“It's not my fault Lofty Lion wouldn't tell me where the Heir Sword was. I did everything I could to find it!”
“Torturing and executing all those Northerners in front of him was barbaric! No wonder he died. An Emperor fit to rule doesn't slaughter a half-million people. You lost the war, Lord Emperor. Admit it!” Infinite forgive me my part in their deaths, the General thought, the crushing weight of all those Northern souls on his shoulders.
“I didn't lose the war. You lost it!”
“I conquered the Northern Empire, but you lost the war.”
“Listen, you insufferable peasant—”
“You listen, you insufferable tyrant—”
“Cease!” Bubbling Water said. “I'm ashamed of you both. If you don't stop this instant, I'll bash your heads together. If you want to pour salt into each other's old wounds, don't do it in my presence. I won't have my mate and my nephew arguing like children.” The Matriarch took a deep breath. “Now, apologize to each other.”
Guarding Bear ran his hands through his hair and sighed. “I'm sorry, my mate. Forgive me, Lord Emperor.”
Flying Arrow frowned, then sighed. “Yes, Lady Empress Water. The fault was mine, Lord Bear. Please forgive me.”
The two men bowed to the same depth, then grinned at each other. “They're indomitable, eh Lord Nephew?”
“Indeed, Lord Bear. What would we do without women?”
“You'd thrust your swords into each other's back passages,” Bubbling Water said. Both men laughed and Guarding Bear hugged her.
“I wish you'd told me about my cousin's sickness earlier, Lady Water,” Flying Arrow said. “I'd have happily sent the Imperial Medacor to cure her.”
They all three knew he'd have forbidden Soothing Spirit to do exactly that.
“We didn't want to bother you with such a petty matter, Lord Nephew.” She looked pleased to have defused the hostility between her men this time. She turned to Guarding Bear. “You met with the boy.”
“Are you thinking what I'm thinking?” Guarding Bear glanced toward the dais. “We ought to retain him, eh?” They didn't open their minds to each other. Flying Arrow might intercept their thoughts, and opening one's mind in the Emperor's presence invited his mischief.
“I am. The boy might prove worthy of our patronage.”
“What boy?” Flying Arrow asked.
“The one who cured our daughter, Lord. We always reward good deeds.” Bubbling Water smiled at her nephew.
Guarding Bear wondered how she'd retaliate for her daughter's poisoning.
“You should punish bad ones; I always do.” Flying Arrow frowned at them.
The ancient servant entered and announced, “The Lord Imperial Medacor Soothing Spirit.”
Soothing Spirit walked toward the dais, a child in his arms. His head was completely bald and his skin was pink, without a wrinkle despite his eighty-one years. Radiating inner peace, he aimed his eyes at the floor. To everyone's surprise, he made no obeisance; instead, he handed the child to Bubbling Water as he passed her. Climbing the dais, he grasped the Emperor's hand and healed the burn, then wrapped gauze around the pink, new skin. “Please be careful with the hand until it heals fully, Lord Emperor.” Soothing Spirit retreated to the base of the dais and bowed to the mates. “Forgive my lack of manners, Lord General, Lady Matriarch. The Lord Emperor had hurt himself.”
“Nothing to forgive, Lord Medacor.” Bubbling Water nodded to acknowledge the obeisance.
“Infinite bless you, Lady Matriarch.”
Guarding Bear felt Soothing Spirit's psychic scan.
“Infinite be with you as well, Lord General. Both of you look well.”
“Thank you, Lord Medacor,” he replied, nodding.
“How is my cousin, Lord Spirit?” Flying Arrow asked.
Soothing Spirit glanced at the girl. “Rippling Water is in excellent health, Lord Emperor.”
Guarding Bear watched the Medacor. He was disappointed that Soothing Spirit didn't question why Flying Arrow had ordered him to examine a perfectly healthy child. The Emperor had long ago extinguished the Medacor's curiosity.
“It pleases me to hear it,” Flying Arrow muttered.
The Medacor glanced toward the door, his features serene. “Forgive me, Lord Emperor, I must attend to an emergency. Lord General and Lady Matriarch, my apologies for having to leave so abruptly.”
“What emergency?” Flying Arrow asked, flexing his hand.
“Two men have turned up unconscious, Lord Emperor, not an inch of skin on their bodies.” Soothing Spirit glanced placidly toward the door again.
Flying Arrow dismissed him with a wave.
As the Imperial Medacor turned, the servant entered. They met at the door and spoke. “Another one?” Soothing Spirit left quickly.
Guarding Bear frowned. They'd find a fourth man without skin, he knew—the spies who'd watched him on his way to the castle. They're my fellow citizens, Guarding Bear thought, feeling sad.
“Why do you frown, Lord Bear?”
“We don't see each other often enough, Lord Nephew.” He knew the Emperor would never understand his sadness.
His heart went cold. Leaping to his feet, Guarding Bear spun to face the door, his sword singing from scabbard.
Unannounced, the Sorcerer Lurking Hawk stood just inside the double doors. Like most Northerners, his hair was blond, his skin pale. Like many Wizards, his face was gaunt from his abuse of his talents.
Guarding Bear glared, his stance set and his body fluid to act at the first twitch of motion.
“Lord General,” the Sorcerer said, his voice a hiss. He offered no obeisance. On his wrist glittered a silver bracelet.
“Lord Traitor,” the General replied, smiling.
Most people feared the Sorcerer for his political power and psychic talent. Guarding Bear feared Lurking Hawk for the incompetent way he handled his power and talent. He's a bungling jester who juggles Emperors, the General thought—and drops them often. “When will you tell us where Lofty Lion hid the Heir Sword?”
“For the thousandth time, I don't know, Usurper!”
“You do know, Traitor, and the moment you tell, you die. It's the only reason the Lord Emperor Arrow tolerates your filthy presence.”
“Lord Emperor, invite the Usurper onward for his intolerable insults!”
“I've only stated the truth, Traitor. If you'd betray your Emperor and fellow Northerners by serving the man who slaughtered them, surely you can betray the location of a silly piece of metal, eh? Tell us where the Heir Sword is.”
“Go to the Infinite, Usurper!”
“When I do I'll take you with me, Traitor.”
Guarding Bear sheathed his sword and ran his hands through his hair. Sighing, he looked at Bubbling Water beside him. “I have a few habits to break, eh?” He shook his head, turned and sat with his back to the Sorcerer.
He was pleased he'd mastered his impulse to murder.
* * *
Has the Infinite addled his brains? Bubbling Water wondered, following his lead. Why is he acting so carelessly? Once a traitor, always a traitor, she thought, rubbing the knife in her sleeve and wondering when Lurking Hawk would betray Flying Arrow.
The Emperor looked at them both, his eyebrows high on his forehead. “Has the Infinite addled your brains, Lord Bear? Not once in fourteen years have I seen you turn your back on the Traitor.”
“He doesn't merit the honor of my hostility, Lord Emperor.”
Flying Arrow laughed, grinning. He looked beyond the mates at Lurking Hawk. Bubbling Water watched the Sorcerer from the corner of her eye.
Lurking Hawk stared at their backs. Scratching his head, he walked around them and sat on the lowest step of the dais. He glanced at Flying Arrow as if to ask what had just happened, an obsidian sculpture at his back. With a frown, he turned back toward the mates. “Your good health dismays me, Lord Peasant, as does the infant's.”
“Mine I understand, Lord Hawk. If a helpless infant's good heal
th disturbs you, I pray that the Infinite opens your heart to the joys of fatherhood.”
Bubbling Water looked at him as though he were insane.
“Are you feeling well, Lord Bear?” Flying Arrow asked.
“I feel better today than I have in years, Lord Emperor. Aren't you pleased to hear that, Lord Hawk?”
“No!” The Sorcerer scowled at the General and spat on the floor. “The good health of every usurper disturbs me. Lord Emperor, the four men Soothing Spirit went to treat work for Emparia Castle.” He sneered at Guarding Bear.
“Oh?” Flying Arrow said, frowning.
“Yes, Lord. In the surveillance—”
“Shut up or I'll kick your corpse!”
“I beg you, Lord Emperor, to be more civil,” the Sorcerer said. “You act as if no one knows you have spies everywhere.”
“Impudent dog! Cease your barking!”
“Yes, Lord Emperor,” Lurking Hawk said, looking unperturbed.
Bubbling Water grinned at Flying Arrow's discomfiture and nudged Guarding Bear. He frowned at her. “Lord Nephew, the Lord Bear would happily investigate the maiming of your spies.”
Guarding Bear looked at her. “I would?”
“Thank you, no, Lady Matriarch—”
“He'd only be doing his duty, Lord Emperor,” Bubbling Water interrupted, nudging him again. “He'll attend to the matter promptly.” Then she whispered in his ear, “Better you do it than some fool who'd reveal the truth!”
“So kind of you, Lady Matriarch, to offer—”
“Lord Emperor,” Guarding Bear interrupted, “who would so object to harmless surveillance they'd inflict such terrible injury?”
The Sorcerer answered: “They were spying on—”
Flying Arrow touched the Imperial Sword. A bolt of lightning lanced Lurking Hawk, who convulsed like a puppet jerked roughly by its strings.
Bubbling Water immediately put her head to the floor to cover her daughter and soothe the Imperial wrath. This position also made her a smaller target should Flying Arrow turn on her. The Emperor missed occasionally.
Guarding Bear still sat upright, as though nothing had happened.
Glaring at the Sorcerer, Flying Arrow massaged his left shoulder, as if it ached. Lurking Hawk's ragged breathing was the only sound.
Bubbling Water wrinkled her nose at the smell of burnt Wizard.
The Sorcerer lifted his head, his robes crackling, his face blackened and his hair singed. “Forgive me, Lord Emperor,” he said, his voice thick. His head thumped the stone floor, and he was still.
“The Lady Flowering Pine has been asking to meet you, Lady Water,” Flying Arrow said with a smile.
“I'd be more than honored to meet her, Lord Nephew.” His abrupt change of mood disturbed her. She kept her face pleasantly bland. “I hear she's very captivating. She must be quite the special flower, eh?”
“She's a rose beyond the garden, Lady Water.” Again, Flying Arrow touched the Imperial Sword. The diamond emitted a soft glow.
From the door behind the dais came the Emperor's new consort, Flowering Pine. “Lord Emperor Arrow,” she said, kneeling at the dais, her voice high-pitched.
She's beautiful, Bubbling Water thought, feeling a twinge of envy. She's so tall and stately. I wish I were that tall and had such a lovely inferno of burnished auburn hair. Look at how she walks. She carries herself like an Empress, as if she's Flying Arrow's mate—and not a mere concubine.
* * *
He picks them as though their beauty will put arrows in his quiver! Guarding Bear thought, then he quashed the sentiment, remembering his promises. I pray the Infinite blesses them with a full quiver of young arrows.
He ran his hands through his hair. The strain was making him sweat. The forge of adversity was so hot it was making his promises brittle, instead of tempering them.
Bubbling Water leaned toward him. “She's the woman everyone's talking about, remember? That servant in the House of Oak?”
He nodded. “For hire?” Then he wished he hadn't asked.
His mate shrugged. “Wouldn't she be the perfect spy? Think of the stories she could tell of the Emperor's lifeless liquids!”
Two years before in Cove, at the funeral rites of Aged Oak's father, Towering Oak, Guarding Bear had noted Flying Arrow's interest in this virgin servant girl. Since then, the Emperor had visited the northeastern province several times, like an infatuated boy. Despite the lavish gifts, Flowering Pine had neither spurned the advances nor acquiesced to them. Instead, she'd simply demurred that she was too young for defloration. She had intimated she'd save her pleasures for the Emperor. After the long courtship, she bargained for a staff of a hundred servants, a suite of twenty rooms in Emparia Castle, elevation to noble status, and exclusive rights to the Emperor's attentions. Enamored of her, Flying Arrow had agreed. The courtship had been the talk of the Empire.
“May I greet the Lord and Lady, Lord Emperor?” Flowering Pine asked.
Nodding, Flying Arrow smiled.
Turning, the Consort bowed to them. She ignored the body sprawled nearby, as though bodies were a common sight in the castle. “Infinite be with you, Lord General, Lady Matriarch. Meeting you both is such an honor. Is that your daughter, Lady Matriarch? Oh, I just adore babies!” she said, her hands clasped under her chin. Throwing decorum away, she rose and scurried toward them, holding out her arms.
Bubbling Water immediately handed the child to her.
Watching the young woman croon over his daughter, Guarding Bear sensed that she wanted desperately to become a mother. Flowering Pine's maternal instincts touched him. He saw how much his mate liked her. For reasons he couldn't explain, he found himself liking the Consort as well.
The two women talked freely. Both men watched, neither inclined to join them. While they talked, the Sorcerer roused himself and crawled from the room, oblivious to everyone. Guarding Bear tried not to watch him go, but couldn't stop himself.
“Ladies Pine and Water,” Flying Arrow said, “forgive me for interrupting. I wish to speak with the Lord Bear. Obviously, you have matters to discuss also.”
“Come with me to my suite, Lady Matriarch,” Flowering Pine said. “Please? I do want your opinion on the nursery. Oh, please?”
“ 'Nursery,' Lady Pine? Has the Infinite blessed you already?”
“No, not yet, Lady Matriarch,” she replied, blush turning her cheeks bright crimson, “but I know I'll get pregnant soon. I just know it.”
A practiced courtesan couldn't act better than that! Guarding Bear thought. What am I thinking? She's too young to play at intrigue.
“I hope you do, Lady Pine,” the Matriarch said, turning to Guarding Bear. She searched her mate's face, looking concerned. “I'll send in your personal guards.”
“Eh, why?” he replied. “He won't hurt me.”
“Are you all right, Guarding Bear?” Bubbling Water asked.
Nodding, he smiled and kissed her. “Go on.”
The two women bowed and left, one of them shaking her head.
“I'm glad you came here this evening, Lord Bear,” Flying Arrow said. “Thank the Infinite your daughter's no longer sick. The Lord Emperor Snarling Jaguar will be here in a few days to settle our dispute over Swan Valley. You'll mediate at the negotiations.”
“Eh? Me, Lord Emperor?” Surely, Lord Emperor, the General felt like saying, you didn't poison my daughter and lure me here to tell me that!
“I keep thinking, Lord Bear, that you're the only one who's defeated the Lord Emperor in battle—other than his treacherous older brother. Anyway, I want him to think that if the settlement doesn't please me, I'll order you to war against him.”
“I see, Lord,” Guarding Bear said thoughtfully, not wanting a war. Blast it, why did you lure me here, Lord Emperor?
At that moment, the Sorcerer returned, having changed and washed.
“Good of you to join us, Lord Hawk,” Flying Arrow said. “I hope that anal wind has ceased to blow from your mouth.
”
“Indeed, Lord Emperor.” Bowing, Lurking Hawk eased himself to the lowest step of the dais, as if in pain.
“I've ordered the Lord Bear to mediate at the negotiations to intimidate the Emperor Jaguar.”
“That ought to shrivel his sack,” Lurking Hawk replied amiably. The Sorcerer stroked the silver bracelet on his wrist.
Guarding Bear wondered what he should do with the courier's information. He saw no harm in telling his nephew. Before he'd made his promises, he'd have hinted and alluded and stretched the truth to besmirch the faces of his enemies.
No, the General thought, I'll just tell him. “Lord Emperor, Snarling Jaguar personally escorted a tiger cub to the Windy Mountains under security so tight that the animal was visible only once on the trip. This same tiger cub was later seen with the bandit scum Scowling Tiger, may he pickle in pig piss.” He bit his tongue and sighed, the curse having slipped from his mouth before he could stop it.
“That's almost incriminating, Lord Bear. Was it a menagerie tiger?” Flying Arrow looked annoyed.
Guarding Bear always had better information than he. “Where else, Lord Emperor? Please remember that Snarling Jaguar's presence in the Windy Mountains is perfectly acceptable, regardless of the enmity between him and his brother. One cannot object to a visit, something easily justified on the pretext of repairing family relations, eh? And Snarling Jaguar's giving a tiger cub to Scowling Tiger isn't improper either.”
“Unless we have it whispered that the two of them forged an alliance!” Lurking Hawk said, grinning.
Guarding Bear smiled, glad someone else had thought of it.
“Then the gift becomes proof of the alliance!” Flying Arrow laughed heartily, looking elated. “Lord Sorcerer, start a rumor on the psychic flow immediately! Have it whispered simultaneously in Burrow, Cove and Emparia City!”
“Yes, Lord Emperor.” Lurking Hawk smiled, looking baffled.
He's probably wondering how he thought of that, the General thought. Lurking Hawk wasn't famous for his strategic thinking. Guarding Bear smiled, pleased to have aided his Empire without defaming his two ancient enemies. The General had fought Scowling Tiger to the north and Snarling Jaguar to the south on and off the battlefield many times. Hopefully, Guarding Bear thought, I won't have to fight them again.
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