Sinner

by Sara Douglass

  “We’d never hold against five thousand,” Herme said bluntly. “Can we recall our major force from the Western Ranges?”

  Zared shook his head. “It would take too long, far too long, and in any case I do not want to make a stand here.”

  “Sir Prince,” Kilckman said, “what will you do?”

  “Caelum thinks I will be here, awaiting his decision. He thinks to attack, probably at dawn tomorrow.”

  “We have less than fifteen hours,” Theod put in.

  Zared stood, thinking, the others watching impatiently.

  “We have to leave here,” he said.

  “For where?” Theod and Herme said together.

  “Carlon.”

  No-one looked surprised. “Yes,” Kilckman said. “Carlon is your safest destination. Five thousand would not be enough to take Carlon from you.”

  “But if Caelum is only a few hours behind us,” Herme asked, “what chance –”

  Zared grinned. “Every chance, my friend. Theod? Once you played a prank on the Prince of Nor’s younger cousin during his fifteenth name-day feast…do you remember it?”

  Theod slowly smiled. “Yes, yes I do.”

  “Then I think we will not only have a surprise waiting for Caelum and his five thousand, but the means to delay them here some hours, if not days. Yes?”

  Theod laughed. “Yes!”

  “What is going on?” Herme asked.

  Zared slapped him on the back. “Come, my friend. I shall explain shortly, but first we have to get our men out of here. I want this castle cleared, the trap set, and us to be on the road for Carlon within five hours. Herme, I need you to send word to our forces waiting in the Western Ranges to move to Carlon. Kilckman? Master Goldman said that the traders and guilds of Carlon would back me in whatever way they could. Can you fulfil that promise?”

  “Aye, Sir Prince.” Kilckman’s eyes gleamed. “What can I do for you?”

  “Prepare the way, Kilckman. Leave now. Take the fastest boat if you have to. And…” Zared paused. “And ask Goldman if he will ensure that there will be an appropriate street welcome. He will know what I mean.”

  Zared walked down the hallway leading to the private apartments in Kastaleon’s Keep.

  The Keep was very quiet – everyone was outside preparing for departure – and the sound of his steps echoed eerily.

  He stopped outside the door to the main apartment, knocked quietly, then entered without waiting for a reply.

  Leagh was sitting on a bench by a window that looked down into the courtyard. She glanced up as he entered, then swiftly turned her eyes back to the window.

  She did not speak as Zared walked across the room and sat down beside her.

  He looked out the window – the courtyard was abustle with activity.

  “We are pulling out of Kastaleon,” he said. “Tonight.”

  Leagh finally looked at him.

  “Caelum comes,” she said coldly. “And with an army. No wonder you run.”

  Zared flinched. “Yes, Caelum comes, and I would prefer to meet him on better terms than those I have available here.”

  “So where do we run?”

  “We move to Carlon.”

  “Carlon? But –”

  “Leagh,” Zared leaned over and took both her hands.

  She stiffened, but did not pull them free.

  “Leagh, I have lied to you, and I have been dishonest with you, and for that I must ask your forgiveness.”

  “I don’t think that I –”

  “Wait, let me finish.” He shifted his grip slightly, holding her hands more firmly, and he looked her straight in the eyes.

  “There is far more to my struggle with Caelum than trade problems. At Council I…at Council I also asked that the throne of Achar be restored to me.”

  “What!” Leagh pulled her hands from his and leaned back, utterly shocked.

  “Leagh, listen to me! For some time now representations from Carlon and the West have pleaded with me to restore the throne of Achar, restore the Acharites’ pride and nationhood.”

  “I don’t believe you!”

  “Damn it, Leagh! Why do you think Theod and Herme ride with me?”

  “For their own gain?”

  “Ah! Leagh, did you never walk beyond your own apartments in your palace in Carlon? Have you never listened to the hearts of those who thronged the streets?”

  She was silent, but she dropped her eyes.

  “Leagh, there is far more involved than you or I, or my quarrel with Caelum and Askam. This involves an entire people, their wants and needs. Leagh…my love…I ask you to say nothing at this time. I hope that when we arrive in Carlon you will see that this is not of my wishing, but of the wishing of a people.”

  “My loyalties –” she began.

  “Your loyalties and your responsibility should always be to your people, Leagh. Not to me, not to Askam, not even to Caelum.”

  “My loyalty is to the Throne of the Stars, as should yours be!”

  “No,” Zared said very softly, and took her hands again. “Our loyalty should always be to the people we represent, to those who look to us for leadership and protection. Leagh, I need you to understand this. I do not seek the throne of Achar through personal ambition, but through the wishes of the Acharites and a need to right the wrong that has been done to them, not just the unfair taxation burden that only the Acharites have been forced to shoulder, but the fact that Axis stripped our people – our people, damn it! – of their nationality and pride.”

  “And me?”

  “You? Leagh, I love you heart and soul, and for that reason alone I want you as my wife. But I also love you for what you represent – a chance for the rift between West and North to be healed.”

  “You want the lands of the West!”

  “If it would help reunite the Acharites as a people, then, yes, I do,” he said bluntly.

  She was silent, trying to absorb his words.

  “Leagh,” he said, “I have been utterly honest with you here today, and I regret that I have not been previously. You and I are not carter and laundress, with no responsibilities other than those our honest occupations demand. We both represent massive numbers of people and vast areas of land. Of course those responsibilities impinge on our relationship, and on how we view each other.”

  He sighed, and lifted one hand to cup her face. “Leagh, I love you as a woman first and foremost, I love your strength and your courage, your wit and your laughter. I also know how advantageous a marriage between us would be, not personally, but to the people we represent. Do you know what I am saying?”

  She nodded. “We are man and woman, but we are also greater than that. We cannot regard marriage as a personal contract, but as a contract between people.”

  “And so,” he said softly, “we must take into account the wishes of our own people in our marriage. Leagh, I want you for my wife. When we get to Carlon I hope that you will see that your people want me for your husband. Will you accept their wishes in your answer?”

  She thought a long time, staring vaguely out the window.

  When she finally looked back at him, Zared could see tears brimming in her eyes.

  “If Carlon wants you as King, Zared, if I think that the people of the West want what you do, then, yes, I will be your wife.”

  Zared relaxed, and leaned forward and kissed her.

  “Then don your riding clothes, my love, for tonight we ride.”

  43

  Faraday’s Lie

  Niah linked her arm with Faraday’s as they strolled through the orchard. “I am so glad we have this opportunity to talk,” Niah said, and gave Faraday’s arm a gentle squeeze.

  “You are?”

  “How long have you been here? Ten days? And in that time I have barely seen you. I have had to learn your history from the gossip of the priestesses’ table.”

  Faraday laughed. “I cannot imagine they painted a pretty picture of me!”

  “Oh, but you
are wrong! The priestesses admire you enormously. The First told me that, with Azhure,” Niah paused to take a proud breath as she said her daughter’s name, “you were primarily responsible for Axis’ success against Gorgrael.”

  Faraday’s face lost its laughter, but Niah did not notice.

  “You planted out the entire Minstrelsea by yourself? And the Avar were yours to command?”

  “It wasn’t quite like that –”

  “And you wielded such power! Faraday, I am in awe.”

  “You also had your part to play.”

  Niah shrugged. “I bore a daughter.”

  “And you died for her.”

  “You died for Tencendor.”

  They walked some way in silence, each lost in her own thoughts. Only once they reached the southern cliffs did Niah resume the conversation.

  “And, having died, here we both are. Free to do as we will, free on this beautiful and magical island.”

  “One of us is not quite free.” This was the opening Faraday had been waiting for. She had spent much time with StarDrifter, talking with him about Niah, wondering how best to free Zenith. This was a risk, but it had to be taken.

  “Oh?” Niah said, and halted, pulling Faraday to a stop beside her. “And how are you not free, Faraday?”

  “It was not myself of whom I spoke,” Faraday said gently, looking Niah in the eye.

  Niah dropped her arm from Faraday’s. “I have done nothing wrong.”

  “We have both come back from the dead,” Faraday continued. “But I have not taken over someone else’s –”

  “I have not ‘taken over someone else’!” Niah countered. “I am me, I always have been! I –”

  “Niah –”

  “Zenith never existed! She was only waiting to realise her true self. Me!”

  “Niah, please, hear me out. I do not mean to make you angry, but –”

  “I am no-one but Niah! I never have been!”

  “StarDrifter tells me that your mannerisms are different, the way you react to things, even your laughter. You are not the same –”

  “My handwriting is the same! My tastes! Do not argue that –”

  “Niah! Listen to me!” Faraday’s voice was unusually sharp, and Niah subsided.

  “Niah, can you not see that Zenith was a different woman? She loved to fly, you loathe it – why, if you were always her? Do you not remember how it felt to soar?”

  Niah was silent, her face set in stubborn lines.

  “Niah, believe me, I do not begrudge you your grab at life. It –”

  “It was promised me! And can you stand here and begrudge me my second chance at life when…how many chances have you had? Two? Three?”

  “I have never taken over someone else’s life,” Faraday repeated. “I have retransformed within the same world and within the same existence. Niah…in the manner of things, whoever dies is always reborn at some point. A soul inhabits the empty shell of a growing foetus. A soul cannot – should not – inhabit an already occupied and whole body.”

  Niah turned her back to Faraday, staring out over the choppy grey sea.

  “Niah, surely you can see that merely by waiting –”

  “I have waited long enough!” Niah yelled, still refusing to look at Faraday. “WolfStar promised me that I would be reborn, and I have! And this time into a SunSoar body so that he can and will love me for eternity!”

  Faraday sighed quietly. In this Niah was right. To live an eternity with WolfStar would require SunSoar blood to hold him.

  “But it does not solve the problem of Zenith,” she tried again.

  Now Niah did face her. “Zenith never existed,” she said firmly. “Never. There was only me, waiting to be acknowledged.”

  Then her face changed. It lit up, radiating joy and she stared at Faraday as if she were the only meaning in Niah’s life.

  Faraday frowned, then realised Niah was staring at a point some distance beyond herself.

  Niah gave a glad cry, picked up her skirts, and rushed past Faraday into WolfStar’s arms. “Beloved!”

  Faraday silently cursed. Not only at WolfStar’s untimely intrusion – had he appeared thinking that Faraday might persuade Niah to relinquish control of Zenith’s body? – but also at Niah’s sheer determination. Was Zenith still there? Faraday did not know, and she wondered if StarDrifter’s faith that Zenith still existed was warranted.

  Despite her irritation, Faraday composed herself, and faced the lovers.

  Niah was wrapped in WolfStar’s arms, locked in a passionate embrace. Faraday raised an eyebrow. Was this love on WolfStar’s part, or simple lust? She did not know if he was capable of true love.

  As if reading her thoughts WolfStar raised his face from Niah’s and grinned at Faraday. “Again she bears my child,” he said, his voice hoarse with what Faraday recognised as triumph. “And this one I shall raise myself, not leave for some dirt-trodden Plough-Keeper to mismanage.”

  Niah wriggled against WolfStar’s body, such a wanton act that Faraday blushed.

  “What? Here, my love?” WolfStar laughed. “Did I not sate you last night?”

  “A pregnant woman always craves love,” Niah murmured, her hands running down WolfStar’s body.

  Faraday turned her face aside, unwilling to watch the spectacle Niah was making of herself. And she a former First Priestess!

  Eventually it was WolfStar himself who gently disentangled himself from Niah’s embrace. “Now is not the time, my love. I must speak with Faraday.”

  Niah murmured, but she let WolfStar go.

  The instant WolfStar was free of her, his entire demeanour changed. He assumed power as others would assume a cloak, his violet eyes darkened and became more intense, his entire bearing more autocratic.

  “What happened to Drago?” he demanded.

  Faraday just stared at him.

  “You were in the Star Gate chamber when Drago killed Orr.”

  “I was in the chamber when Orr died,” she agreed.

  “Drago had the Rainbow Sceptre.”

  Faraday was silent.

  “Didn’t he?”

  “I was terrified,” Faraday said, her eyes not leaving WolfStar’s face. “Terrified by the violence, the terror, the death. I did not notice what he was carrying.”

  “You did not notice?”

  You were the one who sent me through Prophecy to die for Tencendor, Faraday thought, her mind closed to his probing. She held his stare. You sent me to die, others released me. I owe you no loyalty.

  WolfStar swallowed his anger. Well, perhaps she had not noticed. “What happened to him, Faraday? Did he step through the Star Gate?”

  “I cannot know exactly what happened, WolfStar. I was so terrified, and some power beyond my knowing was tearing me apart, retransforming me back to this,” her hand indicated her own body. “I did not notice where –”

  “Tell me the truth!” WolfStar snarled, his anger strengthened by his fear. Tell me the truth! he raged through her mind.

  He was terrifying, almost beyond control, and so Faraday shivered, and confessed.

  “He ran back through the passageways, WolfStar. Which one I am not certain. But he must be in Tencendor somewhere.”

  WolfStar stared at her. Was she telling the truth? He did not know. Could she withstand his need for the truth? He did not know…and all that he did not know was making WolfStar a very, very frightened man.

  “Ah, bah!” he said, and, in his manner, vanished.

  Niah let out a low cry of disappointment, and threw Faraday a resentful look.

  “Well?” StarDrifter asked Faraday as she walked into his quarters.

  Faraday ignored him for a moment, then sat beside him on the bed. “Niah will not willingly relinquish Zenith’s body,” she said. “And in this she is aided by WolfStar.”

  “You saw WolfStar?”

  Faraday nodded, her expression unreadable.

  “What did he want? What did he say?”

  Faraday hesi
tated. “Later, StarDrifter, later. For now we must concentrate on finding Zenith.”

  “Can you do it?”

  “Yes.” Faraday’s voice was now much stronger, and she looked StarDrifter unhesitatingly in the eye. “Yes, I can. But persuasion will not work. We must find a stronger means to free your granddaughter.”

  “And the sooner the better.” StarDrifter sat back, his face creased with worry. “Every day I can see the Niah woman grow stronger. And that baby…”

  Faraday stared at him. “Yes…the baby! StarDrifter, you have given me an idea.”

  And she leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek.

  44

  …And Sixty-Nine Fat Pigs

  Caelum stood in the cold pre-dawn air, watching the preparations about him. He had slept badly; in truth, he had not slept at all, for fear DragonStar would hunt him down in his dreams. Now his eyes were shadowed, his movements hesitant, and nerves fluttered in his stomach. This would be his first military action. Stars, he thought to himself. I am over forty years old, and by my age my father had battled from coast to coast and won a realm. I? I have but listened to the tales.

  True, he had trained all his life for this moment. Not only his father, but every battle-hardened captain, human or Icarii, had been brought in to give the StarSon lessons. He had spent most mornings of his life at weapon practice.

  And until this moment he had thought it would all be unnecessary. How could Tencendor ever slip back into war, even in his lifetime?

  “I want to see the bastard flayed!” Askam muttered at his side. Before them he could just make out the rising hulk of Kastaleon, although he knew Caelum’s Icarii vision could see in far more detail. “Is he there, watching for us?”

  “The castle is quiet, Askam. I can see a few guards atop the walls, but even they are more likely asleep than not. No doubt Zared is asleep in his bed, dreaming of how he can persuade the Council to accept his ambition.”

  His mouth twisted grimly. “I predict he will awake to something of a surprise. Askam, are the units ready?”

  “Aye, StarSon. They moved into position an hour ago, as stealthy as stalking cats. When will you give the word to send in the forward scouts? It lacks but an hour until dawn, and soon the castle will be rousing.”