The Traitor Queen tst-3

by Trudi Canavan

  * * *

  After several nights lying on a cold stone floor I ought to have no trouble sleeping now that I’m in a proper bed. What is wrong with me?

  Lorkin could feel that his body was tense. No matter how much he stretched, practised breathing exercises and tried to relax into the soft bedding, he could not settle. It did not help that every time his mind entered that period of wandering just before sleep, memories of the slave girl returned.

  He did not want to think about her.

  But he did.

  She had taken the water so eagerly, as if she knew what it contained. Perhaps she had been a Traitor after all. She’d struggled to conceal the poison’s effects in the beginning. Surely that meant she’d known what she was taking. Eventually she hadn’t been able to stay quiet. If it had not been for the watcher intervening and dragging her out of the cell, Lorkin would have given in and Healed her. In an outburst of frustration and self-loathing, Lorkin had thrown the water jar at the man, but it had struck the bars and shattered.

  Afterwards, the Ashaki interrogator had arrived. Lorkin had expected him to gloat and reveal that her death was his intention all long, but he examined the dead girl silently, said nothing to Lorkin and left wearing a frown of worry.

  The next morning, men Lorkin had never seen before had taken him from the cell and to a small courtyard. When the carriage they put him in arrived at the Guild House, Lorkin had wondered if he was having a particularly vivid dream.

  It wasn’t a dream. The king had released him. No explanation had been given. No apology for his imprisonment. Just the order for him to stay there.

  Why?

  Lorkin rolled onto his side. His globe light burned softly above, and he’d placed a barrier across the doorway, both slowly using up what was left of the magic that Tyvara had given him. Though he was now sleeping in a different room to the one in which Riva had died, the memory of someone crawling onto his bed in the darkness was surprisingly vivid and unpleasant, despite the fact that the original experience had been rather pleasant to begin with. He could not help imagining someone was lurking in the darkness, or that he was lying next to a corpse.

  Eyes staring at the ceiling, seeing nothing. Like the slave in the prison.

  He stared up at the glowing sphere and gave up on any hope of sleeping.

  Then he opened his eyes and, though nothing had changed, knew that time had passed. He had fallen asleep after giving up on falling asleep. But why had he woken up? He could remember no dream or nightmare.

  A thump from the central room sent a chill through his blood and he froze. Forcing his head to turn, he looked beyond the bedroom door and saw light in the room beyond.

  Someone is in there...

  He dropped the barrier over the doorway and created one around himself, then rose and approached the other room cautiously. Two slaves were in the centre of the room. A young man lay on the floor, a middle-aged woman crouched over him, one hand pressed to his head, the other holding a knife.

  Oh, no. Not again.

  But then the man blinked. He was alive. She’s reading his mind, Lorkin realised. She looked up at him and he recognised her as one of the kitchen slaves. “Lorkin,” she said. Removing her hands from the man’s brow, she rose to her feet. “I am Savi. The queen sends her regards.”

  Lorkin nodded. “How is she?” he asked automatically, then realised he ought to thank her first, since the man she had tackled had probably meant to kill him.

  “Dead.” She grimaced. “Two days ago.”

  “Oh.” He thought of Zarala’s mischievous eyes and sense of humour and felt a wave of sadness. “I am sorry to hear that. She was nice.” Then something occurred to him. “She wasn’t...? How did she...?”

  “She came to the natural end of a long life.” Savi straightened. “Savara was elected in her place.”

  Lorkin nodded again, not sure if it was polite to express pleasure at the news of a new queen when the old one had so recently died. The spy had told him in a matter-of-fact way that suggested she didn’t expect him to comment. He was glad to hear Savara had been chosen as the new queen. Not just because she had helped him many times and was Tyvara’s superior, but because she was smart, open-minded and fair.

  The spy turned to face the main door to the room. The reason for her distractedness came a moment later when Dannyl and another slave stepped into the room.

  Dannyl looked at the man on the floor who, despite being awake and staring at them all, wasn’t moving, then at Savi and Lorkin.

  “What happened?” he asked.

  Lorkin shrugged. “I’m not entirely sure.” He turned to Savi.

  “There have been some additions and removals of slaves here lately that were suspicious,” she told them. “This one,” she pointed to the man on the floor, “is no slave. He is a magician of low status. He was offered land and Ashaki status if he posed as a slave and helped abduct Lorkin.”

  “Abduct him?” Dannyl repeated. “Again?”

  Her eyes warmed with amusement. “Not by us. He received the offer through a friend. He believes it came from the king, though he has no proof of that.”

  “Of course not.” Dannyl looked around the room, his gaze settling on the slave who had brought him to the room. “Is she...?”

  “Trustworthy? Yes,” the Traitor replied.

  “Good.” Dannyl looked at the younger woman. “Could you wake Ambassador Tayend and bring him here?”

  The slave nodded and hurried away. She had not thrown herself to the floor, or even bowed, Lorkin realised. Dannyl was too lost in thought to notice. He walked over to the man and stared down at him. “Not restrained,” he murmured.

  “I have taken his strength,” Savi replied. “Would you like me to kill him?”

  “No. Not yet, anyway. We should not discuss anything within his hearing or sight, though.”

  The woman shrugged. A dome of white light covered the man’s face. “He won’t hear or see you. I am Savi, by the way.”

  “Thank you for intervening, Savi,” Dannyl said. “So he thinks the king is behind this?”

  She nodded. “Amakira probably intended to blame Lorkin’s abduction on Traitors.”

  “After which he’d read Lorkin’s mind—”

  “Attempt to,” the spy corrected.

  “—torture the information out of him, and then kill him and make it look like the Traitors did it.”

  Lorkin felt a chill run down his spine. Images of the tortured slave flashed through his memory. I’m not sure I could endure as long as she did.

  A movement in the doorway caught everyone’s attention. Tayend entered, the young slave woman following. He took in the prone man, Savi, Lorkin and Dannyl, then listened silently as all that had been discussed was repeated to him.

  “What matters now is what the king will do when he realises his plan has failed,” he said. “We have no proof he arranged this. To suggest it would be an insult. He may also decide he must remove Lorkin from the Guild House for his own protection.” He looked at Lorkin. “Somewhere nobody will find him.”

  Lorkin winced. “Can we pretend nothing happened?”

  Dannyl and Tayend exchanged looks.

  “We could,” Tayend said, “if it weren’t for this man. We can’t kill him. He’s meant to be the king’s property.”

  Dannyl narrowed his eyes at the prone man. “Well, if we’re all pretending that he’s just a slave... we could say that we caught him using magic, and demand he be removed. We’d have to wait until he regained his strength, or they’ll have to wonder how any of us managed to strip him of power.”

  “We can’t send him away. He knows Savi is a Traitor,” Lorkin protested. “If he tells the king that, she’ll be in danger.”

  Dannyl looked at Savi. “Can you leave?”

  She shook her head. “This House is being watched closely, day and night. Food and supplies are brought here. The slaves who attempted to go out for other items have been stopped.” She looked down
at the spy. “The king may still use his presence here as reason to remove Lorkin to somewhere safer. I suspect there are other slaves here who may be Amakira’s spies, too.”

  They exchanged silent, worried looks. Dannyl sighed and looked at Lorkin.

  “We have got to get you out of Sachaka.”

  “I couldn’t agree more,” Tayend murmured. He looked at Savi. “I suppose this restriction of slave movement means your people can’t arrange that?”

  “If we could have, we’d have done it already.”

  Dannyl shook his head. “I wish I’d known about this. I don’t expect to know everything, but the more I do the easier it is to make decisions.”

  “To tell you would reveal who I was,” Savi pointed out.

  Dannyl turned to the Traitor woman. “Well, you have now and that could be to our advantage. Could you read the minds of all the slaves here? Find out which are Amakira’s spies – and if any are magicians?”

  She nodded slowly. “Yes,” she said, but with reluctance.

  Lorkin frowned. But that would reveal who she was to all the slaves. Yet how else do we find out which slaves are spies or potential abductors? A chill ran down his spine as another option came to him.

  She was not the only person in the Guild House who could read minds.

  But if he revealed that he could, he would reveal much, much more. I’m going to have to eventually, and I’m not letting another woman be tortured and killed because of me.

  “I’ll do it,” he said.

  Dannyl and Tayend turned to stare at him.

  “You know how to...?” Tayend’s eyebrows shot upward. “Oh!”

  Lorkin saw Dannyl frown and braced himself for the man’s disapproval, but the man only shook his head.

  “Don’t jump to conclusions, Tayend,” he said. “Sonea learned to read minds before she learned black magic.”

  Tayend looked relieved. “Really? I thought reading the mind of an unwilling person was something only the black magicians could do.”

  Dannyl’s lips pressed into a grim smile. “We let people believe that. Like black magic, it’s a skill that would be too easily abused.”

  Tayend turned to regard Lorkin, his gaze sharp and thoughtful. He’s wondering what else I’ve learned. Should I tell them the truth now? It might be seen as suspicious if I conceal it too long.

  “Another piece of information you didn’t tell me so I can’t reveal it if I’m interrogated?” Dannyl asked.

  Lorkin nodded. He’s right. I can’t tell him yet.

  “Well...” Dannyl turned to Savi. “I’ll block all of the House’s exits to make sure nobody attempts to leave. In the meantime, rouse the head slave and send him to the Master’s Room, where Lorkin will order him to bring all of the slaves to them to have their minds read.” He looked at the failed abductor. “We should lock him up somewhere out of sight, too.” He sighed. “This barely qualifies for the term ‘plan’, but it’ll gain us some time to think of a better one.”

  Chapter 13

  Unexpected Help

  “I’m a bit... new at this,” Lorkin said, his expression apologetic as Dannyl sat beside him. “It may take a while.” Dannyl shrugged. “Don’t hurry it. I have plenty to think about. Like a way to get you out of this mess.”

  “Let’s hope we have time enough for both tasks.” Lorkin called one of the slaves over. The man threw himself to the floor. Lorkin instructed the slave to kneel before him, then placed his hands on either side of the man’s head and closed his eyes.

  Dannyl examined the rest of the waiting slaves. Aside from a few eyebrows rising in surprise, they showed no expression that might indicate which were the king’s spies. He looked across at Tayend, sitting on the other side of Lorkin. The Elyne met Dannyl’s eyes and nodded, perhaps indicating that he was keeping an eye on the slaves, too.

  The Traitor woman, Savi, had assured him other Traitor spies would be among the slaves and would help should a fake slave react to imminent discovery by attacking them. It would be better if they were not forced to reveal their identities, however. As for the failed abductor, he had been locked in a stone-walled storeroom under the kitchen, watched over by Savi and Merria.

  So. Time to get thinking, Dannyl told himself. If the king did arrange this, then he will know his plan has failed when his abductor doesn’t turn up with Lorkin. He may already know it’s failed, if the man was supposed to deliver Lorkin by now. So what will he do?

  He can’t do anything unless we reveal something happened, unless he had another spy in place ready to slip away and call for “help”. So what if he did? If we claim Lorkin read the abductor’s mind and found out the truth, the king will insist on taking the man away to check. The man will suffer some kind of accident so when Amakira claims the man was tricked into thinking he worked for the king, nobody will be able to prove otherwise. He’ll then use the attempted abduction as an excuse to take Lorkin away.

  If we pretend nothing happened, the king will know we’re lying. The abductor can prove otherwise. Dannyl did not want to kill the man. Not just because he’d rather not have to murder anybody, but if evidence was found that a Kyralian had killed a Sachakan – especially a free Sachakan – it would weaken the already shaky peace between their countries. And I’d end up in the palace prison for having destroyed the king’s property.

  What else could he do with the man? Smuggle him away? With the House being watched so closely that even a Traitor didn’t think she could sneak out, he doubted they’d succeed. If we kill him we’ll have to destroy the body completely or make sure someone else is blamed. I’m not sure how to do the former, but it has to be less risky than the latter. He shook his head. I can’t believe I’m contemplating this.

  A faint hammering noise brought his attention back to his surroundings. Lorkin had sent the first slave away to the other side of the room. He looked at Dannyl.

  “I think someone’s knocking on the front door.”

  With all slaves in the Master’s Room, there was nobody outside to greet anyone. “Well, that didn’t take long.” Dannyl muttered.

  “It’s not too late for social visits,” Tayend pointed out. “According to Sachakan customs.”

  Dannyl sighed and stood up. “I’ll go see who it is.”

  Lorkin didn’t look reassured. “Should I... clear the room?”

  “Yes, but...” Where to put the slaves?

  “Take them to my rooms,” Tayend offered. “You can continue the mind-reading there.”

  Dannyl looked at the lone slave who had been read. “Is he trustworthy?”

  Lorkin shrugged. “He’s not a spy, if that’s what you mean.”

  “Good enough,” Dannyl beckoned to the man, who hurried forward and threw himself on the floor. “Wait until everyone but me has left the room, then go bring our visitor here,” Dannyl ordered.

  Within a surprisingly short time, Dannyl found himself alone in the Master’s Room. He drew in a deep breath, let it out slowly and braced himself for a troupe of Sachakan magicians to emerge from the corridor. Only one set of footsteps reached his ears, though, then a lone man appeared and hesitated at the threshold of the room.

  “Achati!” The name leapt out of Dannyl’s mouth. “Ashaki Achati,” he quickly added, as proper formality dictated.

  Achati’s forehead was deeply wrinkled. He searched Dannyl’s face as he hurried forward. He looks anxious, Dannyl thought. He’s actually wringing his hands.

  “Ambassador. Dannyl.” Achati paused two steps away, once again gazing at Dannyl searchingly. “I must warn you of a plot. I expect that you won’t believe me, but I had to at least try to warn you. The king has a spy among your slaves. Probably a man, since we have few woman magicians and they aren’t trusted. He will try, some time in the next few days, to abduct Lorkin. You need to keep a watch and limit the slaves’ access to Lorkin. And perhaps, to weed out the spy, you could use those interrogation skills you put to use when we were looking for Lorkin.”

 
Dannyl stared at Achati in amusement and suspicion. What is he up to? Why warn us when it’s already happened? Does he mean to trick us into trusting him? Has the king sent him to check if his abductor has acted yet? Hmm. I guess I’ll have to play along and see where this leads.

  “When we thwart this abduction, what should we do then?” he asked. “Kill the spy?”

  Achati shook his head. “No, you would be destroying the king’s property.”

  “Only if the spy is a slave, and the king admits he owns the man.”

  “Oh, he won’t admit to anything. He’ll claim to have no knowledge of the plot, and say the man was bribed by the Traitors. When the man is revealed to be a magician, not a slave, you’ll be charged with murder.”

  “Despite the fact that I didn’t know this?” Dannyl shook his head. “So he’s setting me up, then?”

  Achati shook his head. “Not specifically, but if you were foolish enough to kill the man, it would give him the perfect excuse to send you back to Kyralia.”

  “Then what is the king’s aim? Ah. It’s to manufacture a good reason to claim Lorkin isn’t safe here and take him away.”

  Achati’s mouth twisted into a grim but approving smile. “I knew you’d see the danger.”

  “So what do we do? We won’t be able to pretend nothing happened. The spy will inform the king of his failure. He’ll try again, or the king will send another spy to abduct Lorkin. There may already be others here already, in case the first attempt fails.”

  Achati grimaced. “If Lorkin can be smuggled back to Kyralia, you should arrange it.”

  Disobey the king? That’s not what I expected. “How?”

  Pinching his lower lip between two fingers, Achati frowned. “If there are any Traitors among the slaves, they might be able to arrange it.”

  “With the House being watched so closely? I doubt it. Is this all a ploy to capture some Traitors?”