Shadow of the Serpent

by Shannah Jay

  The man did as he was ordered, his movements neat and precise. A man in charge of himself, this one, and very devoted to his master. A man feared even by the rest of the Carrion Corps.

  'Now,' Benner turned back to Carryn, 'you can start by telling me who she is. A bastard daughter of Bel-Ashkaron, perhaps? She has a look of him.' He studied Lerina's face and frowned, 'And of you, too, come to that.'

  Carryn decided on the truth. 'No. She's not my sister. She's my daughter.'

  A hand slapped her face hard. 'Don't lie to me! You're not old enough to have a daughter of her age.'

  Carryn gathered her forces. 'If you will not listen to me, how can I tell you what you seek? Do you wish to hear the truth, or shall I make up some lies that fit your preconceptions better?'

  'I can tell when you're lying. It's one of my Gifts. It runs in my line. It's one of the reasons why my family have held this Claim for so long.'

  'Then let me speak and judge whether I'm lying.'

  He dragged up a third chair and flung himself into it, sitting facing her, toying with his dagger. 'Go on, then!'

  She wriggled into a slightly less uncomfortable position. 'When you took me from my father, nearly two years ago, you yourself were the first to use me in the shrine. Do you remember that, Lord Benner?'

  'I remember.'

  'You were so inflamed, you used me twice.'

  He grinned, a nasty twisting of his lips that always terrified his servants. 'Yes. I do remember now.

  Screaming virgins always turn me on.'

  'Herra says - '

  'Don't mention that hag's name in my presence!'

  'How, then, can I tell my tale truly?'

  He breathed deeply for a moment or two, then said. 'Very well. But speak no good of her, or I'll not be answerable for the consequences.'

  She nodded. 'Herra said when my child was born that it was also your child. She was very sure of that, and has repeated it several times since.'

  'You might have born a child of that night - though I father very few children, let me tell you - and it might even be mine, but it couldn’t have grown to womanhood in two years. That is impossible, and you must think me stupid if you try to tell me such a tale.'

  Carryn took a deep breath, and then spoke slowly and emphatically. 'I’d have thought it impossible, too.

  But I saw it happen - I saw my daughter grow to womanhood overnight.' As he made a threatening gesture, she said urgently, with as much Compulsion as she could manage, 'Believe me, for it's the truth!'

  To her surprise, he opened his mouth, shut it and then sat very still, staring at her with those dark eyes, which would have been so like Lerina's, if it were not for the viciousness that shone from them. His silence sent shivers along her spine, but she tried to think of Herra and Benjan and her father. She must not falter.

  She must not let them down. Or her Brother. She knew that she was doing the right thing here, telling him about his daughter, knew it absolutely. It was the first time she’d ever experienced this sense of the absolute rightness of something, though she’d seen her mother and other Sisters speak the word know in that special way many times. This further proof that she was truly a Sister gave her courage to continue.

  Benner thumped one clenched fist into his open palm suddenly. 'Ah! I have it!' The nasty sneer was back on his face. 'If she's my child, she'll have a birthmark on her shoulder.' He pulled up his own tunic to show her. 'All my children have it.'

  Triumph coursed through Carryn as he stood up, yanked the terrified Lerina upright and pulled away the shoulder of her gown. Carryn watched him freeze in shock, reach out to finger the small trefoil birthmark, then rub and pick at it with his fingertip, as if he didn't believe it was genuine. She heard him swear under his breath. She waited. Her blood sang in her veins. Tonight she was laying the foundation for Benner's downfall.

  Tonight she was honoured to be the tool of her Brother, as the prophecy had spoken, Benner's doom.

  Tonight she would be made whole again. She knew that, too.

  When Benner turned again to Carryn, she didn’t try to hide her triumph from him. 'Can you sense any lies in what I've told you so far, Lord of this Claim?' she asked softly.

  Slowly, reluctantly, he shook his head. 'No. Not so far.' His voice came out slightly muffled, as if his very throat was rebelling against the words he was uttering.

  'My lord! Lord Benner!' called a voice outside. 'The Lord of the Inner Shrine is here.'

  'What does he want?'

  Another voice answered. Roath. 'He's heard about your prisoners and wants to see them, lord. He claims them for the shrine.'

  Benner swore.

  'I can deal with it, if you like, lord.'

  'Do so, Roath.' Benner nodded. 'Use the token I once gave you. Say you dare not upon your life disturb me.' Which was not so far from the truth.

  'Yes, lord.'

  'Can you manage?'

  'Oh, yes, lord. I shall be so very conciliatory and yet so very afraid of you.'

  Benner nodded. Roath was a useful tool, the best of the Carrion Corps. Even Benner used that title now for his personal guard. It had tickled his warped sense of humour. 'Good fellow. I'll see your family well rewarded for this. Tell the Lord of the Inner Shrine that he shall have them when I tire of them. And Roath - '

  'Yes, lord?'

  'Tell him, the Serpent is with me, if he still insists on seeing me.'

  Carryn and Lerina exchanged glances. Lerina had little understanding of this interplay. And for all her feeling that she was serving her Brother's purpose here, Carryn couldn’t help feeling gut-deep, shuddering relief that Benner wasn’t going to hand her over to the Servants of the Shrine.

  'Now,' Benner said, turning back to her and wrinkling his brow thoughtfully. 'Go on with your tale, Carryn Nel-Merryan! How is it possible for a baby to grow to womanhood in less than two years?'

  'The Sisters have developed new skills - ' she began.

  His hand grasped her arm so tightly that pain shot up it. 'You're lying now! You weren't before, but you are now.'

  She stared at him, amazed at how accurately he could sense the truth of what she was saying.

  'Tell me nothing but the truth!' His eyes flickered towards Lerina. 'Or she will suffer, daughter or not.'

  Carryn swallowed. Her throat suddenly felt sand-gritted. 'When we fled from Tenebrak, the deleff took us further than expected, right out to the Lands of Nowhere.'

  'Stop!' He scowled at her. 'Are you telling me the Lands of Nowhere really exist?'

  She nodded. 'Truly, lord. They do exist. But only the deleff can take people there. They have magic portals.'

  'Well, I'll be damned!' His eyes never left her face, not for one moment. 'Go on.'

  'My child was born far beyond the wildwoods, in a rocky desert place. Herra and Katia were in attendance.'

  She hesitated again.

  'Continue the tale, you stupid bitch!'

  'Afterwards, we left the land of the deleff behind and travelled across great mountains till we came to a place called the Tanglewoods.' She couldn’t help shivering at the memory of that hot stifling place, with its thrusting plants and snatching creepers. 'In the Tanglewoods, lord, plants grow to maturity in minutes. It was a most terrifying place. We tried to hack our way through it, but even Herra's magic couldn’t prevail. The plants grew back almost as quickly as we hacked them down. In the end, we had to climb up into the great trees and walk along the branches. We were all afraid that day.'

  'I cannot believe this, and yet I know that you're telling the truth,' he murmured. He was still holding her arm, though his fingers had slackened and were no longer biting into her flesh.

  'At the edge of the forest, under a great tree, the children - '

  'Children? Were there others?'

  She cursed herself for letting this information slip. She had been trying so hard to reveal as little as possible, while still adhering to the truth. 'Yes.'

  'Whose children were t
hey?'

  'Katia and Davred's. They had twins.'

  'Boys or girls?'

  'Sons.'

  'Well, well, well. Our soft-bellied Manifestation of the God is enough of a man to get himself twin sons. A miracle like that almost makes me believe in that Brother of yours.' He threw back his head and laughed, a harsh cawing sound, for Benner was never truly happy, whatever he did, however successful the plans and strategic moves upon which he thrived. 'Go on! Don't stop now!'

  'Under a great tree the three children grew suddenly into maturity. Just like the plants around them were growing. It was terrifying. We could only watch. We couldn't move a muscle.'

  'They just grew into adults?' His hand had tightened on her arm again. 'Is that possible?'

  'Yes, lord. We saw it happen. And afterwards they were hungry, so very hungry, and we had to feed them.'

  She fell silent, not wanting to tell him any more than she had to. When he stared at her and then at the child, she said earnestly, 'Lerina is your daughter, Lord Benner. She truly is!'

  His face turned pale and his hand dropped. When he spoke, his words were a whisper. 'Is that her name?

  Lerina?'

  'Yes, lord.'

  'Why did you call her that?'

  Carryn looked at him, astonished at his reaction. 'I don't know why. It just seemed a pretty name.'

  He was speaking more to himself than to her. 'No one knows of it. No one! Not even that old hag. How could anyone have known?'

  'Known what, lord?'

  He was still upset enough to tell her. 'If I’d had a daughter from my wife, I’d intended to call her Lerina.

  It's always been a favourite name of mine.'

  Brother, thank you for guiding me. But Carryn kept the thought to herself. One didn’t mention their Brother's name in front of this man.

  He leaned forward to inspect Lerina's shoulder again, and slapped the girl's face as she tried to shrink away from him. 'And she has the mark, she does have the mark,' he said, speaking his thoughts aloud. He swung back to Carryn, 'Did you Sisters place the mark there on purpose?'

  'No. She was born with it. Though it seemed to grow a little larger during the first month of her life. I thought nothing of it. Herra made no comment and she examined the baby. It was just a birthmark, I thought. I didn't know about yours.'

  'Very few people do.' He sank back in his chair. 'Damn you, I believe you!' But he didn’t look happy about it. 'Why do I believe this stupid tale?'

  Carryn stared across at him, her eyes clear and beautiful and transparently honest. 'Because I've told you the truth. Lerina is your daughter.'

  He shook his head, still speaking from the heart, for even a man as cruel as him had his weaknesses and this night had touched one of them. 'I’ve sired no child except for your daughter Lerina since Evren. And when my wife Margarel died, last year, I thought to remarry, but something held me back. The women I thought about were never quite right. The alliances had something lacking. The Sisters are not the only ones to sense the rightness of things, you know.'

  He moved across to Carryn again and pulled her to her feet, turning her head from side to side to examine her. 'Well, you're pretty enough, that's for sure. No problem there. And I've only to remember how I took you as a virgin, to feel the urge to take you again.'

  Carryn shrank from him. Not this! Not again! Please, Brother, do not ask this of me! She didn’t dare speak her thoughts aloud, for the light of unreason was now gleaming in Benner's eyes.

  'The prophecy said you carried the seeds of my fate,' he muttered. 'Shall I believe it? Dare I believe anything those hags say?' He stared around him, eyes wild and unfocused, then he snorted scornfully, 'The Sisterhood is almost defeated now.' He thumped his fist on a small table nearby, then thumped it again for emphasis. 'I shall seize this moment!' he cried. 'Do you hear that, Brother of the World? I shall sow my own seeds in this woman. You shall lead my line to eternity, Carryn Nel-Merryan, but I shall choose the path we tread together.'

  He laughed again, another sharp angry sound, then turned back to study Carryn. 'Yes, you're pretty. Pretty enough for my purpose.' He pushed her back down into the chair, but more gently this time, and the wildness began to fade from his eyes. He raised his voice and roared, 'Savnith! Come here!'

  Another man entered, a very burly man with rolls of fat around his neck and middle, and a face just as cruel as Roath's. 'Yes, lord?'

  'Take these two women to my country estate. Guard them most carefully, as you would guard me. If one hair of their heads is harmed, you and all yours will die in agony. Do I make myself clear?'

  The man nodded. 'Very clear, my lord. I shall die before I let them be harmed. No one can do more. And where shall I lodge them when we arrive?'

  Benner threw back his head and gave another barking laugh. 'Put them in the tower with my dear son. Tell the Hashites that they're to guard these two just as closely as they guard him.'

  'Yes, lord.'

  'Pay for more Hashites, if necessary.'

  'Yes, lord.'

  'And get the ladies some proper clothes, clothes to suit their new rank as members of the House Claimant of Benner.'

  Savnith nodded, not showing any surprise at these instructions. 'And shall I say who they are, lord?'

  'You shall say nothing about them, except to my son.' He paused, and now his eyes were filled with malice.

  'When the Lord Evren asks who they are, you can tell him that they're his half-sister and his stepmother-elect.

  Tell him that this woman,' he poked Carryn, 'is going to provide me with a son to replace him.'

  Savnith looked uneasily at Lerina. 'Pardon my presumption, lord, which springs only from my concern for you, but what about the prophecy?' He chanted the verse softly, with an eye on his master, in case Benner was angered by this,

  Mark them well, Benner, Lord of Tenebron.

  Mark well the woman and child

  Who shall lead your line to eternity.

  Benner shrugged, 'The meaning seems clear enough. From them shall come my heirs, not from the line of Evren. That's how I interpret it, anyway. Though we shall do nothing rash with Evren until I am more sure of my new line.' He grinned nastily and jerked his head towards Carryn. 'She’s borne me one child. Let us see if she can now give me sons.' He paused and stared at Lerina. 'Or at a pinch, a grandson would do. Yes, I believe that the Serpent has sent this woman back to me to start a new line.'

  Even Savnith gaped at this, but seeing Benner's expression, he nodded quickly. 'Yes, lord. As you say, lord.

  You were ever quick to read the signs.'

  Benner nodded towards the door. 'Go to it, then. And tell no one else who the women are, or I'll have the flesh stripped from your back.'

  'Your wishes, my will, lord.' Savnith's face had become expressionless again.

  Benner stood up. 'Well, go and carry out my orders. I have things to attend to here, but I'll join you at the estate in a day or two.' He moved across to a side door and added, 'Tell the serving women at Dalbrak to dress this one,' he pointed to Carryn, 'as becomes my bride. At the moment she looks like a peasant.'

  He went out to summon the Lord of the Inner Shrine to his audience chamber and tell him to prepare for a royal wedding. And as he did so, his face bore an expression that was as near a real smile as he ever achieved. His lack of children, in spite of his sexual prowess, had fretted at Benner for years. Now he knew himself still able to father children, he felt renewed. And the girl Carryn was not only pretty, but of a good family, even if not of the nobility. A master trader's family would not try to interfere in the way he ruled the state as one of the noble families might.

  She herself was young enough to be biddable, or would become biddable once he had the schooling of her, because he had her daughter, too. He’d already seen how she jumped to protect her little Lerina. He ran the word across his tongue. Lerina. Yes. The Serpent had worked for him here. He would go and give thanks in the Castle Shrine once the two women had l
eft. A few strokes of the lash, even. He didn’t like offering pain, but sometimes it was the only way to show one's gratitude to one's god for great favours.

  Once he had set his mind on Carryn, it didn’t occur to Benner, not even for a second, that other forces might be manipulating events, and if anyone else had suggested it, he’d have laughed in that person's face. The Serpent was in the ascendant, therefore anything that happened must be the Serpent's doing.

  Benner did not, like Sen-Sether, aspire to be Lord of the Inner Shrine, but was happy to serve their dark god - and to throw others on to the Serpent's altars - because he hated the Sisterhood, had always hated it, and intended to see it destroyed totally. That hag had interfered in his life for the last time, the very last time.

  CHAPTER 14 THE LORD EVREN

  Stoically Carryn endured the journey to Dalbrak, the great fortress on the Lord Claimant's country estate.

  She refused to give way to her fears this time. She would not be manipulated like a cringing helpless child again. She would not.

  The mere idea of marrying Benner filled her with revulsion and nausea, but she hoped she’d concealed that from him. She didn’t want to upset him while she and Lerina were still in his clutches, because he was noted for his vicious revenges on those who’d injured his pride. She would have to find a way to escape from Dalbrak and take her daughter with her. Somehow. Her eyes rested thoughtfully on Savnith, but not for long.

  He was Benner's thing and of no use to her.

  The small closed wagon rolled along the well-kept roads, drawn by four sturdy white nerids whose paces matched so well the usual jolting was minimised. They moved at little more than a walking pace, however.

  Draught nerids weren’t noted for speed. The canvas sides and roof of the wagon belled in and out, but the leather straps were fastened and the occupants could catch no glimpse of the countryside they were passing through. Around the wagon rode bodyguards from the Hashite Guild, also mounted on white nerids. Carryn had seen them as Savnith bundled her into it, and she could hear them clopping alongside now.

  'Only the best for those serving Lord Benner,' Savnith had said with a grating chuckle, as he followed them into the wagon and sat down opposite them on the cushioned seat. 'And only the best for those whom Lord Benner has honoured with his attentions.'