by DAVID B. COE
And yet, even after the midnight bells tolled in the city he couldn’t bring himself to try. Fear held him in the chamber; fear as unyielding as that iron door, as immune to his power as the silk bonds. How had Evanthya known so much about him and his intentions? She was but one woman—what danger could she pose to a movement as vast as theirs? Though blessed with a keen mind and more courage than he would have expected from one with such a slight frame and reserved manner, she would have been no match for Pronjed in a battle of magic. Yet, several hours later, when the dawn bells rang and the sky began to brighten, the dark of night giving way to the soft grey light of early morning, Pronjed still sat in his prison.
He had made the mistake of angering the Weaver once—when he killed Carden the Third, Aneira’s king, assuming incorrectly that the Weaver would be pleased. He could still feel the way the bone in his hand had shattered, the pain so severe he could barely remain conscious. The Weaver, who could be so generous with his gold, was no less stingy with his punishment when the occasion demanded. That memory, as much as anything, kept Pronjed in his chamber, grappling with his uncertainty.
Nothing in his past, however, could have prepared him for the conversation he had later that same morning. The last peals of the midmorning bells were still echoing through the castle when he heard a light footfall in the corridor outside his chamber and then a woman’s voice he recognized immediately.
“Open the door and then leave us,” Evanthya told the two guards.
“We’re to remain in the corridor at all times, First Minister,” one of the men answered. “Duke’s orders.”
Silence. After several moments, she said, “Fine then. Let me into the chamber.”
“Yes, First Minister.”
It took the man but a moment to find the correct key. After he opened the door, Evanthya stepped past him into the chamber, then pulled the door shut behind her.
“One of us should be in there with you, First Minister.”
“It’s all right. I’ve a dagger with me. I’ll call for you when I’m ready to leave.”
She faced Pronjed, her cheeks flushed, her expression grim. Her yellow eyes were as bright as blooms in the castle gardens, and her fine white hair hung loose to her shoulders. Pronjed knew that she loved another, a woman at that, but he couldn’t help noting how attractive she was.
“You realize, of course, that your dagger will do you no good against me,” he said quietly, not bothering to stand. He held up his wrists so that she could see the silk ties. “There’s a reason I’m bound with these.”
“Yes, Archminister. You may remember, they were my idea in the first place. We both know that I won’t need the weapon at all. You have no intention of harming me.”
“How can you be so sure?”
She had stepped closer to him and now she cast a quick glance at the door. “Because,” she whispered, “if you try to hurt me you’ll either be executed or thrown in the castle dungeon. You aren’t ready to die, and if you’re placed in the dungeon, you’ll have a much harder time escaping.”
Pronjed’s eyes flicked toward the door. Neither of the guards appeared to be listening. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Stop it. Of course you do. And I want to know why you’ve yet to make the attempt.”
“What?”
“Why haven’t you tried to escape?”
Perhaps there was an opportunity here. “Because I have no intention of escaping. I never have.”
“You’re lying.”
“You seem terribly sure of yourself, First Minister, and yet, as you yourself point out, I’ve made no attempt to win my freedom. Isn’t it possible that you’ve been wrong about me, that in your haste to pursue Fetnalla, you’ve imagined a traitor where there is none?”
“No, it’s not,” she said. But Pronjed heard doubt in her words and pressed his advantage.
“I can imagine how hard it must have been for you, hearing of Lord Orvinti’s death, knowing that there could be little doubt but that Fetnalla was responsible.”
“Be quiet!”
“Still, just because the first minister proved false, doesn’t mean that I will as well. I’m sure that would be of great comfort to you, but it’s just not—”
“I told you to be quiet!” In a swirl of her ministerial robes and a blur of white and steel, she was on him, her forearm pressed against his chest so that he was forced back against the stone wall, her blade at his throat.
It was all Pronjed could do not to shatter the dagger instantly. He tried to reassure himself that she needed him too much to kill him, and that she couldn’t risk harming him in any way and thus raising the suspicions of her duke. But he was trembling, and the edge of her blade felt cold and dangerous against his neck.
“First Minister?” one of the guards called from the grated window in the iron door, sounding alarmed.
“Leave us alone!” she said.
The man looked at Pronjed briefly, a smirk on his lips. Then he turned away.
“Why don’t you shatter my blade, Archminister?” she said, her voice dropping once more. “Or do you intend to tell me now that you’re not really a shaper?”
“This is foolishness, Evanthya. As you’ve already made clear to me, I can’t afford to harm you. Nor are you going to hurt me. You still believe that I can lead you to Fetnalla. So put your dagger away, and let’s speak of this civilly.”
Evanthya glared at him another moment, her weapon still held to his throat. Finally, slowly, she released him and sheathed the blade. “All right,” she said. “Tell me why you’re still here, or I’ll go to the duke and convince him to put you in the dungeon.”
“Another empty threat. As I say, you need me, or at least you think you do.”
“I need you as an excuse to go after Fetnalla, Archminister. Nothing more. Tebeo won’t let me pursue her—he sees no sense in it so long after Brall’s murder. But if you escape, I can prevail upon him to let me follow you. He hasn’t enough men left to send soldiers after you, so he’ll send me.”
“As I said—”
“But if you don’t tell me what I want to know, I’ll send you to the dungeon and then leave Dantrielle without his permission. I’ll forfeit my title and place in his court if I have to. As I’ve told you once before, all I want is to get Fetnalla back. I don’t care about anything else. I certainly don’t give a damn about you.”
A braver man might have been willing to test her resolve, to force her either to give up her position in Tebeo’s court or prove that her threats amounted to nothing. But Pronjed felt his nerve failing him at the mere suggestion of being sent to the castle dungeon.
“I haven’t made the attempt,” he said at last, “because I’ve been unable to decide whether you truly wish to find her, or have been hoping to lure me into a trap.”
That, of all things, seemed to leave her speechless. She opened her mouth to respond, then closed it again. The archminister would have laughed had he not been trembling at the realization of what he had done. With that small admission he had, in effect, confirmed for her all that she had been assuming about him.
“Is that true?” she finally asked him, her voice so soft that he could barely hear her.
“It is.”
“Damn.” She raked a hand through her hair, closing her eyes briefly. “We’ve lost a good deal of time. There’s no telling where she is by now.”
“Perhaps then, it no longer makes sense for you to follow me.”
“I didn’t say that I was ready to give up.”
“And I didn’t say that I was ready to let you follow me.” She started to respond and Pronjed raised a hand, stopping her. “I know: you don’t need my permission, and I might not be able to prevent it. But I’m obligated to try. I’d be a fool not to.”
After a moment, she nodded. “So, when?”
Pronjed shook his head. He must have been an idiot. “Tonight,” he whispered. Seeing the doubtful look on her face, he added, “I swe
ar it. I can’t afford to wait any longer either.”
She glanced toward the door. “Don’t hurt the men. You have delusion magic. Use it.”
He should have denied this, too. But like before he found himself helpless in the face of her certainty. He could argue the point for the rest of the day without convincing her. Instead, he shook his head. “I make you no promises in that regard. I’ll do whatever I have to. If you really want to ensure their safety, you’ll have these silk bonds removed. I can shatter manacles, but with these…” He shrugged.
“But your powers—”
“I can’t control two men at one time, which means that the second guard will have to be incapacitated somehow. It’s up to you, First Minister. If you truly care about these men, you’ll help me.”
Evanthya offered no reply, save to hold his gaze for a few moments more before straightening and crossing to the door.
“Guards!” she called.
One of the men was there immediately, unlocking the door and letting her out. An instant later he clanged the door shut again and threw the lock, the sound echoing in the chamber.
“Watch him closely,” he heard Evanthya say to Tebeo’s men. “It wouldn’t surprise me if he tried to escape.”
Pronjed just gaped at the door. The silk at his wrists and ankles felt tighter than ever.
* * *
Evanthya was trembling as she descended the stairway of the prison tower. Tonight.
She had never known that she could be afraid of so many things at one time. The archminister, the Weaver, the castle guards, her duke and his reaction if he learned what she intended. And behind it all, the fear of her next encounter with Fetnalla. She no longer doubted that her beloved had betrayed the realm or that she had killed her duke, Brall of Orvinti. Nor did she have any illusions as to her own power to turn Fetnalla from the dark path she had chosen. Yet she had to try. She owed that much to herself, to both of them.
The two soldiers outside Pronjed’s chamber had regarded her strangely when she stepped back into the corridor, a testament to how deep suspicions of the Qirsi still ran in Aneira. All the men in Castle Dantrielle knew how she had fought against the soldiers of Solkara and Rassor during the recent siege. They had seen her doing battle, back to back with the duke, risking her life on Tebeo’s behalf. They had seen as well the mist and wind she raised to protect Dantrielle’s men from enemy archers when Numar’s invaders briefly took control of the castle ramparts. After all that, none could question her loyalty to Tebeo and his house.
Or so she had thought. For some still did, and these few would see a dark purpose in her whispered conversation with the archminister. And would they be wrong? Hadn’t she been plotting the traitor’s escape, ignoring the fact that he may well have been responsible for the death of Aneira’s king? She had used her own gold to buy the murder of a Qirsi traitor in Mertesse. Wasn’t she then an enemy of the conspiracy? Did sharing a bed with a traitor and wishing desperately to lie with her again negate all that she had done before?
These questions plagued her as she made her way across the castle’s upper ward. Evanthya didn’t even notice the two soldiers standing in her path until she had nearly walked into them.
“Pardon me,” she said, flustered and feeling slightly dazed. “I didn’t see you.”
“Actually, First Minister, we was waitin’ for you.”
“For me?”
“Yes. The duke wants a word right away.”
The minister looked up at the window of Tebeo’s ducal chamber and saw that he was watching her, his round face lit by the morning sun.
She nodded, swallowing. “Of course.”
The two men fell in step on either side of her and in silence the three of them entered the nearest of the castle towers, climbed the stairway, and walked to Tebeo’s chamber. One of the guards knocked, and at the duke’s summons, he pushed open the door and motioned for Evanthya to enter. She nodded at the two men, trying with little success to smile, and stepped into the chamber. Neither man entered with her and an instant later she heard the door close.
Tebeo was still at the window, his back to her. “Please sit, First Minister.”
Evanthya took her usual seat near the duke’s writing table. Her heart was pounding so hard it was a wonder Tebeo didn’t notice.
“Would you like some tea?”
“No, thank you, my lord.”
“Wine perhaps?”
She smiled, despite her fright. “I’m fine, my lord.”
He turned at that. “Are you?”
Evanthya shivered. “What do you mean?”
“I’ve been impressed with your strength this past half turn since the breaking of the siege. You’ve done all that I’ve asked of you; as always your service to House Dantrielle has been exemplary.”
“Thank you, my lord.”
“I can only imagine how difficult it’s been for you.”
She felt the blood rush to her face and looked away. There would have been no sense in denying it. “Yes, my lord.”
“To be honest, I’m a bit surprised that you’re still here.”
Evanthya could only stare at him.
“I have some idea of how much you love her, and I know as well that you hate the conspiracy, that you’ve risked a great deal to strike at its leaders.”
Not long ago, Evanthya had told him of hiring the assassin to kill Shurik jal Marcine, and though he hadn’t approved, neither had he punished her, which would have been well within his prerogative as her sovereign.
“Had it been me,” he went on, “I would have gone after her already. That you haven’t speaks well of your devotion to me and this house.”
“You honor me, my lord,” she managed to say.
“I’m merely being honest. And I’d ask the same of you.”
“My lord?”
He came and sat beside her, a kindly look on his face. “What were you doing in the prison tower just now?” he asked, his voice so gentle it made her chest ache.
She tried to answer, to say anything at all, but instead she began to cry.
“There are only two men in the tower right now,” he said. “Numar and the archminister. And I doubt that you have much to say to the regent. That leaves Pronjed.”
When she didn’t answer, he took a long breath.
“After all we’ve been through these past few turns, I’ll never again question your loyalty. I think you know that.”
Evanthya nodded, tears coursing down her face.
“Still, I need to know what you and he discussed. As much as I trust you, I fear the archminister. You’ve told me yourself how dangerous he is. If my castle is in peril—”
“It’s not, my lord.”
In the next moment she thought of the last words Pronjed had spoken to her and the danger his escape might pose to Tebeo’s guards, and she regretted offering even this meager assurance.
“You’re certain of this?”
She lowered her gaze again. “Not for certain, no.”
“You must tell me, Evanthya. You know you must.”
A thousand denials leaped to mind, all of them lies. How different would she be from Fetnalla if she resorted to any of them?
“He means to escape, my lord.”
“Escape? How?”
“He has mind-bending magic, mists and winds, and shaping power. It should be a fairly simple matter.”
“Then why hasn’t he done so already?”
“Because several days ago I informed him of my intention to follow him, and he fears a trap.”
The duke expressed no surprise. His expression didn’t even change, save for a momentary closing of the eyes.
“In other words, you meant to let him go, though surely his escape would strengthen the conspiracy.”
“He can lead me to her, my lord.”
“That hardly justifies it.”
“We’d merely be exchanging one traitor for another. Pronjed might join them, but Fetnalla won’t.”
His eyebrows went up. “You believe you can turn her from the renegades?”
“I have to try. If that doesn’t work, I’ll find some other way to keep her from joining them. In any case, she won’t be fighting alongside her Weaver.”
Tebeo frowned. “I hate to have to say this, Evanthya, but Fetnalla is dangerous, too. She used magic to kill Brall, and as you’ve often told me, yours are not the powers of a warrior. You’re still thinking of her as your love, but she’s your enemy now. You may not be strong enough to defeat her.”
“I’m not without advantages of my own, my lord,” Evanthya said. “She may be formidable, but so am I, in my own way.” The minister was surprised at herself. Pride had always been Fetnalla’s failing.
Tebeo smiled, as might an indulgent parent. “You needn’t try to convince me of your worth, First Minister. I saw you fight for this castle. I stood and did battle with my back to yours, and never did I fear that a killing blow would come from behind.”
“Thank you, my lord.”
“I fear losing you, not only because I value your counsel, but also because I count you as a friend.”
“Then think for a moment as my friend, rather than as my duke. Do you honestly believe that I can simply remain here while Fetnalla fights beside the Weaver? After what she’s done, how can I not go after her?”
He shook his head. “This wasn’t your fault, Evanthya. You couldn’t have known—”
“But I should have! There’s no one in the world who knows her as I do. She was acting so strangely the last time we were together.” She brushed a tear from her cheek. “It should have been obvious.”
“You ask too much of yourself.”
“The person I love most in this world has revealed herself as a traitor and murderer. How can I not blame myself?”
The duke winced, seeming to cast about for something to say.
“You want to tell me that you can’t answer, that the duchess would never do anything of the sort. And of course you’re right. But until just a short time ago, I had no reason to think otherwise about Fetnalla.”