Sword Born ss-5

by Jennifer Roberson

  "Poor baby," Prima cooed.

  The metri was relentless. "Is it not true that such impasses are settled in the circle?"

  "Yes, but —"

  "Then settle it. Now."

  I glanced at Nihko. "I suppose you’ll make me if I don’t agree." A thought. "Or will your little ring protect me from your power, and therefore this threat is nothing but a bluff?"

  But Nihko made no response. He wasn’t even looking at me. He looked beyond me, beyond the wall, beyond the torchlight that bathed the terrace in gilt flickering swaths of ocher and ivory and bronze. I saw the whites of his eyes, the pallor of his face; saw with disbelief as he began to tremble.

  "Sahdri," he whispered, as if the word took all his breath.

  The metri stood up abruptly from her chair. "You are not to be here! You and your kind are not to be here!"

  I spun then, even as Del did, and we saw beyond the torches, walking softly upon the wall, a barefoot man in night-black linen.

  And then I realized his feet were not touching the stone.

  TWENTY-EIGHT

  "You are not to be here!" the metri cried. "This ground is mine; you profane it! You soil it! You are not to be here!"

  The man atop the wall — no, the man floating above the wall — paused, smiled, lifted a hand as if in benediction. Rings glinted on fingers, in brows, in ears, depended from his nostrils, pierced the flesh of his lower lip. In guttering torchlight, his shaven head writhed with blue tattoos.

  Ah. One of those.

  His tone was immensely conversational, lacking insult, offering no confrontation beyond the fact of his presence. "But I am here, because I choose to be here. And your tame ikepra can wield no power against me, even if I permitted." His dark eyes were rimmed in light borrowed from the flame. "Nihkolara Andros, you have been gone much too long. We have missed you. You must come back to us." For all the world like a doting relative.

  A shudder wracked the first mate from head to toe. And then he dropped to his knees, bent at the waist, set his brow upon the ground. In clear tones, he said, "I cannot. I am ikepra."

  The multitude of rings glinted in torchlight. "Forgiveness is possible."

  Nihko shuddered again, hands digging into the soil. "I am ikepra."

  "Forgiveness is possible," the man — Sahdri — repeated. His language was accented, but comprehensible. "You need only come with me now and begin the Rituals of Unsoiling."

  "Come with you where?" I asked, since no one else seemed willing to.

  The light-rimmed eyes turned their gaze on me. I wasn’t sure if the illumination came from the torches, or from the eyes themselves. "loSkandi," he answered. "Where people such as the great and gracious metrioi of the gods-descended Eleven send us all to die."

  I glanced at Prima Rhannet. I expected her to speak, but she offered nothing. She stood there, locked in silence, staring at the priest-mage as her first mate knelt to him in abject obeisance.

  "Well," I said finally, "it doesn’t look like you died."

  "That hour will arrive. Just as it shall arrive for Nihkolara Andros." He inclined his head toward the kneeling man. "He has returned, you see, and now is ours again. Or shall be, when he understands what lies before him, and what he is to do."

  The metri too was trembling, but not from fear. "Go," she said thickly. "This man has guest-right."

  The irony in his tone was delicate. "This man? Here?"

  "This is business of the Stessoi," she said with a curtness I had never heard in her. "You are not of this family, nor do I grant you guest-right. Unless you and the others have forsworn all rites of courtesy in the Stone Forest, you know what you must do."

  "Depart," he said with evident regret. "I had hoped for a cup of fine Stessa wine."

  If possible, she stood a little straighter. "Save you steal grapes from the vines themselves, no wine of my vineyards shall pass your lips."

  "I am desolate." But his gaze had shifted again to Nihko, who still knelt in the dirt. "You have a fine ship, Nihkolara," he said gently. "Surely you can find your way home again."

  At last, Prima’s voice. It scraped out of her constricted throat. "He is home."

  Rings glinted as he lifted an illustrative finger. "His home is ioSkandi. It has been so since the day he understood what he was; was made to understand by such as the metrioi and the Eleven, who will not tolerate such as he, such as me. He has no place here. He came willingly to ioSkandi and embraced the service of the gods."

  "He left," she said. "He left you."

  "And so became ikepra, and abomination." His tone was matter of fact. "He was tolerated when he lived on your ship upon the seas, but he spends more time now on the earth. And so, according to the laws of the Eleven, he must be sent to live with us." He spread his hands gently. "Is this not so?"

  "He has guest-right," the metri repeated tightly.

  "For how long?" the priest-mage countered. "Shall you have him live among you as a Stessa? But no. Shall he go to the Palomedi metri, whom he insulted by bedding her daughter while he also bedded her? But no. Shall he go to his own folk, the Androsoi?"

  From his position in the dirt, Nihko cried, "No!"

  "There." The man nodded. "He knows his place."

  "He’s mine," Prima declared hoarsely.

  Sahdri looked at her and smiled. "But he was mine first."

  "Look," I said, "I’m not exactly sure what’s going on here, but the metri has asked you to leave. Just when do you plan to do it?"

  And he was there, before me, his breath warm against my face. I hadn’t seen him move from the wall to the terrace. Hadn’t seen any indication he would.

  "Who are you?" the priest-mage asked.

  I opened my mouth, shut it. This was magic, living, breathing magic in the body of a man, encompassed by no more than fragile flesh. He stank of power. By rights I should be spewing my dinner across the terrace, but Nihko’s brow ring, still attached to my necklet, was doing its task.

  Sahdri saw it. Saw me. Smiled. "Are you vermin, that I should squash you?"

  The metri’s voice rang out. "He is my grandson."

  Every head, including mine, whipped about. I heard Herakleio’s inarticulate cry of outrage, Prima Rhannet’s hissing indrawn breath; saw the smoothing of Simonides’ face as he donned his servant’s mask.

  And for some strange reason, the metri’s announcement frightened me.

  Nihko still knelt against the ground. Not even for such an unexpected declaration would he raise his head in Sahdri’s company.

  The priest-mage himself bowed in my direction. "Kal-Iha nahkte," he murmured, and the torches blew out.

  I blinked into the sudden darkness, aware of the man’s absence. "What did he say? What was that spell he spoke?"

  Darkness was replaced with the pale, soft luminance of moon and stars, a glow from lamps inside the household. Nihko lifted his dust-powdered face from the dirt. "He said ’good night.’ "

  Only Del was detached enough from the emotions of the moment to find that amusing. I heard the expulsion of breath in brief, smothered laughter, glanced at her; saw how she immediately set her face into bland innocence. She met my scowl with a guileless smile.

  I shook my head, drew in a deep breath, looked at the metri. "Nice timing," I said. "Do you think it worked?"

  Her face wore its customary mask. "The truth often is of great effect."

  Herakleio, who had been gripping the two wooden practice blades, hurled them down. They clattered against the tile. Even in muted illumination I could see how high the color stood in his face. "Truth," he snarled. "Truth, is it? Why?"

  The metri answered steadily, "Truth is truth."

  His cry was anguished. "You would put him in my place?"

  She was unmoved. "No more than I would put you in his. The place is the place. The proper man shall be put in it when I am certain of his worth."

  Oh, she was the stone, as she had told me less than a month before. Hard, sharp, brilliant, and scintillatingly
shrewd.

  "Let’s start over," I suggested. "I take it our unexpected visitor is someone with connections to our friendly first mate?"

  Nihko had risen. Having recovered much of his equanimity now that the priest-mage had departed, he glared at me. "One holds one’s tongue when in ignorance, lest one lose it."

  I saluted him with the sword, letting moonlight like liquid run down the blade. "Any time you like."

  "Stop," the metri said. "We are done with this tonight."

  "Done?" Herakleio’s chopped-off bark of laughter contained no humor. "I should say we have begun this tonight!"

  Prima Rhannet seemed to have no interest in Herakleio’s concerns. Her attention was fixed on Nihko. "What can Sahdri do? Take you? Against your will?"

  Grimly he said, "loSkandics have no will. loSkandics set no foot upon the soil of this island once one is of ioSkandi. We live in the Stone Forest."

  "But you did set foot," she said. "This time. You’ve always stayed aboard ship before. But you never said why — "

  He cut her off. "It does not matter."

  "But it does, Nihko —"

  "No. A brief amount of time is tolerated. More is — not." He looked at his hostess, lowered his eyes, inclined his head. "Metri, I thank you for the guest-right."

  "We have unfinished business," she stated crisply. "Until it is finished, the guest-right shall apply. And then you will remove yourself from my home and my land immediately."

  The flinch was minute, but present. Nihko kept his head bowed and murmured an answer in Skandic that apparently suited the metri, for she simply turned away with a gesture at Simonides for his aid.

  "Wait," I said, and she paused. "What happens now?"

  Her mask was in place. "I have now claimed you my grandson in front of witnesses as well as a priest. He may be ioSkandic, not of the proper Order, but he serves the same gods. It has been said, and so it is."

  "And — ?"

  Her brow creased slightly. "And you will continue to do what I have bidden you do. Teach Herakleio to be a man."

  That worthy’s breath hissed between clenched teeth. "Metri — "

  She looked at him. "And you will do whatever I say you shall, without question, without hesitation, no matter what it may be. That is the term of your service."

  All the tendons stood up beneath his flesh as he fought not to shout denials and curses at her. When he spoke, each word was squeezed out with such immense precision that I expected his head to explode. "If it is to be sword-work, then I will have the woman train me." His gaze shifted to me. "Because she is better."

  Prima gulped a laugh. Nihko arched an eyebrow. I merely blinked.

  It was Del who answered the intended insult. "Sometimes," she said. "Some days, some moments, some particular movements. Other times, not."

  I nodded consideringly. "That about sums it up."

  So, we had robbed him of that small revenge. Stiffly, Herakleio bowed to the metri, then took himself off.

  "Well," Prima said when his shape was swallowed by darkness, "I would not wish to share his winehouse tonight."

  I smiled across at her. "Or his bed?"

  The captain met the gambit. "Oh, it might be worth it. Herakleio in a temper… indeed, it might be worth it." She fixed me with a bright, challenging eye. "You might even enjoy it."

  "Go to bed," the metri commanded; and then, surprising us all, added: "Anyone’s bed," and gestured for Simonides to escort her into the house.

  "Well," I said after a moment of startlement shared equally by the others, "at least my grandmother isn’t a prude."

  Prima smiled sweetly. "That must mean the blood runs true."

  I scoffed. "Blood? I think not. She used the tool she had at hand: information designed to throw off that other blue-headed priestling for the moment." I looked hard at her first mate. "Who in hoolies is he? And what’s he to you?"

  Without a hint of irony Nihko said, "Secret."

  I clamped my jaws tightly even as Del asked, "Need we be concerned?"

  Prima shrugged. "Why should you?"

  "Because we are here," Del answered steadily. "Because priests and mages often take an interest in people and topics seemingly unrelated, with dramatic effect. Because he looked at the brow ring hooked onto Tiger’s necklet, and recognized it. It was then and only then that he offered a threat to Tiger. Therefore I ask, need we be concerned?"

  "No," Nihko said coldly, even as his captain’s expression stilled to a feral blankness for a brief, stark moment before settling once again into its normal expressive mobility. "All that concerns you now is how soon the metri will announce her heir before the priests — the proper priests"— he made it a derisive label —"and the assembled metrioi."

  "Yes?" I invited.

  "If it’s you," Prima drawled, "you will inherit all the wealth and power of the Stessoi. Centuries of wealth and power." Her smile was arch. "And all the dreams you ever dreamed will come true."

  "And what about your dream?" I countered. "Aren’t you done here yet?"

  "We have guest-right," Nihko snapped.

  "And just what does that entail?"

  Prima’s smile shifted into unadulterated triumph. "It means every metri in the city must pay me respect to my face. It means I will gain a reputation that surpasses my father’s."

  "I thought you’d already accomplished that part," I retorted. "You steal men, their coin, their ships; he sells them."

  Her smile vanished. But before she could answer, Del cut her off. "We’re not on board your ship anymore. You can’t tell us to leave the household of the woman who has now announced before witnesses she is his grandmother."

  "That’s right," I said brightly. "I guess I’m the one who can tell you to leave."

  "It is not your household yet," Prima shot back.

  Nihko’s voice was cool. "And who says you will survive to inherit?"

  With one deft move, Del tossed her sword to the first mate. Steel flashed, arced; he caught it without thought, hissed startlement, then stared at her. "Settle it," she suggested. "Man to man, here and now. In this circle."

  Oh, thanks is what I wanted to say; my wrenched thumb ached dully. But I knew better. I just waited for Nihko’s answer.

  "I will not dishonor the metri," he said. "But, of course, I merely referred to the illness of her heart. Who is to say her grandson has not inherited its weakness?"

  Double-edged blade, that. And we all of us knew it.

  Prima took the sword from him, shoved its hilt toward Del. "The metri bought it for you. I suggest none of us dishonor her."

  "Ah," I said sagely, "there must be some form of terrible punishment if you kill the heir of a metri."

  "Sometimes," Nihko said gently, "one need not be killed to suffer the worst punishment."

  Ikepra. Borjuni. We both knew the truth in his statement.

  For the second time in the space of one evening, I saluted him with my sword.

  Prima made a sound of disgust. "Men," she said, her sidelong glance aimed at Del. "Why is it they can fight, and then immediately be friends again? They waste a perfectly good grudge that way."

  Del’s eyes glinted even as her mouth twitched, and I knew none of us was going to kill one another.

  Tonight.

  TWENTY-NINE

  From beside me in bed, Del spoke quietly into the darkness. "You’re awake."

  "So are you."

  "But I was asleep. I don’t think you’ve slept since we came to bed."

  "Long night."

  "Full night," she emphasized dryly. Then, "Is this what you dreamed of?"

  From my back, I stared hard at the ceiling I could not see. "I dreamed of no such thing in the hyorts, or even when I slept beneath the stars after a beating."

  "A sandtiger," she said softly. "And freedom."

  "Never beyond that. Never beyond the moment of freedom, when I could walk away and know myself able to make my own choices about my life."

  "And now?"

>   "Now I’m no more free… no, it’s not the same and I don’t mean it to be, but she said something, something about responsibility, and the acceptance of it marking adulthood."

  For a moment Del was silent. Then, softly, "The metri is a strong woman."

  "But is she right?"

  "About responsibility and adulthood?" Del sighed, shifted onto her back so that we lay side by side and flat, shoulders touching. "Taken of itself, I believe she is. Children live for their freedom, for the moment their tasks are done — if they have any — so that they may make choices about their lives. Of course, those ’lives’ comprise the next few moments, little more… but the impulse is the same. To be finished, so they may be free."

  When she fell silent, I prompted her. "And?"

  "Adults understand that freedom must be earned, not given by someone else."

  "No?"

  "No. We set ourselves the tasks, we execute them, and we are free then to accept other tasks."

  "What has this to do with the metri?"

  "The metri decides for others what she believes are the tasks that must be completed. For the benefit of her house."

  "In other words, she doesn’t permit anyone of her household — or in her family — to seek out their own tasks. And thus no one of the — Stessoi? — is truly free."

  Del tilted her head toward me. "I think the metri believes no one is strong enough to hold her place unless he be as she is."

  "Ruthless. Cold. Hard."

  "Is she?"

  "Ruthless? Yes. Hard? Absolutely. Cold?" I fell silent. Then, "I can’t say so. Because passion drives her. Her ruthlessness and hardness is framed on a passion for her household and the future of the Stessoi."

  "Does Herakleio have it?"

  "From the sound of it, Herakleio has enough to illuminate the island!"

  "That’s lust," Del countered. "Youthful passions, yes; he has never been permitted to grow beyond them. But the passion requiring coldness and ruthlessness?"

  "Not yet," I answered slowly.

  "You?"

  We both knew the answer to that. "You’re saying if I employed it now, she would hand me the household and the future of the Stessoi."