He pointed his other hand at Dagii. “You will command the assault on New Cyre, the hero of the Battle of Zarrthec at the head of my armies. If either of you disobeys me, the other dies.” His ears twitched and rose. “Is that simple enough?”
Dagii thrust out his chest. “Command me with the rod. You’ll have my obedience then!”
“You don’t understand, Dagii.” Tariic’s words rasped between his teeth. “I can command anyone. I command the Ghaal’dar clans. I command the Kech Shaarat who dared to come before me. I command the envoys of the dragonmarked houses and the ambassadors of the Five Nations. But that isn’t true power. That’s not how the emperors of Dhakaan truly ruled.” He held up the rod. “This is a crutch. Unless I put care into my orders, my power doesn’t extend beyond those who see and hear me. To rule an empire requires servants who serve because they want to”-he lowered the rod-“or because they have to.”
He waited.
Dagii looked down at Ashi, then his ears drooped, and he lowered his head. His fist rose to rap his chest. “I will command the assault, lhesh.”
“Dagii-” Ashi said, but the instant her lips moved, the bugbear jerked on her arms again. Her words vanished in another gasp.
Tariic ignored her. “Serve me well, and you’ll be rewarded,” he said. He gestured toward the door. “Now go, and remember what you have to lose.”
Dagii walked out the door like a broken man. Tariic closed it behind him, then turned his gaze back to Ashi, gesturing for the bugbear to ease his grip on her arms.
“I know you don’t care about risking your own life,” he said. “How do you feel about risking Dagii’s?”
Ashi glared at him. “I saw the letter that you had forged. It doesn’t matter what Dagii does. You always intended to destroy me.”
He drew his foot back to kick her again. Ashi braced herself, but the kick never came. Tariic lowered his foot. “Not always,” he said. “But I knew that in the aftermath of my attack on Breland there was a chance Breven might relent and ask you to return to Karrlakton. I couldn’t let that happen. You do know my secret-and my ‘crutch’ is very convenient.” He turned the rod in his hands. “I didn’t so much intend to destroy you as to make certain that no one outside of Darguun would want anything to do with you.”
“Why not just kill me, then?”
He smiled at her. “Because I don’t need to.” He stepped back. “I saw that you tore up my letter. There really wasn’t much point to that. I can have another one made. In fact, you’ve given me the chance to send Breven an even more impressive gesture of your disdain for Deneith.”
He gestured, and Pradoor dragged out something she’d been hiding behind her back. Ashi’s bright honor blade. “In the new letter,” said Tariic, “you’ll be sending it back.” He took the sword from Pradoor.
Ashi started to struggle, but her bugbear captor renewed the pressure on her arms. She forced herself to relax. She glared at Tariic.
“I’ll stop you, Tariic. I swear I will.”
“I don’t see how,” said Tariic. “Dagii is gone. Aruget is gone. Senen is gone. You’re out of allies. I’d suggest focusing on behaving yourself and keeping Dagii alive. His life is in your hands now.”
He turned to the door. “Pradoor,” he said. “Hold her.”
The goblin priestess murmured a prayer, and once again pain burned through Ashi’s body. While she writhed, the bugbear released her and lumbered to his feet, taking the lantern with him. By the time she could breathe again, Tariic, the bugbear, and Pradoor were all at the door. Tariic clapped the bugbear on the shoulder. “You already know your new jailer,” he said. “Don’t bother screaming. Nobody is going to be coming for you.”
She managed to raise her voice. “The dragonmarked envoys will miss me.”
“No,” said Tariic. He lifted the Rod of Kings. “They won’t.”
The door closed. The room plunged into darkness. Ashi heard the rasp of a bolt being slid home on the other side of the door. Two bolts. And a key in a lock.
She sat up slowly, utterly alone in the cold darkness.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
24 Vult
The riverboat drew in its oars and glided into an empty berth along the docks of Rhukaan Draal. Thick hawsers flew over the side, were caught by dockmen and made fast. A few moments later, the gangplank slid out.
Ekhaas and the others were down it as soon as the lower end touched the dock. “Good luck to you,” the captain called after them. “Find your fortune and live to spend it!”
“We’ll hire you a better cook for your galley,” Ekhaas shouted back with false levity, then turned away and said to the others, “Let’s get off the docks and find out what’s going on.” Her fingers touched the reassuring weight of the shaari’mal within her pouch, a habit of the last ten days.
They’d slipped out of the varags’ territory as quickly as they could. Fortunately, the savage creatures were still cowed by what had happened at Suud Anshaar-they heard the varags’ shrieks in the distance but didn’t so much as catch a glimpse of them. If the ancient construct that lurked in the Dhakaani ruins still wailed, they didn’t hear it.
The power of the Shield of Nobles was a revelation. Ekhaas had barely been able to sleep. She’d lain awake, listening to the jungle and imagining what they could do. One shaari’mal had weakened the hold of the Rod of Kings on Midian. Two had shattered it. They had three of the disks. What effect would waking all three have? Who would they give the third disk, the one Tenquis carried hidden in his vest, to?
Dagii’s gray-eyed face had risen in her memories.
Tooth, restored by rest and more healing magic, led them north out of the jungle. Several days later, they’d arrived at the town of Rheklor and the mouth of the Ghaal River, where boats traveled upstream to Rhukaan Draal in a constant flow of river traffic.
Unlike Arthuun in the south, they’d found the town alive with excitement over Tariic’s plans for defense against the Valenar. The news had given them a convenient excuse for traveling to Rhukaan Draal-when they’d approached a boat’s captain to arrange transportation, they claimed to be mercenaries looking to take Lhesh Tariic’s coin-at the same time as it had made Ekhaas’s stomach tighten with fear. A few inquiries established that no Valenar had been seen since Dagii’s triumph at the Battle of Zarrthec. What was Tariic up to? What had happened to Dagii and Ashi?
They’d also bid farewell to friends at Rheklor. Tooth wanted more rest before he made the journey back to Arthuun. Marrow refused to board a boat or enter Rhukaan Draal. She would return to her pack across country. They’d said good-bye and boarded their boat a party of five once more. Ekhaas. Geth. Tenquis. Chetiin.
And Midian.
After he’d stopped screaming, the gnome had begged for the chance to take his revenge against Tariic. He’d poured out a story that, coming from anyone else, would have roused Ekhaas’s pity. Coming from Midian, it only made her glad of his suffering. At the same time, though, they all agreed on two things. First, that freed of the influence of the Rod of Kings, Midian hated Tariic as much as any of them did.
Second, that they would need all the allies they could find. They had a shield against the rod’s power, but Tariic still had an army to throw at them.
Beyond the docks, the streets of the city were strangely empty.
“It was like this when Haruuc died,” Tenquis said. “Everyone went to watch him be laid to rest.”
“I guess it would be too much to hope that Tariic has died, then,” said Chetiin.
“I’d be disappointed if he had,” growled Geth. The shifter adjusted his cloak and cowl. Of all of them, he was the most recognizable, having held the throne of Darguun as Haruuc’s shava after the old lhesh’s death. “I’d miss the chance to bring him down.”
Ekhaas spotted a figure moving on the street ahead-a scruffy hobgoblin staggering along as if he’d just left a tavern. “Wait here,” she said. “I’ll see if I can find out what’s happening.” She had her
answer quickly enough and returned to the others. “Everyone who can has gathered at the arena,” she said.
“The arena?” Geth asked. “Are there games?”
“Not exactly.” Ekhaas put her ears back. “Tariic gives blessings to the commanders of his army. They ride out today to take charge of the defense against the Valenar.”
Geth grunted. “More soldiers riding to the border of the Mournland leaves fewer soldiers in Rhukaan Draal for Tariic to command. That helps us.”
“Not when one of those commanders is Dagii,” said Ekhaas. They’d made loose plans on the journey upriver, not knowing exactly what they’d find in Rhukaan Draal. Most had involved slipping into Khaar Mbar’ost-with Chetiin’s and Midian’s skills it would be relatively easy-and freeing Ashi, but all had involved gathering allies before they confronted the lhesh. Dagii had always been at the top of that list.
Chetiin looked to Midian. “What are Tariic’s intentions for him?”
“I don’t know,” said the gnome. “I’ve been away from Rhukaan Draal almost as long as you, and Tariic didn’t discuss everything around me. I was his slave, not his adviser. It’s surprising, though. While I was here, Tariic was keeping Dagii away from the action. He was using him as a figurehead, the hero of Zarrthec.”
“Maybe that’s what he’s doing now,” said Tenquis. “Sending him to repeat his victory against the Valenar.”
“If there are Valenar,” Ekhaas said. She tried to put her feelings for Dagii aside. “We can use this chance to get into Khaar Mbar’ost more easily. We’ll find other allies. Munta the Gray could help us.”
Geth bared his teeth. “Dagii hasn’t left Rhukaan Draal yet,” he said. “We can still intercept him and get the shaari’mal into his hands. There’s no one else I’d want to have as part of the shield-especially if Tariic has made him one of the commanders of Darguun’s army. I say we go to the arena.”
Ekhaas’s ears rose. “Tariic will be there. Are we ready to face him?”
No one answered her. No one had to.
The great arena lay on the other side of the city. If a crowd had already gathered, they needed to hurry. Dagii wouldn’t waste any time beginning his march north after receiving Tariic’s blessing. She pointed along one of Rhukaan Draal’s crooked streets. “This way.”
The window of Ashi’s tower room looked out over the wide square before Khaar Mbar’ost, too high up to think of climbing down, but more than high enough to offer a spectacular vista of Rhukaan Draal. She wondered if Tariic had chosen the view deliberately. The square was where she and the others had tried and failed to kill him. Vounn had died down there. Ashi almost had too.
When Ashi saw troops parading in the square, she was certain the view was deliberate. Even from the tower window, she could make out the standard of the Iron Fox company. Tariic was taunting both her and Dagii. She could see the arch of the bridge over the Ghaal River as well. When Dagii led his troops north, she would be able to see them leave.
The Iron Fox wasn’t the only company to parade before Khaar Mbar’ost. Ashi recognized the precision of the Kech Shaarat too. They’d been first on the list of companies for the assault of Kennrun. If Dagii was leading the attack on New Cyre, presumably Riila Dhakaan-or more likely Taak-would be leading the attack on the fortress. Ashi felt a flash of hatred for the two Kech Shaarat, over and above what she felt for their role in Senen’s mutilation. She’d almost challenged Taak to a duel in the hall of honor. She wished that she had.
Her deaf jailer brought her food and water once a day, Pradoor waiting behind him with a prayer on her lips in case Ashi tried anything. Her days passed slowly and her nights, cold on the hard floor, even more so. Marks on the wall, scraped into the stone with the buckle of her belt, counted the days ahead to 28 Vult. The day of Tariic’s attack on unsuspecting Breland.
Maybe the Brelish weren’t so unsuspecting as she feared-but she doubted it. Tariic seemed awfully confident that his false aggression toward the Valenar, together with whatever misinformation he was providing through the ambassadors of the Five Nations, had fooled everyone.
Maybe the lhesh had been lulled into overconfidence by the Rod of Kings. Maybe the Valenar had gone to the lords of the Five Nations to tell them they had no intention of attacking Darguun again. Maybe Brelish scouts had slipped into northern Darguun and worked out Tariic’s plans on their own. Maybe Aruget had somehow survived, returning to his natural form to lull Pradoor and Tariic into a false sense of security before escaping from the castle and fleeing to Breland to warn his masters in the King’s Citadel…
“Maybe” could have driven her mad.
On the fifth day of her captivity, Ashi woke, watched the sun rise, and, for the first time since Vounn’s death, did not shield herself with her dragonmark. After so many days of invoking its protection, it felt odd. Her mark tingled as if it wanted to be used. The world beyond her window seemed a little less bright and sharp without its clarity. Ashi felt a bit more relaxed, though. There was little need for the mark. Tariic hadn’t come to see her since that first night, and even if he did come today, she could draw on her mark in an instant.
The irony of Tariic’s forged letter, she reflected as she watched the sun climb into the sky, was that the core of it was true. She would never betray House Deneith, but she certainly didn’t feel welcomed by it anymore. If Breven could turn his back on her, she could turn her back on Deneith. If she escaped Tariic’s trap, maybe she would. There was a lot of Khorvaire she had yet to explore. If she went back to Deneith, Sentinel Tower was all she was likely to see. She’d be more comfortable than in her tower prison, but no freer.
Movement in the courtyard below caught her eye. She leaned over the stone sill to watch as a parade of figures streamed out of the fortress and into the streets of Rhukaan Draal. Sunlight flashed on armor-not just the plain armor of guards but the fantastic, ornate armor of the warlords of Darguun. In their midst rode a figure in a bright tigerskin cloak.
Ashi wrinkled her forehead. Where was Tariic going? Out in the street, a crowd had gathered, the sound of their cheers reaching up to her window. She saw Tariic wave in response. As the end of the procession passed out of the gates, the crowd spilled along the street in its wake.
She looked at her scratchings on the wall, crossed one more off and counted them. It was 24 Vult. If the attack on Breland was to take place on 28 Vult, Dagii needed to leave Rhukaan Draal very soon to reach Skullreave in time. That very day probably.
Tariic would be riding to give Dagii his blessing before the young warlord departed.
Ashi closed her eyes and exhaled slowly. Tariic had put her in this room so she could see the Iron Fox ride over the Ghaal as they left the city. It was almost tempting to spite him by not watching-but by not watching, she would miss her last glimpse, however distant, of Dagii and his company.
She leaned against the wall to wait. The sun crept another handspan across the cool blue of the sky — and a sudden shout from beyond the door of her prison brought her jerking upright. There was a strange rattling, then the clash of falling metal. Another shout, cut short in a kind of wet grunt.
Ashi reached for the power of her dragonmark, feeling its heat flash across her skin and the clarity of its protection settle over her mind, before she realized that anyone who fought her guard was probably an ally. Still, she dashed quickly across the room and settled into a defensive stance at the side of the door, ready for whoever or whatever came through. Bolts and lock rattled. Ashi drew back her arm to strike. The door opened.
“Lady Ashi,” said a voice with a heavy Goblin accent, “I’m going to enter. Hold your blow.”
The speaker waited for a moment, long enough for her to grasp his message, then stepped through the door. Ashi let her arm fall. “Keraal?”
Dagii’s lieutenant thumped a fist against his chest in a salute. The chain that was his weapon rattled. “Dagii sends his greetings and asks you to come with us. There is little time.” He stepped aside, and th
ree more hobgoblins entered, carrying the corpse of the dead bugbear between them. None of them wore a crest, but Ashi thought she recognized them as members of the Iron Fox.
“How-?” she began, then looked back up at Keraal. “Did Dagii tell you Tariic threatened to have him killed if I escape?”
She wouldn’t have put it past the warlord to keep that bit of information from his men, but Keraal nodded. “He expects the attempt will come from one of the Kech Shaarat, but he doesn’t intend to be around the Sword Bearers for long. He is turning his back on Tariic.” Keraal’s ears flicked. “Dagii also told me that you will be killed if he defies Tariic. That’s why you’re coming with us.”
Ashi’s head whirled. Had Tariic anticipated this? Without her, he had no hold over Dagii once the Iron Fox was beyond Rhukaan Draal-unless he wanted to come chasing after them with the Rod of Kings. But there was another problem. She held out her wrists, displaying the silver cuffs Tariic had forced on her. “I can’t leave Rhukaan Draal with these on,” she said.
“What Cannith made, Cannith can defeat,” said Keraal. He produced a pouch and opened it to show her three vials of pale blue milky liquid in its carefully padded interior. “Dagii procured these. They’ll help you resist the cold. Cannith magewrights travel with the Iron Fox. Once we’re beyond Rhukaan Draal and before we leave Tariic’s service, one of them will be made to remove the cuffs.” He put the pouch in her hands.
She stared at it for an instant. Keraal’s ears flicked, and he gave a thin smile.
“Dagii thinks in strategy,” he said. “Come.” He pulled her out of the door. In the room beyond, the other soldiers of the Iron Fox were cleaning up blood spilled in her jailer’s death. Bloody rags were thrown into the cell, and the door closed, bolted, and locked. Until that door was opened, there was no sign that the jailer hadn’t simply walked away from his post, leaving her safely locked up.
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