Blooded (Lisen of Solsta Book 3)

by D. Hart St. Martin

  “Yes.”

  “I didn’t realize until after you’d left…I…well, I just didn’t realize.”

  “I know.”

  She reached up to touch his face, and her fingers found his eye patch. “I’m sorry about this, too. I’m sorry about a great many things. I think the worst part about being in charge is the regrets, the decisions you have to make that hurt other people but can’t be helped.”

  “You’re going to be a brilliant Empir.”

  She said nothing, just let her fingers slip from his face. After a moment of another one of their silences, he spoke again.

  “There is one thing. The Thristans I brought with me?” She nodded, and he continued. “I commanded them to tell no one, but one or more of them will break once they’re home. How can they remain silent after what they’ve seen? How can they keep still when they were forced to bury their dead? They will eventually share what they saw here, and Ondra may finally get her wish.”

  Lisen cocked her head. “Which was?”

  “Rebellion. Likely massive rebellion. Against you. Against Garla. When the Tribes hear about the carnage one woman inflicted on their own people—and keep in mind, the story will grow as it spreads—they will look for vengeance.”

  “What…what should I do?”

  “Order the guards on the Rim to watch for mass movement on the desert floor. That will be the first outward sign. Tell Tanres everything I’ve told you here. Tell her everything you know about Thristas. Tell her everything Ondra said to you. Tell her the Guard needs to be reminded how to do more than protect.” He took a breath. “And tell her I will ride with the Thristans, but I will not fight with them.”

  She straightened her shoulders. “So that’s how it’ll be. You on one side and me on the other.”

  “If that’s how you must choose to see it. Now, if you will allow me, my Liege, I will guide you to the main cave where I will turn you over to your escort.” He rose, then halted. One thing remained. He took Ondra’s shindah from a fold in his robe and then reached down to take her hand and help her up. Once she’d stood, he turned her hand palm up and placed the shindah upon it. “It is a Thristan tradition that the victor in a duel to the death be awarded the loser’s weapon. I can’t give you Ondra’s mind, but I can give you this. Wear it with pride. You’ve earned it.” Then he led her out to hand her over to the three guards from Pass Garrison.

  “Sergeant Kopol, I turn her over to you.” And Lisen allowed him to pass her arm to the woman.

  “Your horse is saddled and ready, my Liege,” the sergeant said, and Lisen nodded.

  He wanted to pull her back to him, hold her and tell her the secret he held from her. He wanted to tell her he loved her and didn’t want to leave her, but that their child called to him from Thristas and he had to go. But all he said was, “Safe journey, my Liege.” And with that, he swept out of the cave and into the sunshine where his own horse awaited him. He mounted and rode off before he could change his mind.

  The wind blew in right behind Korin as he rode off. Standing outside the cave where the sergeant had led her, Lisen waited for Pharaoh to be brought over to her. She turned to face the east, the direction from which the morning sun beat down upon her face. This was the direction in which Korin had ridden away. This was the direction in which Thristas lay. This was the direction she yearned to head, and if she could have done it on her own, she might have.

  Her hair blew into her face. It wasn’t the glorious mane she’d once possessed, but it had grown back out to a length where, if she could have seen, she’d be fighting it out of her eyes. But for now—hopefully only for now—she observed life from a different vantage point.

  In her dreams, she could still see. In her dreams, the world had grown frozen and forbidding. In her dreams, there was blood, but all the warmth of life had retreated and left her shaking and alone in the cold. Korin was gone, and war was coming. She wrapped her arms around herself, small comfort in the bitter wind blowing through her soul.

  Korin’s behavior this morning had seemed odd to her. He’d repeatedly approached, talking to her candidly, and then backed away. She’d sensed secrets remaining between them. She knew hers—life on Earth—but that wasn’t something she felt ashamed of; there simply wasn’t time enough right now to explain it. So what was he all mysterious about? Maybe he’d joined with someone during the time they’d been separated? That would explain his reticence with her. Of course, he’d always kept a wall up between them, so his unwillingness to share what was troubling him didn’t surprise her. At least they’d discussed her use of the push on her brother. Korin had balked, a little, but he’d listened to her apology. She wasn’t sure he’d accepted it, but he had heard her out.

  She sighed. He was gone. She’d thought him gone forever once before, but unless she ended up in some mess again, her only chance to see him would come when Garlans and Thristans met on a battlefield sometime in an unspecified future.

  She fingered Ondra’s shindah. A strange gift, but one he’d given with his usual frank sincerity. That was one thing she had to give him; he was anything but disingenuous.

  “My Liege?”

  She turned towards the voice, recognizing the gentle kindness she’d come to know as Sergeant Kopol. “Yes?”

  And then she heard it—a snort and a pawing of the ground—and she knew her beloved Pharaoh stood before her. She reached out and found his neck which she snuggled into with her nose. He smelled more of horse than he ever had, and she loved it. A real horse, a horsey horse. She bet his mane looked like crap, but when she ran her hand over it, she felt a finger-curled mane.

  “Did you do this?” she asked of the sergeant, holding up one of the loose ringlets.

  “Yes, my Liege. He seemed to want it.”

  “He speaks to me as well, Sergeant.”

  “Do you want a leg up?”

  Lisen shook her head. “I think I can manage.”

  “Here. Take the reins.”

  Lisen felt the heft of the leather reins and smiled. She pulled them out to their full length and tied them together. She figured if she lost hold of them somehow, they’d land on his neck, and she could find them there easily. Then she threw them over Pharaoh’s head. He whinnied at the prospect of once again having a rider on his back, and Lisen couldn’t stop the appreciative laugh that escaped her. She put her booted left foot in the stirrup and pulled herself up onto her great pride of a mount.

  “Are you ready, my Liege?” This time, it was one of the male guards who spoke to her.

  “You lead,” she replied. “Pharaoh will follow.”

  She gave Pharaoh a little kick and urged him forward with a quick scoot up and back in the saddle, and he broke into a trot. She reined him back, slowing him to a walk.

  “Will you be able to manage a canter when we reach the road?” Sergeant Kopol asked.

  “If it will get us home quicker, I’ll manage just fine.”

  Three guards watching over her and not a one of them Korin. In less than a week, he’d be back in Thristas, and she’d ride into Avaret, the conquering hero. But she’d still be alone.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  an arrest is made

  His copies of the testimonies and investigative materials in front of him, Nalin sat at the conference table, what remained of his right leg up on its usual chair, and smiled at the other members of the privy council. The evidence Melanda Cabell had gathered was irrefutable, even to her. It all pointed to Lorain Zanlot participating in the abduction of the Empir of Garla, and the privy council, acting on behalf of the people of Garla, were about to confront, charge and arrest Lorain for her treason. She thought she was coming to discuss her son’s ascendancy with them, but she might never see her son again.

  “Are we all agreed?” Nalin asked.

  “We were yesterday, Nalin,” Melanda said with a snort of impatience. Yesterday she’d been forced to admit that although her goal had been to exonerate Lorain with her investigation, she had fai
led. Now, she believed Lorain had helped set the Empir up for the kidnapping.

  “All right, then,” he responded with a nod. “Let’s get started. Would someone please get Jazel and have her bring Lorain in with her?”

  Malaki jumped up, and when he got to the clerk’s door and opened it, Nalin took a deep breath. Here we go. Everyone other than himself rose at Lorain’s entrance in a gesture that must have seemed, at the very least, odd to her. After all, other than Commander Tanres, everyone else at that table was Lorain’s equal.

  “Thank you,” Lorain said as she reached them, “but you should save your show of respect for my son.”

  Creators, she really doesn’t suspect, Nalin thought and waited for everyone to sit, including Lorain, before speaking. Lorain set some sheets of parchment down on the table in front of her and took her place in the empty chair between the commander and Malaki, while Jazel took the final empty chair where she’d set her stylus, ink and paper in preparation for taking notes. Nalin folded his hands over the summary of his questions and smiled at Lorain.

  “Welcome, Holder Zanlot,” he said, fighting his unwillingness to come out and accuse a noble of such a heinous act.

  “Thank you, Nalin. Now, shall we begin?”

  “Uh, Lorain.” Nalin interrupted her before she could move forward with the topic she’d come prepared to discuss. “This is my meeting, so I will be facilitating it.”

  Lorain wiggled into her chair and said, “Of course, Nalin.”

  “First, let me advise you that everything you say here today will be recorded. Do you understand?” Some here had protested when he’d informed them he’d be issuing this warning, but he had insisted, saying that Lorain remained a noble no matter what her crime and that she deserved a full disclosure of their intent. Not a detailed one, mind you; he didn’t plan on giving it all away, not at the beginning. But this record would prove useful when he took her to trial.

  “Why would you record this? I thought I was here to discuss the investiture of my son.”

  Ignoring her question, Nalin repeated his. “Do you understand we are recording this?” He watched Lorain’s eyes dart back and forth and then settle.

  “Yes, though I’d still like to know why.”

  Nalin looked down at his summary and then looked up again. “Holder Zanlot, would you please outline your activities the morning the Empir was abducted?”

  Lorain’s eyes widened, but with a quick breath, she regained her composure. “What?”

  “It’s simple, Lorain,” Bala said, stepping in. “We have reason to believe that your actions that morning were not worthy of your holder’s oath to the Empir. All you have to do is tell us what you did that morning in order to clear yourself.”

  “What am I being accused of?”

  “Nothing. Yet.” Nalin nodded and continued. “Now, please answer the question. What…did you do…the morning…the Empir…was kidnapped?”

  “That was a month-and-a-half ago, Nalin. How am I supposed to remember the details of my life back that far?”

  “It was a significant day in Garla’s recent past. I would imagine that anyone, especially anyone in the city at the time, would remember where they were and what they did clearly.”

  Lorain sat back in her chair with a huff, appeared to think for a moment and finally answered. “All right. Let me think.” She paused and then went on. “I believe my nurser and I were caring for my son.”

  “Your nurser’s name is Shan, correct?”

  “Yes, that’s correct. Then, if I remember correctly, Shan took his daughter for a walk, leaving me alone with Elor.”

  Nalin made a show of consulting his notes, then looked up at Lorain quizzically. “Your nurser remembers the morning slightly differently.”

  “You’ve questioned my nurser?”

  “An Empir was abducted, Lorain. We’ve questioned nearly everyone we can find.”

  “You didn’t question me.”

  “What do you think this is?” Nalin smiled. He knew he shouldn’t gloat, but he caught sight of his leg resting on the chair beside him and decided he’d earned the right to do so. “Now, it says here,” he continued, running his finger down the nurser’s statement, “that you and he were together in your antechamber that morning when someone knocked at the door, and you sent him and your son, who was nursing at the time, into the bedchamber and closed the door behind them. He said it sounded like a man, but it was not a voice he recognized. Can you explain this?”

  “I have people knocking on my door at all hours, Nalin. How can I remember every one of them?”

  “Your nurser said that he overheard a little of what this man said. To quote from his statement, he heard, ‘Empir…daily ride…hand preparing the stallion.’”

  “Nalin—”

  “No, wait, there’s more. Something about ‘two guards’ and ‘distract them.’”

  “My nurser said that? I have no idea what he’s talking about. This man was looking for assistance regarding…a dispute between himself and…Commander Tanres. He’d applied to join the Guard and been turned down, and he wanted me to talk to someone. I refused, of course.”

  Damn, she’s good, Nalin thought, then continued. “Your nurser went on to say that you left right after you and this man spoke.”

  “Yes, that’s right. He went out the back way, I assume, while I went out the front. I wanted to take a walk in the park.”

  “Now, wait. Let me see.” Nalin looked down at his notes and pretended to peruse the statement of the guard from the old palace. “Well, that does correspond to what Sergeant Prakla said. How long were you in the park?”

  “Only a few moments. I realized I was wearing the wrong shoes and returned to my chambers.”

  Nalin nodded. “Well, that would certainly explain it.”

  “Explain what?”

  “Why you seem to have missed all the chaos that followed the Empir’s abduction. I’m told the commotion spread throughout the park and the Keep.”

  “Yes, it does explain it, doesn’t it.” Lorain grew smug, thinking she’d slipped through the trap.

  “No, wait. Here’s what we’re missing. Didn’t you visit the stable?”

  Lorain opened her mouth, closed it again and tapped her fingers on the table a couple of times.

  “Perhaps I can help you with this one,” Nalin said. “Jal, the stable hand whose sole responsibility is the Empir’s stallion, has stated for the record that she saw you, in the stable, right before the Empir and I arrived there to go for our ride. You were seen conversing with the two guards who later died not protecting us.”

  “I was only asking them if they would like to serve as guardians in my son’s presentation to the Empir.”

  “Is there anyone who can corroborate that for you?”

  “Well, the guards themselves, I suppose, but as you said, they’re dead.”

  “Lorain,” Felso said, looking past Tanres and directly at her, “you can understand how it looks, can’t you?”

  “An innocent encounter,” she replied.

  “But you’ve blundered in your answers,” Felso said. “We’ve caught you in some outright lies, and your explanations sound specious at best.”

  “Lorain, please,” Melanda tried, “tell them the truth.”

  “I’m telling you. I asked those two guards to participate in Elor’s presentation.”

  “And maybe you did,” Melanda went on. “But you may have knowingly or unknowingly been instrumental in their deaths, Nalin’s injury and the Empir’s kidnapping. And it only gets worse if we discover the Empir has died at the hands of her abductors.”

  “I have nothing left to say.” Lorain crossed her arms over her chest in defiance.

  “One more question,” Nalin said. “How did you know it was the Thristans who kidnapped her?”

  “What?”

  “Only Tanres and I and the guards in the search parties knew we suspected the Thristans.”

  “I didn’t know.”


  “You said to me, and I remember it well even though I was filled up to the eyes with nectar. You asked, ‘Do you really think those filthy Thristans will let her live?’”

  “I never said that. You must have hallucinated it.”

  “My lords, I submit to you that despite my state of mind at the time, I was very much aware of any discussion regarding this tragic situation. You can question the commander regarding this. She conferred with me at least twice a day, and I can remember every conversation we had.”

  Tanres sat up straighter than usual, prepared to respond, but Felso raised his hand and said, “It’s enough for me, Nalin.”

  “For me as well,” Malaki added.

  “We can save it for the trial,” Melanda suggested, her eyes sad for her friend. “I’m sorry, Lorain.”

  “Forgive my not rising for this, Lorain,” Nalin said, and Tanres rose and went to the door. “Holder Lorain Zanlot of Bedel, I am ordering you be arrested for aiding and conspiring with the abductors and possible murderers of Ariannas Ilazer, Empir of Garla, Protector of Thristas, Holder of Prea and Forn.” By the time he’d finished, Jazel taking it all down for the record, the commander had returned with two guards who carried a set of manacles with them.

  Lorain popped up out of her chair. “This is an outrage!”

  “Please, my lord,” Tanres said as she grabbed Lorain’s arms and held them firm. “This will be much easier for you if you just allow us to do this.”

  “I am the mother of the Heir of Garla. This is unacceptable!”

  No one at the table said a word as Tanres pulled Lorain’s arms back and one of the other guards locked her into the manacles. In a moment she was gone, to a cell which had been prepared especially for her—a cot with a mattress, a table and a chair. But it still was a dungeon, and Nalin ached for the indignity. Lorain might be guilty of treason, but in Nalin’s mind, she would always remain a holder.

  With their duty for the day completed, everyone stood up and left in silence. Only Bala remained with Nalin as he leaned back in his chair with a sigh.