The Queen's Blade III - Invisible Assassin

by T C Southwell

  "My Queen. It is fortuitous that you find me clothed. A few minutes earlier and I might have been in the bath."

  Minna glanced at the tub. "My Lord Conash. Finding you in the bath would not have inconvenienced me in the least, I assure you."

  A smile tugged at his lips. "It was not your convenience of which I was thinking."

  She waved it away. "I am not here to argue with you. I have great news for you. I could not wait to bring it."

  "Are you a messenger now?"

  "Do not be flip with me, My Lord."

  He sighed and inclined his head. "As you wish, My Queen."

  "I have news of your sister. Are you not eager to hear it?"

  "Naturally." He looked unconcerned.

  "She is in the palace, and Kerrion is bringing her here even as we speak. He wished to surprise you, but I thought..."

  The assassin swung away to stare out of the window, and Minna gazed at his back, puzzled. "Are you not pleased, My Lord?"

  He nodded. "Of course I am. Is he certain that she is my sister?"

  "Apparently."

  "I find it hard to believe."

  "Kerrion went to great lengths to establish her identity. He sent advisors to question her before she was brought to the palace. How many Jashimari women of her age, named Alenstra, do you think the Cotti took as slaves?"

  "Probably only one," he muttered.

  "Then surely it is not so hard to believe that she is your sister?"

  He turned to face her. "It is hard to believe that she has survived all these years, and that he has found her so quickly. I had always thought her dead."

  "I see. Then you must be very happy."

  "That she has been found, yes, but not that she has suffered all these years as a slave of some Cotti."

  Minna nodded. "I understand. But at least now she is free and returned to you. She can enjoy the rest of her life. She is still young. Surely that is better than being dead?"

  "Not always." He looked out of the window again, and his constant gloomy outlook on life saddened Minna. If there was any bad in a situation, Blade would find it, she mused, a reflection of his own harsh existence that he would willingly end if the opportunity arose. Minna swung around as the door opened. Kerrion entered, stopping in surprise when he saw her. He glanced at the assassin, then frowned at her.

  "You told him."

  "He had the right to know."

  The King sighed in frustration, then stepped aside and beckoned to the woman who stood outside. She came forward, her eyes fixed on Blade's back. Minna shot Kerrion an accusing look, for there was no joy or expectation in Alenstra's expression, only trepidation. The King ignored her censure, his eyes flicking past her to the assassin, who still faced the window.

  "Blade, here is your sister, Alenstra."

  Alenstra gasped and raised a hand to her mouth, her heart filling with wonder and joy. Her eyes clung to the black-clad man, who turned with what seemed like incredible slowness, her hungry gaze noting every detail of him as it was revealed. His strong, yet fine face had their father's nose and their mother's mouth, but the coldest eyes she had ever seen. Their flat gaze made him almost unrecognisable, for none of her family had ever possessed eyes as cold as a midwinter's day. Her throat closed, making her gasp again as she struggled to speak his name, hardly daring to believe her eyes. When she forced a sound from her tight throat, it came out as a croak.

  "Orcal?"

  He shook his head. "Orcal is dead."

  Alenstra brushed a tear from her cheek and walked closer, studying him. She had known the instant she saw his face that he was her brother, but he bore only a vague resemblance to any of the young brothers she remembered. He was too old to be her younger brother, Orcal, but his age was hard to determine. Since she had seen her older brother die on the day the Cotti had attacked Goat's Rest, that only left one other possibility.

  "Ash? Is it you?"

  He nodded. "Yes."

  Alenstra closed the gap between them, reaching out to embrace him. He made no move to reciprocate, and she stopped, her arms falling to her sides. Once again she searched his face with a kind of desperation, finding his expression distant.

  "Don't you recognise me?"

  "When last I saw you, you were only fourteen, but yes, I do." Blade cast Minna a meaningful look, and the Queen turned to Kerrion, taking his arm.

  "It is time we left, I think."

  Kerrion resisted. "But -"

  "We are in the way, Kerrion."

  The King grumbled, but obeyed, and Minna shot Blade a parting smile as she closed the door behind her. The assassin stepped around his sister and walked over to the table to pour himself a cup of wine, downing half of it in a gulp. Alenstra watched him, looking puzzled and distressed.

  "Are you displeased to see me, Ash?"

  "No. And don't call me that." He slipped into common Cotti speech, since she used it.

  "Conash. You seem angry."

  "I am." He poured another cup of wine and offered it to her. She took it, looking almost afraid of him. Blade swung away and walked over to the window again. "But not with you. With those who enslaved you."

  "What happened to you? How did you come to be here, and why did the King call you a very important man?"

  "Did he?" Blade smiled. "I escaped. I have lived as a free man for the past fourteen years. I have become important to the Cotti King because I am now what our father would have despised me for becoming."

  "Papa loved you." Alenstra walked around him to study his expression, foiling his attempt to hide it.

  "When I was a child."

  "He would have loved you still."

  "No." Blade fingered the high collar that hid his mark. "Not now."

  "Why?"

  He frowned and sipped his wine. "There's no need for you to know. I'll have you sent back to Jashimari as soon as it can be arranged. You'll go and live on my estate, take a husband if you wish, enjoy your freedom."

  Alenstra bowed her head, so used to obeying orders that she did not argue. "What about you? Won't you be coming too?"

  "No. I have work to do here. If I can, I'll join you." He raked her submissive posture with angry eyes. "Look at you, a slave even now. You dress like a Cotti, speak like one and act like a damned Cotti woman."

  She raised her head. "What choice did I have? I had to become what they wanted or be whipped and starved."

  "But now you're free. Have you forgotten how a Jashimari woman behaves? You accept orders from your younger brother without question? This is not the Alenstra I remember."

  Her eyes shimmered with tears. "That was a lifetime ago. You're a stranger to me now, Ash... Conash."

  "Am I?" He took a gulp of wine. "And when I send you to my estate, will you take orders from the housekeeper and grovel every time you meet a man? I would be ashamed."

  Alenstra's eyes overflowed, and she covered her face.

  Blade swung away with a curse. "Cry, why don't you? You, who used to be the bravest of us, who used to give even Rykar black eyes and a bloody nose. Now you're nothing more than a snivelling Cotti whore."

  He banged his wine cup down so hard that the wine spouted from it and splattered down on the table. "Have you no pride left, no spirit? You stand there and weep while I insult you. The Alenstra I remember would have knocked me down by now."

  "We were children then."

  "Oh, so now you are incapable? Now you could not take a swing at me? I'm the one you used to boss around, remember? Ash do this, Ash do that. Now you cower and cringe like a damned Cotti slut!"

  "Why are you being so cruel?"

  "Because I'm ashamed of you! You should have died like the rest, not become some Cotti lord's plaything. I was the one who watched them die, forced to dance like dogs in the sand, little girls who begged for mercy and were laughed at. I tried to help them, where were you?"

  Alenstra wiped the tears from her cheeks. "I was taken away almost at once, brought to Indala and placed in a Cotti harem. I did
n't know what happened to the others."

  "And didn't care! Did you enjoy the arms of the fat Cotti pig so much? Is that why you didn't stick a knife in him while he snored beside you?"

  Alenstra's head snapped up, and she closed the gap between them in a stride, her hand lashing out. He staggered from the blow, clasping his cheek. Alenstra stepped back, shocked by her action. He straightened, and she backed away, trepidation extinguishing the momentary spark of rage. Conash stepped towards her, and she raised her arms to ward of the expected blow. He grabbed her wrist.

  "Don't do that. Do not cower! I'm your brother. Your younger brother. I'm Jashimari, not a damned Cotti. I don't hit women, Alenstra."

  "Oh, Ash!" She flung her arms around his neck and hugged him. "I'm so sorry! Why did you make me do that?"

  "I wanted to see if you still could." He stood rigid in her hold, not returning it, nor rejecting it. Becoming aware of his reticence, she released him and stepped back to scan his face with anxious eyes.

  "What's wrong? What's happened to you?"

  He turned away. "Many things. It's been a long time since you last saw me."

  "I know, but you're so different. You used to be -"

  "A child."

  She shook her head. "No, it's more than that. You're so cold and distant, like you don't care."

  "Maybe I don't."

  "I don't believe that. No one could have changed that much. You're hiding something. Tell me what it is."

  "I think it's time you left. I'm sure you've been assigned suitable quarters for your stay."

  "No." Alenstra went over to his bed and sat on it, surprised by her temerity. After so many years of obeying orders without question, it was strange but enjoyable to defy them. Her brother had freed her from the chains of submission by goading her to anger and inviting her to vent it, then not punishing her for it. He had done in a few minutes what might otherwise have taken years of normal living to achieve. Her spirit had revived, the pent-up anger and frustration that had simmered within her for so many years had found release, and she revelled in her newfound freedom. That he had been the recipient of her angry blow shamed her, for he was, of all people, the most blameless. Her years of training urged her to obey him, but now she knew that she could refuse with impunity, and her old spirit rushed back to fill the void of her self-respect.

  "Now that I've found you, do you think I'm going to leave so soon?"

  Blade turned to look at her, something he had hardly done since she had entered the room. She wondered if her face brought back too many unwanted memories. A faint smile curled his lips when she patted the bed beside her, but he chose to sit at the table and pour himself another cup of wine.

  "Why did the King call you Blade?"

  "Don't expect answers to all your questions."

  "Why? What are you hiding?"

  "You know, when Kerrion offered to try to find out what happened to you, I never expected him to find you. Although I'm glad you're alive and now free, I would rather you went back to Jashimari as soon as possible, and without asking a lot of awkward questions."

  Alenstra frowned. "I think I should know about my brother, Ash. If you won't tell me, I'm sure others will."

  "Undoubtedly. When you return to Jashimari you'll have no trouble finding the answers to all your questions, but you won't get them from me."

  Alenstra rose and approached him, catching his sleeve when he jumped up and tried to move away. "I'd rather you told me. What is so terrible that you don't want to tell me, but you're content to let me find out from others?"

  "Because I don't want to see the disgust in your eyes."

  "I would never... You're frightening me. I'm your sister!"

  "Yes. Until now I thought I was alone. I never expected... one of my family to know..."

  "What? Tell me!"

  He looked away. "I cannot."

  Alenstra studied his averted face, then stroked his cheek. He jerked away, and she murmured, "If it's what the Cotti did to you, I have already noticed."

  He smiled. "You're more observant than most."

  "That's not it, is it?"

  Conash raised a hand to his collar again, and Alenstra noted the repeated gesture. "What else did they do to you that you're so ashamed of?"

  "They didn't do it to me. I did it to myself."

  She reached for his collar. "Show me."

  "No." He grabbed her wrists and held them. "Don't."

  She met his eyes, her heart filled with determination. "I haven't forgotten what it is to be a Jashimari woman. For these past eighteen years I have had to deny that knowledge and submit in order to survive. But as you reminded me earlier, I am a Jashimari, and you're my younger brother. As such, you have no right to give me orders."

  "I'm not ordering you. I'm asking you to leave it alone."

  "Let go of me."

  "You know, Jashimari may be a matriarchy, and the men don't ill treat women there, but you also don't have the right to give me orders."

  She smiled. "I'm not ordering you. I'm asking you to let me go."

  Blade gazed at her, and something died in his eyes. "Perhaps I shouldn't care what you think of me. I don't care about anything else, and you'll find out soon enough. I'm only trying to delay the inevitable." He released her wrists. "Go ahead, satisfy your curiosity, then you can leave, because you won't ever want to see me again afterwards. I'll have found you and lost you in the space of half a time-glass, but I suppose it doesn't really matter."

  Her hands dropped to her sides, and she gazed at him in confusion. "Nothing could ever come between us. You're all I have, apart from my children, whom I'll probably never see again."

  "If you think that, then look."

  "Tell me."

  He shook his head. "I'd rather you didn't know. If you must know, you'll have to find out for yourself. I'll never reveal it. I know what the consequences will be."

  Alenstra reached up and unbuttoned the high collar that hid his throat, pulling it open while he watched her with a kind of grim detachment. Her eyes widened, then rose to meet his. Slowly they filled with tears, which overflowed to run down her cheeks in streaks of glittering wetness. Her face crumpled and her chin wobbled as she strived to hold back the sobs, then she leant forward and rested her cheek against him, sliding her arms around his neck.

  "Oh, God, I'm so sorry."

  Blade cleared his throat. "What have you to be sorry for?"

  "For what has happened to you."

  Blade pulled her arms from his neck and shoved her away. Marching to the door, he jerked it open and strode into the passage without a backward glance.

  Alenstra sank down on the bed, allowing her tears to flow unchecked. The release of weeping had helped her through many hard times, and this was no exception. The shock of her discovery was immense. It had shaken her to the core of her being. Her younger brother had taken up the most hated and reviled trade in all of Jashimari. He had become the one thing their father had always denounced.

  Alenstra remembered a laughing boy with gentle eyes and a noble, generous spirit, who could charm anyone with his sweet smile and whimsical ways. She would never have believed that such a child could become a killer. A shiver went through her at the memory of the touch of his hands on her wrists, so cool and smooth-skinned, not roughened by work. That, plus the tiny scars on his fingers, should have told her the truth, and the name the King had called him. Curling up on the bed, she waited for his return, wondering what she would say to him. As the time-glasses passed, her tears dried and tiredness seeped into her.

  The sound of the door closing woke her, and she sat up as her brother lighted the lamp on the table, finding the room dark. He eyed her with dispassion.

  "Why are you still here?"

  "I was waiting for you."

  "Ah. You've overcome your shock, and now only revulsion remains." He sat at the table, adjusting the lamp.

  "Yes."

  "I have a right to privacy. Kindly go to your quarters."r />
  She swung her legs off the bed. "I don't want to stay in the harem."

  "Is that where he put you?" He sighed, rubbing his face. "No, that won't do at all. You'd better stay here then, if you can stomach it. I'll sleep on the floor."

  "Ash..."

  "Call me Blade, everyone does, or Lord Conash, if you prefer. I'm a lord now, a title earned by my bloody deeds. To be correct, you should address me as 'My Lord', and you, by merit of being my sister, are now a lady. I have riches beyond imagining and titles coming out of my ears, as well as a vast estate in Jashimari with servants and the whole caboodle. You could also call me the Queen's Blade, if you wish, or the Silent Slayer, the Invisible Assassin, whichever you prefer -"

  "Stop it."

  He turned to look at her. "Certainly, Lady Alenstra."

  "You're still my brother."

  "Unfortunately for you."

  "I'm sure you had no choice in the matter."

  He shook his head. "I could have starved to death, or maybe become a common thief. I became an assassin because I wanted to kill."

  "You enjoy it?"

  "No. After what happened to me, it came naturally."

  "I understand."

  "No you don't."

  She sighed. "I'm trying to. Explain it to me."

  "There's no point, it wouldn't change anything. I am what I am, and tomorrow I'll see to it that you're assigned a room of your own. Right now, I'm tired."

  Blade rose and dragged some blankets off the generously endowed bed, spreading them on the floor in a corner. He appropriated a pillow and retreated to his nest, taking the lamp with him. Alenstra watched him, biting her lip. When he blew out the lamp, plunging the room into darkness, she lay down with a sigh.

  Chapter Six

  Blade rose at dawn and went to Olan's quarters to rouse the servant and demand another room. Olan dragged a tunic on over his nightshirt and glowered at the assassin before showing him to a room further down the corridor. Several rich gowns were spread on the bed, and Blade turned to Olan with raised brows.