by K J Taylor
She almost missed it at first-the griffin lay on her belly among some bushes, nearly unmoving. The slow flicking of her tail had given her away. Her feathers were magnificently patterned with browns and yellow-golds, and the splash of green on her wings had melded in with the plants around her. Even her beak and forelegs were brown. Her eyes were the colour of sand and stared unblinking at the newcomers.
Laela had learned a lot about how to behave around the Emperor and his partner. So had Oeka. The pair of them stood where they were and let Vander and Ymazu go first.
The two diplomats approached the Emperor and his partner. Vander stood with his head politely bowed, while Ymazu took a step toward the other griffin.
Laela, watching, frantically tried to remember her name. She couldn’t come up with anything.
The Emperor’s partner didn’t stand up, and barely even turned her head when Ymazu lowered her own in submission. She opened her beak, and said something. Ymazu replied.
Finally, the two griffins looked toward Vander and the Emperor, neither of whom had moved.
Vander knelt, and spoke in Amorani. The Emperor answered him, and finally stood up to look at Laela and Oeka. Acting on some unspoken signal, Vander and Ymazu both stood aside, leaving Oeka to approach the Emperor’s partner, who now stood to receive her. Standing, she was much taller than Oeka, but lighter and slimmer.
Oeka bent her forelegs and touched her head to the ground. “Great and powerful Zaerih, I am Oeka of Malvern. I come to you as an inferior in every way, and carry no plan to attack or insult you, who are dominant over me and my human.”
Zaerih-that was her name, Laela remembered with relief-gave Oeka a long, slow look. Oeka said nothing and stayed exactly where she was, allowing the other griffin to scent her.
Zaerih gave her a rough shove with her beak, pushing her away. Oeka resisted for an instant, but quickly realised that she was being dismissed and loped back to Laela’s side.
The formalities finally over with, the Emperor smiled and gestured at Laela to join him. “Sit with me,” he said.
Laela obeyed, sitting cross-legged opposite him, by the pool. “Thank you for seein’ me, Sacred Ruler.”
“I am honoured to receive you, Lady Laela,” the Emperor said gravely. “May I ask how your King is faring?”
“Not well,” Laela said honestly. “Sacred Ruler. . the King is very badly hurt. But-” She raised a hand, and her voice as well. “But there’s no blame on you. The doctors yeh sent did a good job; yeh’ve been takin’ good care of him, an’ me as well. I know there’s been some tension, bad things bein’ said, but I’m here to tell yeh there’s no problem. I was a witness. You had nothin’ to do with this, an’ neither did any of yer good people, Sacred Ruler. Yer our friend, our good friend, an’ I know the King would say the same if he were here. But obviously he ain-isn’t, so I’ve come in his place.”
“You are his highest official here?” said the Emperor, unreadable.
“I am,” said Laela. “My words are his. What I say, he says.”
The Emperor smiled. “He told me this. That is why I granted you an audience.”
Laela’s heart beat faster. “Good. Then here’s what I have to say.”
“Speak,” said the Emperor.
Laela took a deep breath. “The King needs t’be taken home, an’ quickly. Only Malvern has the medicine he needs. But before we leave, I’m here t’finish the negotiations. So tell me what’s left t’be done, an’ I’ll see it done.”
The Emperor frowned. “You are certain that the King must be sent home?”
“I am,” said Laela.
“But what medicine can your people have that mine do not? The doctors of my palace are the finest in the world.”
“They are,” said Laela. “An’ they’ve done good work for him an’ for me. But they don’t have what he needs.” She smiled slightly. “He needs snow. Only the North has that.”
“Very well,” said the Emperor. “Your people must treat him as they see fit, and if our help is not asked for, then so be it. I hope that he will return when he has recovered, so that we may complete our treaty.”
“We can do that now,” said Laela. “I’m empowered to do it.”
But the Emperor shook his head. “Our treaty cannot be sealed without the King.”
“Why?” said Laela. “What did yeh need from him that I can’t give?”
“The marriage,” said the Emperor. “The King must marry my daughter, or the treaty will be void.”
“Can’t she come back with us?” said Laela. “The ceremony could happen in Malvern once the King got better.”
“That is not good enough,” said the Emperor, not angry but firm. “The ceremony must happen on Amorani soil. There must be a wedding. We are prepared for one.”
“Can’t we seal the treaty some other way?” Laela asked in desperation.
“No. We complete every new alliance this way. There must be a meeting of two souls, a binding of two families. This is vital.”
“I understand,” said Laela. “But the King is unconscious, an’ he’s never gonna wake up unless he goes home. He can’t get married this way.”
“Then he must come back later,” said the Emperor, unmoved. “Without the marriage, there is no treaty. Do not waste our time in arguing over this, Lady Laela.”
Laela knew there was no chance of Arenadd ever setting foot on Amorani soil again. If he ever tried, she would stop him. But there was no way the Emperor was going to change his mind.
“Then maybe we can do this another way,” she said at last. “Could someone else here maybe marry her instead?”
“Only a member of the King’s family may make the marriage,” said the Emperor. “It must be royal blood to royal blood, or the wedding would be meaningless.”
Laela rubbed her eyes. She was quickly running out of options. At this point, it looked like she was going to have to accept the inevitable and go back home with the treaty half-finished. And when-if-Arenadd recovered, she would have to tell him that she had failed and that he would have to go through another six months of agony because she had been unable to finish what he had started.
She settled on a compromise. “I understand, Sacred Ruler. If yeh don’t mind, I’d like some time t’think about this.”
“Of course.” The Emperor smiled. “You look very tired, and are more than welcome to rest. I will see you again tomorrow, when you are ready.”
“Thank you, Sacred Ruler.” Laela stood up, signalling the end of the meeting.
She left the garden with Oeka, feeling exhausted and angry with herself. There had to be some way to resolve this, had to be. But how could she ever persuade the Emperor to change his mind?
She was so worried that she didn’t notice that Vander and Ymazu had followed her until she had nearly reached her own rooms. When they arrived, Vander took a step toward the door. “With your permission, my lady?”
Laela brightened up slightly, realising that he might be able to help. “Come in.”
She and Oeka entered first, with both Vander and Ymazu. The two diplomats made themselves comfortable. Telise and Oeka’s own servant were instantly on hand, offering refreshments.
The guards from before had come along as well, but to Laela’s relief, they stayed outside, stationing themselves on either side of the door. She sat down on one of the odd cushion-chairs provided, and accepted a drink.
Vander, sitting with Ymazu directly behind him, folded his hands and looked frankly at Laela. “You did well with the Emperor. I was impressed.”
“Thanks,” said Laela. “Doesn’t look like it worked, though.” She put her head in her hands. “I dunno what I’m gonna do, Vander. I really don’t.”
Vander put his head on one side. “My lady. . may I ask if you are married?”
“Eh?” Laela looked up. “No, I ain’t.”
Vander smiled in his mysterious way. “The Emperor will accept nothing but a marriage-one of his family to one of the King’s
. Any man or woman with the King’s blood will do. Whether legitimate or not.” With those words, he fixed Laela with a penetrating stare.
She frowned. “That’s nice, but there’s nobody here with his blood except him.”
“If you say so, my lady.” Vander smiled again. “Now, I will leave you to rest and consider your next discussion. I hope that my advice is. . useful.”
With that, he stood up and left the room with Ymazu.
Laela stared up at him. “Huh. I know what he’s gettin’ at.”
“So do I,” said Oeka. “He still believes you are the King’s daughter.”
“The Emperor does, too,” said Laela, remembering. “When we first met him, he looked straight at me an’ made some comment about Arenadd’s family rising to power. An’ I suppose I do look like him a bit. .”
Impulsively, she snatched up a hand mirror and examined her reflection carefully. There was the hair, obviously, and maybe something a bit similar about the nose and the chin. .
Not for the first time, she wondered whether it could be true. Could she really be his daughter?
No. She dismissed the notion, yet again. It was impossible. He couldn’t father children; he’d told her so himself. And he’d never been with a Southerner. There was no way.
And yet. .
“If I was his daughter,” she said slowly, “then I could do the marriage. I could finish this thing myself.”
“But you are not his daughter,” said Oeka.
“I know, but. . I dunno. Maybe I could. . pretend, like.”
Oeka’s neck feathers rose. “You mean lie? To the Emperor?”
“Yeah. I mean, no. Of course not. Don’t be daft. I couldn’t do that.”
Oeka slowly scratched her flank and made a low, soft, rasping sound. “Could you do this thing?” she asked eventually. “Are you willing to?”
“I couldn’t,” said Laela. “No way. Could yeh imagine the trouble I’d be in when the truth got out?”
“It depends,” said Oeka.
“On what?”
“I have been listening, too,” said the small griffin. “And I think I understand how this thing would work. This mating is not about power, only symbolism.”
“So?” said Laela.
“So it does not matter that you are not his daughter and will never inherit his throne. The Emperor does not want a marriage between the current or future ruler of the North-he only wants a member of the King’s family, any member. He said so himself today.”
“So what does that mean?” said Laela.
“That it will not matter to him if you do not rule. As long as you are a Taranisaii in name, it will be enough.”
Laela rubbed her chin. “What do yeh think I should do, then?”
“Tell the truth,” said Oeka. “Or part of it. Say you are the King’s daughter, but are not legitimate. You are a Taranisaii but will not inherit the throne. Tell him that, and tell him you are still willing as a Taranisaii to accept a mating with a member of the Emperor’s own family. See if that will satisfy him.”
Laela stared. She mumbled something, began a proper reply, and then trailed off into silence.
Oeka huffed. “I know I am not clever like one of your kind, but I have used my best judgment. I do not know if my advice should be followed. . Decide for yourself. I am sure that your own reasoning will be better.”
Laela found her voice. “Since when did you start soundin’ humble? Dear gods, the world really has gone mad.”
Oeka snapped her beak. “I have given all I have to offer. It is your decision.”
“You’ve been happy t’make decisions for me before.”
“Yes,” Oeka admitted. “But no matter her species, every female must choose which male will fertilise her eggs. That is her decision and nobody else’s.”
Once, Laela might have laughed at her partner’s awkward choice of words, but not now. Now they only served to sharply remind her of what was really at stake here. Not Arenadd’s quest or the Emperor’s anger if she was caught, or even the slaves whose freedom depended on her now. She was more than willing to help them, and to do her duty as Arenadd’s aide.
The real question was how far was she willing to go for their sake? Was she willing to do what Oeka had suggested-that is, marry some Amorani man she had never met? Sleep with him, most likely? Was she willing to betray Yorath?
“I gotta think about this,” she muttered.
“Think, then,” said Oeka, looking quite relaxed. “Take the time you need.”
“Right,” said Laela, and that was more or less all she said for the rest of that afternoon.
She couldn’t sleep that night. Telise brought her a beautifully refreshing dinner of fresh fruit and some very mild wine, all of which did a lot to make her feel better, and the doctors had sent over some thick, gritty medicine that tasted vile but finally got rid of the headache.
Afterward, she should have been more than ready to sleep and let herself recover, but she didn’t. Her mind wouldn’t let her.
Neither would her chest. Fear and worry were emotions that seemed to live inside her rib cage, and that long, awful night it felt ready to burst. Her heart fluttered periodically and made her feel ill.
She tried to relax, tried to make herself sleep, tried to tell herself that everything would be all right-but she couldn’t. And the answer to her problems just seemed so simple. All she had to do was accept that this was beyond her. There was nothing she could do about it except go home and hope that Arenadd got better.
But she found herself thinking of Inva instead. She had come to like the older woman, and to sympathise with her. She was obviously very intelligent, and highly educated as well. She deserved a chance to live free. But where was she now? Punished, Telise had said. Sent away. And Laela had a horrible feeling about just where that might be. Inva had suffered, and was probably still suffering, and all because of Laela’s own stupidity.
Laela rebelled at that. No, it wasn’t her fault what had happened to Inva. It was the system that had done it-the system that forced people to live the way she did and treated them like so much rubbish by way of return. It was the system that had punished Inva when she hadn’t done anything.
Right there and then, Laela vowed to herself that she would not go home until she had found Inva again and helped her in any way she could. Testified to her innocence, at the very least. But that wouldn’t be good enough. No, Laela decided, she would free Inva instead. Buy her freedom and take her back to the North.
That decision made her feel better.
But after that, she got to thinking about the others. How many others like Inva were there? How many hundreds or thousands of other Northerners were out there, treated like property and probably killed as soon as they stopped being useful? How many were there who had it far worse than Inva ever had?
All of a sudden, she found herself thinking about Arenadd. She remembered the scars on his neck, and the lash marks on his back. She thought of the black robe he always wore. And the slow, chilling realisation came to her, the thought that she could guess what all those things meant. And there was the way he spoke, too-his passionate insistence that all men should be free, that slaves should be rescued, his utter hatred for the system that let them live that way at all.
He was a slave, she thought. He must have been. That’s why. .
No wonder, then, that he hated Southerners so much. No wonder he had spent his entire life killing them and driving them away. No wonder he was prepared to do anything and everything in his power for those here in Amoran.
“An’ me?” she said aloud, to the dark ceiling high above. “What does that make me?”
Unexpectedly, she found herself feeling utterly ashamed of her Southern blood. Ashamed, too, that she had ever let herself hate Arenadd for setting his people free. For the first time, she felt as if she understood those people who hated her for being a half-breed, and in that moment she did feel ashamed of it. Inherited shame.
Th
e feeling passed quickly. It wasn’t her fault, and there was no such thing as a race that was better than any other. She should know.
But like it or not, she was a kind of Southerner, and she couldn’t help but feel as if she had a responsibility to try to make amends. After all, it had been Southerners who had sold those slaves to Amoran in the first place. And as a Northerner, she had a duty as well. A duty to her people, and to her King.
Those were inspiring thoughts, but they still led her back to the one question that had put her in this state in the first place. Was she willing to go through with this? Lie to the Emperor? Marry a man she didn’t know? Betray Yorath?
In the end, shortly before dawn, she settled on a compromise. She would speak to the Emperor again and find out more. She wouldn’t lie, but she would ask questions, and at least find out if a half-breed bastard was an acceptable match. That should do to begin with.
As she drifted off to sleep, she forced herself not to think about what she had seen in the Temple. It was too soon to think of it. And besides that, she wasn’t sure if she ever wanted to.
26
Laela Paramount
By the time morning came, Laela was exhausted. Her eyes were dry, and her headache had come back with a vengeance.
She dragged herself out of bed regardless, and once her breakfast had been served, she sent Telise to pass on a message to the Emperor requesting another audience.
The slave returned just as Laela was finishing breakfast, bowing low. “My lady, the Emperor will see you this afternoon.”
Laela rubbed her forehead. “Why not sooner?”
“The Emperor will see you when he chooses,” said Telise, with an iciness that surprised her.
“Right then.” Laela gulped down some water and tried to think. “In that case, while we’re waitin’. . I want t’know where Inva is.”
Telise looked blank. “Your previous attendant?”
“Yes, her,” said Laela. “Middle-aged woman, no hair. What have they done with her?”
