by Matthew Ward
I laughed. "So unless Astor is formed on a scale completely at odds with that of the other Great Powers, the cult was worshipping a sleeping servant, while all the time thinking it to be the master?"
"It would seem so," Arianwyn said. "Let's try another." She flipped through a few pages, coming to a woodcut of a womanly figure with a serpent's tail in place of legs, and long tendrils of seaweed for hair.
"This one I do know. She's our Nameless Lady of the Deeps – a warning and a terror to all foolhardy sailormen."
"Indeed she is," Arianwyn, "but she's nameless no longer. This book refers to her as Endala, Queen of Fathoms."
I closed my eyes. "Why do I know that name?"
"I couldn't say. Perhaps the serathiel mentioned it?"
"That would have meant volunteering information," I pointed out.
"True."
Then, out of nowhere, I had it. I flicked my eyes open. "Torev said it."
"Edrevor? When?"
"At Tarvallion," it was coming back now. "It was an entreaty; an oath. I didn't think anything of it at the time, but..."
"Are you telling me that the Sartorov Paladins have worshipped a heathen goddess all these years?" Arianwyn asked. "The council would be appalled. You'd think Torev would hide it better."
"I'm not sure he's much for hiding anything. Besides, what's to hide? It's just a name. We'd have never have made the connection without that book. More and more, I want to know who left it in my room."
"It would be nice," Arianwyn agreed. "But I don't think they did it to betray the secrets of the Sartorov Paladins." Her tone had shifted to something considerably more serious.
"Why, what have you found?" I leaned towards her.
"Listen," she said, and started reading from an early page. "'The world was created by the Lord of All, who wanted to experience life, rather than existence. But because he wanted to experience surprise in his creation, he gave over the task to Great Powers. Each had a personality and frailties of its own, for the Lord of All knew that perfection was a shackle on creation.'"
She paused, and turned the page. "'As the work progressed, the Lord of All grew impatient, and soon wished to experience the world for himself. Thus, he set aside his powers, and lived merely as a mortal, leaving his servants to see things finished. Alas, the servants' pride now undermined the work. With the Lord of All set aside, they saw no reason not to create servants of their own. This they did, forging new life from a part of themselves, and soon hosts of immortal beings covered the world, doing the bidding of their masters.'"
"That would be the serathi, the strawjacks and the other creatures we've seen," I said.
Arianwyn nodded. "But there's more. 'Before long, there was competition. And competition led to war. The Lord of All strove to regain his power, but found he could not, and wept with frustration as war ravaged his world. The kingdoms of men sided with those powers to which they had strongest ties, but all were laid low in the fires that followed. In the end, these Great Powers came to peace, and vowed never to fight again.'"
"Which brings us to where we are now?" I guessed.
"I would assume so." Arianwyn closed the book, "Until Jack and Malgyne broke the truce."
"I've never heard of any of this," I said. "I mean, the Great Powers being my people's gods? That much I've known for a while. But this Lord of All? Our legends of creation start either with Jack or Ashana."
"Which is probably no coincidence, if this book is correct," Arianwyn suggested. "What if your forebears were the survivors of the kingdoms Jack and Ashana ruled?"
"It could be the case," I allowed, "assuming it's not simply a work of imagination, or one so muddled it bears no resemblance to reality. I think I'd rather it was that way, because I don't much care for the alternative."
"Why?"
"Because it becomes very difficult to trust the serathi," I replied. "If they used one kingdom as a weapon against the others in the past, what's to prevent them from doing so again?"
Arianwyn drew back and gave me a peculiar look. "My dear Edric, you're being needlessly suspicious again."
"And you're being too trusting," I retorted.
"Am I?" she asked coldly. "You're the one reading too much into a book of unknown provenance. We still don't know who placed it in your possession, or why, and yet you're jumping to conclusions based on its contents. No, I take it back. That's not trusting, it's foolish." She folded her arms and stared at me.
This had gone ugly very quickly. I held up my hands in surrender. "You're right. Of course you're right. I just..." I sighed. "There's something going on that I don't quite understand, something that the serathiel isn't telling me. I've sensed it from the start."
"Did you ever consider that it might not be your problem to solve?" Arianwyn asked gently. "Of course she's hiding things – leaders always do – but friendship cannot begin without trust. Azyra's given us so much of hers, we should extend a little of the same courtesy." She stood up. "And now you must excuse me. I've another lesson later this morning, and it wouldn't be proper for me to present myself in this state." She smiled. "Why don't you join me on Skyhaven later? My father will be glad to see that you're well."
I rose and embraced her, holding her perhaps a little tight by way of an apology that I couldn't yet bring myself to voice.
"You're worrying over nothing Edric," she whispered.
I closed my eyes, and prayed to Ashana that she was right.
Eight
I returned to the embassy to discover a surfeit of bodyguards, for both Emmeline and Jamar awaited me in my office. The former sat in one of the battered guest chairs; the latter stood beside the fireplace.
Emmeline was bright-eyed and cheerful, but her many bruises stood testament to the harms she'd suffered, as did the fact that her left forearm had been splinted, tightly bound and set in a sling. Whilst she told me that it was healing well, I knew no manner of thanks could repay what I owed her. This was in no way helped when she assured me Torev would be coming to collect the blood-debt out of my hide, as promised. I thought she was joking, but with Torev one could never be entirely sure.
Jamar by contrast, and most unusually for him, was grim. "I'm glad you're back on your feet, savir," he said solemnly. "Aldan's report was of no little concern to many of us, including your uncle. That alone would have been reason for me to make this journey, and I only wish I'd done so sooner. Perhaps recent events would have played out. Not that I have anything but the warmest gratitude to offer my young replacement," he added hastily, offering Emmeline a shallow bow. "She has done a fine job, and would have no hesitation in bringing her into the royal guard, had she not the misfortune of living on the wrong side of the border."
This last was said with a smile, and met with the same, giving me the impression that much had already passed between them before I arrived.
"Unfortunately," Jamar went on, his mood darkening, "I have little in the way of good news, but I thought it better you hear the worst of it from me than from another."
Emmeline chewed her lip thoughtfully. "I can wait downstairs, if you require privacy? In fact, I assume my services, such as they have been, are no longer required?"
Jamar shook his head. "You've proven your loyalty. If I have your word you'll repeat nothing of what you learn, I'm content for you to stay."
She nodded. "You have it, of course."
"This is sounding increasingly ominous, Jamar," I said. "Please come to the point."
"Very well," he rumbled. "I fear the Empire is approaching civil war."
"What! Surely you overstate the case." Of everything he could have said, I hadn't expected that.
"I only wish that I did. Just as I wish the cause were otherwise."
A hollow pit opened in my gut. "It's Calda, isn't it?"
Jamar hesitated, then nodded. "I'm sorry, my prince."
"I don't understand," Emmeline said. "I thought she was personally loyal to you, Edric. Or so Master Torev told me."
&nbs
p; I closed my eyes, fighting against the rising sense of despair. It was all so obvious in hindsight. "She was, but she thinks I'm too close to the Tressians, and too close to the serathi," I laughed bitterly. "If only she'd seen the last few days. Malgyne had his clutches on me, but not one of the serathi came to see how I was, or offer any aid. Only Adanika even asked after me. Lord Karov sent a physician – Karov, of all people! – but not the serathi," I shot a look at Jamar. "This is about the serathi?"
"So she tells her followers," he agreed. "Many of the warchiefs remember the same stories she does. You know the respect Calda commands. Those who do not follow herself gladly do so in her father's memory, or because they disagree with the Emperor's alliance."
I sat in silence for a time, a small part of me hoping that if there was quiet about me long enough, I'd awaken from the nightmare. But it was real, I knew it was real. I wasn't even surprised at Calda's actions, not after how we'd parted. But it was all happening so fast!
"What is the Emperor doing?" I asked at last, opening my eyes.
Again, Jamar hesitated before speaking. "That which he does best: he talks. He seeks a path that will prevent matters from worsening.But such attitudes are easily misconstrued as weakness. I regret that he is not the leader that your father was, nor even your brother. He does not understand that sometimes words must be backed by action. I fear his fondness for Calda blinds him to the danger she poses."
"Let us all be grateful that Eirac is not a leader hewn from the same stone as my brother," I snapped. "Calda especially, or she'd be dead by now, and her corpse on display in Tregard's concourse." I sighed and rubbed my brow. Anger at Jamar solved nothing. "And if he were like my father, well, none of this would have happened, would it?"
"Why?" Emmeline asked.
"My uncle was never meant to rule," I explained. "Many of the warchiefs who followed my father without question will not extend Eirac the same courtesy. Calda, knowingly or not, is using that." I looked at Jamar. "How is she?"
"Driven, and determined. She hardly sleeps any longer, and does so fitfully." He paused, collecting his thoughts. "In many ways, and I beg your forgiveness for saying as much, it might have been better had she passed away on Skyhaven."
"Don't ever say that again. She's my sister, or as near as makes no difference. Whatever madness has gripped her, she's still my sister."
"But she's not," Jamar ground on. "I fear that is part of the problem, though you refuse to see it. In either case, she loves you deeply. She wants to see the serathi destroyed, yes, but she's deliberately giving you a reason to return and ascend to the Imperial throne."
"Tainted by the serathi though I am?" I asked bitterly.
"In her eyes, the taint extends only to the fact that it keeps you here, in the company of Tressians and the serathi, rather than with your people. It will be forgotten as soon as you forsake them."
Emmeline frowned. "But that doesn't make any sense."
"Not to you or I," Jamar allowed, "but I do not believe Calda is altogether sane any longer."
I sighed, fighting a sudden rush of weariness. "And if I don't return?"
"Then she will take the throne. It might take months before her challenge is openly declared, but she will do it. Eirac cannot stop it without killing her, and I doubt he is capable of that, not until it's too late. And then the war against the serathi will begin."
"So you think I should do as she wishes?" I asked quietly.
Jamar shrugged. "I don't believe you have any choice, not if you're the man that I judge you to be. For your sake, for Calda's, and for our people's, you must return."
"Even if it means giving in to coercion?"
"Sometimes the right course is not so pure as we might like."
"May I say something?" Emmeline asked.
I offered her a sour smile. "Please. Every time Jamar opens his mouth, things get worse."
She stifled a grin at my poor joke, then spoke carefully. "When I was younger, my parents spared no expense to ensure I was sufficiently well-tutored to acquire a husband of quality. I can turn a pretty phrase, if I have a mind. I can play the harpsichord, and I know all the steps to all the dances that a young woman of good breeding should know. But I didn't want that life; I was running away from it when I indentured myself to Torev." She paused, pursed her lips, and pressed on. "I think you're running away too. You have the same look I used to. I can tell – there are some very unflattering portraits of me in my father's house."
"So I shouldn't return?"
"I didn't say that. The difference between us, Edric, is that I don't care if my family line dies with me. I shall go gladly to my grave, knowing that my ancestors' wants were trivial things, to be set aside at will. I shall walk the paths of Otherworld, head held high, confident I lived a better life as Lady Emmeline the Warrior than I would ever have as Lady Emmeline the Matriarch. Will you be able to say the same?"
I opened my mouth to speak – perhaps to rebuke her, perhaps to explain – but I found that no words would come. Jamar, I noticed, looked on with what he fancied was veiled approval. It wasn't so veiled as he believed. It was plain I no longer had the luxury of putting off my destiny. Either I decided here and now that I would be emperor, or abandoned the throne forever. Had it just been my future at stake, I would have gladly embraced the latter. Or would I? Would I come to despair at every moment of ill-fortune afflicting my people, worrying always that I could have prevented it, had I only the power to act?
So be it. I'd never been good at knowing when I was holding to the righteous path or the stubborn one, but Emmeline and her unwavering blue stare were right. If I abandoned the throne, and thereafter met my father – or even my brother, Ashana help me – in the paths of Otherworld, I doubted I'd be able to hold my head high. It was time to go home. In a strange way, it was a relief to make the decision at last.
Jamar stirred. "Before you say anything. There is one last thing you should know. Ordinarily, I'd say this was worrisome news in its own right, but today it takes second place. I must confess, I'd hoped that you knew already, but when you spoke of it earlier..."
"What?" I interrupted wearily.
"There is no longer an alliance between the Empire and the Republic," Jamar said quietly. "The Tressian council have annulled it. Their herald arrived in Tregard just before I left."
A cold anger rushed over me. It was bad enough that this had happened at all. It was far worse that I'd had to find out about it from Jamar, rather than from the Tressians themselves.
"Did you know about this?" I asked Emmeline quietly.
"On my honour, I did not. What possessed them to do such a thing?"
"I don't know."
But I had my suspicions, all the same. A passage from the morning came back to haunt me. The kingdoms of men sided with those powers to which they had strongest ties. Was this the doing of the serathi, or Karov and his ilk playing more political games?
Why hadn't Arianwyn told me? Tregard was the better part of a week's ride. For Jamar to have heard of the decision, it must have been taken at least that long ago. Surely she must have known, though I hoped she hadn't for the betrayal it would signify. I knew why Jamar hadn't spoken of this prior to the news of Calda, but it changed nothing. The throne waited for me. I could do nothing here – the Tressians had made that perfectly clear. They weren't interested in listening to me. They weren't interested in talking to me. At home, I could perhaps do some good.
Damn them all, anyway.
Emmeline got to her feet. "Under the circumstances, Edric, I think you'll have to forgo my protection. I must tell Master Torev about this. If I didn't know, he surely won't."
Jamar's eyes drifted to her sling. "Are you fit to ride?"
"Over, across or through anyone who gets in my way."
I bit off an angry curse, and nodded. "Very well. If Jamar cannot stay, I will make other arrangements."
I lapsed into silence and thought for a time. Friends were friends, and it was unfair
to keep them in the dark, especially if I was to call on their help in future.
"You have my permission to tell Torev everything you've learned in this room, but only Torev," I said at last. "No one else is to know, and I'd appreciate it if you'd impress the same on him."
"Of course, Edric." Emmeline turned to leave.
"One moment." I crossed to join her. "I want you to know how much I appreciate everything you've done for me – you and Torev both. Please believe me when I say you will always be welcome in my home, wherever I end up, and regardless of how things lie between our realms."
She peered at her feet, embarrassed by my words. "A dissolute alliance and a renewed state of war are not the same thing."
"I hope so, I truly do. And I hope we'll meet again before too long."
*******
Jamar and I left a few minutes after Emmeline. First we headed to the council palace. Whilst I knew Arianwyn to be on Skyhaven, I wanted to confront Karov. Unfortunately, he was nowhere to be found, though his clerk did suggest that he too was currently on Skyhaven.
Leaving the palace, Jamar and I headed for the square's stepping gate. The guard of graces had now been replaced by eight praetorians, each in full armour complete with open helm, and council livery. The five men and three women stood in a half-circle around the entrance, swords sheathed. A little behind them, Jaspyr and Fredrick sat motionless. Apparently the guardians were not able – or not permitted – to pass through into Skyhaven.
Nor, it seemed, were I or Jamar.
"I'm sorry, Ambassador." The praetorian didn't sound sorry at all. "We've orders not to let you pass."
"I beg your pardon?" I aimed for the chill tone I'd heard Arianwyn use to great effect on many occasions. "I'm not only the Hadari Ambassador, but the emissary of the serathi. You will let me through."
The sergeant placed a hand on his sword-hilt. "I'm afraid not, sir."
I stared at him, but quickly judged that there was neither threat nor promise I could issue to make him yield. Jamar said nothing, but gave a quiet tug on my arm and led me away a pace or two.