JOURNEY OF THE SACRED KING III

by JANRAE FRANK

  It was a very small office, two chairs, and a desk, mainly for counseling people in need. Dynarien indicated that Maya should sit and then pulled the other chair close.

  "This is very, very important," Dynarien whispered softly, so softly she had to lean close to hear him. He touched her face lightly. She started to draw back. "You are very beautiful." Maya started to scream, thinking he meant something else entirely.

  Dynarien blinked in confusion and covered her mouth with his hand. "Shhh. Since I don't know you very well, I have to do this the hard way. But I promised Eshraf I'd protect you."

  Eshraf had put so many conditions on this that Dynarien felt bewildered and almost completely stymied. The Patriarch wanted Maya completely warded, yet since the vampire would recognize yuwenghau wards, Eshraf wanted to be certain that no one, not even Maya would know who had warded her or when it had happened lest it slip out. So he had to do it fast.

  Dynarien brushed his lips along Maya's face, letting the fullness of his gifts sweep through her – something he had once tried with Talons when they first met and nearly gotten himself gutted by her. Maya felt this power like a surge of longing stronger than anything she had every experienced before and she faltered. Dynarien took advantage of that and kissed her. His divine kiss plunged through the last of her barriers and had he wished to take her to his bed she would have gone willingly as so many others had over the centuries. Instead he swiftly and expertly placed his wards and protections throughout her mind and energy centers. Maya, already worn down by the stress of the past days and taken unawares by what he was doing, fainted. Dynarien caught her.

  "Someone help me," he called out. "She's fainted!"

  The priest came instantly and soon summoned others who arrived, followed closely by Leslie and Cleatè. Dynarien left them, rounded a corner, and Jumped out of the temple.

  It was Leslie who noticed that Maya had her hand clenched tightly around something. Leslie niggled at Maya's tightly closed fingers, scratching lightly across the end where she could see what looked like something blue poking out. "What have you got, Maya?"

  "I don't know." Maya answered, unfolding her hand, and blinking dazedly with returning consciousness. She held a handful of blue rose petals.

  The fragrance of roses swept across them so strongly that it made Leslie's head ache and she closed her eyes a moment. When she could finally open them again, she studied the petals, turning them over in her own hand. "Blue. I do not believe there are any roses of this color in the entire city. I know there certainly are none in the castle. Where did you find them?"

  "I don't know..." Maya's voice had a disturbed, puzzled lostness with a trace of fear. "I was picking them in my dream..."

  * * * *

  Maya sent for Solance on the grounds that they wanted a second opinion on the success of Leslie's pregnancy from him, since he was caring for the heir and Talons was Sharani. She had frequently caught sight of Solance over the years, walking about the palace with his mincing stride and arrogant analysis of whatever topic caught his ear and fancy. He always claimed honors he did not own, expertise he had not acquired, and then had to find an excuse when someone called him on it.

  Arrogant little prick, thought Maya as she let him in and then a shiver ran up her spine. Solance had changed his way of dressing since the last time she saw him. He wore a scarf tied around his neck that matched his sash. Maya wondered suddenly if Solance was responsible for the drugs they murdered her brother with. If she pulled that scarf away, would she find a feeding scar? It was his report that labeled poor Yahni a suicide and would have denied him an honorable burial. Maya's body tightened with tension, outrage shoved her grief partially aside.

  "Hello, Solance. It is so good that you could come." Maya smiled sweetly. She remembered a bit of doggerel verse from her childhood, repeating it silently in her mind as she said other things with her tongue:

  Come into my parlor sweet,

  And have a cup of tea

  I'll chain your feet with lengths of steel

  Which feel so velvety.

  "I'm so sorry about your brother," Solance told her. He touched her hand, brought it to his lips, and kissed her fingers. It was so totally un-Solance like that it startled Maya and she drew her hand back quickly. She had always heard that he did not like touching Sharani, which was something they intended to put to the test.

  "I'm certain you know what my findings were in this case. Sharani males are notoriously unstable. Not like their women. I had to be honest about my findings. Being included on a coroner's jury is a grave matter."

  Maya stiffened. "I did not ask you here to talk about my brother. So please refrain." Her eyes kept going to the scarf around his neck, wanting to jerk it off him to see what was beneath it.

  "Then what?" His tone turned suspicious, more like his usual self.

  In love's embrace we both shall wheel

  And then your heart I'll part in twain

  You'll scarcely feel the kiss of steel,

  The lovely sudden pain

  "Derryl, Leslie, and I are having a baby. I passed it to her. I'm not bi-kyndi. We know you are caring for the heir. So I thought with all your substantial knowledge you would be the appropriate one to examine Leslie and myself."

  Solance brightened, preening himself. "Yes. I am the most knowledgeable healer in Havensword concerning Sharani reproduction. There is nothing I do not know about it."

  "Leslie," Maya called. "Leslie, would you please come here. Solance has arrived."

  And crimson spreads a dear, sweet stain,

  As 'tween your ribs my blade does steal

  You'll leave my parlor ne'er again.

  Leslie emerged from the upstairs bedroom and stood a moment at the top of the stairs. She wore a clinging robe of shimmering green fabric edged with golden Lyrian lace. It left nothing to the imagination. Maya could see the effect on Solance: he looked suddenly hungry for Leslie. She glided down the stairs like a cloud brushing a high peak before settling in the valley.

  "Where do you want us?" Maya asked.

  "Together on the couch," Solance responded, jerking his gaze from Leslie. "Side by side and I'll pull a chair around for myself."

  Maya gave him a lovely, half-sad smile and sat down beside Leslie who had reached the couch first. As Maya settled herself, the loosely tied belt came undone and her robe slipped half off her shoulder, revealing the cleft of her breasts. Solance stared.

  "Well, are we going to begin?" Maya asked.

  "Yes ... yes, of course." Solance took Maya's wrist first because she sat closest to him. "Individually first, and then together for comparison."

  Maya leaned forward so that her robe hung open still further. "I hear the heir is ill. It isn't contagious, is it? I mean, after all, I'm Sharani and Leslie is carrying a Sharani child. I would not want to expose us to something dangerous."

  "You have absolutely nothing to worry about," Solance replied. "You are in no danger at all."

  "As you know, of course, we're fairly disease resistant, very few hereditary defects." Maya leaned closer to him.

  Solance looked down her robe, discovering that half of one nipple was now revealed. It broke his train of thought and he lost his Reading, forcing him to start over. "It's the bi-kyndi," Solance answered. "That's the problem."

  "Whose problem is the bi-kyndi?" Leslie asked with wide-eyed innocence. "I've been hearing some extremely frightening rumors." She leaned closer to watch and brushed Solance's knee with her own.

  "The heir's problem. She's bi-kyndi. If you've heard the rumors, then you probably know what is going on." Solance finished with Maya. "You are completely healthy, Lady Maya." He took Leslie's wrist and they could see how hard he worked to focus.

  "But they are all so contradictory!" Maya interrupted his train of thought again the moment his eyes betrayed his inner focus and slid her foot across his sandal. "You're the expert. Tell us what to believe."

  Solance gasped like a landed fish and let go of
Leslie. "Having the bi-kyndi bound has made the heir fragile. Her illness results from the binding. You are in no danger of catching it, Lady Maya. Nor is Lady Leslie. Neither of you are bi-kyndi."

  "Surely there is a cure?" Maya moved forward until just the tiniest edge of her rump remained on the couch and now her knees touched Solance's. "Surely for you, for one as knowledgeable about my people as yourself, you could find one."

  "It does not exist," Solance said firmly, squirming a bit as he watched Maya's robe part along her legs, exposing the sweet curves to his view.

  "But that would mean she's dying."

  Solance looked ready to explode. Leslie closed in on him by moving to the floor to sit at his feet. Solance began to tremble. "Yes. And she's going mad as well. It's sad. It's very sad. Your women are far more delicate than most people realize."

  Leslie brushed her shoulder against his knee and Solance jumped. Clearly he was unused to women making advances toward him, especially noblewomen. "You know so much ... it must be very hard. Perhaps I should suggest to Derryl that he steal you from Wrathscar and the palace. Would you like to be my personal physician, Solance?"

  "Yes ... yes, I would." He ran his eyes over Leslie's body. Maya moved to the floor and slightly to the side of him. She sat with one leg up and drawn in, the other folded beneath it, which caused the lower half of her robe to come completely open. Solance could see the thick thatch between her legs. They could see his arousal tent his robe. He began to prattle nervously, pouring forth everything he could think of about Sharani and their twisted genetics and reproduction.

  Solance laid his hand on Leslie's knee, stroking the smooth skin, slowly, tentatively working down her thigh. That was when Maya knew they had him. "I am amazed at your knowledge, Solance. How long do you think the heir will survive this illness?"

  "Six months ... probably less. It's a very serious illness ... complications."

  Leslie burst into tears. Maya decided it was time to put an end to the game. She sprang to her feet, grabbed Solance's arm and twisted it tightly behind his back.

  "What are you doing?" Solance cried out in panic.

  "Lecher! Gutter-screwing cockwhore!" Maya shoved him toward the door.

  "But ... but..." He twisted in her grip and she seized him by the collar as well, using her knee on his butt.

  "Guards!" Maya yelled as she propelled him out the door and sent him tumbling down the corridor. "He's molesting Lady Leslie! Someone help us! Rapist!"

  Solance paled and fled.

  Maya went up to her room and dressed quickly while Leslie watched. "I want that mon dead. He knows nothing whatsoever about my people. But he does know drugs. I think he killed Yahni. Or helped kill him. And I believe he's helping Wrathscar poison the heir."

  "I do also. Where are you going?"

  Maya buckled her sword on. "Leslie, I'm going to the Guild Wing and talk my way into it. There must be someone who will listen to me about the book and the other things my brother told us. If I wait too long I'll start to forget some of it. And I want to tell them about Solance."

  "I understand. Be careful Maya. I'll wait for Derryl and tell him what we learned."

  "Keep the doors locked and the bar down." Then Maya left.

  * * * *

  Maya stared into the Great Central Hall with its maze of arches, forested with columns, and filled out with couches, chairs, and tables in little clusters as a casual meeting place for the aristocracy and other inhabitants of the palace. The stairs to the Cloverleaf below were in the very center with a half-moon rail around it; while the path to the Guild Wing lay at precise diagonal to the West Wing from which Maya had emerged. The place was filled to capacity with people. She hesitated for a moment like a deer about to step into the sunlit open of a meadow, knowing that she would expose herself to any predators who might be lurking. Wrathscar's colors sprinkled through the crowd, umber and pine. Maya realized she was shaking as her hand settled on her sword, and she had to remind herself that she was a daughter of the Guild to pluck up the courage to step into the hall. Once in, though, she was fine. Wrathscar had murdered Yahni. She focused on that as a talisman, gathering her anger. Some of those soldiers and others could easily be watching for her – or, Hadjys forbid, other members of her family if they thought she might have told them something. She started walking, trying to keep the crowds between herself and each small group of myn in Wrathscar colors, hunching her head and shoulders a bit, feeling that rather than making herself inconspicuous she was actually making herself more conspicuous. She should have waited for Derryl.

  "Lady Maya!" One of them hailed her and her stomach clenched. "My lord wishes to speak to you."

  She ignored him and kept moving only to see two more coming from the other direction. Maya broke into a run as they cut across her path. She glanced frantically for someone she knew, someone Derryl counted a friend or someone whom her family could call on. Strong hands closed suddenly on her arm and a deep male voice growled in her ear, "Don't make a scene, and nothing will happen to you."

  "Like hell!" Maya spotted a familiar face; Lord Channadar was turning in her direction to see what was occurring. He had several of his retainers with him, laughing at some pleasantry. "Take your bloody hands off my breasts! What do you think I am, a common slut?" Maya broke loose with the tremendous and always astonishing, to those unfamiliar with the Sharani, strength of her race. "Lord Channadar! Help me, please!"

  Channadar's head lifted toward her, instantly alert, signing his guard – those he called his Thirteen Chosen – in her direction with a flick of a fan. The tall one, Tiderider, reached her so quickly that she scarcely had time to blink before his arm was around her shoulders and a strangely menacing golden fan had snapped open in the direction of the nearest Wrathscar soldiers. The Wrathscar myn hesitated and discreetly fell back, melting once more into the crowd. Channadar extended his arm to her when she reached him, the long sleeves nearly brushing the floor as he took her into the shelter of his own arms, leading her to a couch.

  "Maya, why are you alone?" his voice had that lilting, singsong of east Creeya and the sweet tenor notes of the Fae like his mother. He had sharply slanted silver eyes, golden skin, and black hair with streaks of copper. While some people called Sharani exotics, she could look at him forever, for Channadar and the Fae were the true exotics at the court of the Grand Master – beautiful beyond imagining. And they knew it. "We have heard of your loss and my heart breaks with your grief, sweet lady."

  "Thank you, my lord. You are kind. Derryl had matters to attend to and I thought only to reach the Guild Wing to speak to some of my brother's friends."

  "Ah. Yet it seems it is no longer safe for a lady to travel alone, even within the halls of the palace itself. The Brown and Pine think they own it already."

  Maya's eyes filled. "Yahni–"

  Channadar gestured with his fan from one of his ladies to Maya. The auburn-haired young mon quickly knelt beside her, producing a clean silk handkerchief to dab Maya's eyes and comfort her. "My mother has foreseen that the Children of the Risen Dead shall rise and bring death out of life for the monsters, but only if our faith in our god and our courage proves strong enough."

  "Children of the Risen Dead? What are they, Channadar?"

  "No one knows. I cannot risk a drawn sword quarrel with Wrathscar." Channadar gave her one of his little smiles, adding, "Yet. He does not want, I hope, to make too public a confrontation. While they send for his bloody lordship I will buy you some time. Give me three strands of your hair. You blame him for Yahni, yes?"

  "Yes." Maya separated the hairs, yanked them free, and placed the long, black strands in Channadar's hands. He deftly and swiftly tied them into the form of a mon.

  "This hair will burn away to nothing in five minutes once I place it upon the couch. During that time it will appear to be you sitting there with us. Now, get up and run."

  Maya ran, but she could not help glancing once back over her shoulder and shivered to see herse
lf sitting on the couch apparently having a conversation with Lord Channadar. Then her stomach clenched up again. The half-Faery lord had been right: the soldiers had sent for Lord Wrathscar and the mon was heading for Channadar. The image disappeared in a puff of smoke and Wrathscar bellowed. Channadar's audience laughed as he began another small trick, ignoring Wrathscar. Channadar loved an audience for his small magics and pretended the illusion had been simply another of them, an entertainment. He had given her the secret of how he made Lady Montani disappear that afternoon Maya first glimpsed her brother with Belyla.

  The steel doors to the Guild Wing stood open, allowing Guildsmyn to pass through on their way to various chores around the compound and the city below. Maya saw Queiggy at his desk and headed for him.

  He shook his head at her, scowling sternly. "I can't let you in. It's an up drawbridge."

  "Queiggy, you must let me at least speak to someone. It's very, very important."

  "I'm sorry about your brother, but I just can't, child."

  Maya heard the jingle of spurs and armor, looked over her shoulder and saw two myn moving toward her in Wrathscar livery. She sucked in a deep breath, remembering what her old armsmaster had always said about calm, keeping that still inner core and balance that allowed one to choose. "Queiggy, those myn are here to capture or kill me." She kept her voice even, totally without emotion or inflection, and very, very low so that it would not carry to the myn coming after her. "Yahni was alive when we found him."

  "We were told he was already dead," Queiggy matched her tone.

  "That's what we wanted Galee to think. We believe she killed him."

  A determined light kindled in Queiggy's eyes. "Run past me, child, but don't resist arrest when it comes. Up drawbridge. You'll be washing dishes for a few days."

  Maya bolted and the soldiers, seeing that, went for her.

  "Intruder!" Queiggy jumped up. "Catch her and lock her in the kitchens." As the soldiers reached the desk, Queiggy stepped into the path. "But not you. You are not allowed in the Guild Wing."