by Ada Haynes
Shona was already thinking of possible actions. “I’m sure Jeffrey will think of a way to get Ekbeth off his and Maire’s back. As for my family, Ekbeth will understand fast enough there’s no point in menacing them, as they know even less about me than Jeffrey. Can they get to you?”
“Not if I don’t contact them. I don’t think anyone knows I’m still alive.”
“Except Lyrian Farrill and the Aramalinyia.”
Keremli pursed her lips. “Right. I forgot about that. I may have to prepare that drug then. To protect myself. Though the probability of them finding me here is minimal. And their caller is probably too young to have a mental memory of me.”
Shona nodded. “So, I just need a good hiding place after I’ve taken care of Lyrian. Can I stay with you?”
“No. Look, don’t take this badly, but I know you. One week here, and you’ll start spreading trouble out of boredom.”
That was true enough. But then where could she go? She only saw one possibility.
“I know where I’m going to hide. A place where I don’t need any money, and even if someone tips off Ekbeth and the others, they won’t be able to find me there.”
Keremli looked at her with attention. “I see. Are you ready to go back to Bhutan, Shona? It’s going to be painful.”
“I know. But someone convinced me that I should go there, not so long ago. And I won’t be alone there. I still have friends—at least I hope I still have some. I do need my passport, though. It is still at Maire’s place.”
Keremli smiled. “I can help you get back to London. Though if you can transfer yourself out of the Valley while the currents there are so low, you probably don’t need my help.”
“I’d rather spend twelve hours on a plane than two days in a coma from exhaustion. Okay for the transfer to London, but the rest I’ll do the traditional way.”
Shona was already planning her next move. “And I need to talk to Jeffrey anyway, warn him and get some cash for the travel. Now, the real question is, how long will I have to hide?”
Keremli sighed. “That’s the real trouble, girl. All your life! They will never stop looking for you!”
28
In the morning, Ekbeth went to the Na Saoilcheachs’ house, and visited the McLeans. Duncan’s family apparently had suffered less traumatic injuries than their Laird, although the doctors still feared for one of the older women’s life.
Then the convocation to the High Council arrived. With a heavy heart, Ekbeth walked down to the High Council house, located opposite the Aramalinyia’s house, on the other side of the temple. That building was not built over the water, as hers, but it was otherwise quite similar in architecture to the Aramalinyia’s.
Ekbeth could not say he was happy about what was about to happen. If there was one thing he hated, it was condemning someone to a certain death. But there was no alternative. Not after the commotion Kimiel’s transfer had created. Not when even their Goddess was showing her anger so blatantly.
He entered the meeting room. Most of the Akeneires’elin were there already, as well as the Aramalinyia. She looked a bit better this morning, Ara be thanked. If the old woman had weakened under the events, Ekbeth could not even think of what would have happened within the community.
Damn Kimiel! Twice, thrice! What had their ancestors thought when they had decided to let her live?
“Am I late?” Sarah-Lysliana McLean had entered the room.
Losing her grandfather had hit her hard, visibly. If Ekbeth could judge by her red-rimmed eyes, she had been crying heavily. He also noticed the bruises on her face and her arm in a sling.
The Aramalinyia stood up. “No, you’re not. Are you the new Akeneires’eli of the McLeans, Sarah-Lysliana?”
Sarah-Lysliana snorted, “In my macho family? No. My brother Andrew got the title. There was not even a vote. But someone broke Andrew’s legs yesterday. My brother asked me to represent him as it was impractical for him to come here today. I hope this is acceptable.”
The Aramalinyia nodded.
Nukri na Liom was the last to enter the room. The servants closed the doors, the Akeneires’elin took their seats.
The decision about what was going to happen to Kimiel Keh Niriel was a short one.
The Aramalinyia dictated it. Find her and bring her here. Ara’s trial.
That was expected.
The Aramalinyia sighed and looked at the grave faces around the table. “Now, about what has happened to the McLeans. I must commend the fast reaction of the Akeneires’el of the Na Duibhnes. Without him the life toll would have been much heavier.”
The praise drew attention to Ekbeth. And not all of the reactions were of gratitude.
Keryl na Ghorm rose to his feet. “This would have never happened if he had his family under control. I heard it was a Na Duibhne who killed Duncan McLean.”
Ekbeth did his best to remain calm. He had hoped this would not come to discussion during this meeting. But he had also known there was a good chance the Na Ghorm would not pass up such an occasion to humiliate him in front of the whole council.
He lowered his head briefly and then met the other man’s stare. “True. Kalem na Seffet told me about this. Only, he can’t point to a specific person. There are a few possibilities. He gave me a names list this morning. Names of those he had found in the McLeans’ house yesterday. I have every intention to have them punished, but I thought to do this through my family council.”
The Na Ghorm snorted. “Too easy. You are protecting them. They laughed at you behind your back, do you know that?”
Ekbeth did not move. “They won’t laugh this time.”
His tone caused even the old Na Deargh, who tended to spend most of the meetings scribbling on pieces of paper, to pause.
Ekbeth then shrugged and spoke again. “Of course, I can understand you’d rather see this Council decide on the murderer’s punishment. But then, how do you propose that we find the culprit?”
The Na Ghorm growled, “Ara’s trial.”
Ekbeth’s brows went up. “All of them? There were more than thirty members of my family in that house. Sure, none of them is innocent, but is that not a bit drastic?”
Ekbeth knew the Na Ghorm’s plan. As Akeneires’el, he was responsible for his people. The honorable way would be to submit to the trial himself, in the name of his family. He shook his head. “Of course, if I find the culprit I’ll hand him over.”
Keryl na Ghorm hit the table with his fists. “Too easy! You should…”
Ekbeth interrupted him. “I know what you expect from me. But I won’t do it. I won’t stand Ara’s trial for those fools. I’ll punish them instead. What about yourself? Must I remind you that the Na Duibhnes were not the only people who were found under the McLeans’ roof yesterday? Kalem also told me some of your family members were there as well. Not attacking McLeans, apparently. Rather stripping the walls of what was still worth anything.”
Accusing the Na Ghorms’ family of being filthy thieves sure brought their Akeneires’el to his feet again. But the Aramalinyia was faster than the old fool. “That is enough! Sit down, Keryl.”
The Aramalinyia was actually frowning. Keryl na Ghorm obeyed her, but if looks could have killed, Ekbeth would have now been very dead indeed.
The Aramalinyia looked at Sarah-Lysliana. “You represent your family, Sarah-Lysliana. We are very sorry for what happened to all of you yesterday. I would understand if you wanted to have the High Council punish the culprits.”
Sarah-Lysliana shook her head. And she looked pointedly at the Na Ghorm when she said, “Enough blood has been spilled. I trust each of you will take steps to ensure that this never happens again. But please, no more death. My cousin Kimiel may have broken Ara’s rule, I’m certain she’d never want anyone to die because of her. Neither would my grandfather.”
The Aramalinyia asked, “Do you speak for your family in this, Sarah-Lysliana?”
Sarah-Lysliana nodded. “And we will help Ekbeth na Duib
hne to look for my cousin on the Other Side.”
The Aramalinyia was visibly approving the decisions of the McLeans. “Good. Then I think we can declare this session closed. The Aras’arisidz is still going on. I’d suggest another evening of prayers tonight.”
Everyone agreed with this.
The doors were reopened. Ekbeth had another difficult meeting waiting for him. At his own house.
“Ekbeth? Can we talk?”
He waited for Sarah-Lysliana to catch up with him. She looked relieved. “My, this has gone better than I had feared, except for that bickering between you and Keryl na Ghorm. Is it always like this between the two of you?”
“Sadly, yes. Do you want to come to my house, Sarah-Lysliana? It’s halfway to your bed at the Na Saoilcheachs, if you’re staying there.”
She nodded.
They were not walking very fast. Apparently Andrew had not been the only one who had been hit in the legs.
There was a moment of awkward silence between them, then Ekbeth said, “I’m sorry Duncan died yesterday, Sarah-Lysliana.”
“Please, call me Sally, Ekbeth. I don’t blame you for what has happened. If not for you, the rest of the family and I would probably be dead right now. I can’t even blame Kimiel for what she has done, you know.”
He raised a brow. That certainly was unexpected.
She sighed. “As a woman, I do understand her reaction. I might have done exactly the same had I been in her position.”
Ekbeth had no doubt about what she was referring to. He coughed. “I know you hate my family, Sally…”
That brought an unexpected smile to her lips. “You misunderstood me. There’s nothing personal here, Ekbeth! Maybe it’s because I did not get your As’mirin upbringing, I sometimes see things differently than most of you. Why did you all have to impose that wedding idea on Kimiel like this? A bit of courtship on your part would probably have helped, Ekbeth, instead of hammering into her that she had no choice. After all, you are good with women, if anything Lyrian told me is true. I’m sure it would not have taken that long to convince her to accept, instead of throwing the event on her like the Aramalinyia was trying to do!”
“I agree. But Ara required the wedding.”
“So I heard. But you could have convinced the Aramalinyia to give you more time.”
Ekbeth smiled. “I tried. Believe me, I tried. I was warned against pushing choices on Kimiel and I took that advice very seriously. But the Aramalinyia can be stubborn sometimes. She wanted us to be married urgently. She threatened to banish me if I refused to comply. Sadly, she was not prepared for Kimiel’s reaction. No one was. Or its consequences. I meant what I said at the Council, Sally. I will have my people punished.”
She bravely smiled at him. “As long as you promise not to kill any of them, I won’t complain. Let’s get back to Kimiel. I understood Nukri na Liom won’t be able to call her back into the Valley.”
Ekbeth nodded. Noticing how much difficulty she had with the stairs, he stopped for a moment. “Kalem brought her here. For some reason I can’t tell you, we had to drug her before that. So Nukri has no memory of her.”
Sarah-Lysliana looked at him attentively. “I hear bitterness in your voice, Ekbeth. What has she done to you? I mean, before she came here.”
Ekbeth shrugged. “Nothing relevant to our current situation. Did you know something about your cousin of which I am ignorant, Sally?”
“Depends. What do you know?”
Ekbeth shook his head. “Not much, I’m afraid. Duncan called her a murderer. And a criminal. I happen to know she used her As’mir abilities to steal. And that she has at least two very loyal friends, even though they seem to found her exasperating most of the time.”
They started climbing the stairs again.
Sarah-Lysliana sighed. “I asked my family about her this morning. No one really knows her either, except Aunt Fiona it would seem, but Aunt Fiona needs to rest, so I could not ask her. Kimiel has been out of our Clan for so long. Though they all have heard of her, it would seem. She’s been long thought dead they told me. And she’s rumored to be very rich. A cousin had heard there was a problem with drugs, but he could not be specific. Another cousin heard stories of violence. I think the best option is going to be to pay a visit to her family when I’m able to go to the Other Side. But I don’t really expect them to welcome me with open arms.”
That comment was strange, until Ekbeth remembered the old feud. “Surely, it’s not that bad. Not everyone is as stubborn as Duncan McLean.”
She slowly nodded, looked away. “You can say that, Ekbeth. I had not heard of that old feud either before you came to our house and Gramp explained it to you. It also looked ridiculous to me. I knew there was something else behind my grandfather’s reaction. And Kimiel’s. When she told me we were cousins, I was certain I was missing something. But I only heard the rest of the story this morning, and it’s even more difficult to accept.”
She sighed and looked back at him. “You know, Ekbeth, as a child I often dreamed of my real family. Because I knew very early on that I was adopted. And though I could never fault my adoptive parents for lack of care, I missed real love. I was pretty sure my real parents were the perfect couple, who had probably lost me and were grieving for me…that we would one day be reunited and everything would be perfect.”
He kept silent. What was she expecting from him?
Nothing it would seem. She sighed again. “Reality came back hard to me this morning. Have you ever met my Uncle Malcolm, my father’s older brother?”
Ekbeth had to think hard. “Maybe. I was still young when he died, I think.”
“Yes, indeed. My own father was also still a child when it happened. There was a huge age difference between them. It was forbidden to say Malcolm’s name in Duncan’s presence. So I never heard of my uncle till this morning. Unbelievable!”
“Duncan must have suffered a lot with that loss.”
Sarah-Lysliana shook her head. “It’s not that simple, Ekbeth. It involves that old feud bit. According to my aunts, Malcolm was the romantic of the family. Like Romeo and Juliet, he fell in love with the wrong woman, a distant cousin. Yes, a descendant of that woman who brought such shame to our Clan so many centuries ago. They were in love, and they both thought time had healed the shame. It looked for a while as if they were right. They married and had children. But then Malcolm died suddenly of a heart attack. And then Gramp did something terrible. He did not even wait for the funeral. He denied Malcolm’s family their inheritance and threw them out of the Island.”
She paused. “I don’t think Gramp was so proud of that decision. Otherwise he would have told you of it. But he was certainly stubborn to a fault. Never acknowledged his mistakes. Hence his overreaction when Kimiel arrived in the Valley and he was forced to admit her back in our family.”
“Because she’s one of Malcolm’s descendant?”
“One of his daughters, to be precise.”
“So you know her name on the Other Side?”
Sally nodded. “Shona McLeod. And yes, I’ve noticed the family name as well. Gramp has even denied them that. They’ve all taken their mother’s name back.”
Better and better. At least, Ekbeth now knew why Kimiel had been so bitter about the McLeans.
But Sarah-Lysliana was not done with her story.
“The girls have a brother as well, it would seem. A brother who’s about your age, so could claim the Lairdship if he wanted, as well as the Akeneires’el title. According to a cousin, the man is a Presbyterian priest, so I don’t think he will be interested in our pagan world, but you can imagine that Andrew was not happy to discover that fact either. But anyway, as I said, I’m going to visit Kimiel’s family with my brother and make amends. We’ll see what we can learn.”
They had finally reached the entrance of the Na Duibhnes’ house. Ekbeth decided to spare the woman the long stairway to his apartments. He asked a servant to bring chairs and refreshments.
&n
bsp; Kalem surprised him by bringing the chairs himself. After some polite exchanges, Kalem joined their conversation.
“So. Any idea at how we are going to find her again?”, Ekbeth asked. “Apart from asking her own family?”
Kalem spoke first. “We are going to put some pressure on her friends. Give them no choice but to deliver her to us.”
Ekbeth nodded. They would have to talk to Maire Kincaid and Jeffrey Matheson again indeed.
“Or…” Kalem added, “Alyasini is soon going to work for Maire Kincaid. She could spy on them.”
That provoked Ekbeth’s laugh. “Lyas is probably the worst spy you can think of, Kalem. Besides, the woman might choose not to hire Lyas after our visit.”
“Then maybe you should ask the Aramalinyia who had written that letter, Akeneires’el.”
Kalem, of course, made a very good point. He himself had thought of it. That mysterious person who had given the so-called mission to Kimiel. They still had no clue about her identity, and this was something he’d really like to know. The only thing Ekbeth knew for sure was that this person was not so young anymore. There had been the old-fashioned writing style on the envelope. And that person had apparently taught As’mir to Kimiel, judging by some quaint expressions Kimiel occasionally used.
And that person was living outside the Valley, he suddenly realized. Probably banned. Otherwise, why would he or she need an intermediary to bring a letter?
Old and banned? How many candidates could there be to this?
“I’ll talk to the Aramalinyia, Kalem.”
Sally McLean did not seem ready to move. “So, this is our plan of action. I’ll visit her family. You’ll concentrate on the Aramalinyia, her friends, and whatever connections she might have. We’ll meet when we have more information.”
Ekbeth had a sudden thought. “We’ll have to involve Lyrian in this, Sally. I can’t do this on my own, even with Kalem’s help.”
She received this idea more serenely than he had feared. “I’m not afraid of Lyrian, Ekbeth. We do see each other from time to time—if only so that he can see his son. As long as you won’t let him start on about how sorry he is, we can stay in the same room.”
