajhan. “His fate is no longer your concern, Khalshir. Go back to your Guild Master and deliver a message from me. Tell Iyana these lands are under my protection, as are Danakho Jherek and his bodyguard, Rio. If she sends anyone after them, I will deal with them, and then I will deal with her.”
Bajhan didn’t look impressed. “And who are you to threaten the Khalshir Guild Master, old man?”
