Betrayal

by Lara Morgan

  ‘Do you want to ask me about your birth?’ Mailun said.

  Shaan’s heart lurched. ‘No need. Tallis told me what happened.’

  ‘He told you what I told him, but it’s not the same. I will wait for you to ask me, when you’re ready. I owe this to you.’

  Shaan felt a sudden surge of anger and shifted so that Mailun removed her hand.

  She smiled painfully. ‘You’re angry.’

  ‘No.’

  ‘It’s right you should be, but I have always been sorry I didn’t have the courage to challenge the leader and demand I be allowed to keep you that night.’

  ‘I survived.’

  ‘Yes, but at what cost?’

  ‘I’m fine,’ she said. She was starting to feel impatient, hemmed in. ‘I had a mother, of sorts, then I had the street pack, and then Torg gave me a room. You don’t need to worry about me. I can look after myself.’

  ‘I see that, but that is not the same as having a family, and for that I hope one day you will forgive me.’ There was a profound sadness in Mailun’s voice and Shaan felt ashamed at her reaction to Mailun’s pain. She almost put a hand out to the older woman, but something inside resisted.

  ‘What happened with Commander Rorc?’ she said. She couldn’t bring herself to call him her father.

  Mailun stared out to sea and said in a quiet, taut voice, ‘We fought. He was … angry, I think, sad. I don’t know.’ She shook her head. ‘I said things I shouldn’t have said. He is still as hard to read as he ever was — although I think I was one of those who knew him best. He was never a man to share much of himself.’

  ‘Why did he leave you?’ Shaan said.

  ‘Because he was afraid those parts of himself he thought wrong, tainted, would also taint me.’ Her lips thinned. ‘But he was a fool. You cannot hide the worst of yourself from those you love. It took me many years to understand that it was his failing and not mine that led to his desertion. It was a hard lesson to learn.’

  Shaan was filled with uneasiness at Mailun’s confession, and also anger at the Commander. The pain still latent in her mother’s voice was clear.

  ‘Is that a ship?’ Irissa suddenly spoke, pointing out to sea.

  Shaan squinted, following the young woman’s finger. On the horizon to the north a ship was heading for port. Tuon! Relief and anticipation filled her. Her friend who knew her better than anyone else would finally be back. But then her elation dimmed. Did Tuon know all that had happened to her? Did she know of Tallis, and now there was Balkis and her parents … so much to be told. And still she didn’t know what Tuon would think of her being the descendant of the Fallen. She watched the ship heading slowly toward the coast and thought of how much they would both have to tell each other when they were reunited.

  Chapter 21

  It was close to midnight when they all met again in the barracks square. Lamps burned the night away to pools of shadow under the building archways and lit the faces of those gathered with a yellow light that turned skin golden and eyes dark.

  Swords, bows and knives were all oiled, cleaned and ready to use, hanging from the hips and hands of the men and women who would soon be facing the armed men outside the walls. Rorc walked among them, touching shoulders, speaking quiet words, and Tallis stood on the steps of the meals pavilion watching him move through the crowd. Rorc had come to him late in the day, when he was alone in the Dome oiling the straps on Attar’s battle saddle. Tallis had not long sent Morfessa on Haraka and Marathin with his mother and Irissa to the meeting point beyond the city, and had still been filled with anger at the strain in her eye. She had not told him what Rorc had said to her, but he didn’t like seeing her suffer again so soon after losing Haldane. He had been ready for a fight but the first words from Rorc’s mouth, the look of sorrow on his face, had smothered that angry fire as if with sand.

  ‘If I had known she was with child, perhaps I would have stayed — I’m not sure,’ he’d said.

  Tallis had gripped the harness tightly. ‘Are you ashamed?’

  ‘Yes. And you of all people should understand. There are few shames greater for a clansman than to abandon his children. I’ve known of men made Outcast for that.’ He paused. ‘But I didn’t know of you … and it wasn’t safe. I did what I thought I should.’ Uncertainty flickered across his face. ‘What I thought was right.’

  Tallis had never seen Rorc drop his guard like that before. His father seemed less the stern Commander, the leader, and more like a man of the Clans than the city. More like men he had once known. Clansmen. ‘Was she in danger?’ he said.

  ‘It was a long time ago.’ Some of the calm mask Rorc always wore stole back into his face. ‘The danger has passed.’

  ‘But what danger was it you ran from?’

  ‘I didn’t say I ran from any danger.’

  ‘It was implied.’

  Rorc’s eyes narrowed, then he nodded. ‘It was, but your mother knew none of it. It was long ago. The danger is gone — I dealt with it.’

  The simple words covered a dangerous truth. Tallis smelled it, like smoke in the wind.

  ‘I won’t tell her — if I agree with you,’ he said, and Rorc smiled thinly.

  ‘You will agree.’ His smile disappeared. ‘I hadn’t realised until almost too late that some men from the Baal had found me. They would not have stopped at killing only me. I could not allow that to happen. I left, they followed, and I ended it. You understand.’ He looked at Tallis closely, carefully. ‘After that I could not go back.’

  Tallis felt the coldness wrap around his heart, felt the sticky residue of Clan blood on his own hands. ‘I understand,’ he said quietly.

  ‘Good.’ Rorc nodded. ‘Now we have a war to fight and I need you to win it. We don’t need the distraction of our kinship blurring our senses.’

  ‘What about Shaan?’

  ‘She is … different.’ He met Tallis’s gaze steadily. ‘You and I are more the same. Keep your head.’ And then he was gone.

  Tallis watched him now, conferring with Balkis as he stood with Shaan, Aran and Rafe, the men of the Faithful who would go with her to the palace. He gave nothing away, treating Shaan as he always had, as a Commander, a guide. Tallis could feel her anxiety from where he stood and met her gaze as she sought him out. He made his expression calm, sent her steadying thoughts, and saw her frown as she realised it. Balkis put a hand on her back and she moved away. Tallis smiled; didn’t the man know she hated being treated as if she needed protection?

  ‘Ready for the war, clansman?’ Attar stepped up beside him, dressed in his leather vest, long knives strapped to each hip.

  Tallis glanced at him. ‘How many are waiting outside the wall?’

  ‘Oh, only two hundred or so,’ Attar grinned. ‘Like picking off stray muthu for the serpents.’

  Tallis wasn’t so sure. The ranks of the city and palace guards had been swelled by men from the army. A squad had come in during the afternoon and it was one of their captains in charge out there.

  ‘Don’t look so worried,’ Attar said. ‘They may outnumber us but we outclass them and they know it. Would you want to be going up against some Faithful as angry as these?’ He gestured down at the lines of Hunters and Seducers who stood hard faced and still among the riders.

  ‘I have been up against some of them,’ Tallis said, spotting the Seducer he’d knocked out.

  ‘But you had your special right hook going for you. Not so for those boys over the wall. Fresh faced, balls barely had time to drop, most of them. The serpents’ll scare the stiff out of their peckers and the Seducers will push ‘em over the edge. Will hardly be a contest with your old man in charge.’ Attar looked sideways at him, a shrewd glance that reminded Tallis of the first time he’d met the warrior in the desert.

  ‘Trying to bait me?’ he said, and Attar grunted a laugh.

  ‘Got to take the fun out, don’t you? Come on.’ He pushed him in the shoulder. ‘It’s time to get up to the Dome; serpents are waiting.’

/>   Tallis followed him slowly down the steps and through the crowd. Reaching Shaan and Balkis he stopped and put a hand on his sister’s shoulder. She turned and without speaking hugged him briefly and hard.

  ‘Call me if you need me,’ he said.

  ‘Same to you,’ she said, and he felt the sharp edge of her fear and anticipation tempered with annoyance. Stopping a smile he looked over her head to Balkis, who watched him.

  ‘Fight well.’ Tallis held out his hand to him and after a moment’s hesitation Balkis took it, his grip firm.

  ‘You too,’ he said, and Tallis felt a brief, strange twinge ghost through him — destiny or something like it. He let go of the other man’s hand with a frown, wondering what it meant.

  ‘We’ll see you at Hunters Scarp — the Guides willing,’ he said, and turned away.

  ***

  Shaan watched her brother go with a mixture of irritation and fear. He was so confident, too confident, it frightened her — and she couldn’t shake the feeling of separation that kept hounding her.

  ‘Come with me a moment.’ Balkis leaned down and spoke quietly near her ear, a hand on her arm.

  ‘Where?’

  ‘This way.’ He took her hand and led her through the crowd and down into the shadows alongside the meals pavilion until they were alone. His hand was warm in hers, his touch sending jolts along her skin like sparks from a fire.

  ‘What’s this, a last-minute roll?’ she said, but the teasing tone she was striving for sounded false. Despite the gloom she could see the troubled look in his eye.

  ‘Not the worst idea,’ he said, but he too fell short of levity.

  ‘Is this when you tell me to be careful, to reconsider?’ she said.

  ‘I think I know you better than that,’ he said. ‘But promise me you’ll keep close to Aran and Rafe, follow their lead.’

  ‘You promise me to stay out of the fighting and I might agree to hold myself back,’ she said, and earned a frustrated sigh.

  ‘Shaan —’

  ‘Stop.’ She put a finger on his lips. ‘I didn’t stay alive on the streets by being nice. I need to do this and so do you. We’ll see each other again when we bring the Clans to the scarp.’ But even as she said it she felt again that hollow fear, as if her words were lies.

  He captured her hand in his and kissed her fingers, but the look on his face was far from happy. ‘Just promise me you’ll take care.’

  ‘I promise,’ she said, and he drew her to him and kissed her slowly, deeply, drawing her back further into the shadows. Her heart raced and she felt dizzy, breathless as the world narrowed to his lips, his hands, the feel of his heart pounding against her breast until he pulled away, his breathing short and coarse. They held each other close for a moment, her face on his shoulder, breathing in his scent.

  ‘Come on,’ he said, pushing her gently away, ‘it’s time to go down to the beach.’

  Chapter 22

  The ocean looked black and cold, a strong current pushing the water up and sucking it back from the beach in an endless surge. It had rained earlier and the sand was hard and damp underfoot. Thirty men and women waited in silence behind them, almost filling the small sandy bay, watching Shaan, Aran and Rafe getting ready to enter the water. The two Faithful were dressed as lightly as possible in tight pants and shirts and soft-soled boots, and both men carried a length of rope and climbing equipment as well as their usual weapons. Aran, the Hunter, was of middle height, wiry and dark with a sharp nose, while the Seducer, Rafe, was his opposite, all height and muscle with hair so blond it was white, cut short against his skull. Shaan had spent most of the afternoon with them making sure they all knew the plan. She hadn’t been nervous then, but now anticipation filled her with scattered energy and she checked the knife strapped to her leg for the third time, making sure it was secure.

  ‘Stick as close to the headland as you can without getting caught in the swell,’ Balkis said quietly. ‘As soon as we get the signal, we’ll be following. Any problems while you’re in the palace, you strike to kill.’ His gaze strayed to Shaan. ‘We can’t afford to have any guards alerting others to what you’re doing. If it all goes badly, Shaan will let her brother know and we’ll bring the attack to the palace.’

  ‘Sir.’ Aran nodded. ‘Let’s hope that’s not necessary.’

  ‘Let’s hope.’ Balkis glanced behind him to the clifftop. Hovering low to the ground Shaan saw a torch flare brightly for a moment then be extinguished. Time to go.

  ‘Be safe,’ Balkis said, his eyes shining in the darkness. She touched her fingers lightly to his then turned away and led the men to the wash.

  The dark water wasn’t as cold as it appeared. Small stones on the sandy bottom pushed through the soles of her boots, the current tugging at her legs as she waded in then struck out toward the jutting headland, pulling through the water, her shirt stretching and dragging with every reach. The men ploughed through the water behind her in quiet splashes barely heard above the noise of the surf against the rocks. Shaan settled into a rhythm of arm over arm. For a while the headland didn’t seem to be getting any closer. Rafe passed her on her right, his longer, stronger body cutting through the sea with ease, but Aran stayed by her side, no doubt under orders from Balkis. She thinned her lips against the salt water, stretching out for the rocky point until it suddenly loomed up on her left and she was battling around it, breathing hard as the water roughened in its slap and run at the rocks. Her left side was beginning to ache but she ignored it as she headed into the calmer waters of the big bay of Salmut. She could see the lights of the city and the shadowy shapes of pleasure boats bobbing up and down at the public docks, then, finally, she saw Rafe grasping at the rocky slip of the shore where the docks ended. Using the momentum of the current she coasted up beside him, Aran close behind her, breathing hard as she gripped the rocks. Above their heads the rough rock wall rose to the sea walk. There were no street lamps at this end and Rafe gestured for them to go up after him, reaching down a hand to haul Shaan quickly up to the street.

  The waterfront was quieter than usual. There were no sailors — drunk or sober — in sight, and all the storehouses and ship offices across the street were locked up tight. Any families inside were keeping to themselves and they saw no one as they ran silently across to a dark alley between the buildings.

  Rain had left puddles on the stone and water splashed Shaan’s soaked boots as she followed Aran, with Rafe at her back, to the street behind the row of storehouses. The faint drift of music and voices came from the Serpent Inn several blocks away, and there was the muted sound of men shouting, but where they were it was quiet and deserted. Up ahead the cart was waiting to take them to the palace. The driver, a Faithful follower, said nothing as they all climbed in, and he clicked his tongue softly at the muthu to make it move.

  It was an open cart, but the darkness of the street cloaked them. Aran was constantly looking about, his sharp nose often in profile, while Rafe sat quiet and still as if he were listening to every breath in the city.

  ‘Stop here,’ Aran said softly to the driver, who pulled the muthu to a halt. They had reached the streets that led to the gate near the orchard. The three passengers got out and, without looking back, the muthu driver slapped the reins and the cart pulled away, leather creaking and hooves thudding on stone. The few street lamps illuminated the carved columns of the wealthy merchants’ trading houses with a soft, orange-hued light. The three of them stepped into the shadows against a wall and as they did they heard a sudden chorus of inhuman cries resonate over the city from the direction of the yards. The serpents were coming. Shaan stared up into the black sky. She could see only pale stars and rooftops from where she was, but she could feel the presence of her brother flaring bright and hot in her breast as he commanded the serpents in the ancient language of their blood.

  Aran said, ‘Rorc will be opening the gates.’

  A haze of arrows tipped with fire suddenly flamed up into the air, lighting the night,
and for a brief moment Shaan saw a flash of wings.

  ‘It’s time. Ready?’ Aran looked at Rafe, then Shaan. She nodded and followed close behind as they turned into a short alley that curved between two pale stone buildings.

  At the end they paused. The palace wall was directly opposite them, well lit and rising twenty feet above the street. The orchard gate was on their left with two men guarding it. They were not palace guards and had the weaponry of fully fledged soldiers, but from where they stood they would be able to see the serpents and both were staring in the direction of the yards.

  Holding up a hand for them to stay put, Aran moved with incredible speed, racing toward the soldiers, and in a graceful whirl of fists knocked the first man unconscious before the other realised. Another twist and the second soldier lay on the ground. It happened in seconds and in silence. Rafe and Aran tied and gagged the men and dragged them into the shadows of the narrow alley.

  Shaan fought the urge to heal the unconscious men as she followed Aran into the dark orchard. They moved through the wet grass, taking the shortest route, avoiding any windows where someone might look out. There were no lamps and the light from the wall lanterns faded once they were among the trees. They heard the distant sound of shouting and booted feet running as the alarm was raised that serpents were attacking the city.

  Within minutes they had gained the inner wall and were at the door, which was locked. They waited until the area was quiet, then Aran worked on the hinges, using a sturdy knife to prise them apart. With Rafe helping, he silently lifted the heavy door open. The hallway was empty. The three of them crept past Shaan’s old room, then peered around the corner of the corridor to the entrance. A swarm of people were running out to the main courtyard, talking in high, fearful voices. The guards who should have been watching the gate were gone and the heavy wooden door had been left open.

  They left the apartment cautiously, pausing in the shadows of the portico that ran along the front of the building. To the right was the bath house, a long, low building, and on their left was a small storehouse set away from the surrounding wall.