Snare

by Katharine Kerr

  ‘Very interesting,’ Jezro said, then glanced at Warkannan. ‘What –’

  Warkannan held up one hand for silence, then murmured, ‘Keep talking.’ Carefully he moved his chair back.

  ‘But this Sibyl,’ Jezro said hurriedly. ‘Did the ChaMeech say anything else?’

  Warkannan stood up and took a few quiet steps towards the door between the dining room and the hall.

  ‘Well, sir, Ammadin didn’t tell me everything. Sibyl’s supposed to be rich, though. Water Woman gave Ammi a lightwand that came from Sibyl’s cave. According to Loy Millou, it was an ancient one, but it looked brand new.’

  ‘That’s suggestive, all right. Unfortunately, Yarl knows a lot more than I do about suggestions like this. You see what I mean about our needing him, whether I hate his guts or not.’

  Warkannan made two long strides and flung the door open. No one stood there, no one fell into the room. ‘Damn!’ Warkannan muttered, then suddenly stooped and plucked something from the wall near the baseboard. ‘Although I wonder.’

  Warkannan brought his prize back to the table, a smooth metal ball about an inch in diameter, with a prong that allowed it to attach to surfaces such as walls. Jezro picked it up and looked at it, then tossed it back to him.

  ‘I find those now and again,’ Jezro said, ‘all over the house, in fact. Zhil thinks they’re part of a game Marya used to play or some such thing.’

  ‘Um.’ Warkannan set it down on the table, then picked up a heavy table knife, placed the handle on the ball, and stacked his hands on top. With a grunt he bore down with all his strength. The ball crumpled with an animal squeal.

  ‘What?’ Jezro said.

  ‘I’m probably being overly suspicious,’ Warkannan said. ‘But I kept having the feeling we were being spied on. Soutan bragged to me once about how he could send spirits after people, and the spirits would report back to him. Now that I know what spirits really are, this is a good candidate for one.’

  Warkannan took his hands away. Out of the crushed ball protruded a thin gold wire. ‘Of course, it might be nothing.’

  ‘Crap,’ Jezro muttered. ‘Once you lose faith in someone, you don’t know what to believe.’

  ‘Idres?’ Zayn said. ‘What do you mean, what spirits really are?’

  ‘That’s right,’ Warkannan said. ‘You haven’t heard the truth about this magic business.’

  ‘Let us enlighten you,’ Jezro said. ‘Here comes Zhil with brandy.’

  That evening, in the small blue parlour, Zayn saw his entire view of the world collapse and crumble. He realized that he might not have believed Jezro alone, but Warkannan’s calm agreement with the khan’s talk of machines and devices, distant stars and other worlds, suns and planets, made it possible for him to accept what Jezro was saying. At first he felt staggered, as if he could no longer stand up on a world that was moving so quickly under his feet, but eventually he realized that here were the answers to the questions that he and Ammadin had asked together. He wondered what she would say when he told her the truth about her crystals, but he had the feeling that she would take it all calmly. Even as he became calm – in the end he saw that all these truths, unlike the truth about his memory, mattered very little to him. The sun would still rise in the east, no matter which sphere really moved.

  ‘And if we can’t get back there,’ Zayn said at last. ‘Who cares about other worlds?’

  ‘A practical man, that’s you, Captain Hassan,’ Jezro said, grinning. ‘I suspect that a lot of other Kazraks are going to agree with you, or would if they ever found out the truth. The mullahs are not going to want the truth out.’

  ‘It seems to me,’ Warkannan put in, ‘that Soutan can talk about ships all he wants, but we’re never going to be able to get back, wherever back is.’

  ‘Oh, I agree. I let Yarl ramble on about his damned ships, but I’m actually interested in finding technical information. The Settlers must have brought books with them showing how to produce these fancy gadgets. They make life a lot easier, and I wanted to see if we could manufacture some. Everything we’ve found is incredibly complicated, but it can’t have sprung out of the ground fully grown. There had to be a time when people invented simple versions of things like the oil-free lamps. Maybe we can figure out how to put the primitive versions together.’

  ‘It sounds like a perfect job for the scholars back home,’ Warkannan said. ‘Now, if you were Great Khan, you’d have a lot of resources to draw on – men, money, the best minds at the universities.’

  ‘A one-track mind.’ Jezro shook his head in mock sadness. ‘You’re as bad as Yarl –’ His smile disappeared. ‘Damn. Speaking of Yarl, I should go talk with him, I suppose.’

  Warkannan took out his pocket watch. ‘It’s twenty-two hundred,’ he said, then yawned hugely. ‘I’m too old for this. Staying up all night, I mean.’

  ‘That’s right, we pretty much did,’ Jezro said. ‘Last night seems so far away, but none of us slept much. Well, I think I’ll let Yarl stew over his sins all night. It might make him more reasonable in the morning. Let us all go partake of the sleep of the righteous.’

  ‘Right after evening prayers.’

  ‘I can’t –’ Zayn paused in mid-sentence. That’s not true any more, he thought. I’m not demon spawn. ‘Yes,’ he said, and he smiled. ‘Right after prayers.’

  The three of them slept late the next morning, a sensible enough thing to do, and the worst mistake they could have made. Before breakfast, Warkannan trotted off to the door of Arkazo’s room. Zayn could hear him calling the boy’s name, but in a few minutes he returned alone.

  ‘He won’t even answer me,’ Warkannan began. ‘If you could –’

  ‘I will,’ Jezro said. ‘It’s time he learned about direct orders, but I think I’ll finish breakfast first. Let him stew for a while.’

  They had, however, barely started their breakfast when Zhil hurried in, his perfect manners forgotten. ‘Sir?’ he blurted. ‘Robear’s got to speak with you.’

  ‘Send him in,’ Jezro said.

  Robear rushed in before Zhil could leave the room; apparently he’d been waiting just beyond the door. ‘Some of the horses are missing, sir,’ Robear said. ‘Soutan’s riding horse, the captain’s nephew’s horse, and a couple of pack animals.’

  Zayn glanced at Warkannan, who’d got up from his chair. He stood cavalry-straight, his lips a little parted, his eyes wide. ‘Shaitan! He wouldn’t.’ Warkannan turned on his heel and strode out of the room.

  Zayn and Jezro followed, Zayn a little ahead, the khan limping behind him, as Warkannan hurried down the hall to the guest rooms. He flung open the door to Arkazo’s room, looked in, then took one step back.

  ‘God help me!’ Warkannan growled. ‘I’ll kill him for this. Soutan, I mean.’

  Zayn had the morbid thought that Arkazo lay dead inside, but when he ran to the door and looked in, he saw no such thing – no Arkazo, in fact, none of his gear, either, not a blanket nor saddlebag.

  ‘Check Soutan’s room,’ Jezro said.

  Zayn followed Warkannan as he ran down the hall to another open door. The moment that they stepped into the suite, Zayn could see that the sorcerer was gone and his gear with him. Warkannan’s face flushed a dangerous red.

  ‘If I get my hands on Soutan,’ he said, and his voice was dangerously level, ‘I’m going to strangle him. Beheading’s too quick.’

  ‘Good idea,’ Zayn said, ‘but what is all this?’

  ‘He’s talked Arkazo into riding off with him, would be my guess.’ It was Jezro, limping down the hall with Robear behind him. ‘Arkazo must have opened the door and let him out. They probably smuggled their gear out a bit at a time while we were sleeping.’

  ‘Yes sir,’ Robear joined in. ‘One of the guards saw Soutan crossing the lawn in the middle of the night, but Soutan told him that he was just having trouble sleeping. The guard didn’t see any reason to doubt him.’

  ‘Damn!’ Jezro said. ‘That’s what I get for kee
ping the house arrest quiet.’

  ‘But where have they gone?’ Warkannan said. ‘That’s what we need to know. Soutan’s risking more than house arrest if he goes back to Dordan. He’d hardly head for Kazrajistan without us, and there’s nothing much north of here.’

  ‘That leaves east. That metal ball you smashed?’ Jezro paused to wipe his nose on his sleeve. ‘If he heard what we were saying, they might have gone east to look for Sibyl. That cave could be full of old technology. Robear?’

  ‘I’ll order the men to saddle up, sir,’ Robear said. ‘We can make a sweep of the countryside.’

  ‘But Soutan will be able to see you coming.’ Warkannan leaned back against the wall. ‘There’s not a lot of hope you’re going to catch them.’

  ‘That’s true.’ Jezro thought for a moment. ‘Robear, I’ve got a better idea.’ He turned to Zayn. ‘Keep an eye on Idres, will you? Robear and I are going to ride into town and call upon the head of the Council. We’re going to have half of Burgunee out looking for the little bastard before noon.’

  ‘I’ll go saddle our horses,’ Robear said.

  ‘Fine, do that. Idres, I know what you’re thinking and no, you can’t go too. Stay here. Soutan might be staging this in order to get at Hassan, and I don’t want him left here alone.’

  Warkannan nodded, staring at the floor. Zayn tried to think of something to say, found nothing that would be any real comfort, especially since he was blaming himself. Jezro and Robear hurried out, talking together about the mayor in Kors.

  ‘I shouldn’t have exposed Soutan for what he was,’ Zayn said. ‘I’m sorry.’

  ‘Never think that.’ Warkannan raised his head, finally, to look at him. ‘It had to come out, and sooner is better than later. I mistrusted him from the moment I met him.’

  ‘But your nephew –’

  ‘Has done something really stupid, and he’ll have to take the consequences. When we get him back, that is. I’ll pray to God we don’t have to just leave him here in the Cantons when we ride back home, but if we have to, we have to.’

  Zayn and Warkannan waited in the blue parlour for Jezro’s return. Zhil appeared with fresh pots of tay and baskets of bread, then left. At first Idres sat silently, reading in the Mirror, but at length he laid the book aside, and they talked of old times and the men they’d known on the border.

  ‘There’s something you need to know,’ Warkannan said at last. ‘That friend of Arkazo’s? He was Kareem Alvado’s son.’

  For a moment Zayn could neither breathe nor think. ‘Oh God forgive me! I know Kareem never will.’

  ‘You may be right about that. Let’s hope he never has to know. I used to be too proud to lie, but the older I get, the more I see that lying has its uses. Life is too damn hard sometimes.’

  ‘Maybe so. I can’t tell you how sorry I am.’

  ‘You don’t need to. But you had to know.’

  ‘Yes, that’s true. I did.’ Zayn got up and poured them each tay. ‘Something else I have to live with.’

  Zayn found himself remembering the Mistlands and the ghosts who had come to mock him. Don’t you feel remorse, Zahir? He did now, especially when he thought of the reason that young Alvado had died. If only I hadn’t gone back for the spirit staff. I killed him for a piece of wood with feathers and beads on it. Standing in the sunny parlour with its cushioned furniture, watching Idres with his translation of the holy book in his lap, it was impossible to believe that the staff could have been worth a man’s life.

  But his memory took him back to that afternoon, when he’d been wading through the warm water with Palindor’s bow held above his head. It seemed to him that he could smell the mineral brine and feel once more the shock and its concomitant despair when he realized he’d left the staff behind. His comnee’s spirit rider had given him that staff and told him not to lose it. He had lost it, and if he’d not gone back, his cowardice would have damned him in the eyes of a second set of gods. In the memory he could hear the spirit crane, shrieking at him. I did have to go back. I really did have to.

  ‘Zayn?’ Warkannan said. ‘Did you hear me?’

  Zayn looked around gape-mouthed at the sunny parlour, the flowered furniture. ‘Sorry, Idres. No, I didn’t. Just thinking about something.’ He handed Warkannan his cup of tay, then took his own back to his chair and sat down.

  ‘I’ll repeat it,’ Warkannan said. ‘If we hadn’t been hunting you, it never would have happened.’

  ‘I know that, but – you know, sometimes I wonder if I’ll ever be able to go back to Kazrajistan after the things I’ve done. You don’t know all of them. I don’t want to tell you any of them.’

  Warkannan considered him over the rim of his cup. ‘After you got your commission, Jezro and I had a long talk about you. We knew something was wrong then. We did nothing about it. We were embarrassed, may God forgive us both! Embarrassed to ask a brother officer what was tormenting him. So we did nothing, said nothing. I keep thinking, if we’d had the guts to sit you down and ask you why you were so – so, well what? Unhappy, I suppose I mean. If we’d asked, I wonder if you ever would have joined the Chosen.’

  ‘What made you think something was wrong?’

  ‘The way you drank, for one thing. Out on the border most men drink for one of two reasons, to have a good time on leave or because they’re bored sick. You drank to drown something.’

  ‘Did I?’ Zayn hesitated, but only briefly. ‘I still do, I suppose.’

  ‘I was afraid of that, but the drinking’s secondary. The way you’d suddenly go off somewhere in your own mind was the primary thing, like you did just now, standing up to pour tay and then all of a sudden, you were gone.’

  ‘I didn’t realize it was so obvious.’

  ‘It was.’

  ‘It comes from being one of the Inborn. It’s another thing my memory does, takes me back places until I think I’m there.’

  ‘Well, that’s alarming.’ Warkannan shook his head. ‘But what I’m really trying to say is, don’t blame yourself for what happened in the Mistlands. We could talk for hours, assigning blame here, taking it away there, but you know what the truth is? Sometimes we can’t control what we do. Sometimes life’s like a net that tangles us up, and we don’t even know who threw it over us. Don’t keep brooding about Tareev. Who knows what God has in store for any of us?’

  ‘That’s true. Inshallah.’

  ‘Yes, exactly. Inshallah.’

  Jezro returned not long after, with the optimistic news that the town council would take the matter up immediately. To start things moving, they had accepted the outstanding warrant for Soutan’s arrest; they would send messages to the various zhundarees of the canton. The mayor had assured Jezro that he personally would go to the Loremasters Guild and get the messages transmitted immediately.

  ‘That’s all going to take time,’ Warkannan growled. ‘A lot of time.’

  ‘Oh yes, and it’s probably useless.’ Jezro poured himself cold tay and sat down. ‘Soutan has his crystals.’

  Warkannan pulled his pocket watch out and frowned at it. ‘Eleven hundred,’ he announced. ‘We can assume they left right after the guard saw Soutan, oh three hundred, say. They’ve got quite a head start.’

  Both Zayn and Jezro studied him while he put the watch away. He looked steadily back, in control of himself, but his eyes seemed to see beyond the room to something not horrible but bleak, an outcome that was sour rather than tragic. ‘He’s a grown man now.’ Warkannan answered their unspoken question. ‘Has to make his own choices.’

  ‘I’m sorry, Idres,’ Zayn said. ‘I shouldn’t have –’

  ‘Hassan, shut up!’ Jezro said. ‘It’s not your fault. You’ve probably saved my arse by getting rid of Soutan before he corrupted everything around him. Like a fart in the mosque, our Soutan. What matters is what we’re going to do now, and what we’re going to do is hunt the bastard down.’

  ‘What?’ Warkannan said. ‘He could be riding for ChaMeech country.’

/>   ‘He probably is, yes. If we find him before he gets there, it won’t matter, will it?’

  ‘If. He’s found himself allies among the ChaMeech. At least six of them, all armed.’

  ‘Then we’ll be careful. I’ve already got the servants putting together provisions. It’s time for you gentlemen to start packing. We’re leaving as soon as possible.’

  ‘It’s too damn dangerous.’ Warkannan got up and turned to face the khan. ‘You’re the last heir, the only hope we have of deposing Gemet.’

  ‘So? I still haven’t agreed to go back, have I?’ Jezro held up a hand flat for silence. ‘And suppose I do decide to go back. Shut up, Idres, and let me finish. It’s not safe leaving Soutan loose behind us. He’s got good reason to hate all of us now, not just Hassan. I wouldn’t put it past him to come back here and loot the house. Marya treated me too well for me to let that happen.’

  ‘Yes, but –’

  ‘I said let me finish.’ Jezro got up to face Warkannan. ‘I’ve got a few things I want to say to Soutan, and I’m going to say them, even if it means spending all summer riding after him.’

  ‘But –’

  ‘Listen, Idres, who’s the commanding officer here, me or you?’

  Warkannan sighed and turned his hands palm upward, as if invoking God. ‘Very well, you are. I won’t say one thing more.’

  ‘What about you, Hassan?’

  ‘I think Idres is right, sir,’ Zayn said, ‘but I’ll follow your orders.’

  ‘Good.’ Jezro paused, his hands on his hips, and in his grin Zayn saw the arrogant young officer he had known so long ago. ‘Idres, you came all this way to offer me a throne, and here I don’t even know if I want it or not. It’s ungrateful of me, isn’t it? The least I can do is get your nephew back for you. As long as we’re in Burgunee, we’ll be perfectly safe. Besides, if some fluke happens, and I’m killed, well, then, you’ll know that God doesn’t want me to be the new Great Khan.’