by Glenda Larke
“I suffered the mockery of men inferior to me. I played a coward, swallowed the insults, hid my intelligence. In battle I risked my life to avoid killing those allied to us; I risked my life to escape, not once but twice. And I have done it all alone. I’ve earned the right to lead men.”
“Maybe. This coming battle will prove your mettle, or otherwise. Now I want you to tell me about the rainlord. Ryka Feldspar.”
“The woman who made a fool of you? I’ve met her. She’s taken to riding out with the false Uthardim. I’m not sure he has rainlord powers. I’ve watched him carefully. Some of the men almost worship him, like he was some sort of god. Not because he moves water, though. Some of them reckon he reads their minds. Black magic stuff. Gives me the shiver-shudders, he does.”
“He was a Breccian rainlord. Of course he has water powers! And the child?”
“Kedri?”
“Khedrim.”
“I don’t know much about babies. He’s walking and talking now.” He stirred uneasily as if something bothered him.
“What is it?” Ravard asked.
“When do rainlords first show if they have water sensitivity?”
“Maybe younger than us. Reckon Shale knew when he was ten or so, but he didn’t let on, not even to me. Why?”
“It’s that baby, Kedri. I saw him once, playing on the floor with a cup of water. Maybe I was wrong and the water just splashed, but I thought he pulled it out. Got it all over his face. If he can do that so young, I reckon he might be another stormlord in the making.”
The hurt of longing welled up in Ravard. He was supposed to be mine. He will be mine! “Could be,” he said with a calm he didn’t feel. “One more thing—did you come across your half-brother?”
“Clevedim? That traitorous son of a whore? Yes, he’s there. Always at Kaneth’s elbow, spindevil take him!”
“He’s on our side.”
Islar’s eyes widened. “That’s not possible. Dune god be my witness, I saw him kill our warriors in battle! After every trip he boasted about how many men he’d brought down.”
“It was our plan to get him into a position of trust.”
Islar blanched. He shot a look at his uncle.
Medrim shrugged.
“You think being a sandmaster means easy decisions, Islar?” Ravard asked. “Sometimes we sacrifice warriors, fine, brave men. In our hearts we honour them. At the prayer stones we ask the dune god to guard our bravest in their final rest. But none of that makes decisions any easier. Clevedim is one of ours. In the final battle, he will be the man who turns the wind of victory in our direction.”
Islar sat motionless as the colour slowly returned to his face.
Ravard waved a hand to dismiss the subject. “Forget him for the time being. Right now, we have plans to make. You and I are going to penetrate God’s Pellets. Do you think it’s possible? Without the guards being aware? Bearing in mind that, since your disappearance, they will have guessed that their hiding place has been revealed?”
Islar smiled, and the gleam in his eyes was triumphant. “Of course!”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Scarpen Quarter
On the Skulkai Caravansary route
Breccia City
When Jasper, Rubric and Dibble headed into the Red Quarter shortly after leaving Fourcross Tell, the rest of their party, driven by Elmar on his own black myriapede picked up in Samphire, stayed on the caravan route that wended its way south to the Skulkai Caravansary and thence to Breccia.
On that ride from Samphire, Terelle had grown fond of Umber. Ever since they’d left Khromatis, he had done his best to tell the family stories about her father and his parents, about the life they’d led in their more prosperous days in the Southern Marches. Jade, on the other hand, was cool and aloof, although never impolite.
I don’t suppose I can blame her, Terelle thought as they began their descent from the high trail of the Warthago. I didn’t like being coerced, either. She was seated behind the waterpainter, and Jade’s back was spear-haft straight, as if she refused to relax for a moment.
They topped a rise to a point on the trail with a view clear south through the range to the Skulkai. Umber exclaimed, “Dear sweet God, look at those ridges! Like bear claws scratching at the sky. They have a godly magnificence, don’t you think, Lord Jade?”
“A barbarian god,” Jade said in answer. “Savage mountains suitable for a land that worships the sun.”
“Not everyone does,” he rejoined. “Terelle here follows our faith now, don’t you, cousin?”
“You do?” Jade asked in surprise as she clutched at the saddle handle. She always rode the pede with an air of unease. She turned to look at Terelle, as if she half expected her to have visibly changed.
Terelle shrugged. “The Alabasters proved to me that the Sunlord is just a figment of men’s imaginations. Physician Errica taught me something of the form of your worship.” She could have added that she needed desperately to believe in something. She needed it to give her courage and hope, and most of all, meaning—but that need was private, so she fell silent.
It wasn’t much of a conversation, but it must have had an impact on Jade because that night, as they sat around a small campfire and two horned cats caterwauled in a gully nearby, the woman thawed enough to ask her about the way in which she had been using waterpainting to stormbring. “You must be very careful,” she said when Terelle described her methods. “You never know what the magic will decide—and the larger the painting, the more that can go wrong. That’s why we have such strict rules in Khromatis, and the penalties are dire. There’s no mercy when someone abuses waterpainting, even if they didn’t intend to harm anyone.”
Umber smiled benevolently on them both while they chatted, as if the thaw was his doing, and he could well have been right. He’d tried hard to be pleasant to Jade, and to make her journey as comfortable as possible. When Terelle turned in for the night, she grinned at him, and he winked back.
The next day, Jade asked to learn the language of the Quartern.
Four days later, Elmar was reining in the pede at the top of the Escarpment to show Jade and Umber their first view of Breccia. At least the rooftops were green with plants, and a little of the skirting of the bab grove was visible at the foot of the slope, but still Lord Jade asked in a shocked voice, “This is the main city of the Quartern? Surely not!”
“You can’t see most of it,” Terelle said.
“I can see the land around it. There are no farms. What do you live on? Not even a sheep could find enough to eat here.”
Elmar said defensively, “We don’t have sheep. There are goats; they eat the bab fruit mostly. The groves are at the bottom of the scarp.”
“This is not a land where it ever rains without the intervention of a stormlord,” Terelle reminded her. She waved a hand at a straggly thorn tree growing alongside the track. “Out here, if a plant can’t survive on dew, it dies.”
Lord Jade shook her head in bemusement. “I had no idea,” she whispered.
At least she sees the problem now, Terelle thought.
“There’s a cloud there,” Elmar said and pointed ahead with his pede prod. “Lord Rubric and Lord Jasper must be stormshifting.”
Terelle squinted against the light. “It’s a message cloud.”
“A message cloud? What’s that?”
Terelle explained and the two Khromatians glanced at one another, eyebrows raised. “You mean you write letters to one another in the sky?” Jade asked.
“You mean you don’t?”
Umber laughed. “One up for the barbarians, eh, Lord Jade?”
Terelle relented. “They aren’t exactly long communications. That would be far too difficult. And only Jasper has enough talent to do it.”
“What does this one say?” Jade asked.
“‘Highlord, treat the visitors at your city gate with honour, or learn the meaning of regret.’ He has signed it.” She’d felt bereft and afraid, and now she had p
roof she was never forgotten, or unprotected. He had been following her with his senses. He knew exactly where she was.
Thank you, Shale.
“I’ll scratch her eyes out if she comes in here.”
“No, I’m afraid you won’t.” Laisa smiled at her daughter benignly to cover her exasperation, then opened the letter from Jasper that the steward had just brought her. Terelle and her mysterious companions had been conducted to the guest apartments and Laisa had no intention of meeting them until she knew a little more about what was going on. She laid aside the letter opener and began to read.
Her mother’s attention to the letter did not stop Senya from voicing her opinion. “I don’t understand how she can have the gall to come back. She wasn’t supposed to, not here. Can’t we ask the waterpriests to charge her with sorcery? That’s what Lord Gold wanted.”
“Senya, please. Let me read this and then we’ll decide. You saw the sky message today. That was a very public threat, and I tend to take such things seriously. You should never forget caution when you are dealing with a stormlord.”
Senya sulked while she waited. Laisa took no notice. When she’d read the letter through, she flicked it with a fingernail and said, “It seems one of the people with Terelle is also a stormlord. They’re from Khromatis.”
“Blasphemers! Lord Gold will be furious. You must write and tell him. They’ll be arrested and executed.” She beamed at her mother. “How exciting.”
“They’ve come here to stormshift while Jasper is busy with the battle in the Red Quarter.” She looked across at her daughter. “So if we want water in our cisterns, we have to keep quiet about who they are and be polite to all of them, including Terelle. Understand?”
Appalled, Senya said, “Polite to that Gibber-grubbing snuggery slut? Never!”
Laisa sighed. “Yes, I suppose that’s too much to ask. Better you don’t meet her. I’ll keep her out of your way and get her out of Breccia Hall as soon as possible.” She regarded her daughter carefully. “If you are bored, my dear, may I suggest you take a trip to the coast or visit Amberlyn in Scarcleft?”
Senya looked at her, astonished. “Why would I want to do that?”
“She is your daughter.”
“She’s Jasper’s daughter, not mine. If you’re so worried about her, you go see her.”
“What do you want, Senya?”
For a moment she looked stricken. “I want everything to be back the way it was. When we were rich and comfortable and people were always courting me and saying nice things. When Daddy was alive. Jasper murdered him; it’s all his fault. And that snuggery whore of his.”
Sunlord help me, I don’t know what to do with this daughter of mine. Aloud she said merely, “I wish we could bring that life back too. For now, however, the only way we’ll get anywhere near that time again is to have reliable water. Which means treating our guests with courtesy as Jasper asks and not telling the waterpriests who they are. Understand?”
“That Gibber grubber sleeps in my husband’s bed, and we have to be nice to her?”
Laisa was taken aback by the venom in Senya’s tone, but said calmly, “You are still the Cloudmaster’s wife. You have the status. You have power here; she has none. We can both afford to be gracious.”
Senya regarded her with eyes narrowed, then stood and left the room.
No, she didn’t just leave. She flounced. This time Laisa didn’t stifle the sigh. She walked out onto the balcony in an attempt to dismiss her daughter from her mind. She leaned against the railing to look out over the city. Her city; who would ever have thought that would happen?
Ah, Senya, I wish I could put things back the way they were, too. I’d even like to be married to Nealrith all over again. How strange is that? What a fool she’d been to hanker after Taquar. Her desire for him had brought her to the edge of ruin. Worse, his ambition had brought this disaster on them, and Sunlord only knew where they’d end up now.
Sometime later she became aware she was not alone. She whirled to see Terelle just inside the sitting room doorway, hand on the doorknob, regarding her with a neutral expression. Evidently Senya had not shut the door properly on her way out.
“I sent a message to suggest we meet over dinner,” Laisa said.
“I know. The steward told me. But I thought it better we talk first. I don’t want any trouble, not with you or Senya or with the temple priests.”
“As long as you stick to the bargain Jasper made on your behalf—that you don’t use waterpainting except to bring water—I suspect the waterpriests won’t be moved to do much. Your guests are another matter. The priests in Breccia are all Lord Gold’s men. Eventually they’ll find out who your companions are, and they’ll tell the Sunpriest everything. None of them will like the idea of Khromatians becoming a power in the land. Which they will be if they’re our stormbringers.” She shrugged. “You and Jasper have knocked the top off a wasps’ nest.”
“The Sunpriest would rather be without water?”
“Who ever said that Lord Gold was a rational man?”
They stared at each other, sharing a silent moment of agreement. “I owe Jasper an apology,” Laisa said, breaking the silence. “Had I known your journey to Khromatis would yield a stormlord, I wouldn’t have released Taquar.”
“You’ve had a change of heart?” Terelle looked disbelieving.
Laisa didn’t answer the question, saying instead, “I think it best you have as little as possible to do with Senya.”
“I agree. I have to show Lord Umber how Jasper goes about stormshifting, and where the maps and such are, which means using the stormquest room. Several days work, I imagine. I have Jasper’s key. And then I will take Elmar Waggoner and find some lodgings downlevel. Lord Umber Grey and Lord Jade Lustre will be safer if they stay here. Jasper wanted me to warn you that if you fail to protect them, he will see you suffer for it.”
“So he said in his letter. He was quite clear on the matter, never fear. How long do you intend to be in Breccia?”
“Until Jasper comes back.”
“But in his letter he said he wasn’t intending to live here again! That he would settle in the Gibber with you and concentrate on bringing them their water.”
“First, he has to complete the series of waterpaintings I did of him here in the stormquest room. I’m not sure how many are left.”
“Ah. I’m glad he saw the sense of leaving Taquar alone. Or was that your doing? I don’t suppose you have any interest in looking after Senya’s child, after all.”
“No, perhaps not, but I can’t say I like the idea of any child being a piece in a horror of Taquar’s making.”
She’s fearless, I’ll give her that.
“Will Taquar hurt the girl?”
Terelle sounded indifferent, but Laisa wondered if she was. Maybe she just wanted information to pass on to Jasper. “Taquar never does anything without a reason, and that includes murder and cruelty. The nurses look after the baby and he doesn’t concern himself. Of course, that may change if either of you gives him reason.”
“I’m surprised you elected to stay here. He is your husband.”
Laisa smiled faintly, but didn’t reply.
Terelle nodded pleasantly and left the room as quietly as she’d entered.
Elmar was waiting for her outside Laisa’s door. Terelle smiled at him as they walked away from the highlord’s quarters. “Did you hear all that?”
“I did. You be careful around that bitch.”
“Don’t worry about her. We’ve work to do. Jasper’s orders.”
He brightened. “Good. I’m bored to tears. I want to spit when I think of Dibble getting to fight Reduners while all I have to do is bleeding fend off Senya Almandine.”
“We have to start telling the people of Breccia we have two new stormlords bringing us water. We won’t mention that one of them is actually in the Red Quarter, just hint that he’s in another city. We’re going to praise Lord Umber Grey to the skies. We’re going t
o visit every snuggery and taproom and gambling den and market from here to Level Forty-two, dropping hints about how wonderful these two men are, and how water talented and how they’re going to save us from this wretched water rationing.
“The one thing we aren’t going to do—yet—is tell anyone that the new stormlords come from Khromatis. Oh, but first we’re going to get Umber and Lord Jade the most Scarpen-looking clothing we can find. I’ve already told Lord Jade to keep her mouth shut in public and not to speak to the servants, but I want you to work with Umber to get him to stop using ‘ye’ and not sound so withering un-Gibberly when he speaks.”
Elmar grinned. “You want me to turn him into a Gibber-settle grubber?”
“Exactly. And Elmar, don’t underestimate Lord Senya. She’s a rainlord, and rainlords can suck the water out of you. Never forget that.”
“Lord Jasper did say she never got that far in her studies.”
“We can hope not, but don’t rely on it, all right? That woman is missing something, and what is missing makes her dangerous.”
“Missing something?”
Terelle considered her memories of Senya. “Logic. She’s illogical and can’t therefore be relied upon to do what we expect. That’s dangerous.”
They looked at each other soberly.
Then she laughed. “Never mind, Elmar. As we spread the word about the new stormlords, you’ll enjoy the carousing and all the rest, won’t you?”
“So that’s what a bab grove looks like.” Umber stood in the shade of the southern wall of the city and surveyed the rows of trees trimming the city with green.
Terelle, remembering how it had once been, was less impressed. “The Reduners destroyed such a lot.”
“I’ll admit I expected the groves to be greener,” Jade said. “I didn’t realise what a struggle life here is.”
She sounded saddened, and Terelle felt a twinge of hope. Jade had also accepted Rubric’s decision to accompany Jasper, which meant that she had to wait for him to return before they could duplicate the waterpainting that would free her to go home. Which was another good sign.
“Let’s go and have a drink,” she suggested. “Lord Jade has not tried bab amber yet.”
